Christmas Fun

I have not run across anything much more fun than granddaughters - and being with granddaughters at Christmas is just the best! We were blessed to be able to spend Christmas Eve and Christmas morning with Computer Guy, Darling Wife and the girls; Misses C & A! Christmas Eve we all dressed up to go to church then out to a wonderful dinner at PF Changs - (Oh my - wonderful food!!) then back to their house for bedtimes and the wonderful hot cocoa with homemade peppermint marshmallos!!

MissC had a special dress of black velvet with a wide pink bow at the dropped waist and black bows in her hair. The 3-mo old MissA wore a fetching dress with a black velvet top and a full-circle red plaid tafeta high waisted skirt. Both wore matching white socks with bows and soft black "mary janes". Are they just the cutest or what?!!

When we got back to their house after dinner DW & MissC put together a plate for Santa with cookies, carrots and a bowl of oats for the reindeer. It was all toooo cute!! Great Nana is in the background looking on.

Mom, hubby and I spent the night at a nearby motel, and came back first thing in the morning to see what Santa had brought - the doll house was perfect and it hadn't taken CG & DW toooo long to get it assembled after we left the night before!

Christmas morning always went by too fast when I was a kid, and that doesn't seemed to have changed! All too soon the presents were opened, oooed and aaahhhed over and we took ours out to the car to be taken home. We had a wonderful breakfast then we gathered everyone for the annual Christmas picture and as I look at it again, I realize again how blessed we are!

*****

The weekend before Christmas CG & DW asked if we would consider coming down to babysit for them, and we were delighted to do that! A month before MissC's 2nd birthday last spring she was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes - and taking care of her insulin and food needs has added a whole new layer of responsibility to the regular job of being parents! The doctor had her on insulin shots for a while, and she was a very good sport about them, but DW set out right away to see if there could be a better way for her. She has had an insulin pump now for a few months now and that seems to be working very well for her. She is very patient when mom or dad needs to "talk to her pump" and when she is hungry she asks to be tested so she can eat! She is quite a trooper!

Anyway - since she was diagnosed, it's been a little harder to leave her for a "grown-up" evening out. DW's mom or sister are sometimes unavailable, so they haven't had many date nights in the last few months! We have been learning how to work the pump and just what she should be eating for her meals, so when they asked if we had the evening free, we were pretty excited! We had a whole evening of playing and reading books and hubby made up some pretty amazing stories about Dora and Ariel and Nemo that delighted MissC! MissA is cooing now and she was so fun to cuddle and play with! We decided to just spend the night so their date night didn't have to end early, and got up early the next morning and were back home in time for Sunday School! We had sooo much fun - we're looking forward to doing that again!!

Christmas Meme

I just read this over at Seeds From My Garden and thought it looked like fun!

