05-31-2008

Since this was Xander's second to last game and Grandma and Grandpa Fischer traveled south the watch the game, soccer seems like a likely topic for today.

I think it is hilarious that Xander isn't flexible enough to perform well in wii fit, but I can capture photos of his body contorted in gravity defying poses on the soccer field. The Kickin' Carrots lost their game today, but they played well. Xander was playing defense, but note how close to the net he was. He likes to be where the action is.

At lunch we were discussing the popularity of soccer, so here are some interesting factoids:

• Soccer is the most popular recreational sport for both boys and girls, and has been so for about 25 years.

• 
  
• However, professional soccer has been less popular in the United States than in Latin American or European nations.
  
• The Major League Soccer is young and has few teams; it debuted in 1996.
  

I would MUCH rather got to a professional soccer game than a baseball game, but I guess I am in the minority.

05-30-08

TGIF! After a grueling work week. The sun was shining, it was a shame to go indoors. But, we had items to bid on.

Tonight we attended the Young Life Bid for Kids. Because Young Life rocks. And needs funds to continue their outreach.

We won not one, but two sets of Mariners tickets for June. Bruce moved behind me so I wouldn't see him bidding on the second set. Shame, shame, shame. I guess I'll be seeing my first game in the new stadium on Fathers Day...

05-29-08

My mom can attest that I am not a yoga girl. But here I am doing the tree pose. Tonight it calculated my body age as two years lower than my physical age, but sometimes the wii tells me that I am much older, because my balance is so poor.

I am trying to do at least 10 minutes of activity on wii fit each day in addition to my 30 minute morning workout, and I am trying to do a little bit of yoga, strength training, aerobics, and balance games when I am on wii fit. So far my favorite exercise is the slalom skiing.

I'm not sure I'll ever embrace the yoga poses. But they are good for my balance and keeping me young.

“A good stance and posture reflect a proper state of mind.”
Morihei Ueshiba

05-28-08

Yesterday was the silly child, today is the serious one. Here she is sporting her new reading glasses, and trying like heck to win back her honor as top reader at Olympic Elementary. She got a little lacksidasical this spring, a classmate passed her up, and now she has to work at it.

She loves her new spectacles, it reminds me of when I first got mine in junior high. It is not quite so fun when you HAVE to wear them every day!

“Don't call the world dirty because you forgot to clean your glasses”
Aaron Hill

05-27-08

I haven't a clue. But I thought it would be good for a laugh.

While I was most engrossed in my rigorous to do list (I was multitasking, letting my nails dry and watching my netflicks movie, Kite Runner), Xander was running around giggling and asking to borrow my camera. I even had to scold him to keep the noise level down.

What motivates him is often a mystery, but tonight it appears to be a dare from his peers...

“Toughness is in the soul and spirit, not in muscles.”
Alex Karras

05-26-08

Our final day at camp, then the long drive home, and a transition back to reality.

On our way home, near the tiny towns of Antelope and Shaniko (population 25), we stopped at a geocache at an old cemetery. I counted nine tombstones, and the majority of them were small children from the early 1900’s. The cache name was Lonely Cemetery. No kidding.

It’s been fun experiencing a more rural and isolated environment this weekend. I heard that there are about 100 that live year round at Wildhorse Canyon camp; there is a school with one teacher. What a different life. With it’s own challenges, but also it’s own rewards.

05-25-08

Overcast weather moved our pool Olympics indoors. I was thrilled to not have to get wet with 600 of the other campers. I was even more pleasantly surprised that the indoor games were quite fun. We did an obstacle course sliding down the steep indoor skate ramps. And played a fun version of simon says with dance moves. But the most fun was toilet tag. It is like freeze tag, except when you get tagged you have to pose like a toilet, and you are free when someone sits on and flushes you.

During our afternoon free time I was content to stay warm and observe, but Bruce did more activities with the kids. This photo is Anastasia, Bruce, and Madeline on the “big swing”. They strap you in, pull you up, then set you free. The girls were too chicken to go up to the top, but it was still quite the ride.

05-24-08

A highlight of Saturday was going down the zipline. I have always wanted to do a zipline, and I thought that doing a short one before attempting one through the rainforest would be perfect. It wasn’t scary, it was a fun ride down, and hitting the cold lake water at the bottom wasn’t even that bad.

