Wyoming Here We Come!

Proof that we did make it to Wyoming.


These wind turbines were seen from a long distance away - it almost looked like a very large flower garden. The middle picture is taken from a long distance. There were approximately 100 of these. We found out later that they were erected on an old reclaimed coal mine. Each one of the tubes that hold the blades is the equivalent of seven school buses stacked on top of each other.
Some of the Wyoming countryside. There are NO trees at all in the lower section of Wyoming.

Pre Wyoming Dinner

After finally getting everyone together and our luggage, we all went to dinner in Salt Lake. Joe and I were heading to Rawlins, Wyoming where we had reservations to spend the night, but we wanted to spend a little time together.

Meeting Derek - Part Two Six Months Later

It was our six months exodus to Utah and our chance to spend time with Derek again (and Corey and Nikki as well, of course).

On our trip west, Joe and I were on separate airlines obviously going separate ways. Why? Mine was a free ticket cashed in several months ago and Joe's was a purchased ticket several weeks later. I left Atlanta, flew to Phoenix and then on to Salt Lake City. That was after lots of turbulence, no free drinks or snacks and sitting through the "Incredible Hulk" as the featured movie. That is so hoaky! How can some guy split everything, including his underwear and then he somehow appears to always have another change of clothing available whenever needed. Really! I wonder about things like that. Hey, how 'bout some of the stuff they do on "Survivor"? Where do they use the bathroom? Do they use toilet paper or some banana leaves? What do the older women do about their "goat hairs" growing on their chins?

Anyway, I digress...Joe left Atlanta, flew to Minneapolis and then on to Salt Lake. (He got free drinks and snacks, by the way). I got there first, picked up the rental car and then waited in the "Park and Wait" for Joe and the kids. (That was after I circled the airport three times before I found the right entrance to the "Park and Wait". Hey, it was very confusing to get there. You'll see when you try it out one day! This is where you can park and watch the display boards which tell you where a flight is coming from, the number of the flight, if it has landed or still enroute and if you can pickup your passenger). I was sitting in my car reading my free "USA Today" when the kids appeared with the little guy. It was so strange seeing Derek this time after seeing him as a two month old the last time. When Joe called to say he had landed, the kids went to find Joe and his luggage and left me and Derek together. Waa hoo!




Isn't he adorable? Isn't he just the cutest grandchild ever? I think so!

And then Joe showed up after Nikki found him and his luggage.

Western Update

In a few words...Joe and I arrived in Utah basically on time and connected up. Corey, Nikki and Derek met us at the airport and we had dinner together in Salt Lake City. Then Joe and I left for Wyoming. We made it to Rawlins, Casper the next day, job interviews, dinner and sleep!

Got up this morning - SNOW!!! Cancelled a second day in Wyoming interviewing and left for Utah - more snow on the way back. Met back up with the kids - COLD! Snow is expected for here beginning tomorrow.

Lots of pictures, lots of kissing on Derek, more later.

Love Is...

Passing On A Little Something To Derek

So, I'm passing on an article that belonged to me as a baby. Wow, that makes it really, really old, huh?

It's a baby spoon that was given to my mom when I was a baby. When I asked her about it, she did remember any story behind it. But, I thought it would be nice to pass it on to Derek and maybe he can use it since his dad also ate with it.

Heading West Again - Waahoo!

Though our flights (yes, flights - Joe and I are on separate flights) do not leave until early Wednesday morning, we've spent the day getting ready to leave tomorrow morning. I have a doctor's appointment and heaven only knows how long that could last!

The day has been spent packing (see picture), washing clothes, vaccuming, dusting, cleaning, etc. I hate going off and coming home to a cluttered house. Now, that doesn't mean it's perfect even now, but between job searching on line and everything else only so much can get done.

And then, there are the lists of things to do - the things that you have to remember to not forget (got that).

• Withdraw cash from one bank;
• Deposit the withdrawn money into the other bank account;
• Get the oil changed;
• Call the neighbors so hopefully they'll keep an eye on the house;
• Get disks for the camera - gotta take lots of pictures;
• Get 20 $1.00 bills for tips;
• Go by Georgia Power so the electricity won't get turned off while gone, etc., etc., etc.

We took the furry kids to Mom and Dad's this afternoon. They LOVE to ride in the car - B.J.'s jowls flopping in the breeze, Blaze lunging at the passing trucks. They were so excited to see Gmom and Gdad and had to water every bush and tree within a 50 ft. area. Then Blaze was promptly tied up as she loves to explore and doesn't stay around the compound. B.J. knows what he's supposed to do and can run free. Sorry Blaze. You should listen better!

The "Cowbirds"

So we're riding down the road this afternoon on the way to Mom and Dad's to drop off the furry kids and I notice this along the side of the road. It's a field totally full of cowbirds who are feasting on a newly plowed field of peanuts. They don't care that the combines are right there making all the noise and kicking up all the dust. They want some fresh peanuts no matter what. I happened to have the camera in the car and had to take a picture. I'd never seen so many in one place at the same time.

