in bloom: star magnolia

Blooming this week is our one star magnolia tree.





Derek Frandsen:  you dug the hole for this tree before you went on your mission.  We had you doing some digging and yardwork for us back then, remember?  As a matter of fact, the original apple trees in our orchard, the majority of the holes were dug by the Frandsen boys (Brad included).  Keith had bought a whole bunch of trees and we had visions of straight neat rows, but we soon discovered that we could only dig down a few inches and then hit hardpan.  Enter the Frandsens, who came to our rescue!  Our new plan was to dig wherever we found a soft spot!  Our trees ended up being zig-zaggy rather than straight, but we are ever so grateful.  As I look out my window and see our zig-zaggy rows, I always remember how all of you jumped in eagerly to help us.  Sooooo thankful!  They have now matured and grown into a beautiful, natural looking area.  All this time later, we are still enjoying the fruits of those trees and the beauty of the blossoms every spring.  Thank you, guys!

it's a small world

You can probably put this into the "who cares" category, but if you're a big Disney fan, you most likely know that its the 50th anniversary of the "its a small world" attraction opening at the 1964 New York World's Fair.  It wasn't until 1966 that it opened as a ride at Disneyland.  (dating myself . . . ) I was a little girl then and let me tell you, it was a BIG thing!  HUGE!!  EXCITING!  It was what everyone was talking about, and people couldn't wait to get over to Disneyland to ride on it.









I know that today, that song can get stuck in your head and really drive you nuts when you go on the ride.  But at the time, it was COOL to sing it and know all the words.  (i know there are only two verses, but as elementary school kids, we were all sticklers to get it down perfect).  Everybody was singing it.  It never got old.

It sooooo reminds me of how everybody today is loving and singing "Let It Go".  Exactly like that.  Just reminiscing, that's all.

my buddy, all day long

Back in December, when we found out Luke's job would be ending, we didn't know what we would be doing with the possibility of him being home all the time.  So many of you commented and emailed your condolences and prayers for his future.  Thank you.  Its nice to know Luke is so loved and has such a big fan club.  I've kept you posted on the options we've been presented with so far, like volunteer work (with a mentor) and adult day care choices.

Well now its been about three weeks since the last day of work, and nothing has really happened yet with his options of getting out and doing either of those things.  The volunteer work . . . let me just say that the people who were supposed to get the ball rolling, have been somewhat *incompetent* so to speak.  They finally had a meeting for him last Friday (without me) and I came to find out later that they didn't even call ahead to make arrangements with the person in charge of volunteers at the food bank.  They just showed up with no plans, but fortunately the woman in charge was there and likes Luke, and said they'd love to have him.  It might be a few more weeks until he starts, since they're supposed to be moving their location and things are a bit crazy there right now.

Luke and I had a tour of the Bremerton adult day care center last Tuesday.  The people who work there are terrific, and Luke seemed to know almost everybody (and they knew him too).  I was under the impression that we could utilize their services whenever it was convenient, but that's not the case.  We'd need to sign a contract and he would be required to commit to specific days each month (because their lunches are provided by Meals on Wheels, and they need to know in advance how many people to plan for).  It looked like they mostly just sit around all day (from 10:00 to 2:00).  I'm quite hesitant on this.  The other two disabled adult day activities are on Bainbridge Island and they sound like more of what Luke would like to do, rather than just be babysat.  Everything is still on hold until we find out what his volunteer schedule will be.

You might think we've just been in limbo, waiting to see what will happen.  Not the case!  Losing his job is probably the best thing that's happened to Luke.  I've never seen him happier in his entire life.  I never realized how much stress he was dealing with (like I told you before about the "rude guys" he worked with).  He's a different person!  I'm loving my days with him.  I thought I'd be more tied down with him home, but I'm not.  I was way more tied down when he was working.  We're free to come and go as we please during the day, since we're not so limited with his work and bus schedule anymore.  We've been working on getting the garden ready and in the yard (weather permitting) and he loves to help.  He never used to, he'd be whiny and complainy about it.  But now, he's eager and takes pride in his work.  He helped Keith in the orchard all day long on Saturday.  Keith would prune the fruit trees, and Luke would pick up the sticks and branches and haul them off to the burn pile.  This afternoon he finished up the last of the work that didn't get done over the weekend.

I'm not really looking forward to sending him off to do his volunteer work and activities, because I think I'll miss my buddy.  Its funny, the years when he was working, he could really drive me crazy at times.  But now (not working), he is such a delight to spend time with.







