Thursday Trials and Triumphs

[Lisa B.]

We gain strength, and courage, and confidence by each experience in which we really stop to look fear in the face... we must do that which we think we cannot."
- Eleanor Roosevelt -


Morning Ladies,

What can you list as either your trials or triumphs of late.

Triumph: Mine is that bootcamp has started again and between the last two camps, is that I lost 7 and a half kilograms between the two.

[Twins' Mom]

Good morning! Thank you Lisa for getting the village off to a good start this morning!

Harriet, I did stay home last night - ended up watching American Idol with dh and relaxing.

I'm planning to get to work early today with a good attitude.

[Emptynester]

We are up early as DH has breakfast with "the boys" today. Our friend will pick him up about 5 minutes to 7.

We were up yesterday, too and on the road by 8:30. It was exactly a 2 hour trip to the Dr. in SE Phoenix. The staff was nice and the test went great. No problems and we were out of there by 12:30. (It took that long for the meds to take effect and slow down his heart for the CT)

We headed back home - stopping at Church's Chicken on the way. After stopping to see if we could find windshield wipers for the MH and a few groceries, we arrived back at the ranch about 2:30. We promptly took naps in our big chairs.

We got a call as I made dinner that Suzlew will not be able to visit us this week. It is raining and blowing where she is and they have cut their trip short. Oh, Well. next time.

Time to go find some breakfast and jump in the shower. I must have really slept restless last night as my hair is standing straight up - and not where it is supposed to.

[DeeClutter]

I hope, I hope, I hope that our internet is 'fixed'! Cable came late yesterday & put new connections outside -he did find a problem there.

We drove to Englewood, FL on Monday (2 1/2 hours each way) only to have dh and the others go out about 3 miles on the Gulf and it was determined to be too rough. So they came back in, we came back home and they're 'trying' again next Monday. We drive to Parrish this Saturday for dh and dd to play in an Euchre tournament with friends from our campground up north -another 3 hour round-trip.

Somewhat re-thinking our trip north this spring. DD wants to go up to put on a shower for ddil. We decided that end of April was a little early for one so she's trying to sell her ticket and buy another for later in May. I may still follow friends up earlier. We'll see.

Behavior analyst comes again Friday right after school. Only problem is that when he's here of course she behaves better. But behavior continues to regress and to what point we keep wondering.

Going walking shortly with dh and then going over to his db/dsil's house for most of the day. Have to pick up dgd at 3.

See dd has chicken out thawing -I'll put it in the fridge to finish thawing before we leave this morning. Just wondering what she has in mind to fix.

Think my allergies have kicked in. Finally got up about 11:30 last night to take 'sleepy' allergy med because bottom of throat was hurting, etc. I'm quite congested this morning so will be searching for daytime meds. And so we begin.....

Hoping to be able to cuop over the next couple of days. Know I've missed a lot!

[Lilac]

Dee, I too hope that your internet is fixed. I have missed you.

I've been to the newspaper. From what I had read on their website, it looked like we would be paying $133.00 for this ad. But she told me $69.00, then I mentioned that we would be running an ad weekly until it sells and the charge today was $26.10. I'm not complaining but it is sure crazy the difference in the 3 prices. I need to buy a For Sale sign and an Open House sign today. I plan on getting balloons to tie to the Open House sign on Sunday. I will be so glad when that house sells.

This afternoon I need to go to the other house and drag the pile of stuff from my garage over here. Then I need to get all the pictures, etc. off the walls and bring them home. Also, need to haul leftover boxes to the recycling center.

[Lilac]

Yikes! I had taken the ad to the paper but they wanted me to email it. So I did and the picture wasn't there. Since I am not computer savvy, I had to call dd2 and have her send the picture. I told her I would bring her a cappacino for doing it, so guess I better get one and head to her house to babysit.

[OKay]

Goood Morning!

We had a good afternoon/evening with older DGS's and Gf yesterday. We went to our favorite drive-in for drinks, went to library and the boys checked out multiple books to read, to our home for spaghetti meal, did a quick trip to No Man's Land to check on some things, went to church and then took everyone home. When LO woke up this morning, the very first thing he said was "I had a good time with Brother16 and Brother14 yesterday"

I'm so thankful Mr MT test went well and the trip was uneventful. YES!!

Lilac - several people I know that has sold their home has had great success using Craigs*list.

[Harriet]

GASP

LisaB! Did you just tell us you've lost 16.5 pounds!?! WooHoo!

Thanks to all for saying such kind things. We took this a little harder than when our older cat, Sumo, died at 22. It's tougher to have to face a sudden condition, and Orphan Cat was always delicate because of the birth defect, so we felt protective.

I took my measurements this a.m. and am getting all my new H & F recordkeeping ready for the next 6 weeks of the year.

Obviously, there has also been a lot of changing and tossing/consolidation of cat things, so took the opportunity for deep cleaning what we're going to keep.

[Kathryn-in-Canada]

Here's my Wednesday Travelogue:

The saying is "time flies when you are having fun." Wednesday morning this was especially true. One moment it was 9:30 and then, suddenly after an announcement by the cruise director, it was 10:30!

A misunderstanding about time had the ship's time jumping ahead from 9:30 to 10:30 after the clocks had been set back the night before.

