update to desk search..

Great news in the pursuit of the desk that I was very pleased with.. in the afternoon, my "bob the builder" called me to let me know that he had seen the email and pictures.. He asked where I had seen the furniture and the price.. when I told him World Market and $279 he just said "handsome piece of furniture and the price is very reasonable as he couldn't remake one of them for less than $400." I told him how I appreciated his quick response and for the assessment. He said he does get some furniture from World Market as you sometimes can't make it with the amount of time and materials.

So I took my 10% coupon and Greg drove down there with me. Now they sell them in a box as a kit, but they didn't have one in stock.. So Eric the manager offered us the floor model for $199. plus my coupon as it had a couple minor minor scratches in it.  Or I could have him order me one for full price..  Oh hell no, those scratches can be touched up for the much lower price.. So for $194.13 We walked out the door with it..

60"W x 28"D x 30"H and the perfect color like our den tables (you can see one in the background)

This is it in its place in the office space, and looks great against the newly painted tan walls..

Now to find a photo scanner that can do large jobs (rather than one at a time) and has excellent color quality.  I had purchased one at Best Buy and the color quality was not as true as the photo, so I returned it.  But believe me I have 4 large containers and some loose pictures to organize..  I will start by saving a copy for myself in an organized folder setup name/date and then Ashley is the only one who has expressed an interest in having hers now.  When the boys are ready I'll then save them a copy in whatever is the "going digital or storage" popular at that time.

Thursday thoughts

Today is Thursday and day 4 of vacation nearly complete.. I took the opp to sleep in til 8am and after a quick shower headed out the door.  The reason being to run some "shopping browser" style at a couple of locations that have desks.

Which I will need for the room I converted to an office out of Brians bedroom.  I am looking for a writers desk , which will be perfect for "writing". I also have a HUGE project planned of taking all the printed pictures I have since we were married, and converting them to a storage mechanism to save give to each of the kids.. This will also need to be done with the kids VCR tapes before that is an impossible task.  it won't have but two drawers and not in anyway look or feel like a office computer desk. No holes for computer connections, or drawers for desk supplies.  I found a desk that I like at World Market, it had a old time feel to it, and was a size that made it a good work space but the price was a bit over my comfort zone for it.

But I then went to another couple of stores, Staples-didn't have what I was looking for, and next door was an Ashley furniture I found a completely black desk similiar to this but it had a drop down computer desk front with one drawer.. okay, but not something I would need use of. It was 40 bucks cheaper but looked contemporary with the shiny laquer black finish... Not out of the question, just not the top of my list. 

http://ashleyfurniture.com/Showroom/LargeProductImage.aspx?PageId=Showroom&SetDomTab=1&ItemNo=H371-44

As you can see there similar as the dimensions are the same, but totally different look..

My third option was a furniture builder who built our den tables, four of them about 2 years ago. I sent him the pictures of this table and the type of table he built for us for his opinion on the price of his making the desk for me... and he reasonably told me that it would be $400 at least for him to make it by hand.. and that it was a handsome piece of furniture at a good price...

So there you have it.. the decision is made... back to World Market with my 10% coupon which will cover the taxes at least..

Quick and precise.. love it.. done..

an evening with my boy

We've enjoyed many nights with Brian home for dinner as his time winds down here before his move.. Tonight he and I went to Costco thinking he could order his needed glasses on our card, but after they allowed him to get his eye exam last week through the independently owned optometrist, the area where they order glasses is completely Costco and you can't use them unless your age is apparantly UNDER 24 or you are a member. Deciding that getting him a membership was not wise as the closest Costco in CO is 4.5 hours away in Denver, and to get a Sams Club card wasn't worth it either.. Then I suddenly think of Walmart.

So he and I went to Walmart in the Long Beach Towne Center to check out there eye center.  Frames and lenses good price, purchased and they will be in when he flies back into the area in a couple of weeks to go to a concert of Tim McGraw and Kenny Chesney (lucky guy) and to take a work truck and drive back to CO with it.. He kind of drug his feet on getting these before he left as he needs them for distance, but he'll have them for his next trip to CO long distance.

Tonight he plays in the last slow pitch softball game at 8:20pm with his high school friends team I posted about last week.  And for us, well, the last time we will get to watch him play in a sporting event after 22 years of being in the stands to watch. I guess there will come a day, when we will sit in the stands to watch his kids play on some type of team ir in an event.

the countdown to his move is now 3 days till he pulls away....

another step in planting

This week I found two overly large planting pots.at Armstrong Nursery. Then they came out with a sale on everything BUT the two pots I liked, so I asked if I bought two of them, they would give me a % off. When Greg went to look at them with me on Saturday, the nursery manager agreed to 20% off of the very expensive pots.. The area these pots go into really needed to be overly large as it's such a big space that little to medium would look so odd in the overall scheme of things.  Since we were at the nursery on the way to a farewell for Chase De Jong buying flowers we didn't have time for, but the sale lasted through Sunday (the next day).

I stayed home from church as my head was pounding, earache was and is a stabbing pain, and the throat swollen that breathing was unmercifully scratchy. So I slept late to get some rest, and then once I had a shower, the headache with lots of advil was better.  I headed to Costco to order contacts, and then called Shane to ask where they ended up for a Fathers day lunch, and it was at a Chili's in the Lakewood Mall where I was at.

After lunch I went over to Home Depot for two huge bags of Miracle Grow potting soil, and not real crazy about the selection of plants in their condition. So back to Armstrong across town and picked up a cart of flowers in tall and small sizes.. Once I got them home, I needed a nap.. So after a rest laying around on the couch, outdoors I headed to get the job done.

Now off to bed as the week of work starts early.

victims of egging....

Friday night we were chillin' on the couch watching the movie "crazy, stupid, love" in our front room with the blinds all open. At about 9:15pm we here a thud on the front of the house and then another one that hits the large window.. Up we jump and out the front door and down toward the sidewalk looking both directions, seeing a skateboarder heading west. Now I'd like to say that I blessed him with some peaceful words, but that would be a lie... What I did holler after them, wasn't holy.. heehee...  On the other hand, knowing we'd been egged, Greg got out the hose and sprayed down the front of the house where it hit and the front window (eliminating what I had accomplished the week before)..

And then we went back to watching the movie... life in the big city.. move on and live your life.. and repent for the unkind words I hollered after him!
  

a guest bedroom set

After a morning of out early and chasing down numerous garage sale signs who had advertised (incorrectly) that they were selling bedroom furniture, and stopping at several thrift stores for a funal stumping in that idea market... we finally gave into the cheaper end furniture stores. One was near our bank..but we stopped for breakfast at a burger joint on Bellflower Blvd first.  We amused ourselves watching a bike cop who chased down numerous people from his hideaway for speeding right at the change in speed zones.. glad it was them and not us.. He was racking up the tickets in the 30 minutes we were there. Yes, Greg was doing the estimated math on his takedown in dollars for the city.


