Safety Patrol

Top (10) Reasons I’m not a School Safety Patrol Parent:

1. Stupid people make me angry
2. Just because you need to walk your precious snowflake to the front door is no reason to park in the middle of the drive-through lane.
3. The signs that say “Do Not Block Handicapped Spaces” are there for a reason; NO, the reason isn't just to annoy you.
4. Walking your child across a busy street and not using the crosswalk is still jay-walking.  Even if it’s inconvenient.
5. I would go through a ticket book a day and they would all be marked “Failure to use common sense”.
6. The Police Department would know me by name.
7. Citizen’s arrests are still legal.
8. I have the number for a towing company on speed dial.
9. I don’t have a problem with telling people to STOP!
10. I’m not afraid to make you go to the back of the line and wait your turn.

Review and A-new

I made some “resolutions” – I called them Personal goals for 2012.  I thought I’d review them and see how well I did before I make my resolutions for 2013.

• ·Read the Bible in a year.

Well, I started this and kept up pretty well through April.  And then, well, I completely let it go until about October again. 

• Complete one of the books I’m writing.  I’m not sure I’ll be willing to try to get it published in this year, but that can be 2013’s goal (if the Mayan’s are wrong).

I’ve re-written several sections of this book about 10 times.  I’m still struggling with who my characters are and as they keep changing their personalities, it makes for a frustrating attempt to finish.

• Scan family/historical photos so they’re saved digitally.  I’d also like to get our family videos transferred to DVD for safekeeping.

This will be a long-term goal; and I did make some progress in it, but not any that was noticeable.  Since I have about a bazillion photos, it will never likely be completely finished.

• Lose 20 more pounds and keep it off.

I MADE THIS ONE!  I started the year at 218 and lost 20 pounds by December (11 months!).  My goal for December was to stay within 3 pounds of that weight during the holidays and I ended up the year at 200 pounds; so I’m VERY HAPPY about that.

• Have our last credit card paid off.

Yeah, no. 

• Take shooting lessons.

I did take shooting lessons and feel semi-comfortable in loading and reloading a handgun and shotgun.  At the shooting range I had pretty good aim and hit the target more often than not; but Trap shooting is not my forte.  That whole aiming thing really isn’t my thing. 

•  Sell or give away some of the collected stuff (read: junk) and get it out of my life.

I sold some DVD sets and some crystal ornaments; donated a lot of things to charity and threw some things away as well.  This too will be an on-going project.

As for my 2013 goals; they’re really going to be personal this year.  Not PRIVATE, but personal. 

• I want to lose another 10 pounds.  The goal weight is 188.
• I want to start running.  The goal is I’d like to be able to jog/run our walk route (2.5 miles) at least 5 times over the course of the year.  My walking partner and I have done “poles” (intervals) once, and after we get past the bronchitis/pneumonia season, I think we’ll start up again. 
• I’m going to start seeing a counselor again.  This isn’t really a “goal” or a resolution; but something I just need to do.  I’m struggling with a lot of anger and frustration and I don’t know how else to work through it.  What I’m doing now isn’t working.
• More gun lessons and shooting practice.  Apply for a concealed carry permit.  Purchase a handgun.   (No, the gun isn’t because of the anger issues.)
• Start being that person who says “I’m going to let someone else handle this.”  Stop being the peacemaker.  Stop offering assistance to a problem that isn’t mine.
• Get rid of more of the clutter in my life.  Sell or give away the *valuable* items and throw away the stuff that really is just stuff.

Projects:

• Scrapbook 2012 photos and memorabilia.  This is hard for me because I doubt my craft skills and 2^nd-guess my “style”.  I need to just get it in a book and not try to make it a perfection/competition/showcase thing.
• Scan photos; convert movies to DVD (see 2012).

I hope your 2013 is filled with accomplishments and progress.

Enough

I hope the New Year brings you:

Music that makes you weep, laugh, dance, sing and cry

Needs that allow you to appreciate what you have

Wants that make you strive for something more

Friends that you may never feel lonely

Solitude so you never feel smothered

Family that you can depend on

Money to pay off your debts

Work to keep you busy

Rest to keep you sound

Health to keep you strong

Happy New Year, 2013!

2012 Christmas Letter

Happy Holidays 2012

Every year I plan on updating the Christmas Letter format; every year I try to make it more interesting, more fun, more holiday-y.  And, every year I just run out of time and energy and creative juices.  So, here is your standard Christmas Letter from the Norman Family, 2012.

