Car Conversations

It's that time of year when I don the hat of a chauffeur. It's soccer season and I do have to say "Glory be . . ." for carpooling or I might have to figure out how to do laundry from the Barney-mobile.
Conversations between 8 year old boys is always entertaining. The following is one overheard this past week.

Cast:
Clueless Kid - Brennan (I was sooo proud)
Story Teller - Austin Hyer
Clue Giver - Myself
Innocent Bystander - Brandon Wood


Story Teller: "Brennan, do you know Brandon Wood, he played on the MoJo's?"
Clueless Kid: (thoughtfully) "Hmmmm, Brandon Wood? Brandon Wood?"
Story Teller: "He's my cousin."
Clue Giver: "You remember Brennan, he was in your preschool? The one with the red hair?"
Story Teller: "Yeah, he has red hair!"
Clueless Kid: "Hmmm, Brandon Wood. He has brown hair?"
Clue Giver: (exasperated) "No! Red hair!"
Clueless Kid: (excited) "Oh! Brandon Wood! He was my best, best, best, best friend!"

Gotta Love that Kid!

Everything comes gradually at its appointed hour.

(This post has been edited, I was reminded I forgot part of the story, so by request, the rest of the story continues at the end of the original post.)

The parable of The Man, The Boy and the Donkey, dictates a lot of the decisions in my life. If you are unaware of the wisdom in this parable, I will share.
"One day a man and a boy were going to take their donkey to a distant town to sell at auction. They left on their journey, both walking beside the donkey. After a while they came to a village where everyone they passed mocked them for being so foolish. It was their opinion that the old man should ride the donkey, after all, he is old and deserves the privilege of riding the animal. So, ashamed of the mockery, they old man climbed on the donkey and they continued on their way. Before long they came to another village, where these villagers also mocked. However, it was their opinion that this old man was selfish and the poor young boy should be the one who was riding the donkey. Again, ashamed, they traded places and the boy rode the donkey. Eventually, they reached the town where they would sell the animal, but to their dismay, the donkey faired a poor price because it was so worn and haggard from the journey." The moral of the story being, if you have a plan and stick to your plan, no matter what others think, you will be much more successful in achieving your goal.
Well, today at the Pit Stop we serviced a 2007 Yukon XL with leather seats, the much desired (and at this point in our marriage, required) dual climate control, built in DVD player, pretty much everything I would enjoy in a new vehicle. Did I mention this car is for sale? Yes it is. We service cars for a small car dealership and this is one they have in stock right now. So I say, "Mom, (she's the car shuttler for the day) ask them how much this costs, and if they can give it to me for less that $200.00 a month?" She list off all the accessories on the car, in that tone of voice that cleary is saying, "Keep Dreaming." "I know", I say, "but ask anyway."
She asks and they tell her the price is in the neighborhood of $25,000. They follow up with "and if she wants payments under $200.00 then she can only finance $10,000." At this point my mother bursts out laughing because she realizes my 1998 Dodge minivan would therefore need to be worth $15,000 on trade-in. Yeah right!
Back to The Man, the Boy and the Donkey. "That's okay," I say, "I need a new house before I need a new car."
(New house needed because we are bursting at the seams. We were only supposed to be here 5 years and now have been here 10. London was 3 and Isabelle was 1. It was the perfect house for 2 little girls, but flash forward 10 years and London is approaching 14 and is taller than I am. Isabelle is almost 12 and we added another kid 8 years ago. And our car may be a 1998 Dodge minivan and lovingly referred to by my hubby as the "Purple Barney Mobile", but it is paid for and works just fine (except for occasional blinker shorts).

