Just Moved

Well, I have a new blog site--it's one that you get to register so I know who's reading my info. Here's the link: http://www.beth.breinholts.com Sometimes it scares me off when I have to register for something, but it's really nice and friendly. Just sign in and do your password, and the first time you do, it will shoot off an email to me, and I will say, "Sure, you can read it," unless I don't know you are. Then you get an invitation and you are in! See you soon.

It's all about ready

Okay, we are working on this huge music/dance/bells pageant for Christmas, and last night all the pieces were put together for the first time. Wow!! the energy was sky high. Our guest stars were there, and all the bell ringers and the dancers and orchestra and it was very gratifying to hear the music all put together. Our director makes killer arrangements of stuff, I don't know how he does it. I have such a small part in the whole thing, but it's incredible how it comes together. One thing that I do to contribute (besides sing) is appreciate, admire and enjoy the event. Wally is driving the stars back and forth from the hotel/venue/airport and where ever they need to be. I understand that the people who agree to do the show with us, do it with very little compensation. It's mostly a gift on their part, and what a gift it is.
I feel sad for my sister Joy. She broke her leg last week in Idaho, and Saturday she had surgery. Brenda brought her home from the hospital yesterday, and hopefully she will make it through the next few weeks without incident. She and Jim were planning a trip to Florida to see Nate for Christmas and now that's been canceled.
Speaking of trips, Wally and i are going to NYC again next week for a few days. I have never seen the place all decorated up for Christmas, and it will be fun. The reason we are going is for family, of course. Wally hasn't seen Piper for a long time and will he ever be surprised!
I have been out of commission with my computer for a while because of a nasty little surprise via facebook. All is back in order now, but I am so wary about any emails that come my way, even from people I know--that's how my awful little spybot "virus" was delivered. Anyway, my answer was to leave facebook. I found out that you never really leave it, you can't get your info off of it, you just disable your account. Nice. I went in and changed stuff first. It kind of creeps me that they have my info, ready to roll if I say so, or if someone chooses to hack. I will miss visiting with some of my friends that way, also my cute and adorable neices and nephews. Okay, i know they are grown up but they are still what i said--cute and adorable.
That brings me to my next subject. I am preparing to make this a private blog. Anyone who likes to check on it occasionally, let me know, and i will invite you to read it. As of January 2009, I will close it to the public. Call me paranoid, call me overcautious, call me whatever you want, it's probably true.

New Addiction

Okay, i just have to blog about this--Sushi. Last time I was in NYC, my kids ordered in sushi, and I thought, okay, I will try it, it's food, right? It was so good! Not to be confused with sushimi, which has raw fish. Anyway, there were several different kinds, and I just went down on it. We had avocado rolls, sweet potato rolls, cucumber rolls, etc. I was kind of worried about the taste of seaweed, but as I discovered, seaweed in sushi has no taste. One type we got was spinach sushi, and it was our least favorite--too "chewy", kind of what I thought the seaweed would taste like. Anyway, I am hooked. I came back home thinking about when i would have some next, and wondering where I would even find some. I was talking to my hairdresser and she told me this great place to get it, so i went there and she was right. it was good, but it was kind of expensive and it was downtown, which wasn't that practical for me. Anyway, i was at the grocery store a few days later and what do you know? They just added sushi to their deli! So i have been hogging it down, almost everytime I go there I pick up a little tray of it, 12 piece spicy Califormia rolls. I still don't like wasabi on it, but the piece that sits next to the wasabi on the tray tastes a little extra spicy and it's good. So let's hear it for Sushi! Especially the day before Thanksgiving, Ha ha.

Halfway or thereabouts

November is speeding by! Wally went to San Diego under the guise of watching a game, but it was really to check up on and visit Pete and Kristin. I spent the weekend finishing up a quilt top project I have been working on for several months, sporadically of course. It's a grandmother's flower garden, a very complex and labor intensive piece of little hexagons that must be hand-stitched together. The blocks were rescued from a grab bag, and then i put them together, creating a "path" between the flower blocks. Last night I put a border on the whole thing and now it's ready for a back and batting. If I wasn't feeling so lazy, I would take a picture and post it but i just thought I would post. Actually I am in the middle of retraining my speech recognition program on my computer and there are these long delays so I am doing other stuff in between the dictation. LIke just now I downloaded all the pics off my camera, because it was sitting here by me at the computer. I found one of Maya's visit. She was using a little iron I have, just her size, that really works. Last night i was talking to her mom on the phone and she said, "you are busted. Maya told us you let her iron." I know she's little but she's very smart, and can do stuff like that. So since the secret's out i will post her pic. I know this is a boring blog but the picture is really cute.