1. Eggnog or hot chocolate? Hot chocolate with Darling Wife's homemade peppermint marshallows!
2. What is your favorite holiday dish? My mom always makes a prime rib on Christmas - YUM!!
3. What is your favorite holiday dessert? Gheesh - it's hard to choose! - Ok - the toffee squares in the See's Candy box that always appears on Christmas!
4. Candy canes? Yes - the old fashioned peppermint kind!
5. Wrapping paper or gift bag? Bag when I'm lazy - paper if I find just the right one!
6. Easiest person to buy for? Granddaughters - I have to slap my hands to make me stop!
7. Hardest person to buy for? Someone with no hobbies or interests
8. Have you ever regifted a Christmas present? I think I may have - something nice though, not junky!
9. Do you remember your favorite gift? When I was 17 I had an old Studebaker Lark -with no heater - that year my dad took the car for "service" and had a heater put in it. I cried it was so sweet!! Every cold morning after that he would start my car and turn that heater on for me so the car was warm before I went to school.
10. Do you open a gift Christmas Eve? No - I always waited as a child and the few I have opened on Christmas Eve just didn't have the same "wonder"!
11. Does Santa wrap presents? Yes - but usually in different paper from the other gifts
12. When and how did you learn the truth about Santa? Wait - what truth?
13. Which do you prefer… Giving or receiving? Unashamedly - Both!
14. Do you mail or email Christmas cards? Postal mail - and they have to be Nativity cards!
15. Real tree or artificial? I always loved the smell of real, but the kind and size I like got sooo expensive a few years ago we bought an artificial - it's a good one though, and you can't tell the difference without touching! I usually use real wreaths and boughs so it still smells good in the house!
16. Colored lights or white? Hubby likes colored and I have always done white on the tree - but more and more I think my next year's tree lights may be colored!
17. What tops your tree? A leaded star hubby fell in love with a long time ago.
18. How do you decorate your tree? With white lights, and loaded with lots of toys, old-looking things, colored wooden beads - very country and very happy!
19. When do you put your decorations up? The weekend after Thanksgiving
20. How do you decorate your house? Mom gives hubby a nutcracker every year - we have a large collection of them and really enjoy placing them around the house. I collect a Santa every year so we have lots of those too - they are all so festive looking! I love them! I use fresh greens for the fragrance and of course the Nativity sets get special attention.
21. When do you take your decorations down? Usually the weekend after New Year's Day
22. Do you have a nativity scene? Yes. I have a couple of them - and they are always special to set out
23. Do you hang a stocking? No, not for hubby and me. I have them for my kids and the grandkids I see on Christmas though.
24. Do you hang mistletoe? Sometimes - just for fun!
25. Favorite tradition? A new one for this year and last - Spending Christmas Eve with Mom and Computer guy, the granddaughters and Darling Wife's family. We go to a Christmas program at their church, then out to dinner. We spend the night then have early Christmas morning with son and his family. Then after brunch we drive back to Mom's house for the wonderful afore mentioned afternoon prime rib dinner! Mom is a collector of people, so she usually fills her table with friends who have no other family to be with. It is always an eclectic group and a lot of fun!
26. Favorite Christmas song? Oh - I love the old traditional ones, and I also love some of the newer ones - my radio station on my computer plays them for the whole month of December and I just love them all - um, except "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas" by the Pretenders - I know they are pros - but no one on the radio should sing that flat!!!
27. Favorite Christmas movie? A Christmas Story
28. Snow. I have not lived in it - so I love it! We've been in it when we ski - it is sooooo pretty! I know - once it is slushy it is not nice - but I still think it is beautiful!
29. Can you ice skate? Not well - I took lessons several years ago - my goal was to skate backwards - I finally accomplished it, but I don't think it was pretty.
30. Favorite holiday memory as a child? Midnight Candlelight Christmas Eve service at our Lutheran Church. Having home made eggnog in the kitchen in the morning and waiting for Gramie & Grandpop to arrive early on Christmas morning - that signaled we could finally go into the living room where the "opening" would commence! Mom would hand the gifts out 1 at a time and we would all watch it being opened - it made the gift opening last longer and everyone could ooh & aah - and you could see their reaction when they opened the one from you!!
31. Least favorite holiday memory as a child? I had peeked into packages in mom's closet and saw a beautiful robe with matching slippers. On Christmas morning I kept waiting but it wasn't there. I couldn't say anything though. Later in the day we went to my aunt's house, and there, in the display of gifts on my cousin's bed was the beautiful robe and slippers! Auntie had hidden them in mom's closet so cousin wouldn't peek and spoil her surprise. That cured me - I have never peeked or shaken since!
32. What’s the most important thing about the holidays for you? Remembering that Christmas is celebrating the fact that God's only son, Jesus the Christ came to earth because He loves me. All the other things - no matter how fun and special - take 2nd place to that gift!

Way to go Mom!

My mom is an artist - a really good one! You've met her before - she was the 83-year old lady zip-lining through the rain forest in Costa Rica last March with us!

She has been drawing or painting and creating as long as I can remember, and she starting taking oil painting classes at least 25 years ago. The Senior Center in her town has several excellent classes and the teachers are professionals. She started with light houses they had visited and little English cottages and has grown in skill and widened her scope to encompass pretty much anything that takes her fancy!

A year ago she was invited to do a month-long 1-woman art show in the Center's art gallery and she got busy preparing for it. The opening reception was Oct 5th and the show has received great reviews! Hubby and I and went down to help her set up all the food for the reception and a lot of people came and ate and oo'd and ah'd over all the artwork! It was a lot of fun and a great success! (The only bad part of this was my total lack of thinking ahead that I may want to use these photos I took - they are not at great angels or in perfect lighting, but you get the idea!!)

I'm really proud of her - at an age when a lot of folks just sort of curl up and wait to die, she is excited about her life and about truly living every day of it. She is a widow now, and although she misses daddy every day, she doesn't want to miss anything that might be new and interesting. He didn't want her to stop living life just because he wouldn't be there to share it with her.

I'm proud to say she is my mom!

Welcome MissA

Well, I am sooo happy to report that this sweet family








has now become this beautiful family!








MissA made her entrance Sunday night Sept 23! She weighed in at 7lb 10oz and 19.25" long! She is really pretty and although in the week that has passed, MissC has fallen in love with her, she wasn't too sure why mommy was holding that baby! She had spent the night with her aunt and uncle and they had just arrived at the hospital Monday morning, so this was her first introduction to her own real live little sister!

This beautiful little girl is our 4th granddaughter and although raising 2 boys was fun, granddaughters are a whole new adventure!

