Johnsons' Journey

Well, what do you know… I am now 39 years old… Only one year left until the dreaded FOUR-OH … OMWord, I so don’t want to turn 40. I really, really, really, really, really, really don’t want to turn 40. It makes my stomach upset just to think about it. *lol*

Despite the fact that I am teetering on the top of the hill, I still managed to have a good weekend.

On Saturday we of course went to the bowling alley for the boys’ league. It was a position round, and their team won 2 out of the 3 games… They could have won all three, but their team-mate, Marshall, was having a REALLY had day. On the game they lost, Marshall only got a 50 (his average is 89). If he had played as well as he normally does, they for sure would have won all three.

Jared and Josh, on the other hand, both bowled really well. I think Jared is out of his slump, much to his happiness. In fact, while he still didn’t beat his top game of 170, he managed to beat his top series (the total of all 3 games together). His top series was 342, but on Saturday he bowled a 390… He also got his first turkey (3 strikes in a row), but sadly it was during practice, so it didn’t count. *lol* Poor Jared! … He almost got a hambone (4 strikes in a row), but he only got 9 down on the 4th one… One pin shy. *lol*

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I can’t believe I haven’t posted on here since Monday… Shame on me! I am getting to be a lazy blogger… Which is something I don’t want to happen! *sigh* … Must get better… I must!

My main problem is that Blurb book I am making, from old blog posts. I would really like to get it done by the end of the month, so that I can buy it with tax returns. Yesterday I got up to page 240, and am up to mid May 1999 … It was then that I noticed a problem…

You see, I started the book a few months ago and got up to page 107, and then stopped working on it until a couple 2-3 weeks ago. Well… I accidently changed the font size, and didn’t notice until last night. *sigh* … I am using Tahoma, and I was using size 10 for the journaling, with size 12 for the titles. I am now making the titles size 10 and making the journaling a size 9… Gah! … I am SO MAD at myself!… I am OCD enough that the change in font size would drive me batty… But do you know how much work it would be to change all the font sizes, and have to reline up pictures to match the journaling. *sigh* … Not to mention that on this old laptop, the Blurb program takes up too much memory and is really sluggish.

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If you happen to find January, can you let me know… Because I don’t know where the heck it went! *lol*

Anyhoo…

I know a lot of you are on facebook, so I am sorry for repeat information. I just need to record things here too, for posterity. *lol* … This journal of our lives together, and family updates, are a gift for my children. No matter how into facebook I get, I don’t want to skip things here. You know?

Sooo… Here’s what’s been going on since I last wrote.

Jim and the Kids

First off, about Joe’s dad, Jim… Last Thursday he went into Kaiser hospital to have some routine blood tests taken (he has diabetes and high blood pressure). After having the blood tests taken, he decied to go get his blood pressure taken (completely his own idea). When the nurse took it, she discovered that his heart rate was at 130… According to Jim, I guess they want your blood pressure to be between 60 and 100, but they prefer it to be closer to 60. So they had him go to the emergency room… They wouldn’t even let him walk there; he had to take some kind of shuttle or something between the buildings.

Once they were in the ER, they did some tests… I think they did an ultrasound (and maybe an x-ray), and some other test (possibly an EKG???), and then they addmitted him so they could moniter his heart while they tried to bring his heart rate back down… I guess the lower chambers of his heart were fine, but the upper ones were working overtime. They were going to do a stress test on Friday morning, but then they canceled it because they decided that his heart had had enough stress, and should take anymore.

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I couldn’t think of an interesting title… So there you go! *lol*

I hope everyone is having a decent sort of week. Ours is going well.

Jared and Josh playing basketball

The boys have been enjoying the fact that it’s starting to stay light out a little longer during the day. For the last week or so it’s been staying light until 5:30-ish, so they’ve been able to stay outside a little longer… Jared and Josh have been playing basketball at the little court we have here in the subdivision (that everyone can use). They’ve been meeting up with some other boys their age (from around the neighborhood), and have been having lots of fun…

I am glad because they are getting some exercise in… Now that they have outgrown toys (Jared never plays with toys anymore, and while Josh does sometimes, it’s getting less and less), I am glad that they’ve found something that they can do that doesn’t involve a computer or video game. *lol* … They even go out after it’s rained, even though the ground is still wet… Then they get all dirty from the wet, dirty basketball. … Oh well, as long as they are having fun and making friends.

