Relay for Life

A couple of months ago I was invited to participate in the Relay of Life with the "Dangerous Curves" group here in Mt. Home. A couple of adorable women, Lisa and Janeen, own the Curves location where I workout. They have invited mee to do a couple of things with them, and I have looked forward to getting to know them better and participating in a community event. During the meeting we had on Tuesday I found out my allotted time to walk would be from 1am-2am, and that I could bring someone else with mee. I decided to invite Rebecca, my oldest niece, to join mee. She was brought to Mt. Home by Roger, Melva, and Lori who also invited us to join them at a movie on base. We got to the theater just in time to watch Narnia, Prince Caspian. The movie started with the singing of The Star Spangled Banner. I am use to sporting events beginning in such a manner. I liked having a movie start with a reminder of our freedoms and sacrifices are made to maintain them. It was a good movie. Becca was glad to have seen it. It was also nice to do something with the family I do have in town. It was over by 9:30pm giving us plenty of time to get back to Mt. Home and gather the things needed to stay at the park for the night. "What is Relay For Life? Relay For Life is the American Cancer Society’s signature activity. It offers everyone in a community an opportunity to participate in the fight against cancer. Teams of people camp out at a local high school, park, or fairground and take turns walking or running around a track or path. Each team is asked to have a representative on the track at all times during the event. Relays are an overnight event, up to 24 hours in length. " Retrieved from http://www.relayforlife.org/relay/whatisrelay June 29, 2008. The “Dangerous Curves” group was actually the first group we came upon. After laying out our tarp and things we decided to walk around to see what everyone had out. Many of the groups were selling food items, or other things at surprisingly reasonable prices. Becca even got her face painted. We were fairly awake while our time on the track began. Becca did some running. We had a good talk. We talked about different things that cause cancer and different people I know/knew that have or had cancer. Becca said she thought walking to fight cancer was a great idea because she thinks exercising would help fight cancer. The Elmore County Relay for life was about 12 hours long. Closing Ceremony and final lap were at 7:30am.

Sometimes we know where are habits come from. Why we do what we do. There are many things that are learned throughout our lives. I am not sure why we do, what we do, especially when we are not feeling well. Are we looking for the comfort of home? Something that will help us relax?

I have long sense learned that when I am not feeling well I rely on John Wayne movies to keep me company. Mock mee you might....but can you deny he is a great American symbol of patriotism, and strong pioneering character?

On my side...

It was one of those weeks you wanted over by noon on Monday. My left eye was not happy with a contact in it. So I drove to work and took out my contacts. I could see my computer fine, and spend most of the day in my office. I was disconcerting trying to to talk to people in the cafeteria that I couldn't see. It was also interesting teaching a class, especially a communications class. not being able to see the faces of all the boys. I am not sure what I did on that particular day, but I have been sore all week. I tried working out a couple of times. I think that did more harm than good. Some of my dear colleagues took delight in watching me try to pick things up. I also got strange looks when I reacted to a sudden sharp pain. Right now I have a heating pad on my right side, so I am on my left, typing this with one hand. My brand "new to mee" car spent Tuesday and Wednesday in the shop. They replaced spark plugs and wires. It runs a lot better now. I am grateful to co-workers who were willing to drive me around. Yes, the same co-workers who took delight in my pain... The theory I have decided to go with at work is that I have such a magnetic personality it is jumbling my computer causing it to do completely random things, including printing documents that are suppose to be black, green and randomly choosing which documents or programs I can work on. Around 2pm one of the therapist told mee that it was Friday, I shouldn't be grumpy, I should just go home and take a nap. I am going to point out again it was a THERAPIST that said it, so it was wise of me to heed his advice, and I came home. About 5pm a friend I have known since high school and went to college with, but haven't seen since 2001 called mee. She then came out to Mt. Home and took me to dinner. It was fun to catch up with her, and a nice way to end my week.

new home for Boyd

About a week ago dad decided that my car was dead. I went looking for cars three or four times the last week. It is way to stressful. I did meet some nice people. Drove some nice cars, and some not so nice cars. Late Saturday afternoon over Empenadas at Tangos in Boise we decided a 2003 Hyundai Sonata was the best deal we had seen. It is a nice car. It is an automatic. I'll get use to it. Others have commented that I'll get to lazy to go back to a standard. We'll see about that. Right know I am trying to not take my left foot to the break like it is a clutch, or go all they way back to drive thinking I am in reverse. Dad recommended I buy an extended warranty. I am comfortable that it will be worth it.

New Faces

Boyd came to school today. He, along with LeRoy my frog, helped me teach about personal space. I wasn't sure how the students would respond to my two little helpers. They all wanted to get to know them better.

still going

I guess the adventures of Mee n' Boyd are still going on. When I returned to Boise last week I found that I could not start my car. We tried jumping it. It almost worked. Nevertheless it did not. My sister was gracious enough to let me borrow her husbands truck for the week. (He was in Orlando for a conference). I was grateful to have something to drive. It also came in handy picking up all the fun stuff order threw my "AtHome America" party, and investing in a wheel barrel. I returned with the truck to Boise yesterday. My dad had the diagnosis. My car is worth about a $500 donation to a charity that will take it on my taxes. Thus....the search began. Will I be okay without a standard transmition? Do I have any idea as to what I want? Have I really accepted the fact that I need a "new to mee" car?

Beautiful

As I looked out my kitchen window this morning I discovered I have amazingly beautiful white and purple irises growing along my back fence. I wish I had a working camera so I could show them to everyone.

This is a painting I found online copy written to Trish Rintoul to help illustrate how beautiful my flowers are.

http://www.trishrintoul.com/fl_purpleiris_07.html

The World of Dr. Seuss

On the Island of Adventure we discovered the "kids area" was a Dr. Seuss Land.

I felt like I had walked into...Oh the Places You Will Go.

We spent most of the day at Universal Studios and didn't make it to The Island of Adventure until about 6pm or so. The theme parks close at 7pm. We just barely got to walk into Dr. Seuss' world.

I took a picture of this sign posted by the entrance of the zoo. I am sure there are a number of places for the application thereof.

"If you want to catch beasts you don't see every day,

you have to go places out of the way.

You have to go places no others can get to,

You have to get cold, and you have to get wet too."

Animal Actors at Universal Studios (28 May 08)

We got to see how they train animals to perform in shows.

We got to meet the dog who plays Frank in MIB...

Universal Studios (May 28, 2008)

Bonnie's store owner, Mr. Cramer, gave us tickets for Universal Studios and Island of Adventure. We decided to go on Wednesday. We got there about 10am. The rides started with the escalators and moving side walks provided to get from the car to the theme parks.

We started with the Simpsons RIDE. After that we decided to go to the kids area. There we could feel the size of a mouse in Fifle's land.

The bones provided a slide for everyone to use.

After playing on the skull we also went down a water slide. Ally wasn't sue what she thought about that. Then we went on the Woody Woodpecker Train ride. She liked that a lot. We then wandered around Curious George Goes to Town until it was time to go to the Animal Actors show.