Sparky

Our beloved Sparky has gone to doggie heaven. No more pain. We miss him.

Tic tic tic

Tonight is my LAST opening night! I'm sure life will bring more challenges my way, but not from this particular direction. My last day is October 30th, and I am looking forward to a bit of peace.

On a somber note, my beloved Sparky isn't doing too well. :-((

Work update

Sooo - this has been in the works for a while, but this is the official announcement (friend and family one, that is) that I will be leaving the opera effective October 30th.

I am looking forward to being home for a while - but I am still looking for jobs, and if one comes my way, will be heading back to work.

AAA!

I cannot believe it's been so long!

I'll keep this post short and to the point.

Vacation was great.

Work is tough. They're interviewing a replacement for me, so it looks like I'll be out of work (so far no one is hiring). But we're okay financially - especially since I'll be able to stay home and cook (eating out is a big expense) and won't be driving 60 miles a day. And I look forward to gardening and playing with my chickens, cats and dogs more.

Life is wonderful.

Vacation!

Today Bob and I are heading off for a much-needed vacation! We're taking a River Cruise on the Columbia and Willamette Rivers, following the path of Lewis and Clark! Two history buffs on a history cruise... nerd-vana!

Bri & Dorothy will of course be here to watch the dogs, cats and chickens... now that we have three dachshunds, I can't imagine how much havoc they could get into if we had to leave them here alone! LOL.

Nice quiet morning

I am having such a sweet morning today. Woke up, had breakfast, went for a loooong walk (aahhhh) in a perfect weather Atascadero morning. All the doggies were sleeping, tho, so it was solo. I even got a few chores done in the yard! That might be my favorite part of all.

Brighton's transition...

Brighton just got a new job up in Paso Robles, as staff counsel at a Financial Services firm. YAY Brighton! His persistence has paid off, and I'm so happy for him! He has had his last day helping me at PRO, and begins his new job Tuesday. He's thrilled to be able to commit to a local firm. Best of all worlds.

Dorothy and Kelcie surprised us at our going-away luncheon by showing up (surprised them too) so it was really fun!

Tyler handgliding

Here are a couple more photos of Tyler during his hangliding adventure in Switzerland.

Tyler in France

So much fun in so short a time! Boy, it's as if he's saved up all the cool stuff he's ever wanted to do for this one trip. I hope you're on Facebook, because if you're not, you'll miss most of it. Here are a couple of the funnest pictures, though.

Visitors

I'm doing much better today - the arm is moving nicely and the bruises are subsiding.

My cousin Rebecca and her family are here for a couple of days - yay! I hope we get to do something fun -

Owie!

I took a tumble last night - lesson: don't chase dachshunds who are chasing chickens. Let the kids do it. I caught my arm on a steel cable and fell headlong. Contusions, abrasions, a pulled muscle and some bruises later, I am resting at home today. I can't bend my left arm - no skin left inside the elbow. I can manage to type on the laptop by putting the laptop all the way at the end of my lap. Can't write. Owie!

Tyler. Skydiving.

Tyler's Adventures

Well, it sounds like Interlaken, Switzerland is the most Tyler-friendly place on earth! Excitement galore! Here are some photos of his fun there -

On the left is the three buddies canyoning - you have to check out the Youtube video to understand what that means.

On the right (look hard) are hangliders.

Report on Tyler!

Tyler called today via Skype! Yay Skype!

He landed just fine in Nice, France. He found his way to the hostel by himself, and met his friends there. He says that Nice by itself was okay, but they took several side trips that were exciting. They went over to Monte Carlo and Cannes, where he reports there were yachts, Ferraris and Lamborgini's everywhere... Awesome.

They are now in Interlaken, Switzerland for the next five days. His plans are to hike, kayak, go canyoning and learn hang gliding - all in five days? And he does have a little bit of an ear infection, but he's taking care of himself.

I am so glad he gets to have this opportunity!

Tyler's adverture planning

This is a fun story in itself.

Tyler has never traveled by himself, and was left to put together a trip to Europe (where he is meeting his friends) on his own. He did get his passport plenty early, but then dawdled and fiddled getting every else ready.

How to carry your money (Grandpa was an invaluable help here)?
How to changed dollars to euros?
How to get from the airport to the hostel?
How to get along in a country where you don't speak the language?

Oh, and the ever entertaining - what do I pack?

And those questions were the ones he was asking two hours prior to when he was to leave for the Bay Area, where he flight was leaving from.

Tyler the procrastinator. Always seems to land on his feet, but WOW! I would end up falling on my butt.

