Look, Look, Look......Savvy?

For you who are savvy......the phrase Look, Look, Look infers...."Look, I have found something that can be useful in saving my life"! And although I understand the phrase does not completely transfer to my life, it was definitely "saved" by my obedience to Jesus. How? I made the decision 30ish years ago to follow the Lord by staying home and raising a family.

My daughter, on her my space site, calls me her #1 hero and my son attributes all "of the good things he has ever accomplished" to me (and Gene)! :-)
I must say, when I made the decision to stay home and raise my kids I truly believed what the Bible promised-"Train up a child in the way he should go and when he is old he will not depart from it" (Proverbs 22:6). There were times along the way I worried that I wasn't making a difference. I'm sure all parents can relate to this. But after 27+ years I can see the fruit. Both of my kids are married to wonderful mates, they both are solid in their values and Christianity. The nest may be empty, but my heart is very full.

My son produced a new CD where he made the aforementioned statement. If you would like to hear some of my son's new songs....check out his web page. Thanks kids! You make me proud!


And for those of you who want to know how to survive in the wild....check out Man Vs. Wild....by clicking HERE!

"Her children arise up, and call her blessed!" Proverbs 31:28 I am the most blessed mom in the world!

About a month ago......

I told you about a couple of mourning doves hanging around our back yard. They seemed fearless, even when the dog walked by. Lately I haven't noticed them. I assumed they left. Then while my husband, Gene, was trimming the bush, he saw the nest. I was excited, but as I searched the Internet, I quickly became sad again. It seems mourning doves don't leave their nest much and take turns sitting on the eggs. I figured they must have abandoned the nest, or were killed. I saw no evidence of them being killed, but it seems strange the eggs are just sitting there. Then my husband said he saw one of the birds come around as he was sweeping. I am happy again! Maybe we will have babies! I will keep you posted. We also have a family of barn owls in our neighborhood. Every night we walk and in a palm tree up the street there is loud squawking. I mean ALL night long. I can't believe the people on that street enjoy the continual squawking, but I love looking for them. Last year, around this time, I remember seeing 2 young ones in a big tree branch just over the sidewalk. It was such a blast shining the flashlight up and watching them. We had the whole neighborhood out to gaze up at them. This year we haven't seen them that close. We catch sight of one on the telephone pole and see "eyes" gleaming back at us in the palm tree (it is probably 80 feet up) and occasionally we see the mom fly by. I often wonder how many nests are around us?

Which reminds me of a funny story.....when my son was in high school biology, he had to dissect owl pellets. The teacher was a great guy and went out of his way to teach wonderful things like that. (he would go to a place much like the one I described above and look for the owl pellets) Anyway, he explained that you can find bones and encouraged the kids to try and find a whole skeleton. Since my son was our second child, and we knew he would be doing this in class, I had the idea that my son should take this miniature toy human skeleton he had from a magic kit and when the time came he should say "I have a whole skeleton!"....which he did. The teacher, so excited came over to see! And then roared with laughter!

Anyway, I'll keep you posted on the mourning doves.....cross your fingers!
Both parents are there now.....looking very proud!

Horatio Hornblower and so much more!

We had our granddaughter for a few days and now the house feels a little empty. We had such a wonderful time with her. I just love this picture, but sadly it was low light and came out a little grainy. We read to her, we found out she loves a show called "Little Einsteins", we tried to bring ethnic flavor to her life by serving her Marti's Arroz Con Pollo, and a Chicken Broccoli dish that had curry...so I consider that Indian. We had two field trips to the store. Which....she didn't like very much. She had a very little bit of a fudge Popsicle and loved to play in our "fountain". (I use the term loosely)

It was a pretty great Mother's day! I find myself melancholy about her being gone. As for the rest of my fun....I received some great gifts...Gene and Kelly gave me the cutest birdhouse. I always wanted to have a trailer like that. Mary, John and CJ gave me the cute Mikey Tiki, which guards my front door, some coasters that have Cecilia's pictures on them....I hate to use them....and a great picture of Mary and CJ. My lovely husband gave me the Horatio Hornblower DVD set, which if you haven't seen....YOU SHOULD!
Wonderful Kelly made dinner for us. It was a nice, big, fresh salad and a barbabcued chicken pizza. It was nice to be so appreciated.

