The New Math

OK I already confessed that I am math challenged but yesterday I ran across the strangest brainteaser. Three weary business travelers stop at a hotel for the night. The hotel clerk explains that they only have one room left and it's $30 per night. Each of the three men gives the clerk $10. Later the hotel clerk realizes that she has overcharged the men because the room is only $25 per night when it is shared. The clerk gives the bellhop $5 and tells him to take it back to the weary travelers. On the way to the room the bellhop decides to pocket $2. He proceeds to the room and returns one dollar to each of the three travelers. At this point each traveler has paid $9 for his room for a total of $27. The bellhop has $2 for a total of $29. Where did the other dollar go?

My brain on math: OK let's see the clerk says there is a room for $30...what?? what kind of hotel charges only $30 for a room? Three men pay $10 each for the room...whoa? does anyone else think this weird? Now the clerk realizes that the room is only $25 because there are 3 men in it...really? again, what kind of hotel is this? The clerk gives the bellhop $5...what kind of hotel charges only $30 for a room AND has a bellhop? The bellhop pockets $2...see what I am talking about? I wouldn't stay at this hotel!

Good thing I didn't major in accounting!! Mom

Ah the Lonely Heart

Now I consider myself a reasonably independent woman who can support and entertain herself. I mean I was in a long distance relationship for a year and a half and worked and entertained myself every single day. Needless to say, I never thought I would become a sniveling idiot when my husband left for four nights to go skiiing in Utah, but the truth is I have become just that. I actually look forward to waking up in the morning and going to work, where I talk my co-workers ears off because I know when I go home it will just be me and good old American Idol. I mean seriously how many times can I tell the television that I love David Archuleta and he is the cutest thing ever? And around 9 p.m. every night I have started calling my mother just to talk about nothing and she usually gets fed up with me and says: "My show's on; I have to go." Maybe it's because she thrives on alone time and is actually happier when she gets it. Me on the other hand, I clearly don't thrive when I'm alone. I think the loneliness that I experience when my husband leaves is a product of us being together all the time because my friends have experienced the same thing. When you are used to coming home, and the lights are on and as soon as you walk in the door your husband gets up to give you a hug, coming home to an empty, dark apartment is a real shock. Needless to say I'm counting down the days until he gets back...2 down, 2 to go! Daughter.

A seed vault?

In Utah there is a huge vault built into a mountain where millions of records are stored. For several years the LDS church has collected, sorted, microfilmed many different kinds of records in this mountain. Now In Longyearbyen, Norway, another vault has been bored 500 feet into a snow covered Arctic mountain. World wide governments are collecting seeds and sprouts to put in this vault. Some plant varieties have disappeared due to climate changes , man made eratication and other enviromental changes. Scientists saw a need for amassing, sorting, labeling the remaining existing seeds. This vault will withstand eathquakes and bomb blasts and security is a must. It takes a network of people just to get inside. We can rest assured that our records and seeds are safe for the next generation. Grandmother

Forever??? I don't think so!

So you all have heard about the "Forever" stamps. They are the ones you can now purchase for 41 cents and the relevance for them is that they can be used when postal rates are hiked. Maybe you have heard that a postal increase is going into effect May 12th. The cost of stamps is going from 41 to 42 cents. In response to the hike increase the US postal services will have 5 billion "Forever" stamps available to "meet the demand". Since I am "math challenged" I am having a dickens of a time figuring out how many stamps I am going to need for the rest of my life so I can go out and purchase all of those stamps at 41 cents. I just have to convince my husband that instead of investing in retirement funds that we should be investing in stamps to avoid all of the other price hikes that are going to follow in the future. Hmm, I wonder if our government leaders in their infinite wisdom will offer a "Forever" gasoline option??? Mom

Signs of Spring

It has been a long cold winter and just maybe I am rushing to embrace springlike weather with the smells of fresh rain, daffodils poking through the mulch and the return of the robins. One sure sign of spring was spied yesterday as we were driving across town by the golf course. There was a foresome teeing up and I could see them practicing their swings. Yes they were dressed warmly, sweathers and light jackets but the snow was gone from the course. The course was open for business, SPRING is just around the corner. Grandmother

Do you see what I see?

