Finally! A Picture

Graduation Day 30 May 2014

This is my family! L to R: JET, PW (Lt. Lehi), Dr. Hair (or Mr. Movie), TopDad, Dandylion, Noble, PFCMom, Grandpa (my dad)

Photo taken in Heritage Park, Old Town, San Diego on the occasion of PW's graduation from Marine Corps Recruit Training. We were all together for the first time in over four years. It was a glorious day!

After graduation we went to lunch at a Mexican restaurant in Old Town, had a delicious meal and lots of fun jabbering away with each other. When it was time to get the bill, TopDad was informed that the bill had been paid in full. We asked who, but were told that he wanted to remain anonymous. All the waitress would tell us was that he was in the Navy, had worked with Marines and thought Paul looked like an especially good Marine and he was proud and honored to pay for our meal. We teared up with gratitude and humility at being so honored by this good man.

We enjoyed a quiet Fourth this year, attending the local parade to see our boys play in the band and then relaxing at home. We had steak, potato salad, corn on the cob, and fruit to eat, and then just some more relaxing. The boys went to a nearby town to watch fireworks in the late evening.

I plan to post more pictures of our vacation, soon. A huge thank-you to my niece for taking the family photos.

A New Name

I've been trying to come up with a name for PW that suits him when I realized that he had come up with one for me. When he bought his truck he got personalized license plates that reflect his desire to live up to the name of one of his heroes. So from henceforth PW will be known as Lt. Lehi.

Well, Lt. Lehi is currently in San Diego at Marine Corps Recruit Training, also know as Boot Camp. The first few weeks were especially rough for him because he was sick with severe bronchitis and wanting to quit, which I knew was just the sickness talking because Lt. Lehi is not a quitter. Anyway, he's slowly gotten better, is totally motivated again and doing well.

With this week's letter he sent a poem he'd written. He loves writing poetry and has gotten better at it over the years.

The Brothers Gone . . .

Still pictures floating through mist and rain.
Silent figures march 'mid toil and pain.
Click-stomp, click-stomp, glazed boots on sunburned tar.
Click-stomp, click-stomp, training for a war afar.

Still pictures floating through fog and rain.
Silent faces form a solemn, nameless chain.
Left-right, left-right, onward toward the thunder sound.
Left-right, left-right, blinding lightening strikes the ground.

Still pictures floating through smoke and rain.
Silent marble memories on a serene plain.
Click-pow, click-pow, twenty-one for the brothers gone.
Click-pow, click-pow, no longer among us, their memory lives on.

Ten Things of Thankful - The Chuns

For those who are new to this blog Chuns are what four year old JET called children, as in "Can 'e chuns go out t' play?" I like the word, it's one syllable and easy to say. Today I'm thankful for Chuns. My Chuns especially.

1. Noble was the first, sent to keep me company while TopDad was away for a year's unaccompanied tour to Okinawa. After the first four months she was a delightful baby and a joy to have around. I had so much fun playing house with her.During the first four months my sister told me that if she'd had Noble first she wouldn't have had any more. But that's just her. I loved my beautiful little girl, even if she was a pill. She got over it.

2. PW came next, the happiest of all little boys. He smiled early and often and had an infectious laugh; he still does! He's always been an independent thinker and inventive and hard working. He convinced me that boys have genetic difference not explainable in any other way than "they were born that way."

3. JET was the quiet one. The easy going, falls asleep on his own kind of baby. What a change. And then at five months, he got Spinal Meningitis, and after a miracle healing, was about the same as his older siblings. Darn. Still easy going and calm, he just didn't sleep through the night any more.

4. Dr. Hair got his name from his propensity to twirl my waist length hair around his fingers and almost pull it out. I had to cut my hair off, because he couldn't keep his hands off. Always serious, reticent to smile for the camera, he's an observer and a deep thinker.

5. Dandylion, when given a name and a blessing was promised that he would always be a comfort to his mother. He is. He looks the most like my side of the family. He's a cuddler, always has a hug for me and even at fifteen wants to sit on my lap. Thank goodness he weighs only 116 (he's 5' 10 1/4" tall!), but I think this is the last year he'll be able to do that.

6. From Noble I've learned to love all things Korean, to appreciate high fantasy novels, and have pushed my sewing skills further than I thought possible without classes. I love her optimism, cheerful nature, and adventurous spirit.

