Random Shots of Our Life

This is just a typical day here.  Yes, it's paradise. 

                 Go ahead, be jealous.

This is my brother Steve.  He's also my boss.  Funny, he's actually a really nice guy.  Who knew?  Should have paid more attention when I was younger.  You can see what he and I do by going to

http://www.achievingindependence.com/

My husband on a bus with a bunch of crazy people

He says that's life now.....buses and crazy people 

Isn't he handsome?  He's the coolest thing since...well...EVER!

      Me and my computer.  It's my life.  I need

to go to a recovery program for computers additction.

        I think my hand is propped under my

    chin in hopes that it makes me look thinner!!!

                 LOL - true confessions!

And we end where we started.  This is a video off the back porch of our house.

Again - jealousy has it's place!

My heros

What is a hero? What action does one take to become a hero? Who are these heroes that you hear everyone talk about, but never see? The word hero is passed around too much these days. A hero is not a football player that scores the game-winning touchdown or the goaltender who saves his team from a loss. A hero is usually an ordinary person that did extraordinary things. A true hero is really never a hero at all; at least not in their own mind." -- Al Green, Biocritics Culture

Who are my heros?

 

Why?  Because they were willing to try.  Many have been noble, but not all.  Some have made tough choices and wondered if they'd ever survive.  Still others have dealt with disabilities beyond most peoples comprehension.  Some have complained bitterly while others never uttered a cross word - but each one has faced adversity, worked to learn life's lessons and continued to hope.  Most of them are amazing examples of God's love and true integrity.  

If you're not pictured here, don't be jealous or hurt.  The label of hero has been tossed around a lot in this world.  It shouldn't be awarded lightly.  Be thankful you haven't needed to draw upon the level of courage required and find comfort in the knowledge that you too could be a hero, if called upon.

And all because of the ultimate hero.  How grateful I am.

Rub a Dub Dub, Nina in the Tub

So, I have nothing exciting to say, so I decided to reach wayyyyyy back into my cobwebbed mind and talk about.....

BATHTUBS!

You see, bathtubs and I have a love/hate relationship.  I was actually deathly afraid of bathtubs as a kid.  You can blame my evil brothers - Steve and Ken.  It's all their fault.  They learned this song called "Gladys, Where Are You Going?

Gladys, where are you going?

Upstairs to take a bath.
Gladys, with legs like toothpicks
And a neck like a giraffe..affe...affe...affe...affe...affe...affe...affe
Gladys stepped in the bathtub.
Pulled out the plug

Oh my goodness, (la la la - can't remember)

There goes Gladya down the drain...

Glub, Glub, Glub!

Well, the stinkers convinced me that I would go down the drain too.  I can still vividly remember a dream where we moved to a two story brick house and I went to take a bath and - zip! - down the drain I went.  I ended up in a bathtub in the basement of the house.  In my dream I look out of the little air window that houses in California had to keep things ventilated - you know, little rectangles covered in screen material - and saw the mailman.  I had to call out to him to come and save me.  He (again - this is a dream folks) comes over, pulls out his pocket knife and cut the screen away so I could escape.  Mind you, the hole is only 5 inches by 10 inches....so it makes no sense - but HEY, I already fit down a bathtub drain so what are you arguing with me for?  Anyway, in my dream I hop out the hole and run back upstairs to finish my bath where (and I know you see this coming, don't you?) ZIP!  It starts all over again.

The final nail in the coffin was a skit on the Jackie Gleason show.  There is Art Carney scrubbing away in a bubble bath.  He pulls the bath tub plug (one of those rubber ones on a longggggg chain.)  All of a sudden he gets this horrified look on his face.  The next thing you know, he's gone and they cut to a shot of the drain with his hand sticking up waving for help.  GEEESSSHHHHH!

Needless to say, I refused to get in the tub unless my sister PROMISED not to pull the plug.  Meanwhile, there are my brothers, singing that stupid song on the other side of the door howling and making fun of me.  

I told Mom on them.  But they wouldn't stop.  Scarred for life, let me tell ya!

How old was I now?  I had to have been 5 or so.

