This BLOG has moved...

Here is the new address of the continuation    http://simplesymenspart2.blogspot.com/

blog issues may end the run...

Well, I wrote this blog or I started a good portion of it and then when I tried to add the first picture.. it gave me some "whoops, your blog has reached it's 100% of it's storage", So now I'm not so sure what I'm going to be doing in the future..   so I'll let you know where I switch to..

New medical bracelet

Today my new bracelet arrived via the mail in a split second compared to the amount of time it originally gave me in the estimate of 7-10 days.

Been diabetic for over 33 years and have rarely worn a medical alert bracelet.. There not very intriguing or as a jewelry accesorie.. and then I came across this website, and this cute bracelet (s) options.  Made me change my mind and consider

http://www.laurenshope.com/product/2318/C310/venus-medical-id-bracelet/size

and this is the medical alert

http://www.laurenshope.com/product/2192/015/oval-filigree-medical-id-tag/size

cute huh?

Why should we support Israel

I couldn't paraphrase this and so I'll just put it out there for you to read.. But if God says I will bless those who bless Israel and will curse those who curse Israel.. I want to be found to be on the Lord's side in the battle.

http://www.jhm.org/Home/About/WhySupportIsrael

Happy Thanksgiving..

the sound of rain

Today has been a mix of some rain, sunshine, and now again since late this afternoon, there are rain drops.. and I love it. I probably wouldn't be a fan of Oregon like rainfall, but would like a nice dose of it each week.  Apparantly this was all forecasted...

But Friday I had no idea there was a forecast for rain and so before jury duty I stopped in and got my car washed.. It was covered in a gross layer of road dirt. Now granted the sky had a light layer of clouds but nothing that seemed threatening. And not twenty minutes after I left the car wash drive thru on the corner of Lakewood and South Street the rain drops in the Los Angeles sky let loose.. I laugh about it now but my first reaction wasn't all joy, although my focus was on having a clean car and I did have that if only for twenty minutes and a $5 investment.

Now as I write this blog, I'm curious.. who reads this? Or am I just journaling into the stratosphere of my own mind?  Quite possible that I am just being overly sensitive to no comments ever..  but if it helps I removed the comments moderation for which keeps the spammers out of my space and off my computer.. they certainly have a comment to make... I'm curious.. so leave your name and I'd greatly appreciate it.
Lorinda

Plan for Thanksgiving week

We have kids out of state and so holidays will mostly be spent without one or more of them..

So this year for Thanksgiving which always falls with a perfectly situated 4 day weekend for both of us, we are hitting the road.  We both are taking the day before off and Greg will just be busy on the phone while I drive, and he talking with his customers, as is how we usually roll. But if that is what it takes for him to get away from the home office.  The drive is 13 hours and we will make it out there in two days on a more leisurely pace depending on what time we can get out of dodge. The time will determine what direction we take (ideally hwy 15 to hwy 11 through Zion National Park and then to hwy 89 north to hwy 70) which will take us through the rural farmlands.. but if we get out of town late, it will be a direct shot up the 15 to hwy 70..

Brian moved to Parachute CO in June of this year, and so it will be a fun road trip to go see him and spend time celebrating his 25th birthday which is on Nov 20, as well as the Thanksgiving holiday.  Brians co worker Dave and his wife Kathy invited them over for dinner on this day and so we will also go with them.

On Black Friday Nicole had gotten tickets for Brians birthday to go see Rodney Carrington in Grand Junction.  So I went to ticketfly.com and was able to get two tickets for us in the balcony in different places, but that is how sold out it is.

What are you doing on Thanksgiving?

A great wednesday

The beginning of the day has been pretty much as usual, my new jury usual... and we were released early right after lunch... tomorrow we don't have to start until 1:30pm on Thursday with a promise of a surprise by Judge Frederick N Wapner..(I have an idea what it is, but can't tell yet or maybe that is just hope speaking)

But I AM LOVING to be like a normal person, sleep til the sun is actually up, and going to bed at 10pm.  I've hit the treadmill today TWICE.. I had a bowl of ice cream tonight anyway, but did you read that I hit the treadmill twice. The last three months eating little or the same and I feel like I'm attached to an airhose.. and the treadmill has been like a piece of furniture.

