Two Hands, One Heart

Cool's granddaughter was here from Arizona, and after making jewelry together, they honored my request for a picture of their hands. How awesome that they thought of this pose! Emma was with us when we celebrated her grandma's 60th birthday at Il Lucano in Gig Harbor. After lunch we took a little field trip, riding a trolley down to downtown Gig Harbor and back to the Park & Ride lot where we had left our cars. This wasn't my only time to see Emma while she was here. She was at church too, and after church a bunch of us always go for coffee at Cutter's Point. This time we planned ahead and each brought four quarters and I brought the ever-popular game, Left Center Right. It's a mindless game, and it is oh so much fun. When people play it for the first time they always look at us as if to say, "What a dumb game--I don't want to play." The fun is seeing the change in their attitude once we get playing, and Emma was no exception. I ever heard her say, "I like this game." Sorry to say she didn't win, but her grandpa did, so here's hoping he took her out for something special and spent his $10 in earnings on his granddaughter.

Grandchildren are a special kind of BVGO (Bethel Valley Girl Offspring). In fact, I'm going to make up a new category for them, right on the spot. They shall forever more be known as BVGOO (Bethel Valley Girl Offspring's Offspring). There are nine BVGO's, and there are 16 BVGOO's.

Alas, there are only four Bethel Valley Girls, and between us we have eight hands and one gigantic heart.

I heart the Bethel Valley Girls, and six hours from now we will be together at j's house, sipping, supping, smiling and supporting. Can't wait!

SMG's (BVG's: The Next Generation, Part Two)

Please refer to my post of February 5, 2013 for BVG's: The Next Generation, Part One. I was just looking aimlessly through past posts, got to that one, read it and knew I had to do an update, given the fun news my daughter shared with me last night. I wrote back then about her and her friends Nicole and Katie who live by her in San Mateo, CA. Since then, Nicole has given birth to her twin daughters, Genevieve and Mabelle. Nicole and her husband moved from their place in San Francisco to a darling Victorian just two blocks from my daughter and her husband. How fun it is for my daughter to have her dearest friend live so close with her two adorable twin girls, who are eight months younger than my grandson. Meanwhile, their friend Katie who I also wrote about back then shows no inclination to remarry or have children. But no worries, because something even more wonderful and amazing is happening.

First of all, let me shout it to the rooftops---because it's safe to do so in this private blog---that my daughter announced to us a week ago that she is pregnant again! We're not supposed to tell anyone because she isn't telling her brothers until they are all together in Hawaii next month. But they don't read this blog, in fact they don't even know it exists, so unless this blog suddenly goes viral, this 'secret' is safe. I'm thrilled, of course. Tomorrow is the one year anniversary of me becoming a grandma for the first time, and my new motto is, "Keep those grandbabies coming!"

But there is something even more exciting to this story. Last night my daughter told me that her good friend Nidhi is also pregnant! They announced their pregnancies to each other at the same time. How fun it will be for them to be pregnant together. But the real kicker is the fact that Nidhi and her husband are looking for a place to live in San Mateo! They have a small apartment in the city (San Francisco), but now with the pregnancy and all they are choosing to move to where my daughter lives and where Nicole lives.

And I have a beautiful vision of the future, when my daughter and her two friends are at the park with their five (or more) little children. They will celebrate birthdays together, do preschool together, go to school together, and hopefully they will all play together on the tee ball team my daughter is going to coach.

And before they know it, in the blink of an eye, those children will be all grown up, off on their own, having their own children, and the SMG's (San Mateo Girls) will be sipping their wine and asking, "So, what's the latest on your grandchildren?"

May the SMG's be as close as the BVG's.........

Ode to Cool on Her 60th Birthday

Jokes about age can be kind of cruel,
And we could never do that to Cool.
This is the day that she turns sixty,
But truthfully, she doesn't look a day over fifty.
She still has dark hair--dark hair to DYE for--
And she has no afflictions--that she doesn't have medications for.
She still goes off to work each day in a hurry,
Anxious to put together yet another jury.
She's a wife, a mom, and a loving grandmother,
She's a friend, she's a sister, she's just not a brother.
She's the life of the party, so full of fun,
And when she smiles at you, you feel like you've been kissed by the sun.
She's not anxious to be the one that you laud,
But rather to hear you sing the praises of God.
So Cool, it's God we thank today for you,
And pray all His dreams for you will come true.
To be your friend is truly a pleasure,
And the bond of our Sisterhood is an incredible treasure.
So enjoy this sunny day and the hugs that are due,
With all our love we wish Happy Birthday to you!

My First Pedicure

(I don't know what's gotten in to me----five posts in one day???)

As long as I have been posting pedicure photos, here's one from my first pedicure. I recognize my left foot. It's the one on the right. On the left is my daughter's right foot. So my left foot is on the right, and my daughter's right foot is on the left. Is that right?

During one of her earliest visits to us after we had moved to Hawaii, she was shocked to learn I had never gotten a pedicure. So one day she decided to take me to the nail place at the bottom of our hill in Kailua so we could get pedicures together. It was a real mother-daughter bonding time.

I would be remiss in not saying that I have to HAND it to my daughter for being so thoughtful, because she insisted she would be the one to FOOT the bill.

Funny Signs

These are a few of the funny signs we've seen in the various places we have lived and traveled:

I've always wanted to add this caption below that last picture:

    "It doesn't have to be."

Not-so-fun BVG Demographics

Within four days of each other, 50% of the BVG's were told at separate hospitals, "Your husband is having a heart attack." This is not a demographic we like to hear about. As it turned out, my husband and I were the fortunate ones. Cool and her husband would say, "We're fortunate too," and that would be true, but he now has two stents and we continue to be concerned for his health. The past two weeks have been exhausting, both physically and emotionally, but in the end, thanks be to God for answered prayer. And thanks, too, for the love and support of the BVG's who are here for each other in the bad times as well as the good times.

