Project 365 2010

It has really been 6 months since I last wrote??? Well, hopefully this is about to change. I have taken on a new goal for the year. It is called Project 365 and it involves taking a picture every day of the year and then posting it. I may not post every day, but the pictures will be eventually up--even if it means having to upload several at a time.

I'm hoping this project will be a good and unique way to journal about the year, and to help improve my photo taking skills.

So, here we go~~!


I'll start with New Year's Eve: It was a Blue Moon, fantastically huge and looked very cool shining through the icicles on the house.

New Year's Day: I had to work during the day, but at night, we turned all electronic entertainment off and had a grand time playing Apples to Apples.

today we dismantled the Christmas tree. It always looks so sad!!


Well, that's the start of P365 2010. Hope it will be a fun journey.

graduation parties

I did not grow up with graduation parties as part of the culture. When I graduated, the only grad party I went to was an all night party at my friend's house, and it was only for the kids...no parents (except hers) were there.

10 years ago, I moved to the midwest. I was soon introduced to the tradition known as the graduation party. This involves an open house for the graduate where everything the child has ever done in school and beyond is out for display so everyone can see it (must have the scrapbooks done by graduation!!) A spread of food and drink is there to feed the guests. Cake is a must. The guests include not only the graduate's friends, but parents' friends & co-workers, everyone from church, and other social events. Guests bring gifts, mostly cash for the graduate's new life.

My first son graduated this year. Up until May, I was unsure if we were going to bow to the pressure to have a party or not. My son is not really the party type, so when I asked him if he wanted a party, I was somewhat suprised when he said yes. O.K., party planning mode in effect. Invites are usually made at a printers. Why do that when I can do them on the computer? Done. Guest list? church, friends, (no family in the area, really), and a stack for John to give to his friends. done. A friend said we could borrow their party tent to set up in the yard. Nice. We rented chairs & tables and got decorations. Ordered cake & sandwiches from Subway. Had fruit, chips & pop to go with it.


Graduation was May 31. It was a Sunday afternoon. 53 kids in the class. The ceremony was over in 1 1/2 hours. (Alisha & Emily played in the band). Very nice, not too long. And I had a graduate for a child.


Our graduation party was held June 6. John's girlfriend had helped me clean the house all week. As I was running around picking up the cake, etc., it starts to rain. AUGH!!! And it does not let up. In fact, it starts raining harder and harder. The tent is abandoned before the guests even arrive. The table with all of the scrapbooks, etc, gets set up on the covered porch. The kitchen chairs get set up in the living room. The guests arrive, and we all commiserate about the rain and eat and enjoy each others' company and everyone enjoys the display tables. By 6, everyone is gone and we breathe a sigh of relief. We did it. We threw a party and people came, and it was a success despite the rain. Everyone was generous for John and he is ready to start his next phase of life.

So, now we've entered the world of the graduation party, because unless we move, we have 5 more to plan and execute! :-)

No Santa???

This year Sarah learned the secret about Santa. She was kind of sad for a while as she thought about it. But then we talked about how it is our duty to keep the spirit of Santa alive in what we can do for others and how it is part of growing up. I got this story in my e-mail today that helps tell the story of how we can be Santa. I really liked it, so thought I would share:


I remember my first Christmas adventure with Grandma. I was just a kid. I remember tearing across town on my bike to visit her. On the way, my big sister dropped the bomb: "There is no Santa Claus," she jeered. "Even dummies know that!"

My Grandma was not the gushy kind, never had been. I fled to her that day because I knew she would be straight with me. I knew Grandma always told the truth, and I knew that the truth always went down a whole lot easier when swallowed with one of her
"world-famous" cinnamon buns. I knew they were world-famous, because Grandma said so. It had to be true.

Grandma was home, and the buns were still warm. Between bites, I told her everything. She was ready for me. "No Santa Claus?" she snorted .... "Ridiculous! Don't believe it! That rumor has been going around for years, and it makes me mad, plain mad!! Now, put on your coat, and let's go."

