February and March reading

Looks like I’m doing two months worth of books this time.  Since I honestly don’t recall which one I read first, I’ll just put them in random order.  Up first:

Kitchen Confidential by Anthony Bourdain.  I’m intrigued by books about being a chef.  Some days I think I could have been a proper chef and possibly missed my calling… but then I read this memoir.  Oh my goodness.  It became apparent that life behind the scenes in a restaurant would definitely NOT have suited me.  Still, I found it fun and interesting to read about the grind of daily life in the kitchen.  I may read more by this author.  This one was recommended to me by someone at work and I really did enjoy it.  I also recently DVR’d and watched Anthony Bourdain’s TV show – “The Taste”.  I imagined being one of the contestants on there and fully admit that the pressure would have done me in.  Fun to watch, however.

One Thousand White Women, by Jim Fergus.  This was an audio book that seemed never-ending!  The premise of the book sounded interesting….  The U.S. government, back in the late 1800′s, in order to promote better relations with certain Indian tribes, collected 1000 white women from jails who were willing to try marriage and life with “Indian savages” and give birth to half-white children.  Unfortunately, it was done in “diary style” – which usually drives me nuts. Her long letters to her family members who disowned her were WAY over-verbose.  The book moved along much too slowly and because of that, I found myself wishing it were over!  Of course this novel was totally fictional.  Even though it received good reviews, I simply can’t recommend it.

Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail, by Cheryl Strayed.  Here was an audio book that I just about quit listening to after the first disc!  I’m glad I hung in there as I eventually found it captivating.  There was a time (when I was much younger and had two good legs instead of one) when I thought it would be amazing to hike at least a portion of the Pacific Crest Trail… so it’s no wonder that I re-checked out this library book twice, to make sure I read it.  What turned me off at the beginning was her liberal use of the “F” word (I simply can never imagine a time when repeated use of that word adds anything of benefit to a book – or movie – or song – or whatever). I also was rather shocked at her description of her illegal drug use (IV Heroin) and her affinity for sex with lots of different guys, even while married to a guy she “loved”.  I asked myself – why should I listen to a book about a foul mouthed drug and sex addict??  I answered by reminding myself that I really was curious about her experiences on the P.C.T.  I’m glad I got past the bad parts of her personality and ended up enjoying her story of hiking from Southern California, all the way to the Columbia River.  Just sorry she didn’t hike the PCT in Washington, as I’d have enjoyed reading about that too.  Believe it or not, this book has been sold to a movie production company and Reese Witherspoon will play the part of the author.

The Lost Art of Mixing by Erica Bauermeister.  I really enjoyed this Seattle author’s first book, The School of Essential Ingredients.  Yep, another cooking-baking-kitchen type book — or so I thought.  But this time around, it was more about interpersonal relationships, and little or no interspersion of cooking.  I was disappointed.  She brought back a few of the same characters from her previous book, but failed to develop their personalities much.  It was an “okay” book, not great, but enjoyable for the most part.

The End of Your Life Book Club by Will Schwalbe.  I first learned of this book from a great website where I find many new/interesting books – the Indie Next List.  It sounded compelling to me.  A true story, a son and his mother started their own personal two-person “book club” while she was battling pancreatic cancer.  He talks about the books they read, as well as how they bonded even closer as mother and son.  To be honest, there was a LOT of the book that was more of a memoir to his mother, touting her good works, impressive jobs, and political causes. I’ll admit I skipped over some of that, but in general, this was a very good book.  I can definitely recommend it.

Home is the Sailor, by Patrick Taylor.  Even though this was a short story, it was by far my favorite read of the month.  I could read one book after another by Mr Taylor!!!  All set with the same delightful cast of characters in fictional Ballybucklebo Northern Ireland, this story was set shortly after the end of WWII when our favorite doctor, Fingal Flahertie O’Reilly returns from the Royal Navy and begins his solo GP practice in Ballybucklebo. I highly recommend all of the “Irish Doctor” series.  I also recommend listening to these books if you are so inclined.  I love the narrator (John Keating) and his way of denoting each character with a different – and very authentic – Irish voice.  LOVE LOVE LOVE these books, and I can’t get enough of them!!

