Scorching the World

Day 1: Cleaned the kitchen-about 2 hours Cleaned the livingroom - about 1/2 hour Did laundry, several loads Cleaned the office a little-1/2 hour Cleaned familyroom a tiny bid-about 15 minutes Straightened guest room and guest room closet-5 minutes. Cleaned toy closet-about 45 minutes. It was such a disaster. There are way too many toys and kids love to get them out but don't love so much putting them back where they were before. I had even put pictures of each toy on shelves to help them know where to put them, but they always threw everything on the floor and shut the door. So I hid a bunch of toys and only left a few out for kids. If they want anything else they have to ask for it. They probably won't. After a few months, I'll rotate in the things I hid and hide others. Fun finds: While I cleaned I found lots of pretty pictures that children drew in the office. I love the drawings of budding artists. I found every door handle in the back foyer area taped up very securely...

I love Christmas. As early as September every year I start buying and wrapping the gifts. I try to be organized and prepared and get as much as I can done before Christmas. That way by December 10th or so I can just have fun. This year I had more fun than average. Thanks to one special daughter, Tom and I were able to fly to Utah with Trina and 3 of hers to visit M&B and family. We had so much fun there. I love Logan and love being with my family there. We had such good food and were treated so good I really hated to leave. I always cry when we leave. But there was so much fun still ahead I couldn't cry very long. We came home and I had about 1 1/2 days to shop and cook and clean to prepare for family coming to my house. On Tuesday Tom brought Christian home with him from the Bay Area so we got to have some fun with him for one day before the rest of T&C's family got here on Wednesday. We played and had fun and I had prepared tons of food. Tami and kids surprised us on ...

Everybody, meaning each and every one of you wishes you could be in my Ward. This past Sunday Tom got released from being Bishop after serving for 7 yrs, 9 mo. He was ready for a rest, but it is hard to give up all the attention and love. The Spanish Ward (Madera 3rd) is a ward that anyone in Madera who wants to can belong to. According to the boundaries, we would be in Madera 2nd Ward, and that is where we went until he was called. Now that he's released, we are sort of expected to go back to our own ward, but how can we? We love these people. We have callings that are pretty important. Well, nobody is really important, but I'm the only organist in the Ward. Don't know what T will be doing, but the members really want us to stay, and we can't imagine leaving them, so we are staying in this ward. Granted, it would be nice to be in an English-speaking ward when our kids visit, but they don't come to Church with us all that often anyway. ANYWAY , the members have alwa...

Now that we are dog people (hahahaha - bet you never thought I'd say that!) I've struggled with what to feed the poor skinny little pup. She came with some dry dog food, and someone else gave us some more dry dog food, and we already had some dry dog food from the other dog we almost had. But she didn't seem to like it so much. Then I found out that you should mix a little warm water with it so it has some gravy and isn't so hard and gaggy dry. But she didn't seem to like it at all. The previous owner had said that was what she ate, but she sure wasn't eating it at our house. I also wasn't sure how much to give her. So soon after we got her, I bought some varieties of flavors of canned dog food to mix with the dry. It just seemed better to me. But she still didn't seem to like it much. Then I researched chihuahuas and it said beef is too heavy for them; they should have chicken and rice instead. She never seemed too happy about her food. I would put in a...

1. Making birdnests out of chow mein noodles coated in chocolate with jordan almonds in them with Draven. 2. Mila saying, "I laugh with gusto!" 3. Seeing Trina act as Relief Society president

I was poked to begin a movement to be aware of and post "snapshot moments": times when if our brain had a camera we would want to keep a picture of that one. So here are a few of mine from this week. You're supposed to do it every day, but I haven't been that aware. 1. Watching Cai's water polo game in the pouring rain. It really was incredible. 2. Seeing the rain on the windshield from the back seat as Tanya drove from the game. As the huge drops hit the windshield, they reflected the streetlights and sparkled like glitter. 3. The sandy dirt across the street when I was out walking - in the sun it also sparkled like it had gold flakes in it. 4. Dare I say Tom in the shower?

