Left Behind

Doc left for a week in Cozumel yesterday and instead of taking me along this time, I got bumped by her boyfriend, Matt. She left me with this duty.... decorating the entrance trees with "easter eggs"...... Whoop-de-doo! !

Must be Spring!

They finally decided to splurge and wash our school busses this week....Last year they were washed weekly - this year they haven't been washed since before Thanksgiving. We lined all 85 of them up for their spring bath and the "fluids" man drove around on his little motorized cart to check the liquid levels before the large wash-mobile truck appeared on the lot. After the showers it looked like a brand new car lot!

Weekend Fun in Buffalo

The trip to Buffalo gets a little shorter each time I drive it....(except for the trip home at midnite last night in the fog....ouch-:) Saturday was spent watching Delaney perform as a cheerleader (check out the video at ejdar.blogspot.com)for a basketball tournament and watching Elliott tear around the upper level race track. He not only walks now he also says "Grandma"! Sunday featured babysitting and making faces with Elliott while Ryan and Ann attended a formal "Oscars" dinner party. Jillian, Delaney and I looked for them on TV on the Red Carpet, and Delaney thought she saw her Dad!!!!!!!(George Clooney?) They also thought Laura Linney was their Mom ! I think Mom looked much prettier than Laura Linney did.....

One of My Favs.....

Watched this movie tonight .....one of the best love stories I've ever seen. I think the role of the husband should be the one up for an Oscar as much as Julie Christie. Steadfast, self-sacrificing...every woman should be so lucky to have that kind of love from her man.

HeatWave

OK...so it got above zero today... and Richie decided it was time to break out the Grill...

yesterday all I heard from him was "OMG it's 31 below in FARGO!... you'd better call home and see if everyone is alright!"... complete wuss - - -

Pretty Good Huh?

This was my Valentine's Day card from my Richie. Is he trying to tell me something?? Guess the mushy cards must end after the 1st yr. of marriage ....

Hey Mom LOOK!

at what I saw on my route yesterday morning...right when I grabbed the camera, the 3 of them started to fly away...you'd a thunk I was 5 years old again, in the middle of the backseat of the Old Red Nash automobile somewhere down on a gravel road outside of Breckenridge with Dad hollarin' "Grab your gun Jimmer and shoot 'em".... knowing that meant Sheri and I were next up to hop out, walk the corn field and bring in the hunt so Dad could ring their necks and throw them in the trunk. All this makes me hungry for an warm orange Nesbitt's and an ice cream drumstick! P.S..... and no, I was not driving at the time... at a complete stop as the law requires in front of the railroad tracks :-) P.S.S.... OK the pheasant is flying away just to the left of the cross arm post! can't help it I'm a horrible photographer...

Why Are We So Different (2)

This is my sewing room... my favorite room in the house. As the door sign says, My Room. Everything neat and in it's place. I could spend everyday in here. Richie was a great help in making it my sanctuary. He too however, has a room of his own in the house.... the other picture shows his sanctuary style. I'm not allowed to re-arrange anything, re-organize anything or even touch anything... I get to have the rest of the house the way I want it... but this room is off limits to me... that's the rules he says. Probably a good thing we're different in this area huh?

A Good Son-in-Law....

In January of 2007, we started to re-paint and re-decorate my sewing room. I wanted white trim and bead board. This meant Richie needed something unknown to him..."tools". I excitedly bought 3 different styles of trim for the room. He bought an $8.00 plastic miter box with attached saw.... hummmmm....I had doubts. After much strife, a box of bandaids and a few choice swear words, six weeks later the room was mostly done. However, the upper trim was beveled....hence no matter how hard he tried, Richie could not get the corners mitered. We took trips to Home Depot for help, trips to Lowes to check out other saws and finally a cold, late night trip to my Dad's favorite place... "Sears". Here a young teenager took the time to explain to Richard he needed a "different" kind of saw...which we purchased. Still no results other than his frustration, saying the room was just going to have to go without trim. Then in December for his birthday and Christmas, he received several gift certificates to Sears and last weekend.... Voila ! A compound-miter saw was purchased.. nice and shiny red.. once again with instructions from a nice young man on how to make the cuts we needed. So yesterday, the saw came out of the box, the white trim was dug out from the garage where it had been for a year. My excitedness for a finished room returned.... only to have him re-appear from the basement saying "we have to make another trip to Home Depot... I still can't figure it out". "WHAT????" So off we were for yet another lesson from yet another patient young man. Finally, today at 4:30 SUCCESS! ! The trim was up! From the looks of this picture, Richie now needs a tool bench....... don't you agree?

