GET UP. GET DRESSED. GET OUT.

2020 is going to be better.

Being a better person.  A better introvert.  A better Grandma. A better friend.  A better volunteer.  A better neighbor.  Better taking care of my health.

I have become very lazy, fat and happy during the past two years.  As always, my weight is too much for my 5' 7" frame and try as I might, I cannot grow any taller.  When I first moved back to Portland, I would get up at 7:30 to take Mr. B to school.  Then 8:00 am after he started taking the bus.  Now it is 9:00 am or even 10:00 on the weekends.

Because I do most of my life on the computer, I don't get dressed til noon (or after) because who knows I'm still in my pajamas and robe.  Step One will be get up at 8:00 am and get dressed. Sounds like a baby step but I think it will get me started to accomplishing more than just reading on the computer (although I have also been listening to books because of the poor eyesight).

I know only 8% of people actually keep their resolutions more than a month or two, so I'm keeping it simple.  Get up.  Get dressed.  Get out.

MERRY CHRISTMAS

NAVIGATING A NEW WLLO PHONE NUMBER

Way back when WLLO was forming, the Chair was far sighted enough to start using Google Voice.  Her adult daughter set it up and WLLO was off!  As I've mentioned before, callers haven't a clue that when they call the "office" that I get an email on my laptop in my home as I'm sipping coffee in my pjs.

The greeting on the phone is way outdated and I have been asking the Chair to have her daughter re-record (and make it briefer).  The daughter is busy going to school full time and raising two small children.  The Chair is equally as busy babysitting said children three days a week and devoting 40+ hours to WLLO and who knows how many hours with her church.

Needless to say, the recording has not been updated.  Noreen (2nd in command) and I approached our technology team and after much research, we have to get an entirely new phone number.  The old number cannot "forward" calls for more than a month.  The password to the old number has been lost and the number is tied to the Chair's daughter's cell phone.

Lots of emailing back and forth and finally, at Tuesday's WLLO Council meeting, I asked WHEN we were going to transition.  Membership Team has the most work ... notifying all members, getting new business cards, making new ID badges, reprinting new member packets, etc.  No one volunteered to coordinate this process so I asked Membership to take the lead .... and I volunteered to help.  She agreed!

I made a list of things I could think that had to be done.  I put it on our shared drive so ALL Council members can view and comment.  Membership leader said she would have a timeline for us at the beginning of the week.  It would be GREAT to start at the first of the year but I'm thinking more like the first of February.

The list so far:

Call members

Mail new business cards to members

Email members

Email volunteers

Re-do member information packets

Change our volunteer handbook 

Notify our County contact 

Change our banner, our tablecloth and vertical banner. 

Fix brochures

Change website

Change Facebook

Change newsletter

Notify Villages NW

Notify all Villages

Notify Pamplin media

And look!  I didn't volunteer!  Will assist if needed!

NAUGHTY PARENTS

This year we did not schedule a family ride on the Tinseltown Trolley since they did it last year.  Then, of course, Deacon says it is his FAVORITE memory of Christmas. By the time he talked about it, the only available date/time I could get all four of them together was at 2pm on Friday, December 13.  A school day.

SOOOOOOOoooooo … the parents got a sneaky idea.  They got them up as if they were going to school, drove them PAST the school and gave them the news they were taking the day off to make more Christmas memories!  Kate had wrapped a set of flannel sheets for each of them and had them hidden in the back of the SUV, which started the magical day.

They went to a favorite breakfast joint and were allowed to have hot chocolate.  Kate had to pick up script at Fred Meyer's (Krogers on east coast) and Jesse took the boys shopping for her and Gramma.  Then Kate took them to get something for Dad.  They didn't have time to get a photo with Santa and be back for 2pm for the trolley ride.

The Trolley runs from Lake Oswego to downtown Portland.  It only operates during the summer and as a Christmas Trolley for the holidays.  The Willamette Shore Trolley is operated by the Oregon Electric Railway Historical Society under a contract with the City of Lake Oswego.  It’s about 90 minutes round trip going 5.5 miles to Portland.

It's an interesting ride (a group of adults chartered it once, brought our own boxed lunch and wine) and had a great time.  Tunnels, trestle bridges, right through an upscale neighborhood where you can almost touch the houses.  We went during the Fall and is runs on the west side of the Willamette River through colorful trees.

For Christmas, the City has costumed characters, Santa, cookies, candy canes and more hot chocolate.  Ranger Ben was acting as Santa and both boys know him but we still don't have any non-believers yet.

