My Threads of Life

2012-01-04T22:56:00.000-08:00

Wow,
It's been almost a full year since I've written anything on here.

2011 was a very stressful year. Several issues going on. There are members of the family who were diagnosed with a terminal illness. That alone caused a lot of strain on everyone.
It seemed to be a roller coaster ride of ups and downs emotionally, physically and spiritually.

I must hang on to the blessings though and I have several. My five grandchildren keep me focused on what is true and what is beautiful in this life...........plus they keep me extremely busy!

So with this new year beginning I choose to;
go forward and keep my eyes on the blessings that are in my life;
ask God to direct my daily path and keep my mind focused on what is right;
remember that I have only one earthly body and to treat it with care and respect;
and to show my loved ones that they are much loved.

Get Up and Go

2011-02-07T09:44:00.000-08:00

I'd like to know where my get up and go went to?

On days like today when I don't have my grandsons to take care of and I don't have any appointments to take care of I seem to convince myself that it's ok to just be a blob.

Yes it's alright to take a day and just veg. It's alright to relax and rest your body and mind.

However, I still have a list of things that need to be done............such as preparing papers in order to do taxes! That is something that just can't be put off for very long!
I just don't want to do it! I just want to lie around like a big blob of blob and do nothing!
Yet if I do that, lie around all day, then tomorrow when my busy schedule starts all over again I will be kicking my big butt for not getting things done on my "day off" knowing that I will now have to wait until my next chance to get those needed things done.

It's an ongoing cycle that somehow circles around and ends up staring you right in the face.

SO, I will now get up off my big blob butt and do something.

2011-01-29T14:16:00.000-08:00

"Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls".

Matthew 11: 29

Lately, whenever I feel the stress of life starting to weigh me down I repeat this verse in my mind and it gives me a sense of peace.

Time to reorganize!

2011-01-27T22:17:00.000-08:00

So I went to the office supply store yesterday and bought this handy dandy organizer!

All of these individual boxes & containers are what I WAS using on the table next to my desk. It was a constant mess and confusing.

I can't stand to work in a space that is so unorganized while trying to figure out where I had put things or where I should put things!

Now this is more like it!
EVERYTHING that I had in all of those separate containers is now in the one organizer or in the hanging pockets!

A new Year.....New beginning

2011-01-24T17:43:00.000-08:00

Goodness! It's been a long time since I've written anything on here!

You might think that either I've had absolutely nothing to do or that I've been so busy I've had no time.
The latter is more like it.

Seems I'm always busy with life.

I'm busy selling Avon....or trying to.
I'm busy being a homemaker.
I'm busy being a wife.
I'm busy being a grandma.
I'm busy being just whatever each day brings.

There seems to be very little time left over for any little things that I might want to do just for me!

BUT, life is what it is. The grand kids won't be young forever and each time any one of them gives me a hug then I am reminded that all my wishes have been granted.

So this year I am going with the motto "There is always, always, always something to be thankful for".
I am going to be VERY THANKFUL for the MANY BLESSINGS that I have in my life and also try each week to do one tiny little thing that I want to do.....just for me, even if it's just sitting here at this laptop tying some crazy thoughts that go through my old brain!

The in-between stage?

2010-09-12T18:03:00.000-07:00

I have a birthday in about 8 days. I won't say how old I'll be but , well in a very few short years I'll qualify for social security benefits.

Today I went shopping at a clothing store. I have a couple of occasions approaching that I need to have something decent to wear.
Looking in my closet this morning all I see are Levi's, t-shirts, flip flops and tennis shoes. Oh lets not forget those comfy sweat pants!
This is my life.
This is my "style" - the laid back comfy style of I never go anywhere or do anything special life style.
So when something comes up once in a blue moon , such as a friends wedding, I then realize I have nothing to wear.

All I had in mind to buy was a pair of black slacks and some sort of nice top. Then also needed a pair of comfy decent shoes.
all I have to say is "UGH".

My mind says that I'm a young active girl who likes to be in current style of some sort.......BUT also wants to be comfortable.........AND doesn't want to look like an older person who's trying to look young ...but doesn't.
Ya know, those people we see out there who are obviously OLDer yet insist on wearing clothes that belong on my granddaughter! That is what I do not ever want to look like!
However......I also do not want to look like I'm 20 years older than I am! I don't do the plaid elastic waist polyester pants with the gauze type flowered button blouse , ankle socks and slip on canvas shoes.

YET, as I'm browsing around this nice big clothing store I realize that there is no in between!

So what am I? I don't fit into either category! All the clothing on the racks are the styles for the younger or the older! So again..........UGH.

In desperation I begin grabbing things as I walk by the racks and throwing them into the cart. I figure I'll just try on as many things as possible and maybe something will meet the in-between stage that I'm in.

As I'm trying on clothes I begin to wonder am I really in that in-between stage or am I just fooling myself into thinking I'm younger than I really am?
The discoloration of the skin on my chest as I'm trying on this blouse makes me wonder...........and the wrinkled sagging skin hanging down from my arms by the armpits as I'm trying on this sleeveless top makes me cringe!
The roll of .......whatever that is around my waist makes these pants look disgusting!
And what about the horrible colors and designs on every rank in the store! I look like a circus clown that threw up!

The pile of "nope not that" is getting bigger and the pile of "maybe a possibility" is very small.

Finally, after feeling like I've been in this store for about three weeks I give in. I settle on some black slacks that seem to fit well enough that I can sit down and not loose my last meal. I pick one top that is indeed sleeveless but I like it and it's comfortable. I decide that since the top is sleeveless I'll allow myself to buy the sweater to wear also. I did find some very comfy flat shoes and I have to giggle because the style is a "MaryJane" style which is the same style that I wore in high school! They were the most comfortable of all the shoes I tried on and comfort comes first for me now.

So there it is. Black slacks. Sleeveless top that is black with pretty blue swirls on it. A mid-length black wrap around sweater and some comfy black shoes.
Yes the dominate color is black. There was pretty much no other choice. Everything in the store is now the "fall/winter" style and the colors are all dark and dreary. I'll have to search through my jewelry to see what I can use to lighten it up some.
At least the wedding I'm going to is next month and I guess that October will be alright for dark and dreary! ha!

Besides, I'll be sitting in the back of the room anyway staring at the wrinkles on my hands and my MaryJane shoes!

and so it begins.......

2010-09-06T14:33:00.000-07:00

Well it was a nice summer. Must of had fun because they say that time flies when your having fun and it sure seemed to go by fast!
I had plans of all sorts of things to do with the grand kids during the summer and didn't quite get through that list!

We did spend a few days at the beautiful bay. I could just move there! LOVE it there! It's the one place that we can go with or without the kids and just sit back and enjoy God's beautiful creations

We went to the zoo at least three times. The museums. The science center. Played baseball and tennis at the park. Used the swimming pool several times. Played the Wii numerous times.
We had sleep overs , treasure hunts, spy games and built forts.

All in all it was a good summer.

Now tomorrow school begins and so begins a whole different schedule. Things are changing. As of right now I'll be taking Conner to preschool two mornings a week and picking up Kyle from school four days a week. However, Vanessa doesn't know if she will be one of the chosen to be laid off as her company is now downsizing.
It's soccer season so there are practices and games that I will be going to and helping with the transportation.
Baseball season is almost over so Jim will be home more.
Ryan will be starting a brand new school this year.
Nathan and Sarah will be home schooled without their older brother for the first time.

Yep, it's all changing. But then life is all about changing right?

A Day Off

2010-08-30T20:50:00.000-07:00

I watch my grandsons Tuesday through Friday. I'm busy on weekends. So on Mondays when I see people who know that I watch my grandsons they say to me " enjoy your day off".

So today, which is Monday, I :

got up at 6:30am.
watered yard
got a cup of coffee and banana
drove dog to the groomers
drove to the post office
drove to Target store
got my hair trimmed
came home and ate lunch
started laundry
got online and prepared package label for returning Avon item.
put one load in dryer and another in washer
baked two sheets of dog treats
folded one load of laundry and put another in dryer
worked on a "treasure hunt " game that the kids have been begging me to do
drove to the UPS office and dropped off the Avon package
stopped at a store to find a dog bed
drove to the groomers to pick up the dog
brought dog home
made a smoothie for Jim and I
cleaned up kitchen
began preparing stuff needed to go to the bay tomorrow with the kids.......this included,
making sandwiches, cutting up carrot & celery sticks, packing towels and sand toys, putting chairs and umbrella in trunk, putting bottles of water in refrigerator to get cold.
Pulled out the crock pot to use in morning to prepare spaghetti sauce so we can have spaghetti when we get home from the bay.
cleaned up kitchen
came in this office and began to put away all the Avon paperwork that I had thought I was going to organize today but since it's late it can wait.
Took a shower.
It's now 9pm.............oh yeah, there's still a load of laundry in the dryer needing to be folded!

I can't wait to go to the bay tomorrow and relax and have a nice day off!

Beach Bump

2010-07-26T18:04:00.000-07:00

So we decided that we'd take our dog to dogs beach on Saturday. It's a beautiful beach area and on one side of the pier they allow dogs to run free without leashes.

The dogs are like a bunch of little kids in a playground. It's so fun to watch them. They never fight. Some like to just walk and relax. Some like to jump in the water and ride the waves.

Pepper just loves it. He romps around with a smile on his face wagging his tail and greeting all the other dogs.

Jim and I like to watch Pepper and the other dogs and we also just like the ocean air and relaxing walk................

But there are also dogs who love to run as fast as they possibly can after their play toys. Those play toys are the most important thing on their minds at the time and nothing,,,,,,,,,,,,,nothing better get in their way...............

and that includes little old ladies like me! As a dog came running through us so fast I can't even tell you what type of dog it was it caught the side of my leg/hip and being on the sand I lost my balance and went tumbling down!

So with a large lump on the front/side of my right leg and sore muscles all the way from my hip to my toes I will from now on have eyes in the back of my head as I take my relaxing walks along the beach!

oh, and no I do not wear a red dress with heels to walk on the beach :)

Drained or not?

2010-07-20T16:35:00.000-07:00

Why is it that some days I feel like I've been bitten by a vampire during the night and all sources of energy have been drained out of me and then other days I feel just fine?
Doesn't seem to matter what I eat or do the day before or how much sleep I get.

For the last several days all I've wanted to do but couldn't do was sleep. I just wanted to lie on the couch in front of the TV and veg out.

This morning I woke up at 6am. Just woke right up without the alarm and was wide awake.
Today I've done two loads of laundry, broiled steak, baked homemade dog treats, cleaned the kitchen- twice, drove to the vacum repair shop and dropped off my vacum, brushed the dog, drove to pick up my vacum.........and I'm still wide awake!
I want to feel like this every day but Murphys Law -- tomorrow when the two boys get here I'll feel drained again before the day even starts!

Just don't go

2010-06-21T19:39:00.000-07:00

Ya know, I think it would be easier if we just stayed home all the time and sat out in the back yard and listened to the birds and the wind chimes........ahhhh.

But life just isn't so simple.

Going to get an oil change in your car is like going to the dentist. Why is that?

I don't like going to the dentist. First of all , it hurts. Second of all it hurts worse after I go than it did before I went! I go for a routine cleaning and come out with sore gums and an appointment for all the extra work they say I need done.
Well that is how it is with the car.

I go in for a routine oil change and waa-laa, they tell me my rear brakes are in need of replacing.
Now maybe some things I can put off till the last minute but the brakes! ?? I don't think so.
So now I need to figure out when I can go back to sit for an hour or so and get the brakes fixed and in the meantime grow a money tree to pay for this extra expense I didn't plan on.

And to add to this wonderful gifts of life that we are given our refrigerator/freezer has decided to leak water onto the floor. Seems that it thinks it needs to create a frozen lake at the bottom of the freezer which as the water runs down onto this frozen lake it slides over the ice and out the door onto the floor.
As of right now there is a dish towel on the bottom of the freezer which is soaking up the water so that it doesn't flood the floor until the repair man comes to our house tomorrow. Can't wait to see his expression when he see's this frozen towel!
And of course until he shows up I have no idea how much that is going to cost.

