JUST HOOOOOOLD ON A MINUTE

I'm really trying to post some stuff, but blogger won't let me!  I'll try again tomorrow after a good night's sleep.  I'm sure I'll wake up with anticipation and excitement for the frustration that awaits me. NOT!

THE BRITISH ARE COMING! THE BRITISH ARE COMING!!

The 'british' are HERE!!! Dana, James, Toby, Brady & Ellie arrived at our house late last Saturday night. They were excited, tired and totally lost on what time it was and when they were supposed to eat and sleep for about three days. 

The first day they were here was Sunday, so we took it easy. They actually made it through the whole three hours of church! Toby & Brady have been 'working out' on the weight machine in the garage, so Brady was showing his muscles in the pic with Ellie & me.  Ellie is wearing a dress that Dan's mom made for Dana when she was 2 or 3. 

Early Monday morning Toby was sick and had to stay in bed. It was sad when he could hear the rest of the family having fun in the pool, and all he could do was barf. Ellie is fearless, and Brady is learning to swim. Dana & James got a little sun and relaxing in.

 When Toby was feeling better, he found the post-its and started laying down the rules. (doughnuts are the inner tubes, and noodles are the styrofoam pool tubes) Beware of the 'explosive noodles!

Ellie is very determined, and she wanted to swim in the pool. So, even though we had the door closed and locked and the security gate around the pool padlocked...she crawled through the dog door and shook and shook the gate until it opened! We now have the gate tied and locked! She usually gets what she wants, one way or another...Little Stinker.

Tuesday was a beach day with the rest of the Haymore clan in La Jolla. The other 28 Haymores were staying in La Jolla, and they all invaded La Jolla Shores that day.

Toby loved digging a swimming pool, and directed all the other cousins to fill it with buckets of ocean water.



Can you tell which of the kids on the beach lives in England? Here's a clue...which one looks like he lives where it's cloudy and rainy?

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All three of our grandkids are very tall for their age, and very smart...oh, and cute. That's all for now, cuz I'm getting frustrated uploading and posting pictures that have a mind of their own. 

WHAT'S ON MY MIND TODAY

   Today, I am grateful for the trials that my Heavenly Father has given to ME. Yes, that's right. They aren't always easy to handle, but that's how you learn and grow.  Today I drove my good friend to the doctor.  She has had many trials to deal with, lately they include a Lupus flair up, shingles on her face(who knew that was even possible!), and pneumonia.
    I decided I'd be quite content with trying to live with my Fibromyalsia, and other stuff. It always helps to see others issues to put yours into perspective.
    How did life get so fast-paced and stressful? If you said to yourself, "technology", that could be part of it, but I don't understand and use all the technology available. I don't need lots of 'stuff' either.  I gave up my shoe fettish years ago. We purge our house and garage pretty often.  I will admit that I've collected lots of fabric and scraps that I have creative plans for...that take up too much space.
    Last night Dan & I played a game of checkers together.  It was nice. (and not just because I creamed him) I plan on backing off of things that stress me out, and replacing them with selfless, happy things.  First, I might like to 'share' Eddie with someone...on a permanent basis...if you know what I mean.

LITTLE DOG...LOTS OF HAIR?!!

So, even though Eddie is a small dog, he is shedding like he weighed 100 lbs!! I brush him twice a day, and he still covers me & the house in his black hairs!  I figured that getting a small dog would do away with the wads of hair blowing across the tile floor, but I was soooo wrong.

Hence, I decided to concoct a device to cover and hold in his hair until I was in a convenient location to let the hair out.  I pounced on my idea with one of my old t-shirts.  It's light & cottony, so it should still keep him cool.(in more ways that one)  It summery, since it's a faux surf tour shirt, also.

Okay, so he's still getting used to it...but it serves it's purpose. Maybe he just doesn't like hand-me-downs.

ODDS & ENDS

I realized lately that I'm losing my ability to communicate well with others. I really don't get out much, and don't have a friend I chat with on the phone for hours like I used to.  Facebook and texting don't count. Those are 'quick note' kind of things, and they usually aren't even using correct grammar or spelling!