A week ago yesterday I was taken by the hospital's Heart Attack Coordinator to the front waiting room while my husband was rushed from the ER to the surgery room where his angiogram was performed. I had remained calm as my husband, who was experiencing a tightening in his chest and chest pain that was radiating up in to his throat and neck, was sent from his doctor's office to the emergency room at the hospital. Now, sitting alone in this waiting room, the reality of what was going on started to set in. I knew I needed to text my three children, all of whom live far away. Besides them, the only other people I considered contacting were the BVG's.

I have thought a lot about this during the past week. I have many friends and other family members I could have called, but the ones I trusted to pray for my husband were the BVG's. Their quick responses to my texts and their expressions of support meant the world to me.

How must this have affected Cool when she read my text? Four days before she was at work when she received word that her husband had a heart attack and was in the hospital. She had to leave work and drive to the hospital alone. The thing is, her husband had done the same thing! Yes, he drove himself to the hospital when he was having a heart attack. He walked in the ER and said he was having chest pains, and he got immediate attention. I know in my husband's case, I was amazed how quickly there were eight additional people in the ER working around my husband when his EKG indicated he was having a heart attack.

To make my long story short, it wasn't a heart attack at all. In fact, the cardiologist found that he has no heart disease and no blockages whatsoever. Did I say he was 'fortunate'? He is extremely blessed!! More tests were done on him that evening, and the following morning they had the diagnosis: Pericarditis, or inflammation of the sac around the heart. Pericarditis mimics a heart attack. He apparently got this from taking antibiotics for a sinus infection two months before. All he needed were some anti-inflammatory drugs to fix him up good as new. His relief came immediately after even just one tiny pill.

I wish that was all Cool's husband needed. He's at home, she's at work, they are both exhausted. My husband is at work, I'm at home, and we're recovering from our exhaustion. Cool's oldest child come from Oregon to be with her at the hospital and then again this past weekend to help celebrate Father's Day with his dad. My oldest came with her husband and eight-month-old son from California the day my husband got out of the hospital and stayed through Father's Day as well. We live just ten minutes apart and wished we could have gotten the two of them together for another BVGO (Bethel Valley Girl Offspring) Reunion, but that wasn't possible.

Now here's a happy thing: Elletu's daughter loaned me her high chair to use while my grandson was here, and now she says she is willing to sell it to me as long as I'll make her some garlic chicken salad. You better believe I'm going to make it for her! Now my grandchildren will use the same high chair used by Elletu's grandchildren!

So I shall end this post on a high note, with a FUN BVG demographic:

50% of the BVG's have grandchildren who used the same high chair.

UP

I grew UP in a family that was interested in words. Our favorite family game was Scrabble, and I was always UP for playing. My own children were brought UP on word games, and whenever we get together these days someone always brings UP playing Boggle. I opened UP my e-mail the other day and one of my brothers had sent me this forward about the word UP (see below, not UP above). I fixed it UP a bit, adding some of my own applications I came UP with. I hope you're UP to reading it:  

There is perhaps no other two-letter word that has more meanings and uses than the word UP. It is easy to think of the word UP meaning toward the sky, but consider this:

When we wake UP, we open UP our eyes.

After we get UP in the morning, we make UP the bed.

At a meeting, why does a topic come UP?

Why do we speak UP?

Why do offices come UP for election?

Why is it UP to a secretary to write UP a report?

Why do we call UP our friends?

We take time to brighten UP a room, polish UP the silver and warm UP the leftovers.

Before we serve a pie, we might whip UP some whipping cream.

We clean UP the kitchen and lock UP the house.

Sometimes we pay some guys to fix UP the old car.

Some people stir UP trouble.

After an argument, it is good to make UP.

A woman looks in a mirror to put on her make-up.

We line UP for tickets, work UP an appetite and think UP excuses.

To be dressed is one thing, but to be dressed UP is special.

A drain must be opened UP when it is stopped UP.

A store is opened UP in the morning and then closed UP at night.

When a song is dragging, we have to pick UP the tempo.

We seem to be pretty mixed UP about the word UP!

To be knowledgeable about the proper use of the word UP,

Look it UP in the dictionary.

In a desk-sized dictionary, it takes UP about 1/4 of the page.

It adds UP to about 30 definitions.

If you are UP to it, you might try building UP a list of the many ways UP is used.

It will take UP a lot of your time, but don't give UP.

You may wind UP with a hundred or more.

When it threatens to rain, we say it is clouding UP.

When the sun comes out, we say it is clearing UP.

When it rains a lot, it often messes things UP.

When it doesn't rain for a while, things dry UP.

One could go on and on, but I'll wrap this UP.

Now it's UP to you to think UP more to add to this list.

Are you UP to it???

 

Minimize

Close

•  
•  
  0

 

Texas Toes

Thirty toes in Texas, and ten of them belong to j, ten to j's daughter, and ten to j's granddaughter. I'm sitting here trying to figure out which of these toes are 65 years old. Good news, j-----I can't see the difference!

Give Feet a Chance!

With so much attention being paid to our hands, I think it's time to give feet a chance! In this photo, my foot sticks out like a sore toe. Not only is my foot the only one in a black flip-flop, but it's the only one with a sore toe and in fact the only one with a FAKE toenail. That's right, I needed a fake big toenail after my husband practically ripped it off during dance practice night shortly before our son's wedding. I still can't figure out why he had his big shoes on in the first place, because we lived in Hawaii at the time. We were always barefoot in our house, where the practice took place. We invited the family of our future daughter-in-law over for dinner, and then after dinner we cleared the furniture in our big family room and proceeded to practice dancing as we would be at the wedding reception. My husband and I aren't the world's best dancers so we needed a lot of practice, but that was shut down pretty fast after he slammed his big shoe-clad foot in to mine, tearing my big toenail back and causing lots of blood and pain. If I were a swearing woman I know I would have sworn, but I'm not so I didn't. I'll never forget the pain and then the anguish I had when I pictured me at the wedding in my open-toed shoes.

