Tittel Tribune

Check out my little grandson!

2009-12-13T14:58:00.000-08:00

Click on the link to see what tricks he's up to now!
Windows Live Hotmail

Oh, isn't Halloween so much fun!

2009-11-01T19:14:00.000-08:00

Jordan and Becca went on Safari and caught this cute little lion! (Micah is not quite 9 months old here - he is SO big already!).

Couple's Costume Caper: David W as a cowboy, Jeff as Chef Ramsey, Ken as, um, a guy who has to take care of some outhouse business, Don as Captain Jack Sparrow, and David H. as a Blind Referee!

The girlfriends: Merilee as "Octomom", Cindy as Captain Smartie Pants (you can't see them, but I tape Smarties candies to the skirt), Leslie as Professor Trelawnie from Harry Potter, Cindy H. as a Punker, and Dana as an 80's Aerobics Instructor.

Idaho!

2009-11-01T17:24:00.001-08:00

Two days after I got back from Brazil, we went on a family vacation to Cascade Lake in Donnelly, Idaho in August. Here are a few pix. The first one, above, I think says it all! It is of Jenna and Emilea Barfuss.

It's never too early to get Micah used to being in a tube!

He has a smile on his face because he knows he looks so sweet, sweet like candy = Skittles to be exact!

Isn't he just the most beautiful child!?!

Here is the Jordan Tittelfitz family. Ohhh, aren't they cute together?

The MEN on the trip!

Ok, I know, this is a kooky picture. My lovely, designer hat, Micah's pink floatie suit, the green Brazilian hat, and the fingers hooked into Oma's mouth!

Hey, we know how to have fun (or make fun - of Micah). It's fun to dress up a baby when he can't object to how silly he really looks!

Although the weather was cloudy, a little cool, water choppy and sometimes rainy - that doesn't keep us from having TUBE WARS~!

Justin has such a fun sense of humor. These are the pieces out of a Wits and Wagers game. Or ARE they????

Count on mom to always get injured! This lovely bruise is from slipping off the engine cover onto the swim platform into the water. I was laughing so hard everyone thought I was hysterically crying. Once they realized I wasn't really hurt, they joined in = laughing at me!

Also, not only did I end up with a huge bruise on my thigh, I got one on my ankle as well. I was wakeboarding and crashed face forward. My body was using momentum to glide forward in the water - my right foot came out of the boot, but my left foot didn't. Hence, the board was jerking my left foot around in the flailing board. Not only did my ankle sustain torn ligaments and tendons, but the stitching in the wakeboard boot got ripped out.

We rented a lovely 4 bedroom house that was about a mile from the water.
Grandpa Fred and Grandma Karen joined us for a couple of days, then the Barfuss' came up for a few also.
Although the weather was not that great, and we had a few mechanical problems, we still had a great time! We got to sleep in, eat lots of great food and play games.

Jordan, Becca and Micah came from Provo, and Justin came down from Seattle. Unfortunately, Jensen couldn't get off of work.

After a week, though, I was ready to come home, but not ready to say goodbye to family and friends.

Brazil!

2009-10-31T18:57:00.000-07:00

I went to Brazil in August to pick up my daughter, Jenelle, after she served a mission for 18 months there in Sao Paulo.
I met so many people who were members of the church, who had recently been baptized, some who were still investigating the church, and other who had heard about the church, but chose not to be baptized. One thing that all had in common, was that they were loving, generous and kind. they also LOVED my daughter soooo much! They cried when she said her last goodbye's and begged me to let her come back!
I didn't do any sight seeing, but it was the best trip of my life!

Here we are together with Bete, a girl who lives in Sao Paulo, who loves life, loves the gospel of Christ, loves going out with sister missionaries, and loves Jenelle! Jenelle and her go online and do the webcam all of the time and talk like crazy in Portugese.

Here is a group of people that love live! They are a lively bunch and love to laugh! This was after church one Sunday and we ate a huge, fantastic lunch and then some of them were playing a game similar to "Risk" and, let me tell YOU, they were competitive!

Here is a couple of ladies that we spent a lot of time with. The lady on the left is the Bishop's wife, and the lady on the far right, is his mother. They both have so much energy and fed me well, and when it came time to go home, they drove us to the airport and were the last Brazilian's I had contact with. What a sweet way to end my trip!

Here is Jenelle and I at a park. After walking miles and miles and only experiencing the vast depthness of the third most populated city in the world, with it's concrete buildings as far as the eye can see, it is hard to believe that there is this beautiful park with a lake in the middle of it!

I did not understand but a couple of the words in Portugese while I was there, but felt like I knew what was going on and of course, felt the love and testimonies of the people we visited.

If you get cold this winter.....

2009-07-15T12:23:00.000-07:00

...come on over to my place! Jeff ran the hydraulic splitter, Jordan fed the logs in and filled the wheelbarrows, Jenna and I transported the wheelbarrows and logs back and forth to and from the woodshed, and Rich (Becca's brother) stacked it all!

This is the result of five trees being chopped down from our yard! This pic really doesn't even show the dimension or volume very well - it's stacked about six rows deep. (We actually even still have a trailer full of stuff that won't burn well and we couldn't use -it's going to the dump). See that white picket fence behind the wood? That's the dog kennel - the fence that the dog tried to destroy Sunday (see my previous blog).

My oh my, Cindy, your house smells SO good!

2009-07-15T10:22:00.000-07:00

Yep! My house DOES smell good. And you know why? It's all because of my sweet, little doggy. Actually, it's because the house is the same scent as liquid fabric softener! And "why" do you ask does my house smell like liquid fabric softener? Thought you'd never ask....

I got up Sunday morning to let the dog outside to "do his business". He hardly had to go....hmmm. OK, coming back into the laundry room, I found out why. He apparently couldn't "hold it" during the night and went on the towels that were on the floor. Poor dog. Poor me! Now I have to wash those towels right away. It's Sunday, and I never do laundry on Sunday, but I HAD to wash those stinky towels!

About 1/2 hour later, as I'm stretching my back on the living room floor trying to relieve the pain and stiffness I get from being in a bed for 8 hours (but not always "sleeping" for those 8 hours), Jeff and I hear a crashing sound in the laundry room! I ran to see what happened. The vibration of the washing machine apparently vibrated the 1.33 gallon, brand new, container of liquid fabric softener off the top of the washer and onto the floor! EEEK! Liquid fabric softener all up the fronts of the washer, dryer, door, cabinets, running in the grout lines under the washer and splashed out into the hallway! And Max, the dog, was walking right through it all!

I hurriedly threw towels over it to minimize the amount of softener running UNDER the washing machine. Good thing we just had Jordan build a kennel outside in the back yard for Max! So, out to the kennel he went.

It took almost an hour, and another washer load of towels, to get it cleaned up and I was very late to church. In the middle of Sunday School, it started to thunder and pour down rain! I LOVE thunder storms - oops, except when I know my dog gets freaked out about them and he is still outside in the kennel!

I quickly excused myself and drove home to bring the dog in. Mind you, it's still pouring and there is still thunder and lightening! Oh no! NO DOG in the kennel! The pickets in the fence are all pushed out and the pickets on the gate are shredded to splinters! It is pouring rain, mind you, and I am rubbing away the rain from my face and eyes. EYE CARUMBA! I STILL have jalapeno juice embedded in the skin of my fingertips from chopping them up the day before! Even after multiple washings, 1.33 gallons of fabric softener to dilute it, and a shower with a shampooing!

I am whistling and calling the dog with my eyes squinted when the neighbor walks Max over to me. They grabbed him when he was running rampant and was holding him for me until I got home. Thank goodness!

I bring him into the house, only to realize his paws are super muddy! He slips away from me (I was a little distracted by the stinging in my eyes) and proceeds to run around the house leaving little doggy footprints on my beige carpet and tile.

