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| August 2005 |
August 1, 2005
A gorgeous day, but kind of chilly. When Wanda came to pick Nathan up this morning we could see our breath in the air as we chatted. It was overcast and I thought the day wouldn't be too nice, but it is very sunny and pretty. We'll see how the week goes. The Fair opens on Saturday, so it will be interesting to note the weather forecasts!
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Sobering news from my nephew living in San Francisco. He has been diagnosed and is undergoing treatment for non-Hodgkin's lymphoma. Please keep him in your thoughts and prayers. Even if you don't know him (or me, for that matter) I am a firm believer in the power of prayer. Thank you!
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Speakin' of CHILLY, the dogs got groomed and are just as cute as buttons. Too much fun!
I do plan to trim Marzipan's muzzle a little bit closer. Hopefully, with the right doggie bribe we can accomplish the task.
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 Ginger is gorgeous too. She was in a sorry state, since about MAY she wouldn't let me brush or do anything for her, like trim the mats... she would snap at me. |
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Finances prohibited taking her to the groomer until today, but now she is happy as can be. Hopefully she will be less mopey and grumpy now, and when her hair gets as long as an inch and a half, she is going back!!! |
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No poor lil doggie deserves to be without a haircut, even if I have to do without one myself!!!
Yeah, and Emily says, "Me TOO, Mama... I don't deserve to be without a haircut EITHER!!!
(Grinning, Ducking and RUNNING!)
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Speaking of Annie... (Wait, what do you mean we're not speaking of Annie? Maybe we weren't but we are NOW!) She is having a blast visiting her Aunt Cathy and cousins! She previously had plans to go with Chris and Shannon to Santa Fe to see Aunt Rose (Mama's sister) but decided it would be a good "break" to stay in Austin. Surprise! Aunt Cathy (Daddy's sister) called, then stopped by on her way to brunch and said, "Come to our house!" So after re-arranging the dogs for boarding, Annie hopped on a plane and took off for Cathy's! Way COOL. She's having a BLAST. Every so often a gal needs a break, but this is ridiculous... I'm JEALOUS! She's having too much fun!!!
August 2, 2005
We will attend the August School Board Meeting tonight. Emily was chosen to be a recipient of the John Kelly Scholarship funds to attend the University of Alaska Fairbanks. We'll go to the meeting for her to receive the scholarship award. Sounds like fun! Then we'll set up her advisor interview at UAF soon. She's already accepted, just needs to sign up for the courses.
• • •
It's another cool morning, about 50F. I'm shivering, but since it is still 65F in the house we're avoiding turning on the heater. Besides which (huge sigh) it really needs to be checked out and the budget is going to scream in agony at just the cost of checkup. That's scheduled for September 1st, and to have to do it sooner is really going to scrapitulate our
disjointed financial incrementalism. (Okay, "scrapitualte" is a made up word) Please forgive my pleonasm, but don't worry... as far as I know it's not contagious.
This could take awhile to load...
Poor little Marzipan was sitting out in the drizzle shivering, but she would not BUDGE to come inside when Bill or I called. She just sat there saying, "You dumb clucks cut off all my hair, so if I freeze, you can just cry me a river, SO THERE!!!" Well, DOH Marzi! At least Ginger has sense enough to come in out of the rain!!!• • •
The School Board meeting was nice. I forgot the Camera!!! Can you believe that? Emily was adorable though -- as usual. Next week we'll call about getting an appointment with a course advisor.
August 3, 2005
I'm planning to have lunch with Rita (my former manager from AVIS) today at Pikes, and I'm so excited! It'll be great to touch base and find out how things are going for her. It's been WAYYYYyyyyyy too long.
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What a fun lunch with Rita! It was so nice to get together again and hear all that is going on in and around her life and the exciting things Quota International of Fairbanks is doing this year. Busy! Busy! It was enough to get me thinking about working again, and that's pretty impressive! Goodness knows I surely do love being a home-maker/house-wife that it would take some fancy persuasion to pry me out and about again.
I got my Notions newsletter from the American Sewing Guild today. Fun and interesting and news about shoes! Looks like fun! I never really thought much about embellshing my shoes, other than red glitter for ruby slippers! Sounds great to me!
