The Big Star

A couple of years ago, Sam made a huge star to hang on our gigantic chimney. the very next night, we had a huge windstorm that totally trashed it. Last week, the seminary teacher in our ward asked if we still had that because they're doing a "progressive dinner" style seminary Christmas party where they visit the shepherds, the kings, the star, etc. Sam offered to build a bigger, better one. He got it done on Saturday, but he was Santa at the ward party, we had to take off before we got it up. So, yesterday our friend Oz came over and helped Sam hang it. There was another big storm coming in and this party is on Tuesday. Sam leaves and comes home in the dark, so it was now or never. I was not excited. You Baileys may know his story about skydiving on Sunday. Anyway, it was fairly painless, it looks well secured and no one fell off the roof. And, it looks totally cool coming up the road! (Note: for some reason, sometimes you have to "pause" it and hit "play" again before it plays. I would slide the 5 second time down to 1 or 2 secs, also. It defaults to 5)



The Big Star

Edit: I was watching a storm come in over the ocean this morning while I was eating my cereal. As the sun came up, i could see a rainbow where it's already raining over the ocean. I was so excited, that I didn't see the rainbow in the cloud above it until Meg pointed it out. You might have to click on it for the bigger view in order to see either of them.

Musings on a cold morning,

OK, I finally had to admit defeat. When they filled my propane tank last Jan, it cost me $1400. (Propane was $4/gal). When we built this house six years ago, it was $1/gal, and cheaper than electricity, so we went wild on the gas appliances. Gas heater, gas fireplace, gas stove and range, gas water heater. They filled the tank up again in October because I called them, gas was going down, so I figured propane was, also. Still $3/gallon. Of course, now it's probably $2/gal, but whoda known? Anyway, I became a gas nazi. There's only three of us, so we cook in my toaster/convection oven when possible. I time Meg's showers (she'll take an hour if I let her). I refuse to turn on the heaters, it just doesn't get that cold here. But, this morning I woke up and it was 35 outside, 58 inside. The heaters are on now. There was much rejoicing from the non-bill-paying members of my household (which includes Sam, he earns it, but he has no idea what we pay for things). Those of you in Boise, Colorado or Utah where it actually gets cold will be laughing at me, but whatever. I live in California for a reason. And it's not the earthquakes.

If I wasn't too cheap to buy the mp3 of this, (and actually played music on my blog) it would be this.

Also, today I'm wishing I had something other than birk sandals to wear. I hate shoes, but it's a bit nippy for sandals. I could wear my christmas toe socks with my birks, but they look a bit silly with my Sunday dress. I actually do own some close-toed shoes, but my feet grew a half a size and they all hurt my feet. Unfortunately, that means I wear a 10 1/2, which is danged hard to find. I've tried some cute flats in 11s, they fall off. 10's hurt. So, I stick to my european sized birks (41). I know they make close-toed birks and clog birks and such, but in my size they look like giant clod-hoppers. Even uglier than birk sandals.

Sam and our friend Oz are putting up a giant (16 foot) star on our chimney. Please pray that no one breaks their neck. I'm going out to get photographic documentation for any impending lawsuits....

Merry Christmas.

Meg had her fall recital tonite. She did very well, but unfortunately the video camera didn't. The following is a re-enactment of her and I playing "Dance of the Sugerplum Fairies". The banging you hear is her tapping her platforms on our Pergo. (Sam panned down so you get a view of it).



Edit: I just posted that last night, and I didn't wanna add another whole entry. But, look what I got to watch this morning from my dining table while I ate breakfast. The wind was blowing pretty hard and I didn't have time to find a tripod, so it's a little blurry. I ran out into freezing (ok, it was like 50) weather just to get a pic for you gize.

Other Thanksgiving Weekend Adventures

On the Saturday after Thanksgiving we went to the Monarch Butterfly Sanctuary in Pacific Grove. West coast Monarch butterflies over-winter on the central coast where the temps are mild...not too cold, not too hot. Here is a link about the migration. We've been there a couple of times, but both times only saw a few butterflies. This time it was amazing.