At the furniture store near the bank we saw a bedroom set just like what we got but for twice the price but gave us a good feel for pricing and what we wanted and what we didn't want.  Then on we went to Easylife over by BJ's restuarant in Cerritos.. Bingo.. shopping is done and now we just need to find a good mattress. We don't pick it up till next week Thursday (while we have both boys at home) or until Saturday when Shane is home from his Fire shift to help do the heavy lifting) I'll be doing the "pointing" as to where it goes and the decorating after they've got them in place.


No picture just yet, as I left my phone, aka camera/address book/calendar/computer/gamer in the car.  Which means I didn't get a picture of it but am just so relieved that we finally found a new bed set for the guest room. Cuz, we gave Brian permission to take our extra bedroom set (that I thought was in the garage) of the dresser he has been using in his room... but actually, Shane had the other dresser and upstairs in the guest room was the headboard, and two night stands.. Ashley had left her light colored wood armoire in her old bedroom/now guest room and so had we..


But the plan is now that Shane is going to give up the dresser Brian is taking with him, he will bring the armoire downstairs to his room (which matches the desk wood in his room) and the new bedroom set we just purchased goes upstairs... are you confused yet? Never mind it all shuffles out that now we will have matching sets in rooms and all needs are still met.. I think Shane will like the armoire, cuz that boy is sure into hanging up the dozens and dozens of shirts he has. This armoire has a "hanging section" cupboard. So we figured his fire uniforms can be in there and not squeezed into his closet with the extra hanging bar in it.


The new bedbroom set (pictures to follow next weekend when we pick it up). It's all black wood. Headboard of upholstered leather, and a wood frame all around the base of the box spring, one dresser with 6 drawers and a mirror, and a nightstand.  We bargained with them for the additional night stand at a reduced price (who doesn't need TWO nightstands) and won't hear back from them till Monday afternoon, the manager of this manager is at the warehouse who apparantly has all the power and doesn't work the weekends.  So fine we'll wait but I hope they are just glad to get rid of one more and not at full price...  We bought the floor model at a $200 savings, and wouldn't want to spend it on just the nightstand which would be almost half of the total price!  Somehow theres a loop hole that they will get you in the end....


Now I need to clean up the guest closet. Do some boxing up of things on the closet organizer shelves she left behind, and then put the things that Marlys left here so as to not have to bring them each time they come into there and the linens that were convenient in the armoire (now going to Shanes room.


So it's fun to revamp and freshen up a space, and it will keep my mind off losing another child to another far away state..  (


Now off to do a little baking, and movie watching.. oh and a then a farewell for Chase this afternoon..

sick day in blogging...

literally.... kind of been a sick week..

A sore throat that started Thursday after an all night sick stint of high blood sugar that was a runaway train all night and into the next morning, that led to a losing of my dinner. A puke is pretty normal with a high blood sugar but this was WAY  HIGH to where I was considering a trip to ER to bring it down. Decided against the ER trip and went with using a different route since it seemed that insulin pump was useless throwing all kinds of insulin at the number. So I went to using an insulin pen from the refrigerator as the backup.. it returned to normal around mid morning... The pumps body location where the connection was at might have just been a bad spot that wasn't absorbing insulin and needed to be moved.. It's like not having the pump connected at all (basically not treating the disease for many hours). Such a hassle.
but the point is that my throat has been sore since and the ear ache has been going on for a couple of weeks. It never fails to come on in a way as the weekend is unfolding, to late for dr intervention.. a time for rest, relaxation and some good fun and yet a case of the blahs.. oh well... yay, a vacation is coming on in 7 days..

CO is soon approaching...

9 days and counting til Brian heads down the road to his new home in CO.. had he been able to get into his apt right away instead of June 28, we might have followed him out there to help set it up. I have a vacation already scheduled the week starting after he leaves, but it will be another "stay"cation for me unless we decide to go as he gets the keys on Thursday... a vacation in CO for any number of days is okay by me..

Well it's bedtime and I just thought I'd share that with you...

Suns out, Guns out...

Tuesday night Brian has started on his slowpitch softball team of high school friends. Team name, "Suns out, Guns out"...  They have been out of school since 2006 and have been playing softball for quite a number years during the summer.  Last week they didn't play until 8:20 and that is a late night for me.. So this week it was at a great hour of 6:10. They massacred the other team and it was a short game with a score of something like 26-7. And they have alot of fun together and it's good that they all still get together and they invite their parents to attend!

Steve Kruid, Justin Van Dyke, Jeremy Van Dyke, Brian, Phil Ostermann, Justin, Justin, Noah, Jameson,  (& guys I don't know)

Batter up

Nice Swing and a base hit, a couple of them tonight, plus a triple 

Phil Ostermann

The kind of day it started out to be...

Well, today my good driving record of 32 years without an accident came to a thunderously loud crunching end BAM... I rear ended a woman who was in front of me on Bellflower Blvd.... What the H***??  And then I exited the vehicle to walk to the front of my car, pick up my front license plate "box" that the Ford Explorers have (had~!) on the front bumper and the tail lens cover of the 2008 Nissan Altima that was crunched in front of me.. She too had gotten out of her car and said "lets pull over to the side of the road".  I handed her the car part and headed back to my vehicle.  I followed her over to the parking lot of an abandoned building on the corner of Bellflower and Artesia..

Now let me backup, usually I don't have traffic at 5:00am when I normally go to work.. But during the night I had had a low blood sugar of 51 and so spent a good part of a couple hours awake.  Once I got the blood sugar to a normal level, I slept on the couch because I had soaked my side of the bed in sweat.. So I slept a little later, and left the house around 6:50am and the traffic on Bellflower Blvd was morning rush hour.  Got to about 50 yards from Artesia Blvd heading north and that's when it happened.

Now I don't have any pictures THANK GOD because I left my cell phone at home. sigh*  It was actually the best part that I had proof that I WASN'T texting or facebooking at the time of my distraction..  Now, I was only looked down for a split second after traffic which had taken off and suddenly stopped and bam, crap I was only going I don't even know what speed but it was like just starting out from a stopped position...

Once we parked, I started looking for my cell phone to take pictures, only to remember that I had left it on the counter in our bathroom upstairs. So I did take pictures with a disposable camera that was in the glove compartment for just such an event, but we're not sure that they even develop these things anymore. But since I don't have any damage to be repaired, it's not necessary. She took pictures with her phone and she has all the repairs to make.

Now it is apparant that my 2005 is built with a strong frame and shell and a front bumper like a tank.. cuz, other than ripping off the license plate frame and bending inward I had a small knick in the bumper and a slight kink in the scoop under it.. nothing else.. No crack in the grill or any busted headlights, it rode so much higher than her car.  but her car a 2008 Nissan Altima is another story. Because when my tank hit her plasticated shell surrounding the chassis, it pretty much moved it forward and popped the hood up and out other than jamming the lock so it wouldn't open. It shattered both tail lights with one of them popping off almost whole in the collision.