Whenever I connect the computer, printer, & monitor, or when I connect the tv, vcr, dvr, and stereo I am very careful to hook up the wires so that they are clean and neat and orderly. They are not tangled at all. Later when I need to check or change the wiring, I find something like this: I really believe wires have a secret life and when they are left alone behind all the components they kinda go wild! How else could this kind of thing be explained?

Tom and I have had a lot of pets over the years. We've had quite a few birds - parakeets, cockatiels and one cockatu. We've had cats a few times. When the kids were little, there were mice and hamsters, lizards, and even a couple of snakes. But I've always never wanted a dog. All my life, from my earliest recollections I remember not wanting a dog; I do not like them to touch me with a wet nose, and I do not want them to lick me. I really hate that. I don't really care for their smell. Some dogs are obviously nicer than others, and some are actually cute, but I've never wanted one of my own. We have tried to have dogs for the kids' sake a couple of times but it never worked out. And I hate going into houses where people have dogs and they expect you to love them as much as they do. Well, a couple of months ago Tom found a dog that someone was giving away, so now we're dog owners. And I have to admit that for a dog, she is pretty darn cute. I'm the one ...

How to process pistachios: 1. As most nuts, pistachios grow with a skin over the shells. This can be removed easily by rubbing the pistachios between your hands, then peeling it off. They must be peeled immediately after picking or they will go moldy. 2. Once they are all peeled, create a brine using 4 t salt and 1/2 C water. Simmer 8 cups pistachios in brine for 20 minutes, until all absorbed. 3. Put single layer of pistachios on a baking sheet and bake for 2-3 hours at 250, till shells open. DONE How to NOT process pistachios: 1. Bring hundreds of pistachios home at 9:30pm on a night when your spouse has a migraine and has to peel with her eyes closed and her head on a pillow. Her bruised palms from mowing the lawn make it impossible to rub them between her hands. Work on this till well after midnight. 2. The next day, create brine, but when brine all disappears within 5 minutes, clean salt residue off pan to try to save it. 3. Instead of baking hundreds of pistachios in oven which w...

New Earth by Ekhart Tolle I haven't finished this book yet, but I have to say how much I'm not enjoying it. The beginning was all about evolution and how we are how we are because of that. Then he got into the ego and what it is and how we need to not let it decide how we think and what we do. So I disagree with his basic premise; I guess because it comes from an agnostic point of view. But there are things that he says that are very true; I probably agree with 40% of the things that he says. So if I just focus on the things that I can agree on, then do I like to book? Surprisingly, I still don't. As I've listened to it, I've tried to analyze what I don't like about it. It is very painful for me to continue listening to it. If I were reading with my eyes instead of my ears, I would have thrown it across the room after the preface. So I decided after the 3rd chapter that I'm not enjoying it because it all comes from a negative point of view: this is what is w...

There are many things that drive me crazy about our ward. The meetings that ALWAYS start way late; all the people who have no idea how to fulfill their callings because they were never trained and didn't grow up in the Church to know how it should be done, and there is no one over them who can train them because they don't know either; the gospel doctrine teacher who sometimes teaches false doctrine; the last-minute planning for every event; no calendaring or scheduling or budgeting of events; the same ward events every single year; the 4 dances a hear that are all Mexican music while kids run all over the building; people eating in Church and during every meeting - food all over the building, kids running through the halls after Sacrament meeting with lollipops sticking out of their mouths; and I could go on and on. But we have at least 1 baptism almost every month, and most of the ward comes to all the baptisms. They are planned at the last minute and start 1/2 hour to 1 hou...

Tom and I decided to try to lower our expenses, so we perused our budget and found a few things we could do without, with just a little bit of inconvenience but not too much pain. We considered doing without TV, but we weren't sure we were that dedicated to lowering our expenses. So the first call was to AT&T. We wanted to eliminate our fax line. We figured we could handle the inconvenience of not being able to make a phone call while sending a fax - which really isn't very often. The incoming faxes might be a little more inconvenient, but not a big deal. So I called AT&T and told them, and they asked why, and I said, "we just want to lower our expenses a bit." So she asked if a $10 monthly credit on our bill would help. She said our account would be credited $10 for the life of the line. The line only costs $13, so I decided we could handle $3 for the convenience of having a dedicated fax line. If I hadn't asked to close that line, we would have continued...

