Describe the house you grew up in? Describe your room.

My first thought on this is how impossible this one will be for my girls. Too many to count. I have 3.

8921 Sumner Place in Cypress CA. Candy and I shared for a while. I do not remember a lot about that room. We had bunk beds that we took apart and just had sitting on the floor. I remember the big earthquake in 71 or 72, our beds were in the middle of the room and stuff fell off the wall, but Candy and I both slept thru it until mom came rushing in to see if we were ok lol
I remember I had a record player and dad Dave said, this is yours, the only rule is that you tell me if something goes wrong. I loved that thing. Then the needle broke or came out or something and I was afraid to tell him (no idea why...maybe thought I did something wrong??) and I lost it. I also remember when Angie and Michele were gone that Candy moved across the hall and had a bulletin board with a blacklight, and a chain around it made from pop/beer can pull tops, I thought it was so cool. I also remember her and Dave having words over her having 13 in a prominent position. I never learned until later what that meant.

I have very few memories of that house, but the ones I do have are not concerning my room so I will wait for another post.

I cannot remember the address but I do remember the exact location of the next house. It is the house we rented for one year in Odell while our house was being built. It was a cute house, lots of character and nestled back into a grove of trees, surrounded, other than the circular driveway so it was awesome for exploring and playing. I was 11 or 12, we moved the summer I turned 12 so could have been right on the cusp, but I was 12 the year we lived there. The house had a huge porch on both sides which was awesome, and a living room, fireplace and bedroom upstairs, that was my parents room. And I say upstairs loosly because there was only one or two stairs up from my level. There was a kitchen, bedroom and bathroom on my level, and the bedroom was bigger than any master bedroom I have ever had. I had a bed, not sure what other furniture but had a regular size high chair and play pen for my dolls. I do not remember playing in there much because I was always riding bikes, hiking/playing in the woods and playing in the barn across the street with Kelsey who lived around the corner and shared my birthday but was a year older. I do know that I very much wanted to go to school to where dad did, but ended up in Pine Grove because we were about 3 houses too far over the line, which I felt was surely unfair, and changed my whole life lol

To be fair, the kids that joined us in Jr. High from this school are by far and away the most settled, prosperous in the bunch now, but I do not have any idea if that would have helped me later on by going to school with them instead of others, as we each choose what we want to do.

Anyway, you all know my 3rd and final bedroom of my childhood, which I cut short. You have all seen/slept in my childhood bedroom, although it is way more crowded now and lacks the bean bag and stereo which I had, which did include a record player and again I adored it!! My parents probably did not as I played my Bat out of Hell and Back in Black album constantly!

fun time in Oregon/Total Eclipse of the sun

I was in Oregon for a visit. Michael, Eva and I flew up on August 11th 2017 for his mother, Barrie Jones, birthday party on August 12th. We had a good flight, and dad was waiting at the airport for us when we arrived in the baggage claim. He had left mom at Shari's a local restaurant because of lack of room in the car. Was so good to see him. We loaded the car and headed to Shari's to meet mom for lunch. After lunch dad took mom's car home, and I drove his car with the rest of us up to Centrailia which is right next to Chehalis where Larry and Barrie Jones live. We checked into the hotel and then Eva rested while the rest of us went over to their home. Mom and I left to go shopping at Wal-Mart, and Mike took his dads truck to get Eva and we went to the Mexican restaurant for dinner.

Chrissy, Joel, and Tyson drove down Saturday evening. We had gone to the bday party and enjoyed a nice day. Then with C, J, and T went to dinner at the Main Street Grill, good stuff. Then we visited until a bit after Tyson's bedtime, and he stayed in the hotel with mom and I and C and J slept in the car. The next morning we cleaned up, went to the Main Street Grill for breakfast, even better, and then to the Jones for a wonderful, relaxing, visiting day. That night we said good bye to the little family from Orcas Island, aka Chrissy, Joel and Tyson, and the four of us went to a restaurant called Country Cousin. Was decent. Then Monday we visited with Jones, and Tuesday morning mom and I drove back to Hood River to spend some time with dad. Had a great week in Oregon, and instead of meeting Michael at the airport for a flight home on Saturday the 19th, I stayed with mom and dad until the 26th and on Monday morning the 21st we headed out for a 5-6 hour drive to a cabin by dads gold mine claim. Dad had rented the cabin for he and mom, yet had invited Phyllis and Connie but neither could go, so I got to go. We stopped on top of the world surrounded by trees, but had a clear amazing patch where it was just the 3 of us and we watched the total eclipse of the sun. Amazing. Dad had a device that checked the temp in different spots and the temp went down 16 degrees just in the few minutes the sun was covered, it was dark like night was descending. It was crazy, but I am grateful to have seen it.

