A Big Ugly Bug

Sorry there are no pictures. Only a great story. *** side note, I found a picture on the internet ***

Tony was driving, Lisa next to him, Austin behind me, Alexis behind Tony. We were driving on the North Dallas Tollway, at the posted 70 mph. The twins are chatting and all of a sudden Austin starts screaming like a little girl. He screams for Lisa to get the "bug." Tony thinks it is a joke and while driving, he looks at Austin who apparently had a very scared, open eyes, look on his face, in between screams. Lisa looks over and there is some bug on the back right shoulder of Tony.

Now, keep in mind that Tony is allergic to bee stings. I don't know if wasps also cause a reaction, but I wasn't interested in trying out that hypothesis. This bug was a flying bug, with regular, not colored wings, slender body and back end like a wasp with a red stripe. A nice pointy, stingy end.

So putting on my magical mommy reflexes, Lisa flicks the "bug" off Tony. That solves the one problem of Tony getting stung, but creates a new problem of where the *bleep* did the bug go? Alexis hates bugs with a passion. Austin didn't know what or where it was so he is still screaming. Thank goodness for the heroic karma which had the bug land on Lisa's shirt. She, quick as super-mom, rolls down the window, cups her hand and shoes it outside, closing the window quickly.

Please also realize the family is still all screaming, This entire event has occurred in about 4.25 second or less. Austin was screaming from the beginning, Alexis after she sees the bug and Tony while he tries to figure out what is going on without wrecking the car.

Luckily Lisa isn't joining the noise brigade and tells everyone the danger is over and to calm down. While she is full of adrenaline. Very full.

And in case you didn't notice, today is our wedding anniversary. Happy Anniversary to us. ROFL

Home Ownership. [sigh]

Last year, 2010, was a year of home improvements. I completed numerous projects that I am very pleased with. Built food storage under our stairs complete with a light and a switch. Redid the decor in our master bathroom. Painted the kitchen a happy yellow. Repainted the jack and jill bath a nice soft blue color. Painted Alexis' room a pretty lavender. Replaced all the toilets with dual flush high efficiency ones. Put new tile in all the bathrooms. It was a good year for home stuff. The nice thing about improvements is they are by choice and on my own timeline.

Now I believe we are jinxed in 2011. Our AC has gone out for the 3rd time. The natural gas line to heat the pool in the winter rusted clean through. I really should post a picture, it was quite alarming. We are planning to fix it ourself but aren't sure how to get the black pipe replaced in the middle of the line. Now that I write this, it seems that those two issues are not so bad. The pool itself is going to need attention sometime, but hopefully not this year.

And our heat! I promised not to complain because the winters are so mild in Texas compared to Utah. I just checked. DFW is at 13 days and counting of triple digits, over 100. Today is supposed to be 104 with a heat index of 110. I finished mowing the lawn, while it was a balmy 95 degrees, after getting more gasoline. Talk about drenched in sweat! The poor flowerbeds are screaming for attention, but not today. Maybe tomorrow morning!

Blog - a contraction of the term "web log"

So why am I blogging? What am I up to? This started as lists in a steno pad, which is my current notebook of choice. Then I realized that I enjoy writing and it makes a difference to sort out the thoughts in my head by getting them down on paper. But in this day and age, down on paper means recording on the internet and sharing with others.

Do I consider this a journal of sorts? Not really. I view this writing as my own stubborn methodology of getting my life to work. Because right now listening to the voices in my head doesn't work. So if this can be an outlet and can assist me to manage my boredom and my apathy, then more power to me.

I don't petition followers but I do want the people who love me to have a chance to hear what is going on in my life. My observations and relationship to food. My pet peeves and how I react. Things I love and dreams I have. My commitment to conquer paper clutter in my life. My love for my friends and how we each impact each other's lives. The comedy of breakdowns and breakthroughs. The Life in my life.

This came out of my goal to scrapbook my autobiography, which started as an exercise in The Wisdom Course with Landmark Education. As a scrapbook instructor, I love to see the breakthroughs and confidence of my students. I am committed to Preserving Memories and Creating Legacies and one expression of this includes Me! You could say this blog is a bold experiment to then be able to make a difference for others.

