The eve of

my great adventure. I leave in the morning for Salt Lake City. I'm very antsy. I've been postponing several things, but can't postpone some of them any longer. Like pre-registering at St. Mark's Hospital. I don't know who, if any one, reads my blog, but I've set up a private page on Facebook for Don to post updates. The insurance company authorized a 3-day stay. The letter said 5/27 which is Sunday.

Don't sweat the small stuff

I have spent a lot of time on Facebook since I've been over here at Mother's. Too much.

Amber Esplin posted this as her status update today, Dec. 21, on Facebook:

Ugh, why do I let it bother me?! ("Why should I give way ... [that it] destroy my peace and afflict my soul?" [2 Nephi 4:27; it all applies.]}

I have no clue what is bothering her, but her status update spoke to my soul. Yes, why do I let "it" bother me? "It" changes daily. But until I read Amber's update I didn't realize I was letting "it" bother me. Yet, I worry about anything & everything. I can remember what I was worrying about a year ago, they are the same things I am worrying about this year - Mother's health, Christmas, finances, the house ...

The scripture reference she used is so appropriate.

It's a small world after all

Today, Dec. 18, is my Grandpa Porter's birthday. He was born in 1893, so that would make him 117. Also, one of my former Cub Scouts came home from his mission to Chile. A cousin's son came home from his mission to Africa last night or in the early hours of the morning. I've been telling Don about these 2 elders coming home & watching Facebook to see if I could catch updates from their mothers, both on my Friend list. Well, tonight I had a notice from Facebook that Kendall Coburn (Syracuse, Utah) & Sean Griffeth (Preston, Idaho) had both friended Micheal Porter. What a small world. I noticed both elders were on Facebook & decided they'd both been released.

I wrote a Christmas letter for Mother to include in her Christmas cards. I'm not too happy with the watermark; I think I'll try something else. In order to compose a letter, I had to refresh my memory as to what happened this year, so I read back over her CaringBridge blog & back over this blog. In June one of the entries on Mother's blog said I'd had 3 crises that day, but since only one concerned Mother it was the only one I was going to address. Ohhhh-Kayyyy! I've looked & looked & can't find what the other 2 were. I thought I'd have at least put them here.

What I took to Facebook

On Facebook there is an application where you can take your statuses & make a collage. We've been getting Christmas letters & I thought a Facebook collage would be pretty cool to see what I "took" to Facebook this year. Besides, it might give me an idea for a Christmas letter. So, here is My life according to Facebook, 2010.

 

Edited to downsize the image.

Day 21

On Facebook today I've read where people are thankful for the snow. I am grateful our water storage is being replenished. I do like water, just not dished up as snow.

Attitude of Gratitude

Several years ago I did a month of posts on a Yahoo! scrapbook group I was trying to keep alive. So, November came around & I decided to do it on Facebook & do a daily blog entry here. I am surprised at the number of people on Facebook that are now doing it.

Day 6:

I am grateful for the freedom of worshiping in the church of my choice. I had 8 likes & a comment.

I've been listening to a CD titled, Joseph, A Nashville Tribute to the Prophet by various artists. It has wonderful narration, songs & instrumentals.

One of the songs is about a man who hears his name called across the waters. He meets missionaries & is converted. He leaves Ireland & when he gets to Ellis Island, he kisses the ground. He asks the man how to get to Kirtland & the man tells him the money is in the Virginia mines. He says there is a man building a temple to his god. He gets to Kirtland & meets Brother Joseph. Then the song end with the young man building a temple to "my" god.

Day 7:
Today for Day 7, I simply put, "I am grateful for Jesus Christ." I have only had 2 likes & no comments. I read down through older posts & read Vickie Jarvis's post for yesterday:

I believe in Christ, He is my King. I believe in Christ, my Lord, my God. I'll worship Him with all my might, He is the source of truth and light. I believe in Christ, so come what may, with Him I'll stand at that great day. And I shall live in joy and love in His eternal realms above.