As far as April reading, I have in my hot little hand – picked up today from our local library – the newest novel by Elizabeth Strout, author of one of my most favorite books, Olive Kitteridge. I’m keeping my fingers crossed that this one will be another hit.  It’s titled: The Burgess Boys.  Stay tuned for my review!

Nine things about me

Nine Random things about me.  I saw this on another blog and set out to see if I could think up nine random things about yours truly.  Well, nine random things that were blogworthy….or not…..

1. I hate mustard.  With a purple passion.  My kids used to chase me around the house with a squeeze bottle of French’s.  Man, I hate that stuff… and not just the yellow French’s.  Grey Poupon, Inglehoffers, you name it, I hate it!
2. I desperately wanted to be a “stay at home Mom” back in the day.  It wasn’t in the cards for me, but I’m so happy my daughter in law can be a stay at home Mom for her twins.
3. There was a time when I thought I wanted to hike at least part of the Pacific Crest Trail.  Sorta sorry I never pursued it.
4. I can walk right past cookies, chocolate, or cake… but a bag of Cheetos, Doritos, Fritos, Tostitos, or Lays…. I’m lost.  Salt is my weakness.
5. I just hate talking on the phone.  Yeah, I’ll do it, but I don’t like it.  Yes, a phone conversation is necessary sometimes, but email, letters, or a text is better.  For me.  I don’t know why I feel that way, after all, back in Jr High and High School, I’d crawl under the covers, put the blankets over my head and talk incessantly on the phone
6. I always wanted to live waaaay out in the country.  Again, that was not in the cards for me.  I still think about it sometimes, but in all practicality, it ain’t gonna happen.
7. I try to read my Bible every day.  Well, nearly every day.  I even have it on my phone as an app, so it’s always with me.  As my mother and grandmother before me, I get great comfort from the scriptures – and inspiration, and direction.
8. If I could, I’d have a house full of pets.  I mean a couple of dogs, two or three more cats, who knows what else?!  I just love animals.  Too bad hubby is not of the same persuasion… plus, he’s allergic.  Oh well.  I do dream of owning a rescue Greyhound someday.
9. I’m trying to grow out my hair.  Once I believed old ladies shouldn’t have long hair.  But you know what?  I loved having long hair years ago.  There are lots of fun things you can do with your hair when it’s long.  So I’m growing it.  Despite the fact that I’m O.L.D.

Well, there they are, nine random things about me. 

Snowflake Embryo Grandbabies

This week I’m linking up with one of my favorite blogs, Kelly’s Korner.   Her “Show us Your Life” Friday feature is for grandmothers   It was almost exactly one year ago that I became the grandmother of twins -long awaited, much loved and prayed for, special little people.  For several years, my son and dear daughter in law tried on their own, and also through fertility treatments, to have a baby.  They were finally told that it would take IVF (in vitro fertilization) for their wish for a baby to come true.  Son and dear DIL prayed long and hard about what to do…. and then one day they learned about embryo adoption.  It was truly an answer to prayer.  This was perfect for them!  It was not only less expensive than IVF, it would possibly give a chance at life to a frozen embryo (which we personally believe to be a little person).  Families who do IVF, sometimes have left over frozen embryos that they do not want or cannot use themselves and they may  have an option to put their “left over” embryos up for adoption.  Our embryos came to us through a Christian embryo adoption agency.  It is much like adopting a baby… you have a caseworker, fill out lots of paperwork, pass thorough background checks, have a parenting plan, and then you get “matched” to a family.  To make a long story short, the first try at transferring the frozen embryos was unsuccessful.  A few months later, another attempt was made and this time, everything was just right.  We rejoiced to learn that dear DIL was indeed pregnant.  We rejoiced even more a few weeks later when we learned -via ultrasound- that twins were on the way!  Here are a few photos…

Isn’t it amazing to see both our babies at only 7 weeks along?