August 4, 2005
Wow. Time flies. It's hard to believe that it was just a year ago I decided to cut my hair and not color it anymore! I guess it was as good as a decision as any, but whoa I sure need a trim NOW! Short hair requires more maintenance than long hair but less "Fuss" from day to day.
August 28, 2004 |
Today........
I should schedule an appointment. This is too... er...uh... "relaxed", even for me!!!
I hadn't realized I was looking so rough... has it been a difficult year or what? I've heard of letting yourself go, but this is ridiculous. The house is looking better but what rock have I been under? |
Yikes. I guess this gives a whole new meaning to LOSING YOURSELF. (laughing) Better get back in the cosmetics habit or start wearing a bag over my head!
August 5, 2005
Today plan to visit Cyndee and take her a batch of my latest project(s) ... plural because I think I want to bake some cookies with "Splenda" and need her to test them with me. We planned this earlier in the week. Some things have come up, but we'll hope and see!!! I'll know by about 10:30, if I get a phone call. So... "Tick-tock" "Tick-tock"...• • •
9:30 AM
Got up at about 8:30 AM, and the things that have come up are apparently gonna keep me at home. (Or send me to the Urgent Care clinic...) I've got one HECK of a sore throat and a little bit of an ear ache. (sigh) Not good. (sigh) Callin' Cyndee. [insert sad face] Bummer. Well, we're set for Monday, anyway. I'll either get better or keel over.
• • •
As I was "helping" Bill in the garage I came across some old papers and stuff, and had to laugh at this schedule of my routine from 20 years ago:
Before computers, cordless phones, and microwaves came into our lives, things were so simple? Maybe not. A couple of things bother me about this. First is the apostrophe at "Share Day's Experiences" and the other one at "Mama's cooking supper" -- I knew better than that. Sheesh. The only thing I can imagine is that kids fry your brain and your grammar is the first thing to crisp and crumble. The second thing is Mama gets an hour to shower and 30 minutes to herself while she washes the dishes? Where the heck is the labor union? And this only works with two parents, right? HAH. Yeah, honey. What percentage of the time did Mama handle it all on her own?
Okay, what ELSE bothers me is that too many women (and some men nowadays) have to jump through the same hoops. It wasn't easy -- it was worth it... but there's no candycoating. It was HARD.
The last and possibly most bothersome thing... why did I believe it was important enough to type out. Don't laugh. I used to have the typewriter set up on one of the schranks, and I would type letters and things almost every day. When I worked at the pharmacy the typewriters were about that height, and I was more comfortably typing while standing than sitting. So.
I think the reason was because I read or heard that if you weren't happy, it was because your expectations weren't being met. Half of me says "BALONEY" and the other half says "Quit whining, you wuss!" (Was "wuss" a word 20 years ago?") I suppose I wasn't always happy so I decided I needed to identify my expectations and see what wasn't being met? See that recurring word in the list... "COOPERATE" ? Note to new moms: Age 4 is a challenge. The challenge is getting age 4 kids to COOPERATE! This revelation makes me a certified genius. Amazing Discoveries... because if you'd asked, I'd have thought cooperation didn't truly become a realized accomplishment for children until about age 20... (ducking) Hey, and be satisfied with that bedtime story, Mama doesn't do crazy voices like Daddy because she's struggling just to stay awake!
I was really fortunate that Billy was in Pre-school/Daycare from 10:30 to 4:00. That gave me time to care for Annie, do a little housekeeping and sew little dresses for my baby girl... something I really enjoyed. AND! I seem to recall getting to go bowling once a week. Those were the days.
I can also imagine that I really wanted to be acknowledged for doing a good job, too... or at least the recognition that I was WORKING, even if I wasn't employed!
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I also came across a chore chart made for the kids about 10 years ago. I remember going through a number of these type things between 1990 and 1998... This one was one of the last attempts. The way it worked was a week was labeled "A", "B", or "C" and in that given week the chores indicated for each individual were what was expected of them. Sundays were special. They had to do everything? Generally not. If the rest of the week was handled properly it seems like Sunday could actually BE a day of rest! Imagine that.
It looks as though we'd made some progress... they were apparently unloading and loading the dishwasher but needed the added "properly" reminder. Looks like there was a little bit of push toward attention to detail as well. I still struggle with the concept that "Clear Table" seems to mean "Throw the dishes in the sink, or stack them on the counter." LAUGHING!!! And "Sweep Up" ... that... "dispose of sweepings..." Bill still has to get on me for that because I'll sweep and leave a little pile of patooty that gets tracked back all over the place. The kids came by it honestly!
