TOO HOT TO BLOG

I have no excuse but that of the extreme California weather. It has been sweltering here in SoCal and being that we live near the beach AC is not necessary, or so we thought. Mmmm, big mistake there because recently I would have given my right arm for a little cool comfort.

I am on the road to recovery, as is the weather, so let the continued blogging begin.

WOW, MY KELSEY'S QUITE A WRITER!

Hey, if you need some fun, enjoyable, relaxation on these short fall evenings, check out Kelsey's blog. She is such a superb writer. Her wit is sharp and her verbage is unsurpassed in today's vernacular. Check it out at http://roderk.blogspot.com/ and cuddle up with your laptop and spend some time reading. It will be time well spent. :)

IT'S A 50'S THING: #9

As we were getting ready to leave for church this morning, Scott is suddenly panicked. "I can't find the keys to the car. Did you do something with them?" "No" is my reply. "You drove home last night." As he is scurrying around the house looking for them I take care of the dogs, open the front door and enjoy the quiet morning outside our home.

Scott is still looking for the keys and walks up to where his sunglasses and church keys are sitting on the couch. "Oh, I had them with my church keys the whole time. I guess I was better prepared than I thought."

Yep, oh that wonderful husband of mine, how I do love him.

388

It has been one year today that I started this livinglifeasaroderick. My goal was to blog once a day and I reached that goal and above. Although I didn't blog every day, I did have 388 entries which is above the 365 needed.

Now onto next year. I am sure I will never run out of material.

Let the blogging begin.

TWO STORIES

Story 1:
Hope got in big trouble on Sunday. Needless to say yesterday was an Amish day for her. That meant no phone, no itouch, no computer and no TV. Included in the day were no friends in and she couldn't go out. Of course, she thought we were being harsh and extreme. Hello, mother and father. What ever did she do all day? Well, she slept, she read, she played with the dogs, she talked with me and we baked baklava together. I had a nice time.

This morning the Amish was lifted and I asked her what she learned yesterday. Her reply "it's kind of nice to just do nothing and I did have fun with you mom".

WOW. I didn't see that coming.

Story 2:
Addison was babysitting yesterday and Caleb wanted to watch a Star Wars movie. He had a certain one in mind and Adds called her dad to find out if we had it in our personal inventory. She tells Scott "Caleb wants to watch the one with "Job of the hut" in it.

Hmm. Addison is not a Star Wars fan.

BABY DOLL

If you keep up with the family blog you know that last week we cleaned out Hope's bedroom. She gave us no grief about what to keep and what to throw away because, well, she was up at camp and had no choice. Believe me, we threw out a lot of junk.

One of the items we chose to keep was a baby doll that was given to her by her nana. I have to admit that doll had seen better days. She had been scalped, bald with glue marks, but she still had her hair, er, wig. She was also missing a foot. I know not where that ended up. She did have one thing going for her, though, she was sparkling clean.

We didn't know what to do with her so we left her on Hope's go through box. Hope said she no longer wanted to keep her. Frankly, she was kind of creepy looking. Kind of a "Chuckie" looking doll. The girls all were a bit distraught by this particular toy. Hmm, I could use this to my advantage.

The young Roderick girls were out last night doing various activities. Me . . . I strategically placed the doll on the front porch in a chair, her hair gently slipping off the back of her head and her foot still missing, to greet them when they got home. That doll has a manacing grin and in the dim porch light, well, you get the picture. I just wish I had a security camera to catch their individual reactions when they saw the "doll".

What fun it is to be a Roderick parental unit.

A KIDLESS AFTERNOON

We all celebrate those moments when our kids are not among us, however, our friends the Hurdles bring new meaning to the concept.

Last Sunday afternoon we put a bunch of kids on buses to head up to camp. The Roderick and Hurdle children were included and we had a plan to enjoy pie that evening while kidless.

The day was blissful for the Roderick's and we shared that with Don and Cherylynn when we caught up with them at Polly's Pies. What they shared with us chilled our souls and forced recurring nightmares to immerge.

They began their sordid tale with Mona Lisa smiles and we were enthralled immediately. The "date" began with the unfolding of lawn chairs and placing them on the edge of the grass on their back patio. The alligator sprinklers were engaged and water sprayed the lawn with abandon, cooling the sunny concrete. The click, click, click was mesmerizing as Don and Cherylynn held hands and watched the "white trash" fountain they had created. It gets better.

