Alive and Kicking

Well, life has changed! 2009 threw us THROUGH quite a few changes. The adventure in lifestyle went from whisking my husband away to a health conference to dropping him off at home so I could head 2,000 miles away to take care of my mom. She was diagnosed with lung cancer. I spent the summer with her, then when we got an offer on the farm, I packed her up, took her to my brothers' and headed back to close up the house and pick a new one.

The whole time I was battling what would later send me to the hospital with a seizure - a brain tumor. Mostly I just had headaches, but always have. Then, I started to randomly fall down. Meanwhile, though, my focus was on a new house and my mom. My 3rd trip to my home state in 2009 came the first week of December. Mom passed on December 10, and I was hospitalized on December 11, underwent surgery on the 14th, and came home in time to Christmas shop in the blizzard of 2009. In retrospect, that probably wasn't such a good idea since I didn't even think to check the kids' wishlists. But, we had a great Christmas celebration none-the-less.
2010 started with a vengeance. My son-in-law researched all the treatments they wanted to perform on me as well as complimentary supplements that would help. A break in treatment came just long enough in April to plan and attend a memorial service for my mother and close on her house. Then I came back home to an MRI to find out how the treatments worked. They did. I will have to have more MRIs every 2 months to confirm that nothing is growing anymore, and will be on maintenance chemo for at least a year. I am feeling much better now as I approach another birthday, and put the beginning of a tumultuous year to rest. It was just after my birthday 2009 that I started the "rat race."

Our new "Adventure in Lifestyle" is living as a household of 2 cancer survivors, on a city postage stamp lot. We are flipping the current house, and near completion of the cosmetic work that should multiply our investment. Hopefully, by the end of 2010 we will be in another home, doing the same, but this time with chickens and room to run again.
Today, I'm making some more of my laundry detergent. This is the first batch I've been able to make since last June. I'm quite anxious to be back to normal with certain things like that. I also finally have a clothesline again. I sure did miss line dried sheets!!!

As I'm feeling better, I hope to keep more up-to-date with the specifics our our new, temporary lifestyle of real-estate moguls. For now, enjoy the summer my friends.

Shhhhh. . . . . the sound of sneaking. . . .

Quietly, ever so quietly, I'm going to leave the farm, animals, and children behind. I'm taking my sweet husband and whisking him away for a romantic getaway in Chicago. It is my birthday weekend after all, and Health Freedom Expo will be going on. So, what a great time to learn more, love more, and just plain have fun. The animals will be in the capable hands of grown children, and I'm sure they won't miss me. I love the idea of just a lot of space, peace and food I didn't have to cook. :-)

Weddings or Funerals?

You know those forwards people are always sending that are like quizzes which are supposed to help people get to know each other better? You answer one of the two options for several questions such as "White or Black," "Pizza or Steak," etc. Then, you send the e-mail back to the friend who forwarded it to you so they can see your answers. Of course, their answers were all there, and you got to see them as you deleted to put your answer in.

Well, today, a new question, one I've never seen on these, popped into my head - "Weddings or Funerals." Why? Because I found out that one of my brothers who didn't attend the wedding this past week had a perfectly good excuse, he was at Disneyland with his in-laws. It is a trip that they make every year, and never would consider using their vacation for anything else, except, well, funerals. The same brother was there in 3 days notice when my nephew drowned in a pool. He had to travel farther, make shorter notice plans, etc. But, he said he needed to be there for our brother. So, with almost a year's notice for the wedding, it was harder to plan I guess. Had he been at another niece's wedding a year earlier, he would have known then about this one too. But, no, he didn't come to that one either. I try not to be judgmental about things like this when he does them. Either way, it made me reflect.

As a child, I remember the family funerals, many of them. They were celebratory occasions! Food, fellowship and lots of bickering. (My nephew's funeral wasn't so bad, by the way, other than all the heavy hearts and familial strangers who feel the need to show up at such times.) To this day, I despise attending funerals, and only do to honor those living with the grief. But, I rarely remember a family wedding. My mom came from a very large family, and my dad was one of 3 siblings. There were lots of cousins, aunts, uncles, etc., more than ample opportunity for weddings and celebrations at family holidays. But, I don't really remember many, just a few here and there, and an occasional Thanksgiving dinner with an extra relative or two.

I suspect my father once had the same musing I'm toying with today. When I was around 8 he started organizing a yearly family reunion for his side of the family. It would be a great day of food, fellowship and catching up. We'd do it at a park, or a church, or wherever. It moved around too, so more family could participate. Most of the relatives I had never met until the first gathering. After that, though, I had very fond memories of all but the ones who spent their whole time playing baseball. I'm sure they had fond memories too, even though I never met them. Either way, it seems Dad had figured out something important - life is when you make memories, not death.

