Happy New Year and my plans for 2024

 With a New Year visible off in the horizon, I am prompted to look back on the past year and look forward to the new year. I cannot change what happened in the past year but I can make changes that will affect my new year. One of those changes is that I want to get back to blogging. I love, love, love writing, so why am I not doing it anymore? I can name several minor reasons, but what is the underlying reason that made me stop? I come up with one thing, Covid.

Huh you say? Covid? Covid made you stop writing/blogging? Is it because you got Covid and now you have brain fog? Nope, that is not why, let me splain.

In March of 2020, Covid hit. My employer, like many others sent us all home immediately. We high-tailed it out of there carrying our computers and anything else we thought we might need for a few weeks/months of working from home. We left that place looking like a ghost town in an old Western movie, just pieces of paper floating along in the dust and wind.

So here it is 3 years and 9 months later and I am still working from home. Relegated to a little corner in my bedroom where I have just my desk, computer with double screens, and a chair. My only companion and coworker, my daughters dog Chorizo. While Chorizo is cute as heck, she is not much of a conversationalist, so mainly I speak with clients and occasionally chat with a co-worker, mostly on our intranet chat program.

CHORIZO BY MY SIDE AND DOING WHAT SHE DOES BEST

Before, when I was going to the office, I socialized, noticed things, ran across interesting stuff, and discussed it with coworkers, other employees in the building we worked in, clients and friends. Now I just see these 4 walls, 40 hours per week. At lunch instead of going with coworkers to grab a sandwich or hit our favorite Mexican food place, I walk 20 feet to my kitchen to grab whatever was left over from dinner and I watch YouTube.

Before, I knew where all the new restaurants were opening and I would visit them with coworkers or friends, now I don’t even remember what Chipotle and Rubio’s Fresh Grill even tasted like.

Before, when I was going to the office, I would make plans with friends to grab the occasional Happy Hour drink, or I would stop by my favorite stores and just wander around before going home, now I don’t even apply make up or wear anything other than jeans and a t-shirt and slippers, I don’t even know if I can still walk in street shoes!

Before I would look out my office window on the second floor and watch people fighting in the parking lot, cadets marching in the parking lot across the street where they trained police officers. I would hear the occasional accident on the busy street our office was on and we would all rush to whatever window offered the best view and discuss whose fault we thought it was. I would stop and be amused by the little squirrels that lived in the trees and sometimes would sit by my window and look in at me.

Before I was living life and finding things to entertain me, educate me, enlighten me, anger me, thrill me, confuse me and it was all fodder for my blog and my mind, keeping me active and “in the know.”

That is what Covid did! It took all that away from me!

Do I want to go back to an office? Not really. I would go back if they could figure out a way to just teleport me there, I hated the commute which was 20 miles one way and I hated dealing with the idiots that didn’t know how to drive and always felt that they needed to be where ever they were going before me because they were more important than the rest of us on the street. I like not having to apply makeup everyday and I can see that my skin also likes it. I like not having to spend money on nice office clothing and shoes. I like having Chorizo close by me all day, she soothes my soul with her entitled attitude and grumpy face.

But I loved writing, I loved my little blog and I am ready to try blogging on the regular in 2024. Not sure what I will blog about, but maybe it will make me be more alert to things in my small town and outside my window and will my family and in my heart and head. Where there’s a will, there’s a way. So, keep an eye out for me in 2024 and if I start to fall behind and get lazy, you all have my permission to call me out, you all will be my conscience!

Happy New Year to you all and may 2024 bring us all closer to the things that make us happy. May 2024 bring Peace to our world and our hearts, may it bring the knowledge to cure Cancer and Diabetes and all sorts of other diseases, may it open our eyes to the good in the world, in our small world, in our homes. It is up to you 2024 and up to each one of us to be kind, gentle and present.

Still Alive - I Survived

 Just wanted to check in and let everyone (all two of you that still follow my blog) that I am ok.

I did have surgery on August 29th and while it was a tough surgery (female issues with my plumbing) I survived. 

I was in the hospital for one night and went home the next day, totally unprepared for the pain, the nausea, the dizziness, the discomfort.

It's been over a month and I can tell you that I still am struggling with a few minor symptoms. Nothing horrible, I can get around and I'm in to my second week of working full time, but I can tell I am not myself and I tire easily plus it's uncomfortable to sit for long periods.

