Patti's and Bobbi's Excellent Adventures

Mini-Boot Camp

2010-03-21T19:59:00.010-06:00

Where I work, we've started a fitness program for the associates who are interested. So far, we have over 270 participants! To kick the whole thing off, a local trainer volunteered to set up her "Survival of the Fittest" boot camp at work. Up until the day of the boot camp, my stomach would start churning every time I thought about it. I couldn't connect the dots between "Boot Camp" . . . and . . . "Me!" I'm 60 years old, and 55 of those years have been spent sitting on the couch or laying in bed! You can understand my angst!

While driving to my death, I did an awful lot of praying. Seriously. Praying I wouldn't make a fool of myself in front of my co-workers. Praying the ambulance wouldn't have to be called. Praying I'd be able to walk upright when it was all over. Praying I'd have the nerve to stop praying and actually get out of the car!

Approximately 60-65 associates showed up. We were given a star to hang around our neck. This was to identify which team we were with. I was given a yellow star and in my fragile frame of mind, it reminded me of the yellow identifying stars the Jews had to wear just prior to the Holocaust. I started praying again. All I wanted to do was go home!

During the next two hours we jumped, skipped, hopped, crawled under ropes, ran thru tires (just like the football players!), did traveling push-ups, (push-ups on the move), dribbled basketballs thru cones, ran with 8 pound water jugs in each hand, pushed a wheelbarrow loaded with bags of cement around the parking lot, threw medicine balls in the air while doing squats, did bunny hops (that's where you jump over cones, then reach down and touch the ground (and stand back up again!) about a billion times. We also boxed which I really enjoyed because I got to hit something. I heard our trainer tell another trainer (the one wearing the fatigues from head to toe) "Wow! She really packs a punch!

We also did triceps exercises that actually blow your triceps out the back of your arms, along with thrust jump outs, mountain clmbers, floor jumping jacks (I thought this one would be like laying down making snow angels), more moutain cimbers, ladder drills, abdominal elbow and knee rocks, and lots more. I can't tell you what these exercises are now, but I'm proud to say I did about 95% of them! I stopped when I temporariy lost my vsion!

It wasn't fun and it was unbelievably difficult, and now I have a much larger special place in my heart for our soldiers. Imagine doing that all day for 8 weeks.

I was home by 11am and was TOTALLY exhausted. I spent most of the day in my favorite spot.....the couch, watching the basketball tournament. Sometimes I slept. I took two hot jacuzzi's and got in the spa outside during the rest of the day. It felt so good, and I had the ridiculous notion I wouldn't be all that sore the next day.

Early Sunday morning I hopped out of bed and as soon as my feet hit the floor I started screaming like a little girl! Kendall Brown Jessup, said something a long time ago about how she loves "second day soreness." What is wrong with her?? My entire body felt as if it had come in contact with several steamrollers. Every time I took a step I either screamed or grunted. I'm sure Rocky got really tired of hearing all that!

I stumbled into church walking like Frankenstein. If I happened to drop something, I had to just stand there, looking at it longingly, and wait until someone wolunteered to pick it up for me. I tried to tell my Sunday School class about my boot camp experience, but all they wanted to talk about was the dance they attended the night before. I didn't understand because my story was WAY better.

By Monday I could take a deep breath without screaming, and Tuesday most of the soreness was just a horrible, distant memory. An interest survey was sent around the office to offer the boot camp two more times in the next twelve weeks for a small fee. You can't imagine how many people actually signed up! I'm holding out for the time being. The Director of Human Resources told me, as the occupational nurse, I should sign up and set the example. My lower lip started quivering!

Tomorrow I start workouts with Boot Camp Woman. Can you believe I'm actually going to pay good money to be treated like that?? What is wrong with me?! So wish me luck on my journey! That's what they call it.... a journey. Positive people!! To me it was like a journey to H E double toothpicks. Had I blogged this last week, I'm sure I would have left out the double toothpicks part!

Patti's Affinity for Taxis

2010-03-04T18:52:00.022-07:00

Well....it's been a while, huh? Blog-worthy events rarely happen to us, as you already know if you've been one of our 3 faithful followers. I heard on the news tonight about a woman and her blog about how difficult it is to be a military wife and not having your husband around for such long periods of time. She has over 19,000 followers! Can you believe that? Maybe we should visit her blog and then blog about that!

So Patti and I were in church a couple of weeks ago and started sharing notes about our childhood and teenage memories. She mentioned when she was in pre-Primary, she won the Best Dressed Cowgirl! Yee Hah! Somehow Daddy was supposed to take her to the rodeo with the tickets she won, and Patti remembered Daddy getting real mad about having to do that!

I remember when Mother bought Patti and I matching dresses for "Go Western Day." Mine was turquoise and Patti's was bright pink. They both had tons of tacky, silver ric-rac all over them and the blouse was sort of a peasant style, with a scoop neck and lots of elastic! They had huge full skirts requiring blow-up hoop skirt petticoats to make them look especially lovely. To top it off, we had white cowgirl hats, white boots and silver concho belts. Belts have never been a good look for me! We must have looked like the biggest losers, and we never won any prizes. No one even spoke to us, and it even might be the reason I got beat up once at school! It seemed those dresses lasted for YEARS, and they kind of did, because when we grew out of them, Patti's was looming in the closet for me!

Another memory from Patti was in pre-school when she was on the merry-go-round and got sick (like she always did whenever she moved. See one our older posts, "The Bear That Went to Cloudcroft!") She had to go home, and instead of coming to get her, Mother sent a taxi to bring her home.....which reminded her of the time when she was in high school at Austin High and she didn't have a ride home after the football game, so she called Mother who sent another taxi! "Why couldn't she just pick me up herself?" Patti whined!

In Mother's defense, she worked the night shift for over 25 years at Southwestern General Hospital and she slept during the day when we were at school. There were lots of other issues we won't get into now, but I guess it was just easier for her to send a taxi rather than getting up and dressed to run all over town after Patti!

I think the same thing happened when Patti graduated from high school. Our brother had joined the Marines so he wasn't available to attend. I couldn't go unless Mother went, because I was too young to drive. So no one saw Patti graduate. After it was all over, she must have called Mother again to pick her up, and soon after, roaring down the street, came another taxi!! I asked her if she had to climb into the taxi with her cap and gown on, in front of her friends!! Imagine.....! Poor Patti.

But to Mother's defence, Rocky reminded me of another taxi incident. We went to the Miner football game one Saturday night when the games were actually worth the price of the tickets. It was really crowded all around us, and suddenly Robyn got sick and started throwing up in the stands. Well, that cleared everyone out immediately, and suddenly we had great seats!! But back to the story. Robyn continued to feel pretty bad, and Patti, apparently hardened by her own sad taxi experiences, and following family tradition, called a cab to take Robyn home! Patti had more important things to do....like watch the football game! On the ride home, Robyn threw up again in the cab which really displeased the cab driver!!

I guess now I should say "Poor Robyn!"

Sweet Baby James Taylor

2009-09-14T20:44:00.012-06:00

Now, isn't he just a dream come true??

On September 10, 2009 Rocky, Patti and I got to see James Taylor at the Plaza Theater. He was so good. You could just sit back and close your eyes and be transformed. But of course, we didn't do that. We couldn't take our eyes off the stage. (I can't really speak for Rocky when I get all dreamy like this!)

Right before the show started, they played that annoying "ring tone" audio and told everyone to turn off their cell phones, not just put them on silent, because the light comes on when you get a call, and, well.....you know. I thought Patti was going to have to be tranquilized. She has a special relationship with her phone and they go everywhere together.

Robyn had suggested that Patti hold up her phone during the concert so she could hear James from Santa Cruz! Even Patti didn't think that was a good idea, but Robyn said "Everyone will be doing it, waving their phones, standing up and singing." I guess she didn't understand this crowd was much like those who attended the Queen concert - except WAY more sophisticated and better dressed!! Once we were installed in our chairs, there was no getting up!

But at one point, I felt something pushing against my lower leg and when I looked down, it was Patti, almost standing on her head, trying to get her phone set up so Robyn could listen. But after a good long while, she finally gave that up and settled back in her seat so everyone around her could enjoy the concert!!

James sang so many of our favorites and I guess we'd still be there if he had sung them all. The harmony of his group sends the goosebumps flying. So beautiful. His band is just great. Each member is a fabulous musician in their own right.

He has the cutest, most innocent sense of humor. I had never seen that side of him before, but it was delightful.

They returned to the stage for an encore, at first with the entire band, and ending with just the vocalists. He definitely saved the best for last. It was so awesome! This is my third time to see James Taylor, but hopefully there will be plenty more opportunities, because he's worth every penny!

As soon as I got home, I went to iTunes and started downloading all my favorite James Taylor tunes. I tend to do that after most of the concerts I attend. You should see my Queen collection!!

Strange........but true!

2009-07-19T19:55:00.061-06:00

When Patti and I go out shopping together, we take pictures of things we think are funny. This all started at Hobby Lobby, but Target also has some interesting photo ops. You'll be surprised and probably a little sad when you see what Patti did there! I could call that one "Sad.....but true!" The other interesting place for "strange......but true" photos is my house!

At Target, we walked thru the garden department and were naturally disturbed by the garden gnomes, but the bird bath attached to the garden gnome is what caught our eye.......or maybe it was the unusually large birds right next to the tiny bird bath. Patti tried to re-enact a possible scenario of a bird heading toward the bird bath, and the problem this particular bird might encounter.

Here is a strange way to carry your car keys.

Here is Patti. This is the "Sad.....but True" part. I couldn't get the right amount of light exposure, and Patti was perfectly willing to move about the store with that stupid sparkly, plastic crown on her head and the still-wrapped scepter over her shoulder! I was able to snap three different pictures!! Bless her heart! Isn't she adorable?

Here's Patti again. She found some brand new nail polish (that didn't belong to her!) at the jewelry counter and decided to stop and do her nails.

At Hobby Lobby we found some Frisket Remover. We have no idea what this is, but good news! If you ever need your frisket removed, there's a kit especially for that! We didn't spend any time trying to find out what a frisket is; we just thought it was hysterically funny.

Mirror image? Nah, it's just Jennifer's twins, Hyrum and Joseph, at the deck gate. Aren't they the cutest little guys?

Here's Troy and the big doggies on the trampoline. They jump up there when he's jumping, and in the morning, they get up on the trampoline alone and wrestle with each other. It's very entertaining!

Sometimes when we visit Mom, she lets us do ridiculous things to her.

Here's Mom doing her "jazz hands" routine.

So that's our "Strange......but True" issue. While there is absolutely no point to this post, I know you're all probably saying to yourselves "How old ARE you two anyway??"

Maybe we'll go out trolling again for more pictures. I'm a little nervous to go back to Target. I'm sure there is plenty of security tape footage with Patti and I slinking around the store, taking pictures!

But there's always Walmart.....imagine what we could find THERE!!

On Turning 60!

2009-07-17T12:00:00.018-06:00

Last Friday, July 10, I turned 60. It wasn't a big deal. Honestly, age is not an issue with me and never really has been. But what I'm slowing beginning to realize is that I'm no longer bullet-proof, and my days probably really are numbered on this earth. Other than that, I'm OK with it.

The pitfalls of getting older:

Last week I was shopping at Albertson's. When I reached the check out, my 12 year old cashier asked if I was over 55. I said "Yes, why?" At this point, her voice suddenly reached a 108 decible fever pitch, and she screamed "BECAUSE EVERY WEDNESDAY IS SENIOR CITIZENS DAY AT ALBERTSON'S! IT'S POSTED ALL OVER THE STORE!" She was SO excited and proud. I looked around the store and down the street to see how many other people might have heard. I graciously thanked her, refused help from the carry-out guy and headed out the door, head hanging, to the car. It was a little embarrassing. But when I got home I looked at my receipt and saw I saved $7.25!" Not bad.

The next day I received a letter from GECU with a lovely and personal greeting of "Dear Valued Customer." It went on to talk about milestones in our lives and I'm thinking "Ok, here it comes." So now I get free checks (but not the cute ones with the ladybugs on them!) more interest on my savings account, and 15 more points on my jumbo CD (whatever that means) and they had already made the changes before they sent the letter! Yeah!

So I guess getting older has it's advantages. I'm just not as excited as everyone else seems to be when they discover they have a live one! I still don't qualify for the senior citizen discount at the movies tho. Now THAT will make me truly happy!

My Paperless Life........NOT!

2009-07-01T19:20:00.005-06:00

I decided that 2009 was my year to go paperless. I have so much paperwork to do all the time, and I get so tired of having to touch so many pieces of paper everyday. Besides, I want my non-existent grandchildren to be able to climb a tree one day! So I bought a document scanner and set up some folders to scan bills, statements, receipts, contracts, etc. Well, I'm finding it's not that easy to go paperless!

It never dawned on me I would need cooperation from everyone who thinks I need their paper in addition to the paper I already have! When I ask them to email it to me, I'm met with dead silence on the other end of the line. That's when I realize they think I'm from Pluto. So after the awkward pause, I ask if they have a scanner. The responses run the gamut from a very proud "Yes!", "No," or "I don't know." How can you not know if you have a scanner??? The few who know they have a scanner are asked to scan the document to email and send it to me that way. Now I'm back on Pluto.....all alone. The usual response is "Well, can I just fax it to you?" "No.....that would involve more paper." (I'm being as nice as I possibly can, and that's not easy!)

When I email a document to them, they are SO IMPRESSED! But you'd be surprised how many people can't open the document because they don't know about "double click the attachment!" Seriously! How long have we had computers, email and attachments?

So back to my immediate problem. I set up all my folders and they're ready to be filled. Well....honestly, it's just so much easier and faster to file, by hand, each and every piece of paper. (The time I spend running back and forth to the bedroom to grab bandaids for all the paper cuts, is in addition to actual filing time.) Scanning everything takes a good amount of time and dicipline, and that's not my strength! So at this point, I have papers from January 1, 2009, neatly stacked, but in no particular order, ready to go!!

I guess I shouldn't make fun of those who are still looking for their scanner. I have TWO, and still have a boatload of paper to get rid of. I'll do it tho, because the best part of this plan is shredding!! I have a deep, emotional connection to my shredder!

Queen!

