Days of Dementia: A Case of Mistaken Identity

A few days ago, a lady was using her walker down the hallway and passed in front of grandpa and I. We were in our usual spots - he in his wheelchair and I on the floor beside him. The lady and I greeted each other and smiled and chatted for a few minutes.
"Is this your....grandpa?"
"Yes!"
I was impressed, I usually get 'father.'
"Well, he's a sweetheart. Always pleasant. Never bothers nobody."
"Thank you!" I replied, "He is very sweet."
As she passed in front of him grandpa waved and said hello, as if to emphasize her point. She stopped, smiled and stooped down in front of him.
"Do you know this girl?" she asked. Grandpa gave her a blank stare.
"Do you? Do you know this girl?" She was kind, but insistent. I wasn't sure why this had to be answered, but she wasn't going to let it go, so I pulled myself up on my knees so he could see me better. She started pointing and dragging her finger towards me to draw his attention. "This girl. This girl right here. Do you know her?"
His eyes finally followed her hand and he looked up at me. "Yeah!"
The lady smiled. "Who is she?"
Oh dear.
Grandpa continued his blank stare at me.
"Who is she? Who is she?"
I wanted to intervene, but I didn't. If things had gotten harder on him, I would've, but I also honestly wanted to know who he believed I was. 
"She's..... she's.... she's my daughter-in-law."
"Oh! And do you love her?"
Now grandpa legitimately looked confused. "Of course!" he replied, bewildered. The lady wandered off. Grandpa looked at me as if he was supposed to understand what had just happened. I just smiled and shrugged. We moved on.

For months now, Grandpa has consistently called me his daughter-in-law. Who he believes I am on a day to day basis does vary a bit, but especially within these past six months, especially whenever he does name me to somebody I am almost exclusively his daughter-in-law. My mother.

That's a bit of a mind trip when you think about it from my perspective. :)

And sometimes it's not just in naming me because somebody asked. Sometimes it reveals itself in casual conversation. Take a month ago, for example.
Grandpa was relaying his day to me when he rather suddenly (and very confidently) stated, "Yup, your daddy suuure helped me get that cat out of that barn." I blinked because I was completely stumped. (Notably, not about the part about a cat in the barn, although there was certainly no current context for that at the time either.) He said it with such an air of awareness that I sat there for several minutes trying to figure out if he genuinely knew who I was. I was debating whether or not to ask him when suddenly he finished it out: "Yup, Leonard sure was a great help!"
Ah. Leonard. My mother's father.
I was floored. Despite having heard him reference me as her several times, it still stuns me a bit when it happens - to think that something in me reminds him, or at least triggers something in him, of her.

It was about three months ago now when he suddenly started asking me, "Where's little Sherri? I thought I just heard her. Did you hear her?"
Although surreal to think of myself as about five years old in his mind, my heart warmed. I realized that in his brain I was still a child and probably running around terrorizing the place.
I tried to correct him and explain that, no, I was Sherri. But he just looked at me and laughed. "No, no, no," he said, "little Sherri. She was in the dining room. I just saw her."
Ah, well. Maybe I was behaving enough after all. :)
And it dawned on me later that the age I am now is the age my mother would have been when I was "little Sherri."

And even all the way back to his first trip to his final neurologist and the doctor asked him to introduce us. "This is my daughter-in-law," he said, "and that's my grandson."
I didn't correct him but instead just shook my head at the doctor, although "grandson" was indeed correct. Later Grandpa apparently caught himself and realized what had happened. "I'm so sorry," he said, "I'm so sorry I called you my daughter-in-law. I don't know what happened."

It's okay. I don't mind. I don't mind on any count.

Why would I be bothered, hurt or upset? That you think I'm one of the women that I admire the most? That maybe, just maybe, there is something in me that you see that reminds you so strongly of her? Maybe some tiny piece of my personality brings her to your thoughts? Or maybe instead I remind you of her in her looks? Any of those things, I don't mind. I don't mind at all. I am honored and thrilled and blessed that there's even a remote chance that you might find something in me that you recognize as her.

I don't mind one bit. 

I'll be your daughter-in-law. I'll be your friend that hangs out, or random family member, or whoever you think I am that day as long as you'll let me sit and chat with you awhile. We'll drink coffee and health shakes. We'll people watch. And at the very least, maybe you'll remember me as a friendly face.

Or at the very best, your daughter-in-law.

Days of Dementia: And it's root, root, root for the home team....

This past Thursday night I walked into the nursing home to find my grandfather in the middle of the hallway in his wheelchair, trucker cap on his head and looking alert. This is a bit unusual - I've never seen him wear the cap before, though its been in his room for about a month, and he was in a different section of the hallway than I usually find him in. I caught his eye.
"Hey!" I said enthusiastically, "There you are."
"Hey!" he replied, just as happily, "You're just in time!"
"In time for what?"
"In time for the ballgame!"
I grinned. "What kind of ballgame?" "Baseball? Basketball? Football?"
"Don't know."
"Where's it happening at?"
"Right down there." He pointed down the hallway. My head turned, but I already knew what I would see. I had just come from that direction. A few people in wheelchairs were in the lobby. While they were watching television, no game had been on the screen and the TV wasn't visible from our position. I smiled.
"Who's playing?"
"Don't know."
"Is it baseball?"
"Yeah!" 
"Has it started yet?"
"Not yet. Just about to."

