He's 18 now!

As it happens every year...

my son had a birthday!

Happy 18th Birthday Rob!

As you can see...

this year's theme was....

all about his new truck!

He just purchased his first vehicle

last weekend.

He loves history...

so he got a few history related things as well...

I got his birthday cake at a local bakery...

the "cookies and milk" cake.

Ta Da!

It was delicious!

Happy Birthday to our Sweet, Happy Young Man!

He's signing up for his classes for next semester:

he's taking German!

Rose has taken Spanish and is now learning Greek...

Emmaline is learning French...

and now Rob is going to take German!

I have a feeling...they are all conspiring...

if my husband and I EVER get to Europe...

we are going to have to take all of them with us!

** Them Crazy Kids! **

Thankful

I suppose it has to do with moving so much:

we moved over 3,000 miles across the country from 

WA state to SC state in August

and AGAIN 

from our apartment across town to our rental home

in February.

We signed a 1 year lease...

so we could potentially be moving 

AGAIN

in 10 more months.

**tired sigh**

{yep, if you are wondering... I'm saving my boxes}

Therefore,

I have dealt with 

A LOT OF PEOPLE ON THE TELEPHONE!!!

A. 

Lot.

Too.

Many.

Mucho.

Grande.

Amounts.

It has brought me to 

tears

of frustration

at times. 

A couple of weeks ago,

I was SO ENTIRELY FED UP with someone...

that I actually called the company back.

And complained.

Normally

(sing that!)

I just let it roll off my back...

but their errors and rudeness were

off.

the.

charts!!

Afterwards, 

I took a deep breath.

How many complaints do company's get?

If they hired a lot of sassy ladies like that last one...

probably a lot.

BUT

how many 

COMPLIMENTS?

Really...

take a pause and consider that one.  

I always enjoy a great customer service rep.

It makes me smile.

It makes my day.

The flipping lightbulb

NEARLY EXPLODED

over

MY 

HEAD!!!!

And thus, I have started a little campaign.

 EVERY TIME

I get great service

I let someone know.

I have contacted several restaurants,

the United States Postal System, Sears, Duke Electric,

and various other companies.

I enjoy writing...

so before I do anything, 

I spend some sweet moments plotting out 

exactly what I want to say and how I want to say it.

SOMETIMES..

I give a little boost,

knowing that perhaps they weren't 100% wonderful...

but wonderful enough for me.

I was in my homeland the other day

{Target!  Duh! ;)  }

when I got an unexpected phone call from USPS.

The supervisor lady seemed a little dumbfounded.

"So, I understand you wrote an email

because this postal worker 

SMILED

at you 

and was patiently helping the many people in line-

even though she was by herself?"

Yep.

And it turns out,

Two of her co-workers had the day off

and Three of them had called in sick.

She was by herself there.

SHOCKING.

This Post Office was unusually busy.

The Supervisor herself was there that day,

but had administrative duties to attend in the back...

although I had seen her come up front to assist one customer.

The lady behind the counter was

E X H A U S T E D

and 

D I S C O U R A G E D.

There were at least 10 people in line in front of me...

and within minutes of my arrival

about 6 more showed up

and as one customer left...

one or two came to take their place.

When I got up to the counter...

I made a point of smiling at the

obviously discouraged postal worker

and giving her some of 

God's love and encouragement

that fills my heart daily.

Therefore,

she did smile.

She did.

After...

I spoke with her and tried to encourage her...

After I hung up with the USPS supervisor,

I had a big smile on my face...

imagining the reward/compliment/commendation

the hard working lady

was about to receive.

I don't want you to think that I am wonderful...

I'm not...

this is simply a wonderful thing to do...

My joy meter has been jumping off the charts!

See?

I'm actually quite selfish!

I've been having a lot of fun with this....

and it only takes a few minutes.

Whenever I get a receipt,

with a business's email on it,

I put it by my computer when I get home.

When I pick up my computer to start my writing work,

I first go online and fill out the survey...

and whenever possible,

I leave a compliment.

Hey, it's floating my boat!

In fact,

this has rolled into the rest of my electronic life:

I now leave more comments on people's blogs...

when I find something wonderful...

I let them know.

One of the blogs I follow is I Heart Organizing.

Now this lady gets tons of comments and compliments...

every day.

I know.

Because for some strange reason...

I always look to see how many comments she has.

It seems as if everyone loves her....

so I have never left a comment....

why should I?

I just figured I would be one in a crowd.

BUT,

I've decided that it is NOT about me.

