Simply Saturday

Don't you enjoy Saturday? I work Monday through Friday, have assorted things going on a couple of evenings a week and go to Church on Sunday. But Saturday? It's a day with flexible options. You just never know where you might end up.

This Saturday was a typical one for me. FBG had to work most of the day (poor guy), so I was footloose most of the day to choose what I wanted  to do. Most Saturdays are like that. Free and easy.

Early morning brought laundry, coffee, and surfing the net, while half-watching cooking shows on the Food Network. Then it was off to the farmer's market to get some veggies. There is a booth I especially like, the oriental organic farmer guy one. He has exotic looking things to buy and I like to ask how to cook these alien vegetables. He always has the best advice- "stir fry", no matter what I ask him about. I think I could show him ice cream and he would say "stir fry". I ended up buying some heirloom tomatoes. No, I didn't ask him how to cook them. :)

yum!

It's a small farmer's market but I like it. After that, it was off to Target to buy "Target-y" stuff.

Back home, I had a quick visit from my son and 2 of my grand kids (always wonderful!) and then out to lunch with my mom at Applebees.

Later on FBG got home and I worked on school stuff fooled around playing trivia and watched more cooking shows. I especially like Jacques Pepin on PBS.



 (Photo Credit: Cristiana Ceppas)

pbs.org


I wish he would come over and cook some french food for me! But since Jacques didn't show up, I used my farmer's market tomatoes and made homemade pizza for dinner. A quiet dinner and evening with my guy...and *poof* Saturday was gone.

It was a nice, simple Saturday. Just the kind I love. I hope yours was a good one too.


Hey!...I just thought of sharing this book that I have enjoyed reading this summer...and no one paid me to feauture it! It's an easy read and has great practical and spiritual suggestions for all. It's one of those you can read again and again.

                                                             vnesdoly.blogspot.com

~ Lynda ~
 

Deep Thoughts-Olympic Style

I love the Olympics. Winter and Summer. FBG unfortunately doesn't share my same enthusiasm. This can cause a little issue during TV time. In our house, he usually controls the remote for the TV and I get to control the radio stations in the car. It is a perfect arrangement . While he surfs the channels looking for something with cowboys in it, I surf the web looking at Pintrest and FB. In the car, while I change the radio channels in search of  my favorite country song, he...um...looks out the window. However, during the Olympics, he still controls the remote, but I change the channel every time he leaves the room. He comes back and watches skeet shooting, or water polo or whatever I have changed to. He watches patiently and never complains. I appreciate that about him. Of course, if I get up, he changes to Gunsmoke or Bonanza or anything with a guy and a horse...and I (being a nice wife *ahem*) don't complain and go back to surfing the web. That is, until, he leaves the room and then... well, you see how it goes!

When I do grab the remote and watch the games, I often have odd thoughts and questions. Since this is my blog, I will share them with you, in no particular order.

I thought about the Hunger Games during the opening ceremonies. (That status update caused some good discussion on my FB page!)
I would really like to go sculling.
Does anyone else hide their eyes at times while watching gymnastics?
I rather liked Mr. Bean's part in the opening ceremonies.
Can you imagine how much food water polo players get to eat?
Why are the male beach volley ball players so covered up and female ones so...exposed? ( I do know the answer to that one actually)
Why Ryan Seacrest?
How many commercials can Morgan Freeman narrate?
Does every commercial need to try to make us cry?
Do any of you know an actually Olympic athlete?
Ryan Seacrest?
Is Michael Phelps a nice guy or a jerk?
Is that a bad thing to wonder?

Now, I am curious if any of you are watching the Olympics. If you are, are there any random thoughts or questions rolling around in your head? Please share them in the comments! Don't be shy!


Lastly, do you know this lady?


(AP Photo)

She is Kim Rhode and she has won more gold medals than anyone in the Olympics ever~in skeet shooting!
Here is a link to her story- it is inspiring and worth the read.
http://goo.gl/WnZts

Cheers to Kim and to all the athletes at the games!

(Don't forget to chime in with your thoughts!)

