Oregon – last day

After we left Newport, Roland had asked if I would like to get some shoes.  So as we were heading back toward McMinnville, we stopped off at a Fred Meyer’s – I don’t even know which town.  Jenna and I both ended up with rubber rain boots – which turned out weren’t necessary, as we didn’t need them for the car nor for the following morning.

On our last day we looked at housing in Beaverton, Milwauke, Happy Valley and Gresham – all suburbs of Portland.  We found a Kmart in either Beaverton or Gresham and exchanged Jenna's cheetah print footies for the only other pair of footies that was available: a meduim hot pink with rubber ducks.  Fit better and she says she likes the duckys and would have chosen the pink pair over the cheetah pair - so it actually worked out great.

 Nothing we looked at seemed promising as far as housing that we could afford.  Seems like the market has drawn potential buyers to the area – and they obviously have more money than we do.

Our house in West Valley will sale for $130,000 at BEST.  Same house in Oregon would go for $380,000 – 420,000 – that blows my mind!

We were told that housing in Vancouver did not run as high.  As we were close enough, we took Portland’s Intrastate across the Columbia River and went to Vancouver, Washington.  We ended up at a mall.  I don’t think we even looked at housing.

If you have been following my blog, you know that I am NOT a shopper.  There worst part about being at the Vancouver Mall (for me personally) was the rubber boots I was wearing. My feet were not happy with my choice of footwear.  I can tell you that.

Jenna and I had chosen to wear them as I thought they would take up too much room in the suitcase.  My feet were complaining by the hour.  We had already checked out of our room.  It’s not as though I could return and soak the aches away.  I just had to deal with it.

 

We left Vancouver Mall and crossed the Columbia River again – this time on Interstate 5.  Our destination was to check out Voodoo doughnuts – which several people had told us about.  There is absolutely not enough parking for that location.  The time I spent in line was not that long – not compared to how it’s advertised.

we would not have waited in this line 

- even if we didn't have a plane to catch

Roland said he was surprised that I had purchased only three doughnuts.  He said he thought I’d get a dozen.  Our next stop was the airport.  Why would I want to take 9-12 donuts to the airport?  Especially if we were going to have to carry on each piece of luggage before we checked them in (as we had done in Salt Lake)

The doughnut itself had an okay flavor.  It’s the way they are topped that qualifies them as gourmet.  I ordered two chocolate based doughnuts for Jenna and had forgotten to order the buttermilk for myself.  Jenna didn’t even want her doughnut and so I ended up eating the two I had gotten for her.  

Our flight was at 6:00.  We arrived at the airport between 3:00 and 3:30 and said good-bye to our rental (that was tough, actually, as I had gained an emotional attachment) and went to the baggage area and checked in our one, walked through security (this time it was Jenna and I that got to move ahead while Roland stood in line)

Jenna and I walked through security with six pieces of luggage, her stuffed frog, and a bag of bananas, cereal bars and one of the doughnuts.  They questioned the amount of luggage, but I assured them that we were with one more person and that I wasn’t even planning on taking the food on the plane.

The airport seemed dead.  At least the gates in the D section.  Only two flights going out – both at gate D7.  Both to Salt Lake City.  If there had been room, we would have been put on the earlier flight.  But both flights were booked actually.

Jenna rode the walkway back and forth until she became bored with riding it.  I read. Roland and I tried working puzzles together.  We ate.  It was a long wait.  We were given the option to check our luggage.  We checked in three pieces.  Jenna carried her stuffed frog.  We put our bags in front of us. We didn’t put anything in the overhead.

We were scheduled to arrive at 8:44 but were a few minutes late.  Tony couldn’t pick us up.  I had offered to meet Randy at a TRAX station, but he and Carrie had come to collect us from the airport and were driving around in circles until we came out.

We are definitely going back!

Flawed Features and Pink Explosion

                  When I was very young (like in first and second grade) my cousins lived not far from Highland High School and Sugarhouse Park.  Aunt Fern and mom would often take us to Sugarhouse Park as it was so near by.  Problem was that the trees were not mature (as they were not much larger than us kids) and thus the park did not provide much (if any) in the way of shade. 

         Sugar House seemed to be an older area overall, but it seemed the park was fairly new.  I vaguely remember a playground.  My cousins and I must have spent time rolling down the hill – although I haven’t run across any photos of us at that particular park. 

         I wonder if the main objective for our moms was to take us to the park was to wear us down.  I wonder if it backfired as I am guessing that we must have worn our mothers out.  We must have run them ragged as they tried to keep an eye on us  or just keep up.  I wish I had more details about just what we did.

         Neither my cousins nor my brother made fun of my feet, but I was teased by other kids from school because of my “pigeon toes” .  Mom had taken me to the doctor and had been told that my knee bones turned in one way and either my pelvic bone or ankle bone turned another.  He could correct one or the other, but the only way he could correct both was to break my bones and reset them.  The procedure would have been a rather expensive one and I would have to learn to walk all over again.  Needless to say, I still have the same bone structure and problems.

