Hello Again!

It's been over four months since I blogged. Since then our son, Erik, his wife Cheryl, and son Logan have moved in with us. They live in the basement. Cheryl is expecting a second boy in September. We are all excited for that. Erik is a very hard worker, working two jobs, weekdays at Home Depot and Saturdays and Sundays (and sometimes one night) at the help desk at Novell in Provo. He hopes to be able to get on there full time some day. That would be great! Right now he is planning on going back to school in the fall to get his master's degree in the computer field.

Gary has worked at Novell for many years. In June ACS, a big computer company with headquarters in Texas, took over his department. He still has the same job at the same place, for which we are very grateful. Because of this Gary lost his six weeks' vacation time with Novell. He got reimbursed instead. Now he has to start accumulate four weeks' vacation time with ACS, so right now he does not have any time off. This means that we will probably not go on a trip anywhere. He might just take a day off here and there to golf or go fishing. I have four days left of my vacation.

Anna started a new job in May. She had worked at a real estate office for many years. She is an RN. He new job is at the Primary Children's Hospital in Salt Lake City. They had about 60 applicants for the position and she was chosen. She is very good at whatever she does.

It's already been four years since we went to Europe (Switzerland, Germany, and Sweden.) We went with our children and their spouses. The weather was great and we enjoyed it a lot. Gary has said that he will never fly again, so next time I want to go over there, I either have to go alone or take my child(ren). I would like to take Logan with me in a couple of years and stay a whole summer so he can pick up the Swedish language.

While Gary is Driving

The week before Christmas, the office where I work moved to a new location. Instead of having a drive time of 6-7 min, it now takes me about 20 min to get to work. Luckily I can carpool with my husband, who drops me off on his way to work. While he is driving, I keep busy with something. So far, I have crocheted two afgans using up old yarns. When our daughter comes to visit, she likes to snuggle up on the couch under a blanket. The striped afgan will be perfect for that. Now I have to find me another project while commuting.

1986

There are tough times now for many people: unemployment, illness, medical expenses, home foreclosures, savings and retirement money losses. I remember back in 1986. We lived in a nice home in San Diego at that time. However, I did not like the house. There were no kids nearby for our children to play with. They had had many friends in Utah close by. We moved to an apartment in La Mesa instead. My husband was working in the computer department of Handyman, a large company with many stores. I had quit my job so I could go to Sweden with the children all summer long. My parents paid for the trip. We left in June after school was out and stayed there till August, just before school started again. While there, the company my husband worked for closed down and he lost his job. He looked for work and did not really find anything he liked. So when we got back from Sweden, we lived on our savings and decided to move back to Utah. We put most everything we owned in storage and took with us what could fit in the back of our little grey pickup. Actually, we did not have any money left to rent a moving van. Gary's brother lent us $200. We left for Utah Thanksgiving weekend that year.

Luckily we had good friends in Spanish Fork, who let us stay with them. Gary looked for work and got a job with Computerland in Orem in January as a salesman with a base salary of $1000 a month. After a couple of months we were able to move into a duplex in Alpine. I had found a job also not far from there. We still did not have enough money to get our stuff from storage, so we rented a couch for the living room and a dinner table with four chairs. The kids had a room each and I slept on the couch in the living room while Gary slept on the floor.

We lived there for about two years, when we were able to buy a house again in the same neighborhood where we had lived before our move to California in 1984.

I often think of that time. I am so grateful that Gary had a good education to eventually get a good paying job so we could get our own home, and that we had good friends who took us in. Unfortunately, there are many homeless people because of one reason or another: no work, no special skills or trade or enough education to get a decent paying job, medical expenses, no family to help, no good friends close by, etc.

I just hope that Gary will be able to keep his job till he retires. They have had many layoffs where he works and so far his position has been secure. He is a good provider and a good man!

My Husband - the Runner

We went to St. George (in southern Utah) last weekend for my husband to run in the half marathon. He did great and finished within the time frame he had hoped to do. He started training in November 2004. Back then he could not even run a mile without having to walk half the way. However, he kept at it and ran his first St. George marathon in October 2005 together with some other guys he works with. Since then he has run several 5 K's, 10 K's, half marathons and three Wasatch Back Relays held in June each year. He likes to run in races where he gets a medal. He has collected quite a few by now.