"Go? Go where, Grandma?" I asked. I hadn't even finished my second world-famous cinnamon bun. "Where" turned out to be Kerby's General Store, the one store in town that had a little bit of just about everything.

As we walked through its doors, Grandma handed me ten dollars. That was a bundle in those days. "Take this money," she said, "and buy something for someone who needs it. I'll wait for you in the car." Then she turned and walked out of Kerby's.

I was only eight years old. I'd often gone shopping with my mother, but never had I shopped for anything all by myself. The store seemed big and crowded, full of people scrambling to finish their Christmas shopping. For a few moments I just stood there, confused, clutching that ten-dollar bill, wondering what to buy, and who on earth to buy it for. I thought of everybody I knew: my family, my friends, my
neighbors, the kids at school, the people who went to my church. I was just about thought out, when I suddenly thought of Bobby Decker. He was a kid with bad breath and messy hair, and he sat right behind me in Mrs. Pollock's grade-two class. Bobby Decker didn't have a coat. I knew that because he never went out to recess during the winter. His mother always wrote a note telling the teacher that he had a cough, but all we kids knew that Bobby Decker didn't have a cough; he didn't have a good coat.

I fingered the ten-dollar bill with growing excitement. I would buy Bobby Decker a coat! I settled on a red corduroy one that had a hood to it. It looked real warm, and he would like that. "Is this a Christmas present for someone?" the lady behind the counter asked kindly, as I laid my ten dollars down."Yes, ma'am," I replied shyly. "It's for Bobby."

The nice lady smiled at me, as I told her about how Bobby really needed a good winter coat. I didn't get any change, but she put the coat in a bag, smiled again, and wished me a Merry Christmas.

That evening, Grandma helped me wrap the coat (a little tag fell out of the coat, and Grandma tucked it in her Bible) in Christmas paper and ribbons and wrote, "To Bobby, From Santa Claus" on it. Grandma said that Santa always insisted on secrecy.

Then she drove me over to Bobby Decker's house, explaining as we went that I was now and forever officially, one of Santa's helpers.
Grandma parked down the street from Bobby's house, and she and I crept noiselessly and hid in the bushes by his front walk. Then Grandma gave me a nudge. "All right, Santa Claus," she whispered, "get going." I took a deep breath, dashed for his front door, threw the present down on his step, pounded his door and flew back to the safety of the bushes and Grandma.

Together we waited breathlessly in the darkness for the front door to open. Finally it did, and there stood Bobby.

Fifty years haven't dimmed the thrill of those moments spent shivering, beside my Grandma, in Bobby Decker's bushes. That night, I realized that those awful rumors about Santa Claus were just what Grandma said they were: ridiculous. Santa was alive and well, and we were on his team.

I still have the Bible, with the coat tag tucked inside: $19.95.

He's coming

Yesterday at work. The big boss was coming. Not the manager, or my manager's boss, but the big cheese, the owner of all the restaurants in our network. We didn't know when he was going to show up, he was just coming sometime that day. Needless to say, my General manager was in a tizzy trying to get everything cleaned just right and have signs up the way they were supposed to be, and make sure that everything was done the way it should have been so that she wouldn't get in trouble. As we were scrambling around, cleaning, etc. while still trying to take care of customers and do our other regular tasks, I got to thinking. (uh oh)
We knew that the boss was coming and we were fast preparing, but how much less scrambling would we have had to do, if all those tasks were taken care of on a regular basis. What if the signage that was supposed to be up, was already up? We wouldn't have had to be searching the store to try to find them. What if all things were already clean the way they were supposed to be?
I got to thinking about this and compared it to the 2nd Coming of Christ. We know He is coming, but we don't know when. It is soon, though. Are we prepared? Do we have our lives clean the way they are supposed to be? Are we living so we don't have to do a mad dash cleaning up and repenting at the end? Will He be able to look at us and say, "Well done, thou good and faithful servant?" He's coming. Are we ready? Am I ready?

