Stargazer

Congrats to Ashley

All of you readers already know that our older daughter Ashley has been accepted to Western Washington University; today she received this letter from them:

Dear Ashley: Congratulations! Based on your outstanding academic achievements,you have been selected as a Western Washington University President's Scholar. Offered to Western's most exceptional new students, this scholarship award is equivalent to a two-year tuition waiver worth $3,000...

I sure hope she decides to attend WWU; the other place that I don't like only offered her $900. Keep your collective fingers crossed that she makes the right decision, even if it's NOT the one I want her to make. What's most important about this choice is that it leads to her success and happiness, right?

An E-mail Christmas card

Our friend sent this e-mail greeting yesterday. I admire him so much for his courage and kindness, but feel incredibly sad and depressed about what is happening to this wonderful famiy. His granddaughter, Melissa, is only 16, just got her driver's license and has been eager to get back to school. It doesn't look like she will make it.

My little gal is gallantly fighting for her life at this point.  Another tumor is making sitting and walking much more difficult.  Today we picked up a wheelchair and cane to assist when it becomes too much.  She may have a couple treatments before Christmas to help with the pain she is experiencing, as well as, taking pain and marijuana pills.  We are trusting the Lord to intervene and perhaps maybe a miracle will happen.
     Saturday I took Karen out to look at cars.  Her pickup could not give the necessary comfort for Melissa when she has to go to Seattle everyday for her radiation treatments.  Since Karen owed more than what the pickup was worth she was in trouble.  To make a long story short, we stopped at the first dealer and found the car Karen liked.  We made the deal that was fantastic and she no longer has payments to make and will not have as much insurance costs too.  I might add, my pocket book is much thinner now.
     Our families are so grateful for all the financial help and other niceties you have given us.  We have not sent out Christmas cards but have enjoyed hearing from you all.  Have a very Merry Christmas! 
He included this photo of my friend Karen and her two children. It's incredible that they can all still smile; I don't know if I could. They have been through so much horror already and have deserved none of it. I guess I don't have a very good attitude about this kind of tragedy. I need to be a better person.

Christmas 1998

Our girls and Santa--a love/hate relationship should be the title of this post. They hated him in person, but loved this small, moving Santa; he wasn't as threatening as the real one, nor did they have to stand in long lines to sit on his lap for a brief and hysterical moment. I don't have the heart to dig out all the photos I have of one or both of the girls red-faced from crying; I wish I hadn't been so tradition bound and insistent on a photo with Santa.  It just seemed like the thing to do at the time...Yesterday we had our annual Christmas party with my husband's oldest friends. We don't see our friends J. and A. very often any more because they play poker on the weekends when we are busy with our kids or gymnastics meets; my husband doesn't care for the new wife A. either. (she is snide, insincere and abrasive whereas my husband is blunt, sincere and only abrasive when he's around  A.) We see our other friends C. and J.  often and they stayed past 8:00 at the party(J. and A. left before then!) to play their new DVD Trivial Pursuit Game, a gift from us. I don't enjoy losing, but it was still fun and C. brought over his Canadian Club whisky-YUM! I don't ever have any around the house, but enjoy having a couple when C. provides it. Good stuff. They also got me two bootleg George Harrison/Eric Clapton DVDs from a concert in Japan. The taping quality is terrible, worse than I would do even, but the music is great. What is Life is my favorite Harrison song with While My Guitar Gently Weeps a close second. When I was younger, I planned to be Mrs. George Harrison; he was always my favorite Beatle.  My day today was ho-hum and not HO HO HO. I forget that I am used to working and rushing all the time; it takes me a while to adjust. So, I wasn't very relaxed or jolly when I spent twice as long as I should have on the road by the Mall, didn't get all the errands checked off my list, etc... I had to remind myself that--wait, I am on break, I don't have to do everything today.(sorry to you still-working people) The shopping is done, the cards are finished, the cookies for Christmas eve are not even a gleam in my eye yet, my Huskies upset NC State, the Zags beat Georgia Tech--all should be right in my world!

I was NICE this year!

                                  

You Were Nice This Year!