Then we watched dear DIL “blossom” as well….

The pregnancy didn’t exactly sail along in smooth waters…  at 26 weeks, dear DIL had to be admitted to the hospital for pre term labor.  She spent approx 6 weeks in the hospital on strict bed rest and then two weeks at home – also on strict bed rest.  Then…. when she was 33 weeks and 2 days, her water broke.  We knew the babies were coming early, but we were also so thankful that she had been able to keep them safely inside for 33+ weeks.  Let me insert here that I’ve been a neonatal nurse for over 30 years, and in my heart I knew that there could be ALL SORTS of complications  with babies born even 7 weeks early.  Thankfully, the twins had a typical and normal course in the NICU.

Here they are, Jake and Katelyn, 6 days old.  They were both around 4 pounds and 6 ounces at birth, Jake being a few ounces bigger than his sister.   You can see they have feeding tubes in.  Premature babies need to mature before they can take all their feeds on their own, so this is very typical.

Here they are, sleeping in their isolettes.

After about 3 weeks, we had our precious twins at home.  Grammie Suz went to spend a couple weeks with the new family – precious days that will never be forgotten.  Our babies thrived and grew and grew!  Even though they were preemies, they learned quickly how much they loved to nurse.  No, I won’t be posting a photo of that!  But it was impressive, how quickly they caught on and went from all bottles (and dear DIL so busy, pumping, pumping, pumping) to simply nursing and loving it.

Here they are at about 3 1/2 months old… growing and getting cuter by the day!

Then one day last summer, the twins (and their parents) came to Grammies house to visit.  What fun!!

Here our happy babies are at about 8 months.  Absolutely precious!

Here she is, a couple of months ago, so proud of her new found skill – standing!!

Here is our big boy, standing up and very pleased with himself!

In about two weeks, we’ll celebrate their 1st birthday.  On that day we’ll send up special prayers to thank God for bringing these special, darling, and oh-so-loved babies into our lives.    I can’t say enough wonderful things about embryo adoption.  What a wonderful answer to many prayers!

Maui in February

Here we are at the beginning of March, and February has just passed me by!!  We took a fun trip at the beginning of the month to Maui – which was supposed to be our escape from the gray, wet skies of the Western Washington winter.  I was surprised at how much it rained on Maui and how many days started with clouds, gray skies, and sprinkles.  I guess this is pretty typical for “winter” weather there, but it was just a teeny bit disappointing.  Please remember you can click on any of the photos to make them larger.

Above is the view from our lanai.  You see the “famous” Gazebo restaurant which is open for breakfast and lunch daily.  This was (obviously) a rainy morning, and the line is short.  Most days the wait was about 45 minutes.  We went one morning to try the macadamia nut  pancakes that we had read online were nothing short of spectacular.  I have to say I was less than impressed.  They simply sprinkled some chopped mac-nuts on top of your basic pancake and called it good.  Oh well, I’m not really a pancake connoisseur, so maybe my two cents worth is just that – worth but two cents!

Here we have a view of one of the south Maui beaches near Makena.  We enjoyed our drive down the coastline thru Kihei and Wailea even though it was not exactly bright and sunny.  This time of year the Humpback whales put on a show every day if you just sit patiently and watch.  I tried SO hard to get some good whale pictures, but alas, the one below is about as good as it got.

We did go snorkeling (my favorite thing to do on earth!!) a couple of times and also tried to find a kayak trip that would suit us, but failed on that.  I guess we knew we’d never top the March 2011 kayak trip where the whales literally swam right under our boats… so we didn’t try too hard.  Silly, I know.  Kayaking is such fun and especially in Hawaii – I’m sorry now we didn’t pursue that a little harder.

We managed to consume a few delightful meals on this trip, and yeah, I’m one of those crazy people who like to take photos of their food.