It wasn't that I wasn't shook up, I just wasn't shaking, jittery or crying.. I was on the other hand pretty calm in getting my information together.  She had taken a pretty good shock to her system in being hit from behind, so I had to calm her a few times and that I wasn't in a rush, she could just sit down and take a deep breath.  I must have told her 5 times I was so sorry.  She wasn't upset with me (whew, I was fortunate). We were both on our way to work, but she was taking the rest of the day off, as her laptop was locked in the trunk and she at that time couldn't figure out how to get the seats in the backseat to fold down from the inside to get into the trunk.. She was flustered with her new phone only to realize she didn't have her bosses cell # in it.  I had to use her phone to call Greg to tell him what had happened and to please call my boss to tell him I'd be a bit late.

Her roommate called the police, and actually showed up on scene from their rental house behind Mayfair HS.. never got out of the car, but I think she brought Susan her current insurance informational card. The police came filled out two copies of the police report giving each one of us a copy and then checked Susans phone that her pictures were sufficient and wished us a better day.

As we parted, she said "it was nice to meet you" which I thought was odd, but I again apologized that it was under these circumstances and assured her I would call my insurance company first thing this morning.

I went home (around the block), talked to Greg, got my phone, grabbed a diet coke and off I headed to the office.  Now I must admit that it is nerve wracking to drive down the road after having an accident that has your senses heightened and on the brake with alot more space between you and any and every car that pulls in front of you..

Now I had wished I had just taken a sick day even if it was a Friday and it wouldn't have looked good to my supervisors.  the work day was long and at first I was a little shaky and by the end of it, I was tired..

TGIF night.. good night

Shane stays in CA..

In my last couple of posts, I've shared what our boys have going on in their lives.. Shanes opportunity to go to WA on a hand crew has turned out not to be possible.  His EMT license that will expire in August, would cause him to lose valuable time upon his Oct return to CA, that he had to turn them down.  His first EMT license is good for year (til Aug) and so once he is recertified for Aug, it will then run for two years.  He needs the EMT license to be current in order to work at the fire station.. and without it, it would set him back quite a few months of the year getting it renewed not to mention the task of taking all the classes over.

So his discussion with the captain in WA went well and that he understood that happens often. Shane asked if he could put his name on the list for next year and he said "I'm putting your name at the top, you came highly recommended and with high regard"..  Ain't that cool.

So he is back to the regular routine of working Monday-Thursday at Expert Carpet cleaning, Friday 7am-Saturday 7am Fire shift..  works hard and enjoys biking and hanging with his friends in his off hours.

see ya!

a day at the office...

I've shared how I work with a broad group of characters when it comes to work ethic and the lack of nose to the grindstone.. This last week has been heating up to what could turn out to be a sweep of long overdue terminations.  And Integrity is the weak link.  The part timers can if they prove themselves trust worthy pick up extra hours above the 4-5 basic hours spread around amongst them. and yet.. of 8 fulltimers and 12 part timers who are porters and do janitorial work, we can be short handed to about 14 on any given day with the work load of 20 employees to cover.. some of the stories here are pretty consistent across the board so just imagine it with me..

Today was the surprise in that a kid who is very quiet, yet friendly, although not the sharpest tack in the drawer, had his ID removed from him and walked to the exit gate after an employee exit interview with security.  As a porter he comes across alot of items that have broken open from their packaging, and yet he decided to take an expensive wallet trying to pass it off as his own when he left.  Reason for termination, stealing from the company.

Another employee, no matter HOW MANY conversations about changing their behavior with a couple of free passes they have received in addition to all of the write ups, suspensions for his incessant "talking while on the clock", caught sleeping in the locker room when not on break, or he's just aimlessly walking around outside of their area daily. Their demeanor is they just don't get it even as they are a step from being terminated for this reason.. stealing from the company. Oh and they just graduated from an airplane mechanic school, please Lord not on an airline I or my loved ones are flying on.

Now the best story of all is a particular person who has been the best at using the union system of stretching benefits to the max. When there is one sick day to be needed, will stretch it out to 14 because one day off is the same # of occasions (1) marked against you... they use option days, vacation days, etc., until they just run out and then the time they take off becomes more extended as they don't get paid, but most are on so many gov't programs due to low income. Now they know they have eventually to get to a place where when they get close to 8 occasions they have to go clean cold turkey for 7 months without an occasion... strange system but they know how to milk it, claim FMLA, or disability for a stretch of time...  Oh, so now back to the opening sentence of this paragraph example.  This person has been "leaving" the property and returning with food for another specific employee they are dating.  Well issue at hand is that they were seen in parking lot by the manager and he checked the security tapes for time left and returned and it was longer than they are allowed for a lunch break and it was a time frame different than they had written on there timecard.  Most likely outcome waiting for them, as they nervously know he's got something on her.... is termination and being walked out the door to the exit gate for stealing from the company.  whew, long time coming..

It's a confusing trail trying to keep up with it everyday.. but I sense that either NOW that a sweep is taking place of employees, either the rest will shape up as they are close to same occurence. Or it will continue and after 14 months of being in this position, accountability has come to lack of stringing out the occasions with a blind eye that occurred with a prior supervisor on duty.. He's no longer in our facility.

Off to bed so that I can face this another day!

only goes if....

Okay, so while he (Shane) was sitting in church today, he gets this thought... and as soon as church is over he burst and explains he probably can't go to the job as his EMT certificate will expire while he's gone.  Well, that's just not good news and we were bummed for him. While it put a kink in the maybe's of it, he still has to see if there is an alternative way to re-certifying in a class during the summer on a Saturday at a hospital. Whether that is here and he flies home for a day to do it, or if he can do it in WA for a CA EMT certification on an off day at the job.

sigh*

this would be a great bummer if a whole summer would be shot in this opportunity because of a new date on his August expiration of EMT card.

praying that whatever is Gods will works out.

news of my kids!

For a little less than a month we have known that Brian was moving with his job to Rifle Colorado. Rifle is located along the Interstate 70 and near where we had a reunion in Glenwood Springs.. a hour from Rifle west is Grand Junction, and 4.5 hours east is Denver.  A absolutely beautiful part of the country. He has been talking about the possibility and the hope that the job would be his.  And then he found out he got the position in Colorado, headed out there for 12 days or so and just flew home after signing the lease on an apartment and working in a couple of states while out there.  He will be on the road with the widespread clients that are out there to service for the oil industry. Brian is very excited that in three weeks he will be starting an adventure in a beautiful area of the country.  So June 23rd he heads with his truck and a trailer to the Wild West frontier.