So, he has most of the next two months in Europe (France, Holland, Brussels, Austria, Switzerland, Germany, Italy) - lucky guy! I can't wait to hear of his adventures. He promised to email... HAHAHAHAHAHA! I'll believe it when I see it.

New doggy!!

Wow, I can't believe I haven't posted about our new addition!

My Sparky isn't doing so well - besides being old in general, he's in a lot of pain, can't go for his beloved walks, can't really climb up on to the couch(even using the doggies steps), doesn't seem as interested in eating, is losing weight, losing his hearing, blind in one eye... in general, just on that downward slope.

It doesn't help that Scamp still wants to play all the time, and when he bumps playfully up against Sparky, that hurts too.

So when my friend Carolyn called me after hearing about a young dachshund who needed a new home, it didn't take us very long to decide that this was the right time.

Her name is Molly (her old name was Mani - but that just didn't seem to suit her), and she is a three year old black and tan mini-dox. The best way to tell her apart from Scamp is that her paws are black where his are brown, and she has two substantial scars above her left eye. At first she was pretty shy and nervous, but she has really fit in well. Both the dogs don't mind having a new friend for the most part - except that when Tyler was home, Scamp was INTENSELY jealous. But now that Ty is gone on his trip, Scamp is much better.

Molly has adopted Dorothy as her very own human, and it's really precious to see. She is Dorothy's very own doggie shadow. Sleeps with her. And is even like her in personality - reserved and quiet, but don't even try to back her into a corner, because she can really be fierce! Oh, and Molly has to be tempted to eat! I love watching Dorothy sit with her, coaxing her to eat. LOL.

Scamp and Molly are even learning to play! They play chase around the couch, and may even be learning to doggy wrestle. I haven't gotten to see these yet, being gone so much lately, but have been assured it is taking place.

It takes the sting out of Sparky's health problems for me, too. Poor old guy. I keep him as comfortable as I can.

Our visit with Dad

Dad and Adele have come and gone, but it sure was fun to see them! I was only able to take one day off work, but it was nice relaxing with them, chatting, and of course, getting treated to dinners out! My kids love that especially...

We had two magical meals together - all 7 of us. This is was the first time I can remember everyone being out to dinner together is quite a while. The first was a very fun dinner at McPhee's in Templeton (YUM!). We ate and laughed, and ate some more - it was really a memorable time with everyone.

It still amazes me that my Dad, who looks 70, has turned 90. He just keeps on going!

Our last night together, we took off for Morro Bay. We had a leisurely walk along the Embarcadero store front - stopping in one place (dang if I can remember the name) where we ooo'd and ahhh'd over the arts and jewelry in there for quite a while. There was this one opal bracelet - Dorothy just stared fixedly at it for what seemed like a long time - but in the end she decided against in. The mantra - "Pay for college, pay for college" is what made that decision. Smart girl!

We had dinner at Windows on the Water, and enjoyed banter with a waiter named Lex that enhanced the meal. Oh, and the desserts... I learned a new term (Lex cracked me up with it) - "Strategic Eating" - for when you have the waiter box up that last bit of the meal that you could have eaten, but decided against, so you would have room for dessert.

Tyler left that night to begin his European adventure (I'll leave that for another blog) and Dad and Adele left the next morning. Back to work!

Family visits

You can always tell it's summer in Atascadero when two things happen: the Mid-State Fair comes to town, and so does my father.

Dad and Adele arrived yesterday afternoon after driving from Florida to New York to Colorado (two weeks with Sumner and Kristan, those luckys!) and now here. Of course, lots of friends to visit with along the way. I'm just so glad to see them.

Last night we were treated to dinner at a close-by restaurant (best chicken enchiladas in town!) and a visual tour of Dad's 90th birthday party. He brought a photo album with him and gave me all the highlights. He obviously had a wonderful time!

It's not often anymore that the kids are all in town at the same time as Dad and Adele, so we are lucky to have these couple of days together.

Tyler leaves for a long-awaited trip to Europe on Thursday, and I am so happy for him! It's been really, really nice having him here - even if he is totally distracted most of the time. But that's okay - at least he's here in body...

Hi y'all. Between work and home, not much time for else. I'm trying to work out at the club regularly again - not easy. I find it almost impossible to go at night, so I try to go right after work. That means there's not much time in the evening after dinner and dishes...

So what's new? Here's the biggest news - Dorothy has been cleared to drive by her doctors! You may recall that she had to undergo five hours of testing with a neuropsychologist in order to get finally cleared of the residuals from her accident. Well, the final test results came in and she's CLEAR! Praise be to God for He is good.

