If You Say So....Luke 5:4-7 (NASB)

     Although I'm still smarting from my recent customer service crises (I didn't even mention my vacuum cleaner or dishwasher malfunctions!), a rather pleasant memory floated into my consciousness one night as I lay in bed quieting myself to sleep. Fatima - I think she was Ecuadorian or Guatemalan. She was my discharge nurse after I had Julia. She thoroughly instructed me with a mini-course on newborn care. I didn't feel I really needed it, but I did learn several new things! Wow. It just goes to show you that after 6 kids it was confirmed what I already suspected - I have a lot to learn! I will never be an expert at this "pregnancy, childbirth, baby, mommy- of- lots- of -kids" thing. (I'm often asked by incredulous-sounding people, "How do you do it with six kids?" If I'm being particularly honest that day I'll answer, "Not very well."  The look of surprise on many faces is rather, well, amusing. Not that my answer is meant to g...

     Look closely at the picture to the right. The writing on the package is probably too small for you to see, but it says "10 Fiber Pots." I counted, recounted, and had Camille count, and if you look closely enough to count, too, you'd notice there are just 8 peat pots. Huh? False advertising? Guy stacking the peat pots doesn't know how to count to 10? Guy puttin' stack of peat pots in plastic not payin' attention? What gives? So, this is a trip back to Target - sans receipt, a BIG NO-NO for frequent Target shoppers, to swap this crazy package of peat pots out for a package of 10 - 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8,  9 , 10 . Thank you very much!      Ugh....the hassle, time and gas wasted. I've been trying to stay out of Target as much as possible in an attempt to stick to my budget. This last few weeks I've had multiple issues with extra trips, time, gas, and frustration due to customer service issues. Have I ever revealed that this is a real sore spot...

     So, in the last year God has returned to me my passion for reading. In 4th grade I way out- read the 2nd place winner of the "Who Can Read the Most Books" contest by far. My prize? A Child's Garden of Verses by Robert Louis Stevenson. I'm sad to write this, but my reaction was, after I yawned (on the inside, that is) B~O~R~I~N~G. For some reason, poetry doesn't excite or engage me like I wished it would. I've written poetry in the past, but don't enjoy reading it too much - except for children's poetry. (That's my intellectual level!). A lot of poetry is too esoteric and figurative for me. I'm a very literal, concrete kind of person. I don't get nuances very well, although I notice little details about people and can "read" them fairly accurately - sometimes. But we're talking about books, not humans.       Anyway, from the top left down to the right in the picture here's the list of books (and general publications...

    Okay, so I was looking at some Yelp Reviews and this woman claimed proudly that she was a born and bred native Pasadenan, "born and bred, baby." I thought, Is that a claim to fame? So am I. I  have noticed in my adult life that many people are transplanted to Pasadena from other states or surrounding areas. So few people I know were born in Pasadena and have lived here their whole life. But I have, baby,  I have.      So, what about that? I remember being born at Huntington Memorial Hospital. I remember the squeezing sensation, the bright lights, those rubberized hands on my fuzzy head of hair. Oh, just kidding - I only imagined what it was like. OK - back to reality and out of the Freudian psychoanalytic take on my earliest memories. But really, my earliest memory at around age 2 is featured in this old blog post .             And then we moved to South Pasadena in April of 1973. About a y...

     It's that time of year again. Three birthdays in three weeks! Daisy turned 4 on April 19th and we had a small family party (although with my family "small" is not quite how I'd describe it.)      For Leanne, who turned 9 on April 27th, we went to Griffith Park to ride the ponies and then play at the park. We went to Islands in Glendale and had an amusing and yummy lunch.      My brother and his wife sent generous gift cards to Target so the three birthday girls had a blast shopping for their own birthday presents. Although I was a bit frenzied and exhausted at the end of this shopping trip, I feel this is a great way to give birthday presents for kids! They had a fabulous time.      Chloe's birthday was May 8th. We went swimming at my sister's the day before and had pizza and cake. The next day Chloe had some more birthday money so she got to go shopping again after having a cinnamon roll at Bean Town. Later that...

     Not necessarily together, that is. This last Friday, April 30th, Elena, Camille and I went to Ventura for our church's annual mother/daughter retreat. I found myself coordinating the whole thing in January. How did I get myself into this?! I pondered. It was a rocky road at first attempting to start the project and then later be informed that my ideas were different than what others wanted. So, I had to change the whole initial plan. Four months later, and with many helpful and competent ladies, the retreat went smoothly and is NOW OVER. Do I sound relieved? Excited? I am! Unfortunately, I was so busy making sure everything happened when it should have that I didn't get any pictures.However, I did come away with a renewed commitment to be more purposeful in putting aside one on one times to converse with my daughters about various "life" issues. I believe enriching fruit will come from those conversations.      Later that night, Tim and I w...