And I'm thinking, "Wow! I should have put that instead of what I did." Then 4 hours after I posted my simple statement, Leila Cordingley posted this:

I believe in Jesus Christ. One of my Facebook friends challenged all believers to put this on their wall. In the Bible it says, if you deny me in front of your peers, I will deny you in front of my Father, at the Gates of Heaven. This is a simple test. If you love God and you are ... not afraid to show it, repost this!!

Today as I came back from the church after copying the monthly bulletin I had several thoughts of why I am grateful for Heavenly Father & his Son Jesus Christ. I almost put that this morning. In fact, I almost paraphrased the 1st Article of Faith,

I am grateful for God the Eternal Father & for his Son Jesus Christ & for the Holy Ghost.

but I have lots of Facebook friends who are not LDS & I do not want them to feel like I am pushing my religion on them. I try to make Christ the center of my universe & not worship "false" gods, but as the 11th  Article of Faith says:

11. We claim the privilege of worshiping Almighty God according to the dictates of our own conscience, and allow all men the same privilege, let them worship how, where, or what they may.

Foreclosure

Thursday, Sept. 2, was just like any other Friday at work, even though it was Thursday. It was preparation day for the long Labor Day Weekend. I had a couple of legals on email. Vicki (Atkinson, job share partner) had left the legals for me. I did all the normal stuff, printed out the instructions, saved the document, translated the document to be read by our MAC word processor, printed it out & prepared to take it out to the front desk for a number. I scanned down through the document to find out who was being foreclosed on & there, in UPPER CASE, our names jumped out at me: DON RAY BARTLOME AND RANAE MONSON BARTLOME, HUSBAND AND WIFE. I don't usually find the names so fast.

Here is what I put on Facebook as my status

I'm worried. It's kinda hard when you open a foreclosure notice on your email at work for the legal notices, you scan down through all the legal jargon to find out the name to put on the form & your own name jumps out at you! Kind of a kick in the gut. The lump is still there.

I put "kind of a kick in the gut." If you ask me, it was more like I'd been bitch-slapped. And the lump is still there, every time I think about it or see the paper work. I saw it at work before I ever saw it in the mail. Then we got EIGHT envelopes in the mail on Friday. I got 3, Don got 4 & Mother got one. Then, on our way out of the house Saturday morning to run errands, I stuck my hand in the mailbox & there were 2 certified mail slips to take to the post office & pick up some certified mail. The post office is open for 2 hours on Saturday, so I just took the slips to the post office & retrieved EIGHT more envelopes, 3 for me, 4 for Don & one for Mother. I opened them all on Sunday at the library.

Nick & I came home on Tuesday to find the offensive paper taped to the front door. A deputy sheriff brought it by. I thought they had to have a signature. Oh, well, they didn't wait for one. I now have it taped on the back of the door.

I did call the mortgage company & finally was able to talk to a real person. I've been getting more phone calls, but no messages. It is so hard to talk to someone, I had the thought this morning to write a letter & fax it, just like we did the 9 pages explaining why we were in arrears in the first place.

I still haven't told Mother, but know I need to before Tuesday, Sept. 14. That's when it will hit the newspaper. I wish I had some ideas.

Even more quotes

On my Facebook page I have the following quote:

"I am just glad that God is still in control no matter who is in the White House."

Not sure where I got it now, but see what Elder Neal A. Maxwell has to say:

"In a world filled with much laboring and striving in parliaments, congresses, agencies, and corporate offices, God's extraordinary work is most often done by ordinary people in the seeming obscurity of a home and family."

--Neal A. Maxwell (That My Family Should Partake [1974], 122
- available in The Collected Works of Neal A. Maxwell).

I saved this to see if I could find where I had posted about "politics" before, but I can't see where I have. I am tired of everyone making comments about President Barack Obama (by the way, Don-Mike & Don informed me I have been mispronouncing Pres. Obama's first name). I know I have made comments about the 12th Article of Faith - somewhere.

We believe in being subject to kings, presidents, rulers, and magistrates, in obeying, honoring, and sustaining the law.