"Yes," mom says, "but I worry for you because . . ." (insert conversation about how dreadful the economy is, and how many people overextended themselves in mortgages and so now they will be restructured which means banks are losing money and so to recupe some of their losses they will raise interest rates, which may put a glitch in building the house I want to build in a year or so.)
Sigh, "I know, I'm going to be 80 years old living in this house, still waiting for the stars to align and the odds to fall in my favor, waiting to build my house, still driving the Purple Barney Mobile, because heaven knows, I need a house more than I need a car!"
"And my children, as they leave my home when they turn 18 will turn to us and smile and say, 'I hate you, and I hate you, and I hate you and you and you!'" Never to return again, at which point hubby chimes into the conversation and says, "Good! My plan worked!"
So, always practical, Mother points out "You can always add on."

Something about this conversation had Mother laughing so hard she was crying. So I wrote it down so she could remember how the conversation went to be able to share with my dad. So this post is for you mom.

So Let the Sunshine In, Face It With A Grin!!!

"I've been waiting for that bright sunshine to show up and shine in my back door someday." Luther Allison
Sun shining on my hardwood floors = Me smiling contentedly.
I hate winter after Christmas. Of course I need the whole "White Christmas" but after that bring on the sun. Moses Lake has many great qualities and can be quite beautiful in the summer with the lake and all the crops growing etc. but . . . January and February does not do this town any favors.

I painted my walls yellow and hung white curtains, just for blah late winter days when the sun pops through. My living is a great place to be, it is warm and cozy and the curtains just let the sun stream in uninhibited.

I Love the Sun!

So we like everyone else has the crud creeping through our home. London had it first then me, Trent, Isabelle and now Brennan. When he gets sick it immediately becomes a cough. I don't know it that's just how he is or if it has to do with him being born premature. So today he woke up with sad eyes, white as a sheet and a disgusting cough (I say disgusting, because he was coughing up a lot of phlegm, I guess the cough is working) and I knew I couldn't send him to school.

So today I'm being mom. I know that sounds weird so I'll explain. Now that I work part-time it always seems like a juggling act between doing the mom thing and going to work.

I work at my parents business part-time which enables us to get health insurance pretty reasonably. (No benefits IS one of the downsides to farming.) Luckily, it allows me some flexibility, so today I'm home taking care of Brennan. I miss those days of being home with little ones, Scooby-Doo is on, PBJ sandwiches are on the menu. Kids grow up way too fast. London turns 14 in a couple of weeks. YIKES!

P.S. Look for a future post on my life as a Grease Monkey!

GO CHIEFS!!!

I did not graduate from Moses Lake High School, in fact, I had finished my 2nd year of college before we moved here. I actually graduated from Ellensburg HS. But, EHS holds little fondness for me, at this point in time, it is the school I happened to be attending when I graduated high school. (One nice thing about EHS was being on the drill team and being a captain my senior year).

By the time I did graduate, I had attended 9 schools including 2 high schools.

My elementary career started in Canada where I attended through 2nd grade, then to Provo for 3rd. Fourth and part of 5th were in Eugene, OR some of the rest of 5th was in Corvallis, OR. Sixth grade was back to Eugene, 7th was also in Eugene, but in a different school district than the one that 4th, 5th and 6th had been. Eighth grade was same school district but different middle school and 9th and 1/2 of 10th was at Willamette High School. This is when we moved to Ellensburg and I finished out high school.

It was hard but for the necessary good. My dad had bravely gone to school with 5 kids under age 8 and finished a bachelors degree in 2 1/2 years (Go Dad!). So all these moves were either school or job related.

For me now, I have lived in Moses Lake for 18 years, and as Trent intends to keep on farming, we will be here for the forseeable (is that a word) future. Which is just fine by me. I really do like Moses Lake, I love that Trent farms and more than anything I LOVE that my kids will grow up here and go to school with the same kids they were drooling with in nursery.

So I really love going to the games, (we mostly go to girls basketball since London plays basketball for Chief Mo), and cheering on the team. I love listening the band and watching the Tribe and seeing friends and feeling that feeling that can only be describe as "school spirit".

Trent just rolls his eyes at me (he's not a real sports fan), but I considered Moses Lake High School my adopted high school.

GO CHIEFS!