Pedicurist to the rescue! The next day a few of us, including my daughter, went to get our pre-wedding pedicures together, and I was fitted with a phony big toenail which was eventually painted just the way I liked it in Hawaii--flowers on the big toenail, oh yes, island-style. No one could tell the difference.

So those aren't BVG feet in the picture above. I'm not sure I could get my Sisters to pose their feet like that. Maybe I'll try sometime, but for now, from July 2007, from Hawaii, I present my foot with some of its friends.

And speaking of weddings, two years ago today my other son was married in New Orleans. There was no dance practice night before that wedding.

The Big Reveal

Last Wednesday night we gathered at my house for our monthly dinner. The theme for the night, The Big Reveal, was in keeping with certain local sororities who were coming up on their Big Reveal Weekend. I should point out, these sororities have nothing to do with colleges or universities. They are groups of grown women, some with no college experience whatsoever, who form social groups with the published goal of being philanthropic. I'm not sure they are really about any fundraising or charity work, but it sounds good and gives them an excuse to get together--women love and need that--and to be able to frequently drop the word 'sorority' while in the presence of the 'uninitiated.' At universities, the socially elite are welcomed in to sororities. You don't just get in, you have to 'make the grade' and be voted on to be accepted. Perhaps that's a little bit true in adulthood sororities, but the bottom line is, everyone wants to belong to something, and sororities fill the bill for so-inclined women.

In a sorority, the Big Reveal means you finally find out who has been your Secret Sister all year, giving you gifts signed 'Your Secret Sister,' but her identity not revealed. They make a big production getting together and spilling the beans, and everyone cries of course ("Oh, I can't believe you're the one who has been giving me gifts all year--I had no idea!"). High drama for sure.

The Bethel Valley Girls did something totally different for our Big Reveal. First of all, we don't do the Secret Sisters thing. Did it once, gave it a try, but it's not our cup of tea. So we went with my idea of a Big Reveal: Reveal something about yourself the others do not know.

And now we know how j's undies ended up in the bushes at a mall. Heretofore, it was a mystery. Then the conversation took a more serious turn, and before long we were baring our souls the way j must have bared her.............okay, we have no proof of that. Undies in the bushes doesn't necessarily mean j didn't have any on. Let's keep this clean. (I sure hope j cleaned her undies after she got them out of the bushes.) But I digress.

It is wonderful having such a safe place we can go with our private memories and experiences and thoughts. We don't have to wear a façade. We can be real and we can be honest. Not everyone has a friendship where they can do it. We are the fortunate ones because we have each other. We have a loving God who accepts us and who walks with us through tough times. He picks us up and sets us on a good path for another day. He heals our hurts, and He gives us strength right where we need it. Being united in knowing that, we can be genuine in our dealings with each other.

Thank you, BVG's, for being who you are. It is no wonder we sign off by saying....

Love us!

Spa Day 2013

Just got this picture back from Spa Day 2013, which was almost a month ago, on April 20. In keeping with our rules, no pictures of our faces unless there are cucumber slices covering the eyes. The treatments must have worked, because we all look younger than this now!

Cool HANDbells

Cool does this really cool thing. Since 1996 she has been a part of a handbell choir through her church. We all went to hear them at her church's Christmas concert, and then this past Sunday they presented their annual handbell performance, Berries and Bells...or is it Bells and Berries? Does it matter? It was awesome! I wanted to include a photo of Cool performing, but this was the best I could do. The Berries in the title refers to the strawberry shortcake served after the concert. This was a sweet and delightful treat, but the music was the real treat. Their level of expertise far surpasses any bell choir I have ever heard before, and I admire Cool for her talent and her devotion to this outstanding group. It was a blessing to be part of the audience.

And by the way, whether you are ringing those bells or caressing a cucumber, your HANDS look beautiful!

BVGO: A Reunion of Hands

A new group has been formed: BVGO, as in, Bethel Valley Girls Offspring. Think of it as Bethel Valley Girls: The Next Generation. I used that term recently but was thinking of our grandchildren. A week ago, however, my perspective changed when we had a reunion of sorts here at my house. It was a good excuse to get together and inaugurate my deck for the coming summer. It was to be the warmest day of the year so far, and that was enough impetus to plan a potluck for deck sitting. But the greatest part of the whole event was the reunion, after many years, of Elletu's and j's daughters. For the sake of our relative anonymity, I will just call them D and T. When they were last together they were young girls, and now they are young women, assuming you are still considered young women when you are in your 30's.

I say hats off to Elletu and j for raising such beautiful (inside and out) and capable daughters. I feel deep affection for them as if they are nieces of mine, and truly, they do feel like family to me. How fun it was for the four of us to witness the very first meeting of the elite group, the BVGO's. Sure, it was just two of the ten, but it's a start.

The thing is, D and T sometimes looked at us like they thought we were a little crazy at times. Maybe they don't get us. They didn't quite understand the whole BVGO thing, but they will in time. I will make it my mission.

And so, as we celebrate Mother's Day tomorrow, we remember our own mothers, who have all passed away, and we think collectively of the ten children we brought in to this world, five girls and five boys. Seven of them have given us 16 grandchildren, and for that we are grateful. We pray diligently for the ten BVGO's, stopping to remember that God loves them even more than we do. No matter where they go, no matter what they do, He will always hold them in the palm of His HANDS. Thank you, God!

