The Boy's Photographs

The Kids drove up to Mt Baldy yesterday, to check out a possibility for a wedding site. While they were up there, it started to snow (first of the season). C was able to get some pictures. He is getting to be quite a photographer! He posted a few more pics on his Flickr site. He has a gorgeous picture of the moon, and some awesome sunset shots. I'm proud of My Boy! (he probably won't be happy if he reads that! Not that he doesn't know I'm proud of him, but mo-om, you don't write it on your blog!!!)


I've added a link to C's photos - with his permission, of course!

Another Survivor Update

Well, I can't believe it but James was voted off. Not that I don't believe he would receive votes, but WHY didn't he use one of the Hidden Immunity Idols???? He left the show with both idols still in his possession. I'll bet Todd is upset - after all, he gave one of the idols to James and told him where to find the second one, and then Todd didn't even get the security of having one returned to him. And now they are out of play. What a waste!

The reward was pretty awesome. Peih-Gee won a visit to the Shaolin Temple, where the martial arts originated. She took Erik and Denise with her. Since James was voted out, S has to choose another person, and she has Chosen Peih-Gee. Fortunately for me, she didn't take my "spare"!

The score is now: S = $6.75 Me = $5.25

Pickpocket Dog!

So, F and I are sitting on the couch, with Buster lying down between us. F doesn't really have a lot of room because Bubs was there first. So, I can hear the dog crunching his teeth against something and ask him what he's chewing on. F checks and the dog has a Tootsie Roll Pop - unwrapped. Hmm, it used to be wrapped and in F's jacket pocket! There is also a Tootsie Roll in front of Bubs ... Needless to say, the candy was taken away from the little thief!

Email Received From Barb

I'm not one to forward "chain letter" emails, but I got this one yesterday and thought the timing was perfect. I've copy/pasted the text:


Sometimes we wonder, "What did I do to deserve this?" or "Why did God have to do this to me?" Here is a wonderful explanation! A daughter is telling her Mother how everything is going wrong, she's failing algebra, her boyfriend broke up with her and her best friend is moving away.

Meanwhile, her Mother is baking a cake and asks her daughter if she would like a snack, and the daughter says, "Absolutely Mom, I love your cake."
"Here, have some cooking oil," her Mother offers.
"Yuck" says her daughter.
"How about a couple raw eggs?" "Gross, Mom!"
"Would you like some flour then? Or maybe baking soda?"
"Mom, those are all yucky!"
To which the mother replies: "Yes, all those things seem bad all by themselves. But when they are put together in the right way, they make a wonderfully delicious cake! "

God works the same way. Many times we wonder why He would let us go through such bad and difficult times. But God knows that when He puts these things all in His order, they always work for good! We just have to trust Him and, eventually, they will all make something wonderful! God is crazy about you. He sends you flowers every spring and a sunrise every morning. Whenever you want to talk, He'll listen. He can live anywhere in the universe, and He chose your heart.

Life may not be the party we hoped for, but while we are here we might as well dance.

Rest in Peace

The services are over, and we are back home. I was really dreading the thought of going. FIL was not dealing well with things, and BIL2 and BIL4 were very stressed. They even ended up with food poisoning, along with everything else they were dealing with.

We drove down on Thursday and spent most of the day at FIL and MIL's. Surprisingly, FIL was in a relatively good mood. It was great to see BIL1 again (haven't seen him in 4 years or so, since the In-Law's 50th anniversary party). He is dealing with cancerous polyps in his bladder and has to have them removed in January. After the diagnosis,he has quit smoking after 35 years.

It started raining Thursday night (for the first time in about 16 months). Continued to rain all day Friday, until after we got home last night. We decided it was Joe, playing one last joke on us all ... making us stand out in the rain during the interment.

BIL6's family didn't make it out to the service. His MIL was driving out from Long Beach with the kids and BIL2's daughter and were involved in an accident on the freeway. Fortunately, nobody was injured, but the car was totaled. P went out to pick them up and bring them out to Joshua Tree, but her mom decided to go home, and S's daughter also went back home. By the time P got things taken care of and back out to Joshua Tree, she was exhausted and decided to just go back to the motel.

The Church service was really nice. Each of the brothers got up and spoke. Joe's 13-year-old stepdaughter got up and spoke, and read a poem that she had written.BIL3 put together a really nice slideshow of Joe's life. He was able to find pictures from when Joe was just a baby (he even had a copy of the birth announcement that was sent out! My FIL had some hard times during the service, but not as bad as we expected. The "Church Ladies" provided a really nice lunch (sandwiches, pizza, lots of yummy desserts) and then the family went to the cemetery for the interment. The Pastor came too, and said a few words. A lot of us waited until the burial was completed (I didn't want to, but F did).

It was so good to spend time with the family. We don't do it nearly enough. Joe's stepchildren all accepted us as though we had been family forever, and we made sure (I hope) that they knew that, even though Joe is gone, they are still family.

Joe will be missed.