Bruce called this fashion camp, because he was constantly changing his clothes today. In the morning we had field games that ended in a mess of shaving cream, flour, and soaked horse feed all over us, then a fire hose to clean off the biggest chunks. From there we went to afternoon free time for water fun, then Western clothes for our dinner theme, then Bruce got pulled up on stage to get shaving cream on his face for Xander to throw cereal at him, and the evening ended with a carnival where the kids earned tickets to put Dad in the dunk tank.

Yee-haw!

05-23-08

When we arrived at camp, we were issued lime green bandanas and access to room 215. The room had five bunk beds and two bathrooms; we shared the space with the Wood family. They were also lime green, but our other Longview families had different team colors.

Green was kind of the theme of the weekend for me. I was amazed at how green it was at camp. It is in a very brown canyon, but they spend a bundle on keeping lush grass all around us. They had a photographer taking family photos on Western night. Most of the photos were taken on the fence, but ours had a backdrop of bright green grass.

We all wore our bandanas to our team events, but Xander wore his “buff” almost all weekend, usually on his head. He toted his shoes up to the room, but within 12 hours they were sopping wet and totally useless.

05-22-08

Another busy evening, but I think I am almost ready to leave town after a half day of work tomorrow. I carried my camera to ballet lessons, another shopping trip to Fred Meyer, a coffee date with Bruce, and middle school orientation for Anastasia. But, the camera had no memory card!

So here I am, finishing the packing for our long weekend at family camp. Have fun wherever the holiday takes you!

“Travel is the frivolous part of serious lives, and the serious part of frivolous ones.”
Anne Sophie Swetchine

5-21-08

Tonight was our last Simple Supper at church until the fall. We’re going to have to go back to fending for ourselves on Wednesday nights.

We have a tradition of forming a circle to pray before we get in line to eat. Tonight Pastor Mary presented the kitchen helpers with roses. We’ve got some of the teenagers on the right, the rest of my family in the corner, and various friends and helpers behind the food table.

Tonight we had turkey, ham, roasted potatoes, fruit salad, rolls, green salad, and ice cream sundaes. Our meals at home are usually simpler than this, but it was a special night.

“Life is like art. You have to work hard to keep it simple and still have meaning.” Charles de Lint

05-20-08

I love Fred Meyer! Where else can you shop for clothes, groceries, gardening supplies, and hardware all at the same store?!? We lived near a Freddys in Federal Way, missed it in Aberdeen, and now use it as a staple again in Longview.

I dropped Anastasia off at ballet, ran to Fred Meyer and the library, and got back to the studio just in time to pick her up at the end of class. What’s on your list today? I was looking for hair gel, a hanging basket, and paint color palettes. I ended up with a swimsuit cover-up, cooler, Airborne, flashlights, and paint samples in teals and yellow for the kitchen.

This photo also documents our lovely fuel prices. I had to fill up today, but I went to the Safeway in Astoria.

Fred Meyer fast facts: Did you know that…
… Fred Meyer, Inc is an American company founded in 1922 in Portland, Oregon by Fred G. Meyer.
… Fred Meyer, Ralphs and QFC are now divisions of Kroger? I had no idea.

… Everyone in our family is fully proficient at using the U-Scan checkout option?

05-19-08

OK, I'll admit it. I'm not sure I have enough work related photo opportunities to keep up my Monday work theme. I've got a few more ideas, but the well is running dry.

Today this cartoon caught my eye. I've had it posted in my work area for years, and it cracks me up every time I see it.

“I can usually judge a fellow by what he laughs at.”
Wilson Mizner

05-18-08

Yesterday when I ran to Wal-mart to buy Stacy a swimsuit for our water fun, Anastasia grabbed her money and came along. She bought a pair of sunglasses.

I didn't think much about it. Until she wore her new reflective glasses to church today. The kids sang in front of the congregation, and she looked like a pop star of sorts.

But she wasn't foolin' anyone, and she had to show off her shiner. The trampoline has been up for less than a week, and we have our first incident. Her and Katie were bouncing Friday night, got a little carried away, and her knee ended up in her eye. Ouch!

And boy does she sport it with attitude!

05-17-08

It has been quite warm in our neck of the woods these past few days. We all got a little fried at Xander’s noon soccer game today.

