A House Filled With Music

that was one of the 50 things to be thankful for posted on my wall by my kids. It's true. Our home has always been filled with music. When the kids were younger, it was sometimes challenging. A radio in someones bedroom, a guitar and amp in another, drums beating away in the garage, and me with my notebook overflowing with music and chords, (cause i could never remember the songs, words and chords), zoning out in the living room plucking away on my guitar. God knew it would be this way, so He gave me the ability to be oblivious to all the noise----- I mean music. I guess that might explain why i hear a song in almost every conversation. Someone asks, "do you know...." before they can finish their sentence, POP in comes a song. "do you know the way to Santa Fe...". It happens all the time. My husband will call, " Barbie, come over here", i hear the song "Come just as you are....". I think I'm just wired for music.
And so, our home has always been filled with music. Music blasting by me when i would clean the house, much more motivating to do a job no one really wants to do. Music blasting in the garage with the many different bands the boys were in. Resist, Undefiled, the Band with no name, LX45, Letter Kills, etc. I no Mike was in a band with his buds, but the name escapes me at the moment. Music blasting from the girls' room. MUSIC.
It inspires me to pick up my guitar again, cut my finger nails and regain the callouses on the tips of my fingers. If I have been able to influence my kids in some small way, I'm glad it was with Music.
I wouldn't have it any other way.

I Forgot One Very Important Detail

One of the gifts I received was just before the birthday party. My youngest son and his new bride all of two months gave my their gift as we were driving to the party. It was a small round container filled with shredded confetti. As i opened it, I saw a painting from a little one, of which i assumed it was from my newest grandson (April's little four year old), I looked at it and thought it was so sweet for him to make his new grandma a t-shirt. My son was looking at me as if to say, "Well?" All of a sudden i realized the t-shirt was pretty small. As i lifted it out of it's neatly placed package, a tiny little "onesee" appeared. I never even read what the shirt said, how could I with tears filling my eyes.

"Happy Birthday Grandma, See You In Nine Months"

Well, I made It!

turning 50 really wasn't bad. I didn't think it would be though, as a number hasn't really been that much of a determining factor for me. 50 turned out to be more fun than I imagined. My kids all (the one's in California that is, not that the other two wouldn't have been a part of it if they could have) worked together to throw a night filled with lots of fun and wonderful fellowship. The food was amazing, along with all the birthday gifts. I had told my daughter to please tell everyone "no gifts, just them", but it missed getting on the invitation. Once i was opening them, i was really glad it didn't make the invite! I think one of my favorite things of the evening was how the house was decorated. You see, apart from the "fifty and still nifty" banner, there was a wall that read "fifty things to be thankful for". All over the living room there were 8x11 sheets of paper (50 of them to be exact) with so many things to be thankful for. A house filled with music, each one of my children's names, the grand kids names, Pastor John's teaching, (that one really got to me, I love my Pastor who has been so faithful to teach just the Word), My Bible, Grace, Peace in trials, .... the list goes on and on. Everything is still on the walls and it's now Tuesday. I want to enjoy it all for awhile. I wish the other two kids and their families could have been here. Then it would have been complete. To Christy, Paul and Justin, I love you all very much, thanks for making my 50th so memorable.

Lactose Intolerant

You would think it just wouldn't be worth it anymore, that after this many years, a person would finally have learned. Most people would, I think. Most people are smarter than that. Most people would know what is coming, and run, run really fast and never look back. Most people are unfortunatly not me. It reminds me of Lots Wife in the Bible, and we all know what happened to her! The call just keeps pulling me back. It tastes so good, smells so good, but the results are anything but good! There I am, left mouning and complaining, and all I have is myself to blame. I want to lash out and blame someone, anyone else but myself. That reminds me of someone else in the Bible who also blamed someone else, "the women You gave me Lord", and we all know what happened to them! So here I sit, agonizing over should I or shouldn't I. Sometimes the choice is in my favor, and sometimes it's not. Who ever came up with the slogan "Milk, it does a body good", never had to deal with the lactose issue to be sure! Maybe one day I will have finally learned, but I doubt that very much!

I Think I'm Turning Fifty?

Numbers are an interesting entity. Sometimes numbers mean good things, like when your 7 almost 8, even though you may have just had your birthday last month! Or when you turning 18, the magical number of all youth who feel once they hit the number 18 "wallah", their life will now be filled with everything they had ever hoped for, until they check out the cost to rent their own place along with all the expenses that comes with. At 24 I think you actually begin to "get it". You now are filled with all the knowledge (not the same knowledge you had when you were 15 and knew all things), it must have taken your parents to just keep food in the house and the light switches always glowing brightly. At 24 you long to be 7 almost 8 with not a care in the world. No bills of your own, no worries of car problems, or how your going to find another roommate! Then you hit 30! That is cautious number to stumble upon. You know that your 20's are over and your now an official adult! No more excuses can be had. You hope life is smooth sailing from here on out. Kids, spouse, (hopefully) and all the things family life has to offer. 40's fly on by and you look around and someone is attaching the number 50 to YOU. That just can't be? Numbers have never been a real concern of mine, I usually have to count back from the year I was born just to figure out how
old I am. So I can't really say how I will feel about turning this number named 50, I will have to get back to you when the impending day arrives.

