Snippets By Oma

New and Exciting!

Good golly, I know that it has been WAY TOO LONG since I have written. So sorry.

All has been well with me and Rick. Life is life sometimes and as most, we get caught up in the humdrum of daily routine.

So what is new and exciting you ask?

For starters Andrea and Eric are moving into a new home (to them) in a couple of weeks. Amanda and Phil have just bought their first home. I don't yet have a picture of it, but will soon. It is a real fixer upper, but that is the kind of work Phil does and the place has SO MUCH potential. Caleb has pretty much moved out...well, he still has most of his stuff here. He moved in with his girlfriend, Jamie, and her place is really small...they hope to get something bigger once he lands a day job. He has had the most difficult time getting one....he has had several resumes sent and with the economy the way it is, well, need I say more. I have told him to hang in there, God has just the perfect thing for him. I pray that somewhere in his heart and mind he can believe that, it is hard when you wait for so long, get bites only to have them get away!!

A couple of weeks ago Rick and I started making Sundays "our day". We plan to go hiking most of the time.It is a great way to get away and do something we really love to do. There is nothing like seeing nature, up close and personal. It is also a great way to "decompress" before the next work week.

 Our first trip was to the Long Beach area. We have a book titled: Best Hikes with Dogs and had picked a hike from that book. The driving directions took us towards Montesano, which after looking at the map, silly me, the Navigator in our family, says, "we are going here, why go all the way to Montesano and cut down? It doesn't make sense!" Well, later we found out the "hard way" that it really did make sense. You see, we drove down I-5 to Longview, went thru that city and when we got onto the road that takes you to Long Beach, here was a sign saying "Long Beach 75 miles". "Seventy-five miles!!!!!" I gasped!!!. Rick just looked at me. We ended up laughing about it and just drove to where the road cuts off to Raymond and turned there and made a long loop drive thru Raymond, PeEll, and back to I-5 and Olympia. It would not have been so bad if we had gotten a much earlier start, but we'd been at Lowe's earlier in the day ordering stuff for the bathroom (tell you 'bout this later)!
Any way, here are a couple of pix from this trip:



Such a happy girl!!!

A week ago we picked another hike, this time from a book of Hikes in the Olympic Mountains. The one we chose started a Staircase and was a 7.8 mile round trip hike. When we got to Hoodsport we stopped by the Ranger Station and found out that we would have to hike 5 miles just to get to the trail head since the road to Staircase is closed until May 1st. "Hmm!" we said, and headed up anyway. It was such a beautiful day, we had been all jazzed up for a hike, so once parked we set out up the road. We ended up hiking the whole way to the trailhead to our intended hike, turned around and hike the whole way back. It didn't really seem like 10 miles, but we were gone for a bit. We had such a great time together.
Let me share some pix of this trip:






This photo is taken at the end of the lake on the other side of the land bridge. As you can see most of the lake is dried up here. We found some great walking sticks, which were rather nice to have on our way back.

This where the river goes into the lake by the bridge. There were two Canadian Geese here, but as you can see, one didn't quite make it into the photo shoot!!!

This is the beautiful site we had on the way back.

This past Sunday was Easter, and besides it was raining pretty bad. Don't know where we are going this coming Sunday, but we're going somewhere in the Olympics. All the hikes we'd like to do in the Mount Rainier area say the best time to hike is mid-July to October, so they'll just have to wait. We do, however, have some days off in late July that we are going to camp up at Rainier and one day hike to Camp Muir and back.

Our last, most exciting news is that we are totally remodeling our bathroom. It has been a real thorn in our side for several years and we decided that NOW is the time!!!!
The stuff we special ordered at Lowe's has come in. Rick has the first week of May off to do this remodel. He has started with some of the demolition, so I will share a few of the pix of that...but May 1st begins total gutting process, except for the water heater. Unfortunately it will have to stay until we have the money to have a "tankless" water heater installed.
I will end this post with the few pictures of what we have begun in the bathroom.