The Hurdle's are dog people, avid dog people. In fact, they have two labs and an Austrailian shepherd. Big dogs. Tank, one of the labs, hates sprinklers. He wrestled, growled, jumped on, shook and did everything a dog can do to a sprinkler. Now this in and of itself is not unusual. Tank is after all a day. It is unusual for two people, without their kids around mind you, to sit for two hours and watch the dog perform. A beautiful summer afternoon, no kids, watching the dog. Hmmm.

No wonder they were very excited to get out and enjoy some pie.

HOPE'S BIG ADVENTURE

Hope got back from Indian Village this afternoon, after a week of being a teepee counselor for six fifth grade girls. She is exhausted but had a memorable experience.

Tuesday afternoon she and her cackle of girls decided to go down to the field to play a game. All her little minnions followed her out of the teepee. After glancing around and assessing the area, Hope decided that maybe the field was not the place to go. She told her girls to stop and they all listened except one. Hope told her again that they were not going to the field and she needed to come back right now. Finally, Hope yelled for her to STOP.

All those little girls screamed. There, standing on the edge of the trees by the field was a mama black bear and two little cubs. Hope notified the Chief who immediately got the bear patrol on it though no bears were found. Apparently, the screeching females scared those bears over to another mountain because they didn't find hide nor hair of them.

Not one bear had been seen all summer up at Indian Village. Leave it to a Roderick.

OH MY

Addison and I spent the morning and the better part of the afternoon cleaning Hope's room. Yeah. I know. I warned her that if she did not clean it up before she left for Indian Village we were going to do it for her. Here's some of the things we found in the mass of dust, dirt and stuff we can't even begin to guess.

A report card that Scott nor I ever saw.
Seven old cell phones.
Twelve pairs of sunglasses.
A baby doll that was scalped and had no leg.
A tee shirt she wore in elementary school.
Several unused gift cards.
A jar of change that hadn't been rolled.
An orange heavy duty extention cord.
An old Galaxy poster, back when they were green and gold.
A purse still in the Nordstrom's box with the tags still attached.
Six old soccer jersey's.
A fur trick or treat bucket with a skull inside (got a jump out of me).

Cheyne is coming over tomorrow to take down her bed. We finish arranging the rest of her furniture after he's done. Oh my, is she going to be surprised.

Happy, mad or sad. We'll know on Friday when she gets home.

VINTAGE FRIENDS

We have precious friends in Oregon who we rarely see or communicate with other than the annual Christmas greeting. They are the kind of friends that you don't see for years and then they pop up and it is as if time has not passed. You pick up where you left off and they are still the friends you love, cherish and share intimate secrets with. Your kids even pick up the closness and they join in the inexplecable bond the families have together.

I call these friends our "vintage friends". No matter how little time you spend together they are invaluable and no price can be placed on the effect they have had on you and your families lives.

These kinds of friends are in Utah, Oregon and California. Perhaps more, but we haven't been in touch with them in a while.

Our vintage friends are more precious than words can ever express. You know who you are.

CONES & SHRUBBERY

The San Juaquin valley in central California is not known for it's fabulous scenery. In fact, it is plain, long and frankly quite boring. One's mind tends to wander aimlessly while driving up the 5 through agriculture country. This is exactly what happened to Shae and I on our recent road trip.

Shae was driving and we hit some road construction. Shae said to me "Mom, what would you do if I took out those cones?" I laughed and said "I'll get the flip and video it and you can show your dad when we get home". We laughed and laughed because we knew what Scott would do if he ever saw a video like that.

Shae was still driving and I said "Shae, we should set you up so that it looks like you come rampaging through those bushes at the right. I could get out, use the flip as you come ripping out of there and leave me behind. It would be so funny to see dad's face if he saw a clip like that." Shae said "I can hear dad now as he lectures us." We laughed and laughed again, well because Scott would be so fun to punk.

I know, he's a saint to put up with all of us girls.

EGGPLANT PARMESAN

Scott makes the best eggplant parmesan hands down. I don't even try to make it anymore because he has spoiled me with his finesse.

I had to work today so he promised to make his delightful dish and I was a happy camper, not only because it is one of my favorite but also because I didn't have to plan dinner. He shared with me that he would make and bake, go to church, meet up with me there to return home for our scrumptious meal.

After picking up the Treehouse and finding Scott, we stopped at Lucci's to pick up some garlic bread and headed home. No kids, just us, a little italian and a soccer game. Perfect.

