HAPPINESS IS...

Happiness is my own first car, er... TRUCK!    My 16 year old grandson, Levi, came home today to  see his '83 GMC truck with 71,000 original miles on it. He's got a full time summer job painting with Uncle Josh, and this big blue beast fits his style perfectly!  Happiness for me was being there (by serendipity) to see it all. Happiness for Brad was finding and making a great deal, polishing the faded paint to a little shine, and seeing Levi's reaction - Pure Happiness!

First Look

Check it OUT!!

I Love It!

What's it Got?

Test Drive

It's MINE!

US

My grandson Shaydon and I are "US" going to the movie 'Star Trek into Darkness', an entertaining, shoot 'em up, blow it up, duke it out, Good against Evil story. The acting was pretty good. The characters were pretty true (even in looks) to the Star Trek TV show I used to watch, and the story was one of looking out for your friends at the risk of your own life. The evil villain Kahn is still alive in the end, but frozen to return another time...

PAPER

Ever since I bought the Lasagna Gardening book, I've wanted to try one. So this year, when a neighbor invited me to use a little piece of her back yard for a garden, I decided to go for it! I bought a 4x4' wooden frame and started my layers, the first being NEWSPAPER. Several layers of wet newspaper laid right on the grass, then more layers of old straw, peat moss, compost, manure, grass clippings or what have you - make up the raised bed. The newsPAPER stops/kills the grass underneath. The other materials meld together and provide a healthy growth medium. At least in theory. We'll see how it works out for me, especially since it's not right out my back door. I hope to grow lettuce for my juicing, green beans for summer suppers, and whatever else strikes my fancy.


1. Collect Newspaper



4. Layer of Old Straw





5. Layer with Compost, Peatmoss

2. Remove Glossy Ads

3. Soak and Lay Out

6. Second Layers of Compost, Peatmoss



THIS IS REALLY GOOD

After working a longer day than usual, I wanted something quick for dinner. It was the perfect time to try this new cup of soup. Maybe it was because I was so exhausted and hungry, but it tasted so incredibly good I want to keep some on hand always!

The next day I found some frozen peaches in my freezer that I had forgotten about. I had a bird dog banana (the ripe kind with lots of spots), and some dried out fresh blueberries, so I put them all together in a smoothie. I highly recommend this 'Peachananaberry Smoothie'!

MORNING RITUAL

First thing out of bed, after bathroom duty and before exercise, I drink a 12 oz. glass of water. It sloshes around as I'm jumping on the trampoline and wakes up my digestion.

I BOUGHT THIS

Emergency Preparedness is always in the back of my mind. With the crazy state of the world these days, you never know what might happen.

 I'm not totally prepared for every emergency, but I Bought This to have a way to cook the food I have stored.

A PLACE

A good PLACE to be this day was my daughter Sydney's home, where my grandson Jake was celebrating his 18th  birthday. What a fine, talented thoughtful young man he is! No PLACE else I'd rather be!

TINY

I found these tiny quarter inch pink bells on the manzanita bush in Lexi's yard. And 2 inch tall miniature hyacinths among the new grass. (It looks like there's a tiny person resting under the center stalk, don't you think?)

AIR

I had to come up for AIR after this breath taking experience! I bought some clothes! Marlene took me to shop a sale at Talbot's, but of course the things I loved were not on sale, which makes them very expensive. Not sure if it was vanity, peer pressure, or desperation, but I spent a portion of my kids' inheritance on this great, colorful (somewhat out of my comfort zone) skirt and tops!

DREAMY

Dreamy is a word from the 50's and 60's to describe a cute guy. Handsome is more the word for this man, who conducted and spoke at a couple sessions of General Conference this weekend. President Uchtdorf is also one of my favorite speakers, with his slight German accent, great sense of humor, and easy-to-follow way of teaching Gospel principles.

SOMETHING GOOD

It's certainly SOMETHING GOOD to see popcorn popping on the apricot trees!

THIS HAPPENED TODAY

Molly and I donned hairnets as we prepared to fill a shift at the Murray Cannery. The crew behind the glass was filling cans with black beans. Others sealed the cans and sent them on their way thru the steam canner, and then the labeler. Molly and I taped and filled boxes (by machine) with 24 of the processed cans. What an amazing system the Church has of preparing and providing food for the needy thru out the world. With mostly volunteer workers like us!

SOMETHING BEGINNING WITH 'A'

A is for Apple! I decided to have a healthy bedtime snack - a crisp and delicious Fuji apple with peanut butter slathered on it. At least the Apple is healthy!

BLUE

Pansies are some of the first flowers that can be planted in the spring. Their blossoms can handle a spring snow storm and the wind and rain of March. These might actually be purple, but let's call them deep BLUE. We also see more BLUE sky in the spring after the gray of winter. That always helps my spirits!

