Today

The day started with the sun shining and in the 60's early this afternoon. However, soon as the sun went down the clouds came in and it is cold now.

We drove out to Old Town Folsom today and ate lunch at the Sutter Street Grill. Sutter Street is the main street through Old Town Folsom. Sutter Street Grill is always very crowded. We only had to wait about 10 minutes for a table which wasn't too bad. We both had breakfast, Gerry had eggs, potatoes and sour dough toast. I had a diced ham scramble with an English Muffin.

After we were done eating we walked for a couple of blocks looking in some of the shops. When we got back to the van, we noticed a huge sign. Evidently Sutter Street is going to be revitalized. A couple of guys walking behind us stopped and looked at the sign for a minute. One of them said it was going to look like a miniature Disneyland. It will be a shame if the revitalization really changes the look of the street as it is now.

I noticed on the weather page in The Bee that more rain is expected this week.

Oto's Marketplace

I drove down to Oto's today. I was hungry for a bento box from there. Here's the Teriyaki Chicken bento. The rice is rolled into little log shapes. There are 6 of them.

Six pieces of gyoza with dipping sauce.

This is a box of 20 tea bags of the green tea that I like.

I've mentioned before about getting these pork rib strips to make sweet and sour. It is so convenient to be able to buy the ribs already cut in strips. Both packages are a little over a pound; a little pricey though.

I wish Oto's wasn't so far away. It takes me about 20 minutes or so on the freeway to get down there.

Family Picture

Scroll down to the bottom of the page and see the family picture I just added. This was taken at The Back Porch, a restaurant in Destin, Florida on May 31, 2009. It was taken on the last Sunday we were visiting Denise and family in Enterprise, AL. After church we drove down to Destin for lunch. The Back Porch sat on the beach with the Gulf of Mexico in the background. It was a beautiful day, the Gulf was beautiful and it was so enjoyable being there. However, can't say much for the food. :)

On the left is Britta (Nathan's girlfriend), Nathan, Gerry and I. On the right is Stephen, Denise and Rebekah.

Weather

It is more of the same as it has been for the last 8 days. According to the Sacramento Bee today is the 9th day of rain in Sacramento.

I went up to Bel Air a little bit ago, got home about an hour ago. It was just kind of sprinkling when I left, however it was raining harder by the time I headed back home. This should taper off by the middle of the week, so says the Bee.

A funnel cloud was spotted in the East Bay area of San Francisco. It dissipated before it touched the ground. That was the second funnel cloud for the Bay area in a couple of days.

Swiss Steak for Dinner

I fixed Swiss Steak for dinner tonight along with rice and fresh steamed broccoli. It sure was tender, didn't need to use a knife to cut it. I sure do like it when the meat is fork tender. YUM!! I went out for a couple of hours earlier today. I was getting stir-crazy being cooped up in the house. It wasn't raining until I walked out the door to leave at 11:15 am. It started sprinkling just a little. However by the time I got home 2 hours later it was raining pretty hard and it hasn't let up yet. There's suppose to be clearing on Saturday and Sunday and then another storm on Monday.

New Background for Blog

I've been wanting to redo my blog for sometime now with a new background and maybe header. Every once in awhile I surf the web trying to find something that I might like.

I noticed on the blog of a friend who lives in Redding, there was a tag for free backgrounds. So I checked it out today. I found a couple that I liked so I redid both of my blogs. I wanted to find some free headers too. I did see some but I didn't really like them. So I just changed a few things, size of font and type of font on this blog for the header. I think it looks a lot better than it did.

Tell me what you think. I changed my Elegant Reflections blog too. Click on it on my side bar.

Today

It was another cold, windy, rainy day. A mobile home about 3 spaces down from us had these really tall Italian Cypress trees on its side yard. Well, one of them fell and was laying in the street. So the park management had a tree company out to remove the tree.

There were moments when the wind was so strong, it felt like the roof was going to blow off of our mobile. Gerry went out and lowered the flag pole and brought it in. He said it looked like it was bending over and was afraid it would break causing damage.