I made a comment on facebook that I later had to delete. Anyone who knows me would have found it humorous, and maybe this person did, but I don't know her and she called me 'rude'.  Being called rude isn't a new thing for me. (Actually, in 6th grade my teacher said I was rude so often that I wanted her to call me Rudy!) Anyway, my friend had posted a picture of her upper body sunburn. Someone had made a comment of a concoction of honey, wheat germ, some kind of oil, etc., which would help my friend's sunburn. I, joking sarcastically(duh), commented that my friend could then attract bees, and possibly even stir fry on her chest after that. I deleted my comment and apologized to the mysterious woman.

Through many years of trial and error, I have usually learned when to keep from blurting out my thoughts without censor. I have also learned, Dan doesn't always enjoy my sarcasm, so I've held back soooo many 'good ones'! My children have inherited my sarcastic gene, and when we are together Dan chooses to leave the room.

So, here I am, talking to myself about having no one to talk to...hmmm. I think I need to have a friend in the window reflection, like Anne Shirley. When I was little, I could talk to my dog, King, and he was a great listener and would console me with licks afterward.  Eddie seems to fall asleep at the sound of my voice. I found it helps when I talk to him in an annoying high pitched voice, but that gets tiring for me after very long.

It doesn't help that my brain is dying, too. I was going to say 'slowly dying', but it doesn't seem to be doing the 'slowly' thing. I can't think of LOTS of words and can't remember LOTS of things that I did or was a part of. Hopefully, I'm headed to the part of my life where I can get back to blurting out whatever pops into my head without censor, and people will just roll their eyes and shake their head mumbling something about 'crazy old lady'.

THE THINGS IN YOUR NEIGHBORHOOD

I went out to my mailbox & noticed a few of my neighbors across the street. They were all looking over on my side of the street, gazing at something. I asked what they were all looking at. Someone said, "Oh, just a dog...on a roof."  I turned a little and was suprised to see my next door neighbor's german shepard mix up on their roof! She was just sitting there like it was her throne, which is funny since her name is Reina(queen). I saw that she had escaped through a window screen that was mangled, so I told her to go back inside, which she reluctantly did. I went back into my house, and a couple of minutes later I saw the crowd out front in the same position. This time, I took my camera, and there she was again.



Notice she's smiling




Reina's creative doggie door

I admire my neighbors for having such a unique alarm system that is disguised as a fancy yard ornament!

I NEVER EXPECTED THE GRIM REAPER

Last Saturday I was getting ready to leave the house, when Dan informed me that I had to be home at 10:00. That was odd.  I needed to get a gift and go to a bridal shower luncheon! Since the next day was Mother's Day, I figured he had something up his sleeve, so I waited.  Soon, the Grim Reaper showed up at our door!  Hey, not everyone gets the Grim Reaper visiting them for Mother's Day, eh?!  I feel 'SPECIAL'!  I don't remember exactly how this started, but when the kids wouldn't get out of bed, & when I was a leader at Girls' Camp I would wake them up singing this song OFF KEY & LOUD.  Nothing says, "Get your butt out of bed!!" better. Dana actually wanted to get some women to dress as nuns to do this, but...anyway, here it is.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HAqnOlX5luw

Brian & Chelsey now feel that they can't compete for my love and attention after this display from Dana, sent from 'across the pond'.  I love ALL my kids!

YEAH FOR A NEW POST

I've been putting off posting something new, since everytime I post something I get very frustrated. I guess that's why I need to post new things, so I get the practice and won't get so frustrated. Practice, practice, practice!  I just had a flashback of piano lessons and Miss Spencer. Which reminds me that my piano skills are severely lacking since I don't have a piano to practice on. Sorry, I digress...let me think of something I've been doing lately that would be blogworthy...thinking...  ....  ...still thinking...I better look at my pictures.

I'm already getting frustrated. Anyway, we went to the beach in April during a heatwave. The beach was amazingly crowded, but you can't tell from these pics. I waited until the people weren't in the shot. Dan got me a new camera for Mother's Day(early) so I was getting a little artsy with my pictures.

Our pool is giving us problems, again, so we had to empty and refill it. We just hope the filter hangs in there until we strike it rich!