When gd #1 came a little over 5 years ago I didn't really know how to shop for girls - we didn't get to see her too often, so my skill level stayed rather static til MissC came along 2.5 years ago! Babies R Us is a blast and I went to work on honing my skills! Shopping for # 3 was fun, but again - they live far away so I don't get to see her often. When I went to do a little shopping for MissA so I'd be ready when she came I realized I have hit my stride. I have to be careful not to go overboard - all those little clothes are soooooooo cute!!! Sparkly and flowered tennys are so fun and it's a good thing that Babies R Us is far enough away so that I can't just stop by any old time!! HA!!

Welcome to the family MissA! Love, Grandi & Poppy

At Long Last

Hi All! Well, I have been swamped at work and since that is where my computer is I have barely had time to read any posts, much less take the time to create! But my day is at an end and I just have to share some pictures!
In early July I had to make a whirlwind trip to our offices in Chicago, Birmingham, Kansas City and Washington DC - It was fun - I had meetings to announce a new health benefit and off I went again! It was tiring, but really fun. On the way back to SoCal I could see this glow from my plane window - as we got closer I realized that I was seeing a sunset through the clouds! It looked like a pool of molten lava - what a treat!

Just a week after that trip we went on an Alaskan cruise with Morning Glory, my mom and her friend L, and some new friends! We had so much fun!! Cruising is a great way to travel as a group - you can sort of do your own thing during the day and meet back for dinner and in the case of Alaska see incredible scenery that there is just no other way to see!

When we got off the ship on Saturday morning in Seattle an old friend who lives on Whidby Island picked us up and took us home with her for the rest of the weekend. She and her husband are renting a cute home and have future plans to build a house on land they have bought on the island. They drove us all around and what a beautiful place they live in! Their property is on a hillside and is just spectacular! When we were enjoying our coffee Sunday morning this little deer came into their front yard to munch! She just stood there and watched me take her picture!

In early August we went down to San Diego to visit Computer Guy, Darling Wife and MissC - of course MissC was just soooo fun! I thougt you'd enjoy this picture of MissC having a "tea party" in her playhouse with her buddy, a Viszla named Cooper! He very patiently waited for his goodie! We drove down to Coronado Island for dinner then walked out on the waterfront - They are such a sweet and fun family and are looking forward to meeting the new MissA in just a month!

This last weekend we were able to fly back to Ohio to see The VP and Daughter-in-Law and MissT and their new MissK! It's been a year since we saw them and MissT has really grown! She has just started kindergarten! When MissT was only 2 I bought some fabric called "Girly-Girl" for a quilt and I figured at 5 that she is probably old enough to appreciate it - so I got it made and took it with us!

It.was.a.hit!! I was so glad - she LOVED it!! It was really fun to make - I put that really soft fuzzy stuff on the back and it turned out sooo cuddly! VP told me yesterday she has slept with it every night!! Yea! We also got to meet the new MissK! She was born 3 months early - so she is 5 months old even though she only looks about 2 months old! VP showed me her first little one-sy (sp?) and it was very big on her. I laid it and her first little cap next to a 6-9 month outfit - you can see how small they are! The tinyness of it was amazing. We enjoyed the visit - it was short - only the weekend, but we made the most of it!


It was a little hard to get pictures of MissK - because when the light would come on the front of the camera she immediately stared at it and the pictures were reminicent of "deer in the headlights"! But on the way to the airport Sunday morning while she was playing with hubby, I was finally able to catch her smiling! She looks just like big sister did at 2 months and both girls are the picture of their daddy!!

Miss Cinderbella

When we met CG & DW and MissC at Disneyland a couple of weeks ago, one of the things we did was wait in line to see the Princesses. This was a new one for me - I didn't know they had that attraction! Well, we waited for quite a while hoping that Cinderella would still be there when we reached the front of the line. Just as it was our turn, Cinderella went on her break (Princesses get breaks??) and the Fairy Godmother came in. So we were glad we had not told MissC that we would be seeing Cinderella!! We did get to see Jasmine (Aladdin) and Snow White and of course Cindy's Fairy Godmother though and that was fun! MissC was totally awed by them but it didn't take long til we could take her picture with them and she loved it! As you walk out they channel you into the Princess Store - to give you an opportunity to purchase! The Cinderella dresses were outrageously expensive, so we took pictures.

This morning I got an email from DW - and she sent me a picture of MissC in her new "Cinderbella" dress! DW made it for her! Toooooo Cuuuute!!!

My Birthday Card

My birthday was last week - 59 - UGH - it's hard not to think that I have finished 59 years of life and have started on my 60th!! I do not feel anywhere near 60 in my head!! I remember when my grandparents were 60 - they were OLD!!! Of course I was probably in my late teens - and 60 WAS old!! My mom tells me now thought that her 83 is the new 63 - so that means my 59 is the new 39? Now I can handle that!! HA!!