I get home from the airport and Shane has great, great news that he has been asked without even applying to take a 4 month fire season in Washington on a hand crew starting June 7 through September.. He knows alot of guys that are going, and the Santa Fe Springs Wildland Academy Captain Bennett called him and offered him the job.. that is a great thing that word of mouth on the part of the captain here who knows him.  He has talked to several fire friends tonight who mentor him, or are in charge of the Auxilliary that he does his volunteer hours for, and they all have just encouraged him to take the job that they would do it.  So now he's waiting for Captain Bennett to return his call so he can accept the job. The auxilliary fireman in charge told him he would start the paperwork for his volunteer hours to be suspended so he could pick it back up when he returns. It would require him and the guys who are going up that want to carpool have to drive up there as well.  And it's a paying gig..

We will have an empty house!!!!!!!! Ashley has been in Texas for over 2-3/4 years, and then Brian who had moved out for about 6 months, and moved home about 1-1/2 years ago. So this will be the first period of time (4 months) where we won't have any kids living at home.. It will be weird for sure. Ha Ha

Sunday, numerous things

update to the saturday list progress..
We did go venture at Home Depot in one of the trips we made there to look at side entry doors.. and today after church and lunch, we headed to Ganahl lumber and looked at what they had, and picked up some brochures.  I might just circle what I want, call "our guy" who does doors and with the dimensions, have him pick it up and install... we also have a new bathroom door for our master bath to find that is SOLID wood in order to buffer the noise of shower/ hair dryer in my early mornings from Greg having to be "in the bathroom with me" kind of noise level.. having it better fit tighter to the carpet will also be needed.

Gregs projects that he worked on and thankfully are resolved are; one master sink has a drain that comes unlatched when shutting the drain and you can't bring it up to drain water... he finally replaced the bent something something,. fixed.  Then, into the boys/guest bathroom where the sink drips incessantly and the drain cover has since rusted.. we ventured to get a new faucet, and drain cover... eventually after an extra trip to the store for an extension piece, fixed..  Yay!

Greg and I went to a place on Saturday that is a yard for roofing supplies, but they also carry some house improvements & basic stuff for landscaping (or can make due).. I think that his amount of stuff we'd need vs. what I envision it needing in bulk might account for his low price.. so the process is still ongoing, as many places are closed on Sunday and are also closed for the holiday... hard for those of us trying to work, get it done..

In this same area and on the way home.. We stopped at a new store locally WINCO for groceries that is now Gregs new favorite store, it's like bigger than a Smart and Final store without membership needed, but they have bulk items in drums that come with a bag and scoop to get how much you desire. There is a recipe card for how to use it, make it, or to hydrate it... but Greg was like a kid in a candy store checking it all out and talking to the older guy who worked there.  I got a few scoops of Blueberry muffin mix, a pie crust mix, and some dehydrated hash brown potatoes.. The muffin mix was good, although it needed more water than it said, easy fix.  Gregs dad is going to love walking this "amusement" park when they visit..

Today we went to church and heard an excellent sermon on prayer from our intern Klarc Korver... the kid can bring it... He asked using the analogy and the prop of a door.. are we praying "doggy door" kind of prayers for safety, as in, our favorite team to win a championship, our kids and the world to be well.. or are we walking through the door expectantly anticipating our prayers for Gods kingdom causes to be advanced.  Yep, I can often be the doggy door pray'er..   We then went to lunch at Super Mex just the two of us.

After church we went to Ganahl Lumber in Los Alamitos which is a larger store than the one closer to our house.  We were looking at door ideas, options, and picked up some catalogs that gave deeper options than what we were seeing on display. I think they have more custom stuff available than the Home Depot type.

Came home and knew there was a "closet" project that could no longer be put off.. Don't you just hate to start something that has all the potential for being a can of worms. Well I had received three large boxes of medical supplies and knew that the shelf in the closet in the entrance of our master bath closet needed to be organized, cleared out of some debri's... after a vacuuming, and laying it all out on the bed.. There was more room on those two top shelves for storage of such items than it appeared. Alot of stuff was tossed out, put into a better place and even was able to reorganize the cabinet above the toilet where some items were mixed up and more of a mess than should have been.. hour later, it was all done.. always so much better afterward than you wish.

Well, back to relaxing and bbq'ing again.

Saturday of prospects

It's only 7:30 am and we've been up for awhile already.. Strange that a Saturday wasn't spent sleeping in, but what do you do if your awake early.. I was also trying to update my iPad software last night nd it didn't work out so took another stab at it this morning, and it worked. Theres a list of things to do;

Which includes finding a new door, contacting the guy that will install it. Our side door is less than secure at the moment due to a latch that is broken down.. The door "pops"out of the frame when shutting it, so several slams are required to secure the lock.. This morning I woke up and walked downstair to the kitchen through the laundry hallway, basically without the deadbolt it just pulls open.. Greg has been saying yes eventually I'll get to it... Today that will end and progress will be made.

We have been clearing the 62' x 7'3" along our driveway of plants, bark that was 3 inches deep in order to put down new weed blocker and some kind of rocky gravel that doesn't degrade or change colors.. We will then decorate in pots with the color rather than planting in ground... Maintenance free! Got a quote from one location, now to find another resource yard to compare. The yard work needs to be done and Shane is gone today after his volunteer shift to a charity 5 or 10 mile mud run in Temecula, so sleep is all he is going to want to do when he gets back. So off I go before I lay down and take a nap.

vacation relaxation...

Monday I started a vacation where I am staying at home, and just relaxing with simple things to do until returning next Tuesday to the office.

I started last Friday by running up north a few hours to Porterville to watch Brook and the Chowchilla High School team compete in the qualifying on Friday and the Championships on Saturday.  When a couple weeks earlier I had found out from Brook when the next meet was, I immediately got out my AAA book and made a reservation.  The girls team qualified for the 200 Medley and the 200 Relay for Saturday. Bryan and Stacy live about 1-1/2 hours north of Porterville and so I was able to save the 3 hour round trip in a short amount of time that they had to make. The Saturday events started at 11am, Don and Albertha brought an umbrella and that saved us from a second day of the sunburns.  I ran into Krystal DeLeeuw whose son Trevor is also a sophomore competing for Tulare HS that was a special treat, as they used to live down by us and attend the same church we did. I headed home after the last event that Brook competed in.

Monday, I did some yard work before the trash truck took the green can, a few hours of yard work with lawn mowing and weeding.. and than just enjoyed a quiet day at home..

Tuesday, got up early, walked some on the treadmill and then I headed to the beach with my chair and a towel.. unfortunately I neglected to spray on the sunscreen and so I did receive quite a "red" coloring especially in the white areas of the body often hidden by shorts and tshirts.. so a couple of days staying out of the sun with a long sleeve shirt as I worked outside should help to simmer down the burn.. Greg put the bike rack on my car this morning, and I'm heading to the beach with the bike on the rack Thursday, a long sleeve shirt will be needed as well.   

