Christmas is Here!

Well it has been a long while since I blogged, no excuses, no inspiration. I had a good time putting up the Christmas decoration this year, Bruce was busy with all the pre-Christmas band things and I just took my time doing what I wanted each day, a little here a little there. I think the trees came out very nicely. Bruce did help with the putting together of the big tree and the getting down of some of the stuff, (credit where credit is due).

What moved me to blog was that we had the missionaries over for dinner on Sunday, I decided to make Viva la Chicken. Now, many of my children will remember Viva la Chicken which was a big favorite UNTIL I made it for Bruce's birthday one year and used HOT chili peppers instead of mild. Now of course I didn't do this on purpose. We have all gone shopping and had to check over the many choices we have, trying to make sure we have the one we want, only to come home with the very one we DIDN'T want. That is what happened to me only I didn't notice because I was SO sure I had picked the mild chilies, I made the delicious casserole up and served it for my husbands pleasure..... Well, as we recall it was so incredibly hot that fire actually came out of Bruce's nose and ears and his tears were the only thing that put it out. I was so traumatized that I had never made it again, for all these years, but I decided to forge on and overcome my fears. I found some mild green chili taco sauce and used that instead of the actual chilies and it came out better than ever. I compiled it a day ahead which was what the directions said which I don't think I ever did before, it was great and it was all gone by the end of dinner, I served it with a little salad and some crescent rolls with brownies and chocolate no sugar pudding. I so restored my confidence in my ability to cook and made me feel happy. So for all those in my family who may also have a deep abiding fear of Viva la Chicken, do not despair, push forward and try it again. PS it is so much easier now cause you can buy the boneless, skinless chicken breast and just boil them up (I know it). Happy Holidays and a Merry Christmas and Bon Appetite

Christmas is Coming

Christmas is coming...our annual opportunity to share in this special time of year when hearts are a little softened and the chance to offer love and good will increases. The challenge is to not to get too wrapped up in the "material world" or at least not to let it rule and ruin the joy of Christmas. Giving love and thoughtfulness is always much appriciated. Gifts that can be afforded, used and loved are the gifts that are appriciated. Creating memories is not costly except in our time. Cookie baking, carol singing, fun time together, homemade decorations,, these are what last. May this Christmas season bring us not only closer to our loved ones but more importantly closer to our Savior whose birth we are celebrating.

On the wild hike

The big girls

The feast

More feast

Still feasting

The Wild Things

Thanksgiving 2009 was the most perfect day. The weather was so beautiful no wind and perfect temperature. We had a wonderful meal and and everyone was happy. Strangely after the sun went down a wind came up and brought much cooler temperatures, the next morning was overcast and though the sun eventually came out it never got warm, but we took the kids to San Lorenzo Park or our adventure hike. The kids had fun and were all good sports. They have a wonderful time together and the grown ups who went had lots of fun too.

The Effects of the Fall

Waxing and Waning

Blooming and Fading

Each has a Season

A purpose and Reason

Effects of the Fall

Papa Got Brand New Shoes or We are All Kids At Heart

I guess he chose his

favorite title.

They are magic shoes

see how they glow!

Ok, all of this post is absolutely true. As you can see from the picture dad got new running shoes. They were kind of his reward for swimming in the triathlon. These are special shoes, he designed them himself which you can do on the Nike site. He labored long and hard over the exact right shoe, the right color the right size. We drove down to Pismo Outlets to the Nike store where he tried on many shoes but non were what he wanted but he did find the right size for him in a Nike shoe. We went to Sports Authority nothing was just what he was looking for. So home we came and he went online and placed his order. He chose all the colors you see in this shoe, and he chose the name he wanted on the shoe. Then he waiting, did he wait silently almost forgetting about the shoes? NO, he tracked the shoes, as soon as he got a email from Nike that his shoes were sent. I would get a daily report about where they were, kind of like where in the world is Carman Sandiago, it was were in the world are Bruce's shoes. They started off in Korea, then down to India, over to Alaska, then all the way to Tennesse, then to Oakland, and today just as he was going off to teach at the gallery.... knock knock they were here in King City!!, but he had to go to the gallery. As soon as he got home on they went and a happy grandpa ready to try them out on the treadmill but wait...knock knock a piano lesson, oh man, dude... but he will get to try them out and he will love them and they are magic cause they glow, I wonder what happens if he clicks the heals together.

