Tuesday, August 12, 2008

Mom and me


It was a different type of day yesterday. My mom asked me if I wanted to go to Kanheeta with her and a friend of hers from work. I love Kanheeta, so I said I would go. Her co-worker ended up not being able to go, so it was just me and mom. We NEVER do things like that alone. We usually have other family members along if we are doing something just for fun. If we spend time together alone, it is always to complete some kind of task. Not that we don't like spending time together because we do.

This time we just went to relax. I asked her what time she wanted to leave, and she said when we were ready to leave. We woke up when we wanted to, and we left when we were ready. We had no agenda other than we would end up in Kanheeta at some time. We stopped when we wanted to, and we talked when we wanted to. We were quiet when we wanted to be, and we really enjoyed the day. I listened to mom's problems and stories. Most of which I have heard before, but I decided not to tell her that I had. She told me about her plans to retire, and what she wanted to do. She wants to travel around the United States. She wants to go places she has never been like Texas and Niagra Falls. She told me that she wants to get a car just for herself, but she has no idea what kind she wants. She told me she was proud of me, and it felt so good to hear that.

We ate when we were hungry, and we left Kanheeta when we felt we had had enough. It was such a wonderful relaxing day. We didn't take any pictures or buy any mementos, but it is a day I will remember for a long time.

Thursday, August 7, 2008

Tri Cities Visit... Lot's of Fun

I had a great time in Tri Cities. I got to go to my niece's third birthday party which was very fun. Grace was as cute as could be. My Nephew (by friendship) rode with me from Portland to Tri-Cities and taught me a lot about how NOT to spoil a 6 year old child. For example:

1. You should never give a child something that could be used as a cup (silly putty egg) and a bottle of Sprite.

2. You should never give a child a ink pad and stamps thinking that they will not get ink all over the back seat of your car and all over their clothes and body!

3. You should never give a child so many snacks that they want to try them all and in the process dump loads of chips and crackers on your floor, and when they get out of the car crunch them into your carpeted floor.


I did have a good time with Jakob. He is a very sweet kid. It was unbelievable when we went to a restaurant. All he could think about was the game we passed on the way in where you pay 50 cents to try to grab a stuffed animal. We all told him that nobody ever wins those things and that there was no way he would get one. He couldn't eat his food, and he didn't want any of the special birthday cake that my sister made for him. He just wanted to play that silly game. His mom gave in and on the way out put 50 cents in for him. He moved the thing around and the grabber went down and came up empty. We all told him that we expected he wouldn't win and that it was really hard to win that game. The game gives you two chances to win, so Jakob moved the control around again and the grabber dropped. It picked up a pink chipmunk. We all held our breath and thought it would fall. The arm slowly moved and dropped the stuffed animal in the winners square. We were all so shocked, we couldn't speak. Then Jakob jumped up and down, "I got it! I got it! You guys said I wouldn't be able to get it, and I got it!"

We congratulated him, and were all happy for him. Then the sweet little Jakob gave the pink stuffed animal to Grace. It was such a nice gesture. Grace was happy, and Jakob was ecstatic! That was a lot of fun.

On Monday night I got the chance to have dinner with my friend Amy's (passed away in April 2001) mother. It was a really nice visit, and it brought back a lot of old memories.

I spent lots of time with my sister and my niece Grace, and it was wonderful. It was a great break from work, and I am glad to be back even if I am broke!












Sunday, July 27, 2008

Dish Rags for Adoption


I am making dish rags to sell to help finance an adoption from Ethiopia. I plan to adopt in the next three years and will need to come up with the funds by then. In the future, I will have other items as well. Currently I am listed on Etsy

Wednesday, July 16, 2008

Funny foreign signs







While I think these signs are quite funny, at least these foreign countries are TRYING to speak our language. Maybe we should work harder at learning theirs!

Foreign Signs

Funny "English" Foreign Signs:

In a Tokyo Hotel:
Is forbidden to steal hotel towels please. If you are not a person to
do such a thing is please not to read notis.

In a Bucharest hotel lobby:
The lift is being fixed for the next day. During that time we regret
that you will be unbearable.

In a Leipzig elevator:
Do not enter lift backwards, and only when lit up.

In a Belgrade hotel elevator:
To move the cabin, push button for wishing floor. If the cabin should
enter more persons, each one should press a number of wishing floor.
Driving is then going alphabetically by national order.

In a Paris hotel elevator:
Please leave your values at the front desk.

In a hotel in Athens:
Visitors are expected to complain at the office between the hours of 9
and 11 A.M. daily.

In a Yugoslavian hotel:
The flattening of underwear with pleasure is the job of the
chambermaid.

In a Japanese hotel:
You are invited to take advantage of the chambermaid.

In the lobby of a Moscow hotel across from Russian Orthodox
monastery:
You are welcome to visit the cemetery where famous Russian and Soviet
composers, artists, and writers are buried daily except Thursday.

In an Austrian hotel catering to skiers:
Not to perambulate the corriders during the hours of repose in the
boots of ascension.