My grandparents and cousin Stacy are visiting us this weekend. We kept cool with a trip to DQ, cranking up the heat pump, and hosing the kids down while they hung out on the trampoline.

“You scream, I scream, we all scream for ice cream” American Proverb

05-16-08

Friday brought me to a financial reporting conference in downtown Seattle. It was as interesting as 8 hours of accountant types discussing FASB can be. On our breaks we got to go out in the sunshine and watch them load a million pineapples onto a cruise ship (after the drug sniffing dog was satisfied).

Then the fun trek home began. First we fought the pile up heading for the parking garage exit. Then we fought Friday afternoon pedestrian and car traffic through downtown Seattle to get to I-5. My carpool dropped me off and I fought my way back on the freeway. I wasn’t moving much, so I snapped a bunch of traffic shots. Then I saw the cop next to me giving me a double take. I turned my camera off.

It took me over 3 ½ hours to get home tonight. But at least I wasn’t honking, like someone I know would be…

“Natives who beat drums to drive off evil spirits are objects of scorn to smart Americans who blow horns to break up traffic jams.” Mary Ellen Kelly

05-15-08

Today I was in Federal Way for a meeting at Corporate Headquarters. It was sunny and beautiful at quitting time and I had nowhere to be, so I decided to wander through the bonsai garden and take photos of my favorite little trees.

This is my favorite today. Because it’s the only one I got to see today. The Bonsai garden is closed on Thursdays! And this is the only bonsai outside the locked gates.

I still got a nice walk through the wooded path in the bright sunshine.

“To develop a fine Bonsai collection, make one hundred and keep two or three. “ - John Naka, American Bonsai Master

This reminds me so much of taking photos too! Take a hundred and keep two or three…

05-14-08

We're still "discussing" how to spend (or save!) our tax stimulus check, but we did agree to get a trampoline and a new TV.

The trampoline was purchased and assembled today. I thought that a photo of the kids on it would be perfect, but Bruce had other ideas. Too bad he didn't get a very good shot! or maybe it is more a tribute to my dorkiness. 25 photos and they all stink! One of Xander's nicknames is Tigger, he's a much better bouncer.

Bouncing on up the highway for a few days; I'll still be taking photos and will get the blog caught up when my tech support and I both return!

“Goldfish don't bounce”
Nancy Cartwright

05-13-08

I just feel blah again today.

But there are things that need to get done.

So I decided to sit in my scrapbook room and create for an hour, when I really wanted to roll into a ball and read a book. I didn't feel like working with any of the 2005 photos I have handy. I felt uninspired. But I kept pushing myself. This page may not be the way I had planned, but I don't remember the plan for the enlargement after three years. And tomorrow I may come up with a better idea. Lord knows it needs a better title! But, today, it is done.

And I'm ready to attack a few more things off my to do list tonight.

“Nobody motivates today's workers. If it doesn't come from within, it doesn't come. ”
Herman Cain

05-12-08

This may not be exciting, but this calendar rules my life. I have a big one on the wall at work, one on my scrapbook room, one in my briefcase, and a mini one in my wallet. Big ones are hanging in every conference room. I don't make dentist appointments or any vacation plans without consulting it.

Weyerhaeuser has it's own calendar. 2008 starts on December 31st and ends on December 28th. There are normally 52 weeks in the year, but every seven years we enjoy a 53 week year.

Not all jobs are as driven by the calendar, but for me the first two weeks are critical. Week one is closing week. An excuse to stay in the office all week, but also the expectation to find and solve all problems with the processes and numbers. Week two is reporting week, when we generate and distribute the results for the prior month. That's when it gets really fun, with managers trying to understand what the heck happened. I seem to struggle with what month or what year it is, because I am always dealing with what happened in the past or forecasting what will happen in the future. We don't pay any attention to May in May.

Pay days are marked. Not because I particularly pay attention to when I get paid, but because it is very relevant when the payroll system goes haywire and I have 840 employees to get paid.

January, April, July, and September have an extra week. We LOVE five week months. It's the best time to take vacation. Or schedule the auditors. Or work on the goal projects that keep getting pushed to the bottom of the list.

