Good News for Sammy

My nephew, Sammy, is leaving for Japan in January to go on his mission.  How exciting for him.  He has taken Japanese in high school and now he will have a chance to use it.  I know someone who lives there and I wonder if he will have time to look her up for me.  I really would like to reconnect.  Do the Japanese use Facebook??  Hmmmm.

While Sammy is going on his mission, we are not Mormon as you might be thinking.  We are Catholic.  Sammy is my brother's child, Richard, who is a Catholic turned Mormon.  I have always admired those who convert to something.  They are so much more serious about whatever they convert to than those of us who just happen to be born into something.  Cradle Catholics we are called.  I am a believer in God.  I like the spirituality of it and I like the continuity and community that religion offers us.  I believe that religion is personal and I don't judge those who don't feel as I do.  After all, none of us really knows what is beyond our existence here today.  I also think real spirituality is all about loving others and kindness.  I an not one of those religious zealot, I hope.  But off topic I go, I do admire Richard and his commitment.  He found these people and found something that connected him.  Good for him to be true to himself.

Back to Sammy.  He is a miracle as far as I am concerned.  He was in an accident in 1996 when he was four years old.  That accident killed my parents and my sister-in-law, Cindy.  Sammy walked away with a scratch on his nose.  I credit this miracle to car seats.  When Cindy got off the plane from Iowa, she and Sammy came to us to stay before going to Fresno with my parents.  At that time car seats were not the law for children over 4 years old.  I had a toddler seat that I had left over from when my children were toddlers and I insisted Sammy use it.  It was even missing a screw, yet he lived.  A miracle.  I really love him.  I never get to see him.  We live so far apart and he probably has no clue how loved he is here.  I will miss him so far away, but I am happy for him as this is what he wants.

Best of luck in Japan Sammy.  Our prayers for the next two years away go with you.

Is Television Worth This?

There is always a back story.  Here it is.

A couple of years ago we changed television providers from Dish Network to Direct TV.  We knew so many people who were so happy with Direct TV and we weren't happy with Dish Network.  SO we took the plunge.  Things went from bad to worse right away.  We began with a deal that had to be done over the Internet.  When I couldn't make things work, I called.  There was a time limit.  In fact, I called several times.
Each time the customer service agent would agree that the time limit was fast approaching, but the deal only worked if I did it on the Internet.  I never fixed the problem and then we were stuck (those nasty two year contracts that lock you in for two years and heavily fine you for leaving early) paying full price.  We never did get the deal.  Over the years I have called numerous times.  I usually got a $5.00 credit that would last for a while and then end making me call again and again.  At one point, the customer service agent told me that I wasn't the only one who couldn't make that deal work and agreed that I had made many calls.  At one point the terms changed so that the customer service agent could help over the phone, but I never got anyone to do that.  I did look into backing out of the deal, but didn't have the $$ to do that.

Here we are today.  About a month ago, our telephone provider, Surewest, put in upgrades to the lines and are now offering television.  For one year we get a deal that almost cuts our television costs in half.  We get more channels.  After one year we are free to go our merry way or renegotiate with a new contract.  Also, and this is quite a bonus, we get 3 boxes with the price and only have to pay extra for one box rather than the four boxes we pay separately for now.  We get a DVR thing.  I'm not sure how that works, but we don't have it now and everyone thinks I will love it.  Surewest is coming out on October 11th.

I called Direct TV today wondering how this would work returning stuff, getting it shut off.  I spoke to a nice guy named Ross.  I was perfectly clear that I had signed a contract and was not staying with Direct TV.  He made all the arrangements and we hung up.  I made sure to tell him every detail and assured him that nothing he could say would make me stay.  I did that knowing that all conversations are recorded and I didn't want him to be in trouble for not talking me into staying.  I wasn't staying!!!  Ross did say he was sorry, that there were several discounts that I would have been eligible for and he doesn't know why I was never offered them.  It was a pleasant conversation. 

At 5:00pm I get a call from a woman who wanted to talk me into staying.  I was polite and declined.  Don't you think that would be the end of it??? No!  At 6:30ish tonight I get a call from Jose.  Jose was from the retention department.  He didn't want to listen to me.  As I began the story once more, HE HUNG UP ON ME!  Why would I want to do business with someone who hangs up on me. 

I can't wait for October 11th now. 

