Brenda's Days

Freedom From Numbers

2011-12-08T16:28:00.001-08:00

It all started when I started counting my steps going from my work to where I parked my car. I had to park about 4 blocks away, so somehow I thought counting the steps made it seem faster, like landmarks. I would count my steps up to 100, then start all over again.

Then I started counting the steps it took to do things, like getting dressed, for example: (1,2 for putting my arms in the sleeves), (1 ,2, for putting my legs in the pants), then steps within putting on one item, fore example: (1 fasten the bra, 2 put one arm in the straps,3 put the other arm in, etc.)

This can get really out of hand. I would catch myself counting in the background of my mind all the time. I would notice I would be thinking 89,90, 91, 92,.... That was kind of frightening. So I tried to stop counting. I would try to tell myself silently to Stop Counting when I noticed myself doing it. That helped a little, not much.

Lately, the best thing I have tried is trying to notice things around me, like sounds, sights, people, etc. I call it being present in the moment. It seems to keep the numbers away more efficiently, and makes my life richer.

SFX Weekender James Marsters Q&A Part 1

2010-07-07T16:32:00.000-07:00

Fire at Home

2008-06-25T13:49:00.000-07:00

This a a poem written by my son, Jonathan Arlia, about a house fire we had in October of 2000.

Fire at Home

By Jonathan Arlia

Just an ordinary night, we went out to eat,
But smoke we saw, when we got back to our street
Our house was on fire, and everyone was there.
All I could do was stop and stare.
My brother managed to get out just in time,
But our animals, unfortunately, weren’t doing as fine.
Everyone watched the firefighters battle the blaze,
While me and my family stood in a daze.
Finally it was over; the last flames were out.
The mood was sober; our home, we were without.
That night we slept at a motel
For we had nowhere else to dwell,
But the next year, our house was restored.
So full of thanks, we praised the Lord.

Remembering My Father

2008-05-24T15:03:00.000-07:00

My father was in the Army Air Corps in World War II. He was based in Italy and flew mostly reconnaissance, but his P-51 was armed for air attacks if necessary. I read some in a little notebook he kept. It saddened him to see other planes crash and burn after a dangerous mission. He lost many friends during his stay there. He would rarely talk about the war. Early in 1945, he went on his 42nd mission. If he had flown one more mission, he would have been promoted to a captain. He saw a train and went lower to strafe it. Unfortunately, an enemy fighter pilot saw him and shot his "Lady Helen" fighter plane down. His plane was too low when it was hit for my father's parachute to fully open, so he landed harder than he should have. He was in much pain. He told us he wasn't sure where he was shot down, but he thinks he was over Checkoslovakia. He was mistreated by the local people and turned over to the enemy soldiers. They took him to a German prison camp where his injuries were basically not treated. He later developed ankylosing spondylitis which is a form of spinal arthritis which fuses the spine that was triggered by those injuries. He said some of the guards were nice, but others definitely weren't, and that it was very cold and that the food was moldy and there was not much of it.. After about 3 months, he and a friend decided to escape. They dug under the fence and traveled at night, hiding in barns in the daytime. When they got to France, they were surprised to see people dancing in the street, drinking wine and kissing and hugging each other. The war was over! My father "found" a motorcycle and rode back to Itay to rejoin his unit. He was glad to be safe, but sad that the little spitz dog he had had as a pet was gone. I miss my father very much. He died in 1974 due to an ulcer he developed after falling and breaking his neck in 1970. He spent 4 years as a quadriplegic because of his fused spine.

A Visit to Granny's House

2008-01-26T09:40:00.000-08:00

I grew up mostly in Tucson, Arizona, but once in a great while, our family would drive back east to visit my relatives in Virginia. We always stayed at Granny’s house outside Lynchburg. She lived in a two-story house on a curve on a paved country road that had enough traffic on it to make it hazardous to cross. I was always scared to death to cross the road to visit my cousins who lived about half a mile away down a curving dirt road.

