Poor Highness

            I wish that I could take Highness on the bus with me.  I know there’d be complaints.  He’s a good dog.  He really is.  But  he does tend to get loud when he gets excited.  And sometimes his excitement can be conveyed as threatening.  And there is no way I’m going to try to lift him anyway. 

      He has really been missing Biff – who is actually home right now.  He did let Highness into his room initially.  Biff wants to sleep.  Highness wants to be walked and stroked.  He hasn’t been getting the attention that he seeks right now – especially by way of walking.

      I have taken him on occasional walks between my two bus commutes, but not very often.  The walk between bus stops and destinations can take a lot out of a me – especially now that the weather has turned. 

      Yesterdays commute was not so bad going.  Each time I was riding in the direction toward her school  the bus was about the usual speed (twenty minutes) but coming home was another story.  It was cold.  It was wet.  It was bumper to bumper.  No one was going more than four miles an hour.  What is normally a ten minute commute (by car) was over an hour heading home.

      Buses were behind schedule – ten minute, twenty minutes . . .  our first bus driver appeared to be on time.  But the second one said he was an hour behind schedule.  Can you imagine?

      The sun is out today, but the roads are icy.  I tried taking Highness for a walk – but I’m afraid of slipping.  Perhaps Jenna’s teacher would be willing to bring us home tonight?  

      I tried taking Highness at least around the block.  I only made it to the second corner before turning back.  I think he could actually do it by himself, but I’m not willing to send him out unsupervised.  So for the time being he is tied to the flagpole out in front.  Weird dog would rather be tied up in front than have the freedom to wander in the back.  I’m not wanting to ignore him, but I do have other things to tend to.  

      I’m glad Biff is home.  Even though our visit was brief and he is trying to sleep now.  He said he’d give Highness a bath.  I think that Highness is in strong need of it.

First Snow

         The first two days of December were rather bleak and cold – and I seemed to possess a personality to match the bitterness.  For that I am sorry.  I haven’t been feeling well this morning.  In addition I think the weather has been making me feel somewhat arthritic – although the size of my person has not been a tremendous help
 

  

      It had started snowing sometime between 1:30 and 3:00 this morning and hasn’t stopped.  I gave Jenna the option of taking an earlier bus in case they were running late.  She opted for the earlier route which was running behind – as the well as the one behind that we normally take.  I know because it passed me as I was waiting for my return.

         Going southbound was not an issue this morning.  Unfortunately northbound seems to be getting slower – thus when they get to the end of the line and make their return, all of the southbound busses will be behind also. 

So while we were able to get Jenna to school on time (actually long before it started) the return home didn’t save much in the way of time before.  I got home only five or ten minutes sooner than usual.  I’m wondering how early I should be leaving the house today so that she doesn’t freak out if I’m not there due to busses running behind. Don’t imagine we will be getting home until after dark.  Oh, joy!  At least the snow does provide some shine to it.

I just heard the weather forecast for falling snow between 3:00 and 5:00 tonight.  Does this reporter not have a window to see it is already taking place?  I wonder if he meant heavier snow.  I really don’t see the purpose for snow in the valley.  I hope the tremendous outpour he was talking about will take place in the mountains and not on the floor.  Snow’s pretty when it’s fresh, but the city can make it ugly rather quickly. Snow’s not welcome! (on our roads and sidewalks I mean)

Change for November

Tomorrow is December 1st.  I am truly amazed at what an awesome November we've had.  Awesome in Salt Lake City, Utah, that is.  I understand they've had their fair share of snow in the southern part of the state - or windy or stormy weather.  But in my little corner of the world it's been a great November as far as the weather goes.

Oh, there have been a couple of days that have chilled to the bone.  Just a couple is odd for November.  Usually seems filled with darkened skies and dry moisture - I realize that is an oxymoron on my part.  But the winters in Utah are harsh with a dry air quality - much drier than in the summer - and yet November is usually always filled with rain or snow or sleet or hail.  I don't understand why when the elements are wet the air is dry - but it is.  My skin and my mouth are always thirsty.

Most all of the trees have lost their leaves by now.  There are still leaves crunching on the ground.  Only a few trees have color left on them.  The scenery doesn't seem as naked as when the skies are grey.  For the most part the skies have had a brilliant shine that isn't normal for this time of the year.  Jenna and I have shed both coat and jacket as we exit the bus to walk to school and on the return home.

We've been bussing it for two months now.  And we have been blessed with overall great walking weather.  We had a few flurries of snow on the 21st.  But that's all they were.  Flurries.  Nothing stuck.