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Hope everyone had a decent sort of weekend… Ours went by pretty fast. I can’t believe it’s Monday again.

We took the kids to the bowling alley on Friday… We usually go to the cosmic bowl, so we know they play the music extra loud… But this time… OH MY WORD. I’m surprised that I didn’t come out of there with a migraine! It was awful! … And I wouldn’t even call it music. It was this awful hard rock junk. (I like it better when they play the stuff from the 80s… Though I would prefer country…)

Amanda loses her 3rd tooth...

While we were eating at the bowling alley Amanda lost her 3rd loose tooth. I didn’t even know it was that loose. I got to looking, and she has another one that is quite loose too, so it won’t be too long before she loses that one too.

Remember how Josh went through a 2-3 week time period where he wasn’t bowling well… Well, it seems to be Jared’s turn… Only he doesn’t take it as well as Josh does. Josh is more like Joe, and stuff just sort of rolls off his back, and he can remain OK with it… Jared is more like me, and he takes it to heart. He has been very upset with himself over his below average games. Poor Jared! … When Josh was going through it, RC mentioned that with her, she always got a little worse for a bit before she improved, and sure enough that’s what happened with Josh. He is now bowling better than ever. I keep telling Jared that soon he’ll be bowling better than ever too.

Speaking of Josh and bowling, Josh bowled his best game and series ever on Saturday. He bowled a 140 game, and his series (of the 3 games on Saturday), he bowled a 382… Which beats both Jared and Joe’s top series. (Jared’s top series is 342, and Joe’s is 352… Jared still wins for top game though, with his 170… Joe’s top game is 156.)

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Not much going on around here… There never is mid-week. Joe does his work thing, and we do the homeschool/housework thing… It may be very boring to blog about, but it makes us happy, and that’s what’s important, right? … So here we are, just another day in our paradise.

Joe and I are thinking of switching churches… We’ve been going to this big church in town off and on since summer (when Joe’s work schedule allows us to), but Joe is not happy there… The services are great. The pastor does excellent sermons, and I love the music… But so far NO ONE has introdused themselves to us. (We’ve never even met the pastor.) … The kids like it there, but we need to ALL feel comfortable there.

There used to be a Baptist church in town, but we noticed that the sign in front has changed. It now says “Grace Church”… I tried looking up their website, to see if the doctrine is sound, but their website is pretty… Ummm… Uncomplete. *lol* … Has anyone heard of a Grace Church before? Do you know about the doctrine…

… You know… I think my parents were married in a Grace Church in San Luis Obispo, and that our family was going there when I was born… I wonder if it’s the same type of church???

Before I go, I just wanted to give a quick shoutout for cigars online … Got a new baby in the future, and need to pass some out? Check them out…

The kids and I have been bad the last week or so… I guess we got spoiled by getting to sleep in those 3 weeks while we were on Christmas Vacation, and now we can’t seem to get ourselves up out of bed at a decent time. *lol* … So we’ve been getting a late start on our lessons all week long…

Part of me says, who cares? We’re getting school done, and the chores done, and that’s what matters, right? … Another part of me doesn’t like getting done with school later in the day… I feel like we’re behind or something. Maybe it’s the OCD in me that feels like we should be on a schedule, and if we’re not, we’re “bad” … But the lazy part of me wants to stay in bed an extra hour (OK, sometimes even 2 hours *lol*) … Gah! What to do!

Not much else going on… The girls had their ballet/art classes last night… I had a killer headache (like usual), so Joe said he would take them… This is big, because he HATES sitting in there with the other moms, waiting for class to be done. *lol* Poor Joe! … I am thankful he did it, though now he says I owe him big. *lol*

Yesterday was the cat’s birthday too… Our little Buddy is a year old now. The kids gave him (and Cuddles, to be fair) some soft cat food as a birthday treat (they usually only eat hard cat food), and sang him Happy Birthday. While the kids were singing, he looked at them like they were all off their rockers, and tried to squirm out of Josh’s arms… But then he happily accepted the treat (once Jared blew out the birthday candle and removed it from the food… He was a bit scared of that candle *rofl*).