Granny’s house didn’t get electricity or indoor plumbing until the 1960’s, so I remember her cooking on a big iron wood stove and pumping cold, rusty water from an iron hand pump outside on the concrete back porch. She would pump the cold, rusty water into a bucket, and I would pour some it into a glass from a metal dipper. It wasn’t that rusty, just a little bit rusty, because of the iron in the pipes, I guess. It tasted so good—not at all like our treated water today.

The neighbor lady across the road had a huge apple tree and would send over a basketful of apples. Granny would take out her paring knife in the evening, and peel apples, and soak them in water. In the morning, she would dry them and fry them with butter and sugar. They tasted great. She would also fry some slices of cured Virginia ham, and serve it with red-eye gravy made from the drippings from the ham mixed with coffee. She also would make fantastic home-made biscuits which we would eat with butter and honey.

She would string green beans (pole beans, she called them), and I would help her. We would break them into smaller pieces for her to boil on the stove. My mother always pressure cooked her green beans, so this was something new to me. One other thing that was new to me was what Granny called “Shuckie beans”. These were green beans that she had strung on thread and hung behind her gas stove to dry in the winter. They would turn brown. It took a lot of cooking to make them tender again, but cooked with salted pork fat, I thought they tasted out of this world. I wish I knew where to find some today.

Another thing she liked to eat was corn bread, broken up in a glass with “sweet milk” (regular whole milk) poured on top. I liked corn bread like this too, but with buttermilk poured on top.

We used to sit on her front porch next to the wooden railing and the wide front concrete steps lined with buckets and dishpans full of potted flowers and watch the world go by.

When it came time to go back to Arizona, she would stand on the back porch with her kerchief in her hand, hiding her mouth and trying not to cry, and giving us a small wave good-bye. It made me cry every time.

Well, I guess you can tell a lot of my memories are based on food. In fact, the last time I ever saw Granny was in 1980. I was expecting my oldest son. I had driven back to Virginia with my mother and we had driven down to Big Stone Gap where Granny was staying in a nursing home. As we were driving around, we stopped at a Long John Silver’s seafood place at Granny’s request. Her teeth were gone, but she managed to “gum” her helping of fish dinner and hushpuppies. She said she enjoyed it. She had lost three of her sons that year, my father and two of his brothers, and I guess she felt she had more people waiting on the other side than she had left here; so only a couple of months later, she passed away at the nursing home. I miss her. She was always kind to me.

Memories of My Youth

2008-01-10T07:07:00.000-08:00

Just thinking about when I was in elementary school brings back many memories. We had moved into a new home with abig picture windows that had a fantastic view of the Catalina Mountains here in Tucson, Arizona. Unfortunately, the neighborhood had a good view inside our home, too, so my father built a solid wooden fence in front of the picture windows and painted scenes of the desert on the different panels of plywood. He also painted a picture on the wall behind the TV set in our living room. We had a huge wooden console TV, and because they used to believe it was bad for your eyes to watch TV in a bright room, we had a lamp on top of the television that was a ceramic mallard duck on a brass filigreed stand. (I I loved that duck lamp and kept it until a few years ago when we lost it in a house fire.) We would watch "Gunsmoke" and "Bonanza". I would use a rollerskate key to attach metal rollerskates to my saddle oxford shoes, and skate up and down on the sidewalk. I would practice hitting a ball in my front yard, so I would do better at school when we played softball. I used a homemade ball and a carved, painted baseball bat we bought down in Nogales, Mexico. I loved to sit on the cool painted concrete hall floor in my house and play jacks with a golf ball; I was pretty good. Another game I loved to play was hop scotch. I used to use this little plastic bear on a chain that came on the gin bottles my parents bought down in Mexico to toss into the squares. It was the perfect weight for me to toss. I used to walk a few blocks from my house and play on the swings, the sliding board, and the see-saw in the public park. Each day after school, I would go next door to my neighbor's house to wait for my mother to get home from working as a nurse. The lady next door taught me how to knit. She gave me some yarn, knitting needles, and a shoulder bag to carry my knitting around. She also gave me a tiny porcelain tea set for my dolls. I had a Tiny Tears doll and several others that I liked to play with. I like to change their outfits. I miss those care free days. I'm glad I have those good times to remember.

