Happy Friday ... Happy Slip

Happy Friday, everybody. In anticipation of the weekend coming up I wanted to share with you a video from my favorite video blogger, Kristine of Happy Slip. This one is called "Mac Beautiful" and featues Kristine singing a love song ... to a computer!

I hope you enjoy this as much as I did. Runtime is just under 3 minutes.

Tarantula Dreams

Do you ever have stress dreams? I do. When I get in a pattern of not getting enough sleep and feeling like I have too much on my plate, sleeping can be quite an adventure for me.

I think it was one night about a week ago when I found myself with an especially active dream life. First there was a dream where I was in a roomful of people. I could tell that another person in the room was about to do something inappropriate and then pass it off as an accident. It was stressing me out. So I determined if he did what I thought he was going to do I would not let it remain a secret but I would call him out by shouting "Hey!" loudly enough for other people to hear thus calling attention to him. Of course he did the thing I was afraid of and I shouted "Hey!" .... And I woke up both myself and Walter. That was at about 3:00 a.m.

I stayed awake for about an hour and then finally fell back to sleep. After a while I had a very long, involved dream. It was like a mystery movie with a complicated plot and there were all kinds of unusual things happening in it. But as dreams go, the settings changed on a whim. At the end of the dream I found myself in my own bedroom. We were just getting up for the day and Walter went into the bathroom. In my dream I woke and sat up. I looked at the comforter and saw something furry and almost boomerang shaped appearing to stand on the comforter. I decided it looked like the leg of large tarantula. Then there were more of them. I didn't see the body, but just several legs.

I wanted to double check what I was seeing so I gave the comforter a shake to see what would happen. Oddly, the tarantula legs disappeared below the comforter as though the comforter passed through them. When the comforter fell back to rest the tarantula legs multiplied quickly covering the bed! Of course I got out of bed right away.

I looked at the walls and the curtains and things started to come to life there too. Suddenly the entire room was alive and the air was filled with creatures like bats. I became hysterical and ran out into the hallway. It was a bit terrifying. But a part of me was composed enough to realize that what I was seeing with my own eyes could not possibly be happening. From the hall right outside the bathroom door (which was open) I cried to Walter "something is wrong, I'm hallucinating!!" His reaction was very calm. And when I looked back into the bedroom the creatures were receding into the walls and the bed from where they came. That's when I woke up for real.

That last dream was so vivid and colorful and real. Yet a bit less scary because I knew in my mind that I was "hallucinating" and those things were not really happening. When I replayed the dream in my head so I could tell it to Walter I wondered if what I saw in that dream might be the kind of thing one sees when having an acid trip. (No I don't do drugs.) Thankfully the scary scene was very short.

I need to get more sleep! :)

The Kindness of ... Doctors??

My mother is fortunate to have really good doctors. They are not just knowledgeable in their respective fields, but also kind and generous people. We had an experience today with one of her doctors that quite frankly blew me away.

Last night Mom called me and mentioned she was having a problem with her right eye. She said it was all red and quite sore. It even hurt to touch. The soreness went all the way down to her cheek and her face is red and hot. My sister Jozi took her shopping yesterday and Mom said Jozi mentioned it even looked a bit swollen. Wow. That didn't sound good to me.

I called the local walk-in clinic near Mom's house to get advice about whether I needed to bring her in today. They told me that they don't really have the equipment or expertise to deal with an eye problem like that. Considering the swelling they said it really couldn't wait and she should be seen right away. They told me I should call her eye doctor's office and listen to the voice mail prompts. Most eye doctors have a way for you to reach an on-call doctor in case of an emergency. She said if they did not give an option of an on-call doctor that I should take her to the emergency room at the hospital.

So I called Mom's eye doctor's office and sure enough there was an emergency option. The recording gave her doctor's cell number and his home phone number. And in case he didn't call back within 10 minutes there was a third number to call for an on-call doctor. I called Dr. Baxter's cell number first and got him on the phone right away.

When I described Mom's condition to him he asked if 11:30 would work for her to come in to his office. Yes, we could do that but I also explained that I live in Seattle and I had to drive to Olympia so I could bring her to the appointment. When I said that I was hoping he might want to make the appointment a little later in the afternoon and that way she could still go to church as she had planned and so could he. I knew from things I've seen in his office that he is a church-going man.