This was probably the best I had the entire week.  Macadamia nut crusted Mahi Mahi on wild rice with ??? some sauce!  It was divine!!

To prove we actually did see the sun, here was the sunset one evening, dipping down beyond the island of Lanai in the distance.  The sunsets in Hawaii are spectacular, in my humble opinion.

One beautiful sunny day we decided to drive up to the top of Mt Haleakala, which you can see by Hubby pointing it out, is 10,023 feet.  Lots of crazy  adventurous folks get up waaaaay before dawn to get to the top of the mountain to watch the sunrise.  This was not something on my to-do list (getting up at 3 am, I mean), so we drove up during the day.  It was gorgeous up there.

Here’s a view showing the cinder cones (I think that’s what they called them) in the dormant volcano, Haleakala.  We’ve learned a lot about volcanoes recently, having been to Mt St Helens last summer and now here to Haleakala National Park.

Couldn’t resist sharing this photo we took while gazing down onto Honolua Bay (a place we later snorkeled ourselves).  Here was a guy, snorkeling with his dog on a boogie board!  It was a rather hot that day and I worried that the dog would get overheated, but he seemed to be having a great time.

Here I am at Makena Landing.  A place that is known for good snorkeling and kayaking, but we weren’t prepared to jump in the day we were there.  Oh well.  Maybe next time

Here’s a snap of the condo complex we stayed in called Napili Shores.  While it wasn’t my favorite place we’ve ever stayed (rather noisy, believe it or not!) we did like it.  This was taken across Napili Bay from the Seahouse Restaurant, looking back towards the condo near sunset.  I did love hearing the crashing of the waves, day and night.

Here I am at Dukes in Ka’anapali (a totally open air restaurant – love it!) trying my very first “LavaFlow” drink.  It’s sort of like a pina`colada with some swirled strawberries thrown in.  Very yummy.  I hope to have another…. someday   This was taken on Super Bowl Sunday.  We could hear lots of folks in the bar hooping and hollering and most sounded like they were for San Francisco…. they seemed pretty unhappy with the the outcome of the game.  I was oblivious to football on this trip… just too happy to be in Hawaii, I guess.

This photo was taken the evening before we left beautiful Maui – at Lahaina harbor.  Another stunning sunset and a great little trip.  But, like I always say, there’s just “no place like home”… it was great to go, but just as great to arrive home safely.   Hope you enjoyed our little Hawaiian pictorial.

January reading……

Well, here we are, nearly the end of the month, time for me to list the books I’ve read so far.  I must admit, a couple were started in December but finished in January, therefore they count as January books

A Midwife’s Story

This book was written in 1985 or thereabouts and set in Pennsylvania Amish country.  I found it very interesting and could totally relate when the author described a typical hospital birth of the era, compared to a home birth.  I’m sure I’ve attended over 1000 deliveries with my total responsibility towards the infant, not the mother.  Honestly, I could write a book myself, recounting some the the unusual and sometimes horrifying things I’ve personally seen.   Maybe someday.  Anyway, this was a very good book if you are interested in midwifery and/or the Amish.  I’m intrigued with both!

A Homemade Life

I like to think of myself as somewhat of a “foodie” although there are a few foods I will not go near – and true “foodies” better be ready to try anything!  This book was written in 2009  by the author of “Orangette” a food blog that is still in existence.  I really enjoyed how Ms Wizenberg managed to link different events and periods in her own life, with incredible sounding food!!  She also includes recipes, and that’s the big reason I haven’t been able to bring myself to pass this book along.  I don’t want to lose the recipes!  The setting is Oklahoma, Paris, and Seattle.  The author still lives in Seattle, recently had her first child, and owns two restaurants in the Ballard neighborhood of the city.  Great reading if you enjoy eating, cooking, and reading about food.