They say when it rains it pours..............well I live in sunny California and it's not suppose to rain here!
Not having much luck growing that money tree either!

Wasting Time?

2010-05-17T13:17:00.000-07:00

So what does it mean exactly to "waste time" ?

There is never enough time it seems. Yet time has never changed over the years. There is and always has been 24 hours in a day, 7 days a week since I was born ( many years ago ), so why does it seem that the older I get the faster time goes ?

How does one waste time?

I always, ALWAYS, have things I need to do. I'm a list maker. I have a list about 2 miles long of things that I could, should or would do "if I had enough time".

But really, how does a person actually waste time?

Is it really wasting time if you sit and do nothing? Are you really doing nothing?
You breath. You think. ..........gosh, my mind never seems to shut down. If I'm "doing nothing" and sitting still for five minutes my mind is constantly thinking of all the things that I should get up to do!
So how can one do nothing? Is that actually possible?

If I decide to type on this blog am I wasting time because I'm not finishing the laundry or making a grocery list?
If I decide to take a nap ( which is rarely done ) am I wasting time? My body is refreshing itself. My muscles are recuperating from the busy workout with the grand kids. My health is healing itself. So how can lying still and relaxing become "wasting time" ? Shouldn't we allow ourselves to relax once in awhile?

Don't we all just need to give in and give it all up once in a while? Forget about all the hubbub of the day, the stress, the long list of to-do's?
Can I actually do that?

Maybe instead of calling it "wasting time" we should say we are making a choice to accomplish something else. Maybe I should put that on my to-do list. #52 - accomplish something different today.

Accomplishing something..............hummmm, that is a whole different subject. I'll have to wait until I have more "time" to write about that!

Avon

2010-04-23T21:16:00.000-07:00

I've begun a new venture. I'm now an Avon Sales Representative!
www.youravon.com/msebastian0230

For quite some time I've tried to think of a way to make a little extra cash while being a wife, grandma, caregiver, homemaker and whatever else I need to be.
Trying to do something that I can do from home and that doesn't require driving around to do home parties or too much "extra" work was a hard thing to find.

I've played with the idea of Avon for a while. I resisted because I am not one to wear much makeup and I'm allergic to most perfumes. I didn't want to try to sell something that I could not use myself.

Well, I did some research. I began looking on the Avon website and noticed that the company has expanded quite a bit since I had last looked! They have everything now! Not only makeup and perfume but great skin care products, body care products, jewelry, clothes, shoes, purses, watches, and more!
Then I also noticed that they support raising funds for breast cancer research, domestic violence, and women who need support. They are very strong in helping women to be strong!

So I took a leap of faith and I contacted the local representative. She came to my home and I signed up!

Now here's the real news! I barely had time to look at my start up kit and had my first orders! I have been very blessed to have great friends and family that have helped me get started in my new business.
I am amazed at how easy it is to sell! Women everywhere know and love Avon! I give my website, catalog or business card to a person I know and the next thing I know I have people I don't know ordering from me!

I am now on my third campaign. There is a new campaign every two weeks so I've been a representative for one month.
I want to have orders each and every campaign. That is my goal. When the new one started today I begin to wonder who I can approach for an order. What should I do now!
Then I'm blessed with a phone call this morning from a friend that I had left my catalog with. She's a hairdresser and one of her customers wants to order $50 worth of products!

I'm now using the skin care products and a little bit of makeup and loving the way it makes me feel!

So if your looking for great products to use for yourself or as a gift........everything and anything from deodorant to jewelry check out my website! Or if your looking for a part time job with a great company contact me!
www.youravon.com/msebastian0230

2010-04-10T19:57:00.000-07:00

Quakes, Avon, kids and weather.............seems I just haven't had any time to sit and write much lately.
I haven't been looking at recipes either to use for my recipe blog. Been just throwing things in the pan and when it's done we eat!

We've had SEVERAL earthquakes starting with the big 7.2 on Easter Sunday. Still having them as of today. So far our home has held up well and we are all in one piece. Feel bad for those who live further south and getting the worst of it though.

I signed up as an Avon representative. I'm a little overwhelmed at the moment because I haven't had the time to get a feeling of organization yet. I am going to try to spend the next two days doing some filing and organizing. I plan to put an ad in the local newsletter that goes around this mobile home park on the first of May and want to be ready in case it gets some attention!
I am pleased though that I'm in the second campaign already and even though I've felt very unorganized somehow have managed to get over $100 in orders each time!
I inherited this beautiful old roll top desk from my mother-in-law and using it for my office space in a little corner of my front room. I can even close my office by rolling it down!

With school in spring break the last two weeks I've been extra busy with both boys here most of the days. Took them to the zoo this week and kept busy figuring out things for them to do all day.

Weather has been just weird. Rain, sun, wind, it changes every few days. Which is making my sinuses and my arthritis do a dance that I don't like!

Baseball season has started. Jim is going back to work as an usher beginning on Monday.

SO, with school starting , Jim working, some time to get Avon organized.......maybe the quakes will quiet down and all will be at peace again!

Happy St. Patricks Day!

2010-03-17T08:28:00.000-07:00

Lost or Found?

2010-03-13T15:58:00.000-08:00

So what would you do if you were walking through a parking lot with no one else around and there on the ground in front of you is a folded up $20 bill? -

You know it's not yours. It did not fall out of your pocket or purse. There is no one walking in front of you that dropped it. There is no one within close enough range to yell to and ask if they just dropped it. In fact there is no one around at all. -

Do you feel lucky that you found it? -
Do you feel guilty that you are standing there with money that belongs to someone else?

Today is full of tough times. People need that extra $20 to buy milk & lunch meat for the week or to put gas in their car to get to work. -
Yet as you stand there with this now unfolded money you look around you as you spin around in circles to see if there is anyone in close range that may have dropped it......and there is no one. -

What do you do? What do you think? What do you do? Does it depend on the situation of the day? Does it depend on the location? How does one go about finding the rightful owner? -

Realistically if you take that money to lost & found what do you think will happen to it? Is there a lost and found bucket full of lost bills of numerous denominations that hasn't been claimed yet? Or is there a person who works at the lost & found who is now approaching the status of millionaire with all the lost and found money that has been given to them? Would a person walk up to a lost and found and simply ask "hey, has anyone turned in a twenty dollar bill today?". Do you get on the loud speaker and announce that you found money in the parking lot and see if anyone comes to claim it?

Well, I don't know what you would do but in a parking lot full of vehicles and absolutely no one around to claim or ask it was decided that it was a nice day to go out to lunch. :)
-

2010-02-28T18:32:00.000-08:00

Spent my day today on the couch with plenty to drink, the TV remote, a book to read and a supply of Kleenex.
The head cold bug seems to have bitten me. Since I had a day with no plans made it was the perfect opportunity to rest and recover.

Hopefully no one else will be sick and I will be over the worst of it by tomorrow morning.

2010-02-26T19:15:00.000-08:00

I have learned something about myself these last few days. I'm not as much of a "go with the flow" as I assumed I was or as I used to be.
Most of my days I wake up and wonder what will come my way that day because my days are filled with the schedules of everyone in my life and seldom under my control.
However, I did have some sort of schedule going that I had begun to get used to.

But now it's gotten mixed and confused. Not by my choice or my control of course. Not by any ones choice or control.

My son was laid off from his job. Not only that but he is without a vehicle at this moment. Not a good combination.
So he and my daughter-in-law have to work it out day by day who will need their van that day. It all depends on if she needs to drive somewhere while on her lunch break, if he has places lined up to apply for work, or what might be going on with the kids.

So all of this makes my days confused and out of control and I"m a little grumpy. I don't know day by day if I will have the boys or not. If I do have them I don't know if it will be all day, partial day, or if I will need to pick them up or drop them off!
It's not their fault. It's nobodies fault. It was not planned and not wanted. But it is what it is so we all need to go with the flow.

So I'm praying for miracles. Praying for guidance, strength ,patience and blessings for all of us. Not just me but for all of us, especially my son.

Kids, Hubby and Dog

2010-02-22T17:36:00.000-08:00

I haven't been on here much lately. I've been busy.

One thing that keeps me busy is my crazy hyper dog.

Here you see the before and after photos. His hair grows and becomes unruly covering his eyes. After taking him to the groomers he is now bright eyed and happy.

Once a week I take my grandson to a preschool class and once a week to a music class. It is a joy to watch him enjoy himself. Last week his preschool had a field trip to a gymnastics class. He loved it! He also had a homework assignment for his music class to make his own instruments from misc. items. He also loved that!

My hubby is anxiously waiting for baseball season to start. He will begin his venture as an usher again for the Padres. A job he is truly enjoying. He also will begin playing his Strat-o-matic baseball games again. Which is one of his loved hobbies. So daily I hear all about the plans and excitement that has been building up. He's like a little kid waiting for Santa to arrive.

2010-02-05T17:42:00.000-08:00

It's in the air......or on the doorknobs! Grand kids are all getting sick with sore throats, stuffy noses, and feeling yucky and us adults are all trying to avoid it while taking care of the kids!

Be Careful What You Wish For!

2010-01-22T22:30:00.000-08:00

Down here in Southern California it gets pretty hot and very dry for an extremely long time. So dry that you can taste the dust in the air and get very tired of dusting your house over and over. So hot that you don't want to move and can't stand to pay the a/c bill.
Yes, we are blessed by great weather most of the time, but the very hot spells are sometimes just too long and in need of a cool break. It's the dryness that I can't stand. There are just too many months that go by with no rain at all and we often get warnings of water shortages. Everything just feels so dry and dirty and the only way to fix that is to ask God to give us some rain from time to time.

The only problem is that when God does decide to give the rain to us he gives it to us all at once!

Guess what happens to land when it is so dry and suddenly a bucket of water is poured over it....yep, mud slides.
Guess what happens to trees that don't have deep roots in dry dirt....yep, they fall down.
Guess what happens to people who aren't used to rain, wind, lighting when they are driving....yep, accidents.
Guess what happens to roofs that haven't been wet in almost a year......yep, all the loose parts show up with leaks.

So as we try to be safe and not get swept away in the flooded areas or blown away by the 80 mile per hour winds or crushed by the falling trees or irritated by the expense of needed repairs - we need to be thankful for the rain.

Recipe Blog

2010-01-17T15:09:00.000-08:00

Since January 1st Jim and I have been trying to eat healthier. I've been trying several new recipes. I have always gotten a little chuckle out of my hubby walking through the house saying "yum,that smells good" as I am cooking something. It may just be that I'm sauteing onions at the time but he always comments. So today as I'm cooking another new recipe he walks through with his nose up in the air sniffing away and saying how good it smells and the thought came to me to journal my efforts to cook healthier and what the results turn out to be.

I can't journal on paper due to the arthritis makes my hands hurt so instead I'm blogging it because typing doesn't seem to hurt as writing does.

Check out the link on the left sidebar.

Grief & Hope

2010-01-13T07:27:00.000-08:00
Recently we received some very terrible news about a long time friend who committed suicide and took his wife with him.
My hubby has taken this news very hard. Over the past 22 years he had enjoyed many occasions of laughter and conversation with his friend. There was never any signs of such an tragedy to occur.

People have ups and downs in their lives. There are many obstacles in ones life that can be depressing or disappointing. There are illnesses and depressing events that sneak up on us.

But there is an invisible door. On the other side of that door there is a dark evil place waiting to swallow us up into the point of no return.

One must wonder what causes a person to open that door.

We all walk up to that door sometime during our life but then we must remember our many blessings and turn around and walk the other way. Sometimes it's a hard climb up the mountain to the other side, but it is worth the effort.

We need encouragement to keep us walking back over that mountain, strength to keep us there, and the knowledge that we are loved and cared for.
We live in this world but it is not of this world that we will find that amount of love.