It was beautiful weather in St. George compared to the snow and cold where we live. It was nice to get away. Our daughter and her husband came with us, which made it fun. We also go to a couple of our favorite eating places and visit the outlet stores while in St. George.

Some positive things from last week: The safe trip to St. George of course. The country got a new President. We were treated to free breakfast at work a couple of times. One co-worker gave me part of his lunch for free. (I like to eat.) However, I had my cholesterol checked last week and I have to watch what I eat a little better. My HDL was very good, my LDL was not so good. Gary also had his checked. His LDL was much better than mine and my HDL was better than his. The funny thing is that I eat a lot of fruits, veggies and fish, while Gary eats hamburgers, fries, pizza and always has a bowl of icecream at bedtime. A big difference is of course that he runs and exercises a lot, while I occasionally ride my training bike in the mornings. I am going to have my cholesterol checked again in three months.

Last Week's Positive Things

We had a couple of bad snow storms last week, which brought a lot of snow on the roads. I carpool with my husband, for which I am very grateful. It took us 1.5 hour to get home on Monday (Jan 5). In addition to that, it took my husband one hour from his work to mine. Usually it is a 10 min drive for him, and it takes about 20 min from my work to get home. I am very grateful I do not have to drive by myself on snowy days. The positive thing about the snow is that we will need the water in the summer for lawns and gardens. The ski resorts are also getting a lot of business, which helps the Utah economy.

Yesterday Gary had to stay at work till 10 p.m. I got a ride home with a co-worker, who lives in my neighborhood. However, he is a very aggressive driver. The positive thing is that we arrived home safely and I was grateful to get a ride home. I am also grateful to Gary for being a very safe and careful driver.

Last Saturday (Jan 3) the San Diego Charges played the Colts and the Chargers won in overtime. It was a nailbiting game. Since Gary is a very loyal and avid Chargers fan, the win was a very positive thing! The weather was also great, which meant dry roads to travel on for our children, who came to watch the game.

A week ago Friday (Jan 2) was Cheryl and Erik's sixth wedding anniversary. Gary and I drove to Layton to take care of little Logan, while they went out to dinner and a movie. Erik had arranged for a limo to pick them up. Since Erik and Cheryl were coming over to watch the game the next day, Gary and I brought Logan home with us to stay the night. I am glad we left Layton when we did. Had we waited till Erik and Cheryl got home, the snowy roads would have been awful to drive on.

To summarize - this week I was mostly grateful for arriving home safely on snowy roads.

Fun Reading

I have enjoyed reading many of your Christmas blogs and looking at the pictures. As I mentioned in my previous blog, I am going to write down at least one positive thing and something I am grateful for daily. I'm writing it down on my calendar and then I will post most of these on my blog once a week. I hope this new year will be great and wonderful for all of you!

A New Year

A new year has arrived. Looking back many of us wonder 'where did the time go.' Whether we think the time goes fast or slow, we all have the same amount of time in each day. Now that I am an "empty-nester" I find that I have a lot more free time on my hands. Many times I feel kind of guilty for not using it more wisely. Instead of watching TV or sitting at the computer, I could crochet/knit afghans and clothing to give away to those who need them. However, I work full-time, so sometimes when I get home in the evening I don't feel like doing much. I should also exercise daily. I have an exercise bike that I used faithfully every day the first five months of last year and I lost 10 lbs. I need to get back to that habit again.

My mother wrote two books, one about her dad and one about her mother's side of the family, which she gave to her children and grandchildren. They are both in Swedish. I should translate them into English, so my children and grandchild(ren) will be able to read them. I often feel sad that my children don't know my side of the family very well.

I have one resolution for the new year and that is to write down at least one very positive, good thing that happens every day as well as something that I am grateful for. That is one simple thing that I should be able to do consistently throughout this year. (This does not include having food, shelter, work, good health and a great family, things we often take for granted.)