My Dad

Thanksgiving is just a few days away. The older I get, the more I seem to reminisce around birthdays and other holidays. My mother is no longer living. Most of my blood relatives live in Idaho, my brother resides in NYC, I have a cousin in Seattle, and more family in Montana and Alabama. I miss them all a lot and rarely see any of them on a holiday anymore, but such is life. I do have a big family now in Maine (and Michigan, Florida, New Hampshire)... my husband's side of the family. I love and enjoy spending time with all of them, but, and maybe this is a strange comment, but none of them look like me.

In any event, here is a drawing of my dad when he retired at age 55 from Boeing. I have wonderful memories of the two of us, hiking around Mount Rainier, fiddling with different lenses as we took pictures of wild flowers and wildlife. I am sure I get my love of the outdoors from him because my mom hated camping and hiking. She was much more comfortable sipping coffee at a street-side cafe or going to see the latest disaster movie...hey that sounds like my brother, Mr. NYCity. I find it hard to believe that I am 55 now and thinking about retirement. It's even harder to believe that my dad has been retired for 30 years and still enjoying life tho he's more likely to read in a comfy chair these days than slip into his hiking boots and head for the hills. When I look at this drawing, sketched by a Boeing graphic artist and presented to him on his last day of work, I miss those times with my dad so many years ago and I will miss him this Thanksgiving. A phone call, or maybe a SKYPE call will have to bridge the miles between us. But, it doesn't replace being able to give him a hug after Thanksgiving dinner.

Football Sunday

Here's how our football Sunday went.

Grandpa snoozed.

Family snuggled.

Addie took off her shoes, dropped her pants and ran around the condo.

Brisla tumbled on the foot stool...right in front of the TV
(maybe that was when Grandpa was taking a nap).

Dan ate too much :P

We all ate ice cream!
And then Grandma went to bed...still coughing!

Tasty Tempura

天麩羅, or, tempura, was introduced to Japan in the mid-sixteenth century by early Portuguese missionaries and traders. That's a little surprising, don't you think? Most people know it's lightly fried vegetables and fish. But did you know that the word tempura comes from the word "tempora," a Latin word meaning "time period" used by both Spanish and Portuguese missionaries to refer to the Lenten period or holy days when Catholics avoid meat and instead eat fish or vegetables (Wikipedia). The Compact, Online Oxford English Dictionary (the OED is the authority on these things,right?) suggests that the word comes from the Portuguese tempêro ‘seasoning’. Whatever the origins of the word (and I do love etymology), we had delicious tempura last night thanks to my step-son. He stood over a pot of boiling oil for a good hour and a half, frying up onions, broccoli, green beans, sweet potato, and other veggies that we gobbled up as fast as he could crisp them in his wok! Dipped in wasabi mayonnaise or a soy-based Asian seasoning dip or a chipotle mustard sauce....delicious! Loved it and loved getting out of the house (finally!) and enjoying time with family :) Woke up with another stuffed head and nose, but it was worth getting out and enjoying life...being sick sucks.

Holiday Cheer

The holidays can make you mental. So many expectations. This year I am just trying to stay focused on the spirit of it all....loving and being grateful for friends and family. I'm trying to accept where everybody is at and find perfection in that. Wish me luck! hahaha

Loving My Work

Judi Bomberger metal sculpture

Having been out of work for a week I was reminded again, today, how much I enjoy my work. There are many, many parts of my day that I would categorize as my job. But not the time I spend with children. The time I spend with children is my work. And that, despite all the useless paperwork, boring and/or tense meetings, bad attitudes and constant assessments, is why I work in a public school. I worked with a student today who has had a difficult time engaging in his work. Yes, he has a serious disability but he is even more disabled by his attitude. He could care less. Today, however, he was different, probably happy his routine was back to normal because I finally showed up, but after working with him for a short time I told him, "You have really stepped up." I thought for a moment and then asked him, "What does that mean?" "It means I care and I work hard now," he told me with a big smile. Indeed, I don't just enjoy my work, often, I love it.

Thinking 'Bout New Glass!