I can tell you they did 4 incisions, small ones as the surgery was done robotically which still freaks me out and a 5th incision in my belly button; that one freaks me out the most.

I'm hoping this link works, it's a YouTube video that explains the procedure and it's pretty accurate.

I know, that thumbnail is pretty gross right? Ok, that is all for now because it's my lunch hour and I am starving. Thank you to my faithful followers and I hope I haven't grossed you out too much!

Thank you DUTA for worrying about me. I'm ok!

Hurricane Hilary, Road Trip and 60th Birthday Party Celebration - Part Four

     I know...I'm so wordy right? So this is part four of my tale, if you want to get caught up, here's part ONE, TWO and THREE.

   So when last we left the adventurous Alicia and her sister Lisa, they had just travailed the scary bridge that was to lead them to the Old Hwy 58 in what was the beginning of Hurricane Hilary, now downgraded to a Tropical Storm. (But we did not know it had been downgraded.)

    Here's a map of the trail that we followed. Mind you, it was bumper to bumper traffic because everyone had found out that you had to take the Old Hwy 58 to the New Hwy 58, but at least we were all together. 

    By now it was raining pretty steadily and we could see water starting to gather, but we weren't worried...yet...so we were enjoying the rain and the scenery and reminiscing about traveling on the Old Hwy 58 with mom and dad. Lisa took some pictures and you can see the water starting to gather. I'm sure it was not too long after we drove by that the roads started to flood, but by then they were in our rear-view mirror and we thought we were safe.

Photo by Lisa, you can see the water gathering.

    

Photo by Lisa - The water gathers fast, that's what creates the flash floods, they happen in a flash!

    We were pretty happy with ourselves for getting out of there and we were even happier that it seemed like there were no trucks on the highway with us. We figured we had left them all behind us in Barstow just milling around like little worker ants. We figured we would be home soon as it was only 127 miles away and would take us about 1 hour and 55 minutes. Oh how wrong we were!

    What we did not know was that up on the Tehachapi Pass where we were headed, this was going on.

You can see the water and mud starting to break through and it's all over the highway.

Looks like Caltrans was already on scene trying to clear things up, but you can see traffic was still going through.

Check our the Landstar truck in the mud there.

    We got close though but right around the Mojave exit the California Highway Patrol had blocked off traffic and they were directing us to get off the highway. The problem is that Lisa and I had never had this happened, we didn't know that we could look up the Caltrans app and start getting info, we were just lost and scared.

    We stopped at a Subway Sandwich shop in Mojave and there were several other people just as lost and scared as we were. We were tired and wet and we finally decided to just get a hotel room there at the Best Western while it was still an early closure of the highway and we could still get a room. It was a lovely hotel and the person who checked us in was so nice and accommodating, we felt very safe. 

    Once we got into our room it started pouring rain, it's like the skies were waiting until Lisa and I were somewhere safe before letting loose!

    As the sun started to come down and Lisa and I were safe and sound in our hotel room, eating our Subway sandwiches, this was the Tehachapi Pass. I hope that driver made it out.

    We both notified our families by phone and then posted a message in our family group chat about what had happened and we had an army of family and friends praying for us. We both called our jobs and notified them we were stuck and hoped to be able to get home the next day. They told us to not worry about it,  just be safe.

    Luckily our brothers Fred and Jaime and their families all made it home safe and sound. The scary thing is my mom had all her babies on the road, in a hurricane all at the same time. I don't know how she made it through the day!

My mom's babies!

    We had a good nights sleep, we felt very safe. The next morning we had breakfast there at the hotel as they had a free breakfast. I had a lovely Waffle with Scrambled eggs and coffee, because even in the midst of chaos, one must eat!

Make your own Waffle with the Best Western Logo.

    Lisa and I had already plotted our way home, but we were really lucky that our cousin Steve who owns a trucking company and was already checking roads so he could dispatch his drivers first checked on how to get his cousins home! Bless you Steve! He checked with CHP & Caltrans to make sure the roads were cleared for the route we had already chosen. It made us feel that much safer knowing there would be no road closures along the way. Here's the route we took. 

    The roads were passable and it was a very beautiful and enjoyable drive home. The skies were cloudy and you could see for miles since the rain and wind had wiped out all the normal crud in the skies. 

