Strong Women

I was going to blog away about things that have happened since the last time I blogged but I just read my daughter's post and it got me to thinking about the strong women in my family.  I'll start with my Grandma Shores.

Grandma Shores (Irene Thrailkill Shores) was a farm girl.  Her parents were wealthy by the standards of the day, owning several hundred acres of land in Clark, Missouri.  She had 2 sisters and all 3 girls were the talk of the town as each of them were beautiful in their own rights.  My grandma walked to school  everyday with her second or third cousin, my grandfather.  As time went on they fell in love and decided to marry.  By her wedding day, she was in a family way with my Aunt Christine.  Of course, her reputation suffered by this occurrence but she and my grandfather went on with the wedding.  My grandparents did very well for themselves.  They bought their own farm and started to raise their own cattle.  They had a son soon after their daughter was born and then they waited several years before they had another daughter and a couple of years later a son, my father.  They loved the farm and their lives and they had the world by the tail.  Then in the mid 1930's the stock market crashed and my grandfather lost his farm and all of his cattle.  They were basically homeless and they only had what they could take out of their house that they didn't owe something on.  They found a house to rent and my grandfather found a job selling coal.  He would walk the streets of Clark with a little wagon selling coal.  While he was doing that, my grandmother was keeping her house and her family together.  She milked cows, gathered eggs, made biscuits, sewed clothes, and held it all together.  It took them several years of living this way and then finally Grandpa got a job with the post office.  Grandma faced a lot of adversity in her life and yet she was able to overcome all that life threw at her.    She lived to the ripe old age of 96.

Then there was my Grandma Truby.  Her life was really very nice until she was 18.  At 18 she fell in love with my Grandpa.  He was a fun loving bad boy...drinking, smoking, dancing, hanging out with lots of guys and girls.  I am not sure but I think Grandma was attracted to the "bad boy" type but she had no idea what she was getting herself into.  She and Grandpa married and a year later their first child, a boy, was born.  He was a "blue baby"and she was told that he wouldn't live a year.  For the first year of his life, she constantly thought that each day would be his last.  In spite of the predictions, he thrived and all was good that way.  However, my grandfather loved the drink and when he drank, he was mean.  He would yell, throw things, curse, break things...the only thing that he didn't do is beat his family.  There were stories of how Grandpa would take Grandma, who didn't drive, to town to buy supplies, and on the way home, he would decide he was thirsty and would stop at a tavern to get "just one drink".  That might be at 2 or 3 in the afternoon.  Grandma would stay in the truck with the three kids and still be in the truck at 2 or so in the morning while Grandpa boozed it up and danced with any woman in the tavern who would dance with him.  When Grandpa was sober, apparently he was the kindest, hardest working man with the greatest sense of humor you could ask for.  When he was drunk, he was the meanest bastard ever put on the Earth.  When I was born, when Grandpa was 52 years old, he decided he would never touch alcohol again.  Unfortunately, for him and Grandma, that was too late.  He already had prostrate cancer which wasn't diagnosed for several more years and he died at 57.  He left Grandma with a very small railroad pension and his social security check.  This woman never complained about her life.  She found silver linings in everything much to my amazement.  She could have been bitter about the life that was hers, but instead, she found joy in the simple things.  As an adult, I asked her once why she stayed with Grandpa when he was so awful to her while drunk and all she said was, "I don't remember or dwell on the bad times.  Our lives were filled with good times too and those are what I remember."  Life knocked her around in ways I am not sure I would or could have survived and yet, she was and always will be my inspiration.

My mom was also a strong woman.  She really didn't have a lot of "horrible" things to deal with in her life other than growing up with my grandfather.  However, her final years were no walk in the park.  She had a spinal cord infarction on June 19, 2009, and that left her in a wheelchair.  Her faith and hope that she would walk again never wavered.  Even 3 weeks before she passed away, she told me how she was going to cook for me when she could stand up again.  My mom's spirit was one of great determination and drive.  Whatever Mom wanted she was bound and determined to get; and she usually did.