After being gone for a week, I arrived home to find my cyclamen is a state of distress. Her poor flowers and leaves were drooping pitifully over the pot and I swear I could hear faint gasps of "Water, water." I turned to my husband and demanded why he didn't give any water to the plant. His eyes opened wide in astonishment and he said, "I didn't see it." WHAT??!! How could he not see the drooping plant sitting in plain view. You could only miss it if you were blind!

I am completely bewildered since this comes from a man who can spot the tip of an elk's antler camouflaged by trees from miles away. More than once I have accused him of pretending to see an elk when I have scoured the countryside and didn't see anything. How can he see part of an elk in a forest when he can't even see a plant needing water in the middle of the kitchen counter?? Since there is no plausible explanation for this "man-phenomenon", I have realized that the next time I leave there is no other option but to place an antler on my plant pot. Maybe then I will come home to find a watered, healthy plant. Mom

Hooray for females

The 2008 Western Slope Science Fair was held recently and I was impressed with the number of females from middle school and high school entries. When it came to science and math I was not among the high achievers in either junior high or senior high. Math to me was just the combination of numbers and I never did get the gist of algebra or geometry. Science did not interest me due to the uninspiring classes. The young women's showings in the recent science fair ranged from a project demonstrating how a semitrailer using a regenerative braking system could generate enough electricity to power a small town for one day to a young woman using her fashion sense to trigger responses from the public. Now where did these young women find their projects to explore? Did they give up playing with Barbies and use their intellect to see outside the box? Women have come a long way, today we have a female wanting to be president of the United States, we have women in high positions and we have instructors wanting to inspire females to think outside the box. Way to go!!!!Grandmother

What was I thinking???

Having moved as often as I have, I am well acquainted with a paintbrush and could probably pull together a decent resume if I decided to paint for a living. In fact I have the genes for painting since my grandfather was a professional sign painter. I'm not talking about artistic painting, goodness gracious no. I don't have any artistic aptitude, but when it comes to slapping paint on a wall I am right there with the pros. So on that 5 ft. list of chores dear daughter outlined for me, I was to touch up the bathroom.

Now just let me clarify...I do know the differences between paints; oil vs. latex, flat vs. gloss but for some reason yesterday I grabbed the wrong can of paint. I proceeded to put paint here, there and everywhere and stood back to admire my handiwork. It looked great...that is until I walked in after it had dried and noticed that everywhere I had painted was duller than the original paint. I had painted a gloss surface with a flat paint. Needless to say dear daughter was quite dismayed and I am (sigh) repainting once again today. But this time I have the right paint! Mom

What is going to happen

to Barbie? I read in the paper that Barbie is in trouble. Not only was she caught up in the recall of toys tainted with lead paint but her sales are 15 percent below for 2007. This was my daughter's favorite doll. She played dress up Barbie with clothes that were made by her aunts and myself. Barbie had gowns, dresses, swim suits, casual clothes and night gowns. She was devasted when her little brother flushed Barbie's head down the toliet. I wrote to Mattel and asked how I could purchase a new head. The company sent us a new doll.

The drop in sales is due to competition of other dolls and also the studies show that young girls are on the computer up to seven hours a week playing games, socializing and playing with toys such as Webkinz. The study also found that children start playing with the computer at age 5 1/2. Is this going to be the fade out of that beautiful blond doll? Grandmother

Wicked!

No, I am not talking about daughter's posting, even though as you all know there are two sides to every story. And I am not talking about the job list that is 5 ft. long that she has posted on her refrigerator with everything I am suppose to do while visiting her. But I am talking about the play "Wicked". Daughter took me to see it and it was wonderful. It is creative, imaginative and fun. The play is based on the wicked witch from the Wizard of Oz and it is the story on how she got the bad rap of being known as wicked.

