Friday, March 30, 2012

Venice Beach... the OTHER side


There's the creative shops. Devo anyone?


And the creative people.


 Basketball pick up games.


 And high heel shoes?  Look closely at the far right. See the high heel shoe? She's wearing those why? Yes, just say it...Venice Beach.


 Then there's Muscle Beach where men lift weights and show their stuff. Umm.. remember the picture above? The guy wearing a red speedo and tennis shoes? You got the idea. However! This is where Arnold got his start.


 Love the people watching here....

and here. Except HERE smelled like pee. We moved. Oh Venice Beach, the stories are all true!

Thursday, March 29, 2012

Venice Beach




Hmmm.. don't see this in Colorado.



Yes! We made it to the ocean!



This is for Becca! Purple beach house...

Sisters :)

Wednesday, March 28, 2012

Happy 21st Birthday Gabe!


Oh where to begin.... this picture is a story all unto itself.

In January, T and I decided to go to Cali to celebrate Gabe's 21st birthday over spring break. We could take him to dinner, enjoy the beach, and get out of dodge for a bit. Well, plans change and sure enough God's plans are bigger than ours so flexibility has become key in this journey of raising children. Gabriel is home now finishing school and working full time. It has been wonderful really. He's full of joy and we love watching his new adventure unfold. This didn't change the fact that I wanted (more like NEEDED) out of dodge for a bit though.

Thank you for asking, it was a great mini va-ca.

With all this planning, we still knew celebrating with Gabe on this milestone day was on our short list. We planned our flights, came home,  got unpacked, showered, called him about where to go eat and waited.

and waited.

See, he is working on a production this week called Thorn. It is a traveling production about the life of Christ. It involves lights, special effects, actors, sound tech, you name it. First Class the whole way. And in production, you finish when you finish. The clock isn't your master.

Finally, we had a plan. BJ's it is and by the way... the crew is coming too.

We hug our boy, sit down and slowly the crew shows up. A little bit of conversation later and we realize he has NEVER met the guy at the other end of the table. He barely knows a few of the other folk at that end of the table. They're from all over the country, coming here to work this week on Thorn. Oh laugh with me. I did.

Never in my mind when I planned this day out some 21 years ago, did it involve sitting a table with folk who didn't even know it was my boy's birthday.We had a good meal and our end of the table had good conversation.

The adventure never ends really. Just another chapter in life with a bit of humor thrown in for good measure. Gabe's real celebration takes place this weekend in case you were wondering. We have plenty of surprises in store for him.

Happy Birthday Gabe!

Tuesday, March 20, 2012

A No Good Very Bad Day

Yes, today was one of those.....

No Good

Very Bad

Days

Why you ask? Oh do let me share.


Back talk.

Second, third and fourth time if I'm lucky obedience.

Grumble and complain about 30 math problems for homework. Grant it, thats' ALL the homework they have mostly Ev-er!

Wiggle and whine during a one hour 1st grade recital. I had to give the "proper recital behavior" speech to a bunch of 10 and 11 year olds.

Questioning every little decision. Oh yes. That went over well.

Can I move my desk NOOOOOOOOW?? one too many times.

Giggle and stare in an unforgiving way. That's lovely character, don't ya think?

And so the kids received my," I think we will be writing and reading silently for awhile." This happens in school. I know it all too well but Monday went so well. I was prepared for another marvelous day. How did they crumble into THAT so fast? Before they left class today, we had another little talk. It may have sounded more like Charley Brown to them," Wa wa Wa wa waaa waaa."

Oh boy Wednesday.. prove me right. Bring back my class of darling, encouraging chicklins.

Please.



Monday, March 19, 2012

Gluten Free Chocolate Chiplicious Cookies

Oh to have a good chocoloate chip cookie! I have been craving something in my mouth that is healthy and yummy. I did a quick search for almond flour cookies and decided on these. Yeah! Double Yeah! The recipe is really good and quite easy. I am impressed with the texture and the taste. They melt in your mouth and are not grainy what-so-ever. Definitely a new fav for me!

Pass the milk please. 


Here's where to find this new oh so yummy GF recipe. Gotta give credit where credit is due!

 http://www.thewannabechef.net/2011/05/04/almond-flour-chocolate-chip-cookies/

I did NOT use sugar but substituted Honey instead. I also doubled the recipe. Oh... be sure to pay attention to your Honey quantities. They are different than refined sugar. Enjoy!


Sunday, March 18, 2012


Oh My, Oh My, Oh My!  There is nothing that warms a momma's heart more than all her Chickie's home laughin' and celebrating life. And even better is to have even more life coming through the door.


Becca was home ever so briefly with her sweet friends from college and we just love it! We have daughter Number 4 who comes over frequently and now we're entering the warm weather, house full of life , time of the year! Love it! Love it! Love it!

Thursday, March 15, 2012

Grizzly Rose


Two friends.. A straw hat, western boots, gorgeous weather, and a night of dancing.