We had a relaxing time at the cabin. We went to the gold mine so I could see where dad goes all the time. We visited with Gene Chris and Michael LaDuceur who were there to watch also. Then the next day, Tuesday, we went to Max and ?? I am drawing a blank on her name, ugh. we went to their cabin for dinner/BBQ. Had such a wonderful visit. They are so nice. Built their cabin back in the late 70's by themselves and live there 7 months out of the year every year. She was in an accident several years ago and is paralyzed from the waist down. She gets around good, lifts herself up onto her modified 4 wheeler and goes out almost every day.

Wednesday we  packed up and went to the Sumptner Drudge, toured, then went to the gift shop. The drove home taking our time and enjoying the scenery.

Pretty much stayed home other than swimming in the mornings, Goes coming to visit, the usual. Then left at 5:30 am Saturday to head towards the airport. Although given the weather in TX the last couple of days we thought I might not. And the airport I flew to on Sat. morn was closed on Friday, and basically closed right after I landed and stayed closed for another 4-5 days...I will talk about Hurricane Harvey in the next blog!! Here are some pics from the adventure

Barrie Jones, 80th Bday Party

Tyson Eric enjoying his hot chocolate at the Main Street Grill

Good eats from the above mentioned restaurant

and again

Tyson Eric, having a blast exploring, eating peppers off of his new pepper plant, and getting a broom for a cousin!

and the eclipse has started

I do not have a regular camera with me but you can see the difference in the sky color already. Looks as if it is working towards night

Road we traveled

Sumptner Dredge

and again...

and again...

Dads home away from home, little shanty at the gold mine where he stays

porch on our cabin

eclipse envelope

Where did you shop? How far away were the stores and how did you get there?

I lived in So. Cal. until I was 11. There are a lot of malls/stores there. They were not far away, and as far as I remember we drove to get to them.

I remember a drive in dairy a couple of blocks away. I could be wrong but it seems like it was painted red (like a barn with white edges?) and I remember we drove thru the middle of it. Someone would come out to take your order and unless I am wrong we got an ice cream when we went.

Another store I remember is the Savon store I think...I say it wrong a lot but when someone else will say it I remember and say that's it! But we would go in there and get huge, cheap ice cream cones. It was hard ice cream which I love so much better, (this may be insight as to why??) But I do recall going there quite often. So maybe this was close and I could walk with my sisters?

One story which you have all heard more than once I am sure, but mom and I were used to mall after mall after mall in CA, nothing small. When we moved to Hood River we went to the Oak Mall. We were excited to see what they had to offer. (I do not ever recall a time when I was excited about going to the store, so this part may be fabricated!) We walked into a quaint little place, restaurant on one side with barber, travel agent, and one store that had misc. items that I do not recall. No more than 5-6 places in here. The we saw a sign to the downstairs, and we thought aha, town is small so the shops are underground, cool. We of course ended up on the street when we went down stairs. I do recall laughing with mom about how we would ever make it thru the mall in one day, without getting tired etc. Probably the only time I recall laughing and shopping in the same sentence with my mom. Barrie used to go with us to referee when we did school shopping lol way to many disagreements in the clothing department.

What is your full name?

Since this will be short, as I do not know any stories about my name (you may need to ask grandma Peyton about this) this may not be worthy of a whole blog, but here it goes:

The name I was born with was Kimberly Dawn Crawford

Shortly thereafter I was adopted and name was changed to Kimberly Dawn Peyton

February 4, 1984 I was married and name was changed to Kimberly Dawn Holliman

I am now in the process of changing my name back to Kimberly Dawn Peyton

However, I will tell you that if you get married it is a matter of $50 and very little hassle. If, you choose to change your name without marriage, it is more of a $600 process and a lot of hassle and time. Just to change my passport is another $250, and I cannot change my name and not change my passport, so it is basically all or nothing, and I think it would be easier to offer $50 to a homeless or struggling individual and get married, take his name (of course this would have to be reviewed before the marriage, as we would not want something like Butz!) and then get divorced. So I will keep you posted on your new daddies name HAHA!!