Anyway, I got over that one eventually because my dad insisted.

Dad worked like a madman.  He would hold two to three jobs down to feed the brood.  One weekend job was as a Fuller Brush Man.  I remember once using a sample packet of some of their shampoo.  I SWEAR that I went into the bath with short hair and miraculously came out with long hair.  Honest!!!!  I thought that Fuller Brush stuff was just miraculous!  My dad just thought I was crazy.

Another bathtub memory - my parents loved to hold parties.  These were not kid parties.  We had to go to bed.  Meanwhile, Mom, Dad and the revelers would be hoopin and hollering and having a GRAND time!  They had this real big blowout one New Years Eve.  I woke up in the morning (early, we kids always woke up around 6:00 a.m.) and the bathtub was overflowing with balloons.  I had never seen so many balloons.  Man, I was convinced that my parents must be the best party givers in the world if they had balloons in the bathtub! 

Last memory, which should have been the first, since its the earliest....but I'm only a baby here, so it doesn't count.  This famous picture hung in our house forever!  My parents made each of us kids a poster size of this when we grew up.  Had the strangest smell of vinegar.  Weirdest thing - totally faded out within a couple of years.

This would be around 1958.  I'm the cutest one, and the one least likely to be embarrassed about posting this since I'm just a little tyke.

And that's it on the bathtub memories!

Amber's visit to the past

We have our granddaughter, Amber here for a couple of weeks. We're having a blast.


The daisies and poppies are in bloom








Today we went to a civil war re-enactment








Amber was thrilled by meeting an honored and distinguished dignitary who granted his permission for a picture.





Amber wants me to point out in this last picture that she is NOT wearing a stove pipe hat...that is a window behind her head. Funny illusion though, is it not?



She was really excited that Grandma and Grandpa bought a period dress for her. Can't seem to get it the darn thing off of her. She was pleased that we allowing her to wear it to church tomorrow too!

We have a new garden! Finally, the nasty, weedy dirt wall at the side of our driveway has been transformed into something wonderful.

My dearest husband did the work. I mostly pointed. We both got plenty muddy.

And this is what we ended up with.

That's a Golden Chain on the top right and a Chinese Maple top left. The top row also includes a hydrangea and two flowering bushes.

The bottom is a vegetable garden with beans, corn, cucumbers, pumpkins, zucchini and patty pan squash. Yum, yum!

Found this cartoon - it's so cute, don't you think?

This cartoon is for my Gareth.

I've been doing missionary work - real - crack the book open and preach the Word of God - missionary work - for the first time. I'm not the type of gal who would even consider stuffing anything down anyone's throat (well, more than that I AM the type of girl to be just a big fat chicken), but Christ loved His fellow man and trusted in Heavenly Father so much that he was willing to talk to them about goodness and truth and love and did it knowing it would cost him his very life.....well, so who am I to complain, eh? I might shake in my knees and turn bright red, but I really do so want to share the most important thing in my life BECAUSE there is such a power and intelligence and truth that the Gospel brings that people just shouldn't miss. I LOVE the Gospel. I LOVE feeling the truth and seeing how it all fits together.

PHENOMENAL COSMIC POWER!!!!!! Itty Bitty brain to try to figure it all out in (that would be mine..ladies and gentlemen.) Looking at the vast expanse of stars at night and knowing that they are trillions of miles away hurts my head. But even my pea brain can recognize truth and light - probably the most amazing miracle of all (holy smokes!)

It's frustrating to try to explain it to other people (so why - OH WHY - am I trying to explain it here????) Probably because it's so easy to share my innermost thoughts to a computer screen.

So with all that - what I'm trying to say is that I have had some AMAZING experiences. Miracles even. It's soooooooooo cool! It's so - humbling. It's....it's.... tres chic!

“…Let the spirit of this gospel be so embedded in my soul that though I go through poverty, through tribulation, through persecution, or to death, let me and my house serve God and keep his laws.”

Teachings of Presidents of the Church: Joseph F. Smith, 416

Best Mother's Day Card EVER!

No explanation needed!