Thanks everyone! (sorry about the blanket...kind of ruins the picture....but I love the picture!)

Safety Patrol

Well it's Mother's day! I can't believe how old I am! Not only old but a Grandma.... but that is not the reason for the post.

I was checking out my son's site and saw he posted a couple of great clips from his college days. He and his lovely wife graduated from Fresno Pacific University. While there he acted in a "safety" video series. Safety Patrol was born during a little R.A. competition. His group utterly decimated our opponents with our 3 part freshman-orientation video. (so he says)

That's my humble boy! Can't wait until you find the 3rd installment!

As I reflect on Mother's day, I see how truly blessed I am. I decided 28 years ago to stay home and raise my two kids and the accomplishment is so amazing to see. Sometimes I felt lost and pretty lonely, but to see the wonderful lives my kids have is the greatest gift. I rarely missed any important event in their lives. I would never change a thing about leaving my career. I took the right path. If at all possible stay home and raise your kids.....if you do....you can enjoy things like this! Happy Mother's Day all!

Passed along

My son and his wife moved into a new apartment this week. It is smaller so they had a couple of things they couldn't fit. So, I got to benefit! This cute rack was originally my daughter and son-in-law's and they had passed it on to my son. Anyway, I used it to break up the space between the kitchen and the dining room. I think it turned out quite nicely!

The only problem I can foresee is that there is going to be a lot of dust. Living in a predominately farming community, there is always dust. And since we are in a drought, it is really dusty. Oh well...you can't see the dust now. (and especially not in pictures! I'm a big fan of passing along things. Maybe I like the idea of something old getting a new life and appreciation!

417! Still tops!

My husband and I love to play Scrabble. I must confess, I am not good at spelling and grammar, which you probably guessed!

Anyway, we started playing Scrabble a year or go because of my son and his wife. They are just out of college and like to play these intellectual games. Another game they love is Settlers of Catan, but that is another story.

They like to play a version of Scrabble called Speed Scrabble. Now, I ALWAYS loose at that because I can't think or move fast. I keep telling them I want to develop a handicap version for us handicapped people. (I use every moment to gather sympathy) I feel it isn't fair if your brain doesn't work as fast as young college kids!

Anyway, here is our latest game. Although I had a bingo (7 letter word) in the 4th round (sonicate), I still lost. He had a bingo too near the end of the game. (beguiler) Whatever....my word was cooler, even though it used a blank.....

As you can see.....the score was 346 to 297. Even so, it is nothing compared to the amazing top words in the Scrabble Tournaments. I doubt we will ever do tournaments, I mean when a word can be VOCODERS and you could get 185 points on one round...ummmm.....I don't think I could compete. I understand to really consistently win, you need great rack management and bingo vision!

The truth is...we play for fun and to help our brains not die. So...we use the Scrabble Dictionary. We don't play the true rules. (there are rules about using the dictionary, I mean how else would you know that urus is an extinct European ox, or that ae is an adjective that means one?) I get a kick out of winning since my husband studies and gives 3 different sermons/Bible studies a week he is pretty good. Not to mention he went to UCR and graduated with 2 majors one in Psychology and one in Philosophy. So when I score a high score of 417 and only went to a couple of semesters at a junior college, you can imagine how I let everyone know it.

So here are a few tips:

1. You must master the 2, 3, and 4 letter words....and I don't mean "he" and "ate"...I mean things like zek, qat, and qi.

2. You must have great rack management. Save those blanks!

3. You must have bingo vision!

4. You must utilize strategery and make use of the double word/letter spaces! This is a must!!!!

5. You must have a little bit of luck!

By the way....strategery is not a word....

May Day

So we opened the door and found this!

How fun! In a previous post I mentioned how much I missed May Day. Someone must be reading out there because you really got me good! Thank you! You made my day! It has all the things I like- beaded flower on the candle, smarties, handmade butterflies and Ghirardelli chocolate (which is already gone) and a lovely star that reminds me of pixie dust! How wonderful. Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! Happy May Day everyone!