It's Got to be the Weather

The weather has been nuts this winter.  Warm, hot, cold, ice, snow.  You name it we've had it.  The meteorologists are calling it a roller coaster of weather

This week, we had ice on the roads.  Some counties closed schools.  The Federal Government opened a couple of hours early.  It  sleeted frozen rain.   Then Tuesday it was sunny and bright and in the 60s.  Yesterday, Wednesday, it was in the 70s, but overcast all day and there was torrential rain in the afternoon and evening.  Today it was windy and in the 40s.   And there are predictions of snow overnight tonight.

Yesterday I had a terrible headache much of the day.  I was in total bitch mode, ready to bite of anyone's head that got too close.   I took Buddy (the puppy) to his doggy class last night and I was about ready to strangle him for chewing up his harness.  I was so mad and grumpy I didn't even want to be with myself, much less with a bunch of other puppy parents.    I did get over it, but wow!   I am glad I got through it without saying/ texting some of the things I was thinking!

This morning I woke up with a splitting headache.   I felt like I might throw up.   I had a meeting I had to go to, but was tempted to skip it because I felt to crummy.   Once I had some coffee and food I felt a lot better.  But now I am feeling the headache coming on again.  I almost never get a headache.

This afternoon I went outside with Buddy and felt the weather changing.  The wind was noisy, almost as if a plane was going over even when I knew one wasn't.

One of "my moms" called me.  She was having a rough evening.  Her 12 -week- old baby was crying for no reason she could figure out, ad her 2 year old was starting to get on the mom's last nerve as well.  We talked about barometric pressure and how it can really make babies fuss.    I think that our talk helped her understand, though I know that it's also true that mothers often need to talk to someone who will affirm their feelings and help them get through the rough patches.

In Norway, there were lots of nights I recall walking back and forth in the night, pacing with Darcy when he was very young.  I am sure it was the barometric pressure.  He was a sweet, easygoing baby, but there were those times when he just needed to be held up against my shoulder and walked.   A lot of the time I would push the sofa and love seat in the living room together and make a big bed that Darcy and I would fall asleep on.

Anyway, today I have not snapped at anyone.  I am feeling more mellow, thank goodness.

Going to watch TV and knit now.

What's on TV?

Nick and I spend a lot of time watching TV.  We always have- even before we got married.  I think it's kind of nice.  We enjoy many of the same shows and types of shows.    There are some that I have no interest in at all.  And some of the shows I watch don't interest Nick.  But for our main evening viewing pleasure, we tend towards British dramas and murder mysteries.   I think that when we were living in Australia, we got pretty good at understanding the accents.   Now, we have to put on the closed captions.   Some of the slang is hard to understand, and for some reason, mysteries seem to favor mumbling- British and American.

My Grandma Thompsen had a black and white TV for years.  When she got her first color TV, she called my uncle to say that the TV was broken.  She had watched Lawrence Welk  one week and the band was wearing blue jackets.  The following week, when they wore red jackets, she was sure that TV was messed up!  (she was Norwegian)

This is my Grandma Thompsen's sewing machine- minus the cabinet

It's funny, when we lived in Norway, we used to watch English language shows with Norwegian subtitles.   Or any other foreign shows.  We would watch French shows, for example, with Norwegian subtitles.   But the Norwegian kid's shows were in Norwegian and we enjoyed them just fine. 

When my mom came to Tromso, she would watch TV with us, and while she didn't understand the language, she could tell that the show was funny.  She said she understood my father better when she saw Norwegian humor.  I remember her saying "they are all like that.  I thought it was just your dad"!

In Bangkok, we rented a TV and there were only a few shows we watched.  They included The Time Tunnel, and Wonder Woman.  The English broadcast was on an FM radio station.  If the show happened to be on at the time that the radio station wanted to do the news, we had to listen to Wonder Woman speaking in dubbed Thai.  Pretty funny!

One funny thing I remember in Australia was Law and Order.  The Aussie way of saying it sounded to me like "Lore and Owdah".

Languages are funny.  The colloquialisms so often cannot be translated, but, once you know them, they make sense and help with expressing an idea or concept that cannot be expressed in English.  Problem with this is, Nick is the only one who knows what I mean!

Ok, it's getting late.  I have to go see what we are watching tonight.

