journal of Mariposa

Here are some of the things I've been doing and happenings since the last post:

Work
A backache for a week
The boys going to the skate park
Starting a new cleaning job
Going to church
Greg re-roofed part of our house
Laundry
Housework
2 housecleaning jobs
Going out for coffee with Greg
Naps
Going to the Farmers' Market
Special time with Petra at the coffee shop
Visiting friends
Greg put a skylight in our bathroom
Petra got her drivers' license
My 4th son got his drivers license
Susannah and I went to her gymnastics "sleep over"
Petra had a yard sale to raise money for the deaf school and "En Kay"
Greg and I played tennis one day
Gideon painted the outside steps
Unexpected visitors from Corvallis
Greg , Levi and Gideon remodeled a garage
Skate park competition
The kids and Greg swam and floated in the river on a rubber raft
2 long weekends
A Christian Festival
An Opossum in our yard (probably eating our zucchinis')
Making blackberry and "mock apple" pies
Church in the park
Watching the parade (Clemy was in it)
The 3 older kids ushering at 7 events for Round-up week
Getting back in contact with a dear friend VIA facebook
Visiting another dear friend (finally)
I know I missed a lot, but that's much of what we've been up to...

Now I'm up to date, so I feel better about publishing the last thing I wrote in my journal! Someday I will break out of this journal and do some serious writing, but the day is not here yet.

Tuesday, September 15, 2009

Trivia of the Day
I got to work a little late. On those days I have to work smarter, so I get everything done before the office workers come in. When they get there, I can clean the other 3 offices.

Now I'm home. My stomach has been feeling sick. I'm wondering if I still have the flu bug or if it's something else. I need to get going on the canning. I have 1 box of peaches to do, which really isn't very many. Susannah suggested just eating them, which might not be a bad idea. I'll see how many are left after I freeze a bag or 2.

We are all going to meet Greg for lunch at a park, near where he is working. The weather has been nice. Yesterday it was about 80 degrees I think. I am watching our neighbors 3 kids until the husband is off work. They may stay later if everyone is getting along well. Yesterday they had a lot of fun. The boys are making a tree house and the girls played under it for along time, sweeping and making a pretend kitchen... In Mexico we had a tree house and that was Clemy's favorite place to play. She misses it a lot I know.

If I work in the morning tomorrow, then I'll get Monday off again. My friend who works at the doctors' offices is going to come in so I can clean. I like Mondays off.

It might be getting crazy in our town, as the Rodeo starts Wednesday. The last time I went to any of the Rodeo or town events was when I was 23 and worked for the Newspaper. I worked in the darkroom, and they used me as an extra photographer, until the main guy came. It was a great job. I really miss working in the darkroom, but with digital photography, it will only happen again if I do it as a hobby.

The best thing about today is that it is the anniversary when I gave my heart to the Lord 34 years ago. So, I can say I'm 34 years old. But, besides the fact that I don't look 34, I have a 27 year old son. Do your math. Ha Ha.

It's been awhile since I've been around here. My mornings are now busy with cleaning the doctors' offices. I clean houses for about 4 hours a weeks. We have an insurance office we clean on Friday evenings. Now, we have a "bank job", cleaning - that is - on Fridays. It was so incredibly dirty the first time we cleaned it last Friday. It took me and son #5 and #6 10 hours in total hours! I'm hoping this week will be half of that.

Any way, my life has been pretty boring since I got back from my vacation. I did enjoy the family reunion at Redbridge park near Hillgard State Park. It was fun and I liked sleeping in the tent. I did get upset when the "4 families" of Hispanic decent set up their camp 2 feet from my tent. I don't know if they were being rude on purpose, or just ignorantly, but I was a little irate for awhile. I got over it when I realized that the tent could be moved. My 2 younger sons and J.A. very willingly moved my tent to a more secluded location by the river. After that I was glad that the "4 families" moved in on me! They were having a great time and I'm glad that I didn't ruin it for them.

Clemy just had her 10th birthday party. She had a slip-n-slide (homemade) and a cookie cake. Petra also made horchata. The only thing missing was the pinata. She had about 5 friends come and they had a blast!

We're home! I was gone about a month. Seemed like forever and seemed like a very short time too. When we came home there were some improvements done to the yard and bathroom. Greg and the boys had cleaned the house and there were candles burning everywhere. Some of my plants died, but there was a beautiful fern on a table.

We all went to the skate park for about an hour. I sat by the river and the boys skated. The girls all went on a walk.

Greg has been contemplating getting an A/C unit or swamp cooler. I think we should just use the fans for now and wait. It doesn't stay hot here very long. If it does, or we can't handle it we can get something though.