And You Thought I Was Kidding.....

when I said I'm handed a route sheet saying "take Judith Drive".... SERIOUSLY..... this is the actual street sign of an intersection I pulled up to this morning.

For you Dad....

Who needs a bus garage? Ya plug it in...and then keep the Bobcat parked right in front, in case you have to plow your way to get to the plug...that's how they were waiting for the storm at Holy Family Catholic High School in Victoria this morning when I unloaded... reminded me of the olden days :-)

What Changes....

Why is it when the kindergartners see the big orange bus coming down the street they continue to sit atop the snow mountain they are playing on and give you that "deer in your headlights" kinda look? You slowly roll up to their stop...one car behind you, a garbage truck heading towards you a block ahead. The kindergartners are still staring at you...then Mom appears in the doorway screaming "Johnny! The bus is here! Go get on it"... and off they go running--- but not towards the bus, back towards the house where Mommy is yelling because they can't hear what she's saying... and she grabs them and starts them back off towards the bus...now 3 cars stopped behind you and the garbage truck stopped in front of you... but all of a sudden they need one more kiss-kiss --- and she pushes them off again and then you know what starts? The WADDLE..... no longer can they run like they did back to the house.... they're bundled up... heavy boots, snowpants, snow jacket, big mittens, face mask, hood up over that...scarf around the neck and heavy backpack dragging them down. You've now sat with your flashing lights on, door open a full 2 minutes... the people behind start to rev their engines, the garbage truck driver is ready to pounce and up the steps they come...and you think "whew"... but forget what comes next.. .the big search for the perfect seat which they can barely get into because of the large sized backpack attached....finally, you can close the door and let the traffic through hoping the garbage man doesn't flip you the bird since you've now made him late on his route. During your next route, you see a different kind of loading scenario...it's junior high kids...all crowded together at the stop, all acting out, hyper from sugar breakfasts, and some pushing the others out onto the street in front of the bus. When you crawl up they all rush the door, pushing the front runners into the glass so you can't even open the door to let them onboard.... they all rush in cluster-style to the BACK of the bus... no problem in finding a seat for those folks. When you get to school, they're all standing before you can even pull up to a stop...anxious to get in the building to see what Katelyn calls the "low-down on what's up?". Then you do your final route of the morning...it's high schoolers and indeed you see another completely different scenario. They don't stand in groups...if there is more than one at a stop they stand aside... solo status... completely zoned out in their headphones... or cell phone conversations. When you crawl up they're glaring at you... almost blaming you that they have to ride your bus rather than have a car of their own to get to school. They're also cranky cuz "Driver, can't you see I'm freezing standing out here cuz I don't have a coat on and I'm not wearing any socks either?" They too have no problem finding a seat...its the one right on top of the rear heaters. There's no chatter on this bus. Modern day technology has ended that.. no need for the bus radio on either. I count as they deboard the bus...23 riders, 21 of them with headphones on or texting or talking on their phones. One of them verbally thanks me for the ride. I wonder to myself...what happened to making friends on the bus? What happened to playing in the snow before I got onboard? and What? Kissing my mom goodbye?

Ponderings...