Hubby gave me a really neat birthday card - keeping in mind that when that 60th birthday does roll around we will be either packing up to move or unloading the truck in Northern Retirement State - and embarking on a new adventure - Here is what it says. (It is a Hallmark, so it is copywrited, so you can't republish it under your own name!!)

PICTURE THIS:

You and I, years and

years from now,

cruising along some costal

highway with the top down,

stereo blasting,

the wind whipping our hair.

Whatever we want to do,

we do it.

No agenda, no schedule,

nobody else

to worry about.

We travel the country,

buying silly T-shirts

and sending postcards,

stopping at tiny

roadside cafes

in search of the

world's best

blueberry pie.

No hurry. No rush.

Relaxing in the comfort

of a lifetime

of companionship.

You and I . . .

lovers, friends, partners

on this road of life.

Happy Birthday!

Isn't that just a nice picture? I loved it!! He is truly a neat guy! I'm so glad I snagged him all those years ago!! I am so looking forward to those roads and maybe we'll even expand to blackberry and apple pie!!

Oh, Such Fun!

Oh my goodness - we have had such fun in the last few weeks!! First we went down to Computer Guy and Darling Wife's home to spend the day visiting and playing with MissC - she was, as usual, adorable and we really had a nice day! We took my mom and spent most of the day, walked to their favorite mexican restaurant for dinner, then headed home. Granddaughters are so much fun!! Hubby always wanted a girl, but we had 2 boys. Now he is getting his wish! We have 3 granddaughters and 1 more on the way!

In early May we popped up to our Northern Retirement State to visit Morning Glory and family - we cruised past our house several times during the weekend and peeked over the fence! Everything looks good - it appears that our renter is taking care of our house for us - at least the outside looks neat and well kept! We also took a drive up into the mountains to visit a beautiful ski resort - it was such an incredible drive - and we make several stops along the way. There is a beautiful lake where MG & family have spent many happy vacations camping - we even camped with them there several years ago. It's a place we will definitely go back to after we move!! I think MG posted a similiar picture - but it is so pretty I know you'll enjoy it again!!

This last week has been very fun! My brother and his kids and grandson came down to SoCal for vacation and on Tuesday we took off and went down to Sea World with them. CG and DW have season passes so they came too! This is MissC feeding a fish to the seals - they come right up and take it out of the little tube! They were funny and verrry noisy!! At the end of the day we got to see the Shamu show - wow - who knew killer whales could be so gracefull! It was a beautiful show and MissC enjoyed getting a ride on daddy's shoulders!

We had another visit with CG & DW and MissC yesterday - they drove up and we met at Disneyland! We all have season passes, and before we are blocked out for the summer season they wanted to bring MissC up one more time! It was soooo fun! It was beautiful weather and the park wasn't too crowded! We rode Dumbo and the Merry-go-Round and Small World even got to meet the princesses! It was a super day!

While we were waiting for our table for dinner in California Adventure Sean Astin and his group walked by and up the stairs to the roof-top restaurant and a few minutes later Valerie Bertinelli and her group showed up too!! Disney provides escorts for the famous types - so no one bothered them - after all they were just families enjoying the day at the park too! But it was kind of fun to see someone we actually recoginzed!


So back to work today - Let's see - what are we going to do for our next "play-day"??!!

Cruisin' to Panama

Well, we are back from our cruise and we had such a great time!! We flew to Miami, Florida, had a relaxing evening in our hotel and shuttled off to the pier the next morning to go aboard Royal Caribbean's Brilliance of the Seas. There was 14 of us and 3 cabins had a balcony and 4 had nice big windows. Our balconies were on the deck above the life boats and just in front of that lifeboat closest to the front of the ship. The windows cabins were right below that lifeboat!

We all had lunch together at the buffet, then went our separate ways to explore and unpack. Every afternoon around 5 several of us gathered in a lounge area where we could enjoy the view out the big windows and relax before we went into the dining room for dinner. This is my mom, her cruising buddy "L" and hubby the first night out.

No matter where we all went during the day, we all met for dinner every night in the main dining room - the food was great and our waiter and asst. waiter were just great! Every evening we had super entertainment in the big theater and we all met together to enjoy that too!

I decided I wanted to try the rock climbing wall on the ship - so hubby and I "geared up" and we did it! Hubby went right up and rang the bell at the top like he did it every day! I took a bit longer - it was harder than I thought it would be - but I made it and rang that bell!! It was fun - I don't know if I'll every try it again, but I did it!!

Our first 2 days were at sea and by the 2nd day we had relaxed sufficiently to really enjoy a deck chair and a good book instead of rushing from one activitity to the next! I was particularly fond of the solarium - no wind, plenty of sun, but not too hot - - I spent many lovely hours there over the course of our 5 sea days!! The guys could usually be found in the solarium playing cards - they had a great time!