So, for me the answer is WEDDINGS!!!! definitely. I prefer a culture of life, a culture of community, a culture of family. Though some people don't put a priority on communing with family while living, I've decided that I do. I really prefer to get to know someone rather than show up at a stranger's funeral.

If you want, you can count this an idle musing of a strange person who lives in the woods, chases animals all day, and hates to use their clothes dryer. But, I'm content with my newly realized paradigm. I hope this gives you pause to consider which you prefer.

ADDENDUM to Vacation - Employing the Clothes Dryer

I just wanted to add this little note of frustration to traveling. When we returned home to what had been a flood zone in our absence, and days of rain still forecast, and a very damp feeling house, we were struck with the task of drying 11 days of laundry for the four of us. Normally, you can see clothes on the clothes line, or even racks around the house, but the humidity level was a bit too high for that. So, our dryer, which is normally just a work space for folding laundry and fills an empty hole where dryers belong in the laundry room, offered its services. The dryer seems quite happy with gobbling up electricity for which we will be billed, removing lint, and drying our cottons (hopefully to the same size they originally were) for us. As a matter of fact, I think it is even feeling a little loved, though that is just a misperception on its part. So, Vacation Note: unplug the dryer so it can't order wet weather and force its use when you get home!

Oh, well. . . ..

Life, Vacations and GPS

We've returned from what I fear may be our last full-fledged family vacation. We loaded all 8 of us into the Suburban and drove cross-country to our eldest niece's wedding in PA, then hit the road after the wedding to trek on up to Northern Maine to see family. Actually, only all 8 of us were there for the drive from PA - No. ME - Bangor, as two of us didn't get sufficient time off and had to fly to PA, then fly out of Bangor in order to be at work on extra days.

On Traveling as a Crowd:
It always, yes always, surprises me how surprised people are that our family can exist and still love each other in such close quarters. A Suburban is a massive vehicle, but load over 1,000 pounds of humans into it and it gets tight. The kids all shared the two back seats well, taking turns and switching locations for a variety of reasons. We only had one meltdown, but that is to be expected over the course of a 4,000 mile journey, and was quickly recovered. We shared snacks we packed, shared expenses of gas and hotels, and just chatted away endlessly. One of the keys is to have some distractions. Our distractions? MP3 players, GameBoy Advance, Computers, Cameras, "Do The Right Thing" by Mike Huckabee, and my own personal one - "The Ultimate Hitchhiker's Guide." Funny thing is, we talked so much we used very few of our distractions.

On Vacationing with a Farm at Home:
This is my least favorite part of vacationing - the animals we left behind. We had a wonderful neighbor caring for the outdoor animals, and locked the cats and indoor animals in with enough food to grow fat and lazy in our absence. Our cats are all house broken, so I wasn't sure how much litter they would need for 11 days. Well, 1 box per cat for eleven days is not enough. Our super conscientious Siamese thought sure we were going to discipline her for going to the bathroom in the house when we got back, so she hid upon our return only to come out and caterwaul at our bedroom door when the lights went out. We finally convinced her that we weren't upset. The fish got a great feeding pyramid, and though it was only for 7 days, it kept them alive for 11. The bird has bowls of water and food at his feet, that look more like litter boxes now, but he is alive too! I felt worse for Ruby, our lab mix, though. She HATES thunder storms, and wouldn't you know? Every day we were gone there was a thunderstorm. She had to stay out in the storms (in her dog house, but not with us) and was very happy to see us. It's always a lot of work to come home to animals you've had babysat, but nice to be able to leave.

On Friends and GPS:
Jay has a friend at work who loaned him a nice Garmin GPS for the trip. Jay had wanted to take one since he hears all sorts of wonderful marketing for them on talk radio, and since I like technology he thought it would be fun for me to have one for the trip. So, we loaded up, turned it on, and within about 15 mintues I was ready to smash it to bits on the road. Yes, it is the most recent technology and can do wonderful things like "recalculate" when you make a turn it didn't understand how to tell you not to make. My favorite was the time it told us "keep left, and keep right" for the CENTER lane. Huh? Well, we kept left, but then there was no right to keep as we had merged onto a different highway, so we hear the dreadful two bongs and "recalculating." After 4,000 miles, we now understand its little oddities better, but still wouldn't want to take one again. I love how it tells you to drive 400 yards and turn right when you are on the top floor of the Eastern Maine Medical Center parking garage facing the Penobscot River. WE didn't listen to that instruction obviously. So, NO to GPS for me for quite some time. It was helpful in finding a great little pizza place in Wrightsville, PA though. If you have a chance, it is Wrightsville Pizza, and wonderful.

On Time:
YES!!! There is NEVER enough time when visiting friends and family, but yes we did enjoy it anyway.


