Happy New Year 2011!

Christmas 2010 is complete!  It was a good time with family, friends and way too many sweets.  I love sweets but I've eaten way too many goodies.  My 25 Days of Christmas Awesome blog posts didn't happen as I got too busy putting my family Christmas together and another trip to Arizona to bake with my sisters and my mom.  It was all a very fun time!  So Christmas is done.  


What will 2011 bring??  It will bring some changes for the hubby and I as we make some serious decisions to prepare for retirement in the years ahead.  Dustin will most likely leave home for good (that's what he is planning and it's a good thing!).  We will become grandparents again.  :)  I need to get back to work.  We will be moving (not too far).  It's going to be a good year!  I have a feeling!  

So....Happy New Year to all my family, friends and blog friends! It's been fun!   Here's to a fantastic 2011!  

25 Days of CHRISTMAS Awesome!

Day 5

I have my house almost decorated.  The tree needs ornaments and I need to go buy some poinsettias.  Nothing says Christmas like a beautiful red poinsettia.


In the meantime, here's my next bit of Christmas Awesome. Enjoy this light display set to music.


Click on this link to see it! It's so pretty!


http://www.godvine.com/Christmas-Lights-to-the-Music-of-Amazing-Grace-77.html

25 Days of CHRISTMAS Awesome!

Day 4

Here I am getting ready to celebrate Christmas and we have no decorations or lights.  They are coming!  We just got back from my dad's memorial in Arizona.  

It's time to decorate the tree and my home.  I love my home at Christmas!  So welcome to my home and I hope your home is a warm one to be in this time of year whether you go all out or decorate just a small area of your home make time to welcome people in for a cup of coffee, a meal or some baked goodies.  Remember the holidays as well as our daily lives should be more about our relationships than things or that perfect home.  Make it an awesome Christmas while you enjoy it with others.

25 Days of CHRISTMAS Awesome!

Day 3

With all the Black Friday sales and the continuous bombardment of shopping for Christmas I need to stop during this time and remember the real reason for this holiday.  It's to celebrate the birth of our savior, Jesus Christ.  Below are two mangers scenes...the top one is the hubby's family manger scene that is over 50 years old.  The second one is our manger scene that my children grew up with.  It's over 30 years old.  

Just like these manger scenes that have been in our Christmas decor throughout the years, Jesus is with us even when our focus isn't truly on Him!  Let's remember HIM more this next year in everything we do and we will be awesomely blessed!

25 Days of CHRISTMAS Awesome!

It's my Birthday!

That's pretty awesome!

Day 2

To celebrate my birthday, we have a selection of cupcakes!!  How awesome is that??  This little shop is near The Mission Inn which has over a million lights on it!  It is so pretty!!  I know you can't wait to see it.  I'll show it to you in a future post.  For the time being...enjoy a cupcake with me.  

So...would you like a Cinnamon/Sugar, a Banana Blast, a Gingerbread, a Chocolate, a strawberry or a Raspberry cupcake???

What's your favorite???  I'll tell you mine after I taste them all!  More Christmas goodies to come in these "25 Days of CHRISTMAS Awesome"!!


P.S.  We are driving to Arizona for my dad's memorial on Friday.  Please pray for our family as we celebrate his life.

25 Days of CHRISTMAS Awesome!

Day 1

My niece, Tawnya wrote a blog series called "30 Days of Awesome" where she shared something interesting that she experienced for 30 days.  She is an adventuresome young woman and is doing what she loves.  She is one of the editors of Snowboard magazine and gets to live out her life writing about it, experiencing it throughout the world and she looks for fun all the time!!  She decided to write about her 25 days of Christmas Awesome and I am stealing her idea.  So here goes!


I, like Tawnya love Christmas!  I like the lights, the food, the decorations, the presents (just NOT shopping for them~it stresses me out to HAVE to find the right gift), times with family, our church Christmas program, the Mission Inn at Christmas, pictures of snow and the music!  Especially the LIGHTS!!  

My first Awesome find is this little book called Christmas Classics, The Story Behind 40 Favorite Carols.  We all know the carol, Joy to the World but did you know that it was written in 1719 by Isaac Watts who is known as the father of English hymnody.  He was the first prolific hymn writer.  He wrote over 750 hymns.  Watts was punished for speaking in verse as a child.  He loved to write songs of "Christian Experience" and this is what Joy to the World was to him.  It tells of the experience that Christians everywhere eagerly anticipate.  This song is about the second coming of Christ NOT his birth like most of us think it is.  


The world should be a joyful place at Christmas, but it isn't always so.  When Jesus comes back, though, as Isaac Watts points out, the joy of the whole world will be unrestrained.  Even the rocks will sing!  Something for all of us to think about this Christmas when we sing this beautiful song!  Now isn't that Awesome??