"nothing can ever separate us from his love. Death can't, and life can't. The angels can't, and the demons can't. Our fears for today, our worries about tomorrow, and even the powers of hell can't keep God's love away. Whether we are high above the sky or in the deepest ocean, nothing in all creation will ever be able to separate us from the love of God that is revealed in Christ Jesus our Lord."
Romans 8; 38-39
We have hope in the knowledge that God has given us that love.
.

Happy New Year :)

2009-12-28T18:09:00.000-08:00

Make a Smilebox invite

CHRISTMAS 2009

2009-12-25T19:04:00.000-08:00
The Gift of the Day!
Ryan drew this picture himself with pastels and he decided to have it framed and give it to his Uncle Lance!

It was a great day! Both inside and outside ~!

Yeah! The food is almost ready~!

The Nerf darts were a big hit~!

The cat enjoyed just watching it all!

presents were plenty....:)

Conner had his speedy hands ready!

Good company and conversation!

Lots of Love to share...:)

Jim and his brother Dan enjoying the day!

Jim's mom enjoyed it too!

Sarah wanted a Twister game!

Nathan played with his Ninento DS ALL DAY!

Ryan was quite the rock star!

2009-12-19T22:44:00.000-08:00
We wish all of you a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Waiting Faithfully

2009-12-14T20:50:00.000-08:00
Dogs are so faithful.
They love the ones they are with totally and faithfully.
Every morning Pepper waits for Conner to come in that front door.

He watches and waits...........

He waits and watches.............
It's a sad and disappointed dog on the days that plans change and for some reason Conner doesn't come over when he's suppose to. .............

Wait....was that the door I heard?..................

No, just the neighbor.......it's a sad day.

2009-12-08T19:49:00.000-08:00

Now this is what life should be all about. To be able to relax enough to not even care if someone has a camera right in your face!

Take time every day to relax and enjoy!

More to be Thankful for

2009-11-21T20:06:00.001-08:00
So much has been on my mind lately. So much talk on the news of changing health plans and interviews with Sarah Palin. They keep repeatedly asking her about her choice to keep her baby at her age even though she knew he'd have Down Syndrome.
With Thanksgiving this week and thinking of all the things that I have to be thankful for there is one most important thing in my life................which is simply my life.
My parents were 41 years old when I was born. They gave me life. They didn't know what my health would be. In the 1950's there were no sonograms or tests to see if I'd have Down Syndrome. They had no idea what sex I would be. They simply knew that they were going to have a baby. They barely had enough money to get by and support the children they had. I don't even know if they had any health insurance.
But I am positive that it never came to their minds that there might be a choice. They gave me life.
I am thankful that my parents gave me a loving home. I am thankful that my older brother and two sisters love me.
Yes, I have much to be thankful for............

I have much to be thankful for

2009-11-20T12:18:00.000-08:00

2009-11-20T12:08:00.000-08:00

Memories of Thanksgivings past are full of family fun, laughter and warm hellos with hugs.

Present days there are more of the family to fill the home with even more fun, laughter and warmth.

I am thankful for all the blessings that God has filled my life with.

I am even more thankful for all the joys and blessings that are to come into the future.

BE THANKFUL!

Just another day at Grandma's

2009-11-17T15:38:00.001-08:00
Conner fell asleep after eating a big lunch..........(which is why I have time to post these!)

Kyle is watching a Godzilla movie............

Over the weekend Kyle, Conner and their two other cousins had too much fun with red permanent markers, this is Conner's back which says "I am Crazy "...

Papa is playing trains with Conner..............

and Pepper decided to lie down next to the baby doll and take a nap! .....

2009-11-16T22:10:00.000-08:00
Did any of you watch the CBS 60 minute show on Sunday night? http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2009/11/12/60minutes/main5629962.shtml

I will not look at a chicken in the same way again. I hadn't thought of the similarities until now.

How about some hot dinosaur wings for an appetizer? Or dinosaur drumsticks for lunch?

If you didn't see the show let me tell you I thought it a little creepy when they showed the microscopic slides of the inside of a dinosaur bone and found blood veins and vessels that appeared to still be active.

I would like to ask those scientists exactly HOW do they determine that anything is 80 million years old? How do you even begin to figure that out?
Those of us who are Christians know this is not possible , but even putting that aside I just do not understand it.
Where do they start? Trees have circles to count. What does dirt have? What do rocks have? What in the heck does anything have that could possibly PROVE it could be that old? Aren't scientists all about the proof?

And then there is this crazy man who wants to "make" a dinosaur! He says he can take a chicken and make it into a dinosaur..............AH, WHY?
Why do we need to have dinosaurs here and now?
But then why do we need to have cloned sheep?

So what about turkeys?
Enjoy your dinosaur meal this Thanksgiving!

Dazed, Crazed, and Confused

2009-11-09T17:48:00.000-08:00

So if your ready for a long story of my adventures with Kaiser today read on.........

I needed to get some routine blood tests done for my cholesterol. I'm not looking forward to the results but it needs to be done. I had made an appointment to get the test done at 8:20am. I go up the elevator to the second floor.
I get there and there is a long line. I am checked in at 8:24am. She tells me there is no "work up" on the computer. I show her the letter I had received telling me I was due. She then suddenly finds it in her computer.
They were very confused this morning. They have a number system for those who don't make appts. They were giving those checking in numbers such as #12 and yet on the screen they were calling for #14.
They call me in for my blood tests and I sat there wondering if she was going to poke me in the right place because it was as if I was invisible as she and the other nurses were all talking about some friend of theirs.

I leave the lab and go down elevator to the 1st floor and check in at the optometrist office. I am called into my check up appointment at 9:15am. It was my first visit with this eye doctor and she was very nice. She confirmed that I do need to use Restasis for my chronic dry eyes.
I explain to her that the last time I had it refilled was in April by my family physician when our insurance changed over to Kaiser. I was now COMPLETELY out of the eye drops and need a new prescription ASAP.
She starts to tell me that she will forward the prescription by her computer to the pharmacy within the Kaiser building.
I explain to her that with our retirement insurance we CANNOT get our prescriptions at Kaiser without paying full price for them. That I NEED a WRITTEN prescription that I mail to Prescription Solutions and then I only pay $10.oo for a three month supply.
SHE TELLS ME SHE CANNOT WRITE OUT A PRESCRIPTION THAT ALL OPTOMETRY PRESCRIPTIONS MUST GO THROUGH THE COMPUTER.

Now this sounds a little weird to me but what do I know.
She suggest that I ask my physician to give me another written prescription. So I tell her to send the prescription over to the pharmacy and I'll pay for it this one time because I'm completely out and my eyes need them. In the meantime I'll ask my physician for a written one to mail in. Good plan right!
WRONG

So I walk across the hall to the pharmacy.
I go the line to "check in"and wait behind four other people.
I check in and they tell me to sit and wait for my name to show up on the screen and then go to the center line.
so I sit,,,,,, and sit,,,,,,, and sit..............................
20 minutes later I see my name-- whooo whoo!
I go to the center line and wait behind three other people.
I then get up to the counter and he tells me they are completely out of this type of eye drops and cannot fill the prescription. They will have to order it........................

I stand there dumbfounded for a minute. The fact that I've been fasting since 7pm last night for the blood work to be done and now it's after 10:00am and I'm still in this crazy building full of idiots is starting to give me a headache!

So I go back UP the elevator to the 2nd floor to the office of my physician. I can just get a written prescription from her right!
I have to wait in the line to "check in" and I wait behind five other people..........
I get to the counter.
She is asking me why I'm there..........?? why am I here??
I try my best to explain this STUPID situation.
She tells me to go knock on the door with 2B on it and ask to speak to my physicians nurse......I go........I knock.
A nurse opens the door and wonders why I'm there............?? why am I??? oh geezzee.....I have to explain this again........I'm trying to explain and she's looking at me like I've grown green and purple warts all over my face........

She tells me to go to the counter.....I go and there is another woman...........and I have to try to explain this ALL OVER AGAIN.
SHE tells me that she has to send my doctor a message. Now I know that my doctor is only a few feet away in one of those rooms with a patient but I need to keep myself contained or they will be mopping up the itty bitty pieces of me that have exploded all over their office.
So I am told that a "message" will be sent to my physician to approve the written prescription and they will call me when it's ready to be picked up. Minutes? Hours? Days?..........?????

It's now somewhere around 11:00am. My head is throbbing and my stomach is growling.
Jim has been following me around as my support to keep me from loosing ground.

We leave and drive to a cafe to get food. As I'm looking at the menu my cell phone rings. I'm thinking---- yeah, the prescription will be ready to pick up after we eat................wrong.
The person is telling me that my physician cannot write out a prescription for eye drops that is diagnosed by an optometrist........HUH?. I tell her that she has already done this last April . She tells me that she only did that because I was a new patient.
I think my tongue is swollen now because I cannot speak.

She tells me that they have called the Optometrist and that "she will be taking care of it"...........WHAT IN THE HECK IS THAT SUPPOSE TO MEAN?

I eat. I go home. I call the Optometrist office. They tell me that they received the message and will be calling me back.............................

At 12:30pm my cell phone rings........miracles have happened and somehow she was able to WRITE out a prescription for my eye drops!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

So for over THREE HOURS I walked in circles and rode the elevator up and down and drove across town twice just to end up back in the same office to get my written prescription!!!
It is already in the mail. I will just have to go a week without drops and live with dry eyes.
Oh , and the best part of all.......I get home after picking up the prescription and get my mail. There is a letter from Kaiser telling us they've raised the payment for our monthly insurance another $62 !!!

Camping out at grandma's

2009-11-07T23:13:00.001-08:00
Kyle, almost 8yrs old and Conner 3yrs old. Camping out at our home tonight so that mom & dad can have a night out at the movies.

I told Kyle that as long as he behaved he could stay up as late as he wanted to and we'd eat popcorn and watch movies...........he was sound asleep at 8:30pm! lol

Conner, well he ate the popcorn and watched the entire Monsters, Inc. movie and four Little Bear episodes before he fell asleep beside his brother at 10:15pm!

Papa's been in bed for over an hour now and it's time this ol grandma lays herself down on the couch and camps out also! :)

baseball

2009-11-02T19:37:00.000-08:00
Does baseball season ever end?..........not in my house!
I am blessed to have a husband who doesn't drink, doesn't play around, doesn't spend an excess of money, doesn't abuse me, and loves me dearly.
However he also loves baseball :)
Let me just say that he didn't even know I took this photo of him. He's busy watching the World Series game. I could probably stand on my head in the corner with a yellow glowing bikini on and he'd not notice!
Who's his favorite team??? All of them! He is in a Strat-o-Matic baseball league. One might ask what that is............well, to explain it simply it's a baseball game like a board game without the board. What? You don't understand?
Ok. He and several other men belong in this group of strat-o-matic baseball. They all love the game. They buy cards that have all the stats of all----ALL the baseball players. They have drafts to form teams. Each man is the "manager" of the team they have drafted. So during the baseball "season" they roll dice and follow the stats on the card to see if they got a home run or base hit. simple right. They get together and play these games and have a lot of fun. They even have their own "world series" games. They , as managers of their teams, make player trades.
It all involves a lot of numbers and stats and knowing what all the various baseball players are doing in the real games.................therefore he must watch ALL the real games! Of course since he LOVES the game this is not a chore for him!
You might say that it's great and fun for him during the baseball season..............season?..........so right now the World Series is playing. The regular baseball season is technically over. However, come December these guys need to order their new stratomatic cards for the next season to come. They need to schedule their draft which they usually do in February. Then they get their teams ready and get ready to start playing and start scheduling their dates to get together to play. It just continues!
Yes, I'm blessed to have a husband who loves baseball.

2009-10-26T21:14:00.000-07:00

I remember as a little kid getting so excited about Halloween. Deciding what to dress up in and putting on my costume and there I was all hidden inside of some other creature or character. I could be anything or anyone I wanted to be for one night.
Of course there was the anticipation of how much candy I would get and how much of it would be my very favorite to eat!

