Sandi Chats

I often struggle for inspiration.  I sometimes hear people say, "Think outside the box!" Honestly, I have no idea how to do that. My world is so totally ordered by the status quo that anything that requires me to reach out of my "box" is not even on my radar screen. However, I had a moment of inspiration a while back, although honestly I had heard of this idea a long time ago and it just came back to me at an opportune moment.  Turns out that so far it has proven to be an excellent idea. As you know, we belong to Cowboy Fast Draw which celebrates the "era of the Colt", or in other words the late 1800's.  A lot of people wear costumes for shooting or at least for the evening social events associated with the shoots. So far I just haven't gotten into it seeings as how I do well to keep myself clothed in my normal attire, let alone something I will only wear occasionally.   Example of "steam punk" couture In June we are helping to

New day...new week, new subject! Now that I have gotten just a little bit older (like older than dirt!) I find my interests are changing. One thing that changed for me about 10-15 years ago was my interest in my ancestors. It's called genealogy, and this was something I wasn't particularly interested in until about the age of 50. Until then it was just a bunch of old people I didn't know, nor did I really have any interest in knowing them...especially since they were long since deceased. I believe it was one day when some pictures and an aunt's genealogical search results ended up at a family dinner that I suddenly found that I kind of cared to find out all I could about our family history.  My grandparents have all been gone for a number of years now, and when they were alive I didn't ask about what they knew of our roots. So, it was a search mission to find out all I could about where we came from and how we arrived here. The aunt was my father's sis

Back on the road again!  This time to Rochester, Minnesota where we paid a visit to the Mayo Clinic .  It wasn't the fun kind of trip where we take pictures and enjoy the sites, but a trip of a different kind...medical tests. I won't bore you with the medical details of the visit, but suffice it to say that I am so very glad we came and have hopes of taking back my life and living it in a fuller manner. They are good that way! The Mayo Clinic (which is actually an assortment of various clinics) is located in the heart of Rochester, Minnesota.  Most of us have heard of it and know someone who has been treated there. I personally know of a lot of people who have been treated there also, almost all with positive reviews. It is an awesome place. It takes a referral from your primary care physician and some time to be accepted as a patient. We began this process in December with them telling me it would likely be summer before I would be able to visit their clinic. Then ou

I constantly find it amazing that I have reached the age that I am. Life has gone very fast, and it only seems like yesterday that I was a carefree child, not worrying about anything except what I was going to do for fun today.  Suddenly, I am at an age where "old age" things are beginning to enter the picture.  How did I get here so fast? When I look back over my life...so far because I am still not so terribly old...I see that there have been many phases of life where certain circumstances dominated my life.  When I was a kid it was all about growing up.  Those first 18-19 years of my life still seem like a major portion of my life even though they are only about a quarter of the years I've lived.  But they were the formative years where I grew from an infant into an adult, so they were important and momentous. Then I became a young wife and mother, taking on a new family and greater responsibilities.  And there were sub-eras within those years like the kids' pr

March 8th, today, is International Women's Day!  Yay! Let's celebrate women! Just a quick reading of the origins of International Women's Day is somewhat enlightening. This holiday, which I never heard of until this year, is actually more of a social platform to promote women's rights world-wide. I know this could easily degenerate into a political row about down-trodden women but I would like to use it as a spring board to honor some of the most amazing women I know. First and foremost is my own mother, because without her I wouldn't be. Like most mothers of her generation, she was a stay-at-home mother whose primary job was to provide for the creature comforts of her family. And she made it look so easy...I was astounded to find out how hard it was to keep up with all the duties of the household plus the husband and kids when I got married and took on those same responsibilities. When I was putting together our family's history book and was interviewing

While I am always proud of our little community and the things we can accomplish and the lifestyle we maintain, there are just moments when proud (not the arrogant, sinful kind of proud, but the kind that denotes great respect) is taken to a new level. This happened today when our girl's basketball team won the first round of the State Class D-1 playoffs. Hard work and much effort went into their win, and we applaud them for their teamwork and sportsmanship.  You make us proud, Lady Knights! Since my kids graduated from high school, the last one moving on about 12 years ago, we have had a distant interest in school.  Our lives kind of moved on to couples' interests, and while we keep track of what is happening at our local school, we don't get over there much. But when things like this bring attention to the school, I always have to think back through the years and realize how much things have changed.  I actually wrote a piece for the local paper about this maybe 15 ye