A couple of weeks ago we drove to San Clemente and checked out a timeshare that we're going to stay at after the summer tourists have left town.



Jealous much?







YEA, WE FOUND THE FAKE BOFLEX

Last saturday we had the missionaries help us clean out the garage. YEA!!!  Here in our little abode in So Cal, the garage is like the basement in other places to live. It's the only storage area we have. It's also the laundry room. It was getting difficult to get to the washer & dryer and have room to open the doors. Our aisle through the stuff was close to being a small footpath with changing hazards along the way. Hooray for missionaries who are looking for service to do! They were even excited about some of their finds that we let them take home...empty binder, plastic cups, Book of Mormon(Spanish maybe), etc. They were thrilled to take home the leftover pizza we had for lunch, too. I finally had to say, "No" when they wanted the fake Boflex. They did have fun with it while we were working.

We had them cut up the gross, dirty carpet that was covering the floor of the garage, so they wore our emergency masks. Elder Stone seemed to like his alot. Note to self: get more emergency masks before next firestorm.



It may still seem messy to you, but we could fit one car in there if the home gym wasn't there.





It might look like a beautiful day, but the rain clouds were threatening off and on all day. Also, with a driveway full of stuff, we had to keep our eye on things, or garage salers would have taken off with some good stuff! Dan put a bench by the curb with a sign that said "FREE" and it was gone in 5 minutes.

The stuff in the pic looking into the garage shows piles of things that we still need to put in the garbage, but the can was full. On the right, behind the garbage cans, are my craft overflow shelves that I still need to organize. We also came across these:

A couple of self portraits Chelsey drew when she was 10. Quite talented, I may add.

An adorable picture of me at 2 1/2 yrs old.



And a beautiful picture of Dana when she was 16 or 17 yrs old.

I've already made use of the 'feauxFlex' and my body is reminding me how old and out of shape I am. Doing the wash was almost likeable, too...almost.



RAWLINGS MAKE A SHOWING IN SO CAL

I'm finally getting my wits about me, since all the wedding festivities have come to a close. I never knew a house could get so messy, dirty & unorganized, but I'm spending my days repairing the damage of neglect.  Here's a few pics from the San Diego Open House.


Insert bride here.




Found one!




don't know who these guys are




This was before the flowers were put in the birdcage




It was a gorgeous evening





Bracken ate a kumquat for the 1st time. Should have taken a video to catch the full affect!

It was a beautiful night with friends and new family. The weather couldn't have been any better. Lots of cakes, fruit & candy.  I think Chelsey's wearing her wedding dress most of the time, now, to get her moneys worth.(and look gorgeous) They are happily crowded in their tiny basement apt....since it's 'vintage'.  8)



THE HAPPY COUPLE

Chelsey & Bracken are now living their 'happily ever after'!  We still have an Open House to prepare and pull off this week, so more pics will come later. We also still have to get all the pics the photographers have taken.

The beautiful Logan Temple.







Who is this handsome young man?





COINCIDENCE?...I THINK NOT

Many of my faithful followers may remember my family's Lindsay Limo, from the first 16 years of my life. It was well known far & wide, and we have many fond memories of the limo. Since I was the youngest of six kids, I usually got stuck laying across the back window, like a cat, even though there was plenty of room, what with the trundle seats and all. Driving down the freeway in LA, we got quite a few stares since we were mistaken for celebrities, so we just smiled and waved.

I remember getting my thumb slammed in the amazingly heavy car door. I'm suprised I still have that digit intact. My favorite memory is my sister, Lisa, driving to high school in it. Once when she drove Donna & me home from school, we sat in the back like we were being chauffered, as usual. When Lisa took the shortcut home, by the railroad tracks, she cut the corner too close and the back 'wing' hit the railroad sign. We were all a little freaked that we had knocked off the wing, but were laughing too hard to care.

All these memories came flooding back as I pushed my Walmart cart to my car yesterday, and, as fate would have it, this Caddie was just pulling into the space right next to me. It was a little pimped out and driven by some nice looking people with tattoos and tank tops, so I started up a conversation with them as they exited the vintage beauty. The gentleman informed me it was a '62, ours was a '59 or '60 I think, but they didn't change the look of cars that often back then. I asked permission to take pictures of the gem, and he was happy to oblidge. I just wish I could have got the happy couple in the shot. So, for those of you who remember 'THE LIMO' this may trigger some memories...



