Ramblings of this and that . . .

Just back from a little camping vacation up at Lake Almanor with the Richmond side of the family. It was a really fun time and great to catch up with everyone, I'm sure there will be pictures that will be posted later. On the long ride home my mind went all over the place with little things I wanted to write about, so, here are some of my "riding in the car, idle thoughts".


First, any kind of "Sports Talk" on the radio is totally idiotic to me. I can't believe men get to sit on their rear ends all day and just shoot the - - - - over whatever stupid sport related thing they want to talk about on the radio. Then, there are an unbelievable amount of men with their ear hanging on every word these idiots are talking about, just waiting for who knows how long to get on the radio for maybe 3 minutes to explain why their opinion is so much more valid. Why do I know this you ask, BECAUSE, my husband who is a very smart person listens to this crap. This is the same man that has so much to say about me watching Oprah (which I hardly do anymore). When I ask him "Why do you listen to this?" His reply is "It's just background noise." Well, we had "background noise" for 2 hours on the ride home yesterday.


While up camping we played a game that is so much fun I want to tell you about it and maybe you'll try it. It's called Blokus. It's got a game board (plastic) and 4 colors of tiles in different shapes that you place on this board. The object is to block your opponents progress on the board. Zachy, who's 6, played for the first time and won! So anybody can play, even me, who is challenged by anything resembling a puzzle. Try it!

Do you know what can drive me insane? Mosquito bites!! I have gotten so many mosquito bites on our 2 camping trips. I spray, I wipe on, I wear some sort of "special" mosquito bracelet, nothing has helped. The itching and then scratching that itch is what is still making me crazy. I'd just thought I'd share that info with you!!

Before we left to go camping I had contacted the maker of my Bill's "Perfect Blend" garden fertilizer asking if there was a way I could buy a new sprayer attachment for my sprayer. When we got home I had a new sprayer attachment, free! Such nice people there ~ Sprayngrow.com ~ Check it out!

I start each day eating my breakfast and doing the Sudoku puzzle in the paper. It's kind of weird, at the beginning of the week the puzzles are "gentle" ~ by the end of the week they are "diabolical". I can have as much trouble with a gentle as a diabolical but I enjoy the process of trying to figure them out. While doing the puzzles you need to use logic and I'm not great at logic but I'm getting better!


My thought to leave you with today is: Isn't the mind a incredible thing? Oh the places you can go!


Until next time . . .

Michael Jackson's Memorial . . .

I have to say a couple of more things about Michael Jackson's Memorial. I wrote earlier today but I just listened (again) to John Mayer playing his version of Human Nature. I love how he did that song, I'm hoping he'll record it and donate the money to charity. I've watched it a number of times on youtube but tonight someone actually was letting people download the mp3 of the song. I almost downloaded it but the fear of "getting something" from an iffy download stopped me.

I loved the stories Magic Johnson told and Brooke Shields gave us a peek into their world 35 years ago. Usher singing "Gone Too Soon" was so touching and of course Jermaine singing "Smile" was surprising to me, I didn't know he had such a good voice. I liked what Berry Gordy had to say and I thought Smokey Robinson brought a little humor telling how Michael, at 10, did a better job on "Who's Loving You" than he did. Then Shaheen came out and did a great job singing the song. I thought it was funny that most people didn't know who Shaheen was - because I did know who he was. When Susan Boyle was tying up the internet 2 months ago, Shaheen sang the week after her and when he started his song Simon stopped him and said the song was wrong for him and did he have another song to sing, he said "Yes, I sing Who's Loving You by Michael Jackson." He blew the judges away. He made it to the finals but didn't win. But go to youtube.com and type in Britain's Got Talent Shaheen and you can see him.