Tonight while I walked on the treadmill I caught up on some okay just one DVR show.. and then I camped on the couch for the rest of the taped shows The Good Wife (my favorite show to watch), Mike and Molly (good for a chuckle and once in awhile laugh so hard, well you know how that goes).. And one of the Guiliana and Bill.  Now remember when you watch a DVR you fast forward through commercials. Gregs working on a project so he's on the computer putting in long hours.

well, it's nearly 10pm and the yawning has started.. my mind likes to stay awake but the mind knows the clock time

it's a Monday

Today being Veterans Day, I would like give a more thorough list although I stood corrected on my facebook post, here are the immediate relatives or friends that I am aware of who served. There are most likely many more whom I am not aware of but there service for this great country of America hasn't gone unnoticed. America is the land of the free, but it's not free to the families who lose a loved one whether for just the time they serve, or lose a loved one in the fight.

Gregs Dad Burdell, served in the Army and was stationed in Germany in the 50's. Gregs Uncles Delbert and Marlon Symens (3 of 5 brothers)

Our daughter Ashley served in the Army, stationed at Ft. Hood, TX

Her boyfriend Matt Meadows served 6 years Army

cousin Todd Stoltenberg Air Force

cousin Brad Stoltenberg Air Force

Uncle Alvin Blom Marines

cousin Terry Blom Air Force

Uncle Harvey Van Essen in the Korean War

Uncles Ron Van Meeteren in Marines, Roger, Pete, Cory, Monte, and Mark (6 of 10 brothers)

cousin Cory Kosters who gave his life in Iraq at age 19 about 5 years ago. Cory is fortunately the
only one that I know of that lost his life while fighting in a war. And that was one to many but he lived to be a sniper and he excelled at it, an IED took his life in a caravan of humvees. His parents Marlon and Senta Kosters have been just an inspiration as they handled the tragedy and encouraged those who had hoped to comfort them in those very early days and on with the love of Christ as their cornerstone.  Greg flew to Houston TX along with a large number of relatives to honor the life of Cory for his funeral and he was very taken aback by the honor that America gives to its heroes.

I have the Monday Night football game on and as they honored the veterans prior to the game and then the singing of the National Anthem and the large flag unfurled across the field, it just brings tears each time.  They panned across the veterans and had names/wars they fought in.  There just aren't enough words in the thanks for their individual service and the "team" effort they undertake to have solidarity in times of conflict in the midst of their own fears and uncertainty. No matter whether you were a cook, a nurse birthing babies of the service men and womans families, or an infantryman who was on the front lines with everyone else it takes to take on the enemy or a nurse/doctor who takes care of the wounded.. It takes a massive team effort to stand up for freedom and democracy start to finish and I thank you.

on a lighter note:
It's a Monday and as has been the tale of the last three weeks, it's the only day that I have shown up at work.. Tuesday through Friday have been jury duty days as it will be this week, BECAUSE they actually started the trial on Friday of last week. It felt kind of weird driving into the employee parking lot to report to work. My desk today looked alot cleaner than it did each of the two Monday's prior when I came in.. So either I've trained them well to handle some of the issues that come up OR I've trained them to well.. haha.. oh well, I know where I'm needed and so no worries.

For those who had the day off, those of us who did not, we had to take the freeways appreciating your absence on the roadways.

Well, now to watch a football game where the Pittsburg Steelers will most likely ROUT the Kansas City Chiefs, but yet after the first quarter.. KC was up 10-0, and then at half time 10-10 and now the Steelers quarterback is out of the game with a right shoulder injury.. maybe KC has a bigger chance than I first thought..


 

Photos of special people

This fall we got our Christmas shopping started early and when I traveled to MN I delivered our gift to Gregs parents in person. We had done lots of online searching for a digital photo frame that would allow us to add pictures online and not just from an SD card or USB stick (which it is also capable of doing.

http://www.amazon.com/Pix-Star-PXT510WR02-FotoConnect-Digital-Picture/dp/B0056HNTAU/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1352677709&sr=8-1&keywords=pix-star+digital+photo+frame

Amazon carries the one we wanted but they were back ordered until the last week before I left. Which we had it delivered to our house and I got right on the project of downloading and checking out the in's and out's of the photo frame. By the end of the week I had around 200 of our (2000) pictures of Alaska that they would enjoy seeing of wide variety and also a number of the fall trip Marlys and I took a year ago in 2011. Since then I've been adding older pictures of our kids, family.  Once I was in MN I copied each of the other siblings Alaska pictures to a storage disc that I brought along and withing a couple of weeks I had some of each of the siblings contribution onto the photo frame.

