25 Things You Might Not Know About Me

I challenge you to try this--it isn't easy to come up with 25 things about you, period, let alone 25 things others might not know--here goes:

1.  When my mother took me to school on the first day and left, I hid in the closet and wouldn't come out.  They had to send for my dad to come and get me and take me home.
2.  I have absolutely no artistic ability when it comes to crafts, drawing, painting, etc!!
3.  I hate to sew
4.  I started piano and clarinet lessons in the 3rd grade, and continued through my 2nd year of college!
5.  I am a slow reader.
6.  When I was a young child, we moved to La Grande.  Everyone thought my sister and I were twins because mom cut our hair the same and dressed us the same.  She made all of our clothes alike but in different colors.  I was usually green, and Jackie was blue.  We did look alike and were about the same size, although she was 20 months older than I and 2 grades ahead of me in school
7.  I am a fainter.  I used to faint when I got a shot, cut myself badly or got too tired.  I'm better now, but can't guarantee I won't faint!
8.  For years, I had a collection of personally autographed movie star's pictures.  I entered my collection in hobby fairs and won blue ribbons.  I had everyone: Rock Hudson, Marilyn Monroe, Jimmy Dean, Doris Day, --all of the old greats.  I left my collection in my mom's basement when I went to college; the basement flooded (we lived at the foot of the mountain, far from a river of anykind), and my collection was destroyed.
9.  I used to save $2 bills.  I had about 200 bills saved when I got married.  Ron and I used them to get a little used car.  I still love $2 bills!
10. When I was 6, my sister got the measles.  So, my mom took my baby sister and I to get a measles shot.  The problem was, I already had them, but they hadn't "come out", so I was twice as sick.  I had to spend 2 weeks in a dark room, with the door shut because I was contagious.  Only my dad and mom came in to see me and care for me during those 2 weeks.
11.  When I was in high school, President Dwight D Eisenhower shook my hand and handed me a signed ticket worth one free milkshake.  I was in the high school band, and we were at the Spokane Lilic Festival.  I loved milkshakes, so I spent it!  What a foolish thing to do--have regreted it my whole life.
12.  When  I was in HS, I was cooking for 200 firefighters in our restaurant when I spilled hot grease on my whole left hand.  It created a big blister, and was very painful.  But, I was the only cook there, so I had to finish my job!  What an ordeal that was.
13.  I was co-editor of the HS yearbook, class of 1958, with my now husband, Ron.
14. I once helped my dad unbury glass jars containing money from the basement of our house.  We dug up $25,000, which he used to buy a downtown building.  He didn't trust banks because he had been affected by poverty during the Great Depression!
15.  I was one of only 3 girls in the University of Oregon Concert Band in 1960.
16.  I won a music scholarship to U of O, but turned it down to major in accounting.
17.  I shook John F Kennedy and Jackie Kennedys' hands when they gave a campaign stop and speech at Eastern Oregon State College.
18. I was invited to tour Europe with a symphony orchestra, but declined because The Berlin Wall was scheduled to come down.  I didn't want to be in Europe if there was going to be another war!
19.  I almost didn't graduated from college because Biology was a required course, and I wasn't going to cut up any dead animals!!  Ron rescued me and became my lab partner.  He did the cutting,
20.  I am a family history buff, and started my original research as a newly-wed working on my Golden Gleaner Award.
21. I spent 20 hours this week reading microfilms in search of my 17th Century ancestors in England
22. I have had 14 surgeries, which includes 5 C-secions.
23.  I won a State Recognition Presidential Award for Outstanding Achievement in the Field of Mathematics.  My reward was a T-shirt and $700, which I used to buy my first computer.
24.  I used to play in the orchestra for the musicals presented at BMCC.  I loved doing it--played for such plays as South Pacific, Fiddler on the Roof, Brigadoon, Grease, and the presentations of The Messiah, and many more.
25.  I sat and ate dinner within 20 feet of President Spencer W Kimball when I attended a Genealogy Conference at BYU. 

