KARAOKE NIGHT!!

There is a standard fun night with our friends at the ARC, it is Karaoke night. It's interesting in that the participants prefer to be singing along with their favorite songs, NOT doing the singing with only back-up music. So everyone brings in their CD's instead of using the standard Karoke recordings. A few of them know the lyrics and really do sing, but then for the majority of them, there are some mumbled verses until the chorus, at which time they give it their all!

For Kathleen, there is her standard - It's A Small World. She knows all the words and holds the tune really well as she quickly sings a capella. The sameness of it just fits well with her Autism, I suppose.

Then there is her boyfriend, Jeff. (I call them Jefferson and Katarina.) He almost always sings along to John Denver's Country Roads, but tonight he came with something entirely new, he sang Da Do Run Run... not certain whose version it is, perhaps Shawn Cassidy?? But Jeff doesn't realize he's not got the lyrics quite right, he keeps singing incorrectly, "Da Do rah rah rah, Da do rah rah." *I* am not going to point this out to him.

That's actually the cool thing about the ARC, all the friends there just accept everyone and all they do, whether it is done incorrectly, or half-way.... it is the attempt that is encouraged, any and all accomplishments are valid and applauded. It shows how well the Special Olympics Oath, which is recited at the opening of each Special Olympics venue, fits the participants -

"Let me win. But if I cannot win, let me be brave in the attempt."


Okay, back to our show: Gloria almost always sings Edeweiss, also a capella. But this week she had a CD and sang her other favorite, Neil Diamond's Sweet Caroline.

We had a wonderful surprise in Xochi's performance, she got up and 'sang' and danced. Xochi (say Tsochee) can't speak at all, she just makes little sounds to us, sometimes loudly, and you try to get from her emotions and hand gestures just what she is trying to communicate. It is clear she understands most everything, and is excited to share something, but it just doesn't leave her brain to be communicated to us. She knows some sign language, but rarely uses it.
And as she is Mexican, her English may not be so great anyway. But she enthusiastically tries everything! And tonight was no exception. She brought some Latin song and sang along, and DANCED with it! It was so cute to watch, her shaking her hips and moving around. I'd never heard the song before and there weren't actually a lot of words, but she howled a great deal of the time, loudly! It was clearly a favorite and she knew it well, and totally enjoyed performing.



Becky likes to perform, and she is another one who cannot talk really, but she has this speaking machine - if she touches pictures of various things and activities, the machine turns it into speech. She carries it around but really doesn't use it much with us. But she DOES love to dance, that is a common phrase she will express on her machine, "I want to dance!" Her dancing usually is leaning and jabbing her elbows - basically her upper body looks like a speed skater - and Trevor (an enthusiastic ARC employee) got down with her tonight and they danced a bit in PERFECT synchronization - it was SO fun to watch!

A karoake night wouldn't be complete with out one of Poco's heartfelt songs, he is SERIOUS about his singing! He brings intensity and emotion to just about anything, and this time it was Aerosmith's I Don't Want to Miss a Thing... he knows the tune, all the words, and all the moves and facial expressions that make it his own. He also went up at the end to finish things out, but with one of his classic made-up songs... he just starts singing, making up the tune and lyrics as he goes. Usually it is something about how much he loves us all, loves the ARC, how great everyone is there. They finally had to put time limits on his crooning, he would just go on and on if we let him.

And then finally , the evening ended with everyone singing along to the Bieber's "Baby." I don't know any of the words and never recognize it until the chorus, but everyone ELSE knew it, jumping up and singing and dancing. I considered putting in a little vid of it the man himself singing his famous song, but then thought better - whoever reads this would then be destined to hum ALL DAY, "Baby, baby, baby, Oooh like, Baby, baby baby...... "

(Oh great, that was a mistake. ;c)

Bring on the heat!

Today was a movie day with part of my posse, and yesterday some of us went to the movies as well. When it starts getting hot, we do a lot of mall trolling or movies, the A/C being the big draw.

(Chris, Kris and Kraig last year when we took the train to Chase Field)

So yesterday it was the new Pirates movie with Kris (his birthday celebration) and Kraig and Chris. Yep, me and the boys this time, they are all friends. It was a fun day, and started off with a few laughs.

Chris asked us, "So where does a one-legged waitress work?"

IHOP

"And what is her name?"

Eileen.