I believed that the mountains had received more snow - but they're looking pretty naked also.  Not a good thing for skiers or those who built their business to rally around those connected with skiing or other winter sports.  We depend on the snow to be sent into the valley as it melts and makes its way down rivers and streams.  And when it doesn't snow, we don't get the water supply we need for our own growth.  But I honestly don't miss not having snow in the valley.

I loathe shopping.  I know I've mentioned it before.  All of my mom's children hate shopping - and yet we've all married avid shopaholics - or at least three of us have.  I hate crowds.  I hate traffic.  I don't even want to leave the house between Thanksgiving and Christmas because of the traffic.  Especially Saturdays.  And Black Friday.  Dark Friday.  Bleak Friday.  A taste-of-hell Friday.  There is absolutely no way I'd be camping a night or two in order to get the "good deals" No deal is worth that!



But I have gone out with Roland these past couple of days - I think mostly due to the awesome weather.  I would love for it just to stay that way - though I would prefer at least two more hours of daylight vision.  That sun seems to drop out of the sky very early and it gets dark quickly.  And stays dark.  Not like Alaska though.  It's a nice place to visit, but I wouldn't want to live there.

I'd like to live somewhere where the temperature is pretty much like it is for me right now.  And keep it at this temperature all year round.  Perhaps a little more color and not so many empty trees.  We have truly been blessed temperature wise.  At least I think we have been.

A Hodge-Podge of Family

Our future daughter-in-law has two brothers who are still living.  One lives in Texas where his wife is from.  The other lives in a posh neighborhood at the south and east end of the valley.

Yesterday we went to the posh neighborhood to meet Jeanie’s family and to have Thanksgiving dinner.  Biff had asked us to bring rice pudding – which to be honest with you - I have never had as part of a Thanksgiving dinner before.  Roland tried a new recipe (which was really very good by the way) and I found a container to put it in.

I must admit that I felt out of place offering this pathetic container as we entered their fancy kitchen and saw dozens of dishes that seemed to make the rice pudding even smaller – shrinking with each passing minute until I felt like what we had contributed to the meal had only a cup of runny rice.

 

Jenna played with boys (Jeanie's nephews) while Roland and I visited with various family members.  Not only was there family from Jeanie’s side of the family, but her sister-in-laws as well.  Half siblings, stepsiblings, in-laws, and in-laws of in-laws; we became known as Biff’s parents and sister.

I think Biff, Jeanie and her parents were the last to arrive at the house.  I really hit it off with Jeanie’s mom.  Sweet lady.  She reminded me a lot of Rochelle’s mom (Rochelle being my first daughter-in-law) and Roland said the same thing. Jeanie’s mother does seem to be in better health than both of my daughters-in-law's mothers.  She also seems to be in better health than Jeanie.  I don’t know why, but Jeanie always seems to have aged with each time I see her.

As usual I didn't have room for dessert.  And there were several to choose from. Fortunately Jeanie had made up an extra plate of pumpkin rolls for us to take home.  Her sister-in-law and I visited in front of the tree that never goes up before Thanksgiving, but it's new and was insentive to get her three children to clean the house.

Everybody was scattered.  I counted fourteen adults and four children.  Jenna was playing with Jeanie's niece just before we left.  I don't know that she was ready to go. We had both wanted to play games, but Roland didn't want us to overstay our welcome. 

We drove around some neighborhoods surrounding Jenna's schools to check out what houses were up for sale.  We didn't see a lot for Jenna was getting car sick.  Poor kid always seems to take ill during the Thanksgiving holiday.  After we returned home, Roland insisted that she go and lay down.  We finished the night with watching holiday movies. I finally had dessert.  It is so good.

Prioritizing expense

I'm grateful to have second hand stores or gift cards or sales in which I can make a purchase for a book bag or back pack.

 

I ragged on my daughter's lack of responsibility in yesterday's post.  Her backpack had been in the car on Saturday but she doesn't remember seeing it on Sunday.  Someone had been in the car looking for something.  We concluded that the back pack had been stolen by whoever it was.  We made a police report, but I don't expect that anything will come of it.  Wish they would have at least emptied the contents before stealing the backpack though.

Every once in a while I will see something quite profound on facebook.  I really like this thought posted by one of my friends:

"I was shopping when I saw a purse for over $1,000.00 Really! for a purse! I could buy groceries for 2 months for the price of that purse. Wow, even if I had that kind of money to spare I could never spend that kind of money on something so frivolous as a purse. Think of all the people I could help with that much money. It was probably a very nice purse, BUT IT'S A PURSE. My little purse I use is almost 2 years old and it costs me $20.00, It's looking a little worn but it still works just fine, thank you very much. Then it occurred that somewhere in the world there is probably someone saying “$20.00 for a purse! I could have fed my family for a month for $20.00” Yep, compared to the rest of the world I am wealthy indeed, and for that I am grateful. To show my gratitude I will be more generous with the money I have been blessed with."

