Labor Day Weekend - Part 1

I am sure we were to topic of conversation at many dinner tables last night. Imagine a bright yellow Jeep, traveling across Michigan with 4 adults, 1 woman & 3 men - the top is down. All right, let me back up. A day or two before we left, I sent our 2 friends an e-mail with reminders of what to bring on our weekend vacation. One of the reminders was to bring a hat. Don't bring just any hat, you will need a hat that doesn't blow off because Jeep rules are we do not stop and go back to pick up hats. Well the two friends brought stocking caps.

So, back to the story. Front seat is my hubby wearing his Tilly and Tom wearing a bright orange stocking camp. In the back seat is me trying to look normal with my short hair blowing every which was and Steve wearing a maroon stocking cap.

Well, the caps weren't so bad except Steve's kept trying to blow off! So, he used a luggage strap to keep it on - and that was probably the topic of conversation.

I will be looking for a front license plate for the drive home Monday!

100 things that give me joy

Too often we focus on the negative. This past summer, while on vacation, I was awestruck by the ni-Vans in my daughter's village. They have so little yet they are so happy! Makes me wonder what makes us happy. Is it a TV in every room? A new car in the driveway? A boat?

I realize those material things really don't matter if we don't appreciate the little things God gives us. Then, the other day I signed on to one of my favorite sites, swap-bot.com. One of the new swaps is titled "100 Things That Give Me Joy", it is a letter swap. All I have to do is compile a list of things that give me joy, print it and send it to two swap partners. I sat down and started to compile my list, here is a sample, in no particular order:

1. the sound of a cat's purr
2. the dog's tail thumping on the floor
3. watching a sunset
4. watching the sunrise
5 & 6. early morning coffee outside, listening to birds sing
7. a clean house
8. friends
9. family
10. autumn
11. smiles
12. random acts of kindness
13. e-mail
14. fresh veggies
15. fresh fruit
16. riding in the jeep with the top down
17. clean sheets
18. the sound of pages being softly turned
19. the smell of a new book
20. quiet moments
21. baking (but not cleaning up)
22. walking the Mackinac Bridge on Labor day
23. wandering through Arts/Crafts festivals
24. volunteering
25. participating in swaps on Zaar & Swap-bot
26. sewing
27. quilting
28. crocheting
29. reading
30.1st day of school
31. 1st day of summer vacation
32. learning new things
33. vu.org web site
34. drinking fresh coffee
35. chocolate
36. thoughts about my vacation
37. a pedicure
38 a manicure
39. a new hair cut/color
40. watching a sit-com on TV
41. knowing the answers on Jeopardy
42. knowing the answers on Wheel of Fortune
43. spending time on the internet
44. honesty
45. looking at photos
46. going out to eat (not fast food)
47. Barack Obama & Joe Biden as running mates!
48. the smell of freshly mowed lawn (thanks Cheri for the idea!)
49. watching a hummingbird
50. looking at flowers
51. looking at pictures of my vacation
52. walking barefoot through the grass
53. getting surprises in the mail
54. the smell of cookies baking
55. bookstores
56. libraries
57. the giggle of a child
58. the coo of a baby
59. hugs
60. having people read my blog
61. the farmer's market
62. watching the Olympics
63. when justice prevails
64. petting a dog
64. feeding kangaroos
65. holding a koala
66. hearing children say the Pledge of Allegiance
67. wrapping presents
68. butterflies
69. fresh air
70. continental breakfasts
71. fudge
72. friends




To be continued - anything you want to add to the list, please leave comments.

Countdown

Busy, busy, busy....... and it only gets better.

I need to get my life in order. School starts in ten days. When school starts, I go back to work. This has been the best summer and, using some things I learned this summer, I hope this will be the best school/work year too.

I need to get my calendar updated. I've signed up for a bunch of swaps on recipezaar. I mailed my Used Media Package to Hokies Lady. She received it this past week and yesterday I received the one from her - full of fantastic books, magazines, newspaper & cookbooks. I mailed Tink her craft package. After she receives it, I'll post pictures here.

The rest of the swaps & my partners on Zaar are:
Coffee/Tea - Bblondie
F & G - Blue Rose and DuChick
Cookbook - gertc96
I think that's all the swaps - for now - the shoebox swap, mystery swap, crazy mixed-up swap and fall swap are around the corner.

Plus, there's the swaps on swap-bot.com - I ordered my postcards for the Your Own Photo Postcard Swap. They should be here any day. I'm also signed up for the afghan square swap, I need to crochet 6 afghan squares. Then there is the fun, no expense swap - I need to compile a list of "100 Things that give me joy" and send the list to two swap partners.

Perhaps you, my readers, would like to contribute to this list...

The Five Second Rule Does NOT Apply to Surgery

I went to the doctor today for my post surgery check-up. The foot is healing quite well, no swelling. Unfortunately, the 2nd toe is not 100% in the right direction. The doctor taped it to the big toe, we are hoping during the healing process during the next two weeks will train the toe in the right direction. The big toe appears to look good. The doctor gave me permission to start resuming most of my normal activities - within reason. I can't get the foot wet and I still must wear the surgical boot which will restrict me from running any marathons. I've never ran a marathon before, why start now!

I can drive, sew, walk carefully..... I just have to take it easy & know when to rest.