We now have 3 extra teens in the home for a week. The ages of kids here now are: 9,12,13,14,15 and 16! What fun! Our 2 families get a long real well and the children too. The boys all like to skateboard and make home made videos.
Yesterday morning we woke up in the motel in Ogden, Utah. I slept in till 9:30, as I hadn't gotten to sleep till 1:30 or so. It was a little confusing, as my phone registered a different time than the alarm clock and a different time than my computer. I was able to catch up on my blog(s) and all the kids had fun swimming. At 12:30 the office called. (My computer said it was 10:30). I said to her, "Are we supposed to be out?" "Yes". "OK, we'll be out in 10 minutes." So, we got out fast so I wouldn't have to pay for another night.

When we all left, I had to try to find the apartment where Greg and I lived when we first got married. There was a parade on that street and a lot of craft booths. We parked and walked the whole length of 25th street. I saw a lot of old buildings, but wasn't sure where it had been. The whole street was being renovated, with coffee shops and other stores. When we lived there, I hate to admit it, but it was near the "red light district".

It was actually a nice apartment, furnished, but in a bad area.

After talking to a lady in a coffee shop, she told me that she thought one building had been torn down. "It was a Brothel", "Was the name of it, Ed's Variety Shop?" she said, "I think so."

Well, we lived directly across it, in the upstairs apartment. We thought maybe it was a "brothel", or a drug house. I went there in the day once, being curious, to see what they sold. Everything was dusty and looked like it had been there 20 years. I bought a fingernail clipper and got out of there. I drew a picture of it also and have it somewhere.

After buying good coffee, we were on our way. It only took us 6 hours to get to my sisters'. We had a good visit and talked about old times when we were kids. As kids, we did not get along. My mom said we were too much alike. Petra thinks we are a lot alike too. But, we are good friends now. We stayed overnight and visited more in the morning, then took off.

We stopped at another little town. They had a whole block with craft booths too. I wanted to see them, but I was out numbered, being the only one who did. We stopped at a convenience store, bought drinks and left.

Greg has been doing the office cleaning at 6:30 a.m. There has been a lot of construction being done at night, so it's necessary. Maybe we'll start cleaning together and get it done sooner.

Everyone is going to the park, so I have to go if I want to go with them.

Saturday, July 18, 2009

Almost home and more about our trip

We drove 16 hours, but finally made it to Ogden at about 11:30 pm Arizona time. (but it's 1 hour later here) I'm staying on Arizona time, because it's the same as Oregon. They do not do daylight savings time in AZ.

The trip went well and we really only stopped for gas and a supper break, but I don't think I'll be eating at Wendy's anytime soon.

It was fun traveling with another family. I learned my "following a car in traffic skills" when our family took road trips through Tijiana, and some big cities traveling east. It's a lot easier if the person you are following doesn't change lanes at the last minute and exit. That happened once near LA, when Greg did that. At that time we had "walkie-talkies" to communicate with. I couldn't find mine, then we got out of range. We finally found each other, but it was scary at the time.

The scenery was beautiful. Desert scenes with flowers and many different kinds of plants and shrubs. Part of the way there were cacti. We didn't take too many pictures, because the day was all about getting there. I wish we'd have gotten more. Petra took some really pretty sunset pictures.

I'm going to try to get a hold of my blog-it friend in Idaho that I just met on the way here. Also, I need to contact my sister. If all goes well, we will stay at her house tonight, so we can arrive at our little house tomorrow early.

Thursday, July 16, 2009

Leaving between 7-8 tomorrow for Ogden

My headache never came back. I started to get stressed out though, packing. We got the car packed first, and then later I was able to talk with our friend to see what he could bring in his van when he comes to Oregon to pick up his kids. There will still be 2 or more boxes of books I am going to have him mail to our address though.

After packing, I ate supper. Then Petra, Susannah and I walked to our other friends and visited with him and his wife awhile. Then, we all went swimming in the pool. It's still pretty hot here at night, so the pool felt good. Now I'm going to finish a couple of things I need to do, then get to bed. The plan is to leave at 7:00, but it could be a little earlier or later. I think we will be on the road for 15 hours. We'll see how close my estimate was by tomorrow night.

I reserved 3 motel rooms for the other family and all of us. Greg and I used to live in Ogden, Utah, when we first got married, so when the guy on the phone said the motel was on Washington Blvd. I thought, "Oh my." It is practically downtown and not in the best area. But we'll be safe inside our motel and there will be another family there too. I hope it's not too loud. Maybe in the morning we can drive by our old apartment on 25th street, if I can find it.

A migraine and a dream
I woke up at 3:30 a.m. I was dreaming I had a headache. I wished it had been a headache. I took 2 IBU and tried to sleep with a washcloth on the left side of my head. 1/2 hour later it wasn't any better, so I walked up to the house where Petra was asleep and got some excedrin from her. After another 1/2 hour it finally went away and I fell asleep.