    Never were Lisa and I happier to see this sign!

    We stopped to pick up Fancy at the groomers and she was so happy to see her mom. Then we drove home and I was logged in and working by 1pm!

    What an adventure. Never a dull moment when Lisa and I take a trip. I hope to never get stuck in a Hurricane or Tropical Storm again, but it's good to know that we can handle it. I shudder to think what would have happened if we had not had all that delay in Barstow and had arrived on the Tehachapi pass the same time as that Landstar truck! The spirits of our ancestors and God were definitely with us.

The end...

Hurricane Hilary, Road Trip and 60th Birthday Party Celebration - Part Three

     This is part three of the adventures of Alicia and Lisa heading to Arizona for a birthday celebration for their cousin Copa, you can read part one HERE and part two HERE.

    When we got back to Copa's house after the party we started watching the news to see if we could get information on the Hurricane. There was not a lot of information but what we knew for sure is that it was expected to hit the Mojave desert area around 3pm on Sunday, the day we were heading home. 

Hurricane Hilary on NOAA satellite Thursday afternoon. Hilary is expected to make landfall over or near the Baja California Peninsula on Sunday, then move over California as a tropical storm or depression on Sunday night and Monday. 

    There was a lot of speculation, so Lisa and I studied all the weather apps and watched the news and we decided that the best thing for us to do is to head out as early as possible the next morning, watch the news first to see which route was the safest for us to take.

    We had not been happy with the route we took to get to Phoenix as it was congested and there was a lot of traffic. We've always been used to taking the I-10 out of Phoenix to the 72 heading into Parker, Arizona. From Parker we always like to take the 95 to Lake Havasu City. Then we take the 95 to the 40 to Needles and continue on the 40 to Barstow. 

    Heading into Parker was iffy because they have flash floods constantly, but our cousin Michael who lives in Parker told us to take an alternate route and we made it to Parker. We actually did really well until we got into Barstow. Then all Hell broke loose. 

    We always get off at the first exit heading into Barstow to gas up and use the bathroom and buy some snacks, then we get right back on the freeway. But not this time! This time the trucks were backed up for several miles before we could get off and once off it was wall to wall of trucks in the tiny City of Barstow. We figured there had probably been an accident ahead of us on the freeway and they were re-routing traffic.

    We tried using GPS to lead us back to the highway but as it turns out the area we were in was experiencing a power outage. We drove for almost 45 minutes and we probably only traveled at most 5 miles. Finally I told Lisa that we should just find the Marshalls Store that we sometimes stop at and just wander around the store for an hour for the traffic to die down. So we did that and Lisa spoke with a man who told her that a transformer had come down on the highway and they had shut down all lanes of the highway and it had caused the power outage.

    Now that we knew, we called our brother Fred who is a truck driver and he told us how to get to the Old Hwy 58 to the New Hwy 58. We were sure it would clear up soon and we had only been in the store for 30 minutes. But then we heard it start raining outside and we received warnings on our phones over and over again, every one in the store was receiving the same warnings.

Actual Alert from my Phone

    We started panicking! We headed to pay for the items we had found in the store and our brother called to see if we had found the old Hwy 58 and when he found out we were shopping he blew a fuse! We tried to explain to him that we weren't shopping, we were trying to wait until the traffic died down, he was not having it, he told us to get out of there because the flooding was going to start soon and we were going to be stuck! I'm sure he was terrified for us.

    But yet again, the Spirits of our ancestors were with us or God or Karma, whatever higher power you believe in because Lisa was asking the clerk at the store how we could get to Old Hwy 58 and this sweet lady that was waiting in line in front of me to pay said, "Who wants to go to the Old 58? I'm heading that way, follow me!" So we did.

    We got outside and she was parked right next to us, which we took as a sign that it was meant to be. She told us to follow her and she would take us to Main Street and that she was going to turn right there but we were to turn left and keep heading from Main to First Street and then turn right. Well, I guess she had second thoughts as to my and Lisa's ability to navigate, or maybe she saw the wall to wall of trucks and knew that we would get lost and she pointed to us to turn with her, but we thought she was waving good-bye so we waved good-bye and blew her kisses and asked God to take care of her and make sure she got home safely and then we turned the wrong way!! 

