2013 recap

2013 was a good year :)

January was a quiet month.

 February we had our 48th wedding anniversary, Sandy flew down for a few days and Lizzie came up also. We had a nice time all together.

 March  Tristan turned 15! I also returned a HS ring to an old bf from South Dakota. Jameson Lee O'Dell was born March 7 (same day as Jeff).

 April Tristan flew down to stay with us for a few days,

Marvin turned 73 years old, his brother and sisters, David and Iris came to wish him a happy birthday.

 May the highlight was Mother's Day. I had a wonderful day with  Lizzie and Marvin, even Jeff showed up. Missed Sandy but she called :)

June the lowlight was getting a traffic ticket :(

Sandy had her 47th birthday and was surprised by Lizzie flying to Utah to spend the day with her :)

 July Tristan came to spend a week with us, he brought his longboard, and had fun at the beach. Marvin had to go to Urgent Care  because of pulled ligament. I had a bad case of dry mouth. I called Nuri for her birthday, same old same old.

 August Sandy and Marty celebrated their 20th wedding anniversary. We had the house exterior painted. Cape Cod blue. Sandy flew down on the 30th.

September Sandy and Lizzie came around for Labor Day weekend, it was fun having them both here.

 October  Marvin had to go to ER for a bleeding ostomy, luckily it ended up being nothing too serious. We bought a 55" TV and a safe. Lulu turned 2 years old.

November Lizzie celebrated her 42nd birthday. Lizzie has been coming to LM one or twice a month, it's always nice to have her here. For Thanksgiving, she and Jeff came to spend the day with us. We had a very good time.

December was a great month. The highlight was by far my 70th BIRTHDAY SURPRISE.  Sandy and Tristan (surprise #1) flew down. It was just surprise after surprise abd I had absolutely no clue about what went on. I spent a wonderful day with my daughters at the Getty and Gladstones, being driven around in a limo, to come home to a very very SURPRISE party with family (wish Mia could have come) and friends!!!!! Thank you Lizzie, Sandy and Marvin and Tristan!

Christmas Eve was nice and enjoyable as was a quiet Christmas day with Lizzie and Jeff.

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Books I've read in 2013 = 79

 

Here's to a wonderful 2014

 

 

 

Another Birthday dinner :)

Last Sunday, Marvin and I went to Black Angus for dinner.

Many restaurants and fast food places send a coupon for a free entree, or dessert, or appetizer, Black Angus is usually the best birthday coupon of all!

I had (for free) a wedge salad with bacon and blue cheese dressing,  a great rib eye steak with bleu cheese sauce, it was amazing, and a loaded baked potato. And a loaf of sweet molasses bread with honey butter.

Marvin had a New York steak, with a house salad and french fries.

We were full so we decided not to have dessert.

While we were waiting for the check, here come 4 smiling waitresses singing Happy Birthday, with a giant, freshly baked chocolate chip cookie, with vanilla ice cream, and 1 candle :)  Even though we were full, we couldn't resist sampling it.

Just a joke

A pregnant woman is driving down the street and gets into a fender bender, and is out cold for a week. When she awakens, she realizes that she is no longer pregnant.
"What happened to my baby!" she frantically asks the doctor.
"Ma'am, you had twins!" the doctor replies. " A healthy boy and a girl. Your Uncle Jack came in and named them."
"Oh no, the woman says. "Not Uncle Jack! He's an idiot!"
She asks the doctor, "Well, what's the girl's name?"
"Denise."
"Wow," the woman says, "that's not such a bad name--I like it! What's the boy's name?"


"Denephew."










 

Christmas Day recap

. Christmas day was a very warm day, people were wearing shorts and tank tops. I'd rather it was a little cooler, but I take this over the horrible weather they are having in the East coast and many other parts of the world.

Lizzie and Jeff came home around10, and opened their Christmas stockings. Then Sandy called to wish us a Merry Christmas. Both girls like to do Christmas stocking, I did them when they were little, but Marvin and I never did, unless some years Sandy made one for us.