Cool Hand Cuke: A Tale of a Fourth Hand

Cool's hand was feeling slighted---slight of hand?---so here it is, on Spa Day 2013, caressing a cucumber. And with that, dear readers (are any of you out there?), you have seen them all, all of our hands. We are the Bethel Valley Girls, and these are the Bethel Valley Girl hands.

Can you see the family resemblance?

As always,

Firstelle

j's Hand: The First Cut is the Deepest

Call me Firstelle Nightingale. When Elletu needed surgery, I was there for her. I picked her up when it was still dark outside and drove her to the hospital. I signed in as her 'family,' because I am family. I got to sit with her and make jokes with her while she sat in her little bed in that cute little gown. I took pictures of her, I took pictures of her nurses. Then I waited in the lobby while the doctor explored her inner parts. I enjoyed sipping Tully's coffee and learning how to use my new phone while waiting for word about Elletu. I was relieved when they came to get me and took me back to post-surgery Elletu. She looked wonderful considering she just came from the operating room. She wasn't even groggy like I had expected. She was checked out to my care, and we had a delicious lunch at the tea room before I took her back to my house and had her firmly ensconced in a big, comfy recliner. We watched movies, and I made her hot chocolate and fed her chocolate while we watched "Chocolat." She recovered nicely and was an excellent patient. Later in the day a friend and then Elletu's daughter came to visit, and actually her daughter took her home with her. I knew she would be in good hands. And to be a good friend, I had made and framed a large, beautiful subway art project centered around all the words and phrases like 'barf' and 'praying to the porcelain god' to represent throwing up. This she hung over her toilet to encourage her, because post-surgery people sometimes get very sick. Turns out she didn't, but still, the Barf Art, as we call it, was an act of love. We are BVG's, and BVG's help each other out. Our motto is, after all, 'Love us!'

And so it was that when j had to have hand surgery last month, I was more than happy to be her family, her ride, her caregiver for the day, as her husband was out of town and her daughters live far away. So I picked j up and took her to her clinic, and thus began The Tale of j's Hand. I was happy to be able to sit in her little pre-op room too, and I got busy taking pictures and doing all I could to keep her stay positive that everything was going to be okay. She had opted for a local anesthetic and might have been hesitant about that. I think I noticed her blush when her very handsome doctor came in to label her hand before surgery. Her little gown had a neat feature that Elletu's did not. They had a hose going in to the lining of her gown, and this blew it up and injected warm air in the lining to keep her warm and comfy. She looked so cute like that, looking kind of puffy, with her head wrapped up in something like a shower cap. I'd love to show you some pictures, but we have a blog rule: Unless the eyes are covered with cucumber slices, no face pictures. Rules are rules.

Soon j was whisked off to surgery, and I was sent back to the waiting room. When they came back to get me she was looking good, with her hand all bandaged up. Because of that, she couldn't put her clothes on. And so, j and I took our friendship to the next level: I dressed her, including putting her bra on her. Then she wanted to take me to lunch to thank me--for the whole day, not just putting her bra on her. She took me to what is now my favorite restaurant, a cozy little Italian place not that far from her home. Yummy! And speaking of taking our friendship to the next level, it was in this restaurant on that day that I actually had to cut up her food for her. That hit me as something very special, something we did for our little children and maybe for our aged parents.

Later, back at her house, there were a few more things she needed me to do for her. I had to undress her and help her in to her nightgown. I am not complaining here, I'm just saying that j couldn't do it. This time I took her bra off of her. She also couldn't undo the caps on her bottled water. She couldn't take her pillow out of its sham. She needed me, and I was glad I could be there for her.

I'm happy to report j's hand healed very nicely, and her problem is solved. I don't think anyone would notice her scar. She has since retired (on April 1) and has turned 65 (on April 2). To celebrate both her first day of freedom and her birthday, Elletu and I--Cool couldn't get off work--took j out to lunch, back to the restaurant where j had taken me the afternoon of her hand surgery. We had lots of fun taking pictures and texted them to Cool, letting her know that we missed her. We purchased a $40 bottle of wine for $20, just so we could get the cork of course, and toasted not only j but also Cool in her absence.

And the best part is that j came with her bra on and she cut up her own food!

Firstelle's Hand: The Horror of Gorilla Glue

I have a perfectly good reason for taking this long to get back to The Blog. It was fun writing about Elletu's hands at last year's Spa Day. Since I wrote that post, this year's Spa Day has come and gone--it was on April 20--and Elletu's hands have once again been dipped in the wax and are looking and feeling quite soft and beautiful. Spa Day will do that for you. But the tale of my hand, in particular my right one, oh, that is not a pretty one. My hand was not left looking and feeling soft and beautiful after what I call 'The Incident.' They are fine now, but my fingernails may never be the same. It was an experience I don't really like to think about, let alone write about, but here goes, 'The Tale of Firstelle's Hand,' as recounted by me, Firstelle.

We Bethel Valley Girls do enjoy a glass of wine now and then (and then and now). This didn't really take hold for me until we moved in to our present home two years ago. It happens to have a wine bar built in, and goodness, we need to make use of it, don't we? So we keep it stocked, and when bottles are uncorked the corks go in the drawer. I never thought of wine corks as being useful for craft projects until Cool totally surprised and overwhelmed me with a large and gorgeous wreath made out of a large number of wine corks. This was for Christmas 2011, and I have the wreath  hanging on the wall inside our wine bar. Last year I was in a second-hand shop in Port Townsend and found a wine cork trivet with 50 corks glued in to a wood frame. I got it for a mere $3. I couldn't pass it up, and it is propped up against the side wall in our wine bar. I love that thing so much, I decided I wanted to make one for each of my BVG Sisters for Christmas 2013.

