Halloween 2009

This year was a fun Halloween. There are quite a few of us that bought houses out by the Salton Sea and we are all neighbors out there. It's a lot of fun and an escape to go out there and be with your friends and just relax, ride, eat, watch movies, whatever your heart desires.

This past weekend, one of our Salton Sea Neighbors threw a Halloween party. My husband and I had a blast! The theme was 70's Halloween. Greg set up a dance floor on the lot next to his house. A few of his friends had the wagon train circle with their trailers around it. The disco light was strung up over the dance floor and Debbie and Marion brought some fantastic Halloween deco to finish off the look.

First, one of Greg's friends took the kids around the neighborhood for a hay ride to go trick or treating. They hauled in a pretty good load of candy.


Then we all returned to Greg's house for a potluck dinner. Very very yummy potluck dinner. Then, the dancing! At 11:30 Debbie duz Karaoke came over and we sang some tunes till about 1. What a GREAT time. Greg you can throw a party!!



Greg and JD



Paulette and JD (yup he shaved his beard off. I'm still getting used to it)



Check out Disco Granny! What a hottie! aka Debbie!



Paige and "Vietnam" vet Justin

Red neck hillbillies stopped by too!

Orange Glen High School Football

This is my 2nd attempt at creating a video with pictures. This time with the random pictures I took during the early part of the 2009 Orange Glen Patriot Football season.

Go down to my "pink" playlist on the right side, press the pause button so that you can enjoy the music associated with the video below.

Enjoy!

Our "roots"

As I sit on the couch here I can see out of our back slider window door down into the back yard and to John's shop. We have a back road that goes to his shop from the main road, and then a side driveway that goes through past the house to the street above, that takes you back out the main road.

This is looking down towards John's shop with is located in the right side.


So this past Saturday morning, I had an interesting experience. I was sitting here on the couch reading the paper, talking to Kevin (John had left earlier for the desert house that day) when Roxy and Dude aka Deet da dee starting barking at someone down on the back road. From time to time we will see folks down there, but mostly the neighbors walking their dog. This time is was a woman jogging (she was in her mid 30's) and I had never seen her before. She jogged down the back road and came up our driveway and stopped in front of John's shop. She starts walking around looking at the back yard.

Of course I get up and go out the deck and ask her if there was something I can help her with.

She responds, that her grandparents used to live here in the 70's and that she was in town for her High School Reunion from Arizona. Her parents lived over the hill and that she jogged over this way to check out the house.



Looking up at our house from John's shop

We talked for about 10 minutes. I think she felt a bit weird being approached...but of course I had to ask her the questions about what our house used to look like.

Back then, in place of John's shop, there were Avocado trees. There were also apricot, plum and fig trees. The deck was here, but the stairs went down on the other side. The back door to my office was there, but it was a dirt floor and just a storage area. She described to a 'T' the layout of the house upstairs. So nothing had changed inside.

Our house was built in 1968, we moved in during the late 90's. You always wonder about the history of your house, who lived here, what kind of people were they.

I'm sad she didn't stay long (she wasn't the talkative type of lady) Plus I wasn't prepared for all the questions I wanted to ask. Now of course, I can think of all sorts of questions.

I know a few years back when I went back to Canada to visit, I did the same thing. I stopped by a house I used to live in. It is an amazing experience.



One of the houses I grew up in, located in Canada. This house was built in the late 1800's. When I lived here the house was painted white and there were fields all around it. I almost didn't recognize the house because of all the trees that have grown around it

To see a house 20 years later and how much has changed. The ladies that lived there invited me to come in and see it. So I got to see my old bedroom, which seemed a lot smaller then I remember.



My old bedroom. My bed was in the exact same place

Our old Shed room was converted into a family room and in the living room they pulled up a big throw rug to show us the painted black wood floor. Which I was able to share that piece of history with them. My folks were hippies back then and they had some "interesting" parties. But I do remember them painting the wood floor back then. These women were able to strip the floor down on the outside but put a large throw rug down to cover the remainder of it.

It's interesting how we always will go back to our roots.

The boys and I with the family that lives at the house I grew up in now.