I get him into the (newly cleaned) laundry room and proceed on my way back to church! I am wet, but everyone will understand, eh? I am still squinting my eyes because of the jalapeno juice, but then realize as I pull up into the parking lot at the church, I don't have any contact lenses in my eyeballs anymore! Services have already started and I won't be able to see where Jenna and Jeff are sitting ~ I see my friend, Cyndie Hale, out in the hall and ask her if she will be my eyes and help me find my family. She walks me in and sets me down. I am obviously wet and didn't even check my mascara so I must look a mess! But, I am in church so the Lord will bless me the rest of the day, eh?

Happy ending. The mud dried and vacuumed up, I had new contact lenses to put back in, heard a couple of really good talks at church, AND

My house STILL smells really good!

What a lucky Oma am I!

2009-07-06T20:31:00.000-07:00

This was the last day that Jordan, Becca and Micah were here with us. He changed so much from the first day! They do that at that age though, huh? They were visiting for almost two months - what a lucky Oma I am!

2009-06-03T21:51:00.000-07:00

There has been a lot going on since my last post...

My father had back surgery last Tuesday. He was in the hospital for three days and then was transferred to a rehabilitation center. He had us a little nervous when he was having a lot more pain than they expected of that kind of surgery as well as breathing issues. Additionally, he was very frustrated with short term memory loss (we were too). He is actually doing much better now.

Here he is with what makes him the happiest - his grandchildren and a Pepsi!

Today we took Micah swimming! Well, ok, he actually did "floating", but was in a pool nevertheless. We took him over to the Richey's and he loved it! My daughter-in-law and my son are very much the sporty-outdoors type and looks like their son is a natural outdoorsman and sports enthusiast as well! He loved it! No fussing at all and he slept all the way home!

Here is a portion of our backyard. The sidewalk/cement got laid, the shed got moved and the stairs up the side of the shed have been started. I LOVE visible progress!

Yesterday, I took a "tour" of our new hospital's Emergency Room. I had Jordan take me and it felt a little like deja vu - I had just been there the week before with my father. So, let's make this a tradition - each generation brings in their parent?!

Anyway, the reason I was there was because I have been experiencing some weakness, shortness of breath and chest tightness. I called the doctor for an appointment and just as I feared, they thought I was having heart issues and refused to see me unless I went to the Emergency Room first to have an EKG, blood work and chest x-ray.
Of course everything was normal and they sent me home with "Atypical chest pain" aftercare instructions. "Atypical"? Story of my life!
I also have other weird and annoying symptoms which I think are related to a new medication I've been taking for hormone regulation. I stopped taking that as of yesterday.
I also have been having a lot of issues with my back - about 15 years ago, I had an injury to my ribs on the left side of my back and it has never been the same. So, I scheduled an appointment with a chiropractor and got in the same day! When I went in, I happened to mention all of the shortness of breath, chest pains, etc. and she said, "Did anyone in the E.R. happen to ask you if you have allergies? The tree pollen count is super high right now. Sounds like that could be the culprit - but I'm not a doctor." She SHOULD be! That makes total sense and I"m going with that theory (diagnosis) for now. After I was outside with Micah and Becca at the pool, the pain and weakness got much worse. I suppose I'm doomed to wear an allergy mask for awhile - or at least until the pollen issues get better!

If you HAVE to go to the hospital, I suppose it doesn't hurt that this one was built in such a beautiful setting...the first picture was taken when my dad was a patient last week. This is the view from his room. The second one is of the front of the hospital (the river is behind it).

It's taking shape!

2009-05-28T21:09:00.000-07:00

We are at the point now where all of the planning and demolition is shifting now to something a little more like what we envisioned. But in the meantime, we have had those little "surprises" that come with any project of this magnitude.

For instance, there are several places now, especially in the back yard, that water is just appearing out of nowhere. Drainage has always been factored in, but now, we are certain that all of the extra materials and trenches are completely justified.

I don't really need much more commentary for you to get an idea of how it is all going - just look at the pics! The first one (above) is of the side yard in the back. They dug a hole ranging from 4-8 feet deep, and now the retaining wall is going in.

This next pic is of the front yard. From this vantage point, it only looks like a bunch of lumber, or, better yet, a giant Jenga game that has all tumbled down - but it's really the forms for the stairs and walkway up to the front door from the street.

The next one, below, is of our crew! We hired out the excavation and cement work, but Jordan is doing the rest of it - well, with the assistance of his wife, Becca, and occasion appearances of me and Jensen! I am amazed at the weight of the blocks for the retaining wall - up to 80 pounds each! Unfortunately, Becca might get a new nickname - and "Beefy Becca" will be well suited for her - she can pick up and carry those blocks across the yard and then up on the four foot wall!

There is no member of this family too young to be expected to be on the job site. Even little Micah is included in on the action!

Ya gotta take the bad with the good....

2009-05-17T15:13:00.000-07:00

If you read my last blog, you'll see that the week started off with a lot of work. It felt good to accomplish so much in just two days. It was hard work, but very satisfying.

Wednesday, my contribution to the labor of the project slowed down and I was able to go do my volunteering and even get a load of laundry done! I put in many hours preparing for a church event (that is tonight) and did some planning for Young Women's camp this summer.

But, the highlight of the day was talking to Jenelle in Brazil! I squealed with delight as I got to hear her voice! She sounded very well and we talked about missionary efforts and my travel plans to go there and spend a week with her before she comes home! The planned calling time was at 4:00, just exactly when Jenna was suppose to be starting an accordian lesson that had been rescheduled three times already - so we talked on my cell phone in the car! Jenna got about 5 minutes, and I got the remaining 10. Jenelle expressed so much gratitude for the opportunity she has had to do the Lord's work and for our love and support of her. Exactly what a mother loves to hear! I can hardly wait for August 11!

Well, as the title of this blog indicates, there is good and bad. That was the "GOOD". Here is the not so good....I've already blogged about losing Dennis, my cat. That was Thursday.

Earlier in the week, someone came speeding around our corner and hit the light pole! It knocked it right down into the street and the entire fixture crashed to ground! They sped off, so I guess it's a "hit and run". The city sent someone out about an hour later to haul it off. It won't be replaced until sometime next week. Until then, we have a dark street!

The whole family was planning on going to Brazil in August to pick up Jenelle. Over the last several weeks, as I have been trying to book airline tickets, hotels, and apply for visas, it has been discovered that it just won't work - for now.

The plan: we WERE going to have Jenelle come home, then a week later, go back to Brazil, starting with the Amazon region, where Jordan served HIS mission a few years back. Then on down to Sao Paulo to see where Jenelle had served and to meet the people she had become friends and acquaintenances with.

It all fell apart when we realized that Jenelle's missionary visa would be cancelled upon arrival into the United States. She would have to have a "tourist" visa to get back in. No problem, except that it takes several weeks to get it and our plan was to leave one week after she got home. We have a 10 day window to accomplish our travels between Justin's finals and Jordan and Jenna needing to start a new semester.

So, Jenelle will have to stay in Brazil on her missionary visa. But, she can only stay about a week or so at the most. NOT enough time to see even a fraction of what we wanted to see and do.

The other complication is that Micah will not have been old enough to have had a Yellow Fever immunization - strongly recommended for everyone, especially tourists traveling in the Amazon region. So that would leave a nursing Micah and his mommy to stay behind. Jordan won't go without them (I completely understand and support that) and he was going to be our "guide" of sorts in that region.

Soooo, we have decided to postpone the trip until December and go over Christmas break. It was heart-wrenching to tell everyone that it just wasn't going to work out for this August. I broke the bad news to Jenna. Then I was going to tell Justin. But I just was so distraught, I could hardly even talk. Jeff had to call Justin. Then......