After that we opened our gifts. I'm just going to write about what I got. From Sandy, I got my pastries, which they delivered early and therefore were already eaten, yum!, and the yearly calendar. I love that. From Lizzie, I got an Internet address and password logbook, which is great because I have pw and  URL's all over the place and is nice now to have them all together. I also go a box of Godiva chocolates, which I didn't share ;) , and a lovely bookbag from Barnes and Noble which I have already used today to go to the library (Lizzie said taking my books back to the library in plastic grocery bags was ghetto lol). I was very pleased with all my gifts.

Then I went to make breakfast, waffles, bacon and scrambled eggs. It was nice to be together Christmas morning, and of course we missed the Thompson's but I'm sure they were having a good time in Pocatello as wll :)

After Lizzie and Jeff left back to San Diego, I started making my catalan Christmas soup. It basically takes all day. It has chicken, beef, marrow bones and a slew of veggies. The best part for me was gettin to eat the marrow (Lulu got the bone). I remember when Nuri and I were young, we used to fight over who would eat the marrow. It got pretty nasty. My grandmother (yaya) sat in a chair complaining she never got to have any! Awwww.

I thought the end result tasted very good and it brought back some memories of home.

It was a very good Christmas :)

Christmas Eve recap

Our Christmas Eve FB invitation, said 3 to 8. Dewey called in the morning to say there would only be 3 of them, Lee was sick and Rick and Christina couldn't make it. Lizzie had been here since the night before and she was a great help :)
Then around 2:30 Bettie called they were running late (surprise!). Jeff again had met with traffic but he still got here before them.

Lizzie, Marvin and I went to Marvin's room to listen to their yearly Christmas music/poetry. We really enjoyed it. Dakota has a very nice voice, and Jeff's Christmas song was nice and funny, the last one was Lizzie reciting poetry, and as always she was awesome. She has a lovely sweet voice.

When we all got here, we had our Christmas Eve buffet: sweet&scy nuts, Jeff's Texas caviar, Mary's goopy green stuff,  Honey baked ham, a humongous one, and Mormon potatoes. WE also had a couple of dips and chips.
My Mormon potatoes were a fail!, it had NO seasoning and it was really bland, I also think they had not been in the oven long enough. Marvin's biscuits rose and smelled great. Lizzie does not care for ham, so I made her 3 slices of breaded pork. And then I totally forgot about it until we were finished eating :(
For dessert Marvin had made a sugar free pudding cake, fruitcake, cookies, panettone and cream puff (which I also forgot!)
Lizzie, Marvin and I had Cava with peach nectar, the others drank water or 7UP.

After dinner we had our $5.00 gift exchange. Surprisingly enough, it came out OK and everybody enjoyed their gifts (mine was a Christmas pattern lap throw, Marvin's was a plaid lap throw and some sugar free treats).

Then of course, was picture taking time, and afterwardsMary, Dewey, and Bettie (and Petey) left. Lizzie and Jeff left soon afterward to go to their hotel in Anaheim.
I went to bed shortly after Midnight.
Tomorrow I will write the Christmas day recap :)

That elusive Christmas spirit

I am not a shopper, as you all well know. I especially don't like to shop when there's lots of people in the store. I get impatient waiting in line or not finding what's been advertised.

This year, I was pretty "worried" about my birthday. I wanted it to be special, after all turning 70 is something to celebrate. When Marvin turned 70 we all met in Las Vegas, went to a show, had meals together and it was fun. Before meeting the girls and family, we went to Death Valley and that was great too.
I thought of many ways I wanted to celebrate my birthday, but nothing really seemed right. Then Sandy said whe would fly down, and Lizzie said that i always said having both girls here was the best present, which is true. But then Tristan also came and that was a big surprise and I was happy!!! Then Lizzie came with my birthday cake, and on Saturday we had a great time at El Cholo.
I really thought that was all, and I was more than OK with that. But then came Sunday, and we have all written about it. It was a super great birthday full of great surprises. Marvin knew all about it and never said a thing! The limo, the Museum, the Malibu restaurant, and then, at home, the family and school friends!!! Lizzie came up with the idea in July and Sandy and Marvin added to it, so it all came out perfectly and everything was things I wanted and liked. I still can't believe I didn't guess any of it!!!!! I also got a nice phone call from Mia :)

I have been fighting a cold since the first of the month, but happily I felt quite well for my surprises, but alas, the next day I was back in bed with a fever and cough.

