Encyclopedia of Me: C

Encyclopedia of Me based on Encyclopedia of an Ordinary Life by Amy Krause Rosenthall. My version.

Volume C:

Camera: I have loved taking pictures since I was 10 and had my first camera.  My last camera was a digital that I was satisfied with, until I realized what kind of pictures I could get with a better camera. Then I began to covet the cameras I saw with others.
       Several years ago, as a Mother's Day gift, Mark surprised me with a treasure hunt. Each clue led to a lens or battery or strap. The last clue led to my Cannon Rebel T3i -- the camera I had researched and really wanted, but knew we could not afford. His response was, "I wanted you to have it, while you still had something to take pictures of."
        This camera has let me take pictures of whole family Christmases, Mother's Days, and random moments of my kids at play. Because of this camera I got our son's graduation and will get our other son's graduation in June. I got the look of surprise on my in- laws faces when we surprised them for their 50th wedding anniversary. And this camera took the last photo of my parents together and coherent. It truly is a gift.

Cats: I am more of a cat person. They aren't as needy as dogs. They can be left alone. They are more self sufficient.
     And we never owned a cat growing up. We had dogs, and my dad hated them and were mean to them. So, I have to say cats are the animal for me.

Change: I used to be a Child Care and Camp Director. I know how to make plans. I also know plans get screwed up. Weather moves activities indoors. Someone else schedules an activity in one of your rooms. An employee doesn't show up. Change happens. But, just because I can handle change, doesn't mean I like it.

Coffee: My parents drank coffee all the time. Mom had hers black, Dad took his with sugar and cream. We were told we couldn't have coffee until we were twelve. "It will stunt your growth." So, of course we'd sneak drinks -- from Dad's (black coffee is nasty.)
       When I actually turned 12, I wanted nothing to do with coffee. All of it actually tastes nasty.
        At camp, during college, coffee got me through. I am not a fan of institutional breakfasts, no matter the skill of the cook. So, instead of pancakes or waffles that had been kept warm in the warmer, I had coffee -- just like Dad used to drink.  It was a "camp only" survival tactic.
        I have "coffee" every morning now. But, the coffee I have is International Foods Suisse Mocha. It is more hot chocolate with a hint of coffee. I've tried Mocha Lattes from coffee places and they are too coffee-y. Real coffee drinkers may disagree, but for me Suisse Mocha is the coffee I drink.

Cold: I used to think I was allergic to cold. La Porte is in Northwestern Indiana and gets a lot of snow. I would play outside and break out in hives.
      When I would get cold, I would break out in hives.
      Mom decided I was allergic to cold and would put me in a tub of hot water and the spots would go away, which only further proved her theory.
        The surprise turned out to be I almost never broke out in hives when we lived in Alaska. This started me thinking.
         I got hives when we lived at the apartments on the river in Lafayette when we were at Purdue. Why not Alaska?
         Then we lived in Delaware, the hives came back. Delaware has a low water table.
          Long story short, I decided my allergy is to mold. The house I grew up in had a dirt floor basement and no door leading down to it. I think all that time my "allergy to cold" was just a reaction to potential mold in the basement. Considering I use my asthma inhaler when mold counts are high now, and I haven't had hives in forever, seems to indicate I am right.
          Good thing too, since Northeastern Indiana is still Indiana.

Colored Hair:  I tried Sun In once as a teenager. It turned my brown hair a weird orangish color.
          Living in Joliet, cutting my hair was too expensive, let alone coloring it.
            But when we moved here, I decided I needed it. Mentally needed the change. Here it was actually affordable. I started adding blond highlights. It changed my opinion of my self and my outlook. I started doing it every couple of months.
              I've since gotten braver. Now I am playing with color. I'm not ready to go with mermaid colors or anything, but in the end, it's only hair. I can always change it back. 
       

Family Vacation

Vacations as a kid were a trip to Arkansas once a year, for a week...in August... to visit my dad's family. I always wished we could go somewhere else.

When Mark and I moved to Alaska for two years, we drove there and back again. Seeing so much of the country made me want to see more.

Once we had the boys, I was excited. Showing the boys all the things I wished I had seen, would not only give them what I never had, but give ME what I never had.

We followed Mark to Boston when he had a conference. We visited an aunt and uncle in New York and saw Niagra Falls and Fort Niagra. We followed the trail in Boston. We visited family in Pennsylvania. We stopped at the site where the plane went down in Shanksville. The boys were 7 and 9. They remember very little.

 The next year we visited family in Pennsylvania again for Mark's grandmother's 80'th birthday. We stopped at the sight of the Johnstown flood in Johnstown, Pensylvannia. We stopped at the air and space museum in Ohio. The boys remember very little.

Then, we discovered the new camp director at Pinewood was someone we knew from our days there. His wife used to be a kindergarten teacher. They had two boys the same age as our boys. It was love at first meet. We got invited to come up all the time. What better place for boys to go? The 4 of them would run around and have the time of their lives.

Travelling the country became a distant thought. Especially since we paid for each of them to attend camp for two weeks. We couldn't afford to travel as well.

We are on Spring Break. Youngest leaves for college in the Fall. Oldest will have chosen his next college by this summer. Both will be counselors at Pinewood this summer. We decided to have one last mini vacation before life takes over. We went to Turkey Run today since, even though we live in Indiana, we have never taken the boys...because of camp.