Old Friends and Loud Music

A week ago Saturday, FBG and I made our way to the Sagebrush Cantina for my 40^th reunion. It was a beautiful summer evening and I was looking forward to seeing friends and acquaintances and sharing memories.

As we walked to the entrance, all of the sudden I had a mini panic attack. I felt like I was 17 and walking into the dance, feeling insecure and awkward. I told FBG I wanted to go home. He laughed and said, “Come on” and in we went.

Reunions are such odd things. People who you shared so much with so many years ago surround you. They look familiar and yet different. It is almost surreal!

Everyone was friendly, talkative and fun to be with. It was a hoot to see everyone looking so carefully at each other’s tags to see who was who. Laughter and screams of recognition filled the air as folks found old friends they had been looking for.  Little groups formed as people got reacquainted.We grumbled because the 60’s/70’s music they were playing was so loud it was hard to hear each other. Then we laughed at the irony of it, since we used to play that exact music so loudly that many of us have hearing loss! We danced, talked and ate tacos under the moon. A great time was had by all.

And then *poof* the evening was over and we all went our separate ways. Back to our regular lives, with the people we know and love now. There were lots of promises made to keep in touch and not let so many years go by before meeting up again. Such are the promises of reunions. I was glad I went and that FBG made me go in and not chicken out.

And since some of you might be wondering-there was not a bottle of Boones Farm wine in sight. Too bad. J

Old friends, old friends sat on their park bench like bookends

A newspaper blowin' through the grass

Falls on the round toes of the high shoes of the old friends

Old friends, winter companions, the old men

Lost in their overcoats, waiting for the sun

The sounds of the city sifting through trees

Settles like dust on the shoulders of the old friends

Can you imagine us years from today, sharing a park bench quietly

How terribly strange to be seventy

Old friends, memory brushes the same years, silently sharing the same fears

~Simon and Garfunkel

A Long Time Ago...

A long time ago, I wasn’t a wife, mom, gramma, grown up teacher lady.

A long time ago, I was 15, 16, then 17 years old and in high school and I did things that girls that age did back then.

I went to school and did my homework

Played my albums and went to dances

Read “Tiger Beat” and put pictures of music groups on my wall

Babysat (a lot)

Slept over at my friend’s house, talked all night and made prank phone calls

Went to Zuma Beach on the beach bus all summer

Talked on the phone to my friends (a lot)

Learned to drive

Wore “work shirts”, jeans, bandanas, and hiking boots

Tp’ed houses

Went to the movies and Bob’s Big Boy

Learned to play my guitar

Went to football games and was on drill team

Went to parties, kissed boys and drank Boones Farm Apple Wine

and a million others things that made me the grown up lady I am today.

Why am I telling you this?

Well this Saturday, FBG and I are going to my *ahem* 40^th High School Reunion.

40 th!

And guess what- I am excited (and a little nervous) to see all those people from so long ago. I know it will be fun!

I am also wondering if anyone will sneak in a bottle of Boone’s Farm…

Stay tuned!

Cut and Slice

Last week, holding my $40 Kohl’s gift card, I spied one of these babies for $39.99 and I just had to get it.

 

Isn’t it cute? I love red and I thought it might help me to cook gourmet, healthy,  halfway edible meals for FBG.  I couldn’t wait to use it. On Thursday, I made zucchini meatballs, light and yummy for meatball subs, using a new recipe from Pintrest. My little chopper shredded the zucchini and onions like a dream and dinner turned out just how I planned. My little chopper was easy to use and wash and I left it to dry in the drainer. I was so happy!

On Friday afternoon, I finally got around to putting away my new gadget.  As I carried it over to the shelf, the bowl slipped out of my hands… and guess what?  The little red chopper slices feet, as well as veggies!  The blade hit my foot, and I ended up with a beaut of a cut right between my little toe and the toe next to it. (Do you call that the “ring toe”?). O U C H! 