• • •
Tanana Valley Fair! |
Friday, August 5th - Saturday, August 13th
Gates open at noon.
Link to Fair Website
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August 6, 2005
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Emily and the Esprit de Danse Company from Dance Arts Academy are scheduled to dance at the Fair on August 6 and 13.
The talent contest is slated for August 6th, but the time conflicts with the Dancing so she will not sing this year? It would have been jolly for her to win the prize to help with her school and dance expenses, for sure! Maybe next year!
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• • •
Rita thoughtfully let us stash Emily's costume in her booth for awhile so we could browse and have a little lunch before the performance. She introduced us to the hair lady, who has a shop in the mall and Emily tried on a few pieces. It was awesome. It would make "dance hair" and "theatre hair" SO easy...
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Emily and the Dance Arts Academy folks danced "real pretty" at the fair and I took lots of pictures. For some reason I lost all but a few when I downloaded them to the computer. I have NO idea where they went, but *poof* they're gone, and I had even taken a few little movies. Bummer!
At least they'll be performing again next week, and I can try for more pictures.• • •
The weather wasn't too bad... a little bit cool, but I had a jacket. I'm probably going to go crawl into bed because this cold/sore throat or whatever it is, is really taking it out of me. Gotta whup-up on it one way or another.
It's probably related to the smoke rolling in, and goodness knows, I'm a non-smoker! Story of my life -- second hand smoke from mother nature now. (sigh) |
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August 7, 2005
It looks kinda dreary out there this morning, but you never know what the day will bring. OK, that is a gross generalization, but you understand what I'm saying? "BLAH" sort of fits the way it looks out there.
See? But it could burn off and be gorgeous, or drizzle all day. You never know. Well, okay almost never...
• • •
Emily and I went to the fair for a few hours. I think it's punishment, to make me walk a lot or something. There's not a LOT of smoke, but there's enough that it's bothersome and makes us cough (me and Emily, anyway.) And... (drum roll, please) she's REGISTERED to VOTE!
Now HERE is some news... it seems to be getting dark outside at night!!! That may not seem like a big deal, but it always seemed to me (past summers) that it didn't get this dark this early in the year. I think it was because of the schedules I was keeping. Bill says he thinks it is because of the smoke. At any rate... when it gets dark tonight, I'm going to BED!
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Tomorrow I will take six skirts to Cyndee and make sure she wants 2 more pink (1 medium, 1 small), 2 more blue, 2 more green and then as many black skirts as I can get from the remaining black fabric. That could be a LOT of black skirts! Surely she doesn't want 3 more in the largest, plus 3 in medium and small. That could get BORING, that many black skirts in the same pattern.
I put buttons on the front waist so the wearers can easily tell which is the FRONT of the skirt. Front and back are identical, but sides are different, so it would be way too easy to wear it sideways by mistake. Emily helped with the elastic, and asked if I can make her a skirt too! Well, sure I can! I'd be happy to.
The fun thing is that I want to take all the scraps and make patchwork, a vest or a bag or something... that would be fun. |
Emily is out with friends, catching up on the summer, since she hasn't seen them since school let our or before. Midnight curfew, Cinderella, you won't be 18 until Friday. And even then... 11 pm on weeknights out of COURTESY and if she's gonna be later than midnight out of COURTESY, she's going to give us a phone call... RIGHT???? Or else the car keys disappear. Yikes. Then I'd have to drive her everywhere. Emily! Keep in your curfew, I don't wanna be a taxi mom!!! 
(For the record: She was home in plenty of time!)
August 8, 2005
This morning, Emily has an appointment with Dr. Wentz (orthodontist extraordinare) for impressions. She lost her upper retainer at camp and hadn't ever gotten her second set of retainers... still, having gone so long without a top one isn't good. Her teeth were a little "different" after having some fillings so the first set wasn't fitting well anyway. Hopefully this is still covered under her original treatment. It isn't perfect, but we certainly don't want the teeth shifting any more than they already have. Then we'll have to look into what we need to do to straighten 'em back out.
