It's Hump Day

It's Wednesday, we had a nice rain today and last night. Couldn't walk this morning due to rain, but got up anyway and cleaned the kitchen and do more laundry. Does this sound boring? If it does, you don't have to read this. I was just thinking about General Conference and thought about how thankful I am to have the knowledge and faith of having a Living Prophet here on this earth. I am so grateful for the many blessings that I have. I try to remind myself to give thanks, and not for the big things but for the little things as well, like, breathing and the ability to be able to get out of bed on my own two feet, where others may not. Like the fact that we have a roof over our heads, and food and clothing, and so importantly that David and I are employed and have health benefits. So so thankful for that. I'm also thankful for sweet friends in the gospel. Where would I be without them? My friends are so helpful to me to help me navigate my way in this world not to mention my family and our Savior. I'm thankful for a working washing machine and dryer and number one and two appliances, my dishwasher and microwave. That may sound silly, but I do love them. I am thankful for my children, they help keep all beauticians employed, meaning covering my gray hair that my children give to me, or maybe that's age. I started going gray in my early 30's. I am thankful for my wonderful husband, he keeps me laughing. His sense of humor is one of the greatest things about him that I love. Okay, that's it for now. I could go on, but you are probably zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzing right now.

Lemons and Hydrangeas

It was a beautiful April afternoon today so to celebrate my friend Claudia's 55Th I invited her over for lunch. Claudia and 55 do not go together, she is the most youth like woman I know. She will try and do anything. I just love her. She brought with her one of her 26 grandchildren, little 1 year old Wendy, Bonnie's daughter. She is such a cutie. She is one and she likes to sing. Claudia says she finally got a musical grandchild. She sings, and she is plunking the piano. So I guess Grandma is going to teach this little one to play the piano real soon. She seems to be drawn to anything musical. She was beating our drums that we have in the family room. Okay, I took some pictures of my lemons and hydrangeas before they got here and then forgot all about taking pictures of our lunch. You'll have to trust me that it was good. On the menu: "SPRING SALAD WITH SLICED STRAWBERRIES & BALSAMIC VINEGAR DRESSING
ORZO PASTA SALAD
QUICHE LORRAINE
CROISSANTS
and for dessert:
MINI-CHEESE MARS CAPONE CAKE TOPPED WITH STRAWBERRIES
Is your mouth watering. Mine was. We both were so hungry. We caught up on all our kids. That's the best part. We have known each other over 20 years and it has been wonderful. I don't think we have aged a bit, at least inside. She has such great wisdom, insight, faith and such a great testimony of the gospel. I truly love her as a sister. Happy Birthday, Claudia.