7. From PW I learned that stubborn is good, when channeled in the right direction. It's also called stick-to-it-iveness. Before 9/11 I was not afraid to fly on a plane; after, it scared me spitless. PW helped me overcome my fear! He wants to be a pilot more than anything. He can identify military planes at a glance. He's amazing.

8. JET (those are his initials) is an artist. Once when I complained that I wanted a banana split but feared it would undo all the weight I'd lost, he offered to make me one that wouldn't. He returned with an absolutely perfect miniature banana split in an old-fashioned sherbet glass. (He used my cookie dough scoops to get the tiny perfect balls of ice cream.) He's cheerful and makes friends wherever he goes, still!

9. Dr. Hair towers over me, but still reaches for my hair and is glad I'm growing it out. Waist length would suit him great. He shows me how being single-minded about goals can accomplish so much more than being interested in every thing that comes along. He is a film-maker. Period. Yes, he's in lots of activities at school, but he's always watching, studying, pondering and pursuing his dream and goal to make movies. He doesn't turn down an opportunity to film if at all possible. I like his focus.

10. Dandy is a brain. We just got test results back that put him in the 100th percentile in the nation in math. (He didn't get it from me, that's for sure.) He is in the 98th percentile in science. I've asked him to be my tutor when I take math in the fall. Dandy has a great sense of humor and has understood jokes since he was a baby, even explaining them to JET (who didn't always get the joke). He's generous and creative.

Can you tell I love my chuns? I'm so grateful God entrusted them to me. I've done the best I could to rear them and if I may say so myself, I think they've turned out pretty great!

Frugal February Update

So far, so good. Nothing more spent on groceries (or anything else, come to think of it). Last night I made two loaves of banana bread to use up the old bananas. Saturday I ground wheat and made whole wheat bread (yum, yum). There are no chips (crisps in England) in the house so we popped popcorn for a crunchy snack. We had stir-fry last night with a single butterfly pork chop cut into small bite-sized pieces for the meat.  The bottomless pits boys complained a bit, but filled up on the rice and veggies; then toast, then popcorn, and some ice cream. They really are bottomless pits! I looked through the veggie bins in the fridge to see what I have and what needs to be used up, then planned meals for this week. (Why do I go so long without making a plan!?)

Noble finally got the package of goodies I sent her, but said the bread was already moldy so don't send that anymore. The brownies made her cry with homesickness. (That wasn't the reaction I wanted.) Military mail to overseas is so slow, the only redeeming feature being that she doesn't have to pay customs on everything. 

PW goes to Marine Boot Camp in two weeks. We'll be going to San Diego (my hometown) for his graduation. He's been running and working out to get ready. 

Dr. Hair is going to All-State competition with his short film! When he puts his film up on YouTube I'll grab it and share with you. It is really good! (And that's not just a mommy's bias.)

The weather is warming up a bit, supposed to be low 50's today. YAY!!! Yesterday we woke up to snow falling, but by afternoon it was melted off the sidewalks and roads. I got out and shoveled a bit after lunch and needed only a sweatshirt. It was wonderful to hear birds singing and chirping in the afternoon.

Wherever you are, I hope today is a good one for you.

Ouch!

After breakfast we heard a really weird grinding noise and couldn't figure out what it was. The guys all went off to school and I was just getting into the shower when I got a call from PW telling me about the break-in to his truck last night. Poor guy, he filed a report with the police, but there's no hope of getting anything back or catching the perp; and he called the insurance but they won't pay for replacing anything since it was just loose personal stuff. Okay, I got off the phone and felt really cold so I checked the thermostat and it read 62. What? No heat! A quick call to TopDad and he said try turning the switch on the heater off and back on again, bye I have to get to class. Down into the basement and I found the switch and turned it off, and then back on again. The burner started up and I thought all is well. Went back upstairs and got a Skype call from Noble. I love my chuns, but sometimes I don't get anything done because of them! So what else is new? Anyway. After I got off with her, I got permission from the holder of the purse strings to call for someone to come out. I took a quick shower, then called and was able to get someone out here in short order.

Well, it wasn't the blower that pushes the hot air up through the vents; it was the other fan motor, the one that moves the heat from the burner to the heat exchanger. Learn something new everyday. So I have heat again, and I guess that's a nice Valentines present. Darn, I was hoping for something I could wear.

What else can go wrong today?

Motherhood

Day Fourteen of Count Your Blessings 2013

Today I'm thankful to be a mother. For lots of reasons, but today for the reason that my children have introduced me to things I would never have explored otherwise.

