My Favorite Candy

Halloween Candy

Oh gee whiz, I have to choose just one. Most anything chocolate is alright with me. Dove chocolates are creamy sweet goodness. But M&M's are a fun chocolate treat wrapped up in a crunchy colorful shell. But then a Milky Way is a caramel good treat. However I do love See's Candies, very yummy indeed. Then there are non-chocolate treats that are a yummy goodness. Skittle with all their juicy flavors and crunchiness are a treat for my mouth. Also candy corn and all those candies in that sugary realm like the pumpkins are bliss for my taste buds. So let me summarize all this in one small statement. I love candy!!

My Favorite Photo of Me

Wow how do I choose just one favorite photo of myself. I have many that I love and reflect different periods of my life.



The one above was taken July 2006 when my daughter Melissa and I took a vacation together to San Francisco. In early spring that year we talked about taking a trip together and she said she always wanted to go to San Francisco so I did a map search and it was about an 8 hour drive from Phoenix. With both of us driving we could do it so we decided that was our destination choice.



This was taken at Muir Woods which was part of a wine tour we took while there. We had so much fun with every aspect of our vacay. We explored San Francisco for three days on foot, stopping to eat one day in Little Italy and another in Chinatown. We did the wine tour in a van with about 6 other people and a driver that was fantastic. We stayed in a hotel on Fisherman's Wharf and hung out in the evenings at a place called Wipe Out Bar & Grill. We flirted with the bartender and the manager, who were quite cute and they flirted back.



A funny story about this place is as we walking towards it the first night we discovered it there was a kid running ahead of his parents and he tripped and wiped out on the mat in front of the doorway to this place.



When we left we spent a couple of days driving down Highway 101 and visited Hearst Castle. We ended our trip at Huntington Beach, relaxed on the beach for a few hours and then eating at Ruby's Diner at the end of the pier before heading back to Phoenix. It was one of my all time favorite trips and we talk about going back and hopefully someday we will.

I'm leaving on a jet plane.....

Hmm if I was on a jet plane where am I heading off too? It would depend on what time of year it is and in my dream vacations I would have unlimited time for my travels.

If it is late spring/early summer then I would love to fly to the United Kingdom and travel all over the place. Flowers would be blooming everywhere spilling the countryside with a glorious variety of colors. I would also want to spend some time exploring London. It is one of my favorite cities in the world. However another place to travel in the spring is Washington DC when the cherry blossom trees are blooming plus there is so much to see in our nation's capital.

In the late summer/early fall I would be traveling to San Diego, renting a fabulous beach house on either Coronado or Mission Beach. Enjoy the warm days camped out on the beach with a book and lots of sunscreen. In the cool evenings I would sit on a patio facing the ocean and listen to the waves hitting the sand.

If it was fall I would find a place that has the splendid colors of the changing of leaves and enjoy the crisp air and the vibrancy all around. Taking long walks on country lanes and heading inside for hot cocoa in the evening.

As for winter I would head to Arizona sometime in November to enjoy the mild winters and spend the holidays with family. I would travel up to the Grand Canyon and Sedona/Oak Creek Canyon area.

Of course there are other travels that I would enjoy; going to Europe especially Italy. Also northern California in San Francisco and wine country. I have also wanted to visit the area where Anne of Green Gables takes place.

In all these travels Dennis would be with me because I can't imagine any traveling without him. He is the one I would want to explore all these places with.

When I was a kid I loved to play....

My most favorite game when I was a kid was kick the can. And as I had 10 brothers and sisters we were always playing it. We would also do it when camping and then my dad would join us. It was so much fun. Even as a teenager I played it. I remember in my neighborhood in the early evening just before street lights came on playing with siblings and neighbor kids. The thrill of trying to kick the can before you were spotted was very exciting.

Since that one is short I am going to carry on with the next one. It wants to know one tradition I do with my family. When my kids were growing up every Christmas Eve we read "Twas the Night Before Christmas" and I always put a dollar bill in their stockings. My grandma would send a check to my mom to do that with us and it was always crisp new one dollar bills, I also carried on the tradition of cracker jacks in the stockings. Of course my favorite tradition is Thanksgiving dinner with all the trimmings, I love cooking that meal.

So that is two days tied up into one post but I figured they were short so it made sense to do it this way.

Ghost Encounters

I thought I was alone:-)

I do believe in ghosts. I have had experiences myself. Also family and friends have also. Shortly after my paternal grandfather died my brother started seeing his ghost around our house and when we moved across country the ghost came with us. I have seen ghosts walking by windows, in fact I don't like to look out a window at night because I don't know who or what will be looking back. My daughter has heard the sound of high heels across my mom's back hallway and no one has been there., In fact, my mom's house in Yuma is haunted. After my grandson died I would feel his arms around my neck or heard him laughing up the hallway. On the Christmas eve shortly after he died, I was in my daughter's room talking with her and our dog Lady was on her bed. Matthew's crib was still up and Lady started making a whining sound and looking at the crib then back at us with a look like can't you see him there. It went on for about 5 minutes.I have also felt a presence in my house in Phoenix numerous times but it did not follow me when I moved. I had a friend's dad who told of his ghostly encounters.