Hello Today

I am so lucky.  I entered a give-a-way and won!  It was a cookbook--Susan Branch--double love for me since I avidly read cookbooks and cooking magazines and I love the whole Susan Branch kind of look.  So, I was anxious to get my prise.  I am so in for a contest where I only need enter.  I love my "new" cookbook!

At my work the children are doing a great deal of work with similes and metaphors.  I am obsessed.  I read my books now with an eye out for similes to take to the students.  Just Friday the students were making a poster about something having to do with similes.  I was looking for good magazines with pictures they wanted.  An Italian cooking magazine caught my eye.  After flipping through it, I found an article on a city in Italy that has been around  since the first century.  We are studying the middle ages and I cut all these pictures out that demonstrated what is written in the history book.  At one point there was this note about how houses were built out of wood and they began to lean as they aged.  The houses would lean until they touched and then would stop and the people still lived in them.  I found this amazing and more than one student couldn't believe they leaned and didn't fall over.  Part of my poster showed the closeness of the houses.  Imagine your house leaning over.  Mine would fall before it met anything but the ground, but the picture I found showed that the houses are so close together the you could literally walk from house to house on the roof tops.  I presented my "poster" in both history classes.  I think the students liked it because they asked questions.  At least they weren't sleeping, which I see a lot of.

Time to go and finish watching Dancing with the Stars. I just love that show......

What Are They Thinking?

I work with a teacher who is currently on maternity leave.  Due to circumstances we are on our sixth guest teacher.  One of the students takes advantage of this.  Every time we get a new guest teacher, he takes two lunches.  The first time I could understand.  He was new to the school and wasn't used to the two lunch system.  The second time I wasn't sympathetic and the students told me what was up.  Time number three was today.  Turns out his girlfriend has first lunch and he wants to be with her.  Humph.  God only knows whether he will try it again on Monday when I think we are getting a new long term guest teacher....

The Farmland Quilt

This could be hard to believe....

I spent a couple hours giving thought to a fabric I had for an embroidered quilt.  There are 14 blocks.  I choose a cream with faded red dots for the background.  Then, a few days later, I had a change of heart and decided to go with a cream with a slightly darker brown stripe.  Sunday I got busy cutting and tracing the design.  As I did one of the last marks for the pattern, I realized I had used the WRONG fabric.  I couldn't decide whether to cry or laugh.  What I did use to trace the squares will be fine.  The quilt will be adorable.  I will love it.  Will I remember that it was the wrong fabric every time I look at it????

I am planning on using dark blues, reds, greens and browns for the pieces around the embroidered blocks.  I have quite a few 1800 reproduction fabrics and Thimbleberries that will work just fine for this little project.

So, if you used the wrong fabric, what would you do?  Start over, use what you traced?

Sorry, I got lost for a bit

Opps.  I was going to make a commitment to write at least every other day and here I have fallen off the log and am getting back on.

Yesterday I was at my Thimbleberries meeting.  Our fearless leaders were gone to get ready for quilt camp and we had substitutes--Elaine and Pat.  They were wonderful.  Elaine made a quilt and it was in a book called Class Acts.  It is out of print, but she was talking to us about her 15 minutes of fame.  Then she raffled her book to our group.  My friend, Sandy, won the book!  I told her I was thinking "Let Sandy win!"

I have been deep into a job.  Someone (my sweet daughter) told me how easy it would be to put my DMC floss on these plastic cards and it would be so organized.  I think she just wanted me to buy something at JoAnn's that day.  I can say that she showed me the REALLY expensive containers for $10.00 and then directed me to the $1.99 containers.  Great daughter!  Saves me money, but she tricked me into all that work with the embroidery floss.  Is it nice to trick your mother?????

It is the 10 anniversary of 9-11-01

I was watching the news, putting my sweet girl's hair up for ROTC.  That means it had to be a Tuesday.  We were sitting on the bed doling her hair when the regular newscast went to New York to report the first plane.  Then we watched as the second plane crashed into the twin towers.  I work in a junior high school and we watched the news for the entire day.  The little things we do each day become so prominent--this is what I was doing when.....  It is sad that it takes tragedy to bring us  together, that it takes that for us to show our patriotism.   Day to day we complain about the injustices we feel, but I still believe that I live in the greatest country.  Not feeling so free lately as the water company puts in water meters and I stop my car to call 911 because I have some idea that they will know whether or not I was driving, but still better off than most of the people out there.  So, I am going to choose to be positive and grateful.