• • •
Emily goes back the 10th for her retainers. We went up to UAF and sorted through finances. It looks like she's set for the first semester, anyway and maybe the whole year, as far as tuition goes. The little things are certainly adding up though, like pens and calendars and so on. A parking pass will be a major expense, and of course there will be books and such. Crazy.
Cyndee likes the skirts. We're a little concerned about the length, but if they were much longer this child would look like somebody's grandmother instead of a school aged child!!! Hopefully they're long enough. We'll know soon. She'll be trying the waist sizes soon too. I want them to be comfortable. A pinching skirt is a terrible thing to your waist. • • •
Happy Birthday Marzipan
Mail Call!!!
Annie's card for Marzipan arrived today. She was SO excited. Two year olds are the cutest on their birthdays, aren't they?
Lemme See! Lemme See!
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It's from ANNIE!
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That's a BIG dawg! |
Put it down where I can read it, silly! |
She misses me! She misses me!
I MISS YOU TOO, ANNIE!!!!
• • •
Emily and Dad went back to the University to meet with the advisor. As expected, Emily's courses are different than she thought at first. She can't take German, but will take another course related to music. Total tuition this semester = $1,885.00. Books are another story. Her English books (3) will be $105.00 USED. She'll be taking Math at TVC with Mr. Hackett! Way cool. Bill and Annie had him in High School and he was "THE BEST." She's got 14 hours this semester. Nice load...
| Basic Music Theory | 2 credits |
| University Choir | 1 credit |
| Basic Ear Training | 2 credits |
| Economics | 3 credits |
| Math | 3 credits |
| English | 3 credits |
When we know more about classes and books, we'll share. Try not to be too excited when we post how much the books are. I know you're just floored.  • • •
| The skirts aren't long enough. I'm AMAZED. I had been truly worried that cutting that pattern 4 inches LONGER than it called for, they'd be DREADFULLY long. That is one tall child! Future basketball star, but then that's from being associated with Cyndee, I'm sure. I wish I'd met her when I was younger, I'd be tall too! Anyway, the skirts already made will fit a younger sister, and we can whip out some more at 27" I'm going to go look for another pattern. :) I love sewing!
• • •
I knocked out three more skirts. They're REALLY lovely and I want some just like them! I've got loads and loads of fabric that will justify this pattern PERFECTLY. And it only took about 20 minutes per skirt, IF that long. Gotta love it!
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August 9, 2005
Omigoodness, it is a gorgeous day today. We'll be picking up a prescription for Emily's "Summer Cold" or whatever it is and strolling through the fairgrounds. It's really fun to people watch and enjoy the nice weather. I may have even gotten a little sunpinked. It sure felt like it at the time!
Daddy started on Annie's desk today! He was only going to drill ONE hole just to see if it worked, but it worked so well, he went ahead and drilled all four and put the legs in. Coolio!
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View the Slide Show
August 10, 2005
Emily goes back for her retainers today and we will take some CDs back to Rita and drop off more skirts to Cyndee. :) There is something else we are supposed to do but I don't remember what it was. I have been getting some excercise walking around the fair. This morning I asked Bill if we can walk around the neighborhood. Oh my alarm is going off, I have to hit the showers. What a busy day.(POOF)
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Okay. So we got the retainers, the skirt dropped off and had a wonderful lunch with Cyndee. Still have to drop off the CD's and go to the Fair to walk for awhile. That's excercise. have to resist temptation, but ... I still haven't had
- Dippin' Dots
- Caramel Apple
- ... well, I want halibut again. It's the BEST Halibut in the WORLD!
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August 11, 2005
Another GORGEOUS day -- so we are going to tempt fate... we're cleaning out the garage so the college student(s) will have a clean, warm car to get in every morning.
What? Was that plural? Well it's a hint. When Annie's ready, Emily's all set to lead her through the college and scholarship application maze and get her in school too! What a GREAT little sister!
Today is Food Bank Canned Food Day at the Tanana Valley State Fair. We ALWAYS go on this day, the price of admission is 4 cans of food. We usually take more, depending on our budget because this is a really good cause, great "price" (and naturally it is a really FUN Fair!) So we don't know how we'll feel at the end of the day, but if we can still move after cleaning the garage, maybe we'll treat ourselves to some dippin' dots or lemonade slushie at the fair.• • •
Naturally, I didn't take a "before" picture, but the pictures of Daddy building Annie's desk gives a general idea of the mess the garage has gotten into since a year ago. Emily has discovered a whole "new" wardrobe in the box of clothes we were going to sell at the garage sale that she hasn't seen in a year or two, and that was a cool thing. As good as garage sales seem to be, I don't think we really have anything "saleable"... We have to be realistic, and except for some books and computer monitors, there really isn't that much worth buying, even at a garage sale. We will put the useable stuff in the special section at the transfer site and if someone can utilize it, that will be a good thing.
