This Bird Has Left The Nest...

I worked Wed, Fri, Sat, and then again yesterday...

They all were days from (you know where!)...

Then, they had the nerve to ask me if I wanted to work again today...

I think they pretty much got the hint when I gave them the look...

I told the other birdies...

This momma bird is leaving the nest...

Don't call me for a few days, or a week...

Unless one of our other birdies completely falls out of the nest...

I'm tired...

And getting ready for Camping Club Weekend!

Feeling A Little Guilty...

This past weekend was our monthly camping club weekend and we had the best time. We always have fun but some weekends are just better than others and this was one of them!

Saturday night after dinner, some of us girls played Catch Phrase and just sat around a picnic table talking. We had candles all over the table and even had to use a flashlight to play the game but man what fun! We finished up the game around 11:00pm but 4 other insomniacs and myself stayed out by the campfire until 2:00am talking and laughing (and with NO drinking being done I might add!) I enjoy all of our camping friends but I find that times like a 2:00am campfire are when real bonds are formed and wonderful memories are really made!

All weekend long I kept saying how guilty I felt because the weather was absolutely phenomenal...


Yes, it really was 80 degrees outside, in the middle of January! I felt so guilty wearing shorts, watching people water ski on the lake, and knowing that many people in the United States (and lots of blogging friends) were stuck inside their homes due to bad weather. I know that many of you have literally been home bound for days and I'm not kidding, I felt guilty! I guess on weekends like this past one I can see why my husband doesn't want to move out of California. Not only do we have beautiful weather but we have beautiful friends and boy with a combination like that, it would be pretty darn hard to say good-bye.

Really and truly, I'm not trying to rub it in, but on the way home last night we had the most incredible sunset too. So incredible in fact, I pulled off the freeway and snapped a few pictures...



I've said it before many many times but I am continually amazed by God's artwork! We just need to take the time to notice it!

Missing In Action!

I've been gone from blogland for so long that I'm wondering if I still have any friends out there! It's seriously been a whirlwind since June and it doesn't seem to be slowing down, but I wouldn't have it any other way. Life is good!

The last 2 weekends we've gone RVing with some of our camping club friends. Nothing makes me smile more than spending time outdoors in the beautiful fall weather, being with my family, enjoying great food, and making memories with friends that I adore...



This last weekend was spent RVing at my favorite campground, Serrano, located in Big Bear, CA. I love our RV trip to Big Bear each year and they just seem to get better and better each time. A few of us always go on a Saturday hike which is a highlight of the trip for me. This year four of us girls took the chairlift to the top of Snow Summit then hiked the 4 miles back down. This is definitely not a good picture of me, but it's real. Here we are on the chairlift, four wind blown women, all over the age of 50, anxiously awaiting a great afternoon hike together...


For someone who has been a city girl her whole life, I sure have turned into one nature and mountain girl in my old age. Hiking in the mountains is so peaceful and always makes me feel so close to God. Big Bear also has a beautiful lake. Here are a few pictures of the view that I took while hiking...



You know you've had a wonderful time when you feel like crying while saying good-bye. Yep, that would be me!


We leave on Thursday for Arizona, parent's weekend at ASU for more fun and special memories with family and friends...and yes I'm sure, more crying!

Introducing...

Rufus, the newest member of our camping club crew...




Rufus, or Roofy as he is affectionately known, is a "double doodle." Golden Retriever/Poodle and Labrador Retriever/Poodle = double doodle. What a cutie but what a handful!

He is literally wearing his new parents out, but boy do they love him already...


Everyone loved Roofy, except this spoiled little one...


He wanted no part of him and certainly didn't want his momma showing anyone else any attention, especially a handsome, spry little youngster such as Roofy!

Welcome to our camping club Rufus, and welcome to your wonderful new home!

All Kinds Of Miscellany

* Knock on wood, my diet is going well. The food has improved greatly since that awful turkey burger. I've been sticking with the plan, drinking lots of water, and haven't had any regular Pepsi. Really, Jenny makes it very easy! I'm sure I haven't lost an ounce but I'm giving it time. Something is bound to happen within the next few weeks. It's just so strange for me to be eating this much food. I haven't felt hungry once!

* I went for a check up on Tuesday and asked the doctor to send me for lab work to check my Thyroid as well. I've thought that I might have an under active Thyroid, hence the weight gain. I also have the dry brittle hair and sluggishness that goes along with it. I'll go have the lab work done this morning before I eat or drink anything.

* This weekend is camping club weekend and we're camping(RVing!) at the beach. I'm really looking forward to the cooler weather and the long walks on the beach. We weren't able to go to the last few campouts so I've been missing my camping club girlfriends like crazy. I can't wait to see them!

* I didn't go outside at all yesterday. I had a list of things to do but stayed inside and got stuff done in the house. I dusted all the shelves in our built-in bookcase and washed all the knick knacks, even doing a little rearranging. It's amazing how fast things get dusty!