When the doctor realized that I would have to come down from Seattle to bring Mom to his office he offered to go pick her up at her home in Lacey. WOW! I couldn't believe he was making such a generous offer. He set a time of 2:00 to pick her up. I thanked him profusely and called Mom to let her know he was coming. Even Walter couldn't believe there was such a thing as an eye doctor who makes house calls.

Late this afternoon I got a call from Mom to tell me about Dr. Baxter's visit. He told her that until he saw her he didn't know if he would need the equipment in his office to examine her. Once he did a brief exam in her home he knew he didn't need any extra equipment so he didn't need to take her to his office. As I expected his diagnosis was an eye infection.

Dr. Baxter then took her insurance cards to the nearby Fred Meyer Pharmacy where she always has her prescriptions filled and wrote her 3 prescriptions for medications to take care of her eye. He brought the medications back to her house along with the bill from Fred Meyer which she can pay later.

One reason I like to attend Mom's doctor appointments is to facilitate communication. Her hearing is so bad that she generally does not hear the instructions the doctor gives her. After each visit it is my practice to write out the instructions for her. Since I was not there Dr. Baxter wrote out all the instructions and what to do with each medication.

As I said above I am totally blown away that a doctor would take time out of his day to take such good care of my mother in this way even though he was not required to do so. Thank you Dr. Baxter!!

Ride the Bus for Free Today

On my way home on the bus last night I noticed a poster from Metro Transit advertising free rides on Metro today in celebration of Earth Day. What a great idea to let people explore the bus system at their own pace.

I was planning to tell you all about it here today, but I see there is a really nice piece all written up about it over on Seattle Metroblogs. According to their writeup you can also get a free ride today from Community Transit, Everett Transit, Pierce Transit and Sound Transit.

Save the earth - go ride a bus!

Happy Earth Day

Tomorrow is Earth Day folks. It's hard to believe the first Earth Day in 1970 was 37 years ago. It seems like yesterday to me. For those of you too young to remember the first Earth Day (and for anyone who would like a refresher) you can read how it came about here. On the first Earth Day no one knew it would be come an annual event, but I'm glad it did. We need more awareness of our environment and the footprint we leave on it.

Of course Earth Day is popular with environmental activists and others seeking to change laws to protect our great planet. But change also takes each of us individually doing our part. If you would like some ideas for minimizing your ecological footprint check out this article on lighterfootstep.com.

Super Busy Week

Hi everybody. I haven't forgotten to update the blog, I promise. It's just been one of those craaazzy weeks! I should be able to post again in a couple of days.

Are Your Taxes Done?

Did you get your taxes filed yet? We got our returns back from the accountant yesterday all ready to be filed. We have had an accountant prepare our taxes ever since we got married in 1987 so the biggest stress for us is getting the paperwork to the accountant on time. Until this year.

This year it turns out that my mother is required to file taxes so I got to fill out the forms for her. It was a little scary because I haven't done it in a long time. But fortunately I had all the paperwork I needed and I got it done in about an hour and half today.

Many of my friends tell me I should have used TurboTax. Also I notice the IRS is big on electronic filing. For some reason it kind of bugs me that it no longer seems acceptable to just fill out the forms and send them in on paper without intervention of an automated tax program. I didn't feel like I needed a special program, and it makes me a little nervous to let some software program fill it out for me. I don't know, maybe I'll try that next year.

Friday Cuteness

Have you seen this video yet? I call it "a minute and 40 seconds of off the scale adorable." My friend Judy sent me the link and I must admit to having viewed it several times. According to the information on YouTube the video was posted by Cynthia Holmes on March 17th and was taken at the Vancouver Acquarium. Be sure to watch it through to the end where they come back together. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

Spring Has Sprung

Here is a photo of my balcony "garden" taken this morning. As you can see the tulips are in full bloom and the pansies still going strong.

It sure makes for a nicer view than looking at I-5!

Heating Troubles at Mom's

My mother has been having an on-again off-again problem with her heating system. Yesterday we had to call repair people out again because the "fix" from about 10 days ago wasn't really fixed. My friend Sue was kind enough to meet the repairman at Mom's house yesterday afternoon. I was in Olympia getting some dental work done that afternoon so I went over there after my appointment. When I got there the heat was on and everything seemed great.