Of course, Michael's little girl, Paris, tore everyone's heart out. So brave of her to speak. And I think the love of his Mother is what kept him together, as much as he could be together. We hear all the conflicting reports, rampant drug use/never seem to be affected by drugs ~ broke as can be/spending money like crazy ~ I wish we could have known the Michael Jackson who was the entertainer that was in the Guiness Book of World Records as giving the most money to charity. He was such a conflicted person ~ but ~ I am sure he loved his children, his Mother and the creative process and the effect his talent had on the WORLD!!! As I said before, we'll never see anything like it again in our lifetimes, I'm pretty sure. Now, I think I've finally got all of that out of my system.

Oh, I lied, a couple of more things. I downloaded all the songs I mentioned, Gone Too Soon, Smile, Who's Loving You and a bunch more. I also would like to say that one of my "new favorite things" is youtube.com. It's amazing the things you can find on there. Also, if you want a good site to find out some good reporting on Michael Jackson check out: http://www.bryanmonroe.com/Bryan_Monroe/home.html
He wrote a really big article on Michael when he hadn't been interviewed for years, I think it was in 2007.

Anyone that is still reading this, thank you for continuing to read it, obviously I had to get these thoughts out of my system.

My thought to leave you with this time is: Don't keep "things" bottled up inside, find a way to get them out of your mind ~ talk to a friend, write things down, say them out loud ~ listen to Michael Jackson music and dance your thoughts away!

Until next time . . .

A Little of This and A Little of That . . .

This is a recipe I made last week with zucchini's fresh out of my garden and it was

DELICIOUS! I am not a good cook, not creative in any way, so when I find a recipe that looks easy and looks like something we would like, I give it a try. I'm not sure you can see the ingredients but I'll have to post this first then add to it if you can't see what's in it. I added a container of marinara sauce in the "fresh" section at Safeway's and I bought the fettucine noodles in the same section. Give it a try, I think you might like it! I just doubled-clicked on it on my blog and it enlarged nicely, if you do enlarge it and then want to return to the blog, just click on the back button.

Although I'm going to try and write a little shorter blog (a suggestion from a faithful reader/daughter, Tina) I would like to say that Michael Jackson's memorial service was beautiful. I think it was a wonderful way to remember him for his family, his friends and all that watched on tv, his fans. I don't think anyone knows the "real" Michael Jackson, his personnas are many but I heard him in an interview session with Bryan Monroe, he was one of the commentators for the memorial service, and I think the interview made Michael seem a little more human and not other worldly. He had terrible problems in his life and didn't deal with them in a responsible way but for some reason, I am able to celebrate the life in which he seemed most comfortable, the life as an entertainer and I will listen to his music, watch his videos and enjoy what he left for us . . . amazing entertainment!

The thought I'd like to leave with you today is: Try not to judge, we don't want to be judged harshly, so let's try to be a little more understanding of people and things that are different than us, and just live our lives.

Until next time . . .

Random Thoughts and So on and So Forth 2

Just a few thoughts rumbling around in my mind I thought I'd write down. First, the title ~ So on and So forth ~ this was a phrase my Dad used all the time. I can't even think of an example to tell you, he just always would throw this phrase into anything he was taking about, so it's special to me and that's why I use it. I was going to use another title ~ Things that make you wanna say Hmmmm! This was a phrase that Arsenio Hall used to always use on his late night show years ago, and the things he talked about really made you go, Hmmm?!* So I might use that as a title sometime also, but my Dad is always lurking around in my mind going, and so on and so forth!

First, it was my Mom's birthday on June 23rd and I didn't write anything about her. I felt I had already done that when I wrote about her for Mother's Day BUT
my Mother is always with me, always in my heart and of course June 23rd is always a special day for us, my sisters and I, as we think especially about her on that day. I guess I do have a few things I want to say about her and her birthday. On her birthday, my cousin Judy wrote me and the title of her email was Happy Birthday Auntie! To my cousins Linda, Judy, Janet and Jimmy, my Mom was always "Auntie" to them. I assume their Mom called her Auntie to them and that's why they called her that but I'm pretty sure she was special to them. In our family, our daughter Tina is call "Auntie" by her Matty, Joe, Zach & Chloe. And to them I know it's a special name for her, although I, like my Aunt Edith, always called her that for the kids. Also, as I think of my Mom I remember she didn't really like the recognition of her birthday. She seemed uncomfortable with the recognition and especially opening presents in front of us. I think the best present I ever gave her was for her 43rd birthday, I brought Mike home from the hospital on her birthday and put him in her arms, she was a real "baby" person and of course her first grandson was pretty special ~ so that was a present she was okay with.

