Thirty

Happy Birthday Peter!

Today you turn the big  30.

You do not seem to think this is awesome, but I do. 

Remember when we could not wait to turn 16.........19......21.  Turning 30 is a milestone but, it doesn't change who you are.

Let's look at this in a couple of ways.

Mathematically

30

multiplicity/divisibility---1,2, 3, 5, 6,10,15,30

29+1= 30


Grammatically

Thirty

Historically
 I did some hunting on the net to find some fun factoids.  Lets take a look at some about the year you were born.

1981 Many notable technological advances happened in 1981 one of the most exciting was the First Flight of the Space Shuttle Columbia. This was also the first year that the Word Internet was mentioned and MS-DOS was released by Microsoft along with the first IBM PC. On the world stage the events that captured the imagination included Lady Diana Spencer marrying Charles The Prince of Wales. In Politics a little known group before Solidarity inspire popular protests and a general strike in Poland and the government in the UK starts the process of privatization of Nationalized Industries which is later followed by many other countries around the world.

Cost of Living 1981

How Much things cost in 1981

Yearly Inflation Rate USA10.35%

Year End Close Dow Jones Industrial Average 875

Interest Rates Year End Federal Reserve 15.75%

Average Cost of new house $78,200.00
Average Income per year $21,050.00
Average Monthly Rent $315.00
Cost of a gallon of Gas $1.25
Sinclair ZX80 $199.95
19 inch Color TV $399.95


Events

• Air traffic controllers strike causing chaos in the US and The US President Ronald Reagan Fires Them
• Ronald Reagan becomes US President
• Researchers find the wreck of the Titanic in the North Atlantic
• Muhammad Ali finally retires with career record of 55 wins and 5 defeats
• Sandra Day O'Connor is nominated to become the first female justice on the U.S. Supreme Court.
• The first American test-tube baby, is born

Technology

• Scientists identifyThe Aids Virus
• First Flight of US Space Shuttle Columbia
• The European Rocket "Ariane" is launched
• IBM in US launches it's first PC which uses Microsoft Software MS DOS
• The term INTERNET first mentioned
• Post It Notes launched by 3M Corp
• The Worlds Fastest Train The French TGV goes into service between Paris and Lyons
• China Clones the first fish ( Golden Carp )
• Artificially Produced Insulin becomes the worlds first genetically engineered protein to treat human disease Diabetes
• MS-DOS released by Microsoft

Popular Culture 1981

• MTV (Music Television) is launched August 1st
• Simon And Garfunkel Reunite for concert in New Yorks Central Park

Popular Films

• Raiders of the Lost Ark
• Superman II
• Nine to Five
• Any Which Way You Can
• Arthur
• The Cannonball Run
• For Your Eyes Only
• On Golden Pond
• Chariots of Fire

Popular Musicians

• John Lennon
• Blondie
• Dolly Parton " 9 to 5 "
• Sheena Easton
• Diana Ross and Lionel Richie with " Endless Love "
• Olivia Newton-John With " Physical "
• Roxy Music
• Bucks Fizz
• Adam and The Ants
• Michael Jackson
• Queen
• David Bowie

Born This Year 1981

Jennifer Tisdale
Allison Crowe
Britney Spears
Justin Timberlake

Major World Political Leaders 1981

Australia Prime Minister Malcolm Fraser Brazil President João Figueiredo Canada Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau China Chairman of the People's Republic of China Post Abolished France President Valéry Giscard d'Estaing Till 21 May
France President François Mitterrand From 21 May


Germany Chancellor Helmut Schmidt India Prime Minister Indira Gandhi Italy Prime Minister Arnaldo Forlani Till 28 June
Italy Prime Minister Giovanni Spadolini From 28 June


Japan Prime Minister Zenko Suzuki Mexico President José López Portillo Russia / Soviet Union Chairman of the Council of People's Commissars Leonid Brezhnev South Africa Prime Minister Pieter Willem Botha United States President Jimmy Carter Till January 20,
United States President Ronald Reagan From January 20,


United Kingdom Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher


While it may seem a little daunting........

30 is just a number. 


Please remind me of this in 4 months. 


Live it up and have a great time!

"Last Friday Night"

"Yeah we took to many shots......"

"and we danced on table tops......."

Ok maybe not. 

But we did have a pretty good time.

