Oy, what a day

This is Jim and me with Sons #2 & #3 at Disney Land two years ago.

What a difference two years make.

I.  Am.  Pooped.  

I.  Am.  Too.  Old.  For.  This.  Stuff.

I think that today may take up two posts.  I learned quite a bit.

But first let me just say, "Thank God for boot casts (& wheel chairs) and the HOV lane!!

We left at 7:00 a.m. today.  I got up at 6:00 but was really not fully awake at 7:00.  Not to worry, the drive to Disney made me wake up -- fully and totally.  I may never sleep again.

Let me just say this, some of the people who drive in this state are NUTS.  Totally and completely nuts.  Crazy.  Suicidal.  Not the brightest crayons in the box.  The attic light's on but nobody's home.  Not playing with a full deck.  Are you getting it?

And I need to point out that I am NOT saying that ALL California drivers are like this (?).  That would make me a state-ist, and though I may live in Texas, I am not that ...... well, not yet.

Again, thank God for the HOV lane because if it weren't for that I'm sure I'd still be sitting on "the 5" heading north.  If you've never heard of "the 5" I bet you could google it and recoil at how horrible it can be!

     Anyway, that was the first thing I learned today.  Out-of-state drivers, beware.

     The second thing I learned is this:  the speed limit of 65 out here is merely a suggestion, not a limit at all.  It took me about 2 minutes (yes, 120 seconds) to figure out that if I drove 65 miles an hour ...... I would be killed.  And I'm not kidding.  I have found the American Autobahn.

I had to drive at least 80 miles an hour just to keep up.  And that was the slow lane!!!!

I knew that if I didn't keep up I'd either be shot or run right over.  These people are serious.

     And the motorcycle drivers --- OH MY GOSH!!!  They do NOT know the rules of the road (I'm really giving them the benefit of the doubt here).  They come up out of nowhere .... really, somewhere out of the twilight zone, where they evidently want to return relatively soon ...... and pass you in YOUR lane!!  They don't use the lanes themselves, they just pass people in theirs.  I don't know how there are not more dead motorcycle riders in this state.  One small swerve of your car and they'd be singing in the choir eternal.

     But, in spite of the terror on the freeway, we made it.  And the boot cast was a great help .... at least, in Disney Land.  Though, if you have to use a wheel chair don't expect to get right on the rides.  You do get to go to the front of the line (mostly through the ride exits, which is pretty much like go upstream against the traffic), but then they make you pay for it a bit by making you wait to get on the ride from there.  So there is a bit of a wait, but it's definitely shorter and it's at least mostly in the shade or air conditioning.  

     Now, when you venture off to California Adventure (the relatively new park next to Disney Land) you will be in for quite a shock.  They don't give two figs if you're in a wheel chair or not.  You have to wait in line with everyone else.  Not only did we wait in line for the biggest roller coaster but then we had to wait an extra amount of time just to get on the ride because of the wheel chair.  Seriously, while we waited in the hot sun to get on in the "wheel chair" section, which was totally after the general line (25 minutes) 4 cars came and went that were full of people who were BEHIND us in the line (and who spent the last part of their wait in the shade).  Of course, I did not take this lying down.  Right before we got on I did pull a "cast member" teenager aside (?!) and told her that it seemed as if my daughter was being punished for being in a wheel chair because we had to wait an extra 25 minutes longer than the people behind us.  She was sympathetic, but she was, after all, a teenager.

But when we got off of the ride she did give us a pass to bypass the line on any ride we chose.

So that was nice.

     The rides were fun.  The day was warm but not as hot as in Houston so no problem.  Although Daughter #2 did get totally fried.  Because none of my children (OK, I can't say none, Daughter #1 would take great umbrage to that comment) use sun screen unless I hold them down and put it on them.  She said that she did put some on this morning, but she must've put it on under her clothes.  I may have to sneak a picture of her to add tomorrow.

I missed Jim a lot today since he was with us the last (and first) time we were here.  Another bittersweet day.

     But I did learn something else today.  There is a couple in our church who take their grandchildren to Disney World when they turn 5 (the grandchildren, not them!).  So each grandchild gets a one-on-one trip with Grandma and Grandpa.  Jim and I thought this was the neatest idea ever.  We thought this would be something we'd like to do.  This was "before".  I did not treasure the idea of doing this on my own now.  Not in the "after" but I thought, "Hey, I probably won't have grandchildren for a while so I guess we'll cross that bridge when I come to it."

