Trips

Still in Missouri. I've so enjoyed seeing and hugging and laughing with our five-year-old grandson, but I'm so ready to go sleep in my own bed tonight.

I leave Wednesday to go see our new granddaughter and the other two cuties. I dread that plane ride, and will be stressing on Tuesday about what I can carry on, and praying the airline doesn't lose my luggage.

The trip is work related. An interview. I'm nervous. Not so much about the interview, but more on the ramifications if it goes well.

I don't know what's worse. Sigh.

Howdy

I just realized that it's been a while since I posted last. It was definitely not intentional. The thing about holiday weeks is that you get two days off etc. BUT you have to do five days worth of work in three days usually.

I'm in Columbia, Missouri right now. We celebrated Thanksgiving with hubby's mother, aunt and collection of relatives in Kansas. It was a nice event. No drama until we took his mom home. The Alzheimer's and dementia is getting worse. She wanted to leave right after she ate. We told her that we were going to visit before driving her home (another town). So we included her in activities with the little ones and kept her busy.

We compromised and left much earlier than we would have liked. It wasn't early enough. Imagine a two-year-old throwing a temper tantrum -- but it's an 83+ year old. It was hard for my husband. When we got to the facility where she lives, she didn't even want us to walk her in. My husband did anyway, and she gave him a tongue lashing once inside telling him she never wanted to see him again etc.

The rest of us have experienced that, and I've gone through some of that with my dad. But hubby never had. It was devastating to him.

Friday wasn't much better. The "Home Place" care has gone downhill since a new administrator came in a few months ago. They are getting residents who belong in a skilled nursing facility. They don't have enough nurses. Brother in law and wife were more aware of this than we were, and have been raising cain. The administrator was trying to tell us that mom had to start using insulin and would immediately have to be moved. We refused, and thank God, we called the brother in law et. al, because we found out everything that had happened in the past month. I was so furious that this administrator (now known as Jezebel among other names) was trying to play us for fools. She's aware that hubby and brother in law arent' really close and was hoping to use that. Divide and conquer was her method. I wanted to scream at her, but hubby wisely didn't let me.

We have joined the "raising cain" campaign with corporate and the Department of Aging. I'm furious and now we've started a campaign to get family and relatives who live closer than we do to do the unexpected "drop-in" visits regularly.

We're stopping by in early on Sunday on our way home. We wish we could pick mom-in-law up and just move her closer to us, but this little town is her home. She doesn't want to leave and we're trying to abide by her wishes.

Getting old is not for wimps.

Finally a photo

Here's the hospital photo of our new grandbaby.

She's a keeper.

Our little Orange

A photo to come soon.

We have our new little granddaughter. Willow Alexis -- she was 5 lb. 11 oz., 18.5 inches long, born Nov. 14 darn close to midnight.

We can't wait to go see her!

Yellow and Orange

People who know my son know that he's unconventional. He likes to do things his own way. He married someone so much like him.

The two of them have come up with different and delightful names for their two daughters. Daughter No. 3 is due any day now. Her name -- at least her first name -- will be "Willow."

B says he wants to give her a name that stands out and also that he never wants her to be mistaken for a Republican. Now, he's assuming that Willow won't grow up to be a Republican, but he'll learn when they hit the "I'm so much smarter than my parents" stage that children do what THEY want.

Anyway, daughter No. 1 was near Daddy when he was on the phone with me today. Tell "E" what the baby's name is, my sons coaxes her. She says "Willow" in her soft spoken way. It was cute. But enter daughter No. 2, who echoes "Willow" but honestly it sounded a whole like like "Yellow."

Before I could say "B - it sounded like she said..." Daughter No. 2 continued, "But, I'm going to call her Orange."

I was laughing so hard, I had a hard time talking. Yep. She won't be mistaken for a Republican. She might become one - yellow and orange do make RED, but she won't be mistaken for one.

Anonymous blogging

One of the things I often forget about blogging is that anyone out there can read what I write. It took me a moment when an email popped up in my email inbox to realize what this person was referring to.