For those who haven't heard, or have only caught the bits and pieces, my grandfather was diagnosed with dementia this past year. It's been a really difficult road full of lots of confusion - and not just on his part, in general. The past eight months or so have been filled with lots of fear, heartache and uncertainty about what's going on, what's right and what's the best way to accomplish it. There have been a lot of factors involved and while it's still an ongoing situation, he is currently in a nursing home that appears to love and take excellent care of him. And that's such an incredible, incredible blessing to us, especially considering Oklahoma is apparently 49th in the nation in terms of nursing home care. Yikes. 

We chatted for awhile about other topics. He kept trying to prop his foot up on the nurses' disposal box on the side of their cart. "I think that's Billy's tool box," he finally said.
"Ah. Then we probably shouldn't mess with it then."

A few minutes later. 
"Look! Here come the stars!"
I glanced back down the hallway. Far at the other end, one man walked slowly along on his walker.
"Anybody I know? Anyone famous?"
"Hog Bellys!"
This is actually what his trucker hat reads. Hog Bellys, Stink Bait Parlor. I have no idea where this cap came from, it just appeared one day in his room. This is something that has super impressed me in the midst of his dementia - he can still read. For a man that doesn't ever really know what's going on, he can still read. In fact, as we were sitting there during this discussion, he pointed out a word on the nurses cart and asked me what it meant. And I had no idea either, because it was some long medical term. But I knew the reason he didn't ask me about the other words was because they made sense to him - scissors, tape, medications, etc. He specifically recognized that he didn't understand what this particular word meant and he wanted to know.
But he will still misunderstand or reinterpret the words he reads. Hence, Hog Bellys, the now famous baseball player.
"Now they're all walking around the bases."

"Just a second grandpa, I'll be right back."
I stepped into his room for a minute and was caught off guard by the television being on his room since it had never been on before. In particular, it was on Thursday Night Football and I immediately understood. Since he had never talked about ball before, I wasn't sure where our sudden baseball game had come from, but now I got it.
In discussions before with various people, we've come to realize that probably most of what grandpa talks about isn't completely made up. Usually there's a connector somewhere, even if it's probably a book or movie he read thirty years ago that we just don't know about or an overheard bit from a conversation earlier in the day. And then his brain just takes a whatever tiny gem of it that gets brought up on a ride.

"Has the game started yet?"
"Nope. They're just walking around the bases."
"That's it? Just parading around the bases?"
"Yup. Maybe they'll get started soon."

We chatted awhile longer and then I headed home for the evening.

If you had told me at the beginning of all of this that eventually I would look forward to my trips to the nursing home, that it would be a joy and that it would be a piece of a puzzle that would begin to fundamentally alter my heart and mind, I probably would have doubted you. And the trips can still be, and will be often, hard. Despite that, however, there has been so much unexpected joy and love in the midst of all the mental confusion and heartache.

I got to watch a baseball game with my grandfather. I had never had the chance - or rather, took the chance - to do that before. The fact that I can say I have now, whether he remembers it or not, thrills my soul.

I hope Hog Bellys hit a home run.

Humor me. :)

I know I share these on here now and again, but really, most of you have never got to see many pictures of my parents. And since her birthday is now, technically speaking, today I just wanted to share a few. :)

This one is actually, in a strange way, one of my favorites. She's just washing her hair, but I think it shows how silly she liked to be and how laid back she was. She didn't really care if she was picture perfect. Look at that smile.

For Halloween one year. Okay, so I'm not sure how crazy she would be about me posting this one, despite her silliness, but I think its beautiful. :) Oh well. She'd still just laugh. I love it.

Another favorite.

And yes, that's me.

I follow directions well. Maybe too well.

Jeff and I playing Lord of the Rings: War of the North for the first time and trying to figure out the best way to beat a large horde. 

Jeff: "Okay, this is working out great! You keep throwing up that protective orb, watch my back and I'll take out the archers on the rooftops with my arrows."
Me: "Got it!"
(ten minutes later.)
Jeff: "Well, I keep getting knocked off the platform. These guys keep attacking my face because someone is facing the wrong direction to kill them."
(silence)
Me: "You told me to watch your back?"
Jeff: "I meant... I... KILL EVERYTHING IN THE CIRCLE! Kill everything that comes in the circle, Sherri!"

(We won. :)  )

Returning to the Blog & DKR Videos

Honestly, I'm kind of trying to figure out how to restart this.

The past twelve weeks (or so) have been pretty eventful for my family. It was a terrible emotional roller coaster and ended with an unexpected crash. I never blogged during that time partially because I was gone a lot and partially because I absolutely didn't know what to say. Silly, mindless posts seemed so ridiculousy unimportant and thoughtful posts would've taken way too much... everything?

