Quack! Quack!

Almost everyone who reads this blog knows that I am a Duck! And that I have a whole family of Ducks! Except for my brother-in-law who is a Beaver. We try not to hold it against him since, it is a family thing too. For those of you who are not following, I am referring to Oregon Football. The Ducks being U of Oregon and the Beavers being Oregon State University.

First of all it is now football season and while for the first time in over 15 years I am not following the scores at all............I am rooting for them.

But I must say that it warms the cockles of my little heart to see my little girl walking around with her favorite lovey. Which is a Duck! And although it is not Donald the true UofO mascot, he was purchased in honor of the Alma Matter. She started carrying him around out of the blue this spring. She really does look like her mommy walking around with curls on her head and a duck in her hand! The boys do like Donald Duck but I think it is for the entertainment value more than the Duck! What can I say, it is a genetic thing. We are all Ducks here!

So in honor of football season which has officially started.... GO DUCKS! QUACK QUACK!

I did it!

I finally sent in my cover letter and resume to a company that hires grant writers. It is a bit more detailed than that, but it sums up things in a nutshell. I got the contact through our friend SB who knows him from the Marina. I have no idea if I am really qualified or if I will even if get an interview or a job. But the point is, I finally sent in a letter and resume. I have not applied for a job in 5 & 1/2 years! I have not held a job in about 2&1/2 and barely count the last one since it was for friends and undefined anyway. So to join the rat race of the millions questing for work and trying to seem intelligent after 2. 5 years of my greatest accomplishment being getting S registered for school and other government issues, is pretty scary. I feel very unqualified for anything above McDonald's and truth be told I think that would worry me too.

But on the other hand, I do have experience, she was very up front about my qualifications and my brain atrophy and he was still interested. I am nervous, excited and curious to see what happens. I will keep everyone posted and let you know what happens.

There is lots to report in other news here in the J5 squad, but I am so tired that I am now typing with only one eye open...................guess it will just have to wait for another opportunity.

So much to say so little time................

So for right now I just want to wish my parents a happy 39th wedding anniversary which was on Sept. 7 and a happy birthday to my dad which was yesterday on Sept. 9. They are currently in Tahoe celebrating. My dad as most people know, is not a couch potato and has quite a spirit of adventure. We thought we had seen it all when he did a swan dive off a house boat in Canada and wound up staying two weeks in Kamaloops courtesy of the local hospital. He arrived home with 12 stitches, a pair of crutches and a lot blood from the kind folks who regularly donate their blood to the Red Cross for just such occasions. He now has a nice scar as a souvenir from their trip. He also has a nice copy of the Darwin Award's courtesy of me as a birthday gift. For anyone who does not know what this book is, it is about stupid people doing stupid things, some surviving and some not, but all got caught in the act be it legal or illegal. Now to be sure that was the topper of all war wounds and I hope it continues to be so, but we are now on to the new adventure. So this year as Dad turns 63 he felt the need to get an ATV. Well all the other kids at school had one......so he got one too. It would seem that while he was out having an adventure that he went over a big hill and proceeded to have said ATV run over him. The man is a medical miracle. Not only did he get up and walk away from this, but my mom was the one who had to cart his very sorry behind in to the ER. And his behind is very sorry. It is now apparently quite bruised to put it delicately. We are grateful that is all he had happen and the staff on hand was of coursed shocked that things were not much worse. So Dad, Happy Birthday, we are very happy to be celebrating your 63rd birthday with you even if we can't be there with you. We hope to see you around next year too!

Love, the J5!

Little Things

Living overseas can be a frustrating deal. Particularly with out good language skills. But every now and then we manage to find nuggets of familiarity. A few months ago we switched to cloth diapers for two reasons. One, the obvious to save money. Two, we were seriously hoping to speed up the potty training process. Y seemed so ready and now.......well we seem to be in a holding pattern. So anyway, last night I went to the store to by diaper cream. We usually use a homeopathic ointment, but we are waiting for the arrival of more from the U.S. And as I am perusing the assorted rows of baby "stuff" what should I find, but good old Johnson and Johnson's baby cream. The same stuff my mother used on us 35 years ago. It is a really minor thing, especially if you don't know the joy of trying to find the right thing to work on your kid, but none the less, it is just one thing that reminds that no matter how different things are here, it is nice to find familiarity. And by the way, for those of you who thought you were changing thousands of diapers every year, you would be wrong. According to Y they would be "dunkins." So we now have cloth dunkins and dunkin cream.