Sisters Get-away

First of all, in case you didn't know, I am not photogenic, never have, never will be. So when I display any pics of myself, it's not for my own self indulgence, but for my memories. Now that I got that out of the way. My little sister Rhonda, I love her dearly, took me and my older sister Dawn on a much needed sisters outing. All expenses paid too. It was a whirlwind, but oh so fun. We stayed at the Palace Hotel, you'll have to check it out, Located on New Montgomery St right off of Market St. Very opulent, very Palatial! It was a mad dash to check in and then not knowing where Wicked was playing we took a taxi to the theater. Unbeknownst to us it was only about 5 blocks away. Now I never had the desire to see this play but I did hear of it. It was a nice surprise. Can I say it was soooooooooooo good! It got over around 11pm and because we hadn't eaten dinner we were so hungry. We decided to walk back to the hotel since everyone else seemed to be walking too. It was kind of strange, here it was 11:00 at night and there was so many people out at night. We never felt afraid we just kept walking with the crowd. We were going to order room service but who wants to pay $15 for nachos, or pretzels. So we got dressed again and went out and got the next best thing, the good ol standby, Mickey D"s. We brought it back to our room and had own own little party. Oh did I tell you the room had a King size bed, not two beds. I wish I took a picture of this. Me and my bright idea, I told my sisters we could sleep sideways that way we would fit better, poor Rhonda she got put in the middle. It was pretty comical. We actually slept pretty good. The reason Rhonda was in the middle is because she said she is always cold, well she said later that she actually got hot. She tried not wake us and every once in a while she said she would put out one leg out at a time to try and cool herself. I never woke up. We woke up around eight and I told them I wanted to take them to the next best thing to heaven. There is the best FOOD Court underneath the Market St Westfield's Mall. I'm telling you it is the best. We got there around 10:30am and Bristol Farms is the best place to eat. It's better than Whole Foods. You take a small box and you just fill it with what you want to eat. Of course you are charged by the pound. Let me just say, someone's box was a couple of pounds, not mine, someone elses. I have said the word "Best" a lot haven't I. I'll try and come up with some alternatives. Okay after we ate, course that is the most important thing. We walked up to Union Square, because Dawn hadn't been up there in years. Then we start asking each other, okay now where do you want to go to next? So off to Macy's, I needed to get some more lotion. Okay, while they were testing perfume I was waiting "patiently" to purchase my lotion. I guess city people are not used to people being patient, because I was, really I was. There was this couple before me and they couldn't decide what they wanted, and because I wasn't stammering or yelling or causing a scene, the Manager noticed and decided that she wanted to give me a Bag with accessories included because I was so patient. WOW I love freebies!! She didn't know I was eyeing the bag anyways. You know the kind, if you pay so much for something they throw in the free gift. I didn't care. So hey it pays to be patient. I just got myself another purse. YIPPEEE!!! Hey have you done the "Brow Bar? Never heard of it until this weekend. What else are you going to do when you are with your sisters and you feel daring. So we all got our brows done and free makeovers' again the Free thing. I like my brows thicker, since I don't have much to start out with but they'll grow back, I think. We walked through some more stores and then we decided, let's take the Cable Car to Fisherman's Wharf. Okay, picture, sardines in a can, yep that's what we were. The guy kept on stopping and adding more people he said we'd fit. We did, I now know some people a little to well for my taste. It was typical SanFran weather, a few sprinkles, then the sun would peek out, then it would get over cast, then some more sprinkles. It was beautiful. Once we got there, someone in our group wanted chocolate, like yesterday. So on with the hunt for Ghiradelli's we forgot where it was, I think we went around a couple of blocks more than once, and this one homeless fella thought we wanted to contribute to his cause over and over again. NOT. Once we found the Chocolate of all Chocolates we sat ourselves down right next to the chocolate making machine and just inhaled. Besides the delicious Old Fashioned sundae's I know I gained 10 lbs just from breathing in the aromas of this delectable Factory. We decied to walk off our appetizer and people watch all the vendor and street artists along the wharf. We ended up at Bubba Gumps on Pier 39. Okay. I never heard of this. They call your party, party of 3 and they direct you up the ramp. Then you wait, and wait and wait. Like, why did they call your party if they weren't ready to seat you. But alas patience is a virture, the wait was worth it. We got great seating with a beautiful view of Alcatraz and the bay. Lunch was at 4pm the day was going so fast, but it didn't seem that way. After getting a few souvienrs, it was on with the hunt for "ZOTS" I think that's how you spell it. My sister Dawn loves Zots, in fact that's all she wanted for her birthday last year. She doesn't ask for much. We looked in every candy store but no Zot's. Finally the very last store before we had to meet back at the Cable Car station we found her Zot's. The store keeper, said there must be a run on them. She went through 6 large boxes of them just that day. Do you remember Zot's?, it is a hard candy with the fizz inside. They come in strips. I guess you have to be over 40 to appreicate them. Well time to go, back in the Sardine Can of a trolley car. It was about an hour wait, but we were all serenaded by Phillip and his electric guitar. He must have been playing all day, because he was running out of songs. We got the alphabet song and eensy weensy spider renditions. He ended on an up with a Stevie Wonder, My Cheri'e we sang back up chorus . Picked up Rhonda's car from the hotel. Oh, I love GPS. We would have never found our way out of the city without it. Try having 3 women and one of them doesn't know which way is left get you to the Bay Bridge. Lots of Laughs some tears and Lots of advice. Notice that you can always solve each other's problems, but not our own? I love them so much. I have found as we are getting older that we have come to appreciate each other so much more.

Ray of Sunshine

Is there such a thing as the best funeral? If there is, I had the honor in attending one. Dirk Payne was such a great man, a great example of a Husband, Father, Priesthood Leader and friend. I'm not their mother, but if I was, I would be so proud of Lauren and Hannah for giving such great talks to honor their Father. They were composed and graceful in presenting their thoughts and feelings of their Father. I heard from many of those that were in attendance that it truly inspired them. It made us all want to do better, and help us to reflect our own lives. This picture is a small glimpse of sunshine that was felt that day.

Friends are like a bouquet of flowers

My dearest friend Mary Ann Buchan passed away at 1:15pm today, March 2nd 2009. She was a very young 51 year old. She died peacefully and surrounded by her cherished family. I'm going to miss her so much. Whenever I saw her whether it was at TJ Maxx or in an aisle at the store or Church, she was always uplifting others and had a beautiful smile on her face. She always boosted me up and asked how I was doing. I love her. I know she is fine, she is with our Heavenly Father, she is free now from this terrible disease we call cancer. But, again her family and friends will miss her deeply. I love you Mary Ann.

Blog party

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