Happy Birthday to Me, Happy Birthday to Me

Now Brittany knows how to make me happy: Here is her facebook post for you all to learn from:

Happy Birthday to the most quirkiest, unusual, sometimes kooky and mostly wacky great aunt Jan i know! see you in October, hope your day is as wonderful as you! love you!

What a day I had, starting with my note, drawing, and card from Ian at 4 am, then the rain over Seattle and the drunk truck weaving down the highway on the way to work, he should have been on the wrong side of the road. The Larsen's Bakery Kringle on the way home that was sugar delicious. I haven't eaten the whole thing yet, but I plan to. Calls cards and messages galore. Lunch with Jo-Anne from work also delicious, Olive Garden, and she only had to speak to the manager once. A bad movie, Chaplin, with Robert Downey. A bit more of my Lincoln book. I picked up The Alchemist from the library on Mark H's recommendation but haven't started it yet. Whales from Jeff. Lots of whales from Jeff, now I am addicted and he will have to send more. So besides turtles I now have a fantastic whale collection. Ian can turn the old fashioned screw on earrings into lovely drop pierced earrings. Thank you Jeff, I still love you more than bacon. My birthday meals have lasted for a week and will continue through Friday. The temperature never got over 72. Yep just about perfect in every way.

I also got whale earrings from the Bowman's, but that was a thank you for the taxi ride and not happy birthday. The taxi ride was just a little wild, so I reminded them that when they come to Seattle they are in for an extreme adventure not a mild one. And Tal I went down the wrong side of the road the second time on purpose -- yeah right.

Little things add up to great blessings and I felt them all. Sometimes life is beautiful.

You know you are a Taylor when you go on an Alaskan cruise and fuss because you can't get coffee before 6AM. Wacky Kids. And Nora and Andrew felt the pinch of no Internet service out over the Pacific Ocean. Wacky Kids.

So, to all you Wacky Kids out there: I love you more than bacon, more than Turkish towels, more than a Kringle from Larsen's, more than dirt, more than luggage, more than cell phones, but not more than Connor.

Connor who had a sweet little temper tantrum because his daddy said no. No to what you ask? No to yogurt. I said Roger most parents bribe their kids to eat yogurt and you are telling Connor no! Well it seems that if Connor gets yogurt first he won't eat his dinner. So there you have it.

I love you more than yogurt.

Roger and Stephanie did have a great time doing the Ragnar run. He called it a frenetic, fun, rolling, athletic circus. Sandy, since you have signed up for a 5k, maybe you and your colleagues can sign up for a Ragnar. Talk to Roger. It turns out that eating and sleeping, or not sleeping as the case maybe, in the chase van is fun. It seems that three-hundred teams of twelve running from Canada to Langley with each team having two vans is fun. Maybe, if you have enough bananas.

I love you more than bananas.

Claire goes for her PET scan today for a tumor check. I'm going with her to see the doctor on Monday for the results. She said I don't want to be alone if it's bad news.

May you always have a companion when you hear bad news.

I love you.

Hip, Hip Hur-ray and Sail Away

... And has everyone had happy birthdays? Jean, Jeff, Tal, Curtis, Laura, Nora?

We will be having a good birthday soon, right Amber? As for me I'm ready for the big six-five. I can handle it, I have my medicare card and am ready to get old.

Kathy Noland wants to come to the Pacific NW to see the whales, I figure I qualify.

The Bowman family have sailed North to Alaska. I picked them up at the airport and only got lost four times getting them to their downtown hotel. Roger's truck was a dream to drive if a tad biggish -- but that is what was called for for the extra large suitcases. I'm not going to mention driving down the wrong side of the street. Poor Tal!

My twenty-four hour play date with Connor starts tomorrow night as Roger and Stephanie do their 250 mile Ragnar run. What's a Ragnar run? Well it is some kind of 12 member team effort relay race. Each runner completes 3 or 4 legs of the race running about 5 to 10 miles each leg. That's all I know folks, except you eat and sleep in the chase van and it is supposed to be lots of fun. FUN? I'll get back to you on that.

I'm planning a son's dinner for my birthday. I decided it would be a vegetarian meal; all fruits and vegetables. Ian was alarmed. Christian said so I'm supposed to eat before I get there. Roger and Stephanie took it in stride. I'm planning Aunt Fanny's Squash casserole, green beans and new potatoes, noodles alfredo, humus and sushi, fruit and whip cream, and peach cobbler with ice cream for dessert. I'm hungry all ready.