Wednesday, I thoroughly enjoyed sleeping in late rolling out of bed at about 9:30.. and ran a couple of errands. We are working on a project alongside of our driveway, where for 30 years we have tended to alot of plantings of flowers, and our fair share of weeds.  In the last decade we have tried to abate the weeds by putting down bark n a thick layer surrounding the plants and pots.. Well, it has been very tough to keep the bottom under the bark from emerging on the top as you tended to the plants. So we decided to get rid of all the bark, and go for some kind of pea gravel. I pulled all of the lillies, birds of paradise plants out of the ground only leaving me undecided about the large sage which attracts hummingbirds as to whether I'll leave it in or pull it out. It expands pretty wide and trimming it would be a pain over the gravel..
      I scheduled a concrete guy to come by at 7:30 Thursday morning to give an estimate on our driveway which is perhaps 150' long and for a patio slab.. We had an estimate when we had our remodel done, but construction was good back then and the price was unreasonably high. Gregs not all on board, but he agreed to get an estimate in order to know.. but our driveway is pretty chewed up with cracks and so I'm pushing it to get done. Before we commit to the gravel in the large bedding area, knowing how wide we'd do the driveway would help if it can be done..  Wish me luck for a good price, or we keep going with the crackpot drive we have.

Well, time for a movie.. good night.

working hard...

I've probably framed 20 pictures in the last couple of weeks and been digging through photos for the ongoing photo wall for months... the project of the bathroom is done, but now Greg says it needs a coat of paint.. well, hey knock yourself out I say!  But the 9 pictures are on the wall. And I'm happy with them, which they all came from the fall trip to MN last fall. As Greg says, airline tickets $325., Hotel rooms/fuel $600, Shopping $250, memories Priceless! haha.. But it's my creation from my hobby....

Now it wasn't just any old hanging of a picture, which Greg is usually pretty anal about "perfection" in, but place 4 on the left and 4 on the right of this clock... and it turned into a geometry equation of major confusion from my point of view... I had a secondary plan but... if I wanted help, I had to compromise the control and really just hand the hammer and a nail when appropiate.. Shane did the marking on the wall as he called out the data.. cuz well, he's taller than I am, NOT because he was into the project! haha

 once the process was completed, this is what it looked like

there you have it, the bathroom has been progressing on the blog with new showerhead, shower curtain instead of closterphobic door enclosure, picture/clock hanging, and eventually a paint job.

Today I decided on the way home while dropping off some contracts at a vendors office that it was time for some spring planting.  So I stopped at Armstrong Nursery and took advantage of their 79 cent Petunia's which I picked up about 15 of them in purple, white, and a few pink and magenta.. I fell in love with this plant that was placed in a pot at the entrance and it only gets about 4 foot tall.. for being in a pot on our back porch it is perfect and the bonus is that it attracts hummingbirds..

Mandevilla plants that bloom year round

this is the space that is under construction.. we had 2 inches of bark before, it changes color and as plants needed to be trimmed back it would mix with the dirt underneath.. so I decided to scrape it all off, which was about 20 trash cans full over months of getting it done. And of course the weeds the bark originally would keep so hot they wouldn't come up, now are populating out of control.. so they have been dug up and or sprayed this past weekend.. and the plan is to lay down thick black paper after it's leveled and then do some kind of nickel size gravel/rock.. Most all of the plants in ground were removed, and it will be all potted plants except for a few we kept in ground.. but less high maintenance for sure.  And as you can see, the driveway is a huge need of demo and re doing, but it is also a bank vault of moola.. so we live with the rustic cracks as Shane calls them..

costco is a family sample fest...

Costco has been a numerous stops location for me this week. Cry-men-ee if the Friday Saturday crowd isn't triple the need to be amount of people, Reason being is that samples are abundant and the entire family structure comes to eat for free.. Now I myself am not a sampler, strange I know, but just not.. and so these family tree groups that walk four wide in the parking lot and two to three wide inside the store with their carts they ditch in the aisle as they mosey over to the sampler line to wait... Holy cow, some of us just want to get their stuff and check out before they celebrate another birthday... and by check out I mean the beautiful express self checkout line at the Lakewood Mall Costco... Yes once and awhile I do meet the $100 club while shopping at Costco and we have been known to buy some big ticket items here.. but usually I am the express line only have a few things.

In terms of my post yesterday, today I found those 9 frames at a specialty frame store, definitely think they are perfect for the space and look good with the large clock they will have between the four frames on the left and four frames on the right...  I have them laying spaced out on my living room floor and made a butcher paper template to test the spacing on the wall before we have to do any measuring.  For now they are laying on the floor as I want to hang them on the wall and that is going to be Sunday's job according to my master easuring man, Greg. So pictures are sure to be posted.   And then I will breathe a sigh of relief that it's done.. I would like to add that today I took along two pictures that are being hung to actually put them into frames of different coloring to test whether it worked or not..One of the employees at Aaron Brothers Art and Framing store walks over and asks if I need any help.. so I hold up the two framed photos and ask if they have a preference for the type of frame color with the pictures... He asks me "did you take those photos", "yes I did, from a fall color vacation", he says, "maam those are great photos", "why thank you".    Yes, I was pleased to hear his comment! 

Two shows that I really like to watch.. I'm not into alot of drama that can come with so many of them, and these two I tape and watch them minus commercials.
TLC: The Little Couple with Jen and Bill Klein. They are both funny, intelligent and adventurous people for living in a big people world. He is an entrepenuer and she is an NICU Pediatric Dr..  I truly love the way they are with each other, and can laugh at just about everything between them and are a perfect fit together as a couple.  He is a true prince looking after his princess.
STYLE: Bill & Guiliana.  He was the first winner on the Apprentice and she is an E! cable host. It's about their life together, some of their job scenario's, moving here and there, infertility, breast cancer. And they are a good fit together, he is the brains of the duo and she is the money spender and big time talker, but they are funny and I'm hooked on it. I am drawn to the kind of man that he is, as a husband in a take charge and yet calm demeanor with a huge sense of humor. She, I am drawn to because she is just a funny intelligent style ditz most of the time, but sincere and loves being Bills wife.  they make each other a huge priority.  He too is a true prince looking after his princess..  See a pattern here with the shows (?)

have a great Mothers Day to all of those moms that read this blog.

this week is productive..

This week was a mellow week of just what seemed like regular speed of days, nothing rushed or stuck in slow motion. You know how sometimes you feel like time is just dragging along and it's always "Monday" and the events aren't very interesting. Work wasn't anything out of the ordinary, even though it had a busy sense in that one of the major computer programs had a looming deadline of Thursday for shutting down for a week for upgrades. The getting ready for this was laid back and well planned out in my somewhat OCD organizing for it. No worries.. It was also a normaly difficulty to sleep much more than 4-5 hours and up feeling wiped out before even starting.