Mom loves Two Boys

I have called my sons "Two Boys" since they were little. It occurred to me recently that they have become two young men and I shouldn't call them two boys any longer.

My Joe is 21 and is on an LDS mission for the Mormon Church in Atlanta, GA. His mission includes Alabama and he is doing fantastic with his growing maturity and his love for people in general. I am so proud of him. He returns in Nov 2011 and has said he would like to attend BYU Idaho when he returns.

My Rob is 19 and is on an LDS mission for the Mormon Church in Kampala, Uganda. His mission includes Ethiopia where he is currently serving. He was called to an English speaking mission but has been working on learning the languages of Africa. I am so proud of him. He left in May of this year and will return in May 2013.

Because their missions overlap, they won't see each other for almost four years. But I think it was the perfect choice for them to serve when they did. Tony says I am positively beaming when I get our weekly emails from them. Yes, I think that is true.

They both are over six feet tall. They are maturing and growing into the potential husband and fathers that I have hoped they would be. It will be interesting to see where everyone ends up logistically. The largest percentage of the Jan Van Clan now live in Utah County. Another interesting tidbit: I am the oldest and 13 years older than our only brother, who is the youngest, John Hirschi Van Orman. JHVO was 10 when Joe was born. JHVO and his wife, Jen, are expecting their first baby this September. So it is likely that Joe and Rob as cousins will be regarded more as Uncles to those kids. I hope we will all be able to see each other often.

They say that boys follow their wives who like to be close to her family. Tony asked me where I see myself living in my old age. As much as I object to living in Utah, I desire to be close to family and that may end up back in Utah. And for those of you who don't know, I consider my home to be Arlington, VA, just outside of DC, since I graduated from High School there. So many people just assume I was born and bred in Utah, and I wasn't.

I am pleased that I haven't ever wanted more kids, I look forward to being Grandma Lisa someday. And maybe the Scrapbook Lady. And definitely a puppy mom to two maltese.

Me and My Lists

My mom used to write lists on the back of used envelopes. I found a book of lists I started in 8th grade, at the ripe old age of 13. I have been the goddess of lists for much of my life. At Landmark Education, people would comment on my notes, writings, and lists. I am not sure what compels me to go on and on with lists, but I do. I complain that at any time I could write a list of 100 things to put on a to-do list, and I embarrassingly share that is accurate. Productive lists are beneficial. Being all consumed with keeping it all straight is exhausting.

I could be considered an expert in the philosophy of Franklin-Covey. And Time Management with Mission Control. I participated with The Communication Program with Landmark Education to the point of being a very effective coach.

This is how I feel:
http://blog.iqmatrix.com/mind-map/time-management-mind-map

If you have any epiphanies, please feel free to share!

Welcome to Join Me

Sometimes it just helps to write. I want a blog that can assist me to clarify my thoughts. I spend a lot of time thinking about what I want out of life. There are so many goals I have set and achieved. I look at my life and feel that I am hitting the half way point: just as much life in front of me as behind me.
I am so proud of my boys who are serving missions for the Mormon church. I love my husband and I worry about his health. Frankly, I worry about my own health, also. I am pleased to share that I caught up my health checks: mammogram is fine, bone density is improving (yeah!), blood work is normal or good. Now if science could only test for brain chemistry balances, we would be golden!
Thanks for sharing my life and coming by!

Ears follow-up

I did go to the doctor. My ear is red, but not infected. My nose is badly inflamed and so I have a anti-histamine nose spray that I am supposed to use daily for a Month! It leaves a weird aftertaste that I get the pleasure of experiencing all day. But at least I am not infected, for the time being. Thanks for all the good thoughts for me out there.