    Well it was actually the right way, the way she had told us, but she knew we were going to get trapped by all the trucks and she had been trying to point to let us know to follow her. By the time we realized that, it was too late. Well this angel of a lady, turned around and found us and got out of her car yelling at us to follow her, so we navigated our way to where she was and she told us she was going to take us all the way to the bridge and at that point she would let us go on our way. WHO DOES THAT??? Who goes out of their way to help complete strangers? In this day and age? In a storm, on a Sunday afternoon?

    We followed our Angel to the bridge she had mentioned and she waved good-bye and this time we new it was good-bye and we missed her the moment she left, especially when we saw the scary bridge we had to cross over, in the rain with wall to wall traffic! Yikes!

    But we did it, we go over the bridge...but that was not the end of our adventure. Stay tuned for part four!

Hurricane Hilary, Road Trip and 60th Birthday Party Celebration - Part Two

     This is Part 2 of our crazy trip to Arizona, for part 1 click HERE.

    We had a great nights sleep since both Lisa and I were exhausted! We had planned to spend the day shopping and getting ready for the big party that evening, however our cousin Lydia aka Copa has recently been diagnosed with Stage 4 Cancer and just that week on Wednesday she had her first round of Chemo and she wasn't feeling the greatest. Have you ever seen a more beautiful and positive person getting her first chemo treatment? She's a true warrior!

    So we sat with her and just got caught up on everything she had been going through and how our jobs were going and how family was doing and we had a very nice time just being with her.

    Then our cousins in Eloy, Arizona called and said they were all gathered together at our cousin Norrie's house and where were we?? So we put ourselves together and headed to Eloy. Eloy is the city of our ancestors. That is where most of our parents met. Copa told us that we would come back to her house before the party so we didn't take our party clothes or gifts with us...we should have!

    We had so much fun at Norrie's house! They were cooking the food for the party. They had asked Copa what she wanted for her birthday dinner and she had such a crazy idea for a menu, very different from the usual Chile Colorado or Deep Pit BBQ that we usually have at family events. Copa wanted Meatloaf, Mashed Potatoes and Gravy, Green Salad, Macaroni and Cheese, Rolls and Cake! Norrie rounded up all the cousins that live locally and some were making meatloaf, some potatoes, etc., and they had it covered!

    We finally realized that we had been having so much fun we had missed our opportunity to head back to Phoenix to get dolled up for the party, so we decided to go to a local store that I love called Bealls Outlet. I always go to the one in Parker, Arizona when we head that way, but luckily there was one close by in Casa Grande. Lisa, Copa and I all went praying that we would find something suitable for the party and we did!

    Then we returned to Norrie's house where our niece Sarena did Copa's make up! Sarena is such an angel, she's an RN and just the sweetest, most loving, giving person in the world! Here she is working her magic! Oh yeah, check out Copa's tiara, she's a true queen!

    Love these next shots, you can tell she's very happy with the end results. It took some convincing too as she's not a makeup person, never wears it. I think she's going to be shopping for some makeup in the future! I love the last photo, beautiful ladies. I am so blessed to have such amazing women in my life!

    The rest of this post will be photos that I took at the party with some commentary on who and what.

From left to right - My sister Lisa, our Cousin Copa and me.

    

Copa and the loves of her life, her beautiful daughter Daniella aka Copita and her wonderful son Mark aka Markie. 

L-R: Me, our Aunt Ninfa, Copa and Lisa 

L-R: My brother Federico, my sister Lisa, me and my brother Jaime.

L-R: Brother Federico, Sister Lisa, Cousin Copa, Me and Brother Jaime

 Cousin Copa also wanted all the July and August family and friends to be included in the celebration, so she requested this cake.

Everyone had a wonderful time, there was a raffle with great prizes, we played games, had great food. There was a beautiful desert table filled with candy and popcorn and rice krispie treats and cake pops and almost anything you can imagine!

The party ended around 9:30 and then we drove back to Copa's house in Phoenix as we were all exhausted. We also had heard that there was a Hurricane getting ready to hit California and that where we live was right in the path of it so we wanted to get a good nights sleep so we could get up super early and head home.

Get ready for part three...

