2018 + What Will the Year Bring?

January 19

No!! It can't be January 19 already! I can't believe I haven't even started writing in the 2018 edition, yet.

Our amarylis is in full bloom. Just beautiful.   

Kathy had a birthday dinner at Cantina Los Tres Hombres.  Always great to be together.

The most exciting thing so far is that I booked a 15 day Panama Canal Cruise for January 31 of 2019. It is an awful long time to wait. Brian and Monique will be going with us, again. I booked their cruise, too, because I discovered that I could book it with Princess and then transfer it to Costco Travel, thereby getting double bonus credits. We have $700. with Princess and $600. with Costco. That brings our cost down from $6,898. to $5598. Whatever portion of the Costco credits we don't use, will come back to us in cash. 

We had a very cold start to the year, but this week, the temperature has been getting up in the 40s to low 60s, so we've been able to get out and enjoy walking more than we did when it was too cold to let our faces be uncovered.

We have gone to the Carson Valley twice to walk. Twice to a new (to us) area called Silver Saddle Ranch. We pulled up next to a cow pasture in time to see a newborn calf be licked by it's mom until it stood up for the first time. It was so neat to see.

We also went to Genoa to walk along the ditch where we went with Lisa and Dave last year. Again, we didn't see anything more than a few geese. How do these nature lovers find eagles and hawks all the time?

I painted a wine bottle for Patty, and I think it came out cute.

Next week, I will be taking several of my painted things to the Assistance League Store to see if they will sell. I painted some wine glasses and some containers that we bought at Ikea.

I also painted a vase from Ikea for Susie for her birthday, and I am pretty happy with it.

Last Saturday, January 13, we decided, at the last minute, to drive over to take Anais out for her birthday dinner. We had a great drive both ways. Tony took us to downtown Fairfield to walk and poke around in some antique stores, and we ended up at Johnny Carino's for dinner. The next morning, we went to The Purple Place for breakfast, and then to Folsom Dam to walk two miles. We had a very good time.

January 22

We went to breakfast at Peg's, with Susie and Kurt for a late birthday, for Susie. She seemed to really like her vase.  


January 29

I have an opportunity to be a local coordinator for International Cultural Exchange Services. I would find host families for foreign exchange students. The company appears to be legitimate and I wouldn't have to pay a fee to work for them. Have any of you had experience with this company, either hosting students yourself, or know someone who has? I need to decide if this is something I should take on.

February 3

Already? I have been so busy that I just haven't been able to fit in any blogging time.

We went to the dentist last week. Dr. Mays has cut his schedule back, after practicing for over 30 years, so Dr. Banks is his new partner. We liked him but I hope he has as gentle of a touch as Dr. Mays, because I need two crowns replaced. Unfortunately, that will set us back $2,000. Ouch.

So, that means that I have been looking for a part time job in earnest. I have been hired by ICES - International Cultural Exchange Students as a local coordinator. I will be finding host families who want to take in a student for one year, and matching them with students who want to come here. I just signed the contract, so I guess I have passed the background check. The pay is so-so, $300. per student placed, and $40. per month for supervising each student. There is also an incentive to get 10 students placed - a Caribbean cruise in the fall. They do an incentive trip every year.

I now have several of my things for sale in the Senior Sampler. I found out yesterday, that one of my books was sold.

I have several more things finished and ready to sell. I plan to hold them back for craft fairs, unless the things that are already in the store are sold.

I also have several wine glasses ready to be painted. The problem, now, is that these all have to be stored in safe places. They aren't easy to stash like rocks and tiles.

We went for a long walk on Wednesday, and again on Thursday. We noticed this on South Virginia, near the Lexus dealer. A handicap ramp up to a sidewalk that doesn't go anywhere. Kind of strange. We went 3.7 miles on Thursday, from St. Mary's almost to Rancho San Rafael, and then over to the campus of UNR. We walked around there for a while, and texted Bryanna to see if she wanted to meet us for lunch or something, but she was in class and would be for another hour. We didn't want to wait, because we had already been walking for a long time, and we were getting tired.  We took a pic in front of the Schrugram Engineering and Mines Building, because that is where Bryanna's class was.

On Feb 1, Bill saw Dr. Shields. He said Bill is doing great and he talked about some patients who have taken the latest melanoma drugs with wonderful results, so if anything ever does pop up...

Today is Saturday and tomorrow in Super Bowl 52. We have a completely free weekend. We went for a 1.75 mile walk this morning, and then went to Raley's where we got some delicious sliced ham and turkey and splurged on a bag of potato chips and some dutch crunch rolls. Dinner is taken care of for today and tomorrow.

February 4

We just watched a story on CBS Sunday morning about scouting. I don't understand why the decision was made to allow girls to be Boy Scouts. Instead of that, why didn't they make the Girl Scout program exactly the same, as far as activities, opportunities for awards, etc. and have group activities so they could learn to cooperate with each other, as well as compete with each other, while still allowing some separation? Or, if that is so totally old fashioned, couldn't they make the scouting program for everyone and call it Scouting. Why do girls want to be Boy Scouts? Or boys want to be Girl Scouts? I think the Boys and Girls Clubs got it right several years ago, when they opened their organization to everyone. 

February 7

I had to get a filling and a crown  to the tune of almost $2,000. Ouch.

February 9

Bill saw a new doctor for a little spot inside his nose. Dr. Meier said he doesn't think it is anything bad, and said for Bill to use Mentholatum or Vicks to keep the inside of his nose moist. Something I forgot to mention a few weeks ago - when we saw Dr. McKenzie, and Bill mentioned that he almost always has diarrhea, the doctor asked him if he still has his gall bladder, Well, no, that was removed when he had his liver resection in 2010. That is seven years with diarrhea and no other doctor ever suggested that the problem was that he had no gall bladder. He is on Cholestyramine and that is doing the trick.

I decided what to paint on the fishbowl.  I put a cat looking inside at fish. It is cute, but, I can't find a picture of it.

 February 14

So, I decided to take on the job of being a coordinator for the cultural exchange students. Here is my advertisement from Facebook. 