Everyone was so tired from running around all day, that they postponed Movie Night.  The boys did a little wrapping while I made an easy dinner and all four of them went to bed early. 

Now THIS is a memory!

THE WEEK FROM #@*%

It's always extra busy in December.  After 66 holiday seasons, I realize that.  And I usually catch my Winter cold some time during December.  This year it was before Thanksgiving.  And the coughing has gone on for six weeks.  I was only feeling "sick" for a few days but anytime I would talk, I would have a coughing fit.

On Monday last week, I reserved our large Clubhouse room for a WLLO gingerbread house decorating party.  When I went over to set up I realized the people who had an event the day before did NOT do a good job of cleaning up!  We had to wipe off all six tables and 24 chairs, then vacuum and THEN set up for our event.  Which was fun and creative and I bet we do it again next year!  

My co-host elf had to drive two members home, so I got to clean up all over again.  The vacuum grabbed a piece of our new carpet and it ravelled.  I called Jesse (SIL) and he said there were spots like that all over the whole room ... where ever it had been seamed.  I called the HOA Chair and she came right over.  Just didn't want them to think it was my rowdy decorating bunch!

Wednesday was scheduled to be WLLO Holiday Open House at our large Clubhouse room again.  As I was at Costco the day prior (first time driving more than 3 minutes from home)(TONS of traffic in the rain), I got a few things then had the most delicious sample of Korean beef.  So tender and so flavorful ... and my new crown came off.

My wonderful dentist could not fit me in until 10am the next morning .... and our party was to start at 11:30!  I got my friendly elf the key before I left for tonsil numbing glue in.  While I was brushing and flossing, our dog hopped up onto my (still warm) bed and left an 80 gallon puddle.  ON MY BED!  And my carpet.  I ripped off the bedding and tossed into the washer before heading out to the dentist.

He has RARELY had an accident inside during his 13 years ... let alone ON furniture!  Thank goodness I had a waterproof mattress pad on from when the boys would spend the night.

Noreen got a few others to come in early and by the time I got there, a little after 11am, we already had visitors who were eating!

Fortunately, just as we were thinking we wouldn't have enough appetizers to last til 2:30, more members arrived bearing foods of all kinds.

I was also blessed with many helpers to do clean up!  

During our party, the former-chair-who-still-thinks-she-is-in-charge, came in and asked if we could share the kitchen.  She spur of the moment decided to host lunch for ten workers who are installing ductless hvac.  It wasn't convenient but somehow we all worked around each other.

The final piece of the week (just the first three days, thankfully), was word that one of the four office volunteers doesn't want to take her one day a week volunteer spot.  She didn't enjoy it and was too timid to play around with the software until she got comfortable (which is how I taught myself)  One of the other four of us is the Chair and she is stepping back from WLLO in April.  She has been the driving force to get this Village up and running, volunteering 60 hours a week! Plus babysitting her 4 year old grandaughter three days a week and her older brother after school on those three days.  Another grandchild is due today.

If I start to volunteer for more duties,  PLEASE STOP ME!

CHRISTMAS PAST, CHRISTMAS PRESENT

2014 ... first Christmas with Boy No. 2

Santa and his boys

Mom and Dad take turns moving the elves!

My bedroom door

They captured Lambie!  Deacon's most favorite stuffed animal!

I'm  gonna make these this week!

INTRODUCING OPTHAMOLOGIST #2

On Tuesday I had my first appointment with Dr G, at a whole new group of practitioners.

It was an hour of eye tests and four different kinds of drops before the Dr came in.  He agreed that my new left eye was not functioning as well as expected and even could not be corrected to 20/20 with my new lens.  That's the bad news.  

Apparently I have “dry eye” .  That's the good news. I treat for a month with warm compresses, then cold compresses, eye wash, lubricant drops and medicated ointment at night.  My next appointment is January 13.

Dry eye can change the shape of your eye thus affecting your vision.  Which explains WHY my new eye was deteriorating!  He thinks we caught it early enough.  I've been taking antihistamines for my cold which probably also affected the dry eye.

He said I will probably still need glasses even after next cataract is removed (maybe late March) unless I want laser surgery (not covered by insurance).  His hope is to correct right eye to 20/30 then glasses rather than mess with the cataract free left eye again (which hopefully will also be 20/30). 

Sooooo!  I’ll keep myself on “no driving” until further notice. This will impact a lot of WLLO events (gingerbread day and WLLO Holiday party) as I was giving rides to people who needed them.  And taking the boys shopping for their parents.