One of my Facebook friends wrote that when she was coming home from work this afternoon, it was raining so hard, the windshield wipers weren't doing any good. There were a lot of problems in other parts of the state. There were tornado warnings in Southern California again. Lots of flooding too. I-5, the main north/south highway through California was closed for awhile on Tejon Pass. Cars were being escorted over the pass by the California Highway Patrol.

In areas where there were forest fires last year, people were being asked to evacuate because of mudslides and flooding.

Our power went out this morning for about 45 minutes and then the lights were flickering for awhile after the power came back on. It cleared up for about an hour this afternoon, the sun even came out, so Gerry decided to go for a walk and picked up our mail while he was out. All is quiet out there now. Storms are expected tomorrow and Friday. Then there should be some clearing on Saturday. Let's hope so!!

Weather News

"Rain, rain go away; come again another day".

Sometime this morning between 2:30 am and 4:30 am, the rain started again. The wind was blowing pretty hard too. The back porch light was on all night. It has a sensor on it and comes on when something crosses its path. The wind probably was the cause of it being on all night.

We have metal awnings over our bedroom windows. They rattled all night and kept waking me up.

About 2:30 or so this afternoon, the rain stopped and the sun came out. I needed to go to the grocery store so I changed out of my sweats and took off to the store. By the time I headed home, the clouds were back. It hasn't started raining again, however I'm sure it will before too long. The storm coming in tomorrow is suppose to be the worse one. It is pretty windy and cold!! The clouds towards the mountains are very black so no doubt it is snowing up there.

At least we are not dealing with the issues that Southern California is experiencing. Some flooding, mud slides in areas where they had fires last year and I read that there was a tornado warning for parts of Los Angeles and Orange County.

The paper this morning said sections of North Highlands, and other parts of the area lost power yesterday. We haven't lost power, not even lights flickering. Very interesting!!

Well, I'm off to see about dinner. I've got a couple of potatoes in the oven baking. I took a steak out for myself. Gerry will probably fix a chicken breast for himself. Last night I fixed a Purity Portuguese sausage for dinner with some rice. I got a couple of them when I went to Oto's last Friday.

TWENTY-NINE LINES TO MAKE YOU SMILE

I got this in an email from a friend I use to work with. She and her husband moved to Mendocino on the California coastline.

There were some Maxine cartoons too, however, they didn't copy.

Anyway, Enjoy!!
*****

Blessed are the cracked, for they let in the light!

TWENTY NINE LINES TO MAKE YOU SMILE
1.. My husband and I divorced over religious differences. He thought he was God and I didn't.
2.. I don't suffer from insanity; I enjoy every minute of it.
3.. Some people are alive only because it's illegal to kill them.
4.. I used to have a handle on life, but it broke.
5.. Don't take life too seriously; No one gets out alive.
6.. You're just jealous because the voices only talk to me
7.. Beauty is in the eye of the beer holder.
8.. Earth is the insane asylum for the universe.
9.. I'm not a complete idiot -- Some parts are just missing.
10...Out of my mind. Back in five minutes.
11.. NyQuil, the stuffy, sneezy, why-the-heck-is-the-room-spinning medicine.
12.. God must love stupid people; He made so many.
13.. The gene pool could use a little chlorine.
14.. Consciousness: That annoying time between naps.
15.. Ever stop to think, and forget to start again?
16.. Being 'over the hill' is much better than being under it!
17.. Wrinkled Was Not One of the Things I Wanted to Be When I Grew up.
18 . Procrastinate Now!
19.. I Have a Degree in Liberal Arts; Do You Want Fries With That?
20..A hangover is the wrath of grapes.
21..A journey of a thousand miles begins with a cash advance.
22..Stupidity is not a handicap. Park elsewhere!
23..They call it PMS because Mad Cow Disease was already taken.
24.. He who dies with the most toys is nonetheless DEAD.
25.. A picture is worth a thousand words, but it uses up three thousand times the memory. 26...Ham and eggs...A day's work for a chicken, a lifetime commitment for a pig.
27.. The trouble with life is there's no background music.
28.. The original point and click interface was a Smith & Wesson.
29... I smile because I don't know what the hell is going on.