         To help me to be less pigeon toed, mom took me to stride rite for corrective shoes.  I HATED having only three pairs to choose from.  All saddle shoes – which reminded me of bowling shoes.  I wasn’t happy with having to wear what I considered very dorky looking shoes.  On top of the dorky saddle shoes, I had to have inserts called “cookies” which would lift my foot at one side in order to straighten the problem.

         When my sister Kayla started walking, mom expressed her concern with her pigeon toes and explained my condition.  Kayla’s doctor prescribed a brace that attached to the shoes.  She would have to sleep with it during the night.  I always felt bad for her, but realized it would be better to deal with it as a baby (who’s not even going to remember)  rather than have to deal with the hurtful peer pressure at school. 

         When Jenna started walking, I noticed that her right foot turned.  I mentioned it to her doctor but her doctor dismissed it believing it was something she ‘d outgrow.  I then related my concerns that I had experienced myself and the solution we had used on Kayla.  I don’t know why I didn’t bother searching for a second opinion – probably my financial situation – or lack of it rather. 

         I guess after a while I had stopped noticing.  I had forgotten that she had once walked with her right foot turned in until just the other day.  She was wearing flip flops and though her right flip flop appeared to be moving straight ahead, her right foot hung over the left side.  I believe she has tripped over her own foot as I probably had in my youth.

         Jenna was told by her dentist that she had perfect teeth.  I don’t think I ever received the same compliment when I was her age.  I had an overbite among other problems.

I look through old photos, I have never seen a perfect mouth.  I don’t know how old I was when I had my accident on the monkey bars or exactly how it happened.  Must have let go or something.  My mouth came down hard over one of the bars.  I chipped my two front teeth.  My right tooth was chipped more noticeably than my left.  I was embarrassed by it and would smile with my mouth closed so as not to reveal my ugliness.

         My grandma Helen offered to pay for braces for my mouth.  Almost three years of humiliating pain.  Every time I would finally develop a toleration to having each tooth surrounded by medal , I would have to return to the orthodontist to have the braces tightened.

         In addition to the braces I was supposed to wear a dorky headgear – at least at night while I slept.  Oh, yes.  That was fun.

         I don’t know how much time had passed between my braces and capped teeth to porcelin repair.  My mouth does look better than it once did. Thank you mom, dad and grandma!

         When I had school picture taken, mom made me promise I would smile with my lips open – that way if my child ever needed braces I would be able to show him or her the picture to show that braces were not so bad.  Oh, right.  Each picture I had taken may send my child running and screaming.  Then again the braces today don’t seem to be so obvious as what was the only style back then.  Perhaps if Jenna did need braces she would be able to recognize that she would never look as horrible at mom did.

Another Story by Jenna

Her last day of school was Thursday.  But yesterday she wanted to PLAY school - with real tests and real homework.  She wrote a story about aliens eating her homework.  I like the story this story that I found.  She wrote it last year.

The Shoe and the Sock

By Jenna

One short evening sock and shoe met. 

Sock asked, “Are you shoe?”

Shoe said the same.

Sock said, “Why do I always have to smell you?  You smell!”

And shoe said, “Well you smell, too.”

“I do NOT!!” said sock, “You do.”

“No, you do.”

“Getting angry won’t help,” said sock

They decided to switch places. They said they would switch for a week. For a while they were living the life.

Sock had become more popular as no one had ever seen her as a shoe before

Shoe started becoming more popular as no one had ever seen a shoe worn under a sock before.

Then things started going wrong.  Sock started getting holes and shoe felt  uncomfortable with a sock covering him all the time.  And they just didn’t know what to do.

Just then pillow said, “Whatchya doin’?”

Shoe said, “Not much.”

Sock said, “Trying to figure out something.”

“Maybe I could help,” said Pillow. “I’ve seen you two trying to be each other and from what I can see neither one of you is happy about the switch.  Everything has a purpose. Sock, you’re a sock because we need our feet warm.”

“And that’s another thing, ” said Sock.  “Feet stink.”

Pillow continued, “Shoe, you’re a shoe because sock needs something to keep her warm. But more importantly you prevent sock from getting dirty and worn out so quickly”

“You are warm.” Sock admitted.

Pillow said, “The girl who sleeps on me is warm, too.  I like when she rests her head on me.”

Blanket said, “I would like the girl to rest her head on me.  Would you like to switch places?”

Pillow asked, “Have you not heard me explain to sock and shoe that everything has its purpose.  We are all designed to provide comfort to the girl.  Mine is for her to rest her head upon – or on occasion she has pressed me against her back and the wall.  Blanket, you provide warmth for her when she is cold.  You are much larger than me.  I could never cover her the way that you do.  Just as sock can never fully cover shoe.  It’s her purpose to keep the girl’s feet covered and protect her feet from direct contact with the shoe.” 

                                                                             jfralcd

The Dreaded Bra

I despise wearing bras. I used to think I could get away with not wearing one as I have always been quite flat-chested the majority of my life.  But I have experienced major back pains and I realize that wearing a bra really does look better than going braless.   But for me, wearing bras is comparable to wearing shoes: the more support they have, the less comfortable they are.