So, in summary: we had a great trip. Did some interesting things, saw some interesting sites, and are glad to be home on the farm again. Now, for the mowing and cleanup from all the storms while we were gone. I've got about 100 loads of laundry to go! Wish me well.

Digital TV Converter Box Coupons - GOOD NEWS!

NEWS FLASH: IF you converter box coupons expired without being used, you can reapply for new ones!!!!

Being out in the middle of the woods, in the middle of nowhere, in Tornado Alley, does have a few minor issues. First, we could pay $50 a month to subscribe to satellite television so we could watch tv after the digital conversion, and since Sky Angel went internet so we can no longer use their service (a whole 'nother issue I won't address). OR - we could get a couple of digital converter boxes or new televisions so we can watch the weather warnings that roll through on a regular basis spring and fall.

We decided, as usual, that the practical option suited us just fine. We keep our money and use the free service offered to us by using the government's coupons to purchase converter boxes. So, we applied last year for converter box coupons. Thanks Uncle Sam. We were being slammed with info about how important it was to get our coupons early, and our boxes, and be ready for the change. Oh, yes, that change that keeps being pushed back every few months.

Our coupons came, and with them in my purse I headed to the store to get my boxes. I came home empty handed. For the next 90 days, any time I made the 30 - 60 minute trek out of the wilderness, I had the coupons with me. I checked the electronics stores, KMart, Target, and heaven forbid, even WalMart. Hmmmmm. . . .there was a bit of a glitch in the government's plans. (as usual) I kept coming home empty handed, until one day, at Circuit City, there happened to be converter boxes!!! I bought one - yes, kick me now - just one. I figured they were finally going to be available, and I didn't want to invest in more than one if I made the wrong decision about which one to get. After all, even with the coupon, this cost me $20.

So, with just a week or so left until my coupon expiration date, I bought only one, brought it home, set it up, and was annoyed beyond end! You couldn't leave it plugged in and get the analog and digital stations. You had to keep unplugging and replugging and fiddling with the antenna for each digital station. I decided I really did need one of those analog pass through boxes, so didn't run right out to pick up another.

Digital tv sucks (sorry for the language) big time. I didn't think about it much more as I switched the box off, unplugged it, and went about watching the analog stations, which didn't lose audio every 10 seconds like the digital signals. You know, the picture on our analog stations was just as clear too. :-/ The coupon expired, the switchover started to happen about 9 months after the original coupon application, and we can now only get some channels via digital. The box is plugged back in, and I do no want to pay full price for another for our other television.

A couple of drawbacks with only one box. You can only watch one station, on one television, at a time. Or, you can only record one station, on same television, at a time. No more taping one show while you watch another; not that we did that often, but it used to be an option.

I just reapplied online for our second coupon since I received an e-mail from the FTC about my appeal for a replacement coupon filed many months ago. They denied the appeal, but let me know if a coupon expired unused, I was eligible to receive a replacement. It went through, and my coupon should arrive on the 29th.

This is good news, since I don't want to pay full price for the privilege to still be able to do what I used to be able to do. . .. you know? But, I recently noticed a new problem. Those boxes are gone again.

So, the real question is, when this coupon arrives, will there be digital converter boxes on the shelf for me to use it to purchase?

AAAAAAAhhhhhhh, gotta love change. Either way, we have one, and can watch the weather until the power goes off - since the digital converter boxes aren't dual power though our television is. It is usually when the power goes out that we really need to know what is happening. That sleeper sofa we bought for the storm shelter may see a lot more sleeping this year, so we don't have to worry.

Guess we are in the market for a battery operated digital television for the storm shelter.

Go get your replacement coupons. They ship fast, so make sure there is local stock before you order them.

What was your Easter Face

Alternate Title: If you give a homeschooler a paper plate.

In the wake of the weekends events, I thought I would share some of the fun we had. Sure, a stray dog found us, the power went out, life was crazier than usual, but we did manage to have some fun with Easter. Since it was at Amber's she asked if we could use paper plates. She still had some left from her wedding a year ago, and didn't want to do as many dishes. While we sat waiting for the final touches on our dinner, I picked up a pencil that happened to be nearby, turned over my plate, and started the game.
Janice caught on quickly, flipped her plate and asked for the pencil.

Then Brenna
Ross couldn't be left outWith a little encouragement Dad even did a self portrait!! Thanks Jay for joining in.
For a reluctant artist, we were all impressed with the detail. As a matter of fact, we had to wrestle the pencil away so Jared could have a turn. Amazing how you can get into this project.
Finally the food was ready. But, the game had become more important, so we had Amber and Eugene complete the picture with their visages.
No matter how our stomachs complained, we still had to do a few combo shots for posterity.
Finally, our stomachs overcame us all. We flipped the paper plates over and filled them with ham, potatoes, green beans and ate!!! But, most of all, we made a memory.