2003 and Overwhelming Abundance

Christmas Card 2003, first time we were too buy to get all of us in one place in the right mood for a family picture.

The river in summer is warm but the ocean can be really cold

At Jedediah Smith National and State Park

The kite festival

fern canyon, parts of Jurassic Park 2 were filmed here

Austin

Emerson

Harris Beach by Brookings, OR

Our yard is perfect for boys and cats

2003

Merry Christmas!
     Once again I sit down to review the year and am blown away by the speed with which it has flown by.  Greg and I are constantly running jut to stay in the same place it seems.  In fact, we recently looked at each other and admitted that we've both been feeling depressed, not about things we don't have but because we're overwhelmed by having too much - too many activities we've said yes too, too many "cherished" object cluttering our home - too many "delightful" pets - too many dishes - usually dirty etc., but I do have a sign in my kitchen that says, "Praise God for Dirty Dishes - at least you have food."

In fact it has gotten bad enough that I probably have at least 15 pictures, magnets, buttons etc all saying, "Simplify your life" - yes, I'm living a contradiction, between my dreams and my life.
     So why is 2003 so overwhelming?  Probably because O didn't deal with it in 1999, or 2000 and so on.  Our method for instance, with dealing with coming home to a sink and counter full of dirty dishes is to load up in the van and go out to eat.
     Also, I'm subbing every day now and Greg is not just teaching but working on the Children's Community Choir which he started last year, then the boys want to say yes to everything, soccer, fiddle, trombone, choir, birthday parties, plays, overnights, 4-h, and on and on.  I'm still writing my books and going to writer's conferences - - oh my gosh - we'd jut about kill to sleep in one day!

     Are we sounding stupid?  Crazy?  I explain it by saying, "We put the fun in dysfunctional! ??"
     Anyway, enough moaning about the ditch we have dug ourselves into - we are slowly building a ladder to pull ourselves out of the hole and there is light overhead.
    I'm glad Thanksgiving comes right before I sit down to review the year because it's nice to remember all the good things we have to be Thankful for, and with us the things we complain about and the things we have to be thankful for are the same list.
     So in 2003 we didn't travel much, which is unusual for us.  We didn't go to Wyoming either for Christmas 2002 or this previous summer.  Consequently we've dug a little out of debt, and refinancing the house helped more.  Then Greg went to Marysville in the heat of summer for 2 weeks worth 0f classes that gave him enough credits to move across the pay scale.  But the gains were off set by the fact that our boys haven't seen cousins and grandparents or most Aunts and Uncles since 18 months ago.  We are still in debt, but this Christmas we're going to Wyoming because we also feel we can't afford to miss any more family time right now.

Fortunately Aunt April and Uncle Vince Live about a 5 hour drive away, so the boys get some more contact there although never enough.  We also have our "DayCare Family" even though they haven't been in a day care for six years now.  "Grandma" and a few very special friends are still as close as real relatives.
     Again I see the blessing and the problem sides - - we have OK jobs, Ok insurance, great friends, an Ok house (although pack ratted to the max) a great neighborhood, a great yard (although under maintained)  all of this is either wonderful security, or a rut we're half wanting to - half afraid of moving out of.
    Goodness!  I sound so gloomy this year and what it really is, is exhaustion.  And even though this is a Christmas letter - our family had, is having, a very hard time letting go of summer this year.  Instead of being thankful for the days we had swimming in Jade Green rivers and walking in ancient redwood forests and running our greyhounds or going to kite festivals at the beach - we're whining because we can't do it NOW.

Nov. 29, 2003

     The previous pages were written while I was trying to look interested at a teacher training.  Now it is the 8th day of our amazing 9 days off (all of Thanksgiving week and 2 weekends) - and the 4th day in the cabin at Gold Beach.  Suddenly (I owner Why?)  There is nothing the slightest bit gloomy or depressed about my attitude.