Mind you, this one was 10 feet shorter, since it wasn't a limo.



Close up of the 'wings'



Sadly, our limo lacked the fuzzy leopard interior & detailing.

 These pics were taken with my phone, so they don't quite do it justice. So if you're driving around LA, or anywhere for that matter, and 'coincidentally' run across an old Caddie Limo, think of the Lindsay Limo fondly.

HOW MANY KLEENEX WOULD A WOODCHUCK CHUCK...?

I thought I'd change up the font, since I'm laying around bored, whilst I blow my nose for the millionth time today. Okay, not millionth, that was yesterday. Today is just half a box of Kleenex. This is the kind of cold that is good for those lotiony Kleenex, since they save the skin on my nose. Besides the being sick thing, I've also grown a giant zit on my chin! Some might consider this gross, but in my warped way I think of it as a compliment. My body thinks I'm still young enough to need zits!!! How's that for a 'bluebird of happiness' answer?

I still need to find a dress to wear to 'The Schnoog's' wedding. I've already forgotten if I mentioned in my last post that I tried to repurose the last dress, since it's the right color. I cut it up and tried to make an easy peezy skirt out of it, but the sewing machine decided to make groaning noises and eat the fabric. I'll try feeding the thing some oil later, but I'm not sure about saving the skirt/dress.

WHAT I'VE BEEN UP TO

I've been up to waaaay too much lately, but here are a few of the many.  I have spent day after day trying to find a 'robin's egg blue'(light turquoisey) dress to wear for Chelsey's wedding. I finally decided to sew a simple dress and embellish it with flounces. I found a very simple Butterick pattern, but have gone to three stores and they don't have it, or they seem to be phasing out Butterick patterns! I made a 'mock up' of a dress pattern I already have, but it's not really floatin' my boat. I may end up with a repurposed dress I already have, or a skirt and sweater.

The roof has finally been repaired! HOORAY!! Yes, you may join me in my enthusiasm! HOORAY!  Now on to the flooring and wall repair. I boxed up and moved the dining room stuff back to the dining room, even though those things will have to be moved again. I really needed to have my family room functional, since it's our only living space.  Relief Society has been constantly taking up my time. This month we have had a Parenting Panel/Game Night with Valentiney treats and also a Crock Pot cooking class. Luckily, next month is a Stake RS activity, which takes the place of our monthly Ward RS activity, and I'll be gone for the monthly cooking class.

Wedding stuff is an ongoing adventure. Gathering and organizing addresses is done, I hope. Now I'm on to stuffing and sending.

The cleared off dining table came in handy. All the bluebirds of happiness are stamps I'm doing on the back of the invites. I found the ink takes awhile to dry, so they have to be spread out. The address and return address are going to be printed on labels, since my hands are old and would cramp up if I had to write them all.

Now I need to clean/organize the garage and the craft room. The garage, so we can fit the furniture in there when the floor gets fixed.  The craft room, so Chelsey & Bracken can sleep in there when they come for the Open House. It doesn't sound like it would take forever, but between Dan & me we have the energy and strength of a 102 year old!

Here's a couple fun things about Dan.

He enjoys 'harvesting' his fruit trees, so he can share his bounty with others. He found this funny lemon, and drew a face and mouth on it.

Dan may be a thief, but he's an honest thief!  He left me this note on the kitchen counter when he had gone to work. In case you can't read it, it says,"Took your last $3.00". This is one of the reasons I love him. He has amazing integrity!

STRESS RELIEF

I've really been into making different kinds of flower pin accessories, lately.  It's either that or Sudoku, and flowers seem less of a waste of time. See if you can guess what this one is made out of.

Here's a different shot that might give you a clue.

See that tail hanging off it? I'll leave it at that for now, and see if I get any responses.

Here's another one of my stress relievers...

It helps to read the carton, since all but two of them are gone...ok, one left now. These are especially delicious since my Sugarlips gave them to me for Valentine's Day, AND the almonds are salty. Mmmmm!