* I prepared 10 packages of good mail for mailing, wrote out a sympathy card, a thinking of you card, and 7 thank you cards. I still have 4 more thank you cards to write and more good mail to package up but I need more mailing supplies. That's on my "to do" list for today.

* I spent over an hour yesterday just going through all of the stuff that has piled up on our kitchen table since vacation ie., mail, bills, and all of my Hobby Lobby stuff that I brought home from Colorado. Hey, we don't have a Hobby Lobby here in California so I always need to stock up. Plus, that's why I was able to package up so much good mail today!

* Do you remember my daughter's friend Macey that was hit by the car in December. Please keep her in your prayers right now. Macey had a specially made synthetic flap placed over a portion of her skull a few days ago and her lab work now is very high, possibly showing infection, and/or rejection of the flap. Months ago when they surgically put her own skull flap back in place, it became infected and therefore she needed a synthetic one made. She was very fearful of this operation and the possibility of another infection occurring. Macey is a beautiful 19 year old who just wants her life back. She's tired of wearing that darn pink helmet that she's had to wear all these months to protect her skull! I know Macey and her family would appreciate your prayers tremendously.

* I went into work after my doctor's appointment on Tuesday and although I miss my co-workers and the patients terribly, I didn't wish to be back there! They are so so short handed that it makes working horrible, extremely stressful, and needless to say, dangerous! We need 9 nurses per day to make the place run smoothly, yet they will only have 4 nurses on Saturday!! I feel so sorry for those 4 nurses! Upper management does nothing to help out and they certainly won't reward those 4 dedicated nurses. I did break down and give them 2 days over the next few weeks. I figure one day a week or one day every two weeks will suffice and it will keep my per diem status active. It's really a shame because I used to love my job dearly.

Is It Monday Already!?

Boy did the weekend fly by. It always seems to do that when you're having fun! This past weekend was camping club weekend and we had the best time. We laughed until it hurt and as usual, we ate way to much! I hated to come home but unfortunately work was calling my name today.

I got up early yesterday morning and headed outside to have coffee with the early risers and ended up getting myself in trouble. For some reason during our conversation I mentioned that my husband used to model in his younger days. Oh man did they get a good laugh out of that one, well all except my husband that is! They teased him non-stop and have now nicknamed him Fabio. Nothings sacred around them I tell ya!

I think I need to lay low for awhile, hubby's now giving me the evil eye!

Happy Monday and have a great week!

My Friend Carol

It is with a heavy heart that I have to tell you our beautiful friend Carol passed away early this morning. Her weak body wasn't able to fight off the infection and she went into cardiac arrest in the wee hours of the morning. This time they weren't able to bring her back.

The details are still sketchy but we do know that Paul, Carol's husband and one of the dearest people on earth, is in route right now from Las Vegas to their home in Long Beach. I'm so worried about Paul and her sons, please continue to keep them in your prayers. Carol was outgoing, vibrant, and the rock that held her family together. This is a devastating loss for so many.

I knew without a doubt that if I asked for prayer, that you, my wonderful blogging friends would be fervently praying on Carol's behalf, and I thank you! Thank you to each and everyone of you that took the time to leave a message saying you were keeping Paul and Carol in your thoughts and prayers. Your comments mean so much! Although our prayers weren't answered as we wanted them to be answered, I truly feel that we'll have all of the answers to all of our questions when we get to heaven, and that's where I'll see my beautiful friend Carol again someday!

As information becomes available, I'll let you know more about what caused all of this. We're all just shocked and devastated.

Urgent Prayer Request

Today we got an unexpected email and telephone call regarding one of our very close camping club friends, Carol. Carol is the pretty woman with the long brown hair...


Carol and her husband Paul were in Lake Havasu and she discovered she had been bitten by something (they think it was a scorpion although it sounds like a brown recluse to me). I guess she let it go for a few days until it was clear that she needed to have it looked at. Paul took her to an urgent care where they said she needed to be taken to the hospital. She was air lifted to a hospital in Las Vegas and is in critical condition right now. She's had to be resuscitated once and her kidneys have shut down. My husband talked to Paul earlier tonight and it doesn't look good at all. If she survives, her foot where she was bitten will be amputated.

Please take a minute and say a prayer for my dear friend Carol. She has 2 grown sons, 2 grandchildren, a loving husband, and is a doting mommy to a dog that she's crazy about. She got Rusty because she saw how much joy Jake brings to me. Carol will be 50 years old this September so she's still got alot of living to do!

Good Food, Good Weather, Good Friends...

Do you ever have a weekend that you hate to see come to an end? This past weekend was like that for me. I don't know why this camping club weekend was any different from the others but it was so enjoyable. The food, the weather, the people, I loved every minute of it!