  
Thanks to Tawnya for a great idea!  24 more days to go!!

So confused!

The tree's leaves are trying to change...

however, just when we have a few cool fall days,

the next day is again a warm 80 degrees.

The leaves are trying to change but the trees are so confused!

Much like I am at what to wear each day!

Looking out my upstairs window

 it seems like a warm sunny day 

but then I step outside to a chill.

One day I may be able to put on my jeans and a sweater 

for more than a day here and there!

Until then I'm going to enjoy my 80 degree sunny day!!

Mason is TWO!!!

2 years ago I waited over night at the hospital to see you for the first time!

You were such an answer to prayer!

You are very LOVED!!

You have a contagious smile!

You get so excited when I come to see you!

Grandma loves your blue eyes and your precious hands and feet!

 I just love your sweet kisses!

I love how you call me Nama!

I love how you like to sleep with your Bible!

I pray you grow to love the God of your Bible!

We have so much fun each week as we go to the park, shopping or 

jumping off the speed bumps in the parking lot!  

You light up my life each week and I love every minute of it~

HAPPY 2nd BIRTHDAY MASON!!

Promise Grandma that you will be little forever!!

An Update on my Dad!

This was my dad last year with Danielle & Mason and me.

Last week we almost lost my dad.

He saw the bright shining light twice.

He was on a ventilator for 11 days.

He had many people praying for him.

Many have never met him.

And I thank you all for that!

He is a fighter.

My brother, my sisters & I have rallied around him.

He is very sick.

He moved in a Nursing Home today.

He still has fluid on his lungs.

He cannot drink or eat anything yet thru his mouth.

He has a feeding tube in his stomach in temporarily.

They say after being on a ventilator for so long that you have to relearn to swallow.

He has abused himself with alcohol and cigarettes for many years.

Through this we have found out that he has prayed to accept Jesus as His Savior a couple times.

Thank you Jesus!!

I saw my dad cry for the first time in my life last week.

He knows all of us kids love him so much!

We've said it more these last two weeks than in years.

My dad is a tough one to get to know.

I've always loved my dad.

I am his favorite!

I know I am!

Just hoping and praying he gets well soon.

I'm not ready to let go of him yet.

Love you dad!

Mama and her piano!

My mom is battling Parkinson's.  

She is my hero as she lives with this each day. 

 She also drives me crazy as she lives with this each day.  

She has found that playing the piano is soothing to her soul 

It helps keep her mind and body strong.  

Last weekend I was over to visit my dad(who is no longer married to my mom).

 He is very sick and is in the hospital. 

We almost lost him last week. 

I stopped in at her house for a visit.

I had her play for me.  

It was wonderful!  

She was happy!  

It brought a smile to her face. 

And to mine!

 So many things are hard right now and this made her happy.

She says she will practice.  

She used to have a piano and would play for her grandchildren when they were little.  

It was sweet!  

I can't wait to see her play for them again at Thanksgiving when we will all be together.  

She will also have 5 great grandchildren to play for then.  

My mom had a surgery in July called Deep Brain stimulation.  

They had to shave half of her hair off.  

She is letting her hair grow out in it's natural color and keeping it short.  

She will have another surgery in January 2011.  

She is brave! 

 She is beautiful!  

She is my crazy bionic mama! 

I love her with all my heart!

The piano makes her happy!

It makes me happy to see her happy!

Miracles and Answered Prayer!!

Yes...God does hear our prayers and still shows us miracles today! 

Today my family received a miracle and I know that it was because of the many prayers said on behalf of my dad and our family that my dad is awake and off the ventilator for the first time in 10 days!!!  We are over the moon!!  My sister talked with him and he is glad to be awake although he doesn't remember how he got there and was amazed to find out he had been in the hospital for 13 days.  For now...we are so happy that he is once again among the living and wants to get better.  He was thirsty!!!!

Thank you to my heavenly father for answering our prayers for a sign or a miracle.  We(my brother, sisters and my dad's wife) meet with the cardiologist and pulmonologist about dad tomorrow.  I am heading to Arizona in the morning!  I'm like a little girl running to her daddy once again.  I can't wait to see him!! 

Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs!

It's cloudy and cool today and I'm okay with that!  I'm glad to be home after a quick trip to Arizona to visit my dad who is very sick and in ICU at this time.  He is a bit better and breathed on his own for a couple hours yesterday.  He has been on a ventilator since last Monday and they need to get him breathing on his own.  Small steps and lots of prayer are getting him through each day.  My brother said he opened his eyes the widest and was the most responsive when I was there.