Another piece of news is our new dachshund, Molly. My friend Carolyn heard of the plight of a young (4 years) dachshund who had recently been placed in a home that wasn't working for her. Well, my Sparky is getting quite old, and our Scamp needs a new play buddy.

And I think it's so sweet that Dorothy and Molly are such buddies. They are devoted to each other already.

Well, maybe not...

So, I was feeling a bit blue. Life is that way sometimes. But I think I'll keep blogging...

To recap June - a most eventful month...

June 11, Dorothy graduated. June 13, Tyler graduated.

Bob's family (Tom & Marianne Kline, Janet Terry & her son Don) and my family (Otamay and Sumner, my brother and sister) came to town - we had a lovely visit, a great party and it was so much fun!

My Dad also turned 90! We couldn't get out to Florida for his party unfortunately, but he tells me it was huge, and a lot of fun.

All done

I've decided to close down my blog. Thanks to all of you who visited over the year+. I'll keep this post up for a while first.

Graduations

Yup, I have two graduations coming up! June 11, Atascadero High School, Dorothy will graduate with a lovely GPA. June 13, Cal Poly State University, Tyler will get his Master's degree in Electronic Engineering. I'm so excited I can hardly see straight.

Several of our family members are doing their best to come to town for the event, which I am so happy about! Our kids have worked SO hard to get to this point. I am so proud of them.

It's Facebook's fault!

I know I haven't written in forever - between the workload at the office and that great time-waster Facebook, I don't seem to make any time for blogging!

Right now I'm sitting on the couch with Brighton, Dorothy and their friend Zack as they play some video game involving guys with swords, spells and armor. No surprise there.

One of my favorite things to do!

Yick

That's the sound I feel, as I experience my first migraine in quite a while.

Eep!

Yikes, has it really been so long?

I've been having fun on the weekends getting the yard into shape. Have also discovered the joys of Facebook, which means I'm struggling to not get addicted. It's really nice having regained contact with SO many of my old friends and acquaintances, as well as having easy access to so many work friends & associates - but it WILL suck the time right away.

Our chickens are now happily ensconced in their coop, and they're an interesting group. Funny how every batch of chickens is different than the last. This group will gather around me when I got in to the coop, but they seem to really like picking at my clothes. Much more than I remember others doing. They're really getting pretty, too.

Mika is struggling diligently to keep up with the mole and gopher explosion, but I fear they are out-breeding her attempts at culling.

Dorothy turned 18 last week, and now has her official driver's permit. She'll start lessons soon. I have a feeling she's going to be a good driver. She'll graduate in June, and plans to attend Cuesta College.

And now I'm not the mother of minor children anymore! All adults! Bob and I are starting to think about traveling together - without kids - what a concept!!

Our Dynamic Duo

Funny, isn't it, how sometimes life repeats itself?

This morning as I was reading the paper, our cat Mika (that's her as a kitten, playing on top of a lamp) came in the cat/dog door and dropped a live gopher on the carpet. Yay, Mika! I know, I know - but our yard has been mostly gopher free since Mika grew up and started hunting. It's a lot more natural than the unpleasant alternative - poison.

Sparky promptly grabbed it, took it outside, and now I expect we'll be experiencing the joy of "gopher farts" for the next couple of days.

When I was young, we had a cat named Shadrach (Kitty) and a Boston Terrier cross named Meshach who would do the same thing.

Deep breath....

As we ramp up for the opera, it always amazes me how much there is to do. I've been doing this a while now - since August 2004. 9 operas. You'd think I'd remember - must be like childbirth. When the baby is born, all you can think about is this wonderful little baby - I guess the opera is our baby, so it makes sense in a weird sort of way. So I might not be blogging much for the next couple of weeks, but you can always check out my work blog at pacificrepopera.blogspot.com.

Tomorrow, though, I'm going to be finishing up our work on the chicken coop - adding a little more protection, figuring out a better watering system, leveling out the base and hopefully putting the shavings in, if we can figure out all the other problems. We're really excited about getting the chicks - 8 different breeds, two each. 16 babies! Boy, are they going to be a handful. Peep peep peep all day. I'll bet it will make the rest of the pets crazy, not being able to get in with them! And they smell like raw dinner, to boot!

I'm still dealing with a 'frozen shoulder' - adhesive capsulitis - I still don't know what caused it to happen but it's been months now. So I've been doing to physical therapy, and it was working until one of the exercises made my back go out. So I've been trying to do the exercises every which way, but no juice. So we finally are changing what I'm doing, and I hope we finally see some results. This is getting really, really old. I am not supposed to lift any more than 5 lousy pounds on that arm! Kinda hard to shovel shavings and wrestle plywood when you're not supposed to lift anything. My kids are great, though. Bob is in the middle of tax season, so I'm reticent to ask for a lot of his help. But sometimes I just have to.

