Wendy Carlyle

One of my brother’s is having a birthday today. It is not one of the Big – 0 birthdays, but he is getting really close to the Big 3-0. Ha!

I remember when he was born. My mom and dad called my grandmother, who came over in the middle of the night to stay with us kids. She got there really quick and as soon as she walked in the door, my parents dashed for the car and left. Grammy sent us all back to bed and she fell asleep on the couch. In the morning, she woke us all up and fixed breakfast.

While we were eating our breakfast, the phone in the kitchen rang. It was my dad, calling to tell us that my brother was born. Grammy let each of us kids talk to my dad on the phone so he could tell us himself. I was really young but I clearly remember hearing my dad tell me on the phone that I had a new baby brother. He was so excited and so were we!

On my way to the grocery store I have to pass a farm supply store. Today I noticed that they have a rain chain and rain barrel on each of the front corners of their store. How cool is that! I think it is a great idea for a farm supply store to demonstrate that they are green and serious about environmental issues. I love the way they are not just in it for the money, but they are being good neighbors.

I only learned about rain chains last year and since then I have noticed them in several places. I guess once you have raised your awareness you notice things that you have never paid attention to before. I heard about using rain barrels to conserve water and then suddenly I see them discretely placed at the corners of several buildings, but homes in my neighborhood and some small businesses.

If you search for chains rain photos you can see great examples of traditional  styles and new, modern styles. Some of them blend in with other home and yard decor, such as matching the style of fences and arbors that you might be using. My personal favorites are the brass finish chains – they are classic in the garden and add an elegant touch to any porch, deck or patio.

Today is a holiday from work and also a holiday from the kids. They won’t be back home until tonight around 7:00 pm. So I have the whole day to myself. Wish I could spend the day relaxing and pampering myself, but that’s not happening. I have to make full use of the last day with no kids to get this house cleaned up.

Their dad called me a little while ago and told me they are having a blast in Chattanooga. I knew they would love the Aquarium and the Children’s Discovery Museum. We’ve gone before but each year as they get older and become more aware of nature and their surroundings, they appreciate new discoveries.

I told him to make sure they are home by 7:00 so they can get a good bath and go to bed early because they have school tomorrow. In the meantime, I have some deep cleaning to do – starting with the kids bedrooms!

The kids are finally having their Christmas with their Dad this weekend. Its a three day weekend for the kids – no school on Monday because of Martin Luther King Jr. Day.

So their dad is flying in today and borrowing my car to take them both to Chattanooga. I’m going to pick him up at the airport at 11:00, and then he can drop me off at home.

The kids are really looking forward to spending the time with their dad. His wife and kids didn’t come along – it was too expensive to fly in the whole family for just 3 days here. Plus is is a long way from Vancouver – you spend half the time on the airplane. But in a way, I’m glad that my kids will have their dad all to themselves for a change.

My brother surprised me with a phone call this afternoon and we ended up talking for over an hour. It was great to hear from him and I miss our long talks sitting out on the porch at our summer cabin as teenagers. It seems like a lifetime ago since we had those long starry nights and nothing to worry about except for who was dating who and who like who.

One of the things that came up today was his job hunt and having to spiff his resume. We were talking about some of our first jobs as kids in high school. My parents wanted us to work and earn our own spending money once we reached 16 and could drive. I asked him if he worked at any job that required him to use employee lockers or wear a uniform? He had refused to work for fast food and I think he ended up working retail for two years. I couldn’t remember, as he is older than me and I was pretty wrapped up in my own teen angst. He had his own older friends and they didn’t want to hang around with a dork like me. I just know that he wasn’t around much during the school year and the only time we had to spend together and really talk was our summers at the cabin.

I remember him telling me about pranks that he and his friends would pull on other kids, like putting smelly things in other people’s school lockers, or rookying the freshmen at the entrance to the tunnel under the highway by the school. To rooky kids, you would steal your mother’s lipstick and take it to school, then you and your friends would grab a kid coming out of the tunnel, wrestle them to the ground, and then smear the lipstick all over their face. It was a relatively harmless hazing and everyone got rookied and everyone did it the next year to the new kids.

The whole reason he called me in the first place was so he could ask me if I had any connection in the construction business to help him with a remodeling bid he is putting together. He needs to find lockers for sale for the office building that is finishing out the basement of the building and adding a small private gym for the executives. They are putting in some exercise equipment and a couple of showers, with lockers for the men’s clothes so they can leave a gym bag right there at the office. I told him I could help get him some information on specifications and probably find some good prices on the lockers for him.