I was dreaming a very involved mystery dream. In it I was looking for a key to a room. Then there was a special key that was on the side of the doorknob that did something else, like opened a secret room or something else mysterious. I found the key hidden in a hole in the wall. There was a lamp and a hat in front of it. I had the key, but the mysterious strange lady came was coming back, so I was looking for another generic key to replace it so she wouldn't notice it until we were done with it.

Another part of the dream was there was a spider building a web across the little creek, but on my way to put the key back my hat touched it and I couldn't believe how strong the web was. I pulled my hat out and ran to put the hat in front of the hole in the wall again.

Just then, the lady came walking around the corner. But, then I started dreaming about headaches again and woke up. I took 1 excedrin and now I am feeling better.

I think it's a combination of not drinking enough water, drinking tea and coffee (which dehydrates) and a couple other things (being tired...)

I have a lot to do, unless I get worse. Know the pressure will be on as we are caravanning. I'm sure I'll be ok and I have a lot of help.

Wednesday, July 15, 2009

A Caravan to Idaho
I ended up not getting as much done as I wanted to. I guess I'm still a little tired from the long drive from San Antonio on Monday.

I did get to Trader Joes. I bought some boxes at Home Depot so I can mail my books if our friends can't bring them with them when they come get their kids in a couple of weeks.

Petra and I ended up eating fast food Chinese food at Bashas' instead of getting a Starbucks. She was hungry and I missed the street for Starbucks. We bought a 3 entry plate and split it. Really good food.

Tonight some other friends that we haven't seen for over a year came over to visit. So our 3 families had fun visiting. The kids went swimming. The great news is this family came to Arizona about the same time we did and we are going to caravan together and leave Friday morning. I hope I can get all my stuff done tomorrow and still get to sleep by 10. Petra has a migraine, so I won't be waking her up to walk. I think I will sleep in and then get everything done as fast as possible. I really don't have that much to do, just sort my "stuff", and do laundry and then clean the trailer. We also should pack the car before dark to see how it all will fit.

I still want to visit my new blogit friend who lives in Boise. Our friends who are caravanning with us live in Northern Idaho. It should be fun traveling together. They have a 9 year old boy and 11 year old girl and a little dog. We will have 2 adults, a 10 year old girl, two 13 year old girls, a 14 year old boy and a 16 year old boy. Should be interesting and lively.

Plans for today..

Today is going to be one of those busy days. I got up early and then woke Petra up so we could go on a walk. When we lived here a couple of summers ago, we used to walk every morning. It was a special time to spend with her. It is cloudy today, so the sun wasn't beating down on us, yet it's hot and a little humid still. We stopped to visit a family friend who lives on the same road on our way back for about an hour.

After my cold shower, Petra is coming with me to do some errands. I need to go to Trader Joes' to get some dark chocolate for Greg (and me too). He really likes chocolate and they have really good chocolate. Also some good coffee.

Then I have to get some boxes for the books I will mail, or our friends will bring to Oregon. Mostly my favorite books that were in Mexico and some I had left in Tucson.

We will probably go to Starbucks if Petra wants to. The 2 younger girls stayed overnight at some friends of ours. They had been planning this for months. Yesterday I took them to the swimming pool and then I met them all at a pizza place. I visited with the mom where they stayed overnight. She has several children, and there were going to be at least two extra, our 2. I think 11 altogether. I hope they had fun. They probably stayed up till after midnight.

I'd better go now. I am tired, and also have to finish sorting our stuff in the horse trailer, and take some more clothes to the thrift store that we have. I hope it doesn't take too long.

Road trip from San Antonio to Tucson

Tue 7/14/2009 1:09 PM

I am safely in Tucson in the "Tinker Camp". We arrived last night at 9:30 p.m. Arizona time. I went to bed at 11:00 after unloading part of the car and visiting .... I was exhausted. I had originally wanted to get a motel, but we got an early start so it was not necessary. Most of the trip was great. We left San Antonio at 8:00 a.m. Petra drove part of the way. Driving is usually relaxing for me and I would rather drive than ride.

We stopped in El Paso, Texas for a nice restaurant lunch. It was over 100 degrees there. The humidity went down after leaving San Antonio, so our air-conditioning worked better.

I understand now, how "Road Rage" happens on a freeway. I am usually a patient driver, not letting what others' do upset me (except when they are shaking their fist at me because I did something stupid, then I cry). But on this trip there was a car from New Mexico driving in the passing lane, a little slower than I wanted to go. They would not get out of the passing lane. I hate it when people pass me on the right, so I tried to give them a hint and follow them, but not tailgate. No matter what I did, they would not get out of the left lane. Then I decided to pass on the right, but found I couldn't because there was a car going slower in that lane. This went on for over 50 miles.