I will also say I will do my best to not let so many weeks go by without being in touch.





(There used to be a wall in front of the water heater and beside that was a floor-ceiling cupboard - Rick took those out a couple of weeks ago)

NOT MUCH!!

 
(Pat Starr - one reason for the 3 Day Walk)


Not much happening here in this neck of the woods.

I am chomping at the bit to get back into my walking routine. I finally got registered for the 3 Day Walk that I mentioned  in my last post, so I am anxious to get going on my training. I am SO excited! The other day one of our patients told me that she did this a couple of years ago and that although it is hard to walk 20 miles 3 days in a row, the rewards of the experience outweigh anything else. Presently I am reading the Walker Handbook and will be attending a Getting Started meeting on the 18th!
I have been in a regular shoe for a week now. I only have one pair that I can comfortably wear. I tried wearing my Doc Martins last weekend, but after a couple of hours I ended up taking my shoe off as I was checking out at Michael's, and walked to my car without a shoe....who cared! ..it felt MUCH BETTER that way!!! I tried again yesterday with a different shoe and made it through half a day...so, it is getting better and better.

Rick has been working on some neat wood projects. He completed this



a couple of weeks ago. (that is styrofoam blocks it is resting on - not a part of the unit) It has been trustfully turned over to me to do the painting. The color is a shade of white from the Eddie Bauer paint line - Craftsman Bungalow palate - at Lowe's. It is at the point now where I just have to do the antiquing, which will be a brown from the same palate.
The bottom will hold 6 bottles of wine, the bottom of the one shelf is made to slide wine glasses in, the next shelf is for "whatever", and the top shelf will hold all my "really nice" cookbooks. I am ready to start the antiquing. I have painted a trial piece of wood to "practice" on first!!
Rick does such a great job in all of his projects. He has a level of pride and perfectionism that I admire...and relate to myself.

Recently Merle (Rick's dad) took Rick and I out to dinner for Rick's birthday. Here are a couple of pictures from that night at the Ram (both of their favorite places to eat!):









As you can tell we had a fun time. It is so nice to see Merle enjoying himself so - and "smiling"!!!

I am going to leave you with this thought:

Did you know that "One in eight women will be diagnosed with breast cancer in her lifetime"?
(quote from 3 Day Walk participant handbook)

HAPPY NEW YEAR - 2009, JUST A FEW WEEKS LATE!

Can you believe that we are entering the last week of January already? My how time does fly. I have been meaning to get to posting for the past several weeks now, yet every time I think about sitting down to do so I either get distracted, or have already put in a long day at work and the thought of sitting down in front of the computer again just, well, just does not happen.
Since I am forced to sit around today (nursing a sore foot - more later) I figured this would be as good as time as any to get "caught up" with my blogging.

I hope that all of you had a very nice Holiday season. Mine was very nice, and relaxing. Something was going on everyday during Christmas. The following Saturday Andrea and Erik were suppose to be over, but their best friends experienced a tragedy on Christmas Eve, so they went down to minister to them. Even though we missed them, we were glad they could be there for Abraham and Nancy during their difficult time.
Dad came over both Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. This was his first Christmas without Pat, so we wanted to be sure he was not alone, however we told him that if that is what he wanted we would completely respect that. Everyone has their own way of getting through painful times in their lives and I think it is important that be respected. He did well, and continues to do well. He has a really great look on things and God has been showing him so much grace...it is Awesome to see! Christmas dinner also included my mom, sister, nephew, Caleb and Jamie, and Amanda, Phil, and Indiana (Milla and Hudson were with their daddy this year). We all had a very nice time.
Merle (dad) came over for New Year's Eve. We were going to have dinner and then watch some movies. Well, we sat down around 7:15pm to eat and do you know that we looked at the clock and it was already 11pm. We hadn't even gotten to the movies. Once we were finished eating we had stayed at the table talking and sipping wine and didn't even notice how late it was getting. It was such a precious time. We were talking about everything: Mom, life, death, God, church, hopes, dreams....



