hard

i had a very hard day.

it began with the weight of doing payroll. a bit nerve racking in this recession... hoping, praying you make it: yet another month. thankfully we did.

then my heidi called. she had been called into an emergency cat scan in hopes of diagnosing some extreme abdominal pain. hung up with her and my mum called. my grandma (93 years of her) had her 4th heart attack in 2 weeks and was back in the emergency room... i was on the phone all day with these emergencies.

all the while doing the end of the month billings hoping, praying yet another month... or so, Lord...

the phone never stopped.
heidi, was sent home in the afternoon with, "we'll let you know."
grandma, was welcomed home about a half hour later. she without a doubt in this world is with Jesus. what a great and better place to be.
i am entirely convinced i believe what i do because of the prayers of my grandma and it just goes on from there. i am so thankful for her real and true faith.
heidi, has been diagnosed. thankfully it's not a REALLY bad thing. just more drugs... more treatment.... my poor girl. her body doesn't like drugs )o:

it was a hard day and night. filled with hurt and pain.

although.. i really am fine. i am so thankful for my kids, my family an my true friends. and the truth of Jesus Christ.

i like flowers too.i have a strong feeling my grandma is surrounded by many of these tonight. she loved gardening.

field of flowers

well here you go. deanna has worked her magic and created a book cover out of our home made photo shoot.

that is kristen (at work) walking through the garbage cans of wildflowers that i created, but that is not her head. they liked the look of the girl in the shot deanna had chosen but not her dress. so deanna photoshopped her head onto kristen's body!

so if any of you are thinking of going undercover into that sect in texas, we have a dress you can borrow. it is quite well made!


happy weekend (*.*)

the south

i need to preface this post. every time get ready to take a trip i go to bed with about 5 things i need to remember in the morning. great idea but the problem is, i am not a list maker. so on an average 1 in every 3 times or so i forget something important. usually it is my camera. the good news is, my beautiful and talented daughter in law documents everything on film and she has a really nice camera with great lenses. so... the photos that go along with my post are hers and they are here.

i admit, i look at them and think, "wow those are so awesome, when did she even take them?" she sees things that i do not.

we went south last week. i LOVE the South. the people, the history, the places, the homes with rolling green lawns before them, the drawls, the friendliness, the WEATHER and that sweet tea. i just can not get enough! wil & kris live in the south. they are great people to visit and it is a nice place to visit.

first impressions are: wil and krsiten's very nice home, the great weather and gracie and ava. it's so fun to go to your kids homes and see who 'they' are! wil & kris have a lovely home in Nashville that is quite tasteful in interior design and in a quaint neighborhood close to everything you could need. they have great taste and it shows in their home. it's so nice.

the weather, yes it's quite perfect even on the dreary raining days. whatever..... i am green, with envy on that one.

gracie and ava. they are ponies. they live with wil & kris in the house. they are two of the sweetest and most amusing dogs that i know. they are so gentle and kind yet so huge and amusing. i fell in love with them both, i even took a picture with my phone and e-mailed it to myself. this is their couch. the only furniture they are allowed on. they sit there making sure all is safe in the neighborhood. i had no favorites with my time in Nashville, but many 'bests' one was the afternoon with gracie and ava at the dog park. they were by far the best behaved dogs. i do realize i sound like a grandmother here.... they are just so cute and sweet!

wil & i spent our first afternoon (bill & kris both working) visiting his store (i got a tour, i even know some SECRETS!) meeting his good friends there, then off to whole foods for some really great grocery shopping (and Nashville has the whole foods of all whole foods, what a store! there was nothing they did not have, even buffalo meat). we then went home and cooked together, quite fun and quite pleasant to taste in the end.

the next day everyone had to work. so i hung out with the girls (g & a) and enjoyed the morning sun. then bill & i ran off to lunch with his bro bernie and gail. we had a great time chatting and just catching up on life. it was great to see them, they look good and happy. we then raced back home because wil & i had a 4 hour meal to prepare and it was, awesome! it turned out perfect. in the mean time the boys smoked pipes, i drank wine and stirred (learned to appreciate 2 buck chuck) and kris snapped pics. we had a couple of their good friends for dinner and had a great evening enjoying one another's company and wil & i's great meal.

on saturday we had such a full day! we had the privilege visiting an auction with kristen (with many household items we would've loved to buy) and an official 'coffee tasting' at wil's store. it was so fun and interesting. we learned a lot about coffee and came home with some of the best. it was a cool experience and i felt like a celebrity doing it, it was a fun and special event in my life. then we were off to 'the hermitage', the home of Andrew Jackson. despite the grey drizzle it was a great time and we spent two hours just exploring the grounds of the plantation. it is a beautiful place with lots of interesting history. we dined out and it was fabulous! then all went to bed pooped. wil & bill both beginning to feel under the weather )O:

we enjoyed their very small, very new church on Sunday then had a fun time at lunch with many of their friends. this couple, i tell you, they just have a knack at making good friends quite easily. it's so cool to see them in their world, their element, it just warms this mom's heart. makes her proud....

bill & i took the afternoon to spend a bit more time with bernie and family at their home. i had to take a pic for michael of his uncle's studio. this is just a smattering of his many guitars. yep, too much of a good thing (*.*) .... and when you are a rock star you tend to get them for $0.....

