Round Two of Basketball

Tuesday night Ron and I drove out to Orofino to watch Brandon coach his team.

This is what the front window of the Jeep looked like:

 

The view from the inside of the Jeep.  Looks kinda pretty if you ask me.

The program for the evening:

Close up of the inside of the program.  Sure am proud of that boy of ours.

 The welcoming picture to the gym:

Some of you may be wondering why they are called the Maniacs.  It is because the school is located next to the prison which is next to the State hospital.

And then there was the game:

It was a pretty sad loss.  The boys played hard but had a lot of problems in the third quarter.  They did come back and even went ahead but Timberline just had too much oomph and we lost by 10.  All we can say is: Go Maniacs!  

We have two more games of basketball before we leave on Saturday morning.  

Tonight Max has a game.  Danalyn is still not feeling well so we will take Christopher and Max to the Lewiston Boys & Girls Club for Max' game.

Tomorrow night Brandon's team has another home game in Orofino.  We will take the boys if Danalyn is still not feeling up to par.

Hope you have enjoyed this glimpse of the basketball that we are so enjoying!

Blog Topic from a Friend

Good morning!

 Have been on the computer reading Facebook and blogs I follow and Donna from 2 Taking a 5th asked "What were you?  I think it's interesting to find out what kind of jobs/careers others have held" and I thought what a great blog topic so I borrowed it.  Am sure she won't mind.

So here goes for me ~ started babysitting at age 10, made 35 cents an hour.  Then got a job at the bowling alley where my mom worked: worked in the nursery, in the snack bar and then behind the counter handing out shoes, sheets, learned the cash register, how to call the back to help out.  It was a lot of fun and I got to spend time with my mom.  It was also the only time I have been fired from a job ~~~ another blog post in the making.

Then I worked at Lerner's, a dress shop.  Became a receptionist in a realtors office in Las Vegas and then worked in the snack bar at AAFES while stationed at Soesterberg AFB in Holland.  Did house cleaning, day care in our home, sold or tried to sell liquid writing paint (that was in the late 70's early 80's).  Was a stay-at-home wife & mom for a few years.  Became a church secretary and then went back to school and got my BA degree in Human Services.  Worked as a receptionist in a doctor's office, case-manager for a Child Advocacy program, facilitator for Parents Anonymous,  front desk clerk for Planned Parenthood (not a good fit for me).  Again was a case-manager for teens in a group home/foster care for a non-profit and then became a Home Health biller, DME reimbursement supervisor and then Office Manager for Option Care, a Home Health/Home Infusion company.  And then full circle back to being a church secretary.  Then a cashier for the carnival along with office assistant and a Christmas tree seller.

My most favorite career ~ being a wife, mother and bestest of all ~ a Grammy!!! to my three grandchildren.

Miss Opal

Mr. Max

Crazy Chris

Never one to miss an opportunity to show off my grands!! Aren't they the cutest!!!

Ron has also had many jobs/careers: he started out picking berries then moved on to putting in hay, a job he still enjoys doing today.  He then started doing maintenance in a trailer park and then joined the US Air Force.  He was stationed San Antonio, TX for basic training, Lowry AFB, Denver, Co and then onto Nellis AFB in Las Vegas ~ so glad he got stationed there as that is where we met, married and started our family.  From there he went to Soesterberg AFB in Holland and then we returned to McChord AFB in Tacoma, WA when his father was diagnosed with stomach cancer. While in the Air Force he held a part-time job working at Sees Candy (used to bring my mom crushed boxes of chocolate bordeaux) and worked very short term for a gas station.   After getting out of the Air Force in September 1980 he worked as a framing laborer in Bonney Lake, WA, put in insulation for a little while and then worked in a fruit packing plant (got a huge box of blueberries ~ lots of stories there ~ another blog post in the making), then laborer in construction for different companies.  Then he started working in a pipe yard and returned to school to get his welding certificate.

Then we moved to Blaine and he went to work for a boat yard, continuing as a welder.  After doing that for awhile he started as a laborer for his cousin's husband in their plumbing business.  He was with them for 10 years and then worked for another plumber for a few months before opening his own plumbing business.  He ran his own plumbing & home repair business for 10 years along with putting in hay for friends once in awhile.  After our business dried up (pun intended) he joined the carnival as a cashier and then became a ride jock: setting up, tearing down and running rides.  His most recent job was selling Christmas trees.

We have definitely had many different jobs and careers.  And all the while doing these different things we moved 33 times in 35 years of marriage.  Those moves do not include the many times we have moved locations since moving into the motor home in November 2006.

So how about you?  What kinds of jobs/careers have you held?

