I’m A Clubwoman

My son, Ryan, is returning to the USA today and moving home to Spokane next week. He has been teaching English and American culture to preschoolers and Kindergartners in Japan and Korea since June 2005. Yesterday I went to the hardware store to get an extra house key made for him. While I was there I saw these colored key rings.

2008 was a crazy year for me.  Besides God’s grace, the love of my family and friends, what saved my sanity was crafting.  It helps me get rid of the stress and helps me to use the other side of my brain after a long day at work.
I used to have not a creative bone [...]

Well, it seems it was a lifetime ago since we wrote our first blog assignment. I have been busy with LIFE.

Today I have watched one of my children throw up and the other one cough all night. I taught 5th graders how to create research outlines and how not to kick each other under the desks. I made supper and organized my thoughts for our club’s board meeting tomorrow night. I paid bills and balanced checkbooks. I chose outfits for tomorrow and read storybooks to sleepy boys. Somewhere in there I found my husband, gave him a kiss and thanked him for helping me through my day. As I sit blogging to you, ignoring the perpetual To-dos, I am reminded to focus on what good I have accomplished today and hope that I will forgive myself for not accomplishing all that needs to be done. Like…my dogs are really hungry, having not yet been fed. Poor things, they were once the center of my universe.

Whoever thinks that winter is a time to slow down and hibernate should come to Westminster, Maryland! The past few weeks have blown by almost as powerful as the 40 mph winds outside my window!

I have a confession to make. I suffer from a problem that I am sure many women on this website can identify with. It is one of anxiety. Four years ago I left my husband of five years. There were many problems with the marriage, but the main reason was that our then 2 ½ year old son was diagnosed with autism. This news was like a glass shattering. It was devastating as parents and my ex-husband took the news a lot harder than I did. To him he had lost his son, and this was something he could not and to this day still has not recovered from.

I am so excited that all of the reporting is done for our club.  January is slammed with trying to get projects, hours and dollars donated.  Every year, my club says we will report continuosly and we set out with the best of intentions.  I have carried my flash drive with all of the reports [...]

The meeting of my club last week was like looking out at a Sea of Red. Every February, many of us wear red to our meeting, not because of Valentine’s Day, but to note Women’s Heart Health Month. We have a large club, and there was a LOT of red to look at!

Yesterday, Valentines Day, was our monthly club meeting and as always ‘twas a bit miserable. I think most club members realize that I have a genetic disability [I use a cane] but few know how much I would rather be standing up and moving. Sitting is bad; I must move to stay comfortable.

Last Saturday, I put on my best valentines apron, picked up a coffee pitcher, and took my place with other women in our community at the Lion’s Club Annual Pancake and Sausage breakfast. On the scale of community events – this one ranks right up at the top for our little town of Bismarck.

Hi Everyone! I am so excited to report on my recent (and by recent, I mean last week) trip to Washington DC! I traveled with a group of clubwomen from GFWC of North Carolina to visit GFWC’s headquarters and see the sights. It was my first time visiting our headquarters and what an experience that was! However, this post is about my passion in life.

When I got out of bed this morning and looked in the mirror I was awake enough to realize that I’ve put on a few pounds or rearranged them and I don’t like the arrangement!

Wow, it seems like 2009 has just begun and we are already well into the second month. This fast pace lifestyle that has been ushered in only means ones thing in my house: Can’t Have Anyone Over Syndrome or Chaos. I want to take a moment to examine a certain injustice that is taking place in households across the country. It involves one much hated word…housework.

As soon as our brown, Aerostar minivan pulled to a stop in the parking lot, seat-belts flew off and four kids bolted out of the van and across the playground. It was a race to see which one of us could get to the top of the Rocket Slide first. Then, only the bravest ones flew down the Big, Red Slide!

My family moved to Spokane, WA in November 2003. We bought a 100 year old fixer-upper house in Historic Cannon’s Addition, in June, 2004, to use as our home and office. GFWC Woman’s Club of Spokane’s beautiful historic clubhouse is just around the corner and a bit from my home.