Its December already??

O.K., I guess I'll write about November then.
Richard & I had a chance to go see some Community Theatre that I wasn't in. It was fun to just go see a play. On the 14th, we saw 'K-O-L-D Radio-Whitefish Bay' in Clear Lake. It was about a small town, northern Minnesota Radio Station whose main show was about crappie fishing. Fairly local humor, and you definitely came out speaking in that Iron Range accent, you betcha.
The next night we went to Turtle Lake High School and saw 'Hello Dolly'. It was a high school production and was very well done. The gal who played Dolly was very talented. I wish our high school would do things like that with our kids, but no one seems to want to put in the effort, including the kids. sigh. So we do community theatre instead.
We had our Primary Sacrament meeting program on the 16th. Our pianist was sick, so I ended up filling in as pianist for the program. At least I knew the songs. The kids all did a good job. It was Michael's last program.
Daniel got his Bobcat badge at the pack meeting on the 20th.

I sang at a ladies luncheon with my friend on the 22nd.
On the 26th, the kids got out of school early. We had the missionaries over for dinner. Later that night, Alisha, Emily, Richard & I went to see Twilight.
Thanksgiving Day. It was just us. We hung around the house, I made food (for several days before) and we ate.

Several of us were fighting colds (and are still fighting them, may I add...grr) so it was a fairly quiet day. Alisha did spend the morning serving at a Thanksgiving Dinner at a local church and the rest of us were watching for a girl from Clear Lake who was in the All American Marching Band at the end of the Macy's Parade. In the afternoon we went to the movies. Some saw Quantum of Solace and Sarah, Daniel & I saw Bolt. Bolt is REALLY cute!! I highly recommend it!
I sang 'The Lord's Prayer' at church on Sunday.
Then the cold which I had been avoiding really hit me Sunday night. sniff.
Have a great December!

Halloween

Our Halloween Activities started last week. The Cub Scouts & Girl Scouts (there are a couple of us on both committees) had a combined Halloween Party at the school. I went as Sarah Palin, and caused a stir among the Democrats in attendance. Sarah went as a cat, Daniel as Spiderman, Michael, a wizard, and Alisha & Emily came along to help with face painting & other activities.

Halloween Day was a lot of fun too. The kids had the day off school. Richard took the day off, and had them help around the house during the day. I had to work. Or rather, Sarah Palin had to work at McDonald's. :-) Some people wished me luck on Tuesday. If I saw them whispering & pointing from a distance, I would wink & point at them. I think I have the employee costume contest nailed (pictures were taken with voting to be later). :-)

That night, Alisha & Emily went to a party at a friend's house. Richard dressed as my secret service agent & we took Michael, Sarah & Daniel out Trick-or-Treating. John stayed home. This time Sarah went as a goth 50s girl, though she said she was also being Piper Palin. It was about 45 degrees, so they lasted about 1 hour, though that was plenty of time to pull in a good haul!

Then we went & filled up the car at $2.29 a gallon. This morning I saw in the next town that it was $2.19! We filled up for less than $40! It has been a long time since that happened!

Halloween time!

Having fun with the kids, we had a Halloween theme dinner tonight.

Sarah & Daniel helped me with making the mummies


the witch's hair is spaghetti squash

Sarah made the green meanies

And Alisha made our Blue Goo Cupcakes.

Afterwards, we all carved pumpkins. I waited until too late to get the $2 pumpkins from the farmers' stands, instead, I went shopping TODAY and had to pay $5 each for them! Yikes!

Emily & Michael working hard
Daniel with his finished project
Alisha busy marking a design
Alisha's finished design
Sarah's rose

This is Emily's. It is supposed to be a wolf howling at the moon, but after looking at it, she decided it looks more like a cat
So, have a safe & happy Halloween all! Our kids have the day off from school, because it was the last day of the quarter today. I have to work. On that note, one last picture of me & Ronald, who came in during my first week of work.
patti