I KNOW!!!

It usually is ALL about me!

I found a pair of big girl panties...

and found out...

THEY FIT!!

So...

I've started leaving her and other bloggers comments,

GENUINE

non-slobbering comments...

I don't expect any return comment...

but I've discovered something

* * it's just giving me joy * *

to pour out a bit of my joy to them.

and guess what I happened to see today?

Well, butter my scorched head and call me a biscuit!!

Shucks!

Notice that I had to take a picture of it...

save it...

put it on my blog...

* * creepy of me * *

yep...

a bit o' pride filled my Jezebel heart.

It feels good.

BRAINSTORM TIME!!

Who are you going to compliment today?

Even if they never know it's you?

Even if you never find out what happened?

PS:

When we decided we were going to move

(the first time...back in WA)

I was not able to tell anybody for months!

And I was dying to say something!!

Instead,

God put His hand over my mouth,

and I had the opportunity to 

actually sit back and watch and listen to people.

I really learned to listen...

and appreciate people...

and then, without revealing my secret, let them know.

They didn't know we were about to move...

but I knew

This experience made a huge impact on me.

I finally had the chance to really appreciate

the wonderful people around me...

to soak them in...

to really listen...

I also was able to let them know over the weeks and months...

what they meant to me...

they didn't know our time together was about to end...

so it made life so

B I T T E R S W E E T.

So wonderful.

* * You aren't guaranteed tomorrow.* *

Go give someone a hug,

go email a compliment,

and let people know you appreciate them.

*  *  *  *  *  *

Hey, are you wondering about the lady at Ulta?

(from my last post)

I actually found her to be

H I L A R I O U S!!

I can't stop telling that story on myself!

A part of that scene will come to my mind at the oddest moments...

and it makes me giggle! ;)

Who can get mad at being told you need pharmacist...

so.

many.

times.

? ? ?

Update: My scorched head

In a previous post,

"I am a white girl"

I mentioned in passing that my scalp is sunburned.

It's getting better.  

I went to a beauty shop here called

"Ulta."

Ulta is a magical place...

filled with an amazing array of 

beauty products

and accessories.

It even has a salon.

But, then I entered.

I was looking for something for my sunburned scalp.

A young lady asked if I needed help

and I smiled and said, "yes!"

She tried to help me.

But she normally just stocks shelves

and after looking at a couple of things,

she passed me off to someone else.

Another lady was going to help me...

but then the phone rang

and she got distracted.

For a very, very long time.

So,

* * *W A R N I N G* * *

by this point, I had exceeded my "asking time"

I had exceeded my "looking time"

the rules are fuzzy here,

but we are in the South

and I am still attempting to learn the rules...

(unfortunately, they are not written down somewhere)

THEREFORE,

I approached another sales lady.

She had to deal with me...

someone with an irritating request...

"Do you have sunscreen for hair or the scalp?"

As she 

VISIBLY

 struggled to understand my West Coast "accent"

she put her hand up in disgust and exclaimed,

(ok not verbatim-but close)

"honey, you need to see a pharmacist!

You need a prescription or somethin'!

We don't deal with that--you got a problem!"

"yes, I have a burned scalp...

from.

THE.

SUN. 

YOUR.

SUN."

"Yous burnin'?  Are you's itchin'? 

What you put on your head?

You need a pharmacist!"

I was mortified...I didn't have lice....okay?

I put my hands up in the air...

(maybe she understands sign language I thought)

over my head 

in the shape of the sun

and tried to get her to understand.

"I have a sun burn on my head

do you have sunscreen?"

Her eyes bugged out a bit:

"Yous burning?  You say your scalp burning?

Honey, you need a pharmacist,

Maybe you havin' some sorta reaction? 

we don't have nothin' here like medicine."

"No, I'm just burned.

On. my. head.

From.

The.

Sun--

do you have...."

"We's don' carry medicine here...

maybe you just need to go see the pharmacist or somethin'"

Her face was twisted up

and she was backing away from me...

(I was afraid she was going to throw up)

"Up above.

The. Sun.

It is Shining down.

On my white head.

Don't you have some type of hairspray with UV protection

or sunscreen?"

THE LIGHT BULB NEARLY EXPLODED

over her head.

Oooooohhhhhhh.....

She quickly showed me a couple of bottles of spray...

with UV protection.

I took the cheapest one:

$20.

YIKES.
I'm pretty sure it's not really what I wanted...

but we were both satisfied.

I think.

Unfortunately, I think she still had some reservations

about me and my burned scalp...

maybe I was carrying some disease...

or throwing off lice in her store...

