Wednesday, July 31, 2013

Flying Over Alaska


I am betting that you took a double take at the title of this post.  No, I have never been to Alaska and at this current time I do not plan to get on an airplane again.  My feet were meant to stay close to the ground and I value my hearing too much to try another airborne adventure. 

This post is about a series of books that I have read by author that I recently discovered Bonnie Leon.  The Alaskan Sky Series is composed of three separate books: Touching The Clouds, Wings of Promise, and Joy Takes Flight.  I have thoroughly enjoyed reading this series.  The adventures that lie within the pages drew me into the stories.


Touching The Clouds is the first book of the series.  The main character is Kate Evans, a free spirited farm girl from Washington State.  The year is 1935 and Kate is looking for herself through an adventure of a lifetime.  She ditches her finance and her planned future that by all accounts is safe to head to Alaska to become a bush pilot.  Kate flies her Bellanca Pacemaker named Fearless Kate to Anchorage looking for work.  She finds friendship and adventure in the most unexpected places in a land where female pilots are a rarity and everyone has a secret to hide.  This book reminds me of the pioneering spirit of Amelia Earhart. 

Wings of Promise is the second book of the series.  This book picks up a few months after the first book left off and about 18 months after we first met Kate.  She is an established bush pilot loved and respected by many.  What I liked most about this particular book is that it addressed our fears in that when something bad or tragic happens we are too scared to continue, to live our lives without fear, and we run from the things we love.  It is hard to overcome personal tragedy and once Kate uncovers and faces her fears it provides a freedom like she has never known.  P.S.- Amelia Earhart and her around the world flight is mentioned in this book.

Joy Takes Flight is the last book of the series.  This last book picks up another few months down the road from the second book.  The year is 1938 and Kate is entering into uncharted waters trying to maintain her freedom of flying the open skies while balancing marriage and other aspects of wedded bliss.  How will her choices affect her and those she loves?  Adventures awaits around every corner in this last book of the series.  I was a bit disappointed at the open ending.  I guess I expected a bit more finality that what the author provided, but such is life. 

Overall, this is a great series.  There are so many juicy points and story hooks that I want to delve into, but I do not want to give anything away.  The secondary characters are just as vivid as the primary characters.  This is definitely an amazing journey that you will need to read yourself. 

Sunday, July 21, 2013

Quirks

 

We all have our quirks.  That is what makes us different from our peers.  That is what makes us individuals.  

Depending on the person and the quirks . . . . quirks can be fun.  Quirks can be frustrating.  Quirks can be cool.  Quirks can be annoying.  Quirks can encompass a whole variety of areas. 

Like everyone else, I too have some quirks.  Some are cool and some are frustrating to me. 

Writing quirks- I can write with both hands.  My dominate hand writing is very legible.  Typically when family members are writing a memento note to remember an event or information for a special item, they ask me to write it for them.  My maternal grandma, who quilts a lot, always has me fill out the tag for the back of the quilt with all of the pertinent details.  My non-dominate hand writing looks like a kindergartens.  It is large and shaky, but it is readable.  This skill comes in handy when leaving anonymous funny notes on co-workers desks. 

Reading and Speaking quirks- I think that I may of had some undiscovered learning hurdles in this area.  If I see a word that I have never read, I have a heck of a time trying to figure out how to pronounce it.  During college, I was reading the Left Behind Series and one of the characters had the name Chloe.  I had no idea how to pronounce it and I never quite asked anyone how to pronounce it, so I thought it was pronounce Coal.  Yes, I know way off.  I do not think that my hearing always correlates with my speaking and reading skills.  Sometimes I can not figure out what someone is saying unless I see their lips move.  Another example, my boss corrected me just about a week ago when I was talking about ricotta cheese in a recipe.  Apparently I added a few extra letters sometime during my life, so I was saying rittacotta cheese.  Unfortunately once I get a word stuck in my head the wrong way it can take me quite a while to correct it.  He had correct quite a few times (ha ha ha ha).  Thankfully I have a understanding and kind boss. Anyway, the words that I have the most difficultly with are words with "m"s and "n"s mixed together.  I think I may have a form of dyslexia when it comes to those words, whereas, I just switch the letters around.  A college friend that had a dog named Cinnamon delighted in the fact that it sounded nothing like cinnamon when it came out of my mouth.  More like cim-a-mum-mum.  I have been able to train my self to say it right, if I say it really slow.  Other words that I seem to get corrected on:  Pastor apparently sounds like pasture.  Washing sounds like warshing.  Napkin sounds like nackin.  For a while I thought Marcia was pronounced Mar-seat-a.  Bench, well you can figure that one out yourself.  Artisan comes out like art-tish-an.  Then, I also can forget how to say words or spell them.  "The" is terrible and I have actually forgotten at times much to my chagrin.  You never know what is going to come out of my mouth and I seem to add letters, drop letters, change letters and invert letters.  Oh, I will also switch the order of words in a sentence.  That is always great for a laugh.  So listen closely if you are talking with me (wink, wink). 