Aruba was deserty - not what I expected. I guess the resorts are probably pretty - the beaches were beautiful white sand - but not someplace I would go out of the way to visit again. We did go to a butterfly farm on a tour - interesting!! I had no idea there were so many types and colors of butterflies!! They were beautiful!

The Panama Canal was amazing! We woke up early and watched the process from our balconies, with coffee, fruit and sweet rolls provided by room service! Our 3 balcony rooms were in a row, so we were all together and it was great!! It took about 2.5 hours once we were hooked up to the "mules" (engines that pull the ships through the locks). We were the largest class of ship that can go through and although we had about 17 feet in front and behind us, there was only 2 feet on either side! The mules kept us perfectly centered! There was a cargo ship that went up in the set of locks right beside us, so we could see how they handled that ship - It was facinating!! We went through the 3 locks on the east side of Panama and into Gatun lake where we went off the ship to go on sightseeing tours. The ship cruised around the lake, then went back out on the Caribbean side where our tours delivered us at the end of the day. Each port offered tours and since we only had a day in each, and they were foreign countries, we all took tours. Our group was usually split on their interests and at the end of each day we had several tours to share about.

The next day was Costa Rica and it is beautiful!! I think it was my favorite of the 4 countries we visited. This is where 9 of us went on the Crazy Monkey Canopy Tour! As promised - here are pictures! Here is mom getting hooked into her gear, and mom and hubby getting ready to climb up to the first platform! You can see the first level, the stairs to the 2nd level, and what you can't see is the 3rd level 60 feet in the air!!! Climbing those ladders was the scariest, although we were always hooked to safety lines and there was no chance of falling off. Once we were at the top the guy (or gal) hooked us to the cable and off we went to the next platform! There were 13 platforms and 12 spans - the shortest 60 feet, the longest over 400. I came very close to bad words looking down from that first platform, but since hubby and my 83-yr old mom had just gone before me I had to do it too!! Sliding on the cable was great - it felt very safe and flying through the treetops was incredible!! We would land on a platform, then climb up to the upper platform and take off again! The was a guy to make sure we landed safely, and another one who hooked us up to go again! Since I had the camera and followed mom, these pictures are of her not me! One of the "send-off" guys took a movie of me with my camera, but I can't figure out how to post it!!

We had another relaxing sea day then arrived at Grand Cayman - The sky was beautiful and the sea is the most incredible color there - several colors of turquoise and so clear that when we went snorkeling I could see the SeaPass card that had come out of hubby's bathing suit pocket and had settled on the sandy bottom 40 feet below! One of the guys from the snorkel boat dove down and got it! Whew!! - that was his security card to get back on the ship!! I think his angel guided me over there - I saw a 5-ft tarpin and followed it, looked down and saw a card. The water was so crystal clear I could see that it had our ship's logo on it, but didn't realize it was his til we got back on the ship. I told him what I had found and he patted his pocket and it was empty! Thank goodness it didn't fall out over the caves that dotted the nearby coral reef!! Here's mom, L and I getting ready to snorkle!

Our last day was a sea day going back to Miami. It was funny, before we left, some of the guys were apprehensive about spending 10 days on a cruise ship - they were afraid they might be bored! But on that 10th day we were all ready to turn around and do it again!! It was a wonderful trip!!

Now mom and L and hubby and I are looking forward to an Alaskan cruise with Morning Glory, the Dr, their daughter Beth and her hubby in July!! Yippee - I love practicing for retirement!!

Parenting Different Personalities

My goodness - it's been a long while since I actively parented. My boys both left home when they started college at 17 & 18 respectively, and with the execption of 1 summer for the younger, they never lived at home again!

I remember being amazed at how different 2 boys could be. I have 1 brother, so in my family we were different of course, because we were different sexes. But I was blown away at how different 2 of the same sex could be! I used a lot of humor with my guys - I am only 5'4" and my boys are 6'4 and 6'1", and they reached those heights fairly young. So the picture of me trying to physically restrain them after a while got pretty funny! Computer Guy would just hold my hands so I couldn't chase him with a wooden spoon and look at me with a smirk and tell me that it was time to settle down!! Humor and exaggeration of the consequences seemed to be a better path. I can remember sometimes telling them (possibly loudly!) that until they cleaned their rooms up I was done cooking - even if it took several days!! Since they were growing boys this got their attention!! They usually took care of their rooms fairly quickly!! I also gave them time frames - before dinner; before bed - that way I didn't have to nag - it usually worked! I was the mom however, I was the boss - they just didn't realize I was ultimately winning!