I was getting more and more agitated inside. Finally, they got over and I passed them. Then the speed limit went from 75 to 65, so I slowed to 68 and they passed me. I was so glad when they finally got in the right lane and took an exit. It turned out to be a girl, blonde, with pink streaks talking on her cell phone.

After dark, I tried to pass a car, then noticed someone right on my tail. So, I put my blinker on to get out of their way and they passed me on the right, not waiting for me to get over. Then, I was passing a motorcycle and a car was coming up fast behind me and was going to try to get in front of me around the motorcycle. I got over and let them by. It was a New Mexico plate and wondered if it was that same car that did not let me pass them earlier in the day. I didn't find out because by then I was driving much slower because I was tired.

I think some people get their drivers licences out of a cracker-jack box.

Then I got to see a "sky show" for over an hour. A sky show is when God paints the most incredible sky and cloud scene before your eyes. The colors were incredible. I tried to take some photos while I was driving, but they didn't turn o

Wednesday 6-24-09

I am writing all of this on Saturday evening from our house in Mexico. I haven't been able to get to an internet cafe' yet, but by the time I have this posted you will know I found one. I think I need to give an overview of how the trip went first though, before I tell about today. It is long, but there is no other way to tell about everything.

We left around 9 am from Tucson, Arizona. I would have left earlier, but slept until I woke up. I wanted to make sure I got enough rest before we left. Everything went smoothly most of the way. I drove about 70-80 mph a lot of the way. We went through several toll booths. We used to take the Indian roads around them, but it takes at least 2 more hours and the side roads aren't very good.

By the time we were in Navojoa, 1 hour from our house, everything seemed to go wrong. I had some boxes to deliver to a mutual friend from our friends in Tucson. I drove to their house, but they weren't home. I tried to call, but couldn't on my phone. We waited around for about 15 minutes then left for the store before going to the village. I bought a phone card there, and tried to call our friend again. I got a hold of her and she said she would meet me at the store.
I shopped until Becky got there. After she came, I gave her a laptop from her daughter and some DVD players another mutual friend. We visited for about 15 minutes, then I left.

I was excited about getting to our house, as I hadn't been there in over a year. But, unfortunately, I could not find the hidden key anywhere. Greg had sent me a text message and told me there were keys to the house in the ashtray. But, unfortunately, the top dead bolt would not work. It always had a problem sticking, and there was nothing I could do to get it to budge.

I finally decided to drive another hour to Los Mochis, where my daughter was. But, unfortunately, by the time we got there it was 1:30 a.m. And I didn't want to call. I was so tired by then that I wasn't thinking straight. I might have even tried to call, but I can't remember now. I am embarrassed to say it, but I ended up driving around for 2 hours, looking for a nice motel or trying to remember how to get to the deaf school.

Anyone who knows me well, knows I have very little sense of direction. I really wish I'd had a map of Los Mochis. I ended up going in circles .I had asked a person at the OXXO (store like a 7-11) if there was an inexpensive nice motel nearby. He directed me to two, right next to each other. I found them, but felt uncomfortable, not knowing what kind of motel it was, so I drove around looking for a better one. I never did find one. Eventually, I asked a taxi driver, and he led me to a "good hotel" By then I would have taken any kind of hotel. I gave him a dollar bill, but he wanted more, so I gave him a 20 peso bill and took my dollar bill back. He hinted for more, but I didn't give him any.

It was old, but in it's time was a noble place with a courtyard. They also had a locked area to park my car. The hotel manager wasn't too happy I'd woke him up at 3:30 a.m. The hotel had a ceiling fan and a wall fan, but no air conditioning. It wasn't too hot, so that was fine. We had to get a room with 3 beds, for more money, as the manager said the others were all full. 2 of the beds were OK, but one was not very good - a little lumpy and uneven. I told Clemy she could sleep in mine, but she didn't. (The next day she told me she could feel the springs). I took a cold shower to wash the sweat off and went to bed. It was 4:45 a.m. By then.

Thursday 6-25-09

I woke up about 10:00 a.m. The girls turned on the TV and were watching a movie. It took me awhile to figure out that it was the "Flinstones" only with real people instead of in cartoons. It was also in Spanish.

I took another shower, as it was getting warm in the room and then we left.

I drove around about ½ hour before we found the deaf school. I had tried to call earlier, but no one answered.

I prayed last nigh and today for God to guide and protect us. I think one reason I drove around so much was I didn't know if I was in a good or bad area of town and I felt uncomfortable and wanted to find a safe place. At least there was hardly any traffic out. Mostly taxis and police cars. I'm surprised I didn't get stopped.