Before I go, I just wanted to give a quick shout out for weight loss supplements… Something I really need to look into!

From yesterday:

Jared: “Male lions are really lazy. You’d think that they would do the hunting, but they don’t. The females do.”
Mom: “Ya, they stay back with the cubs.”
Jared: “And they get to eat first!!”
Mom: “Doesn’t seem fair, does it?”
Jared: “It reminds me of Grandma and Grandpa.”

If you knew Joe’s parents, you would know why I find this so funny! … Joe’s Dad does NOTHING around the house, while his mom works her fingers to the bone… When it’s time to eat, he goes and parks his butt at the table while Elvina fills his plate and brings it to him. She will then make her own… And if he wants seconds, she gets that too.

I know some people will say that it’s a woman’s place to wait on him hand and foot, but I say that they are both adults, and in an equal relationship… He has two good legs, and he can fill his own plate… And maybe even help her out in the kitchen every once in a while…

Just my opinion…

Before I go, just wanted to give a quick shout out for admin jobs… I wonder if they have any work at home type jobs?

Yesterday afternoon the boys’ friend, Hunter, came over to ask if the boys could play, so out they went… They were outside for quite a while, and when they came back, they were wet and muddy. *lol* …

There is a community basketball court and also a field that everyone in the subdivision can use. Well I guess the boys and Hunter met up with a couple boys (Nathan and Jonathan) in the field and played some touch football. This is the first time the boys have played football. Sounds like they had fun, though it also sounds like the game got a little silly toward the end. *lol* … Sounds like people were hiding footballs in shirts, and all sorts of weird things… I’m glad they had fun, and I am thankful for Spray and Wash.

Speaking of football, I found out that the Superbowl is on my birthday… Now THAT’S a bummer. … I, for one, hate football and never watch any games, including the Superbowl… I had been hoping to spend the day with Joe and the kids, and have some nice, family time… That’s not going to happen now!

Anyway, I for sure don’t want to have to listen to the game, so I told Joe that he needed to go somewhere else to watch it, and to take the kids with him… If I can’t have a family day, then I can at least have the day all by myself, right? *lol*

Well, it’s time to start school… But before I go, I just wanted to give a quick shout out for youthology … You should read their reviews on different skin care products…

Boy, we’ve been hearing a lot of bad things about our old neighborhood in Portland… And I am really glad that we no longer live there!

We used to live on SE 118th, between Lincoln and Grant… Our section of 118th was not a through street. It started on Grant and ended on Lincoln, and wasn’t very long. There was probably only around 6 houses on each side of the street, and we were almost in the middle…

Anyway, when we first moved into the house in 1995, there was an Asian family living next door… Thier house was a pigsty (at least on the outside), but they were quiet and kept to themselves… But then they moved, and used the house as a rental house… Oh, the people who lived in that house! … No one ever lasted long, and most of the people who lived there, were… well… unsavory… We had druggies living there. We had people who let their kids play football ON THE ROOF… Though I think those kids were removed from their care by the state… It was really unpleasant, and we don’t miss it AT ALL.

Anyway, a while back Joe ran into one of our old neighbors (who lived around the corner, on Grant Street) and he said that one night the police did a night time raid on that house, which by that point was some sort of crack house. I guess they used some kind of sonic boom thingy to disorient whoever was in the house, so that they could arrest them all.

Can you imagine if we had still lived next door? Getting woken up in the middle of the night by that loud boom… I can’t imagine how terrorized the kids would have been!!!!

And, just last week, at the corner of 118th and Lincoln there was a murder.

Oy! … I thank the Lord that we were able to move out when we did, and we’re in a nice, quiet neighborhood now!!!

Well… Before I go, I just wanted to give a quick shout out for the anti aging product… Since I will be 39 in 3 weeks, that’s something I should be looking into!!!!!