Last Friday I went out with some co-workers for a birthday party.  It was Karaoke in a small town bar, just outside the city I live in.

It was fun!   We had a big group of people,  which made for a very lively night.

To kick off the fun the Kraoke DJ proposed to his girlfriend.  Most of us were in a state of "is this really happening?" shock. 

The Birthday girl AB, did a line of shots shortly after I got there so she was pretty much gone by the time the Karaoke actually started at 9pm.  Which made her feel like the owner of the micophone and every 30 seconds or so you would hear a high pitched "woo woo" no matter what song was being sung.

At one point early in the evening my camera was hyjacked and some interesting pictures insued. A few that are not going to be posted here.

Once the camera was back in my possesion we did get some really nice posed shots.   

"This Friday night, Do it all again!"

Ghostly Encounters and Packing Material

My Dad is moving in with Theresa. I am very happy for the two of them.  In all honesty, I was a little thrown back when the topic came up.  It is just not something a 29 year old has to think about when it comes to her parents.  Kind of makes you giggle at the silliness of the way new love looks from the outside.

Giggles aside, we are now in the process of going through "20 years living in the same house" of stuff.

It seems like a daunting task.....certain rooms in particular.

Also a scary task.....certain rooms in particular.   Wait wait....the whole house is scary.

My sister J,  informed me Saturday morning that she saw a ghost Friday night in the middle of the night.

I had gotten up to go to the bathroom.  She said while I was up the ghost walked past the bedroom she was staying in looked over it's shoulder at her, shrugged and walked down to the room I was staying in...........moments before I walked past her room heading back to my room.  I did not see this apparition ,thank goodness, because if I had I probably would have freaked out because the ghost walked into the room where Carter was sound sleep.  (Picture me wriggling in my chair right now with the heeby geebies just thinking about it.)

I believe in ghosts, spirits with unfinished business, spirit guides,  angels and the like.  I have had my own encounters with the strange and unusual.   While I have never had an encounter at my Dad's house before, I have always thought there was something there.

Anyway back to the packing.

Bright and early at 0630 Carter woke up, so I was up and so was sister J.  We figured we may as well get started.  Several texts and phone calls later Dad showed up with breakfast pizza at 0930.....uh yeah it was delicious!

I wouldn't so much say that my Dad (and Laura) is a pack rat.......but sometimes if the shoe fits you gotta wear it, if you know what I mean.  There are just some things that to make no sense to me to keep,  but make perfect sense to my Dad.  In example a coffee can full of old light switches.  Maybe he has a use for them, maybe he just like the way they look.  Who knows? 

There was a show called Clean Sweep on TLC for a while. They would come to your home and pick 2 rooms to clear out and redecorate those rooms.  During the process one of the main dudes makes three piles keep, sell, and toss in which the homeowners  must distribute the items taken from the rooms of choice.  We attempted to take the shows sorting approach with Dad's house.  I think we did OK.......but we still have a long way to go.

Carter played with the Sammy the cat......Philburt hides when there are people around.  Sam takes this playing pretty well because he loves attention.  Sammy did hide from Carter a couple times....prompting Carter to walk around going "ere ahr eww?" (Meaning "where are you?")  

Yes it fascinates me that Carter at  19 months attempts and sometimes can form sentences and use them in the correct context.  Examples include... "Ic ee eww." for "I see you" when he is looking through toy binocculars  and "der eww doo" for "There you go." when he hands you something.

Carter and sister J......this picture looks like Carter is biting J but, he is actually trying to give her a zerbet.

My Dad reads Mother Earth News.  This basket is full of old ones.

Brother I was there helping pack stuff up.  We tried to get our regular picture of him with Carter, but Carter was not into it.  Quite frankly brother I was not either.  Ha!

I am 98% sure that the small orb of light in the hallway in this photo is a ghost.  The rest of the house was dark when I took this picture.  Now I want to go back through old pictures taken in the house and see if there are any floating orbs in them. 

Or maybe not it may just creep me out.

The sorting and packing went well, with the occasional "What is this?" followed by "Nevermind I don't want to know." conversation, as the item is hastily put in a box or back into the drawer it was extracted from.   I did have some trepidation about sister J throwing out old school day memorabilia, fearing that one day when she has kids she will regret not having some of these things to show them, but she said she did not want it and I respect her decision.  She said she had no emotional attachment to it, so there was no point in keeping it. Love you sister J so I wish you to have no regrets.

