About Me

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I'm a 50 something daughter, sister, wife, aunt, mother and friend. I have a husband and a son with my parents living in my basement. Keeping it together through menopause, the teenage years and the golden years. I hope you visit often.

Sunday, April 24, 2011

Happy Easter

Today is Easter Sunday. Probably the holiest day of the Christian faith. I was raised Lutheran, and even though we didn't attend church on a regular basis, we did on Easter. When I was little Mom would get me a hat. Everyone had Easter hats. In church you couldn't see over all the hats. All sizes and shapes! It was all very colorful. As I have gotten older, my religious views have slightly changed. I guess it is from working in hospitals for years. Science has a way of changing the way you look at the world. Those are thoughts and feelings for another time, today is Easter. The real Easter is that Christ died for us, and then rose to heaven to be with God. I am really not sure when the bunny, basket, eggs etc. came into the picture. It seems like every holiday has some sort of commercial side. I should look it up and see when that all started. There is usually something innocent in the beginning, then it blooms into something very big. I'll let you know what I find in a later post. For most Christians this morning will have a sunrise service, probably in the rain, the traditional egg hunt, and usually a pot luck lunch. Kids will find their colorful Easter Basket full of candy, stuffed toys and maybe a small gift or two. When Jake was little, he loved looking in his Easter basket and going through what he had. When I was young, my brother would always pick out the black jelly beans. Now you can buy bags of just black jelly beans, it's kind of sad. It was fun going through all the colors. One of the things that hasn't changed is that families get together on Easter. It's another occasion that finds people gathering for a reason. Usually we eat ham, why? This year we are going in a different direction and having ribs and chicken. It's not that we don't like ham, it's just that we wanted a change. No matter, it will still feel like Easter. There will be baskets for the kids, colorful eggs, only this year they are chocolate, and the family will be together. We should really try an celebrate like this more often. The old fashioned family dinner. If you celebrate Easter, Happy Easter and I hope you find the golden egg! Take Care!

Thursday, April 21, 2011

Happy Birthday Jake!!

 Jake at 3!
Jake at 13!

13 years ago we welcomed our son Jacob Adam Lautman into the world. It was a Tuesday, the weather was warm and clear, I had a C-section scheduled at 9:00am. At 9:12, he arrived, all 7 lbs. 21 inches of him. I remember looking over at the table where they were cleaning him up, and I noticed his feet. They looked just like Lees. They both have a space between the big toe and the one next to it. Then I remember feeling very tired. The next thing I knew, I was in recovery. I remember seeing my parents and in laws, then falling back to sleep. I woke up in my room, with everyone there. In the afternoon, I got a call from a former neighbor, Susan Farnham. She had delivered her third boy the day before. She was describing eating a sandwich after giving birth to Steven, via natural child birth. I couldn't eat anything because of the surgery. It was wonderful to hear from her and I wished that she still lived next door instead of moving to Cleveland. As the day moved on, we had many visitors. My brother Greg was coaching at U.C. at the time, he called in the evening and asked if he would still be able to come after a spring football camp. I said sure, come on down, I had no idea what the visiting hours were. He ended up talking himself into the hospital at 11:00pm. The day only has a few clear memories for me. I found out why the next day. I had a "bleeder" after Jake was born and lost 1/2 my blood volume. That would explain why all I wanted to do was sleep! We spent the next few days in the hospital. The day we went home it was raining. Jake screamed all the way to the car. He wasn't happy, but as soon as we  buckled him into his seat, he was quiet. Jake was a very good baby. He was happy, slept 6 1/2 hours a night at 10 weeks and smiled often. Now that he is a teenager, he is back to sleeping 6 1/2 hours a night. He likes to stay up and isn't really a morning person. I hope he is happy, he seems to be. He smiles, but not always showing his teeth, but he does laugh easily. This creature that is a teenager is new to us. We are now entering a new phase of life. He will become more independent. We will need to learn to let him fall. He will change more physically and emotionally than he will ever imagine, and we will have to learn to let go. It's a bittersweet time. No longer a little boy, not yet a man. One thing will not change, he will always be my son. I hope that we sail through these changing tides with little storms. I am sure that we will face a hurricane or two, but we'll just batten down the family and move through them. That is what you do isn't it? Take care!

Saturday, April 16, 2011

She's a G.E.M.


Here is the reason I haven't posted lately. Meet Lily. Lily is now 10 weeks old. Lily is a Goldendoodle. Her mother was a Golden Retriever and her father was a miniature Poodle. She is what we call, a Genetically Engineered Mutt, G.E.M. Yes, the world shall soon be over run with these GEMs. There is nothing wrong with a pure bred dog. I think that people want something different, so they came up with hybrids, designer dogs, or GEMS. As humans, we always want to see what would happen if we changed something. We want to know what makes something work, what would happen if we mixed these ingredients together. That is what makes big companies like P & G so successful. We mess with stuff to create other stuff. It is the same thing in the dog world. There are dog allergies. What would happen if we bred these low shed dogs with other dogs and create a new type of dog. Now, with Lily, the poodle side of her has the soft wavy coat, no shed, intelligence and love of family. The golden side of her has the buff color, easily trained, longer coat, love of family. That is what is expected of this mix. That may not be what you get. So far, we know that Lily loves us. She loves being around the family. She is working on training us more than we are training her. She is showing some signs of intelligence, but mostly she is showing signs of selective hearing. She will come, when she wants to. She will stop doing something she shouldn't when she is done doing it. She knows who will give her treats, and who she can bully. Jake has't gotten use to her yet. He is gone most of the day, and when he is home she feels the need to bite his feet. He then runs from her and puts his feet up yelling for somebody to get the dog. I must admit it is funny seeing a 5'8", 130 lb. boy running from a 10", 7 lb. puppy. Beside that entertainment factor, I also love seeing my husband yell every time the dog looks like she is going to squat. This could be just to sit down. The dog makes this move, Lee jumps up and yells outside! This makes her wag her tail and run in a circle, growling. Yes, she is training us well. I have read that having a dog will extend your life. You will have unconditional love. I think that it makes a person feel needed. We need to take care of something. We need to have that feeling of reward that we helped something in this lifetime. The dog takes care of that need. I hope that you have something to care for, and someone to care for you. Take Care!