Sue left about 5:30 and I left about 5:45. At 6pm Mom's heat stopped working ... AGAIN! I called them back yet another time today and my brother-in-law Bill went to visit Mom and meet with the repairman. This time they found a wire that was broken and replaced it.

Thanks to some urging by Sue and Bill the repairmen called their office and got approval to not charge Mom for these visits. She paid over $200 for the first visit which did not solve the problem. No parts were needed for the last couple trips so they agreed it was under a 90 day repair warranty.

I am hopeful this time it will really be "fixed." I'll have to call Mom tonight to make sure.

Mom Goes to the Governor's Mansion

A few weeks ago my mother received an invitation to a special reception at the Governor's Mansion (Executive Mansion) for former Prisoners of War and their widows. Most of you know that my father was a Prisoner of War of the Japanese in the Philippines during World War II where he was forced to participate in the Bataan Death March. He passed away 3 years ago this month. He would have loved the reception which was held yesterday. Walter and I went with Mom.

We first drove to the Washington Department of Veterans Affairs in Olympia and took a group shuttle bus from there. We had to pass through a security gate before approaching the mansion where all our ID's were checked.

The reception was a really nice event. There were hors d'oeuvres and sparkling cider in the dining room. Then they seated all the POW's in a good sized room which was full to overflowing. Some of us "youngsters" needing to stand in the next room. The reception was hosted by First Gentleman Mike Gregoire. They call him "First Mike"! The head of the state VA announced presentations of medals - Purple Hearts and Bronze Stars. Many had received these medals in the mail and never before had a proper presentation. Each medal recipient got their picture taken with First Mike.

Mike Gregoire also read aloud a proclamation by the Governor (who could not be there due to a busy schedule) naming Monday, April 9th, 2007 Former Prisoner of War Recognition Day. He got a little choked up as he read it, feeling honored to have so many former POW's in the room. You can see a copy of the proclamation here.

Mom also home with a lovely certificate of appreciation for Dad's service. It was also nice to see lots of Mom and Dad's old friends there who they knew from the local American Ex-Prisoners of War organization. Some of these people were very helpful to me when planning Dad's funeral.

We were not allowed to take photos inside the event but I got a couple in the foyer and out front. The first one here is Mom entering the mansion and the second one is her standing in front of the stairs just inside the main doors. If you would like to see a few more pics including the grounds as we arrived you can get to the full album by clicking either picture and using the Next and Prev prompts in Webshots.

Leftover Easter Eggs?

I love Easter eggs - the hard-boiled kind. But life gets busy and since I don't have small children and my husband isn't into them as much as I am, it's an easy task to leave off the list. So no Easter eggs for me this year.

But did you make some Easter eggs? They are so fun to decorate and look at in all their pretty colors. We make them for the kids as much as anything, and it's easy to make more than we can reasonably eat in a short period of time.

Today I found a post on Lifehacker that in turn directed me to this page on "The 10 best Things To Do With Leftover Easter Eggs." There are 10 great recipes listed for hard-boiled eggs. They look so yummy I may have to boil up some eggs just so I can try a couple of the recipes. In fact my sister told me she was going to make deviled eggs to go with her ham dinner for Easter and I was so envious. Made me want to get in a car and drive to where she was cooking so I could have some!

The potato salad recipe looks good too (I'm always on the hunt for a good potato salad recipe) and I was intrigued by the idea of hard-boiled eggs inside meatloaf. If you have too many Easter eggs sitting around you might want to take a look.

Happy Easter

Happy Easter everybody! What a great time of year. The days are getting longer and warmer, spring flowers are blooming, and a sense of newness and renewal is in the air.

I am a fan of a female video blogger who does a lot of fun and funny work. Her name is Christine and she has a site called Happy Slip. Sometime I will share some of her entertaining work. But yesterday I noticed she posted something a little more serious. Turns out Christine is a Christian and in honor of Easter she wrote and performed a song called Your Love. Although she does not claim to be an expert in singing or playing the guitar, I think she did a pretty good job.

If Easter has special religious significance to you as it does for me, I think you will enjoy her song on video which I've embedded below. If you click here you can see her post about the song which includes the lyrics.

I wish you a Happy Easter and a special time spent with family and/or friends.

Bizarre Elevator Encounter

Walter and I had a rather strange encounter in the elevator. It was Monday and we were heading out to the car so we could go to Olympia and see my Mom.