New Grandson in Chico

We had a wonderful trip to Chico this week. We left King City on Tuesday after school arriving in Chico around 10:30 p.m. Chico is dressed up for fall, the trees look lovely and the air is crisp. We got to spend all day with the Grahams, whether they wanted to or not. Some great time with the new and adorable Rocky. He is cute and cuddly and unbelievably well behaved for being one week old!! He does have a mean frown though, but not all the time, just when he is trying to figure out who you are. After some nice long visit with Rocky and Zane (grandpa had a ball playing with Zane and his rock army men). Maybe his is so interested in rocks is because he is waiting for Rocky to get old enough to play? Ian, Zane and Grandpa and Grandma decided to get out and go bowling. What a ball that was, we got the bumpers put up and it is a good thing we did cause SOME people used them a lot (grandpa), it was like he invented a new way to bowl, called rickoshay bowling. He did pretty good at it but couldn't catch Ian who bowled in the traditional way. I did good so I was happy. We went to lunch and then back to checkout Rocky and Heather. Thursday Zane had to go to school, bummer, Rocky had to go to the doctors, so g and g hung out in Chico until lunch, when school was out we went and got Zane and then he had to go get his flu shot which he didn't know about so he was a little sad but when it came time for the shot he was fine and seemed to forget all about it by the time we got home. Then off to gymnastics and wow Zane really does know how to jump, tumble and swing. That was fun fun fun, then we went to dinner with everyone, Rocky was so good slept the whole time. The grahams have their cute apartment all homey and settled in. Our trip home was long but was fun cause we brought Robert down to King City to work on his movie script which he hopes will get he and Rod into the Sundance script writing workshop which they were ASKED to apply for. Looking forward to Thanksgiving so we can see ALL our brilliant grandkids.

Maybe it helps with the BRAIN

Just a note on my last blog. I was able to figure out how to do pictures correctly on my blog, I remembered without looking at instructions how to get a picture off the internet, I figured out how to easily put it in my iphoto and how to load it into my blog in a matter of like a minute. I did rebound this morning so maybe it is working on the brain too. Yippee!

Rebounding Fun

OK, so I have found a new piece of exercise equipment that I love. Well, it has only been 2 days so maybe I am jumping the gun! But so far I do love it. For your information that is me and dad come GYAP. Lol.

I have been back on track with the treadmill and elliptical and we also got a loan of stationary bike, but I guess that just wasn't enough for me. Not sure why but I was all jazzed about getting the rebounder. I waiting and saved my allowance and we got it on Sat. I was off the exercise because I was having problems with, my hip and my shoulders. I don't regret the time off cause I think it was needed but I do regret the weight gain. But with my new program on the already acquired equipment I have been feeling better but no help with the weight. Even with the increase in incline and resistance, but because I feel better I haven't minded TOO much but now I am going to try the new kid in town. I'll keep you posted on how it goes. Suppose to be easy on the joints, no shin splints and also all these other amazing benefits, it is fun but harder than it looks for this grandma. One site I looked at said the balance bar was not needed UNLESS you were training a GRANDMA!! I'm glad mine came with a balance bar!!! Ha ha.

Free Time

Once a year we get a free hour. What can we do with a free hour? Most of us celebrate by sleeping an extra hour, sounds good to me. Trick or treat for an extra hour? Eat candy for an extra hour, watch a scary movie for an extra hour? What are you going to do with YOUR extra hour.

Working on It

I know that my pictures and blogs are kind of all mixed up. I am learning and I'm still working on learning how to do things. Thanks for not making fun of me.

Healthy Low Calorie Recipes and Menus

Healthy Low Calorie Recipes and Menus

First Try @ a Tri

Big day for grandpa. He was the swimming leg of the Fort Hunter-Liggett triathlon. He has been training for 5 months, swimming 5 days a week in the summer and 3 days a week since school started. Today was the big day, he was ready, nervous but ready. The even is very small compared to the Wildflower at Lake San Antonio, but it was fun. We knew a lot of the other athletes even some of the army participants cause they are in our ward. The army participation was less than the sign up because they were in manuvers which were postponed because of the rain. I guess the army is not as tough as Survivors. For those who don't follow Survivors, they had to survive through the hurricane that hit Samoa, they cut them no slack, raining and raining and cold and windy for days and days everything wet, their skin shriveling up from being so wet. Anyway the army guys don't have to do that, I guess cause it doesn't rain in Iraq or Afghanistan. So now that the weather is nice they are out there manuvering.

