08.24.2010 Tuesday

(taken from paper journal at BMH)
Michael Phelps' illustration of the idea that everyone can be creative (from class yesterday)

If Micheal Phelps was not allowed to swim -- or rather -- not allowed to swim fast and was forced to swim the average of all the speeds of every other swimmer in the pool -- would he still swim? Would he swim "averagely" only for a period of time after which he would become bored or so frustrated that he would no longer swim at all? Is that what happens to creativity of the vast majority of people? Do they become so frustrated that they towel off and leave the pool entirely?

What if creativity were valued in the medical community? What if the only protocol was to make the patient healthy, no matter what the treatment, or insurance coverage, or history of the treatment's success, etc? Would there be fewer unhealthy people because they would seek treatment sooner? Would fewere people fear the system and the ridigity of medicine? Would there be more creative treatments geared toward the individual rather than an average fix for the masses? There are many industries (beside education) where creativity could be utilized to make thing much, much better.

The word "creativity" so often conjures up fear. Creativity necessitates the artsy/fartsy genre, but much creativity is problem solving and that is functional and industrial and mainstream. Why are creatives thought to be outliers when they should really be the norm?

Missed TCOM 601 due to the lack of communication in the medical parallel universe where the patient (and his family) have no schedule, no agenda and no life other than to be available at the medical staff's beck and call. How hard would it be to provide at least a general idea (morning, afternoon, night) of when a physician's call may occur? This may be novel, but wouldn't that ... shouldn't that just be common courtesy? Why do we let "white coats" do this to us?

08.23.2010 Monday

(Taken from paper journal started at Ball Memorial Hospital, room 9014)

•Get a cheap notebook ☺
•Do an entry daily ☺ (good plan but it didn't happen yet!)
•Be reflective ☺

TCOM 601 Should be a great class. With all students eager to share ideas - not just ideas, but great ideas, the synery in the room was almost measureable. The question posed about formal education squashing creativity of our kids was a trick question. As a broad generalization YES the system favors the medium student who can follow rules famously and maybe go a bit beyond -- BUT, there is the exception in formalized education who can recognize potential in students and nurture that spark. Creativity can and does happen in any environment, but it may be easier with encouragement, resources, and mentoring.

Rough start to the school year. Den's hospitalization hopefully will be a fast one, but the fact that he didn't fuss or fight about being admitted indicates the severity of the condition to me. We'll have to see happens. I really wasn't ready for this semester to begin, but I wanted it to be on MY terms not with additional complications of an already complicated life.

The Family Blog becomes an Educational Blog!

The good news is that posts will be daily, the bad news is that if that is too much information you will have too much to sort through! I am in four classes this semester and each one requires a journal, educational journal, creative journal, or Critical Incident Questionnaire, so in the effort to be efficient, I will post my ramblings in one place (rather than repeating them four times) and populate a lonely, forsaken blog simultaneously. Since this is a blog versus e-mail, you are on your own with reading it or not. It is what it is!!

Mackenzie's 5th Birthday

The celebration commenced at Royal Oak on Sunday August 8th. We decided to continue the Redneck Waterpark theme with an actual blow-up waterpark. Kenzer requested a Snow White party so that too was incorporated.

In the Gray

2:30 am

Summer School starts later this morning.  A short summer job may start today also, it's not official.  Dennis has an eye appointment.  James starts his third week of childcare for the Gnaps.  Kristen has the day off.  I took a "nap" earlier this evening so I'm off of the sleep cycle and feel like I'm waiting in line for a roller coaster ride....I don't like roller coasters.

The final three weeks of the Spring Semester were a wild ride.  The entire semester was a pretty unpleasant experience.  It did have it's bright spots...I loved my assistant ship assignment.  I learned iMovie and am rapidly becoming a Mac affectionado.  Kendall is recovering from a nasty case of mono.  There were highlights, but the usual degree of satisfaction I receive from academics was not there.  Disappointing, to say the least.  Projects that we hurried to turn in are now back on the "To Do" list.  I hate that.  When I cross something off I want it to stay done....not show up for a redo.  I want it to be working or complete, not somewhere in between.  It's the grayness that's the most frustrating.

