Artful words

Count Down to Graduation

2007-02-21T22:45:00.000-08:00

Order Announcments, Cap/Gown etc.

Order Senior Pictures

Purchase Prom Dress - possible choice

Unknown expenses yet to come

Contributions accepted (lol)

A Prayer For Our Troups

2006-12-19T07:36:00.000-08:00

by Greg Asimakoupoulos

O God, be near our troops today. Homesick, they are well awarethat their place at the family table will lack their presence this year. They also know that their presents neath the Christmas tree will have to wait for a later date.In the meantime, Father, give them reason in this season of Immanuelto sense God-with-us with them.Remind them that peace on earthis worth their frontline courageas well as the sacrifices they may be called to make. Although the carols they try to singmay catch in their throats,allow them to swallow their current circumstanceswithout bitterness or regret. As these men and women sing Joy to the World, help them to know happiness in their hearts.May the letters, e-mails and phone calls they receivebe tidings of comfort and joy.And although the explosive nights in a war zoneare anything but silent,give these who serve global justicefreedom from terror-triggered nightmaresand the ability to dream of goodwill to men.In the name of the Prince of Peace we pray. Amen.

San Diego

2006-12-14T21:57:00.000-08:00

I was in San Diego reciently for some training, and I believe that I could retire here if I don't make it to Hawaii. My mind was still there for a week after I came back home. The only thing missing was having my husband there to enjoy it with me.

Above is the resturant that is famous for being in Top Gun. Has great BBQ. And to the left is an outdoor ice rink on the beach at the Coronado Hotel. It was the oddest thing to see.

This is at the top of the rollercoaster at the Mission Beach Boardwalk at sunset.

Amber joined me on Saturday and we hung out at Mission Beach.

Thanksgiving in Reno

2006-11-24T11:24:00.000-08:00

Here is something special from my Thanksgiving Day
Introducing Mikalah Marie Jones. Born Sept. 24, a little surprise for all of us. See the sidebar for additional pictures

HAPPY THANKSGIVING

2006-11-22T22:02:00.000-08:00

A Great Blog

2006-11-11T08:32:00.000-08:00

I stumbled on a great blog I believe you will all enjoy. Here is the link
http://movieweblog.blogspot.com/

I was looking for a political song about George McGovern for Guy and came across this. He post clips from utub of some great old videos. Check it out.

We are in the down side of a bathroom update. It is our main bathroom and we have been sharing our small master bath with Aimee. We should be done with it by theend of the month. We have kept the toliet and the tub, and everything else is new.

Amber is hanging in there, but I think she will be coming back at the end of the semester. She's not fitting in, and has not made any friends. I thought it was homesickness, but she is now looking at a school in Texas. A lot farther away, so we are taking it slow.

Aimee is having a great senior year. She was nominated for home coming queen and she won the princess for her class. She's working, and hanging out with friends. Also working on hopefully passing Alg. 2. Still not sure what she is doing after graduation.

The holiday season is approching and I'm hoping to spend some time with each of you. I know that we may not be all together at the same time, but during my Christmas break I think I will do a family tour. More on that later.

College bound, Part II

2006-08-27T16:30:00.000-07:00

Ok, I'll try and fill in the gaps. The apartment we got for Amber is just larger that a studio, they call it a Jr. apartment. No roommate due to having 1 bedroom. We signed a 9 month lease. I'm concidering purchasing a home so I can at least have a tax write off and equity. (that's another story). Amber should be in the area for several years. She will reapply to Cal St. Fullerton in Fall of 07, due to the jury for the Masters Program. Aimee may also be going to school in this same area so having our own place would be great.

Karen, the hotel story goes like this. We stayed at the Ritz Carlton which was located 2 blocks from Amber's place. We were beat from the move, and I had not secured a place for us yet. We had a very nice room which came with comp. breakfast. The room had a seperate livingroom, so that would be good in the future with Aimee came with us, she would be able to have her own space. We settled in for some much needed sleep. At around 1 am, an there was this LOUD anouncement coming in through our room. "Attention hotel guests, it is now safe to return to your rooms." I thought I was dreaming or something so I nudged Guy and asked it he just heard that. He said he had. What was funny was that we never knew that it was ever unsafe to be in the room. Had we slept through the evacuation announcment? The return announcement was SO loud I could not amagine that I had missed it, but then again we were very beat. I peaked out the window to see if there was any activity, but there was none to see and we only heard one door close in our general area.

