Ah! HOME!

Well, I can honestly say I had a 'new' experience recently. After being gone for a full month I have to say my little hovel in Storm Lake looked SO GOOD TO ME! It actually took me by surprise! I'm often fussing about how small it is (esp in the winter!), how chopped up the floor plan is, how this or that it is or isn't ... you know, crumbling in general (I know! I'm to be content in ALL THINGS, right? right!) Everything seemed 'different' somehow ... I don't really have words for the sensation, but it was GOOD TO BE HOME.

January 18 I left Iowa for a stay in California. The first week I was at Tara's being a 'helper' in preparation for the arrival of her third child. Then Bruce drove out to join me (poor guy! He somehow managed to give himself food poisening! So...about that idea ... leaving your 1/2 eaten sandwich 'on top' of the cooler ... yeah ... 'not' such a good idea after all!). A couple days after he arrived, we checked into a beachside condo at Mandalay Bay near Oxnard.


Ron and Cheryl (Bruce's sister and brother-in-law) joined us. We stayed on the beach for a week.

We spent one day visiting the Santa Barbara Zoo with Tara and the kids.

On Feb 6, in celebration of Cheryl's birthday, we went to the Ronald Reagan Library (which happens to be Reagan's birthday too!). All four of us were amazed by this experience. WOW! What a tribute. This man had so many qualities and was accomplished in so many things we were unaware of ... guess that goes to show you can't trust the media to be your only source of information!

We enjoyed boarding Air Force One! and seeing the recently retired Presidential helicopter (Marine One?).

While at the beach house, we had a several sleep-overs with Savannah and William. They loved the easy access to the beach ... just a partial block (two houses between us and the beach). The little storage closet under the steps provided hours of fun! It had a louvered door and they just had a ball 'hiding' in there and surprising us when we'd walk by! It was just too cute! Then, to top off all that fun, "Gwampa" would get up with them early in the morning (they LOVE to wake up at O'Dark-hundred, as does Grampa) and together they would make fresh cookies for the day ... we are totally loving the Grandparent role!

Bruce took Cheryl and Ron on a tour of Hollywood, various interest points in LA, Malibu, and the famous pier, ending in a meal at a restaurant at the ocean's edge (recommended by friends of Ron & Cheryl).

When our little grand-daughter didn't arrive on time (in fact she was two weeks late!) Tara and Nathan bought me a return flight so I could stay until after baby arrived. We said good-bye to a very disappointed grampa and great-aunt and great-uncle ONE day before baby arrived!

Scarlett was born at home and immediately welcomed into her family by not only mama and daddy, but big sister and big brother! The older siblings fell in love immediately with their little sister ... it was so precious to witness! I feel so blessed that I was there to be part of her first day here on earth! And, of course, happy that I had the extra time to get to know her before I had to come home.

The whole object of travel is not to set foot on foreign land; it is at last to set foot on one's own country as a foreign land. ~G.K. Chesterton

Tomorrow morning the 'fun' begins! I'm going to be part of a "Creative Team" competition over at www.DigiTownSquare.com. I'll be on the Hula Girls team (sure hope I don't have to wear a 'real' hula skirt ... yikes! ROTLOL!)

All teams will get one assignment per week. Then the general public votes on our galleries and the team with the highest number of votes will win (I don't really know WHAT we win, but hey...who cares ... we WIN! LOL!)

I'll try to stop back with any exciting news!

Lawn Ornaments - Iowa Style!

So, this morning I wake-up to the sound of a semi-truck approaching our acreage on the county road, then ... silence. Hum. That's odd. Normally that sound is followed by the sound of the semi disappearing on the other side of the big hill. Up & At 'Em!!!

Outside our picture window there lays a semi ... on it's side ... across the entrance to our drive and the ditch area on either side of the drive! So much for anyone 'going anywhere' today!

This is going to be an adventure ... it's one of those severe, ice cold, winter days in Iowa. The good news is that the driver was fine. His load was beans (thankfully NOT turkeys, pigs, or cattle as so many of the trucks that drive by carry).