Today I added three pictures from Marlys hallway wall of their wedding picture and Gregs grandparents..

Marlys and Burdell Wedding picture

 

Grandparents Gladys and Arthur Symens

 

Great Grandma Van Diepen, Grandparents Cordell and Mona Van Meeteren, Mona Van Diepen as a child  

 

jury service day 9

okay, morning #9 of driving to 25 miles to LA for jury service that starts each morning at 10:30 (means we are there at that time and the courtroom 114 comes out for us when it suits them.  This morning it's raining, traffic is backed up, I just show up on time to the courthouse after catching the B Dash bus for the 4 long blocks from the Disney Music Center rather than jogging downhill the stairs through the garden park.  At 10:40 the clerk comes out and says a couple of jurors are running late and so without them we have to wait. At 11:10 she comes back out and calls the 11 jurors into the a line, and then proceeds to tell us that the court judge is dismissing us 11 only until 1:30 so they can continue to pick jurors using the entire jury box to interview.. I must admit that by this time I was pissed a bit, since we weren't even for sure part of the jury and could still be eliminated..

WHAT THE HELL.. it's a lot of time to do NOTHING, but she suggests we can get bus passes, free tickets to see museums.. but it's only 2 hours, who wants to truck around freaking mysterious downtown to do that..  so there is a major Catholic Cathedral that I've heard does tours, and they have a good grill for lunch.. So I trudge UPHILL to Temple and Grand, and sit outside because it's not raining and the chairs are dry... at 12:10 Mass was starting and so I sat through as much of that as I had time.. It's actually not a Cathedral of extravagence that I was expecting.. We went to a wedding in a downtown Catholic Cathedral in Sacramento several years ago and that was wow over the top in old architecture and decor in the main part..

Got back to the courthouse, we started at 12:50, and after a few people excused the lawyers have exhausted there challenges. The jury was set and while I had been in chair #8 since day one they asked us 12 to stand and be sworn in... the 4 alternates are yet to be agreed on and they dismissed us the jury so as to use the entire jury box to interview and move the process along.. so twenty minutes today in the courtroom is all after being there in the courthouse for 4 hours..  I foresee the trial opening statements to start next Tuesday (rather than this last Tuesday) and that will be four days of trial time, and then a two week break for vacation of Judge and then trials for the lawyers..  so this is a frustrating waiting game to just get it going, completed and move on..

If I can get the comp time, it would be nice to head to CO to see Brian if we could leave Tuesday afternoon and come back Saturday..  We will see if that is a possibility yet, since I'm actually out of vacation time, I know hard to believe but I even got an extra week carried over from 2011.. but I do have individual days off to use..

Well, it's Alpha night and so I need to take a look in the mirror as I spent a little time out in the rain today..

jury service & movie star..

Today, Tuesday I reported back to the jury Service 11th floor at LA Courthouse after two days off.  I have no feel for what is the criteria the lawyers are looking for, but there is something specific because for whatever reason, I still occupy seat #8. There must have been 130 people that have come through this process for this trial and yet they keep calling out for new ones to fill vacating seats.  Just as we arrived today at the prospected 10:30, they separated into a line the 11 who have a jury box seat, and told us to come back at 11:45am.... which only meant we'd be back in time to be excused for lunch, which is what basically happened.

So Helene and Maxine and I headed downstairs together as jurors in the box together at 10:45 for the cafeteria just to sit away from the juror room and the hard benches in the hallway. We had a nice conversation about our families, jobs, etc. and then mosied back upstairs for the next call to break for lunch, which did come 10 minutes after we got into the courtroom. The three of us headed back down to the cafeteria for lunch for an hour and twenty five where we shared alot of laughs about lifes stuff.. good times while you all are tortured with the slow scheme of things.

In the brief afternoon period, Helene and Maxine were both excused.. a brief wave and they are gone. I am one of two of the longest sitting 1st panel of jurors from day one to be still hanging around.