Let's see, what else.

Oh, my Sparky is getting pretty old and grey - doesn't see so good out of one eye - but we still manage to go for walks, and he managed to do Madonna Mountain last weekend - a strenuous hike for an old guy! So he's still strong and healthy. He does stumble quite a bit, though I check his feet, and he doesn't seem to be scraping them. I thought maybe we should change his name to Tripp.

Dorothy just found out that she doesn't have to finish the last two Algebra Two tests from last year in order to graduate. She was so happy! She's been taking tutoring for months to try to get ready for them, but when you're working just as hard as you can to do your workload, it's so hard to try to pick up a math subject you're not doing in class, and preparing that way. She did take one a few days ago, but she says she's not so sure she passed. But she scheduled her appointment with her counselor on her own, I'm pleased to report. I like it that she's taking responsibility to get things done!

Speaking of getting things done - our last (I hope!) court appearance (civil suit) is coming up next Tuesday, and then if all goes according to plan, we will start to receive the money to pay back all our medical related outlay. Whew! So, if you're of a mind, give a little prayer for us that all will go well next Tuesday morning early.

Well, this is all for now. Take care! Thanks for reading!

Busy Sunday

I finally had a chance to finish up the laundry, dishes, cleaning, etc, and to sit & relax with my computer. Bob is busy doing taxes and singing out of key (I love it when he does that), and my Sparky is sitting next to me on the couch with his rump just barely touching my leg. It's like he has to be that close. Silly dog.

Brighton is off doing Brighton stuff and Dorothy is off gaming with her buddies. Her tutor was here this afternoon, and she & Dorothy are stoked that Dorothy's ready to take the next math test. Only two more after this, and she's done with last year's math. Then she has one history project to do, and all will be caught up. She's also working really hard to get an A in AP Statistics this term, too.

We have ONE more court appearance to do, and then we're all done with the legal aspects of this situation. That will be so nice.

My job is heating up again, as we have another opera coming up in a month. I've actually gotten a little better about keeping up with my work blog (pacificrepopera.blogspot.com), since it really is part of my job. Hopefully I'll be better about keeping up with this one too.

Oh, and I forgot to mention that D & I are getting chicks in a few weeks. We've really missed having "the girls" around, so we've ordered a bunch of rare-breed chicks that we're excited about. I can't wait!

Mid Feb

One of my biggest disappointments this year was that the opera's big fundraiser was the same night as Dorothy's final Winter Formal. She looked SO pretty - but I didn't get a picture of her with her hair up. :-(

Other than that, it's been really quiet. Work/school is busy busy for all of us.

Bob and I have gotten REALLY bad about not cooking - lots of quickie meals, TV dinners, but very few sit-down chat together meals. Sundays we do try to do something special... last Sunday Tyler and Annalisa came over and we spent the whole time laughing and enjoying each other's company. Was very nice.

February

Life is just moving too fast for me. I want to spend more time playing the the garden and going for walks with my geriatric dog. I want to be able to fall asleep without my brain coming up with a list of things that need doing at work. I want to have a day without having my stomach twist when I think of all I should be doing as wife and mother, but aren't.

But here are some things I'm grateful for:

I don't seem to be getting migraines as often. I even had something with red food coloring the other day and didn't get one. I even stayed up really, really late and didn't get one.

My daughter will graduate with her class.

My husband and kids are healthy.

And God loves me. Through everything that happens, He never fails.

A special anniversary approaches!

Dorothy is preparing to celebrate a year of life with a "coma party" - yup, that's my girl. She has plans... which I'm not to share, I think. But it sounds like a lot of fun. And I certainly am feeling a lot of joy.

Dorothy is doing GREAT in school. Her grades this term were AMAZING.

I think one of the things she regrets most is that it's taken so long to grow her hair back. She wants it long NOW.

Life is good.

Happy New Year!

Hi Friends! We lived through Dorothy's party with equanimity - her friends are such great kids that we are able to really enjoy them without worry. They seemed to have a great time, and many of them opted to spend much of yesterday together as well as the evening before.

I think perhaps my high point of yesterday was when Dorothy came out in the morning (well, actually, noonish) and gave me a big hug and a beautiful smile. Not that those are unusual, but after staying up as late as she did, I was surprised that she was so happy - when I asked her what was up, she just said "I'm just glad that the worst year of my life is over."

I get that. Me too!