Inner Radiance

2007-12-24T15:24:00.000-08:00

The photo is of my oldest son, Jonathan. When he was in high school, his English teacher encouraged him to submit some poems in a contest. I'm fairly sure it was a contest for young poets sponsored by the American Poetry Society. Two of his entries were chosen to be published. One of the entries is below. In his notification letter, they said a copy of the book had been given to Hillary Clinton, who at that time was the First Lady.

Inner Radiance
By Jonathan Arlia

I wasn't looking for what I found,
but it made me turn around.
It made me stop, think, and question,
in what things I put my attention.

It is love that I am in.
This love of mine has never been.
Flowers die and fade away,
but my love is here to stay.

Though if one thing is amiss,
then it must be you’re absent kiss.
For my love I must admit,
that although my romantic candle's lit,
your feelings for me I do not know,
and rejection from you would cause me such woe.

I've known a lot of girls in my life,
but only your inner radiance cuts to my heart like a
knife.

You have a heart with the warmth of the sun.
Your light over my darkness has won.
All I know is that when I'm near you,
my passion for life is again new.

Your smile can melt a heart of stone,
and your face is the most beautiful I’ve known.
If your soul could merge with mine,
then my life would be just fine.

Getting to Know Me

2007-12-24T13:22:00.000-08:00

My son, Jonathan, made up this survey for me; so I thought I would share it.

1. Do you have a nickname you like?
No

2, Where would you like to travel?
Germany, Greece, Spain, Machu
Pichu

3. What are some of your favorite songs?
Bridge Over Troubled Waters, The
Rose, God Bless the Child, God Put
a Smile Upon Your Face, Catch the
Wind, Hotel California, Daniel, House
of the Rising Sun, Dream Weaver,
All Along the Watchtower, When Doves
Cry, Amazed, Everybody Hurts, Still
Crazy After All These Years

4. What annoys you?
Riding on an overcrowded bus, filling out
forms, people who talk too loud, reruns on
TV

5. What are your favorite colors?
Periwinkle, teal, red, most shades of
blue

6. What kind of job would you like to
have?

Working with a small number of young
people, where we could talk out things,
share things

7. What are some of your favorite foods?
Enchiladas, Pizza, Peanut butter and
strawberry preserves sandwiches,
nectarines, Macintosh apples, milk

8. What characteristics do you look for in
a friend?
Honesty, someone who likes many of
the same things I do, someone who
listens

9. Who are your favorite actors (includes
both male and female)?
Denzel Washington, Al Pacino,Matt Damon,
Shirley Maclaine, Robert De Niro, Sean
Connery, Tommy Lee Jones, Bruce
Willis, Nicholas Cage, Susan Sarandon,
Julia Roberts, Meg Ryan, and Tom Hanks

10. Who are your favorite authors?
John Grisham, J.A. Vance, James
Patterson, Sue Grafton, Janet Evanovich,
Nora Roberts, Michael Connelly, and
Nelson Demille

11. What are three things you can't live
without?
Family, books, and music

12. What is your favorite/most interesting
possession?

My computer

13. How do you see yourself?
A quiet, overweight, calm, person
who takes interest in many things
14. What are three things you'd like to
do before you die?
Go to Germany, go back to school
and take a course for the fun of it,
take a road trip around the United
States

Christmas edition of "Getting to Know your Friends

2007-12-22T12:59:00.000-08:00

Okay, here's what you're supposed to do, and try not to be a SCROOGE! You can copy this and change the answers so that they apply to you. Then send this to a whole bunch of people you know.'Tis the Season to be NICE.

1. Wrapping paper or gift bags.

paper

2. Real tree or Artificial?

Artificial

3. When do you put up the tree?

Haven't put it up yet, maybe this week

4. When do you take the tree down?

Before New Years day

5. Do you like eggnog?

Yep, but I like to dilute it with milk.

6. Favorite gift received as a child?

A doll in a box with latches and hangers inside with dress-up clothes for the doll including high heels and a fancy dress and a fur stole (probably rabbit--it wasn't politically incorrect in the late 50's)

7. Do you have a nativity scene?

Not anymore. We lost it when our house had a fire a few years ago.