Appreciate every single thing you have, especially your friends! Life is too short and friends are too few!

Rain & Stuff

As predicated by the weather service, the rain is upon us. It started raining some time Saturday night and continued all day yesterday.

We drove up to Auburn yesterday to eat at Sweet Pea's. It is a breakfast/lunch place that we go to often. For a rainy day, the traffic was pretty heavy going east on I-80. On the highway message board just before Auburn, it said it was snowing on the summit and chains were required. Glad we weren't going that far. We didn't have chains with us anyway!! Sweet Pea's has really good food. They have an oatmeal raisin pancake that Gerry likes so he had that with a side order of chicken apple sausage. I had a sandwich which was really good. It was turkey, cranberry sauce, cream cheese and sprouts on grilled wheat bread. You can have country fried potatoes, macaroni or potato salad or fresh fruit. I had fresh fruit with my sandwich which consisted of a piece watermellon, cantaloupe, orange, apple and grapes. I finished most of it. It was so yummy!!

After we ate we drove back home. It was too yucky to do anything else.

It was raining pretty hard earlier and lots of wind. We have a 25 ft flagpole in front of our mobile and it was rocking back and forth. It is set in concrete so it shouldn't fall. Gerry usually takes the flags and pole down when it is going to be storming.

I think the rain has stopped for the time being. I'm looking out my craft room window and it looks like it is getting lighter outside. Maybe we'll see some sun later on. This is only a reprieve, I'm sure. It will be raining all week. Some time this week I need to go get groceries. I'm doing laundry today.

Friday Night Dinner

I drove down to Oto's Marketplace, a Japanese grocery store in the south area of Sacramento, on Friday. I needed to get some rice. In the meat section they usually have spare ribs cut in strips for sweet and sour ribs. I got a couple of packages and fixed them for dinner. They also had some nice looking fresh green beans. I got a package of the beans and fixed those also for dinner. The ribs were so good.

Oto's has a sushi counter and they fix bento boxes for lunch and dinner. The lunch size starts at $4.95. They usually have teriyaki chicken, huli huli chicken, chicken katsu and char siu. It includes rice and Japanese pickles. The dinner size ones start at $8.95, they are larger portions of the lunch size ones. I usually get a bento box to bring home for lunch. They are so good!!

Thursday Night Dinner

Last week Thursday night I fixed a pot roast, rice and fresh steamed broccoli for dinner. The roast was still frozen in the middle. I went ahead and put it on and it came out so tender. It was sure good!!

Rain

It's raining, started some time last night. Rain is expected for the entire week. A wind advisory is set for tomorrow with 40 to 50 mile winds. Lots of snow for the mountains is expected too. Should be an interesting week.

Willie's

Yesterday Gerry had to go over to Carmichael Bicycles to pick up some wheels he ordered. He asked me to go along with him. It was noon when we left home. Across from Five Points, the shopping center where the bike shop is located is a place called "Willie's". We have passed it so many times yet have never stopped. Gerry decided we'd stop for lunch there and see what it was like.

Well, were we ever surprised!! It is a hamburger place and a whole lot more and a very busy place. Ordering is done at the counter and then your number is called out when your order is ready. I ordered a taco combination which comes with rice and beans. Since I can't eat beans, I got extra rice. This was probably the best tacos and rice I've had in a long time. Better than any Mexican restaurant. I had one steak and one chicken taco. The meat was cut in little pieces and there was cheese, chopped leafy lettuce, tomatoes and a mild sauce on the taco. What was so unique about it was that they were tied up in little bundles with some kind of a vegetable strip. Well, we weren't sure what it was, it did look eatable though. The rice was very moist and flavorful. So often times Mexican rice is dry. I devoured my tacos and Gerry finished up the rice I couldn't eat. Gerry had a burger and fries. I didn't ask him what kind of burger.

The tables all had stainless steel tops with backed wooden benches. The restaurant had kind of an industrial look to it. They have beignets which are square donuts that are dusted with powdered sugar. There is a restaurant in New Orleans that serves them and have made them very famous. I am going to have to go one of these days to get some beignets. :)) They serve mostly burgers. The onion rings were huge!!