You're an uber-perfect person who is on the top of Santa's list. You probably didn't even *think* any naughty thoughts this year. Unless you're a Mormon, you've probably been a little too good. Is that extra candy cane worth being a sweetheart for 365 days straight?

Were You Naughty or Nice This Year?

I try to be a good person but no, I am definitely not a Mormon. I do live next to a very nice family of them and think the world of my friend Debbie's daughter Brianna and her family. You have already read of my infatuation with espresso and Hefeweisen, so you know I would make a very bad Mormon. I'm the oldest child in my family and maybe that's why I have always tried to be a good girl.

Our first gymnastics meet

Our first gymnastics meet/evaluation was today and the results were mixed, as they always are in this sport, especially at the beginning of the season. We started on beam which is the most nerve-wracking event. I can barely stand to watch! Most of the girls fell off once or twice, but Alison and her little friend Chelsey stuck their routines. (for non-gymnast parents--no falls and pretty solid on their moves)  Alison didn't connect her nasty front handspring/back tuck acro, but otherwise looked decent. We won't talk about floor; the judges were very stingy on this event, Alison didn't do her best routine, but since floor has never been her favorite event, we just make due with the fact that she didn't fall-CLEAN routine.  Vault was so-so because Alison basically did one real vault. Her first full(1 full twist before landing) went fine, so she asked her coach if she could try out her 1 1/2 twist. She landed it all over the mat, but NOT on her feet. I'm proud of her for trying something new in competition, even though it almost gave her mother a heart attack! Bars, her favorite event, was last and I am shouting now--SHE GOT A 9.45! She also was the only member of her session who got an award on bars for her dismount with NO deductions. It was most certainly a beautiful dismount and she stuck it like she was glued to the floor. For those of you who understand gymnastics, you know that this sport is utterly critical and negative--it's all about what you do wrong and taking off points for falling, wobbling, not making your handstands on bars(the judges told Alison that if she had made her low bar ones, she would have had a 9.9) and bent knees, flexed feet, non-pointed toes, etc... Our girl is perfect for the sport though because she enjoys it without worrying too much about her score and doesn't stress about what she's done wrong. If she has a horrible outing on an event, she comes out grimacing, but smiling and ready to go on and do her best on the next apparatus. I really admire her for that because I am NOT like her; she is exactly like my husband in this determination to not give up and to just put the bad things behind her.

I took this photo of Alison and her friend, Arianna, from our old gym. Do they look alike?  When I took Ari to Huntington Beach, California last year for a meet, many people thought they were sisters. Ari's dad says that he gets them mixed up when they are on the gymnastics floor because even he sees a ressemblance. I really don't--what do you think? (besides the fact that they are both gorgeous, smart, athletic young ladies?)  P.S. Alison qualified for Washington Level 8 state today in her first meet--by over 2 points, which is a lot in gymnastics. WAY TO GO!!

What movie is my Christmas most like?

Your Christmas is Most Like: A Very Brady Christmas

For you, it's all about sharing times with family. Even if you all get a bit cheesy at times.

What Movie Is Your Christmas Most Like?

I proudly admit that I want to spend my holidays with my family and am quite cheesy.  So, I guess this quiz fits, plus I always used to watch the Brady Bunch and wanted to look exactly like Marcia Brady.

Those Golden Years

Last night at Alison's gymnastics Christmas party, while sitting at a table with our friends S and P, my husband saw fit to inform me that he had been to the doctor. He doesn't like to go and puts it off as long as humanly possible; the doctor, however, notices this and leaves messages like,"I won't be able to renew your prescription for Lipitor unless you come see me." Husband has been throwing hints that he thinks his blood pressure has been high--it never has been in the past, so when I have tried to pin him down, he just mumbles that he suspects it. Then he has also been talking about trying to get some exercise since he's about 10-15 pounds overweight, mainly in his gut. (not a good place to carry fat for a 51 year old smoker!) I think he felt safe sharing the info in front of S and P; he knew I would not come unglued in front of them.(who, me??) Then he calmly stated that yes, his blood pressure is high and the doctor wants him to go on blood pressure meds. He also needs to get a chest x-ray because he's been having some chest pains. CHEST PAINS?  How long has this been going on? I demand. He mumbles, oh, a while. He tried to get one yesterday, but the wait was too long; he talked about setting his alarm to go in this morning. This is not his usual behavior,thus I think he's concerned, which makes me worried. I am proud of myself though, because I did not overreact. I will wait until after the chest x-ray to do that. 

