Get Over It!!

On my previous post (regarding UCLA) I had a comment posted (yea, a comment ~ please let me know if you have read my blog) saying that it was time to move on - get over it - find something else to write about. The comment was from my beautiful daughter, whom I adore, Tina (or Christina, as she prefers). She is my most faithful follower and so, I am ~ getting over it, moving on ~ writing about something else. Although let me just say - I am over it, really, I am totally over IT!! Okay, so the beautiful little boy you see above is our little Zachy boy. I tend to call all of them their name and "boy" or "girl" for my Chloe & Cyrah. We went to the park yesterday and I took several photos that I thought were pretty good but I'm unable to post more than one photo at this time, hopefully I'll figure out how to post more. Anyway, moving on, Zachy is 5 years old and will be 6 in May. He is the sweetest little boy, except if you make him mad. Then his red headed temper roars it's head and he can really let whomever he's dealing with, have it. He's great with words and uses some very impressive words to tell you how, why and what he's angry about!! Good for him. He's the 3rd of 4 brothers and his 2 older brothers tend to try and ignore him, but, with little success. But like I said for the most part he's a sweetie pie who stills likes to crawl up on Grammy's lap and invent stories with her. I love him so much and the time we spend together. I told you there would be more to come on my grandchildren ~ I'm just getting started!

My thought to leave with you today is ~

Time flies, it doesn't seem that long ago that my own children

were the same age as my grandchildren - enjoy the ride!!

Until next time . . .

Turn out the lights, the party's over!!

The image you see above is what I've been trying to get for myself since I became a UCLA basketball fan.

It is a mug I got for my husband, Kent, my son, Erik and my friend,

Bill C. when UCLA won the national championship in 1995.

As you can see it's gone through the dishwasher quite a few times.

If I had one, it would be treasured ~ never used, just sit on a shelf and be admired.

But,

I don't have one!

And after the season ending game we played today I'll start over wanting

one again next year.

I didn't expect that we would win today but I hoped we would at least play well ~ we didn't.

The score was 89 - 69

and

I was still watching when the game was over.

I am a fan and I watch until the game's over or until the network cuts away,

which is what happened today with 27 seconds left in the game.

So although I had hoped this season would have gone a little better I will be right there next year rooting my boys onto victory!!

My thought to leave with you today is ~ You win some/you lose some!

Until next time . . .

Miracles Happen!

Tonight was our 1st game in the NCAA tournament and we won - barely -

65 - 64

Thus, the title - Miracles Happen!

My boys didn't play very well and I was sure that this would be our last game for this season, but the kid on the other team missed his last shot, time ran out and we lived to play another game on Saturday. I was so nervous, UCLA is known as one of the "big" teams in college basketball. Not size wise but reputation wise. But this year all the people talking and writing about the tournament said that UCLA would lose to VCU (Virginia Commonwealth University). It was kind of discouraging hearing and reading all the negative predictions.

But, truthfully, I didn't think they had much of a chance, but hope springs eternal and I was hoping they might just come out shooting lights out and win the game, continue winning and eventually get to Detroit and play in the championship game and since I'm hoping ~ win the championship game and be the NCAA Champions this year. Totally unrealistic - but - I was and still am - hoping. The good news is that they have another chance on Saturday and I'll get to see them play at least 1 more time.

The thought I'd like to leave with you this time is ~

Never give up, who knows what can happen!!

Until next time . . .

Let The Games Begin!

I LOVE UCLA basketball. I wait all year for it to start. I read the LA Times, I check in at the UCLA website, I always hope that this will be the year that they will win the NCAA championship title. And now it's time to make a run for it again.

My husband always loved UCLA basketball, he listened on the radio and watched when they were on tv, to the John Wooden teams, he was spoiled by those teams. I knew who the players were and at the time I started paying attention, Mike Warren was my favorite player. I became a Mom and didn't pay alot of attention but knew how the teams were doing and knew who the players were and paid attention when it was time for March Madness. In 1995 one of our sons (Erik) was really a fan of UCLA and the O'Bannon brothers, Ed and Charles, and the rest of the team. That year they did win the championship and I started paying attention. From that year on, I was hooked.