Then Friday morning, I get a text from Justin (who lives in Seattle). He has been hit by a car while commuting to work/school on his bicycle. He briefly assures me that he is rattled and bruised and scraped, but that he's ok and will call later in the day. I don't know if he has downplayed the severity of his injuries on my account, or if there really is a little more to the story. The name Justin means The Honest One - so I'm going with something close to his rendition. ;) Later in the day, we call him and he is still a bit shaken and sore, but still in one piece! He will need to replace his glasses, the front wheel on his bike and his band-aid supply, but he's safe.

The next day is Justin's birthday - at least it didn't happen on his birthday, eh?

Saturday. My goal is to clean out the garage which is ridiculously disorganized and almost dangerous to try and navigate in. Oh yeah, I need to go to a camp meeting, get some groceries and rehearse for a lip-sync act I'm involved in later that evening. The day started off with stubbing my toe on a ladder in the garage and ripping off my toenail. I guess that's what happens when you wear flip-flops to clean a garage. The garage did not get clean. Everything else happened though - just with a limp.

And that, folks, is a week to remember - or try to forget.

Who needs a gym membership when you have a yard to work in?

2009-05-17T14:09:00.000-07:00

The week began with working on our home improvement project. We are tearing out EVERYTHING from our front yard and side yard (front and back). Cutting down trees, removing shrubs, plants and groundcover. Tearing up the cement walkways, stairs and porch. Demolishing fences. Propping up the roof over (what-used-to-be-our) front porch. Our yard is now one big, uneven, pile of dirt (it was all MUD a few days ago) - with a couple of tractors left in the yard overnight and over the weekend, to enhance the aesthetics of our lovely homestead.

(this is a "before" picture of sorts - it's just after cutting down the pear tree)

Why? you might ask, are we doing all of this? Well, we decided to thwart the efforts of mother nature when she threatened to erode our yard away and let our house slide down the hill - not to mention that the sidewalks and walkways were dropping to the west with gravity and sliding sideways as well. The drainage problems in our backyard create small swimming holes during the rain and our driveway is sinking in the middle. That's what our home improvement project is all about. Aren't you glad you asked?

So, it started like this: Jensen and I took out some large, dying bushes and cut down our pear tree. We decided to hire an expert to cut down the other five trees (upwards of 40-50 feet high) that had to go. Then, I hired a couple of guys to help me haul and place the logs and branches from the fallen trees into the back patio. We removed the remaining foliage and smaller branches, stacked hundreds (if not thousands) of cement and stone pavers, demolished the fence and trellis, moved small boulders, moved patio furniture, took a load to the dump, took a load to the local yard debris recycler, dug up a few precious Irises, hostas and heathers, and cut down a few small arbor vitae trees from the backyard.

The hardest relocation was the gardening shed. It is a 10x10 Rubbermaid shed. The walls and the roof come off the floor in one piece, so we emptied everything out, lifted and carried the upper portion to the back patio, placed it there temporarily, went and got the "floor" section, moved IT to the patio, put the "top" back on, and replaced the lawnmower, yard tools and supplies.

Then the tractors came in. I am absolutely in LOVE with something called a Bobcat. It takes up a cement walkway, tree stump or huge bush in one fell swoop! It can delicately scoop out blooming Irises and gingerly place them into a wheelbarrell. It can grab boulders and move them across the 120' wide yard in a minute's time. It can dig out a hole in the side of a hill with precise measurement and levelity. What more could a girl ask for?

(this is when the Bobcat pulled out the cement staircase that leads up to our front door).

(This is where our shed will be relocated to once we put down more "floor" material and retaining walls).

As they dig, more issues arise with erosion, soil compactness (or lack thereof), design, former city building regulations and the mistakes that the original builder made. And, of course, it all translates into more expense!

I just keep looking to the future, when we will have a beautiful, lower-maintenance yard, as well as safe walkways and erosion resistant flower beds. Another bright light in all of this is that I've been physically working so hard this week, I have been able to eat ice cream, pizza and chocolate and not gain a pound!

(This is what it looks like today - except there's a lovely tractor in the middle of it. If you look closely, you can see how the posts were removed from the porch roof and is now cantalevered, or supported, with 2x4's).

Tribute

2009-05-15T07:54:00.000-07:00

To my cat. Dennis. He has been a part of my life for over 14 years. Dennis died yesterday.

Dennis was born under a shed in our backyard in Salem, Utah. How did he get the name of Dennis you ask? I'll tell you! When I was a kid, there was a neighbor two doors down about 5 years older than me. Whenever I went over their house to visit his younger sister or to find my mother, he would answer the door with a smile and a friendly welcoming. The neighbor, Dennis Peterson, is a redhead. My cat has similar fur color and the same loving, friendly demeanor. Therefore, he had to be named Dennis! (BTW, Dennis Peterson is still one of our very, good friends).

He was a very loving kitty from the very beginning. He would come out from wherever he was while I was working in the yard and stay by my side until I went in. We had many cats but none of them were allowed in the house. But he was special so we made exceptions from time to time. When I would be typing late at night, he would walk across the desk, right in front of my monitor and plop himself down - or try to sit in my lap.

One day, when it was quite windy, I noticed that the door from the breezeway to the garage got blown shut. I saw Dennis just barely slip past. He must have come out the front of the garage. We left the next day to go to Lake Powell and when we came back we couldn't find Dennis, but we noticed droplets of blood by the garage door. Several days later, we found him in a hole dug into the side of the hill. Half of his tail was missing! I took him to the vet, got it cleaned up and a couple of staples put in to help it heal. He has always looked a little funny with just half a tail!

Then it came time for us to move to Oregon. We had about 7 cats. We could only take one cat with us since we were going to be moving into a rental home. It was hard to leave all of the others behind, but Dennis was the clear choice. He had remained very loving and easy to care for.

After a year in Oregon, we bought a house and Dennis the cat was the Defender of the Universe! Or so he thought! He never let other cats even think about crossing the property line and even tried to scare off the deer! He was one very tough guy. When he was off scouring the neighborhood for spare kitty food, the deer would visit in the front yard and would leave behind their little "deposits". When Dennis came back after enjoying his spoils, he would roll in their "deposits" and somehow reclaim his territory and leave his own scent as a warning of sorts (I guess). Needless to say, he was a dirty, dirty cat.

Dennis was not exactly what you would describe as lean or trim. Besides all of his long hair, his girth added to his omnipotent appearance. Dennis would beg for his breakfast at home, then dissatisfied with the diet food which was served in rations, go to the neighbor's houses and bully the other cats into giving up THEIR food! We would see him trot across the street back home with the most satisfied look on his face.

Whenever the pull-down ladder to the attic is down, he seemed to be able to sneak past us and scamper up. He would later be heard crying to be let out after the ladder had been replaced up into the hole. At first, we heard him crying and couldn't figure out where it was coming from!

In later days, his favorite napping spots were just under a bush in the front yard. He didn't seem to care that he was now considered an "outside" cat (remember folks, he loves to roll in that deer poop).

In the last few years, we believe that Dennis just lost his instinct for grooming as his fur was perpetually matted. I would try to comb him out, but he was NOT going to put up that sissy stuff. A groomer wouldn't touch him, so I took him to the vet. They actually had to give him a general anesthetic to be able to comb him out. Then, it just became tangled and matted again a few months later. Next time, we put him under and just had to shave him - all except his legs and around his face. What a crazy look THAT was! But yet again, he seemed insistent on the one big dread across the top of his back!

Dennis still continued to be very loving and always was beside you when you were outside. Every day when I brought Jenna home from seminary or school, he was always there, running up along side the Suburban to greet us - or maybe to just beg for more food! Although in the last month or so, he has slowed down a lot. He even looks and feels like he has lost a lot of weight.

