100 and Counting

I have been a member of the blogosphere for almost four months now and in those four months I have posted just over 100 times.  I have discovered that blogging is far more rewarding and way more work than I ever imagined it would be.  There have been several times I have felt like throwing in the towel, but I am compelled to continue.

I adore writing and I love hearing from you.  It is so gratifying to complete a post and hit that "PUBLISH POST" button, but I'm so very human.  When you send me your little messages or leave comments telling me that I made you laugh or cry or think about something in a different way, it makes my day!

Knowing how much effort it takes to maintain a blog, I thought I would share with you some of the blogs that I enjoy.  I have chosen just a few and they cover a variety of topics.  Check them out.

Last Christmas my son Sam and I stood in the middle of Barnes & Noble laughing out loud.  If you have ever heard me laugh, you know, I do not giggle quietly and we caused quite a disruption in the store.  The source of our hilarity was a book called "Cake Wrecks."  Sam bought this weird and quirky book for his sister Ashley as a Christmas gift.

Imagine my delight when I discovered Cake Wrecks has a blog!  I can sit in the privacy of my home and cackle, snort and guffaw to my heart's content.

The cakes range from the horribly misspelled

to the outright bizarre.  There's no better way to celebrate an oil spill than with cake!

But, be warned before you sit down to look at this site with your kids.  Some of the cakes are beyond weird and range into adult content.  People put strange things on cakes!

Another one of my favorite blogs is Design Sponge.

I can get lost in here for a looong time.  It is an interior design blog and it is filled with beautiful images and inspiring ideas for your home.  My favorite section is their before & after section.  This is where they highlight vintage finds and show how they have been transformed from something ordinary into something lovely and extraordinary.

I have to limit myself when I'm in this site or I would be lost in here forever and never get any of my own blogging or housework done.  This is a truly inspiring site.

It was hard for me to choose my favorites but here are two that particularly inspired me.

I love this first before & after - victoria's chandelier,  because I have this exact chandelier out in my garage.

I have been debating what to do with it for a while, whether or not I should paint it or send it to the Goodwill.

This has given me the motivation to get out the spray paint and transform that brassy chandelier into something bold and beautiful.  All I have to do now is decide on a color!

My second pick from Design Sponge is chairs.  I am looking to reupholster my own kitchen chairs to I am drawn to chair transformations and I love the lines of these lovely chairs.

Heather's chairs were sweet before but they are stunning now.  I love the way she painted just the back of the chair and left the wood peeking through the stenciled leaves.

There are so many great ideas, big and small, included in Design Sponge, plus recipes, products and more.  But don't say I didn't warn you.  It is highly addictive.

Another favorite of mine right now is wedding blogs, for obvious reasons.  As we are planning Ashley and Daniel's big day, it is fun to browse through the various wedding sites.

Green Wedding Shoes is specifically geared toward the Southern California bride.  It is filled with tips, ideas, vendors and more.

Ruffled is a visual delight, filled with inspiration for decor, flowers and every aspect of a wedding.

Style Me Pretty is loaded with more visual eye candy.  Whether or not you are a bride, or know a bride or plan on being a bride, you should check out this site.  I dare you to visit here for just five minutes and leave.  Every picture is more stunning than the one before.

The last blog I want to mention is written by my friend Josh.  It is called Finding Me.  Just a month ago he started this blog, chronicling his weight loss journey.  It is a candid and honest account of his struggle and at his first weigh-in he had already lost 26.4 pounds!  Way to go Josh!

I hope you enjoy my picks.  I would love to hear from you.  What are your favorite blogs?  I'm always looking for more ways to avoid housework!

Thanks for being with me over the past 100 posts, sharing the laughter and the tears.  Here's to another 100!

I'm Back!

Hello friends!  Did you miss me as much as I missed you?

I can't believe I went this long without posting, but I was out of town (Santa, please bring me a laptop!) and dealing with other pressing issues so I hope you have forgiven my absence.  I missed sitting down every day and sharing heart and especially the feedback from my dear readers but was thrilled when I opened my inbox to discover that you have been reading and leaving me little notes and comments even while I've been gone.  I love hearing from you.

My sister and I went on a road trip.  Our decision spur of the moment and we left our children with our very capable husbands.  We hit the highway last Wednesday and headed due north to visit the town of our misspent youth.  We could hardly remember the last time we went as far as the grocery store alone together, so this trip was definitely way overdue.  We debated a real early morning start for about a minute an a half, until we concluded we are not early morning start kind of people, so at 6:30 we stumbled away with our thermos of coffee and Kathy's homemade banana chip muffins.

Freedom!

This is Kathy saying, "Really, you're taking a picture of me in the car now?  This isn't going in your blog is it?"   And I'm saying to her.  "No.  I'll take a better picture of you later."  But I never did, because I was too relaxed and not blogging and having a good time, so I didn't take lots of pictures.  Here is my sister.  She looks cute all the time anyway.