Now silly posts seem even less important, and yet oddly somehow, important anyway. Maybe important is the wrong word. Maybe a little needed.

This is going to be (eventually) a sillier post.

I would like to filter out some thoughts onto here about some of the past week....I think.  Maybe sort some things out. Maybe not. I just don't want to ignore the fact that something heavy has happened. But for right now, I just kind of want to get restarted. Reboot. Take a breather and figure the rest out later. And with that in mind, I present to you:

Batman Maybe
(If you haven't seen the movie and are avoiding spoilers, please avoid them now for the video and rest of the post.)



It's been stuck in my head. I think its pretty hysterical. And the costumes are awesome. (Thanks for showing it to me, Holly!)

My favorite line: "I know you're Batman... so STOP BEING LAZY."
BWAHAHHAHA!


That's all.

My absolute favorite Dark Knight Rises video on the internet right now comes from the Nostalgia Critic himself in his Bum Review:
(You canNOT possibly avoid spoilers in this one. Every spoiler is dropped. Avoid, avoid, avoid if you haven't seen it.)



"Uh, yeah...."

I love it. I can't tell you how many times I've watched it. So funny. If you have time, I recommend watching his Bum Reviews. They're usually four or five minutes (DRK is easily the longest) and incredibly funny. But full spoilers are involved in each one, so just beware that if you're wanting one saved.

Also, supposedly HISHE will have theirs up in a couple weeks as well. We'll see what they decide to do with that.

Catching Up: Class, Tonys, Articles and More.

Let's play catch up!

The Wedding Class....
....is mostly why I've been away. It was a wedding intensive class that began this past Sunday through Wednesday (where I graduated to Pomp & Circumstance, ha) and lasted from 8:30 - 5:30 every day in the city. And paranoid me left at 6:30 every morning to ensure I would beat traffic and make it to class on time.

And while I was rather terrified to go through the first hands on experience (since this was my first time around other designers) everything went okay. I learned a lot and it was really kind of nice to have a four-day designing focus, rather than multitasking computer, order taking, satisfying customers, etc. Not that those things are bad. Just that it was nice to strictly soak up some design wisdom and let some of it gel in my head a little better. Especially for wedding work.

I did solidify a few styles (one of which we just used today in the shop) and learned a few crazy things as well. For one, I never thought I'd be able to complete a composite flower which is several flowers put together to form one large bloom. So she showed us how to make a glamela (glad blooms) and we completed one and then she quickly showed us a composite rose. And it looked easier than I expected. So while we had some extra time on our hands this morning I wanted to make one while I could still remember how: 

 

In this picture it kind of looks like one giant bloomed-out rose, but that's kind of the whole point too.  That's actually three roses put together. I would love to make more of these, I think they're really beautiful. (And I was so excited to make one.)

Anyway, I essentially was coming home, eating dinner with grandma, rewriting my notes and crashing.

But I saw some awesome girls....
.... and had a chance to spend the night with them before my class started.  :) I spent the night with the Puckett family and played games and sang karaoke and had a general blast. Maybe I can sneak over there one more time before summer is up. ;)

Did I mention the Tonys are this Sunday?
Oh wait, I haven't.
Um.
I'm just not excited this year. I'll watch them (and blog inner-monologue style) but I'm just not anticipating them this year. I wasn't really last year either and they pleasantly surprised me and gave me lots of hope, but look at this years Best Musical lineup:
Once
Newsies
Leap of Faith
Nice Work if You Can Get It

Now. Not that I'm not excited for Newsies to finally be on Broadway (although, honestly, I'm not all that crazy about some of the new music I've heard) and not that I don't think Once can do well there (although, honestly, it is pretty slow in some places.) But the top three are all based off movies and the last one - while it has a new story - is essentially a Gershwin review. Where's the originality? It's nowhere. At all. And it just kind of depresses me a bit.
Okay, so it was a slow season for new stuff. How about the revivals?
Evita
Jesus Christ Superstar
Follies
Porgy & Bess 

I am VERY excited to see Porgy performed because it features none other than Audra McDonald and Norm Lewis (ahh!) but I've also heard amazing things about the supporting cast as well. That one, I'm stoked for. But the others? How many times has JCS been revived recently? Evita? Nothing new. Follies? Great show from what I've heard (my shame, I don't know that one as well), but again, played a lot.

And I'd tell you about the plays, but sadly I know nothing about them. So consider the rest of it strictly referring to musicals, because I'm telling you up front I just haven't kept up with the plays. 

This article that was posted today makes me sad: For Broadway Fans, A Moment in the Sun. It mostly discusses how nice it is for Broadway to be mainstream for a little while (and it is) and how shows like Glee, Smash and High School Musical have been the main backbone for that happening.
While I haven't been able to get into those shows, I don't have a problem with them. In fact, I like that Glee does pull a lot of old showtunes and breathes new life into them for a new generation. My problem with the article is not that our "moment in the sun" is because of these television shows. My problem with the article is when you continue reading it gives the impression that Broadway is gleaming right now with success. Newsies is finally on Broadway. This is the highest grossing year ever. We are awesome.
I'm really frustrated with this. This is a terrible year for musicals. We've been in an originality drought for awhile now, but really? Not a single show? I mean, at least in the past we've had Memphis (that's a joke.)