We still have four representatives of the Animal Kingdom in our home.  Jette, our Bearded Dragon is four years old now, about 18 inches long and healthy according to our vet visit this summer.  Callie (6) and Princess (7) our cats have retained their living spaces in James’ bedroom and only venture out when “the dog” is out for a walk or in the kennel for the night.  Mustang (2) loves his daily walks and looks forward to every Sunday after church when he gets to run free at the off-leash dog park.  He also tries unsuccessfully to convince the cats he’s their friend.

James turned 19 this year and continues to look for full-time work.  He has a part-time job with the school district in food services, but it’s been on-call, so very few hours.  He’s also done some house sitting and yard work, is looking at taking a class or two and buying a car. 

Blake is 14 years old and keeps us on our toes.  He plays football and is enjoying 8^th grade.  He had a very rough 7^th grade year, but after 8 months of intensive (and expensive) tutoring, he’s back up to speed and doing well.  Over the Thanksgiving holiday he wanted to change his hair color, so our handsome, charming brown-haired boy became a striking strawberry-blonde.  He also played on Century Link Field with his football team for a Thursday night exhibition game (before a televised Thursday Night Football pre-season Seahawk game).

Jessica and Randy gave us a fantastic present this year:  Our third grandchild, Bryson David Monkley was born May 12^th, just in time for Mother’s Day!  He is a happy baby and Jess and Randy are settling in wonderfully in the role of parents.  Jess is able to stay home and work part-time with Group Health, while Randy is the IT Executive at Emerald Heights Retirement Center here in Redmond. 

Brie and Todd still live just a few blocks away; Jaine turned 8 this spring and Hayden will be 3 on Christmas Eve.  We are blessed with having all our family so close to us all the time.  I am blessed that I get to watch all three of my grandchildren on a regular basis.

Russ is in his 12^th year with Snohomish County PUD.  He handled most of the day-to-day hassles and planning for their big data center move this fall (continuing through 2013).  He also is active in scouting and our AWANA program at church.

And me?  I nanny, volunteer in scouting and at church, drive the kids everywhere, schedule all the appointments and in my spare time I added some new clients to my personal chef business.  Because I’m an over-achiever, I’ve taken up walking with a friend every morning and met my weight loss goal for the year (now to keep it off during the holidays!).  Sleep is over-rated. 

Philippians 2:7-8        New King James Version (NKJV)

⁷ but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men. ⁸ And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross.

Russ, Paige, James & Blake Norman

Thank you Bill!

I’m horrible at Thank you notes.  It’s not my mother’s fault, just so we’re clear.  She taught me how and expected that I would write of my thankfulness in an appropriate manner.  I’m lazy and well, I just don’t make the time for them.  However, I’ve been meaning to send a thank you note in response to a blog posting where I was pretty whiny and unhappy.  It got quite a bit of response – I guess that was the point – and I have a few thank you’s to tender.

1)  First of all, I’d like to say a HUGE THANK YOU to Brian Seitz.  No, not that guy from Stray Cats (that’s Brian Setzer).  Brian Seitz (SR PR MGR-PHONE) read my blog on  “The RedmondNeighborhood Blog”.  He asked if he could contact me and arranged to meet me at the (now empty) Tully’s at Bella Bottega.

He gets a my award for “Best Customer Service in a Supporting Role” for taking the time to meet with some nutty housewife in Redmond and discuss her teeny-tiny problems with Windows Phone and Hotmail.  Okay, to clarify, he didn’t actually FIX anything, but he listened, took notes and offered lots of suggestions.  All this while he tried to figure out why MY Hotmail calendar didn’t look or do what HIS Hotmail calendar did.  Seriously, he spent AN HOUR with me on this issue.

We settled on the fix that I should create an outlook.com email account, link it to my Hotmail/Windows Live Mail calendar and start using my outlook email as my phone email/Windows live/Hotmail contact email.  That sounds easy, but it wasn’t (a different thank you to a different person for that exercise!).

He also took notes on my issues with “Map Chick” and Nebraska.  Read the original post and you’ll get it. 

And, it was like Christmas in August because as we concluded our meeting, he handed me TWO BRAND NEW IN THE BOX NOKIA LUMIA 900 phones.  I’ll admit that originally my husband was way more excited than I was about this; but after the shock of the whole “he gave me something for free” thing wore off and I got my phone all dialed in and set-up, I just look at it every day and do a little Happy Dance. 