This is the beginning of our trip, driving through LA, where we expected to hit tons of commuter traffic because we were too lazy to leave earlier, but God smiled down upon us (or everyone else decided to stay home that day) and we sailed through The City of Angels and over the Grapevine, where we stopped at Starbucks (the first of many on this trip), before we headed up the Central Valley.

It was a balmy 102 degrees that first day and hovered around that mark for the next couple of days.  There's nothing like September in California!

Our family moved to the Golden State when I was 14,  Kathy was 12 and our brother Karl was 16.  Our dad was pastoring a church in Modesto, right in the heart of the Central Valley.  It has been over 25 years since we lived in the Central Valley but it still holds a special place in my heart.  The people who live there, live off the land - ranchers, farmers and cattlemen.   They are straightforward people.  If they like you, you're family.  If they don't like you, God help you.

As you come over the Grapevine, the whole Central Valley spreads out before you, stretching in the distance as far as the eye can see.  I love the beauty of the California landscape as rolling hills give way to the flat valley covered with endless varieties of vineyards, rows of corn, tall stalks of artichokes, fields of strawberries and garlic, orchards of apricots, almonds and pistachios and pastures of grazing cattle.  These people make food for the world to eat.

As we drove through the valley, we were scanning through the radio stations and at one time we found no less than eight Christian radio stations in one location.  They don't call this the Bible belt for nothin'!

We finally arrived in Modesto and checked into our hotel room, where they gave us our warm chocolate chip cookies to welcome us.  We put our feet up on the beds and now I'm going to tell on my sister.  I saw it with my own two eyes.  She ate that chocolate chip cookie.  She got chocolate on her fingers and she wiped those dirty fingers on those clean, white sheets.  Next time you are in a hotel room, think about that.  My usually fastidious sister, who would have a fit if her own children did such a thing, was too lazy to get up and go to the sink to wash her hands, so she just dragged her greasy chocolatey fingers right across those crisp sheets and thought, "I'll just sleep on the other side of the bed and let somebody else clean up my mess!"

Our trip to Modesto wasn't all fun and games.  Our parents were already there, working hard cleaning out the contents of a house and we had arrived to give them a hand.  Let me tell you, our parents are in their seventies and they work harder and have more energy than most people half their age.  I don't know how they do it.  Their daughters have a hard time keeping up with them.  Between the working, we enjoyed eating out and reminiscing, thinking back on earlier years and some of the great friends we made way back when.

We were able to connect with a few old friends, some that we hadn't seen since we were in our late teens.  I don't think any of us have aged a bit (that's my story and I'm sticking with it!).  We had a great time catching up, chatting about our families, our kids and life in general.  Where have the years gone?  Here we are with Stephanie and Lance Lemings and Cyndi Sordo McDaniel after a delicious Mexican meal.

The highlight of this trip was reconnecting with my sister.  We have not spent a concentrated amount of time together like this since...I don't remember when we last spent time together like this.  When we were kids, I tormented her (yes - I have apologized - repeatedly!).  When we were teenagers, we hung out together occasionally, but I was seventeen when I left home to go to college and nineteen (gulp!) when I left home for good and got married.  Family, children, husbands, households and life, have kept us pretty busy and when we have been together there has usually been someone else along for the ride.

This time it was just the two of us, alone in the car, driving through the beautiful California landscape with all the time in the world to talk, to laugh and to just be together.  We watched a lame movie in the hotel room, ate beef at Harris Ranch,

stopped to pick "fresh from the farm" produce on the way home and had a real "Jesus Take the Wheel" moment that kept us laughing for a good 45 minutes - actually, we're still laughing about it.

I knew this before but I discovered it all over again.  There is nothing like a sister - someone who has known you forever - who knows the good, the bad and the ugly and loves you in spite of, or because of it.  Someone who you can call in the middle of the day or the middle of the night, who will recognize your voice even when you are a sobbing, blubbering mess.  Someone who thinks of the same stupid 70's songs at the same time you do.  Someone who your kids can go to when they don't want to talk to mom.

I have been blessed with an incredible sister and even thought I missed writing my little posts, I wouldn't trade my time away for anything!  I did learn one more important lesson.  Kathy is really bossy and thinks she knows everything, but I can love her enough to nod and agree.

I must be the best sister ever!

Yeehaw!

We recently spent a family day with our favorite ranch hands - the Pirelli Family of beautiful Calicinto Ranch in the foothills of the San Jacinto mountains. The weather was perfect and we enjoyed a full day of eating, horseback riding, BB guns, basketball, eating some more and just relaxing (after all that eating!).

If you are ever looking for a retreat destination for a group, give the Pirelli's a call. They will treat you like family, feed you well and make sure you have a lot of fun!

They also operate Angel Tree Camp every summer, ministering to the children of prison inmates. There are opportunities to be a mentor to these incredible kids. Our daughter RA did last year and can't wait to go back again. You can find out more at www.calicintoranch.com.

I have listed a couple of horse-themed items in my etsy store. Click on the picture above for a direct link. I have also listed some beautiful vintage tablecloths that you will want to take a peek at.