2018 is here and it's time to show some love to others. Why not open your heart and home to one of our great students. Would you love to know more about Thailand, Sweden, Germany, Spain, Hong Kong, Brazil and many more countries? Learn about it first hand from a native of that country and share the wonders of America with them. If you would be interested in hosting one of our students please message me, email me at valuespecialists@aol.com or give me a call/text 775-722-2026. Contact me today. The students are waiting to hear that they have that perfect American family waiting for them. Show some love!!!! It truly is a great experience!

February 18

Rommie and Kathy and the girls came over for crock pot pork for Rommie's birthday on February 15. It was a very fun time, with lots of silliness and fun.

I had been looking for a part-time job for a few weeks, and last week, I sighed on to work with International exchange students, finding host families for them and supervising them. I went through the background check and passed the state test, and then I did the on-line training. The problem was that I realized the amount of time and work that I would have to put into the job for very little money. And the files that I would be required to keep on the families and the kids would take up so much room and time. I felt overwhelmed by all of it so I wrote a letter to the person who had called me and hired me and told her why I had come to realize that it isn't going to work for me.

Then, last Thursday, I was contacted by Mosaic, the company I worked for from about 2009 to 2012. There is a project in town for the next three weekends and they want me to be a backup team member in case someone isn't able to work one or more of the days. It is just standing at a table in Walmart, talking to people about the new grocery pick-up program. It pays $20 per hour, and I got two hours of pay for a 45 minute on-line training session. Even if  I'm not needed to work for anyone, I am now on the team, so there should be other projects offered. This is exactly what I wanted, a part-time job in merchandising.

Patty finally got a job, after several months of trying. She is quite enthusiastic and I really hope this one works out for her.

Yesterday, Bill said he wanted to go to Texas Roadhouse for Country Fried Steak last night. We called Susie and Kurt, but they already had plans. About an hour before we were going to leave for dinner, on a whim, I phoned Gary and asked if he and Jeanene would like to join us for dinner. He said, yes, but they were going to see Winchester at 4:50, and asked us to go with them and then go to dinner after. Even though that was quite late for us to go to dinner, we thought it would be fun, so we did it. We had a very good time. The movie was good, if strange, and we got to the restaurant at 7:15. There was about a 45 minute wait, so Gary went in to try to bribe the hostess. She took his money and said she would see what she could do. We waited for 45 minutes, anyway. They had the ribs and we shared a steak. We got home about 9:30 and slept until almost 8 this morning.

We might get snow tomorrow!!!

March 18

So much has gone on in the last 30 days. I'm not sure of some of the dates, so I'll just do my best.

About February 19 - I realized that the amount of work I was putting into ICES was mounting up, and I wouldn't get any pay for it until/unless I actually matched up families with students. I had put word out on Facebook and gotten no positive responses, so I gave that up to devote time to look for a real job.  

February 26 - I interviewed for a job at Burlington at Legends, and I got the job. It sounded kind of fun, and I had experience opening the Old Farmer's Almanac store a few years ago.

March 4 and 11 - I worked two shifts at two different Walmarts, each seven hours, plus time for set up and break down, which was unnecessary, because the stores were already all set up, and the associates use the area during the week. For those, plus the two hours of training, and two hours of shadowing another rep, I have already made $400.00.

March 1 - I started the Burlington job at the Reno store. I quickly found out that I wasn't going to be able to stand, lift, and bend for eight hours a day. My supervisor agreed to give me shorter days, but even six hours proved to be too much. I gave her my resignation letter on March 14. I agreed to stay until March 16, but, as I was working in the linen department, I picked up a box, took out a plate, and took the bubble wrap off of it. I set it on the rack to be shelved by someone else. When I took my hand away, I felt a sharp pain, and saw that my thumb was bleeding profusely. I got to the restroom and put it under running water, and someone brought me paper towels from the break room. I was a bit lightheaded, so I went to the break room so I could sit down. By the time I got there, the towels were soaked through and I got more to wrap my thumb to try to stop it. I knew I was going to need stitches. Someone told Valerie and a security guard, and they came in to lend their assistance. An emergency nurse was called, and another security guard, Darren, took me to Concentra urgent care.

I was there for almost two hours, while Dr. Benson and Alenia took care of it.   

When I got back to work, Valerie asked how I was, and some of my co-workers asked, but I saw Mary Ann, the store manager, who knew about it, and she didn't even look at me. Valerie said that she had talked to Mary Ann, and they wanted me to stay on as a flex person or substitute. So, if someone calls in sick, they can call me to work. I said I will. But, I will only do it if I want to because I already found another job.

Jennifer, my friend who is the linen manager, told me that the plate had been metal, and was broken, with a very sharp end. I wish I had asked to see it right away, but I wasn't thinking very well. Later she told me that the other plate that was just like it, had arrived broken, too. Both plates had disappeared by that time, so I couldn't even get a picture of one of them.

This is what the plate looked like

I took the next day off because it was hurting, and I worked on Friday, but I left after a half hour to go to Concentra to get it checked. That took almost two hours, and I went back to finish my last day. Valerie said hi to me, but we didn't talk. I worked in linens for a while and then worked at pricing and hanging clothes. I said good bye to Denise and Jennifer.

When I got my thumb checked, Dr. Benson told me that I have nerve damage, that may or may not repair itself.  (Note from the future - late 2019.  I finally got an independent medical opinion from an orthopedist. My thumb is as good it can get. I still have slight pain but the doctor said that is from arthritis, not the injury. I received no money for their negligence and the case is closed.)

March 12 - Patty had given my name and phone number to Staffing Solutions, the company that placed her in her job at Ciox. Andrea called me and hired me on the spot. I start Monday, March 19. This job is full time, but I will be sitting at a desk, making phone calls to medical facilities to obtain medical records. Sounds a bit boring, so I'll see how it goes. At least, I can stay there until I make some money for a few bills.

Our tires have been getting low on air since we got the car. Finally, we found out that the rims are made of chrome, which means that the tires pull away from the rims. Unfortunately, that isn't covered by the bumper to bumper warranty so we will have to buy new rims sooner or later. The tire store did a repair job, so maybe we can get by for a while with that.

April 1

When I last wrote, I had just gotten the job at CIOX. I got through the training week, thinking I wasn't going to make it. Now, I've gotten through the first week of working and I like it. I still have a lot to learn, but the day goes by quickly, and I even got to stay late on Thursday and Friday to do some OT.

