Flashback Friday

A little while back, I actually had a moment of clarity and I remembered that Caitlin needed lunch money, so I sent a check with her to take to school. The next day, Caitlin came home with a stamp on her hand (the tale-tell sign of being out of lunch money). She told me that she needed lunch money and I needed to send CASH.

Suspicious and a little cranky, I insisted that I was going to call the teacher and ask her what happened to the check for a month's worth of lunches. I finally got sweet, angelic Caitlin to admit that she saw something at the school's book fair that she wanted to buy and she put the stamp on her hand all by herself. I think she still wonders why I didn't give her the money!

I'm thinking perhaps I should have been a little more prudent in her reading selections when she was younger!

Believe me, I'm having nightmares about teenage years to come!

Tree Time

After a weekend of begging by the kids, we finally got the Christmas tree up and the kids went to town. We had some "ornament cluster" situations, but it all seemed to work out (just don't look at the back side of the tree - it's pretty plain).





Caitlin insisted on posing for a picture.

Happy Thanksgiving

Oh... so much food! We had a great day at the Steindorf homestead. (Look Lisa - we made the "casserole.") Grandpa & Grandma Griffiths came down with Uncle Rick. It was great to hang out with them for the day!

What would a day at Papa's house be without playing a little pool? Rumor has it Austin won a game or two.
Grandpa went for the "kids" table.

Chillin' with the G-mas!
The Thanksgiving crew grew for dessert - Rod & Vickie came out with Ryan & Tami and their kids and Tom & Monica.

I think it took about 20 tries to get a picture will all our eyes open (Annie & I were the culprits - surprise, surprise). Tami & Harper were pros!

Tom & Monica...What a cute couple - they even match!

Birthday Girl

Happy Birthday Lisa! You haven't changed a bit. It looks like the arm folding was just in its infancy in this picture. I'll be enjoying a Route 44 in your honor today. Have a great day!

Tagged

Since Ally "tagged" me, I've been agonizing over what to write for my 6 things.

1. I guess I've already said one of the things about me: I agonize about writing things - no matter what it is. I always waited until about 20 minutes before my college classes to write my papers because I just couldn't put the words down (too worried I'd put the wrong words down). I've had a baby gift (wrapped and in the box to send it in) sitting on my kitchen table for 3 weeks now because I don't know what to write in the card (yes Lisa, your birthday present will also be late). You can only imagine how many times I write, then preview, and re-write these posts...

2. I love to watch movies! Especially chick flicks, British (namely Jane Austen) movies or anything with dancing in it. I will watch them over and over and over again. There are some good things about insomnia - my favorite movies are often on at 3:00 in the morning!

3. Diet Coke & cookies - the breakfast of champions! I'm not on a first name basis with the Sonic folks, but the girls do say "hi" to me when I go through the drive through for my Route 44 (with extra 'aahse').

4. I'm a compulsive list-maker (that's one thing I don't have a problem writing). The problem is - I make the lists and then don't look at them at the grocery store or don't do the chores that are on them.

5. I use Microsoft Excel for everything! If it can be typed on a computer, I will put it in Excel (check registers, schedules, address lists, grocery lists, chore lists, homework lists, etc.). I love to make monster spreadsheets with hyper-linking and fun formulas and... okay, I better stop now.

6. I'm a pop culture junkie! I love the celebrity gossip blogs - TMZ, Perez Hilton, JJ - & my silly magazines. They keep me in the loop (not that the loop is a very desirable place to be, but it keeps me entertained).

Veteran's Day

Last year, Austin chose to do his fifth grade history report on World War II - the Pacific Theater. While we were doing research, we called his great-grandpa, Gordon Griffiths to interview him about his service. We learned that he served in Japan after their surrender to the U.S. He served in Zama on the west point of Japan from January to April, 1946. He worked at a replacement depot that arranged emergency furloughs for the soldiers.

He spoke of flying over Iwo Jima as he arrived for his service seeing the now famous flag atop Mount Suribachi and seeing Emporor Hirohito outside the Imperial Palace. Before he left Japan, he wanted to see the Army headquarters and he ran into General MacArthur.

He also had the great story of meeting a Japanese man who, during the war, had been in charge of some American POW's. Among the men he was in charge of was a school teacher from Malad, Idaho (where Grandpa is from) who taught this Japanese man to read and write English. They became close friends and when the man from Malad was killed while he was being transferred, the Japanese man was given his personal effects. By a wild stroke of luck, Grandpa met this man who told him he had the same feeling around Grandpa as he did around the other soldier who was named Fred. In this fallen soldier's belongings was a picture of my Mom and her sister that he showed to my Grandpa (their father). It is truly a small world.

Even though the report took Austin a long time to write (and I made him actually sit at the computer and write it in his own words), it was good for him to learn about these soldiers and the battles they fought to gain some perspective on the service they provided for the freedom we enjoy today.

If you ever have to help your kids with a report or even if you just want to look at a good book, pick up "The Good Fight" by Stephen Ambrose in the junior section of the library (he is the writer of "Band of Brothers"). It was so good that we bought the book.


Here are a couple of pictures from Grandpa's album of Nagasaki and Hiroshima after the atomic bombs.

"Green" Post...

I haven't posted anything in a while, so here's something kind of random (you might like this one Christy). I've been working in the office for almost 3 years now and several times a week, the garbage can at my desk would be completely full - mostly with paper from reports we don't use but we have to run to get the reports we do use.

Feeling in a 'green' mood one day, I asked my boss if it would be okay to put a bin for paper that I would take to recycling once a week and she said it would be okay. Here is our unofficial re-cycling bin for the office (as you can see - it is getting used ... I've been emptying it twice a week). Other than boatloads of candy wrappers, my garbage can has been somewhat empty lately. Every little bit helps right? On a side note, when I was at Walmart yesterday, the manager noticed all my re-usable grocery bags (I was using the pretty dark green ones that I picked up in Vegas). He told me that they will have the re-usable bags in their stores very soon.

Seriously...

So, I love watching Grey's Anatomy (not so much last season, but I've got hope for this season and my fond memories of seasons 1 & 2). Have you ever searched for the meanings behind the story lines? Yes - my IQ dropped 10 points just by typing that, but I do wonder what they were thinking sometimes. You should check out the writer's blog - it's pretty interesting:

http://www.greyswriters.com/

Every Friday morning after a new episode, the writer of that episode blogs about how they came up with it, what it all means and funny tidbits about actually filming the episode. You can totally tell where the characters' senses of humor come from by reading them - the writers sound so much like the characters. Do you get the impression that I'm on the computer WAAAYY too much? The perils of working full time!