Another Scrapbook HANGOVER!

My paper cuts are few and the pages I finished last night while scraping at the Scrapbook Oasis even fewer.  I do feel like I did about 100 sit ups my tummy muscles (not sure I have muscles in that area) hurt today from the laughter.  Oh my.... after a couple of hours of just talk it gets down right funny and nothing is off limits.  The Julie's V & C ,  the A- group Amy and Annette a cameo appearance from Ms. Flicker and Lia  and myself (and our SO hostess for the evening Rebecca).  I hear the improv will be calling us soon for our adhesive humor.  Crazy stories about life, love, Christmas, gifts, body functions and growths, kids, hubby, work, self check out and dummies hogging up the isle in the market.  The list goes on... And JV had this fabulous idea to start our own magazine and she gave out work assignments (not ready to revel just yet the title of the new mag or my assignment).  I would not give up reading National Enquire  -  but watch for our first edition on news stands sometime around 2011 - we are still in the concept discussion stages and these things take time.  So I have a scrapbook hangover and it is the best type of hangover.  What a great hobby and thanks Oasis (link on left)  for a great place to play on Wednesdays and Fridays and sometimes Saturday too..... 

Collage from Walmart Photo Center

http://photos.walmart.com/collageit/prd=prints/  This link should take you to the Walmart  site which shows how to get the collage pictures for .09  Yes NINE cent  these are the prints we used in our Christmas cards card on the left and then just playing around with pictures from T-day picture on the right.  What a deal.  You do have to upload your photos first and for me it was very slow since the Walmart up load software is for PC users and not MAC....

Merry Happy Seasons Holiday Christmas Greetings!

I used them all... Happy Holidays, Seasons Greetings and most importantly MERRY CHRISTMAS (above).  Try painting that on the windows of your local business or getting Macy's to use it as a slogan next year.  Have a wonderful Christmas Eve and a warm Merry Christmas tomorrow.  Make sure your camera batteries are charged, take lots of pictures and most of all make memories.  This is the only Christmas we get in 2008.  God Bless everyone!  HO HO HO..... MERRY CHRISTMAS.  

The Greeting Cards have all been sent.

Yes, they are gone... LOVE to get them too! We sent out over 100 Christmas Cards and have received about 20 so far. Well at least the post office should be plump and happy with all we spent in postage. WARNING do not buy the big Christmas cards at the 50 to 70% off sale and think that is good and you are going to send a big card for the same price as a small card! Walked one into the post office weighed it (I already had the .42 cent stamp on the envelope) and it was going to cost .59 to send it since it was so big. We had to stand there and work the postal slot machines to buy more stamps and they only had .27 stamps so the .42 card cost .69 to mail... Hope that postmaster general gets his bonus thanks to us. The nuts have been made (candied pecans), the packages have been sent! Those are all good things checked off the list... But someone needs to figure out the shopping... I don't want to go - I don't want to do it... I don't want to wrap em, tape em or label them.... I am feeling like this time of year you really do figure out how much you don't know about people- your family. You think you know someone till you ask your self what would they like for Christmas... what are their interest - hobbies, what size are they, what do they like to eat. Who ever thought of the gift card was a total genius.   Time to get busy.  Leaving you with a few other pics... The blue Santa arrived yesterday from our good friends the Skillman's and the Santa is from RUSSIA... Love it. Kind of like a gift card you can't go wrong with a Santa. Picture of the wordy tree.  Reminds me of a scrap book page.  Lots of BELIEVE, JOY, FAITH and PEACE

glittery words all over it.  AND the candied pecans waiting for the Hyland Island Sleigh to appear and make deliveries.  Next week... MERRY HAPPY CHRISTMAS by this time next week it  will all just be lots of Festive Paper heading for the recycle bin... and memories - don't forget to take lots of pictures and try a different angle...!

Giving the perfect gift

DUMB but a tradition none the less... We have this really old 70's style Christmas door hanger that the DOG (not even sure which dog now) ate years ago. It is ugly colored and chewed up and can no longer hang on a door. Each year we take this dumb chewed up mess -wrap it in beautiful packaging and watch as the newly elected gift getter unwraps the package- oh and ahhhing the entire time.... and everyone is watching the beautiful gift being unwrapped....carefully laying back the tissue paper and there it is the UGLY gift... (bad scary music plays in the background) when the gift getter lays eyes upon it and starts laughing lots of belly laughing by others occurs at this point along with lots of picture taking. The person feels completely ridiculous.. since all of us but the one who wrapped it (which would have been the one that received it last year) forgot about this DUMB funny tradition... This year my hubby is getting it. He is the one who says don't buy me anything yet, he is the first to want to open a present. I wonder what he will like better - the nose trimmer or the bad ugly chewed door hanger thing! The pictures are from 2006, sorry but they are a little out of order since my mac is being moody... but you get the idea... Merry almost Christmas - Aloha

