"String too short to use"

10) Liam had his first meal in a restaurant today. We had lunch with two of my very good friends. They are both moms themselves and so are very tolerant of childish behavior. Liam was, however, the perfect little gentleman until the very end when we were all done eating and he wanted to get down on the floor and play and Mom wouldn’t let him. He and I shared an order of fish & chips and then he had applesauce and milk to go with it. He has been in restaurants before, but this is the first time he’s been able to “order off the menu.”

9) Friends, there’s nothing like ‘em.

8) We’re having a party. My husband’s birthday is next Saturday. We are going to have a houseful of overnight guests and a bunch of friends over for dinner and cake. Y’all come!

7) It is good to be needed. I sometimes question whether I am. Thankfully something usually happens to convince me that someone needs me for something, and if I am really lucky that something is something that makes me happy to do or be.

6) Liam is patta-caking. He has the “patta-cake” part down. He sometimes remembers to “roll it,” can’t get the whole “prick it and mark it with a B” part, but rushes the “throw it in the oven for baby and me” cause that’s the most fun. He is so stinking cute, there are days I don’t get much done for playing with the baby. Oh well.

5) My only regret that the weather is cooler: top down season is coming to a close. Bummer!

4) I have reached the conclusion that the ability to create certain food items is art. Cooking itself is not really art. Any idiot can boil water and it doesn’t take any talent to make toast. However, homemade pie crust and homemade yeast bread (sans machine) I believe are art forms. The pie crust I’ve got, the bread remains a struggle in still life. My husband also informs me that gravy from scratch and rice (sans rice cooker) should also be elevated to the art level. Of course, I can’t cook rice without it either staying crunchy or becoming so sticky you could mortar bricks with it. He cooks the rice in our household. I do, however, have the gravy talent.

3) After a rather dismal September, October is looking brighter. I have been working a great deal and so my budget looks much better. Color me happy!

2) Speaking of budgets. Note to my dear friend, Maggie: my husband gets paid once a month. It is direct deposited to our savings account. I transfer to checking only enough to pay bills. On Fridays I withdraw cash for our living expenses. From that cash comes the groceries, entertainment, meals out and incidentals, when it is gone, we stay home. I have budgeted X amount and I make every effort to make it through until the next Friday. Hope that helps.

1) The statistics on sanity is that one out of every four persons is suffering from some sort of mental illness. Think of your three best friends - if they're okay, then it's you.

"String too short to use"

10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1) Holding a sleeping baby is just about the best feeling in the whole wide world. Nothing will warm your heart faster. However, holding a poor little sick baby with a temperature over 102° is just about the worst feeling in the whole wide world. Nothing will make you feel more helpless.

Sofa Sittin'

Here he is. He bravely puts one foot on the edge of the sofa and then muscles himself the rest of the way up. What a corker!

Not my writing, but true nonetheless

1. There are at least two people in this world that you would die for.

2. At least 15 people in this world love you in some way.

3. The only reason anyone would ever hate you is because they want to be just like you.

4. A smile from you can bring happiness to anyone, even if they don't like you.

5. Every night, SOMEONE thinks about you before they go to sleep.

6. You mean the world to someone.

7. You are special and unique.

8. Someone that you don't even know exists loves you.

9. When you make the biggest mistake ever, something good comes from it.

10. When you think the world has turned its back on you, take another look.

11. Always remember the compliments you've received. Forget about the rude remarks.

"String too short to use"

10) It is October. My favorite month of the year. The trees will turn brilliant colors. The reds, yellows and oranges of autumn are sensational. The air feels crisp and the sky becomes a deeper shade of blue. It is time for hot spiced cider and jack o’lanterns and bobbing for apples, trick or treating and Octoberfest! What is not to like?

9) Speaking of trick or treating, Liam’s Halloween costume came in the mail yesterday. He is going to be a lion this year. I’ll post pictures.

8) I have a doctor’s appointment this afternoon. Not my favorite thing in the world to do, but necessary at least four times a year when you are diabetic. Wish me well. I want the tests to be good and my medication to stay the same.

7) Liam is tall enough now and steady enough on his pegs to reach into the drawers of my desk. He painstakingly takes items out of one drawer and puts them in the other. As if I needed my life to be more complicated! Now I’ll never find anything.

6) This one is really the corker. Liam can climb onto the couch. He stands in front of it. Puts one little foot up there and hoists himself up. Then he sits up there and grins, so proud of himself. Cracks me up. I guess we are going to have to move the coffee table so when he falls off he has a clear shot at the floor. Otherwise he’ll bash his head on the way down.

5) Thanks to everyone for the wonderful cards and notes and flowers to memorialize my dad. I so appreciate the outpouring of love and sympathy we have all received. As with most who suffer such tragedy in their lives, I have good days and bad, good moments and bad. I anxiously await the day when it just doesn’t hurt quite so much.

4) Another of my favorite things about this time of year: Christmas music! I have to admit I am a real sucker for both the old Christmas carols and any new, interesting songs that help prepare me for the holidays. I have to start listening to them now in order to be well into the spirit by the time the holidays are truly here. I have to do it on the QT tho’ cause Chris is completely against them until after his birthday (Nov 1).

