Rainbows, Rain and Fall Weather!

Do you think it is here to stay? The cool weather? I'm so ready for the fall weather! I can't decide if this is my favorite time of the year or not. Seems like every time we have a season change (and yes, we have changes in season here in Southern California, no matter how subtle the change is) I enjoy them. The beginning of Spring, the warmth of summer, the rain in the winter. But I love Fall because it equates to football, desert season, Halloween, Thanksgiving and then the madness leading up to Christmas. It's also a SUPER busy time of the year. I received an email from my boss yesterday addressed to the team that Q4 is a short quarter because of all of the time off we get! LOVE IT.....the only bummer is that we have to scramble to get things done this quarter, regardless, scrambling makes you busy and busy makes time go by faster, which allows me to relax on those LONG holiday weekends!!!



I have a feeling that yesterday was the start of our fall weather. And what a better start then with a fall rainbow. It seems a little weird, since Spring should start with a rainbow, but in a way it is appropriate for the rainbow to appear yesterday. To me, rainbows symbolize good things to come. This has been an incredible time for us. Our high school football team is doing well and my oldest son will be graduating from the Police Academy in December. We've made some LIFELONG friends in the last year and a half. The proof was in my birthday on Monday night. I was commenting to my BFF Julie that it felt like it should have been a milestone birthday, but really it wasn't and just a REALLY REALLY good time. Special thanks to all of my friends for making my birthday / wedding anniversary SO SO special! John and I celebrated our 18 year wedding anniversary on my birthday too!



I feel fortunate that we just happened to be outside with the dogs when the rainbow first appeared. It was brilliant, and above that rainbow a 2nd one started to appear. You can barely make it out in the picture. Then the rain came! The rain is something that we desperately need here in Southern California. Unfortunately it wasn't a lot of rain, but just the same, it was enough to make it smell good and just be out in to enjoy and savor! I like the fact that I was able to snap a picture of the rainbow going into John's workshop! JD Built is at the end of the rainbow and he is Irish! So appropriate! It's his pot of gold!


Here we go! Fall! Autumn! Q4! Football! Desert Season! Halloween! Thanksgiving! and I can hardly wait till "black" Friday to head to Target and just be amazed at the amount of people that get up at 4 a.m. to take advantage of rock bottom prices!

Orange Glen High School Homecoming 2009

As a parent of a Senior in High School...what a night! About a month ago, Deb came to me and suggested we cook for the kids this homecoming and make it EXTRA special this year. We took the idea and ran with it.

The table settings were beautiful. We went to the Dollar Tree store here in Escondido and picked up tableclothes, Champagne glasses, mine treat glasses and all sorts of other goodies. Since my husband has the resources, we blasted the interlocking OG on the glasses for the kids to keep as souvenirs of their special night. Deb's Friend Marion (Wayne Johnson's Girlfriend ((inside joke)) ) created the beautiful flower arrangements.



On the menu for dinner was Prime Rib, Lemon Chicken, Baked potato, your choice of tossed or Ceaser salad and for dessert, cheesecake with fresh berries on top. Everything was done up just right. There was a mini cup of Au Jus for the prime rib served along side. For their potatoes the kids were given a trio of butter, sour cream and chives on a little clear plastic plate. Sparkling cider and Evian water was offered as well.

Kevin's girlfriend Cierra arrived at our house from Ramona at 5:30 and we took a couple of pictures at our house before they headed to Deb's for more pictures and the dinner.



Cierra is a beautiful girl and her mom did a fantastic job with her hair for the evening.



There were 12 kids total for the dinner at Debs. Once everyone arrived at Debbies, the kids exchanged boutonnières and corsages. Oh my goodness, the only smart boy?? Tyler. His boutonnière was magnetic and went on nicely. The rest of the boys had to endure getting pricked by pins with their flowers. Kev was the biggest baby of all! Eventually all of the flowers got on, but I do believe that excercise took a FULL 30 minutes! Moms, dads, dates, everyone was involved.

Krista putting on AJ's boutonnière



Thank goodness, the corsages were just slipped on a wrist!

