Olympic Mish-Mash

It's time to play everybody's favorite game: "What's Bouncing Around in Tami's Head?"  There seems to be a sports theme these days.

We've been watching the Olympics nearly every night.  Love the gymnastics and track/field events, but I'll watch diving, equestrian, whatever's on - except volleyball.  I draw the line at volleyball.  In the words of a dear lady who suffered through watching many, many matches with me, "Hell is an eternal volleyball tournament."

And speaking of track and field, which we kinda were, the men's high-jump finals will be held this afternoon.  Three of the finalists - Jamie Nieto, Jessie Williams and K-State student Erik Kynard -  are from the U.S. and all three are coached by the same man, Kansas State University Head Track Coach Cliff Rovelto.  Go Cats!  Now if we could just get NBC to devote as much coverage to high jump as they do to Misty May-Treanor's beach wardrobe.

And in the spirit of the games, I and eight friends and family members are participating in the Sister Olympics.  (You can get all the details here.  There's still time to join us.)  Here's my progress so far:

• Dash:  Walk at 4 mph (or your top speed) for 5 minutes 
• Marathon:  Walk 5 miles at any speed you want.
• Javelin: Play catch with baseball/softball for minimum of 15 minutes.
• High Jump:  Jump rope for 5 minutes 
• Basketball:  Make (not just shoot, MAKE) 20 free throws.  
• Rowing:  10 minutes on rowing machine or actual row boat.
• Cycling:  Ride 10 miles (real bike or stationary) 
• Swimming:  Swim 30 minutes (laps, treading water or aerobics - just keep moving.  Floating on a raft with a cold drink doesn't count.)
• Weightlifting:  Bench press 50 lbs. 5 times.
• Golf:  Play at least 5 holes
• Gymnastics:  Do a 30-minute dance-type workout video or class  

And speaking of the challenge brings us around to Nutrisystem and my mission to get thinner and healthier.  I've lost 48 pounds in seven months.  Twelve more to make my goal of pre-baby weight, then I will re-evaluate and see if I want to try and lose more.  And in case you're new here, my "babies" are now 20 and 21.  It's not like I just had a baby and need to lose that last ten pounds.  I'm a marathon weight-gainer.

Part II of the strange and eclectic things cluttering up my brain will be posted in the next couple days.  Come back and learn about the games I've been playing with the IRS over college financial aid.

Learning From Fiction? Who'da Thought!

Stardust by Carla Stewart

Shortly after burying her unfaithful husband, Georgia Peyton unexpectedly inherits the derelict Stardust motel from a distant relative. Despite doubts from the community and the aunt who raised her, she is determined to breathe new life into it. But the guests who arrive aren't what Georgia expects: Her gin-loving mother-in-law; her dead husband's mistress; an attractive but down-on-his-luck drifter who's tired of the endless road; and an aging Vaudeville entertainer with a disturbing link to Georgia's past.

Can Georgia find the courage to forgive those who've betrayed her, the grace to shelter those who need her, and the moxy to face the future? And will her dream of a new life under the flickering neon of the STARDUST ever come true?

With the death of author Maeve Binchy yesterday, Twitter was awash with quotes from and about her books.  One line from Ms. Binchy herself immediately made me think of this book:  “I don't have ugly ducklings turning into swans in my stories. I have ugly ducklings turning into confident ducks.”  Georgia Peyton is widowed, raising two daughters and nearly broke.  With no experience as anything but a housewife, she sets out to remake the Stardust motel.  Part of her transformation involves uncovering the secrets clouding her childhood and surrounding her husband's death.  But it wasn't the ugly duckling or the mystery - although both are very good - that made this a five-star book on my list.

I was fascinated with the setting and the era.  My family took a vacation each summer, usually to the mountains, and sometimes stayed in small, cabin-style motels similar to the Stardust.  Though that would have been a decade later than the 1950's setting of the book, the giant chain hotels were yet to take over.  Reading Stardust brought back some fond memories.  It also introduced me to the polio epidemic.