QUICKIE POST

Here there and everywhere.. It's beginning to feel a lot like Christmas or in some cases feeling like HAPPY HOLIDAYS!  What is a HAPPY HOLIDAY?  We celebrate Christmas here at Hyland's Island and not "HAPPY"... I mean we are happy and that is most of the time... but during the birth of Christ season we celebrate CHRISTMAS in lieu of HAPPY HOLIDAYS.  If you are not celebrating Christmas or Hanukkah  or Kwanzaa or whatever this time of year represents to you and yours is it just a paid day off of work?  Is it a Happy Holiday because you have a day off in the middle of the week? If you are celebrating "HAPPY HOLIDAYS"  why don't you buy gifts for Martin Lutheran King  or President's HOLIDAY?  If I were in a foreign country wouldn't I be expected to honor their holy day?  Oh wait I am in a foreign country my own....  I still have not spent one cent in a Target store since our incident last January... But I want to say to them YIPPPPEEEE... you used the word CHRISTMAS in your TV commercial.  That earned a few points for Target in my book.  Lately, life is giving me more questions than answers... in case you couldn't tell from this quickie post.  Off to think of more things to put on the to do list, Christmas Cards, call me old fashioned but, I love to send them and get them.  Might not be the green thing to do but nothing is anymore.  Tennis Party tomorrow with the tennis ladies here at the Island, need to finish the decorations.  About 1/3 of the decorations remain packed this year... easier to put them away in January.  Need to do some shopping  and make our famous pecans.  Oh life is good and full but that does not mean I don't have questions.  God Bless everyone! 

Best to SAY it with PICTURES

Pictures of HEN ree EAT-A...             BEFORE & AFTER....       The bird who did not get the presidential pardon since she ended up in my oven.... As you can see in the first picture I gave her a nice herb with butter massage (not just any rub- a William Sonoma rub, only the best for our Turkey) and I stuffed her before she went into the oven.  What girl does not like a good massage followed by being stuffed... Personally I will skip the oven part. Unless it is Hawaii and I am baking in the sun.  She was a beauty.  AND I almost forgot she had such a happy life before she ended up in my oven... SHE WAS A FREE RANGE TURKEY... ahhh.... let me tell you that turkey really did have some bruising on her thighs - I don't think free range is all it is cracked up to be - a girl can get hurt in the open out of a cage when the Tom's are chasing you down or you are crying because one of the other hens made some rude remark about your waddle .... 

The table looked festive.  Done by Cassie and Sarah and fresh flowers from Ray and Ron. Of course this is also a before picture since after would show all the gravy stains and crumbs and the dirty dishes..
This would also be a  picture before Hen ree EATA was done ... nothing like a little festive marinate for ones own body, mind and soul.  Just in case HEN ree EAT-A didn't make it to the table and turned into TURKEY JERKY... a little relax JUICE (Cosmo) for me and Barb.... Can I have one now... Oh wait it is SUNDAY and I am blogging.... Made myself thirsty... crisis avoided for now, maybe later.

Hope every one's bird was delightful... Love to all

more fun good stuff to share later... Today is #34 for Rich and Jackie... I think I will go down stairs and we can fall asleep in our comfy chairs and drool together.

NICETIES

NICETIES - that is when someone does something unexpected and takes extra time out of their day to do something and you just think wow - that was so nice.  It makes me want to do do something nice in return. Niceties are becoming something rare and maybe it is just me but I try to be on the look out for them when they happen to me (and say thank-you) and I do try and be nice to others - but okay I admit it  - sometimes I am just annoyed and just try and get out of the persons way.

Last Saturday I could be found at my usual (this month) hangout Scrapbook Oasis.  Lia and I were taking the Flip-Book class and Nora's tag class.  WOW what niceties.  Karen had a fab lasagna dinner and salad for us between classes and the classes themselves were so fun and the kits generous and the last thing I expected was dinner... THEN her husband had to get in on the niceties act and he drove the dinner over piping hot from their home.  I just want to say, the classes, the instructors (and in Nora's case instructor and hubby), along with the other scrappy ladies, the dinner.... It was such an unexpected fun night filled with NICETIES... ahhhh just escapes my lips when I think about it.... THANK YOU..... THANK YOU..... THANKS.... 

To all our family and friends out there who read this blog but don't leave comments... Just know we love you all so much and wish you and yours a BLESSED, STUFFED and happy Thanksgiving.   

OUT OF TOUCH

is an understatement... Samantha Bee is a comedian with the Jon Daily show... and she is Canadian.  So I am concluding that her comment that was quoted about Christmas in the Readers Digest was met to be funny (previous post)?  SO she has a job and a life but, I don't know what her real thoughts are about Christmas and I am DEFINITELY out of touch with the who's who of who I should know.   OH by the way with the current financial retail crises I am willing to design for K-mart and they can pay me a lot less money than they pay Martha and if NBC needs another day time hostess/talk show person in addition to Rosie O and Ellen - I have some good stories and interesting friends too, my friends just don't live in Hollywood.  AND I would do the talk show thing for FREE. Do you think any one would buy the HYLAND'S ISLAND pineapple bed sheets at K-mart? or watch the who in the heck is that talk show host on NBC?  Could be fun then I might be more in touch... Be sure to Laugh at something today and if there is nothing Laugh at your self.

Things

Things in Life are good.  And some things really bug me. First the good stuff, before Halloween we had Happy Hour here at the Island complete with Kona Beer, Hawaiian Martini's and my personal favorite Cosmo's. Robin was here visiting from Colorado - not that we needed an excuse to have a Happy Hour since we try to have one every week.  You know my other new motto is I won't be needing my liver for another 53 years... (I am thinking 35 years max) SO drink up! Thanks Lia for taking the pictures.

Gracie does not drink unless you count water.  But in this picture she sure looks like she has been drinking.  She knows how to blink and keep her eyes closed before the flash goes off.  She is one funny party dog.

Going to the Dentist is not all bad (I had to go today for that wonderful scratch and buff - also known as a cleaning) but when your dentist is in Laguna Beach and it is a beautiful day at the beach - well  park the car and go for a little walk.  That is what Gracie and I did.  It was only 9:30 in the am and the temperature was perfect, we even saw dolphin swimming off shore.  Love having the camera in the purse with a little self timer.  

