More Birthday Parties & misc stuff

After having a surprise party in CA I didn't expect more.....but. Friday night I thought we were going to dinner with Bobby and Pamella and their girls and our son. She thought the same. We arrived at the restaurant to find three more couples for a total of 13 people. It was a surprise for both of us because Pamella's birthday was today. She is considerably younger than me. Today our LIFE group went out to lunch and had cake to celebrate not only Pamella and my birthdays but two of the men in the group. At least I wasn't the oldest of that group. One of the men turned 85 this month and I think the other fellow is older than me, but I didn't ask and he didn't volunteer. The Mexican food was good and the chocolate cake (from Costco) was delicious. We had enough to send some home with those who wanted some, plus we left some for the waiters at the restuarant.

I subbed today and I will again tomorrow. I am subbing for the aide in the Special Ed primary class. The teacher was absent also and another retired teacher was the sub teacher. We made it through the day, but it did not go quite as smoothly as it would have if the teacher had been there. Hopefully the teacher will be back tomorrow.

Last weekend I was at a church retreat for the women in Casa Grande - between here and Phoenix - about an hours drive. We had a good turnout and the speaker was Rebecca Huey from Phoenix. The topic was The Bride of Christ and talked about the Jewish wedding customs during the time of Christ and how we could relate that to our relationship to Christ. It was only Friday night and Saturday morning and after lunch many of us went shopping. All in all a perfect women's weekend. The food was good too.

The weather is still hot here In Tucson. I am really ready for fall to arrive. I think we get a week or so before it gets cold. If you consider in the 60's cold. When we first came to Tucson almost 4 years ago I saw the following in the local paper. The four seasons of Tucson - Almost summer, Summer. Still Summer and Construction. I guess we are in third season although I think construction is year round.

We've Come A Long Way, Baby

Found this on a baptist preacher's blog. He titled it Women Know Your Place (wink).

Disneyland, Birthday etc.

Our trip to California was wonderful. We spent the night in Blythe on the way over and Gila Bend on the way back. When we were younger we could have driven in in one day - but now we try not to drive over 4-6 hours in one day. Friday night our GA family flew in and we picked them up at LAX. We then drove to Fort Mac Arthur to spend the night in Base housing. When my son said we were staying in San Pedro I couldn't imagine what kind of housing because I have never thought of San Pedro as a pretty city. I was wrong. I didn't get a picture of the base but you can see here. Saturday morning we walked around Pt.Fermin Park. I got this picture of a racoon.



After breakfast on Saturday we rode up the hill to Palos Verdes and visited Wayfarer's Chapel. My uncle Jack (deceased) helped build this famous landmark. Here is a picture I took.



I was worried that we wouldn't have time to visit with my cousin on Saturday because she said she had parties both Saturday and Sunday but she said if we arrived at 1:00 she would have an hour before she had to leave for a party at 2:00. She is a caterer. She hadn't seen my kids in a couple of years. Anyway we got there at 1:00 and the party she had on Saturday was for me. What a surprise! All my cousins and most of their families were there. I think I cried for ten minutes. It was truly a surprise.

On Sunday we went to church at Newland St Church of Christ in Garden Grove. One of my dearest friends who is 88 and still drives to church went to lunch with us and then it was off to Disneyland.



As you can see Disneyland is decorated for Halloween. We got there about 2:00 and the kids stayed until it closed at midnight. Tom and I hung in there until about 8:30 and then took a shuttle back to our hotel where we were staying Sat and Sun nights. Disneyland is always fun. I was actually there in 1955 - the year it opened. It is a lot more fun when it is not so crowded but Sunday it was packed. Harrison (grandson) didn't care at all. He had a ball.

On Monday we took our kids to the airport in Orange County to fly home and we spent one more night with my cousin before taking off for Tucson on Tuesday. She and I got to go to a movie on Monday afternoon - The Jane Austin Book Club - which was very good.

I am so lucky to have such a wonderful biological family. If it wasn't for our church family here at Palo Verde I would be very unhappy not living closer to my family in California. Fortunately we are able to travel to see them and our kids in Georgia.

Exercise and Randy Harris

I'm sure that title got your attention. Tom and I went to exercise this morning after about a two month lapse. I walked on the treadmill and listened to my iPod. Today I was listening to Randy Harris who was the guest speaker at Providence Road Church of Christ in Charlotte NC where Jeff Walling preaches. You can get the podcasts from this website. This sermon was from September 9. Anyway, the sermon was on evangelism and if you've never heard Randy speak he always has some funny stories. In this sermon he was talking about exercise and said he didn't like it and didn't do it. He said partly because of genetics. He said people in his family lived to be 100 but their mind began to go at 70. So he figures if he didn't exercise his mind and body would go at the same time. He also said he didn't know why people resisted going to heaven. He said he would eat his chocolate donuts and see you there. Oh and his points on evangelism were good too. I only walked twenty minutes and finished listening when I got home.