Another friend of mine--not a BVG and not a wine drinker--had been with me when I purchased my own trivet and spoke of wanting to make some myself. Shortly after that she was at her friend's house for a garage sale and saw a big bin full of wine corks. She asked, "What are you doing with these?" and her friend asked, "Why? Do you want them? You can just take them, bin and all." Free corks! A zillion of them! (A zillion means too many for me to count.) She was excited to tell me about them and offered her husband's services to make and paint the wooden forms for the corks. When all was said and done, he made eight forms for me at $5 a piece and two for her as she wanted to make one for her and one for her daughter-in-law. We set the date of the Saturday of President's Day Weekend for our joint venture and decided we would do it at her house, while our husbands would enjoy a day up in the mountains together doing guy things. And in my mind everything was awesome, because I was getting such a head start on Christmas for this year. The first three trivets I was going to make were for the Bethel Valley Girls. I was so PROUD of myself, but as one of them said to me after 'The Incident,' "You know, Firstelle, pride cometh before a fall." And that is exactly how it all played out.

Finally the day arrived, and Charlene (her real name) had her dining room table covered with a pad and butcher paper. I asked for an extension cord so I could plug my hot glue gun in to the nearest outlet. She said we should skip the glue gun and use Gorilla Glue instead. She described it as 'the best thing to use.' I said no, I thought my hot glue gun would be better, and in fact I had spent $12 buying new glue sticks for the two of us to use. But she insisted, and off she went to the store to buy me my own bottle of Gorilla Glue just like hers. While she was gone I worked on getting the corks sorted and organized and set up five of the trivets. The small bottle of Gorilla Glue was $12. At this point I had $52 invested in my Christmas craft project.

The sorting and organizing actually took several hours, and then we stopped and had lunch before we set out to glue the corks in place inside the trivet forms. I was still hesitating about the Gorilla Glue but then said okay, one try, see how it goes. Charlene did mention, "They say to wear gloves, but I never do." I took this to mean she had worked with Gorilla Glue before and was an old pro at it. And so we began. The first thing I noticed was how long it was taking to do the gluing, and then it became apparent that the corks were not sticking in place well at all. She looked at the directions on the bottle and said, "Oh, this says one of the surfaces should be wet down," to which I said, "Oh well, too late for that." We continued on, using a little bit more glue, hoping that would hold the corks in place.

When she had her two done and I had three done, we decided to take a break from our labor. She read the directions a little further and said we needed to put something heavy on top to help with the drying process, so she got out large, heavy, beautiful travel books to do the trick. Then we went in the kitchen, just as our husbands arrived back at the house. After visiting with them for a time, Charlene went in to her dining room to check on our projects. The first hint that something was wrong was when she picked up a book and the trivet raised up with it. On further investigation, she was horrified. "They're GROWING!" she cried out, and then, "You better come and see this!"

I will just interject that when he saw what had happened, my husband took the bottle of Gorilla Glue and read the directions to himself. Then he read them to us and asked us if we had not read them before we started, because the directions clearly state that Gorilla Glue grows to four times its size! It was growing, that's for sure, and it was oozing out the top as well as the bottle of the trivets, covering the special corks I had lovingly chosen for my BVG Sisters. Horrified, Charlene got wet rags for us to try washing the glue off the corks. (Of course first we had to separate them from the books....what a mess!) When that wasn't working, I rushed mine out to the sink and started digging the corks out with my hands, thinking I might be able to salvage them that way. No way! I only managed to get the ugly, frothing yellow gunk all over my hands, particularly my right hand. Almost instantly the glue hardened on my hands, and within a very short time I could not bend my fingers at all. My right hand had a hard-shell yellow finish, and it was driving me absolutely insane that I could not get any of it off of me.

Because this story is so long, and because it still makes me nauseous, I will just say here that in the next few hours Charlene's husband tried to help me by 1) rinsing my hands with gasoline, and 2) rinsing my hands with paint thinner. This was done outside, and he told me to rub my hands together while he was doing this. I cannot begin to explain the horrendous feeling in my hands while doing that. This only made things worse. Getting more and more frantic, I soaked my hands in warm soapy water at their kitchen sink while my husband checked out solutions to my problem on the Internet. The only problem was there was no solution. The Gorilla Glue people said don't peel it off because you will pull off skin with it. At that point, I didn't care. We decided to try scrubbing with a pumice stone, and that did a tiny bit of good. After a few hours of this I was willing to get in our car and make the hour drive home, but it was hard because I didn't want to leave the comfort of the warm water. Once home, I began soaking my hands in warm soapy water at my bathroom sink. I began at 11 PM. I would soak, then scrub with pumice stone, then soak again, then rub with Aveeno Lotion, then soak, then peel off little patches of the Gorilla Glue---along with little patches of my skin.

I hate Gorilla Glue. There, I said it. I will never use it again. The other night I had the guts to try another trivet, and this time I used my hot glue gun. It worked perfectly. I love my hot glue gun. I'm trying to love Charlene again.

Over 250 wine corks were sacrificed that day. If the bottles of wine averaged $10, that's really $2,500 worth of wine! Right now I have two restaurants saving their corks for me, and some of my friends have given me their saved corks, perhaps out of pity. I don't tell this story much anymore. I think my friends are tired of hearing it, and I suppose in the grand scheme of things, 'The Incident' is not the worst thing that has ever happened to me. I'm still going to make a bunch of these trivets for Christmas presents this year, but way before Christmas, just a month from now, comes Charlene's birthday, and what do you think I'm giving her for her birthday? It's a bottle of something, but it's not wine...