Five Points is where most of Gerry's bicycle club rides start from. The bike trail is down the street from Five Points. There is a Bella Bru restaurant in this shopping center. They serve great food and baked goods there.

Well, anyway we were very impressed with Willie's and probably will visit again. I must remember to start taking my camera with me!! (Note to self).

Tuesday Night Dinner

Meat Loaf, Oven-fried Potatoes and fresh asparagus. I love fixing potatoes this way. I wash them real good, cut into pieces, season with salt and McCormick's garlic and pepper mixture and then toss them in some olive oil. The skin gets kinda crispy. We got the asparagus from Whole Foods and they are from Peru. They were good, although not as good as Sacramento Delta asparagus that we get in the spring. I like some mayonaise with my asparagus. Yummy Dinner!!

Monday Night Dinner

Pan-fried Pork Chops, Stove Top Dressing and fresh steamed yellow squash. It was very good!!

A Mother's Love

I subscribe to a blog called "The Fairfield House". Another friend mentioned the blog on her blog. I checked it out and decided to subscribe to the posts.

This morning's post the writer talks about her father who suffered a major stroke some years ago and although he recovered from the stroke, he had to have everything done for him. She says she had a very strained relationship with her father.

The post made me think about my mother who died in 2002. I had a love/hate relationship with her. She was constantly unhappy with me about something. Our relationship was so strained most of the time, that we would go years without speaking to each other. There were times when our relationship was very good. Times when I could call her, crying about something and she listened and offered advice and comfort.

I questioned her love, did she really love me, did she really care. I wanted so much for her to show me that she loved me. She came to California for a visit once and was so critical and judgmental about everything I did. I got so upset with her because she would sit in her room all day and seldom spend anytime with me or Denise. This one day I was so overwhelmed with my frustration that I verbally attacked her. All the things that I had bottled up over the years came spewing out. It was not a pretty sight. She went back home soon after that incident and we didn't speak for a long time. Who could blame her?

She was always very stern with us kids, me especially. I don't remember her smiling much.

On Mother's Day some years after this paticular incident I was so overwhelmed with emotion and knew I had to call her and ask for her forgiveness and to say that I forgave her too. I really didn't need to forgive her for anything, she had not done anything wrong. After that phone call, our relationship improved somewhat. The thing I learned from that conversation was that my mother did love me and she showed it in the best way she knew how. It may not have been what I wanted or how I wanted her to demonstrate her love to me. However, her way of demonstrating her love was the best it was going to be.

There were more occasions of her being unhappy with me before she died. I saw her for the last time in 2000. She was in a nursing home by this time. The one thing I wanted from her was for her to know me when I saw her and to know that I was there. I saw her in the hospital in 1999 and she didn't know who I was. My younger sister and I drove out to the nursing home. Mom was sitting outside. She knew my sister was going for a visit, she didn't know I would be with my sister. When I got out of the car, she had a big smile on her face and said to me "I knew you were coming". I asked her if she knew who I was, she said "yes, you're my daughter Betty" I said "where do I live?" and she said "California". My prayer was answered. I spent a week at home and each time I saw her, she knew me. Before she got sick, in her letters she would tell me she loved me.

My daughter, Denise and I have always had a very close relationship. Being a single mom for a lot of years, I was strict and stern also. I probably didn't smile a lot either. However, I truly believe that Denise knows without a shadow of a doubt that I love her and always have. We have always been affectionate with each other, which was one thing that my mother was not and I wanted it so badly. Whenever I told her "no" she couldn't do something she wanted, I always made sure to tell her it was because I loved and cared for her and wanted her to be safe.

It was such a joy when I realized I could have an adult relationship with Denise. Over the years she has called to sometimes ask for advice, ask for prayer and sometimes just unload. I call those calls "Daughter needs Mom". She has also in turn given advice when warranted.

Over the years I have watched her interact with her children when I've been visiting. She is affectionate, supportive, stern when she needs to be and most of all lets her children know she loves them unconditionally. My granddaughter refers to her mom as her "40 year old BFF". (best friend forever). Nathanael is very close to Denise also.