I attended a few baseball / softball games this week of the DeJong kids. Without doing Alpha at church this spring session, it has cleared the calendar for a couple of nights a week of meeting with people and it was just kind of what I needed.

A project I've been working on and am nearly done with is getting pictures printed and framing them of the siblings families. My family had recently been together for the intention of Shanes graduation but made sure that we did what we a complete family picture taken and of each family and then alot of random pictures. Getting the Symens side of the family has been pulling in the help of family and then waiting for the response. I was able to get a couple of the parents and his sister Kim from the reunion in OR last summer. So they are printed as 5x7 pictures in wooden rustic or colored frames in the den on tables.

We've done a makeover in the downstairs "guest" bathroom, also known as the boys bathroom. I'm now finishing it up after the boys did the work. Theres lots of earthy warm colors and one wall that was just blank. So I found a large clock at Target, and looked quite a view places for art work to put up. Home Goods, Target, TJ Maxx, Kirklands and yet nothing struck me as the coloring or type of framed picture I was looking for.  So the thought comes to me that I have alot of pictures from numerous trips of late that would compliment the new colors. I decided on the Fall trip that I took with Marlys last year, and for the whopping cost of $4.20 I have the Art..   And so I just got the (8) 5x7 and one 8x10 photos back and laid them out on the kitchen table, and I'm quite pleased with how it turned out in the layout of the type of pictures and the coloring of them all . Now they all need frames and so tomorrow will be the hunt for them. I will wait to post a picture till there hung on the wall.. Not sure how long that will take.

Tonight I made Talapia and homemade mac n cheese,, it smelled yummy and it was.  but Shane gave it a try only to find out that the "eggs" don't get diluted enough in this to bake out and so he had a reaction to it and had no fun after a few bites... poor guy with his egg allergy which has gotten worse as he's gotten older just has such a small diet of options with variety.. His future someday wife will only need to know a few meals and no desserts ever for him.. and keep a good supply of benadryl on hand for his symptoms,   but wow it was good stuff and could only afford a few spoons full... Greg asked why and I told him it would clog his arteries.

Well, it's my bedtime.. goodnight

Sunday comes to an end..

I truly spent a lot of time this weekend motivated by a Costco coupon for 9cent pictures of 4x6, and also making 5x7 photos of Greg and my siblings.. My family has come together twice recently to do this and so I've been working with Greg side of the family to scrounge up a file to send via email. I then also had decided to print our feb Maui and the July family reunion pictures, some online, and others copied onto a flash drive to do at the store.. I ended up with other peoples pictures in my packet, or a missing 5x7, so quite thankful that today I worked 1100 reunion pictures down to printing 256.. Maui was well let's just say a lot more than that, but beautiful shots.. Next project is to book them to enjoy. We were invited to a birthday party today for Aunt Elsie who will soon turn 80 years old. She looks really well. It was good to her and see the women who from Leisure World are involved in each others lives with Aunt Elsie. Many of these women I know from past church, or neighbors of ours. Good to have a few moments to catch up with them... Many widows.. And then there were some family conversations with some catchup on life and kids..brothers Scott, Chad, friend Don Perris, and my cousin Randy.. It was a nice party and then we said our good byes. Well, ambien was taken early and it's kicked in... Another week lies close at hand...good night

Sunday afternoon slouching..

Today was Salsa Sunday at church with several services combined and led by the inspiration choir. Great service and a strong word brought by Pastor Ken.   And then we (Greg, Shane and I) went to a Brazilian BBQ all you can eat buffet. And while it was good, it was definitely NOT as good to the taste buds, or the wallet as the restaurant Salt Lick in Texas, oh man that was good.. The Brazilian BBQ was filling but it was not so spectacular that you'd pay that much again for it. Now don't get me wrong, their was alot of variety in meat, but well, for the price you didn't even get a doggy bag to go from it like at Salt Lick.

I had a few intentions for things to "get done" this wknd, but about all I accomplished was getting my nails done at the corner salon and laundry.. the rest just didn't seem that important. Oh right, I did get some photos ordered online at Costco for framing.. but beyond that... I've just vegged on the couch.

Greg and I went and saw the movie the Hunger Games on Saturday night.. It was a movie that was okay in the sense that it was definitely bizarre plot line and FICTION. But yet it lacked for and didn't give enough "lead info" to make ME understand what was the situation of this nation setup was that had people locked in like Auschwitz town where they are labeled in Districts and they struggle to make ends meet in a dark bleak environment with policemen in stark white uniforms, helmets and mob march in when the people get out of line. The constitution of this empire (my guess it's like an empire) takes a tribute from each district yearly.  They put the names in the hat of all the 12-18 year olds from each district and the more you "request" food, help from the empire puts your name into the hat for each request made (best  I could understand it). The boy / girl from each district selected than is treated like a king and queen for a short two week period in the capital where they are trained to fight for their life in a death match against all of the other tributes til death and one victor..  Okay so that is the gist of it and yet there were in the intellectual part of the brain I have that just couldn't get my head around the concept, the method it is carried out, and or the reason for watching an execution live on tv where they fight for life, anymore that watching 27 people randomly shot down in the street for no reason.  But knowing society who in traffic will stop to "take a look" at the disaster or watch car chases on tv... It's not a far fetched idea I am sure..  I liked the ending, and the lead girl in this movie..

This afternoon with Shane I've been watching the movie Iron Man, all the while he flips the station between two other movies he is watching... argh.. I'm not a big fan of this but, I keep him on track to stay with the commercial break amount of time..

Greg and I put up curtains in Shanes room on Saturday, the long 84" room darkening kind, but I only bought two panels and of course when I went back to get two more, they didn't have them. I wasn't to inclined to search other walmarts to chase them down and so I bought 4 panels of 63" lengths different color (all they had that went with his brown room) and of course the rods we put up are now to high for his long windows, so now we are going to have to lower them a few inches... ugh.. Greg is really excited about that as you can imagine...

so have a good week!

gone awhile..

It's been awhile since I've put "ink to paper" with this blog. Not that I haven't been thinking of things I'd write about but just beyond that I wallow without motivation. The proof hit me square in the face when I had to guess as to what my blog name was and missing a few time, and then when I finally figured it out by googling it (duh) the entire blog is new and reformulated. Which basically means it's a hugely foreign layout I struggled to figure out just to get started

So I get off the treadmill this afternoon, and start to watch my taped show "the good wife" and damned if I just watch all the commercials instead of flipping through them which is the sweet part of taping a show.. It didn't dawn on me until the last commercial break.. and you might ask why I didn't watch the show while I was on the treadmill, and that's because Shane was controlling the remote at that time.. Not worth the wrestling match at first to get it from him, until it was strategically a snatch and grab in the midst of his flipping stations like a madmen... the gig was up..