Bruce happened to be AT the end of the drive getting our trash cans in place for Wednesday pickup. He saw the semi coming up the hill from the west and a snowplow climbing the east side of the hill ... stood there for a few seconds and decided he'd best high-tail it out of there when the semi began to move toward the shoulder hoping to avoid hitting that snowplow! Good choice dear! Those garbage cans ended up under the semi's cab!

I've posted a slideshow with photos taken of the process required to extract a fallen semi from a snow-filled ditch and back on the road HERE. If your browser has trouble with the slideshow, HERE is a link to the gallery.

It's another New Year ... and next time around it will be the end of the first decade of the first century of this millinium ... who'da thought? The year's do seem to fly by don't they? ... Wow!

Christmas has come & gone. We are still enjoying the warm glow left behind by Paul & Andrea and the two dogs ... what a wonderful visit we had. Not one of those action-packed visits, nope. This was a slow-paced, quiet, and thoroughly enjoyable visit! We had time to catch up on all their news, play with the pups and learn more about 2009 dreams for their family. (oops! the back porch wasn't 'supposed' to be featured on our blog! teehee!)

I did my best to get a family greeting sent out this year ... as always, it's the details that give me the biggest challenge. Designing the greetings was the fun part. Then I got bogged down while getting the mailing list up-to-date (if I had a dollar for every time I've entered addresses into a program of one sort or another I could buy a house I think!). My effort grew into a project that included the making of a mailing list for my mother too (that's not just more family, but friends as well!). I just keep thinking, "Maybe when the technology outstrips my cognitive skills someday there will be a child somewhere in my family that will be happy to do this for me." Anyone? Anyone? Anyone?

True to form ... the computer analyst in me kicked in! My mailing list update has turned into a full-scale IT Project! Once the addresses were being collected, it only seemed natural to expand the scope and collect/record birthdays and anniversaries. Weeks later, I wondered, "Why not get all that data published somewhere online so any family member can access it? Someplace that allows subscriptions that can then be posted to their Google Calendar or iCal!" Oh yeah! I'm goin' there (... with Paul's help of course)!

With my MacBookPro in tow ... iCal linked to AddressBook ... all published to GoogleDocs/Cal ... I'm jumping into 2009! So, my big question is ...

Will there be more time to play Photoshop now?

How time flies! Since my last post (July) much has happened. 

I had a wonderful trip to see the grandbabies on the west coast in September. I got to watch them while mama & daddy went on a great little getaway ... did WE have fun!

In October we went on a great trip to Door County, Wisc with sister-in-law and her husband ... WHAT a great trip!  I hope to have a chance to go again sometime ... winter or summer ... the scenery is just beautiful!

I will post images later ... my internet speed is very degraded at this time of day.

Since it's been over a year I thought I'd post a couple pages I made LAST summer when our grandson came for his visit!  He was in love with "The Pirates" during his visit in Summer 2006 - didn't miss a beat - on the way to our farm he hatched "The Plan" and wrote this letter to "The Good Pirates". We had MANY pirate adventures throughout the summer!

His Snowglobe

flakes in horizontal flight,
evidence of an unseen force,
horizon gone

beyond the tree line,
fields invisible
I only see white
deep, thick, white

across the yard,
absent lake,
I only see white
deep, thick, white

snow drifting, waves,
testifying to the hidden
garden beds, shrubs, tire swing,
I only see white
deep, thick, white

wind carving incredible sculptures,
graceful, smooth swirls
undulating, twisting, cresting
every shade of white
deep, thick, white

my Father, knowing every heart
put me
in the center
of
His snowglobe.

I'm here, safe, warm, well loved and
blessed by the view.

by Linda Brown-Jacobson

3/2/2007

Every year on this day I begin to reflect back to the day (29 years ago) that I had a sudden burst of energy after 9 VERY long months of pregnancy ... well ... actually we weren't so sure HOW long I'd been pregnant ... back then the doctors didn't have the advantage of all this technology we have today. Initially they 'guessed' my due date to be around the first of January. Then they'd move it out a week or two ... until I finally decided maybe I'd just be pregnant forever!

