Monday, May 17, 2010

Monday, Monday...

Well, you can tell it’s a Monday. And today calls for some chocolate therapy.

Because we live so far from where I work I drive in once a week and room with a lady from church Mon-Thurs. We live in Oak Harbor, Ohio – near Toledo. I work in Akron, Ohio—120 miles away. Rick is driving truck now and he’s gone all week long, too. My alarm went off at its usual time – 5:00 am – and instead of hitting snooze, I turned it off! I woke up again at 5:50 (I’m supposed to be pulling out of the driveway at 6:00) and I still had to shower, dress, pack my clothes and pack my food. We just had too much going on this weekend and I didn’t get any of my pre-trip done yesterday.

I did take the time Sunday night to make my lunch. (Usually I don’t) As I was packing my cooler I managed to remember not to pack the lunch away but keep it separate. I thought as I took it out of the fridge, put this in your lunch bag now and put that by your purse or you’ll forget it, but I was in panic mode and focused instead on packing the cooler and getting it out of the way. Half way to work (an hour down the road) I noticed I didn’t have my lunch bag on the front seat with me. I wondered if it had been tossed in the back by accident – then that sinking feeling filled my stomach! I left it sitting on top of the fridge. A salad, Spanish Rice and a hard boiled egg! Oh yuck!

Now, if I were living a normal life and driving a normal commute it would be no big deal. However, I’m not home for a week, and Rick is gone for the week as well. That food is going to be quite aromatic by the time I get home and Rick has a very sensitive sense of smell. Oh horrors!

I called some friends – John and Carol – who live nearby and asked, if I sent a copy of my key would someone go over there, throw the lunch out in the dumpster, open up the windows and freshen the apartment for a bit? In between his laughter John said no problem.

Then, just because I was so late leaving this morning it started to rain when I got to the turnpike and I was delayed even more. Luckily I didn’t have any pressing work this morning, but, still, it’s not cool to show up late on a Monday morning. As I went out at lunch to get a copy of the key made to send to my friends – I couldn’t find my car keys! That’s the only set we have (even if Rick had a set – he was on his way to Plano, IL) and I know I had it in my hands when I got out of the car. But I had to get something out of the back seat to take in to work and guessed I had dropped the keys there by mistake. As I left for the parking lot at lunch I stopped at security and told them what happened. They dispatched one of the officers to help me open my car. Once I got to the car I tried to see if I could find my keys in the back seat anywhere. Nope. I checked my purse one more time (even though I’d gone through it all at my desk when I discovered I had no keys) and found them! I suspect that in my distraction I put them in the wrong place and they fell into a corner that I didn’t reach into when I looked earlier. Whew! Crisis averted!

This isn’t the worst Monday that could have happened, but it’s not one I want to repeat again. Like I said, chocolate therapy. A big, 2” brownie with frosting, walnuts and caramel. Yum! (I’ll be walking all week long to work that one off.)

How was your Monday morning?

Monday, May 10, 2010

On Mother's Day and Birthdays

This was to have been a celebratory weekend. Rick’s birthday was Saturday and Mother’s Day was Sunday. This year I received a special card from one of my Sunbeams who said I was “the best teacher ever!” Now, that’s something worth celebrating!

I called my mom, but they were at my brother David's celebrating with his family (wife Amy and nephew Joshua - see their blog "Dave & Amy's Journey"). They visited my other brother, Vic and his wife Linda, on Saturday. I miss being near them all and participating in family gatherings . Rick and I don’t live terribly far away, but our visits are usually reserved for the big holidays so we can have extra time to travel and visit.

The older I get the more grateful I am that my parents are who they are. Generally they did a good job raising all three of their children (myself and my two brothers, Victor and David). As for my faults and issues, they’re the product of my own choices, not theirs.

My parents raised us to be independent, self-motivated, clear-thinking individuals. (Like I said – my issues are my own, not my parents’.) We were given chores to do around the house and yard and were expected to participate in them as a family and we had family dinner every night. I have fond memories of us gathered around the table, passing food back and forth and sharing the happenings of our days. One memory stands out vividly. We were having hamburgers for dinner and my brother, Victor, was holding his in his lap between bites instead of putting it on the plate. Well, we had a dog, Max, a dachshund, and he just couldn’t stand it any more and decided most gratefully to accept the kind invitation my brother was giving him – by taking it out of his hand, almost taking a finger with it! Now, Max wasn’t the best trained dog in the world, but he wasn’t the worst either, and I defy any dog to withstand that kind of temptation.