2009-03-01T16:04:00.014-07:00

Last night Rocky and I decided we'd go see Queen. You know.....the rock band? I like most of their music but had NO idea what to expect from the live show. This picture shows how I sort of remember them from the 70's?

The show was held at the Pan American Center in Las Cruces and anyone who's ever driven there from El Paso dreads the l-o-n-g line that can start on the freeway, sometimes 2 miles before you ever get to the University exit. It's so dangerous and it takes forever to finally get off the freeway and into the parking lot. So we left a little early, and when we got to the off ramp, there were only 2 cars in front of us and they weren't going to the Pan American Center! In seconds we were in our parking space, along with the other 10 cars in the lot. Seriously!

When we got to our seats, I think there may have been about 100 people at the most there. They slowly hobbled in until there were maybe 2000 total, in an arena that seats around 15,000! It was SAD! Most of the people were either our age or older and real out of shape. And there we were....front and center!

I've never seen Queen, didn't know their lead singer was Freddy Mercury, didn't know he was gay, and had only recently found out he was dead! But they have an equally talented (and gay) replacement for Freddy! He could sing and he did, while he skipped all around the stage, kicking himself in his own rear-end, and all while wearing a bright yellow marching band costume! Rocky said the real show was on my face! I had no idea!!! I turned to him and said "Maybe that's why they call it Queen?!" I'm sure Rocky was thinking, "Ya think??"

"Freddy #2" kept trying to get us all up on our feet and clapping our hands overhead, etc., but some of us were die hards! It wasn't gonna happen. Besides, I can hardly lift my left arm over my head anyway! A German family sat next to me and when "Freddy #2" said to grab the hair of the person next to you, slap them in the face and make them stand up, Mr. German man looked at me and I just said "No!" It was hard to tell if he was disappointed or not.

The music was really pretty good, but Flaming Freddie was so distracting! At one point he came out with an American flag drapped around his sweaty body. That was a little disturbing. Then at the end of the show he carries out a red velvet crown and cape. Wow. I guess he didn't see the need to model it for such a small crowd.

So as you can imagine, we had absolutely NO problems getting out of the parking lot, and we were back on the freeway, headed home in about 2 minutes!

God save the Queen!

Happy Valentine's Day!

2009-02-15T18:42:00.000-07:00

Hope everyone had a great Valentine's Day! Our day started out with Jennifer's "vegan" whole wheat pancakes for breakfast. Vegan except for the egg. Eggs seems to be optional for alot of vegans! Yikes! Don't tell Jennifer I said that. But the pancakes were yummy!

I thought I had bought a card for Rocky, but if I did, I couldn't find it anywhere. I have a problem with cards. I always stop at the card section of just about every store and pick up several random cards, then proceed to never take them out of the bag and can't ever find them when I need them. When I do find them, years later, I always wonder "Hmmm .... I wonder who I bought that for?!?" I have a cute box for filing cards - actually I have two cute boxes for filing cards, but they're empty at the moment, except for a couple of sympathy cards filed under "Congratulations!"

Anyway, thank goodness I had watched the Today Show because Martha Stewart was on and she made the cutest Valentine cards, and they looked SO easy. I didn't really pay attention to the first part of the segment, which I have to say now, must have been the most important part, because when I went to Hobby Lobby to buy the stuff, which, by the way cost WAY more than going to Target and buying several cards, I couldn't find what I thought she must have used, so I thought, "Not a problem. I'll just improvise!"

I gathered all the materials together, and there were plenty! Then I cut out the hearts using a little heart-shaped box for the pattern. Here's where I actually DID pay attention to the demonstration on Today. Well it all looked SO easy, but noooooooo! In addition to what I had already purchased, I had to use super glue and then Elmer's glue when the super glue failed, and florist wire. Martha didn't use any glue at all! Or wire! The whole ordeal didn't go so well, but here's the final product.

While Rocky made rounds, I scurried around the kitchen making Valentine cookies and candy and was exhausted by the time he got home. And the kitchen was a horrible mess. I made some chocolate peanut candy and poured it into heart-shaped cookie cutters thinking, "Oh, isn't that cute!" But when the candy hardened, I couldn't get it out of the cookie cutters, so Troy and I came up with the bright idea of letting them soak for a few seconds in hot water. That worked well until we forgot what we were doing and hot water poured over the candy and made an awful mess. But it worked......sorta!

Troy and I decorated the cookies and as you can see, we are not in the bakery business, but it's the thought, right??? They all got eaten anyway, and we had a good time.

After all that WORK, Rocky and Troy and I went for a romantic Valentine's dinner at Peppe's in Canutillo. It's not a particularly nice place, but it has great Mexican food. After dinner I took a nap!

Hope your day was as nice as ours.

Seven Ways to De-Stress.......with a twist!

2009-02-05T07:48:00.015-07:00

In my "25 Random Things About Me" post, I referred to something I heard on the Today Show earlier this year - a list of 7 ways to de-stress. The list was just different enough from most of the other ideas we hear about so often, and I thought you'd like to see it.

1. Exercise to decrease stress hormones.

2. Do some deep breathing.

3. Stay away from caffeine and alcohol.

4. Keep a Joy Journal. Write down things that make you happy instead of dwelling on your adversities. Keep the "daily grind" in another journal.

5. Schedule your "fret" time. ("I'll think about that later.")

6. Wean yourself off "triggers" such as checking the stock market every hour during the day, or weighing yourself every day. Check the stock market only once during the day, and jump on the scale once a week.

7. Take charge and take action of the things you can change. Let go of everything else.

There now! Don't you feel better already?

My "Almost" Top Ten Beauty Secrets!

2009-02-03T02:00:00.025-07:00

Now there's an oxymoron, using my name and beauty secrets in the same sentence, but I've been tagged by Jennifer, and I must obey!

My beauty routine doesn't amount to much. At almost 60 years of age, they say less is more and they mean it. And it's so much cheaper!

Beauty Tip Number One: I HAVE to bathe or shower every day or I can't stand myself, and neither can anyone else. I use Twisted Peppermint body soap and foot scrub from Bath and Body Works. It smells soooo good! I used to use the Twisted Peppermint body spray until a little girl at church said "Mama, she smells just like cotton candy!" I thought I smelled all fresh and minty, but instead I smelled as if I'd just come from the circus. Poor Rocky used it once and the girls at the office said he smelled like bubble gum!

The Peppermint body wash makes a great bubble bath, but I have to be careful because if I turn on the jacuzzi, the bubbles multiply exponentially and envelope me! It's kind of scary because there's not alot of oxygen in those bubbles! The first picture is of a nice, normal bubble bath, the 2nd is only a few seconds after the jets have been turned on, and the third is my view of the bubbles while I'm in the tub!

Beauty Tip Number Two: After I dry off, I rub lotion all over my arms, legs and feet - Peppermint, of course! I have to wait a bit after I put it on my feet because when I try to walk on the wood floors, it's hard to remain upright.

Beauty Tip Number Three: Now comes the trickiest part. Makeup. I've never really been shown how to apply makeup, so I've been on my own all these years. So any thoughts you may have about what might have gone wrong on any particular occasion, now you know why.

One day when I was getting my hair done, a lovely lady asked me if I wanted to try a new type of make up "so pure you can sleep in it!" I didn't see anything different about that because I've always slept in my makeup, but I said "Sure!" like a dope, not realizing it was going to cost me more than I'm willing to say in print. For some reason, I thought it was all going to be free!!

She showed me all these different powders and "told" me how to apply them, but really didn't let me see what she was doing. Then all of a sudden she whirled the chair around and voila! There in the mirror was a CLOWN!!

On my own, I've slowly learned how to use this makeup and I really do recommend "Bare Essentuals." Yes, that's spelled correctly. It's reasonably priced, lasts forever and they have hundreds of colors!! I use only one or two colors myself, because I'm not very adventurous when it comes to makeup. The only problem with this makeup is, if a tear happens to roll down your cheek, you can see the track mark! Below are pictures of my makeup drawer and brushes. Nice, huh?

Beauty Tip Number Four: Applying the makeup, which is not the same as describing the makeup. Two totally different processes. First I start with a cheap moisturizer, like Oil of Olay or Ponds. Those pricey brands don't work. I've used them all, and look at me. If anyone disagrees, please let me know of a brand that really does what it promises!

Since I'm a middle-aged+ woman, I have several age spots....you know those brown spots we get on our hands and face. I was a sun worshipper in my youth and they're not kiddin' when they say "You'll be sorry one of these days!" My time has come. So I start dabbing on powdered concealer, and having alot of Irish ancestors, I sometimes get mixed up and spend alot of my 5 minute beauty routine dabbing at freckles!!

Beauty Tip Number Five: Makeup experts say to apply blush to the "apples" of your cheeks. My entire face is an apple, so it's hard to decide just exactly where to put that stuff! But if I mess it up, I just apply a mineral veil. That stuff is great because it blends all the awkardly applied colors to where they look.......not so bad!

Beauty Tip Number Six: The eyes. Now this part is serious because I happen to believe that my only redeeming quality is my eyes. Patti once did me a huge favor by having me color-typed. Everyone should do that because it really helps when choosing the colors you wear. Brown is best for blue eyes, so I try to stay in that color palate. Blending one color on my lids and another on my brows is way too hard. And the trickiest part of all is eyeliner! But the one thing I absolutely hate to do, but it makes the biggest difference, is apply mascara! UGH! After that task, I have to use several Q-tips to clean up the excess! I look like a little girl playing "grow up" with my Mom's makeup!

Beauty Tip Number Seven: Lips. You're supposed to wear a lip liner that's the color of your lips. So for me that's a liver color (hard to find)! Then I apply lipstick and that's about it. It's like coloring - it's important to stay within the lines! Occasionally I apply some lip gloss, but be VERY CAREFUL here! Let me tell you why. I have a wrinkle (or two or more) that go up from my lips to either side of my nose. Stop laughing -it'll happen to you too! One hot day I was at a quincienera flitting around, talking to friends, introducing myself to strangers and while they were all pleasant enough, they all looked at me kind of funny. I didn't notice anything until I got in the car and looked in the rear-view mirror. My dark pink lip gloss had melted and traveled up those wrinkles! Those people must have thought I had blood poisoning!! How totally embarrassing! I have recreated to the best of my ability, the incident for you here! (Oh, and forget the gloss debacle, look what a HUGE difference a little lipstick makes!! I think it's important to have lipstick in your food storage.)

Patti had a similar experience with bronzer. She put it on all over her face, and by the time she got to wherever she was going, it had collected in the wrinkles around her eyes, making her look like a tiger!

Beauty Tip Number Eight: My hair. I've had my hair long, very short, colored, highlighted, lowlighted, permed, and just about everything else one can do to their hair. It's pretty straight for the most part, but as I get older I have these weird "waves" which make it very hard to style. So I put a little product in, blow it dry with a huge brush, flat iron parts of it, then put a curling iron to other parts. Doesn't make much sense, huh? It usually turns out OK, but never great!

Beauty Tip Number Nine: Hmmmmmm.....I think that's it.

Twenty Five Random Things About Me.

2009-01-31T23:49:00.011-07:00

I've been tagged three times now to do this and I guess I just need to get it over with. So here goes....

1. I don't like beets, eggplant, turnips or mangos.......at all.

2. I'm not a great housekeeper. My house is almost always clean, but it gets pretty messy. That's why I'd much rather you call before you come over!

3. I enjoy doing laundry and folding it, but putting it away is almost more than I can handle. Strange, huh? And I don't iron, because I don't know how, unless it's a pillowcase or a handkerchief - and who irons pillowcases and handkerchiefs anymore?! Actually I know a few people who still do that and I just don't get it.

4. I don't appear in public in a swimsuit. That's way too scary and disappointing.

5. I like to do daring things, like learning to fly. I'd LOVE to skydive, but I don't think my knees could take the landing!

6. I would love to go to the mountains for 3 months, shave my head and see what it looks like when it grows back. I'm curious to know just how much gray or white hair I really have. I bet it's at least 60%!

7. One of my favorite kinds of music is Big Band. I got that from Daddy.

8. I love to drive around with my top down....convertible top, that is! The wind in my hair feels so good, unless my hair is whipping around in my eyes! That stings.

9. Other than my family, I have two really great friends who I treasure. One lives here in El Paso, and she just sent me a card - just because. The other lives in Dallas. She and I have been BFF's for 41 years. It's a nice, comfortable and fun relationship and there's nothing I can't tell her.

10. I love technology and how it makes our lives so much more interesting and easy! I even love the way it smells when it's new!!

11. I love to play Guitar Hero, especially with Patti and Troy. We have so much fun!

12. One of my New Year's resolution is to be more positive, and it's really worked. There's only one subject that will immediately drag me to the dark side, so we won't talk about it!

13. I've heard that challenging your brain can help prevent Alzheimer's Disease. That may or may not be true, but since I don't like doing crossword puzzles, I like to play Brain Age and Big Brain Academy. My boys gave me Brain Age II for Christmas, so I guess they're worried about me too!

14. Earlier in the month, there was a segment on the Today Show on how to reduce stress. Most of them were the usual: exercise, take time for yourself, no alcohol or caffeine, etc., but the one that got my attention was keep a Joy Journal. It's different from an everyday journal where you have good and bad days and talk about all the highs and lows of your day. In a Joy Journal you write only good things, like things you're thankful for, etc. One day as I was driving across town, I was thankful for my car because it's so cute, and I don't owe any money on it, and I LOVE driving it. Another day I was thankful for the unconditional love I get from my doggies. Simple, silly things like that. Try it, whether you write it down or not, but it makes a huge difference in your thinking!

15. I'm nervous about the economy. We've lost so much money from our pension plan this past year, so now I'm just socking away as much as I can every month in a low-yield savings account. At least I know it'll be there when I need it!

16. I'm thinking about taking a nursing job at the jail!! I like the edgy jobs.

17. I seem to collect socks. Yesterday I cleaned out my dresser drawers and donated at least 50 pairs of socks to Goodwill. Don't worry tho, I still have about that many left. Do you think I have a problem??

18. I wish more than anything that I had grandkids, but I don't. Maybe someday.

19. I'm really bad about starting projects and never finishing them. So when that actually happens, it's a BIG DEAL around here.

20. I wish I was thinner. I did Weight Watchers a few years ago and that worked well. Lately I have NO willpower. None at all. It's sad.