Chris brought his album he's compiled from being on the committee to restore a train engine at a park in downtown Mesa... he is passionate about trains. If they can raise enough money, they'll totally restore the engine that kids have been climbing on for decades, and move it hopefully to a better spot in the park in time for it's centennial next year.

Today we saw Kung Fu Panda 2, it was just Kraig and Jenny. We then ate a late lunch at On The Border and Kraig had never been there... our usual fare is Taco Bell. But I knew Kraig liked the FIRE sauce on his tacos, so I challenged him to eat the slice of jalapeno that was on his plate. And he DID! He just popped it in, and then smiled and said, "Okay, that's not so bad." But then after about 2 seconds a surprised look popped into his eyes and he realized the kick! I told him to eat chips and drink water, and it got better; He definitely got some heat!

"Okay, Kraig, you were a trooper with that one. How about I buy you a cone at McDonalds after we leave here?

He blew his nose and wiped a little tear away, "Yeah, that would be great."

Arm and Leg

Okay, I just spent $60 filling my car's empty tank!! I always let it get right down to below empty, driving around on fumes, which irks Reeder no end. This time I'm pretty sure the car was gulping in appreciation as the petrol started pouring in. Yet all I could hear was Ka-CHING, Ka CHING, Ka-CHING....
I just really hate shelling out the cash to fill the tank. (Oh, did you know that in Oregon it is illegal to pump your own gas?? That cracked me up) But drive we must, and I drive a lot for my job, a lot of freeway cruising up the 60 heading towards Tempe or into Mesa. (We are on the easternmost fringe of Mesa) I've decided to copy Aubrey and slow down a little to 65, to save gas. (okay, slow down a LOT to 65, who'm I kidding.) So cars are just zipping on past me, they do NOT like me disrupting their commute by being in FRONT of them. Sometimes they get right behind me and I swear there are mental daggers flying from them, that I MUST move over. If I were in the fast lane I would understand their frustration; BTDT. (Once I was in the fast lane late at night when there was little traffic, and had a bully come up behind me, close on my bumper. I HATE that. I've been known to slow down in protest so that the desparate driver is forced to go around. But this time I was sticking at about 73, and this guy is NOT interested in going around, even tho the freeway is totally empty of cars. No, instead he turns on these big white lights!! It is a cop! Boy, I moved over quickly, and was grateful the lights weren't flashing red and blue. But then I was mad that a COP was basically doing the bullying thing. He wasn't hurrying to get anywhere, he exited a few miles up.
Arizona says Slower Traffic move right, and I know what a person doing 65 in the far left lane does to traffic during a busy day, when people want to go faster. He is actually making it LESS safe by forcing his agenda. (And let's face it, there are times we need to hurry. If I got a call that my father-in-law was at a hospital in Phoenix with a cardiac arrest, you can bet I would risk a ticket and go well over 65... I'm just sayin'.)
I REALLY want a hydrogen car, but they are few and far between, and no place to refuel. Maybe when the prices come down and they've worked out the kinks, we'll get an electric car... but then where do you plug it in? OH, and the funniest thing - SRP, our local ELECTRIC company, does NOT have anywhere for employees to plug in their electric cars, should they have one. I found that so utterly ironic.

So I'm slowing down to save a little money, maybe even a lot. If I plan ahead and leave a few minutes earlier, I won't notice any change in my routine.
Ha ha ha, who am I kidding? I NEVER leave early enough.

Outings with the ARC

Saturday my posse and I joined the ARC of Tempe in a bowling tournament put on at the AMF alley in Tempe. These lanes are not too far from the ARC's Rec center, so we go there most of the time when we bowl. They are generous and give discounts for our population, so we go there for our Special Olympics (say Speshulympics) practices, leading up to the state competition every fall. That is a noisy, crowded event, held over 2 days and attended by teams from towns all over Arizona. Recently they did pare down the competitions to regional events so there are limited towns with whom each ARC or town competes. I appreciate how streamlined the last tournament was.