The stage scenery and lighting effects were absolutely phenomenal. Plays now are such a far cry from the stage plays of old. The technical effects are on par with movies. I don't want to spoil the plot in case you are going, but there is one scene where Elphaba (the wicked witch) defies gravity and climbs on her broom and floats up in the air. She is facing the audience but all you can see of her is her face and hat. The green, blue and purple lights form this magnificent spectrum to add to the effect by visually creating her cape. It is awesome! On top of that the stars who played Elphaba and Glinda had magnificent singing voices.

If you get the chance to see "Wicked" definitely go. I don't know how you can't help but be bowled over...and make sure to take your imagination with you! Mom

Ah House Guests

So I apologize for the lack of posts we've been making to the blog, but it probably has something to do with the fact that Mom is visiting me in Illinois and that she doesn't know how to open my Mac laptop computer. When she visits I know to really enjoy that first day because that's when she is warm and loving and then she gets sick of me and starts complaining by the second day. For instance, the first day she called me sweetie and walked into my place and said: "Wow it looks really good. I really like what you've done." By the second day, she is complaining about the sirens, how dusty my mantel is, and how she wants to go home because it's too cold here. And somehow every time I manage to sit down and start relaxing I hear: Where are the towels, this knife isn't sharp, where are your pans, etc., etc., etc. Now I love my mom and I appreciate her trekking through the city with me looking at furniture but sometimes she's a bit of complainer, but she doesn't like to do anything to change it. Hence just now, she was like it's cold here so I said: Let's turn the fireplace on. She says: No, then it will be too hot in here when I go to sleep. Needless to say house guests can be draining whether they are your parents, your friends, or anyone! Daughter.

Animal abuse

Last night on the news I watched as unstable cattle were being prodded and poked with fork lifts, employees kicking, shocking them in order to stand to be slaughtered. This video was taken by the Humane Society of the US. The video prompted the Department of Agriculture to recall 143 million pounds of frozen beef. This meat packing company provided meat to school lunch programs. These sick and crippled animals reached our food chain without proper inspection. Our government officals believe that the meat from these animals have already been eaten. I wonder how many of the sick animals had mad cow disease. It makes me very cautious about how good the inspection system of our government is and how much we can trust it. Grandmother

Happy Valentine's Day

Valentine's Day is one of my favorite days. I like getting cards, cookies, candy, kisses and hugs. When I was in grade school it was a festive day. We decorated shoe boxes in red construction paper and white lace dollies and then printed our names on them. It was always fun to buy a bag of valentines and then go through them to pick out just the right one for each of our class mates. The valentines were passed out and placed in each box then we had cookies and red kool aid. We didn't get to open the valentines until we got home. My sister and I would sit at the kitchen table and dump the contents out and read each one. We hoped that one special boy sent us a good valentine. I read in the paper today that schools today don't spend much time celebrating Valentine's Day because the schools are concentrated on teaching. Happy Valentine's Day to all. Grandmother

I will take that dare...

Now this dog may look cute, docile and friendly from the picture, but what you are really looking at is a miniature monster. This dog and I have never been friends. In fact to this day, when he jumps on my lap I cringe not knowing if he is going to try and bite me or growl at me. Don't get me wrong, I truly am a dog lover and have always wanted one myself, but I will never, ever get a schnauzer.

I distinctly remember the day I met Smokey when I was 8-years-old and so excited to have a miniature playmate at my grandparents house. I loved Smokey, I held him and played with him, and chased him around like any young child would do. But then Smokey stopped liking me and every time I came around he would growl and try to attack my face and eventually sunk his sharp puppy teeth into my hand. To make matters worse, my uncle insisted that Smokey sleep in the bed with me and I was literally terrified that he would eat my face or something. So every time Smokey inched toward me, I would inch toward the other side of the bed until finally there was no room left. Then I would get up circle the bed and get in on the other side. This little dance happened practically all night and I got no sleep. Anyway to this day the dog growls at me anytime I try to hug my grandmother, or walk in the door, or move a finger. He strongly dislikes me and I have to say the feeling is mutual.

