It appears that everybody around me is getting or has gotten a new car in the last 2 weeks. Randy and I have been looking for a month, but have just not made up our minds on the type, style and color we really want. If we find the style and make, we cannot find the right color, and if we find the right color, it is the wrong model. So we continue to search car lots, computer and basically anyting that has the word “new car” attached to it. Our daughter and her husband came by on Saturday with a new car. They have entered the world of “minivans” since they seem to have several children always at their house, besides their own. They were so excited to show us all the bells, whistles and how the doors opened and closed with the touch of a button, how you can lay down the seats to create more floor space and all 17 drink holders which will be used for trash, I’m sure, as I have had these same kids in our car and am always having to dig bent straws, chewing gum, old M&M’s, show tickets, price tags off toys that they couldn’t wait to open. Well, you get the idea. So now they will just have more spaces to hid “kid trash”. But they are so excited, rubbing their hands over the new clean smooth seats and vowing never to let the kids eat in the car. We have bets on how long this rule will actually last, one week, one weekend? Will keep you updated on that. Anyway, as they were showing us the “upholstery” we quickly remembered when we lived in California and Jodi was in the market for a car. She was gainfully employed and asked Randy if he would go with her to look at cars. She had her budget and knew pretty much what kind of car she wanted. So one Saturday, off they went. I kept Jaden with me at home, just knowing that they would come home with a new car for her and Jaden.

When they walked in the door, I could see that their mission had been accomplished. But……..there was a story to be told. As they had gone for a test drive in one of the cars, Jodi commented how well she liked that car to Randy and begain to ask about the resale value and questions in general. When they were sitting in the car, waiting for the salesman to go ask his manager about the “best deal” he could give them, Randy begain to show Jodi some of the details of the car, one that she hadn’t noticed. “Randy, this is really nice gray color upholstery in this car, isn’t it?” “Yes, it is, in fact, Jodi, this is actually the upscale mouse fur that is shaved very close and the reason this car costs a little more is how many mice they had to use to create all the interior of this car. See the nice smooth texture and the color is all the same.” Jodi then proceeds to ask him, “how many mice do you think it took to cover all the seats and door sides?” Well, we can ask the salesman when he comes back, maybe he will know. So when the salesman came back to the car, she proceeded to ask him if he knew how many mice it took to cover the inside of the car? You can imagine the look on his face. Randy just could not hold it any longer. He begain to laugh until he cried.

So from that point on, we always ask, when buying a car, “I wonder how many mice it took to cover all the seats and doors?” before we buy. After all, we want to be sure to get the “royal mouse fur”, nut just any common mouse fur for us! No siree! Will keep you posted if we join the ranks of the new car owners.  Until then, every day, something else breaks on my car, today, the sun roof wouldn’t close, the other day, the back door will not open at all. So I guess the positive is, when you are on the right side of the car and wanting in, since the door won’t work, just climb in through the sun roof. At least, that will be Randy’s thought.

Good morning to each of you! I just received a call from my daughter, Jodi. When I asked her what she was up to this morning, she told me, “chasing Caleb (her one year old, who began walking at 10 months) around” She told me that she was just waiting for his next nap so she could get something done. She said, “in fact mom, some people live from pay check to pay check, I live from Caleb’s  nap to Caleb nap.” Then she yelled, “gotta go, he just broke a glass lid”j. I am loving this, she is getting paid back every single thing she ever did to us. And…….Caleb is only one, next month. God is Good……..

Now, I need to tell you about last night. We did have chicken fried steak and I think it was the best we have ever had (not to toot my own horn) but I made the Paula Dean recipe and it was just amazing. Will post it this afternoon, but gotta go celebrate a friends birthday. Have a wonderful Friday!