Something that bugs me today.... Don't know what to think or make of this but here goes.  While in the reading room today (bathroom) I picked up the latest Readers Digest (is the bathroom not where everyone keeps their Readers Digest? I think they should rename it the Urinal Paper Reader).. anyway came across this little diddy on page 203 of QUOTES (they were about the up coming holidays - sometimes I even know the people they are quoting)  

Christmas: It's the only religious holiday that's also a federal holiday.  That way, Christians can go to their services, and everyone else can sit at home and reflect on the true meaning of the separation of church and state.  Samantha Bee 

QUESTIONS... is this the best quote RD could come up with?

How exactly are you supposed to interpret this.  We don't know if she is a Christians or not or some whacko who will now be trying to do away with Christmas as a federal holiday.  Will Readers Digest be suing me for using something with out permission...?  AND if this lady uses a paid from work holiday to reflect on things like separations... does she not need to get a life. When I am done here I am going to google her name and see what comes up.

Check out Jeff's Web site for his latest most recent, green up date on a school that no longer uses foam trays...  Southern-tier . This could be an entire new blog about school lunch trays.  I think back in the 60' they were made out of some now outlawed chemicals.  I remember they actually washed them in a dishwasher and we used real flatware... Convenience is not always a good thing. Oh and lunch was really expensive at school for .35.

BIG PRAISE GOD to my best friend Donna who became a Grandmother yesterday, to baby Jackson.  He showed up over 8 weeks early - lots of prayers for this new family.

November is in the Air

Over 1000 pieces of candy given out last night from our driveway... My arm hurts from dropping candy in all those bags... Truly, there were so many kids trick or treating in our neighborhood last night.  No parking any place - people drive here, do their treating with the kids and drive away.  I must say some of the kids were creative (or their parents) and some did nothing but stop home pick up a grocery bag and say they were dressed.  I asked this one kid who looked like he just came from school what are you dressed as?   and he told me an Abercrombie and Fitch model... we were just rolling from laughing, it was very quick thinking on his part.   With all the trick or treating October officially comes to an end and it is into November we go.  

Looking forward to November  and  Thanksgiving this year Rich, was beginning his treatments last year and we had a really small T-day celebration.  I am really looking forward to more family and a healthier time this year.  Oh we have come so Far... thank you Lord.  Another big item we will have our 34th wedding anniversary at the end of the month. We've now been married so long, we like to tell people we were both married before.... we take a nice pause and follow it up with TO EACH OTHER.  it usually generates a small laugh from the newcomer.

Michael is home for the weekend - such great joy in seeing our baby.  Meghan is not feeling well enough to travel and I love to see and visit with her.  She is my scrap book buddy, we make such a lovely mess when she comes and we hang out all day just playing with adhesive and embellishments.  Michael is off surfing and spending time with his high school friends.  He brought some of his wine home for us to try last night. Really good for his first attempt.  The wine certainly didn't hurt with all those trick or treaters last night.... Time to go get some real stuff done.  It was a blissfully busy week last week and it went by so fast..... ahhh deep breath. Life challenging but Love it.  

Love Busy

I just figured out I can not post any pictures under my name... UGH... OH MAC (new computer) I am not totally sold on you yet.. I liked it better when I knew what I was doing.  Off to the other computer Land and try this again.  Beautiful weather here in Southern California today.... AHHHHH even the air smells good.  Hey, did I just fall down a rabbit hole?

Better?

The flat pancake tire I found on my car this am is fixed (sort of the triple A man put the spare on) and my kitchen sink is again working.  Better right?  Lots of tension in the family air here tonight, dinner was lacking in any conversation... but it is better right? When is it going to be better? Reading the bible study ONE MONTH TO LIVE and I have not picked it up in days.... after the wonderful stimulating dinner tonight and bible study next Monday, I thought I better pick it up and start reading a little more.... SMACK, Smack, Smack in the face... How would you live your life differently if you only had one month to live.... Or are you living that way now?  Big questions... Failure is never fatal... love that line only it should say minor inconvenience are not fatal... So having the flat tire fixed and the sink back... better right? Other inspiring words.... We don't have control over many things in life.  We don't get to decide the dates on our gravestone.  We don't know when our time on earth will be up.  Only God knows.... BUT there is one thing we have a vast amount of control over.  We get to decide how we're going to use our DASH (the dash is that little line between the year when we were born and when we die.... it's our life in between).  Then they ask the question are you living the dash? Or dashing to live? ahhhh I am better...

RECAP: Rich is home from his mancation (love this word from Lia), I would like to say he had a great time but to quote him he said sometimes the golf got in the way of a really good time, because it was GOLF.... probably something only real golf players understand.

I spent the weekend up in Big Bear with my friend Donna.  The sky is always so blue up in the mountains and the peace, quiet and solitude is so refreshing. No  constant hum of freeway noise like here at home.  We didn't get much scapbooking done but we did go down the hill to Temecula for the Susan G. Komen Breast cancer walk. Very festive and motivating to see all those people walking for  "HEALTH OF HOOTERS"  (this was a little song diddy I heard one of the team singing).  Little kids walking, a girl on crutches, wheel chairs being pushed... lots of people in pink shirts.  You just can't help but get emotional! Walked with niece Cassie Donna, had a couple of her nieces there and I am just glad we did it.  Sometimes it is so easy to talk your self out of something... even if it is something you want to do.  

Robin Kelso, is doing a huge craft show in Clairmont this weekend.... 450 vendors according to the web page.  Robin designs for DEMDACO.  You can go to Demdaco put her name in search and see her line.  At the show she will only be selling originals.  Yes, I plan to get there early since she never has as much product as she can sell. 

