Happy Autumn! 9-24

Ten days since I last checked in…I don’t know where the time is flying to!

Happy Autumn! It is my favorite time of the year, I love the feel in the air the most and the slant of the sun and of course the colors, but it is too early for those yet. Our sun sinks behind our horizon at 6:30 now.

We had a great visit with Lori. We went to Minden one day to Mike and Pats place; Don and Linda drug themselves out of the casinos to have dinner with us too and visit! It was good to see everyone, just sorry that Pat was feeling so poorly…her treatments for her back the day before were causing her a lot of pain.

The day after that Lori and I did some shopping and I gave her a massage and then she baked us some of her wonderful chocolate chip cookies. She left the next day for Cousin Mike’s…he took her to her very first ever hockey game and she had a blast and is now a fan! The next day was her high school reunion, which she said she enjoyed a lot and then on Sunday she was able to see Aunt Gretchen, Uncle Dan, Darcy and Debbie and Deb’s husband Eric….it was the first time in over 20 years that she has seen any of them…so that was nice. She has the itch and I suspect that in the next few years she might be back “home”.

Larry and I have been busy with projects. Today I finished painting these cylinders that were left here by our tenant. They are concrete, about a foot tall and really heavy….I was going to mosaic them but decided to just spray paint them and put inspiring words on them. I used oiled bronze for the base which looks black and then hand lettered the words on with acrylic paint and then Larry clear coated them for me. There are five of them and we have 5 juniper trees so we placed one in front of each tree…it looks cool.

The weather has been great still, the nights got a bit cool for a few days, but it is still getting in to the low 90’s most days and bright blue cloudless sunny skies…tee hee….that was for Lori…she is back in gray, gloomy Ohio!

My sister is visiting 9-14

Sorry again, been busy with my sister Lori who is visiting from Ohio. We've taken walks in the morning, eating, drinking, visiting, eating, visiting and she baked us a great apple pie this evening. The weather has been cooler which has made it really pleasant. Wow, two weeks gone from September already!

My man is back home 9-8

Sorry about that, I just realized that I forgot to check in on Monday the 6th and tell everyone that Larry got home safe and sound around 3 in the afternoon. He stopped in Pine Grove and suprised my cousins with a visit...we have never been to their new place there yet. After he got back on the road he was glad he had stopped because the road further up had been closed for quite awhile and he would have had to cool his heels on the highway.

Since he's been back he had just been getting stuff unloaded and working on stuff in the trailer. I've been doing a lot of nothing. It has heated up here again today and for the next few days and then back into the 80's...so they say and I hope "they" are right because that is where I like the temps to be.

So that's it, can't think of anything else new...Have a Great Weekend!

Stirring the Stuffing 9-6

I don’t know what comes over me sometimes, there will be something that needs doing and I wait until I don’t feel like doing anything to take care of it. I was feeling kinda weird today, probably because of my workout yesterday…tired, no gumption for any of my projects…so what do I keep looking at…the saggy back cushions on our sofa and love seat.

I remember the furniture tech telling us to unzip the backs, take a wooden spoon and stick it in there and stir it around in the fiber stuff to bring them back to life. I have been thinking I needed to do it for the past couple of weeks and so today that is what I ended up doing. I wrestled the bottom seat cushions off one at a time, unzipped, stirred and jabbed around in the seat backs, re-zipped and then muscled the seat bottom back in place. I did that five times and had it all back together when I decided I needed to rotate the bottom cushions…could I have thought of that in the beginning…NO, so I pulled off the seat bottoms, moved them all over one place and got them shoved back into place. I was hot and sweaty when I was done so I ended up on the back patio enjoying the cooling breeze and watching our flowers dance around.

Earlier in the day I had gone to Walmart to pick up some stuff, I dusted and then lazed around reading a good book. I talked to Larry awhile in the afternoon, (he is being released today and will be home tomorrow…woo hoo), answered a few emails, and there you have it ….another exciting day in the life of Val.

Gratitude 9-4-09

Let us rise up and be thankful,
For if we didn’t learn a lot today, at least we learned a little;
And if we didn’t learn a little, at least we didn’t get sick;
And if we got sick, at least we didn’t die;
So, let us ALL be thankful.
---The Buddha

This is the first time I have ever seen this quote and I LOVE it. It got me thinking…we have heard a lot lately about the power of Attitude and Gratitude, but we have all had days, weeks or years when we haven’t been able to get our heads around how to do it and those five lines teach us how to be thankful and grateful.