During my Bible study this morning, I read a portion of Isaiah which talked about all of our “if only’s”. I began to give God excuses of why I had not completed a task which I know He has asked me to do and that is to finish the cookbook. I have used every excuse known to man (or woman), “if only I had a quiet place to work”, “if only, I knew what I was doing”, “if only I had more days  not committed to this or to that”, “if only I was more organized”, “if only I didn’t have people in and out of the house all the time”, “if only I could have more time to concentrate” or had more energy” . Well, you get the idea. We have all felt and known that we were called upon to do something, then gives God excuses why we cannot do what He has asked. Gideon’s story of how God called Him to tell Israel of their future reminded me once again, that God doesn’t call the “equipped”, He calls us, then “equips” us. Will you please pray that I will finish what God has asked of me. It is certainly a challenge for me to sit and write this cookbook. I want this book to be a story of what God has not only done in my life, but show that during each season of my life, God has given me different challenges, different assignments and different desires. That combined with the idea that one of the best places to share our stories of what God is doing, is around the  dinner table, where we tend to be ourselves more than anywhere else. We are relaxed, we are breaking bread together and enjoying the company of family and friends. Save God a place at your table tonight and invite Him into your conversation. It will bless everyone seated there.

After 10 long days of not writing, it is so good to be back at the computer and writing. Our air has been broken and it was just too hot to sit in at the computer to write. So any email I did was from my phone sitting in the den. Well, we have had grandchildren from Austin the past week and I guess I have to admit that I am not as spiffy as I thought I was. The last few years, I considered myself, “cool and with it”, but after being with girls, ages 10 and 13, it was a realization that I am truly just another old grandma. I didn’t realize that when you have them in the car with you that  they would be listening to their ipods and not hearing a word you say, when you thought they were sitting there soaking in all the wisdom Iwas trying to share. Little did I know that the music was turned up so loud in their ears, that even I could hear what they were listening to. Also, they don’t want to go to the movies to see Maraduke, way to “childish”. I had bought all 5 grandchildren matching tshirts with the AmericanFlag on them, thinking that they would love to have their picture made and that we would all go and have a picnic wearing our shirts (yes, I got one for Randy and I also)….well, the minute the picture was snapped, the shirts came off, that apparentlly was not cool, being seen in matching t-shirts of your grandparents. So instead of us passing on wisdom to them, Randy and I got a taste of alittle of the “new generational wisdom”. Even when you are sitting in the room with them, they will text you instead of talking to you. It doens’t matter what radio station we want to listen to (well, that is a pluc) because they are listening to their own music with their own ipods. We asked our daughter, Jodi to take them to the movies since we didn’t want to see Twilight. Just thinking about kissing a werewold seems a little weird to me….so the week is behind us, we had moments of craziness, choas, and clashing personalities, but in the midst of it all was a deep abiding knowledge that this is our family… The one God has given to us. We take pride in it. We cherish the moments which the grandchildren ask us to tell them about their parents, (our children) and recognize the fact that even sitting down to nothing but hot dogs and chips can be a cherished memory. As they left our house before heading home, we realized something………God knew what He was doing when He gave us children while still young…..our energy level is just not what it used to be. God bless you young parents. You are in a special and blessed time of your lives. Enjoy the memories you are making with your children. You will be old one day, like us and wonder why the grandchilden dont want to go with you to Luby’s at 5:00 p.m.  After all, it’s just not hip! We love you, Meghan, Ashlyn, Jaden, Sevy and Caleb! You are each a blessing to our lives!

Happy Birthday Swettie Pie! It is just wonderful to be able to celebrate yet another year with the love of my life. I have baked him a old fashion German Chocolate Cake today, his favorite, and made a lemon ice box pie and a chocolate almond ice box pie for our party tomorrow when the kids and grandkids will all be here to swim and swarm him with presents. Tonight we will go out to eat and just enjoy a celebration of the life which we feel is so very blessed. We are so fortunate to have family and friends and great health so, thank you Lord for another year of life in which I can share with Randy.  After we swim and eat hotdogs tomorrow, we are going to watch fireworks with the grandkids. That is absolutely one of my favorite things to do. No matter how many years we have done this, I still cry when they play Lee Greenwoods “I’m Proud to Be An American” at the end of the fireworks show. It just always makes me so proud to be standing there watching the most gorgeous show light up the sky, with the grandkids (and RC and I) going “ooh, ahh) with each new firework. We always talk about which color was our favorite on the way home. So thank you, God and thank you military friends who have sacrificed so we are able to stand and still sing, “I Am So Very Proud to Be an American” Thank you from the bottom of our hearts. Gotta go, am mixing up ice cream for our cake tomorrow…….Happy Fourth of July to All of You!