I haven't been to a store at all (other than to Target to get an air mattress). I told the girls that every other year (the years that the Thompsons are not coming down to La Mirada) I would give them cash instead of gifts to make it easier on me. And that's what's happening. Only Sandy preferred gift certificates, which is OK, and Tristan sent me his wish list and I got him a couple of things he wanted :)

For Christmas Eve, Marvin's brother and sisters and maybe a nephew or two, will come to our house, and also Lizzie and Jeff :) Then on Christmas day, we'll have breakfast and Jeff and Lizzie will go back to San Diego after that.

Next year I will start shopping or ordering things at least a couple of months in advance. I think that'll work :)

My birthday!

I was born at the stroke of midnight, 70 years ago. For a few years I celebrated my birthday on the 16th, and then the 17th (my baptism say 16th, my birth certificate the 17th).

I was going to write about the excellent surprises Sandy, Lizzie and Marvin had planned for Sunday, but I just read Sandy's blog and she explained everything much better than I ever could.  It was a total surprise, and there was not a moment I didn't enjoy!

I am amazed everything went like clockwork. They had been working on it since July! The very first surprise was to see Tristan waiting at the airport with Sandy. I had no idea he was coming! Having both my daughters and grandson come to spend my birthday with me, was just wonderful! :)

We also had a fun lunch at El Cholo on Saturday where I got a little tipsy with my Margarita and sang at the top of my lungs "Happy Birthday to me"

And then of course, it was Sunday, and everything ran so smoothly, and everything planned was so great, that even the weather collaborated and it was a gorgeous day! I loved the Museum, had been wanting to go there for a long time, and I loved the beach side restaurant with the wonderful views. I totally enjoyed being chauffered around in the limo, soo nice! And getting home and seeing Marvin's family and a bunch of my teacher friends was just amazing!!! I think my mouth stayed open for the longest time !

 

I will make a Birthday album in Facebook and you will all be able to see all the fun things that went on :)

 

Thank you again so much to Lizzie, Sandy, Marvin for a spectacular day! and to the elves, Tristan and Norbert, you were great helpers. Love you all very much.

 

Can't wait to see what the plans will be for my 80th!!!!!!! ;)

Happy mama :)

Tomorrow Sandy is flying down from Utah to spend a few days here, and Lizzie will be here on Friday night too.

That  makes this mama happy!!!! :)

Frustrated

'Tis the season...fa la la la la

Well let's hope I get into the spirit of the holidays. So far December has been pretty much a bust. I have been sick all week, I'm losing my voice, and my patience.

For the past 2 days I have had to deal with the incompetence of people. I am talking about our health insurance, about being on hold in the phone for hours, about not getting straight answers etc. Today I went to speak with Members Services, and again, more incompetence, I spent almost 2 hours waiting for somebody to know what the hell is going on, and you all know how patient I am. And  yet, no answers. Too long a story to write about it here.

And then the traffic, going to pick up Marvin, I was already frustrated after my experience with stupid people, and the traffic was just bumper to bumper, basically all the way. It took over 45 minutes from home to the 5 freeway.

Maybe if I had been feeling better things wouldn't have annoyed me as much, I don't know. But I've been in a total pissy mood most of the day. I have had a tick in my left eye since I've been home that is bothering me a lot, and that doesn't help either. Well let's hope for a better tomorrow.

December blues

I have a cold and I feel terrible, fever, chills, cough...I was in bed most all day  Sunday and  Monday. Marvin had to take care of things, food etc. He  made chicken and dumplings and they were really good.

Today I took him to dialysis and I went to Target to get some outdoors lights for the house, but I didn't find the ones I wanted and I was not in a shopping mood (but then, I never am)  I went to bed until it was time to go pick him up.  Tonight he cooked sausage and eggs and hash browns. I am happy he was feeling well when I was not.

I hope I can get rid of this cold once and for all, I hate not feeling well.