BACK IN TIME PART 3

It is an absolutely beautiful day in California and I think spring is finally here. We have had several days of COLD rainy weather, and I for one am glad to see the sun finally come out. Jeff and I (OK, I was actually watching from the window most of the time as it was soo cold) potted a few plants for the front porch last week-end and dug out the spring/summer wreath for the door. It's looking good. We are supposed to be getting a couple of pigmy palms planted today in our little front planter, though I have not seen them (the gardeners) yet and it is nearing 4 o'clock. Hope they are still coming. Sat. they will lay the sod and it will all be complete so I am waiting until then to take pictures. I am excited to see the final results. I took my mom to lunch today and we did a little shopping. I got just the cutest little Easter chicks and a runner for the dining room table AND some new candles. Haven't bought gear for the house in MONTHS and it was pretty fun. AGAIN, I will take some pics on Sat. when I get everything set out. Next week-end will be a busy one as my oldest son Joe and his family is moving on Sat. and we will help out. Actually, again Jeff will help out and I will entertain kids and give tips on how to set up furniture, haha. And then on Sun we will head down to San Diego for the whole day as James will give the Sunday morning message at the new church, and then Sun. evening there is to be a guest speaker at the old one...Sarah Hill. Don't know if any of you have ever heard of her. She is a missionary in Hawaii and originally from Maranatha. She was instrumental in the life of Bethany Hamilton who is the surfer girl who got her arm bitten off by a shark. There is a movie coming out about this on April 8th and Carrie Underwood is playing the part of Sarah Hill. I am excited to both hear this testimony, but also to see this movie; how I LOVE Carrie Underwood. It should be good. Melly will be here a week from tomorrow...YAY!! That is really all that is new around here. I've decided I might as well continue the story of the looking back on my life. I know you are all on the tips of your seat.


OK, let's see....I think we were ready to move to the first home my parents bought in California. It was a brand new house and in Garden Grove. I was 6 years old. I remember MANY things about this house and this time period in my life. For one, my sister Diane and I went to Catholic school. St. Polycarp. We got to ride the bus to school which I considered a GIANT bonus, haha. How old I felt. My mother taped my bus pass to the front of my lunch pail (obviously quite smart) which I just HATED. It not only covered up my flowers on the lunch pail, but it was the first time I became aware of what the "cool" kids did, and those who weren't, haha. The "cool" kids kept their passes in the front pockets of their blouse or shirt (depending of course on rather they were girls or boys) and whipped them in and out in a cool fashion upon entering the bus. How I wanted to whip mine in and out!! My mom of course told me it was ridiculous, as of course I would only lose it. As I think back on it now, WHY did they even have bus passes?? The bus driver knew who all her stops were etc.; seems kind of dumb. But anyway, I had those passes, BIG!! Going to Catholic school meant uniforms of course, but we could wear any kind of shoe we wanted. When it is ALL you've got to make yourself somewhat unique, trust me, SHOES were also big. Again, my mother went with the very practical dark brown leather Mary Janes. And those “cool" kids?? They were sporting PLAIN white tennis shoes. Now obviously, this WAS stupid, but how I longed for those white tennis shoes, haha. As I got older she did FINALLY let me get tennis shoes, but only in BLACK, lol. I remember school being VERY difficult. There was a lot of homework, and the nuns were VERY strict. I got sent to the principal’s office once in the first grade for (now get this!) talking in the girls restroom!! Can you honestly imagine? First of all I was one of MANY little girls chatting away in there, but I must have had the loudest voice, as I was singled out. It traumatized me for years....The house we lived in was small but very nice. I shared a room with my sister Diane. It had hardwood floors and we had fluffy pink throw rugs on the floor, sheer white ruffled curtains on the window, and a soft white bedspread with BIG pink roses on it. I LOVED it. Diane and I were sick A LOT in that house. We had the two weeks measles, the German measles, the mumps, Chicken pox, and various different colds and stomach flu's. And everything we got at school, we brought home to the "little ones" and my mom at home. I remember once my mom was soo sick herself (and she was pregnant again with her 5th child) that she was unable to care for all of us who were sick with one thing or another and we were all in bed. They had to hire a nurse to come in during the day for a few days to take care of us all! My poor mom...The nurse was VERY mean as I recall, and I was glad when she was gone. My mom always made such an event of it when we were sick. She would roll in the little portable black and white TV (no color ones yet) and would serve us our meals on a tray with straws for our drinks. Such pampering; you could almost enjoy it if you weren't soo sick! Good thing kids can get vaccinations for all of those things now. I'll just tell you about one more thing before I end this for today as it is getting long. Diane and I had MANY games we played. But some of the best were played after we were sent to bed. Why on earth we were soo naughty when it only brought about a harsh scolding or even spankings, I can't be sure. Maybe they were just that fun, lol. One of them was house boat. We would collect EVERY doll and every stuffed animal either of us owned, and would somehow get them all into bed with us. This usually required our dragging our little wooden bunk beds for our dolls over to the bed and tying it to the headboard with a ribbon, and several of the "older" ones would ride on this attached boat, haha. We snuck in food (usually grapes) and would then have to make sure everyone was feed. I can close my eyes and remember our conversations as we played, the jammies we had on, and the fun we had. I can also remember the crackling of the newspaper and the creak of the rocking chair which told us our dad was on the way down the hall to see what we were up to. Those were some fun days.

I have a few more stories about this house and time era, but I will continue this later. Hope you are all enjoying the beginnings of spring.