3) How late can a birthday card be before you should just hold onto it and send it next year? This is the kind of question that keeps me awake at night. I started out the year right on top of things. If you were born in the first five months of the year, I got you covered, after that things fell apart.

2) Why is it people have such a terrible time asking for help? Are we so afraid to admit weakness? So afraid to admit we can’t cope? Do we think our friends will think less of us for it? Even when we know people are just waiting in the wings to help us if we need it, it about kills us to say: “Please help me, I can’t do this alone.” We should all work on this for the future. I have found, when I do finally breakdown and ask, anyone and everyone is ready and willing to help me with whatever it is that is causing me to stumble.

1) Unlike rice cakes, chocolate doesn’t crumble and leave a mess for the office cleaning staff.

Eulogy

My dad was a builder.

He built houses, shops, jails, factories, churches, schools, stores, shopping malls and office buildings. He worked in northern Idaho, western Montana and eastern Washington until his retirement two years ago. I don’t believe there is a highway corridor in that area I can’t drive down and point to buildings and say, “My daddy built that.”

This is his legacy in concrete, wood and steel.

However, his most important building project was the house of love he built around his family. His wife and his four little girls were the lights of his life. Dad didn’t come right out and say “I love you” very often, but he showed his love in ways which were uniquely his. He built doll beds, deck stairs, roofs, shoe boxes, garages, curio cabinets, cupboards, treasure boxes, sewing machine cabinets, jewelry boxes, and toddler beds. He rebuilt engines, replaced windows and painted cars & houses.

When his little girls came of age and started marrying, Dad’s love expanded to encompass a larger family.

Each of us girls is married and Dad loved his son-in-laws and spent many hours with each/all of them. Under his tutelage each of them has learned something about carpentry, mechanics, hunting, fishing and life. Each of them has treated one of us girls well, provided for her and been a loyal, loving, caring husband; all that was necessary in Dad’s book to be considered a beloved member of the family.

Dad’s life was blessed with five grandchildren. My son, Liam, at 16 months, is the youngest of the bunch. The next youngest grandchild is 19 years old. In December 2006, when Chris and I told Mom & Dad we were going to have a baby, I got a real firsthand look at the joy Dad had in his grandkids. I’ll remember Dad’s words forever, “We thought we were all done with grandkids, and now we get to start all over!” Grinning fit to kill the whole time.

Two of the grandchildren have partners and our family is blessed with two great grandchildren as well. Dad’s love knew no bounds.

This is Dad’s real legacy. His love and all the memories of good times we have had as a family will live on forever. The blue sky is hard to see right now, but it will come. Our lives must and will go on, but all of us will be forever affected by the love of this man. The patriarch. Our dad.

"String too short to use"

10) Small boys who are not quite walking can sure get into a lot of stuff. One moment Liam’s here, the next he has disappeared and when he gets too quiet, I’d better be beatin’ feet to wherever he has gotten to.

9) Fall is here. It is my favorite season. Even though I have a lot of work to do in my flower beds before winter sets in. Yike! What a mess they are from being ignored from May until September. But around here it is just too blessed hot to even think about gardening in the dead of summer.

8) I love my work. The only thing I have to take with me to accomplish my work is my brain. Unfortunately, some days that’s a taller order than others. Today . . . nearly impossible, but it is the first of the month and billing must be done. Therefore, I will work.

7) What is it with baby clothes? At 16 months Liam is too tall for 12 month clothing, except for the pants, which are still a bit long and almost too big around. He must have a long body but short legs. Some of the 6-9 month pants still fit him. He is broad in the shoulder and narrow at the hip. Either kids clothes are not made to fit properly, or my kid is shaped weird.

6) I love the feel of a hardcover book. I enjoy reading, and read a great deal, but give me a hardcover book any day over a paperback. They just feel good in the hand. Some of my old worn out favorite books I am now replacing with hardcover. You know, the ones I return to time and again like old friends.

5) What’s for dinner? Lord, I hate that question. I try to write menus and purchase groceries to complete them ahead of each week, but time gets away sometimes and here we are, Wednesday night with no idea what we might eat. Carp!

4) A huge thanks to all who have expressed their condolences on the death of my dad. Please keep me and all my family in your prayers as we struggle to come to terms with this loss in our lives. Just how long does grief go on?

3) Election, smection. I am so over the top tired of all this political BS. Get it over with, the sooner the better. I consider myself anti-political. However, after much consideration, I am forced to agree with my friend Mags: a vote for McCain/Palin is a vote for a couple of cheese doodles.

2) If you value your sanity, do not obtain miniature dachshunds as pets. Our neighbor has two. Yip, yip, yip, yip, yip, yip. My dog stands in our backyard just looking at them and they go crazy. My dog doesn’t bark. He just looks at them like they have lost whatever small brain cells they might have had. So annoying.

1) I just read over my nine. I think my tenth needs to be an apology for how down my nine are. I am sorry. I am in a blue time. I’m not certain when it will improve. See #4.