Cierra's corsage



Then the picture taking ensued. We found the perfect spot in front of the fountain, ,however, unfortunately the fountain was in the rocks....and boy on boy, every girl but one hat on spikey heels...and walking through the rocks was a challenge for them. And did I hear about it. But as parents we just wanted the pictures! We kept reminding the kids they would appreciate these pictures in years ahead.

Kevin and Melissa. These two have known each other since preschool and they are like brother and sister. They call each other cousins.....and when we asked them to pose together, this is what we got. Yup!! A total brother / sister pose!!!



The girls!



The boys!



The group!!



After picture it was time for dinner. We sat the kids down and then they saw their surprise waiter and waitress for the night! Ruth Arner, who is the trainer for the Football team and Coach Victor Garduno. Coach Garduno has been with the majority of the boys since their freshman year and this was a special time. The reaction when they saw both of these folks walk out was priceless. They'll never ever forget this dinner. Kevin talked about it last night and was laughing everytime he told me a story. As parent, Mary Beth, Deb, Julie, Mindy and I, we hid in the kitchen and prepared the food, served up the plates for the "wait staff" as they brought up the orders. Victor likened it to Hell's Kitchen when he started shouting out the orders first trip up. We had a blast as parents doing it. I don't think we'll forget this night either!

The girls at the table



The boys at at the table. Their surprise reaction when they saw Coach Garduno was there to wait on them. Priceless!



Everybody and the "wait staff"



Homecoming 2009 was definitely a memory made. The group of parents that have become GREAT friends as a result of our children. The great group of kids, which incidently all but two in the photos are on the Varsity football team...which, by the way are

4 and 0 baby!!!!!! Go PATRIOTS!!!

Quote of the Day - Go BIG BLUE!!!

Football is an incredible game. Sometimes it's so incredible, it's unbelievable.

- Tom Landry

GO BIG BLUE!!!!!

Let's make it 4 and 0!!!!!!

My Dad and Alzheimers

Celebrating Pa's 80th Birthday

I've been neglecting my blog. I haven't posted in like over a week! It's just been so dang busy. I knew that going into this week this past weekend it was going to busy, and then you get thrown a couple of curve balls.

I recieved a call first thing Monday morning. My dad was taken to the hospital. He was vomiting blood and my mother used his lifeline to contact the paramedics. My dad was admitted and they've been doing tests on him. Ultimately we found out he has a tear in his esophagus. He is on a liquid diet now and once he can consume solids and keep in down, he'll be discharged to go home.



My dad is 80 years old and has Alzheimer's. What an awful disease. My mom and I have been taking turns watching him and keeping him company at the hospital. This morning when I arrived, my mom left to go back to their house to take care of their cats and pick up some things for my dad. Once she left, my dad launched into a series of questions:

Where am I?
Where do I live?
- and whereabouts is that?
I have a house don't I?
I have a wife right?
How many of us are there here? (referring to family here in town)
We're in Westmont right? (this one is interesting...he hasn't lived in Westmont since he was a child.....)

For 2 hours, these questions were repeated. Constantly. He was definitely a Chatty Cathy. But he recognized that he couldn't remember and you could tell it was frustrating for him. But I have to admit, it was the first time in awhile where he was friendly and did not get agitated. He was just happy to be talking. My dad has had Alzheimer's for a little over 5 years and it just gets progressively worse. Yesterday in the Emergency room he was trying to escape out of his bed. Fortunately he was so weak, that he didn't get far.

My dad is a little guy and the nurses fell in love with him He would come up with wisecrack answers, to their simple questions.....and then laugh at himself.

Alzheimer's is just such a challenge and my mother just loves my father like crazy to put up with these antics. I joke with my husband John and ask him if he'll be patient like my mother and take care of me. I also tell the boys to be prepared for John and I to grow old like my mom and dad.

I just got off of the phone with my mother and she is home alone and dang happy. She told me she left the hospital when my dad starting messing with his IV and told the nurses he was their problem now. (she cracks me up!) But just talking to her, I can tell she is savoring her time alone at home with no interruptions.