Maybe there is a little bit of pack rat in me as well.  I had the same trepidations when my Mom and Gordon moved about things that I let go of.

Sister J does have a point.  When it comes down to it, it is just "stuff".  What we will take from the house is not the "20 years of living in the same house of stuff".  It is the memories we made in that house.  The laughter, the tears, the "there is a ghost standing next to me" fear.

Am I crazy?

The other day after learning that I had decided to become a Pampered Chef consultant, my co-worker V jokingly asked,"Are there any other projects you want to take on right now?'

My response was a somewhat nervous laugh.............

She got me thinking.......I do have a lot on my plate and I seem to add more every other day.

It's a busy life, but it's mine and I enjoy staying busy.

I love my down time, my free time, my "me" time.

Peter is very supported of my "projects" most of the time.

I don't think I am crazy.........others are in the process of having me committed.........

The point is I am doing these things for my family and my sanity.   Who could not want to do amazing things for this face.

Every thing will be fine...............

(inject nervous laugh here)

On My Doorstep

This was on my doorstep on Thursday. 

Yes, that is right I am taking the plunge and have decided to become a Pampered Chef Consultant.

I am really excited!    I love the products!

 If any one is interested in hosting a cooking show or ordering something, let me know!  I would be happy to help you!


I was also really excited to try something with my hair a fellow blogger 3 men and a Mommy  posted.  It is a no heat hair curling trick.  This is my hair after a full day of work.

It relaxed quite a bit through the day but,  still had a lot of  curl.  What an awesome way to get curls without frying your hair!  

Hope you all have a wonderful weekend!

"To Wong Foo, Thanks for Everything, Julie Newmar"

Have you ever seen that movie?

It's pretty good.  A good portion of the movie was filmed in a small town called Hooper.

Hooper is also where some of my family is from and where we spent our last weekend.

It was hot.

The festivities started on Friday night with a golf tournament.  We were unable to get the time off to attend that but we joined the crowd later for some food and conversation.

Saturday morning Peter and I joined a group going out to golf. 

It was fun.

And hot.

Carter stayed with Grandma. 

Grandma and Grandpa rented a camper for the weekend and hooked it up to the only camper hook-up in town.  It is in the memorial park next to the swimming pool and a very large, very fun playground. 

We spent a lot of time there.

Saturday afternoon was spent hanging with the family.  We played cards, Scrabble and chess. We talked, we schmoozed, we got reacquainted.

This is H talking to my Mom.  H's story is really really amazing and gives you an idea about how awesome my family is. 

 My Grandam on this side of the family had 4 sisters and a half brother.  This brother was married to a wonderful woman B.  They had 4 kids B,C, S, and  K.  As things happen, I don't know the details it is not my place, he left them.  He ended up re-marrying K and they had a son H.  He subsequently left them to.  My grandma  and her sisters knew about H.  He was lost but not forgotten for many years.  My Great Aunt S has been putting together a genealogy and in her searches she found H again.  She was ecstatic.  She gave the information on how to reach H to B's daughter K and left it to her to decide what to do.  Now this was all in the last 3 weeks or so. K called H and talked to him and told him about the reunion.  H and his mom K came.

I think it is awesome that the family reached out to him and invited him in to be a part of the reunion.  It was nice to get to know him.   

Some of us went to the pool.  No pictures of that.  Did not want my camera to be lost forever......I'm clumsy.

Some of us napped.

A few of us went out to the local Cemeteries to see where our ancestors rest.  There is a lot of family history in this small town. 

It was kind of funny that I ended up in the van with a couple people who are not fond of bridges. 

While we were out there cousin G had a bird poo on her.  The whole big wide open cemetery and the bird poos on her arm.  G maybe it was your Dad saying "Hi!".

On Sunday we lounged while Grandpa played another round of golf.  Then we ate lunch at one of the local bars.   After lunch we headed home. 

It was hot. 

The evil heat fairy had decided to play a mean trick on us and turn off our Air Conditioner over the weekend.

It was hot.   92* indoors to be exact.

We spent the afternoon in the basement watching movies trying to stay cool while the AC played catch-up.

It was hot.

It finally reached the desired temperature about 2 am. 

It was another weekend of family fun.  While the town of Hooper may have played home to a few big stars for a while back in the 90's, it's legacy is not the movie, but the people who call it home every day.