Today's little competetion was a unique one not having anything to do with Special Olympics, but just something for random fun. It was put together by the Knights of Pythias. I'd never heard of them before, but the local chapter has a soft spot for the ARC. Their Tempe leader, Joe Emery, had a daughter with a congenital problem, and the ARC helped the family get a needed bed and hospice care before the child died.
So Joe talked with his fellow Knights and they've decided they'll run this little tournament each year for us. After our games were done, we went to their hall for a pizza dinner, put on by the Pythian Sisters (their wives?) I learned from the local president, Keith Almand, that the Knights of Pythias is the oldest chartered fraternal organization in the US. Lincoln felt that its promotion would help heal a broken nation during the Civil War. http://www.pythias.org/about/pythstory.html



They also gave out a medal to each bowler. Beth got 'Best follow-through' and grinned as she went up to get her medal. Jenny SHRIEKED in delight when she won 'Happiest Bowler.' I could hear Jeff muttering a bit as he went up for his medal. But it wasn't until afterwards I understood.



"Congratulations on getting 'Best Tenth Frame', Jeff"



"OH, that's what it was? I thought they said 'Best Tenth Grader' and I couldn't figure out why they cared about my 10th grade of high school!" (that's him above with his girlfriend, Kathleen.)

The ARC has plenty of other supporters in the various service groups in the community - The Rotary Club puts on a wonderful Christmas party on the first Saturday of each December, with a bag of gifts (nice things like DVDs, or team apparel for their fave sports team,) and a big pizza party after Santa comes and gives them each their gift.

The participants are all adults and too big to sit on his lap, but they sit next to him on the couch and he chats with each a minute before handing them their gift bag. And then we get to eat pizza. It is a VERY popular event and the 'kids' look forward to it each Christmas.

That's Jenny with Santa, she LOVES getting any gift.

Another regular supporter is Best Buddies, who have a chapter each year at ASU and they arrange Sat morning bowling, dances and other activities.... and usually more pizza. (You can see now why I never send out for pizza for our family. ;c) Another group from ASU who puts on activities with the ARC is Alpha Kappa Psi. In fact, many of the employees at the ARC over the years have started as volunteers from the university who come to love the group and stay on to work.

The ARC has always also gotten support from various businesses in and around Tempe.
In the past we've enjoyed food donations from just about all the grocery stores in the area; For several years our annual fundraiser, The Greatest Human Race (a walk around the pond at Kiwanis park in Tempe,) has had hot dogs and all the trimmings donated by Safeway, and our sodas were provided by Kalil (not to be confused with Kal-el, son of Jor-el.)

The Knights of Columbus sponsor a camp each year up in Flagstaff, that's another popular outing, because it involves sleeping away from home. They get to canoe, fish, roast hot dogs and make s'mores. (The hot dog being the ARC's other staple food.)

So you can see why I like my job, it's full of fun folks and plenty of interesting things to do; I've been to every museum in the area, more than once. I have attended Greek, Japanese, Hawaiian, Irish, Scottish, and Latin Cultural events; If there is a festival somewhere in town, we've all piled into the vans and found it, including Halloween festivals, the annual Peach Festival, and even the Ostrich Festival, where we got to watch the Ostriches race, as well as some squealing little piglets - Beth and Robert got to be cheerleaders for that one. Then there are the state and county fairs, where we get to sample the current fried phenoms... you know what they are; Deep Fried Twinkies, Snickers bars or just the ordinary corn dogs.
I'm sure over the last decade of coming with the ARC to the fairs, I've eaten my weight in Navajo Tacos and Funnel cake. I hear now on the County Fair circuit you can find Chicken Fried bacon (on the requisite stick,) as well as Deep Fried Butter. ---->
Huh?? Okay, some things even *I* won't try. But maybe next time we'll hunt down the Deep Fried Peaches n Cream. Stops your heart just reading about it all, doesn't it?!

Disney and Pixar

I just read a fairly interesting article about Pixar and a presumed idea that the major theme of their movies is the humanizing of the non-humans, giving them trials and lonliness and love, turning them into persons. The discussion that followed was equally passionate, I was surprised at how deeply people read into the characters and themes of these entertaining movies. And here is a great little video tribute to Pixar, to remind you why you like their movies.
Pixar tribute


And then there's Disney - On Tuesday I saw a pretty cool movie, African Cats. It was done by DisneyNature and has spectacular African vistas and remarkable footage of several families of various cats living in the wild in Kenya. I highly recommend it.



But I have this love/hate relationship with the Disney corporation. As a kid, I watched Annette and Cubby and all those in the Mickey Mouse club, singing "M-I-C... see ya real soon.." And I LOVED watching Disney every Sunday night... Walt was like a friendly uncle visiting us each weekend and sharing these cool stories via TV. He was a visionary guy with Disneyland and then Epcot. And obviously his cartooning was cutting edge and he moved that medium along in such a wonderful way. All his movies were pretty great, everyone has fond memories of various Disney films they recall from their childhood.