Yesterday I wore the “Genie Bra” which didn’t seem so tight fitting until after a couple of washes – did the bra shrink? Or did I grow?  All my other bras seem to fit okay.

The Genie Bra looks good under tee shirts, but they also seem to absorb more perspiration than your average bra – at least mine do.  And as the heat seems to have started early this year, I might as well find a bra made out of sponge.  I hate feeling the need to change not even an hour after I’ve gotten dressed.  And I don’t enjoy wet clothes at all.

Tony and Rochelle are visiting from Texas.  My granddaughter, Ester, is running around and making discoveries and doesn’t mind so much being with Roland and me so long as mom and dad aren’t in the room – though she has decided to make Roland her friend as she was bringing him everything she could manage to get her hands on.

She cries when I hold her.  I think it must be the perspiration that woke her up yesterday and made her cry.  It’s not yet in her vocabulary to say, “Mama, grandma stinks!  Please don’t allow her to hold me.”

As I was straightening up the living room yesterday, I picked up some toys that Ester had played with, and I realized that I miss that stage of learner toys cluttering the house.  Jenna may not ever graduate from toys.  She wants to stay little.  Does NOT want to deal with the bra or enter womanhood.  I can’t say that I blame her.

What’s Up With All the Shoes?

          I noticed that mom had two shoe caddies hanging over her bathroom door.  Each of the two caddies was nearly filled with shoes – so I’m guessing she had at least 20 pair – perhaps 24 with the shoes which had been sent to assisted living with her.

          So I put one caddie in Jenna’s room (she doesn’t have twelve pair of shoes, but I believe more than six) and one in my room.  I was able to put in three pair.  Really?  That’s all I have?  I don’t think so.  I still haven’t come across the other pair however.

          And then on Sunday I went to retrieve my Sunday shoes and discovered holes in the bottom of each shoe.  Church was about to start.  I suppose I could have worn my boots.  But I wore the pair with holes in the heal and asked about my mom’s shoes.

          I’m actually the only one who would be able to wear them as I am the only one who has smaller feet.  So I understand why so many of my mom’s shoes looked like they had never even been worn.  They were tight on me.  So what the heck was she doing with them?

          I think I tried on almost every single pair of shoes.  I don’t think I took even half of them.  But I did get something for Sunday.

          Jenna and I took Highness for a walk last night.  My feet got wet beneath my boots.  Looks like I may be making a trip to the shoe store anyway.

the assistance of a shoehorn

This morning I was helping Jenna to get the knots out of her shoelaces and adjust the shoes back to her feet.  She tugged at the heel of the shoe and stomped on the floor in attempts to get it to fit over her own heel.  It reminded me of the convenience of the shoehorn.

          I had worked at a daycare only briefly.  The children were required to take naps.  All shoes had to be removed before naps.  After the naps, all shoes were to be returned to feet.  This was not always an easy task.  Some of those children had really tight fitting shoes over really fragile feet.  Thus  I started bringing the shoehorn to work.

          Funny about the different reactions I received from the kids.  Suddenly I had this long line of children who would wait their turn to be fitted properly into their shoes – while others would go out of their way to find another teacher so that they would not have to deal with that “scary” shoehorn.

          It is actually a great invention.  I used to have several of them.  I don’t recall ever having seen one after I got married. 

Please Pick an Element and Land on it Already

         Mother Nature’s at it again.  Seems many of my posts have to do with the weather. 

          It was hot on Monday.  HOT.  The kind of weather  that wipes you out just looking out the window.  Highness was upset when I wouldn’t walk him during the day.  But I had taken him for a short walk in the morning, and one as the sun was going down – figuring that it would be cooler. It wasn’t.

         This morning I wore a pair of shoes that I actually hadn’t worn for a while.  The shoe on my left foot felt extremely tight – which is weird.  It’s usually my right foot that gives me problems.

          After we returned from dropping off Roland, I take off my shoes and put them in Jenna’s closet – figuring that she’ll grow into them within the next couple of years.

          She gets dressed and ask if I can assist with tying her shoes.  I am puzzled.  She’s got on brown shoes.  Her brown shoes are slip ons.  And then I realize that she has on the clodhoppers that I had left in her closet.  They look big on her.  She says they fit just fine.

          I hold up a pair of her shoes next to the clodhoppers.  They aren’t all that much smaller. Gosh, no wonder they hurt my feet.  Well – at least one of them. And so I let her wear them.  They really are too big however.

          This morning I drop Jenna off behind the school.  I park so that I can go into the school myself and assist the teacher with making copies.  I get out of the car – and it is freezing cold. 

          I open the trunk to retrieve Roland’s jacket, but find my sweater and put that on instead.  I start to walk towards the school and think better of it, and drive myself around – which I’m glad that I do.  Because after an hour and a half worth of copies, I return to the parking lot to find it raining – HARD.

          Of course it’s really not a big surprise.  I did say that would happen as we have put up an A/C. - which we have used all week - except for today.  Back to the heater.  How pathetic!  
          Any seeds that have been planted this week have most likely been washed away.

          Roland forgot his pills and would like me to meet him for lunch.  Hopefully I will be hungry by then.  How's that for an exciting post?