We arrived at the RV park before dark Thursday night and I immediately got busy cleaning. We recently had some minor work done on the RV so it was really dusty from sitting at the shop. I'm so glad I took the time to clean because all weekend our RV seemed to be the hub of activity. Every time I turned around someone was knocking on the screen door saying "Linda...." I think at one point there was 9 or 10 of us in the RV talking and just hanging out before dinner on Saturday.

Friday night 17 of us went out for a delicious Italian dinner. They put us in our own private room and boy was that smart on their part. We can be one loud group when we get together. I tried to get a picture of each of the couples but it looks like I missed 2. In one of the pictures you'll see an older lady with gray hair and glasses. She is our friend Janet's mother. Janet's father passed away only 3 weeks ago and Janet knew it would be hard for her mother on Valentine's Day so she brought her with them to the campout. Janet's parents had been married for 61 years when her father passed away.







The RV park is known for the mineral hot springs that are on site. They have 4 mineral pools, each varying in temperature, plus a large heated swimming pool. Saturday afternoon I soaked in the 100+ degree pool and it felt so good on my ankle. I'm having a problem with my ankle being stiff and it's still some what swollen, so the mineral pool seemed to be good therapy.

As usual, Saturday night was our potluck. I made cupcakes (surprise surprise!) and at my husband's request, homemade macaroni and cheese. I was all set to try a new baked chicken recipe but he mentioned mac and cheese. There wasn't one noodle left in the dish so it was well received. I usually make homemade mac and cheese once or twice a year at the campouts because we have kids that camp with us and they always love it.



Here are a few random pictures from the potluck...





As you can see, the weather was gorgeous. We were in the desert and it reached the high 70's during the day. It was cold at night but certainly wasn't unbearable. The whole weekend was just delightful in every way!

I'm already counting down the days until next month's camping club weekend! Good food, good weather, good friends!

Photo Resolution 2010 and Wordless Wednesday

6/52:

Wordless Wednesday

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This weekend is camping club weekend! Of course, we will be celebrating Valentine's Day so I've got alot of work to do today. I'm hoping to make BIG heart shaped chocolate chip cookies, decorate them, wrap them, then give them out this weekend. Plus, I need to figure out what food I'll be bringing to the campout.

If you've been reading my blog for very long, you know that our camping friends eat very well at the campouts! No hot dogs and beans for this group! Nope, no way! Believe me, I've tried! It's always a challenge for me, the cooking impaired girl, to come up with winners because remember, I camp with gourmet cooks...and that's the truth! Luckily, there are lots and lots of cooking blogs to get great ideas from. Guess I'd better get browsing!

Happy New Year!

I hope you all had a fun, safe New Year's! I just keep thinking about it being 2010 and truthfully, it leaves me dumbfounded. It seems like only 4-5 years ago that we were all talking about Y2K but it's been 10 years already. It really scares me how fast time flies by.

We spent the holiday weekend with camping buddies and always have such an enjoyable time but even still, I wasn't looking forward to going RVing this weekend. I only went because hubby really really wanted to go and friends were really really bugging us to go, so we went.

From the get go, I wasn't thrilled with the thought of going up and down the RV stairs with crutches, maneuvering in the RV shower on one foot, or the fact that we weren't even going to be parked near friends. We reserved our spot at a later date and all of the spaces close to our friends were taken already. I never knew camping over New Year's was such a popular time but it is. One family provided us with a golf cart which was very kind but I still wasn't super happy about the whole set up. I would have been just as happy to stay home.

Well, with that being said, this weekend was one of those times that I just decided to go with it, to keep my mouth shut, and to feed myself positive thoughts about the situation. I have found it truly is mind over matter and the desire to be happy in any given situation IS in our control. I know first hand it's not easy, but our happiness truly is up to us. If I've learned anything at my age, I've learned that I cannot look to others for my happiness. I have to make it on my own. Am I happy to be home? Yes! But did I have a nice, enjoyable weekend after all? Yes! And the best part about it is that I feel very satisfied and happy with the outcome. More fun times and great memories were made with family and friends this past weekend. I could have chosen to sulk around in the motorhome or have a bad attitude. I'm glad I didn't choose either one.

Thursday night, New Year's Eve, we had an excellent potluck in one of the clubhouses. We had so much food and it was all so delicious. I asked the guys to line up and this is what I got. I think a few of them thought they were Chippendale dancers or something...


Ok, so then I asked the husbands to take some pictures of us girls...


And this is what we got. They didn't even get all of us in the photos!



I'm sure these next 2 photos were taken by women friends. The photos are centered and we're pretty much looking in the same direction...



Guy friends...


Girl friends...


Family...


And of course, the best traveling buddy around. Notice how he's always got to be touching his momma!



We've been blessed to make many wonderful memories with these camping buddies. I'm sure 2010 will bring many more!