Hurricane Hilary, Road Trip and 60th Birthday Party Celebration

    On Friday, August 18th my sister Lisa and I  headed to Phoenix, Arizona to celebrate the 60th birthday party for our cousin Lydia aka Copa. It was going to be a quick trip, up on Friday arriving in Phoenix around 3pm, then Saturday evening the party, then we would head back on Sunday and back to work on Monday. The route that we chose is displayed below and would take 7 hours and 7 minutes. Remember that, 7 hours and 7 minutes! 

    Right away we should have known it was probably a good idea to just cancel and go back to bed! We planned to leave at 4:30 am as we were dropping off her new dog at the groomers house who was going to take care of her for us. I have to share this picture of her dog named Fancy K or Fancy for short. She's so cute and just the sweetest little girl! She's a rescue from the dog shelter and I'm so happy she has a forever home with my sister.

    When Lisa came to pick me up she said that she we needed to stop and put air in the front passenger side tire. But while putting the air in, Lisa noticed that there was a nail or bolt in the tire. Great! We decided we would go ahead and go drop off Fancy at the groomers, then come back to her house and wait until 8am when the tire shops would open up. This would put us way behind, but better safe than sorry.

    On the way to the groomers, we kept an eye on the tire gauge and noticed that it was holding air. After dropping off Fancy we decided to go ahead and proceed to the next leg of our trip so we headed to Tehachapi which was 40 miles away. We got there successfully and stopped to buy some snacks and other items we needed at Walmart, then we picked up coffee and cream cheese Danish at Starbucks and decided to go ahead to the next leg of our trip from Tehachapi to Lancaster and see if we could find a tire shop open there. That was another 45 miles. 

    Lancaster is a beautiful desert city with SO MANY STORES!! I told Lisa definitely we needed to make a day trip with our mom and bring her shopping someday. Lisa who dislikes shopping was not as enthused as I was. As it was still early and the tire shops were still closed, we decided to live life on the wild side and head to the next big city, Indio. 

    I lost track now of where we stopped to eat, but it was somewhere along the way and it was around noonish and we stopped at WaBa Grill. We enjoyed a good, light and healthy lunch of Spicy Asian Salad and I had a side of dumplings or as we call them in our family potstickers. Lisa had a side of some kind of taco which we shared.

    As our tire pressure was still doing well, we decided to just head on down the highway and get to Phoenix and worry about getting the tire fixed or replaced there. We made the mistake of taking a phone call from our mom who was checking to see how we were doing and Lisa mentioned the tire and mom immediately became worried and told us we had to stop NOW and get that taken care of. We didn't want her worried so when we arrived in Indio, we started calling some tire shops. Almost all of them told us it would be between a two to four hour wait and we were already behind schedule big time!

    But the spirits of our ancestors were with us and they wanted us to get to Phoenix safely and I called a company by the name of America's Tire Co at 81124 CA-111, Indio CA. I give you the address because Jeff there is the best guy in the world and if you ever need a tire company in Indio, you need to go there! That's not Jeff in the picture, just FYI.

    We called Jeff and explained our situation and he said, if you come in right now I will get you in an out right away, so we did and he did! We were there less than 30 minutes and he didn't charge us anything to patch the tire, Lisa gave him money and told him to buy himself some lunch with it and he was so appreciative. Good people still do exist!    

    We called our mom and let her know that our tire was fixed and that really set her mind at ease. From there we drove straight through to Blythe where we gassed up. The traffic was a bit heavy in places, but not too bad. We made it to Phoenix by 6pm. More than 12 hours for what should have been a 7 hour trip! But we got there safely, that's what's important! 

***See Part two next***

Retirement Party, Cook your Own Dinner and Spending time with Family in Santa Maria, California

     

    

    So yesterday, my sister Lisa and I were honored to attend the retirement party of our cousin Vera, short for Elvira, she was named after our grandmother and her dad and my dad are brothers. So we are sister/cousins, kind of sisters, kind of cousins. The party was held in Santa Maria, which is about 2 1/2 hours from where Lisa and I live, so we left work at noon so we could take our time getting there.

      The party was held at the Santa Maria Elks Lodge during their Friday Night "Cook Your Own". Now this is one of the most unique, scary, dangerous cookouts I've ever seen. You purchase what type of meat you want, Rib Eye ($30), New York Steak ($25), Fish ($25), Chicken ($25), Pork Ribs ($25) or you can get just the salad plate ($15), no meat. They gave us a ticket for our meal, Lisa and I both chose the New York Steak...GO BIG OR GO HOME, right?

