All of the First Days

1995 - Ryan's first day of Kindergarten :-)

1996

1997 - Evan's first day of Kindergarten - Flowers for the teachers

1998

1999 - Claire's in Kindergarten, Evan 2nd, Ryan 4th,
Eric 6th (middle school)

2000

2001

2002 - Eric to high school

Ryan's in 7th, Evan 5th, Claire 3rd

2003 - Where's Eric? I don't know, maybe sleeping - school starts on a different day for him.

2004

The High School Boys - Ryan's in 9th, Eric 11th

2005 - Eric's senior year and looks like he's working on summer homework :-)

2006 - Another "stands alone" shot - Claire's a 7th grader which means Evan started high school thus the boys were probably all sleeping - school started a different day.

2007 - no picture - either that or it is trapped in a disposable camera ;-p

2008

2009

2010

First Day of School Aug '11

Today, my niece Lili posted about Sept. It made me think I have a picture to share. Granted, it's not quite September because school starts at the end of August around here but close enough.

Claire's first day of her Senior Year of High School.

Elder Laugenour is Home!

Garry came home yesterday - San Jose Airport - 3pm.

Was so exciting. He looks great. But you don't have to take my word for it.
















Welcome Home Garry!!

Frosty Start

Very Interesting

My niece Becky blogged about the movie Goonies today. At the end of the post she commented that she thinks they'd love to live in Astoria. Wait - I thought Goonies was filmed in Cambria? Why do I think that? I did a search - Astoria Oregon, Cambria CA. They did film in Bodega Bay but that is not near Cambria. I guess they both end in "ia" and that must be my confusion. ;-p

This is the interesting yet kind of disturbing thing. I have gotten three calls to my *cell* phone today with the area code from Astoria. Same number each time. Please - who do we know in Oregon, besides Andy? His area code is 408. And the fact whoever doesn't leave a message leads me to believe it is some telemarketer.

Do you think there is anyway that my search for Astoria could have led to this? How would they get my cell number? I really don't think it is linked to anything. But then again, I returned a shirt to Macy's the other day and the lady scanned a sticker that told her my credit card number. (I know, not the same thing but still...)

Is it just a coincidence?

Paper or Paper?

I ventured out into the world of the plastic-less shopping bags. The question isn't really paper or paper? It's "Did you bring your own bags...?" All depends on what kind of bags you're talking about ;-)

I've actually been out a couple times. The Safeway freebee bag has come in handy. I took it into Target last week - and though I didn't buy much, I was glad to have it.

A friend gave me a Trader Joe's bag - that story is for a different post - the Trader Joe's bag has been used.

So - what prompts me to write about this again?

I went on a planned shopping trip.
A trip I prepared for.

I was headed to Macy's to return something. I still had the paper bag from when I purchased the item. I was so proud of myself for remembering to bring it but on the other hand, regardless of no plastic, I would have brought it anyway because I do that when I return things. But, it would come in useful because I had some Christmas money and a store credit to use (Claire had recently returned some things and she did not have the receipts so they gave her store credit. I wasn't happy about that, I'd given her the receipts...)

OK, so off to do my planned shopping. As I turned to put the key in the front door to lock up, I accidentally dropped the keys in the Macy's bag and when I reached into get them I tore the bag!! My precious Macy's bag - that costs 25 cents, I learned that day, not 10 cents - the bag that was going to serve me well - its structural integrity was suddenly in jeopardy. Darn it!


I continued on my way. I had even made a list of things to do. I needed to go to JDM shipping and the post office - mailing dolls (another post topic). I knew I could do the mailing at the mall, which is where Macy's is. Nice. But I needed bubble mailing envelopes and I knew I might find those at the Dollar Store. And I also wanted to go to Bed Bath and Beyond - continuing my search for a new soap dispenser (another post yet again) as well as some other things. Dollar Store and Bed Bath and Beyond are near each other on the same side of the street. I was so proud of myself being all organized about this trip.

No luck for bubble envelopes the right size at the Dollar Store. That's OK. I decided to go to Office Depot, across the street from the mall. But first, to Bed Bath and Beyond. I had my list in hand.

