June 24 through 29, 2009

Wednesday 24~~~ Kent went to Portland again today and I went to my dentist appointment and out for lunch with my girlfriend Beth. We both love Applebee's restaurant and we usually spend and hour and a half talking over dinner. We have so much to catch up on with us being on the road so much. After lunch I came home and worked on the deck getting it ready to stain. I am helping Kent get his things ready for the garage sale we are having this weekend. I want to reclaim my guest bedroom downstairs again and I want to turn my guest room upstairs into an office for us to enjoy with the computer and my stamp collection and books I am writing. It will be so nice to not have to use the dining room table and have to stop and put it all away each time I do some of it. Friday 26, 27 and 28~~~~~Our friend Gary put out a lot of his stuff on our garage sale, so we really had a lot of junk the first day until thing sold down a little. I sold all my antique wicker furniture that needed to be power washed and repainted, now I can buy new wicker furniture that requires no work. We did so good on Friday, I didn't think we would have enough for 3 days, but we did and what was left over we donated to Goodwill. Tress and Cory came over on Sunday and the guys ran the sale while Tress and I looked at old pictures I found while digging out things to sell. At the end of the day, they turned it into a party, enjoying some cold beer while they sat out on some old chairs Gary was selling. (picture) Tress and I fixed a delicious dinner with lots of fresh garden produce and chicken. It was sure a lot of work, but now Kent and I have lots more room in our house and we are glad we did it.

June 20 through 22, 2009

Saturday 20~~~~Kent is still at the beach, I spent the day watching my granddaughter Kallie play softball in a tournament in Newberg. It was a two day tournament with two games each day. I filled my thermos with coffee and grabbed a good book and off we went for the day. We lost the first game, but really recovered and played great the second game with a great win. The weather was a little chilly for this sun loving Grandma, but I wrapped up good in my chair and enjoyed the fun. Sunday 21~~~~I went to the softball tournament again this morning with Billy and the kids, Kent stopped there on his way home from the beach, and we watched the last game together. Kallie did a great job pitching again, they placed third making it a fun weekend. Monday 22~~~~ Today is Lisa's birthday, they invited us to join them for dinner tonight. It sure doesn't feel like it could have been 47 years ago she was born, that's the age I feel like most days, if I could just remember where I put things better!!!! LOL That is the part of aging that bothers us the most!

July 15 through 17, 2009

Monday 15 ~~~~~ This morning Kent and I drove to Portland to help our friend Gary move some things into his beautiful newly remodeled condominium. Kent helped carry in the furniture and I set up the kitchen, unpacked dishes, pots and pans. From there we went to watch Brandon play ball and came home. Wednesday 17~~~~~ Today was a busy day working on getting things ready for our garage sale next week. Bodie spent the day with me, we sanded and stained some lawn furniture, then Bodie stained the lattice fence for me while I worked in the yard. What a good worker for only 7 years old, he going to spend the night and tomorrow we will do fun things. Kent was in Portland for an eye appointment. Thursday 18 ~~~~~ Kent left for the beach this morning to spend a few days with Cindy and Eric. Bodie and I went for some long walks and played several games of Wahoo!! That evening we went to his ball game and came home and watched a movie together.

June 14, 2009

Sunday 14~~~~~What a fun day we had today at the graduation party. The weather was just beautiful and we had the party in Pammy's back yard. They cooked the London Broil and the rest of us bought the side dishes. We had so much food, we could have filled plates for the neighbors. I made the chocolate cake with the special frosting that is the favorite of both Shelby and Mathew. Pammy and Jeff made home made ice cream to go with the cakes, so the diets suffered again. After a wonderful dinner and the opening of the gifts, we played beer pong , Kent and Gary were the ruling champs for the day. We set up a table with pop in the cups for the little ones or non drinkers. There is always a houseful when my family gets together, some visiting inside, some visiting outside and several playing the beer pong. You rack 10 glasses like playing pool, you fill them 1/3 full of beer and the object is to toss your ball across the table into one of your cups in front of the opponents. They have to drink the beer in the cup, the object is to get rid of all your cups by throwing the ping pong balls into them.We sure had a lot of fun and we drank a lot of beer.