Random Rambling

Pooh, the regal cat (1/20/13)

Tuesday we took Pooh to the vet.  He had broken off one of his bottom canine teeth.  If it had just come all the way out, I would not have been overly concerned.  But the tooth broke off leaving exposed nerves and jagged edges.

When the vet examined Pooh, he could tell that one of the top canines had a problem as well.  So we left him for the day to get taken care of.  Pooh ended up having five teeth pulled (extracted in Vet terms)  With the anesthesia, stitches and oral surgery, plus the meds he came home with, it cost a fortune.   Oh well, whet are you going to do.

Pooh is now on antibiotics and pain medicine and seems to be feeling much better.   For the record, Pooh is almost 14 years old.

Tigger is also in need of dental work, but he is not in any distress, so we will wait and save up money first.

Buddy the puppy is a real butt head.  He is as sweet as can be, but he tends to sneak off and poop in the house when he thinks nobody is looking.  As a result, whenever he is out of my sight I panic and go looking before it is took late.

When I take Buddy in the yard and, especially in the evening, he thinks it's playtime.  He will run around the back yard like a little black tornado!  But will he poop?  That is the question!

Also on the home front, Nick and I wanted to go for coffee the other day.  Greenberry's near our house is gone (turning into a small Thai restaurant).  We were not in the mood for our usual Starbucks.   So I found a place in Great Falls called Katie's coffee and deserts.  We had nice coffee there and saw that since it was afternoon, lunch was also being served.  The fish and chips looked wonderful!

And there's Nick looking up from his newspaper at Katie's Coffee Shop.







Morgan has started to market his wares on Etsy.   He has made some really nice jewelry and also has photos for sale.  Morgan is very artistic and it is fun for us parents and look at our son's artistic talents.http://www.etsy.com/shop/BrassyCat

I am toying with the idea of putting some of my knitting on Etsy.  Maybe

Darcy and Hannah bought a "prison bus".  Yes, that right- a prison bus.  It is short(ish) and painted white.    It looks pretty cool, and their plans for it sound good.  Here, I will let you read all about it  http://huzzahbus.tumblr.com/    And here is a picture that I "borrowed" from Darcy's Facebook page:  

I had a weird nap today.  I rarely take naps.   I might doze off in front of the TV sometimes.  This afternoon I was working on my computer and I started to feel really tired.   For whatever reason, I got into bed.  After a few minutes, I put on my C-Pap and was really sound asleep.  

The dog's barking is what woke me up.  At 6:30.  It was dark out and I assumed it was AM, not PM.  I could smell the oven and was afraid that there might be a fire.  When I saw that I was in my regular clothes, and not in my pajamas, I was really confused.

Got downstairs to discover that Nick was cooking dinner.  I enjoyed it and sat down and ate and watched Jeopardy.

I have been up for hours now.  I was afraid I would be up all night, but I am too tired and plan to get into bed as soon as I hit the hay, I will think I am just that tired.

So good night for now! <3 <3<3

Inauguration

Nick and I watched the swearing in ceremonies this morning.  Very nice and a happy occasion.

The sun has started to hide behind some clouds, and the temperatures are falling.  It's winter!

I am feeling better than I did yesterday.  I figured out why I had heartburn.  I take medications every day.  Yesterday, being Sunday, I sat and filled p my little dosing box with my medications for the week.  That included my medicine for reflux/ heartburn.   When I went to take my medicine this morning, I discovered that I didn't take my medicine yesterday.  Oops.  Silly me!

Going to the gym in a few minutes, then errands, then home.

While watching the inauguration this morning, Pooh (cat) and Buddy (dog) curled up on the couch next to me.  They were really cute!

Heartburn

I think someone wrote a book called "Heartburn" some time ago.  This, is not about that.  I have heartburn and it stinks and feels bad.

Earlier today, while sitting at my computer I opened a bag of sweet potato salt and vinegar chips.   I ate a few.  Then as I sat here I started to get heartburn.  Really burning.  I've taken a couple of different things that are supposed to help, so it isn't as bad as it was.  But it isn't great!

But, other than that, I am really okay.

Buddy!

It was a gorgeous day today.  Got up to the 60s I believe.  Nick and I went for a walk with Buddy.  We all needed to get out of the house.


 After that we went to Great Falls to find a coffee shop I found online.  Our old, occasional, favorite has closed down and is going to come back in its next life as a Thai restaurant.


