family 8 Comments

Diana’s First Christmas, 1976


[Posted on Flickr by dianaschnuth].


Thirty years ago this month, this was the scene somewhere in Medina County, Ohio. According to the captions in my baby book:

July 4, 1976 was your first holiday but I am saving this place for Christmas.
[Page Title: “My First Holidays”]

You were 8 months old and you were in awe. On the 27th you got the croop and bronchitis and spent 11 days in the hospital.

Gifts: Raggedy Ann, dress and leotards [tights], two squeeky toys, and a teddy bear (at the hospital).

Santa was played by Butch’s brother Bill.

Mom also wrote about Christmas Eve in the baby diary:

December 24, 1976: Just got back from Gramma Dobbins. Took a picture of your dad and his girl got real mad. Gean got you a Raggedy Ann.

Later – Everyone was fussing over you saying how cute you are. Bonnie got you a little dress and leotards and she got Grannie [Memaw] and Mom a juice set. It was after midnight when you went to sleep so I’m tired. I was going to watch “The Blue Bird,” a Shirley Temple movie, but you have really worn me out.

I love you, good night.
Mom

In addition to all this, I’d just like to mention that the plastic Santa suit with the beard made of quilt batting is so trés 70’s. Way to go, Uncle Bill! 🙂

health & fitness 3 Comments

An Open Letter To Aetna

Dear Aetna:

I have been covered under my husband’s insurance, provided by your company, since we were married in 2003. However, as my family did not always have insurance coverage, I did not get in the habit of visiting medical professionals for regular checkups. Therefore, up until recently, I only had rare occasion to use my husband’s insurance, and had little to no problems with the coverage.

When my husband and I decided to try to conceive, I decided that I should visit a gynecologist, to get a pap test and ensure that all my parts were functioning properly. My doctor prescribed pre-natal vitamins, which were covered by my husband’s prescription program (not through your company). My pap test, however, was not covered by Aetna, and I had to pay $148 for an exam which is generally accepted to be a necessary preventative measure for all adult women. Since this expense was not for the treatment of an existing condition, and was considered preventive medicine rather than treatment, your company did not foot the bill.

One is forced to wonder whether Aetna would prefer millions of women to develop cervical cancer, instead of paying for the preventative measure of an annual pap test.

Yours truly,
Diana Schnuth

randomness 2 Comments

Exhausted

I haven’t been posting much lately, and there’s a reason for that. I’ve been exhausted and generally disinterested as soon as Aaron pulls out of the driveway and down the road to work in the evenings. I really can’t get excited about much at all, which is frustrating.

I have plenty of projects I could be working on. The podcast will soon be going on a much more erratic schedule (i.e. I post an episode when I feel like it, instead of weekly). I have clothes that need mended or surgerized. I have websites that need maintained. I have candle orders that need to be filled. I have PUSH DVDs that need to be watched and exercised to. I have blog essay ideas that should be expounded upon, especially holiday-themed ones.

I wish I could just smack myself upside the head and get myself moving. I’m not depressed. I’m just tired.

otaku 1 Comment

Hen Na Gaijin

For anyone who remembers Jeff “Pip” Hawley, from Residential Computing Connection at BGSU:

Japanese T-shirt “Hen na Gaijin” (I’m a Strange Foreigner)

I remember him telling us that the Japanese exchange students nicknamed him Henna Gaijin, which he said meant crazy foreigner. It’s one of only two phrases I picked up from him that semester we were both Senior Lab Coordinators. The other one was “Nihongo o hanashimasen,” (although I believe it’s technically “wo,” but pronounced “o”?), which basically means “I don’t speak Japanese.” Not exactly the literal translation, but close enough.

Since back then, in the year 1999 or so, I’ve learned a few more phrases, and a little of how the language is structured, and a few bits of hiragana and katakana (I can recognize “n,” “to,” “ro,” “no,” and “shi,” from sheer repitition alone). I can introduce myself, and get into a knife fight with the Yakuza, and warn the locals that Gojira is coming. Being that I’m not going to Japan anytime soon, though, I’m not in a big hurry to actually learn the language, although it’s something I want to accomplish someday.

Although I can’t speak or read Japanese, that doesn’t keep me from totally digging on Japanese language and culture.

memories 2 Comments

Moving Aaron To BG, August 1998

Tuesday 18 Aug 1998 | 12:05am

Fries and I helped Aaron move to BG on Saturday. Three trips: one with his box springs and mattress lashed to the top of the Land Barge, one with his loveseat, and one with his 7-foot sofa. The second trip his car stalled, and the third was in pouring rain. But he’s moved in now, and almost settled in at his new place. Basement apartment, yay! “The Schnuth Cave.”

During the last trip, with the giant couch, we were driving down Dixie Highway into Bowling Green. Any BG person knows that around Kroger, on North Main Street, the road tends to flood in heavy rains. We weren’t privy to that yet, though, and were confused by the police and general chaos happening by the Pharm. As I recall, it was reminiscent of a Bill Cosby skit:

“What’s the sign say?”

“The sign says, ‘High Water’.”

*sploosh*

We ended up driving over the submerged curb into the Pharm parking lot to skirt the massive puddle that was North Main that evening.

After successfully moving the sofa into the Schnuth Cave, I believe Kris declared that he was going down to BW3 (as it was then called) to get a drink.

Scans courtesy of Kris Fries. I’m so glad to have digital copies of these priceless memories!