Wednesday, March 14, 2012

March 14th, 2012 : Pi Day and Foot Day

Today started off well. I had coffee, got to wear casual clothes for Pi day, and ventured out for a check up on my foot. In the past two weeks my toe joint foot thing-pain has been coming back for a visit. Happily, I was able to get in this morning to see my doctor. He re-examined  the foot. Oww! He gave me a speech. Uh Huh. And finally I got a nice Cortisone shot in the joint. I do hope it last for months so I can train hard as the marathon approaches. I did leave feeling a bit dejected when he said I can only have three shots a year. I keep thinking, this is a band-aid, not a permanent fix. He did say if it doesn't improve there is a surgical option. Darn. Really? If my memory serves me well, this is the same toe I broke in high school. What is it with this foot?

So off I scurried back to work and finished my day. We celebrated Pi day today and it was very entertaining.  Our 5th and 6th graders have matching shirts that are way too cute! We rotated between the classes learning about Pi and we feasted on ROUND food. The kids loved it and it was a great way to end TCAP testing which was the last two weeks, thank you very much!

All's well that ends well. Speaking of ending well... I wish you could see my classroom! I should have taken a picture. Boo stayed after school today so I could finally get my History timeline up as well as our Civil War posters up. I was thankful for the help; my hours are long already. I'll post some pictures soon. It's sooo cute! We grabbed some paper chains that were being thrown out and now have a count down until the last day of school.. MAY 24th! But who's counting?

Saturday, March 10, 2012

A Dog's Life





Angelina had an assignment in Literature that consisted of reading a book and various options to express the book to your class. The option she chose this time was a diorama. My sweet artistic child spent HOURS coming up with this design. She printed pictures off the Internet and shrunk them to just the right size. She thought of cutting wood for her shed so her daddy gladly took down the saw and cut her some wood pieces and she carefully glued in the pine needles to the base to make the appearance of straw. She thought out each little piece and it showed. So here's the kicker... what did her teacher say? She said,"Next time make sure your diorama stays together." and proceeded to take off points. The part of the story Lina's teacher is missing is that she brought it, all her school books, lunch, and her soccer bag to school on a windy day. She came home and said," I didn't have time to set it back up so parts of it are falling over." The next day she had to present and still had no time to reset all the pieces back in place. Oh well.. She did get an A but a few kuddos goes a long way.

Maybe I'll send this post to her teacher.

Sunday, March 4, 2012

Cruisin'


The weather was supurb today for March 3rd. What better to do then go for a short spin on the bike. I love this bike. It goes all on it's own... no peddling involved. Now that's my kind of bike. :) Gabe was a dear; not only did her tell me I looked fine in my get up, he helped his mother with her helmut. I'm new to this thing, ya know.



And here we go! I completely trust this man. We had a great first run and the word that kept coming to my mind  as we passed homes, tooks curves, looked at the open spaces and switched gears with a roar of the engine was Liberating. Now why this would be liberating, I don't know, but it felt that way somehow. Can't wait for  those summer days!

And I Didn't Cry...


It was time. Actually, way past time.  I grew up with parents who owned fire arms.

 I saw them.
 I hated them.

 So much so that I was determined never to own one. It probably didn't help that I had dreams for... oh, 8 plus years of being shot every night. Then came 2007: a move to Colorado, the belief in the 2nd amendment, and a husband determined to have his wife conquer this fear. So, four years later, we signed up for a gun safety class and finally went, not sure exactly what to expect. After about 3 to 4 hours of classroom time that actually wasn't boring at all, we went to the range. I usually cry around guns as well as shake. Our instructor has been doing this for 30 years so I felt safe. The smell and taste of the basement filled with rows of people shooting all sorts of weapons lingered in my mouth until dinner. Not sure what it was other than gun powder. There were a bunch of us shooting. Man, I'm glad I had on ear protection. T stayed behind the glass for this first shot. He was waiting for the sprinklers to turn on and I had a moment where they almost did but I sucked it up, pulled up my big girl boots and said, "I can do this."



T finally made his way into the room with me and sweet man he is, recorded his wife shooting a gun. I tried a 22 and I think a 380? The 22 was fine. Not too bad and our instructor gave me some great tips. Did I mention our instructor is a SHE?  I thought I would love the smaller hand gun but actually hated it. It scared me so bad I closed my eyes when it went off. It was loud, powerful and had a little burst of "fire" with every shot. After a shot maybe two, I looked back at T trying to determine if I would empty the other 4 rounds. I felt like I was back in Guatemala unable to get off the zip-line. Only this time, I could put the weapon down and walk away. But I was not going to do that. I gave myself a pep talk and said, "If you can finish that darn zip-line, you can shoot 4 more loud scary rounds." Did not like them one bit but shot better with it than the 22. When it was all over, I walked up the stairs with a deep exhale.
I did it.

 T and I both passed our test and celebrated with a mar-velous dinner out. Someone asked me back at the classroom after our test how I felt shooting the first time. The best description I could come up with was Golf. I felt like I was trying to learn how to golf all over again. Put all the pieces together, stand just so, close one eye, look at the target and maintain control while pulling the trigger so I didn't shoot the ceiling. Quite awkward. I think practice makes perfect in lots of areas of life  and this... well, this is in the top 5. Looks like I'll be spending more time at the range.