Day 2 Day radishes

August 30 /Glue sticks

 Yesterday a daughter wrote on Facebook about how she had taken the school supply list to the store and when it came to the eight glue sticks of a certain brand she was supposed to buy, she could only find six. And that was the end of her trying to buy glue sticks.  She had nineteen people who commented about how a first grader could use 8 glue sticks in a year, or why they should even be buying glue sticks.    She had people write from all eras of her life, and from near and far.   Here are the results.  Half a stick is used on a project, the other half is used on the desk.  Half a stick breaks and is thrown away.   Some kids eat it.  ( I have to say I was fond of glue.  I never stuck my finger in the pot, which right there dates me,  but if I was wiping up, I would like my fingers.)   The most common answer is that first graders do not put the lid on and the stick dries up.   This skill apparently is not learned through the eighth grade.  

Another daughter said that for two kids she had spent $100.00  per child on school supplies which included a ream of paper.  However, some years her boys bring home two sticks of glue at the end of the year.  

This is the guy who only has 6 glue sticks. 

August 27

 My daughter NoName left a message, that I needed to take a picture where the utensils were tidy.  As luck would have it, I purchased new  drawer organizers yesterday and here they are.  But what is the point in leaving things too perfect? I do not want her to think I've had a change of personality.      
 

August 26 Ordinary

http://www.livestream.com/tedxkc/video?clipId=pla_ee7b7e83-9020-44f8-9c4f-e06e3b414c3c&utm_source=lsplayer&utm_medium=ui-comment-icon&utm_campaign=tedxkc&utm_content=tedxkc
 

Here is a link which really spoke to me.  It is technically  very poor in that I could not hear it.  But it is good enough that I have listened do it three times.  It is a talk by Dr. Brene Brent who has been studying such things as shame, vulnerability and Joy.   I am in a period of pondering creativity.  What should one expect from oneself. . .  it is getting late in life's game, . . blah, blah, blah.  At the end she talks about Honoring the Ordinary.  I said to myself, this I can do.   You probably can do it too.    

August 25/ Meredith carries the POSITIVE flag

My daughter, Meredith has been looking for work for three months.  Her last job gave her a three month "furlough" which did not work out for her, as she needed money.   She made a job out of looking for work.  She kept her day care girls and she looked full time for a job.  She hired a coach, she did a lot of research into companies and where she wanted to work.  But the big thing she did was stay positive. She kept the mantra that if one thing did not work out, it was because something better was waiting for her.  

She picked one company that she had researched and eventually contact was made.  She had four interviews for one job and everyone was pleased with her.  She did not get the job.  However there was another position that she should interview. The interviewer was a woman and said that she had been looking for a strong woman that would build relationships with clients, and she thought Meredith was the person.   Then Meredith received an e-mail from the recruiter saying that she did not get the job. Meredith almost faltered.  Her nerves were at the edge.  But even that same day was a note from the Expedia Recruiter that she should apply if she were available.  She chose to remain positive. 

Yesterday Meredith had a job offer by a firm that sells electronic signatures.  She had two short interviews. One a phone and one in person.  The employer had seen her working at business shows.  He said, "I have seen your work, and seen how professional you are.  I am glad to have you as an employee."

. 

In January I chose  the word POSITIVE for my word of the year.  I truly have worked at this, but I am a flake. She gets to carry the POSITIVE flag.  

 

August 24/ Random messes

One of the things that happens when you start taking photographs, your eye learns what makes a composition.  I look at something and say , Oh, that is a very interest layout.  You start to see beauty in many more things. 

Yesterday I cleaned one of my utensil drawers.  I dumped the whole drawer onto the counter.  I looked down at this random mess and saw a mess that was visually interesting.  I took a few pictures.  Cleaning that drawer then became a happier experience.   

I am not sure that this will work with my walk in pantry.  But one of the games I play with cleaning up a very dirty kitchen, I take a picture of the mess at its worst, and then look at it when the kitchen is all done. I give myself all kinds of accolades for that sort of thing.     

August 22/ Church

I did make it to church today. But in truth I have a indifferent attitude towards church at the moment.  It is not that I do not want to go to church, it is that I do not want to go to my church.  But I love the people, it is close, it has a Eucharist,  the people are my community, and I usually find one moment when God speaks directly to moi.  This moment of God speaking to me is rarely from the sermon.    Usually it is a conversation where an angel speaks to me, or I know that I was placed there to speak to someone else.  