21. The older I get, the more I miss the people who have passed on before me, especially my brother Rico, and my cousin, Lurlene. I wish I could tell them one more time, face-to-face, how much I love them.

22. I graduated from high school in Mexico.

23. Troy gave Rocky and I a night in a castle for our Christmas present in 2000 in Germany. It was really a neat thing. We ended up in Paris for Christmas Day where we visited Notre Dame Cathedral during High Mass on Christmas morning. I don't have the words to describe that experience. It was so spiritual.

24. I love to travel, but I love coming back home a whole lot more!

25. I don't like writing things about myself that no one really cares about!!

So now I've fulfilled my obligation to Jennifer, CJ and Lisa.

Happy New Year!

2009-01-01T11:21:00.002-07:00

We hope everyone has a happy and healthy 2009! 2008 was a little traumatic for our family and several others we know, so it's got to be better, no? New resolution.....Think Positively! That's not MY resolution necessarily, it's a good one!

We set a record!!

2008-12-31T21:44:00.011-07:00

Yesterday, I whiiiined about wanting to go to the Sun Bowl game, but NO ONE, not even my ever dependable sister would go. Actually the whining didn't start yesterday. It started sometime last week. But funny thing! All of a sudden 4 free tickets fell into our laps and then everyone wanted to go! I had already called Patti before the ticket bonanza, and she insisted she was still NOT interested. Then about 30 minutes later the guilt set in, just like I knew it would!! (It's all part of the plan!) She said she'd go with me. You should have heard the tone in her voice. It was like I had asked her to hike Mt. Kilimanjaro! But I had to tell her we had no more tickets!! I think I heard her sigh of relief.

Anyway, as much as I love football, the ONLY reason I wanted to go was to see the half-time show. Get ready for this......The Village People!! I always thought they were so unique, in alot of ways! ;)

Aren't they just the cutest?!?!

They only sang 3 songs, "Macho Man," "YMCA," and "In the Navy." I think that's the only songs they ever sang! AND.....in the process of enjoying the concert, we set a Guiness Book of World Records by the most people doing the YMCA dance at the same time in the same place! Over 45,000 people participated. The last record set was in 2001 in Utah, but with only 13,000 people. There was even a Guiness Book Record Certifier there! They're real serious about ridiculous things like this. I haven't heard the results, but I'm pretty sure we set the record.

So they showed us "how" to do the YMCA dance, and after all these years, we've been doing it wrong! You probably have too, if you've ever stooped to that sort of thing! But we had SO MUCH FUN! Even Troy and Ben had fun. It was one of the better half-time shows I've seen. WAY better than Michael Jackson.....Patti!

The game was between Pittsburgh and the Oregon Beavers. The Beavers scored a field goal in the first quarter to make the score 3-0, and the final score was 3-0!! Apparently it was the lowest scoring bowl game for the past 75 or so years. Pretty sad. We left after half-time tho, because as I said earlier, it was all about The Village People for me!

Memory Lane Mondays ~ "Please leave!"

2008-12-15T14:06:00.003-07:00

Quite a few years ago, the husband of my mom's best friend Leola, passed away. Patti and I went to the funeral at the Douglas Street Chapel, and it was packed. We found a seat in front of our Aunt Ernestine, who we LOVE, and listen intently to the talks. Well....as intently as Patti and I can. We really tried this time out of respect to the deceased. One of the speakers had been our Bishop when we were kids and he was an "interesting fellow."

About 30 minutes into the funeral, the Bishop got up to speak on "The Big Picture." He talked and talked and talked and talked and talked. We started glancing at each other, which was a HUGE mistake. He continued to talk on and on. We were getting fidgety and bored and just wanted to go home! As you can imagine we started whispering to each other, and that started the uncontrollable laughing. Aunt Ernie was poking us in the back saying things like "You girls never change!"

After what seemed like an eternity, and I'm NOT kidding, the Bishop pronounced, "And that brings us to "The Big Picture!!" What was he SAYING all that time?? What was the Big Picture?? So with that statement we looked at each other quizzically, and started laughing so hard we were gasping, choking, tears running down our cheeks, shoulders shaking, and we could NOT STOP!

Aunt Ernie leaned forward and asked us to please leave the funeral until we could compose ourselves! How embarrassing is THAT?? Have YOU ever been asked to leave a funeral for bad behavior, or for any reason? Oh, and we were adults, or at least we looked like adults!

Memory Lane Mondays ~ Silly things my Mom says!

2008-11-18T19:00:00.010-07:00

While on a trip to Mazatlan some years back, Troy and Grandma were leaning over the edge of the tourist cruise boat (and I use that term loosely) peering into the water. Troy was about 10 or 11 years old and was saying things like "Look how blue the water is!" and "I wonder how cold it is?" and "I wonder how deep it is!" Mother, with her brow intently furrowed, replied "What I want to know is, what is a participle!"

A few little things I remember about growing up....

2008-10-30T18:47:00.025-06:00

1. Sitting on the curb on a rainy day with our feet in the rushing water and trying to make little dams
2. Dipping my raw carrots in ketchup.
3. Mary the rabbit, Chocolate the dog, and Cheema the cat
4. The smell of Carmen's tacos
5. Playing baseball and hide and seek in our backyard
6. The smell of the little cedar boxes we always bought in Ruidoso
7. Running away to Roy English's house and Mom saying "OK!"
8. Sargent, who had the most beautiful lawn on the block
9. Our babysitter who always threatened to call the cops on us, and whose dad just happened to be the Chief of Police!
10. The smell of mothballs at Grandma's house....mmmmmmm
11. Having to listen to Daddy read instruction manuals for each and every new appliance we ever bought! I NEVER read instruction manuals now.
12. Climbing the China Berry tree and crossing the patio roof to get to our tree house
13. Jumping on the Jenkins' trampoline and drinking their milk out of their side-by-side, restaurant-style milk machine. It was always so yummy and cold!
14. Using TV trays to slide down the hill when it snowed
15. Watching "The Mummy" with Patti and Rico and being scared to death - every time!
16. Flying kites in the park across the street
17. Rico throwing Patti's "Flower Drum Song" record like a frisbee over the fence of the reservoir because she played it so many times. He had warned her.....
18. Our dog Mutts, running around the yard with Daddy's freshly grilled (or should I say freshly charred!) chicken or steaks
19. Our flocked Christmas trees
20. How Mother made each and every Christmas magical

Survival of the Dumbest!

2008-10-26T20:26:00.041-06:00

Saturday Patti, Mom and I took a day trip to Colonia Juarez to see Jennifer, Sasi and Jeneanne, and let Mom visit with her sister, Aunt Nellie. It's only a 3 hour drive, and very do-able in one day....assuming all goes as planned.

Our drive down was uneventful, which is great with the conditions in Mexico like they are. We got thru all the checkpoints without any problems. The only stop we made was in Casas Grandes to get Mother's hair cut and styled. Patti and I had been extremely negligent in getting that done earlier and poor Mom looked like a homeless woman, as you can see in the picture below! Her hair was down to her shoulders, combed to the side and just awful. We ended up at a beauty school and didn't know what to expect at first, especially when they showed us this picture of a funky haircut all spiked up! We agreed to it anyway, and you can see Mom wasn't all that thrilled with what was happening to her! But during the styling process, they used a curling iron and she look really cute - not funky at all! Aunt Nellie always looks so prim and proper, we just couldn't take Mother to see her looking like she did.

Our visit was great fun. Mother is 95 and Aunt Nellie is 92 and at first they didn't even recognize each other! We had to introduce them. They are so funny together. Their conversations are nothing but nonsense! But they have alot of fun together, and that's so nice to see.

Jennifer and John fixed us a delicious lunch. After we had eaten, Aunt Nellie took all the extra brownies off the plate, wrapped them in a napkin and a baggie and took them home. That was a little odd!

I called Rocky to let him know we'd be on the road by 4:30. We planned to spend the last hour at Aunt Nellie's home with Jen and Sas, but I always forget to include the time it takes to get Mother out of the car and into the house, and the reverse when we have to leave. It's a significant amount of time! By the time we were actually in the car and ready to go, it was 5:30! When we were finally on our way, but still in Aunt Nellie's driveway, Mother asked "Where are we going?" When I said we were on our way back to El Paso, she said "I hope I can go to the bathroom before we leave."

Grrrrrrrr. Patti, being "patient and kind," asked her if she could wait 3 more hours!! "Well, I'll TRY!" was Mom's response! So we looked at each other, sighed, and backed up and started the process of getting mom out of the car, into the house, to the bathroom (that's another story altogether!), back to the car, into the car and finally we were off.....2 hours late! After stopping for tortas where the store was closed, gas and queso Menonita, it delayed us just enough that when we got to the Santa Teresa bridge it had closed, exactly 3 minutes before we got there. We couldn't believe it!

I have to interject a story here. There's a military checkpoint half way between where we bought the cheese and the border. The soldiers there check mostly for weapons, but probably look for drugs too. Patti and I both speak fairly good Spanish, and between the two of us, we're awesome! Patti was driving so she was in charge of fielding all the questions. I guess the soldier couldn't see into the back seat where mother was sitting, because he asked if we had any "pasajeros" (passengers). So Patti reaches for the handle to pop the trunk at the exact same time I told the soldier "Yes, our mother is with us," while I point with my thumb toward the back seat. So up pops the trunk, and the soldier looks at Patti, then at the trunk, then at me and back at the trunk. He very slowly walked toward the trunk fully expecting to see our mother back there. I asked Patti "WHAT ARE YOU DOING????" She said "I got confused!" I don't know how she could have thought pasajeros meant cajuela (trunk)!! Finally we all got on the same page and he let us go. That was a close one! Those guys don't have anything close to a sense of humor!

So now it's 10:03 p.m. Being a little closer to the border, I finally had a phone signal and was able to let Rocky know we were so close, yet so far! Because the bridge was closed, we had to drive 10 miles back to the road that takes you to Juarez, which is supposed to go directly to the Santa Fe bridge. Well, that didn't happen. (On a side note, the highway we were on now, took us right through the Home Depot parking lot! Isn't that strange??) We spent two more hours of meandering around unfamiliar parts of one of the most dangerous city in the world! Patti, who has this uncanny sense of direction had completely shut down, and I had no clue where we were, except when we hit the red-light district. That was VERY interesting!! All we knew is where we were, not where we were in relation to the bridge! So we asked a taxi driver if he could tell us how to get there, and he said he'd lead us there in his car.....for $5! He got us there in about 3 minutes and I paid him $10.

It's now past midnight and there's a hold up in the line to cross the border. We waited at least 30-45 minutes before we could finally pass. When we got to the US side of the border, Mother pipes up and says within earshot of the immigration officer, "Is this the place where you told me to say I'm American?" Another uncomfortable moment, but I don't think he heard what she said, thank goodness, because all we had to prove her citizenship was a Mexican passport! Those guys don't have a sense of humor either. We got home at 1 a.m. and were exhausted! A three hour drive took us eight hours!

We had LOTS of laughs on the trip, because Patti and I think everything is funny, but we were so, so happy to be home.

"Take me back to Tulsa...."

2008-10-20T20:24:00.011-06:00

This past weekend we decided Patti needed to get outta Dodge, so she and I took a trip to Tulsa, Oklahoma. We were able to kill two birds with this trip. It was Trevor's birthday on the 18th (Trevor is Bobbi's oldest son) AND we had football tickets to see the UTEP Miners play the Tulsa Golden Hurricane. Isn't that the stupidest name for a mascot?? The only problem was....they played like a hurricane! The first quarter was great ~ everytime we made a touchdown, they made a touchdown. Back and forth for 20 minutes until the score was tied at 21. Imagine our excitement! Then we watched it quickly get out of control until the third quarter, when we slunk (is that a word?) out of the stadium all decked out in our UTEP orange, trying to pretend that it was "only a game", with a score of 70 to 35! Before we were even off the stadium grounds, the score was 77 to 35.

I'm the tiny little one on the left(!), Trevor, Patti, Beth and Glen.

Our seats were on the first row of the stadium, directly behind the Miner bench. We were so close we could almost touch them, and pretty excited about that! Beth complained alot about the smell! But our excitement about being so close to the players went south in a hurry because we could actually hear what they were saying to each other, and if I told you what they said, someone would file a obscenity complaint against me. It was shocking! I don't know what we thought went on down there. It seemed from a distance they're all real happy all the time, chest-bumping, high-fiving each other, slammin' each other on the helmet. You know how they are. I always thought they were saying stuff like "Good job!!" or "Atta boy!" "I love you, man!" But NOOOOOOO!!

We had an hour and a half layover in Dallas. We found our gate but there was no place to sit, so we sat along the concourse just people-watching. Don't ask why we dedided to do this, and to be fair to Patti, it was my idea, but to be fair to me, she went right along with it! (and she calls me a sheep!) We decided we'd make negative comments about the people who were passing by. "She needs a make-over!" and "Get a load of THAT!" and "Good grief. Did she get dressed in the dark?" and "That guy needs to buy an iron." and "What was she THINKING?" and "He looks just like a leprechan!" Anyway, we were so intent on making fun of everyone, when I looked at my watch, it was 3 minutes to "wheels up!" So we ran to the gate and of course were the last ones on the plane and didn't get to sit together, and as most of you know, that is sheer torture for Patti and I. So I guess that was our punishment for being so juvenile! Just to let you know, we did make some nice comments about this one really classy lady.

Saturday, Beth (Trevor's wife) took us shopping at some great places. We had so much fun while Trevor stayed home and smoked a brisket and a rump roast for his birthday bash. It's what he wanted to do with his friends, so we let him! Patti was as surprised, as I was when I first went to Tulsa, at how beautiful the town is. It's really something! And yes...the above is really a picture of Tulsa, but it doesn't even begin to show how pretty it is.

After shopping we celebrated Trevor's birthday with his friends and had a really fun time. He's such a great cook! Beth made the cake, I iced it, another friend of theirs helped with the candles, and if you look closely you'll see the candles say "37." Really, they do! Patti took a nap. We probably should have celebrated a few hours longer because unfortunately shutting down the party takes us back to the first part of this blog....the football game.