On the menu of a Swiss restaurant:
Our wines leave you nothing to hope for.

On the menu of a Polish hotel:
Salad a firm's own make; limpid red beet soup with cheesy dumplings in
the form of a finger; roasted duck let loose; beef rashers beaten up
in the country people's fashion.

Outside a Hong Kong tailer shop:
Ladies may have a fit upstairs.

In a Bangkok dry cleaners:
Drop your trousers here for best results.

Outside a Paris dress shop:
Dresses for street walking.

In a Rhodes tailor shop:
Order your summers suit. Because is big rush we will execute customers
in strict rotation.

>From the Soviet Weekly:
There will be a Moscow Exhibition of Arts by 150,000 Soviet Republic
painters and sculptors. These were executed over the past two years.

A sign posted in Germany's Black Forest:
It is strictly forbidden on our black forest camping site that people
of different sex, for instance, men and women, live together in one
tent unless they are married with each other for that purpose.

In a Zurich hotel:
Because of the impropriety of entertaining guests of the opposite sex
in the bedroom, it is suggested that the lobby be used for this
purpose.

In an advertisement by a Hong Kong dentist:
Teeth extracted by the latest Methodists.

In a Rome laundry:
Ladies, leave your clothes here and spend the afternoon having a good
time.

In a Czechoslovakin tourist agency:
Take one of our horse-driven city tours - we guarantee no
miscarriages.

Advertisement for donkey rides in Thailand:
Would you like to ride on your own ass?

In a Swiss mountain inn:
Special today -- no ice cream.

In a Bangkok temple:
It is forbidden to enter a woman even a foreigner if dressed as a man.

In a Tokyo bar:
Special cocktails for the ladies with nuts.

In a Copenhagen airline ticket office:
We take your bags and send them in all directions.

On the door of a Moscow hotel room:
If this is your first visit to the USSR, you are welcome to it.

In a Norwegian cocktail lounge:
Ladies are requested not to have children in the bar.

In a Budapest zoo:
Please do not feed the animals. If you have any suitable food,
give it to the guard on duty.

In the office of a Roman doctor:
Specialist in women and other diseases.

In an Acapulco hotel:
The manager has personally passed all the water served here.

In a Tokyo shop:
Our nylons cost more than common, but you'll find they are best in the
long run.

>From a Japanese information booklet about using a hotel air conditioner:
Cooles and Heates: If you want just condition of warm in your room,
please control yourself.

>From a brochure of a car rental firm in Tokyo:
When passenger of foot heave in sight, tootle the horn. Trumpet him
melodiously at first, but if he still obstacles your passage then
tootle him with vigor.

Two signs from a Mojorcan shop entrance:
- English well speaking
- Here speeching American.

Thursday, July 10, 2008

Macrobiotic diet




Well... I have been on the Adkins diet, Weight Watchers, Curves, The Sacred Heart Diet (found out it wasn't from Sacred Heart at all), the cabbage soup diet, Used Eola Drops (found out that the ephedra in them was actually not good for you although they worked brilliantly), belonged to T.O.P.S. (take off pounds sensibly)and probably have tried others out there that I didn't mention. The shot story longer is that none of them actually worked. Well, I take that back... ALL of them worked, but I always gained the weight back and more. My friend Amy and I would laugh when we were in high school saying that when we got older we would never say, "I wish I weighed what I did in high school." I have now been out of high school for twenty years, and I have seen the pictures of us when we were in high school. Unfortunately I do wish I just stuck to that weight in high school. It is strange how your perceptions change.

I have never tried the macrobiotic diet, and that is what I am doing now. At least that is what I am trying to do now. It isn't as easy as it sounds.
A macrobiotic diet (or macrobiotics), from the Greek "macro" (large, long) and "bios" (life), is a dietary regimen that involves eating grains as a staple food supplemented with other foodstuffs such as vegetables and beans, and avoiding the use of highly processed or refined foods. Macrobiotics also address the manner of eating, by recommending against overeating, and requiring that food be chewed thoroughly before swallowing. According to Wikipedia.

So I am reading lots of books and surfing the web constantly in order to find the information I need for this diet. I have decided to take the information I like about it and apply it to my life. For example, according to Wikipedia you are supposed to eat:
Whole cereal grains, especially brown rice: 50-60%
Vegetables: 25-30%
Beans and legumes: 5-10 %
Miso soup: 5%

Which is basically what I have read in other books as well. I really like fruit, and I don't think that fruit should have a bad name. I eat all kinds of fruit, but I don't add any kind of sweetener to it. I have also cut out most animal products including cheese which is one of my favorite foods.

My parents are eating what I cook, but my dad likes any diet as long as he doesn't have to give up butter, meat, sugar, or anything else that he eats. My mom is doing a better job although she is taking a day or two off a week which I have never understood the concept of doing. Don't get me wrong. I love the idea, but if I go off a diet... I am done. I guess that is the mind set that I have to get out of.

So wish me luck!