I had a wonderful time with Jaclyn and Abyah this weekend. I started my journey to Sacramento about 9:30 Friday morning. And of course I started my day with the usual “Carol experience”. To get on the freeway I had to drive by my work and who should be prancing down the sidewalk but "Mr. Emergency Man" wearing his yellow emergency vest. Apparently they had a fire drill and had to evacuate the building. Of course no one from my team was with him. As planned after our experience during the earthquake everyone left the building without his assistance. Anyway that was my last image before I got on the freeway….the yellow emergency vest. At least I think he had it on right this time instead of backwards.
Sacramento is 400 miles and after the “grapevine” it is smooth sailing. I really looked forward to the alone time and took several books on tape. The first one I listened to lasted all the way to and about an hour on the return trip. I highly recommend Pat Conroy’s Beach Music. His lyrical words kept me intrigued. The book is about a man and his life with 4 brothers growing up in South Carolina. So it brought back memories of my three years in the South. Books on tape are far more entertaining and relaxing then TV. You are being read a story and you use your imagination to picture it in your mind. It is the only way to travel. Surprisingly it doesn't distract you from driving either.
I arrived in Sacramento around five and of course the first thing we did was go out for pizza. And then I spent the rest of the evening snuggling with the girls and visiting with Jenny and Isaac. They moved to Cameron Park several months ago and it is a great improvement from Sacramento. Jenny's Mom lives just down the street and her sister is about a mile away. Saturday I woke up to the great smell of one of Isaac's delicious breakfasts. He is a wonderful cook. Then we went to a few garage sales before hitting the mall to school shop for the girls. It was so much fun being with them. After a shop til you drop day we went home and played video games. I was getting quite good when I was in Sacramento before and found I hadn't totally lost my skill. I won one game but I really think Jac let me win.
The next morning after a tearful goodbye I started back to Burbank. The land is quite hot and arid and when I stopped for gas (which you have to pump yourself --- yuk!) I saw it was 109 degrees. When I got back in the car I cranked up the air condition. That is way to hot for an Oregon gal! I arrived back in Burbank just in time to go to bed to get up in the morning and go to work. I plan on going back to spend a few days with the girls for Abyah's birthday in November.
And just when you think life can't get any better I spent last evening taking care of Brooklyn who gets cuter each time I see her. Her father has nicknamed her Kooky because she makes the cutest sounds. It is almost sounds like she is saying kokaroo kokaroo. Now when she starts to cry her bottom lip comes out and quivers and it is so cute. She is such a sweet disposition. I hope they have another one soon. You can never have enough grandchildren!
I miss you all and would love a visit.
Love to you and yours,
NanaCarol
Wednesday, August 27, 2008
Sunday, August 17, 2008
Hard Scrabble Life in California
This has been a strange and rather sad week in Burbank. One of my co-workers is going to have extensive surgery on her back next week and since she is 65 it is rather worrisome. She has been living with her son for the past several years since she had a severe heart attack. And now he has decided with the advent of a new girlfriend he doesn't want his mother living with him any more. So he literally threw her out in the street with no regard for her upcoming surgery or her well being. He refused to help her find an apartment or replace what he sold. He even refused to give her the paintings her mother painted that he had stored in his locked bedroom closet. Another co-worker and I helped her move yesterday into the home of one of her friends. This is only a temporary home for her until she recoups from the surgery then she will have to find a place. Since he sold all of her things when she moved in with him she will literally have to start over. I hate that she is going into surgery with such a heavy and pained heart. And I can only hope her son and his girlfriend have a bad case of karma. And I wish I had mob connections that could inflict a little pain on their kneecaps.
Finding a place in Burbank is real tough, I know I have tried. It is nearly impossible for a single person to live alone. Decent places to live start at $1300 and up for one bedrooms. Mike and Michelle pay over $3000 for a place and that is not unusual. I feel very fortunate to have found my place at Diane's. And I hope my friend will be as lucky. People are harsh here in California too. They have harsher personalities, live harsher lifestyles and seem to have less heart. I don't know if that is because they are jammed into less space, have less economic stability or the climate is just tooo damn hot. They live in a superficial world of illusion. And I know that I will not live in California for the rest of my life. Michelle and I were talking about this way of life this weekend and she agrees with me about the harsh reality of life in California. And neither of us feel it is a place to raise Brooklyn, not even in beautiful downtown Burbank.