In my talk in Sacrament meeting, I said that not only were we supposed to obey the Ten Commandments, but as members of the Church, we need to also obey the Articles of Faith. The President Reid Carlson, stake president, was there. He didn't get up & correct me, nor did he or the bishop chide me for teaching false doctrine after the meeting.

Then, another quote on obedience. I like this.

"As children of God we are somebody. He will build us, mold us, and magnify us if we will but hold our heads up, our arms out, and walk with him."

--Marvin J. Ashton, "In His Strength," Ensign, July 1973, 24

I remember meeting Elder Ashton when he came to a stake conference, must have been 40 years ago. It was Preston 1st Ward's turn to hold junior Sunday School during stake conference. As a Sunday School teacher, I was in Sunday School that morning. Elder Ashton made a point to come to the children's meeting & talk to them. He spoke to each of the adults & shook our hands. In fact, I'm sure he shook each child's hand. The general session of stake conference started without him.

Anthropologist

I feel like an anthropologist trying to uncover a lost temple.

Annette, on FlyLady's Facebook thread, "Flight Plan for Wednesday, July 21, 2010." She was talking about her bedroom. I'm talking about my house.

Disappointing response to article

Well, at this rate, there is no earthly way any one of our Franklin County charities is going to make it into the top 200. What is so hard about voting?? People can play Farmville & all the other games, yet they can't take a few minutes to figure out how to vote on Chase Community Giving.

We had 12 votes on the Oneida Stake Academy when the paper hit the news stand. We now have 27!!! Only 27 measly votes. West Side School District has 6, 4 when we started. I am so disappointed.

Necia Seamons called me a cheerleader on a discussion of the Oneida Stake Academy's Facebook page. I'm jumping around making a fool of myself & no one gets motivated.

What 7 charities?

Ok, I should have previewed before I clicked "Publish Post." What 7 charities do I endorse? All but the NCVTG, of course, the Wyatt Foundation, United States Bowling Congress and whatever the Habitit is. Yes, it is actually entered as Habitit. Vicki wouldn't let me leave it misspelled in the paper, LOL.

Facebook article in newspaper

I am a published author. Ok, I've been a published author for several years now. Does having articles published in your local newspaper count as being a published author? I doubt it, but this is my FIRST front page article. It will be published in the Wednesday, June 23, edition. Comments in blue are notes from me & will not appear in the paper, LOL

Facebook users can vote for county charities (I think that's the title of it.)

By RaNAE BARTLOME
Citizen copy editor (Rod wasn't going to give me a byline credit, but I didn't want Tom, who writes as CITIZEN STAFF, to get credit for MY story.)

The power of giving is in your hands at Chase Community Giving on Facebook. A few months ago Chase gave away $5 million dollars to 200 charities. They are back to give away another $5 million. We can help decide which 200 charities receive donations.

Eleven Franklin County charities, and many others throughout Cache Valley, are entered in this go round. These charities are the Oneida Stake Academy, Franklin County Healthcare Foundation, Preston Community Food Pantry, West Side School District, Preston Education Foundation, Franklin County Theatre Arts Council (FCTAC), Franklin County Senior Center, Wyatt Foundation, United States Bowling Council, Idaho Sportsman for Habitat and Northern Cache Valley Theater Guild (NCVTG). (Don't vote for NCVTG. It is no longer a valid charity. They changed their name 6-7 years ago! It is now FCTAC.)

All we have to do is vote for them. However, there are over 7,000 charities entered. As of Monday, the top vote getter had over 1,000 votes, the lowest of the top 200 only had 61. If Big J’s (a local fast food restaurant) can get over 1,000 (Facebook) fans in just 2 weeks, the potential is there for one or more of our charities to make it into the top 200. If a charity just makes it into the top 200, they will receive $20K. How easy is that? You don’t even have to remember to go to the library or the Robinson Building (local community center) to vote (and spend 5 minutes arguing with the election person that your last name really doesn't have an "h" in it. After all you know how to spell your last name better than she does). All you have to do is log into your Facebook account and vote from there.