I am his FAVORITE child!!  I really am!  But aren't we all our parent's favorites??  We've always had a wonderful bond.  I was his first child and followed him around everywhere.  I loved watching sports with him, working on things in the garage with him and just hanging out with him.  He was my softball coach, my biggest cheerleader and a loving dad.  He was a man of few words and is very private at times.  He is however, the life of the party when he gets a drink in him!!  Everyone loves him and he's in his prime!   However, his drinking and smoking have taken a toll on his body and that's a major part of what's keeping him from healing faster.

Thanks for praying and keeping us in your thoughts.  We all love our dads no matter what and that's the way it should be!  Love ya Dad!  Praying that you will be better soon!

You never know when...

your dad, a family member, friend or neighbor will become ill or die.  Are you ready to live without them?  If not, then make the most of your relationship and take the time to call them more often, see them more often and just make it happen more often.  I'm facing that right now with my dad initially admitted to the hospital with double pneumonia a week ago.  Today he is on a ventilator with problems with his heart and his kidneys. 

I don't have any regrets just a lot of sadness that my dad is so sick and may not be here next week.  I don't know but it doesn't look good.  He hasn't been feeling good this year at times and he never really let us know.  We live in different states and I always stop in to see him when we visit the rest of the family(he and my mom have been divorced over 20 years).  I made it a point to call him once a week or at least every other.  We always had a good talk and said we loved each other. 

So if you are upset or disappointed with a family member, ask yourself if you'd feel bad if they were gone tomorrow.  If so,.....make it right today. Love one another!! 

Thanks for praying....I'm on my way to see my dad.  I'm praying he will get better and be with us for a while longer. 

Coffee Anyone??

The hubby and I are relooking at how we spend our $$.  He buys coffee everyday and I like a cup every now and then.  Whenever we make coffee, we usually make too much and end up throwing it away.  So...we got one of these.  My son set it up for me in this corner which did have a basket of greenery to hide the switch plates so now I need to find something tall to go beside our new coffee maker.   I like the little stand under it that stores all the different flavors of coffee and tea. We also bought the piece so we can use regular coffee (not the little K cups). We even bought a new coffee mug that looks like a cup from Starbucks for the hubby to take his coffee in each morning.

I think I'm going to have Cinnamon Roll coffee in the morning!  Come on over and join me!

Bloggy Blessings!

**Borrowed the above photos from Emily at Remodeling this life just for this post.  Thanks Emily!


I have been so blessed reading the 31 Days series that these talented gals have put together to share with all of us in October. I've learned so much from each one and just had to share!

I've learned alot about entertaining from Sandy since I started reading her blog two years ago.  Darcy is a fabulous photographer and so unselfish in sharing her understanding of photography and how to use our fancy cameras.  Photography is my hobby and I still don't understand all the aperature and f-stop stuff but think I finally will after reading her first 8 posts this month.   Jen is Miss Amazing when it comes to finding fashion for less and looking fabulous & trendy and living on less & debt free.  I just found Kendra's blog through this series and she loves to cook and you feel it through her writing.  She really encouraged me to think about cooking from a different perspective(I've been cooking for 32 years and have become tired of it) and when I did the other night~well, needless to say the hubby and son enjoyed it alot except that my son hates meatloaf (and I had to hear about it the whole meal).  I told him I made it for his dad and he could enjoy the homemade macaroni and cheese from the Pioneer Woman's blog and cookbook.  BTW it's pretty darn good!!   I absolutely love Emily at Remodeling this Life because I am in that simplify stage of my life and she is so there!

So I thought I'd share all of them with you and praying that you are blessed too!  Let these girls know Connie sent you!  Let me know what blessings you get from finding these girls.

Sandy Coughlin – Reluctant Entertainer – 31 Days to Stress-Free Entertaining
Darcy – Life with my 3 Boybarians – 31 Days to a Better Photo
Jen – Balancing Beauty and Bedlam – 31 Days to More with Less
Melissa Michaels – The Inspired Room – 31 Days of Autumn Bliss
Emily F – Chatting at the Sky – 31 Days of Grace
Kendra – My First Kitchen – 31 Days to an Inspired Table
The Nester – Nesting Place – 31 Days to a Less Messy Nest
Emily – Remodeling this Life – 31 Days of Living Simply

Prayer Needed!!

My sister-in-law, Peggy is leaving the USA for a 10 day missions trip.  She really needs our prayers for safety and for her to stay healthy.  She will be speaking on teaching children with dyslexia.  She is very excited and nervous.  I know God will do great things for her and through her.