A sidenote of being in LA court system is that famous people are called to jury duty along with you.. She got herself excused by playing the "I have to fly to New York, Bulgaria and attend the Kennedy Center Awards with my husband" who is Antonio Banderas.  She didn't look alot like the coifed Melanie Griffith in her ponytail and leggings with a coat jacket on, but she carried herself like an actress..
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Melanie_Griffith

As will go with trials in the jury pick is that you have numerous side bars between jurors and their secrets and the judge/lawyers for why they should be excused. Or you have motions about jurors who one side just excused and they empty the courtroom to have there outloud discussion about it.  So lots of sitting and lots of waiting... Today not much was accomplished and as we got to the "next" calling of juror #'s to be excused, the judge called it a day and we left at 4:00pm to come back another day.

Wednesday will be day 7 of jury selection overall and day 5 for me.

Tonight is election coverage and Greg kept flipping back to it from the show we were watching until I couldn't take it anymore. I headed upstairs to come back an I am now in my pj's and he went up to work on the computer for which I suggested to get away from the watching of the few states that had closed. Tomorrow is soon enough for me to know the outcome.

goodnight ya'll as juror S3944 is looking forward to sleeping in, walking the treadmill, and then heading back to LA.. bad day fishing beats a good day working is my thinking.

simple bookends I'm stoked on

Numerous months ago, I was at the Ashley furniture store shopping for a desk to put in my newly converted kids bedroom to an office.. and I saw these bookends on top of a desk there..  It seemed pricey at the time and having just bought the desk, decided against the purchase but thought they were so cute as I enjoy photography.

Well, today I went out to a grand opening of a Hobby Lobby looking for something like it. Didn't come across anything that resembled it at all or caught my eye. So I stopped back at Ashley furniture on the way back, and the price was a "little lower" and it had a 15% off sale price... took the leap and just got them. Now it was what would seem like a simple purchase of pay and get your receipt.. But I had to first get a salesman to take care of it, even though I am the one who carried them to the customer counter.  And they were heavy, why, I don't know.

The salesman who seemed to just be caught into the wrong place at the wrong time as he walked to the customer counter and had another "bigger fish" on the line at the time, assured me he'd be right back.  Meanwhile I'm standing in front of 4 women at what must have been a call center and sales desk who should I thought just take care of it and let me go.. So I'm waiting, and waiting and he after one of the ladies goes looking for him, he comes back and grabs some paperwork for me & for his bigger fish client, and again he's off promising to return shortly. Eventually he calls me over to the computer 10 yards away, and proceeds to take information like I was purchasing a 10 seat dining set for delivery.. He runs to the printer, and comes back with 3, count them 3 pages for me to sign, one for the actual sale, one for the fact that I acknowledge I can't return or exchange them.. huh., okay, and then another that states I'm taking the product with me..  Holy cow, what if I had actually purchased something of monetary value, it couldn't be much different.. And he then invited me to come back anytime and shop their inventory..  haha, yes, the next time I want a 15 minute check out for a sale item, I'll definitely consider it.

But I am quite stoked as I start to put my office together, slowly but surely.. some vacation pictures to decide on and to enlarge for the walls, and a wall of pictures of the family as I work on scanning those no negative or digitally saved as of yet.



goodnight, until the next thought strikes me to write about... tomorrow is another jury day, so it might occur..

the NEW dishwasher...

Our old dishwasher was pathetic and we weren't using it as it left white film on everything and that's useless.. so after a month or more of washing all the dishes for the most part.. or rewashing glasses after a cycle had run. The new dishwasher was picked out on Friday afternoon and delivered and installed Saturday late afternoon.

Since 11 years ago in 2011 when we designed our kitchen we chose a "bisque" colored sink, and appliances.. which seemed like a great color with our oak cabinets. But now as we have the first appliance go bad, we have found that "bisque" isn't a color that is being made (or displayed) in appliances stores at Pacific Sales where we originally bought it. But if they do alot of work they can find that KitchenAid still makes this color and have it delivered pretty fast.  You get one option of dishwasher in this color ~ and that is the way it rolls, so we paid, scheduled the installer,that doesn't take very long.  We maybe discussed the option of starting in the stainless steel model for a minute and headed home in the matter of 15 minutes start to finish. My kind of shopping, but since it was a no choice decision for less steel models, but decided we'd cross that bridge if or when we were still living in the house, for now just match them up.

