Having a bad day?

I bet we can top it. Look what Dan found when he went to his truck for lunch today. Yes, that is our AWESOME 2000 Toyota Tacoma. Certainly the Best Buy cheap stereo was the best in the lot (maybe the best in the un-alarmed vehicle section of the parking lot). Deja vu? Yeah, in 2002 our FANTASTIC Geo Prism (you're not laughing are you?) had a similar fate. Only those fools couldn't get the stereo out, so they took the speakers instead. No, it couldn't be the same thugs since the firt time it happened was in Arkansas. Unless, do you think they followed us here, because they remembered how great Dan's taste is in burned cd's?

Bettty Mae Carr Staudt

Betty Mae Carr was born September 19, 1932 and lived in New Castle, Oklahoma. She had golden Shirly Temple curls as a youngster. Her family lived on a farm and she had to help. She was supposed to pick cotton, but would just pick enough to make a nice pillow and watch the planes from the Air Force base train. She had to wear the same shoes that she picked cotton in to church on Sundays (which led to a shoe fetish when she had money to spend!)

Betty, her sister Helen, and her mother all shared the same birthday. The picture above was taken on Betty's 19th birthday. She is the 4th adult from the left, standing between her parents.

When Betty left home she went to live in the YWCA in Oklahoma City. The above picture was taken during the Korean War.

She met an OLD man (he was 26 when they got married, and she 20) Earnest Elmer Staudt from Chicago. They married on May Day, May 1, 1952 in Oklahoma City. The above picture was of them on their wedding day.

Over time they lived in Japan, Italy, Washington State, Iowa, Texas, and various other places during Ernie's Air Force career. They have 3 sons: Danny, Michael, and Russell.

They retired from the Air Force to Rogers, Arkansas. There they lived on a small farm in town where Betty hunted arrow heads and Ernie grew enough food to feed the folks at Union Carbide.

Ernie passed away in 1990 and Betty filled her final years with volunteering at the Salvation Army and the Senior Center. She quilted for family and friends, and also for the children that would go through the abuse center in Bentonville. Betty was a sports fan and became a Razorback! She played cards and dominoes. She traveled near and far to see family and to take on the duties of being the baby of her family.

She passed away this morning, July 26, 2010 in Springdale, Arkansas. Betty didn't have an easy life but she did try to have fun when she could. I'm sure there was a joyous reunion on the other side of the veil this morning when she was greated by her parents and her siblings. (And maybe Elvis stopped by too!)

Arkansas Vacation

My Arkansas vacation was filled with things I planned on doing and things that I had never dreamed of happening. Planned: Macey and I flew and the boys drove over. Macey was very good on the flights. The boys were awesome in the car!

Unplanned: The night I got to Grandma's she woke me up and had me call 911. She then spent the next week at Mercy Medical Center.

Planned: Nature walks. I thought it unfair that the boys vacation be spent entirely in a hospital, so I tried to do other things when it was less than busy. This walk was just down the street to a creek by Grandma's house.

My uncle caught this giant crawdad. Macey was intrigued and the rest of us were grossed out.

Planned: Rain. If you don't like the weather in AR, just wait 5 minutes. This being generally true, I figured I would get to enjoy some rain. And well, it rained nearly every day for 3 weeks straight.

Planned: Picking blueberries.

We enjoyed a very humid morning at the blueberry farm. The boys were done after 20 minutes! But we got enough to enjoy and save for the future. They are in the freezer still, Leslie, if you need some!

Planned: Grandchild outing. We loaded up the car and drove to Gentry to the Wilderness Safari. Just ask Dan about the Safari. He laughed out loud when we drove up to it. We drove around and made new animal friends. There is a large petting area where we got to pet such normal things as goats and unusual things as lemurs.

Unplanned: Ryan took the fishing worms to be his pets.

Planned: Visited my Mom and family. My mom got to meet Macey. Mom made me a cake for my birthday. Thanks for the cake and gift! (You'll notice that Macey looks a little timid: by the end of our trip she got used to anyone besides me holding her.) Unplanned: Fireworks with the Mexicans across the street. It is legal to shoot off fireworks in town and the family had a good (if not dangerous) time playing with the fireworks.

Unplanned: Grandma chose to end her treatments to fight her Leukemia. Upon that decision she was released from the hospital and was admitted to the Circle of Life Hospice center. It is a beautiful place where families can come and just spend time together. Her room was large and included a patio. There was a large family living and dining area, and meals were provided for the families everyday. There really couldn't have been a nicer and better place to be.

Unplanned: I rented a flock of flamingos. Really! I saw a flock outside of a flower shop so I went to see if I could just borrow a few, and lo, you can rent a flamingo for $1.25 a day. Everyone at Hospice loved the flamingos, so we bought the flock and spent time moving them around for everyone to enjoy. Maybe you should know that Grandma and I are friends and that she has a great sense of humor!

Unplanned: My grandmother had made a quilt top a long time ago in hopes that I would one day get a girl. She had it quilted so we could get it while we were there. Thanks!

Planned: A trip to the Naturals baseball game. It is a minor league team in Springdale, AR (just a couple miles from Hospice). My AR family bought me tickets for my birthday and then the kids went on another day. I loved Strike the mascot. He is all Natural! On my birthday we got to hear the NWA symphony and watched a great fireworks show.

Planned: Mini golf. It was so humid and hot, I'm surprised we didn't all pass out. After mini golf we (us and Megan and Laura, my cousins) went to get some snow cones. Yum, yum!

Unplanned: Attending Grandma's living funeral! All our relations came to see her and therefore I got to see a lot of relatives I hadn't dreamed of seeing. In the picture above are all of the granddaughters and great-granddaughters. As for the funeral, Grandma said she thought it was great to attend her own funeral, and was nervous that she would have to send out apology letters if she didn't die.

Planned: The only thing Alex wanted to do in AR was catch a fish.

And he did. In the pouring rain. Thanks to Mike (and Dad, but Dad took a lot of pictures, so I'm not sure how much help he gave...) Ryan chickened out early, so missed out on catching anything.

Planned: Spending time with Grandma.

Unplanned: Sharing that time with the rest of the family. Of course it was nice to be with my extended family, but Grandma has been another mother to me (every child needs more than one mother no matter how great the one who birthed you is) and I just needed some time to be with her. Dan married me for two reasons 1) I had just got home from Italy (he is 1/4 Italian) 2) My Grandma is cool. When he came to get me for our first date I was watching the NBA finals with Grandma. He loved palying cards with us. Grandma and I had travled long and far together. We've been on pleasure trips, family trips, dying and funeral trips. She has put up with a lot from me, but we are friends and then family and I'm so glad that that came to be.

Unplanned: My husband and children got to meet my Dad and his wife. They live in Virginia and we had yet to get together.

Unplanned: Staying for 4 weeks. I great big thanks to Dan and the Tucson Blacks for helping me extend my time away from home to be with the Staudts. It was nice to be there in the quietness of Hospice with my uncle's family and with Grandma. We worked together to bring Grandma things she wanted to eat, wear and see. I am sorry that I couldn't stay longer with them, but my boys needed me and I needed to be home with my family.

I am home now trying to pull life back to normal here. And waiting to hear how Grandma is doing each day. No one gets a ticket to Heaven, so we don't know when she'll go home, but at least she'll know she is loved and we'll know that her final days were spent in happiness.