So enough whining!  Dennis is holding his own.  People ask me, with deep concern, about his condition and I honestly have to answer that "I don't know."  He seems terrible to me; he's tired, crabby, slow moving, swollen, short with the kids at home, lethargic, falls asleep when you're talking to him,  slow to understand, not monitoring his eating or glucose or bathing....but get him in public or have someone come over and he's the life of the party!  He's upbeat on the phone, loves talking to the medical personnel, he's started running the video camera at church and delivers the DVD's to older church members every other week.  So "how is he?" He's in the gray.  He's not healthy, he's not down and out, terribly sick....I don't know how he is.  Chewy likes him no matter what and his seems to be the only opinion Dennis consistently values.

Wedding  July 2nd 4:30pm  Reception to follow.  Plans are coming along.  Looking for insurance for the reception venue.  This is new since our last wedding, now the renter has to insure the facility??  Strange.  We're trying very hard to be fiscally responsible for this wedding.  Trying not to spend ridiculous amounts of money on silly things.  We're blessed to have family members and friends with resources in the hospitality arena.  We're making it as much of a DIY as possible.  Some of the choices I haven't been on board with, but I'm trying to abide by the motto:  "The mother-in-law should shut up and wear brown."  I have enough to do that I won't have time for opinion voicing.  That's a good thing.

Blogging is a good thing.  I can vent to no one in general and only those who chose to will ever read this.  I'm getting sleepy enough to go to bed and when I wake up I will be in the front seat of the lead car on the roller coaster.  No more waiting, no more gray...in the heat of the moment, in the frenzy of the process, in the "To Do" of the list.  It will be good.  Good night...

James Londt

Holly Taylor

February 2010 Entry

First entry of the year.  I totally missed January due to a very overly optimistic courseload for the spring semester.  Every course I'm in is interesting and needed, but each course could be an entire semester's worth of work all in it's own.  Two TCOM (telecommunication) projects, Statistics, Collaborative Learning, and Continuing Professional Education.  This will be a study in prayer and spiritual sustainability! Kristen and I are having fun with The House That Pat Built project.  We're reconnecting with cousins in the south.  It's all good.

Updates:   James and Holly Taylor are getting married on July 2nd at First Baptist in Muncie.  Mark your calendars.  Holly is in her first year of the nursing program at BSU.  She's being challenged and hopefully will be done in two years.  James is gainfully employed with the Eaton EMS.
Kristen is still employed at Macy's and BSU.  She's living at home, but actively looking for roommates for next year.  She'll be content and richer if she stays at home, but she needs to invest in her social life as well.  She's growing within herself, AND physically losing weight.  What a great time for her.
Kelly and the Gnaps: All the kids are growing like weeds.  Mackenzie is in the Angels on High Preschool and loves telling us the letter of the week.  Kendall is enthusiastic and is most often caught in a princess or fairy outfit.  Cole is still all smiles but has started to let a fiesty little temper sneak out.  He plays with trucks and can be caught in a princess outfit if his sisters get ahold of him!  Kelly and Aaron are both at Ball State.
Joe and Heidi:  Do much better at blogging and you can keep up with them at http://www.londt.com/
Jack and Nancy:  Are doing well and are chilling in the south this winter. 
Dorothy:  is adjusting as well as can be expected at the Chandler House.  She stills knows her children, but is foggy on grandchildren and very very foggy on great grandchildren.  So far, she's pretty pleasant, but has bouts of meanness and writes some pretty nasty notes that Jane retrieves and destroys. 
Grandpa Pyle:  his birthday was yesterday ...97 I believe.  He's hard to talk to because he's very hard hearing but he's holding his own.
Dennis:  is also holding his own.  He and Chewy walk alot.  more later 

More photos from the week of April 20th will be coming, as soon as I figure this out!

Spring Gathering

We had a great visit last week from the Texas Branch of the family. Heidi's work required her to travel to Muncie and Joe and the kids came along. It was great for all the cousin to get to play and swim together. We were even all at the same place at the same time for a hurried photo shoot. I'm getting much less fussy about the photography and am merely thankful to have the event documented. Not everyone has to be smiling...it's just nice that they are there! Jame's friend Holly was missing. Everyone got to meet her at a Fazoli's outing. We hit on family night complete with Clowns and balloon animals.