 

Movie Making - Let's see if it works :)

Good afternoon on this cold day in Lewiston, ID.  Ron is busy working on the tow set-up for the Jeep...thank you sweet friends K&J for this wonderful gift!  Pictures to follow later.

I have been trying something today...making a movie in Picassa and now exporting it to the blog.  I thought a movie could capture more pictures so here is my first attempt at making a movie.  The star is MAX! at his basketball game on Monday, January 3, 2011.

Don't worry, there is nothing wrong with your hearing ~ there is no music to this movie.  Need to learn how to do that next.

Here are a few pictures of other things from the game:

A picture of SWEET Christopher!

Christopher not wanting his picture taken.  I wonder if we take too many pictures of the grands?  NO! NEVER!

Christopher looking at Grammy's necklace, Danalyn looking on, & Grammy looking at Christopher.

And what do you think of this head of hair???

 Let me know if the movie works?  Sure hope so.

A Fun & Relaxing Weekend

What a fun and relaxing weekend we have had.

New Years Eve ~ we spent the day at Brandon & Danalyn's.  Brandon was not feeling well so we went over to their place to take care of the boys and to cook dinner.  Danalyn had received a turkey from her work, Life Care Center, and so that was on the menu.  I made dressing (stuffing) and stuffed the bird and put it in the oven.  After setting the timer for one hour I realized I had not turned the oven on.  What's a Grammy supposed to do with those new fangled electric thing? With the help of Max we got the oven on and baking away.  I also made mashed potatoes, green beans and gravy.  A simple and delicious dinner.  We didn't stick around too late after dinner and headed back to the motor home.  We had a quiet night with Ron going to bed about 10:00 p.m. as he had a breakfast date of 5:30 a.m. with Brandon.  I stayed up, watching TV and reading blogs and writing a few posts.

New Years Day ~ Ron's phone beeped at 3:00 a.m.  Brandon was running a temperature of 103' so breakfast was canceled but would Ron still pick Brandon up at 6:30 a.m. to take him to Orofino for basketball practice which was scheduled for 8:00 a.m.  Some of you may ask why would anyone schedule basketball practice so early in the morning especially on a holiday.  Well, Brandon's coach, Rob Ridnour, Dan Rucker and Benny Martin, from Blaine High School always had practice on New Year's Day at 8:00 a.m. to keep the boys from partying too much on New Year's Eve so Brandon has carried that over to his team.  So Ron picked Brandon up and they headed to Orofino.  While the boys had practice Ron visited with one of the dad's.  Practice ended about 9:30 a.m. and they headed back to Lewiston.  Brandon was feeling worse so he went back home and to bed.  Ron came back to the motor home and we just hung out here for the day.  We had left over turkey & dressing for lunch and watched a lot of football along with a little basketball.  I spent all day just lazing on the couch and surfing the web, reading blogs and sending emails.  It was a great day of relaxing ~ something we have not done in quite awhile.

Today ~ I was up early and balanced my checkbook.  Found $14 ~ yippee!!  And I also got all our receipts sorted and tallied for the year.  Found out that our most expensive month was October 2010 and least was August 2010.  Also spent some time working on our budget for next year.  Am anticipating that February & March will be pretty expensive with the move to Hondo, TX.  But in the end it will be well worth it for us financially to make the move.  And so we are trusting God to continue to provide for us as He always has.

Ron slept till almost 11:00 a.m. and then we just hung around the motor home till a little after 3:00 p.m. when we headed over to Brandon's to pick up the grand~boys.  We brought them back here to the RV park to go swimming.  Both boys love to swim and we are glad we are able to do that with them.  After almost 2 hours in the water and some very shriveled up fingers we headed back to the motor home to catch some snuggles with Christopher and cartoon watching with Max.  Ron said it was a good thing the grand~boys were the ones watching television because if it had been Jamie or Brandon he would have changed the channel to Seahawks football.  BUT being the great Grandpa that he is he let them continue to watch cartoons.  About 7:00 p.m. we bundled everyone up and headed back to Brandon & Danalyn's for more left over turkey & dressing for dinner.  We finished watching the Seahawks (and they won!) and then gave out lots of hugs & kisses to Christopher and tickles to Max before heading back to the motor home.

It is still cold here.  Not sure what the weather is supposed to be here tomorrow but I sure wish it would warm up just a little.  I would love to go for a few walks around the RV park and along the river.