"What did you do as a child that made the hours pass like minutes?
Herein lies the key to what you should be doing in your worldly pursuits."
Carl Jung..

I have been sick for a week. When I am sick I think..a lot. I think about my life and what I'm doing. What has occurred to me during my recent homeboundedness is that I need to find time for art. Art. My own, unique and original art, makes me happy. Color turns me on. Creating something from nothing is the deepest pleasure I feel...well, one of them, anyway :P. Being creative and working with color makes everything else fall into place for me. I have to find time for it. Make art, peace follows. It's like yoga and meditation. Carl Jung wrote that art is done for the sake of it not because you might sell it or have it judged. You create because it transforms you. You create because you need to.

Second Frost

So, I finally wandered outside today for more than 5 minutes. Although I am still coughing from whatever bronchial virus seems to have taken up house in my body, I felt the need to get some fresh air into my congested lungs. So when I let Olivia out to pee this morning, I bundled up in a winter coat and walked around our backyard for a bit. And here is what I saw. The second night of frost had laid down these silver sparkles on this deep green moss just outside my back door. What a wonder life is.

Notice of Change in Terms

Today I received a form letter from Citibank Visa. At the top, in bold, I read "Notice of Change in Terms". Hmmmm.... I was thinking. I don't owe much, I pay regularly and I have been a customer since 1985. They must be thanking me. Yep, that's what they were doing. Starting December 29, 2009 Citibank's holiday thank-you gift to me is to raise my interest rate to nearly 20% (up about 5 points). I call the company. Must be some wiggle room I think, I'm a long-time customer is excellent standing. The cheery woman on the other end of the phone tells me that, yes, indeedee there are options for me. Lucky me, I can have the interest rate slowly climb over a year vs. on the December effective date because I have been such a loyal customer for 24 years. After I tell the woman I don't know how she can work for such a company and how outraged I am and how I know that my rant means nothing I tell her that I will take the other option to freeze my current interest rate and close my account, effective the day my credit card expires, in 2013. Wow, you're luck, she tells me, you credit card expires in 4 years. Yah, I'm lucky. I also tell her that they are losing good customers, keeping the bad who have no choice. I know I'm not telling her anything she doesn't already know. And, I am actually outraged for the second time. I have already taken action with another Visa account, this one from Bank of America when they wanted to raise my rates from 8.9% to 18.9%. It's forever frozen at 8.9% and being payed it off as slowly as I can. But I'm done. I'm just not interested in funding those record Wall Street bonuses any more. And, I'm done feeling jerked around by credit card companies. My balances from now on will be paid in full or I won't buy. Better way to live, anyway.

Under Citi's proposed compensation plan, three of the company's top five executives would be paid a total of nearly $12.5 million in cash bonuses over the next five years. One of the executives, James Forese, is a co-head of Citi's Institutional Client Group, which lost $20 billion in 2008. Forese is rewarded $5 million under the plan. At least 15 other Citi executives are in line for multimillion-dollar payouts. Citi declined to say how much in total it has promised under the plan.

Read more: http://www.time.com/time/business/article/0,8599,1886778,00.html#ixzz0XEJNCDSI

photo from same website

Nurse Mom

I have been sick for about 5 days...home sick. Just today I feel like I am returning from the dead and barely breathing. Still coughing from my toes, but I'm feeling better. This morning I am feeling blue and missing my mom. Say what you will about my imperfect mother, she was always there for me when I was sick. I could call her from 3,000 miles away and the caring, wonderful, kind nurse in her would step up and take care of me. Generally this was hard for her to do but not when I was sick. Here is a picture of my old room that my mom turned into her own room years after I left home. The gold, pull-out sofa belonged to my crazy grandmother and her beloved dolls and teddy bears are everywhere.

Here is the other side of my mom, in another room she made into her own. She loved the computer, watching old romantic or disaster movies and loved to sew. She did all that in this little side room. I miss our old home, which I hear has been completely remodeled and I miss my mom. Rest, drink fluids, and know I love you...that's what my mom would have told me this week were she still alive.