I finally recognized a street name and some landmarks. Petra was very glad to see us! We ate lunch at the deaf school. After that Petra and I did some errands, picking up kids, delivering more gifts to a relative of our friends in Tucson.

The weather was very humid, but not as hot as I was expecting. The air felt heavy and moist.

Even though my Spanish isn't very good, my mind was able to switch gears and communicate with people again. If I don't think about it too much, then I can talk in Spanish.

Petra and I stopped in a little outdoor cafe'. They served K-freeze and cappuccino's. Petra and I had a nice time visiting and catching up a little. We went to Wal-mart to buy cat food. It is cheaper at Sam's Club, but I don't have a membership card anymore. I don't want to get rid of our 2 cats. They get some cat food, and when it runs out they eat mice, lizards, snakes and bugs. They also get a few scraps from the neighbors.

Around 6 p.m. The 2 girls and I drove back to the village with Petra's keys. We made it there before dark. First we drove to our friend, Carmen's house, who runs 1 of the 2 stores there. She also takes care of our water and power bills when we are gone. Then we went to our house and were able to get in. I was surprised that it was as clean as it was. Petra has been going there every 2 or 3 weeks and has kept it fairly clean. Since she started leaving a window open, so the cats can go in, there have been less mice. The cats were skinny and very happy to see us (or the cat food).

I swept the bedrooms, living room and kitchen, then I took a cold "bucket" shower and went to bed. We have no running water in the house because the hurricane in September broke some pipes. I bucket shower works fine in the summer if you don't have to heat up water. I'm glad that I have trained myself to take cold showers.

I really am enjoying being in our house. I didn't realize how much I missed it. I hope we can come back soon to live.

Friday 6-26-09

I didn't get up till noon. I slept 3 hours for yesterday and 9 hours for today.

It is very humid here and a little hot. It gets worse in July and August.

Susannah has been washing clothes all day. It looked as if it might rain, but didn't.

Today I drank 2 glasses of carrot juice, ice tea, and water. I also put some beet and an apple in the carrot juice.

I spent most of the day cleaning my bedroom and looking through stuff. I found a lot of very dead mice and cockroaches. I have about 10 small bags of clothes from our closet to give away. I am finding some books I want to bring to Tucson, then I will mail them to our house in Oregon from there. I don't know when we will come back, so I want to take care of things.

I wanted to go to the internet cafe', but didn't have time. I need to get to sleep now. It's about 10 p.m.m

I found the lost keys. They were in the area they were supposed to be, but I just hadn't looked good enough.

I had a nice cool bucket shower and now I am going to bed.

Saturday 6-27-09

I got up at 8:00 I think. I feel SO tired. I did some laundry this morning and Susannah helped me hand it on the line. It is so humid here. It's hot, but not extremely so - but the humidity knocks you out. I had a glass of carrot juice with beet and apple again for breakfast. I tried out the little camp stove that Judah made, but it didn't work so well. It worked perfect when he tried it out 2 times. It took 3 times for the water to get hot enough for coffee. I finally made some, then made some tea to make iced tea later.

Greg called. He is going to a men's retreat and the 2 boys are going with him. They have colds.

I rested most of the day until Petra came with 2 girls who have been helping at the deaf school. They got a ride from some missionaries who live only 30 miles from us. They have been there 10 years and we have never met them. I guess Greg has been in contact with "Brian", but he never mentioned them to me. They were very nice and visited for about ½ an hour before they left.

Petra went to Dyanas' kindergarten"graduation". Dyana is Carmen's little girl, the store owner here.

While Petra and everyone else was gone, I drove to the village 5 miles away that has an internet cafe', but it was closed. I always get so lost and turned around in those 2 villages that are side by side. I don't think I should ever drive anywhere by myself at night anymore if I can help it!

2 more things happened that are not too good. I dropped my phone really hard, and now the screen doesn't work. I think maybe it works, if I can get the screen fixed. I'm glad I brought the go-phone with me too. I really don't need it now, except I can text Greg on it. The second thing is that the dead bolt in our front door won't work, so I can't lock it. We will have to try to fix it, because we have to lock the house when we leave. I think eventually we need to replace all the locks that are not working right.

It is late and I need to get to sleep. Tomorrow is Sunday. I don't know if Petra and the other girls will be going to church or not. I cannot go to a Mexican church unless I wear earplugs. So, I may stay home and rest. If I go I will be taking my earplugs.

Sunday 6-28-09

I rested most of the day and read a little. I had coffee, using the little stove made from a pop can that Judah made for me. It uses grain alcohol. It didn't work very good, but I finally got the water hot enough. I never did buy propane, as we aren't going to be here very long.