    We had our own private party room and it was set up with a  full bar and tables just for our party. Lisa and I both had a glass of wine and enjoyed the appetizers which consisted of 7 Layer Dip with Chips, Spinach Dip with Bread and/or crackers, Chips and Salsa, and Chicken Salad. We could have been satisfied just eating that spread!

Picture of the Guest of Honor, our cousin Vera and her daughter Anna

    It was so nice to see Vera so happy to be done with the daily drudge of going to the office and having to deal with the drama and stress of a job. She's got great plans in her future to do more gardening and yardwork, to go camping with her children and grandchildren and hopefully to spend some time visiting me and Lisa!

L-R: Lisa, Me, Vera and Anna

    We met several of her coworkers and they all had wonderful things to say about her, they are truly going to miss having her around.

    Finally it was "Cook your Own" time and it was confusing but next time we will do better. First you stand in line with your ticket by the table that handles what your meal is going to be. We were having New York Steak so they had this huge tray of the most gorgeous steaks I've ever seen and you get to pick which one you want and they put it on a foam plate for you and give you a glass plate. We asked them at this table if we really and truly had to cook our own dinner and they said yes! But they gave us a tip, they said look for one of the guys in a red shirt and let them know it's your first time and they will help you.

    We found a very handsome and sweet man in a red shirt, I wish I had gotten his name but he was just the best. The photo below is of the "seasoning table". This is the first step, they have a spray bottle with brine and shakers with salt, pepper, something that just said seasoning...we added a lot of everything!

Red shirt Hero!

    Mr. Red Shirt then took us over to the grill which you can see in the background behind him. I was lucky that Lisa decided to man (woman) the grill, here's a shot of her standing there watching our steaks.

Brave Lisa standing next to that burning hot grill!

Dangerously hot! You could feel the heat!

    Since Lisa was doing such a good job at the grill, I decided to go and get her a Margarita and they had a very friendly bartender that was really sweet and gave me a free drink to try, he said he had just invented it. It was delicious with the flavors of peach, very tasty and refreshing!

Lisa's Margarita in the background and my free Peach Drink

Friendly bartender, gray haired man in the black shirt.

    On the walls they had several plaques with names on them. I'm not sure what they signified, but as I was standing there sipping my drink, I noticed the one below and had to get a picture because I follow a YouTube channel called Arne and Carlos. They are two knitting and yarn designers living in Norway, absolutely love them and how weird that the name on this sign is almost the name of their channel!

Arne and Carlos sign

    Finally our steaks were done and we made our way out of the grill room to the next station where they had several side dishes, baked potatoes, chili beans, salad, macaroni salad, French fries, garlic bread and various salsa and sauces. I loaded my plate and it was all delicious, so delicious that I didn't even think to take a picture. 

    We were stuffed and I only ate 1/3 of my steak. Luckily they give you bags to take your steak home. We continued to visit with cousins that were arriving late and finally it was 9pm and Lisa and I had planned to leave no later than 8:30 pm as it's a 2-hour drive home, but it was hard to leave as we were having a good time.

    We arrived home safely and we had a fabulous time and we wish Vera every happiness in the new chapter of her life. We love you cousin!

Crocheting While Watching TV

     My mom has always been a very crafty person and we grew up on a ranch with only a few channels on TV and not much to do, so she kept us entertained by teaching us to crochet, embroider, quilt, sew, almost all the fiber arts. 

When I was growing up in the 70’s, the big thing was embroidery on our jeans and blouses. It was the era of the love child and I can remember embroidering flowers and little birds all over my jeans! 

Embroidery on Jeans - Flower Power

I also remember taking Home Ec (Economics) in high school and one year Mrs. Watte had us sew a dress from the very beginning, choosing the pattern and fabric and pinning it down and cutting out the pattern then sewing it. As a grand finale of the project, we had a fashion show in the school cafeteria and our parents were invited. I had made the most gorgeous dress. I called it my Gypsy dress and it fit me beautifully. I wish I had a picture, but it looked like the white dress is this photo only it was not white. I can’t even remember the color of the dress, but I remember how it fit and how beautiful I felt wearing it!