Kris Johnson was my favorite player. I remembered watching his Dad play and I really enjoyed watching Kris. From then on I've always had favorites on each team and like I said before, for whatever reason I'm a really big fan. I really don't know that much about basketball but when I was working I had 2 good friends to talk about basketball with - Bill "C" (a UCLA fan) and Mel (a Oregon duck fan). I've really missed that interaction this basketball season with the 2 of them. I went back to my school and visited on the day before we were going to play Oregon just to harass Mel. I couldn't really harass him though, Oregon had lost all but 2 of their games at that point.

We just finished the Pac 10 tournament and we didn't do very well. We lost the 2nd game and it really affected our seeding for the Big Dance. We will be playing next Thursday as a #6 seed. Not a great position, especially since we were a number 1 seed last year. But this is obviously not the same team as last year. We lost 3 big players who went to NBA and although we kept 3 great kids who are seniors we just didn't play as good this year.

But I am eternally hopeful and will be ready Thursday to root them on to victory. So good luck to my boys ~ Darren, Josh, Alfred, James, Nikola, Michael, Jrue, Drew, Jerime, Malcom and the great kids that sit on the bench and practice the whole season and don't get enough playing time.

I do have more to say on my team and my boys but first let's see how round 1 goes. Positive Thinking!!!

My thought to leave you with for today is ~ Be enthusiastic about something it makes life that much more fun!!

Until next time . . .

Happy Birthday to Benji!!!

Happy 2nd Birthday to our littlest grandson Benjamin. Benji looks so solemn in this photo, it was taken last Friday and he had just gotten glasses. I love how he looked right at his Mom as she took the picture. He actually is a very funny little guy who makes us laugh all the time and is very generous with hugs and kisses. He is such a sweet little boy. Benji is our 4th grandson, his older brothers are Matty, almost 10, Joe who's 8 and Zachy who will be 6 in May. I'm sure posting pictures of all of our grandchildren will be a regular part of my blogging process. We also have Cyrah who is 13 and Chloe who will be 6 in July.

We are so blessed to have these wonderful grandchildren!

My thought to leave you with today is:

Your birthday is a special time to celebrate the gift of "you" to the world.

Until next time . . .

To Do List . . .

I think everyone has a "to-do" list inside their mind. Sometimes I write the stuff down to try and get it out of my mind but for the most part the list is floating around my mind trying to get me to do something and shorten the list. It seems like there's always something to take the place of anything I've gotten accomplished.

This last week I got quite a few things off my list and it made me feel so good. I've been wanting to write my sister Cathy and send her some See's candy (she lives in Montana where they don't have See's candy) and my mother-in-law recently moved and I wanted to let her know we've been thinking of her. So I did both of those things and then decided to send my sister Susie a book I'd read recently and thought she might enjoy. I'd recently bought a card for my sister Connie and wanted to remind her how much she means to me and finished off my note writing activities by sending my niece Katie a card of encouragement regarding her trying to find a house to buy.

Did it take some time to do all those little things? Yes, of course it did. But, time is what I've got, so it just took me sitting down and actually writing to my family. But I got so much more out of it. To me, getting a letter in the age of email, texting and instant phone usage is so special. I find when I get a card or a letter, I read it once and then go back numerous times to re-read it. I still have a card from each of my parents that they wrote me. I go back and read the words they meant only for me and look at their handwriting and always end up giving the card a kiss. My handwriting is terrible now but I think the people I wrote to won't care, I know they'll feel the love I sent to them.

If you look at the picture I placed at the top of the page, you will see what we should all have on our "to-do list." I've got it hanging on my wall right above my computer as a daily reminder of what I have to do.

My thought to leave with you this time is: Stop every now and then. Just stop and enjoy. Take a deep breath. Relax and take in the abundance of life.