Poliomyelitis was rampant in the U.S. in the first half of the twentieth century and reached it's height in the early 1950's, with over 50,000 cases in 1952.  I've met several people who contracted polio as a child and were left with twisted or paralyzed limbs, and I've heard stories of iron lungs, but they were distant stories to me - something that happened to someone else before I was born. I had no idea of the fear that gripped communities where someone contracted polio or the torture of treatment in an iron lung.  I recall, as a child, collecting and saving dimes in cardboard folders to be contributed to the March of Dimes, but had no clue why.  Reading Stardust was an eye-opener for me, as well as a good story.  

I'm recommending Stardust, both as a good read and as a history lesson.  If you read it and become curious about the history of polio and it's effects on individuals and the nation, I recommend the Smithsonian Institute's site Whatever Happened to Polio?  Both are fascinating reading.



I received a free copy of this book from the publisher - Faith Words - as part of a Twitter contest.

Six Word Saturday

Save A Life . . . Get A Book

This morning I'm giving you an opportunity to do a good deed and be rewarded for it.  In May, I posted this SWS post about Kylee, an American Mastiff pup that needed heart surgery.  When Kylee's owners adopted her, they knew she would eventually need surgery if she were to survive, but they also knew she would be put down if she didn't find a home.  Unfortunately, the heart issues worsened much faster than anticipated and they were unprepared for the thousands of dollars needed for surgery so soon.  Dog lovers gave generously to pay for emergency surgery to save this beautiful dog.  Well, Kylee needs another surgery. Her heart valve has fused shut.  If you would like to make a donation, author Shannon Esposito is willing to reward you for it.

Ms.Esposito is offering a free e-book copy of her novel, Karma's a Bitch, to everyone who makes a donation of any size to help save Kylee.  You can get all the details on Kylee and the book offer on Ms. Esposito's website.  If you can spare even the cost of a cup of coffee, please help give Kylee a third chance.  Can you really resist that face?

Want to play along? All that's necessary to participate is to describe your life (or something in it) in exactly six words.  Then visit Cate at Show My Face to link up with other participants.

Sandwich Anyone?

The Sandwich Generation is a relatively recent catchphrase to describe people who are pressed between caring for aging parents and raising children.  I didn't think it would every apply to us - my parents are mid-seventies but in very good health, and Dave's parents just turned seventy.  Our youngest child is now twenty.  In two more years, God willing, both kids will graduate from college (on the same day from colleges 125 miles apart - but we'll figure that out later).  I believed that by the time we needed to care for parents, our children would be self-sufficient.  But this week I'm feeling a bit "pinched".

I've written before about Dave's mother's battle with Alzheimer's for the last ten-plus years. For most of that time we lived seven hours away so we weren't involved in the daily care.  Now she has moved to a nursing home and again, her daily care is provided by others. Without her at home, there is no need for Dave's dad to maintain a 3 bed, 3 bath home, so he is moving into an apartment.  Obviously, this requires major downsizing, cleaning, sorting, packing, hauling...  We need to be down there helping, but life gets in the way.  Jobs and other obligations fill days.  We live closer now, but it's still a four hour trip, which means it's difficult to do for one day, but we've done it several times.  Staying over means two days off work, boarding the dogs, yada, yada, yada...

On the children side of this sandwich, at 20 and 21, most of the time they are independent.  We go visit, we talk by phone and computer, we send money and advice, but on a day-to-day basis they handle their own lives. I'm certainly not complaining - they're wonderful!  It's the university and the IRS who are teaming up to flatten me a bit this week.

We have been "selected" (I love how they try to make this sound like a prize) to have to prove that our kids are really our kids and that the income we reported to the IRS is actually our income.  It's just paperwork and would be simple, if stupid, to complete - BUT the IRS has decided we don't really live where we live.  They also don't think we live at our old address.  Don't know where they think we went, but it's going to require a phone call to untangle and the wait times to speak to a person are phenomenal.  So - - - I can't make the phone call until I have a day off with plenty of time to sit on hold.  I don't have a day off till late next week because I rearranged my work schedule to make time for trips to take Amanda a new bed, another trip to accompany her to a doctor appointment, and a trip to help the father-in-law move.  (How do people with inflexible, full-time jobs get anything done?)