I'm not upset with the television shows that the article claims: "I trace this surge in popularity back to 2006's "High School Musical." Sure, I despised it (and the endless sequels) with a fervent passion, as any true musical nerd would. It turned our beloved world into a pop singer-filled, Disney Channel-style, teenybopper show." but within our own community. Why aren't we encouraging and supporting good, original art and pushing for it to be on the Great White Way where there's a better chance a larger community will see it? Why aren't we calling foul for this? Why aren't we helping promote or demanding a higher quality? Why isn't someone at least trying something instead of just rewriting movies with songs?
Probably for the same reason I haven't raised a fuss this year. Because we have in the past and now we're tired and a bit jaded with the whole thing.
I do realize there is a lot happening in smaller venues now, off-Broadway and way way off-Broadway and that's great. But I also wish we could open back up that larger market where the creative shows could potentially gain more attention and maybe one day create more of a demand for thought provoking and high quality work.
Ah well, a girl can dream.

And let me reiterate - turning a movie into a musical isn't bad in and of itself. I just wish it wasn't seemingly every show right now or that they would do something new with it. Lion King is the perfect example. Its a movie to a musical and while it's not a perfect overall show, it is excellent in so many capacities. Puppetry work? Absolutely worth the hype. The opening number? Outstanding and worth every laud. Scenery? Music? Lovely. This is a great example of breathing new life and making something truly theatrical from something that's been done before. I realize that kind of brilliance can't happen every time - that's why its so special - but its an excellent description of what I hope for in movies turned musicals and why they can be good. 

Actually, I think I hate that article. I think its dumb. And seriously, how does an article entitled "Broadway's Moment in the Sun" not include....

....the upcoming Les Mis movie.
The Les Mis trailer is still gorgeous and I'm still a bit shocked it looks so perfect. This would be such a hard show to get right and I'm so excited by all the pictures! December seems just around the corner.

And yet, there's one nail biter beforehand. 
The Dark Knight Rises marketing keeps throwing me from one side to other. I thought the Catwoman poster was stupid, yet I love all the tv spots I've seen lately. So I'm hoping its actually awesome and the marketing team has just been confused this whole time. Or if not awesome, at least solid. Please, Nolan, I want a solid ending to a good trilogy. Pleeeeeease.

However, my boss is awesome and when I begged to please, could we please be done with the wedding work by 7:00 so I can go see this movie, please oh please she laughed and said of course. So Dark Knight Rises opening weekend, here I come. Mwee!!

Let's make up for that last article.
I can assure you, this one will do it. This is a story about how a five-year-old boy and his mother got onto the Avengers set, was able to take pictures with some of the cast and how awesome they were treated by all the cast members and crew. I love it. It's super cute, really heartwarming and very "aww" worthy.
The picture of him with Loki alone is worth it. (It's at the top, I won't spoil it.)

Have you heard that saying about the thunderstorms being a good omen for Thunder?
Cause I'm sure sick of it. EVERY. WEATHERMAN. EVERY. FORECAST.
But I am glad they won, I'm thrilled for them and I'll watch the finals. They actually make watching the game fun and intense to watch, which isn't saying I usually say in context with basketball. Ever. I think these are the first full games I've ever watched where a family member wasn't playing in them. So go Thunder! You are awesome. You actually have made me enjoy basketball.

That's the majority of what you've missed. We are launching into wedding season now which will keep me busy, but not like this past week. Hurrah! I should be as back as I ever am.

Diablo Day!

It's finally in mah hands!! :)

Meet Diablo 3.

My cousin was one of the artists who worked on this game and, quite frankly, I'm super proud of him and all his hard work on it. Visually, it's quite beautiful (especially for a demonic world, heh) so far and I really enjoyed spending the evening running around in it with some of my friends. I'm not a gamer by any stretch of the imagination - while I've enjoyed Guild Wars and LOTRO in the past, I've always ended up feeling guilty dedicating so much time to it and usually end up fizzling out.
(Not that you should feel guilty playing games. But for some reason that's where the guilt monkeys attack me. Notice they don't attack me as much for wasting time surfing the internet. Like I'm doing now instead of sleeping. *flicks away a tiny, wimpy guilt monkey*)

Sadly, though, Diablo's launch has been marred by intense server issues. Which means pretty much since its release at midnight last night, there's been very little time its actually been playable. In fact, the reason we finally stopped playing tonight was due to the entire server/battlenet being shut down. As of now (1:00 AM) it is still offline. Eek. 

Nonetheless, it was a lot of fun. Hopefully I'll be able to get through some of it on my own instead of being so dependent on the leading of friends. I made a last minute change to a Wizard class, instead of Demon Hunter. Mostly because I'm a sucker for anything elemental. We'll see how it goes.

Congrats Neal!! May the rage of all the frustrated gamers not deter you from celebrating your artistic success. :)

Images from Easter

While I did wish this year that we would've done something a little extra for Easter at church, simply to help me remember the true celebration behind the season, it was a very lovely Easter.