We are leaving Thursday for Orange County, CA. Our kids from GA are meeting us there and we are going to Disneyland to celebrate Harrison's (grandson) and my birthdays. Our birthdays are three days apart - Harrison will be 10 on the 23rd and I will be 65 on the 26th. I am now officially on Medicare and our Y memberships are being paid by our new Health plan - Healthnet. When I got my medicare card in the mail it seemed so funny. I thought only "old" people had medicare cards.

Substituting

Today I was the sub for the classroom I opened this year. The classroom's air conditioning has been fixed and oh what a difference! I was working with a small group and one third grader was checking out my elbow and said I had "old skin". I said "Yes, that's what happens when you get old." He replied with "but I don't want you to die." I assured him I wasn't THAT old. The kids all gave me hugs and told me they missed me. One student, actually I think it was the same one who asked about my old skin asked me if I had my birthday yet and I told him it was next month. What do you think that means?

A Post at Last

For all of my loyal readers - at least Dee, I thought I better get back to blogging. When last you heard from me we had just returned home from Hawaii and I was starting a special ed classroom as the substitute. I did last the 16 days and got the higher rate of pay. The bad part was our classroom's air conditioner was broken and I was sick the whole last week I worked. The district transferred another teacher who had only one student in her class. She and I worked together that last week and I don't think I could have done it without her. I learned that my mind is still capable of teaching full time but my body isn't. I told the school on that last Friday not to call me the next week and I stayed in bed most of that week. Then last week I worked Monday and Tuesday. I don't imagine I will get any calls this week because it is parent conference week and school gets out at noon for conferences. I really did enjoy the students and they all gave me hugs on that last day. When I subbed last week I got more hugs. I am only going to substitute at that elementary school, which is what I did last year. So far this year I've worked 18 days and I don't think I worked that many days all of last school year.

This time last year we were at the lectures at ACU but we didn't go this year. We listened to Landon Saunders speak last night on
totallyacappella's website. You can listen tonight and tomorrow night at 7:00 Abilene time, which is 5:00 Tucson time. I think they also broadcast the 11:00 AM lecture. Last night's was awesome. Mike Cope gives a short review on his blog today.

Home and Tired

We had to stay an extra night in Hononlulu because we couldn't get a plane out on Sat night. We left Sunday night at 11:00, flew to San Francsisco, took the BART to Oakland, flew to Salt Lake City and got the last flight to Tucson on Monday night - getting home at 11:00 PM. School started Tuesday and I don't remember being as tired as I was every afternoon last week. This morning I was at the Y at 5:30 and swam 350 yards in twenty minutes. I do think it gave me more energy today. Oh yeah, one other minor detail - my classroom is one of three in the school with no air conditioning. It is broken and they are hoping it will be fixed this week. You know how hot it is in Tucson right now? We spent about twenty minutes in the hall, which has air after lunch and then we went to the cafeteria where it has air to work on math. I have 12 students, 3rd to fifth grade and three aides. Two boys have autism and they each have a one on one aide, then there is the classroom aide, who is a man. We are doing pretty good for one day of preparation before school started. I hope to make 16 days because then I start making $50 more a day and it is retroactive back to the first day. I've got to pay for the Hawaii trip, you know. My own goal is to make it nine weeks and I hope they have found a teacher by then. I do enjoy having my own class compared to being a substitute and I love the kids already but I'm not sure how long my body can take it.

This afternoon our LIFE group had a birthday party at a Mexican restaurant for Lois who was eighty something and Bobby V who will be 39 on Saturday. We had a good meal and a delicious chocolate cake - from Costco. What? You thought I would bake a cake? Yeah right! The people at the restaurant were so nice we left half the cake for the staff.

Guess I better quit blogging and plan for tomorrow. One day at a time. Pray for me.

Finally - Hawaii!

We finally made it to Hawaii. If you read my blog you will remember that we tried at Easter and we got to Salt Lake City and we had a seat on the bus, as Tom likes to say, and the flight was canceled. Then in June we were going again and before we even left Tucson we realized we weren't going to get a flight to Hawaii so we went to Atlanta with the intentions of going to London. Well we ended up going to Boston and we really did enjoy that trip.