And in the middle, I'm trying to be a wife, keep house, garden ... have a life.  

Lest you think I'm whining - well, I AM whining, but lest you think I'm doing it disproportionately - I give all kinds of kudos, pats on the back, high fives and bows in awe to my sister-in-law, Steph, who has done the hands on stuff with her parents for the last five years, while raising two kids - one who is only 7 now.  She has a very special crown waiting in heaven for the way she has honored her parents. (I'll be wearing a plastic Barbie tiara from Wal-mart.)

We'll get through the next couple weeks, the father-in-law will get settled in his new spot and the house sale will close, school will start and somehow it'll all get paid for, and life will return to normal just in time for the next "crisis".

We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed. 
- 2 Corinthians 4:8-9

Meet Me At The Movies: Elvis!

Change of Habit - When I was young, back in the days when there were only four television  networks (ABC, CBS, NBC and PBS), the "late movie" came on each night at 10:30.  If the movie happened to star Elvis Presley, I begged Mom to let me stay up and watch.  Because she was such a softy, I've seen most of Elvis' movies - some several times.  I even had the soundtrack album to Spinout.  But I had never seen Change of Habit - Elvis' 31st, and last, movie.

This movie was a definite change from most Elvis movies, which were basically a thin plot to string together lots of opportunities for Elvis to sing.  Change of Habit only includes two songs - the title number and Rubberneckin' - and the story focuses on some deep subjects.

Three nuns - Mary Tyler Moore, Barbara McNair and Jane Elliot - move to an impoverished neighborhood to work in a medical clinic run by Dr. John Carpenter (Elvis).  Filmed in 1969, the story involves issues of race, women's rights, and autism - a condition mostly unknown at that time.

For General Hospital fans, Jane Elliott now plays Tracy Quartermaine on GH, and Barbara McNair appeared briefly on GH in 1984 as Aunt Bettina.  It took me a few minutes to recognize Jane, and I can't remember Barbara's GH character at all, but I thought it was a fun bit of trivia.  You can also spot a very young Ed Asner as the neighborhood policeman.

This was certainly the best written and acted of Elvis' movies, but I'll admit I wanted to hear him sing a little more.  I mean, it's Elvis...!

It Seems Like Yesterday . . .

Look at this couple . . . so young, so happy, so much hair!

That's Dave and I on July 17, 1982.  On Tuesday we celebrated 30 years.  In 1982 we were broke college kids, plus he proposed in April and we married in July, so there was no time or money for an engagement ring. We purchased matching wedding bands.  We've laughed many times about his less-than-romantic proposal, but I was 20-years-old and too excited to care about romance. 

Thirty years later, he proposed again

 - this time on one knee and with a gorgeous ring. 

 I said yes!

Six Word Saturday

Don't go into Mr. McGregor's garden!

Bunny Update:  We researched what to do with our lost bunny and found that he may not be lost at all.  All sites we read said that rabbits of this age/size will wander a distance from their nest during the day and that it is likely we will not see the mama, as she will only return at night.  Also, we were warned against trying to rescue him ourselves and that few wild rabbits live under those circumstances unless you are a professional rehab - which of course is not available here.  But there is good news!  As the web sites predicted, Peter Rabbit is nowhere to be found this evening, so we assume he has returned to his nest.  The lettuce and carrot we left him disappeared also. :)

Dave found this little guy in the yard a couple nights ago.  Don't know what happened to his mama or Flopsy, Mopsy and Cottentail.

To give you a little perspective on how small he is:

We checked on him last night, and he was still hiding under the rain spout.  I don't want to encourage rabbits near the garden, but we picked a couple lettuce leaves and a small carrot and left them for him to nibble until Mama returns. Hope she makes it before this little guy meets up with the mower - or the dogs when Dave's not there to control them. 

Anyone want to raise a rabbit?

Want to play along? All that's necessary to participate is to describe your life (or something in it) in exactly six words.  Then visit Cate at Show My Face to link up with other participants.