It snowed about 2 inches last night. Would it still be a good plan?

We decided to go ahead and try it. It was wonderful!

There was snow on the ground when we got there, so not many people were on the trails. It was gorgeous!

We walked, and climbed boulders, and picked our way through creek beds. And laughed.

We had lunch at the lodge and went back out to try some other trails. This time the sun was shining and the the sky was vivid blue. Snow from the trees plopped to the ground as the sun melted it from branches. We followed one path that had fast running shallows. At one point oldest and I took off our shoes and socks, because it was just easier.

But dang, if it wasn't freezing.

Literally. There was ice in places.

But we figured freezing for a while, was better than wet feet all day.

We all climbed on slippery rock, and trooped through woods and climbed up and down, and up, and up, stairs. And we laughed.

I hope it isn't our last family vacation. But as stand alone time together that isn't a trip to the mall in Fort Wayne, it was a trip we will all remember.

Snow day

For the month of February, I am alternating between gripes and grins. Today is an even day, so today is positive.

Growing up in La Porte, if they predicted snow... you got snow. However, that wasn't always a cancellation for everyone. Back then, we went school by school, and those of us in town-- who walked-- usually had to go regardless. Bus kids got more cancellations. I remember listening to WLOI/WCOE as the list of schools was read off, "Critchfield...Kingsbury...LINCOLN!!!!" celebration time.  A snow day was a day of playing outside in our snow suits and sometimes Mom would make us snowcream. That my childhood included the blizzards of '78 and '79 is just  bonus.

When I was a Child Care Director, school cancellations meant making sure I had enough staff for the kids whose parents worked and activities to occupy the kids until the parents could pick them up. Snow days were not a cause of excitement.

When the boys were young and up until about 3 years ago, snow days were much the same as my childhood, except the whole district closed and days were made up at the end of the year. (We didn't make up days when I was young.)

The last three years, our district has taken advantage of 1:1 technology, and when school is cancelled, the kids have e-learning. We avoid tacking on days to the end of the year this way.

Now I realize this is not a positive for all my friends who are teachers and have to provide those lessons for e-learning and also have to have "office hours" and virtual Professional Development.

Nor is it fun and games for those children who actually do their e-learning.

But, even though I lose money every time school is cancelled because I am an hourly employee, I feel like cancellations are a gift. I have around 60 unused sick days over the last 12 years because I don't get sick. I rarely use the 2 personal days I have every year. A cancellation is like God is saying, "Take a break."

The kids at school have been squirrelly lately. A blue blob approached across the radar last night and we had a day at home today.

The Weather Channel app says we are under a weather advisory from 1am until 10am tomorrow. I wonder if I need another break. 😎

Only time will tell.

Someone Needs to Write a Book

The Tylonel murders that led to safety packaging happened while I was still of trick or treating age.

Adam Walsh went missing and turned out to have been murdered when I was of babysitting age.

Two students from school went camping at a local campground and were murdered when I was in High School.

My best friend and I were followed to school several days by a man in a truck who told police he "just wanted to look at the pretty girls."

Columbine happened when I was pregnant with our second child. I watched it unfold on TV while our oldest was napping.

The world is not any more or less safe today than it was 40 years ago.

So why, when I drop our 17 year old at the theater, do I worry as though the worst will happen if I just leave him there?

Elizabeth Stone said, "To have a child is to forever have your heart go walking around outside of your body."

There needs to be a What to Expect the Teenage and College Years because this angst was not covered in the baby books.

I've always thought Love You Forever was creepy and my husband says the mom in that book is a stalker. But, I'm starting to understand where the mom is coming from...

But both my guys have nixed my idea of hubby and me buying an RV and splitting time between the homes they will have with their families.

Darn. :-)

Tarzan Couldn't Stand This Kind of Hot

Heat advisories for several days have me grateful for air conditioning. 

I'll admit it... I'm spoiled. 

Growing up in Northern Indiana, we did not have air conditioning. 

We had a huge exhaust fan upstairs that supposedly drew heat out of the house. 

We had a box fan in the living room to circulate air. 

We had windows that stayed open unless it rained. 

And we had our very own, "slammin' screen door. 

Even if we had been allowed to be in the house, we would have gone outside. 

Outside we had a hose and the water was cold. 

Outside you could feel the wind on your face as you rode your bike.

Outside the streets flooded every time it rained and cars would drive by and splash us sometimes if we asked them to.

Outside is where we ate Popsicles. 

Outside is where our neighborhood friends were because they too were kicked out of their houses. 

Outside is where the beach was and where every now and then, Mom would take us after dinner. The smell of vinyl from the blow-up raft, the squeals of "Ouch, Ouch, Ouch" as bare feet skip hopped across a hot parking lot and burning sand, and finally the feel of tepid water warmed by a day of sun made this the best outside of all. 

Today we have air.

And we have ceiling fans. 

We live in the country on a highway so bike rides are not as easily achieved.

The lake in this town is a home to geese and, though people do swim in it, we do not. 

The hose is not as fun, when it is just you and your brother. 

Now that I think about it, I must rephrase my opening statement...

I admit it... I was a spoiled child.