Speaking of hopes and dreams, how many of you dear friends made New Year's Resolutions? I did! I resolve to not make resolutions....they are almost always broken, so why bother. I tend to be so hard on myself when I don't follow through with something that it is just not worth it. The things that truly are important happen....the others, well.....don't!!!


 

My hopes and dreams and plans are a different story on the other hand.

I will be seeing one dream come true in the next 2-3 years and that is I will "finally" be able to work either part time, or not at all. Personally, I cannot see me not working at least a couple of days a week. I really love my present job. I am so incredibly grateful to God for giving me the courage and strength to stick through my previous job of almost 5 yr working at a Family Practice. So many times I wanted to leave, but I never felt God's release; knowing this I would just pray, "Father, please help me be open to learn what it is you want me to learn so I can move on..." When God finally did give me the "OK" it was just a matter of 3 weeks that I was hired at my current job. Do you know that the first month here I literally cried almost everyday on my way to work. I was SO FULL of gratitude, and for seeing the hand of God, and the fruitfulness of WAITING for God! I still feel just as incredibly blessed.



Meanwhile...

Just as soon as my foot allows....Oh, my foot! That's right!
Most of you know about it, but to those of you who don't, I had bunion surgery December 18th on my left foot. Besides removing the bunion, the surgeon also realigned my big toe. You see, as a bunion grows, it pushes your big toe into the next toe, if not taken care of that other toe will eventually bend into what some call "hammertoe". Fortunately mine was not that bad, however I do have a pin in my foot up into my big toe. It could be temporary, but since it is not causing any pain my orthopedist said there is no reason to remove it. According to my doctor the healing process takes approximately 3 months, which means sometime in March I should be able to be back full swing in my walking routine.
Only 4 more days and I will be back to wearing a regular shoe (I have been wearing a special shoe since the day of surgery).
I am especially excited to get back into my walking routine because from there I will start training hard for the 3-Day Walk for Breast Cancer in September. Participating in this event is my tribute to my mother-in-law, Pat, who most of you know passed away this past November from complications stemming from breast cancer.
This event consists of walking 20 miles a day, three days in a row. As of now, I don't have a walking partner....you see, to do the walk you also have to raise $2300, so becoming a walking partner comes at a price, no pun intended!!! According to information I have read so far, if you don't have a partner they find you someone...that should be interesting.
I am really excited about this. It is going to take some major sacrifices to train, but in the end it will be so incredibly rewarding. I look forward to the journey!



 Other plans include Rick and I putting in new wood laminate floors sometime this year, as well as replacing the windows in this house...it may be just the front half of the house this year, and the back next year. We don't use credit cards, so everything is done as we can...which is just fine with us. The main reason for the new windows is because the existing ones are not sealed and heat escapes, especially in the winter. There are times that it is at least 5-10 degrees colder in the living room from the rest of the house...not good on the heating bill - especially in these times.
It seems SO easy to get caught up wanting to do this and that with a home that I think sometimes people forget to be grateful for what God has given them in the first place.It seems as though our nation has  a couple of generations of people who are not content with anything. When they get their dream, they want more. I have been taught that if we cannot be content with the "little God has given us, we will not be blessed with more.
I don't think it is necessarily "wrong" to make changes, but I think that it is important to check the motivation of your heart. I have. There have been times when Rick and I talk about doing this to the kitchen, or that to the dining/living...and then, it is like, "wait...WHY do we want to do this? What we have is just fine." Then we think about how money for those unnecessary changes could be used to go on a road trip, extra offering at church, or on a home "update" that "really" needs to be done...such as for us, there are 3 fir trees right outside the front of our house where one tree's roots has grown just about to the garage - not a good thing!!
Please don't misunderstand me, I am not condemning anyone who loves to make home improvements, I am just saying, "do they really have to be improved?"



Sorry about the "preaching"...I didn't mean to go off. Bless you who have the money and time to do everything - travel and remodels! Maybe I am just a "simple" person!