Our flights back to El Paso were uneventful except for Dallas (again), but not because we made fun of people. Patti decided she wanted a Cinnabon. Who doesn't??? They are SO GOOD. So we shared one and when I got home Sunday night, I read on the internet, for the second time, that a Cinnabon is the #1 WORST snack food in America! Can you believe that? Oh well...it was worth it!

Seriously now, who wouldn't want to stuff their face with one of these??

So that was our trip. There was only one snafú and that was in El Paso. Our luggage decided to take a detour to Phoenix, but it came back a few hours later, and Patti went to the airport to get it. All was well after that.

We had such a good time and Trevor and Beth are the greatest hosts!

Thanks guys! See you at Thanksgiving.

Memory Lane Mondays ~ Bread and Pies

2008-10-06T08:18:00.005-06:00

I went to high school in Mexico, and lived with my mother's sister and her family. She had a daughter Lurlene, and she and I were the same age and quickly became like sisters. We had so much fun together and living in a small farming/ranching community that revolved around the church - it was the perfect scenario. It was probably the best 2 years of my life! What a great place to grow up!!

It wasn't all peachy tho. Every Saturday, before Lur and I could do anything, we had to make bread and pies. When she made bread, I'd make pies, which didn't even come close to resembling anything like this picture, and the next Saturday we'd switch. This was absolute torture for me because I'm not a baker, even now! Of course Lurlene was perfect at everything she did! It was alot of pressure for me!!

I don't recall how my pies turned out, but since I still can't make a decent pie today, and this is 42 years later, they were probably pretty sad. But the bread is a different story!

We used those large juice cans to bake the bread in and there were about 20 cans! My Aunt Nellie had a large family and going thru 20 loaves of bread each week was pretty normal. It took FOR-EVER to make all that bread.

Every Sunday our family dinner was attended by approximately 15-20 people. Aunt Nellie would drag out the bread, sliced nicely and place it on the table with homemade butter and jam. Everyone would glance at the bread and then at each other. I never could figure out how they knew that was MY week to make the bread! But I suppose it was obvious. The really tough part for me was the looks on everyone's faces when they bit into the sliced bread. Some would cough or start choking and frantically reach for their water! I think this was the first time I ever saw anyone perform the Heimlich Maneuver! It made me want to become a nurse!!

This went on for a year and a half, and sad because no one would ever eat more than one bite of my bread! No one eats it now either!! But one day my Uncle Dave, my mother's brother, called me and asked if it was my week to make bread. When I told him I had just finished the bazillion loaves I had to make before I could have any fun, he asked me if he could have every single loaf! Well, you can imagine my excitement!! Finally, someone actually wanted my bread! I asked Aunt Nellie if that was ok with her and she's said "Oh, YES!" Even that response didn't dampen my spirit! The next day we had no bread for the family dinner and everyone was OK with that too! Looking back they all seemed thrilled!

When Uncle Dave came by to pick up the bread I was so excited I could hardly speak! But finally I asked him why he wanted all of it and he said, as nicely as he could, "Bob, I'm going to the mountains to round up my cattle and your bread is the best thing I've found to throw at the mules to get them to move off the road!"

I probably should have been crushed, and I kind of was, but I was mostly "OK" that someone had finally found a good use for my bread, other than having to eat it! But on the bright side, Aunt Nellie taught me how to make a mean tapioca!

Health Tip Tuesdays ~ Broken Bones, Dislocations and Sprains

2008-09-30T08:51:00.024-06:00

I've let this column go because I got very few comments on it. Then again we rarely get any comments on anything! But a few people have said they actually learn something from these posts, so I'll give it another shot.

Today we're gonna talk about broken bones and joint dislocations. First let's clear up some terminology. I don't know why this happens, but alot of people say they have a "fracture" and not a broken bone. I guess that makes it sound worse than it actually is. But a fractured bone is a broken bone and a broken bone is a fractured bone. So whichever you want to call it, it's exactly the same.

If you or someone you know comes across someone who has injured themselves it's important to check for fractures and dislocations. Well, first you need to figure out of they're breathing or not!! Alot of the time you can actually see a fracture because there will probably be some deformity and swelling in that area. If you were there when the accident happened, it's possible you heard the bone break! That's kinda creepy! Sometimes you can see the bones(s) poking thru the skin, and in this case you can be pretty sure the bones are broken! This is called a compound fracture and it's not a pleasant sight. There will probably be alot of bleeding. You'll need to try to stop the bleeding if it doesn't stop on it's own.

If you suspect a fracture, you can ask the patient to move his/her fingers or toes or affected body part, but why?? It's HURTS to do that!! What you want to do with either a fracture, dislocation or sprain/strain (especially with the arm/hand/wrist or leg/ankle/foot or shoulder, check to see if the area is blue or grayish. If it is, that might mean the circulation is compromised and they need help quickly. You CAN gently tickle their finger tips or toes with your fingernails. If they say that feels normal that's a good sign. If not, it could mean there's nerve involvement and they need more help than you can probably give them.

Above are some pictures of dislocations. If there's a dislocation it's usually obvious but not always. Say it's a finger, that finger might be pointing in a direction different from all the other fingers. A dislocated shoulder looks larger than usual and deformed because it's been pulled out of the joint. You can't always be sure, but they just "look" different, but they still hurt ALOT and the patient can't move their arm, so please don't ask them to.

Also, if at all possible, don't ask them to walk if they've hurt their ankle/leg/foot. Not only does that hurt and can cause more damage, it's really ticks them off!! Be aware that a sprain can hurt as much, if not more than a fracture. So it gets a little tricky sometimes.

What can you do? Try to stablize the fracture. You can do this with a stick or board and some tape or strips of cloth. You can use a rolled up newspaper or a magazine folded into a gutter-type splint. This doesn't have to be fancy. Use whatever you have that is stiff and can be gently tied in place. Your goal here should be to immobilize the area and keep it from moving or bouncing around while you're on your way the the ER. The reason for this is, if the bones continue to move everytime the patient moves, it can cause alot of unnecessary internal tissue and vessel damage. Also, put some ice in a bag and place it over the area. Try to put a cloth between the ice and the skin tho. Don't use ice water - it's WAY too cold and can damage the skin.

Most importantly, you need to get them to a place where an x-ray can be taken to see what's going on. Fractures, dislocations and sprains need to be treated. If they're left to heal on their own, there will probably be some loss of function and deformity. You don't want that. Oh, and if your patient has a dislocation and needs a reduction (that means pulling the bone back in place) you might want to leave the room. That's unpleasant to watch!
See? All better! Well....sort of!

Smile ~ it's good for the heart!

2008-09-30T08:33:00.001-06:00

Farwell to Ed

2008-09-29T10:13:00.003-06:00

Saturday we had Ed's funeral at church. Everyone in his family had something to say, along with his "brothers." Ed was an only child, but he had many friends who he considered his brothers. The funeral was the funniest event I've ever been to. Jennifer gave his life sketch and she brought down the house talking about the "life lessons" they grew up with. One of his daughters and two grandchildren sang a beautiful song. The harmony was unlike any I've heard before. They did themselves proud.

There was a moment of spirituality when one of the members spoke about the church and the hereafter. He said some important, comforting things about the promises the Lord has made if we do our part. It was comforting to know we'll surely see Ed again.

Then the "brothers" spoke and the hilarity started again. It was nice to be able to laugh out loud at such a sad event. But that's the way Mormon funerals are. Not only are they family reunions, but they're pretty happy times for the most part. We shed a few tears but that's OK!

Ed's son, played a drum solo (bongo type) while they lowered the casket at the cemetery. I've never experienced something like that before, but it was really nice and very unusual.

Afterward the Relief Society provided one of their fabulous meals for about 60 people. That is such a nice thing our church does for people. It gives the family a chance to take a deep breath, get nourished and then go home and relax. I'm not sure Patti relaxed much as they were getting ready for a big party so all the "brothers" could sit around and reminisce about Ed. It was really a nice get-together.

Patti went to sleep while the party was still going on, but that was OK. Everyone understood and they stayed until who knows when! It was a sad but lovely day and Ed would have been thrilled at the tribute held in his honor.

Life Without Ed

2008-09-25T17:22:00.008-06:00

We have some unhappy news to report. Early Tuesday morning, September 23, 2008, Ed passed away. As I posted earlier he had been sick with diabetes and an intestinal infection, but we didn't expect him to die. We knew he'd come out of it. But after some hospital time, followed by a few days at home where Patti took such good care of him and got him back on the right track, he got to the point where he could hardly walk, even with help from a walker, Patti and the workers. So Rocky suggested he go back into the hospital for more tests, and after a relatively peaceful night, his body just gave up.

Patti went to see him at 6:30 in the morning on Tuesday on her way to work. She found him unresponsive and not breathing and she alerted the nurses. A team of doctors and nurses tried to resusitate him, but he didn't respond.

For the past few days we've been getting ready for his funeral. It's a surreal experience for sure.

Ed loved Patti and his family and adored his 13 grandchildren. He was a great source of funny stories and some good laughs. He was always in a good mood when we went to see him. We will miss him and are sad he's gone.

We'll see you again one day, Ed!

Memory Lane Mondays ~ The Great American Pastime

2008-09-22T08:10:00.020-06:00

In the summer of 1966 I visited Patti and Mother in Minneapolis. Patti worked at Benson Optical and had entered some contest there and unfortunately won! I say unfortunately because the grand prize was 2 baseball tickets to see the Minnesota Twins and the New York Yankees. Why is this unfortunate? Most red-blooded Americans would kill for these tickets, even today, but Patti and I REALLY don't like baseball. I can't think of anything I like less than baseball. Not sure why, but that's just the way it is.

Mother had to study, so Patti and I went to the game to give her some quiet time. We had no idea what we were in for. The worst part, besides actually going to the game, was we had to go by bus! All the people on the bus were so excited about the game. They were all elderly, as you can imagine. They were probably the age we are now, and we don't consider ourselves elderly, but they sure were! They sang songs and got all giddy about the game. We just stared out the window. We were sad.

We finally arrived at the stadium and as we were were getting off the bus, the bus driver handed us our baseball caps - made of lime green and white striped card stock, slotted for ventilation, and with big letters across the bill that screamed "I CAME BY BUS!" We were horrified and immediately dropped our caps on the ground, accidentally of course, but our fellow passengers rushed up behind us, happily picked up our hats and gave them back to us. Surely we had made some kind of mistake, they said! This happened several times until we finally gave up and as soon as our bus mates were out of sight, we threw the paper caps in the trash.

So there we were, with wonderful box seats between 3rd and 1st bases. The Twins were playing the Yankees. We saw Roger Maris, Whitey Ford, Mickey Mantel, Harmon Killebrew, and Bernie Allen. According to baseball aficionados, it doesn't get much better than that, but we were hot and sticky, and it was baseball, and it was just awful.

We endured to the end, and were so happy to get to make the LONG walk back to our bus and GO HOME, only to be thwarted by not being able to get back on the bus because it was locked up tight! Maybe it was the wrong bus, so we kept looking and looking for the bus.....any bus that was open and would get us out of there! Finally after what seemed to be forever, a man asked if he could help and we said "We're ready to go home now!" like a couple of country girls. He looked at us a little strange but happily reported "Oh no! This game is a double header!" We almost burst into tears, but after losing a short but heated argument with the bus driver, we dutifully whirled around and marched back to the stadium. We recoiled when we looked at our seats because the sun was still beating mercilessly down on them, as it had on us for first 4 hours of our day. We were tired, unhappy, hot, unhappy, hungry, unhappy, sunburned, blistered and sad. Did I mention we were unhappy?

So, we looked around for empty seats in the shade. Being able to actually watch the game was not a requirement or a priority with us. We could have cared less. We found quite a few empty seats in a much cooler area of the ballpark and decided to sit there and ride out the misery of the day. We wondered why there were so many empty seats there and quickly discovered we were sitting right behind the chain gang! That's when things started looking up for us! Those guys were so much fun, and we had a good time with them. They were real cute and of course they were all innocent!

Another 4 hours passed and after a fond farewell to our new criminal friends, we were finally able to get on our bus and get outta dodge! What a horrible day. Patti and I always have so much fun together, but nothing was going to save that dreadful day.

Just one of the many reasons we don't like baseball!

Approved by Patti . . .

2008-09-20T17:45:00.016-06:00

Ed has been pretty sick the past couple of weeks, to the point he had to be hospitalized. At least this time Patti recognized he really was sick and called EMS. Some years back Ed had chest pain, so Patti dropped him off at a "Doc-in-the-box" urgent care center and then took off to enjoy a lovely meal at McDonalds!!

So now Ed is home and still not feeling well. But last Friday morning Patti really had a scare when she woke up at 4 a.m. and went to check on him. She found Ed on the floor, with his head wedged up against the bed, and he was gasping for air. Patti thought he was dying, so she called EMS and when they came, they fixed him up and he was OK in just a short while.

When he was feeling good enough to talk, he told Patti he had been calling and calling for her. She never heard him for a couple of reasons: one is she's deaf, and the other is she sleeps as far away from the rest of the house as possible, with her door closed and the ceiling fan going full blast! So when Ed got tired of trying to get her attention by yelling, he decided to try a different approach. If only he could get to his gun, he could start blasting away inside the house and get maybe Patti's attention that way. Obviously he never made it, because this is how he ended up on the floor!!

That's Ed....always thinkin'!

Memory Lane Mondays: The Bear that Went to Cloudcroft

2008-09-15T12:08:00.004-06:00

When we were kids we made lots of family trips to Ruidoso and some to Cloudcroft. I've wonder why we named this game "The Bear that Went to Cloudcroft" instead of "The Bear that Went to Ruidoso." But that really doesn't matter and doesn't change the game. It's still lame, but we were little kids and we thought we were extraordinary. It was fun to play especially when you consider the alternative.

Daddy didn't tolerate any fighting, noise or fun! for that matter on these trips. So Patti and Rico and I would sit in the back seat and try to stay out of the way of that huge, hairy, muscular arm that was attached to our dad, that would swing over the front seat occasionally trying to make contact with one of us. We spent most of the trip diving for the floorboard in a frantic attempt to avoid "the arm." Rico was quicker than Patti and I, and he always made it to the safety zone before we could. We would try to make a game out of dodging the arm!

Sometimes it was just Rico and me in the back seat because Patti mostly got to ride in the front with Daddy and Mother because she got carsick all the time! It didn't matter to us that she really was carsick. She would throw up almost everytime we'd get in the car. So between dodging the arm and dodging Patti's stomach contents, the trips were always eventful.

