Playing

My daughter is working on her teaching degree and gets a student discount on computer programs through her university. She let me work in Adobe Photoshop6 yesterday and I had fun. Wait until I really get going. In the meantime you can see a photo of my granddaughter, Cassie, I tweaked a bit, as well as one of my sweet 15.5 year old kitty, Baby.

Burgers, grandkids and fun!

As you can see by the photos, my grandgirls have fun wherever they go.
They are naturally energetic, outgoing, and LOUD!
My daughter says her home is never quiet, but on days when the girls' friends are around the decibel level is even higher. She says it wouldn't be a big deal, except she is now taking college courses online and trying to think with the kids going full bore isn't even a remote possibility.

So, in order to induce food comas and a bit more peace and quiet we take them across the street where we live and visit one of our favorite hamburger "joints," Hwy. 101 Burger
The girls have a fascination with writing on the tires which are used as table bases and advertising, with paint markers. You will see many I "heart" Vance, the owner of Hwy. 101 Burger, and many instances of Cassie loves Shayla, Neena loves everyone, etc.
From the first time we took Cassie to Hwy. 101 Burger, she fell in love with the owner, Vance. Who can blame her, he really is a very sweet guy. She even had her last birthday party there. She and Vance are in the planning stages of their first holiday party, complete with a free gift exchange and food for all the kids in attendance.

Not only are there amazingly good, hand-formed burger patties, but the best fries in town! He hand cuts all the fries, and hand forms every single burger patty. Several days a week there are optional add-ins like bacon, jalapenos, and pastrami. Needless to say we pop in there for a bite quite often. The prices are reasonable, starting at $5 for a burger, fries and a drink.
If you ask Cassie where she wants to go out to eat, it is either a pancake day, or a burger day. On burger days, there is no choice in her mind, or ours.

Our lunches or dinners spent at Hwy. 101 Burger may be any assortment of our family members as well as various kid-friends of our sweet girls. When you want to go somewhere with reasonable prices and darned good food in Lincoln City, Oregon, you can't beat Hwy. 101 Burger! Tell Vance my friend Cassie told me to stop by!

My granddaughter is an internet star!

My granddaughter Athena and her cousin Kat went to Kumoricon 2012 in Vancouver, Washington last week. My daughter Tess and I made Athena's costume, and we thought they looked great. Little did we know that a lot of other people did, too. One fan even posted this photo of them on their photo-blog. I thought I would brag about her and share the photo with you. You totally rocked it Athena!

Pictures from Rita

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Eric the "Mad Scientist"

My oldest granddaughter, Athena, is really into Steampunk. Knowing this I looked high and low for something for her birthday this year. I found a fabulous pair of authentic vintage welders goggles in the original metal case for a relatively reasonable price. I intended to give them to her on her birthday, but of course "lost" them temporarily. Trust me on this one, that is super easy in my house. I have a "collecting" problem, not exactly hoarding, but very nearly. When I found them again, I called her to have her stop by so I could present them to her. She fell instantly in love with them, and toted them home. She left them sitting on the front of the hand-made hutch that used to be in my mom and dad's house, but now lives at my daughter's home. A week or so ago my son-in-law, Eric, walked past the hutch and noticed the little metal case and wondered what was inside. Upon opening it he put them on, just to try them out and see what they actually were. My daughter snapped this great photo of him, Eric the "Mad Scientist."

Cassie loves Howie

 May in our family is always busy and filled with fun since not only was my daughter, Tess, born May 5, but her daughters: Cassie, 8 years old, born on May 1; and Athena, 13 years old, born on May 31 are May babies, too. This May in addition to the usual birthday festivities my littlest granddaughter, Cassie, got to have her wish granted by Kids Wish Network. The wish process began a couple years ago with "Make A Wish," who rejected her since she doesn't have a firm expiration date. Kids Wish Network takes kids who are healthy, but dealing with tons of complications, surgeries, etc. and tries to make a real bright spot for them. After being notified she was getting her wish she received a giant box of gifts from them, all specially chosen for her, along with a couple of things for Athena as well. (Kids Wish Network not only does wishes, they also do toy giveaway events for hospitalized kids and other kids with chronic illness at a number of locations throughout the year. I can't begin to tell you what a wonderful job they do.)

