Barbara Barber - Oct. 22, 1923 - Sept. 3, 2007

BARBARA BARBER

A Memorial Service for Barbara Barber will be held Monday, September 10, 2007 at 11:00 a.m. at the First Congregational Church, 1715 Bird Street, Oroville, followed by a reception in the social hall. Burial services will follow at 2:00 p.m. at Memorial Park, 5646 Lincoln Boulevard, Oroville, California.

Barbara passed away September 3, 2007, at Hospice House in Paradise, California. Barbara was born to Charles and Ruby Breese on October 22, 1923 in Red Bluff, California. She grew up in the Willows, Oroville, and Los Molinos areas, graduating from Los Molinos High School in 1941. She and her husband Bill graduated together from high school and were married March 31, 1946. Barbara worked for a title company in Sacramento, California until October 1948 when she, Bill and their newborn daughter Diane moved to Honcut. In 1951, their daughter Nancy was born. Barbara taught at Honcut Elementary School for 25 years before retiring in 1984. In 1997 she and Bill moved to Orovilie and spent many happy years traveling together in their RV and spending time at their cabin in Mineral, California.

Barbara was an active member of the First Congregational Church of Oroville, Delta Kappa Gamma Sorority, and the California Retired Teacher's Association. She spent many hours volunteering for the Butte County Library in Oroville.

Barbara was preceded in death by her husband William Merle "Bill" Barber as well as her ten siblings. She is survived by her daughter and son-in-law Diane and Richard Schmidt of Citrus Heights; daughter Nancy Pine of Fair Oaks; and grandsons Ryan and Dustin Schmidt of Citrus Heights; She is also survived by numerous brothers-in-law; sisters-in-law; nieces; nephews; and cousins.

Memorial contributions may be made to the First Congregational Church, 1715 Bird Street, Oroville, California, 95965; Paradise Hospice House, P.O. Box 2287, Paradise, California 95967; the American Cancer Association, or to a favorite charity. Services are under the direction of Scheer Memorial Chapel.

I Need Some Monetary Support, Please!

I will be training for the next several months with The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society's Team In Training. On December 2, 2007, I will be running the California International Marathon. The 26.2 mile marathon starts in Folsom and ends in Downtown Sacramento. I'm completing this event in honor of all individuals who are battling blood cancers. These people are the real heroes on our team, and we need your support to cross the ultimate finish line - a cure!

Did you know:

•Every 5 minutes an American is diagnosed with leukemia, lymphoma, or myeloma

•Every 10 minutes someone dies from blood cancer

•An estimated 785,829 Americans have blood cancer

•Approximately 118,310 Americans will be diagnosed with blood cancers next year

•Leukemia causes more deaths than any other cancer among children under the age of 20

I hope you will visit my Team In Training Donation Site. Be sure to check back frequently to see my progress. Thanks for your support!

Murder HE Wrote

Here are a couple of sweet pictures of me in front of Hill House of Cabot Cove Mendocino. Yes, I have a huge soft spot in my heart for Murder She Wrote. I was hoping to walk inside the lobby and stumble upon a dead body, but I wasn't that lucky. It was kind of a relief because I really didn't have enough time to assist with a murder investigation.





Here is a picture of me and J.B. Fletcher. Jealous... I thought as much.


My friend Jessica is really involved in Mrs. Fletcher's first novel, The Corpse Danced at Midnight. Why do I remember such useless information?

Funny How Things Just Seemed So Easy When We Were Young

Last Friday, July 20th, I had the extremely pleasure to attend the Dolores O’Riordan concert in San Francisco. She has been on a small North American tour to support her solo independent release, “Are You Listening?” Though it was a small crowd, the energy was intense. I dragged my friend Tara to the concert with me. It is always so refreshing to go with someone who thinks they are as perfect as myself. It makes it that much easier to criticize others. Let me tell you, there were some crazies in the audience. I particularly enjoyed the 50 year-old men and women in front of us who were, to put it loosely, trying to dance. They were so entertaining! They made me happy due to their extreme enthusiasm for Dolores. The concert was a 50/50 mix of old Cranberries standards and cuts from her new LP. She played all of my favorite Cranberries songs except for “Promises,” and sang all of my favorite songs from her solo album, including my favorite b-side, “Willow Pattern.” All in all I had a fantastic evening. The downside was that I had to drive home from San Francisco after the show because I had marathon training in the morning. I got home about 2:00am went to sleep an hour later and was up at 6:00am. I was flat ass tired needless to say!