(Not that Hilltop didn't have a nice Easter morning service and not that they didn't focus on Christ. Just that I was a little hungry for a little more....weightiness. Does that even make sense? Something to snap me into the reality of what we were celebrating.) 

But we did take the Lords Supper, which is a bit rarer for us and therefore brought to mind more of the occasion, and I was certainly much more aware of The Reason this year than I have been in years past.
I'm in Numbers right now, working my way through the Old Testament, and I really loved seeing the sermons leading up to Easter we've been receiving side by side with the stories of the Old Testament. This year when Gary read the phrase: "We have no king but Caesar" it suddenly reeled in my mind how truly awful (and really blasphemous) that was since I'm also concurrently reading about how God is their Head & their King in the Old. It was shocking - as it should have been - and seeing moments like this lined up beside each other continue to help me have a better grasp of the bigger picture at the cross. Anyone else have specific memories of moments like that?

Anyway. Easter has this way of bringing out joy in another fashion: super cute kiddos.

Unfortunately, I failed miserably at getting photos of the Plumb celebration (Shannon, I'm looking at you. I saw that camera flashing. ;) ) But I did manage to get quite a few when the Kime's & McBride's came down on Easter Sunday.

I know most of them feature *ahem* me, but I was so thrilled to have updated photos with these kiddos, that I'm certainly putting them in anyway. :)

 Awwww..... look at that face. My darling Lexie Lou!

I haven't had as many pics of Brighton to feature in general, so she shows up often here. :) Plus, it was her very first Easter!

Gorgeous see-sters... (this was the "two cookie" bribe picture.)

 

I adore these faces. Can you believe they're so grown up? I can't.

Oh, I adore Lexie's face too. :)

(Please note the confetti in my hair. Story forthcoming.)

 And of course, baby Bright's as well. :)

 Picture perfect. :)

Seriously, how precious are these kids?  The amount of cuteness here is staggering.

 Ooooooh..... the confetti. Jeff & Brittany brought these eggs down called Confetti Eggs and they were awesome.  You crack the egg open (preferably by smashing them over someone's head, which appeared to be our method) and all this beautiful confetti comes flying out. But not the sticky kind, just pretty small bits of colorful paper. They brought a dozen. Next year I'm convinced they need to bring a dozen for the adults and then another dozen for the kids. :)

You see, by the end of it I was the only one that hadn't been confetti'd and all the eggs were gone. But then they found one that had still been hidden in the backyard. So while I avoided Jeff like the plague (who was whistling innocently nearby), unbeknownst to me he had swapped with my oldest kiddo and she NAILED me on the back of the head. There was a traitor in my midst! :)

Anyway, moral of story: go buy confetti eggs. They're fun. They're colorful. Buy plenty for each age group to play. :)

Last photo op.

 Priceless. :)

Hills, that is. Swimming pools, movie stars.

Today, the bluegrass world lost a great legend. Earl Scruggs, banjo extraordinaire.  

Truthfully, I didn't realize quite the extent that Scruggs had had on the country music world until I listened to the memoriums tonight. I always knew he was very, very good and a living legend, but I didn't quite put it together that he really revolutionized the way the banjo was played. Up until Scruggs the banjo was used mostly as a prop for comedy and Scruggs actually brought respect to the instrument. That lack of knowledge immediately shows that I don't listen to enough bluegrass music on my own, but tonight I pulled it out in honor of Scruggs.

(Although I LOVE listening to fast banjo music while driving. It makes me feel like I'm flying. FLYING.)

If you haven't heard of Scruggs on his own, then you've probably heard of him in conjunction with his partner Flatt. In further reading that I did, Flatt & Scruggs eventually parted ways due to an argument over whether they should stay traditional or whether they should experiment with their sound. Scruggs was the one wanting to break ground and push himself. In the articles I read, he said he didn't feel like as satisfied when he only played bluegrass even though he really enjoyed it. He wanted to keep trying new things. I really liked that.
 I'm not always a big of country music (at least not songs like "American Farmer" which is so repetitive it makes me insane. *shudder*) but for some reason bluegrass seems like a class on its own. It's really because of my grandpa that I enjoy it as much as I do. Over the years he's really shown me how incredibly talented bluegrass musicians are and what they can do (and let's face it. those instruments sound awesome.) And we do sit around and pick on mandolins from time to time - well, I plunk around and pray one day I can learn A chord and he really lays out this awesome picking. But we do it together. :)
One day I should find edit the video of his playing and post it. You would enjoy that.

Anyway.

If you think you've never heard Scruggs, you probably have. Ever heard The Beverly Hillbillies theme song, "The Ballad of Jed Clampett"? Then you have. :)

Even if you're not into bluegrass music, this video is really a must-see. This is some of the talent in that genre at its highest, even if you only give it two minutes instead of the full four. And this is truly his classic: "Foggy Mountain Breakdown."



And if you are into bluegrass, it's definitely worth watching. Earl Scruggs, Marty Stuart, Steve Martin? Oh yes.