We were all blown away with how amazing Kids Wish Network is. Cassie could have chosen to go to Disneyland, Disneyworld, or any number of different things, instead she wanted to meet Howie Mandel. She has been absolutely in love with him since he started judging on America's Got Talent. Tess had let Kids Wish Network know he was coming to Lincoln City to perform, so they could try to do it here. (Tess is afraid to have Cassie fly, since we never know what will make her sick)

So when the time for her wish came, she went to Portland along with Athena, Tess and their dad, Brian and headed to the Oregon Zoo where she got another wish granted. She was treated like a princess, greeted by their hostess for the day and taken straight to the "Penguin House" where she went behind the scenes to feed the penguins. She actually sat on the floor, hand fed them fish and got to pet one. Since they are revamping the penguin exhibit, the polar bears are right there, too, and Cassie got to choose their toy for the day and watch one of the biologists work with them as well. They spent the night in a fancy hotel in Portland and met their Kids Wish Network Jill and headed to IHOP for Cassie's favorite food: Pancakes.

Of course they went back for more pancakes the next morning then headed for Build-A-Bear where Cassie got to build a special bear to remember her wish by.

They headed back to Lincoln City and stayed at Seahorse Oceanfront Lodging. At 7 pm, a limo picked them up and took them to the Chinook Winds Casino to meet Howie. I sat in the lobby, since we were told only Cassie, Athena and Tess could go in (although Brian went too and no one questioned it). After a few minutes I heard a scream: HOWIE!!!!
Cassie calls him Howie and talks to him a lot when he is on TV and when she watches his YouTube videos. I knew he must really be there, since I was sitting in the lobby and they had passed through the showroom and were supposed to meet him backstage. I was amazed at how well Cassie's voice carried. He spent at least 20 minutes talking to them (with his make-up and prep people tapping their watches). He hugged Cassie multiple times, and told her "I love you" when she said she professed her love for him. Tess says he is one of the nicest people she has ever met.

He told Cassie what a cute girl she was. She replied, "I know" to which he responded, "and humble." He recorded his voice saying, "Cassandra this is Howie, I love you." The day after she met him the voice went into a special Howie-styled bear, complete with gold earrings and a Sharpie soul patch. Now she can talk to him and hear his voice whenever she feels the need.

After the meeting with Howie we went to the buffet for dinner. They rode back to Seahorse in a limo with a bucket of ice and bottle of sparkling cider. Cassie floated around on a cloud for weeks afterward.


She had given Howie a build-a-bear with the same clothing on she was wearing, and a little "shoulder buddy" (sort of like a troll doll which can sit on your shoulder). Howie wore the shoulder buddy he calls, Chip, on his shoulder when he made an appearance on "Ellen," a week or so later. He made sure to let Cassie know he mentioned his friend Cassandra had given it to him. So not only did she get her wish, but heard her name mentioned on TV. So the round of cloud floating started all over again.

Her photo with Howie was in The News Guard, News-Times and in the Oregonian. She was also featured in the casino's employee newsletter, so she gets recognition everywhere we go now. Tess helped Cassie set up a special Twitter account @CassieLuvsHowie where she tweets him quite often. She gets very excited when he tweets back to her. Since she now knows him personally it makes her memories of her special wish even better.

Off into the blog-o-sphere

Every blogger has that space in their heart where they dream of being read by people far and wide, few of them achieve it. One of my favorite bloggers is Dan, from "Single Dad Laughing." His topic this week was depression. He wrote it when he was in a low place, and many of us have also been in those places he described so accurately.  One of the things I love about his writing is his honesty, which many times happens to be funny. He is a brave man who brings up topics people would rather keep "swept under the rug" where they are safely hidden away from "polite company," as my mother was apt to say. I read his blog for insight and humor but also because he is genuine in his care, compassion and sensitivity.