Dad did good, his team didn't win anything but that was OK. The winning team had Brent Green who was a last minute add on, Chuck Krouse, and Lawson Welburn who was also a last minute add on. So basically the team with the least about of training time won. What does that say?? I don't KNOW. (pee wee's voice). They had a nice after event luncheon at the Hacienda and handed out the awards, it was all good. I think the ones who did it without teams were mostly all army, at least the winners. I'm not sure if Bruce is now more scared or less scared of the Wildflower. But he had fun.

Dressed for Autumn

Did you ever wonder why Fall/Autumn has two names, Winter is just winter, Spring just spring and Summer just Summer? Makes ya go hummm.

Well, thanks to my granddaughter, Madeline, my house is now dressed for fall/autumn. When we were with m,s,s last sat. Maddy asked me if my house was all decorated for fall. Hummm, not really, I had thought about it, really. Actually I had made a fall 3D thingy like I had made for summer but that was it. It made me think of when I would call my mom and ask if she had decorated for Christmas and she said kind of but she wasn't getting a tree. Now in my house when I was growing up, the tree was a BIG deal, it was 100% tradition. We shopped for the tree as a family, we didn't put the tree up until Christmas eve no matter what, we decorated the tree as a family while watching some movie about Sinbad, every year some strange story of Sinbad on Christmas eve, I have no clue on that one, then after we went to bed my mom would stay up until late putting on the aluminium tinsel one strand at a time, no clumping allowed. The presents would then go under the tree so when we came down the stairs Christmas morning we would see the beautiful glowing tree with all the gifts, breath taking. But I digress, I do digress a lot. So as a grandma, having my granddaughter ask if I had decorated called me out. So out came my fall decorations. I had to do a little hunting in the garage, but I found the box. I also made a little trip to Rite Aid where all the fall stuff was 50% off yeah got a few cute things to add to my collection and went to work. It was fun, I got everything all cleaned up looking very fallish and knock knock, a visitor. How fun was that. My friend Dayna, just came for a chat and there was my house all dressed for the party. Looking forward now to Thanksgiving and feeling festive. Thank you Maddy for the little push.

Rain is raining all Around

When the weather man says rain, I say yea right I will believe it when I see it! Well, we are seeing it today, it is raining pretty good. We had our roof fixed, this time it was a real roofing company from Castroville, Williams Roofing. We didn't know what we were missing until we chose them. They were great, very professional with a contract and an estimate and they came when they said they would and they did what they said they would, it was a new and enjoyable experience. But I digress. This is about rain. But, because of the wonderful fixed roof, the rain is back to being something that I enjoy not dread. It was, OH No not rain, get the buckets, get the towels, today it was Oh listen to sound of the rain, look at the puddles and the raindrops, isn't it fun. I do love the rain. I know my lawn and flowers will be happy, I hope that the lakes will fill up and be happy, I hope people will slow down and drive carefully, I hope children will splash in the puddles and stay well. Fall is here and I am ready. (smily face)

A Good Day in SLO, Is There Any Other Kind?

Saturday in San Luis Obispo, what is it about that town? Ever since we moved to King City as youngun's we have loved San Luis Obispo. We wanted to live there, way over our price point, Bruce wanted to teach there, just hired a new band teacher, so we just visit. I remember taking my mom to SLO, she loved it too, what is it about that town?

This Saturday we were meeting up with Sarah, Maddy and Sage, Sarah and Maddy were running a half marathon the next day so they were able to "hang out" with us. It was fun, we went to lunch at Pepe Delgado's, Maddy remember that place from when they lived there, good food. Then we decided to stroll around the great shops, that was so fun. Madeline is a real fashionesta, she has a great eye and knows a lots about what is good and what is not. She pretty much looks like a model, I noticed she got a lot of "looks". I think she didn't even see them, which is a good thing. As we were looking in the girly stores grandpa and Sage went off on their own. I got a scarf and had a private lesson on how to wear it, I am looking forward to doing that soon. Madeline got some really cute things that I guess she is willing to share with her mom, Sage got some things he wanted and grandpa got some headphones, I guess you can't have too many headphones. The weather was fab, the company rad, the parting sad (not really, we will meet again soon) so all it all a great fall day in a charming California town. Thanks

We Thank Thee Oh God for a Prophet

I just want to say how great it was to watch conference. It was like the joy of watching the sun rise, feeling the warmth on your face and the start of a new day.