This is a pic of a cluster of monarchs up in the Eucalyptus trees. If you look closely, the "dried leaves" are butterflies,also. (You can click on the picture to get a bigger version) Most of the clusters of butterflies were fairly high up, so we didn't get great pics, but this one isn't too bad.

While we were there we ran into a lady that I grew up with. Last time I saw her was when I was pregnant with Meg, so it's been a long time. She still lives in AZ, but her daughter apparently lives in the Monterey ward. It was fun to see her, but a little bizarre to run into someone from home in such an out of the way place.

We had heard that a big storm in Alaska was pushing huge waves down here, so when we finished at the sanctuary we went to check it out. We took the first couple of pics in Pacific Grove, then we drove down to Carmel Highlands (on the way to Big Sur) and climbed out on the bluffs to watch the sun go down. It was spectacular in both places. The big wave/big rock combo is better than fireworks in my book.

Our Thanksgiving....

We decided that we wanted to do something different for Thanksgiving this year. None of us are crazy about turkey and it would take the three of us about a month to eat even a small one. So, we talked about just fixing our favorite foods, but that sounded like a recipe to a major tummy ache and about 10 extra pounds. We thought a picnic would be nice, as it's been unseasonably dry and sunny here. Sam joked about hobo dinners and we ran with it. We fixed four big hobo dinners, one with Italian meatballs, potatoes and veggies, one with his giant bacon bleu-cheese burger and veggies, one with curried chicken and rice, and one with jambalaya-style sausage and veggies over rice. We drove up to Pigeon point, cooked our hobo dinners, went tidepooling and had chocolate Lacey's (ccokies from costco that I won't buy because we eat the entire package in a day) for dessert. It was awesome and unless someone compels me to make a turkey again, I probably won't.

I'm Thankful....

I'm thankful to live here where most people just get to come visit.

I'm thankful that we have a job for the moment.

I'm thankful for the Book of Mormon.

I'm thankful that we live in a free country.

I'm thankful for my military friends who sacrifice so much so that we can have that free country.

I'm thankful for my kids (including my lovely kid-in-law) and my cute hubby.

I'm thankful for computers that let us keep in touch over great distances.

I'm thankful for my 51 nieces and nephews and their kids and the joy they bring our family.

I'm thankful for great parents.

I'm thankful for my sisters. Ok, I'm thankful for my bothers...I mean my brothers, too.

I'm thankful for my WONDERFUL friends.

I'm thankful for the beach.

I'm thankful for modern medicine, when I can afford it.

I'm thankful that the Church is true, no matter where you go.

I'm thankful for dark chocolate.

I'm thankful that Sam saw the bozo cutting lanes before he ran into us.

I'm thankful for the gospel and for my Saviour.

I'm thankful for prophets.

I'm thankful for my house and for the Dad that made it possible.

I'm thankful for Mexican food. And Italian food. And Indian food. And Chinese food. OK, you get the point...

I'm thankful for music.

I'm thankful for running water and indoor plumbing.

I'm thankful that Sam's mom didn't stop at kid number 6.

Ok, that's enough for now. Have a great Thanksgiving!

Happy Birthday, Mom Bailey!

This is a couple of days early, but I wanted to get it done while I had time. My wonderful, sweet, lovely mother-in-law will celebrate the 51st anniversary of her 29th birthday on Saturday. So, in her honor, I've posted some of the old pictures that I've been working on scanning.


She was born in Oklahoma, and when she was still very young, her family moved to California ala Grapes of Wrath to look for work during the depression. The entire family worked in the fields. Gene told me once that when she was still very young, 7-8 years old, she could outpick her much-older big brothers.


This is one of my favorite pictures. This is Gene and Happy, her next older brother. I'm not sure what's up with Happy's one sock, but it always makes me smile. This was taken in Peoria, AZ in 1936. She says they were probably there picking cotton. While in Peoria, she got the only formal schooling she ever got, a few months of 3rd grade. She learned to read, though, and from that time on she read everything she could get her hands on. Neither of her parents ever learned to read, which makes her one of the first literate members of her family. She passed on her love of books to her kids and now their kids.


