A Day in the life....
Friday, December 4, 2009 at 6:16AM 
TOG's stepdad passed away very suddenly last night.
He was a part of our lives for many years and his very best quality in my eyes.... He was wonderful to TOG's mother. Widow and Widower, both of them found in their second marriage the things they had missed out on in their first.
Rest in peace, Grandpa. You did good.
Hug those you love close to you,
Blessings to all,
AG
Thursday, August 6, 2009 at 10:15PM 
We are off to San Diego at 5 am Friday morning.
I feel a little Blue.
We will definitely be Yonder.
AG out!
PS - My apologies... I've been so busy with the new baby and family, working and packing, I've barely had time to bath much less blog. Gah.
family, travel in Grandmothering, family, travel Tuesday, August 4, 2009 at 9:05PM AWW (Almost Wordless Wednesday)
Welcome Benjamin Reed
9.5 pounds
20.5 inches
15.5 inch head
It's a beautiful world with you in it....
Tuesday, July 14, 2009 at 6:15AM So K3 turned 19 yesterday. There were some festivities at the house last night. TOG (The Old Goat) had to work so it was me, the girls, my SIL, and K2's fella.
My Oma left some items at the house for Baby Ben. K1 decided to model them... What do you think?
There is a matching hat....
And some smiling faces...
Okay... enough merriment! Here's K3 pretending she's embarrassed!
Yes... that big smudge is still on my lens. I didn't clean it up...
Here's something else that didn't change....
Nothing. Zip. Nada.
Between 5 hours of meetings, a 2 hour lunch with my boss (which was great!) and birthday shopping and picking Oma and Opa up from the airport and another project I'm working on.... nothing. So tonight is going to be crazy busy with packing and laundry because tomorrow night, The Baroness flies in and we're going to the pub to meet iMom for dinner. Woot!
Just to end on a high note... I've been meaning to show you these for a couple days... Have a look at this!
I love these... I had them at the old house and I found the bulbs again this year...
Now if only I had iMom's macro lens, I'd be set! I really need to clean the dog slobber off the lens...
Have a great day!
AG out!
Ben, brithdays, family, flowers in Modern life, family, special occasions Saturday, July 11, 2009 at 7:06AM 
This is K3, our youngest. She's going out the door to spend the night at her best friend's house.
One of the things that I cherish most about K3 is her youthful, innocent outlook on life, due mostly to her disability. This picture could easily be attributed to someone at 10 or 12. K3 will be 19 on Monday and her excitement on going to spend the night with her friend transcends her calendar age. I will admit that most 19 year olds do not require their mom to double check that they've packed underwear and a toothbrush along with the video games and comic books... but that's all part of the joy of K3.
Incidentally, that wolf under her arm... TOG (The Old Goat, my beloved husband lo these many years) took her to the zoo for her birthday this week. They always do something together for her birthday. She would prefer that I did not attend and that's okay. Anyway, she will not let go of this wolf except to eat and shower. It's adorable.
I tell you all this because as I took this picture I was contemplating that perhaps some might view K3's exuberance at spending the night with her friend as perhaps a tad age inappropriate. Not that I would give a fig what anyone else thought of my darling girl, but the thought did rattle around in my brain pan momentarily.
And then I had an epiphany. These are few and far between for me... so bear with me.
I could not help but note the similarities between K3's excitement at spending the night with her friends and my own anticipation of going to Blog Fest to see my friends. Granted, I'm not taking comic books and video games, but the adult equivalent of camera and laptop!
I therefore submit that the tug and pull of the sleepover is ageless and timeless. Who doesn't want to get together with their friends and stay up too late and giggle and hug and embrace their inner child.
I went a little further in my observations to note that men do it too. Sorry TOG but its oh so true! They just call it a fishing trip. But the same rules apply. Stay up too late, tell stories, laugh, drink too much beer and take pictures at three in the morning to show everyone how light it stays up in Alaska.
I rest my case!
See you at Blog Fest!
AG out!
Blog Fest, family, love of a lifetime in Modern life, aging gracefully, family Saturday, July 4, 2009 at 8:59AM I have to start out by saying it is NEVER nice here on the 4th of July. Most Seattlites would agree the good weather doesn't rear it's head until after the festivities and fireworks. Usually 'cloud cover' and 'scattered showers' are our by-words for the day. Thus, the fact that it's been in the 80's most of the week is startling, let alone the predicted mid to upper 80's today. We're having to dig out shorts and tank tops!
