Tag Archives: San Clemente State Beach

Hope You Don’t Fidget Hodepodge

1. The sweetness of summer…where have you found it recently? If you’re in the Southern hemisphere, feel free to tell us about the sweetness you’re finding in winter.

When we have a group around our table enjoy each other I count it as sweetness.

2. Take your sweet time, sweet tooth, home sweet home, short but sweet, the sweet smell of success, sweet talk…choose a sweet idiom and tell us how it fits your life currently?

It would have to be Home Sweet Home. We’ve enjoyed being home alone and we’ve enjoyed overnight visitors in our home. I’m thankful to have a comfortable home where we can enjoy wide open spaces in our beautiful part of the country.

3. Sweet as honey, sweet as sugar, or sweet as pie, which phrase do you use when a sweet phrase is called for? What’s the last sweet treat you indulged in?

My mind keeps going back to Psalm 19:7-11. Dear and I have put this section of scripture to memory and recite it often. The Law of the Lord is Perfect. In verse 10 you find these words describing God’s teachings,  “Sweeter also than honey and drippings of the honeycomb” Do any of you remember ths song from ages ago?

The latest sweet I indulged in while typing this on Tuesday afternoon was a slice of this frozen dessert below. This dessert goes a long way. I made it for 10 people and we still have part of it in the freezer to enjoy a slice of in the evening. The shot above with our 2nd batch of summer company has the dessert pictured in front of each place ready to be eaten.

4. First thing that comes to mind when you hear the word fidget?

True confession: I fidget when someone is long winded or takes way to long to explain something. I don’t consider most sermons in the long winded category at all. I can listen to a good long sermon when someone is rightly dividing the Truth. Usually long winded to me is someone who talks way too long on stuff that isn’t the truth or when I can’t figure out the point they are trying to make.

5. Share with us one of your favorite childhood travel memories.

I can remember very little snippets of our travels to places to camp or pick fruit growing up. We did not travel much as a family especially after four more siblings were born after the original four. I was the youngest of the first 4. Camping was the highlight and camping at San Clemente State Beach was the ultimate camping experience for me (despite sunburns). What added to the adventure at San Clemente was the fact that the Grunion were running one of the nights we were there. It was so exciting to hear the yells, “the Grunion are running, the Grunion are running” and then to scramble and try to pick up the silvery fish and throw them in your bucket.  If you’ve never heard of Grunion click here.

The above photo is of my family camping at Big Bear California.

6. Insert your own random thought here.

My other memorable summer experience in Junior High and High School was being able to go to Hume Lake Christian Camps in King’s Canyon between the Sequoia and Sierra National Forest of central California. Go north to Fresno from Southern California and turn right. This is where for the first time I clearly heard that I was a sinner who needed to repent and follow Christ instead of myself. God called me at this camp and He helped me to respond to that calling.

Thank you to Joyce for asking the questions and thank you for taking the time to read the answers.

Do You Measure Up?

We thought we had measured the inside of our closet well before I headed to Ikea to buy some new storage pieces for our T.V. and a 2nd closet in the guest room.

before and afters 001

The T.V. stand is working perfectly and just how we planned. The storage units for the closet were another matter. I picked up this large square piece and another section that was narrower and taller to put on one end.

more after 015

Seems our measurements were 3/4 of an inch off. I knew my handy dandy Dear would figure something out or we’d just stick the tall unit in the basement. The figuring someway to squeeze it in was the more favorable option because I wanted to maximize the storage in this closet. The solution was to take the support for the upper shelf completely out. See that white upper board at the end of the closet with the hole in it that was a hanger bar?  Of course that also meant we had to take the entire upper shelf out during the process, too. We still had to partially disassemble the tall unit to get it in and then to lift the unit while it was in it’s place to tighten the screws. Are you confused yet? Too bad I didn’t YouTube the process.

Ikea storage 002It’s quite the feeling of accomplishment when you can enjoy the fruits of your labor and know you conquered assemble yourself furniture! That is one snug fit let me tell you. Oh my aching back…

I’m also quite pleased that I have some empty cubbies to add things to in the future. Have you had fun projects go south on you?

My mom and pop are doing well being left alone at night. My mom has had some tough days with her heart feeling very heavy. When I talked to my pop this past week one day he told me my brother had made homilets for them for breakfast. On Tuesday he said my sister Kathy had made something Mexican for them with beans… saucekitos or something. My family loves to document what we call “Moisiisms”.

mom pei wei

My mother and father have never had lobster, scallops or shrimp so my brother Steve made lobster and scallops for them last week and my sister Lana made a shrimp dish for them to try on another evening. My mother really enjoyed the lobster and left the scallops for my brother to enjoy.  I forgot to ask how she liked the shrimp. I really can’t remember having much fish growing up. Maybe once when my pop went deep sea fishing and caught Yellowtail. I do remember camping at San Clemente Beach in California when the Grunion were running and catching some and running up to the campsite to cook them fresh. The Grunion running experience was a great one for me. “The grunion are running, the grunion are running, was chanted down the beach after waiting in the dark for them to appear. You could see little silvery fish emerge from the waves onto the beach and they would start digging into the sand to lay eggs. Wow this post has really gotten away from me.

Here’s a short explanation from Cabrillo Marine Aquarium, “Spend a night sitting on Southern California’s sandy shore waiting for the “grunion run.” Grunion are small sardine-size fish of the silversides family, which are among the few species of fish that actually come ashore to lay their eggs on sandy beaches. They are found from Southern California south to Baja California and arrive at night after the high tide around the new moon and full moon. Cabrillo Beach is one of the better places to observe the fish.”

So you see if you don’t measure properly you will find your mind being random and scattered and full of fond memories of carefree days…

Here’s that Yellowtail I mentioned earlier. This was taken in our backyard in Montebello Gardens (Pico Rivera). That’s me and my brother Tim watching my pop clean the fish.

028_28-001Hope you have a perfectly random day!