I am comfortable driving with one eye just to my local grocery (five blocks) or Starbucks ... with no one in the car.  It makes me anxious to even be with others as I have to close one eye to do ANYTHING!  Even with my current specs. 

This stinks. 

EENY, MEENY, MINEY MOE

I enjoy being alone.  Maybe because I live with four other humans and man's best friend.  Or is it because I'm aging?  Or widowed?  

I have never been good at corporate functions and large cocktail parties because I'm just not interested in chit chat.  I can talk about nothing for a long time, but that's with a buddy or two or my sister.

Some people think there is something "wrong" with people who prefer being less social.  I think I've done my time.  Big family, big entertainer, corporate wife, and world traveler.  Now I enjoy being myself.  My best friend is probably my computer!

I was going to name this blog HERMIT, RECLUSE, INTROVERT but when I looked them up in the dictionary, I'm certainly not a hermit or recluse. 

A recluse is a person who lives in self-imposed isolation or seclusion from the world, especially for religious purposes; A hermit is a religious recluse; someone who lives alone for religious reasons; an eremite.  Certainly not me since I'm rather apathetic about organized religion.  Born Catholic, raised Catholic (all 12 years of uniformed school) and married Catholic.  

I usually think of myself as an introvert.  But even THAT has many meanings.  Introvert - a shy, reticent person.  I've not read the book "Quiet" (Susan Cain 2012) but apparently introverts are multiplying.  I think I am more introverted than before because of all the bad news in the world.  I don't want to watch it.  Not that I don't want to know but I don't need to see the gore and tragedy of an event eight million times.  I keep up with current events (via Facebook friends, digital news and the NY Times).  We do not have live TV in this household. Others feel the same.  So now they are talking about different "shades" of introversion.  

Social: Social introversion is the closest to the commonly held understanding of introversion, in that it's a preference for socializing with small groups instead of large ones. Or sometimes, it's a preference for no group at all — solitude is often preferable for those who score high in social introversion. "They prefer to stay home with a book or a computer, or to stick to small gatherings with close friends, as opposed to attending large parties with many strangers," Cheek said. But it's different from shyness, in that there's no anxiety driving the preference for solitude or small groups. 

Thinking: Thinking introversion is a newer concept. People with high levels of thinking introversion don't share the aversion to social events people usually associate with introversion. Instead, they're introspective, thoughtful, and self-reflective.

Anxious: Unlike social introverts, anxious introverts may seek out solitude because they feel awkward and painfully self-conscious around other people, because they're not very confident in their own social skills. But, often, their anxiety doesn't fade when they're all alone. This kind of introversion is defined by a tendency to ruminate, to turn over and over in their minds the things that might or could or already have gone terribly wrong. 

Restrained: Another word for this one is reserved. Restrained introverts sometimes seem to operate at a slightly slower pace, preferring to think before they speak or act. They also might take a while to get going — they can't, for instance, wake up and immediately spring into action.

I'm a bit of all of these.  Not too much of the anxious part (although both Jesse and Kate have this) but more restrained, small groups and thinking.  And I enjoy it! 

SELL? DONATE? GIVE AWAY?

Donating goods to charity ain't what it used to be.

When I moved back into the condo with the family, the office (Mr. Ralph's pride and joy) was put into storage.  To the right in this photo is my desk that extends at a right angle from the 110" primary wall of professionalism.

I first advertised on Craigslist.  Not one serious nibble.  Then I tried our local Facebook selling pages.  Not one nibble.  Then I put it on my Facebook page .. still nothing.

Next I called around to my favorite charities that have resale shops.  All of them said no, too fancy for their buyers and they couldn't use it as their own office because it might give customers the wrong impression.  I talked to everyone and finally my neighbor at the old house said that they might have room as their last kidlet just left the nest.  I have visiting privileges.  They have quite a few things from the old house so I always feel at home, in more ways than one.

Most charities no longer pick up at your home.  I went through all the same avenues to find a home for a 90" leather Lazy Boy recliner sofa.  No one will accept recliners or sofa beds.   Finally put it in the "free" section of Craigslist and it was gone the next day.  This giant sofa took up half of our tiny living room.

We decided to keep the Relax The Back chairs and footstools from the old "man cave" and put them where the sofa was.  The room seems instantly bigger. We can easily put the footstools on the chairs and the boys have much more room on the floor.

Last but not least ..  the reading chair that was in our office at the old house, then in the master bedroom at the condo ... will be going to Goodwill next week.  It will fit in the van.  (notice the end of my desk to the left.)

Where are needy people when I have things to give away?