8. Hardest person to buy for?

My youngest son, no take that back, give him money- hee, hee

9. Easiest person to buy for?

My oldest son, he appreciates everything, but money would probably be better there too.

10. Mail or email Christmas cards?

e-mail is what I do, but it would be nice to get photo cards and mail them

Worst Christmas gift you ever received?

I can't think of any

12. Favorite Christmas Movie?

Christmas Vacation with Chevy Chase

13. When do you start shopping for Christmas?

December

14. Have you ever recycled a Christmas present?

Maybe, but I don't think so

15. Favorite thing to eat at Christmas?

Homemade baked goods

16. Clear lights or colored on the tree?

Colored lights

17. Favorite Christmas song(s)?

It Came Upon a MidnightClear, Away in a Manger, Silent Night

18. Travel at Christmas or stay home?

Stay at home

19. Can you name all of Santa's reindeer?

20. Angel on the tree top or a star?

We don't have an ornament for the top of the tree, but either would be nice.

Open the presents Christmas Eve or morning?

One on Christmas eve, and the rest on Christmas morning

22. Most annoying thing about this time of year?

Traffic, rude shoppers

23. Favorite ornament theme or color?

Red and other colored ornaments, varied toy-like ornaments, lots of tinsel, and some garland

24. Favorite food for Christmas dinner?

(dream dinner for both Thnksgiving and Christmas): Turkey, dressing, mashed potatoes, gravy, cranberry sauce, candied yams, dinner rolls, and pumpkin and pecan pie for dessert

25. What do you want for Christmas this year?

A deep cookie sheet, a knit scarf to wear at the bus stop, or a new Crest electric SpinbBrush toothbrush

HO! HO! HO! Merry Christmas!

About My Life and My Faith

2007-12-21T10:13:00.000-08:00

I was born Brenda Maureen in Virginia in 1946 at the Baptist Hospital where my mother had trained to be a registered nurse.

I moved around a lot when I was growing up, but spent most of my time in Tucson, Arizona and Albuquerque, New Mexico.

I remember going to Sunday school at a Baptist church when I was in the first grade. Then I found out what the little room was behind the preacher with the pretty painting on the wall of trees and a river. When they told me that is was where people were baptized and that there was a room behind that window that had a place for people to be dunked under the water, I got scared and started going to the Methodist ChurchwhereI was baptized by the sprinkling of water on my head when I was 15.

When I was grown, I finally was baptized by immersion at my landlords’ church. By then I understood the symbolism of being "buried (under the water) to sin and being reborn to a new Christian life when rising up out of the water.

Although I sang in my church choir from junior high school through my sophomore year at college, I strayed from my Christian upbringing. I tried far Eastern philosophy, and other belief systems, but God kept sending friends into my life who brought me back again and again to church, prayer, and reading the Bible.

I was married to a Catholic and converted. I wasn’t forced to. I think the Catholic services can be beautiful, and at some churches the services are full of contemporary Christian music and you can feel the love of Christ around you. I know there are many who do not believe that Catholics are Christian, but I know that is not true. When I was instructed in the faith and I expressed concerns about praying to Mary and the saints, I was told I do not have to do that, so I still pray directly to God wherever or whenever I want.

Even though I did marry a Catholic, for a while we attended a Baptist church and I was so happy when my husband decided to be baptized there. Some Catholic churches now have baptism by immersion—very few. Personally, I don’t think immersion is necessary. I think it is your acceptance of Jesus’ sacrifice and your desire and commitment to living a Christian life that matters.

Recently my youngest son took lessons in the LDS (Mormon) Church and became a member, and now I have joined too. So I have had many different religious experiences during my lifetime, but I am happy with my latest decision.

It's in the Air

2007-12-21T07:39:00.000-08:00

Have you heard the expression "It's in the air." regarding inventions? It seems like ideas for new inventions occur to people at about the same time. The ideas are different, of course, but the invention finally is perfected by someone and we have some new phenonmenon like, say, automobiles, or airplanes.