“Calendars and clocks exist to measure time, but that signifies little because we all know that an hour can seem as eternity or pass in a flash, according to how we spend it.”
Michael Ende

05-11-08

I have 118 photos to choose from today. But a big chunk of them are from a bored son who didn't bring anything to do on the car ride to and from Olympia for Mother's Day dinner. We've got clouds, a peeved sister, and some posed booger picking.

So our mothers day tradition is to meet halfway and have dinner at Sizzler. It is also a tradition to take family photos at "the wall". We disrupt the traffic flow to the restaurant and generally make fools of ourselves taking every imaginable combination of relatives imaginable. Anastasia's expression says it all - "do we HAVE to take photos this year?!?" Yep.

My SIL Diana is traveling this year, so here we have Bruce's grandma Delores, my MIL Renee, Anastasia and I. There were three cameras going, so no wonder nobody knew where to look.

“Just because something is tradition doesn't make it right.”
Anthony J. D'Angelo

05-10-08

We had a busy, busy day today.

It all started with a 5K this morning at 8am. Anastasia has been in the Girls on the Run program for two years now, and today they had a community-wide non-competitive 5K event. It cracked me up, because every single girl wore the number 1. And it was a little shy of 5K (the chosen route was a quarter mile short of the 3.1 miles of a 5K). Girls on the Run is an experimental learning program for girls age eight to thirteen years old. The programs combine training for running with self-esteem enhancing, uplifting workouts. The goals of the programs are to encourage positive emotional, social, mental, spiritual and physical development. Anastasia has been training for twelve weeks.

Anastasia and I both participated. Not sure I can say I ran, since I mostly walked with others I found along the route... Lorraine, Mrs. Myhre, Katie, Tina. Anastasia was in the front of the pack for awhile, and beat me by a good ten minutes. I hope she stays active!

“I don't exercise. If God had wanted me to bend over, he would have put diamonds on the floor.”
- Joan Rivers

05-09-08

Welcome weekend! This will be a busy one, but I'll welcome it just the same...

We made a trek to Target ALL THE WAY TO KELSO (Bruce acts like it is much farther than 15 minutes) to search for new dishes. I found the perfect ones, but they only had one set.

We needed a new mat for the front porch, too, and I was a little more successful there.

“You must welcome change as the rule but not as your ruler.”
Denis Waitley

“Welcome every morning with a smile. Look on the new day as another special gift from your Creator, another golden opportunity to complete what you were unable to finish yesterday. "
Og Mandino

05-08-08

One kid likes ham sandwiches, one likes turkey. And neither of us can keep it straight! Does Xander like ham because he's a ham, or turkey because he's a turkey?!? We just can't remember.

This evening Bruce and I were chatting in the kitchen while we finished dinner prep. I saw the sign Anastasia made for the magnet board and started laughing. Even funnier is that Bruce had not yet noticed the new reminder. Not sure she could have called much more attention to it.

So there you have it, Xander is a turkey!

“He's a real goofy personality. He's almost like a cartoon character.”
Jeremy Burgess

05-07-08

I don't feel right taking photos at church, so it was kind of fun to try to take "stealth" photos during our annual congregational meeting tonight.

At left is the awesome stained glass window that just got more and more pretty as the sun set.

In the middle is "the meeting of the minds". Church president Norm, Pastor John, and Bruce were having a pow-wow after counting up people present. We need 100 for a quorum, and had 110, whew. Bruce just has to be in the middle of the action. He's not good at sitting still.

At right is Dennis, our first service music leader, getting ready to open the meeting with a song.

Some information I got out of the meeting:
Our first service attendance averages 190. Church membership is 630.
Last year we opened the church to 14 weddings and 29 funerals. As a large and historic 85 year old building, it is popular for both.
The senior adult ministry hosted 22 events last year. 156 different people attended during the year, and total attendance was 748.
I don't track that for my family age ministry events, but we certainly can't match that. I was impressed.

05-06-08

My home to do list has 29 items on it this week. Plus two items from last week that did not get done (hate that!). But, only one item HAS to be done today. The world will not stop spinning if I don't get my nails painted or don't find a sub to teach Sunday School for me Memorial Day weekend, but we must have something to bring to the church potluck tomorrow night!

Bruce does the cooking, but at some point I was put in charge for preparing food that is not consumed on our property. Potlucks, dinner parties, baked items. I'm getting off easy, I can't complain. And it lets me try out recipes that the family won't like.