Here’s how to get started. Log into your Facebook account, type in Chase Community Giving in the search bar at the top of the page, above your name. That takes you to the home page of Chase Community Giving. Halfway down the page it says, “Voting Open Now.” Click the “Like” button and you are in. There is a button that says “Search & Vote.” Click the button and enter 83263. Franklin County charities are on the first three pages. Each participant has 20 votes.

Chase will close the initial voting on July 12.

Another round of voting will begin in which the top 200 vote getters from the current round of voting competes. The top charity receives $250,000, four will receive $100,000 and 195 others receive $20,000!

I blogged about Chase Community Giving a few months ago here and here.

I would really like to see these 7 charities up there in the top 200 charities. Right now there are only 9 votes for the Oneida Stake Academy & 3 or 4 for the other 7. NCVTG has 2 votes, mine & Don's. That was before we found out that NCVTG was no more. Three of the charities have no votes because I voted for 5-6 SMA charities.

The visitors

I love Facebook. Because of it I can connect with friends all over the U.S. When I was just a toddler, the Walborns moved to Preston from Ohio. So, their friendship spans almost 60 years. When their kids, Sylvia & Charles were in high school, they moved to Logan.

Their daughter Sylvia died a few years ago, 4 or 5 at least, & my sister Wanda died almost 40 years ago. But I connected with their son Charles on Facebook. Charlie lives in Georgia. I found out, through Facebook, that he was spending the summer with his folks, who are both in their mid-late 80s. I wanted to take Mother down to see them, but Charlie brought his folks up to see Mother today.

We went to Big J's for lunch. Is there anywhere else in Preston to go?

Charles and his folks, Bob & Loretta, with my mom. Mother ordered a fruit pizza from Pizza Villa. The rest of us had almost finished eating before Mother even got her pizza.

Look how all three of them are wearing red. Loretta has to have oxygen all the time. She is on 5 liters. Mother is only on 2.5 liters, but I think this is the first time Mother has worn her oxygen in public in Preston. But, hey, she was in good company.

I invited the boys to come up & have lunch with us. Don-Mike had the day off. They are in the booth behind me. I didn't get pictures of them. I should have.

After Walborns left, I took the opportunity to make a couple of calls I needed to & while I was on hold, Mother's sister Onda & her husband Keith walked in. They had been up to see Dorin. Luana walked across the driveway & so the 3 sisters got a chance to visit.

After Keith & Onda left, I was going to work on my DUP, but I was so tired, I laid down "just for a minute." I never felt like I ever fell asleep, but I didn't "wake" up til almost 8. I was one tired old lady.

Gwendolyn Strong Foundation placed

OMG, I didn't realize that I hadn't reported on how the Gwendolyn Strong Foundation placed in the Community Giving campaign on Facebook. I did on the Bipolar Kids message board on Jan. 25:

OK, we've been following this for the past 10 days. Today, I checked out the leaderboard on Chase Giving again.

We have some excellent news!! although none of our favorite charities won the $1 million dollars, Gwendolyn Strong Foundation did win $100k!! Numbers 7 through 100 won $25k! So, that means Ehlers-Danlos, National Autism Assoc., Pancreatic Cancer!! The Chase Community Advisory Board picked another 17 charities to win even more dollars. Six more charities won $100k and 11 more won $37k.

So, my dear friends, thank you for putting up with my crusading, thank you even more for participating in the voting.

I came over to Blogspot to check on Jonah, Gwendolyn, & the other blogs I follow. This is a nightly routine. Just before I go to bed, I check the blogs. Tonight I found a comment from Kristen, a lady who lost a baby to SMA, on my blog. I answered her & then went to check her blog to see what I had said. I read more of her entries, found another blog from her blog about a family losing twins, a boy named Nicholas, & a girl, Olivia. I had to check that blog too.

I heard the clock chime, & I, thinking it was 1 a.m., checked the computer clock. It was 2!!!!!!!!! It couldn't be, I just started this journey. I bookmarked Georgia's Journey, & now it's almost 2:30 & I have to work tomorrow & I should've been in bed hours ago!!