June 12, 13, 2009

Friday 12~~~~Tonight is Mathew's graduation from High School in Eugene. Kent went to Portland for the day and I drove to Eugene for the graduation ceremony. This is # 5 of the 15 grandchildren we have. LOL Time sure has gone by fast in the growing up of kids. It seems like it was just yesterday we all met at the airport for Kim to arrive with Baby Mathew (4 months) from Romania when they adopted him in 1998. As you can see by his picture, he is a big boy now. The graduates had beach balls that they released at the end of the evening like the kids did in Salem at Shelby's graduation, I guess that must be the trend now. After the graduation. Matt went to his all night party and we went out for dinner. I drove home on Saturday, bringing Pamela with me to spend the night here. We are going to Matt and Shelby's graduation party tomorrow at the Norwoods house.

June 6-7, 2009

Saturday 6~~~~ We got up early and Kent headed to Portland again to go to his Grandsons ballgames and I headed to Eugene to see my daughter and her family and to help them with the "Lane County Food Bank" gardens that all Albertson's store employees in Eugene donate one day a year to get all the garden plots harvested, cleaned,fertilized and ready to plant a new crop for their food bank of fresh produce. This food is sent to many food banks in Lane County to feed large groups of people, like the homeless shelters and soup kitchens and such. It doesn't go to individual families to take home and use, as their would be a lot of waste with people not using the food to it full advantage. This place was over whelming to me as it was so large and so many different things growing and being harvested and replanted everyday. There is one paid employee who has the tremendous job of getting all this done by just volunteer people like us from Albertson's. She put us in groups working all over the huge property, some were weeders of new plots, some harvesters of food to be picked and put in the big boxes that stores receive produce in, The young girls put together the many boxes we filled with fresh produce, some prepared new plots by hauling wheel barrows full of decayed leaves from the leaf storage pile then hauling compost to the plot, finishing up with fertilizer and all the nutrients the soil needed to keep it rich for the many different crops that would repeatedly be grown this summer. As soon as we finished our job in a plot, we moved to another plot to do the same thing and another crew came and did their job. There was no wasted time as what to do or when you just kept on going from field to field. Everyone worked, even the little children, they carried the trimmings of the lettuce that was harvested today and any other jobs that were small and many. I weeded and then I ran a wheel barrell the rest of the day hauling the various things they needed to the many gardens. Albertson's store directors all donated food and cold drinks for all the volunteers from each of their stores. Some people had to go to work at their store after they worked for hours at the food bank garden. Mike, my son-in law one of the store directors, did the grilling of the burgers and hot dogs with my assistance. What a rewarding day it was, knowing how much food our helping hands would help feed so many people. You should check to see if there is one near you to vouunteer in once in awhile, they need all the help they can get and you sure feel good at the end of the day.

June 5, 2009

Friday 5~~~Kent went to Portland today to help our friend Gary get his condominium finished up and ready to move into. Kent enjoys having something to do everyday, and this certainly has kept him busy. I went to Shelby's graduation tonight with all of the family. It was held in the Armory here, it was open seating and no tickets required, so any and all could come that wanted to and that was real nice. The Principle got quite upset when a beach ball came rolling out of the Senior section during the presentation of the diplomas ( a LOT of the Seniors had beach balls they blew up during the program and released at the end of the night when they threw their hats in the air.) After the beach ball episode, someone released a white mouse and of course it took awhile for it to get a lot of attention as it was so scared!!!! The Principle really lost her cool after that!!! LOL She said no more diplomas would be handed out even if it took until midnight if they didn't stop the nonsense and be mature. The whole audience (including me) started booing and telling her it was their night and to let them have their fun. She thought it over and agreed and the night finished up with a lot of fun and beach balls and hats thrown in the air at the end!! ( pictures)