Very Big Grin

Many many years ago, in a far off land called the Land of Rain (Seattle) we were a host family for Japanese students. 

 

One of the local Universities had an IEL (Intensive English Language) program which had many Japanese students in it.  The Japanese students, more than those of any other country, preferred homestay housing over other choices. Another college offered the middle year of a three year Japanese program in Hospitality (Hotel and Restaurant Services). They did the first and third year of school in Japan but the middle year was out of country to better learn other languages and cultures.  Both of these programs placed Japanese college students in local homes for approximately 9 months.

 

In the course of our experience as a homestay family we had 4 boys and one girl. Every student who stayed with us was very different from the others, such a good lesson in stereotypes and overcoming expectation.  Of course they were similar in their cultural uniformity, but personalities went from one extreme to the other.

 

My favorite was our first student, Shigeki.  Unfortunately, he was with us the shortest time, too. 

 

Naoyuki (Nao for short - sounds like "Now") was the most energetic, enthusiastic and outgoing of all of them.  He traveled around the states and into Mexico on a rail pass on his holidays. He played softball on our co-ed softball team with us and was generally very gregarious.

 

Hironori (Hiro - "Hero") was perhaps the most involved with his Japanese friends in his classes and not around as much.

 

Toru was the oddest of them all.  He was seriously mentally disturbed and we actually were a bit relieved when he asked to be re-assigned to a new homestay family.

 

The last student we had was a girl named Akiko.  She had the most difficult time of all adjusting to our culture and particularly our family. My daughters were small and the time and I was working full time and not very patient. Unfortunately, I raised my voice to my kids too often and they cried as kids do. 

 

Today, I received a customer referral from my Close to my Heart business.  Somehow Akiko had contacted them via email and requested a referral to me.  When I saw the referral I was amazed at the name I saw on it.  I emailed her immediately. 

 

We have been emailing back and forth for the past hour. It's so exciting!  She is 30 years old now (OMHeck, how did that happen????).  

 

I love the things we can do via the internet now days!!

Randomness

I love surprises, don't you? Well, maybe not the STD, unplanned pregnancy, in-laws dropping in or flat tire in the pouring rain type of surprises, but the good ones. The ones you plan and execute for the sole purpose of pleasing someone. This is what I am working on right now. A birthday present for my husband… and of course presents are always surprises, right? This one involves us both taking five days off and… um, I guess that's all I am going to say. He knows about the time he has to take off, but so far that is all he knows about. I can't let it slip before his birthday!! Lets just say I can hardly wait and I am very excited about it!!

 

I had a great day at work today. I heard a story from a customer about her nickname "honderwoman." It came from a goof she made years ago in high school. Making an announcement over the PA system, she tried to say, "Hearts grow fonder," which came out "Farts grow honder." Imagine all your teachers and classmates hearing that and bursting out into spontaneous laughter .

 

I countered with a story of a minister introducing the Christmas play and asking the congregation to be sure to turn off their cell phones and vibrators. True story. 

 

The final story, the one I feared would permanently lose me a set of customers (but could I refrain from telling it? NO!) was about sharing our joys and concerns in church one spring Sunday many years ago. An elderly gentleman decided to share his joy of spring's arrival and stood to make his comment that the trees lining the parking lot had the biggest furriest pussies on them he'd ever seen. Again, true story.

 

(from my former MySpace blog)

My Life List re-visited

Some one asked me about my "life list" recently and I was embarrassed to realize I had totally forgotten about it. Today it's time to bring it forward and add to it.  It's a worthless tool if I let it rot in the archives of my blog and don't revisit it and keep it active. 

 

This is my life list as I started it some time ago:

 

My Life List:

1. Be healthy and live healthfully
2. Be a good daughter and show more patience to my mother
3. Keep in touch with those I love and who love me
4. Be more 'available' to my family
5. Walk every single day

 

I am pleading the fifth on how I am applying it daily to my life.  Here are some things I am adding today:

6. Be proactively involved in the evolution of my kids.
7. Actively seek out wisdom of others and apply it to my personal growth.
8. Tune up bike and begin to ride it.
9. Create a "do it now" attitude.

 

Perhaps this time I should print out my list! 

Did you start one?  Want to share?

 

Another Day

The flat light of 7:00 am fills the valley that is my home in Utah. The sky is blue with light but the sun is not "up" yet. The mountains surrounding me appear painted flat on the sky in shades of white and gray. The community nestled below and to the south of me appears as a splatter of golden lights as though flicked there off the end of a paintbrush. 

 

By the time I leave my daughter at the door of her school the tips of the western mountains begin to glow with the arrival of direct sunlight. As the glow slides slowly down the slopes the mountains assume their majesty as the flatness melts away. Another day is born into beauty.

 

Don't ever forget to stop and smell the roses.

Ignorance once more raises it's ugly head...

The subject of GSA clubs in Utah schools is now before the Utah Legislature.... 

 

Lawmakers take a new run at bill on gay clubs

 

The extreme ignorance or homo-phobia of people like Sen. Chris Buttars would be humorous if it weren't so frightening. Our entire family was in on the discussion when this was in the news recently.  Allow me to present just one of the ridiculous quotes from the article....

 

"Committee chairman Rep. Greg Hughes, R-Draper, hopes the bill will allow schools to request a change in the name of the gay-straight alliances, which he feels is inherently sexual in nature.  

    "I don't know how you can have a term that describes someone's sexuality and say it is not in that realm," he said.
    Hughes would rather see tolerance clubs or anti-discrimination clubs, removing the gay specific terminology."