     I have been sitting by the fire, listing to the sea gulls and the waves, talking to Greg, Vince and April and Stuffing myself on pies and poppy seed rolls.  Painting rocks, hangout in the hot tub and snuggling my boys. Here life is simple - the house is empty so the people and outdoors are important.

Austin in 4th grade until this June with Mrs Haggard

Emerson with 3rd grade teacher Mrs. Peep

Speaking of my boys, Austin and Emerson started to school in a fourth and fifth grade class - but a week into the year the school shuffled class placements and lost a teacher and since then they have been together in a 4/5 combo with 30 5th graders and 5 4th graders.  They had heard rumors about how nasty their teacher is but by now they both love her.  I think it took less than a day.  She says they get along well and she loves having both of them - and it has changed how they interact at home, more respect, yet also more competition.
     So I hope 2003 has been kind to you and I look forward to the cards and letter which flood our mailbox for the next month before leaving it a desert with only the thorny bills appearing there.

    For 2004 we are hoping to shovel some of the clutter from the house - reviser Disneyland (the boys have almost no memory of the 1999 trip) and hopefully have more of what we've had so much of already - family time - good health - good friends and more.
    Sure we're greedy.  Life for the most part has been yummy enough to keep us wanting more.  Love you!


Dixie, Greg, Austin and Emerson

40 boxes in 40 days

I have been delighted and inspired by Flylady.net for years and this year she sent out an email with a special challenge for lent.

The following post is in her words.

"

40 Boxes in 40 Days 

Dear Friends,

Every year at this time New Orleans Fat Tuesday is the kick-off for the Lenten season. We are going to focus on getting rid of our clutter for the next 40 days. We got this great testimonial once about getting rid of a box of clutter each day. Imagine that 40 boxes of clutter removed one day at a time. "

 Having grown up with a self proclaimed pack-rat as a Mother, and Grandmother and great aunts and uncles, I was definitely on the road to caring more about the clutter in my home than about the people in my home, and I'd get down right rude to anyone who threw anything away.  So I needed the reminder from flylady that people matter, things don't and I dealt with that want even wrote a blog about turning my clutter into a scrapbook filled with memories and then releasing it

three years ago this month, I posted this  http://echo-echosvoice.blogspot.com/2010/02/self-storage.html

 Well, old habits die hard, and I have looked around my house and decided it can do with a refresher decluttering of the treasures that I needed three years ago with two high school boys at home - but have no need of now as an empty nester.  So I got rid of three boxes of stuff yesterday and did a couple things on my procrastination list as well.  Wish me luck on the rest of the 40 boxes and help me turn it into a 40 day flood of space filling my home.

And All I Got was a Crummy T-Shirt

My ______ went to ________, and ALL I got was this Crummy T-Shirt!

Sunbonnet Sue quilt my Grandma Grace made from my Mom's childhood dresses for my crib

I have mentioned before that I come from a long line of pack-rats and one of the problems is that we are a close, and busy family with a connection maintained between extended family in many parts of the world, and the firm belief that some of the best memories might be lost, FOREVER, if we lose the physical thing that triggers the memory.

I grew up in a time when t-shirts were the normal prize for participating in something and the standard souvenir of any trip, and I have a bunch of t-shirts, of course.  My favorites, unfortunately, are the ones which become worn to shreds, the arm pits get thin and then give out, the belly picks up coffee and spaghetti stains.  The ones with no memories attached stay safely in the back of my closet.

I thought I had the perfect solution.  My maternal grandmother, Grace Slack, made beautiful quilts that I still cherish, from my dresses and her dresses and my brothers pearl snapped cowboy shirts.  I wanted to make a quilt of 18 inch t-shirt blocks with a border from old denim.

On minor issue.  I do not sew.  Oh, I can thread a needle and replace a button, but when I got into weaving, I ended up with yards of material I had to pay someone else to hem.  My bathroom curtain is still a beach towel, push-pinned to the wall.  So the squares piled up and eventually I had enough I could have sewn quilts for India, if I could have sewn.