*yeah*

she followed me to the register...

still giving me weird looks.

** sigh **

I promise you.

I am trying to fit into this culture.

I went back the next week,

with a friend who is from Alaska.

We rolled around the store...

laughing...

checked out the perfume...

examined the blue nail polish...

all the while talking in our "weird" accents...

she definitely made it more fun!

Emmaline's Sweet Sixteen

Recently, Emmaline turned 16.

Her party was a quiet one...

at home.

BUT,

we are going to take a gaggle of girls to

Carowinds...

an amusement park in North Carolina 

in May...

when school lets out for the summer.

Such is the life of attending a private academy.

The academic pressure at school is tremendous.

Meanwhile,

there were a few presents:

Her theme seemed to be 

"Paris, France"

Isn't that gorgeous wrapping paper?

I found it at Hobby Lobby.

Notice the moving boxes in the background! oops

And here's the birthday girl:

Emmaline Grace:

I had to show one of our favorite gifts:

a cupcake apron!!!

I ordered it from Amazon.  

Isn't it adorable?

She's adorable as well!

She loves to make cupcakes..

And her new sandals...

from a place here called

Charming Charlie's...

it's her favorite store...

Later, she painted her toenails black...

as she said...

"as black as Rose's heart!"

Ahem.

Emmaline's favorite class is

FRENCH.

She adores everything French now.

We are starting to really appreciate the French culture.

In fact,

if you are in Greenville, South Carolina,

you HAVE to visit our favorite bakery:

LeGrande Bakery.

It was started by a couple who had a bakery in France

and immigrated to the United States. 

We go and Emmaline

orders for us in French!!!

They've gotten to know us there...

they are so sweet!

and the wife always takes time 

to assist Emmaline with her pronunciation and accent...

as her French is accompanied by a lot of

GIGGLING! 

She's adorable.

She's sixteen.

She thinks she needs a boyfriend now.

OOOOOHhhhhhhh boy!

I am a white girl.

I grew up in rainy Oregon.

I also have red hair and white skin.

Ugh...really, really white skin.

When I was growing up, the kids used to mercilessly tease me

about my super white skin.

Especially about how I "glowed in the dark"

my skin was so white.

This lead me to do a few foolish things. 

BUT, in the end, my skin does NOT tan.

And, I had to accept that *horrible* truth.

gasp.

I know!

First world problems.

I was always EMBARRASSED about my white skin.

I had to wear long sleeves-even in the summer-to protect it.

It seemed I was always putting sun screen on myself.

Meanwhile, my friends wore tube tops and slathered their skin in baby oil

and got deep, beautiful tans.

Even as an adult, I've had a couple of bad sunburns.

My family loves water parks.

I have always personally hated them-because of my skin

Yet, I always "gave in" and went because I wanted to be with my family.

But, guess who always got burned?

I will warn you right now:

no sunscreen can keep you from getting burned at a water park.

After my last experience, I looked at my husband

and very, very firmly said,

NO MORE.

I had to decide that it was

my skin

my health

and nothing was worth risking that.

Now I live in the South.

I realized yesterday,

that my entire scalp is burned.

I use a hair sunscreen for red heads...

but apparently, this is not enough.

I think I'm going to have to start wearing hats...

SO

the story I am about to share

is super important to me

and close to my heart.

Ashley is the beautiful lady on the right.

Ashley passed away a few days ago,

on March 15, 2013  at 5:00 am.

from Melanoma...

skin cancer.

Ashley's friend, Tracie, is on the left.

Tracie has a really great blog, 

Fishtail Cottage.

Tracie and Ashley were friends for over 30 years...

Tracie is trying help Ashly inform others

about the dangers of

tanning and tanning salons.

Please read on...

My dear friend Ashley is fighting her war on Melanoma by sharing her story with others.  Her hope is to save just on person so that they do not go through what she has had to endure!  Please share this story with others by putting it on your side bar – awareness is key! Thank you for taking the time to read this (dated 2/16/2011)!

This report by KGW, a news station in Portland, Oregon is interesting...

BTW, that's my Mom's cancer Doctor.