As I've grown the excitement of it has worn down and I wonder what this holiday is really suppose to be all about.
As a Christian what are we suppose to be celebrating?

I decided that it should NOT be about Satan or the dead but it can be a time for children to just pretend.
A night for kids to pretend to be whatever they want to be. Dress up as their favorite character and pretend that no one knows who they really are.

I don't think it is safe anymore for kids to go door to door to the homes of strangers asking for handouts. There are just too many crazed and confused people out there now. But there are many carnivals and local known neighborhoods of friends that can serve the same purpose. Or have your own family party.

So with all that said.............Happy Halloween! Have a safe and fun night of complete freedom to be whatever and whoever you want to be!

I'm Starting-------AGAIN

2009-10-16T17:41:00.000-07:00
Today I had a talk with myself............

Getting to the gym regularly is like walking through cement................

But with all the excuses we make every day usually the only thing stopping us from doing things for ourself is ourselves........................

Jim can go to the gym almost whenever he wants to and he does............

So I told myself today I need to take better care of myself by eating healthier foods.............

Heart disease runs in the family and I need to take better care of mine..............

I need to use my Wii and exercise at home whenever I can and as often as I can............that's why I bought it!

It's all about lifestyle choices..................

I need to build up my strength to keep up with my busy schedule and have a lifetime of fun with my grand kids.................

And if I keep it up and stick with it.......................who knows how much better I'll feel about myself !!!!!.......................

Cars.........................

2009-10-07T12:51:00.001-07:00

Sometimes I wish we could just go back to the horse and buggy days. All you needed then was a hammer, nails, a barn and some hay!

Yesterday I was dropping the boys off at home and Kyle gets out of the car and says "something stinks like it's burning". Turns out---- it was my car!

So Lance opens the hood and checks it out and sure enough there is a hose thingy with a big hole in it on one side and a cap on some other thing that is broken!

So today we did the driving of my car and Jim's truck to the car repair shop and then switched Conner's car seat over to Jim's truck and left the car for the day. Those car seats are just way too much fun to install. Did you ever try push down on your knees while twisting to one side inside of a two foot space?,
and we get to do it all over again when my car is done!

And the most thrilling part of all is the excitement and anticipation of how much this is all going to cost and how it certainly wasn't planning into our end of the year budget!

But these days seems we just don't have much choice when it comes to the use of cars! oh well!

Painting Leaves

2009-10-01T15:13:00.000-07:00
While taking the dog on a walk we picked up a few leaves. They make wonderful art projects. I love to just lay it all out on the table, give a couple of directions and then let their little minds flow.................................

Conner's Field Trip

2009-09-29T17:12:00.000-07:00
Today Conner's preschool went to Oma's Pumpkin Patch & Dairy Farm

He got to ride a saucer down a giant cotton seed hill............

He got to run through a maze of hay..............

He got to see a calve that was born this morning! ( see the liquid from the placenta!)

He got to go into the goats cage............which he wasn't too thrilled about lol!

He got to ride on a wagon and see all the cows eating............

He got to learn how to milk a cow................

And he got to pick out a pumpkin to take home!!

Spa Day

2009-09-27T19:13:00.000-07:00
I had the most wonderful day with my daughter today!!

She had a gift certificate that her hubby had given her for her birthday and I had won $$ from the birthday casino dinner my hubby took me to.
Eddie could stay home with all the kids and the Charger football game on was on so he invited Jim to watch it with him while he was home with the kids. So it was the perfect day to spend our day at the spa!

We both had a European pedicure and manicure ------ahhhhh, the whirlpool warm water soak, the mask, the lotion with a massage up to the knees and up to the elbows while sitting in a massage chair............ahhhh. Completed with the french nails on both feet and hands!
Time for a yummy salad for lunch then the next appointment was for our European facials! One full hour of cleansing, exfoliating, moisturizing, and massaging on the face, neck & shoulders while lying on a comfy table listening to soft music and the smells of sweet comforting candles..................were we floating on clouds??

Totally relaxed and feeling wonderful we left the spa just in time to walk to the theater and buy our tickets to see the new movie "Fame". What a fun movie! Of course we had our bag of popcorn.

After the movie we treated ourselves to some Cold Stone ice cream (( shhh !! )) .

We had about an hour of time so we did something we never get to do together without kids............we shopped for clothes on the clearance racks at Macy's!!
We tried on clothes and showed each other as we tried them on and laughed so hard we had tears rolling down our freshly moisturized faces!!
We did find a couple of good bargain summer tops :)

So now we are home and back to reality and it is all just a dream until next time!
We are telling our hubby's that this is what they can give us for every occasion that requires a gift in the future. They never have to wonder what to give us now!

My birthday gift!!

2009-09-20T23:15:00.000-07:00
Yeah! Jim and I went to the casino nearby to have my birthday dinner at the buffet. We decided to play a few machines while we were there. I played the 2 cent progressive machine AND I WON $1100 !!!! Happy Birthday to Me!!

Lisa got a gift certificate for her birthday a couple of weeks ago. So next Sunday Lisa and I are taking ourselves to a spa for facials, manicures and pedicures!!!

The 80's

2009-09-13T16:40:00.000-07:00
Finally a day in the 80 degrees. The high 80's but at least we didn't have to have the a/c on today and were able to leave the windows open with the fans on. Actually right now is the hottest part of the day when the sun is blazing on the front room windows but know that in an hour that will be gone and the air will send a nice breeze through the windows again.
Sorry to say that it is suppose to heat up again by the end of this week.

It's been a very relaxing day. We took the dog to the beach first thing in the morning and walked around there for an hour and then came home. I baked some Cranberry Crumb Coffee Cake and we had that with some coffee.

The rest of the day has been taking catnaps and reading books!

Beautful day for a walk

2009-09-07T12:35:00.000-07:00
It's such a beautiful day out today. Jim and I decided to drive to Seaport Village and take the dog for a walk.That's the USS Midway behind Jim.....

That's a statue of Jim and I posing for the camera ............:)

The Coronado bridge.............and a group on their canoes.......

Pepper had a great time and so did we!

It's about a 20 minute drive from our house. A lot of shops and places to eat along the shore and many boats. It was a sunny, breezy , beautiful morning and we got there before the crowds of people and left two hours later when the crowds started to arrive!

Lazy, Hazy day of Summer

2009-09-05T18:06:00.000-07:00

This has been a very lazy day. It is about 93* outside. We have stayed inside with the a/c on. Summer headaches are not fun. Caused by allergies the doctor says.

Jim and I have had a hard time staying awake today. We both have the summer allergy headache. So why fight it? We have been taking catnaps on & off all day long.

zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

Hot Zoo Day!

2009-09-03T14:56:00.000-07:00

Even though it was extremely hot today it was the last available day before Kyle starts 3rd grade next week. He has been asking to go to the zoo. So I packed up Kyle and Conner and the three of us went. We spent four hours there and they were very good and we had a great time! They wanted to stay longer but it was over 100* and Kyle has soccer practice tonight and his feet were getting sore! lol!

we saw sleeping monkeys.....................................................

Swimming polar bears.......................................................................

we saw elephants....................................................................

There was an entire family of adorable Meerkats!.................................

Very cute Koalas!..........................................................................

and of course the snakes!! .......................................................

We had a fun time together!

Grandmas & preschool

2009-09-01T16:20:00.000-07:00
Today I took Conner to his first preschool class of this school year. It's a class full of 3yr-4yr old boys and girls. About 15 -20 of them. He absolutely loves it. So many things to do and discover. So many friends to make and play with. Outdoor climbing and bike riding. Snack time. Parachute time. Music time. Craft time. It's all very wonderful.

I'll be taking him every Tuesday morning from 9am - noon. What I find interesting is that out of the many adults there are several of us that are grandmas! Good to know I'm not the only one!

Soon as we got in the car after the class he drank some milk and immediately slipped into a blissful nap time!! :)

Too much sun?

2009-08-27T11:01:00.000-07:00

So yesterday we spent a very long wonderful day at the bay in the sand, sun and water..................today.............tired boys with sunburn circles around the eyes!

2009-08-26T20:28:00.000-07:00
It's extremely hot here. In the 100's +++ and hotter predicted for tomorrow.........

Jim and Eddie both had things they needed to do today so Lisa took a day off of school and we packed up all the grand kids and headed for the bay. (without my camera)
It was "cooler" there but still hot!

We arrived at the bay at 9am and didn't leave until 4pm! ( at which time it was 93* at the bay!)

All the kids got along beautifully and Lisa and I sat under our beach umbrellas relaxing in our lounge chairs. The kids swam, played on the playground, made sand angels in the sand, ate food and had boogie board races.

By the time we were ready to leave the kids all looked like walking sand statues they were so covered with wet sand! Luckily there is a shower that they stand under to rinse off and change into some dry clothes. Of course REAL showers are due when they get home!

So it was sort of our official last day of summer vacation at the bay since next week is Sept. and school starts for everyone!

Tomorrow is a day inside with the a/c on!

Where are the birds?

2009-08-11T17:48:00.000-07:00

I took Conner and Pepper for a walk today.
I've driven in the car twice today.

Pepper has been extremely hyper today, panting and jumping around. He is usually hyper but today he seems to be above his average hype. Even though he's been out of the house three times today and been given his many bones/treats he seems driven to sit and stare at me while panting and nervously moving about.

Then as I am driving Conner home he says to me "where is the bird?".
Leave it to a three year old to get your mind whirling around and starting to wonder!
Where are the birds today?

We normally have a numerous amount of these large black raven birds flying about and cawing. We normally have several grey mourning doves around our house, sitting on roof tops and looking for bird seed.

I have not seen ONE of either of these birds today! I've hardly seen any birds at all today!
Jim took a large bag of vegetable scraps to give the squirrels and as he waited to watch them run out to eat as they usually do in a group of 4-5 of them it took several minutes before one came creeping out to see what there was to eat.

Do they know something that we don't know? Should I start packing up my belongings and dig an underground shelter? Should I find a safe place to hold on to?
Or are they all just simply taking the day off and relaxing in their nests!

2009-08-08T20:45:00.000-07:00

The full moon we've had this week is beautiful. Something to stare at with awe and wonder.

Something that I just don't understand. There has been more money spent on traveling to the moon than I could ever begin to count.
Can anyone tell me WHY?

With all the trips to the moon to the outer limits of space and beyond, walking on the moon, taking moon samples, moon rocks, etc. Even lives that have been lost in efforts to reach the outer limits.

It's all very exciting BUT what has it done for us? What have we accomplished? What have we proven? Why are we spending so much time and money on these trips. What is the purpose in all this?
Where is the reports on how much it has helped us and that it will help us?

Does anyone else wonder why? Does anyone else think that all the money spent on the trips to space could be used to feed the homeless or improve our earth we live on instead?

Or does anyone out there have the answers for me to explain how all these trips to outer space have and will help us here on this earth?

TREASURE HUNT DAY

2009-08-07T10:49:00.000-07:00
WHILE NATHAN WAS SO VERY, VERY PATIENT TEACHING CONNER HOW TO PLAY ALL THE GAMES ON THE WII........................ KYLE AND SARAH STARTED THEIR TREASURE HUNT BY READING THE FIRST CLUE.....................
THERE WERE CHALLENGES DURING THE TREASURE HUNT SUCH AS BLOWING BUBBLES THROUGH THE PLASTIC TOPS THAT HOLD JUICE BOTTLES.......

SOME CLUES INVOLVED CRAWLING UNDER OBJECTS.............

MORE CHALLENGES SUCH AS PUTTING ON SILLY HATS AND MAKING GOOFY FACES.........

JUMPING JACKS CHALLENGES............AND MANY MORE CLUES..........

CHALLENGES SUCH AS HOPPING ON ONE FOOT TO THE NEXT CLUE........... BLOWING PARTY HORNS AND WALKING BACKWARDS........