But then there is the Disney corporation that it all has turned into. It is way different than Uncle Walt envisioned, and his heirs have fought over creative rights over the decades as it has evolved. When Michael Eisner took the helm, he too hosted Sunday night programs, but Uncle Michael just wasn't the same as Uncle Walt. His job was to make money for the stockholders and this he did. He revamped the way they made movies and got the merchandizing machine really revved up. They figured out the ka-ching of the sequel, making parts 2 and 3 and sending them straight to video much of the time. Disney is basically the end-all, be-all when it comes to merchandizing their characters, in every corner of the world.
My beef is twofold: First, with the way they've twisted even historical figures and turned them into something they weren't. Take Pocahontas, for instance. She was a real person, a GIRL who played games with the English boys and brought in provisions which helped save the English visitors' lives. But Disney's movie in '95 shows this voluptuous young woman, promoting the MYTH that she and John Smith were perhaps lovers. And then that image of her gets promoted in all the merchandizing that follows. And what about Princess Jasmine? Would an Emir really let his daughter run around in skimpy attire like that? Even as she was courted by Aladdin and other suitors, she'd have been quite covered.






Second: As a mother of young girls, I was made aware of the sexifying of the clothes for sale in Walmart after Hunchback of Notre Dame came. Images - really sexy ones - were on shirts and dresses for little girls. Is this really what we want our daughters to aspire to when they are 6 years old!!

So the merchandizing will continue and parents will just keep buying all the videos Disney cares to put out, and all the little plastic toys and such that make them so much money. It is all about making money, that's what runs it all. They aren't about teaching us anything, nor making the world a better place... their motives are purely monetary. And they are slowly working at being more PC as well. (It took until last year to make a move about a black princess.) The overall Lesbian/Gay/Queer population are hoping they'll have a movie about a girl who grows up and falls in love with a Princess, not a Prince.... but you can go read about that on someone else's blog, I won't touch that one here at all! I'll just sit and watch Peter Pan with Jemma. We have TWO copies of that one here!

CPR Saves Lives

Today was my annual CPR class, combined with First Aid, which doesn't have to be done but every 3 years. I don't know why Guthrie (the agency I bill through) insists on yearly CPR, but they do. They make it easy and cheap, so I shouldn't complain. I also got my fingerprints done last week, that's also mandatory for this type of work.
Being a Respite provider is a pretty easy job to qualify for - you simply need to be breathing, and not a felon! Then you can work. You do need a car for much of it, but not if you go work at a center. There are great places for this population to hang out at all day - some of the places are like jobs for them, where they make dog biscuits to sell out in the community. Or another work program has them separating out paper for recycling - some of it sensitive material they don't want to just throw into the bin. Beth does that, and gets paid only pennies an hour, but that is commensurate with her turtle-like pace. She can never be hurried, she just plugs along at her own speed. But she's sitting with her friends, and they eat lunch together and laugh and talk the whole time. So it is better than her sitting all day watching TV. It's good she has a purpose to her days and a reason to be up and out somewhere.

There is other training the state mandates, something called Article 9. In it we learn the laws regarding how to treat these disable people. Like, I am not allowed to force anyone to do anything, and I can't coerce them into doing something they don't want to do. There are strict rules about their meds - I can't even put Neosporin on a scrape. I am not allowed to give them any OTC med unless their family has specifically asked me to. I can't lock them in a room, nor drag them out, unless there is a real safety issue. I'm not really remembering much of it, I guess I DO need the class again!
CPR has gotten more streamlined than in years past. Before, we had to remember specific rates of breaths / chest compressions, and it varied from infant to child to adult. Now it's much more simple and basically you do 2 rescue breaths, then 30 chest compressions, then 2 more breaths... keep repeating until 1) a true health professional arrives on the scene; 2) You are exhausted and just can't go on. 3)the person is reviving, at which point you put them into the Recovery position; I've never had a circumstance where I've even witnessed CPR nor the need for it, not on a human, anyway.

I did, however, once do CPR on our cat. Yes, Ashes, our Siamese cat.
25 years ago we had a nice cat named Ashley, loved by the girls and tolerated by Reeder, who's never really been much of a cat person. The cat was quirky, I think most Siamese are, but certainly an interesting guy who talked to us all the time as if he honestly believed you could understand his mewing.