I started this blog post on Tuesday and it is now Wednesday.  Life just keeps happening. Off to live and love in my dash moment.  A little happy hour with the hotties and then a trip to Scrap Nation.... or Scrapbook Oasis for a little fun with Lia and the ladies.  LOVE YA.  Tomorrow I am going to post a picture of the HUGE screw that was in my tire. They pulled it out today, plugged the tire and put the spare away.  IT WAS HUGE and I am thankful I did not have a flat on the way down from Big Bear Mountain on Monday.  Yeah, things are better.  

testing 2,3,4

The new IMac is home and sort of up and running, with the exception of our local cable email provider.  So I thought lets give this a try with the new Mac and google and see what happens. So hello this is me on the new mac...   Now I will attempt to add a picture from Iphoto...  Not as smooth or as fast as I would like but I am still on the learning curve with the new puter...

This is where I made Rich sit on his bottom for about 2 hours on hard black lava rock while we waited for night fall to see the glow of the volcano.  It was so worth it.  Or so I thought till we had to hike back with our flashlights in the dark, back over the lumpy bumpy lava rocks with other tourist who see better than you breathing like hot lava down your neck so they can pass you ... IN THE DARK,  driving back to our hotel in the darkest dark, no street lights on a two lane road we didn't know, in the rain, just enough rain to keep the wipers wiping... with the ocean on one side... we think we could not actual see the ocean and one car in front of us, bright lights bearing down on the other side of the road.  At one point Rich had the opportunity to pass the car in front and I said I don't think we want to be the lead DOG here. Rich slowly letting the circulation back into his fingers from grabbing and holding the steering wheel so tightly... that is when you are scared and say God, I really liked seeing the volcano but now I am questioning my wisdom in this decision so please see us back safely... He did.  Now it is safe to say I really like it.  You can check out the local flow and volcano update here.  I will add more photo's later.  Have to go check for FIRE update.  Rich just called and said there is one burning here in Irvine...  ALOHA

Aunt Liz

While we were in Hawaii, Kauai to be exact, the services were held in Las Vegas for Aunt Liz. We were sad we were not there to say Aloha and be with her sister Susan and her family during this time and to say our final earthly good bye to a beautiful woman. I did want to share with you a letter we had written to express some of the emotions that courageous Aunt Liz brought to our lives.

Aloha - to everyone gathered here today to honor the memory and joyfulness that Aunt Liz brought to our lives. We wish a special Aloha to Susan, Jerry, Deborah, Elizabeth, Jerry and to the rest of your family. Even though we are not there today with you – we are there in spirit and holding you all close in our hearts and prayers today.

Richard, myself and the rest of our family wanted to express our love, emotion, gratitude and admiration for this amazingly brave and courageous women we called Aunt Liz. It is very hard to find the right words to convey to others what a true treasure she was in our lives. After writing and rewriting words in trying to describe the meaning of what Liz met to us I think God stepped in and said here it is - this is what Liz showed you - this is how she lived her life. I am going to use parts of a daily devotional from an email that was written by Jim Liebeit from March 30, 2008, that best describe our Aunt and Friend Elizabeth Fix

The bible verse is from James 1:2-4

Consider it pure JOY, my brothers, whenever you face trails of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete not lacking anything.

Jim Liebeit, goes on to say… an elderly blind women was being moved to a nursing home. When she arrived, she was taken to her room. She entered and told the attendant enthusiastically, “I love it” the attendant questioned the women…. “how can you say you love it, when you’ve never been in it before – and you can’t see what it looks like?’ The woman spoke up “seeing the room dosen’t have anything to do with it. Happiness is my choice. I have decided to love my room. Every morning, I have a choice on whether I focus on what I don’t like about my life or what I do like about it. I’m choosing right now to love the new room where I’m going to live”.

Liz had more than her share of trials, being windowed much to young, two time breast cancer survivor and many other life challenges….. Pastor Liebeit goes on to say “so much about the quality of our lives is determined not by the situation itself, but rather how we respond to it and one thing we all can count on for sure: Our lives will not be lived without trail, struggle and pain”.

Liz demonstrated that she lived with grace, she choose joy and even happiness, in the face of difficult life situations. I am not sure many of us could find it within ourselves to choose joy during the difficult seasons in our lives. She showed us joy in her relationships: being married to Uncle Bob, being a fabulous sister to Susan, a friend and companion to Charles. She showed us joy in this crazy place called Las Vegas. If you were in her presence you were in her JOY.

From a trip to the Shore of New Jersey years ago to the shores of Kauai in September 2006, celebrating a birthday with Liz and Susan this past March, here in Las Vegas…. These are a few memories to treasure for a lifetime.

Her lively personality and fiestness…. Her adorable LIZ ISMS – “housework is bad for your finger nails” and money in your pocket book in the casino is called LETTUCE. The time in Kauai she looked out the window of the car at all the vegetation and plant growth along the side of the road and said “you know it would look a lot neater if they would trim it up”.

We have a huge empty spot in our heart knowing Aunt Liz is no longer there to show us the joy that she so generously gave away to everyone.

