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Thomas in Helena
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Like many families, the kids grew up and moved away. Mom, Dad, Margo, and the pets remained behind. We orginally followed our youngest son to Helena when he started at Carroll College in 1989. He attended school, married, and moved away, and Mom, Dad, Margo, and the pets remained behind.So, what do we do to keep ourselves busy, just the three of us and the pets? We work, we sleep (the pets), and we enjoy our lives in Helena.Jim Sr. is working at Boulder at Montana's Developmental Center. He started as an attendant in October and enjoys the work and being a part of the state employee force. The state's retirement plan doesn't bother him one bit either! He makes the drive to Boulder every day and has Sunday and Mondays off each week.He spends his spare time on the computer out there in the Web World or E-mailing someone somewhere. The on-line connections were made to order for him. His search for information has no boundaries now. Mom, me, is on vacation during the holidays, which is why I feel that I can handle a Web Page. I have so many "unfilled hours" that I think I need to keep myself busy. Also, John, child #3, has convinced me that I can do this and was so kind as to help me set all this up. Actually, all I need to do now, is the typing and the passing on of the news.I am still working at Spring Meadow Resouces and I am a Habilitation Specialist, which means Jack Shit to everyone except people I work with. Let me see if I can explain what I do. I supervise people who work directly with the Developementally Disabled people in our services. You see, I no longer get to do the fun stuff, the hands on work. I have to deal with the so called "normal" people, who all drive me slightly nuts. So, I am a supervisor who developes programs and training lessons for the people we serve. Then I try and tell my staff how to run the programs, then I get frustrated, and then I run the programs myself!!! I have been doing this for for 23 years now and working with these people has been the biggest plus in my life, second to my family. For intertainment, besides working, we like to hike up in the mountains and see the scenery. We like to go to garage sales, and we like to spend time at home with each other. We shocked ourselves and most of our families when this summer we decided to buy a house. Up until July 3rd., we had been generally happy where we were. Then we saw an ad about a house that was for sale. We passed this house almost every day and had noticed that it was for sale but had no real interest in it. Then we saw the ad for the house and it stated that it had 4 bedrooms and two baths! Our first reaction, was "no way"! We had seen the house from the outside and there was not a chance that they could get four bedrooms, two baths, a kitchen, dining room, and living room in that house! We drove by the house again. We drove down the alley, we drove around the block, and still felt it was a misprint. Then just to prove that we were right, or nearly right (I had by that time conceded that maybe, just maybe, they could squeeze four bedrooms into the house) we made an appointment with the realtor and informed her that we just wanted to look. So we did. Wow. We loved it at first sight. Large livingroom and dining room, large kitchen, two bedrooms downstairs, with a bath. Upstairs has two bedrooms and a bath. So it all fit and nicely too, if I may say so. Also a garage, deck, and fenced yard, with an underground sprinkler system. So, since the end of August, we have been the owners of our own bungalow built in 1910, about six blocks from the capital building. What is nice is that Margo has the two bedrooms and bath upstairs for her apartment and we have the downstairs for our private quarters. Margo also is only four blocks from McDonald's where she works every day. Cool!
So, why the Web Page? I'd be asking the same thing by now. I like to play "What If" games. Like, what if when a person got married, the rule was that they took part of their maiden name and added it onto their mates name? So, when my mother, who was a McCormick married my father, whose name was Shuman, their children would then become McShuman's. Try and stay with me here because all of this does have a purpose. When I married Jim Thomas, I was a McShuman and decided to drop the Shu and take Thom from Thomas, and became McThoman, thus the name of our title page. So then, I thought why not have a place where all of these families can get together and get an update of the happenings of not only one family but all families. Or in other words, I was too lazy to do three seperate Web pages for each family and decided that I could do one and give it the name "McThomans". Works for me! So, if you are a McCormick, a Thomas, or a Shuman please feel free to visit and get the low down on all of our families.
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