So one night he got into a bad fight with another cat, and ended up with a big gash over his eye, which required stitches. I think he even had that humiliating cone thingy, he had to wear that for several days while the cut healed. Then it was back to the vet for the removal of the stitches.

Now, when they were first working on his injured eye, they of course gave him an anesthetic whilst they sewed up his cut. But when removing said stitches, well, it is quick and fairly easy for even the most ornery pet, so the vet doesn't administer any pain-killers for that. The plan is that Nurse Debbie holds the wriggly angry cat still, and the doc quickly takes out the stitches over the eye. But Ashley was having none of it and suddenly became possessed by some feral ancestor, who turned and BIT nurse Debbie on her hand. Hard. And he wouldn't let go, not for anything. They pulled, and tried to pry his mouth open, but Ashes was clamped down good and tight, he was MAD, I tell ya! And Debbie was screaming in pain, and Brenda and I just watched dumbly.
So the doc did what he felt he had to do, he choked the cat till he passed out! Seriously, he really did! And Ashley went limp and they could get her hand free. Doc took nurse Debbie back to the sink to see what the damage was, and Brenda and I were left staring at the 'dead' cat laying on the cold, chrome table. Very still. Not breathing.
And I'm not really grieving him, I'm thinking of all the dopey things this weird cat has done - like he kept peeing in the planters we had around the house, as if they were all just very convenient kitty litter stations! And he LOVED chewing on sweaters and had recently chewed several holes in this really cool sweater I'd just bought - I hadn't even cleaned it yet, it was brand new!! He once dragged frozen fish off the kitchen counter (thawing while we were out somewhere,) and it took us TWO days to finally find him and his fish stash up in a bedroom closet. UPSTAIRS! He'd dragged that heavy package of fish all the way up to the second floor!!

So these are my thoughts as I'm staring at the still cat. But then I hear Brenda next to me, crying. Sobbing, even. Her kitty is basically dead in front of her eyes; I HAD to do something.

So I performed kitty CPR. I leaned over and shook his chest a little, then cupping my hands around his mouth and nose, I blew into it gently. Nothing changed, so I did it again, and this time his little chest rose. Just then the Vet comes back and I explain what I've done, and he gives me this look like it was the most ludicrous thing he'd ever heard of (and I was thinking it was the most NATURAL instinct to try it.) So he shakes Ashes and can see he is again breathing and quite alive. Passed out and not moving, but he's NOT dead. So doc tells me to just take him home and we'll see how he does, that he will probably sleep this off and hopefully be okay the next day.

As we drove home with our limp kitty cradled in Brenda's lap, I flat-out tell her that if he isn't normal, if we now have a brain-damaged cat... well, we aren't keeping him. And she was so happy and grateful, she didn't really catch the blunt cruelty of what I'd just blurted out.

So Ashes slept it off, never budged the whole night. And the next day he was back to normal, albeit a bit quiet, not his usual chatty self. But he recovered and seemed to have no ill effects from his near-death experience.

I suppose he had used up some of his 9 lives that day, perhaps even 8 of them. Because a few months later he accidentally died in an unfortunate mishap with our automatic garage door. On Brenda's birthday, even. And sadly, we weren't there to save him this time. RIP, Ashley.

Going to the birds

I was worried when we moved to Arizona from Massachusetts, there'd be too few birds - after all, our house was sitting against the woods and we were simply surrounded by trees. But there ARE plenty of birds here. We frequently see hummingbirds, and I've had one out in a tree YELLING at me once when I was out doing something in the yard... I had no idea they even made noise!

The pigeons love our pool, we have a waterfall and a beach entry, both perfect for bathing. Sadly, also perfect for pooping, or so the birds think. So we've occasionally put out a plastic owl to scare away visitors. Too often they think of it as a tall, stiff friend and find him fine company to come hang out with. (I am not the only one who thinks of the pigeons as flying rats - dirty, vermin-ridden, and leaving their droppings everywhere.)

We've seen quail run through, they're always so funny to watch. My friend got to observe a family of them in her yard, with papa heading a line of TINY fuzz-balls all in formation behind him, and mama taking up the rear. They tried to get them to maneuver around the yard, up steps, etc. When the sliding door was opened quietly for a closer peek, the parents knew immediately and shooed their babies into a bush, then flew up on the fence to shout and scare off the humans. It worked, my friends were kind and went back inside.