Small world.

http://www.kgw.com/news/special-reports/Self-described-tanning-addict-describes-cancer-fight-121958069.html

 

My melanoma story

by Ashley Trenner on Monday, May 2, 2011 at 4:58pm 
I was warned about tanning and tanning beds. I had some knowledge of skin cancer but thought I was invincible and that I would never get cancer. I am 38 and began tanning in high school until I was diagnosed with Melanoma at age 33. In 2003, a tiny lesion appeared on my right buttock. A dermatologist removed the lesion and the result of the pathology was negative. Within a year the lesion reappeared and I neglected to go to the dermatologist. I didn't have insurance and didn't want to pay the money to have it removed again. I allowed the lesion to get a little larger than a quarter and it became very painful. I finally went to a dermatologist in 2006 to have it removed again. Two days after the removal the doctor said it was malignant melanoma. I was scared and a complete wreck to say the very least. Immediately I was referred to an oncologist and surgeon at Seattle Cancer Care Alliance for a larger biopsy of my buttock and a lymph node dissection in the right groin. This was a crucial surgery because if the cancer had spread internally the survival rate is less than 50% in 5 years and difficult to treat. If the melanoma is caught in the beginning stages and hasn’t metastasized the survival rate is over 95% and highly treatable. The sentinel node which is the lymph node closest to the original lesion on my buttock tested positive. This time I was more scared and I had no idea what I was about to endure. One month later I had another surgery to remove more tissue and lymph nodes in the groin in order to remove as much of the cancer as possible, removing more tissue and lymph nodes in the groin. The treatment at the time was Interferon which I started 2 months following the last surgery. It was brutal and I was miserable for 2 months. My regular 6 month checkups for 3 years were negative for melanoma. However, 2 months after my last checkup in 2009, I felt a lump inside my right hip which tested positive for melanoma. I was completely devastated because I had hoped the cancer was gone for good. In 2010, I was in clinical trial studies of the drugs MDX & Yervoy (recently approved by FDA). Neither one was effective in treating my melanoma. Currently, I am in another clinical trial study of OncoVex which I started 3 months ago. My scans in January, 2011 showed cancer in my lymph nodes in both sides of my groin and upper back, my liver and my lungs. I am trying everything so I am also utilizing eastern medicine. 

UPDATE:

If you aren’t familiar with Ashley's story, please visit both of these links to read about her.

http://fishtailcottage.blogspot.com/2011/05/girlfriends-story-of-melanoma.html

http://fishtailcottage.blogspot.com/2013/03/my-friend-ashley-melanoma-patient-last.html

Sadly, I must share with you ~ My dear and  precious friend, Ashley,  went to be with The Lord on March 15, 2013 at exactly 5:00am.  She fought a courageous seven year battle with metastatic melanoma.  She is finally at peace, no more nasty tumors, no more pain. It was a surreal experience to witness her last breaths along side her loving parents, Bob and Karen Trenner ~ I am truly blessed to have known Ashley Trenner for the past 30 years of my life.  I am sharing her story so that no one else ever has to endure such pain – I truly believe her story will save lives.

If you would be so inclined to post something on your Blog / Facebook and share with your readers – It would mean so to me personally that you share her legacy.

xoxo, tracie

I N S O M N I A

I have insomnia.

It comes.
It goes.
I don't "struggle" with insomnia.
We're friends.

When insomnia shows up,
I say "herro ole friend"
we hold hands
take deep breaths
and walk through our journey.

So, I'm up at night at times.
Weird, odd times.

If you have any advice..
have at it!
I may have heard it before
or tried it before

perhaps it worked...
perhaps it didn't...
it's okay.

Insomnia is like a cough,
it comes on strong,
hangs on
you learn to live with it
until you kinda forget
and then suddenly you
**realize**
you have "slept" through the night.

Anyways.
That's where we're at right now.
Insomnia is cuddled up with me right now...
I don't dare look...
but I'm sure...
it's asleep.
HA!

Strangely enough,

I've been getting a lot of weird hang up phone calls 

all day.

I'm not scared or anything...

just wondering if people can figure out phone numbers

from one comment on a public blog post.

Maybe someone out there

is reading this

and knows the answer to that.

Otherwise,

I had a lovely day today.

I went to a gathering of Alaskans.

Being from Washington (state!!!)

I was acceptable. :)

I met some interesting people

and had a wonderful time getting to know them.

Then, got to spend some time chatting with the hostess...

about September 11th of all things...

we spend an hour

discussing how God is in every detail of your life.

Then, I took my two girlies out for ice cream,

dropped Rosie off at her dorm 

and went home.

Speaking of God being in the details...

my husband brought home some leftovers

from yesterday's catered lunch at his "office"

for our dinner!

Good night,

and thank you for reading my blog.

And if you have something to say...

go ahead and say it.

