Christmas 2012 and More

Looking at my blog, it has been several months since I have written anything.  It has been a very busy few months...so I will try to catch up.

We spent a quiet Christmas.  Jason, our youngest son, invited us over for dinner yesterday.  We had gone over to his house for Thanksgiving too.  It was nice...Sybil fixed a nice turkey dinner with all the trimmings.  One of her sisters was there with her adult daughters and their boyfriends.  Courtney, Sybil's daughter, and Chris were also there.

It was a very rainy day so it was nice to be inside, enjoying the food and fellowship.

On Christmas Eve, we spent about 11 hours at the airport.  The local chapter of the Patriot Guard Riders did a 12 hour vigil at the airport welcoming military personnel coming home for Christmas.  They had no idea how many would be arriving...as it turned out they welcomed 54 people.  One guy proposed to his girlfriend when he got off the escalator...that was pretty awesome.  Six of us met for breakfast at an IHOP restaurant that is near the airport.  We were at the airport by 9 am.  The vigil was from 9 am to 9pm.  It was a "come when you can, and stay as long as you can" kind of mission.  I think there were as many as 22 there at one point.  The evening ended with 7 of us.  Gerry and I were pretty tired by the time we got home.

It has been really busy with PGR missions.  One of the highlights that I participated in was the "Snowball Express" the early part of December.  The family members (spouse and children) of fallen heroes are invited each year to go to a major city for a weekend of fun.  American Airlines donates the planes and crews to fly these families and it is all expenses paid.  The last 2 years Sacramento has been one of the cities where a plane is assigned.  Also, for the past 2 years they have gone to Fort Worth/Dallas, TX.  The morning they left, the PGR guys had to be at the airport by 4 am.  They help the families with their luggage and assist them in getting on the plane.  American Airlines decorates the plane being used and has some activites for the kids to take part in, including hot chocolate and donuts.

I got an idea to make Christmas cards to give to each family when they returned from the trip.  As it turned out, I made cards for each child, 27 of them.  Some of the guys contributed a $1 that we tucked into each card.  The night they came back, I had some help in giving a card to each child.  One little girl came up to thank me and then asked if she could give me a hug.  I, of course, wrapped her up in my arms and gave her a big hug.  That was such a sweet feeling.

The lady who usually makes a card for the military personnel we are welcoming home was out of town for a few weeks so I was asked to make a few cards.

We are working on making some lifestyle changes.  The middle of November I was diagnosed with having Type 2 Diabetes.  In the same week I got that news, I also found out that my cataracts are quite bad and I need to have surgery.  I also have glaucoma, high cholesterol and high blood pressure.  Wow, just overwhelming news all at the same time.

I am taking medication for all of it.  In January I will have to have more blood work done to see what my glucose readings are...and maybe add insulin injections if they are not good.  I am hoping I don't have to do that.  It has been a real challenge trying to figure out what I can eat...my gout has also flared up...I am finding out foods that are good for diabetes are not good for gout.  Gerry has been a super, big help in all of this...it affects him too.

My cataract surgery should happen sometime after the first of the year.

We traded our Nissan Quest van in and bought a 2010 Nissan Sentra...it has very low miles and looks brand new.  It is loaded with leather seats, a sunroof, keyless entry and ignition. navigation system, power doors/windows...a few other things.  Gerry has been wanting to cut down on the expenses of a larger vehicle.  I wasn't too thrilled about it, at first...loved the van.  The Sentra is a nice car and it will be better for us.  I haven't been driving for the last 3 or so months...hoping that will change once I have my surgery.

My great granddaughter, Chayse Katherine is growing, still a beauty.  She celebrated her 1st birthday in September.  Hard to believe the year has gone by so quickly.  Denise and her family spent last weekend in Fayetteville so they could have Christmas with Chayse.  They took lots of pictures and posted them on Facebook. :)

I think I've written a book...lol! 

Happy New Year!!

70th Birthday and a Train Ride

I have some catching up to do...

I celebrated my 70th birthday last week Saturday, July 28th.  I don't feel 70 years old and I know I don't look it, yet somehow the years have sped by and here I am...

My mom use to always call me on the 27th and I'd say "Mom, its tomorrow"...and she'd say "well, it was pitch black the morning you were born".  It was a few minutes after midnight and there was a single light bulb hanging down...it was partially covered because of blackouts, no light could be showing...it was almost 8 months after Pearl Harbor...I miss those phone calls...

My daughter, Denise Noelani, made me a gorgeous handmade lap size quilt.  The package came a couple of days before my birthday...she sent it Express Mail to be sure I got it before my birthday. :) The colors are fallish...greens, browns, cream, blue and barn red...I love it.  It is beautiful!

This little patch says "Happy 70th Birthday Mom...Made with Love...Denise Noelani, July 2012".

I sobbed when I pulled the quilt out of the packing box.  I couldn't believe what I was seeing!!  I will treasure this always!!

Saturday morning we went out to breakfast at Eggie's...it is a place we've been to several times.  I had a San Francisco Joes scramble.  I think they call it something else, can't remember...anyway it is 3 eggs scrambled with ground beef, spinach, mushrooms and onions then cheese melted on top...also an English muffin and orange juice.