I find the noisy Grackles here in the yard all the time, they are hysterical to watch. They strut around, and stretch their beaks up to the sky, and they also often wash their food in the pool before eating. I think there must be a nest in a nearby tree because they'll sit up and scream at me as I attempt gardening, etc, out in the yard. They fly from tree to fence to roof, perching and yelling at me.

We've also seen an occasional road-runner come thru, but I've never heard it go beep-beep and have yet to see a pile of bird seed with an anvil hanging above it. I guess Wile E Coyote doesn't frequent these parts, at least not my yard.

YES, we have no bananas!

I have a pretty pitiful garden, and yet I keep trying to get things out of it. This time of year we seem to be racing against the heat; it's too hot to put anything new into the ground and I worry everything out there will just FRY in a month or two. The Romaine is gone already... I'll put some more seeds out late fall and it'll grow thru the winter. My two attempts at potatoes failed... once from a late frost and the second one was just too old a potato, the eyes weren't green at all. And just today my nose discovered a bag of 3 potatoes in the pantry that I must have left for future planting. (I swear it smelled like a critter had crawled in and DIED in there.)
I have some squash going, and some cucumber plants which haven't blossomed yet. The crookneck squash look like they'll be ready to harvest in a week or two.
I have garlic out there, I planted some cloves and lo and behold, they GREW! I don't know what to do next, like how do I know when to dig up the bulbs?
I have red onions from last year all crowded together. They just came back all by themselves, and their bulb isn't round and fat like we'd like, it's shaped straight, like a gargantuan green onion... only red. Do I let them keep growing and HOPE they get fatter? I dunno. They've already flowered and I cut off the flowers before they went to seed. I guess I'll try to harvest some. They taste fine, even tho they aren't the usual shape.
So see what I mean? I can seed and get things to grow, but I don't really know always what to do later with it all. My usual emotion is pure surprise when I go out and things aren't dead.
Luckily, much of the time the garden senses my inadequacies and just takes care of itself. Case in point: A head of Romaine sprung up over under the lemon tree on the other side of the yard, so a seed must have fallen there when Jemma and I planted them way back when. I made sure it got watered and we harvested for salad, truly a freebie! I have green onions that just keep coming back, tho their bulbs are non-existant and they are a poor excuse for onions, but make great green chives. A green pepper plant sprung up in a big flower pot, so I've transplanted it to the garden and it seems to be thriving - hopefully giving us peppers later in the summer. Oh, and I have a dozen or so small basil plants, I guess it truly went to seed last year and now we have a LOT of basil - I need to cut some to dry. Anyone need basil?
My triumph thus far is a tomato plant that is going gang-busters with small roma tomatoes.
I finally gave a dozen away to the neighbors, we won't eat them all. Reeder wants me to make sauce or something, but there isn't quite enough to go to that trouble. There are no blossoms, however, so I've fed it again and am hopeful we'll have more soon, before the real heat comes on.

And there are sweet onions that Nichole shared (You buy them in a fat bunch and can NEVER plant them all, so you can share with your friends.) They are taking their time, but still growing. They are next to an Aloe 'forest', chubby huge plants all jammed together. If anyone wants aloe, just let me know, I've got tons. I'll have to find recipes for these that I have a plethora of: tomatoes, basil, onions. I guess I should also have planted Spaghetti Squash!