Last night while getting ready for bed, Tom and I were chatting about nothing in particular and he said something about his ankles being wrinkled. I said, "you have wrinkled ankles?" And the more I said it the funnier it became. It sounds like a serious disease - wrinkle ankle syndrome. Imagine the nurse calling you into the office: "Would the gentleman with wrinkle ankle please come in." Imagine the TV advertising, "Do you suffer from wrinkle ankle? Try this wrinkle ankle cream." Or the nutritionists admonishing the foods that cure wrinkle ankle. Maybe it was funnier at midnight. So what is the correct way to make a bed? Is there a correct way to make a bed? Tom swears that the top sheet should have the pretty side facing down so when you fold it back, you see the pretty side. I always thought the pretty side should be up, so if you fold back the blanket, it doesn't look like your sheet is on upside down. I would take a cue from the hotels, but all th...

When my kids were little, I used to do a lot of canning. But I haven't done it for decades, so everything I'm trying to can almost seems like a new experience to me. Some things about canning are a lot easier, like the cool magnet on a stick for getting lids out of boiling water. Other things seem a lot harder because I'm older and lazy-er. This past week TRK's ward got a free truckload of tomatoes. I wanted enough tomatoes to do about 20 quarts, but wasn't sure if I was really up to the challenge. The biggest problem I see with canning is that it is always all or nothing. You can't just get a few of anything at a time. When the peaches are ripe, they are all ripe and need canned that week. When the grapes are ready - well, they are ready all summer. In this case, it was 4 large boxes of Roma tomatoes. They were pretty small, so peeling was the biggest chore. I started by myself about 8am so I could get a flow going and figure out the best way to do it. I did o...

I really thought I was eating healthy. I've focused for years on eating mostly fruits and vegetables. I'm not real crazy about meat, so there has been little in my diet. I do like fish, so I have that occasionally, and we hardly ever (meaning less than once a month) have anything with sugar or white flour. Imagine my surprise to be assigned to read a book about adrenal problems, only to find that I've been doing EVERYTHING wrong when it comes to what I eat. Come to find out I eat WAY too much fruit. People with adrenal fatigue should not have more than 1 fruit a day. I've been having more like 7-8 a day, because we grow the grapes and peaches. How can I not eat them? I always figured they're healthy, full of vitamins. Sure they have a lot of sugar, but it is natural sugar, so the body handles it ok. WRONG. People with adrenal fatigue should not eat bananas or raisins. I've eaten a banana every day for the last several years! And one of my favorite snacks is pean...

For a couple of years Trina has talked about getting a sofa bed or chair bed for Ravenna to use. She has sort of looked here and there, but not found the "perfect" one at the "perfect" price. The last time I was out visiting, Trina mentioned again that she would really like to find a sofa bed or chair bed. I agreed it would be nice. Then this week I was at Costco, and just happened to go glance at the furniture. I didn't have Trina in mind, but there was this nice leather chair with ottoman. I looked at it, and realized it said it was a chair bed! You could actually make it out into a bed! I got so excited I decided to take a picture. When I saw the label with the name of the chair, I was beside myself!!! The chair is actually called "RAVENNA"~!!!!! Course the price is a bit high, but who could possibly think this chair wasn't meant for Trina's firstborn!!!!

One thing I really loved to do when my children were babies was sew for them. I love making cute little dresses or shirts or vests. I've also enjoyed doing that for my grandchildren, but now I'm starting booties and diapers and blankets. The fabrics are so much more fun now! Alissa got me started. She is trying to buy cloth diapers at some kind of discount price because the ones she likes cost somewhere around $18 each! That just killed me, so she showed me some she bought. I told her I could surely make them for less, even if they weren't as fancy. I don't know how interested she actually is in my diapers, but I've sure had fun making them. The other thing is booties. When my kids were little, I used to make TV booties. I haven't been able to find a pattern for them, but Tami found me a pattern for a cute bootie that is reversable. It is so fun to make. I made Alissa's baby a few pair, and then came back and kept sewing. I decided to do some for Oscar and ...