SAY WHAT YOU MEAN

MEAN WHAT YOU SAY

BUT

DON'T SAY IT MEAN.

Ta Ta Fer Now!!

-Tigger

Howdy Guys! / Hi Y'all!

Howdy Guys!

to

Hi Y'all!!

*  *  *  *

I've updated my

"About Me"

on this blog.

I have to admit

FULLY

that we've moved

from Washington state

to South Carolina state.

For realsies.

BTW

that's my new joke.

Where are you from?

Washington.

Then the listener assumes you mean...

Washington D.C.

So

You are

FORCED

COMPELLED

ARM TWISTED

into saying the stupidest thing...

the word that I think is ridiculous!!!

"State"

We moved from 

Washington STATE

(The West Coast)

SO...

now...

when someone wants to know my new address

(because we just moved from the apartment to a rental house)

I say my new street address...

and then add..

that's in Greenville..

South Carolina

STATE.

It's my passive aggressive way

of 

bein' funny.

Yeah, I know

I know

It's

REALLY

REALLY

HARD 

to remember where all those dad gum states are placed

on the west coast.

I can see how it would be

COMP*LI*CATED.

NO

we did not live near Mexico.

Try Canada.

OKAY?

"I love you"

That's the West Coast version of...

the southern expression...

"bless your heart"

(translation:  wow...you ARE an idiot...bless your heart)

So,

I love you...

Even if you can't get ALL those SO MANY pesky states 

on the west coast 

in order.

:: Ahem ::

So,

I love you...

Even if you think my husband DROVE to his medical conference

(Left Wednesday-got back Sunday)

in 

Oregon.

:: Kaff Kaff ::

So,

I love you...

Even if you wear wool coats, hats and scarves

and moan that you're cold

when it's 68 degrees.

I'll only roll my eyes and smirk when ya aren't lookin'

Tee Hee!

* * * *

In other earth shattering news....

On my table...right now...

I have a bunch of mugs...

:: sigh ::

need to let some of these guys go...

we live in sweet tea country now.

* * * *

Okay...

no more making fun of the Southerners...

I'm one of them now.

STOP.

IT.

Visiting Charleston SC and Folly Beach

Howdy everyone!

For those of you on the west coast,

here's a glimpse of the east coast!

Last weekend, we went to a Civil War Reenactment...

and then travelled to Charleston SC that evening.

We went on a ghost tour.

Yep.

Some of the folks on the tour

claimed their dog saw a ghost.

Yep.

Any ways.

The next morning we went to Folly Beach.

The kidlets were determined to see the beach.

At first we stayed up on the boardwalk

and just watched them goof off.

Looking at something here...

I think they are discussing getting in the water...

 And now they are just

GOIN' FOR IT!

We walked along the pier...

keeping an eye on our teens down below...

This little ol' birdie reminded us of our other teen...

back in Greenville...studying...

Autumn Rosie...

(former) pigeon queen of Kittitas County WA

This one is so beautiful!

Look at those colors!

Look at this nut brown guy...

he's a cutie...

 Lots of people were fishing!

AND...

I got creeped out thinking about what must be swimming down there...

No...

Bob could not convince this pigeon to go home with us...

:: SAD FACE ::

he's a rather savvy pigeon...

look at the expression on his little face!

We looked away 

for.

one.

minute.

Looked back at those kids...

and 

BOOM!

They were practically in Europe.

Git back heres!!

 They had so much fun!

Everyone was looking at them like they were kooks.

And yes...

we agree.

They are kooks.

 We were yelling, 

seriously?  for realsies?

And they were yelling,

W H A A A T ???

what's wrong?

Tee Hee

We took a long, long walk

and then got them hosed off...

We took a walk downtown...

my husband

L O V E D

this...

After lunch...

we went back to our car...

I did not capture the absolute beauty of these birds...

but look at their long, swooping tails!

Elegant.

We got in the car

and raced home...

the dogs needed to be picked up 

at the kennel by 6:00pm.

Rolled in

at

5:58

and 59 seconds.

ONE MINUTE TO SPARE!

Like a boss.

*  *  *  *  *

This week and weekend have been a bit duller

by last weekend's standards. 

My husband is in Oregon

attending a Medical Conference

he attends every year with his Mom...

also a Medical Doctor.

I know they are having a good time...

So

I had some of my own kind of fun....

I finally got our apartment completely cleaned...

we hand in the keys on Monday.

W h a t? 

That does not sound like fun?

Oh.

Okay--yeah--I'll admit it

I try to fool myself a lot.

Gits me by.