Tomorrow we have three things to do.  One is to do our laundry ~ we will do it at Brandon's.  The second thing is to make dinner.  The request for Grandma Peggy's chicken gumbo was made by Brandon.  So before heading to Brandon's we will stop at Cash & Carry and get some linquica sausage, smoked sausage and Polish sausage and make a big batch of gumbo.  I don't make it very often for us in the motor home because I just can't figure out how to make a small batch so it will be fun to make it at Brandon's and then take some home for us for left overs.  Once we are finished with dinner we will to Max' basketball game.  We are excited to be able to see him play.

Guess that's all from The Wandering Workentins for today.  What do you think of the changes I have made to the blog?  Feedback is welcome!

Wishing you all a great week!  Talk to you all again soon.

Happy New Years ~ 2011

Happy New Year 2011!!

Can't believe that it is now 2011!  Where has 2010 gone?  I have been doing some reflecting the last couple of days ~ mostly while driving and Christopher napped and then once we have settled back into our motor home in the evenings.

One year ago we were facing some major changes in our lives.  Our plumbing business was almost non-existent.  We had a total of six customers from January 1 to March 21.  We knew something had to change so we started looking for new work.  


We applied for and was given employment with Funtastic Shows.  W were with them from March 24 to September 30, 2010.  You can read all about our adventures with the carnival by going to our archives beginning in early February where we begin to share about our new adventure.  We had lots of fun, met lots of people, made many new friends and faced a few challenges.  In thinking back about our time with the carnival we give thanks to God for his protection over us when we had major motor home problems on our way to Wenatchee and then as we headed to Sequim.  God gave us strength to work 10 days straight in Salem, OR and 17 days in Puyallup, WA.  We had surprise visits from the Tuski's, the Alesse's and the Coast to Coast Triplets and reconnected with Cory & Karen Crawford.  He was faithful as we got back on our feet financially.


October found us traveling to see family in Pasco, WA and Lewiston, ID.  On our return to Whatcom County the end of October we had another issue with the engine in our motor home where it caught on fire.  It took three weeks to get authorization from the insurance company and the repairs to be made.  During that time we stayed at our friends, Jim & Mei's condo, The Haishan Inn.  While waiting for the motor home to be repaired Ron was busy looking for work and I worked at Northwood Alliance Church.  

We applied for and were hired to sell Christmas trees.  We were assigned a lot in Edmonds, WA.  You can read all about our time selling Christmas trees by going to the archives in November.  We worked at the tree lot from November 22nd to December 24th.  We sold 281 trees!  We did not make the money we thought we would make but we had fun!  We also had lots of visitors: Dee & Tim Griffith, Jim & Mary Lang, Patrick & Patricia Alesse, Bryan Weiderspohn along with Evan and Lauren and Stacey Lynch.


After completing our gig of selling Christmas trees we made our way to Moses Lake, WA where we were able to visit with Ron's Aunt Ione, Uncle John and cousin Hans!  Then we were off to Newport, WA and Post Falls, ID for some Orofino High School Maniacs Basketball and of course see Brandon, Danalyn, Max & Christopher.  After three days in Post Falls we made our way to Clarkston, WA/Lewiston, ID to celebrate Christmas with Brandon and his family and some relaxation.  

And now we plan for 2011 

We will be here in Clarkston/Lewiston till Saturday, January 8th when we head back to Whatcom County.

January 10th to 21st Ron has jury duty in Whatcom County.  We also plan on doing lots of visiting with friends and family.  Need to get more Grammy time with Opal and her parents, Jamie & Suzanne before we start on our next adventure.

On February 13th we head out on the road again...this time to Hondo, Texas!  where we have accepted new positions at Lone Star Corral.  I will be the Office Manager and Ron will be the Outside Property Manager.  Lone Star Corral is an Escapees Co-op Campground.  They have 130 sites.


I will be posting our itinerary as soon as Ron has it figured out.  You can follow it on the left side of my blog under "Where we are going?" and you can see where we are at under "Where Are We?"


We hope you have enjoyed following along with us this past year and we look forward to you doing the same in 2011.  


I want to say a special thank you to all my followers - there are now 80 of you that admit to following along.  I know of a few more who just check in every once in awhile and I thank you as well for tagging along.  As usual I love to read your comments and answer your questions.

Happy New Year 2011!!!

 

Christmas Celebration in Lewiston 2010

After getting settled in at the campground and a couple of phone calls with Danalyn & Brandon we decided to have leftover spaghetti and salad for dinner and then open Christmas presents.  Christopher was excited that it was almost time to open gifts.  He had been eying them since he arrived in Post Falls on Tuesday afternoon and here it was Thursday night.

So without further ado ~~~

Max with his TWO nerf guns!  Bullets fly everywhere and Grammy is the perfect place to hide behind because Max knows not to shoot Grammy :)

Christopher getting help from Daddy in a shooting war with Max.