Now, I look at my daughter.  This bright light in my heart, in my life, in my world.  She married the love of her life at 20, had her first child at 24 and her second at 26.  Being so close together, there was no doubt that the children would keep her busy.  But, when teaching didn't work out for her, did she lie down and cry?  Nope, she got herself together and opened her own daycare.  Within months, she needed a helper and within a year, they needed a substitute /part time helper.  Then they were able to open a day care in a church and she did it almost single handedly while her partner was battling her own health issues.  She did all that while coping with her second child's ongoing health problems too.  There are days when she feels overwhelmed and hopeless because the doctors either can't agree on treatments for Colin or they throw their hands up and admit they have no answers.  But does she hang her head and cry?  No!  She keeps pushing, knowing that she HAS to find an answer for her son.  Now her husband is going to be sent to a distant job site with his work.  She will have to keep her business going, raise two children and stay on top of her son's health issues alone while Chris is away.  But I know that she has the genetic makeup that will allow her to succeed.  Like my grandmothers she will find her way through and around this maze we call life.    When it is done and someone asks her how she did it, she will be like my Grandma Truby who remembered only the good times and put the hard/bad times behind her.  She comes from a long line of good women and she is a proud reflection of what they have left to her.

Don't Faint

Two blogs in the same month!  I have always liked keeping a diary and usually, I will write periodically.  At school I have a notebook full of thoughts from 2003 forward but now I am so busy at work, that I seldom have the 30 minutes or so it takes to write things down.  So, while I am not sure it is completely "gone", I do think I need to find another venue for recording my thoughts.  So here I am.

This has been such a nice weekend.  Michael left for Flagstaff on Friday.  While Michael seldom interferes with anything Duane and I want to do it has been nice this weekend to know that we are just "us".  Yesterday we spent the day taking down Christmas decorations and putting them away.  For once, we were so darned organized and we got the chore done in less than 2 hours.  Then Duane went to work on his computer things (photography and video) and I cross stitched.  About every two hours we would yell something to each other and then resume what we were doing.  Michael's cross stitch Eagle is now two thirds done and I am more than halfway done with the page I am currently working from.  Two more pages after that and it will be finished.  Maybe I will have it done by March if I am lucky.

Today, Duane and I got up early and went out to breakfast.  Usually, we take Vina to breakfast with us but today it was just us.  After breakfast we came home and I dropped Duane off so I could go to the grocery store.  I got home in time to call Dad and since then have been working on bills and budgets. We have a financial plan and it is fun to sit and play with the plan to make it more efficient.

Duane has meat on the slow cooker and I must be smelling it because my stomach is starting to growl.  I am going to end here and go in search of a snack to hold me over.

Did I mention that it has been such a nice weekend?

New Beginnings in 2014:

It is January 1, 2014.  A new year...a time of new promise...each year we start "again" but soon after, we fall into the same ole routine with the same ole thoughts facing the same ole problems..so "new" doesn't really seem "new" after a few weeks, or days or sometimes even hours...but "new" it truly is.

This year, I will turn 57.  This year I will celebrate my 10th wedding anniversary to Duane.  This year my granddaughter will turn 5 and my grandson will turn 4.  This year my daughter will turn 30 and my son will turn 27...GET OUT!  This year will be the third year anniversary of my mother's passing.  This year I will achieve my 80 points with the Arizona Retirement System meaning I can retire with full benefits.  This year I will face an amazing number of WOW's! and an equal number of sad or down times.  Some of them will lift me up and keep me flying for quite some time and some will have the ability to knock me into a valley of such deep chasms that it may take me some time to climb out.  This year my father will turn 85.  What an amazing life that man has lived!  This year is a year of endless possibilities.

I am blessed.  I know I am.  I have an amazing life, amazing family, amazing friends.  I have had such a feeling of deep contentment, peace and love for this past month and am astounded that it survives with all the stuff that goes on around me.  Yet, this feeling has been my rock during the drama of the season and at work and when things haven't gone "my way".  I sit in my chair and close my eyes...within minutes if floods my soul and soothes away the anxiety.  How I wish I could share this feeling with others but I don't know how.  I just hope that God uses me to teach others how to achieve what I feel here.

I don't know where 2014 will take me but I will try to take this blog along with me and it.  As Shannon said in her blog; I'd like to look back on it and remember where I've been and what I've done.  So here's to New Beginnings of 2014!

I'm not a good blogger

I'm not a good blogger.  I know I should write more and keep things up to date but for some reason its not what I think about when I get on the computer.  I do keep a diary that I write in a little more often but even it has its huge lags.

I've started my 9th year with Cave Creek.  That seems so impossible.  I don't feel like I've been there 9 years.  I had 13 years in Chandler and that was just yesterday.  Where has the time gone?  The biggest milestone that I will hit this year is achieving my 80 points in the retirement system.  That means I can retire with full benefits...everything.  Now for every year I work, I work towards upping my percentage so that I can bring home just a little more money when I finally do retire.  That is looking to be in about 6 years.  If the next 6 years goes as fast as the previous 9 years, my next blog might be about my retirement!!