I don't think I posted about our trip to San Francisco. We did that in July with our kids from Georgia. We stayed at a Coast Guard Temporary housing in Novato. Our son, who is the pilot is also in the Navy reserves so he can stay in these places. It was really nice - a two bedroom apartment. There were wild deer on the property. Novato is about 30 miles north of San Francisco and a great place to stay. My grandson, daughter-in-law and I saw Hairspray on the opening day while we were there.





I can't say enough about our hotel Waikiki Sand Villa We stayed here in January but this time we didn't even make a reservation before we got here because of the chances of not making it. Anyway we booked it online from the airport in Honolulu and when we got here they remembered us and gave us a corner room on the 10th floor. We have this view from one balcony.



and from the other corner balcony you can just see the ocean past the hotels. It is about 3 blocks to the Waikiki beach



Besides the fact that the prices are reasonable (a little higher than in January) the most scary but miraculous thing happened. Yesterday when we went to the beach we left Tom's wallet with both our ids and credit cards, cash, his cell phone and my ipod in a safe in the room. As we were walking back from the beach Tom asked me if I locked the safe. I said "No" did you? Well...
We got back to the room and even though the maid had cleaned up our open safe was untouched. We saw the maid in the hall and she told us she had called down for security to check it out. I thanked her profusely for being an honest person.

We are going home tomorrow night because I have taken a long term sub position for a special education classroom at the elementary school where I usually sub. I didn't find out until Monday afternoon and we left Wed morning. I told them I couldn't be there for teachers first day on Friday. Our flight is an overnight flight - through San Francisco, then to SLC and finally by Sunday night we will be home. All the flights look good except the one to Tucson from Salt Lake, so worst case scenario is we will spend the night in SLC and come home Monday morning, also a teacher workday. Students show up on Tuesday. The school knows I may not be there until noon on Monday. I might tell you more about getting my room ready on Tuesday but my power on my laptop is getting low. we don't have wi-fi in the room but we do by the pool - where I have been eating breakfast and writing this. Dina, if you are reading this, I plan to call you today.

Tagged by Bobby Valentine

My friend and fellow blogger, Bobby V, has tagged me. He has asked that I divulge eight random facts, and meaningless!, about myself. So here goes ...

1. I was on the Art Linkletter Show when I was in 6th grade

2. I skipped the B-2 (We had semester classes in Los Angeles)

3. I wrote a letter to Ricky Nelson and invited him to a Sadie Hawkins dance when I was in 10th grade. He declined.

4. I was voted "Most Talkative" by my senior class.

5. I started teaching myself piano when I was in elementary school - on a neighbor's old - old piano. Later I took lessons and got my own piano - I have had 4 pianos - and I still don't play for anyone but myself - and kids.

6. I went to a party at Pat Boone's house (at the time he was renting Humphrey Bogart's home in Beverly Hills. I went with my Pepperdine College Sorority - Kappa Kappa

7. I used to Ice Skate and learned to do a "waltz jump" (for you non skaters that means I could jump about an inch off the ice)

8. I don't ice skate anymore since I fell just standing still on the ice 2 summers ago when I went with the youth group from church. I decided at that time that 62 was too old to be ice skating.

I tag Desert Diva, Beverly, Scott, Dina, Candy, and Tina

...but it doesn't look like Honolulu Part Two

Since my last post when I was reporting on our trip to Boston, Portland, Maine and Plymouth Rock with a couple of days in Atlanta we came home , rested a week and left for Portland, Oregon. We flew to Salt Lake City, then instead of getting a flight to Portland we flew to Medford, Oregon and rented a car. The weather was beautiful - in the 70's and I took this picture at a rest stop on our five hour drive to Portland. We ate lunch at the White Horse Inn in Sumerlin, Oregon and it had a bird aviary. The food was good and the owner (?) gave us a free strawberry shake and a piece of rum raisin pie - UMM. It rained the next two days but it felt great. We stayed with our friends, June and Gene Anderson in Vancouver, Washington and when we weren't attending Columbia College (now Cascade) reunion activities or driving around and looking at the apts/houses we lived in we were playing pinochle with June and Gene. When we lived in Vancouver we played at least once a week.

Here is a picture outside the Johnson Center at Cascade College. Aren't the roses beautiful?



I haven't been posting since we got back and I am not sure why. I may be losing interest in blogging - I haven't even been reading others blogs. But I am going to do that right now.