All the years that our grapevines have been producing a plethora of grapes, we have eaten as many as we possibly can for the couple of months that they are on. We also give grapes to our neighbors, our kids, and strangers we see at the gas station. But I've always wanted to make grape juice so the flavor can last a little longer. I've researched a bit, and talked to a lot of people, but haven't wanted to buy expensive equipment without knowing how the flavor would be after canning the juice. Anyway, I finally found a recipe that is so simple, I decided to try it. I just can't wait to open one and drink it!

I'm glad I'm finally at the age where I don't have to take the blame for everything. I've found that when you get old, and you do something really stupid, people just look at you understandingly and think to themselves, "She can't help it. She's old." So they don't hate me or blame me for idiocy. They still love me and increase their feelings of sympathy towards me. How nice. The other day I was with a friend of mine, giving a bunch of girls rides home. I divided them up by where they live, and then said, "I'll take this group because it is on my way home." By the way she looked at me, I knew I should know very well where she lived, but it just wouldn't come to me. Later I remembered that she lives about 3 blocks from me, and has for about 5 years. She is one of my best friends. I have lots of times when my brain just won't connect things but today was one of the worse. Its really sad that I can't say it is the worse. I fo...

I have decided, in my years of aging and accumulation of wisdom that every time a company creates a commercial for television or radio, it should automatically be entered into a reality program. Maybe I should create it myself and make millions of dollars. After the commercials are entered in the reality program, people from all over the world can go to that program to watch the commercial and then they get to call in or email and rate the commercial on: 1. Does this commercial make you want to run out and buy the product? 2. Does this commercial make you happy? Do you like the Geiko Gecko better than the guy saying it will be like the accident never happened? 3. Does this commercial make you want to break your diet? Or does this commercial make you want to order their diet? If you watch one right after the other, do you order the special diet foods and then eat everything else that was advertized? 4. Does this commercial make you want to join in singing the little tune? 5. Does this c...

Tanya came over this morning after their Stake pioneer day celebration. It was an outdoor in the park kind of thing with lots of things to do, but they left fairly early because it was already too hot to be outside. Then they came here and Tanya worked on sewing a quilt to go with Cai's spiffy room makeover. While Tanya sewed, I managed to can 4 quarts of peaches. I don't remember it being so labor intensive. It said to have the bottles clean and hot, and the lids in simmering water. Also to have the pan they will process in half full of water which is simmering. Also to have the syrup that goes in the bottles on the stove kept hot. Also to have a pot to blanch the peaches in, with hot boiling water. Tanya claimed I was heating up the house with all my hot boiling water. Anyway, I would blanch some peaches, then peal them, then put them in a bottle (which cooled while I put peaches in them), then pour some hot syrup in them, then put on the lid and ring and put it in the pan to...

This is mostly for our kids so you know what is going on. Two weeks ago on Saturday, Tom was building and moving some stuff , and without knowing it, he strained his back really bad. Sunday his back was a little sore and each day after it hurt quite a bit more. By Wednesday he could hardly walk and when the pain grabbed, he would fall gasping to his knees. It takes his breath away. He finally was able to get an appointment with the chiropractor on Friday, who said his back was out of alignment, so he adjusted it and told him to apply cold compresses and take motrin 3 times a day. He said if it began to hurt again to come back in on Monday. He felt much better on Saturday, but on Sunday it was a little worse, and Monday it was quite bad again. On Tuesday day he was almost cripple again. He could hardly walk, and he could only talk in a whisper because it hurt to try to speak louder, but he had to go to a meeting in Livermore, so with all that pain he drove there, sat all day and dro...

The last time she came, my visiting teacher brought me some homemade gorditas. Where she comes from, gorditas are thick tortillas with cinnamon and sugar. They were really yummy! So I asked her for the recipe, and figured I should try it. How hard can it be, right? The recipe calls for 2 lbs of whole wheat flour. I'm not sure how many cups 2 lbs are, so I took my container of flour to the scale in the bathroom and weighed it. 5 lbs. So I just needed to use half of it. It also said to add warm water, but didn't say how much. I knew it was supposed to be sticky (her word was gummy), so I tried to make it that way. hmmmm But I decided to make it healthier so I added a little over of a cup of almond flour and the same amount of ground flax seed, and about the same of wheat germ. This was gonna be good! And healthy! My biggest problem came when I was supposed to put in cinnamon. I looked and looked and finally found it and put in 3 t. But as I was putting it back into the cabinet, ...