We are having some major renovations done to our property so there has been a lot of heavy machinery the last week or so. We couldn't find Dennis in his regular napping spaces and he wasn't coming out to greet us when we drove up. We tore out all of the foliage in the front yard and that left nowhere for Dennis to call home. When we went looking for him, he was barely moving and couldn't walk without swaying from side to side. He barely opened his eyes and tried to meow. He wouldn't eat or drink anything.

I took him to the vet and he was diagnosed with liver failure. Dennis had half a tail, almost no teeth and had lost 2/3 of his weight. Still, he braved out the last days of his life.

It seems like it would be a hard decision to make, but it wasn't.

This loving and loyal kitty had lived a full life and brought much joy to me and my family. We got a lot of good laughs out of his cute and quirky personality and habits.

It was hard to say good-bye though. I love you, Dennis!

We made this little rock garden for him. These are river rock that I brought back from Idaho that Denise Johnson gave me from where they built their house in Rigby - so they are sentimental in many ways. (Denise passed away 9 years ago).

My new Mouse Pad

2009-05-14T21:58:00.000-07:00

Who wants to cover up THIS happy face with a mouse? This is what my daughter-in-law made for me for Mother's Day from her, my son, and my grandson! Too cute!

This is what he looks like when you are attempting at taking his picture for a passport when he would rather be napping!

With a little cropping, this will make a fine passport photo - for about a month or two!

CYNICISM by Cindy

2009-05-11T19:04:00.000-07:00

Jeff and I just got back from a trip. Jeff has been saying for many years that he would love to visit a famous major league baseball stadium - like Wrigley Field, Candlestick Park, Yankee Stadium or perhaps Fenway Park - oh, and see an actual game there, too.

Since several of these parks have been, or are slated to be, torn down or rebuilt, I thought it was about time he got to live that dream whether he made it happen or I did. So, for Christmas, I bought a nice book all about those famous ballparks. When he opened the book to the page all about Fenway Park, low and behold - tickets to a game to see the Boston Red Sox play the Tampa Bay Rays in Boston at FENWAY Park (in May - since baseball season doesn't start 'til April)!
For his birthday in April, the deal was sealed with hotel accomodations and airline tickets. Now, you can't think that I would let him go alone, so you must have guessed by now that I gave myself the same gifts - lucky me! So, the plans were made and off we went.

Here comes the cynicism. Maybe I should have titled this "Optimism vs. Cynicism - Is the glass half-full or half-empty?"

Thursday - Our flight originated in own home town and stopped in San Francisco first on our way to Boston.

Half-full: We arrived safely in San Francisco and on-time.
Half-empty: Our next leg was delayed by over three hours because they "couldn't get the ducts taped" on the plane.....What?

We arrived in Boston.

Half-full: We arrived safely. Our hotel room in uptown Boston was nice.
Half-empty: It cost $30 for the taxi from the airport to the hotel.

We had reserved seats on a tour for the next day. I had left our ticket vouchers at home so I needed to get to a computer, find the vouchers in my email and print them again.

Half-full: The Sheraton has guest computer stations.
Half-empty: You have to be savvy enough to figure out that they don't print without having to copy and paste whatever it is you want to print into a Word document, then go to www.printme.com, install the driver, attach your file from Word 2007, saved into a new format (docx, doc, or rft does not work - I eventually figured out to use a format called "older version of Word"), and record the document code number, go to the concierge desk and enter the code into a PIN pad and wait for a desk clerk to bring you your mangled copy - which will not suffice as a voucher as the UPC symbol on it was distorted so you have to ask them to print it again.

We got up and went to our tour which was a "Duck Tour of Boston" - a World War II amphibious vehicle that takes you around the city and out onto the Charles River/Back Bay area.

Half-full: It's a nice, long tour. Our tour guide was hilarious, the weather was perfect and the information and sights were interesting. Bauston, Clam Chowdah, and 'wicked pisah' are some of the words we learned in the Bostonian language.
Half-empty: It's a nice, long tour (with no stops - bathroom stops, we're talking here folks).

We had lunch and decided to use the subway, the "T" (nickname for the subway train system) to go to Fenway Park for a tour of the oldest ballpark in America.

Half-full: We had an "adventurous" experience (note I say 'experience' NOT 'tour').
Half-empty: The "T" is about 1/4 mile from our hotel room, and after figuring out that the subway system is practical only for able-bodied persons; and figuring out that we had to go downtown to get a train to go back uptown - then change trains again to go to the stadium; then we figured out that we took the wrong train by getting off on the wrong side of the car, we got to the stadium too late to get their last tour. Oh well, at least we knew how to get there - since we would need to be going back to our hotel room to get our coats and Jeff's wheelchair. Oh yeah, the "T" is not "Accessible" - we'll have to take a taxi.

We went back to the hotel, laid down for 20 minutes, got our coats, and wheeled on down to get a taxi to go to the game.

Half-full: We saw a professional baseball, BOSTON RED SOX, GAME. The park is very Accessible and the location of our seats were fantastic - AND THEY WON!
Half-empty: Jeff was rooting for the Ray's.

We took a taxi back to the hotel.

Half-full: It was so nice to ride in a taxi. We were soooooo glad that we didn't walk and/or take the T.
Half-empty: The crowd leaving the stadium was so intense that the taxi driver almost hit three people and it took 20 minutes (and $15) to go 1 mile.

A word about these taxi's.

Half-full: All of the driver's we encountered were friendly and willing to work with us on disassembling and re-assembling the wheel-chair at every stop - and we could (mostly) understand their English.
Half-empty: They have credit card machines in them, but they don't accept credit. They either have HUGE trunks and NO leg room, or decent leg room and tiny trunks (so as to have to put the wheelchair in the front seat). I guess I don't need to remind you all that it costs an arm and a leg to ride in them. Here's a thought - what if I can't fit all of our arms and legs (and chair) in? Do I still have to pay full price?

Saturday morning we get up to take that tour at Fenway Park. Jeff decides to brave the subway once again.

Half-full: We got to the stadium with only one wrong transfer. And all of the other passengers on the trains were strangely, very, very happy - and rightfully so, they were excited about going to a Red Sox game. THAT'S why they were all wearing Sox garb.
Half-empty: They are going to a Red Sox game - no stadium tours on day-game game days. Back to the drawing board.

We got back on the T and took it to the station closest to MIT (Massachusettes Institute of Technology - one of the world's most renowned universities in the always advancing and changing world of technology, architecture, science and art) to go to their museum in Cambridge. We got off and had a little lunch at a cafe we stumbled upon as we came up to ground level.

Half-full: The food was decent and the city of Cambridge is well-kept.
Half-empty: No one we spoke to, to get directions on which direction to walk to, to get to the MIT Museum, knew how to get there, mostly because they didn't speak English and didn't understand our question. (Jeff thought that it should be a requirement preceeding employment for a deli-employee to know how to give directions to anywhere in Cambridge to customers. What?)

We visited the Massachusettes Institute of Technology Museum. We had called ahead to make sure that they had a wheelchair available for use since we couldn't have taken Jeff's wheelchair on the T.

Half-full: They did indeed have a wheelchair available for patrons. The exhibits were interesting. I bought a cool deck of playing cards that has a picture of an optical illusion on every card.
Half-empty: The only wheelchair did not have any foot rests. Jeff had to hold his legs up with his hands whenever/wherever we moved - hence it took us a lot of time to move from exhibit to exhibit. We were there an hour before closing.