Guess what needed to be put on the list - anyone, anyone??

My Trader Joe's bag!

I knew I was going to go to BB&B but never once did I think about needing to take a bag in there. What is wrong with me? But they do have carts. I loaded up. I got what I'd gone for. At check out the gal asked me if I had my own bag. I was feeling disappointed in myself for having to say "No". I pushed my cart full of "loose" stuff to the car. At the trunk, I opened the Trader Joe's bag and promptly put my wares into the bag.

Onto Office Depot. I found the bubble envelopes. Looking for a good deal, I bought more than I knew I'd need for the day but I was looking ahead to the near future. I also bought some packing tape since the stuff I'd brought from home was running very low. I packaged up the doll I was sending off. And as I used the packing tape I thought "Hey, I could tape my torn bag." And I did.


OK folks. How desperate is it to fix/salvage a paper bag? Claire laughed when she heard the story. She joked what was the world coming to that her mother would tape up a paper shopping bag. But at least I knew it would get me through the afternoon. It got my stuff to the post office, still carrying the return item as well. Got me through wandering around Macy's looking for something fun to buy but I never did find anything. I returned the item. Overhearing the transaction going on before me, I learned the Macy's bags are 25 cents. I walked away from the counter, carefully folding the bag, and headed back to the car.

Side note - the item I returned - I had the receipt for it and the store credit card already for this shopping trip. But when I got to the check out to make my return I couldn't readily find the receipt. In the mean time, the gal scanned some sticker on the back of the tag which gave her the price I'd paid for it and info about the credit card used to make the purchase. Before I even knew I didn't have the receipt she was ready to credit the money back to the card. How did she do that? And why didn't the person who took the merchandise back that Claire returned, why didn't they do the same thing? Why did Claire end up with store credit? I was very happy to see that it worked for me. It would have been worse to end up with a store credit option which I know I wouldn't have taken. I would have gone back. But really - does anyone know why Claire with no receipt got store credit and I with no receipt got fully refunded??

I was feeling very silly with myself again for having planned so well the shopping trip only to realize I'd forgotten something very important. Once home I found the receipt AND the store credit card right where they'd been for nearly a week - sitting on the desk in front of the computer where they reminded me everyday "you need to take stuff back".

Sunday Music

Is there anything you need from the store?

If you're in San Jose and you answered "yes", you need to provide your own bags.

Starting Jan. 1 San Jose began a ban on plastic shopping bags. All stores. There are a few exceptions - restaurants can still use handleless bags and you can still put your fresh produce and meats in handleless bags as well. At check out, if you want a paper bag you may choose to pay 10 cents a bag.

Los Gatos city council did not institute the same ban. Since we do most of our grocery shopping at the Safeway on Union and Los Gatos Almaden, we don't have to remember to take bags in with us. None of us have tried out the mall yet, nor Target or any other store for that matter to see how things are fairing. I'm yet to learn if the Macy's bags we used to get for "free" will now show up on our receipt with a 10 cent charge. Will they ask us if we want a bag or not? The stores must charge 10 cents for paper bags.

So, yesterday, I stopped into the Safeway on Almaden Exp and Camden, (San Jose). Just a quick trip. I forgot about the new ban. I figured no big deal, I don't have a lot to buy. As I wandered the aisles, back and forth looking for the few things I needed, I saw Cuties. I always take them out of their little boxes. I decided to keep the box this time, I'd use it at check out to carry some of my stuff. Just like Costco right? Just on a much smaller scale. :-) At check out the gal informed me I'd get a free bag since I spent enough money. So, easy enough - used my free bag and my Cutie box.

Wasn't so bad.
But really...how am I ever going to remember to bring bags in with me all the time?
How many do I bring in? When I shop at Target, do you think I'll curb my spending based on how much room I have in my bags? (I know the answer to that one, "no" - I'll just dump everything into the cart.)
Who uses reusable bags?
What do you do to remember to bring them with you?
I'm a very spontaneous shopper. Is there any hope for me to ever leave a store with my stuff in reusable bags? Or am I destined to load and unload loose merchandise from now on?