Two Weddings and A Funeral

Well this month has been pretty busy to say the least. We planned and executed our youngest sons wedding, complete with all the twinkle lights, backyard speakers and one awesome wedding cake. The next wedding was also nice, but not as nice as our sons of course. It was complete with an also amazing wedding cake due to the fact that it actually came together unlike the last one. And today was a funeral. No one really enjoys going to funerals. I think i must go to more funerals than anyone i know, except Pastor John. You see, that is one of my job descriptions. I guess i should have read the fine print when i agreed to take this job, just kidding. As morbid as it may sound, i actually enjoy doing funerals. Don't get me wrong, I'm not into seeing dead people or anything like that. I just love being there to help the families and their guests with whatever they might need. Setting up the flowers as they arrive, helping young mom's find the Mother's room. It's a room for crying babies. There is always a crying baby at either a wedding or a funeral. I find it to be a comforting sound at a funeral, (although I'm sure the parents of the crying baby are pretty embarrassed)
I know that sounds weird, but it is such a perfect example of the whole life cycle. One is ushered out, as another new life is ushered in, if that makes any sense to you. I wish i had a better command of the English language to pick the perfect words to describe how i feel about things. For now, i will just have to try and make you understand with the basics. So October is just about over, and lets hope the last couple of days are quiet.
On a side note, i got to talk to my son in NM today. I always enjoy talking with him. We are both really busy when we talk and we completely get it, so neither one of us is offended when we have to keep saying,"hold on a minute". I love you Mikey, do you notice i don't say "Hi Mikey"when you call anymore? You pointed that out to me once, and it stuck with me.
Well, that's all i got for tonight.
Good night to all, and to all a good night, or something like that

Just Right Click It

I am not, i repeat am not a computer whiz. So can you imagine my excitement when i discovered that I could right click on the pics of my grands and it would download that picture on full screen! This makes looking at pictures so much nicer than trying to discipher what your looking at from a 2x2 pic. So to all you grandparents out there who try and gaze at the most adorable grands there is from a pint size pic, try right clicking on the pic and walla, a beautiful full screen size picture of your favorite people will emerge.
Blessings to All;
A long distance Grandma

Maybe I Spoke Too Soon!

You see, in my last post I was quite confident that the skies were falling everywhere but here! Well... now i'm not so convinced. It seems the fire has now made it's way into Riverside County. Where once we saw blue sky's with only plumes of smoke off in the distance, we now only see, well, nothing! The smoke is so thick here that it burns the lungs and makes it almost impossible to be outside for any length of time. There have now been more than 500 thousand people evacuated. I really don't know where everyone has gone. The Temecula parks and recreation center is full, and the overflow of motels in Elsinore is also full. I'm sure we're safe where we are even if the fire comes into Elsinore. But life as we knew it a couple of days ago has changed drastically. We have to bring in the puppies and older dogs, boy won't that be fun. Duke our male golden is still convinced he has to mark his territory to guard off any competition. We have to watch his every move or else we might just be the victim of another drive by dribble! YUK. I will post some pictures of the skies yesterday verses today to give you a small sampling of what we see.

The Sky is Falling, The Sky is Falling

Another beautiful day in sunny Southern California, there's just one tiny little difference, the Skies are falling! It's all over the news. It doesn't matter what station you have it on. Cameras are whirling away, as news casters all report (in that very irritating, very practiced news caster voice) that beautiful sunny Southern California is ablaze. "From the desert to the sea" (coined by good ole "Johnny Mountain", I'm sure that's not his real name) , fires are everywhere. San Diego is pretty bad, with 250 thousand people, so far, evacuated. I called my son Paul to be sure he was OK. The fires are not where he lives, but they're close to his work. He says the boss is so cheap that if they loose permanent power, the guy will just pull out the flash lights! Let's hope not. Not sure how he will get out of there if he needs to because the 15 is closed in both directions. I know he's in "GOOD HANDS" though.
It's funny how when California is ablaze the family from out of state calls. "Are you OK, i heard California is burning out of control". Not everywhere in California is burning, thank God, where safe for now. But being that we live on five acres with thick brush on our hill behind us, my husband has been out there most of the day with a shovel trying to clear some of it. It seems like a drop in the bucket though if a fire were to break out here. I wouldn't tell him that though. It makes him feel the the "Keeper of His Castle", the Protector of the Home , the Guard at the Gate... you get the picture.
Well, I'm out of things to ramble about so this blog is officially done.
Love to all my family, those in California and those off in distant lands!