The Kingmaker’s Daughter

This was Philippa Gregory’s latest story in the LONG-ONGOING “Cousin’s war” series, describing the events surrounding the War of the Roses.  I love history and now I’ve read 4 books by this author on this subject.  I think I’ve got the story from pretty much everyone’s perspective available! This one was the view from Queen Anne, wife to King Richard III.  Time to move on, Ms Gregory, time for a new subject!  I listened to this book on audio CD, (13 CD’s, each over an hour) and it took me quite a while, but I stuck with it.  It was not exactly “riveting” subject matter, but since I do love history, I found it interesting.  Honestly, this author does an incredible job at research – and it shows…. but I do hope that the War of the Roses has finally come to an end!

The Persian Pickle Club

I think this may be the 4th novel I’ve read by Sandra Dallas.  I’d give this about 3 stars out of 5 – if I were giving it a rating.  It was good and I think it portrayed the dust bowl 1930′s in Kansas pretty well.  There are many references to quilting in this book, and while I’m not a quilter, I do love and admire a nice quilt!  The Persian Pickle club is the quilters guild in their little jerkwater town.  You get to know all the quilters and most of their families as well, so large amounts of names are bantered about in this rather small book.  Still it was pretty good, and I continue to like Ms Dallas, and will probably read more of hers.

Starting a new book today which will undoubtedly show up at the end of next month as part of February’s reading.  Wow, if all I had to do was read all day long, I’d be one very happy camper!!

Some books I read in 2012

I think this year I’ll do a monthly recap of the books I’ve read.  Last year I was horrible at keeping up with my book log.  Just for the fun of it, I’ll list a few of the books I read in 2012, and then I’ll go on to January’s books later this month.

Some 2012 Books, in no particular order:

Hearts of Horses by Molly Gloss.  Really loved how this one started, actually I enjoyed most of the book, although the ending kinda fizzled out a bit.

The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins.  I’m pretty sure someone at work encouraged me to read this as I am never attracted by sci-fi stories.  She was right when she said I wouldn’t be able to put it down.  Great book that grabs you from the start!

Catching Fire (book 2 of the Hunger Games) by Suzanne Collins.  I was so “into” the Hunger Games, that I watched the movie and then was anxious to get into book two.  For me it was a HUGE disappointment.  The author simply revisited the same storyline as book one (for the most part), and I’ll admit I was so mad I didn’t finish it.  For crying out loud, couldn’t she come up with a new premise?  Needless to say I won’t be reading the third in the trilogy even though I have been encouraged to.

Mosaic by Amy Grant. This was an autobiography of the singer, and I listened to this one on CD’s. What was nice about the CD version was that occasionally she broke out into song, which I loved.  The story of her life – well up to this point – I found very interesting.  I’ve always liked Amy and also her husband, Vince Gill.

A Natural Woman by Carole King.  Here was another autobiography that I listened to over several weeks’ time.  Again, I was fascinated by her life story… all her kids and husbands, as well as  all the amazing songs she wrote or co-wrote. Like Amy Grant’s autobiography, Carole also sang here and there in this audio version of  her book.  Loved it!

Nearing Home by Billy Graham.  I may not be in my 60’s yet, but some days I feel like I am!  That said, it was interesting to hear Rev Graham’s perspective on growing older… and especially how an older person can continue to contribute to life and society and family.  Very inspirational.

The School of Essential Ingredients by Erica Bauermeister.  I like books written by people who love food and who know how to cook or bake.  This was a work of fiction, about a group of 8 people who gather weekly for a cooking class.  The author is from Seattle and the book was set in Seattle, so it was fun to read about some familiar landmarks.  The story was quite good too.

Wonderland Creek by Lynn Austin.  This is in the category of Christian historical fiction.  I listened to this one on CD’s and while some of it was a bit implausible, I really liked it.  It was set mostly in the back woods of Kentucky in the 1930’s and was about a girl who ended up being a librarian on horseback. One thing that was interesting was that they really did have library helpers delivering books via horseback for a time!  Nice book that did manage to keep my interest.