Eventually the labor pains started and off to the hospital we went after calling Grama Garnett to come and watch Paul, our 18 month old son. Shortly after noon we had a beautiful little daughter, Tara. We were SO excited! Who could have dreamed all the joys that were just beginning to unfold.

So, today I reflect and tomorrow I'll wish my beautiful daughter a very Happy 29th Birthday.

As I pondered again those old memories, I decided to make two digital scrapbook pages of my beautiful daughter's daughter ... check them out!

She just LOVES shoes! Thanks for letting me share!

Savannah Shoes

How exciting! My friend and business partner, Kim, just called to tell me, "Today's the Day!" She's about to become a grandma! Oh-h-h-h I remember THAT day in my life. How I seemed to traverse time - one moment I'm in the hospital where my baby girl is about to give birth to her baby girl and the next moment I was back to a time ... 29 years earlier ... when I was the one about to become a mommy for the first time.

How odd it seemed! She's still my baby ... my little Tawa ... I'm still her "Muddo" ... I had trouble getting my mind wrapped around all the feeling swirly around. It didn't seem like so many years had passed. Then again, ... so much had happened between then and now ... it may actually have been a century! How odd.

There's a lot to learn about being a member of the 'sandwich generation' ... it's certainly going to be an adventure, ay? Hang on to your hat, Kim! It's a wild ride! One worth taking!

One of the 'challenges' a parent faces is how to instill in their children the confidence to 'fly' ... to leave the nest, when the time comes. Right?

Well, now I realize you can do too good a job of it! Take our family...of four children, one is now living in North Carolina with our two grandsons, another is living in southern California with our two youngest grandchildren, and one is newly married and living in Alabama.

Our youngest is still in college ... we're betting she'll move to Alaska (thus we will have effectively sent our children to all the far corners of the USA ... not counting Maine...but we've run out of children ... do you suppose the grandchildren will cover that region?)

So, I often wonder, "Are they self-confident and adventurous or do they just want to be far from home?" I've spent a great deal of time pondering this! I see the children of my peers settling in right next door (okay...that might be a bit of an exaggeration, but you get my meaning!) to their parents. They gather weekly to worship, to share some of the challenges of parenting the new generation, to celebrate life's milestones. It all leaves me wondering, "Was it really a good idea to encourage their desire for adventure?" "Why did we want them to be so darned independent?" "What were we thinking?" "What am I now . . . am I no longer needed as the parent of my children?"

Then, one day, the calls start coming. Those independent, adventurers actually want advice! I'm not saying they always follow the advice they seek...but it was a big day in our household when the calls began. "Mom, What do you think about ..." "Dad, how can I ..." etc etc etc

Of course, I know these same children already know the advice we'll be giving and we (DH and I) know in most cases they most likely just want to hear the advice as a confirmation to what they had been planning to do.

All this said, it warms a parent's heart to feel needed again! Welcome home, children!

Check out my Slide Show!

Just updated my blog from the old blogspot.com! Now to get started with entries...goodness!

Yesterday Kim (business partner) and I held our first training class as a Mobile Training Unit! Due to the severely cold weather in NW Iowa (high of 18 degrees F with high winds) we lost a few students, but three brave souls made it. The monitor for the instructor's pc decided to fail, so Kim was running the lesson 'blind' - and STILL she did GREAT! She was somehow able to keep an eye on the image projecting at the front of the room...better eyes than mine!

We are in the process, still, of getting a website developed. Today we started a Google Group (Digital Scrapbook Friends) to give our students a place to connect with each other on-line. All the notes from the class yesterday are posted there ... just in case they'd like to review what they learned! We will need to send an announcement to our student's from the classes held at the Lab in Ames, Iowa.

Our images for display and download are all up on 4shared.com now, so we can give access to our students and clients regardless of our physical location. That will be a huge help as we alternate our time on a weekly basis between NW Iowa and Ames.

As we venture forward, God continues to bless our little business in ways beyond our imagination! As if the first 8 computers God sent weren't enough, we've now been blessed with 7 more! (Isn't HE amazing?) Of course, this would be a good time to give a BIG THANKS to Jason for ALL he has done to help us. He is our ENTIRE technology team! There isn't anything he cannot do and we SO appreciate his help!