My Life In Kansas

Today I attended the Christian Church Coterie, "China Luncheon." I created a video to help you experience my day. Enjoy! My date? Meagan, my 8 year old neighbor. Her mom catered the luncheon.
Enjoy!

Spring Glorious Spring

Spring has finally "sprung in Kansas.  I cannot tell you how glad I am.  My goodness, this seemed like the longest winter in history. 

Recently I was asked to begin posting more "real life stories" of our Kansas escapade.  I intend to give you a few tidbits in this blogging session but FIRST I have to run to the post office.   (ok I am back.....)

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The Post Office:

Anyone who knows me knows that the post office and I have never been great friends.  In Oregon I was known to have panic attacks in post offices when the line was moving  incredibly slow!  In Kansas the post office is super relaxing... that is if you can get in.

The hours of the post office in Washington are limited.  If you plan to visit the post office you better do it M-F from 8:30-12:30 (then they close for lunch/dinner) or from 1:30-4:00.  Sat from 9-10. 

I guess I should be thankful.  A few of the small towns in the area have post offices which are only open 1 day a week! (yes,you read that right.)

The great thing about the post office here is they know your name, your needs, your preferences and THEY THANK YOU FOR YOUR BUSINESS! 

In Bend, when I would bring in two boxes of items to ship I was lucky to get a scowl.  Here they cheerfully take the boxes and call me when they are processed.  I like it!

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The Digital Library:

Sure.  I am a digital geek.  If there was a digital geek scale I would be a 5 or 6.  I am too old to be a 10 in this arena.  Still, I love a good podcast or audio book MP3.

The Bible on MP3? You got it.

The Newspaper on MP3? You got it.

Brian says I remind him of a kid because I always have earbuds in my ears.  He has to wave his hand in front of me and say "hello! are you in there?"

With that said, you can imagine my joy when I realized that Kansas has a digital state library on the OverDrive Media program.  I immediately signed up and went to Washington County Library to get my "official digital media card."  And to my surprise....I had to show ID!

I thought that was pretty funny in a land notorious for underage drinking. 

"Beer?" Who cares what your age is.

"Library Card?"  I will have to see some ID.

This week I have listened to three new books plus I am a member of a Retro Radio site where I download old radio series from the 40s. 

Learn about it at http://kansas.lib.overdrive.com 

Whatever area you are in your state probably offers a similar program.

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Brian's Bike is Back

 

Spring arrived this week and with it came the return of Brian's motorcycle.  Eager to shake the dust out of the engine, Brian has gone of several area rides.

The biggest challenge he has in Kansas is the wind.  Spring and wind seem to go hand in hand.  Finding a day that pairs great weather with low wind can be challenging.  You have to stay loose and available.  The moment might spring on you at any second and then you have to hurry and "jump" on your bike.

I am glad he enjoys it.

I like to drive my convertible but to be honest I have the same problems when it comes to putting the top down. 

 The wind is too strong or the sun is too hot or most importantly, I forgot a hat and it will fade my hair color! (smile.)

 

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Fresh Air

 

Our three cats, Misterm Tea' and Keeper, were thrilled to see spring.  For an indoor cat your world is filled with the same old, same old.  But when spring arrives, birds chirp, butterfly's float and the window's of life are open.

The last three days we have seen each of our cats dutifully laying in the window seal sniffing the fresh air as it pours through the front windows.  They seem very content.  Their little noses wiggle with delight.

The fresh air has the added benefit of blowing their hairballs up, up, up into the air for all to see.  Lucky me.  I find myself chasing the hairballs that have gone airborn like a cat would chase a butterfly.

Ah well, I didn't have anything better to do right?

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YEAST FREE

Last but not least, I started my yeast free diet regimine this week.  Occasionally I have to go through this process to detox my body.  I have issues that develop due to my hormone suppliments. This requires me to spend 3-6 weeks "removing" unwanted foods from my system.

I am currently on day 4 and doing pretty well.  I am aiming at three weeks and will re-evaluate at that point.  Feel sorry for me?  Eat a piece of fudge cake and think of me.  It will make us both feel better :)

 

Here's what I mainly eat:

Proteins

Gluten Free Items without Sugar

Most Vegetables, Berries and Apples

 

Here's what I can't eat:

Bread

Dairy

Sugar

Yeast

Any processed food

Anything good, yummy, exciting or filled with taste<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<< you can fill in the blank!

 

Believe it or not over 80% of all American's suffer from Candida (yeast).  Read all about it here:

http://www.TheCandidaDiet.com

 

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That's it for now!  More soon,

Dawnya

Who do you think you are?

 

On Saturday it snowed.  AGAIN.  This was incredibly discouragaging and a bit boring.  The blizzard like conditions made going out impossible and by the afternoon Brian and I were bored to tears.  

On night before the blizzard we had watched our new favorite show "Who do you think you are?" on NBC.  The reality program traces the ancestry of various celebrities.  We really like it.

And so, as the snow continued to blow we decided to fire up our computers, enroll in Ancestry.com and hunt for Brian's long lost relatives.  What an amazing and interesting journey.  6 hours later we were completely engrossed and when I woke up this morning Brian was back on the site digging for more answers.

Currently we are tracing his father's side of the family. We now know that his grandfather came to the U.S. along with his great-grandfather in 1903 from an area south of the Ukraine, now called Moldovia.  His great grandfather came to the U.S. with 11 children and his second wife Maria.

If you need some inspiration to research your own family line, here is an emotional clip from last week's program:

 

 

If you haven't seen the TV show you can watch past episodes online at

 http://www.nbc.com/who-do-you-think-you-are/video/episodes/#vid=1210633/?__source=recent-eps-module
 

or find out more about the show at http://www.nbc.com/who-do-you-think-you-are/

Good news!  The snow has melted and spring like weather is headed this way all week.  YEAH.

Smiling Faces

One of the fun things about living in rural Kansas is the warm greetings you receive on the street. Every day people wave at you, call out your name and ask you how you are.

Normally as I walk to the office building I am waved at by at least 3 cars and 5 people on the street. Smiling faces are a lost luxury in many areas. I appreciate the ones that are here.