Being a Mom is not an easy job. So much is involved in the task. I think the greatest task in being a mom is to love your children unconditionally and to let them know it in everything a Mom does. My daughter is my greatest joy and I love her unconditionally!! Always have and always will!!

Miles on Drive Yesterday

We traveled 119 plus miles on our drive yesterday to find the sun and have lunch.

Sun!!

We drove up I-80 in search of sun and some lunch. It was cloudy and heavily overcast here when we left. As we drove up I-80 and got close to Newcastle and Auburn, we hit some fog. Not heavy, just enough to let you know it was foggy. Then amazingly after we got through Auburn, the skies cleared and there was the SUN!! We drove further east to Colfax. Gerry suggested Madonna Inn for lunch. It is located in the "downtown" section of Colfax, across the tracks. Well, unfortunately, it appeared it has gone out of business and there is a place called "The Naked Rooster" in its place. It wasn't open, may be out of business too. Next to it was a bar that said it served food. That was not a place we wanted to go.

We saw another restaurant just off the freeway and drove back to it. It is called TJ's Roadhouse. Actually it has been several different restaurants over the years. They were kinda busy, however we did get seated right away. Gerry wanted breakfast, they stop serving it at 1 pm and it was after 1. So we had to settle for a sandwich. After waiting a good 10 minutes or more, a waitress finally came over to take our order. Our order didn't take that long to come out from the kitchen.

I had a Patty Melt with their homemade potato chips. Gerry had a Hot Pastrami with fries. Our waitress stopped once to see if everything was ok then she "disappeared" so to speak. Gerry wanted some more coffee and was able to stop her and ask for more. Well, she never came back with the coffee. After we were both done, I got up to use the restroom. I saw her, stopped her and told her my husband wanted more coffee. She put it off on the girls clearing the tables, that they were to refill his cup. Gerry had his credit card ready with our check, however she didn't take it. He finally asked the girl taking my plate if she would run it.

There was a couple that came in, they were on a motorcycle. They waited for about 10 minutes and got up and left. They hadn't even been asked what they wanted to drink. The place was busy, however not overly. It appeared our waitress was the only one taking orders. There was another woman there besides 2 girls clearing tables and seating people.

We left there and took the highway that goes to Grass Valley. It is a really pretty drive through there and we've done it many times before. After we left Grass Valley, we drove through Rough 'n Ready, Penn Valley and then some other roads. I honestly had no idea where we were. We did get on one road that took us to Hwy 49 in Auburn. We took another road off of 49 and wound around through the hills until we got to Lincoln on Hwy 65. It was pretty even though we had lost the sun and was back to the dreary skies. Saw lots of cattle grazing, sheep, alpacas, lots of horses. There's a lot of wineries through that area too. Beautiful ranches, large homes. Going down one road we came over a little hill and there was a beautiful all white home with porches all around the house. Off to the side of it was a large lake and there was a flock of geese around the water. Three or four of them flew over us as we passed through. They are so beautiful although they are pretty noisy.

I need to remember to take my camera with me when we go on these drives. I haven't been doing that because of all the trouble I was having with uploading my pictures. Now that that problem has been fixed, I can start doing it again.

Have a great week!!

5000 Plus Hits

Wow, I've gotten over 5000 plus hits to my blog!! LOL!!! Slow but sure!!! :))

Fog, Fog Go Away!!

This fog is relentless!! We saw a hint of sun this past Friday afternoon. Gerry was on a ride and called me while I was at Bel Air. It had started raining when I got to Bel Air and thought it was just a matter of time, I'd get a phone call to pick him up. He had been on the bike trail and got off when it started raining hard. He was at the bike shop over in Carmichael. I was in the check out lane so soon as I was finished, I went to go pick him up. I was about 15 minutes away from where he was. Anyway on the way home, the sun peeked out for just a few minutes. Then the clouds covered the sun.