The Royal Family--our first Christmas photo

The girls begged and begged, but my husband was adamant--absolutely no way, he wouldn't be caught dead. He tried bribing them with other goodies, distracting them by sightseeing and being unusually stern whenever they brought up the subject. In the end, being at the Luxor hotel in Las Vegas and having to walk through the Excalibur(where this photo place was) wore him down and he grudgingly gave in.

Pretty splendid royal family, isn't it? First my husband put his costume on backwards and then the photographer made him take his glasses off. You can almost see him gritting his teeth in this photo, I think. He knows how ridiculous we look and that his girls LOVE it. For us, he suffered through it--we thank him! In general, except for this classic family photo, Las Vegas was a disappointment; we thought it would be more kid friendly, easier to navigate in, and NOT either over 100 degrees or flooding. Like many trips, the journey through Utah held many more wonderful memories than the destination itself. We didn't do any gambling in Vegas, although my husband probably would have enjoyed it. He preferred to spend time with his family watching Shrek in the hotel room and eating snacks! The final indignity that he suffered? We dragged him to the Liberace museum where he DID put his foot down and refuse to come in with us to admire the pianos. No amount of coaxing could get him inside that place...

Christmas 1991

Aren't they precious? Ashley was 5 1/2 and Alison was almost two; their Christmas tree tradition was to get pillows and blankets and lie or sleep under the tree. They never wanted to be very far from it, since they were fascinated by it--the smell, the lights, the decorations. That magic is gone...but we still have the joy of decorating the tree together and "admiring" all those handcrafted and personalized ornaments. ("MOM, you're not really going to put this one on, are you? EWWWW!") Speaking of traditions, our family photos have progressed from the girls in front of the fireplace to a family photo, usually when we are on vacation. I will next  post  the very funny one that started out that tradition--promise not to laugh too hard. My husband still cringes when he sees it.

Happy 20th Anniversary to me!

Twenty years ago today, we were married at this local Episcopal church. My family is different now; my beloved grandpa(on my right) died 18 years ago. My uncle and his wife, standing behind my husband, passed away about 6 years ago. My little brother on the end is now married. My husband has more gut and less hair. And me? Well, I look exactly the same, of course!(laughing) My husband gave me a funny card this morning, snagged our daughter's pot from ceramics and bought me a fake plant to put in it. That's the only kind I can't kill; I keep telling him over and over to buy me cut flowers which I love, but he doesn't. I don't want them when I'm up at the cemetery, I want them now--as my Mom would say. On the card he wrote, I love you still; he can never forget the time he wrote LUV YA on our anniversary card. I told him very firmly that luv ya is for a pal or a dog--but NEVER for me. (and he has remembered, so I guess I was plenty firm!) He also gave me a generous check because he knows I'm always short of funds this time of the year. Our outing for our anniversary was really this past weekend's Mannheim Steamroller concert. Tonight to "celebrate" our anniversary, I am driving two girls out to gym, picking up cookie dough for three people, dropping it off at their houses, coming home to make lunches, returning to gym to pick up my daughter and three friends to go catch the last half of a high school gymnastics meet. I will crawl home about 10, in time to exchange a hello and a good night kiss with my husband. (He already has his card from me--with "I love you and I can't believe it's been 20 years...") I sort of can't believe we're still married! In spite of the fact that we care about each other, we don't have much in common. Opposites DO attract, but it's hard to stay together.   On the great news front, our older daughter got a fat packet from Western and on the front it says, Welcome to Western! I'm assuming they aren't cruel enough to send that if she didn't get in. She was also nominated to apply for Washington Scholar, which, if she got it, would be a full ride to a college in Washington. (She says no way she can win, since she hasn't been in 50 clubs, nor taken 10 AP classes.) Still, since only 10 seniors from her class of 500 qualified, it's a huge honor and I'm very proud of her. Well, my travels start...I hear Alison calling--MOM, we've got to go to gym now!!