Sunday- A Day of Rest

Ahh, Sunday evening. I'm in my jammie's with slippers on, and finally enjoying being home. We just came back from our newly married son's house. Him and our new daughter invited us to dinner. It was Beverly's birthday, she's our daughter-in-laws mothers friend. Very nice lady. So now we are home. Home FEELS good. It's when your whole body can just relax. You know what i mean. It's nice to be out with family and friends, (we had lunch with friends from church today too), but being HOME is just so right. It doesn't really matter where home is, it just is....
I still have to feed the new puppies before i go to bed, but for now, I'm relaxing. Yesterday went really good.
I delivered the cake all in one piece, praise God! The bride, (the daughter of our long time friends, Jessie and Jennette) really loved it. She was such a beautiful bride. There was only one small situation with the cake. You see the bride had sent me pictures of the perfect cake. She wanted simple elegance. Three square cakes sitting on top of each other ribbon around the bases with flowers on the top. When we arrived at the wedding, (a back yard wedding, very beautiful) i asked around for the flowers that were to be put on the top of the cake. I guess there was a miss hap and no one had flowers. So after some searching around the house, we came up with a vase of fresh flowers the grooms mom said i could use. Someone finally did give me the right ones after i had finished setting the flowers. Well, this lady comes over and says, i should change the flowers, she didn't like the first ones. After nicely telling her i had just gotten the right ones and was already switching them out, i finished topping the cake with the right flowers and off i went to go find a seat, the wedding was starting. Later when i went to go get the cake and set it out, you would not believe it. This lady had added flowers to the second tier! Who does that. It wasn't what the bride had asked for. I wanted to go and rip them out, but i knew it would leave holes in the cake. The father of the bride, a very good friend of ours, was really upset. He wanted me to go and fix it the way i had it. What kind of person takes it upon themselves to change someone else' design!
All's well that ends well, the wedding was a success, the bride and groom were married and we all had a good time.

Did You Say Wedding Cake?

You know the saying, "If you fall off the bike, get back on and try again". So...
With much reservations, doubt, worry, concern etc., I am giving it the ole college try once again. You see, the last one looked more like the aftermath of a California EARTHQUAKE! OK, OK, so i shouldn't be so hard on myself. I was sick, really sick, we had all the guys getting ready here, my 75 yr old Mother was here, and most of the Bridal party were here setting up. Questions were flying, answers needed to be given and i really thought i was some kind of super woman, NOT. My oldest son told me i remind him of his wife. I guess we have that in common. Why do i think i can do it all. Thank God for my kids. After the cake was declared dead, i just stood there and cried. Mind you, i'm not the crying type, i don't USUALLY cry over things. I usually hold up pretty good under pressure. So, i'm sure my kids at least, knew this was serious. They all gathered round to console me, even the son who was getting married in 2 hrs. "Don't worry mom, I'll just go to Costco". I love my kids so much. Even my new daughter in law, who's day was suppose to be "just perfect" made me see it was OK.
So with all that behind me, today i am making a wedding cake! Whipped cream frosting no less. I did tell the bride to be that it was pretty risky for an out door wedding, that it could melt before the first bite is ever taken. Brides are always right, so whip cream it is. All i have to do is deliver it unharmed. What happens after that is up to the cake gods!
The coffee pot is full, and i think i can do this. I will keep you all posted on how things go.

We Have Coyotes!

No one should EVER have to wake up to this! Ok,Ok, so the puppies are adorable, but....
at 6:00am I have to remind myself just how cute they are. You see, Dad insisted that we keep them in the house cause we have coyotes! Even though the kennel is very secure with a full top on it. So, being the obedient wife that I am (grrrr), I set them up in the pantry. At 6 this morning the smell almost knocked me out. Here they are jumping up and so excited to see me, and I'm not so excited to see them. I had to take them out one at a time, holding each one very carefully. Poo all over the floor is one thing, poo on ME is quite another.To top things off, we were out of coffee! This just can't be happening. After getting them back into the kennel, I wanted to run away. Maybe IT would somehow clean itself, NOT. So an hour later, with the whole house smelling like bleach, I was completely convinced this would never happen again. Just about that time, your dad woke up and came into the kitchen. "The puppies are banished to the kennel forever!" just came flying right out of my mouth. I think with all the doors and windows open, and the bleach smell overwhelming him, he got the message. (He's a very smart man and knows when to let something go). "I have a new bag of coffee in my truck" he said.

