It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas.

I haven’t posted in a long time.  It’s not that nothing is happening, but things have been pretty routine other than traveling.  We had a wonderful time in Barcelona and on the Suez Canal cruise.

Jeff is still struggling with the divorce, it is dragging on a long time because she will not agree to anything.  Everything goes to court which is expensive and slow moving.  We have stopped paying his attorney because we drained all of our short term savings to help him. Thankfully we have had the rental income to help with that. 

Deb and Same are doing okay.  She went back to school to be a paralegal and she is getting great grades and loves it.  Somehow it makes her less satisfied with her job, so I hope it all works out for her.  Sam was laid off but finally got another job.  It is not a great situation but he is still looking and has a contact for Monday.  The grandchildren all seem fine.  The stresses of divorce show on little Miranda’s behavior.  It is sad to see.  Spencer turned 19, he is not working or doing anything I guess.  We gave him a nice check for his birthday but didn’t even hear “thank you” so the check next year will shrink.  He never sent thank you cards or called the family for his laptop at graduation either.  I think that was a mistake.  We thought he was going to college…  I know I sound old but the younger generation just expects TOO MUCH! 

Julie is fine, but her care provider has become difficult to work with.  Not sure why, I don’t think she likes involved parents.  We want the best for Jul but weary of the struggle. 

Steven is still in the Navy.  He applied to get out one year early, not sure if that will happen or not.  He seems like too much of a party animal for me…:-( 

This has turned into a somewhat negative posting.  That is not really me but it is what the season brings to my soul.  It is not the birth of our Savior, I cherish that…but I miss those no longer with us that touched my life so much and made the memories I have.  I guess that is just part of getting older. 

Rain Drops

I think we’re ready to kiss the last of summer good-bye.  Oh yes, there will be more hot days for us but today we have clouds, distant thunder, and just a few giant rain drops with 77 degrees @ 7:30 am.  Wondering what the day will bring…

Happy Birthday Julianne – 22!!!

The family had a nice dinner at Red Robin to celebrate Julie’s birthday.  The only “missing” ones were Spencer (working!) and Steven (Navy).  Thankfully Deb could take her lunch hour at work and join all of us.  Her time is very limited now that she is in paralegal school 4 nights a week.  Julie had a great time! 

My Garden

Even with neglect for a month I still have a few tasty morsels to harvest. 

The herb is Lemon Balm and was delicious in iced green tea.

Summertime Lunch

Caprese Salad

Fresh mozzarella, basil, tomatoes… what’s not to love?

We’re Home…

… We’ve been home for few days now.  We brought Julie over the day after we were home as she wanted to come and it developed into the whole family having pizza here.  Well, not Steven of course…His birthday came and went without talking to him on the phone.  I tried, but got some Japanese recording and have no idea what it said.  We did have a few FB words but we miss him so much, especially around his BD.  :-(  His ship is still in Sasebo and he is on it.  Deb started paralegal school on July 18, at Heald College.  I hope she sticks with it and that it brings her a good job and income, something with more of a future than OSH.  They continually threaten that the store will close and people will be laid off.  Sam still hasn’t got a job.  He is apparently doing odd jobs for his family and earning some money that way.  I am sick to say it but Jeff is still not divorced.  Cherri continues her string of lies, this time to DCSS saying she has 62% custody and wants welfare support and they want to collect it from Jeff.  I thought he took the court papers there a long time ago but apparently he has to fill out a whole new set of papers, like he has done in the past.  I suspect they will go after him for Oct. 2010 to April 2011, as she was apparently getting something then.  In fact from what he can figure out she has actually been getting welfare and food stamps sent to her parent’s home since February 2010, saying she lived there then and was single, not working.  I wonder if the county will ever catch up with her lies, regardless the LORD knows and HE also knows that her parents have condoned this, so I cannot think now that her parents are not “in” on all of this.  What a shame to raise your own daughter to be a liar and thief.  :-(  I can only pray Miranda does not get drawn down this same path in her future.  I’m back to work of course, so I better get going and pick up the work for today.  Thank you God for the work and the ability to do it.  AMEN

Tomorrow…

…we leave for our Alaska Adventure.  We’re sending another goodie box to Steven today. I often wonder what they look like when they arrive at the Essex.  So far everything has made it intact.  Once a box arrived in just FIVE DAYS, but it has taken well over THREE WEEKS at times.  Anyway, he really enjoys getting these when he is deployed. 

First Day of Summer (yesterday)

And we feel it, 106 predicted today and 103 yesterday.  So happy we are headed to Alaska very soon, just 10 days!  When it is in the 90’s at night we just KNOW it is too hot!  Watching the progress of my bananas.  So many of the little bananas are just falling off.  I am not sure why.  I put a lot of water around and over the tree yesterday.  Maybe that will help.  I guess I can research on the internet to possibly find out what the problem is.  At least we have a few that have “set” on the stalk.  Maybe it’s too HOT for them!!!  A/C just clicked on and it is 8:30 am.  Oh brother, another HOT day in Clovis, CA.