We don’t want to think of today as saying Good Bye to Aunt Liz, rather we want to think of it as ALOHA. Thank you Liz, for spreading the joy and letting us be part of it…

All our Love
Hugs, Prayers, Aloha and Kisses


Rich and Jackie

Rich and I had our own goodbye in Kauai at the Waiohai on Friday morning at about the same time as the service in Las Vegas. We found this great place in Las Vegas aloha 2 go, from the Internet and there is a man their named Joe who took care of us and made sure the lei's were delivered where they need to be and were at the Church on Friday. We along with Rich's brother Kevin and family sent special lei's for Aunt Liz and Susan, and had the purple orchid lei's sent for the rest of the family. We felt at least that way we could all be their in spirit with all of them. Susan, later told us that they were beautiful and plentiful lei's (since you never know sight unseen over the Internet what you might get - we were happy to hear her review, we have since called JOE to thank him for all his help and assistance and we have threatened to stop in his store next time we are in Vegas and say hello, bye the way he lived on Oahu til he moved to Vegas 10 years ago, we enjoyed a few conversations about his Islands).

Here is a picture from Friday September 26 at 6:00 am in the morning, the sun had not yet risen over the horizon so it is a little dark but you can see some of the Orchid flowers on the rocks waiting for the tides to take them out to sea. We shared a few memories of 2006 out loud with each other and we could see Liz standing their putting her flowers in that same spot only two short years ago on a Friday Morning. We cried, remembered and prayed asking for that peace and understanding only the Lord can provide. I think we felt some peace but as a human I don't think I will ever understand it all til I am one day standing in heaven.

Some of my friends call me a romantic (notice Friends not spouse call me that) and I have this beautiful picture in my mind of Jesus at this colorful garden gate all covered in lovely flowers of all Liz's favorites - welcoming and saying hello to Aunt Liz. And then through the gate she see Uncle Bob, no words are exchanged he just takes her hand and walks her back through the gates into heaven and they just smile at each other so much in love and the only thing he says is "I have been waiting for you".

They now get to spend eternity together!

I know they had a true love and I want to thank them both for being a "married relationship example" for Rich and I.

In the previous post STUFF, a couple below you can see the three of standing at the same spot by the green railing in 2006 and the flowers from Liz and Susan's lei on some of the same rocks. Oh thank heaven for pictures!

Time to turn the computers off and get them into the computer store for their BRAIN merge. We had to buy that new computer and we did go MAC.... and they will transfer the information from the old one to the new one and it will take about three days. We have great pictures from our trip and lots to tell about the Islands - but it will have to wait for now.

God Bless you all with a wonderful day and week... Interesting side note my bible study group is reading ONE MONTH TO LIVE this fall. I will keep you posted on the insights... Find your happiness Aloha

Tropical Vacation

oh my -  am I really home from that fabulous tropical vacation?.  Two weeks of fun, a little adventure, sun, fish, food and about 500 plus pictures.  OH MY digital is great but 500 pictures. Still on major re-entry after the red eye last night... I mean this morning.  Lots to share later...The tropical music in the background is fading slowly.... So happy to be home love to travel love to come home.   Love to all of you.

Tropical Hawaiian Music

is definitely getting louder and playing in the background. Gone Surfing or Snorkelling or something like that .... Be back in a few weeks. Prayers for a safe Journey... Sunsets awaiting.

ALOHA

The vacation process is almost complete. Tomorrow we are off for some fun, sun, surf (I don't surf but it always sounds good to say) and what ever other adventure might come our way. Our friends are in Maui now and tell us the weather is good and the water is warm. Which is what you would expect from HAWAII.... we will meet up with them tomorrow afternoon if our plane gets out of LAX on time and all the other stuff goes correctly. I must admit I do get ant's in my pants now when I have to sit for that long and the movie always seems to be some kiddie flick about a mouse in a restaurant or some dancing penguin so having that is a distraction for a couple of hours does not work. The Bose's headphones are a lifesaver, they help almost as much as drinking adult beverages.... Time to go do some more items on the DO be FOUR YOU GO list.... I think I am starting to hear Hawaiian music playing in the background.... Happy Sunsets

STUFF

Lots and Lots of Stuff... to say, to do, to enjoy! Besides being a wife, mom, daughter, friend, aunty, and several other titles (titles other's call me may not be appropriate to mention here, I am sure they are always said in LOVE by others), I am a consumer. Mostly I have disappointing consumer stories - one such story was about my TARGET experience last January. Good News, I have still not shopped in a Target since January (my original goal was only 3 months). I did go in the door of one back in April, turned around and left.... Good for me! But there are some brands and places I remain very loyal too and for good reason so here are my stories from yesterday......


The good consumer story (ies).... took my Canon Rebel into the Canon center here in Irvine yesterday and they clean them for FREE... yes, FREE. I thought it was going to cost about $200.00. The attendant said if your camera is working fine it probably only needs to be cleaned. So I dropped it off and picked it up four hours later.... The test will be taking pictures next week on vacation. But the pesky spots I was seeing looking through the view finder are all gone. Now that is nice.... Second Story.... I had a camera lens which for some reason decided to act more like a quacking duck beak than a solid camera lens. I purchased it in February 2007 at Ritz camera at the Market Place in Tustin.... I returned it to them sometime this past June with the date of purchase and they were able to come up with my original receipt for the return and warranty information.... Amazing. To make a long story short, somehow the lens was lost and I never got a repair estimate for the lens..... Due to the long delay they found another lens just like the one I had and replaced it .... No more questions asked. I have always used Ritz camera and really like them. They do great film/digital developing of pictures. The prints may cost a penny or more but they have the best vibrant true colors on prints and I have always been happy with their processing..... Just like the other places you can upload from your home computer. Now aren't those nice consumer stories....

