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!