Weekend memory lapse and lack of responsibility

 Jenna’s room was not the neatest we lived in our first house but at least she did know where things were for the most part.  Over in West Valley I think she’s become less responsible with every passing year.  Puberty has certainly not made things easier.  She flies off the handle at every little suggestion.

 I’ve been working on getting her to accept responsibility. Pick up after herself.  Get ready on time. I’ve used rewards.  I’ve taken away privileges.  I’ve been nice.  I’ve been ornery.  Nothing has seemed to work.

Roland worked only half a day on Friday and thus just happened to pick us up after Jenna got out of school. Afterwards we ran errands and went shopping and did not return to the house until after 6:00.

Before Jenna exited the car I told her to be sure and grab her backpack.  I specifically remember telling her to get it now so that it wasn’t left in the car when dad went to work on Monday.  Of course almost every child thinks he or she knows better than the parent and Jenna is no exception.  She said she would get it later.

On Saturday before Roland went to work, I told Jenna that she should grab her backpack.  I told her that she could use it to tote the origami Santas she wanted to pass out.  Of course she didn’t.

Yesterday I told her to bring me one of her papers so that I could mark it off.  She didn’t.  If she had she would have eventually looked in the car for her backpack – which by then I had also forgotten about. 

This morning it felt wrong to say, “I told you so” when she was already crying as she scrambled to find her backpack and reminded herself of where it was.  I did my best to comfort her.  I tried to do my best.  Perhaps it wasn’t my best.  I was thinking that she should have listened to me.  I was thinking, “I hope this will help her to learn”

I have my own issues though.  After closing the door I realized that I’d forgotten my cell phone.  We didn’t have time for me to get it – especially since I had also forgotten my keys.  How could I have forgotten my keys?  Hadn’t I trained myself to return it to my backpack the minute I came home from church?  Apparently not.

We do get to the bus stop at approximately the same time each day.  Sometimes the bus is early we have missed our regular bus at least three times now.  We have been fortunate enough to catch the other route – which will run on the south side only after December 8^th.

After the 8^th the route we like to take will run every 15 minutes – which is a lot better than every 30. I don’t know if that will make a difference on how soon she gets ready.  I’m hoping she will make a better effort to be ready on time.

I hope that both of us will be prepared with all things necessary.  The biggest one would be prayer – which I suspect we’ll have to start just a little earlier.

Needing to be Needed

Earlier in the summer of this year my eldest son Biff went to Texas to see his “girlfriend” Hailey – who I had never heard him ever mention before.  He couldn’t have been home more than two weeks when he hooked up with Jeanie.  He started out texting her and then spending time with her – once, twice a week which eventually turned into daily and is hardly even at home anymore.  Sometimes an entire week will go by before I see him – or even talk to him.

He did call last night to report his engagement.  No surprises there.  A date has not been set so I’m thinking an elopement is still possible as they had talked about that several times before the engagement.

 

Biff has always kept his body in great shape.  He eats healthy foods.  He used to retire to bed early (6:00 pm at the time I met Roland, I kid you not) and rise early (4:00 a.m.) but working graveyard has changed that.  I think he’s slipped a little on some things – but nothing extreme.

The members of Jeanie’s family (from what I understand) have poor eating habits and are not in the best physical condition.  Jeanie has already lost two sibs to health issues – both were in their 30’s when they passed.  Jeanie’s 31.

Biff has single handedly tried to change the family’s eating habits – especially Jeanie’s.  She’s been sick though – faints a lot.  I don’t know if it’s in trying to change her deit and her body’s going through some kind of shock or if it’s a hereditary things and she could pass away early in their marriage – or live for an additional 20 years as had Bill (my brother-in-law)’s first wife who had a tremendous amount of health issues basically all of her life.

Bill loved AnnaLeigh.  I don’t believe he has any regrets.  And I don’t imagine Biff will either – should he have to face them.  I think Roland is concerned that Biff does not know Jeanie all that well nor has an understanding of the health issues at hand.  But I’m fine that Biff is okay with it and that he is well aware of what he is walking into.

A couple can walk into marriage both in awesome health, and one could catch a virus or get hit by a bus or some other accident and not be prepared for something that may bring such a drastic change.  Biff at least is aware of what he’s getting into.  And it’s not like Roland has set the standards of waiting to propose.  He thinks Biff ought to have a long engagement.  I think Biff needs to go with his heart.  Kudos for loving unconditionally.