The Philippines #1

Gary and I are in the Philippines for a 2 week scuba diving trip. It took us about 30 hours to get here: A long drive from Chehalis to the Vancouver BC airport where we left, a 13 hour flight to Hong Kong, a 2 hour flight to Manila, a 4 hour bus ride and a 1 hour boat ride. Add to that layovers, customs etc and we arrived exhausted.

Our first adventure was crossing into Canada. They always ask questions and one of them is if we brought any firearms with us. Not remembering if Gary did or not I asked him if he left his gun at home. The officer asked me what I said and I told her. Well, we were asked to pull over. I had to go inside and when I turned around and looked Gary was being held with his hands behind his back like he was handcuffed. They wouldn't let me stay with him. They searched him, our car and luggage. It all was quite fast but it was a little scary. We didn't have anything to hide which made it better.

On our first day of diving Gary got a headache so he missed the second dive. After lunch I felt very sleepy so I went to bed about 2:00 pm and slept until 6:00 am. I guess I needed the sleep. Gary did the 2 afternoon dives without me. The next day Gary got a headache after the first dive and sat out the next two dives. On the last dive for the day he joined me. My high pressure hose failed so I had to go back to the boat and he finished the dive without me. Today we are headed for Verde Island for 3 dives.

The food here is fabulous! Gary is enjoying seafood everyday. The weather has been warm and sunny and the water temperature has been great. I didn't bring my underwater camera but I will try and take some land pictures today. I know my children are breathing a sigh of relief that I didn't bring my underwater video camera. They don't enjoy watching my videos.

KLEIN FAMILY ANNOUNCEMENT!

Well, I am going to make you wait. There will be a very special Klein Family Announcement on November 10. Mark your calendar and check back as you won't want to miss this one!

No way!

Laura came for a two day visit last week. It was her break from school so it was nice of her to come home for a couple of days and spend it with me. While she was here I started cleaning my pantry. This is the closet that I had lots of cookbooks in. Michelle made a comment once about my cookbooks (the quantity) so I got rid of about half of them. I have been slowly getting the food out of the closet and using it for small appliances and paper products. I guess I am trying to organize a little better.

Since Laura is going to Culinary School I love to give her the kitchen gadgets that I no longer need. So with her home for a visit it was a great opportunity to have her look at the things I don't want and she can tell me if she wants them or not.

I reached behind something and pulled out a bottle of Kraft barbecue sauce. Laura could tell from the label that it was old. I didn't think it looked that old but I was completely shocked when I saw the date on it.
Yes, that says best when used by October 12, 1989. Usually when you buy something it has a date about a year or so ahead so I may have purchased that bottle of barbecue sauce in 1988. So, it is almost as old as Laura, it is 21 years old!



I have been going through my food every year and throwing out the old stuff so I am surprised to find it. It was hidden, but how could I have overlooked it? We moved here in 1992 so we would have had to move it here from our other house.

I also found this bottle of Karo syrup which she thought looked old as well. I do have to say it is a glass bottle and they don't use glass bottles anymore. I don't think the label looks old. But then, I am almost 50...

I honestly think my children are playing a practical joke on me. I think one of them, probably Laura, put it in the pantry just to make me clean even more.

Gary???????

Yes, this is Gary, Many of you are not aware of this special and hidden side of Gary.

Several years ago our daughter Laura was dancing as Clara in the Nutcracker. As most parents do, we got involved in the production. One year we ran Styrofoam peanuts through our snow blower to shred them. They were used as the snow during the Snowflake scene.

This year in particular they were in need of someone to play the role of Mother Ginger. My understanding is the part is supposed to be played by a man dressing as a woman. Frequently it is a woman pretending to be dressed as a man that is pretending to dress as a woman. Confused?

The director took one look at Gary and knew he found his man (Woman?). Gary, being the great sport that he is, agreed. Now the problem was the costume. His mom went to work and made the breasts. They were quite large! I honestly don't remember, but I am sure someone helped him with his makeup.

During dress rehearsal, Gary wore his big Army type boots. The director thought they would fit the character best. Underneath this huge hoop dress are about 6 - 7 little children. Mother Ginger comes out onto the stage slowly looking for her children. You could frequently hear the children screaming "OW" as Gary stepped on one of their little toes. I hope he didn't do any permanent damage to their poor little feet. I was careful to make sure that the day before the performance, Gary didn't eat anything that might cause "intestinal distress".

After this year of the Nutcracker Gary decided it was fun, but they haven't asked him back. So for now, Gary has to keep this special talent of his hidden.

I was cleaning out some bins in the basement and came across this picture. I knew I had to share it with everyone.