Grandkids are doing well.  Colin will undergo his next surgery to have his laryngeal cleft repaired on October 14th.  I will go back to Missouri and look after Alyssa while Colin and Shannon are in the hospital.  I am hoping that he has an easy time of it and is home before the week is over.  After that, I will go to Dad's so that I can see for myself how things are going with him.  If Colin does well the first week, I will get to spend almost a full week with Dad.  Now I just have to make my airline reservations.

The weather is finally starting to cool down some.  It is still warm during the day but the humidity seems to be dropping and the nights are starting to cool off some.  i always like it from October to about April.  That is when living in Phoenix is second to none.

Well, I'm going to end here.  It isn't a long blog but it is at least something!!

:)

A New Year

I know the year starts in January and here it is March 19th and I'm starting out with "A New Year".  Well, this is going to go from March 19th, 2013 to March 19th, 2014.  I am starting out doing two new things simultaneously and hoping they both work out for me.

A few years ago, I lost a lot of weight on the Optifast Diet.  I was very happy with my weight but felt like I should lose more.  But I got stuck...and then I got upset because Duane was losing like a house was on fire and my weight had plateaued.  So, I gave up trying.  I continued to exercise for a bit of time and that helped my weight to stabilize but I stopped making good food choices and then I stopped exercising regularly.  I would go on exercise bends that would last anywhere from a couple of days to a couple of weeks, but then I would find an excuse to not work out.  In the meantime, I continued to make poor food choices.

I watch The Biggest Loser and think...boy, if only I had access to a daily trainer....if only I had a lot of money so I could take the time off....and could I even keep up with the pace The Biggest Loser sets?  I also listen to them say, "If I can do it, you can do it, and I think....oh if only it were so easy...."  So season after season, I watch and wish.

A few weeks ago, Duane was lamenting about his weight.  He, too, has regained some of his weight...not as much as me, but he's still put on some weight.  He wanted to go back on the OptiFast but financially, it was going to be hard.  However, I have been saving money to put down on his sports car.  When he was talking about it seriously, I told him the only way I could see us making it work was if he gave up his sports car from this fall and used that money for Optifast.  He decided that he was going to do that.

So yesterday he went back to Scottsdale Weight Loss Center.  It may have been a blessing in disguise.  As Dr. Z was doing is EKG, he found that Duane's heart is starting to be somewhat compromised.  We still don't quite understand what is going on completely but Duane does need to make an appointment with a cardiologist and find out what is going on.  Since his brother died of a heart attack several years ago and his sister has heart problems, it is not too far fetched to think that Duane might have some issues in that regard too.

When he made his decision to go back to Scottsdale Weight Loss Center, I made a decision to tackle my weight issues a different way.  On the next to the last show of The Biggest Loser, Bob was wearing a shirt that said, " 3 days on, 1 day off, 365 days year".  I took that to mean 3 days of exercise, 1 day off, all year round, so that is my plan as Duane is doing his Optifast.  Today he started his shakes and I started my exercise routine.

I am going to blog it all year long to keep it all in perspective for me...where I start, what I do, how long I do it and if I am making any progress at all.  I will not lose weight as fast as Duane will; I know that...but if I can build endurance, build muscle, lose weight, make my feet feel better...maybe he and I will eventually be in the same healthy spot.

So Day 1:
Weight in the a.m.:  296.8
Exercise:                Treadmill for 45 minutes
Speed:                   2.4 for 14 minutes, 2.7 for 30 minutes, back to 2.4 for remainder
Incline:                   Rolling Hills (ranged between 0.0 and 3.0 inclines)
Calories burned:    192
Distance                1.72 miles

Tune it to see how Day 2 goes!!!

School Thoughts

Well, here I am....back for another school year.  This year is starting off a whole lot differently than last or any of the other years since moving to Cave Creek Schools.  I am at the high school and I am loving it.  It feels so much like "coming home" to me.  I love high school kids.  I love interacting with them and helping them to see the potential in themselves.  I love their bright faces and high optimism.  I love their high hopes for the future.  Sometimes life gets them down.  Doesn't it get all of us down sometimes?  But if they look around they find their hope again.  I love watching them solve their problems and come out on the other side stronger for it.

I'm also lead speech therapist this year.  I am enjoying that.  It feels natural for me to be in front of a group again.  I like all of the ladies and I think we make a really good team together.  Our new gals are bright, energetic,and eager to be doing the right thing.  Its such a nice spot to be in.