This DQ was only open in summer, and my brother, Lance, with Down's syndrome, talked them into staying open through his Oct. 24th birthday each year.  The MTNs, are Cedar and Rattlesnake and the statue of Buffalo Bill is on Main Street.
I love the DQ because eery day of summer, my Mom, Grandma, brothers and I would go there in the afternoon and get a milkshake to take to where my grandpa sold Antlers and Jack-a-lope to tourists by the hot Yellowstone Highway

 What can I do?  I write, and I take pictures and sometimes paint.  Now, if I weave, I make tapestries.  I will never sew a quilt.  So I am sharing some of the stories behind the T-shirts.  And then the pile will be gone, well diminished anyway.

My Mother-In-Law was really sick, for 6 weeks we stayed in a travelodge in Rochester, by the Mayo Clinic and spent the days in the Hospital, thinking we'd lose her.  The one fun day, we took our sons to the Mississippi and to Cabela's to see the dioramas ad eat elk sandwiches.
I also smile because that was 2006 and we STILL have her.

We went to Disneyland when the boys were 9 and 10 and to medieval times for a chance to watch jousting and tear at chicken with our teeth and fingers and feel like royalty.  Our yellow knight was the best!

My husband is a Music Teacher, and he started a Community Children's Choir.  Both my boys were in it and the shows were awesome and I was so proud of my guys.

Being a Cody Bronc was partly torture, but also there were great moments.  I'm glad I don't have to relive those years but I am who I am, and that is partly because I survived the bad and good of high school.

Nothing was more fun than watching the Broadway version of the Lion King, but after we came home, my youngest son wanted to sleep in on a Sunday, and I made him get up and go to church.  He was 5 and made his opinion clear by stomping out to the car wearing this.

My husband taught here, I subbed in every grade level, and both boys attended.  There are a lot of good schools but Pine Grove was FAMILY!

Ahh, Keiko.  Loved the "Free Willie" Whale and spent many times standing face to face cross a glass pane, watching the gentle whale move his flipper when I moved my hand

The incredible, lion faced Golden Tamarins are the creatures which inspired my favorite characters in my novels.  

Growing up in Cody, I loved the Rodeo clowns, and this t-shirt was illustrated by my brother's Mother-in-law

My husband grew up near the Flintstones of Custer, South Dakota, and I had loved to stop there when we were on road trips, so now we still stop for a sherbet twist cone when we are in the neighborhood.  Plus, I was born, a redheaded baby girl, the season Pebbles was born, and my mom dressed me in fake leopard print too long.

I wasn't a Trek fan until I was married and it was long into re-runs, but sharing them with my husband, led to sharing AL the novels and games and finally being in a movie one day at universal studios.

Just married, 1984, we spent the summer as counselors at a wheelchair Camp outside Susanville, CA where only jeeps could haul the campers from the inner city.  Easter Seals Rocks!

We bought 14 parrots and I painted this to wear while teaching art to preschoolers.

Powell Wyoming Junior College where I met the Man I have loved these last 30 years.

Enough said!

This on-line community jump started me and led me to write both my published novels and start a couple more still "In Progress"

The best school for kindergarten in out county, I do believe, largely thanks to Mrs. LaFazio

Where I attended the second half of my college years and learned to love the coastal redwoods on spring break.

We went to Copenhagen as part of a choir tour.  It was strange to see the sun set and come back up in one smooth movement at 3 AM.  Tivoli Gardens and the City were beautiful and a couple redheads felt right at home there.

Pittsburgh!  My Dad Grew up going here on school field trips, and one of my best days ever was when it poured rain, most people went home and we rode all day, with no lines and a lot of soaked laughter.

This just says, "Home" plus my Sister-in-law was a mail carrier when it was issued.

Thyme began in a garden, the Gardening Angel

My husband loves his Tie dye and my birds
and I love him

Judy, the toy I told all my secrets too, sports a t-shirt my baby brother wore which was a gift from a pen-pal I had in London when he was born.

OK, that is all I am up to for now.  Nostalgia is exhausting and there is much to do in the here and now.