Hoarders

Have you seen the new show on A&E titled The Hoarders? Kari & Devin, the couple that watched our house for us, had taped a couple episodes on our DVR. I had never heard of the show before so I thought I would watch it one afternoon. After I watched it I knew Gary had to see it as well. After it was over we were both a little quiet, we didn't know what to say. I am so glad they happened to leave that show on there because it really opened my eyes to what was around me.

Unfortunately there are a few people in this world that have actually seen our bedroom and basement. Now that is not a picture of it, but it could be someday. Whenever we did any renovations, all the extra "stuff" got piled into our bedroom or the basement. When we have people over to stay or for dinner, it is quick and easy to just toss it up or down the stairs and forget about it. Over time it can really pile up. Now I can't blame all of this on work we have done, we both have tendencies to want to save things.

Now a lot of you have seen Gary's warehouse. Some call him a "pack rat", a collector, and some say he is creative and that is how he should be. We kind of laugh about it because our son-in-law says that when we go, "the warehouse is being sold lock, stock & barrel".

When my mom moved out west I ended up with a lot of her stuff in my basement. After she died I needed to go through it. but as you can understand it was hard. I had a nice talk with my brother Grover one day and he let me know it was ok to throw it out. Anything that had any real value had already been divided up amongst the family. I have some great memories of the the things that were important to us, I didn't need to keep it laying around. So that weekend I got rid of a lot of it.

Well, the day after I watched this show I went down in the basement and I stayed there for almost 2 days. I think Gary was getting a little nervous! We haven't looked for or needed most of that "stuff" for the past 5+ years. I would love to get a dumpster here and just throw it all out. I was cleaning a drawer out in the kitchen and for some reason we had 8 ice cream scoops. I didn't buy them, they just started accumulating. I told Gary he had to pick out 2 to keep. He grabbed the 4 oldest ones ("antiques he called them) and walked out of the room. He said he likes old tools and wants to keep them.

Watching that show before you clean is like watching the Tour de France before you go on a bike ride. It really gets you charged up and in the mood. It was disappointing because after 2 days you could hardly tell I had done anything in there. The pathway is more noticeable and I threw out 3 giant garbage bags of junk.

The best part of this whole story is that right now, for the next month, Gary is in Utah and I am home. I have a few more episodes taped that I can watch before I head downstairs to the basement or upstairs to the bedroom. As long as we leave my fabric alone I am ok!

Am I Pregnant?

I wish I could find out how quickly you clicked on this when you saw the title!!!!

Michelle has been into couponing for several months. She has a great friend in Chicago, Chrisanna, that taught her the ropes. It's a lot more than just cutting coupons. There is a lot of math involved, computer skills, time management, being able to adjust, being friendly and more.

Every time I visit her or she comes here, she brings a suitcase full of "things" for her family. We have fun going through her bag of goodies and picking out something we can use. She signs up for free samples as well. I was visiting her one day when she got her mail. In it were lots of free trial size samples. She asked me if I would like her to sign me up for some and I said sure. She said sometimes it will be something you don't want but maybe someone else will. Hey, I like getting mail so bring it on!

Within a month the samples started coming. Everything from cat/dog food to shampoo and snacks. I love to have people come & visit and I like to have toiletries available for them in case they forgot something. So I started saving these freebies for visitors. The mound kept growing so I put them all in a basket in the guest bathroom.
This isn't all of it either. there have been lots of food samples that have been consumed.

Anyway, back to my story... (I know you all want to know what does this have to do with if I am pregnant or not!) In the mail I received lots of feminine products like tampons and pantiliners.

Someone always needs them so I just put them in the basket. Then one day, this is what I got.


I was puzzled, why did I get that, I didn't order one. I mentioned it to Michelle the next time I talked to her and she said she ordered it. When I asked why she said that I told her to send me whatever she wanted. It's a good thing that Gary didn't open the mail that day because you can just imagine what the conversation would have been like.

Next I received this...


I can just imagine what the mailman is thinking. The rumors are probably started and I am going to have lots of people wondering. Well the feminine products stopped coming and now this is what I am getting.


I don't know if I should be happy or not!

SAVE THE DATE

As many of you know I am turning 50 this year. Yes, I know it's hard to believe but it's true. I am sure most of you thought no more than 35, but when you do the math and my oldest is 25 the truth comes out.

So to celebrate I am throwing myself a party. So get your pens out and mark your calendar for Saturday November 28. I know it's Thanksgiving weekend, but it was the only date that would work. I promise that there won't be any turkey served. I am planning an open house type party. I am not sure of the time yet but somewhere between 4 and 9pm. At this time it will probably be at our home in Chehalis.

You will get a chance to sample some of Laura's catering. We will let you decide if the tuition for Culinary School has paid off.

I hope everyone can make it. The more the merrier!