Vacation stuff is slowing getting done and Rich and I are looking forward to our trip. The emotional part is that they are having Aunt Liz's services when we are gone in Kauai. We will be there in spirit to hold sister Susan and her family close in our hearts and Rich and I are planning our own little "aloha", for Liz and Susan's family. There is this one BEAUTIFUL spot by the resort where the ocean, sky and land all come together. It is where we stood with Liz (and sister Susan) in September 2006 when we placed the flowers from our lei's in the water... You will find us in that spiritual spot at 7am Kauai time on the 26th not to say good bye but to say THANK YOU and ALOHA to a wonderful, brave courageous lady. We were so proud to call her AUNT but even prouder to call her FRIEND. Knowing she is not there any longer really leaves us with a big vacancy in our hearts.
Top of the blog - Rich Liz, and myself the day they were flying back home from Kauai. Beautiful Liz, tossing her flowers into the Pacific, her and sister Susan and finally - just the flowers floating in the rocks on the ocean tide. Life is so precious.
My prayer this week has simply been for the Lord to open my heart to how precious life here on earth can be and to know he is in control. It has been hard and there are lots of times I just want to sit and be sad. However, if there is one thing (actually there were several and they were all good) I learned from Aunt Liz it was to keep going, keep moving forward. She had been through very rough and emotional times and most people would have given up but she always quietly endured and kept going forward. Amazing example!

Liz, thank you for setting the bar so high on how to live this precious life.
xoxox Aloha GOD BLESS ALL OF YOU!

POWERFUL STUFF

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-HpRO8g9Qds


Get a cup of tea, coffee, or your favorite beverage and give your self 9 minutes to watch this clip of Patsy Clairmont. She was just one of the speakers I did see this past weekend at Women of Faith in Anaheim. After watching this clip this morning I do feel renewed and ready... The good news is I am not in charge. On this same You Tube page there are some other good clips and be sure to check out Anita Renfro for some laughs... ALOHA

COUNT DOWN

Beautiful Liz.If my life were a reality show... which it feels like it is lately or a bad country western song. So much going on in the past month. Too many things and issues to deal with this year, this week! Yet, I pray and try my best to remain positive and maintain good humor (not the ice cream man... for those who can remember the GOOD HUMOR ice cream man). I guess you could call this LIFE, with all it's bumps, grinds, laughs, smiles and tears. The vacation count down has begun and in 7 days we are off to Kauai and the big Island of Hawaii. I should be excited, happy and anxious ready and willing (right) to do laundry so we can pack. Instead..... I have nothing to say no words of wisdom to "SELF". Something I do know ... this trip is different than last year. Last September we knew Rich would be going into City of Hope for his bone marrow transplant... we gave ourselves permission to have an outstanding vacation since their would be a long road and recovery. We did there was. In 2006 we went to Kauai and stayed at the Waiohai Beach Club, with Aunt Liz and her sister Susan. This year the trip will have lots of sweet memories of Liz and our trip there with her. I will never forget her comment about how much neater the place would look if they would only trim some of the vegetation. We still laugh about that one. Liz, we will have pineapple drink for you and picture you there with us just like it was September 2006....
The famous only to us "SISTAS" in Kauai

My head keeps arguing with my heart about isn't this terrible... could that be better. Could the 5 1/2 year old computer not need to be replaced (at least I have a computer).... Could the 17 year old washer and dryer not need to be replaced since they are on their last load... well at least I can have clean clothes. Could my car seat not have broken yesterday and need a bucket of money to fix. At least I have a car to fix... yeah- yeah... another head and heart argument... what a crock of ^%@#... says the head and the heart says no it's true you are blessed... To be Continued. The head -heart argument. Oh well the sun will come up tomorrow - tomorrow. I hope the heart wins the argument. It will...

Sadness and Great Joy

Some things happen in life and you just can not put them into words. You need to absorb, let it sink in and then try and figure it out. Which in talking to "SELF", I know I will never figure out on my own. So I pray and ask the great one (GOD), for some understanding in my heart and in my head. Maybe in a day, Maybe in a week, Maybe in an hour and then again maybe NEVER, will this earthly person have answers from "SELF" but the Lord will be not only my strength but I know he will heal my head and leave love in my heart where this amazing person once took up a living section here on earth. I pray not only my great sadness but that everyone elses sadness, in days to come be replaced with the great JOY in our hearts that she gave to all of us, unconditionally, every time we heard her voice or we were in her presents. Thank you, Thank God for you ... miss you... Aloha, tears and smiles.....

Labor Day

What a great day Labor day turned out to be.... It was supposed to be a day of staying home doing nothing getting ready for the week. We told ourselves this would be the case after spending Friday, Saturday and Sunday in Lake Arrowhead with our wonderful, gracious, friends Hardy and Phyllis. Their home in Lake Arrowhead is beautiful. They are the best host and hostess and they invited us to play in the Country Club golf scramble Friday. I thought I was just going to ride in the cart and Phyllis would say... Jackie get out - and hit the ball..... RIGHT... it has been at least 8 years since I was officially on a golf course and tried using those funny little sticks to hit the smallest dimpled ball in the world... (like shooting those sporting clays in Colorado - why not give it a try, you might actually like it) I actually managed to mostly make forward progress and I had one putt all day that went in the hole. DISCLAIMER... don't worry hubby GOLF can remain your sport not something I am ready to take up. Although, I do like the smell of a freshly mowed lawn in the morning. Rich and Hardy managed to play 64 holes of golf, Phyllis and I actually played tennis on Sunday and we took that funky little boat tour of the lake on the Arrowhead Queen... You know the one, where they point out where the movie stars lived or live and my favorite the big giant house with lots of acres around it.... a California LOTTERY winner... Life observation all those little tour boats are QUEEN something (Tahoe Queen, River Queen...)