Ears

I begin by saying the dates and ages are from my memory, so I reserve the right to be inaccurate. My grandpa, my father’s father, had ear problems in his twenties, and had his entire inner ear removed from one side, I think it was his left. So he was completely deaf in that ear. The grandpa I remember had chronic hearing loss and hearing aids you could hear buzzing when you hugged him. My dad got his hearing tested around age 45 and was told he had the hearing of a 70-year old. He has not accepted hearing aids yet. His poor hearing is a great source of upset for him. My mom has had chronic ear infections, and ongoing ear problems for at least the last fifteen years. I am proud of her for getting hearing aids, and she loves them and highly recommends them. Actually they are kind of cute.
So I usually don’t mess around with ears. For the last ten years or so, if I have any pain at all, I get right in to the doctor, and ninety-eight percent of the time they say, yes you have some inflammation, but no infection, thank-you for your co-pay and have a nice day. So I have been trying to be less of a hypochondriac with my ears.
I have noticed over the years that I can’t hear as well as I used to, so in July 2008I broke down and got a hearing test and a hearing specialist. They said, yes, you have hearing loss, probably genetic, enough of a loss that you qualify for a hearing aid with your insurance, would you like to see our multi-thousands-of-dollars choices? I said thanks for the info and I will get back to you. On one hand, knowledge is power but knowing this does what for me? I am able to tell people so when they whisper to me and I ask them to repeat themselves, I have a good reason for it. I have a good excuse for turning up the volume on the TV when the dialogue is too quiet, even though the music and the commercials are ridiculously loud. But that is another subject for another blog entry…
Back to my ears, over the Christmas holiday, we took a road trip to Utah, me, Tony, and our two puppies (full grown dogs, but we call them our puppies). I got the sick, maybe January 1st, during the trip, with my usual post nasal drip, sore throat, clogged ears, and a mild cough. I was mildly sick for what seemed like forever, but was likely less than a week.
In my letter to my missionary son, January 6th (I like to use different fonts in my letters to keep the letters exciting):
Monday night my right ear was itching, so I figured that I could scratch it with my pinky finger. I thought if I wasn’t using a q-tip, I should be okay. I was wrong.
It kept itching so I kept scratching. I don’t know if I have scraped the ear drum or what I have done but it really hurts now. The thing is, if I went to a doctor, they would just tell me I have hurt it and it needs to heal. I can still hear. If I broke the ear-drum it would have bled. So I am stuck with knowing I hurt myself and it is my own fault.
January 9th my letter said my ear is finally trying to equalize and is making popping noises. I haven’t really thought much about my ear for the last two weeks, except when I take the puppies for a walk. When the weather is chilly, I notice my ears are cold and the right one hurts a little. But when I get home and warm up, I forget about it. I can hear okay, so I have not really thought about it.
Now this morning, January 27th, I woke up with ear pain. As I sit here typing I am in pain. I broke down and called the doctor and have an appointment in an hour. I hope it is all in my head, thank-you for your co-pay, and have a nice day. I guess this post will need a follow-up, huh?

Letters for Joe

My Missionary.
I can't believe I am old enough to have a son on a mission. My Joey, Elder Joseph John Calcote, who I now address as Elder Joe (EJ for short), is in Atlanta Georgia serving the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (LDS or Mormons). He will be there until October 2011 and he is doing incredibly well.
I created a profile for Joe on www.DearElder.com/ElderJCalcote (working link on the right), and I am including this on my blog because missionaries need mail! If you go to this site and pick send a letter, you can type him a message on line and DearElder.com will mail it for you, and charge it to my account. This way you don't have to worry about envelopes, addresses, stamps, or catching the mail-person. I invite everyone to send him a message from time to time so he can get lots of support.
Thanks for your help on this endeavor. I call it my "Letters for Joe" project.

The Mystery of the Oven Mitt

When I was growing up, we had a stranger living in our house. His name was Senhor Ninguém (neighn-game is how I remember saying it). That is portuguese for Mister Nobody. He was the deviant who ate all the maraschino cherries out of the bottle. He opened the container of treats and ate them slowly one by one over time, so mom would find just a few in the bottom when she thought there was a full container. He left just a smidgen of milk in the bottom of the bottle and yet put it back in the fridge. He threw our clothes on the floor. He tracked dirt through the house and pulled the fur off the dog and blew it into the corners to become dust bunnies. He was the one who hid our things under the bed or in the back of the closet so a little brother or sister would get blamed for taking things. In fact, he took things and put them in those little brother or sister’s rooms to provoke a fight. He was always getting somebody in trouble.

