Pictures From My Flights To Portland

I had the opportunity to take some pretty decent pictures from the airplane window on my way to visit Cathy. Not bad considering there is a thick plastic window between myself and the outside world. Check it out.....

Very near to Lake Tahoe, NV
The entire lake
Moving west over some mountainous terrain.
Getting close to Sacramento, CA along the way to Portland. Notice the row crops?
More row crops....closer to the ground.

Getting close to Sacramento, CA

It was a pretty good trip getting there....and I've never flown into Sacramento before. I'll add that city to my list......

Christmas Day

Christmas Day we all slept in and after having some coffee, everyone sat down and we opened gifts. There was quite a pile of paper when we were finished!

Cathy cuddling with the old-timer, Buddy

And just like a story book, I happened to look out the window and noticed that it was snowing! I said, "Merry Christmas, it's snowing!" Cathy and K were very excited. So we took pictures to have proof of the white stuff!

After having breakfast, Cathy asked if I would help her hook up the Atari 5200 that had been sent home with her from Dad and Beverly's. It was a Santa gift that we as children had received way back in...um....well, a long time ago! We got it hooked up and sat and played awhile. It was fun pulling games out that we had mastered as youngsters and try to remember just how we did it! Check out the TV screen below. Cathy is playing one of my favorites, Q-Bert.

Then Frank and Bea set to work to prepare our Christmas Day dinner. They made everything from scratch. A complete Mexican dinner of tacos, fried beans, enchiladas with beans and cheese, green chili, avocado dip, home made salsa (spicy!) and tortilla chips. I hope I didn't leave anything out. It was very tasty! Here are the Pacheco's hard at work.
Then after cleaning up our large kitchen mess, Cathy and I called our other family members to wish them Merry Christmas. We spoke with our brother, Kevin and his girls Suzanna, Abigail and Hillary. We heard the tales of their scavenger hunt and all the gifts they received. Then we called our Dad and Beverly. They had a quiet day at the resort they are camping at for the winter. There was a pot luck meal that everyone enjoyed and then it was back to the motor home for relaxation. It was nice to spend the holiday with family and friends.

Christmas Eve

After being sick for the first 1 1/2 days of my visit, I finally re-cooped enough to be up and around and help Cathy and Kathy with cooking and such.

Cathy's room mate Kathy and her parents Frank and Bea, whom were visiting for Christmas as well, spent the weekend at relatives in Astoria, WA. That happens to be one of the places that suffered from terrible mud slides. They returned home again on Sunday afternoon. Cathy and I had been preparing lasagna and garlic bread with tossed salad for supper that night. We also enjoyed a lovely bottle of wine from the vast selection at hand!

The next day Kathy had to work but Cathy made a big breakfast for the rest of us. It included sausage links and pancakes with coffee and orange juice. It hit the spot after being ill and not having much of an appetite. Cathy and I were also planning a meal for Christmas Eve to treat the Pacheco family. They in turn were going to cook on Christmas Day. So we planned and prepared ham, scalloped potatoes, scalloped corn, scalloped oysters....(notice the theme?), green bean casserole and wine. Earlier in the day we had made a recipe of Shortbread cookies from our Mom. Cathy had made Creme Brulee. It was very good! That would be our dessert that evening. Later, the phone rang and it was our Dad calling to wish us Merry Christmas and thank us for the gifts they received.

That night we were going to Christmas Eve services at a place up in Portland that both C and K had been to in the past. It is called The Grotto. It has a Festival of Lights this time each year. You can also go there to buy and light a candle in honor or memory of someone. Cathy has done this in memory of our Mom, Mary Ann. So we left in time for a 10:00 PM Catholic Service and also enjoyed beautiful Christmas lights on all the landscape as you enter the botanical gardens. There are no words to describe just how many lights there were or how lovely it looked. The decorations were unbelievable. And the traffic was a testament to how popular The Grotto is.

It was very late when we returned home again and everyone had a very hard time staying awake on the 45 minute drive.

The view from outside Cathy's living room

Cathy and I

Cathy's pets, Buddy and Spooky enjoying the tree

In Oregon at Last

I thought this week would never get here! I love Christmas and spending it with family is the best. And that's exactly what my plan was for the year 2007.