My summer vacation was too short, as always, but I had a blast.  I love being at home and doing my home things the way I want; whether that is cross stitching, reading, being in the pool, or cleaning my house.  As always I had a plan to exercise and did for about three weeks but then vacation came around and then it was too hot to get back to it....um hum.....if you believe that, I have a bridge to sell you!!...I loved going back to Missouri with Judy.  We talked and talked and talked. We are such good traveling companions!!  I loved spending time with the grandkids and kids.  Alyssa and Colin are growing so fast and are so much fun.  Unfortunately, while I was there, Colin got pneumonia and hand, foot and mouth disease.  He ended up in the hospital for a few days but was out before I left to go back to Arizona.  While Colin was in the hospital, Duane and I looked after Alyssa.  She was such a trooper but before the end of the second day, she also came down with hand, foot, and mouth disease.  I don't think I will ever forget her standing in the middle of the garage with huge tears running down her face saying, "Grandma, I wanted to go to the store!"  I didn't know what store she wanted to go to and with my heart breaking because of her tears, I asked her which store she wanted to go to.  She repeated very strongly, "The STORE".  I felt like such a bad grandma because I didn't know which store she was talking about.  Suddenly and without any warning she threw up all over her shoes, my shoes and everything.  This bad grandma could only think, "Thank Heavens!  We are in the garage and we can hose it down!"  I didn't rush to get her inside and thank goodness I didn't.  After several heaves, she was finally done enough that I could get her upstairs without any problems on the carpet!!  Come to find out later, the store she wanted to go to was Walmart.  I was able to take her to Walmart before I left and we had a great time and didn't spend too much money.

Spending time with Dad was also wonderful.  He is a very lonely man and will probably be that way until the day he dies.  He lived for Mom and without her, he is kind of a loner.  He loves my brother in law's visits and counts on them.  Charla and Brad take such good care of Dad and its a relief to know they are nearby.  I was able to clean his windows and his house.  I watched baseball with him and we talked.  I cooked meals for him and for him to put away for Brad's visits.  The next week I brought Steve in from St. Louis and the week after that Duane and I visited with Dad for about two hours as we headed back to Arizona.  Charla and I went through one of the closets that held Mom's clothes and her jewelry.  That was tougher than I expected but not as tough as it could have been.  Charla and I are in agreement about so much and so there were no conflicts over items or anything at all.

As I write this Duane is in South Carolina for business.  He and I are doing well and I love it that after almost 10 years together (not married...just together) he can still make me laugh.  I do believe we are so good for each other!

Well, I guess I should get up and let the dogs inside the house.  I'll re read this to make sure I've got it all down and then I'll post.  Who knows when I'll write again...but I will....someday.  Maybe in that blog I'll talk about how proud of Shannon, Chris and Michael I am....but I'm out of blogging energy right now!  :)

Life happens fast!!  I think often of how I should get on this site and write more...document my life a little more for family but then I get busy and don't think to do it.  I guess I am sometimes too busy living life and thus don't write about life....until moments like tonight!!  :)

Its May already.  School will be out before long and then I'll have almost 8 glorious weeks to "play". I have my Missouri vacation planned and can hardly wait to see family again.  It feels like forever since I have seen Colin and Alyssa.  I know they have grown so much since last December when I saw them!  I think Alyssa might be forgetting who I am a little bit because she has stopped wanting to talk to me on the phone.

It will also be good to spend time with Dad.  I worry about him and although I know Charla and Brad would let me know if anything was wrong; it will be good to see it for myself.  I love my father with all my heart and wish that I could live closer to him.

We lost Mayer on March 28th.  He was 13 years old and had lived a good life.  Unfortunately he had started to go blind and had a huge tumor on his neck that was more than likely cancerous.  Taking him to the vet to have him put to sleep was so dang hard.  When the time came, though, he laid on the blanket  beside where I was sitting.  The vet administered the first drug and he started to snore like he always did when he slept hard.  It made me smile for an instant and then with the administration of the second drug, he was gone.  I have to believe that he is in a better place; jumping and running and sleeping in the sun.  The life he had with us during his last months was not the life I hope he has now.

Since losing Mayer, Buster and Dot have adjusted. Buster misses Mayer more than I thought he would but Dot has proven to be fickle.  She has moved her affections from Mayer to Duane!  Now she is constantly seeking him out and wanting his attention.

Well, that's about all I can think of for now.  I'll try to write a time or two this summer....but don't hold your breath!!  :)