I've been anxiously waiting for harvest season so I could do some canning this year. I haven't canned for MANY years, but it is silly to buy things from the store that I have here - fresh and cheap or free and bottle myself, so inspired by Animal, Vegetable, Miracle, I decided to become a canner again. I took on pickles first because they are the first we have harvested. Except for plums which there weren't enough of to can. Anyway, I got a plethora of cucumbers and got ready to can. Oh no, I don't have the spices that you need. So the next day I went to Fresno and bought all the spices and pickling salt and even remembered to get the lids for the bottles. cost - about $10 Now I'm ready and get everything out. Oh no, I can't find any jars. I was sure I had saved a couple of boxes of bottles for canning. So I go back to Fresno the next day and buy jars. My cucumbers aren't getting any fresher. Now I'm ready. cost - about $14 Oh no. another problem. I fou...

We just ended a really fun weekend starting on Thursday. Tom had Friday off for the 4th of July, so Thurs. we went to Oakland and celebrated Spencer's birthday. We got to T&P's just in time for the food and presents. After the kids ate and watched Spencer open presents, they ran to play and we adults got to sit and chat. It was such beautiful weather, that Tom and I were freezing to death. We're not used to beautiful weather that cools off at night, and haven't been able to convince ourselves while sitting in 105 degrees to pack a sweater and warm socks when we head to the Bay Area. Later we went to T&P's to sleep, but didn't manage to do that until after 1am. It's too much fun just talking to go to sleep. Fri am Tom got up before everybody else and went to play tennis. After he got back and we had breakfast, we assessed what needed done in the garage. The plan was to build shelves. It must have taken a long time to do this, cause the next thing I r...

It is so strange that no matter how fat I get, I still get hungry. It seems like the more you weigh, the less you should want food. After all, how much food can a body really use? But even if eat so much that I gain 5 lbs in 1 day, I still get hungry the next day. I've tried not eating, and that's just not very much fun. I mean really, only very, very skinny people should be hungry. And they should be hungry until they aren't skinny any more. And fat people should not feel hunger until they aren't fat any more. Wouldn't that be a better, more logical way to do things?

For the first time every in my 64 years of living, and inspired by my namesake and mentor of many things, ArleneE, I attempted to save money by using coupons today. I think it is quite different doing it here, than doing it in Utah, but still it was rather exciting. Its a little hard for my little brain to figure out how much $$ I actually saved, tho. To get the sales to go with the coupons, I had to shop at Vons, which is the most expensive grocery store around here. The program couples coupons with in-store sales, so it does add up. I think my total would have been about $125.21. It doesn't say that anywhere on the receipt. I had to add each of the numbers listed as RegPrice. And I think looking at that, that they overcharged me on some things. For example, I bought 2 packages of tp. The regular price was supposed to be 6.99 for 4 rolls. It says on the receipt 2@6.99 regPrice 23.98. I'm not sure what calculator they use, but then it says CardSav (cause Vons is one of the ann...

This month someone stole our extension ladder. Ok, it was in the back yard, fully visible, but it is the first time anything has been stolen from our yard. I guess we'll have to start putting things away. A while back my favorite camera died. I looked into getting it fixed, but it was over 3 years old, so I doubt it is worth it. Tom bought me a new camera for Christmas, but he bought me the camera he always wanted, and now he's carrying it with him for work. The ride-on lawnmower died. Tom looked at it and took it apart and found it needed a new pully. We've started having problems with the internet losing connection over and over. I finally gave up and called AT&T (a thing I try to avoid at all costs) and they told me I need a new modem. Mine was over a year old and suddenly became defective. You can't just go buy one either, you have to order it and wait for it to come in the mail. More money means it comes sooner; less money means you wait longer with unreliable ...