THEY FINALLY FOUND THEIR TREASURE!
FAKE MONEY AND A BOX OF BENDAROOS!
YEAH!!!!

THEY THEN SPENT A COUPLE OF HOURS MAKING CREATIONS OUT OF THE BENDAROOS AND WE NOW HAVE A BENDAROO ART GALLERY! :)

Cotton Balls

2009-08-04T15:20:00.000-07:00
It's amazing what you can do with cotton balls..........................
You can push them down a hallway with the spoon in your mouth........

and try to flip them into the cup..............

You can throw them up into the air and try to catch them before they hit the floor............................

You can put them in your ears..............................

You can put them between your toes...............................

You can glue them to paper.........................

and make designs out of them then paint them................

You can put them onto the spoon and then race down the hallway with the spoon in your mouth and see who fills the cup first........

Amazing what you can do with cotton balls..............

Baby Squirrels

2009-08-01T18:03:00.000-07:00
Jim rides the trolley when he goes to work at the ballpark. He also drives by the trolley station when he meets his team members at the bowling alley.
He and other ballpark workers have noticed that the area around the trolley station is nothing but dry dirt with a few large bushes.
They discovered a family of squirrels that live in those bushes. So they have been taking food for them.
When ever I cut up vegetables or fruits we save the trimmings or cores and Jim takes them with him when he goes to bowl or to catch the trolley for work.

So yesterday while Lisa had Kyle at the beach Conner and I drove over to watch him feed the squirrels on his way to bowling.
He dumps the goodies next to the big bush. This time there was a box of stale crackers that I discovered in the pantry to go along with the vegetable trimmings.
We then sat in the car and watched.
Within seconds four baby squirrels and a larger one came in & out of the bush and began munching away!
So now we are the care takers of a bunch of spoiled squirrels and all the extra food trimmings will not go to waste!

Need a Tree

2009-07-30T22:24:00.001-07:00
There just isn't enough shade in our back yard. It's a very tiny yard to begin with and there is no tree. We need a shade tree. I made lunch for the kids and the three younger ones wanted to have a picnic in the back yard.

They started out on the lawn but said they were toooooo hot so moved to the little table in the only shade they could squeeze themselves into. They then gave up and ran into the house to finish their lunch when a huge green beetle started flying in their faces.

Once inside the younger one gave us his usual happy face.
The older ones continued in their places as TV zombies.
The two middle ones tried to cool off as they played a game of UNO.

Papa and Pepper just enjoyed the a/c.

The train to nowhere...........

2009-07-25T21:47:00.000-07:00
So a couple we are friends with asked us if we'd like to ride out to Campo and take a ride on a historical train.
Campo is a 45 mile ride from us. There is NOTHING in Campo but weeds, dirt, a few old run down buildings and this old train museum. It is only ONE mile from the Mexico border. In all the years we've lived here we've never been there.......now I know why!

We looked on websites and it said there was a 90 minute ride on an old historical train through the old tracks and we thought it would be a fun way to see how it was on the old train rides.

There is a huge barn which is a museum of old trains. We bought the tickets, $10 a piece to see the museum and ride the train. The museum had three full size train cars in it and we were able to go inside them and see how they were many years ago.
We were anxious to go on the ride and see the old tunnel and how the old train worked.

THEN THEY DIRECTED US TO THE TRAIN CABOOSE...........riding on the caboose was going to be fun...........we got inside the caboose and found THREE seats two windows and doors............connected to the caboose was the engine car..........NO OTHER TRAIN CARS WERE ATTACHED..............humm??? this started to seem strange to us.......we were told it would be alright to stand on the outside of the caboose if we wanted to see better while riding......ahhh, ok? We heard the engine start! We wondered how the caboose would ride and what we would see......the engine was loud.........The caboose and engine started to move...............forward.............then it stopped a few yards ahead...............backwards..............then it stopped a few feet behind..................forward................then it stopped a few yards ahead.............backwards...............WAIT A MINUTE! WHAT IS GOING ON??

So we asked the man who was on the caboose.......the volunteer train guy with the train hat on.............."what is going on? Are we just going to go back and forth?" and he replied "yep, there was a fire on the tracks a few days ago and we can't go on the normal ride anymore". WHAT???????????????????
"so why weren't we told this when we bought the tickets" we asked him.............his reply " it's on our website".
This was the extent of our train ride ........these tracks....................

Now I looked online at a few websites that talked about the places to see in our area. Places to go and things to do sort of websites........they ALL said this was going to be a 90 minute ride through old train track sights............
BUT THE ACTUAL MUSEUM WEBSITE DOESN'T SAY THAT............here.......check this out for yourself...............does it explain EXACTLY what type of ""ride"" you will be going on? I hardlly call watching the weeds go back and forth a ride! Here is the link to their own website......
http://www.sdrm.org/

So after 20 minutes of watching the same things going back and forth past the windows of the caboose we walked back out into the 92* heat to our car and drove to the Casino 30 minutes away!
We didn't win anything but didn't loose either. Broke even. Had a good meal at the buffet. Got to see another person win $23,000.000 on a PENNY machine!

Needless to say we won't be recommending the train ride to anyone. Definitely not worth the HOT ride out there!

3 years old

2009-07-19T18:43:00.001-07:00
Today was Conner's birthday party! He is now officially three years old!

Family gathered at a local park. It was HOT but everyone enjoyed the party.

There were a lot of really cool presents!!!!

The older boys brought their bikes and rode the park ramps.

There was a water balloon tossing contest!

Yes, sweet lovable cute Conner is now three years old! Even with cake and dirt on his face!

BUSY DAY SO FAR

2009-07-17T12:09:00.000-07:00
KYLE BROUGHT OVER SOME MODELING CLAY TODAY.

DEFINITELY SOMETHING THAT WE HAD TO USE OUTSIDE IN THE BACKYARD.

VERY CREATIVE LITTLE MINDS HARD AT WORK ON THEIR PROJECTS.

MESSY BUT FUN.

KYLE DECIDED TO MAKE A LITTLE BOWL. AFTER IT DRIES HE CAN PAINT IT AND PLANS TO GIVE IT TO HIS MOM AS A KEEPSAKE.

SINCE THEY HAD CLAY ALL OVER THEMSELVES BY THE TIME THEY WERE DONE WITH THEIR CREATIONS WE FIGURED THE SLIP & SLIDE WAS THE BEST WAY TO CLEAN IT OFF.

AMAZING WHAT SOME SUNSHINE, OUTDOOR ACTIVITY AND CREATIVE PLAY WILL DO!

Too close for comfort.

2009-07-12T19:03:00.000-07:00
"Brush fire in Santee knocked down
Firefighters have knocked down a brush fire in the San Diego River bed near Magnolia Avenue and Chubb Lane in Santee this afternoon, according to a Heartland fire dispatcher.
Firefighters were called just before 4 p.m. and knocked down the flames about a half-hour later, the dispatcher said. Crews are expected to spend some time taking care of hot spots and making sure flames don't start by a nearby mobile home park.
An estimate on how much acreage was burned was not immediately available. The cause of the fire remains under investigation.
Temperatures in the area reached 100 degrees today, according to the National Weather Service."

Above is a news report I copied from the website is about a fire just about 130 feet from our home. We live in the mobile home park it is talking about. We were about to leave to watch Nathans baseball game and as we started to pull out of our garage we see red flames shooting up over the brick retainer wall onto the trees. Sirens are all around us and neighbors are gathering.

We got out of the car and watched the helicopter dropping the flame retardant over and over again until the fire was in control. On the other side of that retainer wall is a river bed full of trees and bushes. The wind, dry hot wind, was blowing in a way to direct the fire in the path of that bed. It was close enough to our mobile home park that one roof caught fire along the edge and was quickly put out by the fire department.

It is now three hours later from when the fire trucks first got here and there are still about six out there checking the area for hot spots.

Fires is always a definite scare around here and now with the degree of heat rising into the 100's and the dry wind ...................well this was just too close for comfort.
I thank God for watching over us today.

A pain in the............toe?

2009-07-12T08:49:00.000-07:00

Ignore the terrible pedicure!

Just notice the swollen, discolored little toe.

The photo doesn't show how exactly how discolored it is or how it "feels"!
Amazing that such a small thing on one's body can mess up a persons daily routine.
Yes it hurts. No I cannot bend it.
So I'm wondering how fun it will be this week to try to take the kids to the pool. I can walk on it so today I'm going to try to go to a store and try to find a pair of those water shoes to wear to support it and keep it from getting bumped.
I'm also very irritated that when we got the Wii three weeks ago I started the Wii Active 30 day challenge exercise program. I'm three weeks into it. I plan to try to do what I can but I think the jogging in place part will have to wait!
Not to mention that my leg aches along with the foot and it gets difficult to find comfortable positions to sit with your leg elevated all the time!
Well, I've said before that we need to focus on the blessings and not the negative. So I am blessed that I didn't break the foot or worse.
Hey, my hubby is at this very moment in the kitchen making a complete egg and potato breakfast and won't let me get up to help him. That's a blessing right!

Earthquakes, Ladybugs and Squids

2009-07-11T18:25:00.000-07:00

Well how are all of you guys today? Any strange occurrences in your area?
I guess we had a 4.0 earthquake this morning but I must of slept through it because I didn't know until Lisa asked me if I knew!
It was centered in La Jolla which is the beach area and about 10 miles from here. So on the news today it says that just after the earthquake dozens of giant squids were flapping around on the shores of the La Jolla beach ! People were trying to push or throw them back into the water to save them from the seagulls that were trying to eat them!
And now I just read on a news link that Jackson County Colorado was invaded by giant swarms of ladybugs which covered the trees and houses!
Just last week they had to stop the Padres baseball game because they were invaded by a swarm of bees!
Jim and I went to the pool today for a swim and there were two TINY baby lizards swimming in the pool! They were only about an inch long!

Hope that next we don't see any frogs falling out of the skies!

Cold now!

2009-07-09T15:13:00.000-07:00
Our house is now nice and cool again! It cost $99.95 in labor but with the heat of summer in this area it is a no brainer to spend the money to fix it.

I have to say we are very blessed. We live in a area that is very sunny most of the time and has the choices of either going to the mountians, desert or the beach. We DO pay the price for these choices. The cost of dry dusty days and the fear of fires or earthquakes but what area doesn't have fears? We also have the $$$$ of a high cost living area.

Whatever the pros and whatever the cons WE are not in control of them and need to count the daily blessings given to us.

a/c woes

2009-07-08T15:31:00.000-07:00
I have the a/c woes. It's hot here. In the 90's and today the a/c decided to stop working. As the sweat started rolling down my forehead I checked the thermostat to discover that the temperature in the house was rising instead of lowering. I check outside to find the unit is making a weird buzzing noise instead of the usual humming.
So now we have all the windows open to allow the warm breeze to flow through the house with the fans all on.
We are lucky that the company we bought the a/c from four years ago is able to come out tomorrow morning to check it out and I pray that whatever it is will be covered by the warranty!
In the meantime it is a reminder to be thankful for the blessings of appliances that we have and take for granite!

I've been invaded !

2009-07-02T21:26:00.000-07:00
Today I was invaded by SECRET AGENT NINJA SPIES!!!

They came into my house and were ready to attack.

I said I was not their enemy and please don't attack me!

They weren't too sure if they should believe me and gave me the evil eye...

Then their powerful leader walked in and saved me and we all became friends!

Summer Day

2009-06-26T19:44:00.000-07:00
Lisa and I took all the kids to the bay yesterday and had a great time. It was overcast and cool the first half of the time we were there but started to warm up before we left. The kids all have a great time there. We always go to an area that has the water , sand and a playground all in the same place. We plop our blankets and chairs down right in between the water and the playground so we can see them in all areas.
We enjoy taking them to the bay instead of the beach because there are no waves or currents to worry about.