This is the old KitchenAid dishwasher which is a mere 11 years old but that is like 25 years in appliance years as they don't build them to last more than 3 years anymore... isn't that sad!

having the old dishwasher out of the hole was about how useful the dishwasher was while it was in the hole... not so much...

the NEW dishwasher.. a KitchenAid

 

Now for that first load of dishes to have come out of it, ready to be put into the cabinet and not rinsed film off of and dried..  These luxuries don't come cheap, but in resale of a home, you can't have one that doesn't work..

jury duty in downtown LA

When that jury summons comes in the mail, most people groan and are tempted to throw it in the trash as if it didn't arrive.. I on the other hand do not mind this "civic duty" and for me that envelope tends to arrive each year like clockwork. I kind of like the criminal justice system in that a group of your peers (what does that mean exactly?) sits in your courtroom and hears the evidence and decides.  If it were me in the defense chair, I'd prefer it was someone who WANTS to be there verses someone who feels stuck in the chair for the duration and wants out as fast as possible, and it could be at the defenses expense.  My job UPS pays unlimited jury pay, so I'm very enticing to have available without the "hardship" comment for wanting out.   I would have preferred somewhere closer to home and not dealing with traffic and the long walk each day.

On Tuesday as I sat in the jury "waiting" room, it is much like waiting for grass to grow. The first panel of 75 had come and gone. The orientation process was lengthy and I was now was wishing I had done the online version so I could have shown up at 10:30 vs 7:45.  Once they called my name and that placed us in a hallway just prior to lunch breaking, but I had arranged to meet a friend who works in the area for lunch, so I was anxious that they would just come out and tell us to report back after lunch for the start.  But no, they called all 75 of us into the courtroom, explained what the trial was about, and for us to consider if we could be on a trial that length and we would be discussing that following the lunch break.

the courthouse is the square building just to the right of the fountain..  I'm two blocks from there when I took the picture.  there is a "garden park" between that runs the course of 4 blocks (the 4 that separate us from the parking structure and the courthouse)

 

This is the street that leads up to the parking provided for the jurors at the Disney Music Center which is downtown and 4 blocks on the uphill side of neighborhood.. so you walk downhill to the courthouse and UPHILL back to the parking structure. Walking the "garden park" takes away some of the knowledge that it's uphill as there are stairs and walkways.. when I took the street side and just walked uphill directly it was so noticeable that it was uphill and I didn't like it at all.

                                                         


A friend I met through the kids being at the same elementary school many a moon ago works just next to the courthouse.  We met outside and walked downhill to Chinatown for a chinese lunch and some catching up. It was nice to catch up and hear the good and to also lament about our kids. Her oldest son just had twins and so lots of hearing "grandma's" perspective of how they have changed in their 5 weeks so far.  And then we hiked back up the HILL to part ways with the promise that if jury duty continues, we'd do it again..

Now as the week is at the end, it has been 3 days of jury selection and both sides of the table defense and prosecution eliminating people as they have gone and since we started with 75 eliminated all but 7 of those and called in another group of 30, eliminated all of those leaving only a mere 9 in the box.. they decided to give us Friday off so they could continue the process without us having to sit and listen (or pay us the $15 a day).. We were instructed to come back Monday, but on Friday evening I received a call that the judge now wanted us to come Tuesday instead.  So obviously they have worked there way through another group of people and need Monday to find the balance of the jury.  Now I suspect it's very likely that while they shuffle people in and out of the jury box, some of us who were already in the box, have been eliminated in favor of someone else.. That is what could happen on Tuesday, we show up and they tell us that "they would like to thank jury #.... for their service" and yet the judge will dismiss that juror #..

I yet undecided that Monday I will need to go back to work since I got alot of my work done, and work does think I'm at jury service... but then again...... are they really going to check that closely to the dates or remember when I worked or was gone, because it's been a start stop event.  I'm more inclined to sleep in, and shop at Hobby Lobby instead.

Well, got to go my new dishwasher and installer just arrived.