Category Archives: personal

911! Good Morning Officer…

***Note: If you are here for the real Blue Monday scroll on down past this post…

Dear and I are a little on the “Blue Side” this morning…

 Last night when Dear and I went to bed the new resident above our condo was having a “row” of some kind. Although the previous residents were noisy walkers we never could hear voices or actual words through the ceiling. Well last night I heard more words and noise than I wanted to hear and the words were not good. It sounded like the young lady was being taken advantage of. We went to sleep and then I woke up at 2:15 A.M. because of a very loud thump and the girl was crying “Help Me, help me, you hurt me”. We heard her say help me a few more times and then heard her moaning and crying.  That was it!!  I got up and called 911. We heard the officers knock loudly on the door but we don’t think the door was opened up to them. One of the officers came to our door to make sure they were at the right condo. We now know the Camarillo Police Dept. can find our condos. Yippee! We crawled back into bed at 3:15 AM. Dear and I were not able to go back to sleep and He gets up at 5:00 am and leaves for work at 6:00 so needless to say we are both dragging. Poor guy has to go do his job and train a contractor. The only thing I absolutely have to do today is go buy some milk.

I’m thankful to God for the peace that I live with day in and day out in my married life…

Blueberry Mornings ~

 

We have one blueberry bush in our yard in Washington. Most years it gives us a great crop of blueberries in July. If I am at my home in Washington in July my usual morning ritual is to go in my jammies and pick the ripest berries that day. Thankfully there are enough berries for me and the birds. I take my stash inside and pour them over my high fiber cereal with a cut up banana and enjoy my morning treat. Simple God given pleasures really make my day. Have a great day my friends.

Photobucket is holding all my photos from 2007-2015 hostage on their site and have replaced my photos with black and grey boxes of ugliness. I’m slowly deleting those boxes from my blog and trying to update so many posts, very frustrating.

Walk About the Yard

I’m in the Seattle area spending 6 weeks at my home here. I took a stroll about the yard to see what was blooming and growing.

 

We’ve got some wild blackberry blossoms, our apples and pears are maturing, the hydrangea is promising a few blooms, the lavender is in it’s glory and the blueberries are still green but plumping up.

I’m still getting my bearings here in my house. I decided to tackle a few rooms at a time for cleaning and organizing. On Tuesday I deep cleaned the kitchen and dusted the living room. Yesterday I got everything presentable except for my Master Bedroom. We’re having 16 for the 4th and I wanted the main living areas clean. Saturday I’ll tackle my bedroom, it’s on the 3rd floor all by itself so I felt fine leaving it till last and after our company on the 4th. Dear goes back to California on Sunday and then he flies back up to Seattle for the first two weeks in August. I’ll be able to get a lot of weeding in while he’s gone.

A very happy 4th to all you in the U.S.A.  and a very happy Friday to my friends in other parts of the world. My flag waving post for the 4th is just below this so scroll on down if you’d like…

Photobucket is holding all my photos I stored with them from 2007-2015 hostage. They have blacked out all those photos on my blog posts. OH BOTHER! I’m slowly cleaning up my posts.

My Sweet Niece and Me and Vitiligo

 

I love this photo of my sweet little niece with her Aunty ellen b. Look at her great eyebrows. After we left Dallas she cut two bottom teeth within the week. She’s just 3-1/2 months old. Before we left for Dallas I had my first ever trip to the dermatologist because my face was discoloring. I thought I was getting brown spots. At my visit the dermatologist discovered that I’m not getting brown spots but instead I’m losing the pigment in my skin, a condition called Vitiligo. It’s the same condition that Michael Jackson has. I’m not wearing any cover-up in the photo above so you can see my loss of pigment especially next to my dear niece’s perfect baby skin. So from now on if I post any photos of myself out walking you’ll see me with my Dallas souvenir on…

 

Here I am last Saturday at Emma Wood State Beach with my new UPF50+ hat with a 3″ rim. The areas of my skin that are losing pigment are very sensitive to the sun so I need to add extra protection. A sunblock with helioplex broad spectrum uva-uvb and avobenzone 3% are highly recommended for protection. I’m using a Neutrogena product that has both of these ingredients in it. The only downside to this condition for me besides my vanity, is the fact that I don’t wear hats well and then the added condition of bad dented hair from the hat after my walks!

Between my back issues and my face issues I was happy to have memorized ~ 2 Corinthians 4:16-18 ~”Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.”

Have a wonderful day y’all and keep on walking. I’ve had a good week of walking and I’ll be posting my average steps every Monday from now on.

Photobucket is holding all my photos from 2007-2015 hostage and they have blacked them all out. I’m slowly working at restoring my posts without their help. Such a tiresome bother!

Saturday at Lowe’s and Beyond

Well what do you do when you are still recovering from lower back pain issues and can’t take your usual long beach walk or long canyon hike? You go with the hubby to one of his favorite spots and take the opportunity to walk and stretch and keep your muscles from painful stiffness.

 

BUT while he is busy looking at tools you escape to the garden department and pretend you’re in an English Garden and take these photos.

 

 

 

 

Then since you are already in Ventura why not have Second Breakfast at your favorite Ventura breakfast spot Allison’s Country Cafe?!

 On the way home we stopped at the Friends of the Library in Camarillo to shop for some bargain books. Here are my two finds for the day.

 

Both of these books have such wonderful illustrations. Dear bought 3 Audel Carpenter’s and Builder’s Library books.

Here’s something for April from Shakespeare and The Country Diary of an Edwardian Lady.

“Oh; how this spring of love resembleth
The uncertain glory of an April day!
Which now shows all the beauty of the sun
And by and bye a cloud takes all away.”