Random High School Memory

HMM a random high school memory. Meeting my friend Luann. We had both signed up for some kind of gym class but we were the only 2 who registered so the class was canceled however we became fast friends and still stay in touch. It was my junior year and my family had just moved to Yuma that summer before. I loved visiting with her and her parents. They were such an awesome family. Her dad would tell great stories. I loved listening to him. Her mom was so warm and inviting. I have the best memories of my junior and senior year and Luann is one of biggest part of those memories.

THE DARK ROOM

A heart beats quickly as the knob is turned

Hinges creak as the door is slowly opened

The room is pitch black

A hand feels for a light switch

It pauses as a sound comes from the room

Heavy breathing seems to fill the room

The hand trembles as it switches the light on

Light floods the dark room

It is completely empty

The breathing has stopped

The room is looked over from corner to corner

Looking to see if a clue has been missed

There is nothing to find but emptiness

As the hand switches off the light

And begins to close the door

Heavy breathing begins to fill the room once again.

Ah my bucket list

To be honest I do not have a bucket list that one would think a bucket list is supposed to be. Sure there are things I would like to do but it changes over the years. I want to live in the here and now, take each day as the gift that it is. Don't get me wrong there are things I look forward to in the future and right now one is going home in December for a weekend for my family's annual Christmas party. It is the first one since my dad died this past May. We bought our plane tickets on Friday and I am very thankful we are going.

Speaking of plane tickets, there is now an airline that flies direct from Idaho Falls to the Phoenix area and the cost is reasonable. They only fly Fridays and Mondays but that is alright, gives us a nice weekend in Phoenix and no 4 hour drive to Salt Lake City. I had read about this happening back in August and was excited for it to start so I guess that was on my bucket list.

But as for this bucket list that has all these things I would like to do before I die I don't have one. I tend to keep a list short. But there is one thing on my list that is a long term goal and it is one I strive to do consistently everyday. It is to live my life in a way that when people are around me they know there is a God who loves them.

My photo

The next challenge is to take a photo and share it. Here it is, I am watching the Cardinals vs Saints football game.

Homesick

Today I am going to skip the challenge and just do some blogging. I have been feeling homesick for San Diego a lot lately. I do not say anything anymore to Dennis cuz I know he feels a bit bad about taking me so far away from my family. So I just talk to God about it. I have lived in many places my whole life and 16 years were spent in Arizona before I married Dennis. I was in San Diego less than two years but I have never felt so at home as I did there. I just felt like I belonged and I truly believed God would provide for us to stay. That didn't happen and I trust God knows why He brought us here but still doesn't mean I am not homesick for San Diego plus I was close to AZ and family there.



What do I miss about San Diego. Well being near the ocean is a big part of it, I always felt so at at peace at the beach. The sound of the waves and the sand between my toes. I miss the friends I was just beginning to make. I was just starting to get into a church there that was awesome. I miss being close to my mom in Yuma and family in Phoenix. I miss my daughters so very much. But for the most part I can't really explain why I am so homesick that it is an ache in my heart. I felt at home there from the very beginning. That was the first time in my life I felt at home anywhere I lived. I never felt that way about Phoenix even though I lived there 16 years and still own my home there.




Don't get me wrong, it is gorgeous here and I am amazed by such beauty. In the mornings when I walk the dogs before I go to work the sun is barely coming up over the hills and the past couple of mornings the sky has been cloudy so the orange, blue and gray and white clouds fill the sky. Trees are beginning to change and I have to wear a sweater or jacket in the mornings and evenings I do thank God for bringing to such a place as this but it does not feel like home. Maybe in time it will, I am hoping so but I am not sure about the small town attitude I have run into. It is stifling, I was hoping I would like it but so far not so much. Another thing about Idaho is Dennis's daughter lives here and they are starting to reconnect so that is a very good thing.
















I long to be as homesick for heaven as I am for San Diego. To have an ache in my heart to go to my real home with God. To be in the presence of His perfect love. To fell at peace and so joyous. I want to long for that more than I do for San Diego. This place is not my real home and someday I will be in heaven. So I pray for wisdom as I go through being so homesick for San Diego.

My biggest accomplishment

The next challenge is what do I consider to be my biggest accomplishment. That is easy and there is nothing else that comes even close. This accomplishment will carry on for generations to come. Through this accomplishment I am a part of the future and will impact the future. And this accomplishment is more than just one. It is three, giving birth and raising my three children is what I consider my biggest accomplishments in my life. I consider it a honor and a blessing that God gave me Sarah, Melissa and Timothy to love and raise.