Sleep, Sleep and More Sleep

Someone became confused about who was in my family because in looking at my posts I have mentioned different people.  Here is what I said:  Yes. These are two of my step-children and their children [the pictures in my last post]. I have five step-children. Their father was my husband. He died eight years ago.  Their mother died 5 years ago and we had a good relationship before their deaths. Their mother came for all holidays to my husband and my home.  They grieve their parents death and I don't presume to take their place. I'm another person who has known them for many years and we developed our own relationship when they were children. My daughter I adopted as a single parent when she was ten.   She was in the foster system. Her mother was murdered when she was nine. She has found her half-brother and half-sister who live in the same town as me. Recently a man who knew her father made contact with her.  He was killed in the Vietnam war.  She understands his family is in a town two hours north of me. She will continue looking for them because she needs to feel connected. I just accept it, because she will do this whether I accept it or not. Ronda and I talk on the phone at least every week. We have visited several times since she became an adult. She lives in Illinois.  This was not easy.  But, all of us worked on it in our own way. It filled a need for all of us.  Families come in different ways. This one is not by blood, but it is family. 

In addition to this, I have girlfriends that seem more like family than my sisters. I'm sure they have friends like this too.  I have known many of them more years than I spent with my siblings so we have more in common. 

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So one thing I noted along with others this last Mother's Day was that the retaining wall in my backyard is definitely moving. It is downright scary.  It didn't look like it was built with rebar. It could be deadly.  I called a man to give me an estimate on the cost. He also said this would be deadly, just dropping when it reached a tipping point crushing anything in its way.  When the man who would do the demolition came, he said he didn't think it would go now and that there is rebar in it, so it will lean more rather than drop immediately.  There is a lot to do with this project.  The builder will call me this next week to let me know what this would cost. I'm glad to know we are not in immediate danger!

My grandson Kevin is participating in The 20% Project in his school.  Alex K at Google+ explained The 20% Project this way:

I love what I do (I work for Google's Partner Solutions Organization, writing internal programs and tools to help better manage our partner relationships--check out our job listings), but Google's "20 percent time" recently came in handy. The 20 percent time is a well-known part of our philosophy here, enabling engineers to spend one day a week working on projects that aren't necessarily in our job descriptions. You can use the time to develop something new, or if you see something that's broken, you can use the time to fix it. 

My grandson Kevin selected planting trees in Bakersfield.  We still don't have enough trees here though several groups have worked on this in recent years. The idea of this program is to offer more creative solutions through some sort of community service, being allowed time to work on something that is not a part of the regular curriculum.  This one involves fundraising.  Kevin will need funds to buy the trees. Considering what problems we are having, a major drought, I think trees which live naturally in a  drier climate seems like a winning combination!  I'm so pleased to see Kevin doing this.  I understand my grandson Devin is also supposed to do a project, but his teacher has not brought it up yet.  I'll be curious to see what he selects. 

In my art class with Carol Bradshaw, I had worked on the washes of my poppies and more detail in my drawing. Next week we are to have the drawing done of a bearded iris.  I have poppy buds and one poppy picture (which is not done).

Poppy Buds 1

Poppy Buds 2

Poppy and Buds, Unfinished

Part of an Iris in a field of Irises

Practicing-  I will never be a botanical artist!

 I had met my friend Cathy at Sandrini's for lunch.  I had fettuccine with clams and a glass of wine.  We went down memory lane when we worked together. There are very few people working at the hospital where we worked who were there when we were.  The way we worked is quite different from now. The leadership's priorities seem very different from what we saw as important. Yes finances are important, but if you don't focus on the consumers of that service, they won't want to return. Then in the long run finances of the institution will be affected negatively. Cathy did share her thoughts with those leading in the area she works, but they didn't seem to understand. Cathy has decided to retire in July and then go on a vacation with one of her daughters to London and Scotland right after.  Good for her. I was not quite ready to retire when I did, but health issues forced me to. But, I was noticing the same sort of issues and I worked for the state. I am glad to be out of it. Retirement has been good. 

My friend Janet went to San Jose del Cabo, at the southern tip of Baja California for a few days this week with friends.  She described everything as being picturesque  with the area being hilly and the town facing the ocean.  They made a couple of boat trips and the food was gourmet.   It was not cheap, but it would make you feel that you got very far away.  So airfare would help to make this a doable trip for people in California. 

I have noticed now that I find myself needing to sleep very long periods of time periodically for the last few weeks. When I was with Cathy I had a glass of wine. I had had a good nights sleep. I had not taken a pain pill. Yet when I got home, I laid down and slept until 9:30 pm, and got up to take my meds including one pain pill and slept another eight hours.   I woke up feeling fine, but it is so weird to sleep so much!  Carol my teacher had suggested I get a pulse oximeter which also measures oxygen level in the blood. I did buy it, but when I felt so knocked out, I forgot to use it. After I got it, I remember my friend Janet loaning me hers which was for her husband; I think I gave it back to her. So I did check it the next morning and my oxygen saturation was at 91% which I don't think is a good reading. I'll continue to monitor this.

My granddaughters Meghan and Cassadie got together this last week for the last time at the University of Oregon before Cassadie graduates this next month.  I'm not sure of Cassadie's plans.
Their parents sold their home and live in a rental while they look to make a move closer to the beach.

Meghan and Cassadie last time at The University of Oregon together

My granddaughter-in-law Meagan's brother Ian got married on Saturday.  Meagan posted a picture of her and her husband, my grandson Billy, so here they are:

Meagan, my granddaughter-in-law and her husband, my grandson Billy

And, Meagan's mom has joined the Red Hat dinner group I am in.  So here is a picture of Meagan holding Kason  and her mother Dainette.

Dainette, Meagan and Kason

I've mentioned my friend Marykay many times here.  She is an excellent artist here on the West Coast.  She did a painting recently to get rid of stress she was feeling due to a negative interaction with someone.  Wow!  It sure pays off to redirect it into art.  The painting is called Breaking Wave.  It is so powerful!  You can see Marykay's other art at this site too.

http://marykatherinesart.blogspot.com

I saw an Opossum walking down the block wall in my backyard today.  I have only noticed this one other time.  I find it impressive that they wander in from a somewhat wild terrain to a regular neighborhood.  They don't frighten me.  I just find it fascinating and wonder what they are looking for.

Alright.  I think I have to lie down.  I have several things I am doing this next week which may be interesting.  I hope you have a good week.  See you next Sunday.          Rachel