When we went down to breakfast, nobody else was talking about it, and I just had to wonder if we had imagined the whold thing. At check out I just couldn't ask....just in case it was a dream.

P.S. Congratulations to Pam and the birth of her baby girl.

Amber Off To College

2006-08-21T19:15:00.000-07:00

Well, after many challenges, Amber is now residing in Orange County, Brea California to be exact. What an adventure! Enough to make a mom grey. It started out like this......

We had anticipated her math grade from her summer class. Her admission to Cal State Fullerton was on hold pending this class. Grades came in and she didn't quite make it. Needed a C or better. So we were hoping that they would let her enroll on a probationary basis while she retook the class.

We were set to fly Thurs. Aug 10, leaving at 2pm at arrive in Santa Ana at 3:30. That would give us time to meet with someone at the school and getting that out of the way so we could use Fri. to secure an apartment. And then it happened, the first glich. There had to be terrorist messing up my plans. Our plane was delayed and we finally landed at 6pm. We picked up our car and I learned that Amber is an expert map reader. So now we launch plan B.

Plan B would be to get to the school early, speak w/her counselor and then off to apartment search. Went to the school Friday morning and learned that there wasn't gona be any chance that they were going to let her attend. They all were very nice about it though. We also found the list posted at the school of people needing a room mate. Took numbers of ones that sounded good, and called them. They of course already found room mates. Time to launch plan C.

Plan C would be to take a transcript to Fullerton College so she could enroll there take the math class, (any others) find an affordable apartment. Well the college wasn't open on Fridays, and out of all the decent, and semi decent looking apartments, there were none available. :(

The clock was ticking....we did find a cute apartment in a gated community, very safe and secure, but very expensive, (just under our current house payment) I was panicking so I put in a call to dad for guidance. He said we have to do it so we did. We called the manager to let them know we were coming in with the required deposits. It was now 5pm and they closed at 6. First stop at Washington Mutual to get the money orders, and it was Friday, so long lines. By the time we got to the front it was 5:40. We were in Fullerton and the apartments were in Brea, a 20 min. drive through town. We put in another call to say please don't close we were on our way...we got there at 6 and they were closed. But as a courtesy they left a contract for us in the drop box. I gave up. We were both drained. This always calls for a shopping trip. Luckily Brea has a great mall. We did a little shopping, ate at California Pizza Kitchen, and went back to our room to regroup. We had hoped at the beginning of this trip we could meet Randy for dinner, but it just couldn't happen on this trip. Sorry Randy

So where are we now???oh plan D. What plan D ended up being we would Fed X the apps along with the deposits. The got the forms Tues. morning and the apartment was ready for her to move in on Friday. Now our luck starts to change. We loaded up the uhaul and left Friday morning at 5am. A LONG DRIVE. Because of traffic, or something, we finally made it just before 2. Got the keys, moved her in, purchased some necessities, oh by the way we had to get her a fridge. It was delivered on Sunday and the door hits the stove when it is open. Saturday morning we headed to Fullerton College and we got lucky here that they were open, and she was able to enroll in her classes.

I left a lot of the adventure out. You'll have to call and ask me how I had to get the electricity turned on while we were driving down I5. (i forgot about this) and about the announcement we heard in our hotel room at 1am that it was now safe to re enter the hotel, and how we'er keeping her cat for her and it has it's own room in our house.

Don't you wish you were a Cheatham so you could have this much fun?

Las Vegas

2006-07-07T09:10:00.000-07:00

I've made my first trip to Las Vegas. I was there for a convention 6/27 - 6/30. We were kept busy with training through out the day, and did not get to do any "Vegas" things. So I guess I'll have to make a second trip. Guy was not able to take time of from work, so it was just as well that I didn't venture out onto the strip. Each night I attempted to make it out to take pictures of some of the other hotels, but by the end of the day we (friends I was there with) were exhausted. We stayed at the Luxor and our meetings we at the Mandala Bay. These two hotels were connected by a shopping mall, so there was really no need to ever go outside. The hotels were huge. Just looking from the outside you just would ever imagine how big these places really are.