The permanent exhibits are on the second floor. The "lift" consists of an open metal box about 3 1/2 feet high resting on the floor, attached to the wall. You open a heavy metal door that swings out (into your feet and knees if you are in a wheelchair), roll in, close the door and depress a button to move the box up the wall - IF you can steadily, constantly press that button down. Then when it reaches the next level, you release the button, and lean out as far as you can reach to open the heavy metal door, now in front of you, whilst trying to wheel yourself forward and move out into a small area that you must manuever a turn in to get to the next hallway that takes you to a "real" elevator to finish your travels up to the second floor.
Most of the exhibits have an audio/visual feature to them, so that the "gadget" that was invented at MIT, can be demonstrated. Except for the exhibits where the audio portion is broken - and the museum employee does not know how to work it.
And there you have it folks, the most advanced technology in the world, right here at the MIT Museum? I guess I should just assume that museums are of historical nature - they way things "used" to be. Can you please direct us to the MIT Museum of the Present - oh, never mind, you don't speak English.

Ride the T back to the hotel. Since eating out for every meal is so expensive, we found a grocery store to pick up some things for "dinner" (chicken salad and rolls from the deli) and "breakfast" (fruit, yogurt and juice). With some soda, chips and salsa to snack on later. Oh, and cookies and protein bars and .....

Half-full: The large, clean grocery store is in uptown Boston and has anything you would expect to find in a nice market anywhere in any town in America. Boston (and it's inhabitants) is a land of rich, diverse cultures - ie the employees were from many lands throughout the world.
Half-empty: It has everything - except Diet or Regular Dr. Pepper - Jeff and my favorites. No one there spoke or understood English well enough to know what we were talking about or how we could find it. Except one gal - she spoke English albeit with an asian accent, but couldn't find this strange, foreign - perhaps even imported - beverage.
In the end, the groceries still cost me over $40 and I had to carry it all back to the hotel (four full bags about 1/4 of a mile). Silly me, what was I thinking when I put all of those things in my cart!?! Good thing we never found the Dr. Pepper!

We stayed in and played cards that night.
Half-full: We didn't spend any money for taxi's, restaurants, room service, tours or shows.
Half-empty: Jeff fell asleep after only one hand of rummy (can't blame him, he did more walking in one day than he's done so far this year).

Last day. Our plane leaves at 5:30pm. It takes us about an hour an a half to go from loading the wheelchair into the taxi, getting to the airport, to unloading the wheelchair, reassembling it, to getting through security in a wheelchair (where they always do a "sensitive part of your body" inspection to Jeff), to wheeling to the gate - SO, needless to say, but I'll say it anyway - we are on a very tight schedule.
We have not been able to stop at any of the historically rich tourist sites of Boston. OR GO ON THE FENWAY PARK tour!!! So, we carefully planned out our day, minute by minute. Got up at 7:00am, packed our snacks for the day, repacked our suitcases, checked our luggage with the Bell Captain, and bought "trolley car tour" tickets so we could hop on and off at any of the sites that makes Boston famous. We were ready to take on Boston - in 5 hours or less!

Half-full: We saw (and heard about) many places around the city that are rich in history and our modern day. We toured the USS Constitution - the oldest ship still in commission, had Clam Chowdah in the Fanuiel Hall Marketplace, visited the gravesites of many famous persons in U.S. history, and saw historical buildings such as the Old State House, King's Chapel, etc..
We even got in a tour of FENWAY PARK! We got to go up into the seats in the "Green Monster" and see their Hall of Fame. Most of the tour was even wheelchair accessible. Our tour guide "Steve" was an older gentleman who told lots of silly jokes and was perfectly animated when it came time to telling stories about characters in Red Sox and all of baseball history. We bought hats and t-shirt souveniers - AND the weather was fantastic! (It had been raining, thundering and lightning just hours before).

Half-empty: There was no half-empty for me today. I'm so glad I bought that book and game tickets, made those airline and hotel reservations, walked all those miles, spent all of that money, spoke to all of those people with foreign ethnicities, learned all of what I learned....
because Jeff told me that that was the best present that anyone had ever given him!

So, in the words of one of the greatest baseball players of all time, Jackie Robinson:

"Life is not a spectator sport. If you're going to spend your whole life in the grandstand just watching what goes on, in my opinion you're wasting your life."

P.S. Many thanks to George Horton who helped me plan the trip for Jeff. ;)

What's Jenna Been Up To?

2009-05-04T12:40:00.000-07:00

Prom! Jenna has a friend, Becca, who is a senior, and they went together. I bought her the gorgeous wrist coursage and she went with a big, fun group!

Another Reading Analogy...

2009-05-03T14:03:00.000-07:00

You know when you are reading a book and start a new chapter, only to turn the page and find that it's only 1 or 2 pages long? And you say, "WHAT? That's IT?"

Well, that's my life - or should I say Jeff's life - this last chapter was about 6 paragraphs long. He had been released as Bishop for 6 days - yesterday he was called to be on the High Council with special responsibilities over the Spanish Branch and the Welfare System.

It's a Sunday afternoon today. Jeff has NOT changed into sweats, NOT taking a nap, NOT reading the funny papers. He IS reading church material in preparation of his new assignment. Well, AT LEAST he's in a recliner doing it!

New Chapter

2009-04-27T16:07:00.000-07:00

So, yesterday was a poignant and humbling day. Jeff has been the Bishop for over six years and was a counselor for about four years. When he was counselor, both Bishops he served under traveled a lot, so a lot of things fell to Jeff. So, when he was called as Bishop, he was a little more "seasoned" than maybe some other newly called Bishops. I know it's been challenging as well as rewarding for him. If you haven't guessed yet, he was released.

I never really felt like a "Bishop's Wife". I quickly found my niche and just stood back and let him "do his thing". I always understood how demanding this calling was - time, emotionally, and otherwise. Whenever I answered the phone and it was for him, or was "husband-less" for certain events, I understood that there were needs that only a Bishop could fulfill. I hope the members of our ward never felt like they were imposing or being too demanding. I'm pretty confident in saying that he loved every member of our ward and served them with everything that he had. One Bishop that I know said it well, "If you really love your ward members, it's easy to serve them". And so, with the Lord's help, a Bishop is truly a servant and can do much to enhance, encourage, teach, counsel, and influence people's lives. I helped with the things I could and hope to continue serving the wonderful people of the Eugene First Ward.

But for now, we are going to enjoy a four-day weekend in Boston and go to a Red Sox game!

My Exciting Life

2009-04-22T09:09:00.000-07:00

It seems that this blog has turned into a personal history of sorts. No matter how (un)exciting my photos or bloggings are, I post. I guess because they just cover what my life is about - just a record of how I spend my time.
Home Maintenance is part of my life, whether I like it or not. Well, call me crazy, but I DO like it. Especially the projects where there is satisfaction from seeing change in a short amount of time - I think that's called PRODUCTIVE or "Instant Gratification".
Anywho....I spent my entire day yesterday power-washing my backyard patio. And let me tell you, it needed it. Between the dirt, mold, dog hair and lichen, it REALLY needed it. Afterwards, I needed power- washing I had some much splashed mud and crud on me!
So here is a very, very exciting photo of where I made a swipe with the power water - a sort of "before and after" shot. There are some shadows in the shot, so it's a little hard to get the clear picture - but I'm sure you'll get the jist.
So, now the patio is beautifully clean! Come on over and take a gander if you need some excitement in YOUR life!

(Now if I can just get my arms, hands, shoulders and back to recover from all of that vibration and pressure)!

My domestic skills dusted off

2009-04-21T09:19:00.000-07:00

I used to do a fair amount of sewing and crocheting in the past, but it's been a really long time. So when Micah was born, I decided that there should be something that I hand-made to give to him.
I started crocheting a baby blanket for him with this really pretty white yarn that he could pass on to his other siblings when they were all blessed. I only got about 8 inches into it and decided that it looked WAY too feminine to be given to a boy! Then I changed my mind altogether about crocheting and decided I would make a fabric blanket and embroider his name and birthdate on it somehow. With every sibling, I would add their name and birthdate too.
So, here it is! It was a pretty simple project - embroider the name on to the blanket binding, then sew the binding on! Done!
I'm not sure how Micah felt about it though. He was wrapped in it to be blessed, but soon afterwards, pooped on it! I really didn't feel bad about it, though - it can be washed - unlike the borrowed little beautiful antique suit he was wearing that had to be dry cleaned AHHHHH! (Becca did the stains ever come out of that?).