 

... a rose by any other name.....

 

My daughter Krissy had an awesome response to this.  Rather than call the club a GSA, she suggested calling it a "Homo Club."  After all, she explained, we are all homosapiens.....  

 

I love my kids!!!!

 

Check out Krissy's blog on the subject. This is a kid with passion!!

 

I love a happy ending

Yesterday morning I realized I hadn't seen my Zori cat for more than a day.  I was worried because the new kitty is very aggressive toward her and I thought she may have decided to leave home. She has the ability to come and go through the doggy door but she doesn't spend much time outdoors during the winter accept near the door on our back patio.  The yard is fully fenced and she is somewhat lame from her two broken legs so I had no expectation that she would leave the yard. 

 

When I realized I hadn't seen her for over a day we had 3 or 4 inches of fresh snow on the ground and the only prints in the snow were the dog's. I went outside and called for her and looked under the evergreen trees in our yard, but she was no where to be found.  My heart was breaking.  There is only one little place she could have made it through the fence but that was into backyard neighbor's yard and that was just out of the question. They have a young boxer dog who would never allow a cat into their yard!

 

I could see no reason to go door to door looking for her because she is a shy cat and wouldn't let anyone approach her. My heart was breaking and all I could do about it was cry.  My daughter had a different opinion and was anry with me which hurt even more.  

 

I was getting ready to go out this morning and thought I would take another look outside. We have about 8 to 12 inches of snow now and I considered she could have gotten hurt and gone under the "in-ground" trampoline for shelter. If she was hurt maybe she couldn't get out.  The snow completely blanketed it and maybe that prevented me from hearing her. 

 

I walked across the patio to the edge of the snow and called for her. Then I listened. I called again and listened again and then I heard a very very faint cry.  I thought at first I imagined it but I walked into the snow toward the trampoline and called again. Again I heard a faint cry and I called once more. This time the cry was louder and definitely my cat. I cannot even describe how I felt. If you are owned by an animal you know they are family and hearing her cry was like hearing a ghost come back to life by that point.

 

I knew the cry was not coming from under the trampoline but from our neighbor's yard.  If she was in that yard and still alive, that was a miracle in my book. I ran to the spot in the fence that I could imagine she might go through and called her some more. She was definitely in another yard and her call was strong, but where she was I had no idea. This area is where two neighbors' properties come together at my cyclone fence, like a T intersection where my basketball pad ends. The neighbor with the dog has no fence, but his next door neighbor has a wood fence which prevented my seeing into his yard.  It appeared that part of his fence was leaning over enough that Zori could have entered his yard through the dog's yard.  I could hear her crying but couldn't see her or identify exactly where the cry was coming from. 

 

Enter my white knight in less than shining armour..... 

 

Mark trudged through the snow with a ladder and climbed the fence jumping into the neighbor's yard.  He walked a little way into their yard and determined that Zori was in their shed.  He opened the shed and found her - HOORAY!!  As I said, she is a shy cat and it took a little for him to get to her, but he finally came to the fence with her and passed her through to me.  She was warm and dry despite our weather, but very anxious.  When I got to the door she pushed off me and ran to hide.  I was just extremely happy because my baby was back home, safe and warm, where she belongs. 

I had some errands to run but when I got back we spent some time bonding - her purring and me rubbing her furry soft belly - and all is right again in my world.  She's been keeping an eye on me the rest of the afternoon, as if I was the one that was missing.  We've kept Tony in the basement, he's sleeping peacefully on Alyssa's bed, so Zori can have some peace.  I am so so happy to have her back home!!!!!

Spankity Spank-Spank-Spank!

Seems I have been spanked.  It used to be called 'tagged' but I guess spanked is more..... um, descriptive?  In any case, I have been called upon to expand information in the following areas....

NAME:  Betsy Ann.  Yep, it's really Betsy.  Don't call me Elizabeth because it's not my name and I will not be impressed that you know that Betsy is a nickname for Elizabeth.

CHILDHOOD AMBITION:  To live to adulthood. Now that I have done that, I am still trying to decide what I want to be when I grow up.

FONDEST MEMORY:  This is a tough one since I have such a poor memory.  I guess I have to say it's the collective memories of camping and backpacking with my Mom as a child.  I love the smell of a campfire and the sounds of the night in the woods. 

SOUNDTRACK:  About Last Night.  Very very old Demi Moore movie.

RETREAT:  A small resort on the Washington coast called Ironsprings.  We stayed there when I was a child and I went back a couple times as an adult.  I LOVE it!!

WILDEST DREAM:  To just take off and explore the world without any worries.  I'd start with Australia.

PROUDEST MOMENT:  Each time I gave birth to my daughters, and every time I look at them.  They are my pride and joy.

BIGGEST CHALLENGE:  Surviving the year I allowed my daughter to stay in Seattle to finish high school.

ALARM CLOCK:  My cell phone is my alarm clock and the rise and shine time changes by whatever my schedule is for that day.

PERFECT DAY:  Every day that I wake up.

LAST PURCHASE:  Iced Venti Sugar Free Vanilla Non-Fat Latte.

FAVORITE MOVIE:  It's a Wonderful Life

INSPIRATION:  My mom.  She has shown me that although life can be tough and unfair, you can always get good things from it.

MY LIFE:  A beautiful, incredible gift from God. 

MY CARD:  Ace of Hearts. Only I know.

Okay, I gave up spanking when my kids got too big for it.... so no one is being spanked by me... unless you're kinky...

 

(from my former MySpace blog)