Heaven forbid if we ever asked "Are we there yet?" That statement would activate the arm. So to pass the time, we would play "The Bear that Went to Cloudcroft." The rules of the game were simple. The bear would go to the grocery store to buy food for his trip to Cloudcroft, and each of us would take turns adding imaginary food to the bear's imaginary grocery basket. We had our usual additions. I think Patti always added broccoli, I added olives, and Rico would throw in ice cream. This would go on and on until we couldn't think of anything else to add. Looking back, it seems we only went a couple of rounds or so. I guess we weren't very creative.

We were about as creative as this post. I can't think of anything else to say, so I guess that means I've gone from a lame child to a lame adult and now you, dear reader, have to endure our sad, pathetic lives. Hey Patti, have you wondered lately why we have lost most of our readers? Wait a minute - what am I saying?? PATTI doesn't even read this blog!

Memory Lane Monday's ~ Regifting . . . Redefined!

2008-09-08T12:46:00.010-06:00

It seems most of my Memory Lane Monday's involve something about my Dad. This one is no different. Daddy was SO HARD to buy something for - like a Christmas gift. We dreaded that day coming because it was absolute agony trying to find something he might like. To make it worse on us, he never liked anything we gave him, and he would make sure we knew that too! I can only think of one or two gifts I gave him that he actually used. One was a plaid shirt.

Daddy was a perfectionist and kept everything he owned, no matter what it was, spotless clean at all times. So I thought a CarVac would be a great idea for him, and so did everyone else. I bought it and wrapped it up really nice for him and put it under the tree. I was so excited thinking I had bought him something he might actually want, or at least not hate!

Christmas came and when he opened his gift, he was not the least bit pleased and proceeded to tell me he already had one. I apologized (although I don't know why) and thought that might be the end of it, as he left with the CarVac tucked safely away under his arm. But nooooo! The next day, he returned with the gift and asked if I had the receipt so he could return it! When I couldn't find the receipt, he asked if I would just buy it back from him. Yes, you heard right. He wanted me to give him the money I'd spent on the CarVac and he would just give it back to me. I agreed thinking I could probably use it around the house, so I gave him the $25.00 it cost me. But that wasn't good enough. He wanted to make sure I also paid him the sales tax!

So now I'm stuck with a CarVac that I paid for twice and only have one CarVac to show for it! I'm not good at math, but this just doesn't seem right!! But in Daddy's defense, he didn't want or like the stupid gift and I didn't either. So I guess it was a draw - other than being out another $25....plus tax!

Merry Christmas to me!

Death of a Legend . . .

2008-09-07T13:42:00.011-06:00

Today was a sad day. Our beloved Hall-of-Fame Basketball coach passed away. He had been sick for several years with cardiac problems, but the past three weeks were especially bad for him. Don Haskins was and always will be the biggest celebrity El Paso has ever known. We loved him and he loved El Paso! We were always so proud to have such a great man as part of our community.

Everyone called him "The Bear." When he was scowling, he looked like a bear, and he would prowl the sidelines during each and every basketball game, seemingly unapproachable. Despite how hard he was on his players, they all learned to love him....eventually.

He was INTOLERANT of what he thought were unfair calls by the refs, and trust me, there were many. He would get so angry he would occasionally go after a ref, shaking his rolled up program in the refs face, ending up with a technical. Once he had one technical, he'd almost always get two, then he'd get thrown out of the game! This served one purpose only - to get the crowd and players fired up enough that they'd play their hearts out and win! I don't remember a single game when Coach Haskins was thrown out that we didn't win. Great strategy.

The tributes that have come rolling in are quite impressive, from govenors, to a Who's Who of the sports world. They all talk about Coach Haskin's ground breaking 1966 NCAA Championship win over the University of Kentucky. What made it so historic was Coach started five black players. That was unheard of! But his bravery "changed the face of basketball" for ever. And he changed El Paso forever.

He will be greatly missed.

(As a side note, Coach Haskins laid in repose all day Tuesday, September 9th, at the Haskins Center. I noticed on TV the funeral spray on his casket was gorgeous, and made of red, yellow and green chile peppers and bell peppers. How appropriate is that?!)

Meet my new best friend!

2008-08-27T17:21:00.012-06:00

I had a brain-drain a few weeks ago and thought I might enjoy going back to work in an Emergency Room and doing some real nursing, unlike what I've been doing in the schools. After talking to the Director of Emergency Services at Del Sol Medical Center, I was a little overwhelmed at how much things have changed from my wonderful Thomason days. But not to be deterred, I dove into the ER Orientation manual they gave me. It was daunting from the very first page.

The director said Del Sol, which is now a Level II trauma center, would, by next year become a Level IV. That means they'll be able to accept critically injured/ill patients most of the time, but the "good ones" as we call them, will still end up at Thomason, because they're a Level V trauma center (it's a staffing issue). A Level V trauma center is a good place to be if you're in really bad shape.

Del Sol is also putting together a first rate Cardiac unit in their ER. That's when I really panicked! I've never felt really confident with cardiac patients. I've always known WHAT to do for the patient, but never really WHY I did it. That goes all the way back to having a really sad anatomy and physiology class - one that was structured for athletes only, not medical people. We learned things like where the heart was located, that we had a brain, and there are 206 bones in the body. We didn't have to name them, just know how many there were! We also learned that the Good Lord must have been tired when he created the knee because it wasn't a particularly well-constructed joint!! I kid you not!

So that's where my new best friend comes in. We spend ALOT of time together, on the couch. I examine every part of my friend and try to soak up everything I see. It's a one-sided relationship as my new friend just sits there. Ummmm, I apologize...let me introduce you to my new best friend:

My friend is teaching me the anatomy and physiology of the heart with pictures like this:
I know, I know...they look like cartoon drawings, but au contraire! This is one of the most complex and confusing topics I've ever embarked upon! What ever happened to good old TRAUMA! Give me blood and guts and I'm happy! That's what ER's are all about! People with cardiac problems should go to....well, I guess the ER! So I need to smarten up! So give me a few weeks before you have a problem with your heart, or just hope I won't be on duty when you arrive!

My new best friend is beckoning. I must leave you now!

Memory Lane Mondays ~ Applets, Grapelets and Cotlets

2008-08-25T13:40:00.011-06:00

Years ago I was at Patti's house during the Christmas holidays when she received a package. It turned out to be our Christmas gift from Daddy. We were too excited to wait to put it under the tree, so we just tore into it like wild animals! In the box were three packages of applets, grapelets and cotlets, one for Patti, one for me and one for our brother, Rico. If you don't know what applets, grapelets and cotlets are, they're a gelatinous candy made from the respective fruits (I think) with nuts added and then rolled in powdered sugar. They're pretty disgusting to be honest.

Then one of us noticed a couple of envelopes, one addressed to me and the other to Rico. I opened mine and in it was a Christmas card and $25.00. We looked for an envelope for Patti but couldn't find it. We searched and searched thru the packaging materials and the trash, but hers was no where to be found.

One of us got the bright idea that maybe Daddy might have included Patti's monetary gift in with Rico's. So yes....we opened Rico's card, only to find a nice note from Daddy to Rico, and $50.00!

It's important to know that at this point I had two kids, and Patti had three. I don't think Rico had any kids. This will make sense shortly.

We wondered if Daddy had made a mistake, and how were we going to figure this out?? Finally we decided I would call Daddy and tell him we had received his candy and money gifts and just casually mention Patti didn't get her card. So I made the call and after thanking him for the gifts, I told Daddy that while we were unpacking the box we noticed an envelope for me and Rico only, and if maybe he had forgotten to include Patti's.

Daddy said no, he hadn't forgotten but he didn't think Patti needed any money because she had "all those kids!!" This is one of those moments when I wish I had a picture of Patti's face to show you! Daddy's mind didn't work like most people.

So Merry Christmas Patti! Hope you really enjoyed those applets, grapelets and cotlets that year!!

Memory Lane Mondays ~ Daddy and his nicknames.

2008-08-18T17:19:00.011-06:00

When we talk about Daddy, we probably don't always leave our readers with a very good opinion of him. He was an unusual character who wasn't warm and cuddly, but he provided well for us, and we had many good times with him. It wasn't all bad!

One of his little quirks was to give nicknames to people. Each of us had one and most of our good friends did too. We can't tell you why he chose these names, because there was rarely a reason for the name, except in one case. Here's the list:

Patti was and still is "Doodle Bug." Daddy would sing a little song he made up that was equally ridiculous as the name. It went something like:
Doodle Bug, Doodle Bug, Doodle Bug, Doodle Bug dee-doh
Doh dee oh doh, doh, doh dee oh doh, doh doh doh,
Doh doh dee oh doh, doh doh. (The last line went sort of like "shave and a haircut, two bits!)

Bobbi was and still is "Little Turkey." Daddy told me he chose this name because when I was mad, my rear-end stuck up in the air like a turkey! Of course I never saw that! He sang the following song for me, but I don't think it had anything to do with my nickname:
Gim' big kiss and Piggly Wiggly
Gim' big kiss and Piggly Wiggly
Gim' big kiss and Piggly Wiggly
I don't think the song had a closing line. It could have gone on forever!

Rico was named either "Nifty" or "Ace." I can't answer whatever questions you might have up to this point! I don't remember a song that went with Rico's name. Rico didn't like his nicknames.

David, Rico's best friend was "Moose," or "Moose, you ace." Moose, by the way, was tall and weighed about 110 pounds. Sometimes I wonder if "ace" was a nice way to say something else (like a particular body part), because most of the time, Moose was sort of an "ace."

Ercie, Patti's best friend and next-door neighbor was nicknamed "Reverse," which I guess was a play on the pronunciation of her name ("ursy"). After he came up with this name, he never called her by her real name again!

Ercie had a brother Arnulfo, who already had a nickname from his parents - "Nuco," but Daddy renamed him "Margarine" - pronounced mar-jer-REEN. Remember Nucoa Margarine?? One of Daddy's favorite pasttimes was to turn on the sprinklers whenever Arnulfo/Nuco/Marjereen parked his prized midnight blue '55 Chevy within range and after he had just spent hours washing and waxing it. Nuco probably had some choice names for Daddy, as well!

Daddy had his own nickname - "Hoot." I don't know the story behind that name, but all his friends called him Hoot. Daddy's given name was Percy and he hated it! Our attorney told me Daddy had his name legally changed to Perry in the 1970's. I think he told the IRS it was a typo! I don't think Perry is a whole lot better than Percy!

Our mother wasn't given a nickname, but he had some other choice names for her occasionally. In a strange way, she was spared.

Daddy didn't give the grandkids nicknames, but because Trevor was so curious and would run off with Daddy's tools when he was a little boy, everytime we went to visit Daddy, he would say he had to "Trevorize" the house before we got there!

Yes, Daddy was unusual.

Things I Love About My Big Sister

2008-08-13T10:32:00.007-06:00

I feel obliged to respond to Patti's previous blog, but this is an easy one. There are so many great things I love about Patti, this list can't begin to cover everything, but I'll try:

1. Patti is so good at crafts and home decorating, like all the improvements she's made to her house (painting, wallpapering, etc.) They always look so professional to me.

2. Patti is a very kind person, to everyone she knows (unless she's really angry with you, then it's best to just tuck and run!) Usually tho, she goes out of her way to be kind to people.

3. She is so thoughtful of others. I remember the story she told me about accidentally ending up in a first class seat when she was coming home from her trip to Ireland and Scotland. After she was seated and comfortable and thrilled with getting that seat, a man with some kind of physical handicap walked onto the plane. I'm not sure what was wrong with him, but he was struggling. Patti immediately offered him her seat and she ended up sitting in coach for the trans-atlantic flight! That's a LONG flight, and I'm sure the man will be forever grateful to her.

4. She says I'm like a sheep, and she's partially correct. If I like someone and later find out she doesn't like them, then I don't like them anymore, even if they're perfectly fine and wonderful people! Right about now, you're probably asking yourself "How old ARE you two???"

5. I love how she treats my family. We always feel so welcome in her home. It's such a happy place to be.

6. When I came back to El Paso to start nursing school, I was just paralyzed about having to make certain important changes in our lives. So she just took over and said this is the way it's going to be and that's the way it was. She made so many important decisions for me, mostly those involving what to do with the boys while I was in school. I'll never forget that. She took such a heavy weight off my shoulders.

7. Patti babysat my boys during alot during my nursing school years. She took really good care of them but it bothered her alot that Troy wouldn't eat anything except PB&J! I never could have made it through nursing school without all the help I received from Patti and my mom.

8. She's right about the hysterical phone calls. Sometimes all I have to do is say "Hello" and we start laughing to the point we can't talk. I don't know what it is, but I love it. If I have a funny story to tell, it's so much funnier when I tell Patti. But no one else ever gets it.

9. Church is hard for us. Something will happen and all we have to do is glance at each other and it's all over! It's all in the eyes!

10. When we have holidays dinners at her house, they are always lovely and delicious, and on the rare occasion she uses paper plates, they're the prettiest paper plates I've ever seen each and every time. She brings out the paper plates for BBQ's and that's the time to use them.

11. Patti is so gracious and seems to really love it when she gets an unexpected gift. Well, except maybe for the chile dress I bought her. When I saw it, I didn't like it at all either, but in my opinion, it had teacher written all over it!! (figuratively) She was horrified!!

12. She's not afraid to let her anger out and I admire that. She's really good about getting things out in the open and not letting them fester.

13. I think SHE's the one who always looks nice. She's tall and slender and looks so good in everything. She also knows how to put together an outfit with jewelry and accessories so that it looks just great.

14. She exercises by walking almost everyday. I wish I had that kind of discipline. Once she sets her mind to something, it's done.

15. Patti is always improving herself by reading books. I read alot, but she reads 100 times more than I do! Ask her anything about the Holocaust or the Civil War and she'll know the answer. She's very smart and has a wide range of interests.

16. She's the funniest person I know, even when she's trying not to be. She can make me fall apart with just one word sometimes, and her funny stories are MUCH funnier when she tells them! Sometimes we laugh until we can't breathe!

17. I love her self-deprecating style. She acts so dopey sometimes but doesn't realize it and that always makes me smile. And you can tease her mercilessly! Mom was right. We tease her because we love her.