This happens for all sorts of things. A few years back, my son had an idea for a CD that would hold a huge amount more data than the ones we have now, and what do you know, recently I read someone come up with a way to do that. In fact, if I remember the article correctly, there were at least two different ways to get terrabytes worth of information on a disc--layers of information. See, my son was able to pick up on the idea, but he didn't have the knowlege or the expertise to make that disc.

Now, I had an idea this morning about futuristic kitchen cabinets or even pantry doors. You know those doors in the spy movies that you can open with a fingerprint scan or a handprint?
I was thinking it would be really cool, that instead of having cabinet fronts and doors on pantries, we could have invisible shields that would be unshielded with the touch of your finger print (for a cabinet) or hand print (for a pantry). When you got the food or dishes or whatever you needed out of the sheves, you could touch your finger or hand to the sensor again and the shield would go in place again. Why, you might ask would I want a shield on my cabinets. Well, for several reasons. I could keep my cats out of the pantry. Some people might want to keep their little children out of their cabinets. If the shields were tight enough, maybe they could even keep out insects? I'm no scientist so I don't know.

There, I've thrown the idea out into the air. The concept is probable way too expensive, but it's a cool idea to me. I just wanted to share the thought.

Just for Today

2007-12-20T08:54:00.000-08:00

When I was going to Overeaters Anonymous meetings years ago, they had this little wallet-sized fold-out card to keep with us for inspiration. I lost the card, unfortunately, and have been unable to find these inspirational words again until today. I don't know who wrote this, but I think it contains a lot of good thoughts.

Just for Today

"Just for today" I will live through this day only. I will not brood about yesterday or obsess about tomorrow. I will not set far-reaching goals or try to overcome all of my problems at once. I know that I can do something for 24 hours that would overwhelm me if I had to keep it up for a lifetime.

"Just for today" I will be happy. i will not dwell on thoughts that depress me. If my mind fills with clouds, I will chase them away and fill it with sunshine.

"Just for today" I will accept what is. I will face reality. I will correct those things I can correct and will accept those I cannot.

"Just for today" I will improve my mind. I will read something that requires effort, thought and concentration. I will not be a mental loafer.

"Just for today" I will make a conscious effort to be agreeable. I will be kind and courteous to those who cross my path and I will not speak ill of others. I will improve my appearance, speak softly, and I will not interrupt when someone else is talking.

"Just for today" I will refrain from improving anybody but myself. "Just for today" I will do something positive to improve my health. If I’m a smoker, I will quit. If I’m overweight, I will eat what is healthy--if only just for today. Not only that, I will get off the couch and take a brisk walk, even if it’s only around the block.

"Just for today" I will gather the courage to do what is right and I will take the responsibility for my own actions.

Just, out of curiousity, do you believe in UFO's?

2007-12-20T08:45:00.000-08:00

The subject of UFOs and aliens have been an ongoing topic of interest around the world my whole life.

In the 50's, aliens were assumed to be ugly and out to take over the world.

Then came the movie "The Day the Earth Stood Still" where the alien turned out to be a distinguished looking man who was trying to save the world from our own destructive ways.

In a world-wide hit movie "ET", we learned to love the stranded alien who could bring dead plants back to life and heal people. When I left that movie, I said to my husband, "Gee, I wonder if the govenment is trying to convince us that maybe aliens aren't so bad after all.

My very favorite movie about aliens is "Close Encounters of the Third Kind". I really got caught up in the pull of the characters to go to the Devil's Tower in Wyoming to meet the aliens. It was a heart-warming and almost spiritual movie.

With the movie "Independence Day", the theme went strongly back in the other direction again. In that semi-believable story, technologically advanced and ruthless aliens showed no mercy and really did want to destroy us and raid our planet of its resources and go on to other planets and do the same. That was a great movie, but very scary.The classic story of "The War of the Worlds" was equally fightening, but we won in the end; or rather, earthly biology won
.
I really do believe that it is quite possible for there to be other intelligent life somewhere out there in the universe. I have never seen an alien that I know of, and hope if they do come to visit us that they will not come to destroy. What are your thoughts?