Where oh Where is all this going .... to MONDAY of course. PHONE CALL.... Rich, says we have just been invited to go with Karen and Scott on their boat for the day. DECISION time, stay home (which is not a bad place to spend the day) or go enjoy some really fresh air, on a boat in the ocean??? Just like Jimmy Buffett says ... I'll take the deck of a boat any day. OH MY LORD (and he did not disappoint) ... the weather cleared up, the sun came out, the water turned blue, we were with great friends, on a fabulous boat.. then mother nature put on her show. Pilot Whales, BLUE WHALES and Dolphin.... I think we should have stayed home in our back yard.... yeah, right.

Pilot Whale... their must have been 30 or more.

Picture of "one" Dolphin riding under the bow of the boat. What you don't see is 8 of his or her other friends also under the bow. Jumping up so close you could hear them making noise and you could almost touch them they were so close. Amazing!

The BLUES

Sunset

and now it is Wednesday already. Life just moves a little to fast - so capture it. Take a picture or journal something about it... OR BLOG... !

ALOHA LOVE to ALL.

Pondering Questions

Could it be that the airline industry - besides charging for your second bag of luggage and keeping you under 50 lbs.... could be a direct link to the sluggish economy? Does anyone know a CEO or president of an airline industry they could ask for me? When I go someplace I want to buy souvenirs and take local food items, t-shirts and whatever else home with me to California. I again noticed on this most recent trip that I couldn't spend money or pack anything in my luggage since when we left home we were already at 48 lbs on the luggage (yes, we weigh it at home we don't like surprises).... I kept my wallet in my purse a lot more than I wanted to. I know you can buy it, pack it mail it.... which brings up another point who wants to spend their 5 day trip running around doing those errands (find the box, buy tape, pack it, address it, go to post office... you get the scene)? And don't you want what you purchased with you when you arrive home in lieu of waiting for the post man to deliver it? I guess you could keep the new stuff and mail home the dirties... ICK.....


Next question - all the airlines (that I know of) have gone to a "CASHLESS CABIN meaning you need to have your credit card with you to purchase anything and these days the airlines have lots of stuff to sell besides an adult beverage (pillows, headsets, snacks, movies). What brings this up? A recent article in some newspaper about Jet Blue or other airlines charging to go to the bathroom? ..... Well not yet, but could it be coming? Which leads me to my biggest Pondering Question.... if you had to pay on the plane to go to the bathroom ... would #1 cost more than #2 and where or where would we slide our credit card... would toilet paper cost more if you are a female? Or here is a suggestion if this really happens... perhaps when we check in you could have us buy a pre-paid potty pass and the flight attendant after storing all those ridicules carry ons that weigh more than 50lbs could punch our potty pass... Somethings are just meant to be FREE or INCLUDED or a NICEITY.... George Carlin where are you when we need you to make this all very funny for us...? Be sure to laugh out loud today it is good for the body - good for the soul.

Home Again Home Again

Southern California is a great place to live! Our weather is definitely different than what we experienced n Colorado.... See that picture that is SNOW on the windshield.... yes SNOW in AUGUST? Thunder, Lighting and an occasional glimpse of the sun!

Still - I am ready to go back again. We had lots of fun and adventures some planned, some not planned, we made lots of new memories. A few highlights... Oh there were so many - and so many laughs, visiting with our friends Deb and Larry (Deb works for Frontier and got us the buddy passes which worked out just fine once WE worked out a bug or two and made a second trip to the airport for Rich's golf clubs that didn't make it on the plane the first time, this was securities fault not Frontier's), having my first beer in two years at TOMMY KNOCKERS, in Idaho Springs on the way to Vail. They had the best Garlic - Parmesan French Fires. It was a bit rainy and I couldn't have the camera out much but I would love to go back to this picturesque town and shoot about 100 pictures... We spent 3 days in Vail and between the thunder and rain, the guys even got out for a little golf. Larry, took us sport clay shooting on Sunday - Rich and I both learned how to shoot a gun for the first time and it was the last thing on earth I would ever imagine myself doing but it was a real kick. I hit 3 of about 70 round orange clay disc somehow and I haven't a clue how I hit them. At one point being the expert marksman/women that I am - I asked Larry can these bullets hurt you.... He assured me they were real and you could take someones head off with them. Suddenly this was not as much fun as it was 10 minutes ago..... #1 rule SAFETY FIRST - and it will remain fun. Yes, I would do this again. Like I mentioned these are just some highlights. Monday it was time for our 3rd trip to the Denver airport - Rich was flying home and I was staying to have lunch with Laurie, my friend Donna's daughter who lives in Aurora (friends since we were 10), visit Archivers (baby mecca of scrapping) and see some of the sights of Denver with Debbie. Back to Laurie she is having her first baby and since I am the always adopted auntie and I was in her town I just had to see the baby bump.

We don't know yet if it is a Boy or Girl Sprout....

Tuesday it was back to the airport for our 4th trip... I was meeting our friends Robin and Jim, who were flying back from 10 days in Kauai. After a nice car ride to pick up their new puppy Max (14 weeks) it was back on the road to Morrison.... where they have now lived for a year (since leaving Irvine last August, this has not been easy for Robin who is beach loving native of California) in a beautiful mountain home with panoramic views of the mountains. Jim told me not to go out alone at night since the week before they had seen a mountain lion in their backyard. Yeap, that is a little different than Irvine when you look out your window and see someone driveway. They also have moose, deer, bear and fox that travel through the yard... YIKES... I did see the fox and deer and that was quite enough wild life, thank you. My friend Robin is in my opinion one of the best folk art designers ever. I can scrap book but she can do amazing things with Styrofoam, paint and wires. She designs for DEMDACO and if you click on the link it should take you to her Mistletoe Manor Collection. She has several other lines as well and if you are a snowman lover..... Check it out or buy some of her collections at your local (hopefully, they carry her line) gift store. A few more pics to share and time to move on... Happy Day... God Bless...!!!! Max the puppy .... like you couldn't tell..... view from Robins's deck in her back yard.