18. I wish I could get a picture of her face when she's shocked or doesn't quite believe what you're telling her. Her chin drops straight down, leaving her mouth wide open. It looks so much like Daddy!

19. I don't know anyone, except maybe myself, who loves UTEP football and basketball games like Patti does. We rarely miss a game, even when the team hasn't won in months! Sometimes I think the only reason we go is to hear the National Anthem and the UTEP fight song, but I really think it's mostly just to be together.

20. I've always been a little envious about how talented she in on the piano and organ. I remember how hard she practiced when we were kids and still does. Her talent has served her well.

21. Patti's a wonderful, loving mother and grandmother, and it shows in her kids. They're such good kids and it's obvious they love her as much as she loves them.

22. Most importantly, Patti is always there when I need her, no matter what!

Patti is a great role model for me to look up to. She's a really good person, a hard worker, and a perfectionist, but mostly she's my best friend. I'm the only person in the world who can say Doodle Bug is my sister! How great is that??

Things I Love About My Little Sister

2008-08-08T12:27:00.003-06:00

Bobbi complained in a comment that I left her out of my first list of some of the things I love, but actually I was saving her for this post because I could never convey all I love about her in just one line. So here goes, Bob - a list all about YOU!

I love my sister because:

1. She brings me food when I'm sick, like on Wednesday she brought over homemade chicken and rice soup which was
delicious and really hit the spot.

2. She takes the time to wrap birthday gifts and Christmas presents, etc. in gorgeous paper and ribbons, while I sometimes
dont' wrap gifts at all!

3. She has taken such good care of Mother over the years at great sacrifice.

4. She's hilarious and makes me laugh all the time. My family always knows who I'm talking to on the phone because I get
so hysterical and they want to know what's so funny. When I try to tell them, they just look at me strangely and walk away.
They have no sense of humor.

5. She married "The Rock" who I love and respect and is one of the kindest, gentlest, and most generous men I have ever
known.

6. She made our trip to New York a blast, and along with Robyn teased me unmercifully about all the dumb things I
did. But I just think it's funny when she teases me because Mom always told me that when people tease you, it means
they really like you!

7. She gave birth to Trevor, Troy, and Benjamin, all three of whom I really love and also admire for all their
accomplishments. And I love Beth and Ayrel, too!

8. She chose me to go with her to see the Cowboys play at Texas Stadium when she could have chosen any one of her
myriad of friends instead.

9. She always brings me a prize when she goes on vacation somewhere.

10. She's the best shot giver in the world - you can hardly feel anything at all!

11. I have her to sit with in church and we have way too much fun for sitting in church and I HATE it when she's not there!

12. She's always given me a shoulder to cry on - since we outgrew our childhood, anyway!

13. She didn't kill me (although I'm sure she wanted to) when I permed her hair one time and got distracted with somebody
else during the perm. I left on the chemicals much too long and her hair was completely fried and a total disaster!
When I saw it after she had tried to style it, my first comment was "Is THAT your hair??!!" which didn't endear me to her
any further, but she still didn't try to kill me.

14. She helped me so much in finally accepting Kristin's leg problem when, after hearing me feel sorry for myself for
weeks and asking her for the umpteenth time "why me? she looked straight into my eyes and asked me, "Why NOT you?"
That question really turned my attitude around, let me tell you.

15. She put herself through nursing school as a single mom to two very young little boys, which must have been very
difficult.

16. She hosts so many wonderful holiday celebrations in a very classy way, whereas my usual idea of classy is to buy nice
paper plates.

17. She always is well put together with classy clothes, shoes, and jewelry.

18. She gave me a shopping spree at Brighton's although she didn't have to. She bought me a beautiful bright red handbag
that I get so many compliments on! I was so proud to have that purse with me when John and Bethany invited me out to
Cafe Central and I was asked if I would like to use a purse rack. I said sure, although I had no idea what a purse rack was.
It turns out that it's a small wooden rack to place a purse on (thus the name "purse rack") instead of just putting it down
on the floor. They don't have those at the restaurants I frequent (McDonald's). I would have been humiliated if I
had been carrying my not-so glamorous needlepoint purse that I probably bought at Target several years ago.

19. She made shopping for our brother's casket a MEMORABLE experience!

20. She's just Little Turkey, the best sister I could ever have!

Tuesday's Health Tip of the Day ~ Learn CPR!!!

2008-08-05T11:24:00.006-06:00

You never know when you'll come across someone who is choking, or not breathing at all. Possibly their heart has even stopped beating. You'll probably be wishing you had taken that CPR class that was being offered! It's never too late. It's easy and almost fun, it costs about $40, and takes only 4 hours to take the class and get your license! Your license is good for two years. You'll learn lots of good information such as one and two person CPR, infant CPR and the Heimlich Maneuver. All you have to do is call Pro-Action at 915-533-3414, or visit their website at http://www.pro-action.org. Knowing CPR is a good thing!

Memory Lane Mondays - Dallas vs. the 49'ers

2008-08-04T14:45:00.001-06:00

Back in October, 1993, Rocky was given a trip for two from one of the hospitals to Dallas to see the Cowboys play against the San Francisco 49'ers. He decided he'd stay home and gave the trip to Patti and I. We were THRILLED, as you can imagine. That was when the two teams were rivals and Troy Aikman and Steve Young quarterbacked against each other. We also got to see Emmit Smith and Jerry Rice. It was SO exciting.

We flew to Dallas, but not before promising Mother we wouldn't act like a couple of hayseeds! She's a diehard Cowboy's fan and didn't want to be embarassed by her daughters. I'm sure we broke our promise more than a few times.

The plane ride was fun because there were other Cowboy fans there, and of course the bus ride from the hotel to the stadium was nothing but Cowboy fans! We could hardly contain ourselves.

From the seat numbers on the tickets, it "appeared" we had pretty good seats, but in reality, they were on the very top row (and that's pretty high at Texas Stadium) and it was hot and humid and sticky. At first we thought it wouldn't be all that bad because our section was shaded with a huge awning, but all that did was become a death trap for the brutally hot Dallas air. There was absolutely NO circulation!!! It was all good tho. Nothing could have spoiled it for us.

You can't imagine the excitement and noise when the teams came onto the field. It was such a rush! To be able to see all those talented and famous football players was almost more than we could handle!

We sat right under the press box and we knew John Madden was announcing the game. We both LOVE John Madden and his silly little drawings. So we probably spent 3/4 of the game trying to look thru the darkened glass to get a look him! Mother would have been so embarassed and ashamed of us!

Seeing the Ring of Honor almost brought tears to my eyes. Bob Lilly (he's my hero), Roger Staubach, Don Meredith, Too Tall Jones - all those great Dallas Cowboys were all honored there. The following week, Tom Landry's name went up. I wish we could have been there for that.

After the game we drove around Dallas and did some shopping. Patti and I both like to buy Christmas ornaments from places we visit, and we both bought these wooden stars, painted like the Texas flag, and were decorated with a rustic wire hanger and raffia. After 15 years, this is still my favorite Christmas ornament! It brings back so many great memories of the fun Patti and I had!!

A few things Bobbi loves . . .

2008-08-01T15:29:00.014-06:00

We were going to try to keep this funny and ridiculous, but now that it seems we're running out of things to say, I'll tell you a few things I love! Patti has a huge advantage because she has "all those grandkids!" I DON'T HAVE ANY GRANDKIDS, only grand dogs. Isn't that the most pathetic thing you've ever heard?

1. I love my best friend, Rocky.

2. I love my other best friend, Patti.

3. I love my doggies, Xander and Bo.

4. I love my three boys, Trevor, Troy and Ben.

5. I also love my daughters-in-law, Beth and Ayrel.

6. Alone time is a wonderful thing, but not too much of it.

7. Naps! Hmmmmm, nothing better

8. I love Victoria, British Columbia.

9. Listening to an audiobook is OK, but I'd much rather read a great book. I love the smell and feel of a good book to curl up with on the couch.

10. I love my mom. She is so awesome.

11. All of Patti's grandkids are so fantastic, and I love them all too.

12. Ranier cherries - I can eat them until I'm nauseated! Ask Patti.

13. Accomplishing a craft and actually displaying it. This rarely happens. That's why it's such a treat!

14. Swimming is the best even tho I don't do it as often as I should. It's all about the bathing suit!

15. I love it when I accomplish everything I have on my mental (or paper) list for the day.

16. Making it through all 3 hours of church is hard sometimes, but always worth it.

17. Receiving an unexpected surprise just because someone was thinking about me

18. Thanksgiving - my favorite holiday

19. Driving around town looking at Christmas lights. Also going to Ruidoso during the Christmas season

20. UTEP football and basketball games

21. Jimmy Buffett concerts

22. Sitting on the couch with my feet up, listening to Luciano Pavarotti

23. I love the Fall season.

24. Snow and cold weather

25. The smells of Christmas

26. I love being a nurse, even though I'm not doing the kind of nursing I really love.

Patti: Things I Love

2008-07-31T20:17:00.004-06:00

This will be boring, but I just wanted to write about some things I love, so here goes in no particular order:

1. The cool, quiet summer mornings in the west Texas desert. It's so nice to walk
in my neighborhood before it gets too hot.

2. The fact that my darling grandson, Landon, loves to make really good brownies
and I don't have to when he's around, unless I just want to.

3. Brownies.

4. The velvety skin of my new little twin grandsons - Hyrum and Joseph.

5. The smell of babies after a bath with Baby Magic, although I'm not allowed to use it in the twins' bath - "too many harsh and toxic chemicals" Jen says.

6. The relief I feel after giving a talk in church.

7. A long nap.

8. The smell of men's cologne, preferably on the men.

9. The smell of freshly washed laundry.

10. Most of the songs we sing in choir at church.

11. Trees

12. When my husband, Eddie, makes a special trip to Sonic to buy me a blended float.

13. Getting all our kids together, which is getting harder and harder.

14. Not being too shy anymore.

15. Rain

16. Our kids and all the joy they bring: Jennifer Lynn, Robyn Patricia, Kristin Leigh, Erik Edward, and Kimberly Dawn

17. My grandkids and all the joy they bring: - Bethany Renee, Conor Ellis,
Kyla Aurora, Reid Ammon, Landon James, Claire Hannah, John Mahonri, Joseph
Eduardo, Hyrum Jerome, Camilla Hope, Joseph Hyrum, Rheddick Grant, and Keane
Michaelangelo

18. Going to the movies.

19. A wonderful and long book.

20. Every room in the house clean and neat. (A rare occurrence!)

21. Rum Raisin ice cream

22. Rum Raisin ice cream with Coke poured over it like a float!

Tuesday Health Tip of the Day - Tourniquets

2008-07-29T10:02:00.008-06:00

We all get cuts and scrapes, but sometimes they're alot worse than usual. Some people think using a tourniquet is the smart thing to do, but it can be really dangerous if you haven't been trained on how to use one. They can cause severe nerve, muscle and tissue damage if left on too long. The rule of thumb is NOT to apply a tourniquet if you don't know how long it's gonna have to be there.

Almost all bleeding will stop by simply applying pressure to the wound for several minutes. So, stay calm and try to do this with the cleanest material you can find because you don't want to introduce more bacterial into the wound. You might need to keep changing the "bandage" if it gets soaked with blood.

If the lacerations are visibly large and deep, you probably should see your doctor or maybe just go to the ER, because alot of doctor's offices aren't set up to take care of complicated lacerations.

Even a small cut can become a problem because if it's deep, which you can't always see, it could still involve muscles, nerves and/or tendons and may need stitches.

Minor cuts can usually be taken care of at home. If the edges are clean and come together nicely, you can use a butterfly to bring the edges together again. Butterfly bandaids and maybe some tincture of Benzoin should always be part of a first aid kit. There are lots of new and different first aid products available now, but butterflies and bandaids and a kiss are usually the best!

Oh, and don't forget about the Tetanus shot. If it's been more than 10 years or if it's a particular dirty cut, you're probably gonna need one! Sorry.

Memory Lane Mondays - The Sunshine Club

2008-07-28T08:26:00.017-06:00

When we were little kids, Patti, Rico and I had a club. We called it the Sunshine Club, and we met in the basement of our home. I can't remember what went on in the meetings, but I also can't imagine it was of any world-altering importance. I DO remember Rico was usually in charge, and there was a membership fee of five cents each week. The money went into a cigar box. I was pretty young and every now and then I would take the money and buy all the club members (Patti and Rico) popsicles. They would get so mad at me and call me a stealer and a thief. I never thought of it as stealing . . . I really thought I was doing a good thing! After more than 50 years, Patti continued to bring this up at family events, but to her credit, I don't think it's been mentioned for a while now. Thanks, Doodle Bug.

Poll results

2008-07-23T15:52:00.002-06:00

The poll of which picture of Patti or Bobbi was the goofiest is now over, and has been removed from the site. But the winning results were reported as: Patti and I being equally goofy looking in our 4th grade pictures, but I (Bobbi) was definitely the cutest! I think it was a good poll. Thanks to everyone who participated!

Patti's quirky and/or boring list

2008-07-22T22:45:00.006-06:00

I, Patti, having been tagged by Jennifer, and so as not to be outdone by Bobbi, I hereby publish MY boring/quirky, list:

I love peanuts, especially the roasted kind! I love peanut butter even more, but I hate anything with peanuts or peanut butter as an ingredient, such as in peanut butter cookies.

I am an open book, which isn't too smart sometimes, and I should be more like Bobbi, who keeps everything "close to the chest," as she says.

Speaking of books, my very favorite subject is anything having to do with the Holocaust. I probably have 50 books on that topic and have read every one of them, and some of them twice. My secret dream is to do something brave enough to be included on the list of the Righteous Among the Nations, but it's probably too late for that.

My favorite thing to do is go the movies. However, since so many movies are rated R, I seldom get to do my favorite thing, like the lucky people below.

My favorite smells are the aroma of the barbequeing at the UTEP tailgate parties before the football games mixed with the smell of the cologne of all the guys who are doing the barbequeing at the tailgate parties. Mmmmm!

I hope somebody plays "Amazing Grace" on the bagpipes at my funeral which I also hope takes place a very long time from now.

I think there is no one funnier on the planet than my sister. She's funnier than she looks in this picture:

Being tagged is NOT a good thing!