Once they got to Jr High I taught them to sort and do their own laundry. (This was wonderful for me and they did a really good job after they learned how!) Doing that and putting away the clean clothes were part of their chores. Dog p*op and sweeping the pool were the other main ones. I had summers off, so we went to the beach a lot - and during the first week after school let out, just when they had hit their lazy summer stride - we would always have the "Summer-will-be-horrible-if-you-don't-pitch-in" session. The deal was they did their chores first thing and then we would have fun!! No chores = no fun. I always put a lot of energy into this session, because I wanted to go play, and if I had to stay home and nag about chores it would be awful for everyone!!

As they got older and were driving, (yes, we bought them their first cars - older of course, but we both needed ours and having their own cars gave them opportunity to develop more responsibility!) they had to make us some promises. First, curfew was negotiable depending on the activity, but if their faces weren't in the house by 11 on the weekend, their voice needed to be on the phone telling us why, where they were, and what time they would be home. (As they got older they informed us they expected the same courtesy from us if they were home and we were out!!) Second, if they did something stupid and decided to drink they were NOT to drive home. They were to call, and no matter what shape they were in or where they were we would come get them with no punishment. They never took us up on that, but we were serious.

Computer Guy was first and easy - ok pregnancy and an easy kid. He was a cuddly, happy-go-lucky child and although we had the normal "head-butting" it usually resolved itself pretty quickly. A couple of swats (yes, I spanked) usually did the trick - putting him in his room was no big deal, he would just crawl on his bed and take a nap! As he grew older I could figure him out fairly easily - I could tell when he was telling me a tale, or if he had done something wrong. He was happy to hang out with family and although he was excited to go away to college, I think if we had tried to talk him out of it we might have kept him close to home a couple more years. It was so great for him to go when he did though, and he just blossomed! His personal growth and maturity was wonderful to see over the next 4 years! He developed an amazing talent with the guitar and sang in a band for several years during and after college. It was so fun to go and watch the group play - they were loud (we did take ear plugs!), but they were SOOOO GOOD!! We loved it!!

He has continued to grow and become an amazing man. He is a wonderful dad to his little girl and from my perspective, a terriffic husband! Darling Wife seems to think so too!! He is active in his church and is a loyal caring man, who will go many miles for his friends.

VP was 2nd - a "sicker" pregnancy (and THE LAST! - I was not a good pregnant lady!) and from day 1 had a more focused personality. He had his own idea how things should be done and went to great lengths to make his point. Swats never fazed him, but putting him in his bedroom was the worst and he would lay on the floor with his face at the bottom of the door and cry loudly so I could tell how upset he was!! Since he hated being in there he would of course, try to get out - so I would sit on the floor and hold the doorknob til he gave up. That was quite a picture - me on the floor in the hall holding the doorknob, VP on the other side trying the door then crying loudly with his mouth to the crack below the door just to make sure I knew he was angry!! Sometimes the whole situation would get me laughing and it was a real chore to make sure he didn't hear me!! I had a harder time reading him - and could never tell if he was really sick on a school morning or if he just needed more sleep. Sometimes he actually laid around all day, sometimes he had a miraculus healing by about noon!

He had pretty strong ideas of how he should be parented, and he and I butted heads when my (yes - also strong) ideas differed!! Sometimes we compromised, sometimes we just had to agree to disagree!! Hubby and he were more often on the same wave length, and could usually talk things through easier! Along with his strong will, he also developed a compassionate side and many nights as he grew up, he and his friends would gather in the jacuzzi in the back yard and he would "counsel" them! We listened in a few times and his advice was usually pretty good!

After he was in high school and I was working full time, he would call me to find out what I had planned for dinner. If he didn't "approve" he would volunteer to bbq chicken instead - which was grand - I didn't have to cook after all! He could hardly wait to leave for college, and although he came home 1 summer to work as an interim youth pastor at our church, my "mothering" was pretty much over by then. He married the week before graduation, and although that relationship is challenging, his tenacious personality has served him well. He is a wonderful, loving dad and husband and has faced the challenges in his marriage with a maturity and wisdom that sometimes takes our breath away.

Being a mom was great - I loved it! I loved that I was able to stay home with them, have a snack ready when they got home from school, and drive them to their sports practices. I had fun with them - we went to the beach, parks, out for ice cream cones and laid on the grass and watched the clouds. We went on ski trips and camping trips and baseball games. Our house was where the other kids gathered to swim and they gathered often. We were very active with our church, and the majority of their friends were in the same church. Our faith was (and is) a huge part of our lives and they really never rebelled over being at church. They are both Christians, married Christians and are raising their families in loving Christian churches. I raised 2 men I am enormously proud of and I have no regrets that I didn't have a career!

I'm not sure if I covered how, exactly, I parented - other than what I wrote. I just loved them and prayed for them a lot - - still do!

In This Skin

Since I only have today and tomorrow before we leave on vacation (yea!) I just don't have time to really post - but this one does get my thoughts going!! So I'll take just a few minutes!