Nathan was the volunteer to lie on the sand and the rest all piled a mountain on top of him covering his feet up to his waist. Ryan spent a lot of time helping Conner build rodes in the sand for his trucks. Kyle and Sarah did everything and especially loved pulling each other back and forth in the water on a boogie board. I didn't take my camera because Lisa takes her's and takes great photos. Check out her blog to see! http://heartfelthomeschool.blogspot.com

We left the bay with a bunch of sand, some used up energy and a full supply of vitamin D.

Today it is close to 90* and suppose to be hotter next week. I think summer is here.

2009-06-23T20:48:00.000-07:00

The Wii is certainly a big HIT for Kyle !

Today was his first of many weeks of summer vacation at my house and it's always a challenge to find ways to keep up with his never ending energy level. He's the kind of kid that can't actually "sit" at the table while eating. He's got one butt cheek on the chair and one half way off as his leg is bouncing around while he eats! So today we got the Wii games out and first I played some with him........tennis, bowling, baseball............and then we got to the boxing. I boxed a few rounds with him and then decided I better quit before my arms become so sore I won't be able to lift them tomorrow! He continued to box against the Wii opponents - FOR TWO MORE HOURS NON STOP! He was determined to reach the "pro" level. You start with zero level and as you win you obtain points. It takes 1000 points to reach the pro level. He got to 684 points and decided he was ready to stop for today!
Of course I will not be allowing him to stay on these games for hours each day. We will be alternating with days of the beach, zoo, park, swimming and whatever else we can do. But on days like today when we are home all afternoon it sure helped the hours pass easier in a fun and active way!

peek-a-boo

2009-06-21T12:06:00.001-07:00

It seems we have a curious squirrel in our back yard!
He (or she) was sitting on the fence as I opened the door to let the dog out into the back yard. I grabbed my camera and came back to the door and he wasn't there anymore. I just stood there watching the dog for a while and then his little head popped up over the fence to see what was going on!

2009-06-20T09:01:00.000-07:00
We had a wonderful family dinner last night. Everyone enjoyed being together and browsing through family photos and laughing. The food made a hit and everyone ate until very full. Kids ran around and giggled............

Then the strangest thing happened................

Hope it wasn't a reaction to my cooking!

2009-06-17T21:10:00.000-07:00
If only we could all sleep this soundly! He was on the floor watching his favorite Little Einstein cartoons one minute and I turn around a minute later to find him sound asleep!

I have been feeling like this a lot lately . Just not in the mood or not having enough energy to do much of anything except to get through the day.
I have myself to blame. I've not been exercising or eating healthy as I know I should. Sort of goes hand in hand...........you are what you eat and what you do!

SO, I was amazed at my wonderful husband when he looked me in the eye yesterday and said that he could tell I wasn't my energized self lately and that he knew I was having a hard time getting to the gym. He then told me to go out and buy a Wii ! He had noticed that Lisa had been using one and she's lost weight and doing great with it. Also the kids have fun with it.
SO, I did just that! Tonight I spent way too much money and bought the Wii console and it came with some games and I also got the new EA Active exercise program!
I will be getting it all set up this weekend and start my new exercise routine next week. The only reason I am waiting for next week is because the next three days are extremely busy. Kyle gets out of school tomorrow. Family is coming over for dinner Friday. Jim is leaving for a weeks trip back east on Monday and a lot of things going on this weekend.

I'm really looking forward to using it. Not only will I be able to exercise whenever I want but Kyle gets out of school tomorrow and he is a boy full of energy and not enough space in this small house so on the days we can't get out and about he and I can play the active games! They are not the type of games you sit on your butt and stare at the screen, they are games like tennis, bowling, boxing, skiing,,, active games! I'm sure Conner will try his best also!

So you guys can all keep me accountable to use it regularly and get back into my energized self again!!

This & That

2009-05-23T22:00:00.000-07:00
It's been beautiful weather here lately. In the 80's with a nice breeze. Warm enough to get out and enjoy the sun without sweating. Wish it would stay this way all summer but we will soon be using the a/c and feeling uncomfortable while praying for enough moisture to keep the fires away.

Today Jim and I went to the pool and swam and exercised in it. Felt great. Was even better that we were the only ones there so could enjoy the peace and quiet and relax. We used the jacuzzi also. Then we went into the rec. room and played a game of pool which was fun just the two of us.
This evening he is working at the baseball game and I got my haircut.

I've just been keeping busy lately with this & that.............. still watching the boys four days a week, scrap booking, cleaning, reading.
With school almost out for the summer the days will be busier and there will be many trips to the beach, park, pool, museums and anywhere else we can go to keep from going crazy in this tiny house all day!

Jim's loving his job at the baseball games. We go to the gym whenever we can. The rest of the time we are a couple of couch potatoes!

Keeping Up

2009-05-12T07:20:00.000-07:00
Just letting everyone know that I haven't left the country.

Haven't been on here for quite a while but no particular reason why. Busy with life.

Sunny here. I'm looking forward to scrap booking this weekend with Lisa. Sarah's CYT performance was wonderful and she is a star. Nathan is the home run king hitting his fifth last night. Ryan is becoming a working man now as an umpire as well as enjoying playing baseball. Kyle is doing well in school and looking forward to soccer season to begin. Conner, well he's just being Conner, adorable and busy. Jim is busy all the time with going to the gym , bowling, helping or watching the kids with their activities, and working his usher job at the baseball games. Eddie is working and busy with his family. Lisa is just busy, busy, busy. Vanessa is turning 30 years old today. Lance is having trouble with his truck and finding affordable transportation. Jim's mom has stepped into that hard to handle phase of life in her 80's. Pepper is fat and happy.
Me, I'm just trying to keep up!

zombie day

2009-04-25T18:58:00.000-07:00
Haven't had a lot of exciting news to tell the last couple of days since our trips to zoo.
Today I woke up feeling like a zombie. A dull headache but mostly feel like the victim of Dracula sucking all the life out of me or as though someone had given me a sleeping pill.
This feeling stuck to me like glue the entire day no matter how I tried to ignore it. I even tried to deal with it by lying on the couch in hopes of a catnap but then insomnia seemed to have taken a hold of me also!
Just call me a mess and blame it on the weird weather. Cloudy, windy and cool.

So since I plan to spend the rest of the evening with no physical effort of any kind I can play on my laptop!
My daughter started talking about Facebook which she has recently started using. So I got curious. I don't have much of a clue what I'm doing or why but kinda fun to see if there are other people on there that I may know. I'm now a face on the book and even have a few friends that I've gotten notes from that I haven't talked to in years!
If only I'd paid attention many years ago when they first started talking about this "highway in the sky" stuff and had put a few penny's into the stocks...............ugh, $$$ I can dream can't I !

HOT wild animal day

2009-04-21T15:21:00.000-07:00
WELL, this was quite the day!

Every spring the Wild Animal Park here has the display of butterflies. It is really neat because you can go inside and there are hundreds of butterflies flying around and will land on you plus it's full of birds and plants.

Lisa and I decided to take the kids today. It was "suppose to be slightly cooler" and we figured it wouldn't be as crowded with spring break over.

As soon as we got there Lisa discovered that there was no camera battery in her camera The one that I have had terrible focus and a battery that died.

We did manage to get these photos before it died.

. Conner was sliding out of the stroller he was so tired and when we took him to see the butterflies he took one look at them and said "all done bunnerfies now" with that quite whiny voice of his that he has when he's tired.

There was the touchy feeling woman that kept poking at the butterflies ON our shoulders even after we asked her to stop touching us.

There was the grumpy old man in the elevator that smelled like he hadn't showered in a month. And there were all the Headstart field trips of kids lined up where ever we went.

The kids loved feeding nectar to the birds.

The kids were decorated with bird poop.

The mommy monkey hung on the fence right in front of us as the baby swung around in a frantic dance before us.

The lion walked straight up the the glass wall in front of their faces.

We left early because it was just way too hot. It was so HOT that we were all red faced with those sparkly sweat beads.

While I'm driving home on the freeway a bird decides to decorate my windshield in front of my face. Soon as I use the wipers to wash that off the truck in front of me shoots a tiny rock straight at me and I watch it as I hear it hit the windshield in front of my face. At least it wasn't big enough to cause a crack.

Conner slept from the time we got in the car until I drove him and Kyle home at 2pm. He was tired.

But I had a really good time because I was with some of my most favorite people on the earth!

spring?

2009-04-19T17:16:00.000-07:00

I know there are a lot of people living in rain and snow and cold right now.
Sorry guys but here where I live IT IS HOT.

We don't get enough of that cold or rain here. It just jumps from a short time of cold with some sprinkles to HOT. It's only April and the a/c came on at 4:00pm today.......it was set for 81* . We had all the windows closed with the fans on because it was so hot outside with a lot of wind causing a lot of pollen to fly around.

RIGHT NOW, at 5:20pm Google weather says its 92.8 * outside.

Now don't get me wrong. I like nice weather that is sunny and nice to get out and enjoy. I like going to the pool and the bay or ocean. However, with the pollen and wind it is not comfortable outside. I wouldn't go to the pool, bay or ocean today because I'd get mobbed by the crowd, AND I don't like paying the high electric bills! With it being only April if it does this often by the real summer we will again be so very dry and hot.

So lets make a deal. You guys with all that rain and snow share with us and we will share some of our hot sun with you..........lets leave out the heavy pollen blowing all over the place!

get a goat

2009-04-13T20:22:00.001-07:00

So why didn't I listen to my dad many, many years ago!

For YEARS I have not been able to eat cereal or many things that requires liquid milk. It just doesn't agree with me.
Murphy's law comes on board and I also have the beginnings of osteoarthritis/low bone density which means I need more calcium in my diet. The bonus to all this is that if I take the required amount of calcium supplements I get the wonderful side effects that go with those.
My tummy just likes to rumble & crumble too much.

This week a light bulb went off. The subject of goats milk came up when I was talking to my daughter and I realized that my dad used to talk of using goats milk on several occasions to ease an upset stomach.
So while grocery shopping today I got a couple of quarts............yes, quarts. Goats milk is expensive. Seems anything that makes us healthier is expensive.
I also bought some healthy whole grain cereal. I came home and ate cereal for dinner. I haven't been able to eat cereal for many years without an upset stomach to follow.
I enjoyed the cereal and with goats milk my stomach is just GREAT!!!!

So if you can................get a goat!!

Easter-- headache

2009-04-11T19:48:00.001-07:00

Well, first of all I'd like to say HAPPY EASTER to everyone.
Especially a thank you to our amazing Lord and the blessings He has given us.

I had a fun evening last night and this morning scrap booking with Lisa and sorted through tons of photos and got a few pages done in an album.
But woke up this morning with congestion and sinuses bothering me and came home this afternoon, fell asleep on the couch and woke up over an hour later with a very annoying headache that feels like it's driving a drill through my left temple. So far none of the pills I've taken have helped.

So I hope everyone has a wonderful blessed day tomorrow and that my headache is gone! :)

Mr Baseball

2009-04-09T14:08:00.001-07:00

So far Jim is enjoying his new job as an usher at the Petco Park Stadium for the Padre home baseball games!

This is the uniform that he wears to the games including the hat, badges and jacket when needed!
Doesn't he look handsome! :)

Spring OR Sprung

2009-04-08T20:42:00.000-07:00
I'm starting to scare myself. Spring fever has gotten to me every since they put the siding on my house!
I've been cleaning out the cabinets next to my tiny desk/laptop area. It has been PILED full of books and papers and stuff that I had no idea what was in there anymore so have been sorting it all out and trying to clean out the half next to my tiny desk to use while keeping the other side for books etc. I have the books in containers that I can actually see what the books are this time...........maybe some day I can actually read them.
I've only gotten one side cleaned out. Haven't started on the other side yet.
Taking an email break,,,,, only I have no emails from anyone. :(

I had a very hectic morning. Spring fever has also bitten two little boys! Yesterday was the first day of the two week Easter break from school so both boys are here all day. They were very well behaved and it was a pretty good day full of crafts and playing.
This morning Kyle must of taken energy pills and plugged his ears and Conner was in his terrible two's again. Within the 10 minutes Vanessa was here before leaving for work Conner had already banged his face on the floor while the boys wrestled and bit his lip. That's how my morning started
then, after three frustrating hours of repeating myself and 100's of "no's" from a recently stubborn two year old, Conner banged the top of his head under the dining table trying to get to Kyle who was sitting in a time out by my feet against the wall next to the table.
With Conner crying and Kyle finally understanding that I wasn't going to put up with anymore, Kyle apologized and Conner was ready to sit and rest his head.