We heated up to almost eighty degrees the other day, still overcast with wee sun breaks and steamy. My empathy goes out to all you suffering from the heat. I understand cooler air is on the way.

Art is home from hip replacement surgery and doing well. I talked to Janice and she said Art is a pretty good patient but she is getting exhausted being the pretty good nurse. He is having a lot of pain in his neck and shoulder, probable due to using muscles he has never used before.

The therapist who comes twice a week said Art is one of his top 5 patients. Art is really working hard. The three big don't's were: don't cross your legs, don't lean over more than 90 degrees, and don't twist. He is house restricted until further notice. Has to sleep flat on his back so he usually sleeps in the recliner.

Like I said Janice says she is exhausted and Julie is a trooper. Jacquie and Julie prepared a special coming home from the hospital meal; a taco bar.

Art goes back to the doctor on the 27th. Janice said even though there was lots and lots of bruising that the wound looks pink and pretty, the incision is about 7 to 8 inches long with 17 to 19 staples.

Now if he could just go poop.

Love to all, may you have good bodily functions for all the rest of your days.

Happy birthday to us!

Sitting on my back porch with a back yard full of fun, family and fantastic food-- Lee Greenwood, Toby Keith, and Garth playing on the iPod dock and a great deal to be proud of... this country of ours. So much is taken for granted and we are hated by our enemies and those that say they are our friends but hate us anyway because that think we've got it wrong. The part our founders had right was, that men are not in charge of their own freedom. Because of our flawed nature, we cannot be. It is God who grants it and it is God alone who secures it, men are merely players. This holiday, take the time to thank God for our country and for the good it has done and also understand that when we are less than we should be, when we stray from what is right, it is because we try to take matters into our own hands instead of following the principles that He has provided for us. That is why our founders prayed before designing our government and included payer in the sessions devoted to governing our nation, but made sure that any government we built would not dictate, either for or against any specific religion. They knew that the wisdom of the people would prevail in such matters and that our nation would survive as long as we cared to keep God on our side.

Happy 4th to all.

Boy Stories

Boy Story 1:

I asked Christian if he wanted to come to Mukilteo on Father's Day because Jane, Jerry and I were going to Kosta's Greek restaurant. Ian had to work and Roger and Stephanie had plans with her dad. He said what time. I answered oh, somewhere between one and three. Plan set.

Around two pm Father's Day Jerry Jane and I are lounging around drinking coffee waiting for Christian when he calls and says where are you guys I'm sitting at Kosta's waiting for you. Not exactly mom's plan.

We grab shoes, turn off lights, lock the door, and dash up to Kosta's where we have a great Greek dinner. Back on the plan.

We talk and laugh and have a fun visit, but when the last bite of bread, salad, and Greek pasta goes into everyone's mouths Christian puts his hands palm down on the table and asks the universe "Well, are we done here?" Christian's plan I guess.

Jerry Jane and I couldn't decide if he had one hot date or if family duty was fulfilled, but which ever one it was, Christian was gone. Gotta love the boy.

Boy story 2:

Roger couldn't take Jerry and Jane to the train station Saturday morning because he had a race to run; Seattle's Rock n Rolla, 25,000 strong.

Ian was happy to do the duty but had a little trepidation because last time he took family to the train station there were some mix-ups and difficulty, but still he was game.

Now, have you ever tried to get to the downtown train station with 25,000 runners going for the finish line. After they had "official" help crossing a street during a lull in the runners there were still too many road blocks to overcome. They could see the station, they just couldn't get to the station. Finally the out of towners decided to walk from where they were.

It had a happy ending, because they made it to the train station, rode the train to California and made it to Janice's without any more obstacles. Early warning: Ian might not take any future visitors to the downtown train station.

Ian decided racers were annoying. Gotta love the boy.

Boy story 3:

At my last playdate with Connor we had a silly, tickly, goofy time. I chased him, he chased me, we kicked the ball and crashed the trucks, we sung songs and all fell down.

By now Granny is pooped so I sat on the couch and picked up a magazine.

Connor came running over and grabbed the magazine out of my hands, threw it on the ottoman and said "The End."

Gotta love the boy.