Tony and Anais came in for Friday and Saturday. We spent the day with them yesterday. We met at Kathy and Rommie's house and went out to Winnemucca Ranch Road to shoot Tony's and Rommie's guns. They set up targets on a road on a hill. Some of the targets were potatoes, that Kathy spray painted red so we could see them from a distance. When we were almost finished, Rommie and Kathy took a gallon bottle of water way up on the hill, and Kathy painted a red target on it. Tony went first and he blasted a hole in it, but it didn't go down. But, before Rommie could take his turn, the wind came up and knocked the bottle off it's perch, so Rommie couldn't even try. I think he was a bit disappointed. All of us killed a few potatoes, even Bill and me. Bailey went with us, and she looked so comfortable with the guns. Tony took his AR15, which is one of the ones people are protesting about, trying to get them banned. We had a great time.

After that, we all went to lunch at The Lakes and then Kathy and Rommie had to go to a funeral. We went downtown with Tony and Anais to walk and take pictures. We walked almost 3 miles, more than I have walked in over 2 weeks. We had a good time. We went to Sweet Frogs for dinner because none of us was really hungry after our late lunch. Tony and Anais left our house a little after 7 to meet K and R at Bully's. We went to bed around 8. I slept well, but woke up at 12 with one of my killer headaches. I was so worried that it wouldn't go away before I have to go to work on Monday, but it is almost gone. Just a dull ache remains.

We spent a quiet Easter, just watching TV and reading. We ran over to Staples to look for a hook for my cuibicle, but we didn't find anything. Bill worked on the compost and I pulled a few weeks. I also worked on some more notes for work.

April 7

Bill took pictures of a pair of visitors to our front yard, yesterday. They hung out under our 2008 Christmas tree for over two hours. Makie and Miele watched at the front door the whole time. I told Bill he is not very friendly, because he should have invited them in out of the rain.

April 8

I had a good week at work. I am understanding more and asking less questions. They only offered overtime on Friday, and they said they needed 10 people. I was one of the ten so I got an extra hour and 20 minutes. We got a lot of rain on Friday and Saturday morning, so the river came close to flooding. We went downtown to walk on Saturday. It was super windy and the rain had stopped. We only walked a mile because of the strong wind. We went to a few stores, looking for some long tops to wear to work. I have found that sitting in leggings is much more comfortable than jeans. I found two of them at Burlington, and since I still am officially employed there, I got 15% off, not a lot, but better than not saving that $3.00.

I got up at 5:45 and started working on my blog today, sitting on the couch and enjoying the peace and quiet. Suddenly, I heard it. BEEP! I knew, right away, that it was the battery alarm on one of the smoke detectors. Makena gets really nervous when that happens, so by the second one, she was jumping of the couch, running in circles, and then getting backup to plop down next to me and tremble until the next one. I thought I could wait to wake Bill up until after 7, but. fortunately for me and Mackie, he had heard the first beep and gotten up, so he had the battery changed by the 7th beep.

April 15

So, when did the word "so" become the most used word with which to begin the first sentence of a statement? Are we the only ones who are a little bit bothered by this? We don't watch the interviews on Jeopardy any more because it is so annoying to hear, "so" used like that. I guess it is, somewhat, better than "Um" or "I mean." And that was my rant for the month.

April 27

I had such a wonderful time spending part of the day with Kathy on my birthday. We went to the Ferrari Farms Market, walking through all the booths and commenting on what we did or didn't like/ Kathy found a lantern that she had to buy, and I saw lots of things I likes, but I didn't see anything I had to have. We went to Midtown for lunch and ate at Two Chicks. I had a Caprese Sandwich, melted mozzarella on sour dough grilled with Parmesan on the outside. It was delicious. Kathy had a chicken sandwich, which she liked.

Then she said we had one more stop to make. We drove all the way down to a little shopping center on Lakeside, near Windy Hill. We went into a little ice cream parlor and there was Bryanna working. That was a nice surprise.

Kathy also gave me a beautiful soft green Lulu Roe duster. I haven't worn it, yet, because I am trying to find the perfect thing to wear it with.

Patty and Bob came over to swim for the last two Fridays and we went out to dinner with them to Applebees and Red Robin. Last night we went out to Red Robin with Susie and Kurt for my birthday dinner. They gave me a beautiful birdbath, which Bill will put together for me, today. I don't know, yet, where I want to put it.

The yard is greening up and the trees have blossomed. It looks like we are going to have a good crop of peaches and cherries. Bill has been doing all the work around the house and a lot of yard work, too.

Other than that, the days are pretty much the same. I haven't been sleeping well, so I am tired all the time. I get up between 4 and 4:30 on most mornings, which gives me time to wash my hair and putter around before leaving at 5:10. I get to work early enough to get my hot and iced teas ready, clean my desk, talk to Victor in the next row, and get my computer up and ready to go. I'm not making mistakes and I'm not having to ask as many questions. I've been working a lot of overtime so I can make as much money as possible. I don't think I can do this for the long term. But, if I can just keep going long enough to get the cruise paid for, then I can see about finding a part time job that will allow me to have time to do things I like, again.

April 29

Just a touch of beauty.

May 12

We had a wonderful Morher's Day dinner with Anthony, Anais, Rommie and Kathy. But, again, we forget to take any pictures. We're so glad Tony and Anais are able to drive over to spend a couple of days here whenever they want to.

May 20

Facebook Rant 

Exclusive clubs for women, only, are springing up across the country. Isn't that wonderful! Women don't have to put up with having bothersome men at their special clubs. But, don't they see the irony in that? Men's clubs, Boy Scouts, boy’s schools, sports teams, were forced to include girls and women because they were discriminating by excluding them. So, it's okay to discriminate against men, but not okay to discriminate against women. Well! There is no double standard in that, because women have rights, but I guess men don't, right?

This is our locust tree in full bloom

May 31

This is the dinner that was waiting for me tonight. Not his usual chicken pot pie, but a new recipe that used buttermilk in the crust. It was divine! For dessert, he concocted a chocolate chip, cookie dough covered brownie with the best buttercream frosting I've ever had. If he keeps on cooking like this, I'm afraid I'm going to have to buy some bigger clothes.

June 3

We drove up to Donner to meet Monique and Brian to walk at Van Sickle Bi-State Park. The morning was lovely. After our walk, we had a picnic lunch and then we walked through Truckee for a little while.