In the evening I took Christy and Jenna to church. Petra, I and Clemy went back home. Petra

The Toyota doesn't have anything serious wrong with it, but I need to get the transmission flushed and get an oil adapter gasket as it is leaking. To get a tune-up in this vehicle is expensive because the engine is hard to get to, being in the middle of the vehicle. I don't think it needs a tune up right now. At least the inspection was free.

I walked by the saddle shop and bought a very large amount of "scrap" suede leather. If I tell them about the journals I am making I usually get a good deal on leather.

I have 3 journals I started, a friend is buying one of them. The other two I will put on Etsy. I may start making some larger ones. They don't sell as well, but are much easier to make.

I haven't had a chance to tell about my weekend. The weather was beautiful and sunny. Altogether I counted about 25 adults and 12 children. Everyone was coming in and out, so I'm not sure there were that many at once. I camped in our tent with Susannah and Clementina. I had a nice thick cushion to sleep on. The fresh air was nice and I slept well. My niece had her tent by ours. She had 2 "sound machine" on that helps her 2 children sleep. One of the machines had a nice constant sound, like a waterfall. The other one had a lullaby that got irritating after awhile. I had to ask her to turn it down so I could sleep. The other sound was really nice and helped me sleep.

It looked like a little campground with 3 tents in one yard and 2 in the other. My sister brought a nice travel trailer too.

There was lots of food, and drinks. I drank too much coffee and iced tea, but it was good. The rhubarb and apple pies turned out great. I ended up taking one home, that I forgot to put sugar in. It was still very good with ice cream though.

The drama of the weekend was that one of the visitors rolled his nice old car. The ranch is 12 miles on a gravel road and if you go too fast you can easily slide on the gravel. It takes practice and caution. He was scratched up and hit his head. He never made it to the hospital, but seems to be doing OK. I hope he doesn't have complications later from hitting his head.

One of the highlights of the weekend is the annual auction. Everyone brings things for it. I brought 2 of my journals. The auction brought in over $200, which we decided we will use to put old family movies onto DVD's, so we can all see them.

Here is some of the stuff that was for sale in the Ranch auction.

It's been a long time since I've written anything.
I had the weekend off. Our family went to the Ranch and saw many of my relatives that we usually only see once a year. There was a lot of good food, visiting and our annual auction. This year we made $200, which we are going to use to convert our old family films to DVD.

Other than that, I have been working part time. I clean offices in the evenings, and a house once a week. I was cleaning it twice a week, but the other cleaning lady is out of the hospital and able to work again. I am thankful I still have one day a week to clean there. I have two other house cleaning jobs, but both are about every other week and for only an hour or two.

The other things that have been going on are that I am still teaching the children at home. They are doing well. Greg is working, remodeling a shop right now and takes the boys with him some days to help.

The weather has gotten very nice in the last week or so. It is sunny and about 75-80 degrees F. each day. I am looking forward to doing some bike riding soon.

The other highlight is that I am planning a trip to Mexico in a few weeks to pick up Petra. I will be traveling with Gordon and the girls. He will be getting his drivers license when he gets here before we leave.

Other than that I have been making blank journals when I have time. I am constructing 3 right now. One is for a friend and the other two I will put on Etsy when I finish them.

Judah just arrived last night and he will be working with Greg for a couple of weeks. I am so glad he had a great trip to Costa Rica and returned safely. It will be good to have him here for awhile. He looks good and has a tan.

It's my birthday today, and tomorrow is Judah and Petra's. I just got a phone call from my sister-in-law, Kathryn, and her baby will be born today or tomorrow also!

That's all I have time to write at the moment.

First, I will tell about what happened to the VW bus. I had taken it in to got the Oregon registration and title. A few days before I had gotten insurance for it. So, I was ready to roll! It seemed to be running fine. Greg was working out of town, and I thought a little drive would be nice. I was enjoying the sunshine and breeze blowing in the window. I was on a paved road, but turned off onto a gravel road. It was only 2 more miles when a light came on. I think it was a battery light. I thought maybe I should get out to check the engine (even though I know nothing about them). Everything looked fine to me, but the engine smelled hot. I only had 2 more miles to go, so thought it would be fine. By the time I pulled into the driveway and turned off the engine smoke was rolling out.

I started apologizing for not stopping when the light turned on, but Greg kept saying it wasn't my fault. When he fixed the engine (for the 2nd time) he welded a bolt (or something) on and it didn't hold.

When it was time to leave, he took off the fan (or something) and thought the cool air would be enough to keep the engine cool. After about 5 miles it started smoking bad. So, he pulled over and hooked ropes to the poor ole thing. If it wasn't ruined before that 5 miles did the job. I pulled Greg into town and then to our friends' house where all our other sick or dead vehicles are. We made it safely!