What did you want to be when you grew up?

The first thing I remember wanting to be was a social worker for the prison. It was Sue Goe I believe, that was one, or studying to be one and it absolutely resonated with me. She was talking, letting me know how she felt about the duties and I wanted to help them really badly. I do not think, or at least I do not remember, I ever wanted to be anything else. Sad, sort of gave up on things after that, and then I was just working to pay the bills. I am thinking now, what is it I want to be when I grow up? I am actually thinking, where do you want to live when you grow up? I think I need to decide that and then I can look for the positions that are available in that area. And this is why I have no idea because I am so good at decisions.

When did you learn to cook and who taught you? Were there any special family foods or recipes?

Well anyone who has had to run to open windows and doors because I was cooking (truth!) Would say that even though I lived with one of the great cooks for 16 years, I learned nothing!

My mom has passed on many special recipes. She does so very many things so well. I follow her recipes for some things and it still does not turn out as well, not sure why that it.

Mom's steak in rich brown gravy, chicken friend steak, lasagna, potato salad, ginger cookies, and and and.... What I enjoy more than anything at moms is the salads we have almost every day. She will chop up celery, radishes, tomatoes, onions, cucumbers, turnips, and pretty much anything wanted from the garden and serves it with her homemade blue cheese dressing, YUM. Then for dessert, we will have fresh sliced fruit (like peaches off of the tree) over one scoop of ice cream.

I dislike coffee very much but used to love the mornings at home because it smelled cozy, like home. I miss that. There are many things that remind me of mom and home.

Eye Injection gone wrong!

Yesterday, Friday August 4, 2017, I wrote this email about my eye appt. 

So, this happened lol, I am going to try to work on the computer a little tonight, however we had a wee mishap with my injection today. ALL IS WELL!!! I am letting you know because it may interfere with my ability to fly on Friday. 

I would take a pic of the red eye, but the light does not feel good, and honestly, compared to what it was 6 or so hours ago it is nothing.

I have a thin sclera (the white outer layer of eyeball), they were able to use the smallest needle known to man for my other injections and it turned out fine. The last injection I received was the same as this one, supposed to be anyway. The first injection went to the middle of my eye, down near the cysts. These last 2 injections were supposed to wrap around the outside of the eye. IF they get into the middle they do not do harm, the results of this one was to stay around outside which prevents cataracts - keeps them away longer. I have the start of cataracts due to all of the steroid drops and injections, however, seeing trumps that so we are ok with it. So this injection went into the middle, not a big deal in and of itself. However, when he asked how I was I said, well the pain is manageable, but I cannot see anything. 

He looks for a 1/100th of a second while waving his hand (he told me) and then asks for some device, basically a hand held device that checks pressure while sitting right on the eyeball, my eye is numb so it is a good time. Well some of you may know, some may not, that any pressure in the eye over 20 is bad. If not treated immediately can cause permanent vision loss. So Dr. Henry had Sam hand him something else then sent him out to clear a room with some sort of machine (yes, I know my knowledge of the technical names is overwhelming!!) I could hear Sam tell the nurse, pull them out, NOW...They rush me in there and Dr. Henry tells me that they need to cut/poke the eye to drain the pressure, no big deal, will not hurt lol OK So they secure my mask and hook me up to machine and the doc does whatever he does and I can see shadows. Then I see what I can only describe as an ink spill. Black ink pen explosion. Ink drops that bleed out on the edges and big blotch in the middle. So pressure is checked again and it had gone down to 8, (picture big sigh of relief and sweat being wiped off of brow)

I had to wait 30 minutes and they checked again, it had gone to 15 but it was all good, then another check etc. So when I went in today I told him I was flying out on Friday and he said no problem. Then when he drained the pressure I asked and he said welllllllll.... then at the end he said I had to come back in immediately if eye did not improve over next 24 hours...and yada yada, then set up an "extra emergency visit" for Thursday. They will let me know Thursday whether I can fly or not. I am guessing that if I can make it until Thursday with no other mishaps, then I will be good to go. I will NOT take any chances. I will postpone and come at a different time if there is even a question. However, I do not think there will be. Just a heads up. 

Oops!! I mentioned that going over 20 was bad and had to be taken care of immediately. But I failed to mention that my eye pressure I went to 50, that was the emergency. Now I hope I have all the details in there