LA Adventure

2006-06-18T20:09:00.000-07:00

Hi all. Sunday June 11, Amber and I headed to the O.C. to prepare for New Student Orientation on Monday. We got on the road at about 4pm because Amber had to work that day. Amber drove all the way thru until we reached the grapevine. Her back was getting tired so we switched. I thought I just had a little ways to go but I was fooled. In total, it took us 7 1/2 hours to get to Fullerton. We checked in our room and tried to sleep because we were to be at the school at 8am. While Amber was being orientated, I wondered around the school. It is a real pretty campus. Lots of flowering trees and water sculptures. She was finished getting her information, and she signed up for auditions for the 2006-2007 season, and we were off to Disneyland. The school had single day tickets at a good price so we had to go. I guess we got there around 2pm. We rode Space Mountain, the Matterhorn, saw Honey I shrunk the audience, and rode Indiana Jones. Amber took me to a resturante in Downtown Disney were you eat in the rainforest. We sat right under a gorilla who went crazy during a thunder storm. I took a video of it with my camera but I'm not able to share it with you due to lack of knowledge. But I did include a couple of pictures I took while in Disneyland. Oh we also saw the Fantasia light show which was great!

Aimee's Prom

2006-04-30T15:18:00.000-07:00

I added pictures of Aimee's Jr./Sr. Prom which happened this weekend.

2006-03-25T13:10:00.000-08:00

1. What time did you get up this morning? 8:00
2. Diamonds or pearls? diamonds
3. What was the last film you saw at the cinema? Kong
4. What is your favorite TV show? 24
5. What did you have for breakfast? coffee and beef jerky
6. What is your middle name? Lynn
7. What is your favorite cuisine? Chinese
8. What is your favorite potatoe chip? Like them all the same
9. What is your favorite music? Smooth Jazz
10. What kind of car do you drive? Ford
11. What is your favorite sandwich? Turkey on Rye
12. Favorite item of clothing? Jeans that fit
14. If you could go anywhere in the world on vacation, where wouldyou go? Kenya
15. What color is your bathroom? peachy
16. Favorite brand of clothing? Eddie Bauer
17. Where would you want to retire to? in a beach community
18. Favorite time of day? Mornings after I come back from taking Aimee to school.
19. Where were you born? Visalia, CA
20. Favorite sport to watch? Basketball
21. Who do you least expect to send this back? ?
22. Person you expect to send it back first? ?
23. What type of detergent do you use? Melabright, all natural no chemicals
24. Pepsi or coke? Pepsi
25. Are you a morning person or night owl? Morning
26. What size shoe do you wear? 8 1/2
27. Do you have pets? cat
28. Any new and exciting news you'd like to share with everyone? No news
30. Favorite Candy? Not a candy person
31. What is your best childhood memory? all the crazy adventures with dad, rock hunting in paticular
32. Different jobs you've had in your life? cashier, dental asst., dental receptionist, fabric sales, consumer relations rep. office manager, mom
33. What color underwear are you wearing? in the blue family
34. Nicknames? butch, I hated that name
35. Piercing? Closed peircings
36. Ever been to Africa? No
37. Ever been toilet papered? No
38. Love someone so much it made you cry? I'm not that emotional
40. Croutons or bacon bits? Bacon
41. Favorite day of the week? Saturday
42. Favorite restaurant? Red Lobster
43. Favorite flower? Rose
44. Favorite ice cream? Mint c.chip
45. Disney or Warner Brothers? Disney
46. Favorite fast food restaurant! In and Out
47. What color is your bedroom carpet? Beige
48. How many times did you fail your driver's test? 0
49. Before this one, from whom did you get your last e-mail? Denise S. 50. Which store would you choose to max out your credit card? Macy's
51. What do you do most often when you are bored? Eat
52. Who are you most curious about their responses to thisquestionnaire?
53. Last person you went to dinner with? Guy
54. Ford or Chevy? Ford
55. What are you listening to right now? Musicmatch playlist various artists
56. How many tattoos do you have? 0
57. Which came first, the chicken or the egg? Chicken

How do you think TV programming and commercials have affected our children?

2006-02-12T19:49:00.000-08:00

This week's discussion topic in my Business (online) class.