We are going to see if we can find some sun here in a little bit. Probably have to drive up the hill a little ways. The weather forecast calls for some rain tomorrow and Tuesday and then, you guessed it, more fog. There's a massive high pressure over California that is holding the clouds from moving out. So, unfortunately this will be the weather pattern for a while longer.

It is so depressing, makes you not want to do anything.

So, hopefully, you are enjoying some sun where you are!! :)

The Lane Family

Here are two pictures Denise just sent to me. These are part of the Christmas pictures she posted on her Facebook. I asked for hard copies of these and she emailed them to me. Nathanael was able to get leave for Christmas and spent two weeks at home. This was taken at the airport in Birmingham, AL before he flew out to return to his training in San Antonio, TX. Bekah just got braces. Her smile is so beautiful!!

This is Britta, Nathanael's girlfriend. She lives in Virginia and flew down to spend the two weeks with Nathan. She flew out the same day. Actually they flew in to Birmingham on the same day too. She got in before he did so there was a little bit of a wait for him. Denise drove up to Birmingham to pick them up.

Stephen was able to close the coffee shop for a few days and I am sure enjoyed some much needed rest and time with the family.

Can You Find Me

Kaimuki Intermediate School, 7th Grade, Honolulu, HI. Can you guess where I am in this photo? A couple of hints -- I am sitting in the front row and am in the middle.

Happy New Year!!

Happy 2010 to you!! I was going to post 3 days ago and never got it done. Oh well, better late than never, huh!!



We are still dealing with fog here in the Sacramento area. We have tiny hints of sunshine, however, the clouds win out.



New Years Eve we went to a Communion/Baptismal service at Trinity Life Center. The service was really nice and surprisely quite a few people were there. I was able to stay awake until 11 pm. That was as late as I could go. I was woken up as it got closer to midnight with guns/rifles going off. I thought someone was shooting right in front of our mobile. I was told it was cherry bombs going off and probably alot of what sounded like shots were probably cherry bombs.



New Years Day we went shopping out at the Galleria in Roseville. The Southern California girls were in town and we hadn't shopped for the two granddaughters. I don't like shopping, it is so exhausting and when you don't know what you are suppose to be doing, it is even worse.



Since we got back from our vacation earlier this year, I have had problems with uploading my pictures to either my blogs or Facebook. Someone told me it was probably due to a very slow internet connection. I have a wireless connection to the internet. Then the last few days I was having major problems just trying to get on the internet. I said something outloud the other day about throwing my laptop out the window. So I am now hardwired to the router which is in Gerry's office. My connection is super fast now and HALLELUJAH!! I am not getting bumped off the internet or having difficulties logging on. So now I think I will try to upload some more of the vacation pictures and see what happens.



We went for a drive today. Don't know if the intentions were to go on a long drive, that's what happened though. We were going out for breakfast and drove over to Davis. We didn't find anything so then drove to Woodland. We stayed on the freeway when we got to Woodland and ended up driving up to Williams. There is a place up there right off the freeway called "Granzella's". It is quite a complex, restaurant, hotel, gourmet store, bar and gift shop. The food is pretty good, a little pricey. The family that own the complex use to have olive orchards. The building housing the restaurant burned down some years and the family rebuilt. This was the second time we've been there and as it was the first time, it was very crowded. The service is quick and good.



When we left there we stayed on Highway 20 and drove through Colusa, Yuba City, Marysville and to Sacramento. As we drove north on I-5 we had fog and then sun pass Dunnigan. On our way back, looking towards Sacramento, the fog bank was quite heavy. We did eventually run out of sunshine as we drove south.



We were on Highway 70 and then 99 driving into Sacramento. This area along Highway 99 is the flyway for fowl migrating south. The ponds and rice fields had a lot them resting and there were also groups flying around. We also saw a lot of egrets (a white tall skinny bird). They are usually around the rice fields. I think they are so interesting, they stand perfectly still or so it seems and usually see just one by itself.



Well, I don't know if I can stick to it, I am going to try real hard to post more regularly than I've been doing in the past.



Have a great week and hope your weather wherever you are is better than what's going on here in Sacramento. Actually we always have a lot of this tule fog this time of year. LOL!!