For us, life was good, since our alarm clock was the only clock of ours we missed setting the night before so we got out of bed at 7:15 instead of the planned 8:15 and were already an hour ahead for the day, having got up, dressed, eaten and even done my devotions before the announcement. But the kitchen was thrown into confusion, since breakfast ran until 10 and lunch was to start at 11:30 but suddenly 11:30 was only one hour away and breakfast was supposed to be over!

Normally, everyone would just laugh this off, but the tours were all 4+ hours long and were leaving at 12:50 so suddenly we had an hour less to listen to the lecture, eat, clear immigration and get out onto the pier. The pool grill managed to get themselves up and running the fastest so I grabbed a bite from them, then rushed to get off the ship on time. We managed just fine and even scored front row seats on the tour bus (all the people with canes went to the back so we moved up to the front as soon as the door was closed.)

Here are my observations from Walvis Bay, Namibia:

- It is a major West African port. Because the countries here have lower populations (Namibia only has 2.1 million people) most goods are shipped in rather than manufactured here. Along the docks are huge slabs of marble and granite being shipped from there to Europe. And piles of salt.

- The desert really does come to the sea here. The two towns we visited, Walvis Bay and Swakopmund, are both surrounded by desert. One moment, you are looking at housing, the next moment, it is sand as far as the eye can see.

- The Namib desert is the oldest in the world. The dunes here are only 5 million years old, farther south they are dated to 80 – 90 million years old. We explored parts of the Dorob National Park during our times in the desert.

- Our first stop of the day was at Dune 7. This dune is about 280m high. Ken felt the need to climb it but we only had 10 minutes so he could only go up for 5 minutes!

- The roads are amazing and the speed limits high. Most are made out of salt and sand mixed together, wet down and rolled.

- Swakopmund is a German town about 33 km north of Walvis Bay, and, according to the ship's lecturer is the most bizarre town in Africa. It was a mix of German and West African architecture and culture. We visited a museum, a crystal museum/shop, and then had 45 minutes of free time to wander around.

I chose to go to the grocery store. Prices/selection were comparable to home (sugar $2 for 2kg, milk $1.50 per litre), but a labourer in the area only earns $100 per month, so obviously the grocery store I was in was geared for ex-pats and tourists. On the way into the store, a woman with an African Grey parrot perched on her shoulder was leaving with her shopping done.

- Namibia feels safe and is safe compared to other African countries. The high walls around homes I saw were to keep the desert out, not intruders. And I headed off on my own when we had the free time, rather than sticking with Ken.

Of course, I was in a very prosperous and isolated area. The population is about 44,000 for each of the towns. The area is surrounded by uranium and semi-precious stone mining, movies are shot here all the time (Mad Max 4 is being filmed here now) and tourism offers a lot of employment. Unemployment runs about 31% nation-wide but that also includes subsistence farmers, so not everyone of those unemployed are in desperate straights.

Like Zimbabwe, farm reclamation has been going on, reducing production by 80% as the whites have turned the farming over to the blacks. As a result, the project is on hold while the government figures out a better way to complete the process.

Our drivers both days felt that there wasn't as much racial tension here as South Africa. Of course, they were both white.

- Namibia was a state of South Africa up until the 90s and apartheid was put in place here. The townships still exist (the first picture is of the coloureds' township, the blacks' township was on the other side of the highway.) The population, according to our driver, is roughly 6.5% white, 6% coloured and 87.5% black. While the townships are no longer segregated (nor is the town), races tend to remain segregated if only by economics as oppose to law.

- School is mandatory but not free, costing $600 per year for public school, $1500 for private school. Remember, a labourer can expect to earn $1200 per year. Obviously, not all children attend school, as a result.

- I had heard about walking in Africa and witnessed it both days, long streams of people walking along the road or across the open areas in order to get to work or school. Neither town was big enough for a bus service so one either walks into town or takes a taxi (which many opt to do) or grabs a ride from whatever is available.

- Palm trees line a lot of the roads. They are not indigenous to this area but survive well. One particular one is known for it's fibre and cellular construction and is not natural at all.
They disguise the cell phone towers as palm trees!

- Our drive back to Walvis Bay took us down the coast. Half-way between the two towns is the enclave of very nice houses known as Long Beach. That's where Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt stayed for months while waiting to give birth.

Our tour lasted from 1 p.m. until just after 6. We were exhausted and spent a quiet evening in our cabin.

Ken had been sick the night before and so had fasted all day. He started eating again, gingerly at first, with some consomme and then we moved on to a full room service meal.

Our cabin is down the hall from the dining room so we left our door open and listened to the school band playing music to welcome the diners. The money they received for their performance will go to school fees.

The evening show was an international award-winning Mascato Youth Choir, a Township School choir. We stayed for 6 pieces but had to head to bed early. Their music was delightful and the theatre was completely full – standing room only. We bought their CD as a souvenir of Namibia.

As I write this, all this happened yesterday... there is still today's adventure in the desert to tell you about that will come in another post. We are at sea now for 4.5 days and I'm looking forward to the rest!

[Elizabeth]

Definitely more trial than triumph today with the job uncertainty. Yesterday, I ate at church rather than mope at home, so that was good. When I got home, I called my parents, sewed an arm on Bug-A-Boo, exercised, and went to bed at a reasonable hour. Today, I have lunch with friends and an appointment with a counselor. Good coincidental timing on the latter. I don't know what to do about my cruise vacation this summer, I have already paid for airline tickets and a deposit on the cruise. Payment is due in April. I am inclined to go anyway,