The only redeeming thing about Smokey is that my grandparents love him and he keeps them entertained, but then again I do that too! Daughter.

Top Dog

I guess the dogworld is all abuzz because a beagle, named Uno, has just been crowned champion of the Westminster dog show. I have to admit that he is a cute looking dog...for a beagle and evidently he is a real crowd pleaser. When the judges announced Uno the champion the audience stood and gave him a standing ovation. Now the media is drawing comparisons between him and Snoopy and starting to proclaim him the dog of America.

Uno might have won the Westminster championship, but he isn't my top dog. My top dog is my parents' Schnauzer, Smokey. He is really a top dog. Just look at that face and dare to tell me Smokey isn't a top dog! Mom

Back to the office

I filled in for our church secretary this morning from 9:00 am to 1:00 pm. Since I have been out of the secretarial field for several years this experience was humbling. Now you say what can be so difficult just answering the phone, checking the e-mails, making copies, directing people, sorting incoming mail and sharpening pencils. You would think putting phone calls on hold and directing them to the right person would be easy. Not for me, I dropped the first two calls after that I took their name and number so if that happened again I could call them back. Finally got the calls coming in and going to the right person. Next someone wanted copies made. We have this fancy copying machine which prints on both sides, sorts and does all kinds of things. Wouldn't you know that it would get jammed. After finding the directions and unjamming the darn thing, it ran out of paper! Next I used the electric pencil sharpener and ground up two pencils, finally got the third one usable before it was eaten. From now on I will appreciate what the secretary does and how she keeps it all straight. Grandmother

Do Your Ears Hang Low?

The other day after talking on the cell phone with Mom and Dad, I got to thinking about the things we put on our ears. I usually talk to them using the ear clip piece so I can do other things. My ear piece is the older version so it isn't quite as chunky as the ear phones...have you seen those things! It looks like a huge dragonfly has latched onto your ear and is hanging on for dear life. I have trouble with my little ear piece hurting my ear so I can't imagine what those ear phones feel like.

Our glasses rest not only on our noses but also on our ears. They used to make glasses called Pince-Nez which don't have the ear stems, but it is hard to make those into fashion statements and people with little noses have a dickens of a time keeping them on.

Yesterday I watched the minister clip on a little microphone that was hooked over her ear. Singers have microphones that they hang on their ears also. Wonder what we would have invented if our ears had been plastered flat against our heads???

For ages women have decorated their ears with earrings. I have a niece who has at least 20 piercings along the outer rim of her ear with earrings in all the holes. There is a new show called "Cashmere Mafia" and those women have set a whole new tone for earring jewelry. Oh my goodness! But I think that the most original earring jewelry I ever saw, was when Daughter was 3 years old and having an affinity for jewelry of all kinds she began wearing canning jar rings on her ears. It was her version of the gold hooped earring and it certainly was quite a fashion statement! Mom

February

For such a short month, February is full of activity. Mom mentioned Super Tuesday, Fat Tuesday and Shrove Tuesday. My calendar also lists Washington's birthday, Lincoln's birthday and President's day. In 1880 Washington's birthday was celebrated on the 22nd (his birthday) in Washington D. C., in 1885 it was expanded to all government offices. Congress on January 1, 1971 shifted the holiday to the 3rd Monday. Lincoln's birthday was never celebrated as a holiday. So now all presidents are celebrated on the 3rd Monday of February.

We also have Valentine's Day which we celebrate on February 14. On this day more chocolates and flowers are purchased than any other holiday. One of my favorite holidays, I don't count calories, just pig out on the chocolates. This year there are 29 days in February so we have a leap year. Plan to do something special on this extra day. Grandmother

Thank God It's Friday

I wake up this morning completely refreshed and looking forward to an easy-going Friday. I know that I have an interview at 9:30 a.m., but still I'm taking my time getting ready and just enjoying myself. My morning gets even better when I realize it's a great hair day! Feeling perky and good, I head out to the bus stop feeling super cute, of course because of my hair. The bus comes and I get on, but I fleetingly wonder why no one else gets on and why the bus is so empty.