Happy Birthday Tiffany

Yes, Virginia, big people still go to birthday parties. I went to one Saturday night by myself since Joe was obligated to be at the Priesthood Broadcast. Tiffany is a very good friend of mine and it was her 30th birthday. She and I worked together for 2 1/2 years while in Valdosta and have remained good friends since then. She and her mother are the ones that took the tour of Los Angeles and the surrounding area with us in August 2007 while at a child care conference in Anaheim. I've just got to find a nice young man for her to meet. Oops, now I'm beginning to sound like her mom and dad.

Shuffling Off To Buffalo

In August of 2002, I had a national family child conference in Buffalo, NY. I took Corey along with me and he wound up having a really great adventure. While I was in my sessions, Corey noticed a fire engine at the hotel and struck up a conversation with the firefighters (since he was a firefighter at the time). Anyway, to make a long story short, he was invited to come back to the firehouse, go on some runs with the guys and spend the night. Needless to say, he went and I didn't see him until the next morning when I came back from a session and found him passed out across his bed. He had gone on several calls the night before and gotten only a little sleep. After all, this was Buffalo, NY - not one of the small south Georgia stations. And, he added another fire t-shirt to his collection. One of the guys literally gave him the shirt off his back.

While in Buffalo, we also attended the "Wing Fling" in downtown Buffalo - this is where the original buffalo wings originated. We also saw the headquarters for the Buffalo Bills NFL team. Though it was July and normally hot weather for us at home, it was definitely very cool and windy here in the evenings. I can see why Buffalo receives as much snow as it does every winter.

"--"Know you what it is to be a child?...It is to believe in love, to believe in loveliness, to believe in belief; it is to be so little that the elves can reach to whisper in your ear, it is to turn pumpkins into coaches, and mice into horses, lowness into loftiness, and nothing into everything, for each child has its fairy godmother in its soul.""
Author: Francis Thompson

(This was a picture of Bella that I found today among some floppy disks. I remember the day the picture was taken and our intense conversation about what she had been doing that day. I love the pink tennis shoes).

Change

This morning while listening to General Conference on our computer, Thomas S. Monson, our beloved prophet spoke about "change". When I heard that I really perked up because it was as though he was going to speak directly to me. After all, I seem to be the queen of change and I'm just about tired of it!

Change: To alter; to make different; to cause to pass from one state to another; as, to change the position, character, or appearance of a thing; to change the countenance.
To alter by substituting something else for, or by giving up for something else; as, to change the clothes; to change one's occupation; to change one's intention.

I've had major changes in my life in the last couple of weeks - the most serious being a loss of my job. That change alone has caused other changes - my routine, time spent with Joe, my schedule, time spent looking for other employment, etc.

Realizing change has already begun AGAIN for me doesn't make it any easier. I am not stupid and realize every day brings change in one way or another. However, there are those monumental changes which take place that sometimes we do or do not have control over and every once in a while we get the chance to sit back and reflect about those changes. I sometimes wonder what would have happened if I had traded one change for another? If we could go back and change something that happened in our past, would we? Even if it was something bad or terrible, would you really want to change it? And, if you did what would be the results? Would our life be any better? Would we have made it worse?

There's a movie that came out 10 years ago called "Sliding Doors". It's about how the life of a woman could change just because she didn't make it through a door at a certain time. Think of all the "what if's" you've had in your life. Mine might be:

(1) What if Les had never lost his job after 19 years? Would he still be at Union Camp and would we still be married? He most likely would not have made a change of a job in Cordele and met the other woman.

(2) What if I'd never gotten divorced from Les? I might never have met Joe. I would certainly miss him now since he's come into my life.

(3) What if I'd never met Les in that chance encounter in Louisiana many years ago? I would never have had Corey and Nikki and Derek.

(4) What if I'd never met Joe by our chance Internet encounter? What if I'd chickened out the day we were to meet? (I almost did).

So, change affects our lives daily. You never know when a chance encounter with a person might change your life. For example, when last unemployed, I met an attorney friend I'd not seen in years. After exchanging pleasantries, he asked what I was doing, I told him I was unemployed and he suggested checking out COI which had not been advertised with openings. I did and the rest is history. I got the job - for only seven months, but it was some of the luckiest seven months of my life. I learned new skills, met fantastic people I'd never have met and I developed at least one relationship that I would never have had.

So yes, I've certainly had many changes and I seem to be at the threshold of many more. We leave to go to Utah this week and we'll be taking a side trip to Wyoming to job search. Now I'm beginning to realize that life could take a drastic change for me in the next week or two. I have a couple of job interviews set up in Casper. I'm beginning to think...

What if they offer me a job? What do I do? Do I say yes? I have a home back in Georgia. What do I do with our home? I can't sell it in the next couple of weeks, or months or whenever. I can't afford two mortgages. Where do we live? How much does it cost to live out there? What do I do to get from here to there? Why am I doing all this? Isn't it just easier to keep looking for a job here? Can I hang in there until something comes along? Is this the Lord's way of say MOVE? (After all, this is my second job loss in a year).