Welcome to the world Baby Reagan!

There was a new baby girl born into the Plumb family tonight. :) Baby Reagan arrived this evening and is 6 lbs 9 oz. of pure perfection.

We think she's a keeper. ;)

 

Welcome to the world, baby doll! We're so glad you're here!

Because the status is NOT quo.

Poinsettias? Check.
Grave blankets? Check.
Christmas shopping started? Check.

YAY! Christmas, Christmas time is here....

But first! Thanksgiving!

That's actually a pretty good sample of what my Thanksgiving looked like. :) It was full of kids, and that was awesome. I snagged a few pictures with some of them because I hate my camera and have very few new ones. So here's a flurry of Thanksgiving shots with the McBrides:

Seriously, can you believe that's Kylie? She's so grown up! What a beauty. 

Khloe loves to play with the iPad, so we got several shots in a row similar to these. Look at that smile. 
 

Awww....my boy!! So handsome. So sweet. I love this guy.

So we were sitting down to eat Thanksgiving lunch with the McBrides & Kimes, when suddenly I realized I was not at the kids table and that was sad. I don't think I've ever NOT eaten at the kids table (which, this year, was a picnic on the floor.) And then I realized there wasn't enough chairs for the adults so YAY! KIDS TABLE! 

While we were eating suddenly Kaden asked me if I could rap. And I said no. But would he rap for me?

I really wished I had filmed what happened next.
Not only did he rap, and pretty darn well I might add, but when he finished Khloe decided to join in. With a rap about zombies. And THEN two-year-old Lexie purposely stood up, grinned, and and made beat boxing noises while dancing. TWO YEARS OLD.

This is why you sit at the kids table. To help prevent duels to the death over deviled eggs and listen to impromptu rap sessions.

Sadly, I don't have Lexie & Brighton pictures this time around. But wait! I have to share their cuteness somehow!

Oooooooh! Those eyes! That baby face! They're so freaking cute! (Seriously, aren't those gorgeous pictures?) Lexie is so full of spunk & happiness. Love it.

Okay, one parting shot:

My cousin Sam, Kylie, & Khloe bug

And bedtime for me. I hope your Thanksgiving was full of family, friends and food and all the lovely laughter you could hope for. Mine sure was. :)

Quick Catchup

I'm trying to blog and watch LOST at the same time, and it's just not working.


So Tuesday night I made a trip up to Kansas to see my Newberry family! Yay! I was able to see all the family and hang out playing cards with them. It was a fast trip up & back, but it was lovely and fun and there was also Dairy Queen involved.


This week we were able to get in some birds of paradise at a great price, which is a little unusual for us. And then when our plants arrived, he accidentally broke one of the tops off of a dracena and gave it to us to use in an arrangement. I was actually really pleased with the way it turned out. 

I haven't solved my desk conundrum yet, but I believe I will be moving it out tomorrow so that I can see what room I will have opened up. Plus, now that I've decided it needs to go, it's sort of driving me crazy that it's still here.


Slowly but surely, the cold is beginning to drift in. Mrrr.


Will found this link today and it's pretty spectacular:
"Killer Sharks Invade Golf Course"

"...The sharks, which are between 8ft and 10ft long, have proved quite a hit at corporate events and their fins have even been spotted during wedding ceremonies held on the course."

Bwahaha! Now THAT'S a ceremony. 

It's all about the Owls.

Little Lexie Lou's second birthday party was today! It was super cute. I mean, look at this face:

 
She instantly makes any party rock.

And because I can't resist this photo:

BAWWWWOOOOONS!

D'aaaaw.... my kids.

Grandma and I were at Cracker Barrel last week and happened upon an owl hat that we instantly knew Lexie would love because the girl LOVES OWLS. And this hat was awesome, so I kept searching through the rack for one myself. But what gives? It only came in toddler size! What's with that? Only toddlers can have owl hats? That's so sad!

Anyway, I've been mildly searching on and off for owl hats on etsy. I've looked for these before, without success of finding one I really liked, but I stumbled on this tonight:

Happiness.

Okay, so I'm not actually buying it (yet). I've discovered how great hats are for keeping a little extra warmth in, so at some point I'll probably pick up an extra one for this year,but this one is a little pricier than I was hoping for. Nonetheless, I still think this one is awesome. Maybe it'll go on sale.

As for Lexie, she loooooved hers. They were having trouble getting her to sit down and open gifts, and when the hat was the second gift in she was pretty much done. She jumped up, threw it on sideways and went parading around. She knows what it's about.

The Wojahn Visit #2: Arbuckle Lake

Truth be told, for the longest time I couldn't remember what happened between that first couple days involving the cemetery visit and the lake (which was near the end). Which....is sad.

Although the other day I thought "Wait, what was the world's longest word again? ... ... Ha, it's totally MANILAPINYATAPEI!"