Elletu's Hand: Spa Day

Every spring we BVG's look forward eagerly to our Spa Day. Well, to be honest, we're coming up on just our second annual Spa Day, so I should say that two years in a row we have looked forward eagerly to the BVG Spa Day. Once again the BVG's will gather at my home for a day of pampering ourselves and being pampered by a massage therapist coming in with her spa table and her assistant, who will tend to either our HANDs or our feet. We choose. Last year Cool, j and I chose to have our feet soaked, waxed, cleaned up, massaged and softened up with soothing, fragrant lotions. On the other HAND, Elletu chose to have the same treatments applied to her HANDs. I find the picture above of her right HAND to be of particular interest now that my own HANDs have recently been similarly immersed, not in hot wax to make my HANDs softer but rather Gorilla Glue to make my HANDs.......oh, wait, that's for another post. Let me just say here that it was a bad experience, one that was hard to HANDle. Elletu's HAND pictured here represents the 'best of times,' whereas my Gorilla Glue story represents the 'worst of times.' Instead of helping my HANDs, it hurt my HANDs. That's why there will be no Gorilla Glue at our upcoming Spa Day. There will definitely be soft, relaxing music (and maybe a little HANDel music too). There will be sliced cucumbers to rest upon our weary eyelids. (After they are removed I will use the cucumber slices to clean the faucets in my sink. We learned all kinds of wonderful uses for cucumbers at the last Spa Day. We don't just relax, we learn things.) There will be delicious, nutricious snacks leading up to lunch served in my dining room. My family room, on the other HAND, will be rearranged to accommodate the massage table, foot bath and HAND bath. The big question is, what will Elletu choose, the HAND therapy or the foot therapy? I think she'll go for the HANDs again, and I think Cool and j will go for the feet again. After what my HANDs went through with the Gorilla Glue, I'm sorely tempted to have them pampered this time around. Either way, it's going to be another wonderful day of friendship. I have to HAND it to the Bethel Valley Girls---we know how to have fun!

Just one problem for the day---apparently the plant couldn't HANDle the mimosas!!!

No problem. I was its designated driver.

A Tale of Three Hands

"It was the best of times, it was the worst of times...........we always make it fun!"
                                              --Firstelle

Three Bethel Valley Girls, three days, three hands (or, to be exact, five hands), three very different experiences, three stories of friendship, all with ties to the BVG's. These stories will follow. They are each deserving of their own page, their own title:
   Elletu's Hand:  Spa Day
   Firstelle's Hand:  The Horror of Gorilla Glue
   j's Hand:  The First Cut is the Deepest

Coming Soon:  Getting to Know Cool's Hand Like You've Never Known it Before

Retirement Poem: Ode to j - April 1, 2013 - Free at Last!

Note: Yesterday, April 1, 2013, I composed this poem for j. Yes, it was April Fool's Day, but she really did retire yesterday. In honor of this milestone in j's life, Elletu and I are taking her to lunch today. But today, April 2, 2013, is not only noted because it is j's first day of freedom, but it is also her 65th birthday. So Happy Birthday, j, as well as Happy Retirement. We love you! And as our motto says, LOVE US! And now, I give you:

 

           RETIREMENT POEM: Ode to j

 

75% of the BVG's are happy for j's retirement today,

But 25% of the BVG's hope it's just a joke for April Fool's Day.

75% of the BVG's will celebrate j's retirement and birthday tomorrow,

But 25% of the BVG's not being there will fill the 75% with sorrow.

During this last day of work j might be a little wordy,

And then,believe it or not, she just might shed some tears at 4:30.

Can any of us imagine Cool in the jury office without j?

It's so hard to even contemplate this on this April Fool's Day.

75% of the BVG's need to let 25% know we have her back,

And if she grumbles while training Lori, we will cut her some slack.

j is gleeful now, but should retirement turn out to be a bore,

Firstelle's job will be to encourage j to get out more.

As the 50% duo who are turning sixty-five this month--no kidding!--

They will do volunteer work that to them is most fitting.

They will exercise their brains by studying things that come from vines,

And do 'coffee' runs for 50% who have no time to stand in lines.

So here's to j, your freedom is less than five hours away,

And 75% of us salute you on this, your Retirement Day!

Coming up, the day of love...

Coming up this week is a day many people love and others speak of hating. Perhaps it's true, Valentine's Day has been commercialized way out of proportion. Case in point: The other day I saw the perfect Valentine for my husband with the shocking price of $7.79!! I thought to myself, I could buy two lattes with that kind of money. So I put this high-priced card back in the rack and remembered that I can write my own poetry for free. For instance, my children loved (?) this:

FRUITS AND VEGGIE TALES

by Firstelle

I fell in love with a PICKLE,

But it was really no big DILL;

I fell in love with a BANANA,

Until it lost its apPEEL.

I fell in love with an APPLE,

It was such a DELICIOUS affair!

Then I fell in love with a FIG,

Until I found out it was really a PEAR.

I fell in love with a PEPPER,

But I just didn't ring its BELL;

I fell for a shy PEANUT,

But I couldn't get it out of its SHELL.

I fell in love with a TOMATO,

It was really quite diVINE;

Then I fell in love with a GRAPE,

But I couldn't stand its WINE.

I fell in love with a POTATO,

But we didn't see EYE to EYE;

So I'm giving up FRUITS and VEGGIES--

I think I'll give GRAINS a try!

***************************************************************

If you don't like this poem--if you think it's CORNy--I don't CARROT all PEAcause I had fun writing it. I've BEAN interested in writing poetry since childhood, and even if you criticize me, I'll stay cool as a CUCUMBER and refuse to be BEETen by your lack of support for my poetic talent. You may TURNIP your nose to my prose, but please don't SQUASH my enthusiasm! LETTUCE not argue over it, because when criticism SPROUTS up, in THYME the whole thing MUSHROOMS. When you become ARUGULAmentative, I become MELONcholy. I know I am PARSLEY to blame because I allow myself to get hurt by it, but you know that I YAM what I YAM.