So then, after tomorrow, we can concentrate on MY BIRTHDAY! YEAH! 9 days and counting. Randy will not tell me anything he has planned so it will all be a surprise to me.

Just had a phone call from a friend, which will remain nameless, but a clue to who it might be is: she is my “ole geizer friend” hum………wonder who that could be?

She is having a few of us over tonight for  game night and is making strawberry shortcake. She said to herself, “I think I’ll surprise Trudy and serve real whipped cream instead of canned” so…hence the phone call. Here are her exact words, “Trudy, I wanted to surprise you and serve real whipped cream, but didn’t quite know how to do this. Do I just whip it. Do I have to add anything to it, like sugar, or just vanilla or what?” I started laughing and told her that I had never thought about having to tell anyone how to make whipping cream, since I grew up with a mother that had whipping cream on the table every morning to top off coffee, tea, cereal, brownies, eggs, whatever we wanted for breakfast, so whipping cream has always been a staple in our home. I told her that I would be glad to make it when I got there and she can just watch me so she will know from then on how and when to add the sugar and how long to beat it, etc……..so along with our games tonight, we will be having a cooking lesson in the kitchen. That is my idea of truly a fun night. Learning with friends in the kitchen makes some wonderful and funny memories that we come to cherish……Thank you, “nameless friend” for the honor of teaching you how to make whipped cream…..you are priceless..you might be old, but you are still learning! HA

We are back. The cool beautiful weather, vacation is in our past. It was so awesome to be able to sit outside to eat, breakfast, lunch or dinner, without swatting at flies, mosquitoes or having to spit and hope the wind carried it back in your face to cool off. In one word the 10 days were, exhilirating! We were in awe of the cool days and even cooler nights in which we could sit down to eat and enjoy the pacific ocean, or the most gorgeous flowers. We went to a street fair in San Luis Obispo and ate strawberry crepes, tri-tip sandwiches. The farmers market down the streets were filled with artichokes 10 for $1.00,, strawberries, 3 baskets for $2.50, carrots so huge, I took a picture of them, and if I can figure out how to transfer my pics from my iphone, will post the picture of them. We had a ball. Tried quail eggs over a cream cheese sauce. Ate at Valentino’s in Santa Monica, the Palette, one of our favorite places in Glendale, Portos, a Cuban restaurant where you can buy the best chocolate coissants in the world. Went to Big Sur, Carmel, Pebble Beach (but didn’t get close to the golf course where all the biggies were playing. Went to Santa Barbara, Hurst Castle from a distance, Los Gatos where were went to church and heard Chip Ingraham. Each day brought us so many new memories that I cannot list them all……BUT…..I have to tell you about one of the most exciting things. I finally tasted black truffle mushrooms. At Valentio’s…we had Black Truffle Mushroom Risotto and honestly, it is one of the best tasting dishes I have had. The taste was like something so buttery and creamy and the mushroom was so delicate. What a treat. When we heard the story of how the mushroom is hunted, it really made me appreciate it even more. They are hunted once a year, by hogs. Yes, that’s right. The hog is able to smell it, even though it is underground. As soon as the hog begins to dig, the hunter takes over and begins to dig and there it is. So we were excited to have this tasty morsel in our memory book. It is good to be home, as long as I stay inside in air conditioning. Went to the store, so will get back in the grove of cooking. Am excited to have Sevy coming over on Wednesday night for his 6th birthday party dinner. We had a wonderful time and hope to go back, but until then, we will enjoy our family and friends which will help us forget about the heat and just enjoy the memories we make right here.