She says she was twelve years old when this picture was taken. It's easy to see where my favorite nieces got their good looks. If I was her Dad, I'd have been guarding her with a shotgun.


Apparently, he wasn't, though. At 14 years old, she married Dad, who then shipped off to WWII almost immediately.


They ended up with a big family, all of them lovely people, who I love. (I think Markie looks especially happy to be in this pic). My honey is the smiley cutie in the front on the far right.


Mom raised nine kids, who then produced 39 grandkids, who have so far produced about 70 great grandkids. All of them are among my favorite people in the world. I hear horror stories from people who have a hard time with their mother-in-laws, but I am very blessed to have the absolutely sweetest mom-in-law in the world. I love her and wish her the happiest birthday ever!

Wow....

Wow, I guess the backlash has started.

Haven't been to Oakland since the election, but I'm guessing with the proximity to San Francisco, that it's not much better. They were already protesting before the election.

::sigh::

In other news, I heard CHRISTMAS music in the grocery store yesterday. Don't you think it's just a BIT early??????? Geez. I love Christmas music, but really.

Someone should come visit us for Thanksgiving. :0)

Cool...

The Ruth Institute, an institution founded by a Catholic woman, promoting traditional family life and marriage, has posted this. I thought it was very cool.

Chickens more important than babies....

California is a weird place. Not that I hadn't figured that out before.

Among other propositions on the ballot, there was one for rights for farm animals...can't keep them in cages, etc, and one that stated that the parents of underage girls have to be notified before an abortion is performed. The animal rights Prop passed, by an overwhelming majority, like 68%. The parental notice Prop lost by about 60%. So, now the egg farmers won't be able to make a living in California, we'll get eggs trucked in from Mexico because they'll be cheaper(sounds safe, eh?). And, even though you can't give a teenager an aspirin at school or perform ANY surgery on a minor without parental consent, she can go get an abortion without telling you.

Three groups have already stated that they will file suits against the passage of Proposition 8. Not that it wasn't expected...

In good news, here's the amazing sunset we watched while we ate dinner yesterday.

Still too close to call....

It's 10am on the 5th, but only 95% of the precincts have finished counting. Prop 8 is running 52% Yes, 48% No. Too close to call it, yet. So, I'm checking back every half hour or so. I'll edit if I ever hear.

In other news, though, a similar proposition passed in Arizona, kind of by the skin of it's teeth...about 57/43 I think. It passed in Florida by a bit better than 60/40. But, it failed in Connecticut by about 60/40.

There was an incredibly defamatory YouTube video circulating on Sunday and Monday that the No campaign was planning to run in some markets on CNN yesterday. I'd give you the link, but it would just disgust you (I hope) and I don't want to give them any more hits. It totally villified (sp?) our missionaries. My sister saw it and called in tears because her "little boy" is serving in Sacramento. I told her that since her "little boy" is 6'4", I'd guess no one will be giving him much grief. The "Yes" lawyers found out about it on Saturday night and were fighting to have it withheld from major network broadcast, dunno what happened with it. I'm guessing our market out here wasn't one of the choices, but I wasn't home to watch all day so I don't know.

There was also a video (that probably didn't get as many hits) of the Sacramento members and other "Yes" people lining SEVEN miles of a main Sacramento road. I was proud of them! You can see it here, if you like.

Sam heard that Apple contibuted $100K to the "No" campaign, so yesterday he planted a big "Yes" sign at the entrance to Apple's campus. Yeah for Sam!

I'll post again when the count is final!

HAPPY DAY AFTER THE STUPID ELECTION! (I was seriously sick of the entire thing, two years is TOO long for any campaign)

**********************

Edit: They're still counting absentee ballots, but most of the networks are calling as a win for the "Yes" campaign. Yeah! Not that we won't have this battle again, I'm afraid, but it's a victory for now.

VOTE!!!!

Don't forget to vote. And pray. :0)