Someone from Kansas -- my guess is they could possibly be a Jayhawk -- decided to chastise me for a comment I made on my May 30, 2006 blog post.

I guess I'm glad that people read what I write. I just didn't know they had the internet in Sedan.

That by the way, is in no way what I really think. My husband's family is from a little bitty town in southwestern Kansas.

I just think the comment was funnier than anything I'd ever read, because it's so far from the truth.

So what's the weirdest comment anonymous people have left on your blogs?

A salute to veterans

Armistice Day, the day commemorating the treaty signed on the 11th hour, of the 11th day of the 11th month signifying the end of the World War I has been observed since 1919. In the United States people called it "Remembrance Day" or "Veterans Day." Kansas led the movement for the day to become what it is today -- a day set aside for tribute to veterans of all wars, not just World War I. President Wilson made it a national holiday in 1938.

Thank you, we're proud of you to the veterans, former and current in our family:

PFC Tilford Snyder, US Army, World War II
Cpl. Eugene Harrington, US Army, World War II
TGST Tilford Snyder, US Air Force, Desert Storm
SGT Oscar Ochoa, US Army, Vietnam
PO Roland Foster, US Navy, World War II
PFC June Foster, US Army, World War II
PO Mike Perez, US Navy,
SRA Candy Perez, US Air Force,
PO Sheldon MacArthur, US Navy, Iraq
Spec. Robert "Bobby" Martinez, US Army, currently serving in Iraq
Maj. Gen. James Snyder, US Army, Desert Storm, Iraq

To the many more family members I might have missed, to all veterans. Thank you.

Farewell

1. Ed Bradley -- you'll be missed. An excerpt from Ron Allen (NBC news):

"He was a real, genuine, authentic guy who even had the audacity, or self-assuredness, to wear an earring on TV on CBS News. You've got to be sure of who you are to do that. That's probably one reason he was such a great reporter. It's easy to imagine him in the streets of Philadelphia years ago, or at Cheney State College, a proud historically black college, not Harvard or Yale, or spinning records at WDAS FM. Years later he had a distinctive ease and confidence about him, whether interviewing criminals, comedians, politicians or just plain folks.

His contributions to broadcast journalism and to our nation's knowledge of the world we live in are immense. His contributions to our culture, and to the hopes and dreams of other journalists of color, are beyond the words and stories he told with such elegance, compassion and grace."

2. Rumsfeld -- I'm not so sure you will be missed. While, I don't agree with your politics, your policies and your decisions. But I think that there's still much to say -- or maybe just thank you -- for the years of public service you've given this country. Many people might say, you don't deserve that. I believe you do.

3. The GOP -- From the leader of the Kansas Republican party to the handfuls of elected officials and now those who lost who are switching to the other party, the GOP is losing people fast. Maybe like you told the Democrats two years ago, "It's time to get back in touch with Americans."

4. Tracy Rafter, recently fired publisher of the LA Times for sticking up for employees and refusing to cut jobs to save money. It takes courage to be a journalist, and you showed exemplary courage. We'll see more of you, I'm sure.

5. HELEN DEWAR, 70, a dogged reporter who covered the Senate for The Washington Post for a quarter century, Nov. 4 of breast cancer.

Dewar worked for the newspaper for more than 40 years, starting as an editorial aide. She reported on Congress from 1979 to 2004, and her last story appeared on Jan. 20, 2005.

The morning after

Kudos to the Democrats. Kudos to voters.

I'm happy to see that thought was given to what is best for the country.

Now to the Democrats, I say let's stay on track and do something with this win. As for myself, I don't want to see hearings and subpoenas being handed down.

I want lawmakers to do the right thing for this country, be they Democrat or Republican.

Is that too much to ask for?

I love you, I love you not...

For fun, take a peek at V-grrrl's site and try your hand at rhyming.

Dancing with the devil

Comedian Chris Rock offers this advice to fathers, "Your main job as a father," he says, "is to keep your daughter off the pole."