I should probably heed some SAGE advice and CURRY your favor by not making this blogpost too long this week. But since it is the week of LOVE, I want to express mine to each of you, BVG's, sisters of the Sisterhood, friends forever................................................Love us!

BVG's: The Next Generation

As previously noted, I was the last of the Bethel Valley Girls to become a grandmother. My two grandsons are soon to be seven and four months old, and although one lives in Hawaii and the other in California, we were all together in California at Christmas and we Skype to keep connected. It's a new year, and I don't know when or if I will see either one of them in person during this coming year. After family trips to New Orleans, North Carolina, Greece, Hawaii and California three times in the past year and a half, we're staying put and they'll have to come and see us in 2013. This may or may not happen. But they are always close in my heart.

So God bless all of our friends who live close. God bless the Bethel Valley Girls! Girls??? In two months, 50% of us will turn 65---Hello Social Security! Hello Medicare! Is it time to 'pass the baton' to a new generation of 'girls' to carry on the BVG tradition? Do we have a legacy to pass down to our sons and daughters? Have they learned important things from us that will help them navigate through the 'Blur Years' of marriage, child-rearing and careers? Have we set good examples for them? These things are on my mind on this rainy morning.

As my readers might have guessed, I love BVG demographics. I already wrote that 50% of the BVG's turn 65 in two months. The other 50% are still in their 50's. However, as of this July, 75% of the BVG's will be in their 60's and only 25% will be in their (her) 50's. A full 50% of the BVG's have three children, while the other 50% have two children. Elletu is part of the first group, with two daughters and one son. I am also part of the first group, and I have two sons and one daughter. Interestingly, j has two daughters and Cool has two sons. To me, this is beautiful symmetry. In the grandchildren department we're pretty spread out. Elletu has ten of them, and yet she is the youngest of the BVG's. I have the two grandsons, as does j, but she also has a granddaughter, which I don't have, but Cool does have. Only Elletu has grandchildren living close to her, but she also has three grandchildren living far away in a foreign country, so we all do grandparenting from afar.

Alas, our child-rearing days are over, done with, we've moved on to a new season of life. We can only hope and pray that our children will be blessed to find lasting friendships like ours to carry on after their child-rearing days are completed. I think that's happening in my daughter's life, so I've made a mental note and I'm praying over her and her friends Nicole and Katie. It's not Bethel Valley, it's San Mateo, so I'll dub them the SMG's and picture them as grandmas years down the road. They'll be old and exhausted too and will need that yearly Spa Day to look forward to (ours is coming up in two months---yay!).

So Angela, Nicole and Katie are the SMG's (San Mateo Girls)--sort of like the BVG's: The Next Generation. Angela worked with Nicole years ago in California and then later with Katie as a different company. At some point he introduced them to each other, and the three of them became fast friends. Nicole and Katie were both married but childless at the time. Angela was "never going to get married, and I'm never going to have children"---clearly, she is not clairvoyant! When her job took her to live in London, I was sad to see her leave all her close friends behind, especially Nicole and Katie. Fast forward to last year: Angela moved back to California from London,and she moved in to a house just five minutes from Katie's. Then she had her wedding in Greece, and Katie was her maid-of-honor, Nicole her bridesmaid, and her other bridesmaid was a London co-worker, her friend Leslie who was there with her husband and their two-month-old son. Sadly, both Nicole and Katie had divorced, but Nicole had since married a wonderful, wonderful man. I got to see my daughter with a zillion of her awesome friends from truly around the world, but nothing was closer than her bond with Nicole and Katie, and Leslie seemed to fit right in with that tight trio of friends.

Now Angela is not only happily married to her soulmate but she is an awesome mother. I wondered if this would throw a monkey wrench in her friendships, but then the most amazing thing happened: Nicole announced she is pregnant, and what joy, she's expecting twin girls three months from now! As if that's not exciting enough, she and her husband realized their third story condo in a Victorian in San Francisco wouldn't work well with twin babies. So they found a fabulous smaller Victorian home to rent in San Mateo, and Angela is over the moon because they are going to be two blocks away from her. With Katie five minutes away, that makes the three of them exactly as close as I was to the Bethel Valley Girls when I was raising my children. Hmmm...could history be repeating itself?

My daughter said to me the other day, "Mom, when I go for my daily walk with my baby, I can walk over to Nicole's and see her twin daughters." She was excited at the prospect of this, and immediately this conjured up visions of me getting Angela and her two brothers strapped in to the car and driving the five minutes over to Bethel Valley Lane to play with the Bethel Valley kids, the children of Elletu, Cool and j. The kids played, we moms bonded, and what we realize now but didn't realize then is that those bonds were irreversible. Right now I'm praying a good man in to Katie's life, with healthy children to follow. I want these three friends to have what we BVG's had at that stage of life and have today. And why stop there? I'm bold--I'm praying that Leslie, the other bridesmaid, and her little family will move back to the States and choose San Mateo. The thing is, IT COULD HAPPEN! I was gone to Hawaii and Virginia for 11 years, and here I am. If the BVG's are a group of four, I think the SMG's should also be a group of four. So I pray big, realizing GOD CAN DO ANYTHING HE WANTS!

And that's what's on my mind on this rainy morning in..........well, here. And if we BVG's are here, it doesn't really matter where here is.

Rainy Days and Mondays Never Get Me Down

It's Monday morning, and it's either been raining in our little town or it's going to be raining. I learned long ago not to let that depress me. My daughter, a characteristically and delightfully cheerful soul, nonetheless finds gray weather gets her down. For her, moving from London back to California was a godsend. We chose to leave sunny Hawaii and sunny Virginia to get back to here, so I will not complain. The sun will come out.........................no, not tomorrow, but someday. And until then, I will use these 'punnies' to keep me cheerful. I didn't write them, but I know the BVG's will love them:

I tried to catch some Fog. I mist.