Team Tittelfitz

2009-04-18T13:09:00.000-07:00

NOOOOO, Becca is NOT "Decamom". I know I have already posted this pic, but I loved it so much I posted it on my desktop in "tiled" position - and this is the result! A little weird, but I'm sure Micah's siblings will all, at the very least, resemble him, so here they all are! Team Tittel - ready for action!

Creamy Chicken Veggie Noodle Soup

2009-04-18T10:28:00.000-07:00

I was at a ward social/dinner last night and got asked by several people for my recipe to a soup I brought. I have to say I was a little surprised, cuz it's pretty easy and simple - but they seemed sincere ;) I also have to admit that I just put in what I had at home, so the recipe posted here comes as close to what I can remember that I put in....

1 cup of cooked, diced chicken (I didn't have time to cook it, so I used a large can of cooked chicken)
1 large can of Cream of Chicken Soup
1 large can of chicken broth (or it's equivalent)
8 oz pkg extra-wide egg noodles, cooked according to pkg directions
4 stalks celery, chopped
4 oz can of mushrooms, buttons or pieces and stems (I used buttons)
1/2 of a 8 oz. bag of mini peeled carrots, each one chopped in half
1/2 onion, chopped (I used dried onion last night - I think a little under 1/4 cup)
1 small bag of frozen peas - don't add until about 15 minutes before serving (otherwise they get soggy. Also, if they aren't heated for so long, they stay a brighter green)
1 tsp. seasoned salt
Salt and pepper to taste

If you want it creamier, add 1 small can of cream of celery soup
If you want it soupier/more watery, add water or more chicken broth

I par-boiled the carrots and celery to get it ready quicker, then added everything together, put it in the crock pot on low and it was ready in about an hour (because everything was already cooked before I put it in - the flavors just needed to blend). You can leave it in the crock pot longer if you want, of course! Or, put in a soup pot and put it on low on the stove - you'll probably just have to stir it more often.

Another cute shot!

2009-04-17T09:15:00.001-07:00

I love that Becca and all of her sisters have blogs - I can go and rip the photos from their sites and paste them into my own blog! It looks like I'm around him all of the time with as many pics that I have of him, but I'm really not. Becca, Jordan and Micah WILL be staying with us for several weeks over the summer, so fair warning - when I get my own camera in on the action - WATCH OUT! You won't know what hit my blog there will be so many pix!

Never too early to start training...

2009-04-13T16:36:00.001-07:00

New child psychology....never too young to start training! At least that's Jordan and Becca's cute sense of humor! So, I really want to know if they are really trying to say that they are going to try to have five kids to start a basketball team, nine to play baseball, eleven to have a soccer team, or more than that so they can have a football team...wink, wink ;)

Jenelle update

2009-04-09T10:08:00.000-07:00

Here is Sister Tittelfitz (Jenelle), Patricia and Jenelle's new companion.

TIM-BER!

2009-04-09T08:50:00.000-07:00

With all of our erosion and settling issues with the house and yard, we have begun stage one of our project to resolve these issues by redesigning the yard and put in retaining walls. Step one was to begin removal of some plant materials including trees.
We decided that the very first thing to go would be the pear tree. I have classified our reasoning - A: It produces woody, bitter pears anyway - although the deer LOVE them. B: while standing around to eat them, the deer poop on the grass. C: Dennis, our cat, doesn't approve of this either, so he goes over and rolls his back in the deer poop to somehow let them know who's boss and, I guess, mark his territory??? D: It's also hard to clean up deer poop off the grass once the rain has does her number on it. E: And, in the fall, the leaves come down - they are round and very flat, and DON'T blow or rake very easily - especially if they get wet. And remember folks, we live in Oregon - we're wet the majority of the season.

So, it was a no-brainer on choice of removal. We figured that once it blossoms, it is a big white mess. Then it would leaf out and be a bigger chore to cut up and haul away.

Jensen and I cut down some branches with a chain saw, then started hacking away at the base of the trunk. Our neighbor saw us laboring away and offered as a friendly, neighborly thing to do, to bring his "bad-boy toy" of a chain saw over and take it down for us. Since our chain saw looked like a toddler toy compared to his, and he was willing, and it was going to start raining soon, we agreed.

Micah's Blessing

2009-03-31T18:19:00.000-07:00

We mostly went to Utah for the naming and blessing of Micah. So, it's official now, he has a name!

Micah and Me Time

2009-03-31T12:08:00.000-07:00

I got to babysit Micah since I was finally over my flu symptoms! Horray!

'Horray' cuz I'm over my flu, but mostly 'Horray' cuz I got to be with Micah and not have to share him with anyone except his crib when he was sleeping - and at that, I let him sleep the first half of his nap all cuddled up on my chest! This video is what we did while mommy and daddy were gone! They were out celebrating their 2nd wedding anniversary. I miss him so much already!

Tales from the Road Trip

2009-03-26T10:18:00.000-07:00

Jenna, her friend, Becca Horton, and I left last Saturday for a "road trip" since it's spring break. Our first stop was my mother's in Corning, California for a visit and to scan some photos from my childhood.
The first night we were there, I was awakened by the unusually high number of male voices just outside the bedroom door. As I regained consciousness, I realized they were paramedics and I jumped out of bed and realized that my mother was being hauled away because she was so sick from vomiting. Her husband brought her back after a few hours and she insisted that it was all from food poisoning.
We left after a day and a half and drove to Las Vegas to see my brother. We arrived at 11:00pm. By midnight Jenna and I were throwing up and running to the bathroom. Is food poisoning contagious? I think not!
We were suppose to babysit his 11 months old baby, Weston, the next day, so when they all got up the next morning, I told him we were sick. Becca amazingly had not shown any symptoms. So Tommy thought it was a good idea for us to stay so Becca could babysit. Then as soon as he got back from work, we would leave and check into a hotel. And that's just what we did - but while we were at his house, we sprayed everything with Lysol and wiped everything down and washed our hands until they were all dried out. And never got to hold, kiss or play with the little darling, Weston. (By the way, he is walking already!).

We left for the closest hotel as soon as they got home from work. The next day, in the morning, I just was so sick still I wasn't sure HOW we were going to leave the hotel before check out (noon). I said a little prayer and we dragged ourselves out of bed. Miraculously - or not so miraculously since I prayed ;) - I got myself together and drove to Provo, where we were to stay with Jordan and Becca or at her parents' house. I didn't think it was such a great plan since her sister's family live there, including a baby niece, so we checked into a hotel. In the middle of the night, my brother texted me to report that his baby had the flu and was throwing up over and over. ARGH!!!! We were soooooo careful!
Here we are suppose to be having a blast on spring break, we are sick and spreading it :(
On Friday, we were still in the hotel and had a call into my doctor to see if we will still be contagious if we go over to see my little baby grandson, Micah! As long as we promise wash our hands a lot, there should be little risk. YEAH!

I also was battling with some "female" issues. I ended up in the E.R. to make sure I wouldn't bleed to death. I got on some medication and it helped. Will see my own doc when I get home.

One of the best things we DID get to do on the trip, was to stop at every Mormon temple along the way. This included Medford, OR; Sacramento, CA; Fresno, CA; Las Vegas, NV; St. George, UT; Provo, UT; American Fork, UT; Draper, UT; South Jordan, UT, Salt Lake City, UT; Bountiful, UT; Ogden, UT; Twin Falls, ID, and Boise, ID!!!!