After listening to all the negativity on the news on TV and reading the paper, it really was like a breath of fresh air. Encouraging and uplifting. Some of my favorite hymns were sung and some that I kind of like were actually tweeked so they sounded fresh and new. I am so thankful to be able to hear and see our prophet and his conselors and the twelve apostles. To hear their loving words and their burning testimonies really made my day. Also thankful that we could record conference and be able to watch it over at our leisure. Got to love technology.

Leaning to Learn and Facing your Fears

Had a great fall weekend letting go and learning to learn. What is she talking about you may wonder. Dad and I took a watercolor class this Sat. The lady who taught it teaches at Cuesta College lives in Lockwood I think, out by the lakes. She was great. Everyone was at a different level, from the young kid who hadn't done any art at all, some who had taken a class from this lady before, to some of us who had been "trained" in art. The fear part was the watercolor part. My feelings were well you just can't do watercolor, Suzette. But I decided to give it a try, hey for 30 dollars it was really a good deal. from 9-4. Sounds like a long time but somehow the time just flew. Joy, the teacher was very accepting but at the same time helpful. Taught us some good information on mixing watercolor, we did some beginning exercises and then after lunch we did our main work. 3 hours and still far from finishing. It was so great to have a class to take in King City and be able to learn to learn all over again and face the fear of watercolors. I think I can do it!! I think I can, I think I can.

Life is a box of Chocolates

Well, this past weekend can be called a real roller coaster, up, down all around. Saturday started out so great, doing a few things around the house and then I headed up to Salinas to get to spend some time with my two daughters and some of the grandkids and Seth. Rebekah came down to help poor Chelsea out who is going through the rough 3-4 months of morning sickness. Those who don't or haven't had to experience this are lucky and sometimes unsympathetic, it can be a on going non stop feeling of never feeling yourself. Always a little nauseus not just in the morning, waiting for and fearing the vomiting. Food is not your friend but then neither is non eating, one of the pleasures of life turns into a backstabbing two faced fiend. Anyway, so Rebekah came down with Nolan and Max to help her sister, catch up on her homemaking. Any one who has been around Beba when she turns into Mrs. Clean know an untapped national energy source! When I got there they were on to the food planning and shopping. Seth was great to watch the kids while we went off with list in hand to do the Costco thing. It was fun, we had a good time, Chelsea had to sit down now and again to let the unpleasant feelings pass but it was fun. We got back to Chelsea's where we were able to get some meals prepared some partly prepare and all the stuff put away and organized. Off to home I went feeling happy and content that I had been of some help.

As I pulled up into the driveway Bruce was pulling out. Turns out that Linda Thompson's special needs daughter was in the hospital. He and Brent went over to give her a blessing. While he was gone I settled down to watch the RS women's conference I had missed while at Chelsea's. It was a lovely conference, which encouraged us to love and serve one another. Durning the last part I started hearing a helicopter, sometimes we hear those when they are going to the hospital, of course I wondered if that was for Linda's daughter Anna. Bruce came home things were not good for Anna she was very sick, he felt that she was at the end of her life. The helicopter was not for her. Then we started to hear the helicopter more, then more then it was kind of just going over our block with the big searchlights shining down in our yard. OK, that is a scary thing, what's going on??? Lock the doors. Finally after about 20 minutes it goes away. Now it is about 11:00pm. Off to bed we go, a little shaken and tired. Eleven-thirty the phone rings, wake up, it is the high school principal. Turns out that someone broke into the auditorium got caught by the police, ran away, thus the helicopter but got caught so we can relax, back to sleep. 3:45 am phone rings this time it is Linda, can we give her a ride home. That means she is leaving the hospital, that means Anna has died. Who is Anna? Anna is Linda's daughter of about 40 years, born with special needs, Linda was advised to send her off to live in a care facility so Linda could go on with her life, besides they said she wouldn't live long anyway. I've been told to send a daughter to a care facility so I 100% understand why Linda said no way. So for 40 years Linda has cared for Anna, day in day out. It is a long and tragic story but you can understand how devestating this would be for a mother. So off we go in the middle of the night to take a friend home after this. We get her home, and stay with her a while then get her settled on the futon where she sleeps. She shares her home with her other daughter and her 3 children. But Linda sleeps on the futon in the front room. This is a home of small means, that is an understatement. Linda has a folded blanket for her head and a blanket to cover her. Though she is my age she is in a wheelchair now, diabetes has taken it's toll. She spent her strenght and life working the night shift at the hospital and caring for her children during the day. Now she spends her days caring for her 3 grandkids a troubled and ungrateful daughter and sleeping on a futon with a folded blanket for a pillow. Is she bitter, no, is life hard, yes. So I ask her if she has the folded blanket for a pillow because she prefers it, no she says, they don't have much. Funny how things work out, I was just cleaning out one of my closets and getting rid of an over abundance of what???? Pillows.