Don't worry.  Of course I'll keep him involved with his new activities when we get it all coordinated.  He needs to keep up his work skills and social skills.  But for now, I'm loving these days I get to spend with him.

in bloom: plum blossoms

Its the second full day of spring.  The plums are the first to bloom out of all of our fruit trees. I should have had Keith or Luke put their hand by these for scale . . . they're super tiny.













Happy spring!

easter begins to creep in

Last week I started making my house look more Easter-like.  Starting with the front porch.  I put this little arrangement of daffodils and other cute flowers on the pedestal.



I decided it was time to put the Christmas pinecones away that were in the two pots flanking the front door.  I filled them with primroses instead.





Inside, I finally got some pink tulips.  They're still pretty hard to find . . . don't know why.  I used the penny trick again to keep them looking upright, and I swear, it works.  I got these last Wednesday, and today, Sunday, they are not drooping at all.





I was also in the mood to bring out some of my Easter decorations.  I have a ton of cute stuff, but each year I find myself just editing things out and only choosing a few things to display.  I like this white bunny.



This little sheep has to be at the top of my list.  I'm sure as we get closer to the actual holiday, more stuff will filter out, but for now, this is good.



Two random things that happened this week:

1.  I left my purse in the shopping cart in the Costco parking lot.  I have never, ever, in my life done anything like that before!!  I drove from Costco to Fred Meyer, and as I was getting out of the car, I reached for my purse.  NOT THERE!  I thought maybe I put it in the back seat, or in the back of the car with the groceries.  Then I realized I must have left it in the cart.  Can you imagine my panic??!  My identity stolen, along with everything else??   I started to race back to Costco, then realized I'd probably be pulled over for speeding and I didn't even have my drivers license with me now.  Then my cell phone rang (thank goodness it was in my coat pocket and not inside my purse!)  It was one of Keith's receptionists calling to tell me Costco just called them and said they found my purse.  I was sooooo thankful!  It seemed like an eternity, but I finally got there, and they told me to ask one of the managers in the red vests to go get it out of the safe for me.  The guy came out, holding my purse at arm's length (like you would hold a poopy diaper.).  Really?  Seriously?  Is my purse that disgusting that you have to hold it like that?  I had to go through everything in my wallet to make sure all was there.  It was.  Thank you honest person who turned it in!!!  Lesson learned.  I'll never do that again!

2.  I had something on hold at the Disney store, and arrived at Southcenter right at opening time.  All the other stores were open and had their lights on, but the Disney store had the lights off, an employee standing at the entrance, and about 6 people waiting outside to get in.  I asked the lady next to me if the power was out inside there, and she said "no, they have an opening ceremony every day".  Apparently that is a "thing" and they all seemed to know about it.  Did you know that?  I usually know about that kind of stuff, but I had never heard of it before.  They choose one person to turn the giant key, and ask everybody to help sprinkle pixie dust on it.  Then the chosen person turns the giant key, the velvet ropes drop down, and they give them the cutest small key to keep, to commemorate the occasion.  Don't you think they would have chosen the one child that was in the group?  No, they chose a yuppie mom to do it, who proceeded to push her way past everyone to grab the last two Elsa dolls they had in the store (very black friday-ish).  Anyway (sidetracked), it was soooo cute!!  (the ceremony, not the mom).  Luke was thrilled to help sprinkle pixie dust.  It was all very magical to him.  I was thinking, Luke would LOVE to be chosen to do this sometime!  Like on his birthday.  Can't you just see him?  I'm going to ask them how they pick who gets to turn the key, and I'm going to make this happen for him.

Other than that exciting stuff, Luke and I have made progress on cleaning up the flower beds around the patio.  He is quite the pleasant working companion.  Now if only the rain would stop long enough to get the job done.

we made some music videos

Last Friday when we were over at Calley's for the talent show, I waited until Summer came home from school, so I could have time visiting with her before I left to go home.  Somehow we ended up filming them singing some of their favorite songs from Frozen.  They both know every single word.  But seriously, doesn't every little girl (and mom) have all those lyrics memorized?

Okay now . . . I know a lot of people will see there's a video clip on a blog and immediately they just pass by it and click onto something else.  I really hope you don't do that!  Summer is so cute and full of personality singing this.  As a matter of fact, since I put this on YouTube on Saturday, she saw it and shared the link with her cousins, and its gotten well over 100 views since then.  I have to admit, its one of my favorites too.

