Ron is having his CT scan on Wednesday.  I am a whole lot more anxious this time because he is still getting sick when he eats.  The doctor gave him something to take before meals but it hasn't helped at all and over the past few weeks it has gotten much worse.  He has pain, nausea, dizziness, and now he's having sweats followed by chills.  All this lasts for about 2 hours after eating and he has to ly down and go to sleep in order to get over it.  He still has a huge bulge on his left side and that is where the pain begins.  When he showed the doctor the bulge (6 months ago) he just said, "Well, you'll never have the same body you had before the surgery." 
That didn't make sense to me.  What the heck is the bulge?  Ron won't get the results of the test until Oct. 8th.  He finally told me he's scared.  I know that he just has that feeling that something is really wrong.  I'm holding my breath!

Building Walls or Re-writing History?

I love technology though I'm not particularly savy on all its uses and still fight my tendency to feel intimidated yet I recognize that with this new age of communication comes responsibility.  I'm amazed every day by the emails I receive from naive friends who somehow follow the philosophy that it is written therefore it must be so.  Yesterday I received a link to David Barton's religious tour of congress.  It amazes me that someone can take text out of context and interpret it to meet his own agenda and everyone takes it as holy gospel!  Fear seems to be the driving force.  Are we just terrified of anything that is different?  Or is all of this just politically motivated?  I mean Jefferson, Adams, and any other political figure of the day wrote for the times in which they were living.  Can't we consider the need to do the same.  This is a different world and my guess is that if these historical figures were alive today their tone would reflect our present world.  I, for one, would be eager to listen to what they would have to say.  

Extremism of any kind is a very dangerous thing.

Whose got YOUR number?

Since I have no grand children I can only relay the stories of my daughter's kindergarten students.  Each year I get a whole new batch of stories and when I hear them I know it's these moments that keep teachers in the classroom. (It sure isn't the pay)

One of Julie's kindergarten boys was misbehaving and ignoring her warnings to stop when she finally told him she would be calling his mother.  He looked shocked and then said, "You don't know her number."  

To his surprise Julie answered, "Yes, I have your mother's phone number, she gave it to me at Parent/Teacher night."  

The little boy burst into tears sobbing, "If'd I'd have known that I'd have acted better."

Gee........wouldn't we all?

Sight Seeing at Home

Yesterday I went to Pop's in Arcadia Oklahoma, home of the world's largest Pop bottle.  Great food.....on Route 66.  They have every conceivable kind of soda pop you can think imagine.  I couldn't resist getting a six pack of Rat Bastard Root Beer!  I can think of a few "Rat Bastards" to give it to starting with my ex-hubbie!



Then we went down the road a 1/2 mile to see the Round Barn.  I can't remember when it was built but it was in the 1800's I believe.  It has been restored and now has a gift shop in the bottom and the loft above is rented out for receptions and parties.  Pretty cool!   All this and it was only a short trip up the highway yet I'd never seen either one.  Fun way to spend a Sunday afternoon!

Round Barn in Arcadia OK on Route 66

Arkansas Patti recently got me to thinking about some of the colorful jobs I have had over the years.  When I was a teenager my dad's pawn shop was located next door to a temporary employment agency.  Every time they had some off the wall temp. job that no one in their right mind wanted....guess who was called in to do it?  Yep...that would be me.  My dad volunteered me for all the bazaar jobs.  I guess I actually started working at around age 12.  I was the neighborhood babysitter and by the time I was 15 I was taking care of kids for an entire weekend while the parents were out of town.  Someone must have thought I was a responsible kid or they were desperate for a break. 

At 16 I was given my first job assignment.  I was to count cars on designated street corners.  I didn't have a driver's license at the time so my mother would take me to my assigned corner (around 6:30 a.m.) where I would stand and count how many cars turned left, how many turned right and how many went straight.  I would be out there until 9:00 a.m. and then return to do the count around 4:30 - 6:30 p.m. 

Now, besides being a mind numbing boring job it was also a little dark that early in the morning.  My mother didn't like leaving me alone on the street corner so she would continue to circle the block keeping an eye on me.  Every time she circled the block I counted her.  That explains the exuberant number of street lights installations that year.

My next temp. job was as a receptionist for a medical office.  I was only filling in for a day and all I was to do was answer the phone and schedule appointments.  I might have been called back if I hadn't scheduled appointments for Saturday and Sunday.

The next job I had I was now 17 and I got this job on my own without the aide of the temp. agency.  I went to work on the night shift at a fishing lure manufacturing company.  I worked alone in the office typing up shipping orders for the next day.  There were about 300 employees and the majority of them were women.  There were the "Dotters", the women who painted the white pupil on the eye of the fish.  All night long they painted the white dot as the fish went by on a conveyor belt. 

Then there were the "hookers".  They put the hooks on the lures and bragged about how they could "hook" over a 1,000 a night.  Often there were fights breaking out on the line between the dotters and the hookers.  I was just so young I adopted the "be seen and not heard" philosophy.  There were some tough women at this place. 

One night an angry gun toting ex-husband showed up about 2:00 a.m. looking for his ex-wife, one of the "hookers".  Seems he thought there was more to her job than fishing hooks.  I climbed under my desk and waited.  I was absolutely terrified.  By the time the police showed up and finally got the ex-hubbie to surrender I had already filled out my notice that I would not be returning!

Working as a teenager was the best preparation for life I could have received.  It was also a great inspiration to stay in school lest I be a hooker and hooking 1,000's a night.  No sir........Not for me!

I woke up this morning about 3:15 and found myself unable to sleep so I started watching television.  The Michael J. Fox special on "The Life of an Incurable Optimist" was on and so I watched.  It was interesting to see that in some ways optimists and pessimists are pre-disposed but that environment can play a part in molding that pre-disposition.  I've always known that I am an optimist.  It is the way I look at the world.  I guess I've also had a slight smugness in  thinking that "my way" of seeing the world is slightly better than "the other way."  That maybe us "optimists" are just happier people all the way around.  What I learned this morning is that the pessimist's brain is wired to think of the worse case scenario in order to better cope.  It gives them the necessary time to plan and prepare which helps them cope with the fear.  They are more productive when they can plan for the worse.  Us optimists on the other hand become less productive when we are hit with "fearful scenarios".  Good thing we are just naturally oblivious I guess.  Pessimists need an opportunity to rehearse for the bad stuff.......whereas  I see that as a waste of good energy.  I'll deal with the bad stuff "if" and "when" it happens and not one minute before.  Pessimists just call that denial.  I call it preserving my energy......and frankly I'm pretty happy just being oblivious to the possibility of everything going wrong!

and then............

OK, I'm just not sure where to begin anymore.  Do I start at the end and work my way back?  Or do I just pick up where I left off?  Here is the Reader's Digest version of the past few days.  

I dog sat
Saw a movie
Opened & closed my eyes on cue a few times.
Worked

Ummmmmmmmmmmm that's about it!

Since my vacation in July I have really been bitten by the travel bug. I have been trying to entice my daughters and their husbands into joining me on a trip to Beaver's Bend.

  Now who wouldn't want to come stay in this cabin in the woods?  It just looks so homey and inviting.
 

 I can just see myself sitting in front of a warm fire (in November) and enjoying the serenity and peacefulness......hmmmmm now why am I wanting my family to go with me?


There will be a Folk Festival & Craft Show the weekend I want to go.  Turn of the Century craft demonstrations, folk music, fall foliage!!!!    I really want to hear "Charlie Buehling & the Skirtlifters".   So........grab your banjos and meet me in Broken Bow, Oklahoma.  I think it would be a knee slappin good time!