The Oregon Women's Report - Women's News from Oregon

Unbelievable Photo: Crow rides piggyback on eagle

Surprising photo of crow grabbing a free ride from the local eagle bus service.
Full news story here

Mom’s public punishment of daughter on Facebook

Here we have an interview of the mom who grounded her daughter and changed her Facebook profile announcing her punishment. Justice or extreme parenting? Watch the interview and decide.

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

I fought the law & the law won

Karen Duvall
Bend author of Knights Curse  
View Karen’s blog

*** Winner of the “Wild Woman” Award ($25) in the Inspiration writing contest. View winners all this week at Oregon Women’s Report.

Flip the calendar back by about 30 years and you’ll arrive at a time in my life when I didn’t always make the best choices. I was young, newly married, and naive as hell. My new husband and I were taking a trip on his big bad motorcycle from Denver to Nevada for a weekend on his friend’s boat at Lake McConaughy. And he planned to do a bit of target practice with his handgun while we were there.

He thought it would be cool to strap a holster to his handlebars so he’d look like a badass with his pistol showing. We weren’t on the freeway long, hadn’t even made it out of the city, when a motorcycle cop pulled us over.

Empty Nesters wake-up from 20-year nap

Shelley Urben
Beavercreek writer
Shelley’s Sagacious Slants

*** Bronze Prize Winner ($25) Inspiration writing contest. View winners all this week at Oregon Women’s Report.

Not too long ago my husband and I officially became empty nesters. Over the course of last summer numerous people told us how wonderful our lives would become once the day came – no kids at home, total freedom,… like living the high life. I don’t know, it’s only been a few months, but to me it feels like I just woke up from some kind of wonderful, scary, beautiful, magical, and sometimes frustrating dream.

Honestly, it feels like I took a nap twenty years ago and just opened my eyes and here my husband and I sit. During my nap I dreamt that we had two amazing daughters and we put our heart and souls into raising them and loving them and encouraging them. In the dream I laughed so hard I nearly wet my pants a million times, I never could wipe the prideful smile off my face, there were a few instances where my heart felt like it might break into a trillion pieces and never get put back together, and I cried tears of joy and sometimes of anger and occasionally of sorrow.

Meet my most amazing friend

By Nora Peacock,
Newberg freelance writer

*** Silver Prize Winner ($25) Inspiration writing contest. View winners all this week at Oregon Women’s Report.

Laughter and Lisa go hand-in-hand. For twenty-six years, this special friend has taught me about going for the zest in life, no matter the challenges I encounter. She carries within her a reservoir of humor, waiting for the next opportune moment to spring forth. No matter how hard her day, Lisa giggles with anticipation before telling me her latest joke. This special friend loves ribbing me about my last name Peacock. She often greets me in her distinctively shrill voice, “Hi, turkey!” reminding me my surname could be a lot worse.

Some of Lisa’s favorite pastimes include reading books, playing in a bell choir, attending church and going to camp retreats. She likes to shop ’til she drops with her paychecks from her job at a sheltered workshop. Jumping at the chance to eat out, she shoots the breeze with anybody who is game to listen. Lisa exemplifies Will Roger’s famous statement, “I never met a man I didn’t like.” Remaining a stranger when in Lisa’s presence tests the limits of possibility.

A Grandmother’s Legacy

Heidi Cox,
Beaverton
Author of Just Moms: Conveying justice in an unjust world.

*** Gold Prize Winner  Inspiration writing contest ($50 gift card). View winners all this week at Oregon Women’s Report.

I can still feel the warm rush of sunshine on my face as my body flew through the air on my grandparent’s tire swing. I can still hear my grandmother’s voice, warm and resplendent, reciting her favorite Robert Louis Stevenson poem as she pushed me:

“How do you like to go up in a swing,
Up in the air so blue?
Oh I do think it the pleasantest thing
Ever a child can do!”

Recently I was pushing my own son on our swing. As I watched his little body soar as mine once had, I recalled the words of the classic poem. But I couldn’t remember past the first stanza. So a few days later I visited my grandma at her retirement home. I asked her if she recalled the last two stanzas. “Well, I think so,” she smiled.

Contest winning essay: The Good Guy

By Crystal Kupper
Salem author
Crystal’s blog

*** Grand Prize winner of a new Kindle Fire eReader in our Inspiration writing contest.  View winners all this week at Oregon Women’s Report.

On a gloomy December Saturday, my four-year-old son Jack haphazardly threw Christmas decorations on any available flat surface while Jude, the baby, grabbed at red stockings with his chubby hands. Time was steaming toward Christmas, but my mind was a mile down the road. At that very moment, a funeral for a young man who grew up attending my church was uniting a community and tearing apart a family. Adam Buyes, a corporal in the Marine Corps, died on November 26, 2011 in Helmand Province, Afghanistan. He was only 21.

I know in Oregon, we often don’t see the impact of the war. There are no active-duty bases of any branch. There are no movie theaters, bars or restaurants replete with men and women in uniform on Saturday nights. There are no fighter jets filling the skies with their piercing screams. Even I, as a military wife, (my husband Nick is a staff sergeant in the Air Force) can forget about the military sometimes here. Yet I couldn’t on December 10.