June 11

Oh my! Such a lot of time has passed. The biggest thing, ever, was our Super Secret 50th Anniversary Bash. Almost all of our friends came to it. When we walked in, and everyone yelled, "Surprise" we were just astonished. The totally best thing was having all our kids and grands together for a few days. We had such a wonderful time with everyone at the party.  Almost all of our friends came to it. The Bendzicks, including Kirsten, Jay, Emily and Eric, Joline and Cyndi, Susie and Kurt, John, Michael and his adorable girls, Joe and Gee, Mickie and Maxine, Sherri, Greg, Shellie, Gordon, Lisa, Dave, The Tennants, and Gary and Jeanene. 

Of course, we knew that Scott and Jenn were here, but we thought we would all go out to dinner on Sunday, because of the party for Bailey, and we didn't know that Tony and Anais were here on Friday. We had leftover pizza for our anniversary dinner, and we enjoyed a nice quiet evening, knowing that Saturday would be busy, with our garage sale, and then Bailey's party. 

 There was a lot of drinking going on by a few people, but I'm not going to name names. I'll just say that I remember leaving with Tony and Anais, then getting into Rommie's car. That's the last thing I remember until about 3 am when I woke up. They started planning for it in December! They did such a fantastic job. A few people couldn't make it. The Briggs, The Kleins, Susie Holub, Charlie and Chris, and, unfortunately, Patty and Bob. Kathy tried to invite them and she sent a friend request to Patty 11 weeks ago, but it was never accepted, so Kathy had no way to get a hold of her. 

Bailey's graduation party was the excuse given for the event, and we thought it was normal for Tony and Anais to pick us up and drive us over to the guard base for that. Bailey's real grad party was at Pizza Baron on Sunday afternoon. A lot of Rommie's family were at her party, so we got to see them for a little while. Cory and Lisa and Dylan were there, too. It was fun talking to her for a few minutes.

After that, we had a chance to go home and rest for a little while. We opened our presents and cards. Our friends were extremely generous. The amount of gift cards and cash came to over $1,200. Susie had made a money tree to help us get to our cruise goal, and all that money really will help.

We made our way over to the Arboritum at Rancho San Rafael for family photos by Kathy's friend, Julie. The kids really thought of everything. Julie took, probably, a couple of hundred shots, so we should get some really nice pics. We went to Mi Casa for dinner and got home about 7:30. It was a joy-filled weekend.

On the way up to Incline Village on Sunday evening, Scott's family had the thrilling experience of a bear encounter on Mount Rose Highway. Brendan got two good shots of it, considering that both the bear and the car were in motion.

June 15

Bill prepared homemade chicken parmesan. He even made the marinara sauce. Yes, it was delicious, and we didn't miss having a vegetable, one bit

June 11

Toscana allows us to have a garage sale every other year 

June 14

I'm not complaining, but why are there no other people st the pool on such a gorgeous day?

Bailey graduated from high school.

June 18

Let the harvest begin!!!

I put up a Facebook post to try to give away some of the trillions of cherries we have gotten. "We just picked 13 more pounds of cherries. We did the hard part. Come and get them."

On June 24, we went to the Lavender and Honey Festival at Wingfield Park   

June 30

Lesson for today. Don't set the thermostat after taking a nighttime decongestant. Our usual sleeping temp is 72. The air conditioner ran all night to take it down to 62. We're wearing robes and slippers to watch the Today Show. On the other hand, I slept like a cozy log nestled under my extra blankets.

July 6

We were treated to a beautiful concert at the Bartley Ranch. All we had to do was check in the AARP attendees. It was a lovely evening. We enjoyed the music of Tocatta.

July 7

Bob came over to help Bill install our new ceiling fan from the kids. Bob ended up doing almost all the work.  Good job, guys!  

This is one of the perks of being up at 5:30.

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July 22

I always hoped that by reading to kids, I was teaching them to love reading. It's funny, I don't remember my parents doing it but I remember my sister, Joline reading to me. I loved going to the library and I got an adult library card when I was in 5th grade after I read Forever Amber, which my mother had to check out for me because they wouldn't allow me to check it out on a child's card.

August 4

We have thought about this almost every day for almost two months, ever since our fantastic, super surprise 50th anniversary bash. Tony and Anais, Scott and Jenn, and Kathy and Rommie , planned for months, and worked hard to execute a surprise party that simply took our breaths away. We had so much fun visiting with everyone and just being there that we didn’t do something we should have done, and would have done if our brains hadn't been completely overwhelmed, and we have regretted it every day. We wish we could go back and have a redo. But, until that time machine is invented, that isn’t going to happen. .

If only someone had poked one of us in the ribs and told us to make a speech. Because we would have been able to express out loud to all of you how very loved we felt, that all of you had gone to our party to honor us. That is so humbling. We would have said that we have the best kids and grand kids, ever. We could have told our friends that we are so happy to have them in our lives, and we think of them, not just as friends, but as part of our family. You were so generous in your gifts, and it was wonderful to see people we care about, some of whom had never met before, talking, sharing stories, and laughing together.

Some of our family and close friends weren't able to be there but we know we were in their thoughts. Thank you isn’t nearly enough. You are all in our hearts, forever.

Well, I haven't written on this post for a while, but I have been working on the blog. I'm doing one for Tony, Scott and Kathy, with things we remember. We found some pics that haven't been put on any of these blogs before, so I'm happy with it's progress. I'm almost ready to publish it.

We had dinner with Micky and Maxine for July 4th, even though I had a bad cough, which has lasted until just a couple of days ago.

Bill made a special brownie cake

We came home from dinner and put Mackie's thunder shirt on so we could go to bed and we hoped it would help with the firework noise. I woke up around 10 and heard the fireworks, but Mackie never made a sound. We were so glad, because I had to go to work the next day.

We went to the pool almost every Friday with Bob and  Patty, and sometimes on Saturday evenings. The pool was open until 8 every night in June and July, until they suddenly decided to close it at 5 the last weekend of July. But, we did have fun going in the evening while it lasted.