Two Gentlemen of Verona ~ Shakespeare

Hope you are having a lovely weekend…

Photobucket is holding all my photos from 2007-2015 hostage and they have blacked them all out. I’m slowly working at restoring my posts without their help. Such a tiresome bother!

April Flowers

Praise God from whom all blessings flow, I woke up this morning and my spasms are gone. All I have now is a stiff, weak back that I will carefully and slowly exercise back. Taking a step at a time. Thank you so much for all your prayers for me. Your phone calls and your emails were an encouragement, too. Have a wonderful day!

Psalm 30:2 “O Lord my God, I called to you for help and you have healed me.”

 

April is a rainbow month,
Of sudden springtime showers.
Bright with golden daffodils
and lots of pretty flowers.

Have You Ever Meme ~

I saw this over at Susanne’s and decided to play along…

Susanne’s was a meme for a busy day. Mine is a meme for a laid up day. I’m still in bed with back pain and so between memorizing, blogging and reading, I’m calling on God so I don’t lose heart.  2 Corinthians 4:16-17 “Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal”

A view from my jail room while I’m recovering…

Lousy photo yes, but it was fun taking a picture. I’m suffering a bit from picture taking withdrawal.

So now to the temporary things of this earth that I’ve seen and done…

Have you ever:

-Gone on a blind date no
-Skipped school yes
-Watched someone die yes
-Been to Canada yes to British Columbia, and to Ontario from Detroit.
-Been to Mexico Yes, but not to a resort. Tijuana and Tecate to buy tile…

-Been to Florida No
-Been on a plane Yes
– Been lost  yes but not for long
-Been on the opposite side of the country yes
-Been to the capital of your country yes

-Swam in the ocean or waded Yes, in the Pacific and the Atlantic
-Cried yourself to sleep yes
– Played cops and robber Yes, and cowboys and Indians.
-Recently colored with crayons Not recently
– Sang Karaoke Yes

– Paid for a meal with coins only? probably
– Done something you told yourself you wouldn’t? Yes
– Made prank phone calls Yes, so very embarrassing…
– Laughed until some kind of beverage came out of your nose unfortunately yes
– Caught a snowflake on your tongue Yes after we moved to Washington state.

– Danced in the rain Yes, in Washington probably after a goal or a touchdown. 🙂
– Written a letter to Santa Claus no, not that I can recall.
– Been kissed under the mistletoe yes
-Watched the sunrise with someone you care about Yes
– Blown bubbles Absolutely

– Gone ice-skating Yes, but not successfully
– Been skinny dipping outdoors Yes in the dark in a hot tub with nobody looking (I hope)
-Been out of North America Yes, Great Britain.
-Been in detention Yes, room 208 at Montebello Junior High.
-Regreted something you blogged  probably…

I won’t tag anyone but if you do it let me know so that I can come and read!

Photobucket is holding all my photos from 2007-2015 hostage and they have blacked them all out. I’m slowly working at restoring my posts without their help. Such a tiresome bother!

Goodbye Brita ~ Hello Reverse Osmosis

We are so excited around our little condo because we get to say goodbye to this

and say hello to this

Soon we’ll be getting the water we want to drink right from this faucet. On Saturday Dear installed this unit under our sink

 

Once the tank fills 3 times and we empty it three times we’re set to go with good drinking water. We will probably only have to change the filter once a year for the two of us here in the condo. If we used 10 gallons a day we’d have to replace the filter twice a year. It takes up a lot of room under the sink but it is well worth it. Our water here in Ventura county tastes bad and it is very hard. So tomorrow morning it’s water right out of my new tap for my pot of coffee!

Update: I had my first glass of water from this new reverse osmosis tap and I am so pleased. It is very good, indeed!!

Photobucket is holding all my photos from 2007-2015 hostage and they have blacked them all out. I’m slowly working at restoring my posts without their help. Such a tiresome bother!

Fun Monday ~ First Celebrity Crush?

Oh boy is this one going to age me. Actually I’m aging just fine with no help 🙂

There probably was someone on the Mouseketeers that I had a crush on in the 50’s and early 60’s. Then there was Ricky Nelson (Ozzie and Harriett) that I might have had a crush on but the first out there in public crush that I had was for the Beatles. I think I liked them all but Ringo was my favorite. I sat there and watched them on the debut in the U.S. on the Ed Sullivan show. I was giddy with delight! I learned all their songs by heart and went to see all their movies.

For more Fun Monday go visit Jo

ABC Wednesday ~ K is for

 K is for Katie

 

K is for our Katie. Katherine on her birth certificate.

 

Our Katie has an amazing amount of knowledge stored in her brain and I will show you some photos that might explain where some of that knowledge comes from.

 

At a very young age if Katie went missing this is where you would find her.

 

She was most drawn to books with words, not picture books. We had a few old school reading books and these are the ones she’d pull off the shelf and carefully go through.

 

As you can see she did not have a shortage of toys but she always seemed to go for the books.

 

We didn’t realize how well she could read until a trip to Meadowdale Beach Park with our friends the Spiro’s. Jody was walking hand in hand with Katie when they came to the tunnel under the railroad tracks that took you to the beach side of the park. As they approached this tunnel with this sign Katie said quite clearly to  my friend Jody, “Caution Low Head Clearance”

 

We realized then that we had a little 4 year old who definitely knew how to read. Who knows how much she was reading without us knowing before this experience.

Well this is all about Katie so for my last photo to throw in another “K” word, here’s Katie in a Kilt that I bought in Scotland in 1973! It fit me once too 🙂

For more ABC Wednesday take a trip across the pond to Mrs. Nesbitt’s.

Photobucket is holding all my photos from 2007-2015 hostage and they have blacked them all out. I’m slowly working at restoring my posts without their help. Such a tiresome bother!