Kristen posted this on her blog about the Facebook Chase Community Giving & SMA being in 6th place:

I know that some of you are probably annoyed but think about it this way. Autism has Jim Carey and Jenny McCarthy. They have books, millions of dollars of research, treatment and 'cures'. Their victims are out in the community getting noticed. Our children remain silent for the most part. We have no celebrities and no treatments. All that we are left with is manpower and hope.

So, I answered: 

Autism has Jim Carey and Jenny McCarthy. They have books, millions of dollars of research, treatment and 'cures'. Their victims are out in the community getting noticed. Our children remain silent for the most part.

This is said so much better than I could ever have said it. Which is exactly why I DID NOT vote for autism awareness, even though my 22-yo son has Asperger's. I did not want to jeopardize the Gwendolyn Strong Foundation.

I am saddened to read about your sweet Georgia.

No, I didn't vote for autism awareness. I did not want to jeopardize the Gwendolyn Strong Foundation. These babies are DYING!! Besides, the research for SMA will benefit other diseases such as Parkinson's which is what my father had. And ALS/Lou Gehrig's disease which is what Bob Marshall, a former owner of The Citizen, died of. These diseases are cruel. Polio was eradicated, why can't these diseases be eradicated?

Now, it's 2:52 & I'm not very coherent. I hope this post makes sense.

Vote for Gwendolyn Strong Foundation

Chase Community Giving is donating $5,000,000 to charities around the USA. Facebook users are voting for the recipients! Round 2 of the voting is open. Please vote for Spinal Muscular Atrophy or SMA. Number 1 genetic killer of children under the age of 2. This research will help Parkinson's, ALS/Lou Gehrig's disease, spinal cord injury & many others.

Right now we are in #4 position out of 100. Bill, Gwendolyn's father, posted this on their blog: 

One thing is for certain -- $1 Million means more to SMA than to any other cause. SMA is vastly underfunded yet research is on the verge of changing science FOREVER and $1 Million WILL make a difference. SMA parents fundraise relentlessly under unfathomably challenging circumstances, but we simply can't whip up $1 Million on a whim. But, we can NOW!

If you are a Facebook member, please take this opportunity to vote for SMA. There is a button in the sidebar here on my blog that you can click to take you right to the page, once you have logged into Facebook.

I have been following the Gwendolyn Strong blog for several months. Most children don't make it to their 2nd birthday. Gwendolyn turned 2 in October. She has already beat those odds. 

Every second of every day we operate on a ridiculously high level of anxiety, alertness, awareness, and readiness -- even when Gwendolyn is perfectly healthy. We have to, as she can literally plug and stop breathing, as she has several times over the last few weeks and countless times over the last two years, at any second with zero warning, no signs, and no way to tell us (we literally have to be watching her 24/7). And when we see even the slightest signs of change in anything, and I mean absolutely anything, it sends us into a new stress galaxy altogether.

Posted by Bill, Sept. 12, 2009

On another note, I finished "A" is for Alibi. If you are following my blog & all of a sudden the entry with all the tickers for my reading challenge for 2010 comes up, it's because I couldn't remember the password for the Alphabetically by Title ticker, argh, so I had to make a new one & repost it.

My next book is a biography about Jessica Lynch, the young soldier who was held prisoner in 2003, I Am a Soldier Too.

What should I do for Lent?

Last year is the first year I observed Lent. I tried getting to bed by 11:30 every night. I went back & read last year's post & I knew at the beginning it would not work. I valiantly tried & it was a long six weeks.

A friend & I were talking about Mardi Gras. I wanted to know when it was this year because Easter is early this year. She didn't realize that Mardi Gras was linked to Lent.

Lent is a forty-day period before Easter. It begins on Ash Wednesday. We skip Sundays when we count the forty days, because Sundays commemorate the Resurrection. Ash Wednesday is Feb. 17 this year.

Mardi Gras has to end on Fat Tuesday, the day before Ash Wednesday. This was decided during the Nicene Council held in 325 AD. I took the following from a web site on Mardi Gras

These festivals - some of which can only be described as drunken orgies - existed across most lands that were being overtaken by the Christian Church, and like many other holidays and rites, the Church sought a balance between the old and new. Understanding that the party was not going to stop, the church placed limits on it, decreeing that it could not start until the finish of the Christmas holidays and had to end on the day before Ash Wednesday.

