Hello & Goodbye

Glory to Tory

I am leaving tomorrow to CA for Thanksgiving & Jennie's wedding! Very exciting, all sorts of fun things planned. Will have updates when I return.

I forgot to blog the below, however:

When Amber & Steven were here, they entered Tory into a 5k marathon, an all down-hill one on our Transmountain road. And, wait for it...she came in 3rd place for her age division! WOW! Good for Tory. Won a trophy & everything. I wanna run a marathon some day. Maybe when I grow up.

In other news: Happy Snakesgiving, per Noah. This is really what he calls it.

My favorite people:

A Swift Kick in the Pants

So is it just me, or does anyone else wonder why a person who PATENTLY CANNOT SING gets away with being, quote, "One of the hottest new country stars on the top of the glitter hill" or some such thing...namely, Taylor Swift? I watched the CMAs last night & she performed, and, DUDE, she can't sing! It seriously sounded like she was the friend that her posse got buzzed enough to persuade her to get on stage at Tuesday night all-you-can-drink Karaoke Bar and she's, like, just trying to stand real still & not have her voice shake too much as she's singing, praying to God her voice is on key enough to get her through the song. It's really bad. She speaks through half of her songs, for Gods sake.
But you know what the wierdest thing is? NO ONE IN THE MEDIA SAYS ANYTHING ABOUT IT. If you're a bad actor, you will be burned in the worst way. No one else besides singers seem to be able to get away with this sort of fakery. I was totally expecting someone to say something about the elephant in the room, namely, that Taylor Swift is totally out of her league & should just give it up & become a model or something where she can keep her mouth shut....but no, just mentions about how she looked "cute & sweet" or something. Where is the media cruelty we have come to count on when we need it most? Where, people?

Fields of Gold

You wanna hear a true story?
I once knew a woman named Carol Jordison. I met her at ADP. At first I only knew her through work, and because of work, and she scared me. Not only because of her appearance, which was formidable (she was a very heavy woman and wore a lot of makeup & her lipstick was ALWAYS perfectly bright red), but she was very good at her job. And the reason that made me afraid was because I was just learning mine, and her's was to support mine, and I didn't always do things right. And she didn't abide fools lightly. With me so far?
So Carol & I got to know each other over time. And I realised that far from being scary, this woman was one of the nicest, most moral (in the best sense of the word), most giving & sacrificial women that I knew. I used to sit with her in the break room at lunch & watch her crochet someone a new blanket, which she was ALWAYS doing in her spare time, watch her drink her diet coke with the lipstick-stained straw, and talk with her about her life or mine. She was very self-effacing. She never seemed to think that she was anything but completely ordinary. But that woman raised 2 children alone after leaving an alcoholic husband. She saved money for her kids and lived in a trailer park. She drove a 20 year old truck 2 hours EACH WAY to and from work, and was always the first one in the office, looking like a million bucks while I, who lived 10 min. away, looked like I had rolled out of bed & got HIT by a truck. She lived for the summer vacations with her grandchildren when they would rent an RV & hit the road. And I found out that she had fought cancer alone about 10 years before, drove herself to and from chemo, all by herself. This woman was amazing to me. She was so humble. One time Jeff & I took her out to dinner and she seemed embarrassed the whole time, like she felt like she wasn't worth the effort. She made, as I said, blankets for everyone. If you had a baby, if you were getting married, you knew you could count on a Carol blanket. And they were worth having.
I say I knew her because shortly after I left ADP I found out one day that she had died. Her cancer came back and she passed away, when just a week or so previously she had been in the office working hard, as always.
So today I covered Noah up with a Carol blanket, one of the 3 she gave us, and I thought about her. It's nice & warm & has given us 4 years of comfort. And I think she would be happy to know that her generosity lives on in our home, covering our little ones, and that I think of her fondly every time I see her handywork. Thank you Carol. Jeff & I loved you a lot. I hope that someday, when it's my turn, I can have accomplished what you did: a legacy to the people that knew you of giving & caring.
That's what my heart is full of this afternoon.

Recent Happenings:

1. Who's glad that Obama won? I sure am. Let's all shout "Horray" and hope that this guy can do something good for our poor ailing country. He seems to be confidient & "Presidential"...but I guess presidential is as presidential does. Go ahead, Mr. O. Make us proud.

2. Nikki left us today. Sniff. We love you, my dear, and thoroughly enjoyed your visit. Please grace us with your presence another time, and have a safe journey.

3. I had a SUPER fun marathon session at the dentist yesterday, coming away with one root canal, one partial root canal, and one filling. It took them from 10 in the AM to 4PM!!!!! My mouth hurts like a MF. I was remarking yesterday that it's one of the great mysteries of my life that no matter how much work I get done at the dentist & how expensive & invasive it is, the next time I come back, be it in one month or six, I AM SURE TO HAVE AT LEAST 3 MORE CAVITIES. It's like an immutable law of nature. Pretty soon I'll have to have dentures...I don't know how they can drill anymore into some of these teeth. And Jeff, the rotter, doesn't go to the dentist FOR YEARS and he saunters in there & they say, "Oh, you just need a deep cleaning, no cavities!" My God, the injustice.

Take a gander at my son, the future rapper:

Twinkle, twinkle, little gangster.

"Puff, the Magic Dragon,

Lived by the seed,

And frollipped in the autumn mist

In a land called Honalee.

Little Jackie Paper

Loved that rascal Puff

And brought him strings and sealing wax

And other pantsy fluff."

Halloween Pics

Daddy & pretty Aunty Nik at Trunk or Treat

Mom & Dill

Whachoo lookin at?

See my tail?

Another Dino angle.

Noah James, as a Dinosaur, complete with smeared chocolate on chin.

Our mobile Pickle. He's actually standing on his own now, and the other day took his 1st two steps!

The below pictures are all fast snap shots taken of Dillon after we put on his lion costume. I posted quite a few because he's so cute I can't bear it...and even though it may be overkill, "It's my bloggie and I'll post if I want to"

We "did" a pumpkin for Halloween, our first ever as a family, because Noah wanted to so badly. I thought this picture actually came out kinda neat.