My Gypsy Dress

When my daughter was born, I did a lot of sewing and when she started Kindergarten, I made dozens of dresses. I always made her Halloween Costumes and one year I went totally crazy and made her the most beautiful Snow White costume. It took me weeks to get just the sleeves right. It looked very much like this one only the skirt was a much brighter yellow. But after a while, she didn’t want the clothes that I made and wanted store bought so I quit sewing.

Those sleeves are hard to make!

Off and on I would start a crocheting project, I even started a Blue and Gold blanket for my daughter when she started high school as those were her school colors. She finished high school, her younger brother finished high school, all her cousins finished high school and that blanket never got finished. I finally donated it with all the yarn to the Goodwill…hopefully someone really did finish it.

Recently I wanted something to do at night while watching TV because I found that for sure “idle hands are the Devil’s workshop.” Eating while watching TV became a problem for me because I was becoming a snackaholic! I was putting on weight and I was not happy about it. I decided I needed to do something to keep my hands busy while watching TV and one day on YouTube, I found channel called Jayda In Stitches and she had done a year long project of crocheting what’s called a Mighty Mile-A-Minute Calendar Blanket. Here's her video if you want to check it out. 

I had quite a bit of yarn I had bought at The Dollar Tree, didn't know why I was buying it, but just thought it would be a good idea to have it on hand. I didn't quite follow her directions and did each strip with the same crochet stitch and she showed a different one every month, but it still turned out beautifully!

Mile A Minute

        That was so fun and I got so many compliments that I wanted to do another project. I remembered that I used to do a lot of crocheted doilies, so I thought of doing one but using yard instead of cotton thread, which made a bigger doily and then I turned it into a Wall Hanging and I love it!

First Mandala Wall Art, although mine is on a door.

Mandala Close Up

            

I had a lot of fun making this and it looks beautiful on my door in my bedroom. I'm working on two other ones now, but you never forget your first!

What crafts do you do and who taught you?

By The Sea, By The Stormy, Stormy Sea and The Cemetery Industry

      **This post was written on Friday, March 24th and being published today**

    I've just come back to our hotel room after having the complimentary breakfast at The Embassy Suites in Seaside, California. I loved the oatmeal and the eggs and potatoes, but for the second day in a row they had no BACON, only sausage which I detest!! But it is complimentary, especially for me as this whole trip is paid for by my sisters job.

Embassy Suites in Seaside California

    I took Thursday and Friday off from work and we drove here to Seaside on Thursday. We took our time and stopped in Paso Robles for some shopping at TJ Maxx, one of my favorite stores. Then we decided to eat on the run rather than waste time at a sit down restaurant and we drove through McDonalds, then on to Seaside.

    Seaside is such a beautiful place and the whole drive here was fabulous because we've had tons of rain in California and it now looks like the California I remember when we used to come and visit my dad's family in Santa Maria. Green and lush with beautiful blue skies and puffy white clouds. 

    Thursday night we had a meet and greet downstairs and we barely had time to get ready for that. I always enjoy the meet and greets because they have a bunch of vendors there selling anything and everything associated with cemetery management. Yes...you read that correctly...cemetery vendors. I know for some that may seem shocking, I know it was for me at first, but both my sister Lisa and I have been involved in the funeral industry since 1993. Lisa is now a Cemetery Manager which is why we were here. I left the funeral industry in the year 200o'ish. 

    So the vendors have a lot of unique things they are selling, from cemetery plot mapping by computer to vaults and urns and niche plates. They're a great bunch of people and even though most of them fell into the industry by chance, some felt it was their calling. Lisa fell into it by chance, but definitely it is a calling for her. Her compassion and dedication to service makes her an excellent manager and I am so proud of her.

    Friday I spent the day shopping. There aren't a lot of shopping centers or stores in Seaside or Monterey, I guess they really don't want you to spend your time shopping but they prefer that you go to the Monterey Bay Aquarium and all the little shops along Cannery Row, which is what I did last time I visited. Friday evening there was a special dinner with dancing and a photo booth.

    We took advantage of the photo booth but the pictures were so small they really are not very sharp, but here you go. In the first one we included one of the board members that was there. They had a lot of props and things we could use to make the photos more fun, so these are pretty silly, but we had fun!

    We headed back home on Sunday and as always, there's no place like home, but it was a fun little adventure!