The other request is for my blog friend, Cindy at Consider it All Joy.  She lives near my mom and we have met in real life and even found time recently to walk one morning while I was over this summer.  Cindy's husband, Mark is very sick and in congenital heart failure.  He's been in the hospital for 29 days and it's been a roller coaster ride.  She is a sweetheart with a heart for the Lord and is being strong but is so scared underneath it all.  This is really wearing on her health too I think.  Please pray for the attending physicians, Cindy, Mark and their family as Mark has surgery Thursday morning to relieve some of the pressure around his lungs.


And One more...Teresa from the blog Grammy Girlfriend's husband had a stroke a few days ago and is also in congestive heart failure.  Please lift these families up when you can.  Thank you.


***Remember...with God ALL things are possible!

Sew simple!!

Let's see what I can make out of this??

Nice new pillows!!

I haven't sewn anything in years and am always so encouraged by all the gals in blogland that are so crafty.  I learned how to sew in Home Economics.  A class that is gone from most high schools these days.  I bought my sewing machine from Sears when I got my first job.  I made dresses, shorts and nightgowns for myself.  When the children were little I made nightgowns for Danielle, Halloween costumes, curtains and other simple projects.  It felt good to get the sewing machine out and recover my pillows on the couch.  I'm not the best at picking out fabric but am pleased with the end result and four new pillows for under $40.

I've So Missed Him!

Playing with his ball

He sees me coming!

I've got the ball and you can't have it!

Keep away!!

You can't get the ball now!

I need a rest...you're wearing me out!

So...my son and his girlfriend have had a little falling out and they shared this precious dog.  His name is Miloh.  I didn't know I'd miss so much.  He used to come to visit every now and then and we would take walks and hang out.  He hadn't been over in a couple weeks.  He was so happy to see me last night and I him!  Today we've been hanging out and playing ball!

So Pretty!

And so sad!  I picked the last crop from our garden yesterday!  Isn't this a pretty crop of peppers!  It's been such a learning experience having a garden.  I've enjoyed taking care of it, eating from it, watching how things grow and seeing how pretty those pesky tomatoe worms are that can eat a whole plant in 24 hours!!

The hubby and I are researching what we can grow this winter.  I will miss having lettuce, strawberries, green beans, carrots, zucchini, bell peppers, onions and especially the tomatoes.  Looking forward to spring so we can do it all over again.

My Harvest Moon!

Here's what the Harvest Moon looked like from my back yard tonight!  It was bright and beautiful!  Thank you God for creating a heaven and an earth for us to enjoy!

Genesis 1:14-19  And God said, "Let there be lights in the expanse of the sky to separate the day from the night, and let them serve as signs to mark seasons and days and years, and let them be lights in the expanse of the sky to give light on the earth."  And it was so.  God made two great lights ~ the greater light to govern the day and the lesser light to govern the night.  He also made the stars.  God set them in the expanse of the sky to give light to the earth, to govern the day and the night, and to separate light from darkness.  And God saw that it was good.  And there was evening, and there was morning~

I Love Houses!

This summer the hubby and I spent the weekend in La Jolla which is a quaint city on the beach north of San Diego.  Each morning we took a walk along the beach and through this neighborhood of historic homes.  I can only dream about living in something with so much history and beauty.

This is the Florence Palmer house built in 1929.  It is a 3 bedroom home with 3 baths and 4 patios with cottage style gardens.  It has 1908 square feet of living space on a 4,408 square foot lot.  It was remodeled recently and is currently on the market for $2.3 million dollars.  

A whopping $1205 per square foot. 

Click here to see more photos I found online. 

It really is a cute house!

This next house is the Morgan Larkins Marrone home listed on the San Diego Historic Homes as #226.

This home is currently owned by Linda Marrone a realtor and master gardener.  

Click here to see her wonderful gardens surrounding this beautiful home. 

I fell in love with her garden gate and have used it for my header.  

I hope she doesn't mind.  It's so pretty!  Thanks Linda!

I love Spanish style homes and this one is so cute!  

It is the F. Lisle Morgan Spec House #1 built in 1929.  

I couldn't find any information about this one.  It's interesting that it was a spec home.

I wonder what the price was?  What was included? 

This is the Howard and Maude Brown House built in 1929.  

It boasts 2030 square feet and 3 bedrooms and 2 baths.

This is the street view on the side of the house.  Love it!

The largest house on this tour is the Darlington House.  It's a Mediterranean style home built in 1925.

It was owned by a wealthy NY widow named Sybil Darlington.  I wish I could find

more information....I'm curious.  It's a very large house for a widow!

It is now owned by the Social Service League of La Jolla and is a wonderful site

for weddings and receptions.

This cute little cottage sits right next door to the Darlington house. 

 I would love to know this history of this one too.  

Thanks to my hubby for bringing me to such a special place.  It was so relaxing

and we needed it.  Thanks too for letting me play and take photos to remember

the scenery and to share!  Enjoy!