Last Home Football Game of the Season

So every chapter must come to an end and we turn the page to start the new chapter. Tonight is the end of the chapter for home football games at Orange Glen for 2009. Kevin is a Senior, so this will be our last home game as parents at Orange Glen.

I love home games. I love being up in the stands watching the boys warm up on the field, the music blaring from the speakers, watching everybody arrive for the big game, the national anthem and the student tunnel for the football team to run through. Just the excitement of it all is a blast.

As a parent, I will miss being able to watch my son as a participant in all of these festivities as a football player at Orange Glen. I will also mention that we have made some GREAT memories and the better part is that we have made some incredible lifelong friends as a result.



We have two more away games after the home game tonight for regular season. But I will say I can't wait for what the future holds for us and for Kevin. Let's live to enjoy every moment now and savor it all!






GO PATRIOTS!!!!!!!!

Quote of the Day - Oct 21, 2009

A mistake is simply another way of doing things.

- Katharine Graham

My weekend top 10 to do, REVIEWED

I made a list Saturday morning of things I wanted to do this weekend, but shouldn't have because I needed to clean the house. Well..........let's review

1. Take Roxy and Dude aka deet da dee for a nice walk. (this is already not sounding so good since it's supposed to get in the high 90's today) I can just see my little furry friends panting after the first 10 minutes.
Roxy and Dude aka Deet da dee did get to go out and take a walk this weekend. Took them on Sunday when it wasn't so hot.

2. Go Geocaching. I haven't done this in AGES. It's always so fun to discover new areas of San Diego via this hobby.
Wasn't in the cards for this weekend. :-(

3. Go to the movies. This one is pretty dangerous, only because it might just happen. I haven't been to the movies in what seems like forever. And that "Couples Retreat" looks like it might be fun to watch. And an afternoon movie is a nice break.
YUP! late afternoon on Saturday, went with a girlfriend. And I watched Couples Retreat. Pretty good movie!

4. Re-organize my bedroom closet. Yeah, yeah, this one kinda goes with cleaning the house. But, this is a whole separate project where I can go in, determine what I really don't wear anymore, get the old stuff into bags to drop off at Amvets...and then of course the closet seems empty and guess what?
NOPE! I wasn't 100% this weekend and I could totally see myself starting the project and halfway through taking a nap and not wanting to finish.

5. Go clothes shopping! Find fresh new stuff for work and play. My husband calls this sport shopping. But I do have to look good for my job right? Then I can stop at the MAC counter at Nordstrom and get more base that I am almost out of. And of course stop by Brighton and get that bracelet that I really really want.
NOPE, so proud of myself on this one. ;-)

6. My Son Kevin and I can have quality time and go into his room with a pick axe and chisel to find the floor again. The kid is 17 years old. So from what I understand, the state of his room is normal behavior. I'm just so afraid to go in there and find some critter family living in the corner or better yet maybe the floor has given way and there is some sort of new civilization living under the house that is living off of the leftover Gatorade, Pringles and Pizza Rolls.
NOPE. Although....Kev and I did have a bit of quality time. We both made a trip to Walgreens together. Since we were both feeling a little under the weather, we stocked up on Cough drops, medicene and various other "things"

7. Go to TARGET!!! I love love loooovvvvveeee Target! I go in there, grab a shopping cart and I can be in there for a couple of hours just going up and down every single solitary aisle in there. Finding the endcaps with all the bargain close out stuff is a bonus. Shouldn't everybody stock up on Evergreen scented Renuzit?
NOoooooooooooo.......Sadly Target will have to wait for another weekend.


8. My husband went away to desert house this weekend. I LOVE our desert house. SO tempting to pack up and go out there this afternoon and join him. But, with the lingering cold and the mere fact that it's just him and the "guys" out there this weekend, it's probably a good idea to hang back here and get my freaking house cleaned.
HECK NO! They would have sent me right back home!