I have a little sign near my sink that says, "If you haven't grown up by age 50 you don't have to". It's here on my blog too. I take this as state of mind not a level of maturity!! I do hope that as I breezed past 50 and am knocking on 60's gate that I have a certain maturity that leaves me a little wiser! But there is that other side - the side that has folks wondering if you were ever young! I don't want anyone to wonder that about me!! The inside of me sometimes is taken back by the face in the mirror - a few wrinkles, not such a tight jaw line any more - and we won't even talk about thighs or fanny!! I do not wear bikinis any more. But I still only feel about 30 on the inside! Sometimes I look at some ladies that are my age and up, and I wonder if I look as old to you as they look to me!!

I love to sit on the floor and play with my granddaughter and my granddog! I love ice cream cones and water balloons and taking a hike or riding a bike. I love tennys and jeans and letting the wind mess up my hair. I love to walk fast and swing on the swings at the park. I love to skip. I love to ski and travel, and I don't want to ever hear me say, "Oh, I'm too old for that", unless I am referring to low cut mini skirts and midrift baring tops!! HA!! I want to be one of those folks who has friends in all different age groups and the younger ones won't think of me as OLD!! I love to have FUN!!

We are about to leave on a cruise that will stop in Costa Rica and Hubby and I are going to do a zip-line tour of the rain forest - - and folks, my 82-year old mom wants to do it too!!! You have to climb some stairs and wear a harness that hooks to a cable and you slide along the cable from one platform to the other as you work your way through the tree-tops. I am afraid of heights - but I really don't want to miss this!! She feels the same way - after all, when will this opportunity come again!! So we are doing it with a few other adventureous members of our group. The rest are taking a little less breathless ground tour!

So I use my Mary Kay (It is really good stuff even if you don't care for "the Ladies"!) and watch my weight and excercise and take my vitamins and hopefully when I am 82 I will still be doing all the fun things I want to do too - just like my mom!

Amazing Tulips

This just amazes me! Tulips grow in the vase after they are cut!! Look closely at the 2 pictures - I tried to get them about the same size. The red tulips are about 1.5 inches longer and the pink ones have grown by about 2 inches!! The first picture on the top was taken Wednesday morning, and I just took the 2nd one (on the bottom) at lunch time on Friday. Pretty neat - huh?

Happy Valentines Day and More

I do love Valentine's Day! Because it is a day to especially honor the one you love and do fun things for them!

My dear hubby always sends me flowers and I love that! He always send them a day early so they greet me in my office when I walk in on Valentine's Day!

This is what he sent me this year. I LOVE tulips, so that's what he sent! They look so pretty this morning in their bright red vase, and since tulips continue to grow after they are put in water, they will be taller and larger by the end of the week when I take them home! Thanks Babe!! I love them!!!


On another totally unrelated topic (my mind works this way - sorry!), I have a new tattoo! Oh - it's not anywhere on my bod - I think I'd feel silly doing that! I had my eyebrows tattooed on! I have really blonde eyebrows and they never lasted all day when I would pencil them on in the morning. I have had my eyeliner tatooed on for about a year (LOVE that!!) and since the permanent makeup place I go to had a sale in January, what was I to do??!! I went and had my eyeliner touched up and added eyebrows! It is fun to wake up in the morning and have part of my face already on!!

I Sure Do Miss . . .

my Dishmaster!! For 30 years I had a Dishmaster for my kitchen sink faucet. (Sorry about the link - I couldn't get the picture to post!) It was not sleek or stylish, but it worked sooooo well!! You put the dish soap in the container on the top and when you press the button on the brush handle soapy water comes out. You release the button and clear water runs. It had a smallish brush head that fit into everything and made quick work of washing everything without getting my hands in the soapy water! I had to replace it one time - so not only was it incredibly handy - it was durable.

I now live in an apartment - it is not mine, therefore my needs are not taken into consideration when choosing a kitchen sink faucet. What I have is probably the cheapest faucet on the market - it sits low in the sink, so getting pans under it to rinse is a pain. I removed the metal nozzle and put this attractive rubber thing on it so I can at least direct the stream of water. Then I attempted to purchase a suitable replacement for my dishmaster. I started with that brush thing - it holds soap and the brush is interchangable with a spongy pad thing. The pad came apart from its holder after about a week, so I put the brush head on. It is HUGE - it is also stiff and misses most of what I want it to scrub off before dishes go into the dishwasher!! It does not fit into anything - and since the soap goes in on the side of the handle and leaks, the handle was always covered with dry dish soap!! I quit putting soap in it and that sort of defeated the purpose! SO - - I purchased the thing with the pad on it - nice little scrubby thing - holds soap, looks handy - soap goes in from the end, and does not leak. It unfortunately does not come out the scrubby end EITHER!!! Well, I take that back - after I hold the sponge under water then use my fingers and squish the pad 10 or 15 times I can get some soapyness to appear on the sponge!! It is very stiff, and because of that does not fit into many things!! It does an acceptable job on totally flat items - crummy on things with a curve!! SO -- I purchased that attractive red thing - it dispenses dish soap and has a little slot for a sponge, that I use when the brush and the round scrubby don't fit and I'm feeling the need to get my hands wet and soapy!!!!!!!!