After spending the day helping my friend move I came home and Diane told me that Noah's sister had been murdered by her husband/boyfriend. He had beaten her to death. Noah and his partner Chris adopted Noah's sister's son William who is 6 and just an adorable child. They live a block up the street and they have come here for dinner several times and have had us to their home for dinner a few times. A couple of weeks ago we went to their house for Noah's birthday and I met his mother and other sister, her husband and nieces and a delightful bunch of gay guys who kept me laughing the whole evening. To have this tragedy is horrendous. Apparently William's father had threatened to kill Noah, Chris, William and the sister and they all had a restraining orders against him. Chris and Noah installed an alarm system. But a restraining order is only a piece of paper to a crazed individual. Thankfully he is in jail now and hopefully they will keep him there. I won't be here for the funeral so Diane and I will cook food and take it their house Thursday evening. If you are the praying sort say a few for my friends Chris and Noah and little William. Chris and Noah are truly wonderful boys and would make any mother proud to have them as sons. And they have really turned little William's life around since they have had him. He is an engaging little boy with big brown eyes and a mop of thick brown hair who didn't speak and wasn't potty trained when they got him a couple of years ago. And now he doesn't stop talking and is just a charming little boy. Fortunately the adoption was final in July so he is now their son legally.
On a much happier note I leave Friday the 22nd to go to Sacramento for the weekend. I look forward to seeing the girls. I am taking them school shopping especially since this is Jac's first year in Junior High and I know how looking and feeling good about yourself is important at this age. So even though Nana hates to shop we are going to hit the mall with a vengeance early Saturday morning. Since I hate to fly I rented a car from Enterprise for $62 for the weekend with unlimited miles plus I will get a 10% Aramark discount. Not a bad deal. I bought one of those Aerobed's so I am all set. The girls all are excited especially since their Great Aunt Josephine sent each of the girls, Jac, Bubba and Brooklyn $100.00 cashier checks. This is my ex husband's sister whom I have considered a sister even though I divorced her brother. They don't get any better then Josephine. I value her friendship enormously. I am not sure if you all remember but Josephine left her own family and came to Oregon to spend Christmas with us the year Mary Etta was diagnosed with cancer. We have been each other's moral support through Mary Etta's death, the unexpected death of her sister and then the death of her husband from cancer. I don't know how I could ever live my life with out the wonderful family and friends I have. Blessing to you all!
Love to you and yours,
NanaCarol
Finding a place in Burbank is real tough, I know I have tried. It is nearly impossible for a single person to live alone. Decent places to live start at $1300 and up for one bedrooms. Mike and Michelle pay over $3000 for a place and that is not unusual. I feel very fortunate to have found my place at Diane's. And I hope my friend will be as lucky. People are harsh here in California too. They have harsher personalities, live harsher lifestyles and seem to have less heart. I don't know if that is because they are jammed into less space, have less economic stability or the climate is just tooo damn hot. They live in a superficial world of illusion. And I know that I will not live in California for the rest of my life. Michelle and I were talking about this way of life this weekend and she agrees with me about the harsh reality of life in California. And neither of us feel it is a place to raise Brooklyn, not even in beautiful downtown Burbank.
After spending the day helping my friend move I came home and Diane told me that Noah's sister had been murdered by her husband/boyfriend. He had beaten her to death. Noah and his partner Chris adopted Noah's sister's son William who is 6 and just an adorable child. They live a block up the street and they have come here for dinner several times and have had us to their home for dinner a few times. A couple of weeks ago we went to their house for Noah's birthday and I met his mother and other sister, her husband and nieces and a delightful bunch of gay guys who kept me laughing the whole evening. To have this tragedy is horrendous. Apparently William's father had threatened to kill Noah, Chris, William and the sister and they all had a restraining orders against him. Chris and Noah installed an alarm system. But a restraining order is only a piece of paper to a crazed individual. Thankfully he is in jail now and hopefully they will keep him there. I won't be here for the funeral so Diane and I will cook food and take it their house Thursday evening. If you are the praying sort say a few for my friends Chris and Noah and little William. Chris and Noah are truly wonderful boys and would make any mother proud to have them as sons. And they have really turned little William's life around since they have had him. He is an engaging little boy with big brown eyes and a mop of thick brown hair who didn't speak and wasn't potty trained when they got him a couple of years ago. And now he doesn't stop talking and is just a charming little boy. Fortunately the adoption was final in July so he is now their son legally.
On a much happier note I leave Friday the 22nd to go to Sacramento for the weekend. I look forward to seeing the girls. I am taking them school shopping especially since this is Jac's first year in Junior High and I know how looking and feeling good about yourself is important at this age. So even though Nana hates to shop we are going to hit the mall with a vengeance early Saturday morning. Since I hate to fly I rented a car from Enterprise for $62 for the weekend with unlimited miles plus I will get a 10% Aramark discount. Not a bad deal. I bought one of those Aerobed's so I am all set. The girls all are excited especially since their Great Aunt Josephine sent each of the girls, Jac, Bubba and Brooklyn $100.00 cashier checks. This is my ex husband's sister whom I have considered a sister even though I divorced her brother. They don't get any better then Josephine. I value her friendship enormously. I am not sure if you all remember but Josephine left her own family and came to Oregon to spend Christmas with us the year Mary Etta was diagnosed with cancer. We have been each other's moral support through Mary Etta's death, the unexpected death of her sister and then the death of her husband from cancer. I don't know how I could ever live my life with out the wonderful family and friends I have. Blessing to you all!
