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May 19, 2006
IT'S FRIDAY, MY FAVORITE DAY!!
It was a very hectic weekend, starting out last Friday by my helping to set up for our garden club's annual plant sale. We got all the tables set up and arranged the plants into categories. We had everything from cut flowers and hanging baskets to herbs and vegetables in anticipation of the crowds on Saturday. And I do mean crowds! People come from far and near for this sale and are lined up outside long before the doors open. One woman told me that she and her husband come every year and they drive down from Washington, about three hours away! It was another successful year. We made over $4,000 on the sale, and $700 of that came from different members of our club who got first choice at the plants before the doors even opened! We are our own best customers!! The money will be donated to various charitable organizations within the community.
After the plant sale, I made a mad dash to West Linn for the big birthday parties. Leslie's birthday was May 11th, Jaysa's was May 12th and Jason's was May 13th. It was mostly a celebration for Jaysa's first birthday and we had a lot of fun watching the expression on her face when she opened her presents (with the help of her big sister Jadyn) and eating birthday cake! After the party, Leslie's two girls, Ashtin and Paige stayed with me while Leslie went for a "ride-along" with Jason that night. He was on duty until 3:00 a.m. and every now and then, Jason takes family and friends with him on his patrol. Dave has gone several times, and Jason wants me to go sometime too. But I am not a "night owl" and would probably fall asleep around midnight and miss out on all the action. Maybe when he goes to day shift. As it was, there was plenty of action for Leslie that night with a fatal hit-and-run and Jason didn't get home until 10:00 a.m. the next morning. We were supposed to have our family picture taken on Mother's Day, but because of the emergency situation with Jason, we postponed it until this weekend. It is really hard to try to get two active families with children together for a formal picture, and then when you throw the unpredictability of a policeman's schedule into the mix, it gets really tough. We understand that, and we're pretty good at rescheduling activities!
I stayed over Sunday night as I had a couple of appointments the next morning and Lara needed me to baby-sit the girls for an hour so she could go to work until Greg could get home. No problem, but Jadyn had been sick over the weekend and she was a little lethargic all day. I hope I don't get what is going around. It had been hot (100 degrees) when I left for home and was hoping for a relief at the coast, but it was nearly as hot here. I couldn't believe it. Not even an ocean breeze! We had record-setting temperatures all over the northwest that day. When it's 90 down here at the coast, you know it's hot everywhere!
After I got home Monday afternoon, Dave and I decided to go out to get something to eat. We wanted to go to the pizza place here in town, but they were closed on Monday so we ended up going over to a new place in Manzanita. We had been there once before and liked it, but it was different this time. When we walked in, we were the only ones there, so we figured we'd be in and out again in no time. Dave ordered a pizza and I had their special, which was a stuffed pepper. Then we waited. And waited. It took forever to get our meals. Then when they did get there, the pepper was half cooked and rubbery, and I had a terrible time trying to cut it with my knife. I was also supposed to get a dinner roll with my order and that never did make it. Then after all that, we had to wait 20 minutes to get our bill. It wasn't as though they were busy and just couldn't get us the ticket; we didn't even see our waitress after we were served! We were seriously wondering what would happen if we just got up and walked out! It's a shame, as we thought we had found a different place to eat but I don't think we will be going back there anymore.
I was working out in the yard this week and decided to play "tug-of-war" with an obtrusive vine. I don't know who won. The vine came loose, but I fell back on my butt, breaking my fall by landing on the wheelbarrow. The trouble was, I broke the handle on the wheelbarrow as I landed and now I have this huge "handle-shaped" bruise on my right hip. It sure hurt like the dickens. I get a little discouraged around here with this never-ending battle with the weeds, it's a lot of work and the trouble is - I want it all done NOW!! We hauled a huge trailer load of yard debris off to the burn pile a couple of days ago, and I still have about 10 garbage cans of smaller stuff to get rid of. It never ends!
I'm still seeing the chiropractor for my back and my shoulder. The back is getting better (or would be, if I quit falling on it), but the shoulder - eh - I don't know. I guess it's not getting any worse, but it's really bothering me. Dave made me make an appointment with the orthopedic surgeon, just in case the chiropractic procedure doesn't work out.
We went to a nice affair yesterday. As you may know, we volunteer one day a week to read to kids in the S.M.A.R.T. program - Start Making A Reader Today. Thursday, they put on a little ice cream social for the volunteer readers and the kids in the program joined us. The kids were pretty good about letting us know how much they appreciated our help, and it was fun to see them in another environment other than the classroom. When we look back at the problems some of those kids were having at the beginning of the year, and then look at the way they're reading now, it makes us feel good. SMART is pretty good about making its volunteers feel appreciated, and I'm pretty sure we'll do it again next year.
It's back into town for the weekend. My sister Jeanne is coming up from Arizona on Saturday and will be here a few days to visit with my Mom. Mom's 85th birthday is the end of the month, so my sisters and I are taking her out to lunch while we are all together on Monday.
We have been enjoying beautiful weather all week. As I said, it started out in the 90's and has stayed around the 70's with a nice ocean breeze in the afternoon. I feel so fortunate to have such a wonderful place to live.