I've done a little research and discovered that Dishmaster has come up with a new model - they put the soap holder under the sink and make the whole unit more updated. Check this one out - now we're talkin'!! Hubby and I will (hopefully) be installing this one shortly after we move in to our home up north!! (I say hopefully, because there are certain hole measurments that it needs to have - hopefully they are what my sink has!!)

You are probably shaking your head in amazement that an intelligent woman could pine for a Dishmaster - and I don't blame you for that! But it's true - I reeeeaaaaally dooooo miss it!!

Sharing the Love

Oh my - sometimes something comes across the email that just makes your morning - this is one of those times! I could forward it to a couple of friends or stick it out here for you all to enjoy!! So - - Enjoy!!

The other day I went up to a local Christian bookstore and saw a "Honk if You Love Jesus" bumper sticker. I was feeling particularly sassy that day because I had just come from a thrilling choir performance, followed by a thunderous prayer meeting, so I bought the sticker and put it on my bumper.
Later, after I picked up my grandson from school, I was stopped at a red light at a busy intersection, just lost in thought about the Lord and how good He is and I didn't notice that the light had changed. It is a good thing someone else loves Jesus because if he hadn't honked, I'd never have noticed!
I found that LOTS of people love Jesus. Why, while I was sitting there, the guy behind started honking like crazy, and then he leaned out of his window and screamed, "for the love of God, GO! GO!" What an exuberant cheerleader he was for Jesus! Everyone started honking! I just leaned out of my window and started waving and smiling at all these loving people. I even honked my horn a few times to share in the love.
There must have been a man from Florida back there because I heard him yelling something about a sunny beach... I saw another guy waving in a funny way with only his middle finger stuck up in the air. When I asked my teenage grandson in the back seat what that meant, he said that it was probably a Hawaiian good luck sign or something.
Well, I've never met anyone from Hawaii, so I leaned out the window and gave him the good luck sign back. My grandson burst out laughing, why - even he was enjoying this religious experience! A couple of the people were so caught up in the joy of the moment that they got out of their cars and started walking towards me.
I bet they wanted to pray or ask what church I attended, but this is when I noticed the light had changed. So, I waved to all my sisters and brothers, and grinning, drove on through the intersection. I noticed I was the only car that got through the intersection before the light changed again and I felt kind of sad that I had to leave them after all the love we had shared, so I slowed the car down, leaned out of the window and gave them all the Hawaiian good luck sign one last time as I drove away.
Praise the Lord for such wonderful folks!

Another Trip North

We headed north again in early January to visit Morning Glory and the Dr - and to check on our retirement home! We had a great time - the weather was cold but not stormy and it was a super weekend! We really enjoy their church - it will be ours too when we move! We also stopped in to see Queen Beth and the Royal family and Karen Tradeoff and a couple of the little Tradeoffs! The new little guy is adorable!

One of the days we drove up to the local ski area - the road up is VERY turny and twisty but the views off to the side were wonderful! We looked around the ski lodge and had lunch, then the clouds started dropping a bit of snow and since we didn't have chains it was time to head down the hill! As you can tell it was cold - but really pretty! We are looking forward to skiing here when we finally live close! I'm thinking season passes!! As we were driving down the mountain, the blue sky reappeared and the view out over the valley was just incredible!!

That night the moon was especially pretty - so I went out on the front lawn to balance my camera on the tree branch and the frozen grass crunched under my feet!! That was not something this California girl has ever experienced!! I thought it was neat!! Morning Glory just laughed!

We took several drives past our house - we didn't want to bother our renter - so we just "lurked"!! The fence we put in a few months ago looked good, but the bright white of the fence sure made the pale trim on the house look dingy! With the winter grass and the leafless tree everything looked pretty bland! We decided we will have some planting and painting to do when we move in!! The park was all in behind the house - grass, trees and a walking path along the creek! We have now set mid June, 2008 to be our move-in target! It seems like a long time - but if the last year is any indication - the time will fly by!!




Not to be outdone by Morning Glory's Sunrise/Sunset site - this was the sunset from my office window the evening of the day after we returned! Oh my - the view can be great on a clear day - I can see the islands off the coast of SoCal! But this sunset was one of the best I can remember from this window!!

Wow! 2 posts in 2 days!! This has got to be some sort of record for me!! Tee-hee!! Happy weekend friends!