PLAY

For Lindsay's birthday, I bought tickets to a PLAY - Chitty Chitty Bang Bang - at Hale Center Theater. When we go next Saturday, I will post a picture of us there. Lindsay loves music. I think she'll also love the theater in the round and all the fun props, singing and dancing!

STUFF

The stuff I put in this Easter basket (bowl) was a result of a fun annual activity that Marlene and I like to do. We love to dye eggs and just enjoy opening the fridge to see the happy colors and designs we've created. I made enough to take a basket-bowl to most of my visiting teaching sisters. I included a card with the words to an Easter hymn. The word stuff seems sacrilegious when connected to the miracle of the Resurrection and the great gift of the Atonement of Jesus Christ.

 

RELAX

March 30
I was able to relax in the sun at a barbeque for Levi's birthday. What a lovely warm day it was! We just visited, played Mancala and Skipbo, watched Levi put up his new tent, enjoyed good food and great company.

IN THE MIRROR

Ali's driveway is a devil to back out of since there is an angle to it.

If you just look over your shoulder like normal backing you end up in the yard or into the fence. The only way I can do it is to use my side mirror to keep the car lined up with the edge of the driveway.

SOMETHING YOU DID

A friend of mine taught me how to make compost more quickly by chopping your kitchen waste in a blender, then pouring the sludge on soil and mixing it in. I have all the pulp from my juice everyday plus other food waste, so I decided to give it a try in the concrete corner just outside my door. A former neighbor had left a big planter which I adopted for my maiden batch. The garbage mixture had lemon and cilantro, beet and carrot pulp, banana and pineapple skins. It smelled good enough to eat! The soil in the planter was all dried out, so I expected the sludge to soak in and soften it so I could dig in it. But wait! What's that blood on the sidewalk?! Apparently the dry soil simply filtered all the water from the sludge so it could run out the drain hole! Amazingly, beet juice does not stain concrete, but taught me that there is something of a learning curve on this project!

WHAT YOU DO FOR FUN

That's easy! I just go visit G-kids! Reef is so cute, just seeing him makes me smile! He gnaws on my finger (or anybody's really); he's discovered his voice and does a great Scream-on-Demand. It's fun, too, to watch his dad (my son Josh) enjoy playing with him.

CLEAN

                                                                            

Green smoothies and plenty of fresh, mostly raw fruits and veggies can clean your body on the inside, strengthening your immune system which is then able to clean up most illness and disease.  According to the good doctor, whenever you've had enough of allergies, bloating and diseases maybe it's worth it to give up the chocolate, pork roast, and ice cream (my favorites) and allow our amazing bodies to function as God intended them to.

SHOES

It wasn't so much the shoes but who was wearing them that mattered. My sweet daughter Ali stopped by with a gift of some colorful bowls she bought for me because she knows I like dishes. I took a picture of her shoes to record that lovely visit with her. And the multi-colored bowls too!

TASTY

Some of my son Micah's TASTY homecooked beans made a great lunch today with some avocado and tortillas. When my kids were young, I cooked a big pot of beans nearly every week. I found this picture of Micah as a baby with beans all over his face. Now he can flavor and cook them to perfection!

 

SOUND

A few years ago I was afraid to use a cell phone, still hanging on to "old school" land lines. But a friend talked me into sharing a contract with her. She helped me pick out a flip phone, and it wasn't long till I was using my cell phone almost exclusively. But texting? No, I couldn't see the point in little conversations that it would take forever for me to type. You might as well just call, and say what you have to say. Even tho everyone else seemed to be so into their apps and texts and 'smart' phones, I was happy with my "old school'', stupid, flip phone! Recently my contract friend wanted to change phone companies, so I looked into a deal which included unlimited texting as well as the mintues. I got a new phone - a slider with a keyboard, and I was introduced to texting! Now I love the little beepbeepbeep SOUND that tells me I have a new message! And even if I can't get to the message for a while (I'm driving or working or otherwise busy) it's so much easier to retrieve a text than going thru the voice mail prompts. I wonder what my next move into technology will be!

IN THE DISTANCE

IN THE DISTANCE I can see the end of the first of three halls I got to vacuum in our Tuesday morning cleaning at the church. The door at the end leads to the Relief Society Room which I also vacuumed in preparation for our meeting that night.

IMPORTANT

My good friend Jenny gets to move out of her two bedroom, one bath apartment (same size as mine with just me) into a real house. She and her husband have lived there since they married ten years ago. They have accumulated 4 and a half children and are ready to burst. As much as I hate to lose her as a neighbor and in our ward, I felt it was IMPORTANT to help her a few times over the past two weeks to pack and clean and move.

FACELESS SELF PORTRAIT

A small collection of  choker necklaces has become a signature statement for me.

I wear one or another every day, for work or play.