Little girl’s win stirs our hearts

Seven year old Annie Clark who from Pennsylvania has won a national penmanship award without having hands — a true encouragement for all. Annie Clark comes from a family of many adopted children from China. Story here.

Survey shows traditional marriage proposal mixed

This USA Today survey shows big spread between men and women over the issue of traditional marriage proposals.

Relationship basics

Terri Patrick
Terri Patrick’s blog

A good relationship is unique to each individual but it always boils down to affection and appreciation.

Physical affection requires the actions of touch; hugs, caresses, kisses. Physical affection can only be shared when two or more are in the same space and time. As noted by medical and behavioral specialists, physical affection is a primary need for humans at birth and death, and as daily nourishment for the body and soul for every individual in life.

Verbal affection is the foundation of self esteem and is shared through compliments and concerns, and includes all those social phrases like; have a nice day, please & thank you, you look great, good job. Verbal affection can be shared through all manner of connection tools from phones, to social media, and greeting cards. However, there is more verbal affection in the words, “dinner is ready,” than in an essay of text. This is the challenge and appeal of electronic connections, even when it feels good, because it lacks the physical nourishment of touch.

Re-design your room in one weekend — Free workshop

by Julie Nolta
Julie Nolta Design

Register HERE for Julie’s Design Workshop Saturday!

Room re-design in a weekend

As the seasons change, it’s natural to want to change things inside your home as well.  Here are a few easy things you can do in just a few hours to update your room and change your outlook on life!

The benefits of eating in or eating out?

by Sandy Coughlin
Medford, Oregon
The Reluctant Entertainer

Recently we had a conversation with some friends about the the benefits of eating out, versus eating in. Or the other way around. They asked me what I preferred …

5 lessons from a mom who has friends who’s kids have autism

Oh this mistakes I’ve made..{5 lessons from a mom who has friends who’s kids have autism}
by Gena
Earth Monkey Moms 

April is Autism Awareness Month

I knew nothing about autism 7 years ago.  I’m not sure I ever heard the word, and I certainly didn’t know anyone personally that was touched by it.  I will never forget when Sawyer, Lindsay’s little man was in the process of being diagnosed.  It didn’t make any sense then, and honestly it took many years for me to even begin to understand it…

One of our best family decisions

by Joy Dombrow
Living Loved

A furry, four-footed friend is the first to greet me each morning.

CNN anchor has comedic meltdown

Our video of the week goes to the normally reserved and sleek CNN anchor Anderson Cooper for losing it with laughter as he describes a very obscure American holiday. Please watch and keep an eye towards the end where it all comes apart.

The many upsides of “little boy pee”

by Rebekah Schneiter
Outnumbered Blog
Oregon author of Just Moms

Little boy pee, anyone who is the mother of boys is familiar with this conundrum. It starts very young, from the very beginning of their existence. A mother must always be on guard during diaper changes, never leaving a naked son unattended. Little boy pee takes on new significance once the sons are potty trained. I don’t know how many times I have sat on a wet toilet seat; you’d think I’d learn.

I was complaining to a small group of friends and several confessed that that is why they require their sons to sit and never stand in the bathroom. This feels mean, like I’m stripping them of their masculinity. I keep thinking they’ll grow out of these splatter tendencies, but the frequency is increasing now that I have three boys using the potty.

“Finding myself” without paying a therapist

Finding Myself Again~in a Very Unexpected Place
Jami Ronda
“Mom’s Flight School” Blog

Help for displaced homemakers

Michal Ann McArthur
Bend, OR

If you’re a full time mother and homemaker, have you ever asked yourself what you’d do if you suddenly had to support your family financially? I have. The question can be scary and intimidating. It confronts us with the niggling worry that an unexpected event—divorce, death, disability—might suddenly change everything and leave us with the need to earn a paycheck. If you find yourself in this position, you’re what the government calls a “displaced homemaker.”  It’s good to know what help is available if you should ever become displaced.

When my good friend, I’ll call her Nicole, first realized that she’d need to return to the workplace, she signed up for courses at our community college to upgrade her skills, concentrating on basic computer skills and learning Microsoft Office. She also found free classes at the public library and online, even on YouTube. She worked to get current in her field and participated in networking events. She met people in her profession for coffee and took every opportunity to do piecework.

An Italian Grandmother’s answer to Healthcare

by Olivia Rossi, RN MSN
Your Personal Trainer

How would an Italian grandmother solve our current health care crisis? That was the topic of one of the talks at a nursing conference I attended recently. It was asked by a doctor. His comment? “One grandmother is worth a dozen physicians.”1 His topic? The Mediterranean diet.

The Mediterranean diet is a culinary delight. It is also a heart’s delight. Why? It’s really a kind of old-fashioned, sensible way of eating but it’s more than that. It’s a lifestyle. Here are the main elements of the Mediterranean way of eating and living . . . in a nutshell.