As I'm lounging watching some taped shows, I decide we will have spaghetti for dinner, and also that Greg had last night mentioned that we were going to need milk. Drats, so off to the store I run needing some fruit as well.  On the way home at 4:50  Shane texts me that he and some friends are now going out for taco Tuesday.. and Greg calls that his manager is in town and as is their custom, he's going out to dinner with him... ugh so I finish the spaghetti sauce out and it will be their dinner Wednesday night. Leftovers for me! Brian just walked in the door, said he was home for dinner but then he invited himself (Gregs taken Shane before) out with the boss for an all expense paid italian dinner.... and quiet for me.

Maybe I'll get some pictures ordered online with Costco for some frames that I bought in Texas for them. That seems to go undone after taking them, so I have some makeup pics to find and print. I also found some western photos in a magazine to frame.  I just recently hung a cross that looks like leather belt and buckles.

This is what I was told was on christianbook.com and it was perfect..

It hangs next to what else the wagon wheel on our long hallway wall that becomes the den.

The item on the left I found at a local OC swap meet, and the horseshoe and lariat I found at the Mesa Marketplace swap meet.. fills that odd space under the stairs pretty well.

Well, it's time to whip up those leftovers at my lonely dining room table.. haha..

a clear head heading into time off...

So today I put in my third long fulltime day (for a parttimer) and then checked out of the work mode. I am off on a vacation week Thursday to Wednesday.  Tuesday was the end of the month invoicing deadline for processing and Wednesday any last invoices can be accrued into the system to count and be paid for the month of March.  I had the week scheduled off but since the change of splitting the week off over two weeks worked for them and it worked out better for me, win win and now I'm done..

I'll be heading up on Saturday to Stacy's for a few days, and then try and hit Yosemite again on the way home. Of course it would have to stop raining TODAY for the roads in the National Park to clear up for me by Wednesday I'd guess. In the meantime I'm trying to find chains to borrow, so I can pay someone to put them on IF I NEED them alongside the road for a price.. but at least to have them to carry in car for my own security as two weeks ago it was required to have them in the car in the park and use at a certain point of required.. I kind of went beyond Park entrance and that of security feeling without having them in the car, was in second gear to keep the speed down and then had to decide it was time to turn around, as the road got slippery on the inclines at 6000 ft level..  When I decided "thats it I need to turn around, a sunshine spot of clear road on the uphill appeared" and I progressed to make an 8 pt turn feeling that at least I wouldn't risk the slide over the edge of the mountain road on the uphill of ice..  No great picture of Yosemite National Park Waterfalls and the park in snow was worth risking bad roads.  I'll see what the week holds of the road trip and time off.

I will then return to work on Thursday / Friday do a little catch up, and then I am off on a full week with two weekends of vacation this time.. I will have a few days of no plans ahead of flying on the 10th to Texas and see Ashley until late on the 15th.. she has a 2-3 day period of time off while I'm there so that will be nice.  She's come home a couple of times each year, and I haven't been out there since she first moved to TX.  So I am looking forward to that trip for sure.  She is talking with her dad right now on the details of a decision she has to make by Friday and so that is his area of expertise.. I will help her decorate, or talk out issues etc......if she asks for input..

The other day I went on a book buying frenzy on Amazon of used and cheap cheap books compared in a book store or at the conference I went to.  Nikon 5100 for Dummies, Digital Photography for Dummies, and something something about "capturing unique photos".. In glancing at the book for "dummies" my first impression was "holy cow, this is a thick book, small print, and lots of details, how am I supposed to remember all of this" and then low and behold 4th page or so, there is a website for a cheat sheet of what is covered and I will be all over that. But since I bought the camera, there is alot to learn and the manual that comes with it is short and vague.. So I want to become a more knowledgeable camera owner and user of the right Fstops, aperatures, and such, so time to get busy.

I also ordered books from Christianbook.com (as a guest) don't need to pay for a $5 membership for something they will provide for free.. didn't understand the why of it, but bypassed that opportunity to find out also.  I ordered a year long devotional by Anne Graham Lotts called In the Word.. half price of the conference price which they sold out of, so worked in my favor.  I also ordered a western belt loop cross that a cousin told me about that she saw on this website.. Perfect look and idea of an addition to my western decor den.. I also purchased the devotional book that Anne mentioned that was written in the 1700's and her grandmother gave it to her daughter (Annes mother) at age 10 and it's been a family tradition of giving to the daughters at age 10 since then.. it's a morning and evening devotional with some notes that Anne has included in her version.  I'll write about Annes conference next.  So it's been and going to be like Christmas with UPS and the Post Office delivering packages this week... and my mail order Pharmacy, sheesh that never ends!

A friend invited me to a Harvest Church sponsored womens MORE Conference which was carried live in Riverside but sold out and they also had several locations that were simulcasting it along with the singing group "the Gettys".   We attended the simulcast. It was an excellent Friday evening and all day Saturday of inspiration.  Anne is the daughter of Billy Graham and shares his same passion for Christ and for sharing the gospel of the love of Jesus Christ for each of us. She shared her own stories of struggling with what the average woman struggles with, husbands illness, ministry pushbacks... and she just kept bringing it back to the simplicity that in the midst of all trials MORE of Jesus is what we need and that is the longing of our heart.  She did a workshop on how to study the bible, three basic questions to ask of any scripture you read breaking down each verse. Working 3-7 verses at a time.  What are the facts?  What are the lessons? How does it impact my life? Writing the verses out in the left column spacing each one in it's own workspace, write your answers to each verse to the right under a column for each question, and then working through each one, reflect and take it in prayerfully and listen for the voice of God to lead your perspective and understanding.   We went through a set of scriptures to practice this, breaking off into groups, and then interacting with her after each question.. great learning process for making it stick to memory.. (the questions had explanations of them but I'm to lazy to go upstairs and get my notes) so if your interested in the depth of the workshop, let me know and I'll share... Went away realizing that I have gone flat in my walk with Christ and need MORE of him daily in order to do his will and purpose for my life. Pour it in from scripture in order for it to pour out.

Well, while it's past my bedtime, I just made arrangements with my old walking buddy to walk tomorrow and Friday at 6:15.. I'll be lucky to make it far without breathing deeply but the company will make up for the sweat and hard work it will take,

so goodnight..

thoughts in my head spilling out..