But that's not accurate. Because I can't find it on google. And I can't remember how to spell it. Because its terribly long. And apparently its not the world's longest word anyway. SO I CAN'T EVEN REMEMBER WHY IT WAS IMPORTANT IN THE FIRST PLACE.
But I do remember it means when two people look across a room, catch each other's eye and think the same thing. And I can sort of pronounce it. Because there's an entire song written about. BECAUSE IT EXISTS. I KNOW IT EXISTS.
So. There.

Eventually I did remember what I believe those four days entailed. And it was fun. My family came down a lot and we played canasta. Lots of kids. Lots of silliness. I walked into my room to find my almost-four-year-old niece button mashing my new laptop. This had happened several times, but it is always on password protect when they're down so its no big deal. But somehow this time the screen read "Continue system restore or delete all data? Ha, and she was still smashing keys! So after leaping to Jon's protection, I was pretty impressed. Not that I wanted my data deleted, but that's some mad button mashing skills. Someone give her a game controller.

Anyway, so that Monday Brent, Diane, Brian & I loaded up in their car and began heading towards Sulphur. My cousins make an annual summer trip to Sulphur and we were joining in. If you've never been there it's a natural spring (that is COLD) and goes out to form lots of deep pools of water, small waterfalls, creeks, etc. So imagine our surprise when my cousins called to let us know it was dry. Sulphur was dry. That still leaves me sort of speechless. I started watching ponds along the way and noticed most of them contained very little water, if any at all. This drought. Something's gotta give.

Well, we were already over halfway there so we kept heading that direction when Sam & Kris called back with the solution: Arbuckle Lake.

Arbuckle Lake is beautiful. And it was really perfect. Not only was the water blissfully warm, but it was clean (I totally admit: the thought of swimming in a dirty, stagnant lake makes me shudder.) But no, it was huge and the wind was constantly working the waves and the entire time was lovely. I had a massive sunburn for three days and Charlie started calling me Red. But it was worth it. We should totally go again.

So I guess this became less a post about what we did at the lake, and more about well...everything else. But y'know. We swam. We ate. It was a good time.

Thanks to everyone who made my birthday wonderful! Thanks to Phyllis, Amy & Betty for lunch & all those beautiful girls for making me feel super special with handmade birthday cards. Grandma & I went out for dinner to Red Lobster and I've done nothing the rest of the evening. Watched some Lost, listened to some music. It's been pretty lovely. :)

The Wojahn Visit #1: Cemetery Hopping

For some reason lately, late at night, I've been having huge energy surges. So I'm trying really hard to write, but my mind has been going from a shattered bits of wild thoughts to suddenly nothing. Rar.

I started this a few days ago, so maybe I can at least settle down enough to finish it.

We didn't originally set out to find a cemetery. We originally intended to drive out to Tribbey to my...great-grandfather's property? (I start getting confused on all the great's. I think it was my great-grandfathers.) My aunt had grown up playing on the farm, my grandma had fond memories of the family being out there and I had never seen it before so off we went with my uncle leading the way.

Of course, the person who owns the property now has no idea who we were and it wasn't exactly friendly in appearance. My aunt and uncle tried knocking anyway - to let them know why on earth we were in their driveway and ask permission - but no one was home.

However, apparently the lady next door was married to the son of the man my grandfather originally sold the property to. So while she had no idea who we were either (not that we were really expecting her to) I think it still pleased my aunt and grandma that the property was still being passed down.

However, while waiting in the car my grandma mentioned that a cemetery where many of our relatives were buried was nearby.
"Really?" I said.
"Right down that road."

While I found ancestry mildly interesting - and at some point in my life I might be curious enough to dig a bit more - it's not necessarily something I currently go out of my way for. My aunt, however, is deeply interested in it and, I mean, we were right there. Plus we could take pictures of the headstones and have birth dates and death dates with easy access. So I said, hey, we should do that.

Which is how we found ourselves visiting cemeteries in 112 degree heat. Awesome.

Prospect Cemetery in Tribbey, one of two we visited that day. The other was Prairie View, also in Tribbey.

Heh, don't worry, I'm not posting the headstone pictures.

We did however come across this:

This street is apparently named after my family. Who knew? This was my great-great grandmother's land given to her by her tribe and when she married my great-great grandfather it became known as "Kime's Place" and here it is, still known as such. I thought that was pretty cool.

It was also really nice to see the cemeteries. I've never visited those graves before and some of them went back to the 1800's. Honestly, I never even thought I'd see some of them and figured they were lost. Also interesting, someone is still putting flowers on them. I'm not sure who's doing that (we left so spur of the moment we didn't even consider it) but I'm glad they are. That was nice to see. We couldn't imagine who on earth would still be placing them there.

So 112 degrees or not, I'm glad we went. Now we have the pictures - and more importantly (if I wandered around long enough) I could probably find the cemeteries again.

Yawning. Still sleepy.

Indeed, I am back. My family left out yesterday afternoon. :( It was sad. I miss them.

So tonight my plans included going to the RAWC and finishing up birthday shopping for one of my kiddos.

Instead I slept for two hours and then gorged myself reading Hyperbole & A Half. My evening was obviously productive.