Seriously though, he certainly didn’t have to give me anything.  I’m sure it’s good marketing practice and I very much appreciate it, but I was so impressed that he took time out of his schedule to attempt to work out my (insignificant in the scheme of things) issues.  The phones were just like the whip cream on top of the already-indulgent peppermint white chocolate mocha with sprinkles.  And, Brian?  If I’m not supposed to publicly tell everyone I meet that you gave me two new phones for complaining, I’ll stop telling everyone I meet.  But, it just rocked my world so I actually tell EVERYONE about my new phone and the awesome guy that gave it to me and how Microsoft worked hard to make one customer happy.

I figured out the podcast thing on my own (I think).  Regardless, I don’t really have time to listen to podcasts on my phone anymore because…

2)  APPS!  I’VE GOT APPS!  

This is a huge thank you to MICROSOFT (and Carlos Cruz who alerted me to the fact that it was now available).  I have Words With Friends (just since November)!  Originally, it was horribly slow and I couldn’t drag the tiles to actually play on my phone, but that was updated in about a week and now, yes Virginia, I can actually play WWF on my mobile device.   And, a friend introduced me to Wordament (It’s like “Boggle” on crack.  Seriously, if you aren’t addicted, well, then you’re stronger than I).

I’ve also got two email accounts (business and personal) and a fitness management app on my phone now, as well as a ton of other stupid stuff that I’m trying out. 

I still WISH that MS could play nicely in the sandbox and share their toys with Safeway, PayPal, BECU and a few others who have Android and iPhone apps but don’t offer them for the Windows 7/8 phones.  I suppose I don’t “need” mobile banking and deposits, updates on coupon specials or other junk on my phone, but I admit to still having a bit of “App” envy. 

3)  Windows Live/Mail/Hotmail

I am in the process of getting rid of my frontier.com email and switching everything to my new outlook.com account.  The process of doing this is painful and complicated – it’s just not a point and click procedure; and not all the contacts came over cleanly.  Thankfully, I have friends who have wine and knowledge. 

My friend Jennifer Moynihan gets a HUGE thanks for the hours and hours (and hours) of time she spent walking me through the remedial version (think Windows Live for Idiots, with Wine).  We set up an outlook.com email account, got it and all my junk email programs (Gmail, Yahoo, etc.) on the sidebar and made my old phone work in tip-top condition.  THEN, we upgraded it all to my new FREE NOKIA LUMIA 900 phone (Thanks again, Brian!).  And then all I had to do was call AT&T and get them to transfer my old SIM information to my new phone. 

The process that fit so nicely into one paragraph above took my husband four weeks of mumbling and groaning along with trips to AT&T store and calls to their customer service for his FREE NOKIA LUMIA 900 phone.  It took Jen and me about 8 hours, three bottles of wine, and some very funny conversations.  Yeah, my friends rock. 

I no longer daydream about my friends’ iPhones; especially after the map snafu that the new release produced.  Even on Map Chick’s worst day, Nebraska 97^th Street in no way gets me lost on the way to the Queen’s castle.  I’m hoping maybe next year I’ll upgrade to the new Windows 8 phone (this version of Nokia can only support 7.8 which I haven’t gotten yet, but I’ll wait patiently). 

Sincerely,

Paige Norman

paigenor@outlook.com

Windows 7 phone supporter

P.S.

I no longer care if my Bluetooth syncs, and I’m getting used to Hotmail/Windows Live system.  I really don’t use the “cloud” or Skydrive much, and there are tweaks that I’d love to see implemented that I’m sure other users would like too, but they’re miniscule and petty.  I’m not planning on making them an issue in a future blog post.  But, maybe, if someone is interested, they’ll ask me?

“Skyfall” Review

****SPOILER ALERT****

Actors:  Daniel Craig, Judi Dench, Javier Bardem, Naomie Harris, Ralph Fiennes

Rating:  PG-13

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1074638/

I’ll get some Bond basics out of the way.

Over the years I have watched almost all of the Bond movies; not because I’m necessarily a fan, but because they are good movies and my husband loves the franchise.  I’m not a Bond non-fan, either; it’s just not one of my movie picks.

My favorite Bond actors are (in order):  Pierce Brosnan, Daniel Craig, Sean Connery.  I like Timothy Dalton, but he just wasn’t “Bond” material.  Roger Moore was okay.  That listing and order likely disqualifies me for many people as a reliable reviewer of the Bond movies, but, it’s my blog.