So today we went to Katie's Coffee House.  It was hard to find at first, but then we figured out that it is attached to an Irish pub.    They were serving lunch, but all we wanted was coffee.  I saw people getting their food and it looked good.  Especially the fish and chips.   Boy would I love some fish and chips!  The only place I have had them gluten free is in Portland.  Ah well.

Actually, yesterday and today both had really good weather.  Yesterday I took the girls to Frying Pan Park- their mom asked if she could come with us, so she did.   It was not a hyper, exciting day.  It was a nice day of looking at the farm animals.  And we happened to arrive in time to watch a part of a horse show in the big barn.   Both girls took a lot of pictures.  A while back I gave each of them an old camera of mine.  They are good, digital cameras.  Not cheap ones, but some function I want is broken or something.  Anyway, they are good cameras for the girls.

I think their mom was surprised when I put on a CD of Australian music when we were driving.  The girls know all of the words to all of the songs.  Their mom hasn't spent the hours with me that the girls have, so doesn't know  all of our routines.

Tomorrow is a big day in the Washington area and for the country.   I plan to be a total couch potato and watch the inauguration on TV, while I knit, all day.

It is supposed to be sunny, but colder, and windy tomorrow.  There may be some few snow flurries in the later part of the day.  I am so glad I can watch it on our nice, color, big screen TV set!  I know that Nick and I will watch, and probably Austin.  Not sure if we will have company, but we'll be alright whether we have company or not.

Oh yeah, one more thing.  My son and his wife bought a white school bus.  It kind of looks like it may have been a prison bus.  Not sure?

Life

What is life?  I know, that's too profound.   Too hard to really measure.  In my women's group, and in groups all over the world, we are getting old.   It's funny that at 58 I a the youngest, old eldest member is 85.  I was worried about having somone that much older than me in the group.  I couldn't have been more wrong.

Oh sure, she has some of the infirmities that come with age.  But she takes it all in stride.   There isn't really any other choice, but my worries were unnecessary.

We all hear harder and we Don't know what it means to be old and why it means to get older and become a grown up.

I am going to post the the Websters Dictionary definition of then l  I would like to figure out is,   who says what's old? 
******************************************************************************

a : dating from the remote past : ancient <old traditions>

b : persisting from an earlier time <an old ailment> <they brought up the same old argument>

c : of long standing <an old friend>

2

a : distinguished from an object of the same kind by being of an earlier date <many still used the old name>

b capitalized : belonging to an early period in the development of a language or literature <Old Persian>

3

: having existed for a specified period of time <a child three years old>

4

: of, relating to, or originating in a past era <old chronicles record the event>

5

a : advanced in years or age <an old person>

b : showing the characteristics of age <looked old at 20>

6

: experienced <an old trooper speaking of the last war>

7

: former <his old students>

8

a : showing the effects of time or use : worn, aged <old shoes>

b : no longer in use : discarded <old rags>

c : of a grayish or dusty color <old mauve>

d : tiresome <gets old fast>

9

a : long familiar <same old story> <good old Joe>

b —used as an intensive <a high old time>

c —used to express an attitude of affection or amusement <a big old dog> <flex the old biceps> <any old time>

See old defined for English-language learners »

See old defined for kids »

Examples of OLD

1. He's an old man now.
2. We rented an old black-and-white movie.
3. There's an old saying that good fences make good neighbors.
4. a new approach to an old problem
5. She wore a T-shirt and an old pair of jeans.
6. I wish you would stop wearing that dirty old hat!
7. The hotel was old and dingy.
8. the oldest known civilization in the region
9. The house we live in is 50 years old.
10. We went back to visit our old neighborhood.

Nighttime Ramble

Here I am again.  I've been thinking about all sorts of things the last few days.   Been feeling sick- I think from the antibiotic I was taking for my root canal abscess.  I read about the possible side effects and decided to quit taking the stuff before I got sicker.

We went to the RV show at the Dulles Expo Center today.  It was neat to see all the fancy RVs, but it was too crowded.   Especially inside the RVs.  I wasn't inspired to lust after any of them.  I was pretty happy with the camping we did last summer at the KOA campgrounds all over the country.

I think about my kids all the time.  Even when we don't talk or write for a while. I am still very connected somehow.   I know the saying about having children is live having your heart on the outside of your body.  I know what that means-it means that you have a vulnerability you never could dream of or imagine without having children.  Really.    These people, all of them adults, are mine.  They will always be my children.  For the rest of my life.  