The finish of the Christmas season is the end of the 12 days of Christmas or Epiphany on Jan. 6. Mardi Gras in New Orleans is generally the last 5 day weekend before Ash Wednesday.

I've been thinking about things I could do for Lent again this year. I debated about posting a question on Facebook, thinking, what are my LDS friends going to think when I'm asking for ideas on Lent. I decided I didn't care, so I posted this:

Any ideas on what to give up for Lent?

There are 16 comments. Among those things suggested is worry, stress, doing dishes and laundry, TV, mountain climbing, exercise, money, computer games. One person suggested giving up bread or soda. She has given up both for a diet she is on. Someone else said, "I say give up soda."

A friend in Australia said:

lol... I usually give up alcohol but I've already given it up (trying to be healthy - I'm on Day 9 :) So don't know what I'll give up . You can always not "give up" anything as such but give money or time to a cause .

 There it is again, you don't have to give up anything. I had forgotten that little fact.

A friend in New York State said:

I once gave up tv...that was tough!

This same friend commented:

I like the idea of doing something, instead of giving something up. It's all about sacrifice, so if you are doing something that you don't normally do, that is kind of a sacrifice. Sacrifice the time you would have spent doing something else that you normally do to do something new - to benefit someone else, or to pray more, etc.

There was a fun little discussion that went like this:

• Jenny: my occasions of near sin? so I am leaving my family and going to a cloistered convent for 40 days. Oh wait, that probably is not a sacrifice.
• Kathy: Jenny can I go with you?
• Star: Oh Oh me too can I come?
• Jenny: LOL, yes
• RaNae: Add me to the cloistered convent gig, LOL.

To which I replied:

Love the ideas. Add me to the cloistered convent gig, LOL. I can't give up TV, I don't watch TV. Last year I tried to give up late nights, but that sucked. I couldn't do it, LOL. Stress & worry are great ideas, but don't know how to do that. My eyelid twitched for like 2 weeks solid, now I'm back to the migraines.

Mountain climbing, dishes, laundry, I can't give up something I don't do, LOL. I'll keep thinking. Keep sending ideas :)

After Monica's & Kathy's comments, especially Kathy's, I started thinking more about positives. I thought about listing things I'm grateful for. I thought about prayer. Kathy said to pray more. Prayer is something I do several times a day. The other night we were having a major meltdown. I just sat here very quietly. I was doing my usual praying. Sometimes I wonder if it is even prayer, it's incomprehensible. Nick was looming over me & I said, "I'm not ignoring you. I'm praying."


I thought of another friend that reads her scriptures every night before she goes to bed. I've sat in hotel rooms, me on the computer, she reading her scriptures. I know I'm lax in reading my scriptures. I went for months not even knowing where my scriptures were.

I've decided. I will read the scriptures daily. In fact, while I was still thinking about it, I went in to the scripture sight & changed my reading assignment. And started today. I know, I know! I'm a month early. But hey, this is supposed to be a lifetime habit is it not? I used to read my scriptures all the time, so I'll just get a head start on it.

Tuesday, Dec. 1

We made it home last night about 8 p.m. A day later than we planned. We spent a day longer at Disneyland than we had planned, but we're home! Mother did not come home in a coffin!! Woo hoo!! She's awfully tired, but you can't keep her down.

She almost had all of their laundry, hers & Don-Mike's, done & stuff put away when I got to her place this afternoon about 2:30. I, on the other hand, unpacked a suitcase. Before we could wash anything we had to get a bag of laundry soap.

I've caught up on Jonah, Sheila, Angela & Gwendolyn. It didn't look like anyone else had posted on their blogs in the last week. I also caught up on Facebook, but that wasn't horrendous, as I've been doing that sporadically this week.

I took my laptop with us, but the internet was always SOOOOOO slow. The only thing I could access was Facebook, so I was glad to check on that every day. Sunday night Nick & Don hogged the laptop. I was too tired & upset to fight for any time. I read.