An update to my sixties post

2007-12-20T08:34:00.000-08:00

When I moved to Santa Fe, New Mexico in 1969, I occasionally continued to smoke some marijuana, but it was kind of scary, you know, because I could have gone to jail. So when I found out that I could get a "buzz" from wine, I stopped the grass and had an occasional glass of wine. It helped calm me down and it was legal. Years later I discovered Kahlua and Vodka--Black Russians, yummm. BUT, in 1977, shortly after I got married, I had several grand mal seizures in one day, went to the emergency room and was sent 100 miles in an ambulance from Bisbee, Arizona to Tucson where I stayed in the hospital for a week getting tests. Of course, the verdict was epilepsy, and I had to start taking phenobarbital every day. The doctor said I could not drink and take that medicine together. I have always felt that this was a gift from God, because alcoholism could have been a problem for me since I have an addictive personality. Of course, now that I am now a member of the LDS Church, alcohol, drugs, and smoking are no-no's, and that is fine with me. I wasn't really into them anymore anyway.

How the Hippie Movement Changed my Life

2007-12-19T16:57:00.000-08:00

I was filling out a profile form for a site the other day, and one of the questions was “ “the greatest influence in your life?”. Without hesitation, I typed in “The Hippie Movement”. That surprised me, so I started thinking about that answer.

It all started with the Beatles. I was a Beatlemaniac from the beginning. I even was lucky enough to go see them perform in Las Vegas in 1964. As the Beatles changed, I changed in my ways too. I was exposed to the ideologies of far eastern religions. I read “Siddhartha” a story of Buddha. I read about Lao Tsu and his ideas which are part of the Taoist beliefs. I found that these writings gave me a feeling of peacefulness. I was also more comfortable with non-conformists.

The last year of college I started hanging out with the Hippie crowd at the University of Arizona. I was surprised that they seemed to accept me. All my life I had been shy and usually only had a small number of friends. At that time, the hippies hung out in Louie’s, one of the university’s cafeterias. There were always a few of the group in their usual corner at any given time. Individuals would come and go during the day. All of a sudden, there were lots of friendly people who seemed glad to see me when I joined them. That is where I met my first love. The group often attended music concerts held around town. That was a banner year for concerts in Tucson. I was able to see The Doors, Jimi Hendrix, The Buffalo Springfield, and The Young Rascals. It was fun to sit on the grass at the baseball stadium with my friends and enjoy those performances.

I had always been a totally Christian, church-going, shy and introverted person. Now I was being friendlier and found that hugs were a normal way to greet friends. I graduated college at the end of that year without once losing my virginity or taking drugs. My friends accepted me and never tried to intimidate me into doing things I didn’t want to do.

After college, I moved to Rapid City, South Dakota to live with my boyfriend. I admit that the virginity thing didn’t last, and I did smoke pot for a while, but I never took LSD or any other hallucinogens or hard drugs. I’m grateful for that still. We were in a beautiful area. We drove around the Black Hills and saw Mount Rushmore, Deadwood, South Dakota, an old 1880’s locomotive coming around the bend spouting black smoke, and went through Lead, South Dakota which is famous for it’s gold mines.

I got the opportunity to work again that summer as a counselor in the Camp Fire Girls Camp in the mountains outside Las Vegas, Nevada, I had been exposed to the mindset of the hippies and found I was really feeling at peace with nature.

That was a tumultuous year in the history of the United States. Robert Kennedy and Martin Luther King were assasinated. There were riots in Chicago during the Democratic Convention. The hippies I knew were liberal in their political views, so these historical events were viewed from that perspective. I am still liberal in my political ideals, but I have never been a radical.

In the 70’s I joined an Ecology Club in Santa Fe, New Mexico. There were quite a few hippies in attendance. I was really impressed at how the men took part in the care of the babies, and didn’t expect the women to do it all. Due to the concerns expressed in those meetings, I encouraged the small elementary school were I taught to pick up litter around the school for Earth Day.

I am 61 years old now, but I am still a liberal in my political beliefs. I am still concerned about conservation. I started recycling cans,, newspapers, and glass years before the city distributed recycling bins.

I often wonder if I ever would have married and had children without my exposure to my hippie friends.