I am always amazed when blatant blessings come my way. I am not amazed that God can do it, just that he sees fit to do it to me - actually, us. The most recent blatant blessing is our new roof. We've needed a new roof for many years, but never could come up with the $10,000 for it and every time I talked to Tom about it, he said he also wanted to extend the roof over the patio at the same time, so that would add another $2,000 or so. Tom and I have been making a serious effort to save up for a new roof for the past 3 years. In 2007 my goal was to have enough $ for the roof before I retired at the end of the year. I saved up quite a bit of the money needed my last year of work, but we had so many expenses with our rentals, we used it all up. Man, that was frustrating! When we got our income tax refund in 2008, we planned to use that plus whatever else we could save up that year to get it done, but again, it got used up with expenses on our rental. Every effort to save up for the ro...

Memorial Day weekend started on Wednesday, 5/20 when Tami brought her kids out here. They were to stay with me while T&P worked some extra hours. Golly we love having our little grandkids here. They are so darling. The first thing they did was build a pillow pit in the family room. Then they would jump from the couch into it. Great fun! I tried to load a video, but it took an hour and didn't finish so I gave up. The 3 got in the pool before lunch, swam a little while, got out and had lunch and then got back in again 2 more times before dinner. There is no such thing as water-logged; the swimming suits didn't even have time to dry between swims. That fun repeated on Thursday; its all about the pool. T&C arrived Thursday night (Friday morning) about 1:00 and went right to sleep. In the morning the swimmers, eaters, computer users, and little ones running around all doubled. On Friday, Trina and I got in the pool and just stayed - 3 hours while the kids kept getting in a...

Ok, I've said for many years that I hate funerals. I think everything about them seems consciously planned to evoke sadness and loneliness. The soft music, the quiet reverence, the big casket at the front where everybody gets to look at a dead version of their former loved one, and the abundance of formal flower arrangements with sappy messages on them all seem to be there for one purpose. Even if you never met the person, you feel like crying. So I'm going to plan my own funeral and that way I can die in peace - someday. No, I'm not sick, I'm just opinionated and bossy. So here is my plan. 1. The music has to be upbeat, cheerful, and happy. Classical is good, but it needs to be something like Ride of the Valkyries or Ode to Joy or something else lively and happy. 2. If there are flowers, they need to be informal vases of daisies or something cheerful, and they could have sayings on them like Way to Go, or You Made It, or Ready or Not. 3. The burial can be before the fu...

I've been thinking for quite some time about this. I think it reveals a bit how my mind works - good or bad, but here it is. So you know those non-words that the computer makes you type to verify that you are a person and not a hacker? I'm not sure how that keeps hackers out, cause it seems to me that a hacker could type the word as well as I do, but that's another thread. I've always thought it would be interesting to create a new language out of those words. So for the past many months, I've been collecting them. Here are my thoughts in that language. When I was recoa one day, arante along the bionejes very inessmet. It made me feel gonsom and rather ststion, but I dempresc until threqai. How very lamito! Womon can breidstr and bledu! Joy and moofless! There you go. Hope you enjoyed the new language.

I was playing with Kaden and he bonked me with his head. It hit my cheekbone and really hurt, so I said OW pretty loud and so he laughed and bonked me again. That one hurt, too, so I put him down. How I have a shiner.

Now there's a cheery title. I'm afraid I'm to the age where people my age are dying. That's really not supposed to happen! I mean its not like I'm really OLD. I'm just getting there. This week I went to a funeral for a woman who was 4 years younger than I. They said she was "sweet". I wonder what one would I can be summed up in. Anyway, 6 weeks ago she felt a little tired. The next week she couldn't really breathe very well and they thought it might be asthma or something. Finally she went to the doctor, and he thought it might be asthma, too. Later when it was harder to breathe, she went back again and they decided to check more closely and found lung cancer and she died. 5 weeks from discovery she died. Do I have my life planned out more than 5 weeks from now? I can't say I really plan to be dead by then. I'm working on learning how to play the organ. I won't be done in 5 weeks. I didn't actually know her. Her husband was my boyfr...