This week I also got the extremely sad and upsetting news that my Grandma’s cancer had returned. She had been in remission from breast cancer for about a year and a half. She had been complaining of stomach and back pain for a couple of weeks, but the doctor had thought that it might be a result from a car accident she was in a few months ago. After a few tests, it was revealed that her cancer had come back. It is now located in her liver, abdominal region, and one side of her lung. It is devastating news and almost too much to comprehend. She has always been the most active person and healthiest person I have known. Though all nine of her siblings have succumbed to this vicious disease, it is still difficult to accept. My Mom and Dad just returned from visiting my Grandma, and they said that there is a noticeable difference in her appearance and attitude in a mere two weeks since we last saw her. I pray that when she does pass, it was we painless and swift. Cancer is such a fucked up disease. It can just sneak up on it’s unsuspecting victim, and once diagnosed, it can be too late to successfully take any type of measures to eradicate.

It is extremely hard to put into words how much my Grandma means to me. I think that this song, no matter how cheesy it is, sums up my relationship with her. There really is nothing better than her on the phone. She is so compassionate and non-judgmental; pretty much the only person in my family that I can speak openly and frankly with.

Lamest Excuse Ever...

It comes from the Lohan camp -

"The cocaine found in pocket of her jeans is not La Lohan's. She was wearing someone elses jeans."

Well This explains it all! The cocaine must be Paula Abdul's because they wear each others clothes.

Both Lindsey and Paula need to star in their own Intervention episodes on A&E.

Meltdown #1

I resisted the laughter until 'YOU GUYS, PLEASE, IM TRY'N TO TELL A GOD DAMN STORY!'



Questions I have for Paula:

1) What studio hires someone to be the Executive Producer, Choreographer, Costume Designer and Doll designer? Don't you think that there are too many feathers in your cap?
2) Why am I laughing uncontrollably when you yell at your staff?
3) Are there pain pills and booze in your purse? It sure seems that way due to the fact that you had to grab your purse when you went into your bedroom.

Not Sure That I Can...

Off Her Damn Rocker

There really are no words.

Announcement, Announcement, Listen Up Y’all

That is right, I, Ryan A. Schmidt will be training for a marathon beginning next Saturday June 21, 2007. I have teamed up with The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society's Team In Training. They are the world's largest endurance sports training program. The program provides training to run or walk marathons and half marathons or participate in triathlons and century (100-mile) bike rides. Have any of you ran a marathon in the past? I am sure that I have a whole lot of work ahead of me. I am glad that I have lost 70lbs within the past 18 months. Now I don’t have to carry that load of crap with me while training. Damn I was a fuckin’ fat ass at 260lbs. Well I think I am going to start another blog to highlight my training.
I will be running the California International Marathon on December 2, 2007.
Here is the course map! Enjoy.

Things I Wish I Could Take Back This Week...

1) I wish I could take back the time that I spent my hard earned $10.00 to see Transformers.

2) I wish I could take back the time that I spent my hard earned $10.00 to see 1408.

3) The week is not even half over so I know that there will be additions to this list.

EDIT - 10:01pm Wednesday July 11, 2007

4) I wish I could take back the 10 minutes that I wasted when watching the last ten minutes of America's Got Talent. I then turned it to PBS and began to watch a miniseries about the Mormons. At least it is historical and educational. Those Mormons are so damn crazy. Why the hell would you settle in the Great Salt Lake Basin? God must have hated them. It was the land nobody else wanted. Okay, maybe I should take those last few sentences back...

This miniseries reminded me of a great book I read a few years ago called Blood of the Prophets: Brigham Young and the Massacre at Mountain Meadows . Extremely Fucked up. Killing and hacking up unarmed innocent women and children. I don't think that Joseph Smith would have approved of these actions. Oh, that reminds, me I haven't watched the newest episode of Big Love this week.