it was a great visit, to short but wonderful. i got to spend monday morning with one of my favorite people in the world. her name is belinda and i love her heart. if i lived in Nashville, which i don't and i won't,but if i did she would be my best friend.

we are home safe now. the sun is gone and the snow has returned. no one looked at our house while we were gone but of course this weekend with us home, laura coming home with her bf, people want to see it both days. whatever.... easy just doesn't work i suppose.

i did enjoy a project at work today (i really need more projects) i had to create a field of wildflowers for a book cover deanna has designed. the photographer wanted about 3k so we told the publisher we will just figure it out ourselves. i bought a hand made 'modest style' dress and hit up trader joe's and michael's for my field. i spent $250, it gave me joy to save the publisher money in this recession where everyone is tight and feeling the pull. i enjoyed the work too, i like being creative. here is me making a field out of garbage cans, sealing tape and some flowers. you can do almost anything with photoshop and a great camera (russ's) i will post the cover once deanna works her magic.


have a sparkling day ya' all
xo

now this is...

what i call a day!

do you see my blankets on my chairs? do you see that sun shining in the yard? (yes i know the trees are all bare still) it is like 72 outside! WOO HOO. i LOVE, YEARN FOR, DESIRE, AM FOND OF..... GOOD WEATHER! i had bill's car (it needed a bath) so i had to go to Bend and give it one... yes, it was warm enough to put that top down. i enjoyed it, very much.


earlier in the week we got to go to a dinner party at my friend ellina's. it was ever so yummy (yes i love food like i love good weather) she outdid herself with the cooking and it was just a great time with good friends. i adore ellina and her huge spirit and love hanging with her. it was very fun to be in her world and see that side of her. she took the pics so there are none of her but here are a couple fun shots.

the LAST drink of the evening, jeff's (ellina's hubby) irish coffee. they were the best i have ever had, hands down! (it was after wine and then homemade limoncello... but really they were GREAT!


yup! lina cooked for juri! she is so brave. braver than i.


i love this guy, isn't he the best! he stayed up late just to be with my friends (none of them have REAL jobs like him) it was a weeknight. i did drink his irish coffee though....


lastly our mikey turns 20 tomorrow! no more teenager!! he got lots of goodies in the mail today for his birthday, even sprinkles. (now if you don't know what those are just google it, you really can find anything on the internet!) if you have not checked out his blog, do. he is a GREAT young man.
http://web.mac.com/m.chiaravalle/m.chiaravalle/Blog/Blog.html
i love you son!

"cool thumb" brown

if you know me you know, mornings are not my favorite time. i tend to be a bit distant/grouchy. Bill doesn't even approach me until i have had my coffee and my newspaper. he usually just gives me a silent, tender kiss goodbye as i am absorbing the two.

this morning i didn't get either... we had a realtor showing at 8:30 a.m. (uck) that means me, getting up an hour earlier than usual, vacuuming, turning on every possible light and making sure the house looks as attractive, livable and bright as humanly possible. no time for coffee or paper...

i was delighted tonight though, as i wait for Bill to arrive home late (he has a late meeting... it's okay though he is bringing baja fresh home, woo hoo, no cooking for me tonight!) i realized i still had my paper to read.

yes there was thrilling news as always.... but the best part was peanuts! Bill and I have been following it closely. there has been this sneaky, shady guy stealing everyones marbles.

charlie brown has decided to stand up to him and attempt to get the marbles back, by playing fair. Bill & I have been very concerned that it would end up like the football (which sadly, was never kicked).

instead, bravo to Charles Schultz! i LOVE charlie browns eyes in this, he is so uber cool, as he holds the bag of marbles, which he has obviously won back, fairly. way to go "cool thumb" you rock.


there ya go. peanuts made my day. i like it when simple pleasures do, it makes me smile.

and yeah... the realtors, "loved, loved, loved the house....
whatever..." (o: i can't wait till charlie gives linus his marbles back!

xo
leila

laura

i felt bad for not taking a single picture of my daughter and her friend david while they were home for spring break.

so here you go, my cute girl and her cute boyfriend.
it was nice having them around, they were pretty quiet but it was nice.

the first picture is a little blurry and the second is a little silly.

smile.

heros

i suppose we all have a few heros in our lives. i know i do, mostly people i just have tons of respect for or people who do something i admire so much, something i know i could never do.

these people are a couple of my heros. this is my sister renee and her family. a few years back they rescued their niece from a very bad family situation and it has been a battle ever since to save her and keep her. they have been disowned my most of their family because of it.

today the battle ended. through years of prayer and grace and miracles provided by God, onjya is now their daughter and my new niece!

i applaud them for not giving up the fight when it was so dark and hard and for selflessly bringing this child into their family. can you even imagine... they now have 3 teenagers living in their small home all at one time. for that alone they deserve a metal.

a friend of mine has a quote that i love, it is, 'do something.'

i honor you chuck & renee. you have.

so here they are, a few of my heros. the older lady is chuck's grandmother who is the one person in his family who has supported them in this. i know it is an honor for them to have her standing by their side.




It's official! We are a family of 5!

God is good!