In the same thought pattern, just to continue on with that last thought, June 21st was our son Michael's birthday. Earlier in my blog process I wrote that our grandson Matty had changed my life. Well, he did change my life in one aspect, but the birth of each of my children changed my life in oh so many ways! But Mike, oh Michael, he was a test kitchen baby. I had no idea what I was doing with him. He knows all the stories, this is no secret to him. When I said before in a blog that my parents came over at night and were back in the morning to check on him, I wasn't kidding. Kent was working nights at Speedspace, my sister Connie, who was 15 would stay over night with us. I can remember piling Mike into the car and us going to 7/11 at 11:00 at night ~ what for I don't know but I remember doing it. I remember my Mom and Dad going to a funeral and my sister's Connie, Cathy, Susie and I staying at their house with Mike and before my Mom walked out the door she shook her finger at us and said "He'd better be alright when we get home!" Well, he sort of fell out of the bassinet that day. On his first birthday he sort of choked on an ice cube. He loved "oot boo" (root beer) and "ot ogs" (hot dogs) at A & W with his Aunt Susie. He has been from the moment his life began, a very loved child and still is, a very loved adult man. Although for me, he's the one that will listen to me, talk with me, watch me cry and try to be patient with me. I push that patience to the edge of the envelope though when I continue to have computer problems and ask Mike to "just come here for a minute!" I Love You Michael, Happy Birthday!!

Another thing I wanted to write about is the death recently of Michael Jackson and Farrah Fawcett. We were up camping when I talked to Mike on my cell and he told me the news that they had died. It was shocking to me that Michael Jackson had died, although I don't think he's been "well" for years and for Farrah Fawcett, I thanked God that she was with him now because she wouldn't be suffering anymore. Now, for Michael, I continue to be abundantly sad, this was a man that was a tortured soul. And now in death, they continue to haunt him and pick at him and won't leave him alone. How much info do we really need to know?? He has 3 children, to them he was their "Daddy" why do they have to be subjected to any of this. Although I found myself watching some of the stuff on tv when we got home, after I had lunch with my BFF, Sandi, and we were able to talk our feelings through, I came home, went on Youtube and watched several of his videos and got back to remembering why I cared about this person so much. First, he was immensely talented, from the time he was just a little boy. We watched him grow up and obviously be unhappy with his looks and continue to try and change himself, much as an anorexic can never be too thin, he could never get his face where it looked right to him. It was actually kind of painful to see pictures of him the last few years of his life but going back and watching his videos was comforting to me. Also, they are now showing a video of one of his last performances as he was getting ready for this new concert series. And he still had IT! He had the moves, the body that was so lithe and wonderful to watch. I will always feel sorry for the life that Michael Jackson had, although famous and at times rich beyond belief, he was a lonely little boy who just wanted to have a "normal" life. I hope he has found peace, tranquility and is singing and dancing his ass off with God!

I've been a little "off" lately. Haven't felt very good, have an awful cough, a knee that hurts with every step and the eternal always unhappy with my weight but as I said before I had lunch with my friend Sandi the other day and we just sat and talked for almost 4 hours at Round Table pizza. Outside, at a patio table, just talking and laughing and solving the problems of the world together ~ and it's just what I needed. I think she needed it too. We worked at Cook together for probably 20 years and our friendship grew into a loving, trusting, laughter, crying, hugs will solve any problem kind of friendship that has gone on after we have both left the school. She has listened to me and helped me too many times to count and I have tried to be the same kind of friend to her in times when a friend is a lifeline to hold onto. So, I think I'm coming out of my funk and will be back on track and writing these blog posts and expouding on life in general.