Until we Reach Home by Lynn Austin.  Yep, another audio historical book by Ms Austin.  This one was set at the turn of the last century and was about three Swedish sisters who immigrate to the US – and all their trials and tribulations along the way.  I liked it and it kept my interest, I just wish she would have wrapped up the ending a bit better.

Killing Kennedy: The End of Camelot by Bill O’Reilly.  This was another audio book that hubby and I both listened to during a long drive from California to our home in Washington state.  I thought the insight into the Kennedy dynasty was fascinating, as were some of the tidbits of info I did not know about his assassin, Lee Oswald.  I was 8 years old when the President was killed and remember the day clearly. The book was good.  My only complaint is a similar one to other books by Mr O’Reilly – I get very frustrated with his narration of his own books.  The guy has trouble pronouncing everyday words! Drives me nuts!

Only Time Will Tell by Jeffrey Archer.  This book I picked up for hubby and after he read it he announced, “this is a woman’s book – you would really enjoy it!”  Okay… well, he’s said that before regarding some of the stuff he’s read, and for the most part he was wrong.  But not this time.  This was a great book set in England in the early part of the last century.  I really liked it and will be starting the sequel (which I have in my to-read pile) very soon!

An Irish Country Wedding by Patrick Taylor.  This is the 4th or 5th book I’ve read by Dr. Taylor who really IS from Ireland, although he now resides on Salt Spring Island off the coast of Vancouver BC.  I have loved them all – I mean LOVED THEM – and this was no exception!  They are all set in the fictitious town of Ballybucklebo in Northern Ireland and take place in the early 1960′s.  It surrounds the life and times of the local GP, Dr Fingal Flaherty O’Reilly and his sidekick Dr Barry Laverty.  You get to know all the town characters… and they keep appearing in all the books.  I was so anxious to read this one and like I said before, I SIMPLY LOVED IT!  My secret: I get all of these “Irish Country Doctor” books on CD.  I’m sure they would be lovely in print as well, but once I listened to one of them, I have had to listen to them ALL!  I love the narrator (John Keating) who has read/narrated every one of these novels.  His accent is divine, and you know which character is speaking, just by the tone of his voice.  I highly recommend this book and would certainly suggest starting with the first, An Irish Country Doctor which came out several years ago.

I’m sure there were more that I read last year, but those are the ones that come to mind right now that were not already posted under my tab of “Books 2012”.  Be on the lookout towards the end of the month for the January update of “books I’ve read”!!

Conversation with a floor mopping hubby

Okay, so I’ve been totally out of the blogoshpere (is that word?) for much too long.  I won’t say I’ve made a New Year’s resolution to blog more because I haven’t.  I thought about making this blog more of a book blog, but decided I didn’t want to limit it to just that.  After all, I did a HORRIBLE job of keeping up with the books I read last year – why would I narrow my own scope like that?   Today it occurred to me that I can continue to just share pieces of my life and who knows, some of it might even be interesting     Which brings me to a conversation I had a couple days ago with my darling hubby.  I do do do love him dearly, and appreciate him, yet he never fails to amaze me.   The following is an excerpt from an email I sent to a friend……

Remember yesterday when I was telling you how sweet it was that hubby vacuumed (till it blew up- yes, it literally imploded!) and mopped the kitchen floor?  Today….. I was commenting on the floor and he said, “yeah, the water in the KITCHEN SINK was black when I was done mopping!”   I about had a heart attack.  I tried to be calm when I replied, “you used the KITCHEN SINK as a bucket?”  He said… “well, yeah.”  Again I tried to remain calm when I said, “please, NEVER EVER EVER do that again.”  Then I noticed something else …. (this was all while I was doing dishes this morning)…. and I asked him…. “did you happen to use DAWN DISHWASHING LIQUID to mop the floor?”  At first he said …”noooooo…..” and I said…. “John, are you going to burn in hell for that lie?”  He said, “maybe”.  I said, “so you DID use DAWN DISHWASHING LIQUID to mop the floor!”  He replied, “possibly”.  Groan.  It’s obvious I need to get one of those new “Shark” floor mopper thingys.  Then he can’t ever use the kitchen sink as a bucket (GROSS!!!!!!!) and hopefully Dawn dish washing liquid will be used for just that – washing dishes.  All this from a man who was trying to be helpful a month or so ago by doing the laundry.  I got home from work one day and noticed that the clothes he’d washed sure did smell nice -  really strong perfume smell – and I said, “sweetie, which laundry soap did you use?”  “Oh, the stuff in the blue container….”  He washed the clothes in DOWNY!!!!!!  Now the bottle of Downy has a message written all over it in black sharpie: THIS IS FABRIC SOFTENER. USE FOR RINSE ONLY.  Sigh.   Living with an Englishman……. 