Love to you and yours,
NanaCarol
Wednesday, August 6, 2008
Shake Rattle and Roll
Well I have been initiated to Southern California. I was at work and all of a sudden the building started to shake and roll. Now I hate hate hate earthquakes. I was in a very bad one in 1966 in Peru where about 20,000 people were killed and I developed a deep fear of earthquakes. Not sure of what to do I grabbed my purse and one of my co-workers and we decided to get the heck out of the building. Fortunately after what seemed like an hour it subsided. But the whole experience left me wishing I were back in Oregon. I immediately tried to call Michelle on her cell phone as I was worried she was home alone with the baby and scared. It took about 15 minutes before I could reach her and as luck would have it Mike was home with she and Brooklyn. After reaching her and knowing they were fine I sat down and shed a few tears. It is a very scary thing to not be able to reach your kids during a crisis. Thank goodness my cube is in the back so no one saw my fears and tears.
There is a hilarious part of this that has kept me laughing. Actually our whole department has been laughing. Let me explain. We have a designated person who is trained for emergencies who is supposed to take care of us in our hour of need. Now this person sits right next to me and I have wondered why in the world he was selected. He is hearing and sight impaired and I have wondered how he would keep us out of harms way.
Once during a drill I watched him struggle to put on his emergency vest. He kept fastening and unfastening the Velcro and ended out with the jacket upside down. Then he couldn't 't use the walkie-talkie. He kept talking into it saying he couldn't hear, he couldn't hear. Someone finally told him he was pressing the wrong button. It was pretty funny. Anyway to get back to the earthquake story when the building started to shake I looked over at this person to see what we should do and I saw him go under the desk. It appeared it was every man for himself. Later he tried to say he yelled, "get under your desks" but I told him he didn't say a word and it must have been the voices in his head. I grabbed my purse and the girl in the next cube and preceded up the aisle where another co-worker was yelling out to the emergency person "what do we do...what do we do". I told her to forget it as he was under his desk. When the quake was over he came out put his vest on backward and frantically told us not to leave the building. Then he precedes to tell the head emergency guy we are all accounted for. Unfortunately that wasn't true. Two people were missing. One was out on the patio trying to phone home and the other one was in the parking garage snoozing during his lunch. So bottom line if we have another emergency our entire department is going to find another emergency person to find out what we are supposed to do. I know my plan is to grab my purse and get the hell out of there. I think the safest place is in the stairwell. And I am convinced my fear of earthquakes is well founded. Every one keeps telling me this is a forecast of the "Big One". Now no amount of fun in the sun makes living in California worthwhile especially if there is a "Big One" coming.
Frankly I foresee a migration to Oregon what with the eminent "Big One" around the corner and a lunatic for governor of the state. His big plan to save California's economy is to cut wages and lay off the state workers who are struggling to survive. What a concept! That should increase crime, crowd the jails and courts, and increase the use of food stamps and Medi-Cal. Californian seems to thrive on electing actors for Governors. Then they "act" like idiots.
On another note I babysat Brooklyn and had such fun. She stayed awake the whole time I was there. She is grinning and starting to giggle and is so much fun to take care of. She is very sociable. I think it is from Michelle's side of the family. Mikey was a tad cranky as a baby and not what you would call good natured. Good natured in the Fields family seemed to skip a generation. Mary Etta was very good natured, then Andy was terribly cranky. Isaac was good natured then Mikey was fussy all the time. We shall see if their next child has such a sunny disposition.
Maddie the dog was fun too. She has been the baby for so long that her little nose is out of joint having to share the limelight with Brooklyn. The entire time I was there Maddie had to lay next to me with her head in my lap reminding me she's the baby too. She is not aggressive at all towards Brooklyn so we don't foresee any problems. She is always licking Brooklyn but we aren't sure if it is the smell of milk, poopy diapers or her love for her. We all try to give Maddie attention too. In fact that night when I slept over Maddie had a hard time deciding who to sleep with. All night she went between bedrooms. So even though Brooklyn slept through the night Maddie kept me awake. Oh the pains of being a Grandma. Love it!!!
I am adding a link to the Fields Family Blog that Michelle started a couple of days ago. It has lots of pictures and is very cool so check it out. http://fieldsfamilywebsite.web.officelive.com/default.aspx
Michelle is very talented so it will be an entertaining way to keep track of us all.
It has been very warm this past week. Quite humid in fact. I will be glad when it cools down a bit.
I will try to be more consistent in keeping up my blog. Jo puts me to shame as she finds the time to keep us posted on her news so frequently. And wasn't it great news to hear about her positive result of her latest scan. I think being such a positive person keeps her healthy.