I'm always tempted to skip enrichment when they are doing something I already know how to do, or something in which I have no interest. A couple of months ago, they were making bunuelos. We've made bunuelos for decades, and i couldn't see what could be interesting about that - its just a fried tortilla with cinnamon and sugar. Later I found out that they made the tortillas from scratch and showed different variations of flavors. Since we aren't eating grains anyway, I didn't really want to be around the temptation, but after I found out what they did, I realized it could have been interesting. This week enrichment was on making bread! How odd. Do Mexicans make bread? do they eat bread? I was surprised they didn't ask me to teach cause I'm the only person in the ward that probably ever has made bread, much less that eats it. I almost didn't go, but decided I really should support the program. So I went and got there at what I thought was the starting time...

A list was going around to see if people were familiar with the classics in reading materials. I didn't do great on that list, but I thought of a new list. Feel free to take this list, copy it to your blog, and mark the ones that you know with an X and the ones that you love with an L. Or lots of LLLLLLLs. There are lots, and I know there is a lot of wonderful music that isn't on this list. I hope somebody besides me thinks this is fun: 1. Night Music Allegro / Mozart XLLL 2. Fifth Symphony / Beethoven XLLL 3. Toccata And Fugue / Bach XLLL 4. Figaro From The Barber Of Seville / Rossini XLLL 5. William Tell Overture / Rossini XLLL 6. Flight Of The Bumble Bee / Rimsky Korsakov XLLL 7. Sleeping Beauty Waltz / Tchaikovsky XLLL 8. Four Seasons Winter Vivaldi XLLL 9. Brandenburg Concerto #2 / Bach 10. Ode To Joy / Ninth Symphony / Beethoven XLLL 11. Peer Gynt Suite / Grieg XLLL 12. Brandenburg Concerto #3 / Bach XLLL 13. The Nutcracker Ballet / Tchaikovsky XLLL 14. Night Music Roman...

As I have looked at other people's blogs lately, I've realized I'm doing it wrong. I used to just blog about things I thought about, but apparently this is the place where I should be bragging about my wonderful, intelligent children, and darling, precious grandchildren! Well, I'm repenting and changin' my ways, brother! Here is Trevor 1 day old! You can't get better than this: Um, I think I entered a link to all the pictures. If not, here is one: Oh my goodness! Trevor is Trina's new baby, and Becky's new baby is not to be outdone: This is Oscar Michael Saldivar! There, now I can't be accused.

The BBC believes most people will have only read 6 of the 100 books here. How do your reading habits stack up? Instructions: 1) Look at the list and put an 'x' after those you have read. 2) Add a 'L'to the ones you LOVE. 3) put P those you plan on reading. 4) Tally your total at the bottom. 1 Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen--X 2 The Lord of the Rings - JRR Tolkien-- 3 Jane Eyre - Charlotte Bronte-- X LLLLLL 4 Harry Potter series - JK Rowling- 5 To Kill a Mockingbird - W (watched the movie) 6 The Bible- XL no number: Book of Mormon-XLLLLL 7 Wuthering Heights - Emily Bronte-- X 8 Nineteen Eighty Four - George Orwell— 9 His Dark Materials - Philip Pullman 10 Great Expectations - Charles Dickens—W 11 Little Women - Louisa M Alcott-- X & W 12 Tess of the D’Urbervilles - Thomas Hardy- 13 Catch 22 - Joseph Heller-- 14 Complete Works of Shakespeare-- yeah, right. W some of them; A-(acted in part of one of them) 15 Rebecca - Daphne Du Maurier 16 The Hobbit - JRR Tolkien-- ...

I saw this tag game and thought it must be evil with that name. After all, why wasn't it 3-3-3 or 20-20-20? But I haven't seen anything evil happen so far, so I'm excited to be chosen to play along. I feel so loved! Ok, my 6th folder is of Mike & Becky's family, and the 6th picture is of Veronica!! How cute is that? Here it is: What else would expect from a proud grandma than to have pictures of grandkids. My life isn't nearly as interesting as Elesa or ArleneE! I don't think I'll tag anyone tho, cause that's how I am