Now you post 25 things I don't know about you!!

Cooking Class

Someone at church talked me into giving some cooking lessons.  So, I sent out a "feeler" to see if there was any interest and listed some categories.  I had 14 people express an interest in Quick and Easy Meals and Easy Ways to Save Time and Money in preparing those meals.  So, Tuesday night I had the first class, and 17 people came!  I was excited to see so many there.  I made a 16 page booklet for everyone, and it contained ideas, easy one-dish meals, and easy desserts.  I also included a page on What Can I Do With White Sauce? 

I began by talking about having the right tools to make cooking easier.  I focused on knives and a good sharpener.  As you can see, I talked about good kettles, storage containers, cooking salt and pepper shakers, Johnny Salt and a good cutting board. 

I asked for someone to help me, and we each made a white sauce.  She turned hers into egg sauce, and I turned mine into Chicken Mushroom Soup.  That was fun and "amazing".

  I had made some of the desserts to sample, and after talking about them, we all ate them.  Everyone liked that!  Above, you can see Banana Split Cake, Tuti Fruiti Pudding or Pie, Chinese Noodle Treats and 60 year old cake!  They were all a hit, and the recipes were in their booklet.

Here we see Creamy Tacos, Frito Pie, Add Anything Dish and Spam Loaf.  We made the egg sauce for the Spam Loaf.  Everyone liked all of the dishes, and everyone was surprised at the Spam loaf being so good!

Of course, I fixed a pot of My Favorite Vegetable Soup in the Crock Pot!  It was a big hit. 

Sorry, I didn't get a picture of everyone eating, but I was kind of busy answering questions, etc.  There was very little food left.  All in all, it was a fun evening and I had fun preparing!  They asked me to do more classes, and I agreed to do one in June, but probably wait until fall to do others. And, they LOVED the recipe book!

Take Me Out To The Ballgame

Saturday--Beautiful Weather, Not too hot or too cold--Wonderful, Modern Ball Park

This great day found us in Baker City watching Trampis blay baseball.  Ontario JV against Baker City JV.  He had several really good hits.

And off he goes. . .

He played catcher the entire first game.

All in all, it was a great way to spend the afternoon!   Good job, Trampis!

By the way, they won the first game and lost the second.  Trampis played 3rd base for 5 innings and catcher for 2 innings the second game.

Simple Pleasures

Today I decided to blog some miscellaneous tidbits, since I don't lead a real exciting life.  Well, some days are exciting, but everyone already blogged about branding, so that's out.  So, I'll just entertain you with some fun things from the last few days.  The picture above is Ella.  She came to visit and claimed I had no pictures of her on my camera.  So, she took a picture of herself!  Well, she's wrong, too, because I have several hundred pictures of sweet Ella.  But it's always fun to have another one!
The picture above Ella is supposed to be next (can't figure out what's going on this time with the blog. .  )  Anyway, we were all in the kitchen eating after branding, when someone looked out the window and saw a coyote!  He played around quite a long time, so we all got a good look at him--that was a fun addition to the day!  The picture above the coyote is my empty living room and dining room.  In August, 2009, I bought a carpet shampooer.  Before it arrived, I had an inflamed syatic nerve, followed by back surgery--you all know the story--Well, Monday I decided I felt good enough to put it to use.   My carpets were driving me crazy and needed shampooed.  So, I decided to just do the two rooms, so I wouldn't overdo it.  The machine was easy to use, and the floors look great!  I am very encouraged and excited about doing the rest of the carpets.  However, I have to wait a day or so in order for the two I did to COMPLETELY dry!!

What happened?  The picture loaded right!  Anyway, Kres gave me this funky candle holder for Mother's Day.  So, I turned it into a vase, and I think it looks really nice.  I needed something for the new TV stand.  So, here's the look.  I love the stand and the look.  Fun, but simple!

Here's the whole view.

That's enough excitement for one day!

I love everyone's blogs, so keep up the good work, and I'll try harder to do better next time!