My mom was – and still is – a very creative woman. She sewed almost all of my clothes and some of the boys’. When I got big enough, she taught me as well. Between them, she and my grandmother taught me to knit, crochet, embroider and needlepoint. I still enjoy those crafts today. Nowadays my mother is a very accomplished quilter and has won prizes in quilt shows around the nation, as well as teaching and leading workshops. You can find her at http://www.judylundberg.com/.

My dad is now retired. While I was growing up he was a technical editor in the government and in private industry. For several years he and my mom worked together running a typesetting business – but then desktop publishing started to intrude and dad got into other businesses, finally retiring as an employment counselor.

I feel pretty lucky to have the parents I have.

Saturday was my husband’s birthday. He just started a new job this past week, driving trucks (big rigs) for a company in Findlay, Ohio and ended up driving home all day Saturday. He actually didn’t mind it too much. He had time to sleep in on Saturday and not rush or worry about delivery, so he was going to enjoy the ride. He got up all rested and refreshed, the weather was clear and he was looking forward to a good day driving. I’m sure you can guess that things didn’t go as planned (well, they never do, do they?). He went to a truck wash and got his rig cleaned, and then couldn’t start it up afterward. He called dispatch and they found him a mechanic in the area, who showed up almost right away. He checked a few things and got it started, and Rick started tooling down the road again. I must say, we are both impressed with this company.

Needless to say, once he got to his delivery, and dropped it off, it was much later in the day than he intended. He finally got home around 9:00 that evening.

Through it all Rick was in a pretty good mood. He was really grateful that he broke down at the truck wash instead of at his delivery. Plus, he really liked the countryside he was driving through in SE Indiana and SW Ohio. Lots of nice woods interspersed with huge farms. He kept calling me and telling me about how great it all looked and how much he likes driving around and seeing the countryside. Even though he was working on his birthday, at least it was something he enjoys doing (for the most part. Thursday night wasn’t so hot.)

In a couple of weekends, when we have some time to celebrate, I’ll take Rick to his favorite place – Cabela’s – for elk burgers and some (window) shopping. Rick is an AVID fisherman and hunter and he really enjoys spending hours in that store checking out all the fishing gear, boating supplies, hunting clothes and camping equipment. He’s worse than I am in a book store!

This has turned into a much longer entry than I thought it would be, but I had a lot to share. I am truly grateful to my Heavenly Father for my family and my friends, especially my parents. I want you all to know that I love you and appreciate all you’ve done for me. I’m stubborn and thick-headed, but eventually I learn the right things. Thanks for hanging in there with me, and here’s looking forward to many, many more lessons to learn! Love you all.

Friday, May 7, 2010

Today is the first day ...

Today is the first day of my blog. I've been thinking of this for a while now and thought it might be time. My entries will be completely random and I hope people enjoy them. Please leave comments and suggestions. I might try them some day.

I work in Akron, Ohio and lately have been walking in Goodyear Heights Metropark nearby after work. It's a lovely park and has miles of trails. There are three marked trails: Alder Woods (1.4 miles), Piney Woods (2 miles) and Parcourse (1.8 miles). Alder Woods circles the pond/marsh, a lovely place to spend a lazy afternoon. The trail leads across the marsh on a small walkway and it's refreshing hearing the birds singing and wildlife rustling in the grasses. Of course, it is an urban park and there are lots of cars whizzing by, but it's still very serene in the park.

Piney Woods is a bit more strenuous and has some very steep hills. It'll get your heart going, that's for sure.

The third trail, Parcourse, has 20 stations along the trail for things like jumping jacks, knee bends, chin ups, push ups, you get the idea. This is the hardest trail because of the exercises. And it has running sections, basically the middle mile or so.

I've done each once, and combined Alder and Piney Woods trails once. It's still nice and cool in the evenings, so the walks are fun to do. I hope I get myself fit enough to enjoy them in the heat and humidity of summer as well, so I can keep this up. I do have the option of joining the gym here at work for a very affordable rate, but while it's so nice outside I'd like to stay out as much as possible.

The people I meet on the trail are very nice. Almost everyone nods and smiles and a few say "hello" when we meet. Lots of people have dogs (I love dogs!) and I get to meet some of them. That makes it more fun.

Well, enough for now and I hope to see you again soon.