My favorite Ian Fleming book is “Chitty Chitty Bang Bang”.  Again, it’s my blog.  Deal with it.

Distractions:

Javier Bardem as a blonde.  Javier Bardem as a blonde with certain affectations.  The simpering lisp was a bit much.  His breathing was kind of weird and the jaw scene made me glad I had finished my Milk Duds much earlier.

I cannot stand Bond’s tailor.  His suit coat is too short. (Pierce’s somehow look longer – Daniel’s look too tight and like they don’t fit right)

 

A thin plot made it difficult to follow. 

What I disliked:

It’s a PG-13 movie.  It should have been rated “R” and would have been even maybe 5 years ago.  No full-frontal nudity or overt sexual acts; but “M” says the F-WORD.  And, there is sex and silhouettes and blood and quite a lot of violence.  I’m not so out of it that I don’t realize that most 13 year olds have seen or heard worse on Jersey Shore, but that doesn’t mean it’s right.  I expect all those things in an “R” movie.  Not in “PG-13” rating.

I don’t like that “M” dies.  (I warned you at the beginning I’d have spoilers.)  I love Judi Dench.  LOVE HER.  Yes, I realize it’s a new direction for Bond, off with the old-on with the new, blah, blah, blah.  I love her as “M” as I think it adds depth to Bond’s sometimes shallow character.  I especially liked her with Daniel Craig’s Bond because she softened him in a lot of ways.  I don’t like Ralph Fiennes so we’ll see where that goes. 

I don’t like it when the “Bond girl” dies.  And I’m not sure I am entirely sold on the “new” Moneypenny.  I kept seeing her with blacked-out teeth and pirates.

What I liked:

I LOVED SKYFALL (the house).  I’m sure Bond hates it because of horrid memories, but it was gorgeous in that European old-style lodge way.  I nearly cried in the finale when the helicopter hit it. 

The explosions, gun fights and action scenes were fantastic.  Car chases, train scenes, flipping cars.  AWESOME.

I loved the old school vs. new tech part of the plot; it ran pretty much throughout the entire film and it made the movie for me.

The new “Q” was great.  He was geeky and faulty and teachable and on Bond’s side. 

And the Aston Martin DB5?   I am so not a car chick, but, seriously, that is one HOT car. 

My overall review

Great movie, lots of action and old school vs. new school.  The plot was a bit thin for me, but the movie moved along fast enough that it didn’t distract from the story.  The ending was terrific; the bulldog with the flag adds a funny bit of humor throughout. We’ll definitely buy it when it comes out and watch it again.  And, I am just a wee bit excited for the 2014 Bond flick.  

So, I got this great idea from the Internet (that's probably a very scary statement to most of you)...

I decided that I was going to harvest the seeds from a tomato and save them for planting in the coming springs.  Pretty simple really.

1)  Harvest a tomato
2)  squish the seeds out
3)  put the seeds and pulp in a container with about an inch of water
4)  wait
5)  wash the seeds through a strainer to get rid of the pulp
6)  dry the seeds on a paper towel
7)  put the dried seeds in a labeled envelope
8)  Plant the seeds in the spring

So I started with a Black Russian Tomato

and made it successfully through steps #1-3.  Well, somewhere between #4 and life, I got distracted.  And well, I did manage to wash the seeds through a strainer once but then I got busy and put them back in water on the kitchen window.

That was about 6 weeks ago.

Um, yeah.

So, I'm back to step #5.  I can't wash them the 2nd time now because they've sprouted.  About 50 of them.

Black Russian seeds that have sprouted

I add a bit more water (I don't want to be accused of neglect or voluntary plant-slaughter) and ignore them for another week or two.
And then, another plan forms in my brain (again, you should be frightened).

I bring up the plant starter kits I bought several years ago.  I have to wash several years of dust and dryer lint off them (they are stored in an outdoor area where my dryer vent blows) and grab some leftover potting soil.

A bit of dirt in each cup, two or three sprouts (with roots and leaves intact) and then cover them up with a bit more dirt.

I decided to place them on my windowsill.  (this way I'm pretty sure the dog and the kids won't get into them, plus I'll be more likely to remember to water them).

I guess I'll have to wait and see if any (or all) of them actually do something.  Maybe I can baby them through the winter months and actually have plants to plant in my garden in the spring.