My mom, shortly before her death.
She had a great sense of humor.

Mac-N-Cheese With Love

This weekend my wonderful husband made a huge pan of homemade, fattening mac-n-cheese...real comfort food for a sick wife's body. He asked me if I had ever heard of a mac-n-cheese recipe that included red wine and onions. Hmmm, I thought, will this be comfort food? But it was delicious! Ok, maybe it was because I couldn't taste anything with my stuffed head but, maybe not!

For Rent

We own a couple of rentals. The income from these at some point will be our retirement. We have never had a problem filling our rentals, even in January. This year, re-renting these units has become a nightmare. Both the tenants in this duplex took advantage of Obama's $8000 incentive to become first-time home owners and vacated the building. We reduced the rent on one side by $150 and got a new tenant but the unit was vacant for a month. We reduced the rent by $100 on the other side and are........waiting. One prospective tenant e-mailed to cancel the viewing because she is allergic to cats. She drove by and saw this cute little kitty sitting on the stoop. A young couple came to look and loved it, but then offered us $200 less a month and said God would take care of them. One woman while sauntering around commented, "It's a renter's market, ya know?" She decided the place was too small. When tenants don't pay the rent/mortgage, we do and we have our own money woes at this point. We let the current tenants stay longer than their lease to be "nice". Our kindness gave them time to get into their new Obama-supported house. Probably a mistake for us. With these rentals we always need to keep in mind that they are a business. Being kind will cost us money; money that's hard to come by these days. But, maybe in the bigger scheme of things it was the right thing to do :)

Flu Shot

My husband, who doesn't panic much, called me to tell me that maybe we should think about getting the flu shot. He had heard, just that day, that thousands not hundreds have died from the H1N1 virus, I called my doctor's office in a bit of a mild panic. I knew that you had to get the regular flu shot before the H1N1 vaccine. The medical receptionist promptly told me that they were no longer were giving the flu shot, they'd run out. They offered no help. They were out and too bad for me. When I asked, "So what am I supposed to do?" the woman put me on hold and returned to direct me to a couple of websites where I could enter my zip code and search for a clinic. Jesus. Then I remembered that our school nurse had sent out an e-mail a week ago, so I also knew there was a clinic of sorts in the mall. It was 5:00, the clinic closed at 7:00. I had heard somebody at work say that the wait for the flu shot was 2 hours the day before...ugh. I wondered if they would be out? I wondered if they would not give me the shot because I had a cough? When I arrived, the line was short but the scene was surreal. It seemed like something out of a syfy movie. The line wound back and forth. People waited quietly. We all filled out and signed long forms that detailed the potential side effects. The Merk employees took my insurance card. After a short time, I sat down and rolled up my sleeve. It all went easily and quickly but I was left with an uncomfortable feeling. Running to get the shot before they ran out? Thousands dying. My normally calm husband worried? The world we live in now frightens me. And, yes, the irony does not escape me....I got the flu shot on Thursday evening and was very sick Friday and today.

Flu?

Wednesday I started to feel a scratchy throat. Thursday I started coughing and feeling like I was dragging a 100 pound weight around. Thursday night I felt chilled. With all the sickness going around I thought I'd better take my temperature. I didn't believe the digital display. I took my temperature 4 more times (did you know your temperature can vary 1 degree when you take it repeatedly?). Maybe the thermometer was broken I thought? I took my temperature with the old fashioned mercury thermometer I dug out of the bathroom drawer. I had, no matter how I measured it, a fever. "Fever?" I thought, "Piggy Flu!" But today I am not writhing in pain or throwing up or wishing I would die so I don't think it's H1N1. Last night I did a google search and found you can have a fever with a cold or a sinus infection. Who knew? Since I don't usually take my temperature when I'm sick I don't know if I usually get a fever when I have my yearly cold and sinus infection (which I have already had this year). In any event, given the scare these days and the directive from our school nurse to stay home if you have a fever....here I am....home, taking a fever reducer, swimming in water, coughing, and sniffling, feeling achy.....maybe I do have the flu but I'm counting on a bad cold.