My Favorite Job

2007-12-19T16:32:00.000-08:00

I worked for the University of Arizona Main Library for 17 years. It was strange, because the month before I got the job, I went to a job counseling place on campus to get ideas on what kind of job I would like to have. One of the questions they asked was "What kind of work environment would you like to work in?" My reply was a larga modern, clean building. Wow, that's just what I got. You can hardly see the library in the background of the picture above, but it is large and was only 8 years old when I started to work there

I had several positions there, mostly clerical. I searched a national database online for information on the books the library had received. That information was sent on to to the copy catalogers who then ordered catalog cards,

Later I had a job checking those catalog cards when they when were mailed to us and made sure the cards were sent to the correct places in the library system. I filed the cards in those big file cabinets the library used to use.

In another position, I was able to do some copy cataloging myself. By that time, we weren't using the cards anymore. We entered the information about each book directly online which was immediately available to the students--before the books were even labled and sent upstairs.

I learned how to make call number labels for the books, apply them, stamp the books with our Library's name, and put security strips in each one. I taught student workers to do that too.
I inspected returned books that were damaged, figured out whether we could repair them in-house or if they had to be sent to a bindery to be rebound. Then I used a special computer program to enter the information needed by the bindery for each book, packaged them up, and sent them on their way.

Wow, that was a lot of work!

I Know It's Hard to Believe, but I am now a Mormon

2007-12-18T20:43:00.000-08:00

Anyone who has known me for very long will be amazed that I have joined the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (Mormon, to most of you). I was raised Methodist and then became nothing and everything during my college and hippie years. Then I married and converted, somewhat reluctantly, to Catholicism. I didn't go to mass that often, but we did make sure both of our boys had their first holy communions. One divorce and remarriage to their father, his sickness and passing, and my disability, and many changes later, we still were not going to church very often. Then, my youngest son, Chris, started taking classes with the LDS (Mormon) missionaries and was very excited about the Church. He was baptized and confirmed, and shortly thereafter so was I.

Now, many of my relatives and old friends might be sad or upset, but they shouldn't be.. I haven't been happier in a very long time. I actually smile and feel love for, and from, others. I haven't regretted it. If "by their fruits you shall know them" is true, I know I am in the right place.

Our Cats

2007-09-06T12:39:00.000-07:00

I have two cats. Their names are Tigger and Princess--I know real original, huh?

Tigger is one of four kittlens my son Chris' cat, Blackie had in our temporary home at Residence Inn November 2001. Our house caught on fire in October and we had to live in 3 different places until the house was rebuilt. Residence Inn was the best. We had a real kitchen and maid service. We lived like rich people for a month, but the insurance company moved us when they received an $8000 bill for about a month. Wow! Can you believe that?

Princess we found in our carport under the car about a year later. She was just a little kitten--probably only about 5 weeks old. We took her in and about a week later, she nearly drowned! We had a large plastic container in the tub where we gave my grandson, Austin, baths when he was a baby. It still had some water in it, and Princess jumped in and couldn't get out. My daughter-in-law's friend, who was staying with us at the time, discovered the kitten struggling in the water and getting weaker and weaker. She rescued Princess, tried to gently shake water out of her mouth, dried her off, and kept her warm until she was totally dry and acting normal. I will alway be thankful to Teri far saving Princess' life.

My grandson, Austin, came for a long visit--yay!

2007-08-01T18:48:00.000-07:00

I had my grandson, Austin visit me for almost a month! He will be 6 years old in August.

He discovered he liked to use the Paint program on my computer, so he made quite a few pictures. He learned to draw shapes, put color as a background, put colors within closed lines. Some of the pictures he drew were red ovals on a black background, Spongebob, a crow, and a spider web. I was impressed.

We went to the library and got children’s books to read about volcanoes, bugs, native-American folk stories, emotions between children and parents, a field trip to an apple farm, and so on. His favorite seemed to be a story about a girl who brought home a penguin from the zoo, and the problems that caused.

He went to a bicycle race with his father. They also went to see the movie “Ratatoutouille”.

Austin called us from his home yesterday and told us he really missed us. We really miss him too.