Well, home we went, sleep came hard even though I have a new bed and a great pillow and a peaceful bedroom. Morning arrived quickly, off to church, testimony meeting. Who it there to bare her testimony and give thanks? Linda.

President Jacobs was there, we chat after church. He is a great man with a lot of insight. He has listens when the Lord is instructing him, and he shared what he had been learning. He has been understanding that those of the saints who have will and need to be giving to those who have not. He believes and hopes that the saints who have will be able to feel and understand this without being instructed by their bishops. I have been feeling that it is important that we (meaning me) learn the principles of resource management. Which I have felt was some secret I didn't know. But have been learning and trying to practice what I have been learning. Now I maybe I am learning more. What can I do? I will now be searching out to find the answer to that. I am also overwhelmed with my blessings. Not just the "things" I have, more so the blessings of my wonderful children and children-in-love, and the great wonderful joyful grandchildren I have been blessed with. Still learning, growing and stretching at 60. Onward and upward.

What's it all about Alfie?

Alfie was a great movie. Love Michael Cain, love British like Heather loves Amish. Loved the song, "What's it all about Alfie, is it just for the moment we live..." (now we are talking about the 60's as well as me being 60. Alfie is a playboy who has no affection for the women he woos, his life is lived for himself, then in the end things happen and the movie ends with him realizing or coming to grips with his life and how he is choosing to live it.

Today I attended a funeral for a man who was a year older than me. I never met him, yet I was asked to give the closing prayer by the bishop. Evidently he had been married several times, at present he was married and had a 3 year old son. He had other children from other marriages, didn't see any of them, there were about 20 people at his funeral, looked like it was mostly his wife's family, I say that because she is Asian and most of the people there were also.

I felt sad for him. Where were his friends, where were his children? No words for him but from the bishop who had only recently become aquainted with him. What happened to cause this. A funeral in a church he had never attended though he was a member on the roles. No friends from his days in the service, no friends from his work at the prison. Strangers conducting and participating in the funeral, only his wife in tears. Caught me up short. Making me think....What's it all about Alfie? I am grateful that I do know what it is all about but I also know I could do better, I want to do better.

I love sister Hartey

Today was my temple service day. I enjoy my temple day for many reason. Today was special cause Sister Hartey was there. I haven't seen Sister Hartey for quiet a few months. I missed her sweet spirit and her friendly smile. Sister Hartey is 90 years old. She has one son and one grandson who is I think like 4 or 5 years old. Her husband is no longer alive, she babysits her grandson, she host the holiday dinners she serves in the temple once a week and she always happy and friendly. Oh, yes she is humble too. I love Sister Hartey.

