Taking inventory - It's a busy life

I think that is Pennsylvania down there.

 

What a busy couple of weeks I’ve had! Just look at this list:

Lake Erie.  It's like an ocean!

Six plane rides

One visit to the beach at Lake Erie

One road trip to New York State

Lots of hot dogs

One ice cream cone at Alli’s Cones & Dogs (Very nice people!)

Gotta have ice cream!

Two running workouts with a toddler and a stroller

One walk with a five year-old, a toddler, and a stroller

One visit to the Erie Zoo

 

One camel that didn't live in a zoo

About twenty walls scrubbed (It’s just an estimate)

One oven cleaned

One refrigerator cleaned

Hilly run in Erie!

Four windows and tracks scrubbed

One Krispy Kreme Donut

Two copies of Gold Pans and Iron Skillets given away on airplanes

One batch of princess sugar cookies baked with two princesses

One difficult eight mile run

One day of yard work

For making cookies.

Lots of Grandma Time

One outing with a standard transmission (I can still drive a stick)

One reminder to the Tooth Fairy

One dozen (roughly) bedtime stories

One rake and one shovel stuck in a tree

New grass sprouting

One goat head stuck in my foot

A rake and a shovel

Three or four broken hearts

Countless hugs

 

It’s a busy life!  It’s also a wonderful life.  If you don’t think so, stop and take inventory like I just did.  You are sure to find something to smile about. 

 

Remember, “For it must needs be, that there is an opposition in all things. If not so, my firstborn in the wilderness, righteousness could not be brought to pass, neither wickedness, neither holiness nor misery, neither good nor bad. Wherefore, all things must needs be a compound in one; wherefore, if it should be one body it must needs remain as dead, having no life neither death, nor corruption nor incorruption, happiness nor misery, neither sense nor insensibility.” 2 Nephi 2:11

In other words, you would not know happy if you had never known sad.

 

The Eye of the Beholder

Two weeks away from the wide open spaces of Idaho was most interesting.  I can't do it all justice in one post, so I will begin with this ...

I landed in Pittsburgh and rented a very small economy car to drive to Erie, PA.   Beautiful green trees with splashes of red were everywhere!  Freeway exits in Idaho are spotted miles away, as are the various conveniences surrounding those exits.  In woody Pennsylvania, if one isn't reading signs she may miss the exit entirely.  At the very least, she will be unable to spot any of the conveniences surrounding that exit.  (I did not miss exits.  I avoided them.)  The "ways" are not FREE.  I encountered toll highways. 

In Idaho, as in Utah, Colorado, Nevada, and most western states, mountains are clearly identified.  Hills are not mountains!  Apparently, the wooded hills I was traversing were mountains.

When I spotted the warning road sign "Falling Rocks" I naturally looked heavenwards.  It's a normal reaction for a Westerner! We expect to see rocky cliffs threatening to loose small boulders sending them tumbling to smash our vehicles. There was nothing heavenwards.  Rather, there was a raised median that was sloughing mud and a few small rocks into the barrow pit.  Hence, the "Falling Rocks" warning!

Their lake is vast.  I wanted to call the shoreline a coast.

It's all relative!

Dear Blog, I've missed you!

I've been neglecting my blog a bit. I won't blame it on writer's block this time.  I've just had other things on my mind as in:

• How many hoops will Spence have to jump through to obtain his Utah Residency status and have out of state tuition waived to the tune of $6000 per semester?
• How many times will I tell my married kids and granddaughter "Goodbye" before they actually leave for Pennsylvania?
• How sad will it be?
• How long before I hop a plane to Pennsylvania?
• How am I going to get through another year with a high school senior?
• How much money will it take to fix the pickup so the "Service Engine" light will go off and an emissions test can actually be performed?
• How many pints of beans will I can this year?
• Ditto for quarts of tomatoes.
• When does An Eclectic Collage: Volume II (A collaborative work on relationships by female authors) come out so I can tell all my friends?
• What's for dinner?

 Well, I have some answers and they are all good!

• As many as it takes.  Residency Awarded!  No more out of state tuition hanging over his head - nor mine!
• About three.
• Sad.  Very sad.
• Five and one half weeks until I make my first visit to Pennsylvania and welcome a new grandchild into the world.
• Hang on!  It's a wild ride!  However, I am wiser and more seasoned than the first two times I rode this attraction.
• $175
• Between 50 and 60.
• Who knows?  They are just coming on.
• September 15!  I am one of the authors of this book.  More info to come!
• Whole wheat waffles - or maybe BLT's.  After all, the tomatoes are ripening!

And So it Ends ...

Before Brazil

Two years ago I tracked a flight from Boise to Brazil.  I lost track of it as it passed over the equator.  My nineteen year-old son was on that flight.
Tonight I will begin tracking another flight from Brazil to Boise.  My twenty-one year-old son will be on that flight.
So much has happened since he left ...
His truck has nearly worn out.
Little brother is now bigger brother by about five inches.
His baby niece walks, talks, and does somersaults without her hands.
He has another niece on the way.
Navy Seals eliminated Bin Laden.
BSU Broncos won a whole bunch of football games.
His parents have added Road Biking to their list of recreational activities.
Lots of people got married.
He speaks Portuguese.
We built a new gymnasium.
His uncle passed away.
Many things stayed the same ...
The economy still stinks.
Gas prices are still high.
The lawn still gets mowed on a regular basis.
We still speak English.
The Greens still ski.
I still bake when I'm feeling nervous.
We still love football.
Life still moves on.
This chapter is over and another begins.