In Summer:



I'm glad Abby wanted a moment in the spotlight too.  You might have to turn up the volume a little bit more for her. (she had just put on her new bathing suit to show me, in case you wondered what she was wearing on such a cold day)

Do You Want To Build A Snowman:



I just love being able to preserve these precious moments of them at this age.  And I love that they both have the identical exit strategies . . . when you're done, get up and run!

summer's talent show

Yesterday Luke and I were able to go see Summer's school talent show, during school hours.  Summer and her friends were singing For The First Time In Forever (from frozen).  I think almost every song from Frozen was sung yesterday.  One of the moms made the girls some Anna costumes . . . blue tutu's and purple capes.  Adorable!!  All I wanted was just one picture of Summer in her costume.  No luck with being able to catch her to pose alone, but I did sneak some shots of her from the doorway to the gym.  (she's in the black tights, legs out, in the middle).  I'm thankful at least I got these.









Here they are!  Summer is the second girl from the right (middle).  (they pronounced her last name wrong again).  The first girls were late on their cue, and I'm kind of kicking myself for using my least favorite lens on this.  It was so dark, it kept on trying to refocus, and I was fumbling to correct it in the dark.  Argh!  Next year will be better.



Claire Bear was working the crowd.



Abby missed the morning show because she was at preschool.  She's waiting for her ride here.





But do you know the biggest bonus of the day?  Claire!!!  I was worried she'd forget who I was after such a good visit last time, but no!!  She remembered me!  No cautions, no eye-closing.  She followed me around like my little best friend.  She even remembered that we played with hats last time, and brought me some hats to wear.  Oh, she's such a little sweetie-pie.

She's apparently a shoe girl, too.







Lunch.



I warned Abby.  I said if you get close to her, she'll get yogurt all over your face.





And yesterday, in a nutshell, was a very good day.

luke's early retirement from the shipyard

Or rather, should I say Luke's early retirement from the shipyard and my new life.  Luke's last day of work was on Friday.  He was excited, really.  We've had over two months to get used to the idea and plan ahead, and things are good.  As good as its been for him to have something to do and have a routine in his life, its also good for him to have a break from the things that have been stressful.  As you know, he worked with a group of other disabled adults, and most of them do not have the benefit of living with their families, who can guide them, and steer them in the right direction with basic things like proper behavior and how to act appropriately towards others.  Luke calls them "the rude guys".  Every work day he was faced with dealing with co-workers who thought it was funny to talk about inappropriate topics like R-rated movies or music with bad lyrics, or guys who goofed off when the supervisors weren't looking and tried to get Luke to join in and get in trouble too.  Our job has been to guide and encourage Luke along, and act out scenarios of how he should react when faced with "the rude guys" . . . choosing good choices over being tempted to join in with what everyone else was doing.  Dealing with peer pressure from the rude guys.  We are so proud of Luke for choosing the right when it wasn't the popular thing to do.  Not every day was bad, but it certainly happened on a regular basis.  We tried to explain to him that each of his co-workers has a handicap, and most of them didn't have a loving family to teach them the right and wrong things to do.  Most of them had a hard time just knowing what was appropriate behavior in the first place.  Anyway, he doesn't have to deal with those few people now (because not all of the people he worked with were rude, just a small group of them).  That's a good thing.

So here we are, with this new life for Luke.  The weekend was normal and regular, and he's always had Mondays as a day off work.  Then came Tuesday.  This first week is a transistion week.  The reality of him not working really hit me yesterday.  All along, I've been planning on how to deal with all this free time Luke will have, but yesterday I didn't have a list of things for him to do.  Today I'm ready with chores and things to keep him busy and keep the day interesting.  Beginning next week, he should be starting with volunteering at the Poulsbo food bank two mornings a week.  They sound really excited to have him, and Luke's so excited to start.  He also has the options of going to adult day care on occasion, but we will probably ease into that at first, simply because this is a busy month and we have other things on the calendar that will conflict with that right now.  Also, when the rain stops, he will be my number one helper in getting the garden and yard ready for spring.  And, he's excited about that too!  Amazing!

This is off the Luke topic, but yesterday I noticed our biggest plum tree looked like it was covered in a haze of burgundy.  Just like that, overnight, buds had formed and its getting ready to bloom soon.  There was a break in the rain yesterday, so I sloshed down there to the tree (the grass is soooo saturated around there, so sloshing is no exaggeration).  Unfortunately, all the buds were on the top branches, but I did manage to find one at eye level.  This will soon be an explosion of pink.



Water drop.



I also found the rhubarb starting to work its way out of the ground.  This has to be the most neglected thing we grow, but its also the most reliable and prolific.



How long is it till spring?  Something like two more weeks?  Its gonna be a good one, I can tell.