I had a previous committment to the American Quilt Show in Paducah Kentucky so I left the group in the middle of the week for 2 ½ days. They got along fine and Dennis got to play host. I kept my economic stimulus as low as I possibly could but with 50,000 yards of fabric being sold per day, it's hard not to join the ruckus. I only purchased 3 quilts-worth of fabrics and 6 patterns. Merely a drop in the bucket.

The weather was almost winter at the beginning of the week, but as verified above it was nice by the end. Dennis and I tried to do a motorcycle escort to the Indianapolis Airport on the Saturday that Joe/Heidi/kids flew out, but it was so windy that we had to turn back. They had no delays this time (see Heidi's blog at http://www.londt.com/) so they didn't need us to run interference in the terminal.

It's so tempting to try and pack all kinds of events in when everyone is together. It's a good year when it's 4 times that we gather, but we purposely tried this time not to over book. They didn't leave Muncie and except for me, neither did we.

I have one more week and then will graduate with a Masters in Adult, Higher and Community Education and Executive Development. It's hard to believe that this degree is already completed. My undergrad took so long. James is in the final push for the EMT certification and also a Certified Nurses Assistant.

Dennis has spent the later half of this week with his brother Ed in northern Indiana hot on the trail of the elusive Morel Sponge Mushroom. So far they've been "skunked" but we haven't heard much from either of them so we're thinking that no news is good news. Chewy seems to be suffering from his under the table human food feedings. He is one spoiled rotten dog.

Projects continue to be done here. Joe's Round-the-World-Really Quilt is completed and was presented to him last week. It needs to be photographed and then sent to Texas. A mountie hat for Joey was also assembled and looks pretty good. I have a neighbor who is coming over to learn to sew. That's been a good thing. She sews and I make a valant attempt to clean up my studio enough for two people.

I'm so thankful for the children I have who live close and for those who come back. It such a blessed time for me when we can all be in the same place!

Still completing projects

March was one jam-packed month. It didn't go swooping by, but it is already well into April. I didn't blog in March because I was lying about munching on bon-bons, but because I was hit with a pretty hard dose of March Spring Cleaning Madness!! Hurrah for that, some years it doesn't hit, but this year was a different story. A good friend of Kelly's has already had 3 garage sales, so that bumps up the clean-it-out meter at our house, getting ready for the neighborhood sale in late May early June.



Aaron spent his spring break helping me retrofit a bathroom on Royal Oak. I traded him childcare for construction labor and we got along well. The project only needs vinyl cove glued on and one more coat of grout sealant and it can be added to the "completed" list! Hurrah!



Also finished a bride's dress and after wedding dress, have started to hit the mend-this-will-yah pile. Made James an emergency scrub the late night before his first Certified Medical Assistant class and finally got some window treatments on two of the rooms at Royal Oak. That all feels very good. I drug my sewing machine, a bunch of fabric, patterns, etc to Walnut Creek Ohio for a 3 day workshop. During the day, I studied to earn a Trained Sewing Instructor certificate and by night I finally got started on a wardrobe update for myself. James recently commented that most of the things in my closet I've had since before he was born (it's painfully true), so let the update begin. I finished a nightgown (because I forgot to pack one), a couple of comfy knit shirts and a pattern and two pair of work trousers. That along with learning the operating system on a notebook pc and planning a sewing lesson with pre-assembled examples was all I got accomplished on the trip. (well with a good sized chunk of Amish cooking and quilt show browsing...thinking "I can make that"). It was good to be away and good to get the certificate and good to finally start on the personal wardrobe.



I also did something I truly hate....cold call selling. I worked on a business plan at the workshop and applied it to the M-U-M division of StudioPro31. I coined the phrase "Personal Historic Preservation" in the shower one morning and want to make that available with digital publishing, hard bound publishing, storytelling quilts and surprisingly ...with scrapbooking binder covers. This last option came about during the dreaded cold call when I was told that my prices were too low, the quality was too high and I wasn't ready for prime time or to franchise (I mean....sheesh....I just want to make a living ...not become rich or stressed to the max-- but that's an entire story all of it's own). Anyway, that may be on the horizon....the binder covers. Interesting...