Patient Patient

Last weekend I took Laura to the hospital where she underwent a 24 hour EEG. I wasn't sure how it was going to work out. I knew it was a long arduous process and way out of her comfort zone, but we just jumped in and did our best. When we got there, the techs told us what would happen, etc. to put our minds at ease. Laura kept up her famous line, "But i don't have to have a shot, right?" The answer was always no, no way. She eventually came up with an important concept in hospitalization: "But i don't have to have an IV either, huh." The answer to that was less than definitive. "Uh, that's something that the nurses decide on the floor." Oh man. High Anxiety on the spot. "Mom! why do they say that?" I was determined to get through this event without having her strapped on any giant papoose boards, so I said, "Oh, that's probably for people who won't cooperate and let them put all the electrodes on their heads, so they put sleepy medicine in the IV bag." She said, "That won't happen to me, because i am going to cooperate!!"
In about a 2 hour process, the tech guy marked Laura's head into 24 quadrants with a grease pencil, scrubbed the point of contact on each mark on her scalp with a special soap, squeezed contact goo on the spot, placed the electrode, covered it with a patch of white gauze, saturated it with a stinky glue, and then dried it point blank with an air hose. For anyone that knows Laura, does this sound like something she would like? Well, she did the whole thing with incredible self control and patience. It helped that the tech was very cute with her, like coming up with the suggestion that he could call her boyfriend to come and check out her new "do", etc. It also helped that he was from Preston, Idaho, and had some experience with horses, appreciated her knee high cowgirl boots, etc. Anyway, when she was all glued and wired, he bandaged her head up, creating a ponytail of wires coming out the top and taped the whole thing together. We went to her room and she had to hang out in a hospital bed for the next night and part of the day. Luckily there was cable TV to watch, but i think I've seen enough of Hannah Montana and the Suite Life of Zach and Cody to last me for quite a while. I guess the whole thing wasn't quite enough for me, and I decided to develop the flu during the night, and by the time we went home the next day around noon, I had chills and fever and aches so bad I could hardly drive. I tried to call Wally but could not reach him. I called Brenda, but she was already committed for the day, however, she listened to my lament and figured out that Wally was probably flying. She was right. Anyway, a salute to Laura, for rising to a new level of courage and enduring yet another trial in her long history of docs and hospitals.

Unexpected Gift

Last Friday night Kelton was here, or should I say Samurai Jack? He was so cute about Halloween. He was not even that interested in the candy, just loving the costume and the day's events, etc. He is a sweet boy.
I have to say that there are serendipitous moments in life that come when we least expect them. Today around 3:00 we are going to pick up Maya from the airport. How can that be? That's what i say. Her mother is going to New Orleans to a work convention thing, and she has a layover in OUR CITY! so she's bringing Maya and we are intercepting her and keeping her until Friday. So here we go! Another grandchild to brighten our home. Sophie almost got to come to, but she's grounded from traveling ever since the trip to Virginia and NY.
So tonight Mimi is coming with John and Kelton, Laurie is coming with Mason, (here visiting for the extended weekend) , of course Brenda and Eryn, and we are having Maya, too. What a great FHE!

Award Nomination

I would like to nominate Reagan and Jake Breinholt for hostess/host of the year 2008. For the past 5 weekends they have entertained company in their apartment there in NYC, and done a fabulous job. One of the top draws there is the quick trip to Westchester to see the fabulous and incredible Piper. She is doing so well, it's amazing. I think she's soaking in all the love and attention from her parents and others who visit her and take care of her. Plus she's just a little bit plucky! (Okay, a lot plucky!) She is drawing from wells of courage and determination and is doing whatever her little body allows her to do. Whenever her parents walk into the room, she whips her head around, makes eye contact, and starts her little voice noises to give the report of what's been happening in her life. She loves being read to, and hates to have her nose wiped. She allows us all to try hats or socks on her or change her outfits, but she is very quick to grab the intrusive hand and quickly pulls it front and center to examine it and try to see we are doing to her. The hardest part about the visit is leaving, which is sad, wondering when we will be there next.
The other part of the visit was to see a Vincent Van Gogh exhibit at the MOMA there in NYC. (In the above picture you will see Piper reminding us to go see Starry Starry Night) Mimi was able to cross something off her "things to do before i die" list after our visit and admiration of Starry Night in person. The exhibit had about 40+ pics by Van Gogh and it was really awesome. I loved it. The Potato Eaters was featured, too.We saw someother displays there, too, including a few Andy Warhol pieces--his famous Marilyn Monroe and also the soup cans. Another exhibit was very awful (artist? unknown)--it was a room full of murdered stuffed animals, or so it appeared, all their stuffing was spread across the floor and mirrors were propped up throughout the carnage. I started getting anxiety and left. It could have been dryer lint, I don't know.
But if you ever need a traveling partner, choose Mimi. She is easy going but knows how to make a decision, has great ideas, and doesn't complain about sleeping with someone who snores intermittently. But watch out for her quick fingers on the airplane--she will create a music playlist for you that you may or may not like before you even find your glasses to read the screen!