I have a new photo program that I hope to learn and make some slideshows of all the thousands of pictures that I have, hopefully I'll pick up another book and get going on reading again (you can tell I'm off when I haven't read), get back to working in my yard, do something fun with my constant companion and BEST sister ever, Connie (who also will listen to me and cry with me and most especially, laugh with me and more especially LAUGH AT ME!). My cousins have gotten me to sign up on Facebook, so that's a new thing to check on every day and a great way to just stay connected. So onward and upward ~ Thanks to all of you that take the time to read whatever it is I have to say and to let me know you've taken a look at this blog! I am BLESSED!!!

My thought to leave with you today is: When you're down and out, lift up your head and shout ~ It's Gonna be a GREAT DAY!

Until next time . . .

It's Summertime, Summertime . . .

One last picture of my sweet peas
in more abundunt times!

Oh my gosh, we finally got some heat here and my beloved sweet peas bit the dust. Really, just dried up and the leaves turned papery thin. I'm in the process of tearing them all out now. I'm sad to see them go but I learned alot this year in my quest for sweet peas. I learned two things ~ 1) I won't plant so many next year & 2) I will only plant along a fence. The few things I have in my garden are doing well, we've had zucchini bread made with zucchini's that have grown and the cucumbers, tomatoes, peppers and radishes and growing like crazy. I would like to plant a watermelon and maybe a couple of pumpkins but because I don't have a drip system with a timer it's kind of hard to go away and ask someone to water my plants for me. Actually, it's just hard for me to ask anyone to do anything for me. I wonder why that is.

We just got back from our 1st camping trip of this summer. We went up to Richardson's Grove State Park, just south of Garberville. It's beautiful up there, surrounded by redwood trees and nature in general. We had 2 really nice camping spots and the kids really enjoyed riding their scooters on the loop (the road around the campground). The weather was warm and everyone (but me) swam in the Eel river and had a great time. It was a very low key camping trip for us, no big agenda of things to do, just basically playing games, eating and having a good time.

Joe playing his DS on the hammock ~ Benji playing on a log with his toys ~ Zach giving our trip a thumbs up! Matt & Santino riding their scooters.

Mike came up with Benji on Friday and left with him about 1:00 on Saturday when he fell out of the door of the motorhome, face first, onto the asphalt. It was awful. I am terrible in an emergency, I just ran to Jeff and cried. After Benji stopped crying he seemed to be alright, but Mike felt he should take him home. When he got to Santa Rosa he took him to the ER where they checked him out and declared him alright and Mike finally walked in the door at home at 9:45 p.m. It was a long day for him. Benji has a little scuffed up nose and his lip was a little swollen but he's fine ~ Thank God!

On Saturday, as we were camping, our prima ballerina, Chloe, had a ballet performance in San Francisco ~ but ~ our roving reporter ~ Erik ~ (Chloe's father and totally non-biased) said Chloe was by far the star of the show! This is Chloe's 2nd ballet recital. Last year we were able to attend it and I made a DVD of it. The soundtrack I used for it was Stevie Wonder's "Isn't she lovely", it continues to be a song that identifies our little Chloe girl. She's a wonderful, loving spirit with a beautiful smile who loves to giggle! I am so sorry we missed her performance.

This is Chloe at last year's ballet recital. Last year, almost 5, this year, almost 6. She is a definite cutie pie!

So now as we get into July we have another camping trip planned in 2 weeks and then that will be the end of my camping for this summer. Kenny and our sons and the boys will do another trip or two but Grammy sits those trips out. I look forward to Kenny retiring next March and the two of us going on a longer trip to places we've never seen, but until then I'll just be happy that we're able to take the short trips we do now and include our family.

My thought to leave with you for today is: We have not inherited the earth from our Fathers. We are borrowing it from our children. Let's try a little harder to leave them something that they can leave to their children.

Until next time . . .