My hopes,dreams and plans do not stop here, but I have taken enough of your time for now.
I will leave you with this quote:

Passion - There are many things in life that will catch your eye, but only a few will catch your heart...pursue those." - author unknown

What is catching your heart?



(Pictures on this post from the Big Snow and recent Winter Walk at Tumwater Falls)

STARR CHRISTMAS LETTER: DECEMBER 2008

Starr Christmas Letter 2008

(This has been sent to those we don't see often enough to know what has gone on in our lives, I thought maybe some of you would like to be in on this too."

It has been awhile since we've written a Christmas letter; we thought this would be a good year to back on track.

The new year started with us taking our first trip to Hawaii in February. We visited the island of Oahu along with Rick's parents, Merle and Pat Starr. Since they go once a year and know the island quite well they served as our personal tour guides. I think that Rick would agree that the highlight of our trip was spending a day at Pearl Harbor. It was a rather sobering experience. It also just happened that our 6th wedding anniversary, February 23rd, was during this trip. We spent that day playing on the beach, snorkeling, and just plain relaxing in the sunshine. We topped off the day by having dinner with Merle and Pat at Hard Rock Cafe, Honolulu.

Rick is still working for Weyerhaueser Building Materials. This past July 16th marked 10 years of service with this company. Over this past year Rick has taken on an extra role serving as Chairman for "Train the Trainer" Committee. This position entails: setting up and conducting monthly meetings, scheduling mandated yearly training classes for on sight training, overseeing and evaluating all training done on sight to ensure new and current associates are properly trained to safely perform their job tasks. For anyone who knows Rick well enough knows this is a huge move for him to step out of his comfort zone. He has been commended several times for how well he is doing, and needless to say I am extremely proud of him myself.

Linda continues to work for Dr. Rick Baxter at Vision Health. In April she recieved a special pin for obtaining a passing grade for Level One in a series of three levels to become a Paraoptometric. Once levels two and trhee are completed she will be certified to assist both the Optometrist and the the Opticians with various techinical duties. She continues to love her job and is learning new things daily. During these tough economic times we both are extremely grateful to have good, steady employement.

Throughout the spring and summer we both pursued our individual hobbies of woodworking and bicycling, and together decided to redo our vegetable garden are with what is called "Square Foot Gardening". Basically it is raised bed gardening done in 4X4 cedar boxes that have been divided into various measurements to suit what you are growing. It was a slightly monumental task that we plan to finish up this spring in time to get 2009's garden planted.

Our year has ended on a rather sad note. Rick's mom, Patricia Jean Starr, was called home to be with Jesus on Sunday, November 9th. She bravely fought a long, hard battle with breast cancer. God was gracious to take her quickly, but those she left behind have a tremendous void in their hearts. She has left us with an example of true courage, strength, and dignity.
In keeping her word to and in tribute to Pat, Linda will be participating in the "3-Day Walk for Breast Cancer" this next September.

We would like to close this letter encouraging you all to tell those you love and care for NOW that you love them, and how proud you are of them. Cherish life to its fullest. Do not let the sun go down on your wrath with anyone, make your amends, continue in the spirit of Peace.




Blessings to You and Yours, Rick and Linda

HOLIDAY SNIPPETS

Oh can you feel it? Christmas is in the air!
I actually have a love/hate relationship with Christmas. You see, I am a hopeless romantic and I have an "ideal" Christmas always in the back of my mind - you know, "Norman Rockwell", etc...However, over past Christmases my idealism has lead me to depression, because no matter how hard I tried to "recreate" "Norman's" Christmas, something was always missing....hmmm? Could I have put in more of Jesus and baked less cookies....I don't think it helps that I am a total perfectionist, something my oldest daughter, Andi, and I have in common.

This year is going to be different......our focus has been shifted to what is REALLY important, and that is purely spending time with family and friends. Gift giving is going to come later, partly due to economic reasons - which have affected pretty much everyone I have talked to over the past couple of weeks, and because this past Thursday, December 18th, I had foot surgery which leads me to the mercy of others waiting on me - something I don't do very well.