TOG is back from Alaska and caught many, many fish. He was very surprised when he saw what we did while he was vacationing! The girls and I stained our cedar fence! It took us three days as we did it by hand (no sprayer)! Unfortunately TOG worked a 12 hour shift last night and is now sleeping, so we haven't been able to enjoy his return as much as we would like.
K3 and I and the Brute Squad are heading out to the island to see Dad and other members of the family for our traditional grill fest! I anticipate it will be about 90 at the island but hopefully there will be a breeze. We're having a fireworks free fourth (which makes the asthma happy). We don't do fireworks out on the island and you can't see any fireworks from Dad's house. But if I drive home late enough I should see some as I pass Olympia and Tacoma.
Oh, and a shout out to my "neighbors" in the apartments behind us... I'm really enjoying the M80 firecracker festivities this last week. I had forgotten the traditional "illegal fireworks sneak attack" that leads up to the 4th. The ones y'all set off at 3:30 this morning were very loud indeed! Kudos! The Brute Squad is particularly fond of the multiple launch sequences. I think Fiona must have been in 'Nam as she appears to be reliving some sort of traumatic incendiary rocket attack. Good thing she is unarmed!
Here's hoping that your 4th of July is all that! Enjoy... oh and lets be safe out there!
AG out!
brute squad, family, hot weather in Modern life, special occasions Tuesday, June 23, 2009 at 6:46AM I've put it up and taken it down three times this morning....
I had photos published in a national disability magazine. I have the center spread. I submitted 18 and they published 12. I even got the cover.
I can't show you a single photo. Even though I took them, the releases only cover use for the agency not personal use.
Ethically, I can't post them.
So I'll show you this instead....
A very pregnant K1 showing how she's going to punch her husband (SIL) during delivery. Poor guy. I think he just realized his predicament!
AG out!
Ben, family, photography in family, humor, photography Saturday, June 20, 2009 at 7:13AM So yeah... I finally did some selecting and editing of all the pictures we took. Here is the deluxe long play version...
At K3's high school, you can march with whomever you want to. It's kind of chaotic because these huge groups of friends march in together... so although it's fun, you don't know where your child will be because it's all mish mashed. So here's where they came marching into the stadium and TOG and I finally saw K3.
[This is out of focus as both TOG and I were pretty weepy. I just need to take a moment and say that it wasn't just because she is our baby. When we look back at the dark days of her early childhood and the therapies and all the people in the district who told us she was retarded and to let go of acedemics... there were many difficult moments for TOG and I where we didn't believe this day would ever come. Thankfully, K3 was oblivious to all that and we just kept working the system and listening to her specialists and advocating for her....then the day comes... and wow... I think I cried all day. I'm still crying as I write this... *tissue, blot, dab* Asthmagirl composes herself.]
Okay... god knows who she is waving at... she is still looking for us. The gentleman holding her arm has been one of her dearest friends since middle school. He has his own disability and they have argued with each other and comforted each other since day one.
Here's a better shot of them. I'm so glad they walked together!
Still doesn't see us....
Now she sees us (blurry again... sorry!)
Now everyone speaks... blah, blah, opportunity, blah, new world, blah, advice, blah...
Then the kids line up to get their "diploma". The case is blank and the actual diploma is mailed out
They each carry a piece of paper which has their name as they want it to be announced.
"K3, K3, K3" (she even used her middle name!)
She had strict instructions to turn and look at mama so we could get a good picture of her!
Who's happy?
"Hi mom!"
After the ceremony she found her dad....
And her sister (K2/Girlfriend)
And posed for pictures with her Oma and Opa (my dad and beloved step mom!)
Even Dad and Mom (who's probably never taken a worse picture)
So there you are, the whole ceremony, judiciously edited by yours truly. Sorry about the blah, blah, blah thing there in the middle.
AG out!
celebration, family, graduation in family, special occasions Wednesday, June 17, 2009 at 6:12AM 
With father's day coming up (and lots of grad stuff between now and then) I wanted to take a few moments to share some insights on my dad. Last year, I wrote about all the things he taught me and how he did his best with what he had. This year I thought we'd touch on a snapshot of Dad from about 1995, when TOG and I bought our first house... This will explain, as nothing else could, what a great guy he really is.
It all started with Dad pushing us to buy a house. We didn't think we were ready but he encouraged us to start the process anyway. We spent months finding one we thought we could afford, made the offer and finally closed on the house. Dad was so excited... he couldn't wait to help us move!
The night before the move, TOG and I wanted to drop a few things off at the house... paper towels, cleaning stuff, snacks and juice... just to get ready. It's completely dark and as we pulled up, we thought we saw a light in the backyard. Then it was gone. Then it came back. Weird. We quietly walk around around the side and stopped, slack jawed.