Rock is referring to pole dancing, stripping. And, no, I don't want to hear from all of you who know the finer points and differences between the two.

Last night, my daughter, who's usually reticent and doesn't like to share much about her life, her friend's life etc. came into my room.

"Can I talk to you for a minute?"

"Sure, what's up?"

"My friend, (name withheld), just called. Her parents are gonna kill her."

"Why?" I asked calmly, knowing this was a figure of speech and said friend's parents really weren't going to kill her.

"She just called me. She's going on stage in a few minutes. She took a job as a stripper."

My daughter then gave me the name and location of the place where her friend was getting ready to throw her dignity away.

It took every inch of my being not to get on the phone and call her friend's dad, and tell him to get down there and get his daughter off the stage.

I thought better of it because her friend's mother has made it abundantly clear in the past few weeks that we no longer have a friendship. We share a lot of the same friends, but it's too complicated to understand why this has happened. It's beyond me. Anyway, I digress, I'm over that -- REALLY. But because the situation is what it is, I didn't call.

And, I'm not sure that I would have been right to call. This girl is of legal age. An adult, who's been on her own since she was a teen. This is her decision.

Still, I was sad. My daughter was sad.

"Did you tell her not to do it?"

"She wouldn't have listened. I just told her to call me if she needed to talk after it was over."

Sometimes, that's the best we can do.

Second post of the day

OK, I've been up and blogging way too long this morning. I should be doing more constructive things like...oh, never mind.

M. -- 5-year-old grandson -- has a teacher who gives out the red, yellow and green lights every day based on students' behaviors. M. tends to get yellow or red on most days. He does earn those green lights too, though. Lately, he's been coming home with more green lights. I think I might have mentioned that he had been "trading" his yellow and red lights on the bus after convincing some of the not-as-smart but better behaved kiddos that those were more desirable. Well, apparently he's got quite a little scam going, teaching the other kids how to do the same, or change the color of their lights with a marker. Teacher overheard he and his friend, D, making some plans. D gets green light, shows mom. D, who lives down the street from M., comes over, gives M, green light, takes red or yellow light. Both moms and dads see "green" light. In this case, neither had a green light, so the plan was to change the color of the light to green. Teach called mom BEFORE M. got home, so the parents were on to the ruse.

Sigh. Teacher doesn't get as mad at M. as she should because he's so bright. He's way ahead of all the other kids in class, and she absolutely loves teaching him. But behavior can be a challenge. He gets frustrated at kids, and "hits" or pushes. Yes, we're dealing with that -- anger management etc.

M.'s been "grounded." D. can't come over to play for a while. Wouldn't it be nice if all kids came with instructions?

Reality check

An editor from a Washington paper called me this week for a telephone interview. No warning. Just answer the phone and I was "on." He seemed like a nice enough Joe. But here are the drawbacks:

It's a night city editor job -- which means I work nights. I'm a very social MORNING person. But I guess I could do this for a while.

A MALE friend had spoken to same editor a couple of weeks ago about the job. My friend lives in Seattle and decided the one-hour commute was too much for him to handle every day, so he declined. But before he declined said editor quoted him a salary.

He quoted me a much lower salary. Red flag. Same basic qualifications, and the guy gets a higher monetary offer. Hmmm.

Another red flag. He called one of my references at a former paper, and my reference called me afterward asking if everything was ok. Apparently, said editor, was more interested in WHY I left the paper than how I performed while I was there. Weird.

I hate looking for a job. And I don't think that hubby, or son in Washington understand how much I really don't want to move. I'm in the "middle" of stuff here. Excited about the NAHJ Region V conference that I'm helping to plan. Excited about the 2007 Gridiron show that I'm helping to write.

True, I hate my job. True, I really need to change that job.

The ONLY reason I want to move to Washington is because I miss my son, daughter-in-law and granddaughters terribly. But everyone one else is HERE or within driving distance of HERE. And if you recall from my February trip to Seattle, I wasn't that impressed.

That's it. They need to move closer. Don't you wish life's decisions were easy?