Ma and Pa AND Paul and Paulette

Alright, I've typed enough. This week is homecoming week at Orange Glen High School. So exciting for those kids. Kevin and some of his friends are doing dinner together and then off to the dance. And of course, Friday night is Football night and a chance for Orange Glen to go 4 and 0. So exciting! Thursday night I will have the Varsity football team here for team dinner. I love those kids. Every single one of them is great.

100,000 miles

My car has officially reached 100,000 miles. I remember picking the car up on August 10, 2003, brand spanking new. Since I am in sales it gets around. Longest roadtrip? From Escondido, to Laughlin, to Las Vegas, back to Escondido. Other then that, lots of trips to Orange County and Los Angeles. Her name is Mable and she is reliable. I love this car. Now all the poor thing needs is a car wash!

Orange Glen Football: Send off's , some football and Pizza!

Friday, September 11th was a day to remember, but also a day to celebrate for the Varsity Orange Glen Patriot Football team. Since kickoff was at 3 p.m. down in San Diego at Crawford High School, the boys were granted early release at school and there was a great send off for these kids at lunch time! There was a blue carpet and a student tunnel. Led by the Orange Glen HS Drumline, the boys followed and then the cheerleaders...all the way from the weight room to the buses in front of the school.



Student Tunnel



The boys picked up a sack lunch made by Wayne Johnson of Agrusas before boarding the bus and they were on their way down south.

Wayne Johnson handing out lunches for the boys



Orange Glen Football team loaded up and ready to go!



Head Coach Plash and his team ready to go



Team Huddle




What a GREAT game. Ending score??? 47 - 6...Orange Glen winning!!!! That's two games in a row!! The boys are are rockin' it this season. My son, #28 Kevin Donnellon, completed two touchdowns during the game. His Friend's Dana Walker #32 had two and Jacob Sneary #15 had two. Then "little" Willy....(we love Willy) #8 Willy Lopez saw the end zone with the ball!

My son #28 Kevin Donnellon, running the ball towards the endzone



After the game we informed them we were taking them to Round Table Pizza for a celebration dinner. We had all but two boys show up for pizza! (yeah, those kids can eat!) They ate and played video games and just had a GREAT time. What a sense of community spirit and pride there too. The other patrons at Round Table thought it was great that the Orange Glen Team was there and they were winners!







What a fantastic day! And amazing! And truly memorable!

Salvation Mountain, Niland, CA

This past weekend, I had the opportunity to go visit Salvation Mountain. Salvation Mountain is located in Niland, California, which is located on the southeast side of the Salton Sea.



Salvation Mountain is Leonard Knight's tribute to God and his gift to the world with its simple yet powerful message: "God Is Love." The minute we arrived with our two carloads of folks, Leonard was calling to us to go on the tour with him and another family that had just arrived. Leonard is 77 years old and has been working on the "mountain" for 27 years.

Leonard Knight, the creator and builder of Salvation Mountain




Leonard is so passionate about his mountain and very eager to share it with the public and all the detail that went into it. He has "rooms" in his mountain and you can definately tell the temperature difference when you enter them. Within his room he has a couple of "trees." The trees are made of tires. Car Tires, Tractor Tires.....and then built up with Adobe, hay and paint.

The "tire" tree



He has his resident cat that hangs out in the mountain too. His name is George.

"George"




Leonard told us to take the "yellow brick road" up to the top of the mountain. Of course the kids scrambled up it fairly quickly. They loved the moutain.



It is truly amazing. The bright colors, the weirdness of it all, it's just downright cool in it's own way.

The Yellow Brick Road




There is a dedicated website about the mountain, the link is below:

www.salvationmountain.us

The mountain is about 45 minutes away from our Salton Sea house. Right behind the mountain is another wierd sight. Slab City. I will post pictures and blog on that next.

Debbie, Paige, Leonard & Paulette



Kimberly, Tyler, Ivan, Kevin & Leonard



I told the kids to remember this opportunity to meet Leonard. I have a gut feeling that long after Leonard is gone, the mountain will live on.