After we ate, we drove to Roseville to the Galleria Mall.  I wanted to go to Penney's...they weren't open yet so I sat and waited and Gerry did a couple of laps around the upstairs.  I didn't really see anything I really had to have so we walked around some and left.  I don't enjoy shopping much, anymore.

We had parked on the top level and I decided to walk out one of the downstairs exits and wait for Gerry to get the van and come around.  Going to get the car, he passed by Sees and got us some chocolates...a box of soft centers and a box of molasses chips.

We came back home and hung out until about 3:30pm.  We were going on a train ride and decided to have dinner before we went on the ride.  We went to a place called Emma's Taco House.  They don't have a website...the restaurant has been open for a lot of years...it doesn't look like much on the outside, however the food is pretty good.  We were there early so it wasn't crowded...yet.  The servers were putting reserved signs on several tables as we left.

We both had combination places...I forgot to take pictures of our entrees...I had a chicken enchilada and a chicken taco...they both had lots of chicken in them...with rice...no beans.  Not sure what Gerry had...they serve a delicious soup and a salad with the meals.  This soup was really good...it had a little bit of heat to it...I was able to eat it though.  They bring the soup out in a separate bowl and you serve yourself from the bowl.  There was some left over so our server put it in a container for us to bring home.

 Nothing special with the salad..it was good too.

Emma's is about 5 minutes away from where we needed to catch the train...Sacramento River Train .  Gerry had bought a coupon online...we took the Sunset train which goes to Woodland and back.  They have beer and wine tastings on this particular trip which we got coupons for...didn't use them since we don't drink.  There was also a local BBQ restaurant catering food on the trip...a bar serving drinks...and a small band too.  It was crowded...it was sold out and I noticed that the August trip is sold out.  We sat in an open car...there were benches w/backs lined up on each side...Gerry stood the whole way.  It leaves West Sacramento at 6pm and returns at 9pm.

 The Sacramento River.

 Corn fields...

Gerry took the next few pictures...the train has arrived in Woodland and the engine is being switched for the return trip.

 There is no guessing when the engine has been hooked up again...there's a huge jolt to the whole train...the ride was ok...not something I'd want to do again.  We've taken other train rides that were much more enjoyable...

 I got a few coupons from different restaurants for a free birthday meal.  We went to Mimi's, the Natomas location for Sunday lunch.  I had the salmon dinner...Gerry had breakfast.  His meal was less than mine so it was free with my coupon.

After we ate, we stopped at Fys's...here's what I got for my birthday...

 Samsung Galaxy Tab2 tablet...10.1 inch...

I am enjoying it...I downloaded my Kindle application onto it so can read the free Kindle books that I get from Amazon.  I also downloaded a Nook application.  I have a Nook which I use to read library ebooks.  I just purchased a Nook ebook so I need to see if it downloads to the tablet.  I have Mahjong downloaded and a game that Gerry plays called Jewels...it is just like Bejeweled that I play on my PC.  I can do everything on the tablet that I can do on my computer, except print anything.  It will be so nice on trips and won't have to get frustrated trying to read something on my cell phone.

I'm looking forward to see what this new decade of my life holds... :)

Summer Storm

It is very seldom we have a thunderstorm(s) here in the Sacramento Valley during the summer.  They occur often up in the mountains, during the summer.

Last night and early this morning, we had some.  One of the lightening strikes seemed like it was very close...woke me up.  And it rained really hard too.  It sounded like it could have been hailing too...I didn't get up to see.

The weather forecast is for another very hot day.  Right now there is a soft breeze and it is rather pleasant.  Kinda of overcast too.  It will be interesting to see what the rest of the day turns out to be.

It was miserable yesterday, well over a 100 degrees.

Cucumber Tomato Salad

Do you do Pinterest?  It is addicting...lots of fun things on there including lots of yummy recipes.

I saw this Cucumber Tomato salad on Pinterest and pinned it to my Recipe board.  It is so easy to put together and a recipe that a person can customize to their own liking.

The recipe is cut up cucumbers, tomatoes, zucchini and black olives.  A vinaigrette is used for the dressing.  I used a cucumber cut up in thin slices, grape tomatoes, 1/4th of a cut up red onion, 1/4th of a red bell pepper diced and black olives (yes, I made sure to read the label) and then used a balsamic vinaigrette.  Mixed it up real good and then let it chill until dinner time.  It was really good and refreshing.  (Forgot to take a picture).

What's Going On?

Yesterday we drove up to Grass Valley for lunch.  Gerry had a coupon for Lumberjacks Restaurant.  There are several of them around the area including one about 3 or so miles from us on Madison Avenue.  They are noted for serving large portions.  I had liver and onions off the senior menu and Gerry had a skillet breakfast.  We like to go to places that serve breakfast all day and also have a lunch and dinner menu.  I want dinner for Sunday lunch, Gerry enjoys having breakfast.

Lumberjacks is much like Black Bear Diner that we go to a lot.