I'm currently reading a book that Noble recommended in a genre that she loves. I can't put the dang thing down even though I have so many things to do! She's also the reason there is a jar of Kimchi in the fridge. I just had a craving for it! I'm also learning Korean, one word at a time.

Of course, my Korean gets mixed up with the Spanish I learned in my childhood and youth and try to keep up. But I'm nowhere near as fluent as PW. He gives me an incentive to get better. And then there's the guns and airplanes to learn about! And he was my first Lego Man, but not the last.

I know a lot more about the inner workings of automobiles because of JET. He loves cars! So I hear about them when he comes to visit. I love his enthusiasm. I always thought a vehicle was just a way to get from point A to point B. But he knows how to drift!!! And other cool things.

Dr. Hair has taught me to look at movies in a whole new way. As a film-maker himself he notices effects, camera angles, bloopers and such. And he can remember dialog from movies seemingly without effort. He's also the younger Lego Man. A master builder with visions and skills that rival professionals.

I sat through a year of violin lessons with Dandylion before getting up the courage to take lessons for myself. Seeing him do it gave me hope that I could learn too. It gave me great joy for four months before finances fell apart and I had to stop. We had fun playing a few duets too. He has music in his soul! I've learned to listen closer to hear the different instruments being played. He plays percussion and those instruments are not always easy to distinguish. But I'm getting better.

My cooking skills are legendary (within my family) having been honed over twenty-four years of feeding hungry children. My patience has increased exponentially over the years. I'm grateful to have learned selflessness through motherhood. And I'm so grateful for all the joy! Especially as my children become my best friends as they reach adulthood.

My only regret is that I couldn't have had five more!

De-Cluttering Monday

Noble introduced me to Miss Minimalist last year. Although I'm not ready to downsize to 100 items and live like a Nun, it has helped me to move in the direction of owning less.

Two other factors have come into play recently. One was helping my mother, and sisters-in-law, clean out my younger sister's room after she died. My sister was confined to a wheelchair most of her life. She had several hobbies and interests, all of them heavy on the stuff. She loved make-up and nail polish, and had tons of both, along with dozens of bottles of perfume and bath products. She was a "Stamper" and had hundreds (maybe thousands, since I'm not sure what they cost) of dollars worth of stamps, ink, paper, paper cutters, doo-dads, and such. All her life she'd been given stuffed animals and had kept most of them. She never got rid of clothes as she outgrew them. We must have had a dozen large garbage bags of clothes to go to the charity shop. Oh, one other thing she loved was jewelry, she could have opened a store!

Helping my mother sort through this and bag it up was interesting. To me it was just junk to be gotten rid of, for my mother it was all kinds of memories. What it taught me is, of course, that we leave all our stuff behind when we go home. I knew that, but had never gone through the actual clean out before. Second, that the most valuable things to leave behind are not material goods; it's the journals and photo albums (if they are well labeled) that are the most valuable, as they are a record of a specific life lived. I have often wished my grandmother's had left journals and photo albums. I don't feel I know them well enough. My father and grandfathers each have written a personal life history; those are precious volumes to me. My dad has been really good about putting together and labeling photo albums. My mom is currently working on her life story.

Clothes, dishes, jewelry, knick-knacks, toys, hobby supplies, furniture, music cd's, DVD's, and any other personal belongings usually get divvied up, sold, donated, or trashed. Unless it is an unusual piece or it has specific sentimental value to another family member, it is simply excess junk.

The other factor in moving me toward a less encumbered life has been children leaving home. I don't need so many things in the kitchen, or the linen cupboard; outgrown games, toys, and books can be donated; the fact that we live in a much smaller house than we did five years ago helps too. There just isn't room here for all my "stuff." Plus, the fact that some of it has been packed up for the past three moves means I probably can get along without it. I also want to get rid of the cost of our storage unit. Little by little I'm proceeding toward my goal of a place for everything and everything in it's place.

Today I went through my kitchen cupboard where I keep serving bowls and such. I removed duplicates and excess, reminding myself that I have enough and some things can serve in multiple ways. I rearranged what was left and it sure feels good to have more room in the cupboard.

Our town has a community-wide yard sale in the Spring so I'm preparing for a big sale. Whatever is left will be taken to my favorite thrift store.

P.S. Happy Birthday to Elder PW - He's 21 today!