I am now an employee of CIOX. My pay went from $11.10 per hour to $13.50, so I am happy with that. The work continues to be challenging due to the rules changing whenever one of the supervisors wants to do things differently, but, for the most part, I'm doing alright. I have had a lot of Arch training, which is a system that is supposed to be "easier," but I haven't had to do work on Arch more than a couple of times since I've been in copy service. Chart Finder is where I want to be, and, I think, as long as I am getting a lot of work done, I will be able to stay there.

My desk with flowers

We are having a pot luck next week and Bill is making Sherri's meat turnovers. Yum. He has continued to make such delicious meals and desserts.

Banana Bread and Muffins

BBQ Flank Steak and BBQ hand cut fries

Blackberry Pie

Chicken Parmesan

Chicken Pot Pie

Stir Fry Beef

Three layer brownies

Cherry cobbler

We went swimming last night, but the smoke was so bad, and it was a little bit windy so we had a pizza dinner outside and then went swimming inside for an hour and a half. So relaxing and nobody else was there. Just before Bob and Patty got there with the pizzas, there was a sudden gust of wind and this happened...

August 5

Facebook post - because of the "No Means No" movement.

This is sad. I know I am old fashioned, but when I was dating, way back in 1965 to 1967, "no" didn't always mean "absolutely not." Sometimes it meant, "not right now." Young people don't really know what they want or like all the time. The teen years are a time of growing and learning, of testing the waters. One month I had a crush on boy A and the next month I didn't really like him all that much. If Boy B had asked me out when I was crushing on Boy A, I probably would have turned him down. Not because I didn't like him, but because I liked Boy A better, and was hoping he would ask me out. Or maybe I was just not in the mood to go out, at all that time, but the next time, I was. There are nuances, that have to be learned. Also, the way "no" is said can be different depending on the meaning. Flirting seems to be a thing of the past, as, apparently are compliments, because someone might be offended or take something the wrong way. How is anyone managing to start relationships, these days? I feel sorry for young people who might never know the thrill of the chase, which in the old days was so very innocent. Of course, to all of the haters out there, I don't mean every "no" did not mean "no". But, as kids, we were learning to tell the differences between "no" and "maybe another time." In the case of this nephew, he wasn't asking her to do anything more than go out. He wasn't being crude or rude. He deserves to be given another chance to get to know the girl and she deserves the chance to have a change of mind and go out with him.

August 11

Fun times at a Hot August luau. — with Patty L Teixeira and Bob Teixeira.

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August 18

Summer is almost over and I have been stuck inside a building for most of it. We have almost all the money we need for the cruise and I am planning my escape. I'm pretty sure that I can leave by the end of September. We're trying to find me a computer to replace the laptop that has so many issues.

Mackie has developed a sort of gagging cough, that has me worried. I think her cancer may have spread and is causing the problem. If that is the case, we are not going to do anything radical. She is 14. We know surgery would be only a short term measure and it would cost a lot.

Bill's 69th birthday was last week. We didn't do anything major. We had breakfast at Two Chicks on Saturday, and walked to the Aloha Festival at Wingfield Park.

For dinner, we went to Red Robin.










 On Sunday, Kathy and Rommie and the girls took us to Great Basin for dinner, always wonderful to get together with them.

Last night, Susie and Kurt took us out to another birthday dinner at BJ's Brewhouse.

Tony and Anais are coming here on Saturday for the Rib Cookoff and we will meet them for breakfast at Jack's. In the afternoon, we'll walk around the cookoff just for the fun of being with them and their friends.

September 3

As we celebrate Labor Day, which honors the contributions that workers have made to our country's prosperity and strength, I am enjoying my first paid day off, ever. I have time to spare today. So, it's time for a totally unrelated rant.

When did it become acceptable for parents to stop parenting their kids? Over the years, I have heard things like, "He just won't ride in the car seat," and later "She doesn't like to wear her seat belt. She won't keep it on." I have seen children running through stores and heard, "He won't hold my hand or ride in the cart." When they are two, three or four they shouldn't have the choice to do or not to do what the parents want them to do.I have had my seat kicked repeatedly on airplanes, and when asking the child, if old enough to understand, or the parent to stop the kicking, been told, "I just can't stop him."

The other night, we went to dinner at BJ's Brewhouse, a rather nice place for friends and families, kind of on par with Outback Steakhouse. Three tables away from us was a family with two kids. The little boy, about 4, was standing on the seat for a while, but after the food came, he walked around in the aisle and part of the time, he sat in the aisle while eating his dinner. The group sitting next to this family was obviously unhappy about the kid, who was staring at them from the edge of their own table, but the parents were oblivious. The parents kept their conversation going while ignoring him, except, they were, at least, aware enough that, when servers were passing by, the dad would reach out and pull the boy close to the table so the server could get by. That was a good thing, because, we all know that if the server tripped and hurt the boy, the restaurant would be sued.

Really! If you can't control their behavior when they are little, what do you think is going to happen when they are in their teens? I've seen and heard that, too. "We have to get McDonald's because they won't eat anything else." If they won't eat what you're serving, that's okay. But, don't get them special food. Kids don't starve to death that quickly.

"I give my child and her friends beer at our house so they'll be safe." That's fantastic. Teach them that it's totally okay to disregard the law as long as Mom and Dad say it's okay.

Or, "I just don't understand why he stole a car and crashed into that school bus. and, why did she get hooked on drugs. We always gave her everything she wanted." Yep!

Not all young parents are like this. Many parents we know are raising their kids to obey them and the law, and to respect others. Discipline isn't abuse. It is common sense. But, too many "parents" are allowing their kids to be little savages. Too many of them think the kids have the right to do whatever they want. Too often, kids grow up feeling entitled to have whatever they want. And, that kind of child "raising" will bite the parents in the rear when the kids are bigger and stronger NO! The only rights kids have is to be raised by loving parents who provide for their basic needs, and who care more about their safety and well-being than their "right" to be free. From the time our kids were babies, they learned that there are rules that must be followed, for their safety and for the safety and sanity of other people. Their little psyches weren't harmed by learning that they couldn't have whatever they wanted and couldn't do whatever they wanted. We were their parents, not their friends. We didn't care if their feelings got hurt, occasionally. The goal of parenting is to teach them to be responsible human beings who grow up with values and goals. Our kids have proved our point and we couldn't be prouder.  