Trying out New Cookbooks

2007-02-17T14:49:00.000-08:00

One of my sons, Jonathan, has discovered the Food channel on TV. Being a great fan of beautiful and charismatics women, he has decided that he loves the shows by Giadda De Laurentis and Rachel Ray.

So we went out and purchased a couple of their cookbooks. Last night, we tried to cook a recipe in Rachel Ray's book 365: No Repeats.. It was called Couple of Minute Steaks and Potato Ragout. I had my son help me cook this. If he hadn't been there, I hate to think how the meal would have turned out. As it was, everything was overcooked. It still tasted good, though, except for the steak, which I turned into something so tough, it was almost inedible.

I have about 8 meals I cook on a regular basis, and my son is sick to death of them, so he thought that these cookbooks would help us have a change. However, by the time you go through pages and pages of recipes to pick out something everyone will like, you find out you don't have most of the ingredients. Then you go to the store and spend $18 on things you might not be able to use up before they go bad--like fresh rosemary and thyme. Then you spend one hour + cooking something that it takes Rachel Ray 15 minutes to cook. It's nice to have a tasty meal, but I'd rather order a pizza!

Austin's visit

2005-12-30T10:00:00.000-08:00

I just had my grandson, Austin, visit me for 4 days. The first three went really well. We had fun and I didn't get too frustrated. I got him a little candy cane tube with gum balls that had a little helicopter with Santa at the top. The helicopter had soft rubber propeller blades that spun around like a personal fan. He loved it to death--literally, because the last day he was here, the propellor unit broke off, and he was so sad. Poor little guy.
We rode on a lot of buses this week, because his dad kept wanting us to go take him something or another at work. It's two or three buses each way to get to where he works, and with all the waiting at the bus stops, it was too tiring and boring. I must admit that Austin found ways to entertain himself most of the time by playing with rocks, making a riverbed or wash through the stones, getting "mail" out of the boxes that were near the bus stops containing booklets and newspapers about homes for sale, apartments to rent, etc. Then he would deliver them to me through the slots of the bus stop bench. I guess I was just tired or maybe we had too much soda during the trip yesterday, but I was constantly getting after him about something or another. Now I feel bad about that. When I was raising his dad and my other son, cousellors told me to pick the battles and not make such a big deal about every little thing. That's still hard for me, I guess.
His uncle came down from Globe, Arizona last night to pick Austin up. I was expecting Austin to stay for another day, so I really did feel bad since I had been so upset with him during our last day. He still seemed to be in good spirits, though, when he left.

Merry Christmas Everyone!

2005-12-24T14:49:00.000-08:00

Merry Christmas Everyone!

I found this cool picture on MSN yesterday. A man and his neighbors made this 16 foot snowman in Alaska. It's name is Snowzilla. When the man ran out of snow in his own yard, people brought more snow in from their yards. A community celebrating Christmas together is really getting into the spirit of Christmas.

My grandson, Austin

2005-12-21T04:14:00.000-08:00

Last night my grandson, Austin, came to vist. He is such a rambunctious little guy. He is constantly moving and talking. I wish I had so much energy.

2005-12-19T12:36:00.000-08:00

Brenda Arlia

Hi! My name is Brenda

2005-12-19T10:49:00.000-08:00

Hi!
My name is Brenda. I live in Tucson, Arizona. I am a former elementary school teacher. I taught mostly 3rd and 4th grades for 7 years. I taught in Bisbee, Arizona, Santa Fe, New Mexico, and Lordburg, New Mexico. I have two grown sons and one grandson.
I also used work at the University of Arizona as a library clerk, then a Library Assistant, and finally a Library Specialist. They just kept reclassifying the job, until I just wasn't able to keep up with the demands.
Also, I have a perfectionistic nature and am a slow, steady worker who tries to do everything just right. Add that to a tendency to do one thing at a time which made it pretty much impossible for me to do too much multi-tasking, and it spelled "Bye-bye Brenda".
I am now on Social Security disability due to a combination of phyisical and mental conditions. I was glad to rest at first, but now I am bored and am looking for a more satisfying way to spend my time than playing computer games and reading the news online. I am hoping to find some friends to communicate with through blogging. but have had little experience with it. It is good to share with others and to sort through what's important to you.