Then there are the other questions regarding possible change...Am I ready to move from this area after 30 years? Can I go off and leave my mom and my dad? Can I give up the network of love and support I have from family and friends?

I certainly don't know the answers to these questions. I can only know that I make my decisions on a daily basis one step at a time. I don't know what my Heavenly Father has in store for me and Joe. He has a plan for me and all I can do is be as ready and willing as possible knowing that prayer and blessings will help and comfort me.

Am I Making Too Much Of This....?

Dad has always had a saying which is..."a hundred years from now, you'll never know the difference". So, as a means to find out if I'm making too much of something, I'm posting my dirty laundry on my blog and asking for a response.

It's this...my sweet husband came to me and said he was going to wash his dirty tennis shoes and the dogs sleeping blankets together. I've no problem with that - it's an okay combination since it's his groddy tennis shoes. But, and I repeat but, I do have a problem when my sweet husband comes in and says he's also added a pair of dark slacks and dark socks that he's taking with him on our trip out West this week. I sweetly assure him (yeah, right) that that is not okay and he says he'll go pull them out of the washer. Not hearing this take place, I decide to take matters into my own hands and see if he's just been pulling my leg and trying to make my blood pressure shoot up a bajillon points. I stop the washer, see the floating tennis shoes and the dogs blankets. I dig deeply into the washer and find a couple of tee shirts, a pair of dark socks (but not dark pants), but then I find dishtowels. Dishtowels that are used to dry hands and dishes. These have been mixed in with the extraordinarily hairy dog sleeping blankets and groddy tennis shoes!

My question is this...Am I making too much of a little thing?!?! For four years I've tried to explain to my sweet husband that you DON'T wash certain things with other things. For example, you don't wash undergarments with tennis shoes or the last pair of dark jeans left in the basket. You don't wash thick, dark towels with my sweaters, etc., etc., etc. Joe thinks if it's in the basket, it's fair game. His washing rule is apparently "we leave no dirty item behind or alone". I've had clothing that was one color turn into another color. I've had bleach spots turn up in the middle of my favorite blouse or pair of pants. I had to institute a rule that my clothing was off limits and it generally works on most occasions.

I appreciate that my sweet husband wants to help, but sometimes I could just _____________(well you fill in the blank). I've tried to teach him about whites with the whites; darks with the darks; leave my clothing alone, period; towels together; etc., etc. However, clothing is fair game if it's in the basket for him. Nothing has seemed to work. I've even gone so far in the past to hide the washing powder so he can't wash. Perhaps the problem is:

(1) I guess you can't teach an old dog new tricks;

(2) Maybe that's the way his mother taught him:

(3) He thinks he saving water and washing powders;

(4) It's his way of "getting back at me" for things that I do that bugs him;

(5) He wants to see how well my pre-menopausal hormones react;

(6) Or maybe that's the way people in Indiana wash clothes?

I know, I know. I've spent waaaay toooo looooong on this blog. I just want to find out if I'm the only person who has issues about how to properly wash clothes. Did my mother teach me wrong lo those many years ago? Have I taught my own son wrong in the finer points of washing clothes? Sorry, but I just had to vent. I just don't want to have someone eating dinner with me some evening picking black or brown dog hairs off their dinner plate that was dried by some dishcloth that Joe washed. Especially when I'm sitting there with dark blue dingleberries all over my bleach-stained pink sweater.

Just please don't remind me that "a hundred years from now, you'll never know the difference". (Do you think Heavenly Mother ever has these types of issues with Heavenly Father)?

Bathtime for the Furry Kids

Yesterday Joe decided he was going to give the furry kids a bath. Since it was such a beautiful day, he decided to bath them outside in the baby pool. I decided to spy on the action from the back door and through the window screen since both of the dogs are so different when it comes to water. (And it's really funny since they are both Labador Retrievers and supposed to love water). B.J. isn't crazy about water. We think it must be a fear he developed when he was a puppy and almost drown in Nancy and Donald's pool. Luckily someone living in the poolhouse heard him frantically whimpering and rescued him before he went under for the last time.

Blaze on the other hand loves the water. We fill up the baby pool during the hot months to help keep them cool and she frolics in and out of it splasing and lapping up the water. That's why it so strange to see how the furry kids react during bathtime.

B.J. doesn't mind getting baths at all. In fact, if Joe is in the shower and B.J. is in the house, he'll walk into the bathroom and stick his head in the shower hoping he can get a shower.

However, Blaze hates getting a bath. Here is a picture of her sitting in the very corner of the yard watching as B.J. gets his bath. Maybe she thought we wouldn't see her sitting in the shadows.

B.J. finishes his bath and then shakes himself before rolling all over the grass.

Next it's time for Blaze's bath. As Joe approaches her in the corner, she goes and hides under a sawhorse and won't come out. He has to bring out the big ammunition for her...a doggie biscuit! No amount of cajoling is going to get her to come out even with a treat. He even places the biscuit on the bucket by the pool and that doesn't work.

Joe finally draaaaags Blaze over to the pool, manages to pick her up and put her in and then has to hang onto her collar so she doesn't escape. You can tell that she's just loving her bath. Not!