Luckily FBG was due home in a few minutes. He unwrapped the towel , and after assessing the situation, declared that since it was in such an odd area,  stitches were probably out of the question. He bandaged me up and gave me the appropriate sympathy. So, now I am a gimp, with a bum foot for a few days. Oh well, no pedicure this week!



Didn't he do a good job?
(I hope this isn't too gross...)

When things like this happen in my life, I try to think, “What is God teaching me in this?” I thought of the cute red chopper, and how this little machine, which didn’t seem too dangerous, caused me a lot of pain. And it came to me. Little sins can be like the mini chopper. They don’t look too dangerous, and yet these little sins can cause a lot of pain. I hope I can remember this lesson daily!

Song of Songs 2:15
Catch for us the foxes, the little foxes that ruin the vineyards, our vineyards that are in bloom.

Add a Little Music to your Life

Last Saturday, my FBG and I, along with 18,000 middle aged surfer boys and California Girls, made our way to the Hollywood Bowl to enjoy a night of nostalgia listening to the Beach Boys. We sang and danced to car songs, school songs, songs about girls, and songs about the beach. Good vibrations abounded. (Did you like how I worked two Beach Boys song titles into this paragraph?) A fine time was had by all. How can a night of music and memories under the stars be anything but wonderful?

My standard bad phone picture

I don’t know about you, but music has always been a big part of my life. I remember listening to 1950’s music on a big stereo console that my parents had when I was a little girl. They played everyone from Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Andy Williams, to Ray Charles and Harry Belafonte as well as Broadway show tunes. I knew all the words and sang along, but that was their music.

Then, when I was around 8 years old, I had to be in the hospital for a few nights for some tests. I was crying the first night because I was scared. There was an older girl in the bed next to me and she told me if I was quiet she would turn on the radio. She clicked it on and all of the sudden I heard a kind of music my parents didn’t play. The station was KFWB and the music was early 60’s rock and roll. And I loved it! Back home, I somehow ended up with a radio in my bedroom, and it was always on when I was in there with my music. It looked something like this:

http://www.loti.com/radio/md-images/DSCF0019.JPG

Over the years, my taste in music has changed. I no longer listen to the Beatles, Monkees, Supremes, or Paul Revere and The Raiders on AM radio, but music still plays in the background of my life. These days my taste in music runs to country, with a bit of classic rock, and on Sundays, I love to sing praise songs and old hymns. To me, music means memories.

And this brings me back to the Beach Boys. I have a special place in my heart for them. They weren’t my favorite group, but they were (and still are) my FBG’s all time favorite group. Their songs have been part of our married memories for so many years. He has played them on vinyl records, cassettes, cds, and now on his Ipod. I always smile when I hear him singing “don’t worry baby” in the garage when he doesn’t know I can hear him. Sweet.

So, I wish I could personally thank the Beach Boys for all the happiness they have given my hubby and me.  I guess the Hollywood Bowl concert will be the closest I will ever get to them. But you know what? That was pretty darn good.

“Funny how a melody sounds like a memory,
Like a soundtrack to a July Saturday night”

~Eric Church “Springsteen”

180 Days



http://www.redhotbully.com/PICTURES/free%20balloons.jpg

180 days ago, 30 small children waited nervously on the ramp in front of room 23 at my little school in the desert.  180 days of school was going to happen in their lives and mine. And it did. 180 “good mornings”, 180 days of math, grammar, reading, history, and science lessons. Worksheets, tests, books, workbooks and learning filled our days.  Computer Lab, library and PE days came and went. Windy days, rainy days, sunny days came and went. Tears, laughter, frustration, and “a-ha” moments came and went.  Learning happened…and it was sweet.

 In that 180 days, the little class of 30 kids and I became a class-family. We began to know “about” each other. We felt each other’s successes and failures. We learned who struggled and who is the “smart kid”, who cried easily and who was the best dancer, who never had a pencil and who always wanted to go to the bathroom as a lesson started. Each year it is a weird, unique, wonderful world that goes on after the door closes each morning.