 It is for this reason that I was forced to sit down and really examine my priorities. So rather than stress about trying to get everything done, I simply wrote down my menu for Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, and Saturday, December 26th when Andi and Erik will be here. I made some cookies ahead. I stayed up way to late on a work night to get my house decorated. Everything will work itself out, I can honestly say that I am RELAXED...no, it is not because of the Pain medications!!!!!

I have to tell you though, my sweet husband, Rick, has been awesome. He took a couple days off, then today the yard he works at was closed so we got an extra day together. I have hopped along on my crutches and he says to me, "What are you doing? You are suppose to be resting that foot." I tell him, "I am, I am not standing on it...see, (as I show him I have it resting on a stool)" I learned the hard way though...halfway through Saturday (at a Christmas Open House) the pain in my foot was so excruciating that I could not even cry...and I still had 2 hours to wait until I could take my meds.

I had started to do Thirteen on 13: December and I still want to share it with you along with some other fun photos.

• Tree limb from the big windstorm prior to our first snow.

• My first contribution for the 3-Day Walk from a gal at Tim's Pharmacy in Yelm (she was fitting me with my crutches).

• My Christmas and Winter mug collection - this is just part of them, I didn't want to take all of them out this year.

• This is a paper Christmas tree I made last year.

• Awesome wooden snowflake set that Andrea gave me for my birthday. They are SO COOL! I LOVE them.

• Missy kitty in the middle of Christmas decorations, as usual she is ALWAYS in the "middle" of things.

• German Christmas ornaments mingled with pine cones.

• Serious looking icicles!!!

• Pauliegirl loving the snow.

• Caleb and Rick building their "6foot 2inch" snowman!

• Mr. Snowman

• The view from my window where I am convalescing.

I will encourage those of you who may be "stressing" over anything about this holiday season, ask yourself, "In the big picture of life, does this really matter?"

Have a great day. I will see you soon.




I 

Too Tired

This is how I feel tonight.
I've gotten back on schedule with my walking after being off for a week sick, so I think the fresh air has made me ready for bed earlier than usual - actually ready for bed at a normal hour rather than mindlessly watching TV until 11pm, just because I'm too tired to get up and go to bed.
Anyway, this my round about excuse for not writing my 10th Day of Gratefulness, SO you will get a double dose tomorrow.
Of course, one of you is probably thinking, "Well, if you took the time to write this you surely had time to write your gratefulness....well, NOT, What I am grateful for will take more time and more thoughtfulness....SO THERE!

Love to you all, and GOODNIGHT!

30 Days of Gratefulness: Day 15 thru 17

DAY 15

Today I am thankful for:  all the wonderful friends and family of my sweet, late mother-in-law, Patricia Jean Starr.
Saturday was her memorial - A Celebration of Life.
It was beautiful.
All 3 of her children each read something they had individually written and it was so incredible that they all said the same thing, but in their own words....precious, precious thoughts of their mama.
Everyone said the same thing over and over - Pat never thought about herself, but always about others. Dad had said that even when she was in incredible pain and someone would ask her, "How are you?" she would answer, "I am fine. How are you?" She never, ever complained.



DAY 16

Today I am thankful for:  the warm sunshine. I know that these days are going to be limited. No one in Western Washington really likes the rain, but we have to remember that is what makes this part of the country so beautiful.


DAY 17

Today I am thankful for:  Potatoes.
I know this may sound silly. I love potatoes, just about as much as I love chocolate.
I love them in any shape or style.
When I was growing up my parents called me "The Potato Kid".
My children, and husband, know that when it comes to French Fries - I am selfish.
I am thankful that you can make a meal out of Bakers from Costco - those things are Hurkin' huge!

What are you thankful for today?

30 Days of Gratefulness: Day 14

Today I am thankful for: Whiskey, Lemons, and Honey!