Until next time . . .

Spring is on it's way!

As I look out into our yard and see my beautiful yellow daffodils blooming I'm excited to know that spring is on it's way. I always admired all the daffodils I would see sprouting up all over the neighborhoods but had never planted any. Last October I took the plunge and bought some bulbs and planted them in our front and back yards. I live in Northern California and we've had some weird weather in the last few months. We've had days in November, December and January that were so warm you could be outside enjoying the sunshine without a jacket on. The weather has totally confused nature - trees are blooming, flowers are coming to life and now we are having rain storms. I'm all for the rain, no complaining from me. We are about to have to deal with water rationing and I'm hoping if it rains enough we won't have to. I really want to get out in the backyard and plant new flowers, have a small garden and enjoy the beauty that all that color provides.

My Mom loved gardening and my sister has a beautiful yard and is a really knowledgable and devoted gardener. I, on the other hand, just buy plants I like, put them in the ground, water them and hope they grow. My sister laughs at me because some of the plants I have bought are indestructible and yet, for me, they either never grow at all or just die. I try . . . I try to a fault . . . obsessive almost in my desire to do "it" right - but - just never quite get "it" right. Nonetheless, I enjoy the process and hope that this year, having time to spare, I will be able to try some more.

In January as I sat outside enjoying the sun, I wrote something, I'm going to call it a poem, although I've never written a poem in my life. I guess really it's just thoughts put together, but I titled it "Retirement" and since that's what I titled this blog, here it is.

Retirement

I awake each morning with a world of possibilities ahead

Breakfast, unhurried

Paper read in a leisurely way

Seems to good to be true

The afternoon sun shining on the backyard

Grab my book, a chair

Feel the sun shining into my heart & soul

Listen to the birds twitter and chirp

Exactly what I hoped for

I guess that it's for today, wait till you hear what I have to write about sweet peas!!

Also, remember , The most wasted day of all is that on which we have not LAUGHED!

Until next time . . .

Creativity ~ Time ~ Possibilites

This is new and kind of exciting for me. A "blog". I don't know if anyone will ever read it but I recently retired and felt a need to put my feelings into words and I wanted more than to do it with a word document. In the past I created a family newsletter for everyone in our family. It had pictures, birthdays and info about what everyone was doing and helped to keep us connected. I would print it up and send it out. I've been thinking of doing that again and thought maybe this forum might be a good place to try it. I also just want to "ramble" on about whatever I'm interested in or am thinking about, so we'll see how this goes.

My retirement started on January 1, 2009. I worked at a middle school as an attendance secretary for 28 years. At first everyone asked me "How do you like retirement?" To me it felt like it was just a longer than usual winter break. In the school system we are lucky to get a lot of days off. We have holidays, spring break, winter break and 2 months off during the summer. Nice job if you can get it. Which of course, I did. It's a wonderful job to have if you have children because you are off the same times they are. I have 4 kids and they were in 2nd, 5th and 7th grade when I started.

Now it's been 2 months that I've been retired and the answer to the question of how I like retirement is - "GREAT!" In the morning, I get up when I feel like it, eat breakfast, read the paper, do the sudoku puzzle in the paper and figure out what I want to do with the rest of my day. The possibilities are endless.

In January I read quite a few books that I enjoyed so much. I love to read. In February I got into my stash of fabric in my craft room and I started sewing some projects. My goal is use material that I already have and not go out and buy more. I have lots of things that I love to do ~ decorative painting, making jewelry, gardening, reading, fooling around on the computer. My day seems to be filled up. Did you notice that cooking and cleaning were not on that list?

My life is filled with blessings. I have a wonderful family (which includes my husband, my 4 kids (they will always be kids to me), my 6 grandkids), great friends to laugh and share with and one of my sisters (Connie) who can always make me laugh. A sense of humor is essential in life and I have a great one!!

I think this will be it for my first positng - I'm hoping to make it more my own with pictures. We'll see how it goes. Until next time . . .