Friday Night Dance

I work every Saturday and most Friday nights.... well, my friends laugh at that since what I do is more like play, so the word 'work' is probably a real stretch. Tonight's tough job was the monthly dance in Tempe... a VERY popular venue for the mentally challenged (adult) population.
Tonight's theme was Alice in Wonderland, to loosely go along with the fact it is Friday the 13th. Last month it was St Patrick's day (I've never seen so much green in one room in my LIFE!!)
My car was full of excited party-goers: Kraig, David, and John and Wendy (they are married and live around the corner. They are not clients; I just offered, and so they come along now to the dances. ) In the photo are Kraig and the girl Veronica who is his almost girlfriend at these dances; Aaron, I think; and then David on the far right.)
We first stopped to eat at CC's Pizza and then on to the Pyle Center, which is actually the senior center in Tempe and where we get to have events 2 Fridays each month. These dances are well-attended, with the area's group homes arriving by the vanloads. The music starts up at 6:30 while the eager dancers stand in line, pulling out $4 at the table before going into the hall, which has a tiny stage, several long tables with chairs, and then plenty of room for dancing. Many will only sit at the tables sipping punch or soda, eating cookies, trying to speak over the music. The LOUD music. And as loud as it is, there are a few who prefer to stand right in front of the speakers, dancing or rocking, the WHOLE TIME.
I stay out in the large 'foyer'/sitting area, which leads back to a gym, pool tables and classrooms and meeting rooms. I'll brave the noise and stick my head in once to check on my dancers and grab an oreo, then take up a vigil on the couch to read or do some beading.
And I'm visited for over 2 hours by my many friends.... I'm now a listening ear and they come and sit and just talk and talk... which is why I bring something like beading, I rarely get much reading done.
Tonight's cast of characters included Poco and Joselle, who've been a couple for a few years now. They both have Down Syndrome and work at grocery stores bagging and collecting the carts. There's Robert who is hanging around on the couches with me, moping because I didn't bring in HIS girlfriend, my usual Beth who I drive around 3 times most weeks.
And Ursula Rooney, who bent my ear much of the time; she's a couple of years younger than I am and we've been friends for 10 years, and she is a real talker! Happy, chipper, upbeat and just gab, gab, gab. She shows me her new bracelet or earrings her mom brought back from some trip somewhere, and she always has clothes to match the holiday.
Poco wants me to know how sad he is because his friend and co-worker, Deon Austin, was shot and killed just over a week ago, somewhere in Phoenix near his home. They worked together at Poco's second job, at a hospital. The funeral was Saturday, and Poco was talking about seeing Deon in the casket. He didn't cry at the funeral, but then when he got home he just really cried and cried.
Joselle sat next to him, sort of grimacing in back pain. It seems this week while she was gathering baskets in the parking lot at the grocery store, an old woman backed her car right into Joselle. "And Robin, I was wearing the orange vest! And she just hit me in my back and I fell forward onto my knees." They took her by ambulance to the hospital for some x-rays and she insisted she was okay, but I could tell she wasn't her usual bubbly self, sitting out much of the dancing.
Ursula sat on the arm of the couch nearest me. She's 52, she has a son who is married and lives in Colorado (he was raised by his grandparents.) And tonight she is talking quickly about her upcoming (July) trip out to Cincinnati to vacation with one of her sisters. She got an Easter card from her, but not from her other siblings. "So how many sisters do you have?"
"Four of them. And 7 brothers."
"Your mother had 12 kids?!"
"Well, actually, 13. One of my brothers died when he was a baby. My brother and sister were watching him in his crib out in the yard and he just died!"
"Oh, that's sad. Wait, your mom that I met... she had 13 children?"
"Oh, no, that's my step mother. My real mom died when we were moving from New York to Kansas City. She and my dad went to buy a house and she just dropped dead in the airport."
Ursula talks fast and she told me a lot more, but the story that will really stick with me was an event that occurred when she was in 1st grade. She was mainstreamed, attending regular classes with her siblings - this would have been about 1964 in Long Island, NY, prior to the special Ed classes available now. For some reason the teacher was fed up with her and told her she needed to leave.
"She didn't like me, she told me to go home, I couldn't stay in her class. So I went out and sat in the hallway. But she came out and said, NO, I had to leave! But I was only in 1st grade, I needed to wait for my brothers and sisters, to walk home with them. So I went outside and sat on the steps to wait. "
"But then they came out and said I couldn't sit there, either, so I had to leave, I had to go home. So I started walking. But I think I turned right when I should have turned left, I didn't know how to get home; I'd always walked with my brothers and sisters!"
So Ursula just walked and walked, through that town and on to another one. In that second town a woman saw her and thought it strange that this 6 yr old was on her own just walking alone like that, and called the police. They finally located her mother.
"I mean, why did they do that, I was just a KID!! They shouldn't have just made me leave like that!"

Aren't they just all so fascinating and fun! It's a tough job, but someone's got to do it! ;c)

More Power

What was it Tim the Toolman Taylor always said, "More Power, more power, grunt grunt"?

Last night I got to flex my muscles and wield a power drill! (thanks for the loaner, Nichole!) I had to put holes into the underside of Jim's dresser drawer which had come apart and was jammed in his dresser, stuck there for a couple of days until I finally figured out how to extricate it and repair it.