..but it doesn't look like Honolulu - Part One

If you read my last post you might wonder why I have on a jacket when I am supposed to be in Hawaii. Well, we didn't make it. We fly standby and when we first started looking at the loads a week ago there were seats available...but. I had said I would not turn around and fly back to Tucson and as it turned out we knew before we left Monday morning that we would not make it to Hawaii so we decided to go to London, England. We have never been to Europe so we just packed a little differently. We planned to fly to Atlanta, spend the night and leave for London Tuesday morning. Before we went to sleep Monday night or I should say around midnight we checked the loads to London and surprise - it had changed. Tom was getting a little irritated but I was going with the flow. We thought about Edinburgh - it is one of Delta's new routes and so it looked pretty good. The problem was the hotels there seemed very expensive -- and it was going to be cold, at least colder than London. Neither Tom and I had been north of New York City so we decided on Boston. Now remember we are making all these plans while at the hotel in Atlanta on Mon night - late. We found a hotel - a La Quinta in Andover, Massachusettes, made reservations and made car rental reservations - all over the internet. Yes we both have our laptops with us.


We got up early this morning and drove to Portland, Maine. We got lost trying to find the tour office but we found AAA and stopped there and got maps. It was raining - kind of misty rain - most of the morning. We could have been in Portland, Oregon. Tom took the first picture while we were on the tour. We were at Cape Elizabeth and this is the Portland Head Light, the second oldest lighthouse in the US.



We ate lunch after the tour. I really wanted Maine lobster but instead we ate at Becky's Diner which our tour guide said was a local favorite. We both ordered the special which was Macaroni and cheese with a hot dog - which turned out to be just the weiner.It really was very good and I only ate half of the mac and cheese and then had some pecan pie. For dinner tonight we are having our leftovers from lunch and last nights leftover chicken parmasan.

As we drove back we went on Highway 1 through the small towns. I got excited when I saw the turn for Kennebunkport.



I thought if we just turned east we would find the ocean. We did eventually - I'm not sure what the name of the beach is but here is a picture.




How would you like to live here? This was on our way back from the nameless beach.

More tomorrow.

On The Road Again

We are going to try to get to Honolulu again. We are leaving in the morning for Salt Lake City. We are listed on the standby list and everyday the seats available to Hawaii are fewer. So we are making alternate plans. We can fly to San Francisco from SLC, spend the night then leave for Honolulu Tuesday evening. We already have our reservations in Honolulu and we will lose one nights fee if we don't show up Monday night, but it is still worth it. Actually it would be fun to spend some time in San Francisco. I love that city -and it's cool. Today it is supposed to be close to 100. Have a good Lord's Day.

Ladies Who Lunch

The Washington High School Girl's Class of Winter 60 (Los Angeles, CA) met at the Long Beach Marriot at 11:30 AM last Saturday. What a blast! It was so much fun visiting with women, most of whom I haven't seen in 17 years and some whom I haven't seen since we graduated. I would have to say we looked pretty darn good for our ages, since we have either turned 65 this year or will on our next birthday. I think I was one of the youngest since my birthdy isn't until October - I skipped the B-2. When I went to school in Los Angeles every semester was like a new year. You could actually begin school in February. Thus the B-2, A-2 etc. You changed classrooms and teachers in Sept and Feb. So instead of 6 elementary teachers or 7 with K you had 12 (or 14). We did that all through high school that is why we graduated in Jan.

Probably the biggest topic of conversation was how we are handling turning 65. That and how many husbands! Actually we had a pretty good percentage who are still married to their original spouses, including me. One of the ladies is raising her two grandchildren, one of who is 13- ouch. BTW she is one of the youngest looking ones, maybe there is something to having a young one around. Most of us were retired but some were still working. One of my friends is a secretary at Saddleback Community Church - where Rick Warren preaches. Her husband and I went to Sunday School together when we were in elementay school. He also graduated with our class. Another classmate who couldn't make it sent a letter to pass around - with pictures (then and now). She lives in Reno, NV and couldn't attend because she and her husband had two horses who were racing that day. Another woman retired from Los Angeles City Hall but still goes in (from her home in Palm Springs) 3 days a week - as a consultant. She was secretary (later title change to Administrative assistant) to the mayor(s) of Los Angeles. She started right out of high school. I think I was the only retired teacher, but we had three social workers (one retired, two still working). It was so intersting learning about each other.

I had originally planned to fly home on Sunday but had decided to fly home Saturday. There were seats available on a 5:20 flight out of Orange County and I was sure that would give me enough time. Well, by 3:20 we were still talking. I think we had about 30 women and we were each telling about the last 47 years. We had finished lunch started going around the room reliving our lives, taken a potty break and I had to leave. I think I missed about 4 ladies' stories. Next year I plan to go back and I will definitely stay over until Sunday. Our 50th High School reunion will be held in 2009 with the '59 graduating classes. Several of the women who were there are on that planning committee.