September 18

Who had the brilliant idea of buying a new computer, anyway? We got an HP Pavilion at Costco yesterday. I spent three hours trying to get it set up and synced with my phone. I had to change my password for Microsoft over 12 times trying to get them to work together. We went to dinner with Bob and Patty at Los Tres Hombres and I thought it was done. This morning, when I woke up and wanted to use the phone to put rain sounds on, I wasn't able to use it without signing in to Microsoft, which I had installed because I thought I had to in order to link the computer with the phone. I got up and worked on it for over an hour before realizing that I had set up a new Microsoft account on the phone, which had taken over for google. I had a Microsoft launcher that had made my screen different and I was planning on going to Verizon to see if they could help me. When I figured out the problem, after changing my password several times. The thing that helped me was that I couldn't sign in to the blog on the new computer because I was using a different email address than I had used before. I realized that if I went back to using mauiboss@google, everything worked. So, I just uninstalled Microsoft launcher and all the other Microsoft apps from the phone and it is back to normal. Now, I have a nice new laptop, which I like except that I can't see the black letters on the silver keys. I hope that doesn't become too much of a problem if my sights gets any worse than it is now.

On Sept 21, we drove to Tony and Anais's for the weekend. We had dinner at Spaghetti Factory and went to two bars, where I drank beer for the first time. Tony really wanted me to try some of the craft beers. The ones I had were pretty good, and I enjoyed them, but they wouldn't be my first choice.

On Saturday morning, we went to the air show at Mather AFB. It was a hot day, but we had great seats under a canopy with a very good view of most of the action in the sky. We were near the edge of the canopy, so it was easy to get up and walk out too see better when we wanted to. They served a delicious buffet lunch with fried chicken, pulled pork, salad and a few other things. Before we went in to the area to sit down, we walked around to look at the planes and exhibits. It was a fun day.

I gave notice at work on Sept 5 and my last day was Sept 28. They had two cakes for me and I was rather happy too have so many people tell me that they were going to miss me. Jina, Holly, even Victor.

October 3

A few weeks ago, our washer, bought in 2011, got sick and the repair bill was going to be well over $300. So on Sept 21, we decided we should buy a new one with a matching dryer. Bill did his on-line research for the Samsung models that are top rated by Consumer Reports. He found them at Best Buy and Home Depot for about $1,300. Then he took a look at the JC Penney on-line ad and found the exact same ones for $599 for the set. There were other models advertised by the set, as well. He took pictures of the ad, knowing that it sounded a bit too good to be true. We went right over to Penney's and found them for $599 each. He showed the ad to the salesman, who called his manager over to talk to us. The manager said the ad was obviously a mistake and that Samsung sets the ad prices. After some discussion, the manager called Samsung. They said the ad was done in error and they would correct it immediately. We ended up buying the set because it was the one we wanted and it was less than the other stores. They even took 5% off for our inconvenience. Three days later, he looked online at the ads for Penny's and found that the ad was still running. He called Samsung and they said Penney's is the one who sets the prices for the ads. Bill decided to call the Nevada Consumer Affairs department to tell them the story. They had him fill out an online form and said they would investigate. That was 7 days ago. We just got a call from Penney's to let us know that a refund of $599 plus tax in on its way to us. Sometimes it pays to make waves.

Edit

Oct 4

We met Brian and Monique at Donner Lake, with the plan of taking a walk and having a picnic. It rained most of the day, so our plan changed to visiting the museum and driving to Truckee to walk and talk. We found a shop with a glass blower. Monique has been wanting a hot air balloon, and the proprietor agreed to custom make one for her while we waited. He made a beautiful one, exactly to her specifications.

October 6

We went to the Italian Festival at the El Dorado. 

Wonderful aromas. Multi delizioso! — at El Dorado Great Italian Festival.

October 11


We went to an AARP Appreciation Luncheon at the Renaissance Hotel. The food was good and it is always fun to see the Las Vegas gang. 














October 13

Andelin Farm Pumpkin Festival 

October 21

We had a good first day of voting. We started getting everything ready at 8 am, so we would be ready to open at 10.  We only have three people working and we all shared the workload very well. We processed 162 voters. We closed down at 6 pm and had to balance everything, making sure the machine counts matched the number of voters we had checked in.  By the time we had done all the closing procedures, it was almost 7 and we were pretty exhausted.  That’s when we discovered that, though the key to the door has the instructions for de-activating the burglar alarm upon arrival, there were no instructions for activating it when leaving. We guessed that we could just put in the code and press Alarm. Well, that was the wrong answer. By the time the fire department left, it was after 7:30.

Today is Tuesday, and we have two days off. We need them. We aren't working terribly hard, but the days are long. On Sunday, we had a short day, by about three hours, and we processed 63 people. We were out of there by 4:45 and we stopped at Red Robin for dinner. Yesterday, we went to the senior center at 8:45, and were ready to start by 9:20. Our official opening time was 11, but we let our first voter in then. We processed 82 voters. We had to break everything down and put it all away because the room is being used for Bingo today, so the closing took over an hour, but it was easier than we had anticipated. After the first day, when the paperwork was terrible, because I didn't understand what needed to be done, it has gotten easier. Now I know what seal numbers have to be recorded each morning and at closing. We don't have all the colors of seals we are supposed to have, so we are improvising by using blue seals, which, maybe are there, just for that reason. If the higher ups say we did anything wrong, we have a great excuse - there was absolutely nothing in the on-line training or at the in-office training, telling us how to do the paperwork. We were out of balance by two on Saturday, but Sunday and Monday, we balanced. 

Today, we are going to do a few errands and relax a lot. We had thought we might be called in to work as subs but, so far, that hasn't happened. 

Fall has been especially beautiful this year. We would have enjoyed taking a drive to Carson City or Tahoe, but we had to settle for the trees in town due to our schedule.







This shot is of our backyard.

We were treated to a really pretty sunset on our drive home a couple of nights ago.