Andy is going to come down in a month or so. I am looking forward to seeing him as he has lost 95 pound and I want to see what he looks like. He won't send any picture so I guess I will have to wait. He is driving taxi in Portland now so I am sure he will entertain us with lots of taxi tales. I am not so thrilled with his career change as I worry about the danger but I have to remind my self he is grown. That's is always the hard part of being a parent, as we all know.
Well must go now dinner is ready and I certainly don't want to be late for one of Diane's meals.
Love to you and yours,
NanaCarol
There is a hilarious part of this that has kept me laughing. Actually our whole department has been laughing. Let me explain. We have a designated person who is trained for emergencies who is supposed to take care of us in our hour of need. Now this person sits right next to me and I have wondered why in the world he was selected. He is hearing and sight impaired and I have wondered how he would keep us out of harms way.
Once during a drill I watched him struggle to put on his emergency vest. He kept fastening and unfastening the Velcro and ended out with the jacket upside down. Then he couldn't 't use the walkie-talkie. He kept talking into it saying he couldn't hear, he couldn't hear. Someone finally told him he was pressing the wrong button. It was pretty funny. Anyway to get back to the earthquake story when the building started to shake I looked over at this person to see what we should do and I saw him go under the desk. It appeared it was every man for himself. Later he tried to say he yelled, "get under your desks" but I told him he didn't say a word and it must have been the voices in his head. I grabbed my purse and the girl in the next cube and preceded up the aisle where another co-worker was yelling out to the emergency person "what do we do...what do we do". I told her to forget it as he was under his desk. When the quake was over he came out put his vest on backward and frantically told us not to leave the building. Then he precedes to tell the head emergency guy we are all accounted for. Unfortunately that wasn't true. Two people were missing. One was out on the patio trying to phone home and the other one was in the parking garage snoozing during his lunch. So bottom line if we have another emergency our entire department is going to find another emergency person to find out what we are supposed to do. I know my plan is to grab my purse and get the hell out of there. I think the safest place is in the stairwell. And I am convinced my fear of earthquakes is well founded. Every one keeps telling me this is a forecast of the "Big One". Now no amount of fun in the sun makes living in California worthwhile especially if there is a "Big One" coming.
Frankly I foresee a migration to Oregon what with the eminent "Big One" around the corner and a lunatic for governor of the state. His big plan to save California's economy is to cut wages and lay off the state workers who are struggling to survive. What a concept! That should increase crime, crowd the jails and courts, and increase the use of food stamps and Medi-Cal. Californian seems to thrive on electing actors for Governors. Then they "act" like idiots.
On another note I babysat Brooklyn and had such fun. She stayed awake the whole time I was there. She is grinning and starting to giggle and is so much fun to take care of. She is very sociable. I think it is from Michelle's side of the family. Mikey was a tad cranky as a baby and not what you would call good natured. Good natured in the Fields family seemed to skip a generation. Mary Etta was very good natured, then Andy was terribly cranky. Isaac was good natured then Mikey was fussy all the time. We shall see if their next child has such a sunny disposition.
Maddie the dog was fun too. She has been the baby for so long that her little nose is out of joint having to share the limelight with Brooklyn. The entire time I was there Maddie had to lay next to me with her head in my lap reminding me she's the baby too. She is not aggressive at all towards Brooklyn so we don't foresee any problems. She is always licking Brooklyn but we aren't sure if it is the smell of milk, poopy diapers or her love for her. We all try to give Maddie attention too. In fact that night when I slept over Maddie had a hard time deciding who to sleep with. All night she went between bedrooms. So even though Brooklyn slept through the night Maddie kept me awake. Oh the pains of being a Grandma. Love it!!!
I am adding a link to the Fields Family Blog that Michelle started a couple of days ago. It has lots of pictures and is very cool so check it out. http://fieldsfamilywebsite.web.officelive.com/default.aspx
Michelle is very talented so it will be an entertaining way to keep track of us all.
It has been very warm this past week. Quite humid in fact. I will be glad when it cools down a bit.
I will try to be more consistent in keeping up my blog. Jo puts me to shame as she finds the time to keep us posted on her news so frequently. And wasn't it great news to hear about her positive result of her latest scan. I think being such a positive person keeps her healthy.
Andy is going to come down in a month or so. I am looking forward to seeing him as he has lost 95 pound and I want to see what he looks like. He won't send any picture so I guess I will have to wait. He is driving taxi in Portland now so I am sure he will entertain us with lots of taxi tales. I am not so thrilled with his career change as I worry about the danger but I have to remind my self he is grown. That's is always the hard part of being a parent, as we all know.
Well must go now dinner is ready and I certainly don't want to be late for one of Diane's meals.
Love to you and yours,
NanaCarol
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