I entered the house to a delightful aroma, albiet at little strong, but none the less delightful. As I made my way to the kitchen, releasing the puppies from their kennel and out the back door, I heard a familiar noise. The oven fan was on which meant the oven was still on . . . hmm. He forgot to turn it off when he left, so I went over to do just that. I peeked in to make sure it was empty.

There in the center of the oven was our yummy eggplant parmesan, burnt beyond recognition.

Sigh. The garlic bread was really good.

CALIFORNIA DMV

I had forgotten how much I love the DMV. The last daughter to get the all important validation for getting behind the wheel of a motorized vehicle. Yes, she's is the final blond Roderick. You would think the DMV would have changed over the years, but, alas, it is not so.

We made an appointment and arrived half an hour early (this we have learned over the years). We were driving around the parking lot looking for the elusive spot. People were parked on neighborhood streets, the DMV parking lot is rather small, and one of the side streets was accommodating a "roach coach" that was doing a brisk business. The line of people to get into the building was serpentined around the outside. Hope and I looked at each other and prayed that was not our line.

We snatched a spot in the lot just as a guy was pulling out. Praise God. Now onto tackle the line . . . Praise God again, it was not ours . . . we were fourth in a smaller line, a line for appointments. The guard allowed us to enter. We went right up to the desk, right to our window, signed, wrote a check, picture, test. Just that fast.

I pulled out my knitting while I waited for Hope and scanned the large room full of humanity. It would seem every ethnicity was represented: Caucasian, Hispanic, Southeast Asian, African American, East Indian, Arab, etc. I love to people watch and this distraction, coupled with my busy hands, made the time go very quickly.

We were in and out of their in one hour flat. A new Roderick record. Sadly, Hope missed 10 (fail) and we will be back in a week to do it all over again.

OLD STUFF

It is in the middle of the night, at least to me, and I am following Shae and Kelsey's cute, brand new car. They lead me down this dark road, really dark. They loose me at the only traffic light in this tiny town and I can not find them. Cell phones in action, it is legal to chat while driving in Oregon, I am trying to find them with very little community lights in operation. They tell me they see me, but they are no where in my line of sight. I slowly come up to the same traffic light and they tell me to go through it and they are right there. Oh. Now I see them.

They have stopped in front of store that says "Old Stuff" in hopes of dropping me off.

Funny girls, real funny.

CRACK! POW! KLUNK!

Our return trip from Oregon a couple of weeks ago was quite eventful. Several incidents occured that were, shall we say, unusual.

We are traversing down the grapevine on the 5 when an unfamiliar, at least to Shae, freeway sound accousted us. CRACK! POW! KLUNK! Shae's whips her head around and looks out the back window of the highlander thinking something terrible has happened. Here's what she thought, as related to me after the event, and your guess is as good as mine.

She thought that a man in the truck next to us had jumped on top of the highlander. He was dressed in khakis and a plaid shirt and held a pick axe and was striking the roof of our car. He slid across the roof and landed with his legs dangling off the back of the car. This happened in a matter of seconds.

I looked at Shae and the fear in her eyes and couldn't help but ask "What is wrong, dear, you look a little unnerved?" She relayed her tale of terror to me. I just smile.

"Honey, have you never heard a car backfire before?"

Ohh. No she had not. Live and learn Shae, live and learn.

ADDISON'S BIG DAY

It all started on a Sunday night when Scott was preaching at a small church in Utah. I was having some Braxton-Hicks contractions, no big. He mentioned in the pulpit that if he tore out of there unexpectedly a baby would be arriving soon after. He was watching my face from the platform.

He finished, without interruption, and we went out to dinner with my dad and mom. I asked if they could take Kelsey home with them because my contractions were getting a little stronger and I thought it might be a long night. No worries and off they went with a very excited Kelsey.

We went home, kicked off the shoes and sat down to enjoy a Star Trek rerun. Yep, I started pacing, a sure sign I am uncomfortable. We called the parentals to tell them we were on our way to the hospital, about 11:30pm.

This was the 2nd Roderick so we were in no hurry as we meandered through the quiet streets of Salt Lake City. We arrived, went in and I immediatley ordered an epidural. I did not want to handle any more labor and I knew what was coming.

Uhh, no I didn't.

The epidural did not catch up with my contractions rendering me in a very bad and painful mood. Addison was born 45 minutes after we got to the hospital. No episiotomy and fortunately no tears. She was 6 pounds and 13 ounces and was 19 inches long. She actually could not wait to get out and start strutting her stuff.

And she is still strutting to this day. Happy birthday Addison Opal Roderick.