October 30

We have two days off again. Thursday, we will be working, alone at the Sun Valley location, because Mike is scheduled to work at Incline. We will have to set everything up by ourselves. But, since we've done it twice, we know what to do, so it won't be too bad. On Friday, we will have Mike with us, and we will have to tear everything down, again. On Saturday, we will be at the craft fair at Mendive but we also have to be at the Senior Center for the pick up of all the equipment. Kathy will be at Mendive with us and also a lady, Pat, that I met a few days ago when she voted. She offered to help, and she is going to bring some of the wreaths she makes to see if they will sell.  So, I will be able to leave her and Kathy there while we go to wait for the pick up. The equipment for voting day will be delivered to Dodson School on Friday morning, so we went there this morning, to meet our contact. His name is Lloyd, and he is very nice. He explained how the delivery works, and it turns out that we won't have to be there for that. They will take it in, and Sue, in the office, will sign for it. We will have a few crazy days, but it will all be over after next Tuesday. 

We have new neighbors. We found out by hearing their dogs bark. We are so hoping that they won't be like the last ones, and bark all the time. We worked out in the yard this morning, raking and mowing, and we let Miele and Makena out with us. There was a little bit of back and forth barking, but it wasn't too bad. 

Bryanna will be 20 in just 4 days. She made a Facebook request for her birthday. She started a Go Fund Me for the Wounded Warrior Project with a goal of $200.  We contributed $50 to it. We thought it was such a caring thing for her to do. We also got her a long duster, really pretty, warm scarf and socks, and we will give her a gift card for Costco, which we always give them, for gas. I don't know when we'll be able to see her for her birthday, probably after voting is over. 

November 

We made it through early voting and voting day. We were at Dotson Elementary on voting day, and we had a very busy day. The intake people, Nancy and Judith were nice, although Judith was very slow, so we often had people waiting in line while there were empty machines. But, we had no major problems ad we balanced at the end, so we were quite happy about that.

On November 6, we went to see Bohemian Rhapsody with Patty and Bob. We loved the movie. Goo
story and great music.




. 





Bryanna's birthday dinner was at P.F Chang, so we had a delicious dinner. We love being able to spend time with the girls, who were both already seated when we got there. We had time to talk to them before Kathy and Rommie got there. Bry liked her duster, scarf, gloves and sock

Sally and John and Kristie were finally able to come over for dinner on Nov 4. We served Bill's delicious chicken pot pie, and they loved it. For dessert, we served Caramel Apple Bars, which were an experiment, but turned out very well.

We went to Kyle and LeAnn's house for Cards Against Humanity on Nov 17. It was a very fun evening, with two other couples and there were plenty of snacks. We had made caramel apple bars that were a hit. We didn't get home until 12:30 in the morning.

November 9

Bailey was inducted into the Air Guard!

This is the a post our son, Anthony Garrow wrote about the horrible Thousand Oaks massacre. "In the time the suspect engaged with the officers, he wasn’t engaged in killing innocent victims.” (Travis Walker, Cathedral City, California, Police Chief) Sgt. Ron Helus ran toward an active shooter and drew his attention away from the many other potential victims. He gave his life for people he didn’t know. I’m sure he didn’t have to wait in line behind any social media warriors or self-proclaimed keyboard pundits, to run towards the shooter as they were nowhere to be found. Remember Sgt. Helus next time a police officer is being villainized; next time protesters are slandering officers based solely on the uniform they wear; next time an officer has to stand stone faced while someone jams a camera in his face and tries to provoke a response so they can claim victim-hood, next time...

Gary Raffanelli came over with his new car and took us for a ride. It has the "driver assist" system, which basically does all the driving for you. It was freaky when the car in front of him put on its brakes, and his car stopped without him having to apply the brakes.

November 12

The Spinolas came over for dinner and to spend the evening. Always a pleasure to see them.

Thanksgiving came early this year, on the 22nd of November, also the anniversary of the JFK assassination. We went to Sherri's as we have done for the last few years. Heather and Alice were there, but Dom stayed home to work on their apartment in Las Vegas. We had a good time. Jennifer and Matt were there for a short time with their kids, John, Madds and Zoey. Greg had the rest of the family at his house for the first time ever. So we didn't see Lisa and Shellie and their group. We made an apple pie and Sherri served prime rib for a different kind of meal. Everything was wonderful.

As always, we did not do the Black Friday sales with the millions of other people who go for that kind of frenzy. We made an agreement with Scott and Kathy, that we will not exchange presents this Christmas. That takes all the pressure off all of us to find just the right things for everyone. Kathy and Rommie are going to take the girls on a pre-Christmas trip, probably flying to San Diego and renting a car to drive up the coast. They will be visiting with Joline and the gang, which will be wonderful for all of them to be able to get together. We will stay at their house with out girls while they are gone.

Mackie had her fall beauty treatment so our house will be a bit cleaner for a few weeks, without all that hair.

December 2

This morning, we went to an awards ceremony at the National Guard. It was very interesting, with all the pomp one would expect at that kind of presentation. Most of the guardsmen were in their dress uniforms and Rommie looked very handsome and distinguished. Bryanna was prsented a $1.500 scholarship. Funny thing, though, they thought the award was going to Bailey, but the mistake was discovered before they called the wrong name, so everything was fine. After the ceremony, Kathy and Bryanna came over for a breakfast of Kodiak Cakes, scrambled eggs and bacon. We had an enjoyable morning.

In the afternoon, we went to a play at the Reno Little Theater. It was called Every Christmas Story Ever Told. The play was cute, with the players putting several different Christmas stories together in a hodge podge. Lynda Hascheff was chosen to play the part of a contestant on a silly game show, so I took some pics and posted them on Facebook, tagging her as the star of the play. 

 They served sandwiches and cookies after the play, but we left with just a couple of brownies.

December 3

From my latest Facebook rant.