Whew! Thats 14, folks! I took a picture of Jenna and Becca H in front of each of them. Here's one of them (I was standing on top of the Suburban for this shot).

Happy Birthday Becca!

2009-03-13T14:51:00.001-07:00

It's Becca's birthday this Sunday, and I'm going to dedicate this post to her. She is one of the kindest, prettiest, most thoughtful, fun, beautiful women I have ever known. There is so much more to her character and definition that would EVER meet the eye. I would say that Jordan really found a diamond ;) - already polished and sparkly. I don't know if I could have chosen anyone better for him.
Becca has such a fantastic sense of humor and always has clever ways of bringing sunshine in to every situation and event. Thus, the photograph that I chose. She is an accomplished musician, college graduate, scooter-loving, gal! She rode her beloved baby blue scooter to her graduation even with her cap and gown on! See! I told ya she was a fun girl!
Becca is one of the most selfless people I know. She is always thinking of someone else, even when she is the one needing something. When Jenna was so sad about not being able to come to Utah to help when Micah was born, Becca made a shirt for Micah but it was really FOR JENNA since it said "I Love My Aunt Jenna".
When Jordan and Becca were here last summer, every day she busied herself with a little bit of running in the morning, topped off with about 10 hours of hard work around and in the house! Painting fences and general labor! Even though she was PREGNANT! I loved to see her outside shooting hoops until it was too dark to see what she was doing - and remember, folks, that was at the end of one of the running, working and working days! What energy! I think she's really the brainchild of the Energizer Eveready Bunny! Yep, that's really got to be Becca behind those sunglasses - oops except she plays the Oboe, not the drum!

She is close to the Lord and is someone most people probably want to aspire to be like.
Not only am I grateful to have her as daughter-in-law, a fabulous wife for my son, but an endearing mother of my grandson.
So, here's to you Beautiful Becca !!! Happy Birthday!
Love, XXXMOMOOO

OK, OK equal blog space for the dog!

2009-03-09T12:24:00.000-07:00

Jenna saw my blog and loved the post of the cat, and said, "what about Max?" So, here ya go, Jenna! And, NOOOOO, if you look closely, there is no actual physical contact between our lips and I held him far enough away that his tongue never actually slobbered me!

Sweet Pepper Salsa Recipe

2009-03-08T21:55:00.000-07:00

So, a bunch of you have been asking for the recipe to a salsa that I bring a lot to parties, so here it is! This is for a LARGE batch - you know, party size. You could still cut it in half and there would be a lot.

Sweet Pepper Salsa

14 Roma Tomatoes, diced (cut these up first and let excess water drain off while cutting up the rest of the veggies or the salsa might be too watery)
4-6 long green onions, diced
1 bunch cilantro, finely chopped
1 yellow pepper, diced
1 orange pepper, diced
1 red pepper, diced
1 green pepper, diced
4 cloves garlic, diced
1 Avocado, diced
Optional: 1 can diced jalapenos with juice
3 small cans chopped olives
1 can black beans
2-3 small cans white shoepeg corn

Toss together.

Blend together:
1 bottle 16 oz zesty Italian salad dressing
2 T sugar
1 T lime juice
2 T Cavender's all-purpose Greek seasoning (white and yellow label with shaker found in spice and seasoning aisle)

Combine veggies and dressing into a pretty large bowl, chill until ready to serve. Makes: a huge batch (about 14-15 cups).

Serve with yellow corn tortilla chips.

Ole'!

Wicked

2009-03-06T18:26:00.000-08:00

It has been a wickedly great week! Several girlfriends and I went up to Portland to go to the temple, then we went to Cathy's daughter's high school girls' basketball state tournament play-off games. It was sooooo wickedly exciting! They were down by three points with only 3 seconds to go. One player made a three pointer ON THE BUZZER and it went into overtime! They eventually won 57-54! It was sooo intensely wicked, I picked off all of my fingernail polish and when I jumped up to scream and yell, I flung all of the polish flecks all over the people sitting in front of me! Whoa, dude, that's some wicked dandruff you got going there ;)
After the game, Cathy said she had two tickets to "Wicked" and did I want them?! What? Do I EVER! So I recruited Dana Bennion to drive back up to Portland again with me the next day. It was such a fantastic production. I was especially impressed with the two leads and the LIGHTING! Wicked good talent! I'll never be able to watch Wizard of Oz again and not have a special place in my heart for those wicked witches!

Can you hear me NOW?

2009-03-06T12:06:00.000-08:00

Micah misses his Oma so much - here he is trying to call her...

He's such a technology wiz ;) They're getting younger and younger.....

Accordians Anonymous

2009-03-03T12:35:00.001-08:00

Jenna took up playing the accordian last September and is loving it. I found a teacher here in Eugene, and she happened to be the president of the local accordian club. In fact, there's TWO groups here in Eugene. Who would have ever guessed that there was an entire population of accordian players so close to home?

We have been attending the monthly accordian club meetings and it is too much fun! Most of the members are over 60! Jenna and one other teenage girl are the only members that are of their generation, but they sure get a lot of attention!

Anyone interested in joining us - just to hear them play? It's the first Monday of the month. Seriously, they would LOVE to have new members and guests of current members (that means YOU). Just once. Huh?

...on the road again....

2009-03-02T12:34:00.000-08:00

Some of you have asked about Justin and his injury. I mentioned it in our Christmas newsletter and I guess I should update everyone. He is pretty much mended-up and back on his bike. He was in a racing event last weekend and safely manuevered his way to "pleasant exhaustion" by that night! (I stole this pic from his Facebook page! He didn't post anything with him in it). I guess a bunch of bikes in a pic proves his story ;) Remember he is in Seattle and they have lots of water there, so all the bikes on the ferry looks weird, but it is what it is!

Precious photos

2009-03-01T16:53:00.000-08:00

Jordan is sizing up Micah's hand for leather work gloves - he can't wait to get him on the construction crew with him!

Here Micah is on Jordan's arm. He is either completely bored or utterly exhausted!

Ok, Ok, I can make a serious comment. Well, maybe not. Here is Micah's little Buddah Belly. Mommy says Micah's favorite thing to do it eat - duh!

Well, I really should mention just how beautiful these photos are. I love this one. It shows the love and bond between a woman and her child. I can recognize it since I felt that bond five times!

Jenelle's blog

2009-02-24T14:27:00.000-08:00

I hope you all know that my daughter, Jenelle, has a blogsite for her mission messages and photos. If not, it's www.sistertittelfitz.blogspot.com. I am going to post a pic here from her latest email at the risk of you not going to see her blog - just cuz her mission is so much a part of MY life, too. Here she is soaking wet from being out in the pouring rain. She has a big, big smile because she knows how to make the best of a bad situation!

Freezer Burn

2009-02-23T14:06:00.000-08:00

You know when you get a big project done, and you just want to stand back and admire your hard work for a long time? Well, I cleaned out and organized our upright freezers in the garage - but it's a little energy INefficient to stand there with the freezer door open for any length of time - just for admiration. Besides, everything would defrost and spoil. Kinda defeats the purpose, eh? So, I took a picture. I can look at it all I want without anything defrosting. In fact, maybe I'll put it on my computer desktop. Just kidding.

I looked up in the attic for some freezer-proof rubbermaid-type containers that might aid in my organization that would fit inside the freezers - and to keep those little portion-sized FoodSaver packages from slipping out the door every time I opened it. I found some containers - except they already had Christmas decorations stored away in them. Too bad, they are the perfect size, so in the freezer they go. I even got really ambitious and labeled them!
So, on to my next project - repacking the Christmas decorations! I wonder where THOSE containers will come from ;)

Lovely pix of Micah

2009-02-22T22:04:00.000-08:00

We get to see him on a webcam each week - and it is so wonderful! He makes little baby noises and moves around - but it's just not the same as getting to touch and hold him :( I just can't stand not seeing him live every day....and when I have to wait a week, I just go craazy.