Today however, the sermon spoke to me.   The readings were of making the Sabbath holy and it being a day of rest.  It was about how six days of the week we have our secular work. Mr. Radish says this does not apply to us because we don"t work.   Sorry, dishes and laundry count.   Surfing does not.  Our society is so fast that either we use Sunday for fun or we use it as a catch-up day.  I am of the age that I  remember stores being closed on Sundays. The adults said things would go to rack and ruin, and it seems they might be correct.  Because I am a Christian, I will give this topic of rest and holy more thought, and  when next Sunday comes around, I will be more cheerful driving to church.  But say you are not a Christian, still does it not seem like a good thing to let your mind and body rest for a day or an afternoon? You could try to be like the Dutch Americans of years past.   Sunday afternoon was for sex and an afternoon nap.  That is what all those little garden signs of Dutch boys and girls kissing each other were all about.  It meant don' go there Sunday afternoons.    

 This church is in Rosslin, Washington and it is in the town where Northern Exposure was filmed.   

August 21/At the airport

 Thursday, Mr. Radish and I took our grandchildren to the airport.  We were there the required 2 hours before take off.  This was good, because it took every minute of the time to get them on the plane.Parking was an issue.    If you have see the movie UP IN THE AIR with George Clooney, that is how many hours the children's father flies.  The father is in the Elite club.  One would think, with the proper verification, that we could use the Elite line which had no one in line and one agent standing there full time.  No we had to go to Special Services, which I thought was the military line.  There was "soooooo much to do" for unaccompanied miners.   

There was one agent in the Special Services line and she was so pissed by the Russian group ahead of us and their ticketing that she went to the back room and never came back. The Russians took 30 minutes, but off they went satisfied. Another woman who seems competent takes over the station.    In front of us was a woman and a baby and a port a crib and suitcase and a cell phone.  She had cash to pay for the baggage, but the airline does not take cash.  So the young woman called all over the eastern United States for a family member who would let her use their credit card.   Accomplished.

  In fact there is very little to do for unaccompanied minors.  Wrist bands  and telephone numbers.  

The plane is nearly fully loaded when we get to the gate. The agent tells the children to go and sit down as he personally has  to take them on the plane.  He is dealing with the standbys.  Eventually I go up and remind him that the children have to board.  Oh, yes. There is a look in his eye like their seats may be taken.  Off the kids go.  The doors are closed and the ramp is removed  from the plane.   

As we are in charge of the minors, we not only are charged to wait until the doors of the plane close, we must wait until the plane  is airborne.  Suddenly, the Russians come running from the bar to the gate.  The very Russians who took all the time in line.  The agent is arguing with the Russians that their seats are taken and the plane has left the gate.  Then two women, mother and daughter perhaps, chatting and hand sewing, who were seated very close to us and the counter, stand up and  go up to counter, and are shocked to find their same plane has left.  This is beyond me.  

The above photo was taken in Jacksonville, but I still like the picture.   

August 18/ Iphone jive

Today I went to get my new and anticipated iphone4. I had synced my old phone as requested.  A young jivie man synced the new phone, disconnected the old phone and said, "You are ready to go". I asked if he thought we should try it out.  No,  every thing will be fine.  Just sync it when you get home. He was confident and couldn't get us out the door fast enough.  I was a little flustered and did not insist.   As it turned out, he had turned off Mr. Radish's phone, my old phone, and the new one can not use it's number.   Tomorrow is take the Kids to the airport day, and it is a little complicated, as they are minors.  We could use at least one cell phone.  I guess we will do it the old fashioned way and keep an eye on each other,
  and pray that we do not have to contact a parent.  .  

August 17/ Last days

Here is a photo that we took as we dropped off Calligan, in yellow.  The other two are Things two and three.  

Obama is arriving in Seattle today to help out Patty Murphy for her Senate race.  Washington has to be the only state that is still in love with Obama.   Seattle will not mind the shut down that happened in LA yesterday for the purpose of Obama campaigning.   

I still have my ballot and will drop it off at the local county office.  

My vote for freedom.   

Thursday the children will fly away.   It will be pretty quiet.  Parchessi I will not miss.