2008-07-22T10:59:00.015-06:00

OK, Jennifer tagged me and now I have to write 6 quirky and ridiculous things about myself. That will be difficult because I'm such a dynamic person, but I'll give it a try. I won't be able to tag anyone else because Jen has already done that! I'm sure you're all relieved!

1. I love to put ice in my milk, both plain and chocolate milk.

2. I never put bottles or food containers on the table while we're eating. I always serve them in glasses or dishes. The table looks so much nicer! I learned this from Aunt Nellie over 40 years ago, and it's stuck with me all this time.

3. When I order oatmeal in a restaurant, and I ask them for extra cinnamon, they can never bring me enough......ever! It probably looks as if I've ordered a bowl of cinnamon with a little oatmeal! (the following picture doesn't come close to looking like my oatmeal!)

4. I don't share my thoughts very often. I don't know why I keep things so close to the vest. Patti doesn't understand it either, but she's an open book. Sometimes I wish I were more like her.

5. I'm always on a diet of some kind. Is it working? YOU decide!!

6. When I get a new car I like to see how far I can drive after the gas gauge reads empty and the warning light has come on. I don't know why I do this, but now I know I can go 39 miles on an empty tank in my Thunderbird. I think that's good information!!

Now there - you probably know 6 more things about me that don't matter one bit!

Tuesday's health tip of the day

2008-07-22T08:19:00.012-06:00

NOSE BLEEDS! Aren't they just the worst? But unless there's an underlying problem like a clotting disorder and you're taking blood thinning medication, or you've just been popped in the face and have a broken nose, they're pretty easy to manage.

First, clean the blood off your face and hands. You don't want that in your eyes or mouth! Eeewwwwww! Using a small ice pack, all you need to do is apply pressure to the affected nostril. You might also want to tilt your head back or lay down without a pillow for a few minutes. That's really about it. It will stop bleeding shortly and you can usually go about your day. If it starts bleeding again just do the same thing, and if you're not near any ice, use a kleenex and apply pressure until it stops. Simple, huh?

Alot of people put a cool cloth on their foreheads. While there's nothing wrong with doing that, it doesn't do anything for the nose bleed. I guess it just makes them feel better.

In Winter when the weather is dry, it's always a good idea to use an over-the-counter saline spray occasionally to keep the tissue in the nose moist and decrease the chance of bleeding spontaneously.

CAUTION: If you have frequent nose bleeds for no apparent reason, you might want to be evaluated by your friendly family physician.

Good luck!

Destruction of County Property

2008-07-21T18:10:00.023-06:00

In order for this to make sense you might need to refer back to "True Confessions" written on June 10, 2008.

I received a call from my niece Kristin almost 2 hours ago and she said my stop sign incident reminded her of something she had done about 10 years ago and has been feeling guilty about it all this time. Apparently, at the Institute, if the parking lot is full, Kristin learned from another friend that if you go across to street to another parking lot which has a gate like you see in the picture, you can drive your car up to the gate and nudge it until it opens, then park for free! Well, when Kristin tried it, she must have nudged it too hard and it broke off and fell to the ground!

After 10 years she was still feeling guilty about it, so she called the UTEP Police and spoke to a detective. After a long dreaded silence, the detective broke into laughter and told her it had been so long ago that it would be impossible to research the "offense," and she could just forget about it.

So after she called me and told me what she had done, I became all guilty again about the stop sign incident that happened when Patti and I were coming home from Colonia Juárez. I got to thinking on the way to the bank and decided to call the Doña Ana Sheriff's Department. I first spoke to the dispatcher who, after I finished my story, asked me how much I had to drink, then started laughing, and said he was kidding. So I told him "Nothing! I'm a Mormon, I don't drink." He continued to laugh, but said he would turn it over to an officer who would call me back.

By now I'm really nervous because they have my name and cell phone number! Officer Ontiveros called about an hour later and listened to my story and laughed most of the way thru it! I offered to pay for the cost of righting the stop sign, but didn't think I should be arrested, because I really didn't think it was that big of a deal. That probably wasn't what he wanted to hear, but he said, through his laughter, that all they did was stick the stop sign back in the sand and it was no big deal. He also said I was the only person he could remember who had ever called to report anything like this!

So all is well, and I really have been forgiven for this unfortunate, ugly incident. Patti on the other hand, drove the get-a-way car.......

Memory Lane Mondays

2008-07-21T09:32:00.008-06:00

Where we grew up there was a Dairy Queen a few blocks away from our home and we loved going there! We also had a father who wasn't at all tolerant of kids and some of the stupid things they sometimes do . . . because they're kids!

One day Daddy drove Patti to the Dairy Queen and didn't have enough change for her ice cream cone, so he handed her a $10 bill and told her to walk over to the store next door to get change. She was in the store for what seemed like hours, (Daddy must have been inappropriately dressed or something because he never came in after her) but finally she proudly returned to the car with a paper sack filled with 1,000 pennies, apparently not realizing exactly what the word "change" meant. Daddy, not surprisingly, gave Patti a blistering lecture the gist of which centered around the fact that Patti lacked even a minimal amount of intelligence and made her take all the pennies back to the nice man at the store who had just counted them all out for her. Needless to say, to this day, Patti reminisces about this sweet experience with her Dad every time she sees a Dairy Queen!

Walmart Rage!

2008-07-16T08:51:00.037-06:00

It's kind of funny (but not funny "ha ha") that while Patti was writing her "Walmart Woes" blog, saying Bobbi would NEVER be caught dead at Walmart, at that very moment I happened to be at Walmart! I hate Walmart with every fiber of my being. Let me explain, as this is a "normal" visit for me. The story rarely varies.

The story you are about to read includes unfortunate events from different trips to Walmart, but alot of it happened yesterday. For me, it's nothing unusual.

On my way to Walmart, I try to psych myself up for a pleasant experience, or at least not a raging meltdown. The first problem comes with trying to pry the carts apart while the "friendly greeter" either stares at you with a blank look, or turns his or her back on you so he or she can growl at all the other "potential customers." Until you can actually wrestle a cart free from the massive lockdown of other carts, you remain a potential customer, because like me, you may be intolerant enough to turn around and walk right out of the store thru the entrance, which really confuses the greeter.

Off I go with my limping, squeeking basket, trying to hold my head high. This is not easy! I only have a few items on my list and I've planned well enough to keep my shopping in just one area of the store. Yes, when I go to Walmart, I PLAN where I'm going to have to shop.

While in the grocery department I try to go down the void-of-customers aisles, because the alternative is more than I can take. Should someone else be in the aisle, here's the drill. I pick up what I need, then am trapped from going forward or backward from that point. The other customers park their carts in such a way as to block 2/3 of the aisle, while they stand, popping their gum and yelling at their children in the remaining 1/3 of the aisle. This procedure takes some mathematical skill to pull off.

I stand there, trying my hardest to smile and act as if I think their kids are cute as they struggle from their mother's grip. Does the mother move so everyone else can get by? NO! At this point, the "no passing" rule has been permanently enforced! My heart sinks. Other customers behind me are shifting their weight from one foot to the other, sighing OUT LOUD......at ME!! So I have to tell the mother to "Please move" or sometimes it's just "Move!" After the glares,she wrangles her cart out of the way so I can begin my strategic navigation thru the rest of the patrons. I've been in the store about 4 minutes by this time. This part of the story never varies....ever. The only difference is in which aisles (plural) is this going to happen?

After getting my groceries, I remembered needing one more thing. Now I have to veer away from the "plan." Walmart on Mesa is remodeling, or so they think. All they're really doing is shuffling things around so even the employees don't know where they are. I was directed in 3 different directions by 3 different sales associates, as they're called. This detour made a significant dent in the 10,000 Steps-a-Day exercise plan! But I was successful in finding what I needed.

I went to the self check-out, which is never a smooth process, but preferable to being checked out by a human at Walmart. It's rare that a customer can get thru that process without the machine breaking down at some point. Yesterday was a new low. When I rang up a bottle of Tilex, the machine asked for my age! Apparently you can't buy Tilex any longer unless you're over 18!

So that part behind me, not without issues, and by now I'm REALLY worked up, I take my cart to my car. Unlike Patti, I go straight to my car. It's important for me to know where my car is, especially at Walmart - I need a no-fail exit strategy.

You all know how I am about my car, so I park far away from the door, but when I return with my groceries, I'm surrounded by other cars, one parked so close I can't open my driver's door. I wondered how they got out of THEIR car. There are also a good number of carts wedged between my car and the others because the customers are too lazy (or maybe they're lives are just too busy!) to take their carts to the cart corral. I'm grinding my teeth by now. My jaw aches.

While I'm putting my groceries in my trunk another car pulls up to wait for my parking spot. I don't understand this because it's not a particularly good spot, but I don't really care. After putting away the groceries, I take my cart to the cart corral, because it's the right thing to do. Angrily, and before I can get back to my car, the waiting car has sped off! I guess he was unhappy about the cart corral event.

THIS is why I don't go to Walmart.

Walmart Woes

2008-07-15T12:04:00.012-06:00

THIS WAS POSTED BY PATTI, AS BOBBI WOULDN'T BE CAUGHT DEAD AT WALMART.

I once made a lot of fun of a friend of mine because when I ran into him in the Walmart parking lot he was dispiritedly wandering about looking for his car. I offered to drive him around to look for it, but he politely refused; then I helpfully suggested that I would be finished with my shopping in about ten minutes and would be more than happy to drive him around if he hadn't found his care by then, chuckling to myself as I entered the vast depths of Walmart.

I see now that this experience was a harbinger of things to come.

Yesterday, I spent a vast amount of time happily waltzing through the air-conditioned aisles of Walmart. I even spent twenty minutes in the book aisle sharing book reviews with another middle-aged woman I had never met. When I went to pay for my groceries, I spotted two missionaries in another line about to pay for their groceries. I darted over and enthusiastically stated that I would be paying for their groceries. I wish I'd had a camera to capture the shocked look on their faces. After I paid, I glanced into their cart only to realize that I had just contributed, perhaps, to their early demise, as there were nothing but Little Debbies, Twinkies and the like. Oh well, hopefully I'll get some stars in my crown in Heaven anyway, but maybe not, because I am being a bit puffy about the whole thing. So perhaps I already have my reward.

Because I had spent so much time doing good deeds and making new friends in Walmart, I completely forgot where I had parked my car. I was sure I had parked it near the entrance where I came in, but between traveling back and forth between entrances to try to find a phone when I first came in, I later became confused. (Surprise, surprise!) I began walking up and down the lanes of cars, certain that I would soon encounter mine. However, as time wore on and I had not yet found it, the sweltering heat and humidity began to weaken me. I also was wearing inappropriate shoes, flip-flops to be exact, which, I have been reading, are very bad for your feet. I am living proof of that today. In addition, my ice cream began to melt and was dripping out of the bag onto the burning asphalt. I was physically exhausted and emotionally drained and humiliated (certain that scores of other WalMart shoppers were passively and unhelpfully observing all this) and after trudging for what seemed like hours up and down the lanes of this parking lot, I finally broke down and decided to call Ed. I was fairly certain that my car had been stolen by this time and, before calling the police to make the report, I thought, just to be sure, that Ed should drive me around to look for it. I called him at work, and he promptly came to rescue me. In the meantime, since my ice cream had melted, and it was Walmart's fault for having such a big and confusing parking lot, I decided to exhange the dripping ice cream for a new, solid gallon. I did this without inconveniencing the busy people at customer service, simply going back to the freezer section and making the exchange myself.

When my hero arrived, I transferred all of the groceries, including the new solidly frozen ice cream, from my cart into his car and we began the search. In approximately 30 seconds, we came upon a car that looked just like mine, complete with the identical license plate. I was forced to sheepishly admit that it was, indeed, my vehicle. I thanked Ed for for the chauffeur servce and I made a mental note to self to apologize to the aforementioned friend for my insensitive reaction to his plight.

Upon arrival at my home, there was a reception of my daughter and three grandchildren (one of whom is pictured below) waiting for me, grateful that I had survived this experience, as I could have easily perished of a heatstroke .

After a two-hour nap, I felt renewed and ready for another trip to WalMart! I just hope I wasn't caught on camera during the ice cream exchange!

Tuesday's health tip of the day....

2008-07-15T11:39:00.013-06:00

Jennifer suggested we add different items of interest to our blog like she does with her housekeeping tips of the day! She and Kristin also gave us other ideas but I don't remember them now, so Jen and Kris, when you read this, send me the other ideas you told me about.

There's probably very little I can tell you that you don't already know, but here is the first health tip of the day from our blog.

Never put butter on a burn. The concept makes sense because you want to keep air away to stop the burning process, but ice or ice water is the best thing to do. If it's a bad burn that requires a visit to the ER, before they can treat you, they have to scrub, yes SCRUB, the butter off to get to the burn! OUCH!

I hope this helps you or someone you know, but mostly I hope you don't get burned!

Patti....

2008-07-15T10:20:00.002-06:00

BLOG SOMETHING ~ ANYTHING!! We need to move that picture of ME down the page so it's not the first thing that comes up every time. AND you need to blog or I'm going to stop. What will our devout readers do then? It's all on your shoulders now.

Patti's Revenge

2008-06-28T22:38:00.006-06:00

This picture may not be as goofy as the one of Patti, but it's very close! (Love the bangs!)

The Search Continues

2008-06-28T17:18:00.006-06:00

We looked through the boxes of old pictures for the famous crown picture, but to no avail. But we did find this....

Preparing for the hard times.

2008-06-20T13:02:00.004-06:00

I don't know where to begin on this one because part of it is so ridiculous, and the rest of it is beyond mine and Patti's capacity to make sense of it ourselves!

Here's the part that's ridiculous, but you have to remember, this is what we think. We don't know why we think this, but nontheless....

Patti seems to think that when (and if) really hard times hit, she'll be living in her backyard. Her house will be vacant and available to her, but she'll still be in the backyard. I, on the other hand, think I'll be living in my garage, while I have a perfectly good house inches away. But I have a different problem. My house won't be vacant because Osama Bin Laden will be living there with two other men, and of course they won't let us in. This is all faulty thinking, we know, but that's what keeps going thru our minds.