Number quirks-  This one is my weirdest one.  When I hear numbers verbally, I switch the numbers around.  So I always have to read numbers back if I am writing them down.  Answering machine messages with phone numbers really peeve me off because the caller rattles them off so fast that I have to listen to the message about three or four times to get the number down.  So for my sake and others just like me, slowly say your phone number and your name then repeat a second time.  That is how I leave message, if I get an answering machine while returning a phone call through my workplace.  Anyway, on the other side of the coin.  I am great at remembering numbers.  I can rattle off my boss's home phone number.  I can tell you the four digit number for bananas and donuts in the self check out line at the grocery store.  When I worked at the card shop, I was in charge of the Willow Tree Angel display.  I could look at an angel and tell you the last last three digits of the stock number in the back room to locate the box or unshelved product.

So, do you have any quirks that you would like to share??

Monday, July 15, 2013

What Does The Future Hold?


I have been doing a lot of thinking lately.  Not sure what my thinking will produce, but I have been thinking none the less.  Sometimes it is about the mundane and other times it is about directional change.  

Anyway, Pumpkin will be starting the first grade in about a month.  We ran into a glitch in the last week with an adult influence suggesting that reading be used as a punishment to deter inappropriate behavior.  Definitely not an option in our books.  Hubby and I want our children to love reading and love books.  Unfortunately this was suggested in front of our son, so his current stance is that he hates books and hates reading (which breaks my heart).  We are working on trying to fix this glitch, hopefully before school starts, with positive re-enforcement.  The ladies at our local library suggested books on CD to entice his imagination, so I am thinking that we will try that tomorrow night as a treat during family dinner night.  I have a cousin that is a kindergarten teacher and she also offered some good suggestions to help us encourage Pumpkin in his reading endeavors.

Princess should be starting preschool in the fall, but we cannot afford to pay for it and take off work to transport her to and from for the half day programs in our area.  She is too smart for the one public preschool and it has a very limited number of students that it can accept.  Anyway, it is something that we are thinking about and reassessing.  She will definitely need to know how to write her letters and numbers within the next twelve months.  

Last night as I attempted to go to sleep (my brain was in full thinking mode), I tossed and turned, and tossed and turned.   Finally a verse popped into my head Jeremiah 29:11  

"For I know the plans I have for you," declares the Lord, 
"plans to prosper you and not harm you, 
plans to give you hope and a future."  

Well glad to know that the Big Guy Upstairs knows what is going on, although it would be nice if He could clue me in sooner than later.  Guess I need to send up a few more prayers for direction and guidance.


Friday, July 5, 2013

Friendship

Friendship comes in all sizes, all shapes, and all types.  There are school aged friends, there are college friends, there are work friends, and there are parenthood friends.  All of these types of friendship fill a niche in our lives.  Some friends we talk with quite often, some friends we Facebook stalk (a shout out to Mike), some friends we chat back and forth with on Facebook and blogs,  some friends we touch base with from time to time, and some friends are the ones you turn to when the world is crashing down.  Friendship is an amazing thing.  It can span decades or it can be short lived.  But we all have something to learn from one another. 

From my grade school friend, I learned about bagels with cream cheese and Tang.  She has been my best friend since the 5th grade.  Even though we do not get a chance to talk often, we automatically pick up where we left off (like we had just talked the day before).  Now if she only lived closer (wink, wink).   I love seeing pictures of her girls growing up and love seeing pictures of their horses and greyhounds.



College friends are amazing too.  One of my college friends and I were inseparable for a quite a few years.  She is the one that got me addicted to chocolate cherry cokes.  She is the happiest, most positive person I know.  She is rarely without a smile and her determination has taken her places that she was told she could never go.  We have many stories to tell from our carefree college years and have learned a lot of lessons (all filled with laughter).  We spend hours on the phone during the "dark years" when dad was having a lot of medical problems (prior to his cancer diagnosis), mom was going through a messy divorce with husband number two (which lead to her excessive drinking and smoking), and my sister was being tugged back and forth between her dad and my mom.  I had even thought about dropping out of college and trying to get custody of my sister at one point, but I managed to make it  through my junior year of college instead.  Anyway, this friend is amazing and helped me keep my sanity during a very difficult phase of my life.