The Grass Valley location use to be a Lyons Restaurant.  A sad story about that former Lyons...this happened several years ago.  We had gone up to Nevada City to the campground the Nazarene churches in the Sacramento region use, to attend a Sunday night service.  It was the last night of Family Camp.  After the service we drove into Grass Valley to get something to eat...we went to the then Lyons.  Several other people that had been at the service stopped there too.  The place was packed...because of the lateness of the night, there weren't very many service people working.  They were running their legs off trying to wait on everybody.  And then we hear that one of the cooks cut his hand severely and was rushed to the hospital.  The manager was in the kitchen cooking and trying to help get the orders out.  Unfortunately some of the people got tired of waiting for their food, left, and only paid for their drinks.  Gerry and I had gotten there before the crowd and had our food before all this happened.  I couldn't help thinking about that night so many years ago.

The restaurant doesn't look anything like the old Lyons,  Lumberjacks restaurants all have a timber lodge look.

After we left the restaurant, we drove through the town and then got on Highway 20 which goes to Marysville.  Grass Valley is up in the pine trees.  It doesn't take long on Highway 20 to be out of the pines and into oak trees and DRY hillsides/fields....prime fuel for grass fires.

From Marysville, we got on Highway 70 which meets up with Highway 99 and eventually I-5 into Sacramento.  We were on 99 for just a short distance when we saw a Highway Patrol car cross the center of the highway...it got in front of us with its lights flashing, slowing traffic down.  We were right behind it and were going 20 mph.  It didn't take long for traffic to pile up behind us.  We turned off on one of the country roads...we could see traffic stopped ahead of us.  Gerry said there was probably an accident ahead of us.  Just before we turned off, the Highway Patrol car went across the center to head back up and slow the traffic down.  I didn't see anything in the paper this morning so no telling what was going on up ahead of us.

It was warm again yesterday.  Today it is breezy and cool.  It is only suppose to get up into the low 80's.  Some rain is expected tomorrow north of Sacramento.

I'm home by myself today...well, that's nothing unusual...I'm by myself most days.  Gerry rented a motorcycle again and he is off with Erik and Jason (sons).  Erik got into town yesterday...he lives in Idaho.  The plan is to ride out to Bodega Bay and back...260 miles or so, round trip.

I've got laundry going and should be sewing.  I started a quilt top and am sewing the squares together.  I bought some fat quarters the other day to make another purse...a larger version of the zippered pouches I've made to use as a clutch purse...or I might put a long strap on it and use it as a cross body purse.  We'll see...

Heat Wave

We finally have some relief from the heat wave that came to visit us earlier this week.  The temperature readings were well over a 100 degrees on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday.  It was absolutely miserable.

It cooled down considerably yesterday, into the low 90's.  I didn't turn the A/C on yesterday until about 3:30pm.  It feels like it will be another cooler day today.  The reason for the cooler temps is the Delta Breeze that comes up the Sacramento Delta from the Pacific Ocean.  It is our natural air conditioning and we like it.  I actually closed our bedroom windows last night and slept with a blanket over me.  Sleeping is so much nicer when it is not so hot.

There is a fire burning in Foresthill which is above Auburn in Placer County.  According to the news people that live in the area of the fire were evacuated.  The paper this morning said smoke from the fire was covering the valley.  I haven't noticed the smoke here in our area.

It is a typical summer here in the Sacramento area...high temps and fires...

Quick Trip to Kettleman City and Back Home

We left home about 7:30 am to drive to Kettleman City.  One of our granddaughters was going to spend a few days in Southern California with aunties and cousins.  Daughter Wendi drove up to meet us in Kettleman City.  The granddaughter will be in Southern California for a week and then the Southern California family comes to Sacramento next week.

Gerry put on his Facebook it was a total of 455 miles 

Kettleman City is about 225 miles or so south of Sacramento on I-5 and Highway 41.  41 goes from Yosemite, through Fresno in the Central California Valley and ends at Highway 1 in Morro Bay.  We kinda consider it the halfway point between Los Angeles and Sacramento.  It took us about 3 and a half hours to get there and the same amount of time to get home.  There were periods of heavy truck traffic which is to be expected on I-5.

We are in the middle of a heat wave so it was a pretty warm trip, the A/C got a workout.

One of the things that amazes me about traveling on I-5 is the acres of farm land...fruit trees of all kinds stretching for miles.  Meandering its way through all this farm land is the California Aqueduct.  You can read about it here.   The canal can be seen for miles and then it disappears only to reappear in another area.  There's not much else to see on I-5 and the drive can be so boring.  There is one section on the freeway where there is a cattle stockyard.  That stretchs for several miles too as does the "wonderful" aroma coming from the stockyard.  It is hard to hold one's breath until getting past all of that. :-)

When we left this morning, all the windows and blinds were closed and the A/C left on at 80 degrees.  That sure helped, it wasn't an oven in the house when we got back.  After we were home an hour or so, we went out for dinner and then to Bel Air for some groceries.  In the van it said it was 102 degrees outside...that was after 7 pm.  I haven't gone outside to see what it is like now...its not quite 9:30 pm.  The rest of the week is suppose to be HOT!!  Typical July in the Valley...