Well, found a computer, so had to tell you about our experience yesterday touring SanFrancisco….it was indeed a beatiful day and we had a glorious day, walking around Fisherman’s Wharf, but, and let me say that again, but… here is a little sample of what lead up to our beautiful day, then I will tell you about our 48 hour tour, (oops, it was actually only 2 hours, but seemed more like 2 days)

First, our flight out here was wonderful, even slept on the plane for a little while, where the story begins………when I fell asleep, I had a glass of cranberry apple juice sitting on the tray, which I was going to save and wash down my coconut M&M’s with, after my  little nap. But I fell so sound asleep, I knocked over the glass of juice all over my white linen blouse and pants, while I slept. So upon waking, I looked like I had poured a whole bottle of red wine over myself, all the while  now looking like I had wet my pants. So if that is not bad enough, we manage to hide most of the stain with baggage and stop for an In & Out Burger on the way to the hotel. It is 4:00 p.m. our tummy time, (but only 2 here) so we are starving. As we inhale our burger and french fries, which are the best in the world and always our first stop once we get off the plane, I am in such a hurry, I drop 4 french fries, soaked in ketsup all down the front of this same blouse. So now, I have red juice all over the front, plus ketsup dribbling down the front of me. What a mess……we go to the hotel, clean up and decide that Sunday will be better.

So Sunday dawns and we get dressed, go to church and then head to San Francisco…..we arrive at Fisherman’s Wharf, beaming with excitement. We walk around, enjoying the stares of people that look at us, wondering what planet we re from, with my Dallas Big Hair, and Randy’s “casual look” of dress pants and nice Tommy Bahama shirt” all the while seeing that we need to definetely dress down the next time we come back to SF, to fit in alittle more, and I need to flatten my hair about 5 in” not in length, but hidth…….anyway, we go to a nice restaurant, order crab cakes, salad, over looking the bay and Alcatraz and then head out to catch a tour bus. We are in luck…there is a tour bus just leaving, AND it is only $20/per person, for a 2 hour tour….WOW are we in luck….we board the double decker, with Randy insisting that we head to the top to catch the sights as well as the sun. Well, we don’t get to sit together, there are only two seats left, across the isle from each other. He grabs the first one which seats him next to a cute  and skinny little 20 yr old and I am honored to be sitting by a lady weighing at least 300 pounds, which, bless her heart, is the sweetest thing, but I have only room for one of my “cheeks” to sit on…the entire 2 hours..my right “cheek” is numb after the first hour and she kept apologizing for being so big and taking up so much room. I can only say, “that’s ok”, when I really wanted to say, “would you please just let me sit on your lap”, but figured that this would make Randy owe me the rest of his life. Well, the first 15 min were very interesting, but then the tour guide told us that on this tour, he wanted to teach us as much as he possibly could aboutj San Fran…….and that he did. He never shut up…for 2 hours…and each sentence had at least 3 “ok?” in it…example, “honey, did you know that SF is only 7 mi by 7 mi, ok? and that China town is only 4 blocks by 11 blocks, OK and then we will be circling around Town Hall, ok? and on and on and on…..if I ever hear the word ok in my life time, it will be too soon, ok?

Well, we get off the bus, head for ice cream and Tom Tom donuts and sit out on the pier, watching the Sea Lions, walking around watching all the weirdos with spikey hair nd tatoos on every inch of their bodies…well, we get home to the hotel and I am changing clothes and I look down at my linen capris and yell. I have gone to church and all over San Fran with two “HUGE” holes in the back of my pants…….it’s like the material just rotted away and gave out…..I’m not talking a little pin hole here, I’m talking about two holes the size of a large orange, on both sides. So when people were looking at me, I guess they were not looking at me thinking, “my how young she looks to be almost 60” they are looking at me thinking, “my, it looks like her butt is so big that she is busting out at the seams”…stay away from the ice creama and donuts, lady!  Guess that is what I get for thinking what I was thinking while continually sliding off the bench of that double decker bus….

Now, we both got a little burned, sitting out there with the sun glaring down on us yesterday, so this morning when Randy goes off with a friend to visit some people, he says to me, “oh great,I look like an alcoholic with my red face”. So we are hoping that tomorrow will be better. Will let you know how the rest of today goes……OK?