SO, they calmed down and ate some lunch and watched a movie. Jim was coming and going from his Wednesday morning bowling game and taking his mom to get her hair done.
At 1:00pm I put the boys in the car and drove to the stop light and didn't need to go any further because Conner was already sound asleep. I know it's not the greatest habit to have to drive him to take a nap but he's used to falling asleep while I'm driving to get Kyle from school everyday! I NEED the break so if that's what I have to do now then that's what I'm doing. Five minutes of driving is worth the two hour break.

Came home and put Conner in bed. Jim was gone with his mom.

THEN, it was nice. Kyle and I sat at the table and played games together. They were actually educational board games and he was really enjoying them. We played three games. Then he helped me shred papers. I had bought a new shredder. I had a LARGE box of papers to be shredded after cleaning out the file cabinet (which I still have a small amount to sort through). After we finished shredding all the papers I had TWO trash bags of shreds to throw away!

Jim left for his second day of work as an usher at the Padre game little after 3pm. Conner came walking out of the bedroom shortly after. I gave them some food to eat and as they were eating Lance called to say he'd been dropped off at home. So I drove the boys home. Since his truck motor has blown he is getting a ride to work and I'm driving the boys home. It's either that or wait till after 6pm when Vanessa gets off work. Again, it only takes 10 minutes to drive them home.

I came home and felt exhausted. I sat on the couch to watch something and that show "make me a supermodel" was on and it caught my eye because they were all dressed extremely weird doing a catwalk. I fell asleep on the couch before they were done with the catwalk and slept for about 30 minutes.

Then woke up and ate something and began cleaning this cabinet area next to me!

So that's my story and I'm sticking to it.

time flies

2009-04-05T22:45:00.000-07:00
How did time grow wings? I remember days when I used to get so many things done and still took care of my kids, other people's kids, and had time to bake cookies and read a book. That just doesn't happen anymore!

Seems like it's gotten so busy over the years. Or maybe I just can't keep up anymore! ha!

Since I last posted a lot has been going on. My son, my baby boy, turned 34 years old. How did that happen so quickly!!
My granddaughter turned 8 years old. And I must say she's even more beautiful!
My husband (bless his sweet heart) decided it was time for spring cleaning and he shampooed the carpet in the entire house. Then he mowed the yard. He's been cleaning out his paperwork and whatever else he finds along the way. So I went along with the idea and washed all the windows, the curtains, vacuumed and I've started cleaning out and organizing our file cabinet.......now that is a chore! Years of papers stuffed into file folders so crammed in that we couldn't get any more in! So I bought a nice new wooden file cabinet to put in our bedroom and took all the files out of the old metal trap. I went through every single file and had a box for throw away and one for shredding........both are full. Now Jim has a nice metal cabinet to put some of his sports papers in and we have a nice wooden file cabinet all organized!

Tomorrow we drop off our dog at the groomers. He now looks like a woolly bear cub with no eyes. Then we are going to the gym where I'll wonder the entire time why all this exercise isn't helping to lower my cholesterol. After gym will come home to clean up and eat our lunch because exercise makes us hungry.

Then Jim leaves to start his FIRST DAY at his new job! He's like a little kid waiting for Santa to arrive, both nervous and excited.
I will be leaving shortly after he does to go to visit my new doctor that I have now due to the new medical insurance we have.......me not so excited. I liked my old doctor and don't like changing but no choice since retirement has changed our insurance benefits.
After my doctor visit will go pick up the dog from groomers and come home to relax.
but the relaxing will be short lived because Jim will soon after come home full of storied of his new job adventures and then we'll go to bed and start the next day of taking care of grand kids who are on spring break!

We are blessed to be so active and share the excitements in life! It all keeps us young at heart, right?! :)

They're done!

2009-03-19T18:33:00.000-07:00
They finally finished the house!
They not only put the siding on but they patched and painted all the wood trim and cleaned it up good. Plus the underneath supports were all replaced so it not only looks good but it won't fall down.
Tomorrow we will go around house and put the potted plants and things back in place , do some yard work and give it some life but we are both really please with the way it turned out.

It's Wednesday

2009-03-18T20:29:00.000-07:00

Yes that is a man standing on a wooden plank outside my window! This was the view for most of my morning. They have been working hard and are almost done! Tomorrow they start painting the trim. There will be final photos to share soon!

Nathan and Sarah spent most of the day here along with Conner while Lisa got some errands done. (Kyle at school and Ryan at 6th grade camp). Conner loves it when his cousins come to play with him. They are so sweet with him and were teaching him how to play Caribou game.

With a house full of kids running around and workers banging on the outside of our house all day Pepper is exhausted by the end of the day! The cushions on this couch are his favorite place to nap!

What would you call it?

2009-03-15T19:01:00.001-07:00
What is this? What would you call it?
Do you know what this is?

Conner and I went for a walk last week and there were many of these on the sidewalk that had fallen from the trees. He wanted to bring one back to the house with him. I told him he could but to be careful because it has sharp points and could give him an ouch.

He wanted to show his dad his treasure that he had found. He walked up to Lance and said "daddy look an ouchie ball"!

The lizard

2009-03-15T18:54:00.000-07:00

Pepper was walking around the yard and then he saw-----the lizard! It ran under the clay pot. Pepper was determined that the lizard was not going to escape! He stood out there and guarded that clay pot FOR TWO HOURS! He may have stayed longer but I called him to come in the house!

Beginning of siding

2009-03-15T18:33:00.000-07:00

We are getting the outside or our mobile home repaired and siding installed. In the process it was also discovered that the braces underneath needed to be replaced with new ones.
You can see the old rotted wood and rusted brace.
And the new ones with material that won't rot!

Kyle took Conner for a walk around the house to explore all the areas where the work has begun.

I'll take more photos to post as the work progresses and the final results!

2009-03-14T22:21:00.000-07:00
Yes I'm still alive! I haven't been on here for a while. Seems I'm not quite adjusted to Jim being up at night since he retired! lol!
I used to be up alone and get things done after he went to bed and now he's up watching TV with me or talking about stuff or we're going somewhere.
I'll be trying to get caught up with a few things this weekend......the key word is "trying"!

2009-03-07T20:48:00.000-08:00
Well I have to say that this was a pretty great day!!!
Actually started last night. My sweet hubby and I went to our church for a special couples evening of dinner and a movie. They served us a yummy meal and then we watched the movie "Fireproof" which is a wonderful movie that every couple should see! If you haven't seen it yet make sure to go see it!!! We really enjoyed our evening together.

Then this morning my sweet granddaughter came over. It was opening day at the little league baseball field and since Jim is a volunteer scorekeeper on Ryan's team and Eddie is a volunteer coach on Nathans team and Lisa is a team mom who would be running back and forth from one field to the other to watch and do her duties....................well, you get the idea. Sarah came over here to spend the morning with me instead of her and I trying to keep up with everyone on the extremely busy field.
She and I had so much fun together! She wanted to play double solitaire so we played three games of that first. I turned on the Solid Gold Oldies music station on TV and we sang and danced together to all the old tunes and laughed together! Then she picked some games and we played two games. Then more dancing and singing and laughing.
It was time for the games to be over and Jim called to ask me about bringing home something to eat. They were getting ready to leave the baseball field. Five minutes after he hung up the phone Lisa called me and said " MOM!! YOU JUST WON A LAPTOP!" I couldn't believe it! I had bought four raffle tickets for Ryan and Nathans opening little league day and one of the prizes was a laptop and I won!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! The thing is that this laptop I'm using has been slowly fading away. it keeps popping up with warnings of low memory and problems and shutting down on me and it is so extremely slow it's been driving me nuts!!! I kept saying that it would be neat if I could afford to go buy a new one and I just won a new one!!! It's an Acer Aspire One. I don't know much about it yet so trying to look up information and ratings about it. BUT it only cost $20 in raffle tickets and the thing that really thrills me is that I actually WON something! That never happens to me!!

Field Trip Day

2009-02-26T13:54:00.000-08:00

Conner's preschool had a field trip today to the fire station. He was SO excited to be going! The firemen are all so nice and friendly to the group of 20 two & three year olds.

At first Conner was a little shy and didn't want to talk to the firemen. He stood looking with those big blue eyes in total amazement of it all. The firemen all came up to the kids and got down on their level to talk to them and told them all about the trucks and how to drop & roll. Then this fireman came out in the FULL fire outfit with the mask and all. He sounded like Darth Vader breathing. They were all a little scared of him but he also got
down on their level and let them all touch his outfit and he talked to them through the mask before he took it off to show them he was a normal person and not to be afraid if he came in their home to put out a fire.

This was the closest that Conner would get to him!>

Then they let the kids look at the fire truck and actually get up into the front seat!

All the kids had a great time!

Busy Day!

2009-02-23T21:22:00.000-08:00
Let's see.......I got up and showered and ate my oatmeal. Drove to the eye doctor 20 minutes away for my follow up visit. I am using the eye drops for dry eyes and have to have them checked the first few months to see if it's working. I'm happy to say that his tests show much improvement and I also feel the improvement.

After the eye appointment I drove 20 minutes in the opposite direction to the cable office. I took my number and waited for it to come up on the screen then went to the appropriate window and within seconds I had a new remote control in my hand.

Got in my car and drove about 15 minutes to the grocery store. Very thankful by that time to use their bathroom. Then stopped at their coffee counter and got myself a coffee. While drinking my coffee I filled the bottom of the cart with grocery items, paid and loaded them into the trunk of car. I keep large insulated bags in my trunk to put the items in that need to stay cool as I complete my errands.

Then drove down the street to the post office and dropped off packages and checked my PO box. I sell on eBay. I use the PO box for eBay payments. I had just sold a few items and packaged them up and printed out the shipping labels last night so I was able to just drop them off at the post office.

Then down the street I go to the pharmacy. I give them the prescription to refill my eye drops. She tells me they are out and need to order and I will need to pick up my filled prescription tomorrow after 4pm.

Around the corner I go to Costco. I have my list of needed items and Costco coupons and I stick to my list.

I then drive home. My timing is off because Jim took his mom to her dentist appointment today. Just happens that as I get home she's at the dentist and so that means that Jim is not here to help me bring all the groceries into the house! So I make my several trips from the trunk to the kitchen and unload and put everything in their appropriate places.

As I'm completing my chore of putting groceries away a car pulls up in front of the house. Jim had called this morning to get appointments to have estimates to put siding on our house. We were having our first appointment!
As this man is talking to me about all the wonderful things he can do to improve our house Jim gets home and I quickly direct them to talk to each other and I go on my way to complete my chores.

I remember that I have the new remote in my purse. It needs to be programed to work with our TV. The man had told me that the little booklet would tell me how to do this. I guess he didn't know that I'm an earthling and only understand common sense English instead of the 20 pages of different ways to program it.
I end up calling the cable company and some nice woman directs me on how to program the remote and we finally have a normal TV again.

The man leaves and Jim then shows me he had brought home Subway sandwiches for us! yum.

After eating I start laundry. Jim leaves to go help with Ryan's baseball practice. While Jim's gone I complete two loads of laundry, vacuum the entire house and mop the kitchen floor.

THEN, I promptly fall onto the couch and lie there!

2009-02-22T15:00:00.000-08:00
How spoiled we are!

Some of you may not remember what they call "the good ol' days" when we were all less "high tech" (which is what my grandson calls it).
I'm talking about the days of no computers, no cell phones, no iPods, no phone answering machines or caller ID, no video games, no high definition wide screen cable TV with a menu of all the shows and information of what each and every channel is about....and no remotes.