Faux pas

Oops, I made a faux pas (foe paw) in The Citizen this week.

Faux (pronounced /ˈfoʊ/, like "foe") is a French word for false or fake. It is often used in English phrases such as faux pearls, and faux news.
~ Wikipedia

I posted this on Facebook last night:

Ok Preston residents, tell me what glaring mistake you find in The Preston Citizen tomorrow when it comes in the mail. I was SOOOOO embarrassed. I didn't catch it until I was archiving.

To which Pat Hansen replied:

They probably won't even notice ya think? That obvious? I'd proably miss you.

Kristy Nelson replied:

Well, now I'm going to have to read it all over again.

Janelle Bartlomé asked:

Is it Jay Leno worthy? If so you could be famous. One time the company I worked for (American Stores- private label department) made a label for Parmesan Cheeese. The first person to catch it was the person putting the cheese into the canister.

To which I replied:

No, Janelle, it isn't Leno worthy, but our front page was in September. It was SOOOOOO good. I hope someone did send that one to Leno. The front page top story was that H1N1 had hit Franklin County. Second story was the hospital is soo old that you can't get proper care there. Third story was that the Preston Cemetery is now full & the land owners around the cemetery won't sell. So, you get sick, you can't get health care & when you die, you can't be buried in the cemetery because they are out of room, LOL.

Kristy, it's like Reiman publications where they hide a needle or a carrot, only this is much more blatant. It went through the other copy editor, BOTH editors (& the pages were laying side by side when they saw them) & through the photo editor.

Rod consoled me that no one would even notice when I went flying into his office with the pages. He didn't notice it even then. I had to point it out & read it to him, LOL

Kristy answered:

Now I'm really gonna have to look again!

 To which I replied:

Pat that last paragraph was in answer to your post. Kristy, here's a hint, it's a jump.

Denise Ericksen commented:

RaNae, you make me laugh!!!! And that is a good thing.

I didn't reply to Denise. What could I say??

But Pat replied to my reference to the Sept. 23rd issue's  front page with:

This really is one of the funniest things I've heard, oh my!! It went through the editors etc.. lol---how ironic though. H1N1-death and no place to be buried? I have a gallows sense of humor (blame nursing)...

I replied:

Me too, Pat. The only thing I can say in my own defense is that I was having gall bladder surgery that day.

The kicker this week is: "Mr. PHS crowned at Saturday's faux pageant." I told the editors to read the kicker carefully. I wanted their opinion.

One of them said, "fox pageant?" You spelled fox wrong. I said it's pronouced "foe" and means fake. His answer? "Sure, leave it."

High school senior boys do a spoof on a beauty pageant & are judged in talent, poise & 3 other things.

The original mistake was in the Recipe Corner. Jean Carter had taken FOUR recipes from an online site that supplies newspapers with filler articles. She has had a really hard time getting "real" people to interview & share their recipes. It's really a shame, because that is one of my favorite columns in the whole paper. We usually only have 3 recipes. There is really only room for 3 recipes on the social page, page 5, so I was going to have to jump a recipe.

There was one recipe that was going to be a real bugger to set & I saved it for page 7. I knew I could spread that baby out if I had to on that page. I worked really hard on it, too. Not as hard as I thought I would have to, for which I thanked the Lord fervently. Tuesday mornings are real adrenalin rushes. Some are more so than others.

We made it just a few minutes past our deadline & I took a few minutes to unwind. I started cleaning up the work for this week, getting ready for next week. Filing proof pages & paper copy, moving documents & photos from the working folder into a file to be archived on CD, emptying the email inbox & trash.

This week I needed to do tear sheets for FamilyFeatures, the online site that we had used the recipes from. I printed out those 2 pages & there it was, as big as life!!! Two separate recipes for Mexi-Meatball Kabobs. It was too late to do anything. The paper was on the press clear across town in a totally different facility. But, as Rod said, no one's gonna notice. And I really don't think anyone will. They are on 2 separate pages.