I like to drive.. not sure why...I'm asked how I like the 3-1/2 hr trip back home all alone...honestly, I love the free-time. Do I listen to the radio? Not ususally... I process..... process, process, process. So today, I'm on the road again for a quick trip up to my little booth at the Nickel Antique Barn. Deep in thought about people involved in conflicts....wondering why it happens so often. Why more of us can't be peacemakers...compromisers...cuz in the long run, time usually softens the problem and heals the wound. I think of a former co-worker in a large staff I worked with. It was a challenge for all of us to get along with her. But, I discovered the secret....my closest colleague at that time was one of the counselors. She sought to enlighten me about trying to understand people's behavior and I remember her lessons on predicting people's behavior based on their needs... everyone has them, only in different orders. Some peoples #1 needs are love and belonging ones...some people's are safety and security...there are about five basic needs she described. One of the more common ones you see in the workforce are a person with "power" needs. There it was.... this co-worker continually wore her power crown! Once I realized this and just handed her "the power" everytime I need something done by her, we got along famously...I encouraged her to tell me how she thought it should be done even though the outcome was the way I brought it in to her....after awhile, she would make my requests a priority...all because I just let her feel she was the one in the room with all the power and control. Then one day she had a quote posted on her counter which has stuck with me ....probably because deep within it hit a nerve. Simply stated .... "it's easy to be an angel when no one ruffles your feathers"... how fitting I thought! Of course, the key here is to learn to live your life being an angel even when someone ruffles your feathers....I certainly haven't mastered it, but the quote always comes to mind when I'm in conflict with another. So today, as I'm processing conflict in my mind I drive by a church just outside of Delano and just have to laugh outloud at the quote I see on the sign closest to the highway.... "Aggravation introduces you to yourself"..... how true is that ? The perfect conclusion to the discussion I was having with myself.

What the ???

So last night, realizing there was nothing good on TV, I decided to channel surf while watching the Gopher/Souix Hockey game and find a movie on one of the Channels I never watch. I came across the movie "A Lot Like Love" with Ashton Kucher and Amanda Peet.... I liked the movie but laugh as I see the car they drive on their dates... it's an old rusted out station wagon....a cross between my sister Sheri's old gray stationwagon and my boss Scott Dirk's old burgandy stationwagon... both being driven back in the 80's.....only the one in the movie is kinda a medium blue with lots of rust on it. Then today, I'm cruising 70 mph down the new Hwy 312 and what comes buzzing by me cruising at least 80 ???? I did a double take... was this a dream still from the movie ? Could that be Ashton himself behind the wheel? Have you ever had an experience like that where you see something on TV that sorta sticks out in your mind and then all of a sudden the very next day there it is in real life right next to you?

The Good Part of Being Different

OK... so my hubby must be reading my blog since when I got home late from clinic the other night he had been painting :-) ..... and since he didn't have a mid-day route on Friday and hadn't seen me all week, said he'd take me to lunch at my favorite place... the General Store in Minnetonka. Since we differ on what time "lunch" is (he eats lunch at 10:30 am since he's been up since 1:30 am and I eat lunch somewhere between 12:30 and 1:00 pm -- a constant conflict for us on weekends) we compromised for lunch at 11:30. One thing I struggle with is things taking me much longer than I anticipate...hence, I'm often late to things. But not Richie... this is where our being different is good for me, cuz he does his best to try to get me to see this about myself, which most times I balk at. His idea of getting somewhere is being 15 minutes early... which drives me nuts....my idea of being somewhere is walking in right in the nick of time or ... yeah, I admit 5 mn late. This is why on route days, even though we BOTH have to be at the bus garage at the exact same time...we drive separate cars:-)....how dumb is that you say ????? Well, it saves an argument...He's usually standing at the door fully dressed for the outdoors and I'm still in the living room vacuuming. We're supposed to report in at 2... and be up at the Middle School parked in our pick-up spot shortly thereafter as school dismisses at 2:25. Well, in my mind.. why sit in a cold bus and wait for 25 mn???? So I drive into the lot about 2:05, find my route and my bus and get up to the school about 2:15 or 2:20.... and Richie ??? well, let's just say that on Friday after lunch I was even a tad early on my way to the bus garage at 1:55 and as I drove by the Middle School on the way... there was Richie in his bus already pulling up to the school 30 mn before they even dismissed... I just had to laugh...he's always the perfect employee --- and when the boss is worried cuz I'm not onsite yet, guess who they call? Yup, they call him asking if he knows where his wife is... poor guy. So, I guess it's good that he's different than me....when we do go somewhere together he always makes sure we have plenty of time. If you're down in the Cities, head west down Highway 7 about 5mn off 494...You'll find the General Store... a great little country styled gift shop and eating establishment....one of my favorites!