There's a construction truck on our patio. My sister in law is on the patio looking up the ladder at a guy on our roof (her husband) with a saw who has just finished cutting a hole out over the kitchen! We were stunned! What the...
As it turns out, Dad was so excited for us, when I told him that the kitchen cabinets were really dark, he thought he'd lighten the place up by having my SIL and her husband install a skylight in the kitchen! Surprise!
Dad remained sky high for months after that. I didn't really see the pattern when he showed up after dinner one night at dusk with a huge box of electrical wire and some lighting fixtures. Oh... that was the night that TOG and I helped him to install recessed lighting in our living room. I'd told him that there were no lights in there and apparently, he registered it as a call to action!
Even then, I didn't fully see the path he was on with this. I really thought his interest would subside after a while. Then the plum tree incident happened.
While at our house, Dad... the master gardener... had been talking with TOG about our front yard. TOG had mentioned that he hated this huge 20 foot shrub in our front yard. Dad agreed. Too big, blocked the light, yada, yada... end of conversation. A few weeks later Dad pulls up in our driveway on my day off. I think nothing of the tree in the back of his truck because he's always buying trees. He leads me out to the truck and starts unloading the tree, telling me what a unique plum tree it is and how beautiful, etc... etc. Then he backs his truck up to the big shrub and hooks a chain around it. Bam! Jerks the giant shrub out of the ground! It looks like the thing exploded! There's bark and leaves and roots and dirt everywhere... all over the street, all over the driveway and into our back yard, where Dad drags it for TOG and I to cut up later. Then he goes over and plants the plum tree in the enormous hole where the shrub had been. All the while, I'm trying to think how TOG might not notice the trail of desecration when he comes home from work...
He noticed. He was a little peeved because he wanted to decide what to do with that corner of the yard. So I talked to Dad and told him that TOG and I had decided to slow down on making changes to the house and yard and that we wanted to come up with a plan. Oh, no problem... he understood. He agreed.... make a plan!
That was a few days before he showed up with the apple tree. He'd noticed that we didn't have an apple tree. Everyone needs an apple tree. Where did I want it? Back by the garage?
I'm weak. I let him plant it. He was so excited.
Then I called my step mom and told her that he needed to stop. That his rehab of our house was emasculating my husband... and causing a wee bit of tension. You'd have to know my step mom, but lets just say she was horrified that Dad was the cause of tension.
"But he said you liked the plum tree..."
"Well yeah. It's great.... But I think TOG wanted to pick out his own tree... and maybe he wouldn't have planted it there..."
"Can't you tell your dad?"
"I tried. I think he needs to hear it from you..."
"Oh dear..."
Well, Dad got the message. I didn't hear from him for a week or so. Then he dropped by to take me out to look at tile... he wanted to start remodeling the kitchen.
He's toned things down somewhat since then. He's dying to come over and put drip irrigation in our back yard, but so far I haven't said yes. Oh... and last year he wanted to tear out our lawn and lay sod. TOG said no.
That's my dad.... He's all about "helping". You just have to love him!
AG out!
Friday, June 5, 2009 at 6:19AM I love my aunt. She's actually married to my mom's brother, and happily that makes her my aunt. She's a special person and has a way of touching the lives of those around her. She's one of those people that gathers folks close and doesn't let anyone disappear from her life. She'll track you down... she's a caretaker. I can't think of a single person that knows her that doesn't adore her. She has one of the best laughs you've ever heard! And she's a great cook... although she didn't start out that way and has the stories to prove it!
On the flip side, she's got far worse asthma than me. She's steroid dependent and even worse, allergic to almost everything. On top of that, she survived breast cancer three years ago... with more humor and strength than I ever could.
The picture below is from 1965 when she and my Uncle Bill drove to Alaska to see us.
Aunt Carla is a whiz at family history and occasionally sends me items of interest. A week or so ago, they found the death certificate for one of my Great Grandmothers on my mom's side. Unlike Aunt Carla, she did not survive her breast cancer.
Hopefull you can make out what it says. I didn't know my Great Grandma Clara, but I don't imagine the breast amputation done in 1928 was all that great. Ironically, I have a great grandma on my dad's side that went through the same procedure. I don't think she survived her cancer either.
It's not that I'm being morbid, but with everything we hear about breast cancer and all the diagnostic techniques available, it just makes me sad that we're still losing so many women to it. And I just want to take a moment to be grateful that it didn't take my aunt.
She's one in a million!
AG out!