Two of my college friends and I try to met up every few months.  One is local and the other is about a two hour drive.  They help me to feel young and carefree again, even though more often than not we have kids in tow.  My local college buddy has triplets and the non-local college friend has yet to start a family.  We have a grand time together.  My local college buddy is very loud (whereas I am quite) and has a good sense of humor.  We were talking the other day and she told me that it was a shame that we did not become friends sooner in college because I probably would of helped her stay out of more trouble during her college years.  She cracks me up, like I could of stopped her from being herself!  I had the honor of holding her triplets as newborns at the hospital.  Only family was allowed in the room, so she told them I was her sister.  (ha ha ha ha ha)  My non-local college friend is a librarian and loves being around kids.  Last time she was in town, she crashed at our house for the evening.  Pumpkin got to practice his reading skills and read her a book.  She does not mind it if we drag her to the library or used book store, which is awesome!  My funniest memory with her is when I talked her into placing a lamp shade on her head in college and snapped a picture.  No . . . . none of us were drinking (I personal do not drink any alcohol); we were just being goofy to blow off some steam.



I have a lot of amazing parenthood friends.  Two really stick out in my mind right now.  One has children the same age as mine and the kids love to play together.  She is an amazing cheerleader and cheers me up when I am blue.  She helps me brain storm about ideas to try with Pumpkin.  Her kids have birthdays three days apart, just like mine.  When mom and dad were sick, she offered all of the encouragement that she could think of.  She send me emails and texts of support and she sent me snail mail to encourage me.  She even came to mom's visitation to show her family's support.  I am so blessed to call her my friend.  Another friend of mine is the most amazing parent ever.  She would leap through fire for her children.  I have mentioned her family in my blog before.  Her oldest daughter is a cancer survivor.  Her daughter was diagnosed with leukemia just weeks after starting kindergarten, around the same time that my mom died.  My friend's determination, strength, and endurance is beyond words.  Through the last three years they have raised two confident, fearless, and beautiful daughters.  The youngest is just a few months older than Princess.  Even though her daughter has won the battle against cancer, she continues the fight to draw attention to childhood cancer research.  It is truly an honor and privilege to have her as a friend and I love her kids dearly!

Oh, and I cannot forget to mention my best friend and number one supporter- my husband.  We were friends in college before we started dating.  He would help me traipse through the prairie as I did research for my undergrad paper and later for my master's thesis.  I needed someone to protect me from snakes and those ugly huge yellow garden spiders (wink, wink).  Of course years later, I learned he really did so he could look down my shirt when I bend over (typical guy).  He has helped me through a lot of rough days- ups and downs with both of my parents. And of course, he is the handsome dad to my two kiddos. 


Well I am definitely long winded this evening.  I hope that everyone has a wonderful weekend!

Tuesday, July 2, 2013

I'm Back!!!


Wow!  It has been a while since I have posted on this little blog.  We have been keeping busy lately and when I do think about posting something hubby is playing on the computer.  I wrangled it from him a few minutes ago (chuckle, chuckle).

So what is new with us?  Well chocolate chip brownies just came out of the oven.  Pumpkin begged for them about an hour ago, so I made a deal with him.  Take a shower, get dressed in pajamas, and put his laundry away.  Then he can have the brownies, nice and warm from the oven.  Princess is just going to get a bonus from the deal as an innocent bystander.

The kids participated in Vacation Bible School last week.  They had A LOT of fun!  And the best part it was in the evening, so hubby and I got some free time.  We even got to go out one evening for dinner without the kids.  Yippee!   During Bible School they collected canned goods for a local food pantry, every 50 cans equaled one whipped cream pie in Pastor’s face.  The kids collected enough for 9 whipped cream pies.  Princess had her name drawn so she got to cream our Pastor.  The most amazing part of the event was during the cream at the end of the last day a double rainbow appeared in the sky.  And the purple was so vivid.  AMAZING!



 
I have had my nose buried in my kindle lately.  I am still not a big fan of electronic books, but it sure is nice to download free books to read without leaving home.  So needless to day I have read quite a few books this summer.  It is a nice way to escape reality for awhile and I have been discovering new authors.

In the last few weeks we have:
-         Taken walks
-         Captured lightening bugs
-         Read books
-         Watched Monsters University at the local theater
-         Colored pictures
-         Swung on the swing
-         Gone to nature camps
-         Gone to a birthday party for two friends
-         Watched movies at home




On the to-do-list for July:
-         Take a one day adventure out of town
-         Swim at the cousins’ house
-         More nature camps
-         Continue the summer reading program
-         Try a few new recipes
-         Have a few play dates for the kids

Well better get going.  I hope that everyone has a great and safe Fourth of July!