We live on the 1st floor of our apartment building and we take an elevator down to the parking garage where our car sits just outside the door. We pushed the button to call the elevator.

When the elevator arrived it was already occupied. A young girl (around 20 I would say) was inside with her bicycle placed diagonally in the elevator so it would fit. I try really hard not to make judgments about people based on their outward appearance. And in this case I didn't at first. The girl had the look of someone you might see on the Ave in the University District. She had a stud piercing below her lip and her hair was tweaked out kind of spiky.

We paused a moment because usually when someone is in the elevator with their bicycle they are getting out on the first floor to ride away on the bike. But this girl was not getting out - apparently she was taking her bike to her car. So Walter and I got into the elevator with the girl and her bicycle.

I sensed immediately that this girl did not really welcome us joining her in the elevator. I think she felt her space was somehow violated. There was enough room for all of us including her bike, but I got the sense she was uneasy. The doors closed and the elevator started downward.

Right away this girl started staring at Walter. It's normal for people to be curious and sometimes they look at Walter because they notice there is something different about his eyes and they wonder why he doesn't make eye contact the way most of us do. A glance is one thing, but staring gets me irritated. It's something they probably wouldn't do to a full-sighted person who would look back at them wondering what was going on.

It is my practice when I see someone staring at Walter or any other handicapped person to stare at the person who is staring. I figure if they think it's acceptable to stare at another human being then they should find it perfectly acceptable to be stared at. So I looked her full in the face. When I did that I noticed that not only was she staring, but she had a sneer on her face. That made me all the more determined to put a stop to this.

I held my gaze and it took several seconds for her to look away from Walter and notice I was staring at her. Once I got her attention I looked into her eyes for a second or two then looked away. I think she was angry that I challenged her in this way. A couple seconds later she looked at me and said "You look like someone who would be in a really gross movie." What?? What does that even mean?? I replied "Oh really?" The elevator doors opened and she started to exit.

She must have sensed I had no idea what she was talking about so she decided to clarify. She said "You'd have to be someone with almost no morals to do something like that." I guess she meant to be in a gross movie. I was dumbstruck and so was Walter. She left and we headed to our car.

Part of me wanted to ask her if she always makes judgments about other people based on how they look without getting to know them. But I knew there was no having a rational discussion with this girl. I think she was angry that I challenged her on being RUDE and she was just trying to say something shocking to get me back. Walter didn't know about the staring thing and figured she was on drugs or something.

It's a sad truth that there are many people in this world who just go around constantly angry with the world. Unfortunately I think this girl may be a resident of our apartment building. I kind of hope not to bump into her again any time soon.

No Thyroid Malignancy

Walter received a call from his mother today and I am happy to report she said they found no malignancy in the biopsy they took on Monday. I was curious to know what it was instead, but Genora told Walter that she didn't fully understand what the specialist was telling her so she is going to find out more when she next visits her regular doctor.

In any case, we are both relieved to learn this lump wasn't cancer.

Nora the Piano-Playing Cat

Have you ever seen a cat who likes to play the piano? Thank you to Colette for sharing this link about Nora the Piano-Playing Cat. When you get to the page scroll down a little and you will see a short video of Nora on YouTube. Very cute!

Thinking of Genora

Walter's mother continues her treatments for breast cancer. She recently started a 6 week course of radiation therapy. I had a nice long chat with her yesterday and am happy to report she is feeling well so far. She has even returned to her job at a department store cosmetics counter 15 hours a week. I was also pleased to notice she was in good and optimistic spirits.

Last week Genora had an MRI and they found something in the area of her thyroid. The doctors are concerned it may be malignant so she is having a biopsy tomorrow morning. We are hoping and praying that the results will be negative for cancer.

Update 4/3/07:
Walter received an email from his mother. She had the biopsy yesterday. She described that it "hurt like everything and more." She won't get the results until the end of the week. Thanks everybody for your prayers and support.

Free Wireless Broadband from Google

This morning I ran across this article on Lifehacker.com about Google offering a new free wireless broadband service. It's called Google TiSP and it looks pretty cool. And of course it's my favorite pricetag - free!

You can go to the Google TiSP home page to get more information. Their press release tells more about it and they even have a "how-to" for installation page and Frequently Asked Questions.

I've got to say it looks like a lot of work went into this. I'm pretty impressed!