Sweet Marianne

Our ward had a talent show, and since the talented people didn't sign up (except for a few), 90% of the acts were done by "non performers".   Ron was one of the "non performers" in a group called "Those 50's guys!"  (Doyle Slayter, Tom Trotter, Ron Waite and Mark Pilling)

They lip sang to "Marianne" by the Hilltoppers.  Each one proposed to Marianne (sitting in the chair).  Here Doyle Slayter sings to her while Tom Trotter and Ron Waite look on!

This is Tom singing to her, and he actually ended by giving her a kiss on the cheek!

I thought Ron did the best job of looking like a guy from the 50's!

His part was:

"When we marry, we will have a time you never saw

I will be so happy, I'll kiss my Mother-in Law--HOOEY

Children by the dozens in and out the bamboo hut,

One for every palm tree and cok-y-nut!"

ANYWAY, it was kind of fun, and I was proud of him for agreeing to do it!

Lots of Work--Lots of fun!

March has been a busy month.  I went to Boise March 6 to stay with Ky while Clay was in Florida on a military assignment.  It was a lot of work, as I helped Ky with the kids and some of her organizational goals!  But, most of all, it was a lot of fun.  I love being with my grandkids--all of them, and I was fortunate to be able to spend lots of time with Kres and Beckham, and some time with Trey, too. 

I wrote a story for Kres about us, my animal friends, and hats.  Ollie Elf was a main character, too.  Here is one of the pictures from the book.

Here we are after Ollie switched our hats!

I went to preschool with Kres and Ella (his cousin), and read the story to the class.  They all loved it!

Kres loves to build things.  So, I took my blocks and spent a lot of time playing blocks with him. Beckham joined in the fun, too.

Like I said, he loves to build things, and here he is with another creation.

Trey came over, and helped build with blocks, too.  After they built the towers, they played "block bowling"--can you guess what that was?

Trey also helped Ron put together some shelving for Ky's garage.  They both worked hard to get the job done!  Thanks, Trey!

Beckham's Aunt Amber decided he would be an adorable little girl--so she gave him a St. Patty green ribbon for his hair!  Beckham is very tolorent of everything, so he just went along with it!  (and he is adorable--boy or girl!)

Everytime I put my walking shoes on, Kres, wanted to "tie" them.  It was fascinating watching him weave those laces until not an inch was loose.  I think he has the idea, but it took Trey and I about 10 minutes to "untie" my shoes! 

Let me tell you, those "ties" were a work of art!

All good things must come to an end, and Kres hates it when anyone leaves.  He loves his cousins!
Well, it was nice to be have something really worthwhile to do, so I enjoyed my time in Boise.  Thanks Ky, Kres and Beckham for a fun 3 weeks!  And, thanks, Trey for coming to visit and help us out.

THIS IS FOR THE BIRDS!

Every winter Ron enjoys feeding and watching the birds.  I have to admit, I love them, too.  This is one of the perks of country living!  Last weekend, Kres and Beckham came to visit and helped Grandpa feed the birds:

Kres spreads the seed in the driveway--a whole bag full while Grandpa and Beckham supervise. . .

That done, he spreads it out nice and even, and inspects it for quality : )

Next step--stand back and watch what the birds do:

They start by watching from the trees--

As soon as everyone is out of sight, the birds gather.  The red-winged blackbirds are the larger ones.   They are really pretty when they fly!  The smaller gray ones are wrens.  They eat, then fly into the trees, then back to eat some more.  It is fun to watch their ritual.

After the blackbirds eat awhile, the doves arrive.  They are a much larger bird., but fun to watch.  They are usually followed by the quail,   It was getting too dark to get a picture of the quail.

Anyway, I love to watch the birds and it's another fun thing for the kids when they come to grandma's house!

BUT THAT'S NOT ALL WE DO . . .

We enjoyed watching Beckham crawling and trying to walk. . .

...and his new pattycake skill...

Kresimir and I had fun decorating a Valentine tree! 

I'm happy to say--the birds and grandkids brought a lot of joy into our llives this weekend!