9. Go Antique shopping. I really enjoy wandering around antique stores. Finding cool stuff for gifts or for decorating the house.
NO :-(

10. And finally, number 10......Get into my little red Convertible and go for a joy ride. Where to? I don't know. Maybe to Target? Naw.....remember it's a "little" red convertible. How about the mall? Possibly. Or...I could grab that 17 year old kid of mine and take him out for lunch or dinner. Force him to talk to me and watch him just be all out miserable. All because he would rather be home playing "Call of duty" with his online buddies or some other random thing that 17 year old boys do.
So I did take the little red convertible out this weekend. But I drove it to the movies and then back home. I love that car!

Absolutely nothing planned but to clean my house!

It's Saturday, I didn't sleep well last night, I'm still suffering from the after effects of a nasty cold and I'm craving Kraft Mac n Cheese in the worst way! (thanks to a facebook post by my friend Mike Garafola on the east coast!) Apparently Kraft Mac n Cheese is on sale in New Jersey. 5 boxes for 2 bux! I love just making a big bowl of that yumminess!

So, I have absolutely nothing planned today but to get off of my hiney and get my house back in order. To me, that is pure bliss. My only problem, is that I have to stay focused enough to get the major stuff done. You know, like laundry, picking up stuff, vacuuming and doing dishes. Cuz when I have a free day with nothing planned, I tend to stray from them every now and then.

Aside from cleaning my house, here is my top 10 list of things I would like to do today on my day with nothing planned:

1. Take Roxy and Dude aka deet da dee for a nice walk. (this is already not sounding so good since it's supposed to get in the high 90's today) I can just see my little furry friends panting after the first 10 minutes.

2. Go Geocaching. I haven't done this in AGES. It's always so fun to discover new areas of San Diego via this hobby.

3. Go to the movies. This one is pretty dangerous, only because it might just happen. I haven't been to the movies in what seems like forever. And that "Couples Retreat" looks like it might be fun to watch. And an afternoon movie is a nice break.

4. Re-organize my bedroom closet. Yeah, yeah, this one kinda goes with cleaning the house. But, this is a whole separate project where I can go in, determine what I really don't wear anymore, get the old stuff into bags to drop off at Amvets...and then of course the closet seems empty and guess what?



5. Go clothes shopping! Find fresh new stuff for work and play. My husband calls this sport shopping. But I do have to look good for my job right? Then I can stop at the MAC counter at Nordstrom and get more base that I am almost out of. And of course stop by Brighton and get that bracelet that I really really want.

6. My Son Kevin and I can have quality time and go into his room with a pick axe and chisel to find the floor again. The kid is 17 years old. So from what I understand, the state of his room is normal behavior. I'm just so afraid to go in there and find some critter family living in the corner or better yet maybe the floor has given way and there is some sort of new civilization living under the house that is living off of the leftover Gatorade, Pringles and Pizza Rolls.

7. Go to TARGET!!! I love love loooovvvvveeee Target! I go in there, grab a shopping cart and I can be in there for a couple of hours just going up and down every single solitary aisle in there. Finding the endcaps with all the bargain close out stuff is a bonus. Shouldn't everybody stock up on Evergreen scented Renuzit?



8. My husband went away to desert house this weekend. I LOVE our desert house. SO tempting to pack up and go out there this afternoon and join him. But, with the lingering cold and the mere fact that it's just him and the "guys" out there this weekend, it's probably a good idea to hang back here and get my freaking house cleaned.

9. Go Antique shopping. I really enjoy wandering around antique stores. Finding cool stuff for gifts or for decorating the house.



10. And finally, number 10......Get into my little red Convertible and go for a joy ride. Where to? I don't know. Maybe to Target? Naw.....remember it's a "little" red convertible. How about the mall? Possibly. Or...I could grab that 17 year old kid of mine and take him out for lunch or dinner. Force him to talk to me and watch him just be all out miserable. All because he would rather be home playing "Call of duty" with his online buddies or some other random thing that 17 year old boys do.

So with that, I am going to sign off, think about getting up and getting a load of laundry going. Blow my nose. Empty the dishwasher. Hack up a hairball. Pick up the junk in the living room. Blow my nose. Take a nap. Wake up from violent coughing attack. Do another load of laundry. I hate being sick.

Happy Weekend!