The doctor had me laughing. He told me about dropping the pin on the floor during my surgery. The pin he put in my foot cost more than his fee to do the surgery. He had the pin in the drill and turned to put it in my foot but the pin fell off the drill and onto the floor. He says "Oh, shhhhhh..." The pin had to be tossed and a new pin was placed in my foot. He said "It's too bad the 5 second rule didn't apply!" This doctor has such a wierd sense of humor. I just thankful I was sleeping during the surgery. Nobody wants to hear their doctor swear while performing surgery - almost like hearing oops!

Commercial Messages

And, now for a couple of commercial messages.

The good foot doctor prescribed some pretty powerful pain medication for me. I took it every four hours (well almost) after surgery but the pain wouldn't go away. Last night the pain medication caused me to get sick. Being sick is not fun so I decided I was not going to take that stuff anymore - it didn't seem to be working anyway. I switched to Ibuprofen from my Good Neighbor Pharmacy. This morning I woke up and - poof - the throbbing pain in my foot was gone!

The foot was feeling so good this afternoon I decided to take a quick shower. Hmmm, I am not allowed to get the bandages wet so I used the "Seal-Tight Cast & Bandage Protector" from Brown Medical Industries. It was rather difficult getting the protector over the big boot on my foot but, once it was on, the elastic sealed the protector around my leg. I took a quick shower and feel even better. Of course, standing on my foot (not elevating) has caused a little discomfort. I'll take an Ibuprofen - I'll feel better!

Foot Surgery - part 2

Today is a great day! I woke up around 3 am with minimal throbbing in my foot and major throbbing in my head. I decided not to take the pain medication prescribed by the doctor. Instead, I took two motrin. I fell back asleep, woke around 7 am - feeling great. The only down side of this is now I do not want to sit in a chair with my foot propped up. I know, I know, in order to heal properly I have to stay off the foot. Ugh!

Foot Surgery

Here's a picture of my new shoe. It is so stylish!
Third times a charm - I hope. My third foot surgery was today. My advice for anyone, if you are suffering from foot problems, see a doctor. I think I suffered with foot pain for over 15 years. I probably would not have the problems I've been having if I had seen a doctor sooner. Hopefully the work he did today will take care of my problems. If you look at the picture of my feet on this blog (I think we were at Mt. Coot-tha), you will notice my crooked toes on my right foot.
The toes look like this: \ / | | |.
Now, on a normal foot, all the toes should look like this: | | | | | .
After today all my toes should be facing forward! Let's hope.

Classrooms at Yevali School

School in Vanuatu is quite different from school in America. To begin with, there are no taxes so if a parent wants to send their child to school, they must pay. Therefore, if a parent can't afford tuition, children don't go to school. Education is not a top priority.


The children at Yevali School were so polite and well behaved. I'm sure they can act up but, they know they are there to learn.

We visited in July which is their winter. School was in session almost every day. They get a break around Christmas and through the month of January.

Library

This is the library at Yevali School. I really wanted to stay and straighten the shelves. Many of the books in the library are in English - and very old. I doubt any weeding of the shelves goes on here.

Toothbrushes

Before we left Muskegon, our hygienist gave us 100 toothbrushes for the kids at Yevali School on Epi Island. One morning, Steph and I walked to the school - about a 40 minute walk - to deliver the toothbrushes. The kids all listened to Steph while she gave them a talk-talk about brushing teeth. After we handed out the toothbrushes, every student signed a thank you note. Here's some pictures:




Kindy Students



Grades 1 & 2






Grade 3



Grade 4



Grades 5 & 6






Grade 7




Grade 8




Stephanie in front of her house - THANK YOU TERRY!!!
Translated into Bislama: TANK YU TUMAS!!!

POT OF GOLD UNDER THE RAINBOW

At one point during our visit, Stephanie asked me what my favorite part of Malvasi (the village she is living in) was. Without hesitation my answer was "the people." As you can see from my earlier posts, my pictures while in Vanuatu were mostly people. My second favorite part of Malvasi was the beauty of the area.

When we were swimming in the ocean one afternoon a slight rain started. When I looked up at the sky there was a beautiful rainbow arched completely over Malvasi Village. The rumor that a pot of gold is at the end of the rainbow is false, in Vanuatu, the pot of gold is directly under the rainbow - and this picture is proof.

We are Home Again!

Traveling is fun. We left Vanuatu at 7 am Sunday morning, August 3 and flew to Brisbane. Since Air Pacific canceled out flight directly from Vanuatu to Fiji we had to take the trip back to Brisbane. After the 2 hour, 50 minute flight to Brisbane and a 2 hr 55 minute layover we flew out of Brisbane, back over Vanuatu and arrived 3 hours, 20 minutes later in Nadi, Fiji. We had a 5 hour layover in Fiji. Our flight out of Fiji to Los Angeles left Sunday night at 11:45. This flight took 10 hours, 25 minutes.

Here's the funny part, since we crossed the International Date Line, we arrived in Los Angeles at 1:20 pm - Sunday afternoon - 10 hours, 25 minutes before be left Fiji.

We spent two Sundays this week in airports or in the air! When we finally arrived home, I took and long hot shower and a nice long nap! Vacations are wonderful but there is no place like home.

I'll be posting more pics of the trip to the blog but I am giving serious thought to posting the whole photo journal to a website like Flicker or PhotoBucket. I'll investigate & post here where to find all the pics. For now, I'm going to rest and relax so I can recuperate.