When the bus turns west instead of east, it dawns on me: Crap, I'm on the wrong bus. Those of you who know me will know that I start sweating and practically hyperventilating because I don't know where I'm going or how to get to work. Then I take a breath and realize duh, I can just get off and take a cab. I take the bus a little further and get off at a stop I recognize. It's 8:48 a.m. and now I'm calling myself stupid because every cab I see is taken. I call my husband to find out where I am and he informs me I'm in for a long walk and I should just take a cab. Well, husband, thanks for the advice, but I've already thought of that!

So I start walking super fast so I can make my interview and finally after power walking better than any grandmother I know I get to the office just in time for my interview and a quick trip to the bathroom. In the mirror I survey the damage: sweat is dripping off my face, my shirt is kind of wet, and all of a sudden my great hair day is not so great anymore. As I sit at my desk with my bad hair writing this all I can think is thank God it's Friday and not Monday. Daughter

Gremlins!

I have just spent more than an hour trying to quilt a design onto a wallhanging. When I last used my sewing machine it was working fine, but for some reason today it is not working. I have re-threaded it 16 hundred times, cleaned it, changed the needle and done everything else but tried sewing while standing on my head. I have given up in exasperation. I know that gremlins have been in my sewing room and they have been fiddling with my stuff. I hate it when they show up. The thing is they sneak around and you can never catch them in the act. You just find the mess that they leave. I don't know how long it will take me to get the machine back in line but right now I am crossing my fingers that the fairies show up and fix everything for me. Mom

Super Tuesday, Fat Tuesday, Shrove Tuesday

Whatever you call it yesterday was a big day. The turnouts for the primaries and caucuses across the states foretell of big voting to come in November. The upcoming election has gotten people stirred up and interested in politics. While the news focused on all of the numbers coming in, there was also another kind of celebration going on...at least in New Orleans. It was Fat Tuesday and Mardi Gras. In French gras is fat and mardi is Tuesday. The day is a recognized holiday in New Orleans and has been celebrated for 2 centuries with the exception of the periods during World War I and World War II.

Yesterday was also recognized as Shrove Tuesday and is symbolized by eating pancakes. Since Christians around the world are entering into Lent today, Ash Wednesday, it is customary to engage is some form of fasting during these 40 days of Lent. Pancakes were traditionally made on the Tuesday before Ash Wednesday to use up sugar, milk and eggs since "plainer" food would be eaten during Lent. By the way, in case you are counting the days between now and Easter, March 23, and discover that there are more than 40 days, it is because Sundays are not counted in the 40 days. My husband interprets that to mean he can eat anything and everything on Sundays from now until Easter! Mom

Snow Day

Here in western Colorado we haven't had a snow day for the last 20 years. Yesterday they declared a "snow day." This is a desert area with cacti, rabbit brush and sage brush and little moisture. The snow fall in our area was 4 to 5 inches with some areas receiving 12 to 15 inches. The sun came out and it was a winter wonderland but by 3:00 o'clock the snow was gone. Kids of all ages were on the hills sleighing, skiing and snow boarding. You could hear the shrieks of joy, laughter and some shouts. They were celebrating the "snow day" and enjoying the fresh air. It was good to watch them slide down the hill and trudge back up time after time. It brought back memories of living in Montana and having an unexpected "snow day" dragging out sleds, cardboard and scoop shovels, the smell of fresh bread and the taste of hot cocoa when we came in from the cold. Grandmother

Football shows up for the Super Bowl

My husband views the Super Bowl as one of the top 3 holidays to be celebrated. I, on the other hand, have never been much of a football fan. Since I have been drug into Super Bowl celebrations, there have been different highlights for me. In the late 70's when we were first married we gathered with a group of friends in Milwaukee to watch the game and the highlight was the food. Everyone brought a dish to compliment the star, roasted turkey. It was a feast that rivaled anything served up for Thanksgiving and I spent the game relishing the food.

