Thankful Thursday

This week I'm thankful for:

 

A few days of sunshine
Getting my hair cut and a new style!

Going for a walk with Chuck along the waterfront

Beth beginning to feel better after having a cold

Receiving great ideas on how to plan a workshop

Finding the coconut cookies my sister was telling me about

What are you thankful for?
 

MOPOP

Sharaya invited us to go with her and Allie to the Museum of Pop Culture in downtown Seattle last week and we had such a great time!

I believe it first opened in 2000, and it was the EMP, the Experience Music Project. The architecture is unlike anything I've ever seen before. It's been said that the architect took a bunch of guitars, sliced them into pieces and used that as inspiration for the design.

 (These two are from Google)

We decided to take the train (The Light Link) from the University of Washington, then transfer to the Monorail that took us right to the museum.

The train

 

The Monorail

That's Sharaya in the jean jacket :)

There are different areas to the museum, the Horror section with props and items from Chucky, they had Freddie Kruger's Glove, etc. That wasn't my favorite section, I just don't like to be scared.

But the Fantasy area had things from the Wizard of Oz and  Chronicles of Narnia. There was a Sci-Fi area with Star Wars and Back To The Future... it really was a fun museum with a wide variety of things.

 

Susan's bow and arrows from Chronicles of Narnia

A space portal

This was an interactive... thing where you could change the look of this sphere to be different planets. It was very cool and one of Allie's favorite exhibits!

We had our picture taken with The Thing from the Fantastic Four

I guess he didn't get Chuck's joke  :)

I am Groot!

I got to see the sound board Jimi Hendrix used. I used to run sound at our church years ago before everything went digital and I still get a rush when I see old boards like this.

 

They had a massive display of various guitars and accordions and banjos... I don't know how they got them all up there - it was 2 stories high - but there were some interesting instruments on this thing!

We had lunch and just wandered around. Of course we had to go to the gift shop! Beth bought a t shirt (with an image of all those instruments!) and Allie got a book I think.

It was such a great time just being with family and seeing something new. Thank you so much Sharaya for inviting us to go with you!

Pessimist or Optimist?

I tend to be a pessimist.

I find myself always leaning toward the negative when telling a story or recalling a situation, and I don't like that about myself.

So I want to start my own Thankful Thursday. To remind myself

 there's always something to be thankful for.

This week I'm thankful for:

A lazy day at home

Snow on the ground

Adventures with family
Chuck coming home for lunch every day
Celebrating a friend who is living free from drugs

Getting to tell an employee they're getting a raise

What about you, do you consider yourself a pessimist or an optimist?

Snowmagedden

You may have seen the meme about all the snow Seattle got last week. Too funny!

I know for some parts of the country what we got was nuthin' but for Seattle, this was more snow than we'd seen in 23 years.

My flight home from San Diego was canceled on Monday due to the snow and they automatically rescheduled me for a flight early Tuesday morning. I thought it was awesome because I didn't have to do a thing. On Sunday afternoon I got a text that said, "Flight 111 is canceled and now you're on Flight 222." It was great!

As soon as we broke through the clouds descending into Seattle, everything was covered with snow!

I absolutely love the snow, this was so beautiful!

 The roads were clear but even today, there is snow piled up in parking lots, in everyone's yards... Like I said, we don't normally get snow like this. Usually it'll snow for a day or two and we'll get a couple inches, but then it melts right away and there's no issues with traffic or blocking roads or anything. 

But not this time!

It snowed a few inches a couple weeks ago and I took these pictures of Allie in our backyard before I went to San Diego. Chuck said while I was gone we got another 6-7 inches.

Three days after I got home Beth and I went to the grocery store. She helped me brush the snow off my car and bring in the groceries.

(You can't even see her feet! Remember those snow boots we bought a few months ago? I'm so glad we got them!)

Unfortunately it looks like we're done with snow for this year. We might see some snow fall but no accumulation. Last night I sat out in the backyard with some hot tea and watched the sun go down behind the trees that are on the hill behind our house. 

And I smiled because our backyard is still filled with snow!

Do you like the snow? 

When is the last time you got more snow than usual?

Last Visit?

My dad moved in with my sister, gosh, about 8-10 years ago to help them both out financially. Then he was diagnosed with Parkinson's. A couple years ago he started needing 24 hour care and my sister has been doing it every day since. Now he's 94 and his health is deteriorating. I flew down to San Diego last week to see them.

I worked on Thursday and then Chuck and Beth drove me to the airport. My flight actually got in just before midnight! Yawn! I took Super Shuttle from the airport to her house so all she had to go was open the door! I love Super Shuttle!

I planned my trip around my sister's birthday and had called my niece ahead of time so we could plan a small party for her while I was there. My niece and nephew and their families came over for a while. It was loud, but fun to see everyone! Deb was definitely surprised!

 

My dad gets up usually every 90 minutes throughout the night and I slept on the couch right outside his room so Deb could hopefully get a good nights sleep. He needs help with everything from just standing up to brushing his teeth and fixing meals. My sister does his laundry, prepares his meds, pays his bills and puts him to bed every night. She's sleep deprived and worn out. I was only there for a few days but I wanted to give her just a small break from the non-stop care giving.

My dad isn't a gushy, share your feelings kind of guy but this time he told me over and over how thankful he was that I was there. He told me to tell Chuck 'thank you for letting me come down.'  He was grateful for my help and so thankful Debbie was getting a small break. He knows how much Deb loves him and he was getting emotional when he talked about it.

The morning I left, the shuttle was picking me up at 4am so I was up at 3:00 and my dad woke up a few minutes later. Deb came out to help him while I went into the big bathroom to put on make up and she came in, "Dad's calling for you." He told me again how glad he was that I was there and how good it was to see me. I gave him a gentle hug (he's so skinny) and told him I loved him and that I was so glad I got to come down. 

Deb helped him lay back down and he kept saying how much he loved seeing me. When I was walking out of his room I looked back at him and his eyes were closed but he kept talking, saying he was so thankful...