Life is never dull with my very own Englishman!  Love him to the moon and back!    

Our California Home

I’m sure everyone pretty much knows that we purchased a home in the California desert last year.  We were blessed to be able to buy it at a rock bottom price (while the real estate market was in the toilet, so to speak), and hope that it will be a wise investment over the years.  We’ve spent lots of time there working hard, especially hubby who is honestly a Mr Home Handyman Extraordinaire.  He painted and put together oodles of Ikea furniture. He dug and planted and transplanted.  He washed windows and drove around the Coachella Valley with me, looking for useful household items we needed.  The biggest and most stressful part of his “job” BY FAR, was overseeing the construction of our new saltwater pool and spa.  We were apart for 8 weeks while he was in California keeping a keen eye on ALL the goings on, from the initial dig to learning the fine tuning of the pool equipment.  This two weeks off work I gave up my dreams of a New England cruise up and around the Canadian Maritimes and down the St Lawrence Seaway to Quebec City.  Oh well.  Another year, maybe… Lord willing.  No, instead, we are spending our time finalizing our home, to ready it for the winter vacation renters that are on their way!  Our biggest hurdle this time was landscaping.  I’m happy to report that as of today, the landscaping is d.o.n.e.  YAY!!!!  We are still doing a bit of careful planning for our upcoming renters… for instance: We’ve been watching “Dexter” on DVD and noticed a problem with our DVD player.  I was peeling potatoes the other night for dinner and I realized our peeler was NOT peeling!  Had to replace it.  We’ve arranged the bookshelf and added some games.  We’ve purchased plenty of paper towels, kleenex, and TP…. as well as laundry detergent and dryer sheets.  We’ve got the new bed sheets & towels washed and ready to go.  Shockingly we discovered a mouse  had decided to enter our home while we were gone these last three months.  So glad WE discovered this and not a renter!  The exterminator has been contracted and the offending rodent has been removed and all possible openings have been CLOSED.  We’ve sprayed for bugs and spiders.  We’ve met the new pool guy who visits twice a week.   So, finally I think we can breathe a sigh of relief and say, “it’s ready”.  So…. here are a few before and after photos.

Hubby built the fence and gate to hide the pool equipment. Then we needed landscaping…

The patio has been tiled and things are looking much neater!

Here’s the walkway from the Master Bedroom patio, down to the pool… before we finished the landscaping.

Ahhhh, looking much better! We do have some “baby” plants that will grow and fill in as time goes by.

The bare area between the pool and fence near the golf course…

View from the spa, over to the patio. New plants along the fence which will grow and fill in, and a new Mediterranean Fan Palm down by the gate.

Looking towards the house…. we did relocate the palm at the corner – the gardeners said that it was a must do as it was too close to the house. I hated to move it!

Looking much neater here. We have planted some nice plants where the palm was and I can’t wait for them to grow big and beautiful.

Now a one last photo of the “finished product.

One of my favorite views of the pool and patio area

We’re not quite done with “everything”, but we’re close.  Now, maybe we’ll do a little fun stuff before the vacation is completely over! Hubby has promised me at least one visit to In-N-Out Burger!   If anyone is interested in a nice vacation rental, do check out our website at: www.MountainVistaPalmSprings.com   We still have November and December 2012 open!