The Big Bed and I don't spell well so what

Just reporting in on the new big bed. Sometimes you make a mistake, my (I'm taking personal responsibility) mistake was ordering a bed off the internet. A bed that I really didn't know anything about except that it wasn't a water bed, I was so over the water bed, and supossidly it was a bed with super duper relaxation qualities. Sounded good. It even had a guarentee. Well, it was great for a while, like 2 days, mi esposse no like it ( it is el grito today the Mexican independence day so I am speakin a little espanoal.) He didn't like it cause he said it smelled funny, since I don't smell well I didn't care, well I did care so I got a mattress pad that I thought would block the smell. Maybe it worked, he stopped complaining. Then I got a better mattress pad after I slept on my sisters bed that was very comfy and she had a really nice mattress pad so I thought that would do it. It kind of did it for a while. But lately I had developed aches and pain. I could only sleep in one position and even then I woke up tired, achey and unhappy. After sleeping on Chelsea and Seth's bed over a weekend, waking up refreshed and not sore, I had a light bulb moment, it's the bed!! Call me slow, go ahead call me slow. We went shopping the next week for a bed. Beds are not cheap, well some of them are but after our last experience, (it was not cheap money wise it must have been cheap construction wise), we didn't want a cheap bed. We found a place that seemed like they 1. had a large selection, 2. was an actual store where we could test out the beds 3. delivered to King City 4. had a guarentee. We tested almost every bed in the place even the one for $36,000, yes ladies and gentleman 36,000 big ones, 36,000 smackeroos, 36,000 g washingtons. It was nice but not THAT nice. We found one we both liked and we got the king, I know I already mention the king, that is part of the notes from the sixties, it does then come down to the king or separate bedrooms, we chose the king. Now with almost 2 weeks past I must report it is great. Sleeping great, lots of room, I can now sleep on my back again. We had a 45 day return policy that I don't think we will need to use. I am only hoping that the 10 yr guaruntee does not need to be used but if it does I saved all the paperwork. While looking for the id number to register the bed I saw that it was manufactered on Aug. 24 2009, we ordered it on the 21st so it was not sitting around some skanky warehouse waiting for some poor sap to snap it up. A Good night sleep to you all where ever you may be and may you not every decide to order a bed off the internet.

A Friend in Indeed is a Friend Indeed even when you're not in Need

To the surprise of my children, (well they are used to it now), I have friends. Right now my BFF is Dayna. Well, after my eternal BFF, of course. Anyway, she is always coming up with fun things to do. On Friday she planned a fun day for her, Barbara Ramaro (who is also my friend) and myself. We went to one of the Monterey City art galleries that I didn't even know about. It is tucked up off the main streets up a little hill in what used to be one of the old adobe, (can you say adobe) homes of the original Monterey. They have since built on to it and enlarged it but it is still cool. It is a lovely place surrounded by large trees and walled gardens with fountains and tiled walls. The galleries are the newer part built in modern times with large glass windows and high ceiling. The show we went to see was original art from children's books. I loved it and learned a lot from seeing them close up. Some of the things I learned were that they are not large. Some of them, like the art of Beatrix Potter (Peter Rabbit) are quiet small, most of them were almost close to the size they were in the books. The other thing I thought was so interesting was the combination of media that was used, like watercolor and oil, watercolor and colored pencil, most of them were some combination of media. They were also amazingly detailed, well most of them, some of them like the one from the Madeline book was like in the stories kind of a loose sketchlike work. All of them lovely and inspiring. We then went over to Lighthouse and found a tiny Greek restaurant that Barbara knew about, The Paprika Cafe. Of course I liked that. I had the lamb kabobs, good, rice ok, taboolie ok, the hunmas the best I have ever had, and a little sliver of baklava, very good. So we left there full and happy, drove over to a nursery in Carmel picked out some nice plants to bring home and oooed and aaahed over the beautiful flowers they had, then drove back over to cannery row to the frozen yogurt place we found when Eric and the boys were down, I'm sure only because Dayna knows how much I like frozen yogurt. We took a short cut that went from Pacific Grove to Monterey down this huge hill. I was fine at first and then the weird "Hill fear" crept in, I didn't have to close my eyes but I did have to control the scream that was creeping up my throat, "We're all going to die!!!" Instead I just announce, "I have a fear of hills" Dayna said I could close my eyes since she was driving but I chose to tuff it out.

We talked and shared and laughed and had a good time. The weather was the best. I'm teaching in Relief Society tomorrow about friendship. I'm grateful for friends, the ones that lift you up and help you feel good about yourself. Here's hoping I can be a good friend to others.

I got to have a little time at the Words before I hit Walmart and took my drive home. Missed seeing much of Sadie, she was napping but Linkin was as always good for a laugh and Chelsea is always fun to be with. So that's the tail of a day of fun for someone who is 60.

Run Silent, Run Deep

Attempt #2 @ blogging.

Ok, Run Silent Run Deep was a movie about a submarine, this blog is about swimming. Both have to do with water, cause my swimming is neither silent nor deep. To go deep you must be muscular, my body is like a human floaty. All those little cute fat cells keep me wonderfully afloat.