High School Memories

I graduated from George Washington High School in Los Angeles, Ca in January of 1960. My class had about 300 students. The June graduating class had about 700. I went to my 10 year and 30 year reunion. We lived in Washington when the 20th was held. I have kept in touch with one friend who luckily has kept in touch with a group of women who get together once a year for a luncheon. I will be leaving for Orange County tomorrow to attend one of those luncheons on Saturday. Tom is not going with me. I will fly home on Sunday. I am so excited but I wonder if I will recognize anyone. It is interesting deciding what to pack. It is in the 90-100 degree range here and the forecast in OC is low 70's. Of couse I won't mind the cooler weather.

Updated Links

I just added some new links to the side. I still don't have all of them listed but that would be too long. Just as I think I will cut down how many blogs I read I find a new blogger and add just one more. The newest blogger I have found is Kaye Check her out. She is a good writer. How do you choose who you read- only those you agree with or do you like to mix it up?

Painting

I really hate painting. When we moved into our house 3 years ago we had the entry, living room and hall painted. I don't remember what we paid but it was worth it. It was done so quickly and we weren't disrupted for long. We have been painting our bedroom (ourselves) for at least a week. First we moved the bed out completely and got one wall painted. Then we moved the bed back in and didn't do anything else for a few days. Today we took down the ugly blinds that were here when we moved in. When I say we I mean Tom. I help a little. Then we had to stop to go to Loews for some spackling stuff and temporary blinds - which will probably be up at least a year. Maybe not. Of course we had to eat while we were out. Now I am tired from all that work :). So I thought I would write so I won't feel guilty about reading and not writing.

Blogging

I have had a hard time wanting to blog since we returned from Pepperdine, church at Newland St in Garden Grove and two days in Oceanside - where we started our married life 45 years ago. We had a good trip beside the fact that I twisted my ankle the first day we arrived at Pepperdine. I took my camera and the one day I started to take a picture my batteries were dead and I never replaced them.

The lectures were great and seeing people I knew from the past is always a highlight. I also met some bloggers I had not met before - Greg England, Steve Puckett, Brandon Scott Thomas and his family (yes, his kids are gorgeous) and Amy Westerman who is Nancy French's sister. I think next year the lectureship committee should provide a room for bloggers to get together.

I don't know why I haven't wanted to blog - probably just laziness. I promise to do better.

On the Road

We spent the night last night in Palm Springs on our way to Pepperdine. Before getting on the road we are resting to allow the morning traffic to die down. One stop we are planning to make is in Duarte (you've probably never heard of it) to eat lunch at the Old Spaghetti Factory. We first ate at this restaurant in Portland, Oregon when we lived there from 75-82. Actually we lived in Portland the first three years and then moved across the river to Vancouver, WA. Several of these restaurants are in CA and we used to eat at the one in Newport Beach and Fullerton. There is only one restaurant in the state of Arizona and it is in Phoenix. While we were there for competition we made sure to indulge. BTW the prices are about $3.00 higher in AZ. Weird. Check out the menus from Duarte and Phoenix Both Tom and I always order the spaghetti with Mizithra cheese. It is so yummy and I have never seen it on the menu at any other Italian restaurant.

Movies

I saw three movies since Friday. The first one was The Perfect Stranger with Halle Berrie and Bruce Willis. It was rated R and I think I probably don't need to go to R rated films. The story line was good but I had to put up with some junk. I am glad no one went with me - it's not one I would want to take a friend to. But if you like Halle Barrie or scary movies you might like it. But remember I warned you. The other two were better. My friend Sandy and I went to see Wild Hogs (our husbands went to the Men's retreat). We laughed so hard. The third movie was from Blockbuster - The Queen. If you haven't already seen it - rent it.

We leave tomorrow for Pepperdine. I am looking forward to it - seeing people you've known from all over is as much fun as going to the lectures. The singing is always awesome. We are going to take two days to get there. We don't like driving too far in one day.I'm not sure where we will stop - we'll probably just drive until we are tired.

Have a great week everyone!

Blog Anniversary

Today is the one year anniversary of my blog. I have met some wonderful new friends and I have learned that I would rather read other people's blog than write on mine. My postings have become less frequent but I do try to keep at it. Today was the half way point in working a full week. At this point I think I am ready to be done for this school year. Tomorrow our class is going on a field trip to a symphony. It is especially for Kindergartens so our primary sp ed class (K-2) hopefully will enjoy it. I will try to post tomorrow and let you know how it went.