Friday Fragments - August 5, 2011

I took some time off work and somehow that translated into a vacation away from the Blogosphere.  Did you miss me???  On the upside I have all sorts of stuff to share!

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Last Thursday was my birthday.  I decided to share the day with my mom and daughter, all three of us  Majority Members of Job's Daughters International.  It happened that Job's Daughters was holding their Supreme Session, their annual international conference, in downtown St. Louis.  So my plan was to take off work and sit in on the Supreme Bethel meeting at 7:30 am and then come back that night for the Miss International Job's Daughter pageant.

IT WAS FABULOUS!

Okay, it was boring and we each knocked out several sheets of a sudoku puzzle book I brought along.  My mom said afterward she was glad she got to attend.  Some people travel to these meetings every year, but for most of us it's a once in a lifetime opportunity.  Actually this is my second session as I went to one in Indianapolis in 1983.  The three of us stood with a room full of both active and majority members, renewing the obligation we took at initiation.  The words came easily and it was meaningful.

Every Job's Daughter meeting concludes with a closing formation, frequently a cross although other options are available, and singing Nearer My God To Thee.



We had lunch at Crown Candy - this time I got a picture of the bigass BLT they make.

Isn't that HUGE?  My mom scraped about half of the bacon off and took it home for breakfast and lunch the next day.

Here are the three of us getting ready to watch the pageant.

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Monday was spent tooling around the house and playing with quilts.  I need about 30 more days like that.  I might get my recipe cards sorted out, the bathroom scrubbed, the basement rearranged and several Christmas gifts made.  Oh well, one day was enough to get me back on track and itching to sit at my sewing machine.

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Tuesday we gathered at my son's sandwich shop (did you know my son is a business owner??? Quite proud).  My college roommate was in town and met up with us.  She and I need a lot more time together but squeezing out a little time for lunch was wonderful.  Her mom is very sick and not doing well (end stages of Parkenson's) so Vicki is spending most of her time at the care center.  Please keep Vicki and Virginia in your prayers.

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GRANDBABY IS DUE!!!!  At some point in the next 72 hours I will be a grandmother.  Induction has been scheduled for Monday, but bets are on anytime this weekend.  If I was smart I would compile my Sunday post now because I'm pretty sure I'm going to be busy.  YIPPEEEE!!!!

And yes, I will be posting all sorts of bragging grandma pictures.

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Make sure you check out everyone sharing their fragments!

December 15, 1982

Today is a happy anniversary for me.  Way back in 1982 my little sixteen year old self was installed as Honored Queen of my Job's Daughter bethel.  I know I may be speaking Chinese to most of you - Honored Queen is like a club president and a bethel is like a Girl Scout troop.  Job's Daughters is a masonic youth organization, a group very near and dear to my heart.

Installations are big deals.  The girl who goes in as Honored Queen gets to pick the theme and colors and motto for the next six month.  Some bethels go hog wild others are subdued.  Likewise some families pour some serious amounts of money into their daughter's installation.  I had a pretty cake and homemade decorations.  My aunts and uncles and grandparents came in from out of state to share in my special night. 

My brothers were not quite so enthused to be part of the celebration.  They presentations with my mother to give me either my piggy bank or gavel and sounding block - don't remember which.

Celebrating Crowns And Tiaras

I've been holding this one back, not sure if I wanted to put it out there, but following yesterday's post about how much I love Job's Daughters it's time for the truth to come out.  I REALLY love JD because of the crowns.

Me as Honored Queen

My daughter

My mom (in the middle) with her cousins

This one cracks me up.  The HQ needed to put in eye drops so her friend stepped up as any good Senior Princess would do and held her crown

Being the dork that I am, I stopped all of these girls before entering the room to be introduced with non-crowned dignitaries.  They smiled sweetly as they indulged my request (sorry I blocked out their faces, but this post is about the crowns anyway not the sweet smiles)

Unfortunately the adults don't get to rock a crown - boo.  If want a kickass crown these days I'm going to have to join Amaranth (I once saw a woman with a crown that rivaled Glennda The Good Witch)

So in the meantime, here's another crown reminding you TWO WEEKS until the Birthday Party Bloghop (are you gathering all of your great birthday celebration pictures?)

Celebrating Jobies

If you know about Job's Daughters and especially if you were one, please let me know.  This is an organization near and dear to my heart.  Best of all, it is a multi-generational thing in our family.

My mom

Me

And my daughter

I love the ideals of this organization, the ceremonies, the camaraderie, the sisterhood.  I've made many many friends through the years.  Most exciting of all, my daughter loves it just as much as I do.  It's been a genuine bonding experience for the two of us.

I truly love this organization and wish it will grow and thrive so that many other girls have the same opportunity for many years to come.  I especially hope it will be around so my granddaughters and great-granddaughters can experience it!

Edit:  Oddly enough Wikipedia has very thorough information about Job's Daughters - Click Here

Friday Fragments - Dec 11

The Car
Last Saturday, as you may recall, I managed to mangle the under pieces of my car with a tire sitting in the middle of the highway. On Tuesday the dealership informed us it was about $2500 worth of damage. CRAP!!!!! Due to some freak of nature I failed to get the call from the insurance company on Monday so I didn't talk to them until Wednesday to get the appraiser rolling. So I won't have my car until next week some time. CRAP!!!!

The Tree
The kids all converged on my house on Saturday and got my Christmas tree assembled and mostly decorated. By the end of the night there were still three boxes of stuff waiting to be unpacked. Two days later Ian set up the fireplace with knick-knacks and lights which help tremendously in getting me in the Christmas mood. My tree, however, is missing several ornaments that are sitting in the bottom of their rubbermaid tub. I will need to get those on the tree sometime soon. And all of the empty boxes need to be moved back into the basement. The tree decorating always leaves a lot of work for me afterwards. I guess since I'm without a car this weekend I don't have much of an excuse not to get this wrapped up.

A Day Off
Due to lack of transportation I took last Monday off from work. It was nice to lounge around and do nothing. It's one of my most favorite things in the world EVER. I got more ornaments onto the tree, but with Ian underfoot I got aggravated and put it off for a time when he's not around. I got caught up on some movies on DVR and a nap! Unfortunately a day off work means getting slammed on my return. There are only two people in my department and whenever one of us takes off work it seems that everything falls to shit. On Monday he was tormented with a constant stream of computer breakdowns and on Tuesday when he was off, I got hit with server issues.

Grandma
Grandma fell and broke her arm over Thanksgiving. She's healing well. She moved into her new residence back in September and never really liked it. Finally this week the staff is figuring out how to handle this cantankerous woman with dementia (ironic, no? that one of my online monikers is Queen Dementia. Not really, I've known this hideous disease lurks in my family). The staff has found ways to coerce Grandma into compliance while letting her think she's in control - and isn't that the basis of effective control?

Mom
Yesterday I got a call as I walked into work from my mom. She informed me that she had fallen on the ice the day before. LOVELY. She didn't break anything, just sore and laid up on Advil. Well, I hope she's okay and doesn't need me to run and get anything because I'm without a car. She assures me she's okay, just that I should know she's been injured.

Tonight
The daughter of a college friend is going in as Honored Queen of her Job's Daughters bethel. I've been asked to be one of the installing officers, for which I am quite honored to do. It's been a while since I've been an installing officer, probably since my daughter was installed Senior Princess several years ago. I get to be the schmuck holding the flag. Fortunately I don't have to do any memorized work because I'm pretty sure the way things are going this week I would screw it up. I'm excited and it sounds like a fun evening. Congrats Patsy, you'll be a great queen this year!