Swimming is not my strong suite, nor running, nor jumping, I'm a walker, so the fact that I go swimming several times a week is interesting. It all started with my husband having a gall bladder attack. Lots of pain, the solution was have the gall badder out!! Normally I would think he would go for that, if it offends you pluck it out, but NO, not this time, this time somehow reason took over and he decided if he got in shape his gall bladder would not bother him. Simultaneously Sarah decided the best gift she could give her dad was a personal trainer, the stars alined and voila, my husband turned into a jock, well it wasn't over night but nevertheless, a jock he is. As he transforms himself, with the help of the Sarahlike trainer, she starts to realize this guy is serious, so she invites him to participate in the swimming part of a triathelon, so he starts swimming and asks nicely if I would also like to swim.

Well, I never had swimming lessons. I can kind of swim, but I feel very self conscious about the whole thing. I'm thinking things like the life guard is going to 1. laugh, 2. stop me and say you can't swim laps cause that is not really swimming and 3. point me out to the other life guards so they can all have a good laugh. But that doesn't happen so I go. I like the water, it is just the swimming. So back and forth I go looking up at the beautiful blue sky. The pool closes for the summer. Bruce announces that we will now be going to Soledad to swim, no "would you like to go to Soledad to swim?" Just "now we are going to Soledad" OK, now I have to worry all over again about the 1,2, 3 but it doesn't happen so back and forth I go, with a smile on my face. Not silent, not deep but content.

Tiptoe through the Tulips

I just love reading the blogs of my family members. They are so creative and fun. I think it may be a little like karaoke, when someone else is doing it it looks fun and kind of easy, but.... humm.

So this is my first blog entry. The name of my blog is Notes from the Sixties. The sixties could be like the 1960's cause I was there for that but this title is really notes from me who is now somehow unbeknown to myself sixty years old. Not sure how that happened, I'm thinking it must be some kind of time warp, a fold in the time continuum that took me from 35 to 60 in a blink of an eye, Blink 182 maybe.

I'm not sure that I can really explain 60, cause I don't feel like what I thought 60 was way back when I was 28. Sixty was old but I am not old. Now my moms 60 was also not old, she was always young, even after she had her stroke she was young, I could see past the old outside into the young eye. My dad at 60 was also young, he didn't really retire until he was 75, and the company he worked for MADE him retire. He told me after they retired him that he had never in his life been fired until now. That made me laugh, "dad you weren't fired, you are retired AND you are 75, not 65. He kept busy, even though he became a grumpy old man, now that I look back he was probably grumpy cause his body was falling behind and not keeping up with what he wanted to do. His last little bit of life at 88 he accepted his mortality and he wasn't grumpy anymore. As a matter of fact his last week on earth he seemed very much at peace with the whole situation, which was interesting to me because he never appeared to have any relationship with God at all so I thought he might be a little worried about what was to come, but he didn't seem to be at all. Then my dad's mom, well she was my gram, she died at 95 so at sixty she was a grandma but she was a hard working grandma, and she was very pretty and kept herself up. So her 60 was not old, and then my mom's dad died at 98, I didn't know him at 60, that's another story, but I'm thinking no, he was not old at 60, so I guess at 28 I was very wrong about 60 and in fact 60 is still young. So good news for all you young'uns.

What 60 means then, I don't have to worry about getting pregnant, nor do I have a choice to become pregnant, and after having six kids that is a good thing, though I love them all dearly. It also means I know things and understand things I didn't know or understand before. Which can bring a lot of peace and contentment. Some of the negatives are I don't feel I can wear some of the really cute young shoes that I see in the stores, love the shoes still. I have to be careful about the clothes I pick out and remember I am not dressing the 28 year old me. But I am never going to the grandma clothes, even if I am 98. The whole plucking of the eye brows is becoming difficult, it has to do with either having the glasses on and actually seeing the hairs or removing the glasses so you can reach the hairs that you then can no longer see. The body is not as cooperative as it used to be. It does want to have a few aches and pains, which is a pain. You just have to work a little harder to get it in shape and it does put up a bit of resistance.

One of the best things is though that I am no longer as impatient as I used to be. I am able to take a little more careful time with things. I keep thinking about Zen which I am not sure if I know what that is but I think, take your time, do a good job, slow and steady wins the race. Now you have to be careful that that doesn't just make you start things you don't finish. Wait for the paint to dry and 10 years later finish the job. So there is some careful balancing you must do.

So there you go, my first blog. Hope it is at least a little bit of interest but if not, try again I may do better next time.