If you are ever asked if you like St. Augustine grass, please if you ever did like me.....say NO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!I am fully convinced that where Sam Houston and Davy Crockett messed up at the Alamo was they did not plant St. Augustine grass for Santa Anna to mow thru to get to the Alamo...HE WOULD HAVE NEVER GOT THERE. The stuff is deeper than the tundra in Alaska and never stops growing. I cut grass every day and rake twice a day.
I have found it is easier to stand at the corner of the house with new eave bulbs and wait for the grass to lift me up that high than to get out a ladder. I fell the other day and bounced s0 high that Home Land Security investigated me. Did you know that ST. Aug. is the only natural life that can defeat Kudzue!!!!!!!!!it is rumored that it took over a town in Florida and would not leave until the mayor changed the name of the city.
St. Augustine was not in the "Garden of Eden"...and it is fire-proof...does that give you a clue who made it? Sorry, I hear the yard calling and I got to go when it calls..........................................would you just like a trim???rv
Tuesday, June 26, 2007
Thursday, June 21, 2007
A Day at Sunny Glen Part I
Do you think that we have dropped off the face of the earth? Almost, not quite! I've had busy times in my life but this tops them all. If we survive the summer, fall should be a breeze. As in any new job, there's lots of orientation and we still are working on state regs but, I think we might have checked them all off last night when we did an online course about "consenters/assent policies". Only our government could come up with a 45 minute program to tell you that children have a right to understand their medical treatment. Enough political commentary.
How about a day in the life of Ray and Nancy:
7:30 Time to greet the day. Make some coffee. Start pulling out cereal, bowls, cutting up fruit, making toast. If my early bird girl should not be up, I empty the d/w (we run it twice during the day - no paper plates). One of our girls likes to get up early so I told her if she would like to empty the d/w that could be one of our chores. The next morning I hear dishes rattling at 6:15. Quickly, I sent her back to bed till 7:30.
Officially, the girls can sleep till 8:00 - 8:30 and breakfast is not scheduled till 8:30 - 9:00. Now all but my teens (3) and one of my younger girls will be sitting at the counter by 8:00. I've tried in vain to convince the teens that this is a pretty generous schedule. The general population would love to sleep till 8:30. That I'm enjoying staying in bed till 7:30. Some things we just can't appreciate till we no longer have them.
8:00 -9:00 We serve breakfast and lunch at the counter. Our kitchen is large with the double counter down one side. Six girls can sit at the counter
and we can work in front of them. I find this gives me control of what they are eating and keeps down waste. Two things I quickly confiscated were the sugar bowl and the salt shaker...they were salting potato chips, well, maybe they had not gone that far...but salt on carrots?? They ask occasionally for salt, but seem to have accepted this.
I work on the chore list for the day. This summer I've decided to rotate assignments daily so all can participate in every job. After breakfast, rooms cleaned, bathrooms cleaned, teeth brushed, they start household chores. Their favorite chore is meal prep. They love to be in the kitchen with Ray actually participating in fixing their food and isn't it amazing how much more willing they are to try new foods if they have assisted in the preparation. We underestimate what children can do. I've demonstrated all the household tasks and they do an excellent job when they want to. Actually, our best bed maker is my youngest.
While, breakfast is progressing, Ray is working on the menu for the day. Starting whatever needs prepping. If it is Monday or Thursday, we are putting together our grocery list. That is one of the greatest fringes of this job, that I don't have to go into a grocery store!!!!!! Unless, you count our commissary which is the size of a 2 -3 car garage. I actually enjoy going down there. That's where we pick up our groceries. They are all bagged with our name on them. The frozen things are in the walk-in freezer and the refrigerator items are in the walk-in cooler. The commissary has our staples: flours, sugars, canned goods, boxed items, bacon, eggs, cheeses, toiletries, cleaning supplies, paper products, etc. Our grocery list is produce, meat, breads, dairy and misc. odd items.
I check daily schedules. The first week we were here with the girls there were 13 appointments on our calendar. This did not count 3 days of VBS for the younger children and 5 days of church work camp for the teens. I did right well, I only missed two of them. One was on campus and they called me to send the child and the other I had taken the children off campus and we missed it. These appointments are doctors, dentists, vision care, counseling, tutoring, and family visits. Ray and I do not have to do all the transporting. There are a couple of people on campus whose job descriptions are gopher who help out in this. Also, the houseparents do some hook-ups. The good news is that the office gives us our schedules for the week with the designated drivers, so we don't have to spend time working on it.