Early B-day for Greg

Greg's birthday is Jan 3. We celebrated on the 2nd with the boys here. Was fun. We went to early dinner and then came home to Apple Crisp and presents.

Greg received a button keyboard for his iPhone. It snaps on like a cover. Unfortunately, it made the phone too bulky so that gift went back. You can see who was really excited about the gift.



Greg also received a cover for his new iPad. I don't remember when he purchased his new iPad - but it was a couple months ago. He turned over his other iPad to one of his work associates. He had wanted a cover but the Apple store didn't have them yet. So - perfect bday gift. Eric started playing with the cardboard cut out from the cover packaging - everyone said he should carry it around like he thought it was real.

The new cover turns the iPad off when the cover is on. Here's Eric making some fun out of the packaging.

Ryan made a special b-day video. iPad is pretty cool.

Greg viewing his special birthday song video.


Happy Birthday Greg!

Happy New Year!

Our New Year's Eve was very quiet. Eric was in Sacramento with friends at a King's game and then stayed with a mission friend. Ryan was with friends in Lathrope. Claire was at a dance. Evan was home with Greg and me - all of us on our respective electronic devices doing whatever. Around 11:00ish I went to the couch, turned the TV on and promptly fell asleep - but just for a bit. I woke up at 11:45 and found local celebrations to watch. At midnight we watched fireworks in San Francisco. At 12:15 Greg left to pick up Claire and friends from the dance. About the same time Evan and I decided to call it a night. Walking through the kitchen we noticed the fizzy drinks we'd forgotten we had.
So, here's to our fizzy drinks.






Happy New Year!
How was your New Year's celebration?

"Smile"

I wish I had some childhood holiday pictures to share and compare - but Christmases of my youth are preserved on movie reels and slides.

My father was an AV guy. That's got to be the explanation. He loved to document all family trips and gatherings using his reflex camera, (was it a Canon? something like this anyway) and a small movie camera - something like this. And he judged the light by using something like this. I don't quite remember what the meter looked like but I remember it was in a leather case. Everything had a strap. He was covered in straps. He wasn't in many of the pictures, I don't think. How could he be when he and my mom were the only ones who knew how to use the cameras? For the most part, us kids were not allowed to touch the well cared for equipment.

Watching ourselves was a favorite family night activity. Dad would get out the movie projector - looked very much like this. And we'd watch them on a screen. Yes - we had our own screen -looked like this. The slide projector - we went from rows to circle trays. There are 100s of slides. Every holiday, every vacation beautifully documented with smiling faces. My father would say, "If you don't have someone in the picture than you might as well just buy a postcard" - something like that anyway. We always finished up watching home movies by watching a Mighty Mouse cartoon and a movie short of "The Little Rascals" taking medicine.

We were not allowed to operate the equipment. That was for the AV guy. I think, that when he turned 12, Ed had the chance to run the projectors. It wasn't too long afterward that all of this was stashed away to non use. I think the movie projector ended up having troubles - it was old. And Instamatics came into vogue. The thrill of using a sophisticated reflex fell by the wayside with everyone using these snapshot cameras. Maybe my dad's camera ended up having some problems as well, but he never got it out as much anymore. My mom took over the picture taking - and us kids as well. We had more pictures with my dad in the shots but pictures of my mom became scarce. I remember the Instamatics and their crazy flashbulbs! I'm pretty sure Sandy had one. I received my first camera, a Kodak 110, Christmas of '78 - in time for our summer trip to Europe. Also was Christmas in West Yellowstone with Algers - my first pictures with the camera are from that fun visit.
Elizabeth and I made this snowman.

I never had the chance to operate the movie camera but when I was *20* I had the chance to use the reflex. Dad had long before stopped being the family photo historiographer. Some reason the camera came out and I wanted to learn how to use it. I never quite got it down but I did get a few pictures - even of the AV man himself.
The Cement Ship at Sunset Beach/Rio Del Mar.

You used to be able to go out on the ship.

I'm pretty sure this was the day after the beach trip - it's Father's Day '84.



I love the AV Guy.