Random thoughts and updates

For the most part, my weeks are spent going to work Monday through Friday, puttering around the house on Saturday, going to church on Sunday, and maybe doing a little shopping here and there. Not really the exciting stuff that blog entries are made of.  But I do enjoy going back through my record of each year and seeing what highlights (or lowlights) and memories were captured here, so I know I need to try to be more disciplined about writing from time to time. Facebook is great for jotting down a status update, or posting pictures, and especially for keeping up socially with friends and family, but it’s not the best long term journal of my life. I’ve always been aware of who reads my blog and I sub-consciously write for them. I know most of my readers are family, with a couple of friends who stop by from time to time. That said, I find myself not posting redundant items that I think everyone already knows or would not be interested in. But that means I don’t really capture all the things in my life that I would love to reread years from now. So I’m going to try to change that and post more often, even if it means some of it might be stuff  my readers don’t care about.

So those are my random thoughts for today. Here are my random updates.

I turned 60 this year, and that means I get the senior discount at the movies. Yay!

I love my new iPad. I had a bit of trouble with it staying connected to wifi at first, and then read that some customers reported a defect. So I returned it to the Apple store and they quickly and gladly exchanged it for another one. This one has been much more consistent with wifi connection, but I still have to reboot it nearly every day. I’m not sure if it is another defective one, or if my wifi is to blame. As long as I can get a connection after a quick reboot, I’ll probably keep it. I took it with me to Boise and enabled the Verizon data plan for the first time. I wanted to be able to use it in the airport, and wherever I was if there was not a strong wifi signal available (like in the guest bedroom at Robin & Ken’s). I bought the smallest plan and within 3 days had burned through over half my allotment. So I turned it off while at the house and turned it on again when I headed to the airport. I’m glad to have the data option, but there will be no streaming video unless I want to pay the big bucks.

Mom had a stroke on April 14. She was admitted to the hospital on the 16th (after it was initially misdiagnosed and she was sent home). She spent three days in the stroke ward, before being moved to the Rhodes Stroke Rehab Center, where she worked hard and regained about 70% of the use of her right hand and leg.

Excruciating pain in her shoulder slowed down her progress after a while, and also prevented her from being able to sit at her computer. So for Mother’s Day, we siblings chipped in and bought her an iPad that she could use in her recliner to read Facebook, blogs, email, and play games. She has taken to it fabulously, and is definitely proving once again that she is “Techno-Granny”.

Brian and Carrie remodeled their pool this spring. It had been a deep diving pool with a very small shallow end, and that was not working out well for taking kids, especially Lauren, into the pool. So they redesigned it into a play pool with larger shallow sections on each end, an (optional) net in the center for volleyball, and a nice alcove under a slide and waterfall. It’s beautiful, and they are enjoying it a lot more now.

We had a beautiful spring and I enjoyed walking outside on my lunch hour near my office. But one day as I was leaving, a big thunderstorm kicked up, signaling the monsoons were imminent. My outside walks have transitioned to an indoor step workout until fall weather brings the temps back down into the 70s.

Andrew turned a big three years old this month, and there was a pizza party on Friday night to celebrate. And of course, there was cake! And balloons!

And there you have it, some random updates.