The Sweetness of Fellowship

Today I got together with a couple of women I meet with once a week. We haven't met for two weeks due to the wedding, and then being sick, (yuk) for another week. The first appointment was with Vicki. Ahhh, such... I'm not sure I can really put into words what the spirit bears witness to. She has become a friend. We sit and pray, have fellowship that is so sweet, and get into the Word together. She has enriched my life to be sure.
The second appointment was with Kathy. I brand new believer that I was given the privilege of leading to Christ. She looks just like Aunt Kathy, seriously! It is such a blessing to see with my own eyes her growth in Christ. I can only imagine what the Lord must feel like with us! In a little while, about an hour, I will meet with Rosa. I will have to tell you about her more later on. She is a friend. She encourages me without even knowing it to love the Lord more and more. Her English is not always easy to understand, but her smile and hugs say it all. I love this women named Rosa!
Well family, I love you all, and will continue with this blog for as long as I can think of new things to say.
Mama

Now Kids, This Puppy is Going to Demand Alot of Responsibility!

I'll give a nickel to which ever one of my kids can tell me where That heading came from?
This morning was wayy tooo early. 4:00a.m. early. They were already barking. Stumbling out of bed I made it to the "puppy" room,-
(that's the room you get to have when all your kids move out). It was as if they were saying "hurry". Taking them outside, I could see they were serious. So, after wee wee and woo woo, they were back in their kennel, and I was off to Bed!
Any body guess yet?

You Want to Put That Where?

Ah, the first trip to the vet. I rushed home early to try and make the appointment. I came rushing up the driveway, put it in park and jumped out. Little did I know what awaited me. As I came around the corner, there they were. The cutest little faces, jumping up on the kennel and crying with joy to be let out. We had 20 minutes to navigate the traffic and make it on time, I had high hopes, "We can do this kids". Until I saw it! As cute as they were, there was something suspicious looking on their snowy white fur. "Oh no", it couldn't be, I don't have time to give baths right now! That's when I remembered the comb. Maybe with a good brushing no one would ever notice. After all, it's just the Vet, he had to be familiar with these kinds of things, right? So, with a quick brush we were out the door. This was the first time they had ever been on a leash, and they were letting me know how they felt. As we got to the Vet, I let them out and there they sat. Pull as I might, they were having none of this. After much coaxing, I finally picked one up and pulled the other along, (gently of course) . I think the suspicion hit when they first stepped into the joint. "Brodie, Bella" the cute little receptionist called. In we went, pulling all the way. That's when IT happened. "You want to put that where?" I could see the panic on their cute little faces. And the cute receptionist wanted ME to be an accomplice to the crime. Well, all worked out just fine. We left after $152.00 later armed with two puppies not thrilled with their leashes and me with two new prescription's for worms.
Ah, the joys of puppies!

Two new Additions

Well They're finally here! Our two new Golden Retriever puppies. Cute can not describe them. Sometime before our youngest got married, we had been searching for two new puppies. Since we have been breeding Golden's for years, we wanted champion breed pups with full registration, (that simply means you have full rights to breed and register the litter). We found a breeder in Canada, and after checking them out, jumped in with both feet. It took awhile, like four months until they could be shipped. I was really nervous that the puppies would be OK on such a long flight. They had two lay overs until they finally arrived in California. I don't know if you have ever been to the "Cargo" pick up area of the airport, but I wouldn't want to go there alone. It is at the very end of the old airport with almost no lights. We circled back so many times before we finally found the small street we needed to turn down. It was like the scene from a scary movie, and I'm not exaggerating! It was a very old airport hanger, and the guys that worked behind the counter seemed to be just passing through on there way to their real careers! Thank God my husband was with me. There flight didn't come in until 7:10 and the guy at the counter told us they wouldn't be there for another 45 minutes. It probably takes that long to get to that side of the airport. We heard them before we actually saw them. They came in the same crate so they had eachother for company. Of course we couldn't take them out, even though we wanted to cuddle them on the hour long drive home. So here we are driving home and all of a sudden we are starkly aware of what kind of bathroom facilities our new puppies had to endure. The sweet smell of puppy poo was are companion for the whole drive home. It was raining out, so opening the windows was out. When we got home, we carried them in, crate and all and put them straight in the tub.
After a bath and blow dry, they were as good as new. Now it was time to PLAY!

Not The Way We Pictured Things

We can see the eyes rolling now from our long distant kids, but any grandparent worth their weight knows exactly where we're coming from. We get it. Kids need to make their own way in life, we just don't have to like it. We're not really excited about email, blogs (very impersonal), and all the other non hands on forms of grandparenting. We still have hope though. With five kids, someones bound to stick around. On the up side, our youngest just got married to a wonderful young lady with two kids of her own. We love having them over. Seeing their smiling faces as they run up to us saying "Grandma, Grandpa". It melts our hearts. God is good. One grand can never take the place of another, but the Lord knew we would need these little ones as much as they need us. So, for now, we will enjoy the new ones while we email away to the long distance ones.