Got the grocery list done. Checked the schedule. No one has to be ready for anything until 10:00 so, I will start a load of laundry. We have 2 mammoth washers and dryers. The girls all have laundry hampers, so I do one girl at a time. Figuring whose clothes are whose could be a full time detective job. We have a lot of, "she's got on my shorts." Why do you have on her shorts? "She gave them to me." Why are you telling me that she has on your shorts if you gave them to her? "I only loaned them, I want them back." One of the rules we were told to enforce was no swapping clothes. My thoughts were what harm could that be? HA! NO SWAPPING CLOTHES, NO BORROWING CLOTHES, NO GIVING CLOTHES AWAY WITHOUT GOING THROUGH ME!!!!
Laundry's started. I will walk up to the office to take the grocery list and my bills that need to go out. We have a mail basket there where we pick up our incoming mail and accounting misc. Now I will walk to the Learning Center to our other mail drop. This has to do with schedules and clinical/academic info about the girls. Back to the house.
Shoo the laggers away from the counter. Some would love to sit and eat all day long. Check to see that everyone is engaged in taking care of their rooms, dressing, teeth brushing, etc.
Now I've sat too long. We don't have anything too pressing this morning and we are experiencing our first rain since we came. So it is overcast and none of the girls are stirring at 8:00...most unusual. I need to pull on some clothes and get in motion. Think I will let sleeping girls stay down for a bit.
More to come. Please continue to pray for us and our work here. Pray for our girls Sandra, Amber, Alexis, Vanessa, Pearl, Jewell, Trinity, Anika, and Aisha. Yes, that's 9 - we have an extra for 3 weeks. They have more struggles and challenges and baggage in their young lives then most of us will have in our entire lifespan. Love to all of you. N
How about a day in the life of Ray and Nancy:
7:30 Time to greet the day. Make some coffee. Start pulling out cereal, bowls, cutting up fruit, making toast. If my early bird girl should not be up, I empty the d/w (we run it twice during the day - no paper plates). One of our girls likes to get up early so I told her if she would like to empty the d/w that could be one of our chores. The next morning I hear dishes rattling at 6:15. Quickly, I sent her back to bed till 7:30.
Officially, the girls can sleep till 8:00 - 8:30 and breakfast is not scheduled till 8:30 - 9:00. Now all but my teens (3) and one of my younger girls will be sitting at the counter by 8:00. I've tried in vain to convince the teens that this is a pretty generous schedule. The general population would love to sleep till 8:30. That I'm enjoying staying in bed till 7:30. Some things we just can't appreciate till we no longer have them.
8:00 -9:00 We serve breakfast and lunch at the counter. Our kitchen is large with the double counter down one side. Six girls can sit at the counter
and we can work in front of them. I find this gives me control of what they are eating and keeps down waste. Two things I quickly confiscated were the sugar bowl and the salt shaker...they were salting potato chips, well, maybe they had not gone that far...but salt on carrots?? They ask occasionally for salt, but seem to have accepted this.
I work on the chore list for the day. This summer I've decided to rotate assignments daily so all can participate in every job. After breakfast, rooms cleaned, bathrooms cleaned, teeth brushed, they start household chores. Their favorite chore is meal prep. They love to be in the kitchen with Ray actually participating in fixing their food and isn't it amazing how much more willing they are to try new foods if they have assisted in the preparation. We underestimate what children can do. I've demonstrated all the household tasks and they do an excellent job when they want to. Actually, our best bed maker is my youngest.
While, breakfast is progressing, Ray is working on the menu for the day. Starting whatever needs prepping. If it is Monday or Thursday, we are putting together our grocery list. That is one of the greatest fringes of this job, that I don't have to go into a grocery store!!!!!! Unless, you count our commissary which is the size of a 2 -3 car garage. I actually enjoy going down there. That's where we pick up our groceries. They are all bagged with our name on them. The frozen things are in the walk-in freezer and the refrigerator items are in the walk-in cooler. The commissary has our staples: flours, sugars, canned goods, boxed items, bacon, eggs, cheeses, toiletries, cleaning supplies, paper products, etc. Our grocery list is produce, meat, breads, dairy and misc. odd items.
I check daily schedules. The first week we were here with the girls there were 13 appointments on our calendar. This did not count 3 days of VBS for the younger children and 5 days of church work camp for the teens. I did right well, I only missed two of them. One was on campus and they called me to send the child and the other I had taken the children off campus and we missed it. These appointments are doctors, dentists, vision care, counseling, tutoring, and family visits. Ray and I do not have to do all the transporting. There are a couple of people on campus whose job descriptions are gopher who help out in this. Also, the houseparents do some hook-ups. The good news is that the office gives us our schedules for the week with the designated drivers, so we don't have to spend time working on it.