The engine is certainly fried, so we will park it until we decide to buy a new one.

It's been awhile since I've put a post here, so it's about time I write something! I guess I spend most of my time on "blog-it". It's a subscription blog. I started it about 2 months ago. It's quite addictive. But I really enjoy the feedback I get there.

This is my schedule this week:
Monday - cleaned a house from 2:00-5:30 pm
- cleaned doctor's offices in the evening about 1 1/2hrs

Tuesday- womens' Bible study from 10:00 a.m. to 12:00 pm
- errands
- cleaned doctors' offices in the evening - 1 hour -

Wed. - took Susannah and Clemy to the RAC. I swam
about 4 - 6 laps. (some were only floating)
Susannah and Clemy swam laps
- hot tub, wet sauna and shower
- Home - read Susannah's history to her, asked her
questions (I learned something too!)
- Ate a little lunch, made coffee (again)
- Helped Clemy with Math
- Did blog-it, and then Mavis Beacon Typing -
(I type 49 wpm in Dvorak and only 14 wpm in
qwerty - which I am re-learnig) I never was
that fast in typing.

Goals for Thur: Help children with their school work
make a compost pile and put the rabbit droppings that have been in the back of the van since Sunday in it!
12:00 - company for a couple of hours
2:00 - clean a house for about 3 hours
Evening - clean doctors' offices

Goals for Fri. : Help children with school work
Maybe clean a house for 1 hour
Evening - clean Insurance offices for 1 1/2 hrs.

Goals for Sat: Possibly (not sure yet) go to Baker with Greg and maybe see Sylvia and stay at her house. (Don't tell her yet, cause I haven't asked her as it is not for sure) Greg has some construction class he might go to in Baker. Maybe I'll take the girls to a museum so they can see some gold or something fun.

Goals for Sun: Rest. Church here or with Sylvia

Anyway, I started a new cleaning job that is really hard. But I am using the money I make from it to save for a trip to Mexico in June to pick up Petra. Gordon will be coming with us to Mexico. I'll spend several days there and then go back up to Tucson. After that Petra, Gordon and the girls and I will drive to San Antonio, Texas to see David and Zyanya for a few days. Gordon will remain there and Petra and the girls and I will drive back to Tucson. THEN, if all goes as planned, we will stay in Tucson a few days, then drive back to Oregon with 3 of the Hawkins kids. It should be fun. It's not a "for sure" plan, but a "probably" plan.
Every evening for 1 -2 hours I clean offices. Some days one of the children come and help. It depends on if the boys are helping Greg at work or not. It's a nice job, pretty easy and pays well.
That's about all for now. Let me know if you read this if you have time. Marianne

I haven't been updating here too often, because I keep waiting for exciting things to happen. But, everything is pretty normal around here. I have an office cleaning job each night that takes between 1-2 hours, depending on how I feel and if one of the children help me.

I have a couple of house cleaning jobs that I do off and on.

Greg has been doing construction and some tree service work off and on.

I am thankful we have work.

I have been getting headaches a lot, and I'm pretty sure they are caffeine related. I had stopped drinking coffee and mainly drank tea. Then one day I drank quite a bit of coffee. The next day no coffee, then the day after that a migraine. I also hadn't gotten enough sleep one night, so I'm not 100% sure.

The weather is warm for a day or 2, then cold for a week. I am looking forward to the nice sunny weather that will be coming soon. It is already hot in Tucson and Mexico.

I have been trying to keep in touch with all my grown up children. I am happy that we have been able to "talk" with Tito on Skype. We don't have a web cam, but he has one. We can see and hear him, but we reply by typing. We ordered a web cam and hopefully it will get here soon.

Susannah has been taking gymnastics. She wasn't able to go this week though, because it rained and the building where they have it leaks.

The boys have been skate boarding at the park across the street and sometimes at the big skate park. They have been working on a movie they're making. Maybe they'll put it on youtube and I can post it here.

Not much else happening lately. Please let me know if you are reading this. Thanks.

At church and Bible study, we have been asking ourselves, "What would I do if I only had one month to live?" It's a Bible study to help one get their priorities right and help a person focus on how they want to live.

The first concept is to live passionately. Do whatever you do with all your heart. Try to be passionate about life.

I am learning a lot. I have been evaluating my days and trying to make goals each day. Hopefully this will help me to change my way of thinking.

What would you want to do if you found you only had one month to live?

Today Clemy and I cleaned at the doctor offices together. I had Tuesday through Friday off, but today I had to go in to clean up after the construction. It was mostly dust. I am very glad I put plastic bags over the bottom of all the rooms. It saved me from cleaning the four exam rooms and one office. We still cleaned the two main rooms and the break room, which took us together three hours.