Jordan and Becca have a friend who has a great eye for photography and took these pix of Micah and Becca today. I'm assured that there's more to come - I wouldn't let them go to bed without a sneak peak. The count-down begins: Thirty-seven days until we are in Utah again!

Becca calls this pic "Sweet Milk Dreams"

2009-02-17T19:41:00.000-08:00

Well, whether he's dreaming of sweet tasting milk or his dreams are "saweeeet!" - he appears to be one happy baby at this photo shoot. Contrary to his apparent happy appearance, he gave mommy and daddy a taste of sour stomach the following 24 hours :(

Although a lot of people who have seen the two pix below (in my last posting), the concensus is that there are mixed reviews on resemblance.

He is definitely taking on his own looks now - and I think they're all BOY. I see both mommy and daddy in him, but he mostly looks like - MICAH!

Also, the pic below of Jordan shows him "smiling". In this pic of Micah, I'm sure he's not only happy to be out of the cramped womb, he's got to be ecstatic about being with such a fabulous mommy and daddy (THAT's got to be the REAL reason for the smile, eh folks?)!

Other "members" of the Tittelfitz family?

2009-02-17T16:02:00.000-08:00

I'm sure if you ask the kids, they consider the pets a part of the family. Ok, I concede that they are - especially since their medical care costs are just as much (or more) than the children (of the human sort). Also take into consideration that, after "my purse", "pets" come second on the emergency evacuation list of things to grab, and, in what order.

Today, I took Napkins the cat AKA Napster (Justin came up with that - last kitty was Elbow, and his chicken was BumBum) to the vet. We adopted Napster from Justin when he moved to Seattle. Napster had pretty much only been an indoors pet. We consider him the "upstairs" cat. Max (the dog) is the "downstairs" pet, and Dennis (our 14 year old cat) is the "outdoors" cat. But Napster seems to have more and more interest in being outside, so I wanted to make sure he is protected from all of those big, bad germs, diseases and pests of the great outdoors - and to make sure he doesn't bring them IN the house. He got several shots and a full exam. Let's say our grocery budget will have to take some serious cutbacks to make up for the vet bill total 8-O

But, we love him - otherwise why would Jeff (the former cat dis-liker) let him sleep on our bed every night (at our feet)? That is soon going to change, though since he's now "outdoor proofed" AND since our grandbaby will soon be visiting at our house and we don't go THAT far as to let kitties and babies sleep together!

Micah update

2009-02-15T14:12:00.001-08:00

Just a quickie to let you know about Micah - well, he's doing GREAT! He has put on 15 oz. and is obviously eating better! He still needs little reminders to stay awake while he's eating, but apparently it's working.

Whoa, what a tanker Jordan was!

2009-02-12T14:59:00.000-08:00

Little Micah (well, at least compared to his daddy)

Micah is on the top at 7 lbs 12 oz.
Jordan is next at 10lbs 4 oz. Yes, you read that right - let me spell it for you T-E-N, Ten pounds!

And WHAT's SOOO funny, Jordan? Have you ever seen a newborn smiling moments after birth????? Ok, ok, he's just so happy to finally have some room to stretch out! Whew!

R U "Groovy Granny"?

2009-02-12T09:23:00.001-08:00

This kids dad is definitely from Eugene, the little hippie! JK, Becca bought this shirt last summer while she was in Eugene at Saturday Market!

I had a conversation last night with several other "grandmother" friends and we thought about starting a grandmother's group - a way to share "grandmother" ideas - how to be really awesome grandma's. Should we start our own blog? (Click on the "comments" link at the end of this blog if you'd like to ).

First question:

If you are a grandma, what are YOU called? Perhaps it's "Groovy Granny"? I'm still thinking that Micah and my other grandkids will just end up calling me whatever they want, but it seems to definitely start with what their own parents start with. Should we be cultural? Nonna is Italian, Oma is German, Nana is several languages, and Kuku is Mapuche (American) Indian. ...who would ever want to be called Kuku for reals? (no offense, Silas Bennion ;) )

Back to life...back to reality

2009-02-12T08:11:00.001-08:00

So, I just got back yesterday from helping to welcome in a beautiful new baby to the world and be with his family - and I realize all that didn't get done while I was gone. So, I started to compile "THE LIST" of what I was going to do, and in what order. "Whoa" is all I have to say.

This morning I woke up dreaming of my little grandbaby, Micah, and now that the initial shock of traveling, unpacking, making THE LIST, and getting started on it - I realized how much I miss the little nipper :(

The front of our house is falling off due to erosion on our hill. It's just the front porch and it's roof, but it has pulled the front of the house off a bit with it - I have cold air and a little light coming in from a crack in the corner of my bedroom (ceiling to floor) from the front of the house being pulled away from the side of the house. AND, the front walk up to the house has shifted an inch or two to the west and dropped downhill/sloping another couple of inches. Oh yeah, and there are unexplainable holes in the yard that never backfill when a hose is inserted and turned on. Hmmm....

Our contractor constructed a temporary solution for the porch problem yesterday by lifting the roof of the porch back up until we can do it right. You can see how much drop there was in these pix. Notice the new chunks of wood between the posts and the roof.

See the little piece of unpainted wood between the top of the post and the beam that supports the roof of the porch? In reality, it's about two inches long. This is the easternmost end of the porch.

Here is the westernmost end of the porch. This new chunk of wood is THREE inches! Yowzers.

We are hoping that Jordan and Becca will come to visit in the summer and if so, we'll hire Jordan to work on helping to get the problem fixed, along with a lot of new cement work and landscaping around the property, as well as a big retaining wall to prevent the erosion from happening again. Oh yeah, I guess Micah will have to come along, too....isn't THAT a pitty ;)

On the road again....

2009-02-11T11:20:00.000-08:00

Well, it took several hours extra to get where I was going....but I made it back to Eugene safe and sound. There was some winter weather out there that slowed me down, but I'm baaaaack! Jenna wasn't feeling so hot, and the new parents are doing great, so I'm back. It was sooooo hard to leave them, I kept saying, "OK, one more hug and kiss, then I'll give Micah back to you." Hug, hug, kiss, kiss. "OK, just ONE more...." You get the picture. I can hardly wait to see them again! We will go back to Utah the end of March to formally do the baby blessing for Micah in church.

Here is our little "burrito boy". Micah loves to be wrapped up snug and tight like a burrito! (Notice the contrast in size of Micah to Jordan's hand!).

Jenna felt bad about not coming to Utah to see her very first nephew, so Becca made this shirt for him (for her). I call this pic "Just whistle while while you work, la la la la la la lah..."! They just make the cutest faces!

A trip to the tanning bed ;)

2009-02-08T13:11:00.000-08:00

Micah's biliruben shot up a bit, so the doc advised a simulated trip to Maui. If only, huh? Jordan, Becca and Micah did an overnight stint at UVRMC so Micah could lay in the bilirubin bed (lots of special lights to help the jaundice improve). Well, that did the trick, because this morning, the doc came in and declared him fit to go home. In fact, Micah is only one ounce below birth weight now after having lost about 9 oz during the week! He is a sleepy eater, so we all get to have a little fun "stimulating" him to eat by tickling and rubbing his head, tummy and belly. It's really fun to squeeze his toes and rub a cool washcloth on his feet, too!

It's a .....Blog!

2009-02-07T11:37:00.000-08:00

Hey everybody, thought it was about time to start a family blog site now that we are going on three generations.
The prompting for this is the birth of Micah Jeffrey Tittelfitz on February 1, 2009. He was 7 lbs. 12 oz and 20 inches. He is so adorable! Becca and Jordan are very proud and capable parents. I am in Utah, helping out and loving every second of it. So, enjoy the newborn pix!