Another Good-Bye

Seems like our relationship with Steven is more a series of “hellos” and “good-byes” at airports than anything else.  His time here seemed very short, though it was almost three weeks!  We had many enjoyable moments but all too soon it is time for him to leave.  He spent a lot of time with his friends.  While we want him to do the things he enjoys (it is his leave!) we still wish we could have spent some more quality time with him.  But back to Japan he goes.  He is mid air on his flight from SFO to NRT.  God speed.  Fair winds and following seas as he makes it back to the Essex and then deploys with his ship to the South Pacific.  It is very hard to say good-bye…

Garden update

Yahoo!  We will have bananas again this year!  So happily surprised to see this blossom coming out today!  Due to all the cold weather we have had my lettuce barely came up at all, so we won’t be having fresh salad from our garden before heading to Alaska.  Steven enjoying his visit home but there is a sadness as well since may friends have moved on and aren’t even around to see.  This is inevitable in life but I know he is a little disappointed.  It does not help that the ex girlfriend has a new guy.  Anyway, we enjoyed a movie (latest Pirates) and lunch at Chevy’s so far.  Tomorrow Spencer will graduate from High School. 

I am blessed today…

My sailor son is home from the sea.  A long flight from Japan and here he is.  He looks great and it feels so good to give him a hug and get one back.  May he be blessed by this visit home as well before he heads back to Japan and from there further deployment…

It felt good…

… to clean out my office closet today.  I found a lot of photos on CDs and added them to my Creative Memories organizational program files.  I even have an empty shelf in there now!  Of course, I have a stack on the floor to still go through.  I am not sure I want to keep all the traditional album tools and supplies I have.  I have to think about that.  Anyway, I had a productive day! 

Grilled Bok Choy

I really do enjoy Sunset Magazine. There are always a lot of great recipes and along with that some travel information, gardening ideas, decorating ideas, and much more. My subscription is running out, but I hope they will send me a good deal to renew it!  Today I tried something from the “grilled greens” section.  The grilled bok choy was pretty good but I think I would have preferred it with LESS seasoning.  I do like my veggies but they don’t need to be all dressed up either. It is a method John and I will again collaborate on in the future (I prepare,he grills).  

May?

They say April showers bring May flowers. Well, it is May and the flowers are here and quite lovely … but so is the RAIN.  It is actually COLD today!  I don’t mind this weather, don’t get me wrong, it is just so unusual to have it this cold and wet for the LAST HALF of May! 

Right now I just hope it warms up a little bit and is nice for Steven when he comes home for three weeks of leave!  YAY!

Mother’s Day

My sweet Julianne made me a couple of lovely collage papers and wrote me a lovely note.  She said, “It’s about time someone told you how special you are.”  Then she hugged and hugged me as I cried.  I can tell you I was very moved… what a sweet heart.  How our relationship has changed in the past couple of years to one of love and respect.  Yes, she is still disabled and doesn’t understand things they way others might, but she is a treasure and a blessing to our souls.  AMEN

Mother’s Day

Thankfully it was a lovely day.  Mom was here for a week and we did enjoy our time with her.  We took her to Roger Rocka’s for their dinner theater the Friday night before Mother’s day.  The play was “I Love You, You’re Perfect, Now Change” and it was cute.  Deb and Sam joined us but Jeff couldn’t make it this time as he has Miranda for part of this weekend. 

Morimoto Napa

We are headed to Napa to visit Mom soon.  Last time we were there we wanted to eat at Morimoto Napa but there was no way to get a reservation at such a late date.  Today I went online and made a reservation.  They even have the MENU so one can look at all the options.  I can hardly wait to have lunch there, but mostly looking forward to seeing my Mom for the weekend!

Rainfall

We have officially exceeded our annual rainfall  and it is only February!  What a fabulous display yesterday with wind, rain, and hail!  More rain is predicted this upcoming week.  It will help our farming community.  Food prices go up and will continue to go up, but fields lay fallow.  It is hard to understand some government/environmental decisions. 

Annual rainfall normal to date: 11:23 inches, we have 11:48 inches.

Obsessions

Okay, I am now totally obsessed with Ancestry.com – I can’t believe all the information I have found.  Of course someone else has done all the research before me and input the information or I would be searching long, hard hours to find the information I have so far.  It is AMAZING!

Our Beautiful Valley

I am guilty of often forgetting how beautiful my every day surroundings are. 

Phone Call

What a great day for us!  Steven called from his ship.  Of course he cannot say where he is, what he is doing, where he has been, or where he is going…BUT it was wonderful to hear his voice.  There are many faults with modern technology but I still think it is fabulous that he can call us from somewhere near Thailand from a ship and talk to me in my jammies am around 7:30 am!  Believe me, it made my day!

February

Here it is into the second month of the year and I have yet to keep a diary for this year.  Partly it is because there is not too much going on that is positive right now.  Jeff continues to struggle with missing Miranda and only seeing her 6 hours a week.  Cherri continues to do anything she can to make his life miserable.  A court date is the next thing that should happen and we eagerly await that.  Today Miranda is 4. 

Mom had a car accident on January 24, and that has been on my mind a lot.  Janice and I don’t seem to communicate very well anymore and I am at a bit of a loss about that. 

Our Holy Land trip is canceled due to the unrest in Egypt and we will be going on a Caribbean Cruise instead.  SO… we are looking forward to that.

My Jeff will be 40 in 2 days… it doesn’t seem possible!