ONCE AGAIN

Once again we managed to pull off California. It's always fun the first time we check out the beach because it's different every year. Some years the sand is high and smooth -other times it's low and one year it was covered with reeds and debris and stayed that way most of the time we were here. But this year we have beautiful rocks, rocks and more rocks. As we walked the beach I thought "I won't pick up any today because I'll have plenty of time before we leave" but before we got back I had both hands full of rocks that were irresistible

I always look forward to the first trip to the library because the shelves are always full of a great selection of the most current non-fiction books. I was horrified to discover a total of 27 books where in the past the shelves had been full. I quizzed the librarian who ask her supervisor and they both told me "they must be checked out". How dumb do I look. I said "No, you have had a huge budget cut". Finally someone admitted "Yes, we've had a budget cut". Thanks Arnold.


Did find a better selection at Carlsbad Library but still had to come home and order 2 books from Amazon.

Finished out our two day re-entry by driving to Del Mar to see "Crazy Heart" as we start our quest to see all the Academy Award Nominated Movies. Yes, I do know that the nominations aren't out yet but I don't have a problem with that.


Jeff Bridges is incredible.

This evening read an incredibly well written article in the San Diego Reader which is a free news/local magazine that I picked up at the Library. The article starts " I never thought I'd become a Welfare Queen. Poverty does not become me. I'm sure it doesn't become anyone, but it really doesn't become me. I was supposed to be somebody by now, and by that, I mean somebody other than this woman who holds up grocery-store lines with her WIC checks". Written by Elizabeth Salaam it's mesmerizing. http://www.sandiegoreader.com/news/2010/jan/06/cover-i-never-thought-id-become-welfare-queen/

A VERY GOOD SUNDAY

SUPER FAMILY

THREE GENERATIONS

GRANDDAUGHTER AND HER TRACK MEDALS


A GREAT CANDY DISPENSER


THE ROBOT BUILDER SUPREME

GOOD LEAVES

NOTHING BEATS A GOOD PILE OF LEAVES

DAUGHTER AND NEW BFF

Trust me- there is more than one Pioneer Woman in this picture

Your five year old has good taste in scarf's

Love you-- so glad you had such a good time.

GIRLFRIENDS

“GIRLFRIENDS”
Young and newly married, I relaxed under a pecan tree on a hot Texas summer day, drinking iced tea and getting to know my new sister-in-law, Estelle.
Not much older than I, but already a mother of three, Estelle seemed to me experienced and wise.

“Get yourself some girlfriends, Lacreta,” she advised, clinking the ice cubes in her glass. “You are going to need girlfriends.

Go places with them; do things with them.” What a funny piece of advice, I thought. Hadn’t I just gotten married? Hadn’t I just joined the couple-world? I was a married woman, for goodness sake…not a young girl who needed girlfriends.

But I listened to this new sister-in-law. I got myself some girlfriends.
As the years tumbled by, one after another, gradually I came to understand that Estelle knew what she was talking about. I remembered that she had said the word “girlfriends” with emphasis. As I went along, I discovered the subtle difference between friends and girlfriends. You go to work with friends, go to dinner with friends, go to church with friends, belong to clubs with friends. You send friends greeting cards. You need friends in your life, all girlfriends were once only friends. But a girlfriend is different.
A girlfriend is not “just like a sister.” Sisters have a distinct bond, sometimes good, sometimes bad. Sisters flow from family attachment; girlfriends choose each other. A sister can also be a girlfriend. As a thank-you to my sister-in-law and to the other girlfriends in my life, I offer this praise of girlfriends.

Here is what I know about girlfriends:
Girlfriends don’t compete.

Girlfriends keep your children, and keep your secrets.

Girlfriends give advice when you ask for it. Sometimes you take it, sometimes you don’t.

Girlfriends don’t always tell you that you are right.

Girlfriends might send you a birthday card, but they might not. It does not matter in the least.

Girlfriends laugh with you and don’t need canned jokes to start the laughter.

Girlfriends don’t yammer behind your back.

Girlfriends pull you out of jams.

Girlfriends don’t keep a calendar of who hosted the other last.

Girlfriends will give a party for your son or daughter when they get married or have a baby-in whichever order that comes.

And girlfriends are there for you, in an instant and truly, when the hard times come.

Girlfriends listen when you lose a job or a husband.Girlfriends listen when your children break your heart.

Girlfriends listen when your parent’s minds and bodies fail.

Girlfriends bless my life.Once when we were young, with no idea of the incredible joys or the incredible sorrows that law ahead. Nor did we know how much we would need each other.I want to tell young women to take my sister-in-law’s advice.

Get yourself some girlfriends. You are going to need them.