Normally I bring devilled eggs to church potlucks, that is my thing. And they are always gone by the time I get through the line. But the kids have been begging for pinwheels, so I broke tradition this month. And, hey, they are even easier than devilled eggs!

I'm so proud of myself, I didn't eat any of the ugly ends that I cut off. I plan to avoid the dessert table tomorrow night too...

“We use food, in every situation. When we're happy, sad, lonely. At my church, nobody would think to bring a bottle of vodka, but food? Food is a legalized drug. It's an epidemic.”
Janice Jazvinski

05-05-08

I was on a long conference call this afternoon wondering if anyone would notice if I started taking self portraits at my desk, when my WorkPace break kicked on.

WorkPace is a huge part of my work life, so thought it was worthy of notice.

WorkPace is a software to help improve ergonomics. Safety is VERY important at work, and as an office worker, my two biggest risk areas are driving and soft tissue issues. The software is mandatory in the corporate region, but I put it on my computer voluntarily. I don't want carpel tunnel surgery or the first record able incident my workgroup would have in many years.

Normally it is just the little rectangle at the bottom right of my screen. But when I key for 5 1/2 minutes continuously, it forces a 15 second mini break. When I accumulate 55 minutes of keying without a sufficient break, it forces a 7 minute break. With stretches and exercises. I am completely locked out of computer use during these breaks (unless I postpone them), it is a wee bit maddening. When I accumulate 6 hours of keying in day (which is any day that I don't have meetings), it gets quite insistent about logging off the computer. My yellow happy face turns colors and gets less happy until it has a deep furrowed brow. Sometimes it is easier to just go home earlier than I had planned than to deal with the increasing interruptions. Which is the point.

WorkPace also keeps track of some cool stats. Today I used my left hand for 3400 strokes and my right for 7400. I clicked the mouse 4000 times (with my left hand, I retrained myself a few years back). I used Word for 16 minutes and Excel for 3 hours.

Cool, eh?

"Big Brother is watching you." - George Orwell

05-04-08

When I posted on Friday that I had no plans this weekend, it was an error. We had just not flipped our calendar to May yet. Oops!

I think Bruce was hoping I'd forget that I had bought tickets to a play today. And the weather was so gorgeous, it was hard to head indoors right smack in the middle of the afternoon.

But, we were a part of history today. We saw the very last performance at the Pepper Theater, a small little theater in the round attached to the Columbia Theater here in Longview. It only seats about 100, it is a very intimate stage. When I heard that it would be demolished to make way for upgrades to the main theater, I knew I wanted to visit "one last time".

To add salt to Bruce's wound, it was a musical. Spitfire Grill.

“Nothing in life is fun for the whole family.”

05-03-08

Happy National Scrapbook Day! Did you crop today? I did. What else am I supposed to do with all these photos?!?

It's Saturday and it's soccer season, so we were on the field again this morning.

In the rain.
On a huge field.
With only five players present ten minutes before the game started.
Playing against a team with some much older boys.

But team Carrot prevailed, winning 2-0. Alexander is still trying out different positions, but defender seems to be a good fit.

“Orange is the happiest color.”
Frank Sinatra

05-02-08

Happy Friday!

With the weather improving, we've been heading to the neighborhood park more. The guys practice soccer moves, Anastasia does gymnastics on the swing, and I wish it was just a tad warmer and often find myself watching from the warm car.

I like this photo because it seems so carefree, and that's how I feel with a unstructured weekend stretching before me.

“The world is a playground, and life is pushing my swing.”
Natalie Kocsis

05-01-08

Gotta get to bed (work tomorrow), but we went to Clackamas tonight for a concert. Superchick was the feature band (the Cross the Line tour), but four other Christian bands performed. Starlit Platoon, Britt Nicole, KJ-52, and Disciple.

Xander says he doesn't like the concerts I drag him to, but I think we all had a good time at this one. Some of the songs were a bit loud, but several we knew from listening to WAY-FM, and that makes it a lot more fun.

I didn't quite realize how much the 80's were back in style until seeing the performers tonight. Doesn't she look like Madonna?

Anastasia got a concert shirt that says "I need that boy like a bowling ball dropped on my head", from a Superchick song.