That is what I like to do, I solve the problems. I fix the broken things, I put up shelves. At least this time I didn't need to buy new parts; When our large kitchen drawer guides got bent over time, I had to replace them, running to Home Depot several times to get the correct parts. I was afraid I was in over my head on that one when I couldn't seem to find the correct sliders, but then I figured out I could saw them to fit. I don't mind doggedly keeping at it, it's a matter of principal to me that if it is fixable, my brain can figure out how to do it.

I learned that lesson back when we lived in St Louis and my friend Corky and I started a wallpapering business and began going to various homes to hang LOTS of wallpaper. We came to learn that no matter how strange the job, we could figure out a way to get it done. I told her my friend's sister in Buffalo NY wanted this camera job at the local news station. She told them she could totally handle a camera, then went home and borrowed her brother-in-law's big camera and practiced carrying it around on her shoulder, and he gave her pointers... and the next morning she knew enough to land the job. I like that, taking on the challenge (and time,) to figure out the solution.

Not Reeder. His way is to find a guy. There's gotta be a guy. It doesn't matter that the guy will charge us cash we just don't have, we need to call a guy. When our big tree needed trimming, I was all for hauling our the big ladder and climbing up there with a saw, but Reeder just wouldn't hear of it. (okay, they do also take all the branches and debris off to the dump for you, I suppose THAT is worth the $400 they charge.)

Some of my fun challenges: This past year I figured out what was wrong with our ice maker and got it working. the year before that, I FINALLY figured out why our garage door opener sticks every winter; and the year before that, I took apart our old crib for Aubrey and ordered the parts to get it working again. Well, ALMOST working properly, it'll need more work when the next baby comes in July. (You can't buy that kind of crib any more, with the sliding rail side, and the girls really want to keep it in the family.)

Oh, I REALLY wanted to have our pots hanging over our island in our kitchen, but didn't want to buy an expensive ready-made rack. I considered making a cool one with wood and pipes like my friend Tommy made for Cathy. But then I decided it would be cool to have some wrought Iron gate or chunk of fence up there, but didn't want to go hunting thru the metal junk yards in Phoenix to find just the right one. By accident, I found the perfect solution, a black iron 'welcome mat' at Bed, Bath and Beyond. I only had to figure out how to hang the HEAVY thing. So for days my brain worked on it, picturing the hooks and chains it would require. I bought some black chain and hooks, and got out the ladder - I didn't want to be standing on the island. It took a while figuring out where the studs were in the ceiling, but then I drilled a few holes (okay, a LOT of holes were drilled, but I covered them up, so don't tell Reeder.) It took hanging on the ladder, leaning in just so, arms up and getting VERY tired as I drilled and screwed. Then I guesstimated the length of chain I'd need for the 4 hooks, and where they would hook into the curly metal on the rack. And then I had to lift up that heavy rack... I think I stacked some things up on the island so I could lay the rack on them as I lifted each corner to be hooked. Finally it was all hooked up, and I stood back to see the final product. ;c( It wasn't level! It hung there askew, and as I analyzed what I'd done wrong, Reeder came out of his cave into the kitchen.

"Oh, it's not up there straight. You haven't got all the corner chains the same length, I can fix this." So he climbs right up on the ladder and rehangs the offending corner. Just at that moment, Danielle comes in from school. Jim goes back to the office, and as we are admiring the perfectly hung pot rack I feel compelled to say something to Danielle.

"You have to know, your dad did NOT hang this rack! I did it, I've been working on it for hours here and he just strolled through and helped for like 3 minutes worth!"

She assured me, "Mom, don't worry. I've known Dad my whole life; I KNOW you did this yourself." Made my day.

Genesis

Here starts my new venture into the blogging world - an interesting form of journaling and editorializing which I doubt will be read by anyone but a daughter or two, feigning interest with some half-hearted kudos; "Yay, Ma, you finally decided to actually write something!"
I haven't any wild mustangs or calfnuts or expansive prairie like http://thepioneerwoman.com/ , nor have I transplanted the family to Samoa and hum to snails like my friend Sarah. http://lovetheislands.blogspot.com
I will most likely share a recipe, gripe about the heat when it gets unbearable, and brag about the grandkids when I have really cute pics to share. If it gets too boring, I can take to collecting lawn gnomes or porcelain dolls, just sos we can keep the conversation going. (And if it really stays boring, we'll move to Samoa or Borneo or the Yukon so I have something clever to say here.)
So thanks for tuning in!