It was nice to see it all nice again. There will be more construction coming soon though.

When I was about 16, at the end of the summer I decided I was going to ride my horse Skeeter to P.R. , a town about 10 miles away from our ranch if you went on the back roads. It was about 90 degrees F. that day and there were no clouds in the sky.

I had a small round yellow radio that I strapped on my saddle horn. At first Skeeter was scared, but after awhile he got used to it. I remember wearing a tank top and shorts. I did get quite a sunburn by evening.

When I came into town, I passed by the wheat elevator. A truck went by and my horse almost jumped in front of it, as he was a very skiddish horse. After that I walked him the rest of the way in town.

When I got to town, I found out that school had started for all my friends. I had ridden 10 miles to find out that I had nothing to do.

I took Skeeter by the creek and he would not drink a drop. I met a girl by the creek and she said , "You have a really pretty horse." I was not to happy with my horse at that moment, but said, "Thank you," anyway.

After that I went to the hamburger place in town. I went in the bathroom to wash all the dust off and then ordered my food.

By then, it was late enough that I rode home.

It was a memorable experience. The song I remember on the radio that day, fit the day. It has a great message also. The song is, "I can see clearly now" by Johnny Nash. I hope you enjoy it. It's on my You tube section.

Today I haven't done much. We all did clean the house and I deep cleaned the bathroom.

Next thing is going to Wal.mart, which I dread.

I figured out how to put You tubes on here and I put one on I really like!

God bless you today.

Today I got up at 6:00 and spent some time with Greg, my husband.
After that I wrote a rather time consuming blog on blog-it.

Wednesday is the day I take Susannah and Clemy to the RAC (Roundup Athletic Club). Today I shot baskets in all the positions until I could hit one. Clemy told me later that I played "around the world", only by myself.

Then Clemy and I went swimming. She took swimming lessons last summer, so always tries to coach me. I ended up swimming 2 1/2 laps. Then I went in the hot tub. I totally forgot to do the wet sauna, which helps clean the chlorine out of my body from the pool. Now my skin is dry and itchy.

Susannah did the exercise bike for over an hour.

It's a really sunny day and nice again today. Susannah heard someone say that we are supposed to get 30 mile per hour winds by tonight though.

Yesterday Greg and I had dinner with my long lost cousin Jim. We just have never lived close enough to spend any time together. We had a really nice visit and got reacquainted with each other.

When we got home I straightened the house. I was so tired that by 1:30 I took a nap and slept till 4:30 or later. No work cleaning offices today, so I didn't feel I was wasting time. I must have needed the nap.

Greg and I went to a missions meeting in the evening at church. Only about 10 come, but it's very thought provoking and I learn a lot there.

Today I got up at 6:00, which for me isn't that easy. I have been getting into the habit of getting up early one day and late the next. I usually don't get to sleep at night before 11:00 so that makes getting up early difficult.

The first thing I did was go to the Starbucks in Safeway. It is not the same as the Starbucks on the hill. The coffee was pretty weak, not normal, but o.k.

After that Greg and I went to pick up Randy, our friend, and then we all headed to the yard sale where Randy wanted to buy a patio set. At the yard sale, I found 6 nice picture frames and a large Rubbermaid box of art materials and a file box, all for $10. Greg bought a bunch of tools for $5. I think the lady was just getting rid of stuff, not caring if she made any money on it.

At the next yard sale I got some clothes for the girls. Then I went home to discover that 2 of my picture frames had been taken from my pile, after I paid for it. It was still a good deal, minus the 2 very nice frames.

I then took Clementina to another yard sale, where she found some things she wanted.

In the afternoon Greg, Clemy and I went to Hermiston for a cumpleaños fiesta for our little 4 year old friend, Athena. It was like being in Mexico with the food and pinata. They even rented a blow up child's trampoline, which was so classic.
I was able to get to know many people and practice my Spanish. There were a few there that didn't know English.

When I was done eating, I turned to the Hosts mom and said to her,
"There is one saying in Sonora or Sinaloa, "Este India ya lleno mi costal"
It literally says, This Indian has filled her sack. The indigenous people in Mexico don't all know Spanish well, so this saying is funny in Mexico.

Levi, Gideon and Susannah did not go as they stayed home and went to the skate park with some friends.

I am pretty tired, so better go now.

I really wanted to start writing this year. It is pretty amazing starting to write on this site and 2 others. I have to be careful I do not spend too much time writing though!

It got up to about 80 degrees today. I am going to enjoy it, as it is supposed to get cold the end of the week. The girls washed the car in the sun and got all wet.

I need to get to bed, so will write tomorrow.

This photo was taken in Mexico.