In 1987 we were living in Virginia and had a Super Bowl party at our house. Since our son was a Broncos fan through and through we painted a big "Go Broncos" sign and put it on the garage. One of the highlights for that game was picking "squares". You know the game...a grid is drawn up with squares and numbers are selected with one side being one team and the other side being the other team. Players pay for their name to be placed in a square and then the winner is determined by the score at the 1st quarter, halftime, 3rd quarter and the end of the game. Our then six-year-old son was placed in charge of collecting the money for the squares. He was having a great time until the 1st quarter ended and he discovered that he had to pay the money out to the winner. For some reason he thought that he could keep the money he had collected. I guess the game never got fully explained to him. He spent the majority of the game up in his room crying and then to add salt to the wound the Broncos ended up losing.

For other games the highlights have been the ads or the half-time show. But last night I have to admit that the highlight was the football game. Even for this non-football fan I enjoyed the game. Both teams showed up to play and it was a good contest. It was good, wholesome competition and probably the first game I have really watched over all of the years! Mom

Ground Hog Day

Saturday February 2, was Ground Hog Day. Watching our TV weatherman last night he stated when he was in weather school, Ground Hog Day was a holiday. I noticed that the comic section of our paper had tributes to these forecasting animals. The Ground Hogs are also called Woodchucks, Land Beavers and Whistelepigs. This animal has been predicting forecasts since February 2, 1887 in Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania. I noted that this year he predicted six more weeks of winter. I didn't think much of that news yesterday but here I sit today watching the snow coming down again. Well stoke up the fire, get a good book and settle in for the next six weeks. Think Spring!!!! Grandmother

The poor get poorer

When I was around 6 years old my parents bought a new house on 16th Ave. in Great Falls, MT. Setting out to explore the new neighborhood I ran into another girl, Roxanne, who was my age and living on the same street. The house between our homes was in the process of being built so we amused ourselves by playing with the empty paint cans, the dirt and some water. We made mud cakes, mud cookies, mud pies galore. While we were quite talented in our "baking" efforts we didn't sample our products. We knew better than to eat dirt. Nobody eats dirt!

A few days ago I read a story that has been haunting me. It related the dire circumstances in Haiti now. The cost of food has risen 40% and has gotten so expensive that the poor are resorting to eating dirt. They are making cookies out of the dirt, salt and shortening and eating them to stave off hunger, even though they know the dirt cookies are not good for them.

No one should have to eat dirt....ever! Charities helping the poor in Haiti: Hands Together, Saint Boniface Haiti Foundation, Hope for Haiti and the one made famous in the book "Mountains beyond Mountains" by Tracy Kidder, Partners in Health. To check out the validity of a charity go to http://www.charitynavigator.org/index.cfm?bay=search.summary&orgid=9170 Mom

"Free" Money

So today I was reading Business Week (yes Mom I was actually reading the news) and there's an article titled "The Bailout: Looking for a Quick Fix." Obviously it's about the Bush Administration's fiscal stimulus package. The article makes the point that if Bush were to put the $145 billion stimulus package toward business incentives or public works investments, he would be creating jobs, which would be crucial if we head into a serious recession. Instead Bush's plan is to give tax rebates of $800 to an individual and $1600 to a couple. This will bail the economy out of it's situation for 2008, but then the economy will probably flat line again in 2009 and we'll be back where we started. Now isn't that interesting, how that coincides with the start of a new president's tenure? Maybe Bush is hoping to create a facade of a "good" economy, but then it will all come falling down when the new president takes office. Just a thought. Anyway,
everyone my age I've talked to is readily accepting of Bush's plan as it means more dough in their pocket. I think that illustrates that a lot of people are seeing the dollar signs and not thinking hard about the consequences of this "free" money. Like my mom and grandma I too am a skeptic. Daughter