I have had the Crud this week and nothing really seems to help at night. In the past Niquil has been my saving grace to get sleep when I have a cough...until last night. It was horrible.
This morning my father-in-law told me about this family remedy - come to find out this is a remedy in quite a few families!!!
He said, "Mix whiskey, lemon juice and some honey together, heat it, and then drink half of it."
I seemed to be much better with my cough during the day today, and then tonight the coughing started in again. I mean I cough so hard at times I think I am going to wet my britches! Seriously!
So I figured, "Fine! I'll try Dad's Hot Toddy concoction!"
Do you know, it actually worked! Imagine that! Why is it that this works?
I guess the "real" test will be tonight when I am trying to get a good night's sleep.
There is a long day ahead of us tomorrow - we are Celebrating Pat's life with other family and friend, so I really need my rest.

Another thing I could say I am thankful for today is :  I felt well enough to make a batch of Linzer cookies, a batch of Molasses cookies - which I frosted, and some Deviled Eggs for the Open House. I really wanted to be able to do something to help and since I have a gift in the kitchen this was my way.

What are you thankful for today?

PS - Hi Cindy! :)

30 Days of Gratefulness: Day 13

Today I am grateful for:

Restored friendships.

These two gals pictured with me are Cindy (L) and Peggy (R). Recently after a number of years, they reconnected with me. I cannot tell you how blessed I am.
Over the years we visited at family gatherings, etc....then came the breakup of my first marriage and because of awkwardness we didn't see each other for a long while.
Over this past year or so they decided it was time to get reacquainted and I am so glad they did. There is a connection with these two wonderful women that is like sisters. I love them so much.
In the past they were my sisters-in-law, now they are my friends. I look forward to many more visits and laughter and sharing and just being together. We all agree that life is too short for anything less.
Thanks Cindy and Peggy, for your love and friendship!

The other friendship I am grateful for my friend, Carol.
One and a half years ago Carol emailed me through Classmates.com. She said, "I don't know if you remember me, but....". I immediately wrote her back with the reply, "Of course I remember you!!" We had been neighbors - our neighborhoods were about a half mile from each other, but we were in the same grade, rode the same school bus, and were in BlueBirds and Campfire Girls together. I always remember her as being shy.
Needless to say, after a couple weeks of emailing through Classmates, we gave each other our real email addressed and have been keeping in contact almost daily ever since. She doesn't live that far away - just outside of Portland, OR, but with our busy schedules we just have not met for coffee yet. We do remember each other's birthdays and Christmas and other special, or sad times.
We have a class reunion coming up which both of us are sitting on the fence with whether we want to go or not, we may just have a reunion of our own.
Carol, I am grateful for you. You are a great friend. I love you!

What are you thankful for today?

30 Days of Gratefulness: Day 12

Today I am grateful for: my daughters, Andrea Mae and Amanda Irene.

Aren't they beautiful?

These are the coolest daughters a mother could have.

They are so very different, but then so much alike. They are almost polar opposites when it comes to their wardrobes; their parenting styles are great, yet they do things entirely different from each other. (I think that they have both learned things from each other in this area.) Andrea has done things in her life the conventional way where Amanda is unconventional - neither of which is right or wrong.

As much as they are different, they are alike. They both love Christ. They both are very passionate women - especially when it comes to their children and partners. Compassionate could be their middle names, and you can always get a large cup of kindness from either one of them. They are both incredibly artistic in their own ways, and their creativity continues to amaze me.

These two young women are a blessing to me. Through tough times they have been admonishing; hard times - supportive; sad times - a comfort; happy times - equally joyous....I could go on, but I think you get the point.

To say that I am proud of them is an understatement. As a mother you always wonder what your children will be like when they are older. I must say, I am not the least bit disappointed in how fine these girls have turned out as adults.

Andrea and Amanda, although I will always be your mother, I am so very blessed to be able to call you my friends.

I love you both!
MOM

What are you grateful for today?