MERRY CHRISTMAS!
Friday, December 16, 2011
The Spirit of Christmas
Friday, December 2, 2011
Demand Improvement of Self
Tuesday, November 15, 2011
Endure
Thursday, November 3, 2011
Every Leaf a Flower...
Thursday, October 6, 2011
Opportunities to Do Good
Monday, September 26, 2011
I'm On a Mission

Monday, September 5, 2011
The Project
Retirement continues ... the first large project I took on was the garage. When we moved into this house over 20 years ago I was thrilled to be the proud owner of a three car garage! For the first time in many years we would actually be able to put a car in the garage.
I soon learned how wrong i was as the garage quicly became a family
storage unit with everything imaginable except a car taking up its space. I
have been working on the project for nearly three weeks now ... re-taping and
painting the unfinished walls, building shelves and getting rid of "stuff." Soon we will be able to get at least two of our three cars into the garage ... funny thing is, we
have decided to downsize to only one car ... go figure!
Daily Flash." Each day he writes and posts a flash fiction ... Day 26 tells my story. Hope you laugh as much as I did when I read it ... thanks Jon!
"The garage is a man’s sanctuary, a tangible “Fortress of Solitude”. We men define
ourselves by the contents thereof: excessive tools, cars or trucks, quads or jetskis or boat(s), yard care machinery: lawnmower, weedwacker, shovels, pickaxe, what is needed for destruction. Perhaps your garage keeps order, designated areas outlined in thick black where each place secures its object. Perhaps the exposed sheetrock and unsealed gray cement are bare except for water-heater, washer, and dryer. Perhaps.
"Ed Morris’s garage was not this luxury. It was: a storage unit used by his children; a place for everything forgotten, abandoned, lost, thrown away but somehow never reached the garbage can; a place where rats napped the days away, nested, expanded; where thirty-seven flathead screw drivers can all be misplaced from one tool box; where memories go to die as baseball trophies, hockey sticks, school art projects, old clothes, scout uniforms, academic awards, gifts from girlfriends or boyfriends, unfinished hobby projects. In the past eighteen years Ed’s family lived in that house, not once had any of their three cars been parked inside it: a three car garage monitored by the cars lining the street.
their children grown – they had saved enough for two months without Ed having a
replacement job. The garage, he vowed, would receive its dues.
"The whole process should be easy, Ed thought. Sure, random collections pilled to
the ceiling in places. And true, most of the contents Ed had never seen before. But still, buy some metal shelving, reorganize all the tools, move the kids junk onto the drive (one week to claim it, than it was off to Good Will); after all that, a good sweeping. Success.
"Not hardly. It started with his wife’s assorted elephant figurine collection. Six boxes packed with elephants, elephants he did not know she collected. He lost count at seventy-seven. Big elephants too, some twenty pounds or more; and of
course tiny little hand blown glass ones with golden trunks and feet (Ed never
told his wife that four elephants didn’t make it through transportation to the
attic, “no need for her to know”). The whole elephant debacle stole a week from
Ed, from the cleaning– the next stage would not dominate so much time. Next, he
moved to the food storage, a small mountain of five and ten gallon bucks filled
with wheat, beans, freeze dried apples and onions, powdered milk, salt, sugar.
They were white once, but thirty years in storage units and garage corners
painted them a dingy yellow, accented with cobwebs and dirt smears and wasp’s
nests. On their sides dates were written in red sharpie: 1976, 1981, 1988. He
would have kept some, that food good for at least thirty years, but neglect
broke the tight seals wrapped around their lids. Weevil infested for certain.
The buckets had to go. Some were lighter than expected, only half filled, or
reaching for wheat, prepared for dense grains, grabbed instead a bucket of
loose beans.
garage floor, thinking he lifted heavy salt, Ed jerked the bucket. Unfortunate for him, the bucket above the apples – although behind it – stuck out about two inches over the apple bucket lid: the apples jostled the upper buckets. When he stood, Ed saw a full bucket of wheat fall from the top of the mountain and crack its bottom edge against the bridge of his nose. That didn’t kill him. Falling to the garage floor, breaking his skull, did; along with the toppling mountain on top of him. Fifteen buckets in total.
Friday, August 26, 2011
Expressions of Love
"No success in life can compensate for failure in the home."
-David O. McCay
Thursday, August 18, 2011
A Committed Child of God

If you want to view Elder Chrisopherson's entire talk it can be found at lds.org.
Friday, August 12, 2011
Beach House Update
Monday, August 8, 2011
My First Thirty Days
I cannot believe that I have been a retiree for over thirty days now ... not sure where the time continues to go. Below is a brief update of how I have been spending my first thirty days with Chris:
Our first adventure was kayaking. First at Folsom Lake with our granddaughter, AnnMarie and then on to Lake Tahoe with our
friends Rick and Bev. The weather at Tahoe was beautiful, the scenery breath taking and the Lake was calm ... well, at least until the afternoon winds hit and the waives arose; nevertheless, it was a blast even when I accidentally rolled my kayak. Yep, my lunch, sweater, camera and I all took an unexpected dip in the chilly blue waters! Not to worry, the camera eventually dried out and it still works. As for me, well, I dried out too, but am still not working!
On July 18, I left for a three day backpacking trip with two friends, Dan and Rich. During the drive to the trailhead Dan popped up with, "I've always wanted to live off of the land." What's with that? Soooo, with that challenge and a lot of laughter Dan and I unloaded all of our food from our packs save just one meal and a handful of trail mix for each. I am so thankful Dan is a better fisherman than I am ~ he caught four trout while I came away empty handed, but true to our friendship he shared the catch with me. We seasoned our fish with a few peanuts and some young pine needles and it was delicious! Dan lost ten pounds on the trip and I lost four!
Next our family (all 14 of us) all gathered in Oceanside for a family reunion and to celebrate Chris' 60th birthday. We rented a beach house for the week and loved every minute of it enjoying the warm waters and beautiful weather. It was fantastic to have our five kids, their sweet spouses and, most importantly, our four grand children with us! We played on the sand, we flew kites, did some body surfing, boogie-boarding, skim-boarding, went to the zoo and even Legoland. Throughout the week we ate like royalty as we all took turns cooking dinner for each other including homemade Italian, Greek, Southern, Mexican and good old fashioned grilled tri-tip. That's not to mention the special pastries Steve and Mike made under the supervision of their sweet wives. I tried to fry up some bacon and make Mickey Mouse pancakes for everyone ~ thank you Chris and Mike for bailing me out.
Isaak, Kassidy and AnnMarie with Grandma and Grandpa.
Without question this goes down as the best vacation ever and we are all looking forward to the next family reunion!
BTW - thanks to David for designing the family logo for the reunion!

Wednesday, July 13, 2011
Am I a Tigger or an


Tuesday, July 5, 2011
It's official....
Friday, July 1, 2011
Am I really retired?
Wednesday, June 29, 2011
What a Send Off!
Wednesday, June 22, 2011
Retirement is Just a Few Days Away....