Got the grocery list done. Checked the schedule. No one has to be ready for anything until 10:00 so, I will start a load of laundry. We have 2 mammoth washers and dryers. The girls all have laundry hampers, so I do one girl at a time. Figuring whose clothes are whose could be a full time detective job. We have a lot of, "she's got on my shorts." Why do you have on her shorts? "She gave them to me." Why are you telling me that she has on your shorts if you gave them to her? "I only loaned them, I want them back." One of the rules we were told to enforce was no swapping clothes. My thoughts were what harm could that be? HA! NO SWAPPING CLOTHES, NO BORROWING CLOTHES, NO GIVING CLOTHES AWAY WITHOUT GOING THROUGH ME!!!!
Laundry's started. I will walk up to the office to take the grocery list and my bills that need to go out. We have a mail basket there where we pick up our incoming mail and accounting misc. Now I will walk to the Learning Center to our other mail drop. This has to do with schedules and clinical/academic info about the girls. Back to the house.
Shoo the laggers away from the counter. Some would love to sit and eat all day long. Check to see that everyone is engaged in taking care of their rooms, dressing, teeth brushing, etc.
Now I've sat too long. We don't have anything too pressing this morning and we are experiencing our first rain since we came. So it is overcast and none of the girls are stirring at 8:00...most unusual. I need to pull on some clothes and get in motion. Think I will let sleeping girls stay down for a bit.
More to come. Please continue to pray for us and our work here. Pray for our girls Sandra, Amber, Alexis, Vanessa, Pearl, Jewell, Trinity, Anika, and Aisha. Yes, that's 9 - we have an extra for 3 weeks. They have more struggles and challenges and baggage in their young lives then most of us will have in our entire lifespan. Love to all of you. N
Tuesday, June 12, 2007
Setting up life in the Cottage
As Ray alluded to in his last blog, I was awhile agetting here. On Sunday the 3rd Dallas encountered lightning storms and DFW was closed for 2 hours early in the morning. That probably shut down most of the country and made the flight attendants arm up on extra strength Tylenol before they ever left home! In Nashville my flight was only about an hour late leaving. Landing in Dallas with all flights delayed it seemed that I would make my connection. However, we sat on the runway for an hour waiting for our gate. That's when the attendants' Dale Carnegie training went into high gear. Wow! Some folks just don't understand there are some things in life unavoidable and bad weather and late planes are two. Anyway, I missed that flight so had 3 hours and did what I do best - found food and reading material...
I flew into McAllen about 45 minutes from Sunny Glen because I had AA frequent flyer miles. When you all come see us you will fly into Harlingen on SW (unless you have some miles you need to redeem). The Harlingen airport is 10 minutes from us. I rented a car so that Mike could drive back to McAllen on Monday, returning the car and flying off to Nashville. Even with a 45 minute drive it's an easy commute - freeway as they call it all the way. Good thing as Mike drove off on Monday and then called a couple of hours later to let us know that his flight was cancelled (again due to DFW weather). So I hopped back on the freeway and picked him up catching up on all that had happened since we had last seen him. His flight the next morning was uneventful!
"Is she here? Is she her? Oh, Miss Nancy!" were the cries as I came through the door. Then, "where's the man?" The man??? Oh, Mr. Ray, he will be here tomorrow. Busy few hours visiting with Terry and Adrienne (interim houseparents since April - Terry is campus director), seeing the girls' rooms, helping get them packed for their vacation and getting familiar with the house. Terry and Adrienne had planned to take the girls on vacation but due to a sinus infection, Terry was still a bit under the weather. So one of the young couples (part of the office staff) volunteered for the job. It worked well for me to have them for the week...as they were invaluable! Terry has been affiliated with childrens' homes since he was a child and his parents were houseparents and then he and Adrienne worked in that position at another childrens' home before coming to Sunny Glen about 4 years ago.
One of our largest tasks was to go through all the closets/storage and clean out what was unnecessary, unusable, outgrown, etc. etc. See, all my downsizings over the last 2 years are paying off. In a house this size, I don't want as much as a thumbtack that is not useful! This was a vast undertaking and Adrienne was great! She is one of those people who never seems to run down and no job is too big that she won't tackle it! Yes, she's on my speed dial. Actually, she had been working on this since she moved into the house but as you all know it is a continual job and if you ever get behind there seems to be no digging out!