I truly spent a lot of time this weekend motivated by a Costco coupon for 9cent pictures of 4x6, and also making 5x7 photos of Greg and my siblings.. My family has come together twice recently to do this and so I've been working with Greg side of the family to scrounge up a file to send via email. I then also had decided to print our feb Maui and the July family reunion pictures, some online, and others copied onto a flash drive to do at the store.. I ended up with other peoples pictures in my packet, or a missing 5x7, so quite thankful that today I worked 1100 reunion pictures down to printing 256.. Maui was well let's just say a lot more than that, but beautiful shots.. Next project is to book them to enjoy. We were invited to a birthday party today for Aunt Elsie who will soon turn 80 years old. She looks really well. It was good to her and see the women who from Leisure World are involved in each others lives with Aunt Elsie. Many of these women I know from past church, or neighbors of ours. Good to have a few moments to catch up with them... Many widows.. And then there were some family conversations with some catchup on life and kids..brothers Scott, Chad, friend Don Perris, and my cousin Randy.. It was a nice party and then we said our good byes. Well, ambien was taken early and it's kicked in... Another week lies close at hand...good night

A Sunday ....

After church this morning Greg and I headed to Islands for lunch, Shane had said no, but then he and Lexie joined us there as well. We've been eating at home for the last few weeks with only a time or two eating out. It's just as nice to eat at home, have what we wanted done the way we like it for so less $$ and without also the coming and going of more hectic running after a long day.. a nice treat.

Sunday update on my Saturday Knob purchase: I had about 20 minutes this morning before church, and thought I'd start to replace all of the handles with the knobs. Only to realize that the screws that came in the knob plastic wrap aren't long enough (of course).  So after we had lunch with Shane and Lexie at Islands in the Long Beach Towne Center, we headed over to the Lowe's to pick up the new screws. Plus Greg had measured the windows in our room which we already have "room darkening" shades up on all of them.. but we didn't measure them quite right and so they were a tad to narrow for keeping them blocking the sun out around the bull nose corners of the windows.  So today we were correcting this. We had to special order the large window, but came home with the two side windows, and also the darkening shades for the boys rooms as much for the heat control as the darkening should they sleep past sunrise..

here are some pics of the "handles" before on our Tommy Bahama bedroom furniture and the knobs that are on there now.

Old Handles

New Knobs to replace the weak handles for the heavyness of the drawer

I like the knobs as the bench that is at the end of our bed that I recently purchased also has the rivets on the leather seat and these knobs have the rivet look on them as well.  The dark color at first Greg wasn't so sure of but with the dark bookcase, the dark streaks in the furniture I thought it was a good touch to them.

Greg is currently putting up our new room darkening shades on the west side of the house in our upstairs bedroom.  Bedtime is nearly upon me and time to wrap up the day. 

Have a good week..

The Saturday..

Well, I did manage to catch up on a few hours of sleep getting up at 10:30. A quick breakfast and then a trip to Home Depot. I had a list in my head, & picked up a 20' extension pole, new wash pad & attached squeegee. Also needed 21 new knobs for our bedroom furniture as the current knobs have a pull semi circle and a couple come out repetitively. I think Greg thught I'd get one knob and check it out first.. Ha, I was sure and wanted too be done with it. I then also got a new mop, because the mop that I now have the replacement parts of the scrub pad aren't available anymore at the store or stores like it, of course. So this time I also bought a couple replacement scrubbers now... Beat them at there own game..

I then came home and got started with the window screens removed, and washed.. Started on the shady side of the house.. Amounts to 12 of the 24 windows in total. By the time I got done with them. I was more than glad to let those remaining on the sunny side wait til the next open moment in the week (???) the tendinitis in the left elbow was burning and throbbing enough that I even gave up.

So the plan for the gardening didn't happen but I watered them and they will live another day to be planted.. I've been sitting on the couch since then monitoring the laundry progression.

Once I get too the shower, will see if Lois Borton is home and willing to have a visitor.yy So today was a good day with some things accomplished.. The closet purge can wait too!

Wacky week finally ends..

The amount of time from last Friday to this Friday seems to have been double and just so complicatedly packed with so much emotion, sickness,work, emotion... It's been exhausting..

Lisa's granddaughter Jayden was declared brain dead on Sunday, several days of testing her organs and then the transplant was done on Wednesday evening. It's been just difficult to focus as I tried to work on Monday and Tuesday after the days that I visited Jayden in the hospital and i just saw her body morph and change. Thank you for praying for their family, they appreciated it so very much. Lisa and Koryne saw a grief counselor today which is a good thing and have been staying at the home of Lisa's parents rather than go home.

A midweek migraine that made my stomach up chuck was not a fun morning and the first sick day of 2012. A long morning in bed with the shades drawn helped a little. A casual day, a couple of easy errands.. But a movie and a curl up day on the couch. Next day, back at the office. Full steam ahead, saddled with a new program that gives you a stomach ache, and makes the part time status I was working back into, seem impossible.. Ugh.. But now the daily headache will have a reason as well.

The weekend has rolled around at last, and it is a clean slate of nothing on the calendar.. Plan is to revel in this, do a little more gardening, maybe go thrugh that master closet and do a serious purge of perhaps a hundred things either on a hangar or a shelf or a belt rack... That ahould be easy... Hard to imagine a lack of clutter...

Thursday night was a great gathering at Alpha but a late late night and after 4.5 hours of sleep, 3am wakeup call has expired my energy.. Good night.

A burst of energy...

Today I had a burst of energy unlike what seems like, well, forever. Now don't go thinking that I accomplished anything big like clean a closet, heavens that would take more energy than what I'm talking about.. I worked a full eight, had an appt, and then what I did do was....... I washed my own car, okay a Ford Explorer that the roof is just impossible unless I haul out a ladder.. Didn't do that.. And I watered all the flowers in my yard (have you seen the size of my yard?)and then I pruned a good vining plant by clipping off the south end of my Mandevilla it which was intertwined around branches of an oldER Mandevilla that had been pulled out last spring after its death was prounounced. The stakes were leaning, it was a mess.. But I have boughten another Mandevilla and will plant it a little farther away and stake it more straight up than intertwined at first.. But the remaining one is bright red blooms, the new one is such a beautiful color red and white striped blooms.. Yummy.. I also bought 4 little geraniums to start out in my garden border area that are all hot pink... Geraniums much hardier than having last years mass of flowers bordering the garden.... Which it won't be long and it will be time to plant.. We already have two volunteer tomato plants that have come up.. The weeds in the garden need to be attacked, I'll get the boys on that.... Not my kind of work, kills my back..

Which speaking of the back, I need to get out that zumba DVD and get moving... Hit the treadmill routine again to strengthen that back with some walking, yoga and running.. I feel the need for a Yosemite hike this spring..

Well goodnight, feel the sleepiness from 3am breakfast wakeup and watching an HBO show about Magic and Bird documentary.. Then remembered I have a DVR for this and headed to the shower at 4am.. So that is why the burst of energy this afternoon was wild considering I have been more prone to a nap everyday vs activity beyond work.. And I'm still awake at 9:15pm... Past bedtime, goodnight.