I think TV programs have made our children less creative. When I was young I remember watching Batman or Superman and then going out and pretending with my brothers we were them.

Then when I was in Jr. High, Sesame Street got it's start. I like that show because it still encouraged creativity. Then something happened when Barney came on the scene. When that intro music came on it seemed to hypnotize my child. She would literally stop in her tracks and stare at the TV. She didn't sing along or play along, just stared. I heard the same experiences from other moms. That show was banned from my house.

The only way to control TV programming is with the TV remote control. Just turn it off. And I stay involved. My Barney watching child is now a MTV watching Junior in high school. While she tries to convince me that Flavor Flav is funny, I point out all the reasons I think it's just junk. I want to make sure she knows where I stand so she can hear my still, small voice when I'm not around.

What do you think

2006-01-24T22:20:00.000-08:00

I'm a talk show junkie. I listen in the wee hours of the morning when I wake and can't fall back to sleep. I had discovered that the sound of old men voices put me to sleep. I listen when I get ready for work (Laura Ingrahm), and I listen at lunch when I'm driving to pick up Aimee from school.

Today on the Hugh Hewett Show I listened to an interview he did with the auther of the follow article that appeared in the Los Angles Times. His thoughts really troubled me, maybe because I have been involved in military life for more that 20 years. The part that bothered me the most was that he felt that if you were not supportive of the war, than you shouldn't support the troops. It made me wonder if that is the view of greater America. Can we support the men and women who have made it their job to be in the military with out supporting our govenments decisions on what to do with those troops.

I look forward to your feedback. The article follows below.

Warriors and wusses
I DON'T SUPPORT our troops. This is a particularly difficult opinion to have, especially if you are the kind of person who likes to put bumper stickers on his car. Supporting the troops is a position that even Calvin is unwilling to urinate on.I'm sure I'd like the troops. They seem gutsy, young and up for anything. If you're wandering into a recruiter's office and signing up for eight years of unknown danger, I want to hang with you in Vegas.
And I've got no problem with other people — the ones who were for the Iraq war — supporting the troops. If you think invading Iraq was a good idea, then by all means, support away. Load up on those patriotic magnets and bracelets and other trinkets the Chinese are making money off of.But I'm not for the war. And being against the war and saying you support the troops is one of the wussiest positions the pacifists have ever taken — and they're wussy by definition. It's as if the one lesson they took away from Vietnam wasn't to avoid foreign conflicts with no pressing national interest but to remember to throw a parade afterward.Blindly lending support to our soldiers, I fear, will keep them overseas longer by giving soft acquiescence to the hawks who sent them there — and who might one day want to send them somewhere else. Trust me, a guy who thought 50.7% was a mandate isn't going to pick up on the subtleties of a parade for just service in an unjust war. He's going to be looking for funnel cake. Besides, those little yellow ribbons aren't really for the troops. They need body armor, shorter stays and a USO show by the cast of "Laguna Beach." The real purpose of those ribbons is to ease some of the guilt we feel for voting to send them to war and then making absolutely no sacrifices other than enduring two Wolf Blitzer shows a day. Though there should be a ribbon for that.I understand the guilt. We know we're sending recruits to do our dirty work, and we want to seem grateful. After we've decided that we made a mistake, we don't want to blame the soldiers who were ordered to fight. Or even our representatives, who were deceived by false intelligence. And certainly not ourselves, who failed to object to a war we barely understood. But blaming the president is a little too easy. The truth is that people who pull triggers are ultimately responsible, whether they're following orders or not. An army of people making individual moral choices may be inefficient, but an army of people ignoring their morality is horrifying. An army of people ignoring their morality, by the way, is also Jack Abramoff's pet name for the House of Representatives.I do sympathize with people who joined up to protect our country, especially after 9/11, and were tricked into fighting in Iraq. I get mad when I'm tricked into clicking on a pop-up ad, so I can only imagine how they feel.But when you volunteer for the U.S. military, you pretty much know you're not going to be fending off invasions from Mexico and Canada. So you're willingly signing up to be a fighting tool of American imperialism, for better or worse. Sometimes you get lucky and get to fight ethnic genocide in Kosovo, but other times it's Vietnam. And sometimes, for reasons I don't understand, you get to just hang out in Germany. I know this is all easy to say for a guy who grew up with money, did well in school and hasn't so much as served on jury duty for his country. But it's really not that easy to say because anyone remotely affiliated with the military could easily beat me up, and I'm listed in the phone book. I'm not advocating that we spit on returning veterans like they did after the Vietnam War, but we shouldn't be celebrating people for doing something we don't think was a good idea. All I'm asking is that we give our returning soldiers what they need: hospitals, pensions, mental health and a safe, immediate return. But, please, no parades.Seriously, the traffic is insufferable.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