Ray arrived on schedule at noon on Monday. The girls were pulling out as he was pulling in. So he had to wait until late Friday night to see them. We quickly unloaded the truck and got the beds in shape. The week went entirely too quickly, as we needed at least twice the time. In addition to cleaning out and setting our apartment up, we had doctor's appointments, meeting with insurance reps, training sessions, and red cross certifications. Seems like we passed everything.
This posting was not too interesting, so I hope you skimmed it. Maybe tomorrow I will have time to get into the details of this life.
Love you all. N
I flew into McAllen about 45 minutes from Sunny Glen because I had AA frequent flyer miles. When you all come see us you will fly into Harlingen on SW (unless you have some miles you need to redeem). The Harlingen airport is 10 minutes from us. I rented a car so that Mike could drive back to McAllen on Monday, returning the car and flying off to Nashville. Even with a 45 minute drive it's an easy commute - freeway as they call it all the way. Good thing as Mike drove off on Monday and then called a couple of hours later to let us know that his flight was cancelled (again due to DFW weather). So I hopped back on the freeway and picked him up catching up on all that had happened since we had last seen him. His flight the next morning was uneventful!
"Is she here? Is she her? Oh, Miss Nancy!" were the cries as I came through the door. Then, "where's the man?" The man??? Oh, Mr. Ray, he will be here tomorrow. Busy few hours visiting with Terry and Adrienne (interim houseparents since April - Terry is campus director), seeing the girls' rooms, helping get them packed for their vacation and getting familiar with the house. Terry and Adrienne had planned to take the girls on vacation but due to a sinus infection, Terry was still a bit under the weather. So one of the young couples (part of the office staff) volunteered for the job. It worked well for me to have them for the week...as they were invaluable! Terry has been affiliated with childrens' homes since he was a child and his parents were houseparents and then he and Adrienne worked in that position at another childrens' home before coming to Sunny Glen about 4 years ago.
One of our largest tasks was to go through all the closets/storage and clean out what was unnecessary, unusable, outgrown, etc. etc. See, all my downsizings over the last 2 years are paying off. In a house this size, I don't want as much as a thumbtack that is not useful! This was a vast undertaking and Adrienne was great! She is one of those people who never seems to run down and no job is too big that she won't tackle it! Yes, she's on my speed dial. Actually, she had been working on this since she moved into the house but as you all know it is a continual job and if you ever get behind there seems to be no digging out!
Ray arrived on schedule at noon on Monday. The girls were pulling out as he was pulling in. So he had to wait until late Friday night to see them. We quickly unloaded the truck and got the beds in shape. The week went entirely too quickly, as we needed at least twice the time. In addition to cleaning out and setting our apartment up, we had doctor's appointments, meeting with insurance reps, training sessions, and red cross certifications. Seems like we passed everything.
This posting was not too interesting, so I hope you skimmed it. Maybe tomorrow I will have time to get into the details of this life.
Love you all. N
the trip
6/12/07...well you may have wondered where I have been. It has all been a blurr but this story is true. 6/2/07...After the Smith Family reunion and some family hugs at the condo, mixed with some "are you really doing this?"times scrambled with loading the truck...the car dolly "who gets the plants?"mixed with lots and lots of thunder lighting and buckets of rain,a flood soaked tothe bone,last minute pictures, glances of saddness glances of trust, and encouragement. What great children we have!!!THEN..dun dun dun ...a great calm...much like being led out of Egypt, crossing the red sea, and reaching the wilderness. The journey was taken over by "M". I drove out at 5:20 with M as shotgun,singing the songs from"". paint your wagon". Pouring down rain, lots of traffic, it took o0nly nine miles for M to look over at me with his good eye and do his "Clint Eastwood"...pull over...! He drove to Forrest City Ark. Tired but safe and dry.6/3/07...AROSE! A little sunshine! Breakfast @ motel bar free waffles and peanut butter...fuel for the tummy...truck wa blocked...could not get out...had to take the car off the dolly, get truck out put car back on, go to bathroom. Finally, left parking lot @ 8:30...bought gas...called to check on Nancy...flight may be stopped in Dallas ...we could beat her there...10:18 thru Little Rock...11:30stopped at rest area to let nature take its course...Oklona ...getting cloudy agasin...on we go...M...still @ the wheel...sky getting darker...we know not what lies ahead...12:30...Texarkana...sky getting darker..WAIT! Iknow why!!!!!!!!!!12:31...Entered the Great State of TEXAS....more to come...I think I hear the kids...its 4 in the morning...
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