Radio Bans ‘Baby It’s Cold Outside’ Over Claims It’s A Rape Song, English Teacher Explains Its Real Meaning boredpanda.com It absolutely is not! It's about a man and a woman who are in love. She knows she should go home because it's getting late. He is trying to persuade, not force, her to stay a little longer. She is trying to rationalize staying a little longer. The song is playful, just as loving relationships should be. The only crime is that of putting an evil spin on an innocent, playful song That rant was followed a couple of days later, by this. The movement seems to have started with "Baby It’s Cold Outside." Then I saw that there is talk of banning "Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer" because Rudolph is bullied by all the other deer. So, I decided to check out the lyrics of other Christmas songs and I was horrified to find out that several beloved songs should be banned from the airwaves. Are there any other suggestions? "Away In a Manger" – promotes animal cruelty. They made the cattle give up their beds so a baby and his parents, along with a bunch of wise guys, could have shelter. "Winter Wonderland" – the story is just plain indecent. A snowman can’t really marry anyone, so that poor girl would have thought it was alright to spend the night with the guy. I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Cause – Poor kid will forever be confused by the illicit activities of his mother. "A Visit From St. Nicholas", or "‘Twas the Night Before Christmas" – commenting on a person’s body size is bullying. And St. Nicholas smokes, so the story promotes an unhealthy lifestyle. "It’s Beginning To Look a Lot Like Christmas" – The little boy asks for “A pair of hopalong boots and a pistol that shoots,” which promotes violence. "Frosty the Snowman" – tried to kidnap the children in the town and but, luckily, was thwarted when he encountered a policeman, who hollered, “Stop!” It’s possible that Frosty was a pedophile or was into human trafficking. "Deck the Halls" – “Don we now our gay apparel” well, do I have to say what is offensive about that? Jingle Bells – promotes a safety issue. If they were wearing seatbelts in that sleigh, they wouldn’t have fallen out when it went into a snowbank. "Holly Jolly Christmas" – Suggests kissing a young lady under the mistletoe, but doesn’t mention obtaining her consent. Also the lyric, "Ho, ho, ho" suggests that prostitution is just a part of everyday life.

Today we are taking the car to the Jackson and Farmer to get the bumper replaced. When we had it replaced last year, due to one of the parking lights falling out, they made a mistake in the finish and we found a spot where the paint was peeling in September. They are replacing it for free because it was their mistake.

December 8

It Snowed Last Night..

8:00 am: I made a snowman.

8:10 - A feminist passed by and asked me why I didn't make a snow woman.

8:15 - So, I made a snow woman.

8:17 - My feminist neighbor complained about the snow woman's voluptuous chest saying it objectified snow women everywhere.

8:20 - The gay couple living nearby threw a hissy fit and moaned it could have been two snow men instead.

8:22 - The transgender man..women...person asked why I didn't just make one snow person with detachable parts.

8:25 - The vegans at the end of the lane complained about the carrot nose, as veggies are food and not to decorate snow figures with.

8:28 - I was being called a racist because the snow couple is white.

8:31 - The middle eastern gent across the road demanded the snow woman be covered up .

8:40 - The Police arrived saying someone had been offended.

8:42 - The feminist neighbor complained again that the broomstick of the snow woman needed to be removed because it depicted women in a domestic role.

8:43 - The council equality officer arrived and threatened me with eviction.

8:45 - TV news crew from ABC showed up. I was asked if I know the difference between snowmen and snow-women? I replied "Snowballs" and am now called a sexist.

9:00 - I was on the News as a suspected terrorist, racist, homophobe sensibility offender, bent on stirring up trouble during difficult weather.

9:10 - I was asked if I have any accomplices. My children were taken by social services.

9:29 - Far left protesters offended by everything marched down the street demanding for me to be arrested.

Moral:

There is no moral to this story. It is what we have become all because of snowflakes.

Anita Wein

I got a job at Lawrence Merchandising a couple of weeks ago. I have done the on-line training and today, we are going to go to the Safeway on MaeAnne to work the gift card kiosks. It is the same kind of work I did for Mosaic, so it shouldn't be too difficult, but we'll see how it goes. We will be driving a rental car. I would like to get one with the driver assist system to see if we like it.

December 11

Let's play "Name That Husband." To explain - FB's facial recognition consistently tags Bill as Kurt Johnson. Bill doesn't have his own FB page..We wanted to see what happens when they are together in the same picture. If you go to the pictures attached to this post, two of them are tagging Bill as Kurt and two are tagging Kurt as himself. — with Susie Johnson and Kurt Johnson.

And the Christmas baking is all done. We bought a 25 pound bag of flour in the middle of November and we have about 10 pounds left. That's a lot of baking.

Edit

We both got jobs for the first and second week of January, working at the convention center for the Safari Club. We will be greeting, working at registration and possibly at a kiosk. That will give us a little bit more money for our big trip at the end of the month.

We had a busy two weeks, with AARP volunteering and seeing friends. We went to a Christmas play at Reno Little Theater so that was fun. There were two luncheons where we checked people in, one at the Tamarack and one at the Silver Peak downtown.

We house sat for the Browns last week, so they could fly to San Diego, where they rented a car and drove home along the coast. They had a fun time, going to the San Diego Zoo, the Hollywood sign, a hockey game and being tourists.

Tony and Anais came here on Friday before Christmas, skiing with Phil and his girls at Squaw on the way. They took us to dinner at Mi Casa Friday night.  On Saturday morning, I fell on the patio at Kathy's house and hit my head, so I had a great black eye.

Tony and Anais went to the Ugly Sweater Crawl on Victorian Square Saturday night with Phil and Brenda. 

Tony, Anais,Phil and Brenda 

Bill and I went to it to walk around and we met them for a quick picture before going to the Nugget for a piece of coconut cream pie to take home with us.

Patty and Bob had a party for Christmas Eve, but not many people showed up, using the rainy weather as an excuse, but it was fun.

This morning, we went to Kathy and Rommie's as we always do. It was a fun, relaxing morning, watching the girls open their stockings, which was all the presents they got, since their family trip was the present.

We didn't give or receive presents with anyone this year except for breads and cookies. That seems a bit sad, but really, it was freeing. We were able to just enjoy being together with family and friends and not worry about what to get, sizes, etc.

My eye was pretty colorful for a few days. This is what it looked like on Thursday, Dec 27

By New Year's Eve, it had faded enough that I could cover it up with makeup if I wanted to bother. 

We've been spending most days at home, except for running to the store for things we need, or going to the pool. The weather has been pretty cold, so we don't want to leave the house. Today, we cleaned and we're going to have a chicken, bacon and garlic salad for dinner. We will watch movies and stay away from holiday revelers. Mackie will get to wear her thunder shirt tonight, because we expect to have some noise at midnight.

New Year's day will probably just be spend like any other day, reading, watching movies and keeping warm.

The year has been pretty good for us. With my job at CIOX, I was able to make enough money for our big anniversary cruise to Panama. We got to see all the kids and most of our friends at our wonderful 50th anniversary surprise party. We have been healthy and so have our kids and grands. We are entering a new year, 2019, and we pray it will be a wonderful one.