The bad news: he has now moved in with us.

Tony and I have two, ratty, well used, oven mitts. Dark blue, the normal mitten style with the quilted material. One has a burn mark where it had caught on fire after touching the oven coil. One is slightly torn with the stuffing peeking out. They only work medium well, but there is one catch to them. You really need two. Two mitts for two hands. Call that the safety tip of the day.

Our aberrant friend, Senhor Ninguém, decided to take one. Usually with enough searching you can find where he hides the goods. But not this time. We have searched high and low, all the cupboards and drawers in the kitchen. The laundry and the laundry room, behind and beside the washer and dryer. Even in the garage, which enters into our kitchen. We are stumped.

So now that I have shared about our friend, I plan to go buy replacement mitts. Surprisingly, it’s not that easy. So far, all that I have found are either really expensive, or crappy quality. Oven mitts that are thin are bad news. But the silver lining inside the dark cloud is as soon as I get new ones, the old one will reappear. And we will have another story for solving this mystery from our best buddy Senhor Ninguém.

My favorite movies

I made a list and limited it to twenty. I might have other favorites that I prefer more, but this is my list for today. Yes, many are rated R, so be forewarned. In alphabetical order and with the ratings as I remember them:
• Blind Side – I am a sucker for a based on True Story movies (PG-13)
• Braveheart – adventure love story, set in historic times (R)
• Count of Monte Cristo – love the plan the revenge, adventure, romance of it all (PG-13)
• Fight Club – the twist made it worth the violence (R)
• Incredibles – probably my favorite cartoon, but some of those Disney classics are hard to beat (PG)
• It’s a Wonderful Life – my favorite classic, almost a tie with Bridge over the River Kwai (PG)
• Ladyhawke – my favorite movies as a teenager (PG)
• Pay it Forward – a classic good movie, sad but in a good way ending (PG-13)
• Pretty Woman – my favorite movies as a twenty-something (PG, but before PG-13 ratings)
• Rob Roy – similar story to Braveheart, the adventure love story set in historic times (R)
• Seven Pounds – will watch this one over and over again. It makes me cry in a good way (PG-13)
• Se7en – I would put this in a horror category, but it really made me think (R)
• Shawshank Redemption – fitting this is Stephen King and rated R, but is an amazing story (R)
• Sixth Sense – classic suspense, twist in the end, excellent movie (PG-13)
• Sommersby – amazing story. Everyone who watches it with me yells at me and asks why I made them watch it. But I love it. (PG-13?)
• Steel Magnolias – classic girly movie, makes me cry, love Julia Robert and a fabulous all star cast (PG)
• Sweet November – for my hubby, this movie reminds him of me. A carefree, out there personality who shows someone a world they didn’t know exists. (PG-13)
• The Life of David Gale – this is a less known movie that is also a thinker (R)
• The Piano – Holly Hunter, less known movie, appropriately R-rated, I am a pianist and found the story to be very intriguing (R)
• The Usual Suspects – another Kevin Spacey classic. Makes me smile to think about the plot. (R)

My Blog

I am happy with my blog, but I want more. My best friend in high school, Marike van der Veen, has a beautiful blog. She is my inspiration. I want a place to write. Which is kind of ironic because Marike was the one who wanted to be a writer, I was the one who wanted to be an engineer. In some ways, we both achieved our dreams, Marike is a writer, because she is writing, and I have an engineering degree. But want to expand my dreams.


One of my life goals is to write a book. I doubt it will be fiction, although I have thought about writing my life story and calling it “Better Than Fiction,” realistically I think changing the names will still allow people to be offended so I haven’t really pursued that writing aspiration. I have been called the goddess of lists. Or maybe more aptly the evil goddess of lists. I have thought about writing a reference book that includes some of my lists that have been helpful to me in my life. Something that could make a difference for other people. I am still trying that idea on.