Stopping for refreshment at the Wilcott Yacht Club after clay shooting with Larry & Deb. This is very funny since there are no Yachts or Lakes nearby....

View from Larry and Deb's place in Vail. I guess you could call this white water view....

Thank you, Debbie and Larry for some memories that will last forever. In case you want to run for public office I left out some of our finer moments and no I didn't take pictures so you won't see your self on the front of NE....

Robin and Jim, thanks to the two of you too.... Water is like friendship it should never be taken for granted. xxoxoxo

Rocky Mountain High

COLORADO.... yep, time to pack up the undies, clean the camera cards and recharge the batteries. We are officially going to "TRY" to get to Colorado Thursday evening. Our friend Debbie works for Frontier Airlines and she sent us buddy passes and since just like every other Airlines they are having problems and layoffs and she has low seniority she told us "YOU BETTER USE THOSE PASSES ASAP"... So off we go on a little adventure. The first part of the adventure will be getting on the plane. You have to fly stand bye. At least we are close to JWA so if we don't get out of Dodge (I mean Irvine) we are close to home.

Have you become an Olympic Junkie...? I was not going to get caught up in the Olympics. I told myself I am not going to be an Olympic junkie for 16 days.... Never say Never.... there are a couple of events I can not keep myself from watching... BEACH VOLLEYBALL and since we have old swimmers and water polo players in the house (Rich and Jeff) - we love the swimming and water polo. Is it not amazing that so many of these athletes have a connection to California and Orange County... GO USA! LOVED the gold in the 400 meter relay... Now those guys are what an American male role model should be.... Jeff actually swam with the old guy (not my words but used by the commentators) Jason Lezak here in Irvine and Long Beach.



Went to the Oasis the other day and purchased some of the new Scenic Route line and put a lay out together of Beautiful Meghan at her Luau party. I sometimes amaze myself by doing a 12 x12 layout. Because I still have problems putting only one or two picture on a page, it just feels like alot of money in paper and embellies (new word for embellishments). This is all scenic route with the exception of the Bazzill cardstock and old Lil Davis letters... 3 SR papers, rub-ons 2-different sets, the cardstock, the letters, some of the new SR stickers and I used one of the new label stamps from SR.... add that all up.... NO I DON'T WANT to.... it's not like I don't have the supplies so why am I whining? Don't know that answer either. I just remember the good ole days where you did a two page spread with about 5 to 8 pictures. You would die-cut your letters and the entire layout probably cost about $2.00. Of course the price of gas was also under $2.00 a gallon. Time ot go get something done.... Maybe I will just scrap some more... Oh I need to finish that darned baby book... Have a great summer day. xoxo

Surprise

How can you be married to someone for over 33 years and they do something totally out of character and unexpected? Well this man did last night.... Maybe it was the company, maybe it was the wine, maybe he was just letting his hair down, maybe it was in honor of the Olympics.... He was attempting a cannon ball off of one of the water falls in the spa into about 3 feet of water and tyring to avoid the step.... And he didn't do it once he did it twice. I know this picture looks like he is sitting on the rock... He wasn't - he was in mid air - my sides still hurt from laughing.... So after 33 years plus they can still surprise you. Good job Diana capturing the moment on film... Oh the judges only gave him a 7.8 for degree of difficulty... Only received a bronze.

AUGUST

what happened to July? Is it really the 7th already? Five weeks to go til VACATION. We have had such a great summer so far with visitors to Hyland's Island both near and far. A week ago we had the group from Church for the HYLAND'S ISLAND dinner from the valentine auction. I think all the guests would agree we retained our 5 (five)Pineapple rating. TIPS: Smart and Final has the best Filet Mignon (spell it 3 times fast) going... It was like budder (butter). Giant Scallops from Costco marinated in that famous rare marinade... Wish Bone Italian- Trader Joes Mushroom Risotto, grilled fresh vegies, Salad and of course the fruit tart. I love a good meal that has taste and your tongue gets involved....! Of course the Nikki Pina Coladas and Caribbean Martini's weren't bad either... All in moderation of COURSE. Saturday was the Brisley- Ross wedding in Laguna Beach. It was beautiful. I took my camera (for fun) and I like to take what I would call the forgotten wedding pictures. I love the details of the things ... I do love to take pictures of the people too but some times the things cooperate so much more than the people.... case in point below...

I even managed to get a little scrapbooking done between all the guests and visitors. I need to take some pics and post them.... ahhh more pictures just what my computer memory is begging to have added to the already bulging "MY PICTURE'S" section.

GSLC group before dinner on left.

a couple of wedding photo's.... see that pineapple smiling?

Below my right foot in an actual tennis shoe... YIPPPEEEE.... PAULA BUNION is gone. Can't wait to get back to tennis. Doc says another couple of weeks.... You see that dog squinting in this picture? I dont' know how she know but she knows when the flash is going to flash and she squints... darndest thing. Time to go prepare for Happy Hour tonight at Hyland's Island. There maybe some blackmail pictures tomorrow!

HAPPY SUMMER.... ALOHA... GOD BLESS....

HAPPY ADHESIVE....STAY COOL.....