In my 180 days, I learned so much too. I learned how to help a child manage his diabetes and glucose testing. I had to learn to be brave when I discovered a child had been abused and I had to call CPS. I had to learn to leave it in God’s hand when another child was taken suddenly and put in foster care. I had to learn how to help the little one with “anger issues” start to change and see she is a good person. Every year I know I will learn so much that has nothing to do with academics and everything to do with life.

So, last Thursday, after 180 days, I said "good-bye" to my class-family. Good-bye to all my happy, sweet, funny children and I sent them onto to 4th grade...and I cried. And then, after summer, it will start all over again. Lucky me!

“Good-bye!” they called. Good-bye, good-bye!”

At last one little spider took time enough to stop and talk to Wilbur before making its balloon.

“We’re leaving here on a warm updraft. This is our moment for setting forth. We are aeronauts and we are going out in the world to make webs for ourselves.”

“But, where?” asked Wilbur.

“Wherever the wind takes us. High, low. Near, far. East, west. North, south. We take to the breeze, we go where we please.”

-Charlotte’s Web - E.B. White

Sugar, Sugar

We are redoing our kitchen. We. As in FBG and me. As in, we have been married almost 39 years and have never done anything like this together before. As in, everything is harder to do than it looks on HGTV (big surprise!). We have picked out paint, tile, appliances, sinks, countertops, and light fixtures and been to Lowe's so many times, I feel like we should invite all the nice employees over for dinner. We are about 80% done, and I am so glad to see the end in sight.

There is something however, that was up to me to do alone.

Find a sugar bowl.

Yes, last week I was on a quest for the perfect sugar bowl for my new kitchen. I went to TJ Max, Macy's, Pier 1, Bed,Bath and Beyond, and like the Holy Grail, the perfect one eluded me. I was willing to pay big bucks for the perfect bowl. I wanted something kinda funky, white, and different. I didn't have any luck, until I went to my favorite French store. You know the one I mean-"Tarjay"- and guess what! I found it!  Why, oh why, didn't I go there first? It isn't white, and not too different, but when I saw it, I knew it was the one for me.

Here it is:

 

You can have one too- for $1.99

SCORE!

Hobbits and Bacon

Are there hobbits behind here?

When you live in the desert, there are mornings that are just beautiful. Sunny, warm and begging for a bike ride. So after a cuppa joe (well, maybe it was two), I threw on my yoga pants and tee and took off.
I love to ride around my neighborhood. It's quiet with lots of trees and and lots of level streets- easy on the old bod! I especially love to ride in the morning...I can smell bacon, pancakes and coffee as I ride past homes and it all feels so homey.
On one street, there is a house with 2 of these cute gates. You can't tell looking at the picture but this gate is about 4 feet tall. It makes me think of hobbits, and I wish I could go through it and play in the backyard, like a little girl. But, I am a grown up lady, so I just snapped a quick, furtive pic and rode on.
Just wondering though - think the gate would fit in my bicycle basket?

Just a Tuesday

Five years ago, my BG (big guy) had major surgery- an aortic valve replacement to be exact. It was a traumatic time to say the least, including the "frantic, screaming wife" 911 call. Recovery was long and painful for him, but time passes and it became a memory. Over the last years, he has undergone many changes- physical (losing lots of poundage) and spiritual (walking closer to the Lord he loves). But, and there usually is a "but", about 2 months ago, he started having some shortness of breath and a tiny bit of chest pain...*sigh*

Today, he had a nuclear stress test- and no, we haven't heard anything and it went fine...but to be honest, it freaked me out. I sat waiting in that little beige room, surrounded by sick old men...and it freaked me out. We had a nice afternoon, but I couldn't quit asking him if he was ok...so tonight I read one my favorite verses...and if you know me, you know what it is..and I gladly share it with you.


Isaiah 41:10
New American Standard Bible (NASB)
10 ‘Do not fear, for I am with you;
Do not anxiously look about you, for I am your God.
I will strengthen you, surely I will help you,
Surely I will uphold you with My righteous right hand.


If you are freaked out, scared or wondering how you will survive...just take comfort that He knows...and will hold you in His hands.

blessings,
critchie