Amazing of how we forget those days and have gotten used to our fancy high tech items that have spoiled us and we haven't even realized it.........until we loose it.

This morning my sweet hubby stretched his arm out and bumped his coffee cup sitting on the table next to his chair. Apparently some spilled onto the TV remote. It has since decided not to work---at all.
After shaking it and pushing buttons for several minutes we knew it wasn't working. Then we realized we were doomed. It is Sunday. The cable company is not open on Sundays.
We will now need to go back to the cave man days and actually GET UP AND WALK over to the television and use the buttons on the TV to change both the channels and the volume!
Ya know, you just don't realize how many times you change the channels and need to adjust the volume AND here where I live we have a cable company that has about 950 channels to choose from! We also have a high definition televison and guess what---- if you push the channel changer on the TV instead of the cable box it goes to the regular vision and not the high definition and it won't go back.
So today if we want to watch TV at all it's not only get up to change the channels and volume but we also get to watch everything with a snowy fuzz all over the screen! yeah!

So it's a good excuse to read books,take the dog for a walk, do laundry and all the other things we are so blessed to have available to us.
Just a good reminder of how spoiled we do get to these new fancy products of the world.

2009-02-16T16:35:00.000-08:00

Today is our 17th wedding anniversary :) I've been blessed to have such a loving, caring husband. Of course as with any normal couple there are those little annoying things that may come up from time to time but there are many more times of laughing together, long conversations, fun travels and I could count on one had or less the times we may have actually argued. So I'd say it's been a pretty good 17 years!

It has been pouring down rain since we woke up this morning. But we started the day off by going to the gym and worked out together for an hour. Came home and did some laundry, dusted and made a trip to the grocery store. Doesn't everyone do that on their anniversary?
Then we went out with our umbrella and ate a nice dinner at Chili's. Jim had tacos and I had fajitas.

We got home and have since been bundled up in our jammies watching TV movies as it pours rain outside.

Can you say"confusing and wrong"?!

2009-02-15T09:17:00.000-08:00
I had thoughts of sewing and creating little blankets ,bags, purses and other items for kids and infants and selling them. Then came the "law". This law is about pulling all items off shelves and inspecting all products that may contain lead. WHICH INCLUDED ANYTHING, ANYTHING THAT COULD BE SOLD AND USED BY CHILDREN 12 YEARS OF AGE AND YOUNGER. That includes not only toys but clothes, books, sports equipment........you name it.

I had heard about it and read other blogs of confusing information. I just saw something about it on Fox News which not only showed large retail stores being involved in this pulling items off the shelves, but also thrift stores and small resale shops ! So I found the CPSC website. I've signed up for their recall notices. I figured I'd better look into it because I have several things that I had planned to sell on Ebay some which are for children or infants. http://www.cpsc.gov/cpscpub/prerel/prhtml09/09115.html

It doesn't exactly say this on their website....well, at least I can't understand it if it does say it, but on Fox News it was saying that retailers have to invest in some sort of screening devices to check ALL products for lead and pull them. However, small businesses and thrift type stores may not be able to do this due to the expense of the devices and the enormous amount of second hand products and paying the extra staff to do all this work.

Now I definitely agree that products containing lead should be pulled from the shelves. BUT, I BELIEVE THEY SHOULD OF NEVER BEEN THERE IN THE FIRST PLACE!

The agencies that are responsible to inspect products BEFORE they reach store shelves obviously have not been doing their jobs...... can anyone say peanut butter?
What are these people doing anyway? Are they all just sitting around drinking their coffee and telling jokes instead of inspecting? I don't understand how all these products can be allowed on the shelves in the first place!

So now that they , the inspection agencies, have not done their jobs the retailers, crafters, small businesses, resale shops, thrift stores,,,,,,,,,,are all getting the rotten end of the stick and the blame of having these products on their shelves. They are having to do all the work of inspecting, pulling and loosing sales and ALSO the expense of these devices which will put some of these small businesses out of business!

AND, I am still confused as to whether or not I should be selling the second hand children items I have sitting around my house on Ebay!

The Sneeze

2009-02-12T12:41:00.002-08:00
Everyone sneezes right? You go about your daily routines and sneeze once in a while and just keep going and not even think about it. At least I use to.

Last week I was sick with a nasty head cold. It went through it's long drawn out road to recovery and I was just about over it when the big sneeze came along. I immediately knew something wasn't good because I grabbed my stomach under my ribs and yelled "ouch" ! I had sneezed hard.

So I went through the weekend being careful not to move the wrong way and allowing the area to feel better and my cold was clearing up well. Then two days later I'm relaxing watching a movie on TV and the big sneeze came again. This time I yelled enough that Jim jumped out of his chair to see if I was alright. It felt as though my rib was coming out of my skin and going back in to jab whatever was in the way!
So the next day I was still sore and since I couldn't get an appointment with my regular doctor that day decided to go to urgent care. That's always such a fun place. First of all you have to drive around in circles for 15 minutes to find a parking place. Then you get to sit in the waiting room wondering what illness you are going to catch from the others sitting in the same room. I finally get called in to see the doctor. Being in urgent care means that you see whatever doctor is on duty. So he asked me questions and had me lie on the table and poked around in all the sore spots and then said "well, you pulled a muscle".
I was relieved to not hear of hernias or things like that and a pulled muscle was pretty familiar to me.
So I paid my $10 co-pay and my $3 to park in the terrible parking garage and came home.

Before I left the clinic the nurse told me to try to brace myself if I felt a sneeze coming on. :) Ok, so as long as I'm not driving maybe I can do that.
It's one of those things that you just don't think about until you have to!

I'm feeling much , much better now and the pain is pretty much gone but I know that one of those sneezes could bring it all right back so soon after so NOW every time I feel that tiny tingle in the sinus area I have to drop whatever I'm doing and grab myself around the ribs and hold on tight!

2009-02-12T12:41:00.001-08:00

Life goes on

2009-02-08T19:52:00.000-08:00
Haven't had much exciting to write about lately. I've had a virus/head cold/whatever you want to call it for the past several days and that just takes it all out of me. My body just doesn't fight these things off too quickly and I drag around for days on end feeling like a slug before it finally starts to leave.
I had an out of control sinus attack on Friday and I think I broke the Guinness book of record for sneezing. I sneezed so hard that I bruised my ribcage. Of course every time I sneezed it hurt more!

I finally remembered that I had a Neti Pot stored away. I had forgotten all about having it and had never given it a try. I was at the point to try just about anything to quit sneezing and trying to breath and feeling as though I was beating myself up.
For those of you who have never heard of a Neti Pot or haven't used one yet I have to tell you it works wonders!!
It's a device to use to cleanse the sinuses and it works! I used it Friday and Saturday and I CAN BREATH NOW!! AND NO MORE SNEEZING!

So my body is now able to start healing and I'm starting to feel better and rebuilding my energy level.

It has been raining for two days now and suppose to rain more tomorrow. God is good. We really needed the rain.

2009-02-05T18:19:00.000-08:00
Things are starting to look brighter around here.

I'm starting to feel better. No fun to have that stuffed up head that feels like your going to fall over your head weighs too much! But now just have that annoying dry cough.
I haven't been able to get to the gym with my plugged up head but I'm getting my exercise taking my many walks to the bathroom since I'm drinking so much juices and teas! lol!

It's drizzling rain right now and suppose to continue to rain over the next couple of days. I really hope it does this time because we are SOOOOO very dry and SOOOO covered in dust and dirt that it's terrible. We need the rain to wash the dust away and get some moisture in the air.

Jim started his training tonight for his new job!

Also, Conner is wearing his Spiderman underwear and doing great at using the potty chair!! No more diapers!! Yeah!!

2009-02-02T18:56:00.000-08:00

Just dropping in to say HI. I have a headcold and feeling yucky.

Thought of the Day

2009-01-30T18:41:00.000-08:00

Those who oppose home schooling say that the purpose for public school is to give the child the ability to socialize. A child is placed in a classroom full of rules and told not to talk.

This thought just bothered me today because Kyle has been struggling with a problem of bringing home "red cards" almost daily. He is learning. He comes home and does his homework with no argument. Yet he just has a problem with not talking while trying to sit perfectly still in the classroom. He's already sitting in the very front row.

So what do you think is the real issue here? What do you think is more important in this situation? And how do you think this should be handled? Any thoughts?

2009-01-26T22:14:00.000-08:00
Days just seem to fly by. I was just trying to remember what I did on Saturday??? Hmm, Jim and I walked the dog, got a few things done around here, went to the gym, and we watched Nathan's basketball game.
Sunday was a fun day. First church, then Nathans 10th birthday at the place of his choice - Joe's Crab Shack. Then we all went to Lisa's house to visit and eat ice cream cake. The kids played and it was a fun family birthday day.
Today was a very busy day. Laundry, dusting, vacuum, dishes, exercise at the gym, gas up the car, get groceries.
Now I'm tired and I better go to bed soon because I'm starting to get hungry!

Diet or just plain common sense?

2009-01-24T16:03:00.001-08:00
Jim and I just finished watching a movie called " First do no harm". It's an older movie that we got from Netflex. It is a very good movie based on a true story.
If your interested in seeing it I don't want to give it all away but basically it's about the medical system that we all live with. How doctors prescribe pills for everything as though they were jelly beans that we should enjoy.
The cost of the tests, hospital stays and the medications is overwhelming. One would think that the logical thing to do would to find the least aggressive, least expensive solution to health problems. That would not only help the person but cut the costs.
Yet it is all based on the scientific approach. If it can't be put into a test tube and poked and examined by microscopes and written into equations on papers then it must not work right?

I hope you watch this movie. It is a good movie. It has a happy ending. We should all have a happy ending. Why then do we make things so difficult?

I once read a book about what Jesus ate. I can't remember exactly the title of the book but that was the subject of the book. I remember reading it and thinking of the many diet pills that are on the shelves. How many advertisements we see every day for diet plans.
Have you ever noticed? Every advertisement, every label on every diet pill container all say the same thing in the small print..........." along with the proper diet and exercise". If we were following the proper diet and exercise then why would we need the pills and diet plans?

I'm watching this movie and well, to give the ending away this child has epilepsy and the doctors are pumping him full of so much medications this child is getting worse becoming one big side effect with grand mall seizures. He's not getting better. In the end it is diet that saves this child. The parents take him to the John Hopkins Clinic to a doctor they find out of doing their own research and after a few weeks of the prescribed food this child is taken off of all medications and has no seizures. This is a true story!

So I start thinking of all the things that we COULD control with the proper diet and exercise. All the illnesses we have. Not just our weight, but the most important thing-- our health.
The thing is ----------it's not so easy. It takes time. It takes thought. The world is filled with things to tempt us and things bad for us that taste good. I think Satan planned it this way.

Jesus ate only fresh foods. There were no packages or cans full of preservatives or extra salt and sugars. He didn't even use yeast! That's another book I've read in the past about how yeast effects the body and I had 8 out of 10 symptoms of too much yeast!

Why should it be so hard to eat good fresh foods? Why should we not like to eat lean meats, fresh vegetables, fruits and good carbs. Why should we not want to eat small portions 5-6 times a day instead of stuffing ourselves into a coma in one meal? Why does our brain go into craving sweets or salty mode as soon as we tell ourselves that we are going to eat healthy food? I don't know about you but my body reacts to all that yummy ice cream, whip cream, pudding, greasy chips etc. with a band load of tunes and noises that I don't care for the world to hear ( if you know what I mean), not to mention the uncomfortable bloating that prevents me of fitting into even the most comfy sweats I have.

Common sense should be to follow the plan that Jesus gave us. To eat the fish of the sea that swim and have fins, to eat the lean meats that come from animals that don't eat garbage, to enjoy the many , many fresh vegetables and fruits that grow on the earth and to eat the healthy grains that are not put through the processing of taking away all the hulls. I must find that book again.

I'm just not sure where the Starbucks Triple Mocha fits into all of this?