     Well, let me just say that there's no stinking way I'm taking a 5 year old to Disney World!  My feet, back, hips, etc. are killing me after only ONE day.  Granted, it was a full day, but I am too old for this.

     So I have decided that when my grandchildren turn 5 ....... I will take them to a movie.

What????!!  I'll let them pick!!

A beachy morning

I miss this man.

We went to the beach this morning. Picture a beach (that was for you, Mom). Picture a beach where I'm sitting on a chair, wearing a sweat shirt, pants and wrapped in a huge beach towel because it's COLD!!! It did warm up after about an hour and after the haze burned off. And then it was very nice.
We stayed a couple of hours and then came home to chill before dinner in Carlsbad. It was good Mexican food (which is a bit different than our TexMex).

Now we're home and relaxing some more. I'm still on Texas time so it's about 9:00 here but my body is saying it's 11:00 PM and it's time to go to bed!

L's sister has been here visiting this week. She stayed a couple of extra days so that we could spend some time together. She's really neat and S loves her "Auntie M" a lot. She's nicer than her "Auntie J". She's single so she has much more patience than I do. And she's younger and a lot more fun. Oh well ..... that's why I brought the kids.
S LOVES Son #3. She wants him around all of the time. He's been really good with her. Especially for a 13 year old boy.

Of course, it could just be that his brain was frozen today in the ocean.

Fountain pens

This is the day we brought Daughter #1 home. Pretty much the first few minutes we were there. Wow. We had no idea. Nary a clue as to what God had in store. I guess that's a good thing.

Last night Son #1 and Daughter #1 made dinner for us. We had crab legs. This was a first in our family and it turned out very well. Son #1 did a great job with the crab.


Son #3 enjoyed the crab:


And buckle your seat belts ---- Son #2 enjoyed the crab!! And the roasted potatoes that Daughter #1 made!! Who says miracles don't happen any more?



Daughter #2 started a new teddy bear today. This is what it looked like this morning:


These are pictures of the one she finished last night:




Is that impressive or what? She knitted the entire thing!! I'm proud -- especially because of the reason she's doing this.

This is George in a bag -- just a couple of hours ago. I canNOT leave bags around this house! I put it down for a moment and then saw that he was totally inside it when I grabbed my camera. He was making his way out by the time I clicked.



And this is Colby and George in one of their favorite spots --- the "In" basket on my desk. They absolutely love to sit in there when I'm working in the study. Cats are strange.




And now, the explanation of tonight's title:
Jim collected fountain pens. You know, the kind with the ink cartridges that make a mess if you don't use them the right way? He loved these pens. Many people knew that and so he received them on special occasions. I even got him one at Harrod's in London one year when I was visiting my brother and his family (the year that I missed one of my children's birthdays for the first time -- also Daughter #1, and also a huge chapter in her book. Come on -- with 6 kids I was bound to miss something!).

Anyway, I digress (a lot lately). Jim collected these pens. Some are quite beautiful and unique. Well, tonight, for the first time, I got them out. He had two lovely pen boxes in which to store them. Most of them don't have ink cartridges in them, or the ones they do have them are empty. So I decided to replace a couple of them. As I was attempting to do this, I decided that I am very much like these fountain pens. I may look okay on the outside, even a little attractive on a very, very good day (too bad you can't count on those days), but on the inside I'm empty. Nothing comes out. And when something does comes out because a cartridge has been replaced, it's not smooth and clean. It's messy and now I have ink all over my hands. When emotion comes out of me it tends to be messy. My insides are either empty or sometimes clogged so nothing works the way it should. I never know what to expect -- emptiness or a blob of emotions that I can't control. You should all be very wary of me .... you may wind up with "ink" all over you, too, if you get too close.


OK, I leave for the airport in about 5 1/2 hours --- gag!!! Yes, a 5:30 a.m. flight. I'm not sure whether to just stay up or try to get a little sleep.
Anyway, as promised, I will leave you with a discussion question (thanks to NONE of you for sending in a suggestion!).
Let's see ...... what shall it be?
Since I am going to a beach I'll ask something about that.
Here goes:

Do you prefer a beach vacation or a ski vacation? I absolutely hate being cold so that's easy for me. I also don't particularly enjoy falling down. But I know there are plenty of you snow-lovers out there, so tell me.
And include your very favorite beach/ski resort to visit.

OK ..... discuss amongst yourselves. I shall be back on Sunday night (sooner if I have internet in Cabo).

Buenos noche y adios!