So much of my time and energy were sucked up when the kids were all living at home.  I cannot say one period was harder than another.   Although, I do think I am pretty good at mothering babies and knowing what to do and how and when.  When I had a preemie, my charmed life came to a jolting stop and a new reality of how to mother a little one.   And it worked out alright in the end, but I was so scared and worried that I was sure life would never be alright again.  That is the real reason I didn't have any more babies.  I would have loved having more babies, but at 36 and after getting my sick preemie well and healthy, I was afraid to push my luck any further.  

And I have been lucky.  Remarkably so.  

And now, I help other moms learn the ropes of early mothering.  Most of the moms I help, are working moms.  they will be going back to work when their babies are just 12 weeks old.  They will be alright and their babies will too.   I sometimes wish I could be a nanny to all of the sweet babies I meet.   I am really nuts!

And so my latest fixation has been knitting baby hats that look like breasts.   I have made two so far and am working on my third.  Not sure what I will do with them.  Maybe sell them on Ravelry?  Who knows.   I didn't have any active knitting projects, and I needed to have something to do with my hands while watching TV.   I cannot just sit there.  So, there you go.


I have been working on my family tree/ genealogy lately.  Nick subscribed to Ancestry.com , so I have been looking up records and connecting my grandparents with their parents and so on.  I found a copy of the document of my mother entering the US for the first time when she was just 6 weeks old.  I have copies of the US census for any number of years showing addresses of grandparents and aunts and uncles.   It makes the past so close and all of those real people even more real.

It also makes me miss people.  Especially my mom.  She could have told me so much.  She did tell me a lot, but not enough.  And both of my grandmothers told me about their families, but I didn't pay close enough attention and now all I have are scant memories and pictures of cemetery head stones with names and dates.

I also miss my mom just because.  She was 77 when she died, and that's not old enough.  She didn't get to live long enough and she really did want to live longer.   She loved me, I know that.   She used to sing to me when I was little, and give me butterfly kisses.   It's not a new sentiment- wishing you could turn back time.  But it is a real one.  

I guess that is part of why I think about my kids so much.  Not just because they are my kids, but I am their only mother.   I know I am important to them, and I know that they won't realize how important until I am gone-which I hope won't be for a long time.

I wrote here on this blog recently about being a mother and how I would have been a whole, complete person even if I had not had children.   That is true.  But now, I am getting older and Nick is too.  We are still going strong, but I don't want to buy into the perpetual denial our culture has "oh no, you aren't old".   We are not "old" yet, but we are aging.  We are past middle age.  I have wanted to be a grandmother for some time.  (no pressure kids, this is about me-really).   Now, of course if I had never had kids, I would not feel the desire to have grandchildren.

Why do I want grandchildren?   I guess it is the immortality thing.  It is also the feeling that if I was a good enough mother/ parent, my children would see the value in what I did and would desire the same things.  I hope I am not letting my self and my ego get in my way.

I have patience that I didn't have when I was a young mother.  I have stories to tell and fun things to teach.  Reading, playing cats cradle, making play dough.  Finger painting and making a loom from a piece of cardboard.  These are all things we did and I want to be able to share myself in the same way again.  But I am afraid that we may not have the energy and good health to be able to be the kind of grandparents I would like my grandchildren to know if too many years pass before the grandkids come.

My Grandma Thompsen taught me how to crochet.  She bought fruit and canned it when I was staying with her.  She dug potatoes right out of the dirt in her back garden!   I am so lucky to have been able to spend time with her and get to know her and see her and hear her with her strong Norwegian accent.

And my Grandma Rivers, well, she taught me how to make pie crust and how to knit.  She had a clothes line and she grew tomatoes in her back yard.  I planted the the first flowers I ever grew from seed right there by her back door.   What a thrill that was for 10 year old me!  My Grandpa Rivers was a carpenter.  He had a shop in his basement and he was always building things.  We all have spice racks he made.  Whenever he came to visit he brought his tools and worked on whatever needed to be worked on.  Yes, I remember him. 

My mom had a stroke when my kids were pretty young.  So they didn't get to know her as an active grandmother as I wish they had.  She had an abrasive personality that was not always nice for my older kids.   She got better in her last few years of life, but by then the older kids were grown up and too busy, and there wasn't much left that she could do with the younger kids.  At least they knew her and loved her.  And they knew she loved them too.  

Well, that's it for tonight.