2006-01-03T14:44:00.000-08:00

Today is my last day of freedom from my job for awhile. I have enjoyed a generous amount of time off and it is soon to end. I can't say that I have been very productive during this time except for getting plenty of rest. I have done a little knitting. I have made a scarf. It is made with eyelash yarn and it is very furry. It has been raining a lot and flooding in neighborhoods around us, but our street seems to be safe. We do have a canal half a block up and it is keeping up with the rain. I have watched a lot of TV which is probably what kept me from being more productive.

Well, I'm including a picture of the girls that some how got left off of the Christmas Eve pictures.

Christmas Eve 2005

2005-12-27T20:20:00.000-08:00

We had a great time. I hope all of you enjoyed your Christmas celebrations too. I'm working on learning how to share some video clips from my camera and when I do I'll let you know.

Where Have I Been?

2005-12-17T15:47:00.000-08:00

Well it has been some time. I guess that just proves that my life is a bit dull. So lets catch up.
Guy and I just finished updateing our kitchen cabinets. They were dark brown fake wood and now after 3 coats of primer and 2 coats of mocha something they are now transformed.

We still need to change the range hood.

I'm glad to see you all have plans for the holidays. Angela is back in the area and I'm hoping that she and the kids will be over for Christmas Eve. It would make it a full house. Amber is going to come over and spend the nite so she can be up early for Christmas Day. She's such a kid. Trying to get shopping done is a challange. I'm excited because I got Guy a Movie Theatre poster of Kong. I won it on Ebay, that was fun. I got my tree up, it only took me two weekends to finish it. It looks better in person, it looks a little dull here.

We are on break from school starting the 22nd. I'll try to be a more regular post-er then. TTFN

2005-10-20T09:08:00.000-07:00

I thought since Randy is sharing his reading with us that it would be fun to see how many books we have read that are on the Times list of 100 best english language novels. I have read several, some not since highschool. Happy Reading

http://www.time.com/time/2005/100books/

the_complete_list.html

2005-10-18T19:18:00.000-07:00

A choice to make.

2005-10-15T11:35:00.000-07:00

I'm thinking of purchasing a satalite radio for the car. I have seen advertisement for a couple of brands, but beyond that I know nothing. So the research begins. I think what I would like to have is something that can be in the car but also be portable so that I can bring it into the house. I want to also have access to a variety of stations, including talk radio. But I think I would also like it to be like an mp3 player where I can download a variety of music. So maybe an Ipod would be good. It can go in the car and also be attached to a speaker system to have in the home. But I would only have access to the music a place on the system, right? Well, as I journey through the internet to get facts on all the variety of satalite radios, and mp3 systems I will share what I learn. And you can share any wisdom that you have on these products.

Your famous relative

2005-10-05T16:17:00.000-07:00

Check out the new web site for Solano Youth Theatre. If you view the pictures from past shows you may see someone you know. Just click on the title.

Weekend Getaway

2005-10-03T18:27:00.000-07:00

Guy and I went to S. Lake Tahoe for the weekend and you can view some of my favorite pics. It was very nice and if you are planning a trip, let me know so that I can tell you about the condo we rented. Great deal! Let me know what you think of my shots.

Ronald Gets a Make-Over

2005-09-28T09:14:00.000-07:00

I was blog cruzing and came across this link...I thought it was funny and wonder when we'll get this commercial here in America. :)
http://www.i-am-bored.com/bored_link.cfm?link_id=6490

LOST

2005-09-26T08:48:00.000-07:00

I admit it, I'm a big fan of LOST. I got sucked in from the first seasons premier and haven't stopped yet. I think what I like best about it is that the show is so unpredictable. So now we are into season 2. It was a great premier. The more I get into the show the more my theory of the show changes. Right now I think that they really arn't on an island. I think that we are seeing into their dreams or thoughts. It could be the thoughts that are going through their mind as they are crashing. Some think that it is a mind control experiment, and others think that it is pergatory.