Happy Halloween

I think it's been over a year since I started blogging. It was a year ago today that Lynette brought Mufasa up to stay for a "little while." I'm thankful that Kents are taking care of him. I fell almost every day last winter going down to feed him. Shari's dad made him a nice cinderblock dog house. We all feel sorry that he can't get out & run, but ... he is uncontrollable & will run out into the highway.

On another note, even though I have cut down drastically on forwards, I find that I am still insufferable in inviting people to join causes & sending stuff on Facebook. "I just can't join everything you send." Well, I don't try to join everything everybody sends me, nor do I open every forward. I delete them or block them. I don't tell the person or people either, although there are a few times I have felt like saying something. President Peel told me as a missionary that I needed to have a gracious heart. And I have tried for many years to follow that advice. If asked directly, I will say something like, "I didn't open that." or "I blocked that." or "I didn't see that."

No man is an island, entire of itself; every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main. If a clod be washed away by the sea, Europe is the less, as well as if a promontory were, as well as if a manor of they friends or of thine own were: any man's death diminishes me, because I am involved in mankind, and therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls; it tolls for thee.

~ John Donne

Donne puts forth the idea that people are not isolated from one another. Nice thought & beautiful words. I certainly feel like an island. I feel like a pariah, isolated - always doing something wrong.

In one of Arlene Eakle's classes at the Family History Expo retreat that I got to attend this week, she talked about how some people only will associate with people of their own religion, family or neighborhood. She was talking about censuses. She said people are not alone. Ha!!!

"So, don't send me any forwards, don't send me anything you think I might be interested in because I'm not interested in anything except what I am interested in." is the message I feel I have been given.

Well, because I played hooky from work this week, I have to pay the piper & work tomorrow. I hope there's not a lot of work to do & that it doesn't take forever. I took Mother to the doctor on Friday, Oct. 16, & worked Saturday & Sunday. I worked SIX hours that Sunday, Oct. 18, until 10:30 p.m. So, I need to go to bed.

Another Monday

Thursday, I had a garden party!! A first for me. I can't believe how far out of my comfort zone I ventured that time. It was a Pampered Chef party. I invited almost 100 people, 90 to be exact. I had ONE show up from my guest list. Of course, I had 4 there that, even though I invited them, I expected to be there. You know, a given? You expect your close friends & family to show up to support you. It was a luncheon & a lot of people work, I know that, but .... anyway, if I'd had a lot of people I would have panicked. The "boys," Don-Mike, Nick & Zach, showed up at one time or another, except Eddie, who was in school. But as far as paying guests go, it was a bust.

We had a yummy potato soup complete with potato skins which are high in potassium. And I'll definitely make it again. In fact, I have it scheduled for a meal in September. I'm proud of myself, I beat Don on planning September's menus. Usually he has his meals scheduled & I just kind of stumble through the month, sigh.

Saturday, Mother & I finished the errands we started on Wednesday. I ran out of energy & didn't get them all finished. I will try again next week.

A friend from Facebook gave me this advice:

a friend with heart problems once told me.... " Go from your personal point A to point B and stop..." " some days the points may be miles apart and sometimes they may be touching each other ..."" and NEVER LOOK BACK..." What ever you were doing will always wait for you... if not.... to bad....'

Very good advice. She went on to say, "I love that advice.... ...even tho I rarely heed it...." She & I are a lot alike, though I think I may heed it better than she does. Her son says that she schedules her illnesses, LOL.

Nick doesn't always like it when I tell him I can't do something. He woke me up at 8 o'clock this morning & said he needed new shoes. His shoe lace had broken. He wanted to go to Logan & buy his shoes. He said he hadn't worked out the logistics yet. I said I had to work today. He got huffy & said I didn't need to bite his head off.

I thought about ALCO, here in Preston, I know they have shoes. I told him to go check them out today & let me know. Meanwhile, I asked him to let me look at his shoe. It wasn't as bad as I was afraid it was. I took the shoe lace out, rethreaded it loosely & handed it back to him.

Today Vicki Atkinson, job share partner, & I plotted out when is the best time to have my gall bladder out, Monday, Sept. 21. I guess I'll call Dr. Broadbent's office tomorrow & schedule it.