When chemists die, they barium.

Jokes about German sausage are the wurst.

A soldier who survived mustard gas and pepper spray is now a seasoned veteran.

I know a guy who's addicted to brake fluid. He says he can stop any time.

How does Moses make his tea? Hebrews it.

I stayed up all night to see where the sun went. Then it dawned on me.

This girl said she recognized me from the vegetarian club, but I'd never met herbivore.

I'm reading a book about anti-gravity. I can't put it down.

I did a theatrical performance about puns. It was a play on words.

They told me I had type A blood, but it was a Type- O.

A dyslexic man walks into a bra.

PMS jokes aren't funny, period.

Why were the Indians here first? They had reservations.

Class trip to the Coca-Cola factory. I hope there's no pop quiz.

Energizer bunny arrested. Charged with battery.

I didn't like my beard at first. Then it grew on me.

How do you make holy water? Boil the hell out of it!

Did you hear about the cross eyed teacher who lost her job because she couldn't control her pupils?

When you get a bladder infection, urine trouble.

What does a clock do when it's hungry? It goes back four seconds.

I wondered why the baseball was getting bigger. Then it hit me!

Broken pencils are pointless.

What do you call a dinosaur with a extensive vocabulary? A thesaurus.

England has no kidney bank, but it does have a Liverpool .

I used to be a banker, but then I lost interest.

I dropped out of communism class because of lousy Marx.

All the toilets in New York 's police stations have been stolen. Police have nothing to go on.

I got a job at a bakery because I kneaded dough.

Haunted French pancakes give me the crepes.

Velcro - what a rip off!

Cartoonist found dead in home. Details are sketchy.

Venison for dinner? Oh deer!

Earthquake in Washington obviously government's fault.

I used to think I was indecisive, but now I'm not so sure.

Be kind to your dentist. He has fillings, too.

And now that they are laughing their heads off as I did when I first read these---and might I say, I'm really missing that head about now-----I'll just add that our monthly get-together, which was last Wednesday night, was as fun as ever. I like that, no matter what, we work the time out so we can meet here for dinner once a month. They are even more fun than a list of 'punnies'---and that's saying something!

May we never take this special Sisterhood relationship for granted!

 

Resolutions

Where has the time gone? We are 22 days in to the new year--2013--and I'm just getting around to writing about New Years Resolutions. Isn't it obvious what I should write?

In 2013, I resolve to be more faithful in keep up with the Bethel Valley Girls blog!

Tomorrow night we are having our first dinner meeting of the year. I'll be serving Coq au Vin. Since we're all on some sort of a diet, I prefer to call it 'Diet Coke au Vin,' but whatever. Anything with 'vin' in it sounds good to me!! After all, 'vin' is proof God loves us and wants us to be happy. I know we will all be happy to get together tomorrow.

So much has happened since I last posted in the blog....now, if I could only remember what that is. Hmmm. Well, I know this: 50% of the BVG's have had surgery since then. How's that for BVG demographics? I had the privilege of picking Elletu up at her house in the wee dark hours one morning and took her to a small hospital in an undisclosed area (because we work hard to keep our anonymity online) for surgery 'of a personal nature.' It was quite the bonding experience to be with her in her time of need. She was cute in her little gown in the pre-op area. I couldn't get over how fun all the people working there were. They said they were mixing up a little 'cocktail' for her. On the other hand, I only got free Tully's coffee in the waiting room during her surgery. But hers knocked her out completely, and I kept my wits about me, which is good because not only was I her 'family' that day, but I was her designated driver as well, also her caregiver back at my house after she was released---on her own recognizance, I believe they said.

I was amazed at how alert and perky she was after her surgery, so much so that we went out to lunch at the local tea room on our way back to my house. Once home, we each took a recliner, curled up with blankets and watched some chick flicks. I had ginger ale for her, orange sherbet, things like that, and when we watched the movie "Chocolat" and she got a craving, I even indulged her in that area. Eventually, other fans of hers came by to pay their respects (lured by the offers of free wine, I suspect), and her daughter came to claim her and take her back home. She had to solemnly swear to follow doctor's orders before I would allow her to leave.

When j had her recent nose surgery, however, I was away in California. All I could do was pray---for her, and also that I would not laugh at the pictures she sent of her with her nose all bandaged up. I would like to have made her some chicken soup or something. She apparently did okay without me. I'll be anxious to hear how she is doing when I see her at tomorrow night's meeting.

The big thing for me at the end of 2012 was being able to look back and realize that we made it through all of our big trips we had to take during the year. Actually, in a year and a half we had major trips to New Orleans, California (3 separate driving trips), North Carolina, Greece and Hawaii. During that time there were three family weddings and two grandsons born, so we have been clearly blessed many times over. But I'm tired from all of the traveling. Staying home this year will be fun, and for the first time, we plan to see the horrendous balance on our credit card go down instead of up. So that's another resolution:

I resolve to stay home this year and to pay our credit card bill down!

Then there's the usual:

I resolve to get healthier!

I remember back in the early '70's---no, not MY 70's, the 1970's---when I had about 20 pounds to lose and was so disgusted with myself. My New Year's Resolution was this:

I resolve that you will see less of me this year!

But I don't want the Bethel Valley Girls to misunderstand me. I want to see more, not less, of them in 2013. I was thinking of this as my husband and I were driving back from California after two weeks of family Christmas fun with the families of two of our three children. This included our two baby grandsons----what incredible fun! Yes, it was hard to say goodbye, but as we drove home I realized how much I had also missed my friends while we were away. We said goodbye to our family, but our friends are family to us also, and no one more than the Bethel Valley Girls. So this year:

I resolve that I will let the Bethel Valley Girls know how much they mean to me and my life!

Everything.