I learned from my Grandmother at an early age that everything happens for a reason, that good comes out of even the so called BAD stuff and it is up to us to get on with it. A lot of people like the saying “shit happens”, but it really should read “LIFE happens” ; because that is what it is; life. The one thing constant in this world and our lives is CHANGE….there is no stopping change.

Even in the most stagnate looking of homes…the same decorations, Mom/Dad still in the same chair etc., something has changed. There is change happening every day, we just may not see it. The sun fades the fabrics, dust collects, dust is removed and in that removal the things get moved and replaced, there is NO stopping Change. Even mountains and rocks change, just at a pace we may not see.

So as much as we may not want something to change…it is going to!!!

I am thankful today for the little book that I read this quote in today, “Learning to Dance in the Rain”.
I am thankful that I could see the words,
I am thankful for the glasses on my face,
I am thankful for my hands that could turn the pages,
I am thankful for the table I was sitting at under the roof that I was under,
I am thankful for the peaceful community that my roof is a part of,
I am thankful for the food I was eating while reading the little book,
I am thankful for the sunshine on my back and for the gentle breeze blowing through the door,
I am thankful for this computer and technology that lets me share my thoughts with others,
I am thankful for all my friends…known and unknown…,
I am thankful for my family,
I am thankful for my good health,
I am thankful that I awoke today…here, now,
Today is BEAUTIFUL!

Now it is your turn…

Valerie Moniz 9-4-09

Thirty-two Years! 9-3

Our thirty second anniversary of marriage is today! Larry sent me these gorgeous flowers...my man is special!
Larry is thinking he might be home in the next few days...
Enjoy the pics...we look like such babies....I had just turned 18 and Larry was 2 months shy of 20 and we had been going steady for three years....ahhh.....seems like only yesterday!

Larry's Dad, Edgar passed away in 1987 he was 49. My Mom, Adah passed away in 1990 the day after her 53rd birthday and my Dad, Tom (step-dad) passed away in 1996, he was 66.

Busy week 9-02

I guess I’ve been busy this past week….laugh…no blog post.

Larry is still outside of Yosemite and he doesn’t know how long he’ll be there of course, as they haven’t gotten a handle on the situation yet it will probably be another week or so. Though today nary a rotor turned from the base Larry is at…there is another one in the park, (base that is) so maybe he will be released sooner than expected….you just never know with this stuff and whatever happens…happens.

On Saturday I drove down to Minden to see my Corral Cousins, Mike & Pat…Stephanie was there with her two kids, Anthony and Mara. They were napping most of the afternoon after I got there, we all had a nice visit and then we had a wonderful dinner and then they kicked me out the door!!! Laugh…they’ll get what I mean.

I’ve just been puttering around here doing my usual stuff…chores, cooking, eating, reading, crocheting, computering and doing an art project here and there. I’ve gotten on Facebook so sometimes I get stuck on the computer longer than I had planned…it is kind of addicting. I’m on the phone to Larry for quite awhile every day getting caught up and that is about it.

It has been in the low 90’s every day, some days with clouds, some not and the nights get down into the 50’s…very nice. People expect because it is high desert over here to be scorching hot, but it is way hotter in California’s valleys and foothills than here…thank goodness. I have adapted to the 90’s, but I’m not out in it much…at least I don’t feel like melting into a puddle as soon as I walk out the door and it is really dry here which makes the heat easier to take. Larry loves the heat…I like it in the medium range.

Andrea tripped in a hole in someone’s lawn yesterday and fell…baby is fine, but she tore a ligament in her ankle and gets to wear one of those large, black Darth Vader looking booties for 4 weeks. I can’t imagine it…their bathrooms are upstairs…bad enough for Will after he hurt his knee and had surgery, but he isn’t preggers…I’d be investing in a porta potty for the garage…laugh!!!
These pictures were taken at Pat and Mike's...the first picture is "Oma" reading to her grandchildren, Anthony and Mara....the second is Stephanie setting up the food and the last two are cute...Mara was having a high old time eating the whipped topping off of her jello, until Papa cut up her jello thinking he was helping her...she was not happy about the change in her jello....funny for us, devastating for her...she got over it pretty quickly though!

Happy 29th Birthday Andrea!

What a cutie!