If you read the message boards of the show people really get deep. I'm a simple person and choose to just enjoy the story and try not to put too much into it.
If you are not familar with the show click the link and get watching. http://abc.go.com/primetime/lost/

IT'S A BOY

2005-09-10T11:30:00.000-07:00

Another baby boy in the Jones family. Born Sept. 9, 5' 2 oz. No name yet because they were hoping for a girl. She's taking suggestions. Mom and baby are doing well.

UPDATE: New baby boy is now called Kenen Javon Jones

Star in town.

2005-08-25T08:58:00.000-07:00

You never know who you will run into when you live in the outer bay area. Two weeks ago, just at the opening weekend of the new movie Dukes of Hazzard, I spotted one of the stars of the show just outside one of the many Starbucks in town. Luckly I had my trusty camera phone and I snuck up and took a couple of pictures. I was too shy to just go up and ask for the picture, I just took them secretly. I'm sure you will recognize the star.

Not what I had planned

2005-08-05T12:10:00.000-07:00

Sometimes it's just better not planning. I am a free spirit so that just seems to work best for me, just get up and go.
I say this because I tried to plan a whole list of things to do while I enjoy a couple of days away from work. I noted them in my last update. Non came to pass because of various reasons. So Thursday morning, while at the gym, on my bike, speeding up and down hills, I noticed that the weather report from San Francisco was stating that the weather at the coast would be in the 70's, and the picture looked like it may be fogless. At that moment I made a decision to head to the beach! I did have to get approval from the hubby who did approve, reluctantly (he never understands my free spirtedness). So I figured that by noon there should be plenty of sun for me. I had an appointment at 10:30 for my biweekly eyebrow waxing which I went to. Then I went by WalMart and purchased a beach chair. Went by the house and packed a few snacks, put on my suit, then sweat pants, long sleeved shirt, grabbed my book, tanning lotion, sweatshirt, blanket, small pillow, (for a beach nap), and headed for my favorite spot at Cronkite beach at the Golden Gate Rec (cant remember the rest of the title.)
Driving there it looked promising. Going South on 101 thru the rainbow tunnel there was no fog. At the turn off to the place I can't remember the title to, still no fog. Driving up the hill toward my destination at Cronkite beach, a little over cast. But that's ok I know it will disapate soon. I arrived and I was so excited. Grabbed my beach chair, my backpack full of beach supplies and headed on down. With the hood of my sweatshirt on, and keeping my sweatpants on till the sun came out, I sat in my chair, pulled out my book and began to read. An hour goes by and still no sun, but it's not too cold so I keep reading, looking out from time to time at the surfing school that is going on just off shore.
I think it was a school because no body was staying on their boards long. Well, it's now 2:30, still no sun, and it's starting to get a little cold. I had planned to leave by 3:30 to avoid the after work traffic, so I decided to end my day at the beach a little early.

Vacation Planning

2005-07-22T12:22:00.000-07:00

Well, I've been on my new job long enough to have a little time off. Since we are still getting Fridays off I decided to make it a looong weekend. So I'll have Thurs - Monday off the first week of Aug.
Now...what to do? What I'm concidering is to drive down to Fullerton to view Cal State Fullerton to give Amber a little motivation to get her classes done in time to transfer there next fall. And while we are there maybe go to Universal Studios (never been there). And then on our tour of Scal, may be stop by and see Randy, do a mall tour along the way and on the way home stop and see Steve. It's all still in the planning stage and could change at any time, so I'll let you know.

Can You Woo Woo Woo

2005-07-15T11:35:00.000-07:00

Well, I survived jury duty. The lawyers were able to decide on a jury before they got to my number. And I have to say that I'm glad because it was a murder trial for a little girl, 6 years old, that was killed in Vallejo by her mom's boy friend in 2002. It would have been a hard one to sit thru.