Sometimes I hate telling people what I find amusing, simply because if I tell you how amusing I found it, and then you don't feel the same way, I feel like I've disappointed you somehow. It bemuses me how one moment you can read through something and dismiss it, and then come across it again months later and it happens to hit you in a certain that you find hysterical. That's basically been my relationship with Hyperbole.
Therefore, I've actually never read that much of her blog before, with the exception of flipping through one or two posts. I'm not even sure why I started flipping through them tonight. But they were pretty hysterical. Any of her posts about her dogs were awesome and then the one on The Four Levels of Social Entrapment just really got me. Well-Intentioned Social Terrorism had me in fits of laughter, if for no other reason than the "I'm going to go inside my house and sit by myself." And then she even posted one about how evil geese are and about one attacking her in her own house. Perfect. (Sidenote: There is language throughout her blog, just so you're aware.)

Anyway, family time was awesome. I'm sure I'll be elaborating on it soon.

Me and my cousins, and you and your cousins...

It's that time of year again....

Okay, so only one of us in this picture will be actually traveling from Oregon...

My family will be arriving in town sometime this upcoming Thursday, which means that for a week I'll probably disappear from blogger and most of the internets.

Just so you know.

But before that happens, hopefully I'll be able to share some pictures from a pretty awesome wedding we just finished this past weekend at work. It all depends on how they turn out. Fingers crossed.

Fourth of July huzzah! Time with Family

Grandma and I had a lovely time this afternoon spending it with the Kime's & the McBride's. It can be tough to get everyone together anymore, with all our schedules, so time spent is sweet. I'm lucky to be close to my cousins on both sides, especially when you consider how large that number has grown over the years (including kids & spouses: 23.)

I did manage to snag more than one picture, but unfortunately they're not uploading right now. (I'm so bemused by my router. I no longer understand how it works at all.)

However, one was emailed to me, so for now it'll do.

I promise, Lexie is not crying. She was actually giggling. I promise.

Although with that scary man in the background, it might cause one to wonder. ;)

Won't you take me down to Memphis on a midnight ride?

Flying across the land, trying to get a hand, playing in a travelin' band...

In unrelated news:

Apparently the Tonys are this Sunday. Who knew? I actually thought they were next week. Will I watch? Oh, probably. I don't really know what's up, but I didn't last year either and still got excited at the last minute, so I'm expecting similiar results.
Also, Spiderman: Turn off the Dark will be performing (though not eligible for any awards since it hasn't officially opened yet) so that should be interesting. The show is officially frozen now and back open to critics. It will officially open Tuesday, June 14th. (This looks like a pretty well-handled, fair new review if you're interested. It also appears to note most of the major changes.)

Speaking of next week, Company is playing throughout the week at a local movie theatre. Holly's already mentioned her interest (yay!) so I think we're going. ;)

Tonight I discovered Plants vs. Zombies and I have to admit that's a pretty fun game. Not necessarily too challenging so far, but amusing to despair for suns while zombies attack your garden.

The stories from Jopin still break my heart. I don't even know what to say in light of this new struggle.

In good news, I had dinner with Phyllis tonight which was wonderful as always. Chips and salsa may or may not have been involved. You never know with us (actually, you probably do.)

There are way too many anniversaries in June. I've already missed a few. No one else in my circle can get married in June. The limit has been breached.

Many of you read Epbot, but in case you don't, these silhouettes were just too amazing not to share. They're from Olly Moss' art show Paper Cuts. I have no idea who that is, but you should check out their blog because there are loads more (including Godzilla) and they're all wonderful. These are just some of the ones I was happiest to see:

Will, did we ever watch your full season of this? We should.

You know you're already singing it. I love the use of the map!

I thought this was the sweetest one. Up.

Sigh. I really, really hate to admit that it took me a second to get this one. And then all I could think of was a lion being drawn in crayon with a crown on his head... Maybe I have a block against lions. Or...maybe just against the obvious. *headdesk*

How many theme songs are stuck in your head now? :)

This one is merely for me. One of my favorite animes. Ride on, Cowboy.

And of course....
This made me smile. The days are just packed.

Summer Movies: "I need a horse."

Thor is quite possibly my favorite Marvel film to date, although Incredible Hulk still might edge it out simply because of Edward Norton. I'll have to watch them all again to be sure. I don't think that will be a problem.
But in all seriousness, Thor is really well done and really funny. You should go see it. (and if you need someone to go with, call me.) Be sure to stay after the credits.

Grandma and I had a great weekend. Saturday was beautiful - and free - so while I wasn't too excited initially about mowing the lawn I'm really glad its done with. Especially since at the very end our mower was making very strange, probably very bad, noises and we barely came in under the wire before it sounded downright terrible. I suspect its merely that the fuel is old, since we finally got it fixed not that long ago. Oh well. At least the yards are finished for right now. Everything else looks good to go.

This past Friday was also Amy & Ashlyn's piano recital. Their playing was quite beautiful, they looked beautiful and they made it through the whole recital beautifully (it was long.) Quite proud of all four girls.

No, seriously. Call me if you go see Thor.

"Ashlyn, you look gorgeous!"
"I know. That's why I play the piano."