Anyway, I have hesitated creating something publically since I have some people in my past I really want to avoid. That is another story for another day. What I discovered about myself if that I would rather be myself: outgoing and self-expressed, and not worry about that right now. This stems from my marriage to Tony, he is a born and raised in New York City, Dominican with all the reservation, suspicion, and judgment that comes with it. Yes, I was going to put paranoia, but that is a little strong. He is reserved and suspicious of the world, at the far end of that spectrum. Then there is me: the opposite of him, open, carefree and trusting of most everything. Between the two of us we become one “normal” person. I will trust the universe that I will gain more than I might risk by creating a blog and proceed.

My oldest, Elder Joseph Calcote, is on a Mormon Mission to Atlanta Georgia. I write him at least five times a week. I think that writing also reaffirms my desire to create a blog because it is such a good outlet to share my thoughts.

So Marike’s blog is dedicated to children, food, and the arts that turn the average mom into a domestic diva. These are the things she loves. She asserts that the blogs that work are written from the heart and are about the things you love. I can take that on. My blog will center upon family, paper crafts, and living life full out. Paper crafts will include scrapbooking and card making and all that entails. I feel a little backwards creating my blog, and then figuring out what it is about, but this is part of life! It well represents that things don’t always go as you planned, but they do always go perfectly.

In closing, the pictures above are of me and Marike, probably halloween of 1982 or 1983. Enjoy. Marike, I love you. Thank-you for sharing your life and being my inspiration.

Lisa Mane’s A-Z About Me, January 2010
A – alphabet lists are a great way to add journaling, I have not made a list of things I love in a while, thank you for this assignment swap-bot.com!
B – books, especially hand made ones are unique and wonderful
C – computer, since most people will say crafts, I will say I love my computer
D – dogs, I am a relatively new dog lover, I have two of my own
E – elephants, my mother collects them, so whenever I see one I think of mom

F – fish, tropical fish are a hobby I have enjoyed in the past, I am thinking of putting up my tank again. Also Family. I am the oldest and the shortest, I am the one in the middle. There are six kids, five girls and a boy and he is the youngest. And yes, he has hot pink hair…
G – google is one of my favorite websites, I love gmail and google earth
H – home is wonderful, I like our house, I love living in Texas, I love our pool

I – iPhone, I didn’t think I would love it but I have to admit I do
J – Joe is my oldest, he is serving a Mormon Mission in Atlanta, GA, I am very proud of him

K – kitchen is not my best place, I am better at baking than cooking.
L – love is what makes the world go round
M – Maltese, the type of dogs I have and Mane, my last name which I love, from my husband. Daisy, the girl is on the left, Sage, the boy is on the right

N – new toys, basically any craft thing I don’t have yet
O – origami architecture is a new craft I have discovered, Peter Callesen is an artist I am following.
P – purple, probably my favorite color, it is so regal and is a mix of red and blue.
Q – quick projects are some of my favorite ones.
R – Rob is my youngest, he is a senior, lives with his dad and might come to Texas (I hope)

S – sunshine makes me happy, it is the best thing about the color yellow
T – two boys is what I call my kids, I love boys, but I also love my nieces (and nephews). There are now 18 nieces and nephews (and still counting)
U – umbrellas are fun as a photography prop and paper-craft embellishment
V – Van Orman is my maiden name, it is Dutch, I am proud of my Danish and Dutch heritage
W – water, I love the ocean, our pool, SCUBA, snorkeling and all swimming things
X – eXcel is a great tool I use it for tons of things, my computer is full of files I have created
Y – yard work, I love when I am doing it, but it seem tough to get into it… The picture of our house above was proof we had snow, before Rob raked the leaves and Tony trimmed the bushes.
Z – zine, a new word I learned (from Wiki) is most commonly a small circulation publication of original or appropriated texts and images.

Welcome!

Feel free to visit www.manescrapbook.blogspot.com if you want to see my scrapbooking and card making blog entries. I have a lot of pictures and different projects.
Thanks for visiting,
Lisa