Dead Heading Petunias

Dead heading Petunias.  It’s something we all do if we have a flower garden.  We also dead head geraniums, or any other flower we want to keep looking lovely and beautiful.  Yet every time I do it, I feel really bad.  Why is it that for something to look beautiful and keep producing, you need to trim off the old and fading flowers?  Many days I feel like one of those old and fading flowers, and yet, I don’t want to be “trimmed off”, not just yet. So I feel guilty when I pick off the droopy flower heads, thinking, “this is just not fair – just because you are older and sort of droopy, you have to go?”  I’m older, I’m droopy some days, I walk with a limp because of my bad hip, but I still don’t want to be tossed away – not till I’m completely dead, anyway.  Which brings us to the whole topic of: “how do older people continue to contribute to life – or should they just be deadheaded like flowers?”  Recently I read Billy Graham’s latest book “Nearing Home”.  In many ways it was an inspiring book for people that are approaching old age – and it was reassuring that God can still use us even after we’ve lost the bright “bloom of youth”.  What is slightly disheartening is how society as a whole looks upon those of us who are “slightly droopy & past our prime” so to speak.  Beauty and youth are highly valued, much like in the plant world, unfortunately.  I for one will do my darndest to accept old age gracefully and try to continue to be a contributing member of society -even if that “society” is simply the small circle of my own family, friends, & neighbors- even after I’ve finally quit the work force.    I think about my own mom, who reached the ripe (“droopy and withered”!) old age of 91. She still loved to cook and bake for the family and her neighbors – her bread was still phenomenal!  She prayed for us all every single day, and was such an example of a Christ-focused woman.  She stayed informed on current events, had opinions on politics, and still loved her baseball team – IF they were winning!   She raised an awesome garden every year except the year of her death.  She canned fruit and made jam every year too, except that last one.  These she often gave away as gifts. So, when I start to worry a bit about the worth of myself as an older person, I will always think about mom.  I believe when people think about her, the first thing they think of was how much they knew she loved them AND how much they knew she loved God.  What great things to strive for!  Hang on people, I’m not ready to be deadheaded just yet!

The twins arrived…. and I’ve been so bad at blogging!

Our twins were born on March 20th, just about 7 weeks prior to their due date.  Thanks be to God that they were both born healthy – with no real medical issues, other than being small.  Each weighed just a bit over 4 pounds.  They spent about 3 weeks in the hospital.  The day after Easter, it was time to come home!  Here are the happy parents about to take those precious babies home.  Suddenly their family grew from two to four!

Here is our new family, headed into their home together for the first time. Something they had hoped and dreamed and prayed for, for a long long time.

I was very lucky to be able to get some time off work to help out with the twins when they came home from the hospital.  We parked the “Granny Express” (AKA our Motorhome) in the driveway, which worked out great.  I had a place to escape to at night time!  Yep, Grammie loves to help out, but she determined she was just TOO OLD to be up during the night for feedings.

Here are Jake and Katelyn, right after they arrived home.  He looks so much bigger than her in this photo.  He IS a bit bigger, but not as drastic as it appears here.

I call this photo “keepin’ it real”… as we were so busy those first few days!  Not only were we busy, but the new parents were adjusting to life without much sleep.  Ahhhh yes, a fact of real life, especially when there are TWO babies in the house!   Now that the kids have been home for almost 3 weeks, I think mom and dad have figured out a system.  Not sure what it is, but it sounds like they are doing a little more sleeping than they did at first.  Which is a GOOD thing!

We didn’t seem to put them together all that often, but this day we popped them both into the same bassinet for a little while.  Gotta love these little darlin’s.

One afternoon, little Jake was wide awake and wanted to visit.  I took advantage of his alert state and snapped this adorable shot.

Here’s a cute one of little sister too.  I think she may be waving “hello” to everyone

I am hoping to get back over to see the rapidly growing twins sometime in the month of May.  I have this funny feeling these babies are going to grow up waaAAAyyy too fast!