Our 30 minute break is almost up... gonna get back in gear!
• • •
Didn't accomplish as much today as we'd have liked, but it was SOOOoooo hot and muggy, we did as much as we could. We will have to rely on Daddy to bring in the rest of the stuff... but we did haul off 3 cans full of trash and we have a huge box ready to go (of trash) and two boxes of clothes plus one box of "useable" stuff. It was a good effort for a hot day.
Oh yeah, and I mowed the side yard.
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We did manage to drag ourselves to the Fair and saw lots of people we know. The smoke has rolled in so it was a little chokey... (cough, cough) and the sun shone very red. We had halibut for dinner, and it was great. I forgot the camera though, so didn't get a picture. We'll go back tomorrow for Emily's birthday and Saturday for the dancing.
In the meantime- Night, night!
Happy Birthday, Emily! |
Happy 18th Birthday, Emily.
August 12, 2005
Always proud of you, honey!
What a fun day -- we picked up a video camera from Wanda to take pictures of Emily dancing tomorrow, had lunch at KFC, looked around in Sears and found 4 shirts on fabulous sale at Gottchalks. What fun!
I think I've done my walking for the day. It is SO smoky outside I don't wanna go to the fair. Maybe Daddy and Emily will let me off the hook.
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It was so smoky we all decided to stay in for the night. For Emily's Birthday "Party" we had a Buffy Season 3 marathon. We went to blockbuster and got the whole season, got a birthday cake from Safeway and watched til we went crosseyed at 2 am.!
Dad only lasted until about midnight, but Marzipan stuck with us to the end of our viewing night. I think we got through 8 episodes. More tomorrow!
August 13, 2005
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Tracy Lynn Edwards Thompson
Happy Birthday! Hope it's the best one yet!
Here you are with Cousin Shannon on Aunt Debbie's wedding day wayyyy back in 1978. Doesn't it drive you nuts when people say, "I remember you when you were a little girl???" Well guess what? |
| I remember you when you were a little girl!!!
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• • •
Today is the last day of the Fair. I can't wait to see Emily dance again! My 18 year old will be dancing! (tee hee) I haven't seen her dance since she was 17!!! Last week!
In the meantime, better get the dancin' doll up, she's been racked out long enough. (Yelling:
EMILY!!!!
| ... ... ... ... ... that ought to do it!!! |
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Dance Arts Academy performed at the fair again today. They did an outstanding job despite the muggy heat and smoke.
"Star" in its entirety would be a very, very, long, long download.
Smaller downloads:
Clip 1 Tap 5631KB
Clip 2 Tap 6175KB
Clip 3 Tap 6303KB
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Mannequin
This dance is about 10 minutes long. They did a great job and it ... (uhm) ... had a different ending...
"Mannequin" in its entirety would be an extremely very, very, very, very, long, long, long, long download.
Smaller downloads:
Clip 1 Ballet 2399KB
Clip 2 Ballet 5118KB
Clip 3 Ballet 1824KB
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August 14, 2005
Today and tomorrow are "recuperation" days for us. After a week of the fair and an entire summer on the go, for Emily. Even though we didn't go to the fair every day, the season tickets WERE the best (most cost-effective) option for us. Emily is going to take it easy and then get her room ready as a rest, relaxation and study area for the fall.
Annie hasn't decided yet whether she'll be staying with us after her visit in September or returning to Texas. We looked into fall courses for her but it looks like the application deadline was months ago. Still, whatever she decides, we'll support her 100%.• • •
Emily and I haven't finished our Buffy Season 3 marathon -- but will probably handle that today or tomorrow. There is a lot of background in there that fills in the gaps between the first two seasons and the last one. We're enjoying it. Maybe we can do Season 4 on a weekend when Annie comes home!
August 15, 2005
Watched more Buffy Season 3. Smoky day.
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