Patti plans on riding her bike to my house as needed with two buckets tied to a

stick across her shoulders, or with jarros on her head, then going back home with water from the pool. This is of course, if she hasn't planned far enough ahead to store an exceptionally large amount of water of her own. She at one time, had quite a lot of wheat, but her tiny little pot-bellied pig Tocino, got into it, ate it all and turned into a huge, disgusting, smelly farm animal-type pig! So FYI, if you have a pot-bellied pig, and you want him to remain small, don't feed him wheat.

Patti thinks I'm an idiot for wanting to have enough dog food around. While Gunner eats pork chops and fried chicken (canned of course), Xander and Bo could drop dead for all she cares!

The part that is "beyond our capacity" will have to wait because I'm off to Houston.

2008-06-19T23:08:00.001-06:00

Hey, Bob, when are you going to post another blog? This is getting boring. Love, your sister

Restitution

2008-06-11T12:14:00.007-06:00

Since Patti won't blog anything, I'm going to start posting her "drafts" even tho these pictures look like something you'd post on Ebay! Part of my resitution for denting her car, involved a few things, but she wanted a red purse, so I bought her a red purse. She added these pictures, probably planning to say something nice about the whole incident (or not!) but never posted them. So, I'm doing it for her. Patti, you have a couple of really lame drafts that actually repeat each other, so if you don't want them posted as is, you need to get on the stick. From your loving sister!

True Confessions!

2008-06-10T13:37:00.008-06:00

I made Patti promise we'd never tell what happened, but I'm the one who needs to confess, and this takes the pressure off Patti, who I know is DYING to tell the story. She says she hasn't told a soul, but I don't believe her.

She and I drove to the Colonies last February to surprise Jennifer on her birthday. Jen was so surprised when she saw us, she started crying. It was very sweet and nice that we could pull it off (with alot of help!) While we were there we were able to watch President Hinckley's funeral services on TV.

Anyway, on the way home, Patti wasn't feeling well so I offered to drive while she slept in the back seat. We got all the way across the border at Santa Teresa and were on the home stretch on the airport road that leads to McNutt. Patti was in the front seat by now and we were talking and laughing and cruising along, probably going a little faster than I should have been. All of a sudden, there was a huge curve in the road and because I was going too fast, I couldn't navigate the curve and went off the road into the dirt. The stop sign at McNutt and the airport road was looming in the short distance, but because of the soft dirt it was real hard to control the car. Patti's thinking "Is she gonna hit it?" and I'm thinking "I'm gonna hit the stop sign and there's nothing I can do about it!!"

Wham-o! No horrendous crash or anything like that. The stop sign just laid down softly in the dirt! The bumper of Patti's car has a scratch on it the width of the stop sign pole and that was it. It wasn't even dented!

We just looked at each other to make sure we were both OK, then Patti got the bright idea to switch seats in case the cops came. I still don't understand her thinking on that one because it was dark and no one was around and there were no witnesses. But Patti got out of the car anyway with just her socks on, and stepped into a bunch of goat's head stickers. Her feet were full of them by the time she got around to the drivers side.

So off we went, and this is when I made her swear not to tell ANYONE! She said "Oh no!! I'm telling everyone about this!" Then I guess she felt sorry for me and said she'd keep it to herself, but I'm still not sure she ever did!

I offered to pay for the damage to her car, but she wouldn't hear of it. The next day, I ended up telling Rocky, because I figured he was going to have to pay for it eventually, even tho Patti didn't want me to worry about it.

I tell you this story now, because yesterday I finally was able to make restitution with Patti for the damage to her car. So that part's over with, but I still feel guilty about the stop sign issue. I drove to the "scene of the crime" the next day and the stop sign was upright again. It wasn't damaged at all!

So now, dear readers, I have a dilemma. Should I drop it, or should I go to the police and offer to pay for re-installing the stop sign? I'd probably feel alot better about it, even if they give me a ticket, but what if they put me in JAIL??

Reaaarrrrr!

2008-06-06T21:50:00.008-06:00

I wasn't aware this "fun" blog was going to turn into a cat fight! You gotta admit, Patti, roaches in your purse is not a good thing. Besides, when she told me the story about the roach crawling out of her purse, of course she was humiliated, but was also laughing so hard she was wheezing! I guess it's better it happened at an auto parts store on Alameda than Walmart. They're probably used to that sort of thing!

AND if you had seen the chocolate candy bar wrapping, you would have recoiled too. However.....after examining it closely, the candy appeared intact and relatively clean, and fair game. About the offer being made "kindly and generously??" Well, that part is highly debatable. Patti had her thumb on one corner of the candy bar and sort of flipped it at me, kind of like dealing cards, but she never let go of it. I had to pry it from her hands. But it was really good candy! Thanks, Pat.

I'm not delighting in telling our faithful readers about your unfortunate experiences, Patti. But what else are we going to write about? Even Kristen said you provided most of the fodder for our sad, pathetic lives.

Jenny, your comment shook me to my core. It caused me to take account of where my life could be headed and I will snap to immediately!

Chocolate in Church

2008-06-05T19:50:00.004-06:00

Just a response to "Roaches," in which Bobbi delighted in telling the story of my unfortunate experience at the store, which wasn't Hobby Lobby or WalMart, by the way. It happened at an automotive store down on Alameda Street, for the record.
Anyway, getting to my story which illustrates why Bobbi should be more appreciative of the contents of my purse: A few weeks ago, during Sunday School, I believe it was, I'm fumbling around in my purse and discover half of a large chocolate bar in a torn wrapper, being that it's half eaten already. I get it out of my purse and kindly and generously offer some of it to Bobbi. She looks at it disgustedly, makes a comment about the poor condition of the wrapper and about the contents of my purse in general, takes it and shows the whole thing to Rocky who just shakes his head, if I remember right. The next thing I know, however, she has apparently and quickly overcome her aversion to the poorly wrapped chocolate and has scarffed down not only her share, but mine as well! So I think Bobbi should show a little more appreciation for my purse and the contents thereof, which once provided her chocolate fix at church!

Roaches!

2008-06-04T12:11:00.007-06:00

I'll never forget the story Patti told me when she was at Walmart or Hobby Lobby, two of her favorite haunts, and she was digging thru her purse trying to find money to pay, when a roach crawled out of her purse and scurried across the counter! I was mortified just hearing the story, but if any of you have seen Patti's purse, it's really not all that surprising.

What Ed said, revisited.

2008-06-04T09:43:00.005-06:00

Since we're on the subject, this is the first thing that came to my mind: Patti, Ed, Rocky and I were sitting in Patti's kitchen and for some reason were talking about Osama Bin Laden and other terrorists. Patti was washing dishes and had her back to us. All of a sudden, Ed proclaimed that Patti would be the perfect terrorist. We were astounded, as you can imagine, but Patti didn't even turn around! Ed went on to say that because Patti is so tall, she could carry alot of dynamite around her chest and waist and no one would be the wiser. I wish I'd had a camera to snap the look on Patti's face when she finally did turn around!! It was priceless.

What Ed Said

2008-06-03T22:07:00.002-06:00

Patti is thinking that "What Ed Said" could become a regular feature depending on the response of our 6 devoted readers. Today's "What Ed Said" started out with a comment from Patti regarding Wylie Coyote and how he used a lot of dynamite in his efforts to outwit the Roadrunner. Ed's response was that nowadays it is "socially unacceptable" to make any jokes about dynamite because of "all the federal buildings being blown up" and that "it's not like it used to be in the good old days when you could blow up anything you wanted to!"

Fodder and flotsam.

2008-05-30T15:12:00.004-06:00

What a way to describe yourself! Patti and Kristin are right tho, when they say Patti does provide most of the hilarity of our mundane lives. (I hope everyone is reading the comments as there's alot going on there!)

I believe the phrase Patti was subject to by a 'very close relative' was, "You're nothing but a piece of flotsam floating around on the sea of life." This person made Patti and Rico and I feel really great about ourselves! I never thought Patti was flotsam. She was sweet and kind and didn't deserve to be called anything derogatory. She's a "queen," remember?!?!

Our cousin Bill Coon, passed away Wednesday morning (May 28, 2008) after a long illness. I don't have the words to describe what a great man he was. We always had a joke for each other every Sunday at church. He was a loving, caring, good and righteous man. There are few like him in the world today, and to lose him leaves a permanent hole no one can fill.

Patti's Blogging Job Description

2008-05-29T08:25:00.006-06:00

Ok everyone, we have a start to Patti's Blogging Job Description. Ben suggested she be in charge of uploading pictures. That's a great start since she already moved in on the one and only space for "About Us" by posting a picture of her and her grandson Johnny, instead one of her and Bobbi! Keep coming back to this post as I will update Patti's job description as more ideas come in! Good job, Ben! Troy also thinks this is a good idea. So start uploading Pat! Of course, I still have to upload the "crown" picture.

A favor?

2008-05-28T08:06:00.004-06:00

Patti and Bobbi would love it if our readers who leave all those wonderful comments, would please sign your name, especially if you comment anonymously. If you don't want to give your email address, that's OK. For us, it's nice to know who our "devoted readers" are! This of course, doesn't apply to Patti, who continues to post comments to her OWN BLOG!! I don't think she grasps the concept of blogging yet. It seems she expects Bobbi to write the blog, and her only contribution is to post irrelevant comments to what Bobbi writes. Maybe our readers can help me come up with some type of blogging job description for Patti.

Regarding the forthcoming pictures ~ I will do my best to get those posted either this week, or next, when life slows down a bit. Bobbi tried to post her own picture to the "About Us" section but had too many problems. She thinks the problem is Patti took up the only spot when she posted her picture first. When Bobbi tried, the picture was huge and took up the entire page, which was OK with her, but Patti "whiiiined" about it.

Baby Shower!

2008-05-24T22:23:00.009-06:00

Today we had a baby shower for a sister from church. Before everyone arrived we were sitting in the den with another person who was helping us and we wondered if the guest of honor had even been told about the shower. Sandra hadn't told her, Patti hadn't told her and neither had Bobbi. We were dumbstruck! What if she didn't know?? What would we do?? But in a few minutes the doorbell rang and here came Amy Bartlett with Eun Hee in tow. What a relief!

The shower was like most others - a couple of games. These games were hard tho, and there was the potential of offending either the new mom or the new dad, or both! I think we all felt a little uncomfortable. Then we had to identify nine different kinds of baby food. I don't like shower games!

Bobbi provided the house which is always an ordeal because she works herself into a frenzy with last minute cleaning. Patti and Sandra brought all the food and it was very tasty. Patti also ordered a carrot cake from Costco. She asked them to decorate it for a baby shower and they went to town! It had a large, short-legged, garish yellow stork with pink hair and two eyes on one side of it's head. Then they swirled red, blue, yellow and pink icing loops all over it! It looked as if it came from the Taco Town Panadería. Patti refused to put the cake on the food table because it was so hideous, and she didn't want anyone to know she brought it. Even Sandra said, "It looks like a Mexican cake!" It tasted pretty good tho.

The Crown Affair

2008-05-22T08:06:00.010-06:00

In order to understand this part of the blog, you really need to read the comments, especially the "anonymous" post from Patti. The comments have become a story in and of themselves! I wasn't going to bring up the crown ordeal, but since Patti did, the game is on!

However...

In all fairness to Patti, she didn't wear a "crown" on her 16th birthday. It was a tiara. After more than 45 years, the picture taken of our family taken that night re-surfaced, and when I showed it to our elderly mother, she said, among other things, " . . . and there's Patti with her crown!" Patti also wore a baby blue satin dress made by mother. Another unfortunate thing for Patti is she may have been wearing her crystal-blue cat-eye glasses, but I'm not sure about that. The picture will tell the story. None of us are catwalk material, but Patti looks particularly special.

"Love, Patti."

2008-05-21T22:31:00.008-06:00

Where is the anonymity in an anonymous comment signed "Love, Patti??" If Patti persists in this on-going denial (and I don't really blame her) of her wearing a crown on her 16th birthday in front of the Kingston Trio, no less, I will have to start posting pictures. This goes back to the original post that we all remember things differently, but the camera usually gets it right. It may take me a while to find that picture, but it will be available for all the world to see soon . . . and it's a gem!!

Sunday hats

2008-05-20T22:24:00.011-06:00

A friend of ours has brought back the wonderful old tradition of wearing elegant hats. This past Sunday, Patti wrote a note telling me she had given the woman the hat she was wearing that day so she wouldn't sue Patti for Gunner's attack on the woman's butt! When I showed Rocky the note, he responded with "Patti should be sued for giving the woman that hat!" I couldn't stop laughing! Then Patti couldn't stop laughing. Nothing much changes with us!

Joseph again...

2008-05-20T22:21:00.007-06:00

Saturday night Rocky and I went to see the "Joseph" production in it's entirety. I am still amazed at how well the kids did. Rocky had a great seat because he was on the end. A tall woman sat in front of me and a taller man in front of her, so I had to keep moving my head from side to side and I could hear the woman behind me (who will remain nameless) sighing real loud because I must have been obstructing her view, which is hard to believe for anyone who's seen me!

Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat

2008-05-20T22:15:00.009-06:00

Thursday, May 15th we were asked to be backstage hands at a church play. Our job included making sure the kids got on and off the stage on time, taking microphones off one actor and putting them on another as there was a severe microphone shortage, seeing that the actors didn't have their costumes on wrong side out, etc. The kids were so well prepared, there wasn't much for us to do except be demoted to low level hall monitors. So eventually we watched the performance instead of helping. It was amazing how well the 5th Ward kids did. What an impressive event!

In the beginning a blog was created.

2008-05-14T21:52:00.009-06:00

Three of our kids have their own blogs, so not to be outdone, Patti and Bobbi, sisters extraordinaire, decided to create our own blog. We have both decided neither of us has much going on in our lives of any real interest to anyone, but be that as it may, we're going to give this our best shot.

We had many laughs (until Patti started wheezing and we had to stop) trying to decide what to say and still didn't come up with anything one might consider a "good start." We hope our stories have some semblence of chronology, but there will be times when we just have to get it in writing before the idea escapes us. As with many sisters, partners, friends, etc. we all tend to remember different things about the same event, which helps us fill in the blanks. Then there are other times when the events one of us remembers just didn't happen! This will create alot of "behind the scenes" drama between us, but our readers won't see that. "Our readers" . . . that's a good one!