I'm one month away from a Masters degree and so far on schedule to get the work done. Graduation is May 9th, so that may have contributed to the spring clean frenzy. We have a house guest at the present time that is making for an interesting dynamic. We'll give this another month before sharing more. All the kids and grandkids are well and not in a static situation. Dennis is coming out of the winter funk that held him glued to his recliner for these past months. He's starting to tell a few jokes and has actually joined in some on the general clean up/fix it up around the house. He's starting to look at want-ads but we're still not sure he'll ever work again. So many systems were strained by the dialysis and diabetes. We're just glad for the health he's gotten back...sign those donor cards! It's the ultimate "green" experience.



I am at the present, avoiding starting a book report and a 25 page paper. Avoidance tasks are some of my most productive times. I can get more done trying to avoid paying the bills or starting a really nagging project than at any other time. Some of the drawers and closets are currently at museum quality just from avoidance time spent in them. It's called "mouse milking" you work very, very hard and have very little to show for it. The funny thing is that it's still a very productive time and a good precursor to that awful task you are dreading...I've found that when on "mm" duty, I still can mentally process what I'm avoiding and may have actually thought of an easier or faster way to go at it while milking the little guys. Ah the life of a dairy farmer.



Until next time....look for the great little details in life. Some of the best times are just a few seconds spent appreciating something tiny. Kendall (2 year old) was going on and on in a jabbery way about daddielions. Finally she asked where the mommielions were? She was looking hard for the details.

The theme for the year is "Completion" and February was ripe with it. The tax documents were compiled in a weekend in which much "avoidance cleaning" was completed. This is the cleaning or whatever mundane, not necessarily important or earth shattering task you do to AVOID doing what really, really must be done, but you just can't bring yourself to doing. Also known as mouse milking. You work like crazy but have very little to show for it. My AC activities were confined to cleaning the garage, moving boxes and bags to the attic that have stacked and waiting since the last garage sale, sorting through boxes of old financial files and SHREDDING. There is something very therapeutic about shredding. Two garbage cans full of stuff that has been stored, retrieved, reviewed and found to be unworthy of further storage. It's the physical act of feeding the papers through the machine, the sound and feel of the blades and knowing that even if you desperately need this information at a later time, IT IS DONE. Somehow the formal closure is comforting not to mention the ability to see the garage floor and to walk through this room where ("Mom...did you know that some people actually put their cars into that big junk room that we have on the end of our house") much can happen and projects can be finished. (see theme for the year)

Things finished in February (in no particular order)
•Taxes
•Machine quilt taken from the frame (last worked on in December)
•M-U-M website launched. http://home.comcast.net/~m-u-m/site/ A whooping 42 hits! That's more than 1 per day.
•First Retail t-shirt quilt order secured.
•Started invoice system for the year
•Sewing client's 5/6 projects finished. (last one slated for tonight and tomorrow)
•Actually ahead on hours worked at my graduate assistantship (will be used during the crazy month of April)
•PJ's for Kenzer and Kendall
•Embroidery completed on Cole's quilt top
•One box of crap fabric used and thrown away from garage
•Started photographing patterns for entry in database
•Gray desk cleaned off and usable in Garage
•Art counter cleaned off and ready for project finishing
•Front porch/entry cleaned
•Christmas decorations sorted, labeled and put in attic (didn't get done at all last year)
•Current with or actually a little ahead on school assignments
•Registered for TSI (trained sewing instructor) course in March in Ohio
•Black fuzzy hat knitted
•Purple shirt reworked and ready to sell
•Closet rod nearly empty of pending sewing jobs
•Helped James clean and organize his room (at his initiation)
•Hung shelf above library computer station
•Started reorganization/sort of library shelves
•Put away all of the groceries from Dorothy's basement
•Started first garage sale of the year box
•Attended Joey's first birthday party virtually through Skype.
•Had Kenzer or Kendall spend the night every week but one!
•Survived the lean times one more month
•Spontaneously visited a friend
•Made major head way on the clean/sort of dining room
•Attended an opera, ballet, concert, Oscar Wilder play, a webinar and two quilters meetings
•Had a more positive month than January....

Until next month...I hope winter is actually about over and that this drive to complete things continues.