Christopher handing out presents.

Ron opening our gift from Brandon & Danalyn.  Two important dates were noted: January 7th we find out if we are getting a new granddaughter or grandson! and May 27th when she/he is to make her/his first appearance!!!!

Ron still studying the calendar (no more surprises) and Brandon & Danalyn opening their grill which they can use on the stove in the kitchen.  No more standing outside in the freezing cold to grill hamburgers :)

Christopher checking out his new puzzle.

Showing Grammy his puzzle.

Max and Christohpher opening a joint present.

Max opening his snow shoes.  He could have used those in Post Falls but they had been shipped to Lewiston.  Guess Max & Grandpa may have to take a day trip to go play in the snow.

Christopher checking out his Mickey Mouse book.

Brandon & Danalyn checking out their new cookbooks.

Max trying to figure out those snow shoes.

Christopher with his gifts and the wrapping paper.

Ron, Brandon, & Danalyn checking out their gifts.

The family enjoying opening their gifts.

Danalyn checking out her new bag and finding $20 inside.  This Grammy then remembered she forgot to include Brandon's $20 in his package.  Forgetful Grammy!

Max checking out the race track set that he and Christopher got.

And everyone knows good boys brush their teeth after eating another candy cane.

The devotional prayer journal book I received...so thankful for a special gift to use every day.

Christopher playing with the race track and trucks.

And you will notice I don't have many pictures of Max.  He is 12 and just does not like to let me take his picture.  Hopefully I can get some this coming week while he is playing basketball.  Or else I will have to have Grandpa hold him down in a tickling match so I can get some pictures of that darn boy!!!


We had a wonderful evening of watching the boys open their gifts and play and play some more.  And of course, we are so excited to find out that another little Workentin is due to join our family in 2011!!!

Prayer request ~ please keep this little one in your prayers as she/he is growing inside of Danalyn.  And for Danalyn not to get overly tired as she works at Life Care Center and is Mommy to Christopher & Max and wife to Brandon.

From Post Falls to Clarkston, WA/Lewiston, IDI

We woke up about 8:30 a.m. on Thursday, Dec. 30th to see if we were going to be able to make it from Post Falls to Lewiston.  Remember the roads between these two places were closed yesterday afternoon.  And this is what we found when we looked outside:

It was still snowing when we woke up. 

So we got on line.  Checked the roads, talked to Brandon to see what the team was doing and made our decision.  We would go to Lewiston IF we could get out of our site.  They had plowed the roads in the campground the day before and we had about 2' of snow in front of the rig.  So first on the agenda I got busy putting the breakfast casserole in the oven.  Thanks Lynda for the recipe, not only was it a hit with Ron on Christmas morning the grand boys ate it with gusto.  While I was busy with breakfast stuff Ron climbed on the roof of the motor home and took down the satellite dish, used the ladder to get the windshield cover off (it had to be stored in the tub as it was frozen solid) and stopped a guy with a truck with a plow on the frontend.  Yeah!  God answered our prayers.  This kind gentleman plowed the road in front of the motor home giving Ron a pretty clear and flat area to get the motor home out of our site.

The next prayer went up for the motor home to start.  Remember we had been having problems and we got the battery replaced while in Edmonds, WA.  It took a few minutes but it finally turned over.  Christopher said "thank you Jesus" after hearing me saying thanks.  It is so sweet to hear him talk about Jesus.  We had been hearing how Christmas was Jesus' birthday and we had to sing to him a few times in the last couple of days.  So we got the motor home ready, got the Jeep loaded and we were off.  We left Post Falls about 11:30 a.m. and arrived in Clarkston at Hells Canyon RV Park & Marina.  This is what we looked like:

Icicles!!

That big clump of dirty snow was attached to the side of the Jeep till Ron knocked it off.

Ice build up on the step

More icicles on the side of the motor home.  The compartment just under the awning arm is frozen shut.  Hopefully tomorrow Ron will be able to open it.

Icicle hanging off the water hookup spot.

The backend of the motor home.  It definitely needs a bath when we get back to Whatcom County.

Another picture of the front end.  And this is after 4 hours of driving.

Drivers side of the Jeep.

Close up of the ice build up on the Jeep.

 We arrived safely at the campground, got the motor home all set up and then called Danalyn to come and get the boys and their suitcase.  We love our little Jeep but with the seat set up so Christopher could ride in his carseat there was absolutely no room for their suitcase.  Good thing we had the motor home to carry their belongings.


We will be here in Clarkston/Lewiston till the morning of January 8th when we will start our return trip to Blaine.