Guy and I had a chance to get away for the weekend last Fri. We had tickets for the Dave Koz and friends concert in Sacramento at the Radison hotel. It was an outdoor concert and we got lucky with the weather. We acctually needed a lite jacket in the evening. We stayed overnite at the hotel and it was just nice to get away. If you like jazz, the concert was great! This is a picture of Dave Koz that I took with my new Kodak Easy Share digital camera. We were in row P and I still got a great shot. The camera also took video. I included a link to the video I took of Jeffery Osborn. I'm not sure it will work though, and I can't figure how to include here in my post. I was still trying to figure out how it worked so its a very short video.
The hotel was very nice, a little resortish. It was our second time staying there. We had gone the first time in May to see Mindy Abair in the Guitar and Saxes tour. The hotel has a man made lake with paddle boats and a huge foutain in it so this last time we went I got our room facing that area. I also got a good deal with a Senior discount (thanks honey!) I wanted to go again in August to see the last summer concert, but Guy said that was enough for him. I guess I'll just have to think of something different to do. I would love to rent an RV and camp out at a beach. We'll see.

Duty Calls

2005-06-28T20:27:00.000-07:00

I got summands to serve Jury Duty. I don't really mind showing up to do my duty for my community, but it will be futile. A few years ago I was called, and I responded. I made it into the room where the lawyers start picking the candidates who will sit in the 12 chairs. I sat awhile and eventually my number was called. I made it through the interview and was a proud member of the jury. Unfortunately we were a jury who couldn't come to a decision so we were a hung jury. Now I've been told that once you have been on a hung jury you will never sit in any of the 12 chairs again. Is that true? If it is, I think that they should just take your name off the list permanatly. I called in and I don't have to go tomorrow, but I have been instructed to call again tomorrow to see if I have to report Thurs. (Part 1)

Dream Car?

2005-06-24T12:19:00.000-07:00

Guy thinks that he wants to sell his car. I don't know why, all he does while we drive around is compare his Mustang to other Mustangs

I think he might be working up to being able to buy the new GT when in comes out. So if you re interested, let me know. :)

Fridays Off

2005-06-24T10:37:00.000-07:00

At the college where I work, it has been decided that the school would save energy if for the summer we worked 4 10 hour days and we are off on Fridays. I guess they weren't talking about my energy, because by the time Friday comes along I have none left. So what's the point? You work yourself to death so that you can sleep the day away on Friday. I get no enjoyment in that.

Life Happens

2005-06-18T14:59:00.000-07:00

Well it's been a week of bads. Its hard for a mom when you can't kiss and make things better. So this is what happened. Amber was driving over to our house to pick something up. ( For those of you who didn't know, Amber is living in her own apartment.) On her way here is a train crossing and a train was coming. The car in from of Amber started to go across and beat the train so Amber moved up. The the car changed it's mind and backed up and hit Amber's car. Luckly, the Ford Focus sits a little low in the front, and the Rav 4 sits a little high so all that was damaged was a bit of scraping on the corner of the top front of her hood. By the way the Rav 4 took off. Amber thought we would be mad at her because last Summer she hit a car in the Target parking lot in Santa Rose while she was working there for the summer. Just for the record, dad was not mad, mom was just a little mad (at the car that ran off and there was nothing we could do about it). After that Amber was off to Richmond with her "boy" friend for the day, and while she was gone, someone broke into her apt. and stoled most of her stuff. The thief's were a bit dumb because they took her portable DVD player but not the cord, and they took her friends new Ipod, but not the plug. They also took Amber's lap top, her new mini Ipod that she just got for graduation, and I'm not sure what else. They didn't take the big TV, so that was good. It will be awhile before we can replace them for her. Cops did nothing because we didn't have the seral numbers, they didn't even get the fingerprints.(that was frustrating). Then the next morning, Amber's little turtle died. To try and cheer Amber up, I told her things always happen in 3's so she is good for awhile. I'm not sure if that helped.

What Now!

2005-05-10T18:39:00.000-07:00

Today is good! A lot has past though, and we will probably revisit things from back there from time to time. Anyway, why is the baby of the family always so spoiled? How does it happen? My daughter Aimee has an F in German and it is the first class in the morning. She will miss this class for the next 2 days to make up her high school exit exams, and I just let her talk me into missing class again on Thurs. to get her hair done. "But mom", she says" I'll be done in time for you to get to work on time" Isn't it nice how she watches out for me? I though Sat. would be a better day for a hair appointment, but what do I know?