I flew to Portland, Oregon on Friday the 21st. My sister Cathy lives in Woodburn, OR, which is south of Portland. On the night before I left, I hadn't been feeling 100%. Sleep was scarce that night and I was blaming that lack of sleep for my not feeling very hot. But after I arrived in Oregon things just continued to get worse. I was coughing, had a stuffy nose and had occasional headaches. So after Cathy picked me up, we stopped at Walmart so that I could purchase some cold medicine. It's a good thing I did.

The next day, I was feeling worse! The aches were were running rampant through my whole body to the point that I could hardly rise from the couch. My head was full, and I barely had energy to brush my teeth. Cathy took my temperature and it was right at 102*. I just kept taking medicine and napped on and off the entire day. I managed to eat some toast and later some popcorn. Good for sick people, huh? By the end of the day, I was feeling alot better.

Today when I woke up I was feeling like a whole new person. I was able to scrounge up enough energy to shower and eat a decent meal. I've even been helping with some of the cooking! I was determined to be up and feeling well for the holiday that would soon be arriving....sickness be damned!

Cathy and Kathy, Frank and Bea and myself.....we'll have a nice Christmas after all. Bah Humbug on being sick!

Friendship, food and food!

Last night my friends and I all gathered for our annual Christmas party. This year we went to Dee and Chris' house. The girls always draw names and exchange an ornament. And we always have a different menu, potluck of course. This year we chose to have a Chinese buffet. None of us had really made Chinese food before. But we all somehow came up with a recipe for something different, pre-arranged of course. I happen to love Sweet and Sour Chicken so I did some research on line and found a few recipes that looked pretty good. I ended up combining two of them and I have to say, it was very good! Everyone's food was good. Let me see if I can remember everything we had. Sweet and Sour Chicken, Broccoli Beef, Cashew Chicken, Egg Rolls, Crab Rangoon, Fried Donuts, brown rice, fried rice, pot stickers,...I think that's it. Well, see for yourself...

Cookies I made and dessert that Tammy made.
We always take pictures of us girls too. Here they are.

Teresa, Dee, Lisa, Trisa, Me and Tammy

We couldn't leave out the guys....Steve, Jamie, Scott, Chris and Tim

Aren't we mature?

Later, we were all sitting around gabbing and a couple of the girls wanted to go out and make snow angels. Not me! Dee and Tammy actually did it, too! Without coats! And it was roughly 5*. Brr!!!

Oh, would you like to see my ornament?....Here it is...

There is music in between all the accordian-like folds. I had almost bought this for myself when we all met for brunch a week ago or so. How funny!

Parent Locator #2

If you recall the first "Locator", you'll realize it's been some time since Dad and Beverly have been on the move. After having an angiogram, Dad recovered from his heart issues and got out of the hospital. He had to stay in town (Dr.'s orders!) another week after that for a checkup with the cardiologist. Once he had the "all clear" and without blinking an eye, packed everything in and started the trek heading south! Reno was getting cold and the forecast was for snow. The very reason they got out of North Dakota when they did in the first place! Plus, a frozen water tank on an RV doesn't do much good when you live in said RV!
They were heading to their favorite spot from last year....Castle Rock Shores Resort south of Parker, AZ. The route included driving along I95 through Las Vegas, Laughlin, driving over Hoover Dam and through Lake Havasu. Sound familiar my dear siblings?
Since arriving there, both Dad and Beverly have been ill. Bad colds or flu. Sounds like the vacation is off to a booming start, doesn't it? Retirement sounds fun!
Stay tuned for future updates!

Make Your List (read on...)

Monday night I had a phone call from Cheryl, the lady that owns Gallery of Crafts, the store that I work at occasionally and also have a couple of booths. She was inviting me to join her and the other employees at a movie that she had received sneak peek passes for. It was for the movie "The Bucket List." (At the bottom of the picture you can click on various items..."about the film" tells you more.) It stars Morgan Freeman and Jack Nicholson with co-star Sean Hayes and is directed by Rob Reiner. For those of you who don't know Sean Hayes, he was Jack on the TV show Will and Grace. And for those of you who don't know Rob Reiner, he was Meat Head on the TV show All in the Family and has directed other movies such as these for which he won several awards, as you can see.
It's a very good movie! I highly recommend seeing it, which comes out in January. Cheryl was doing this for our annual holiday get-together. She also paid for all of our popcorn and drinks or whatever else we wanted to snack on.
I haven't been to the movies for quite some time so it was a fun night out for me. I also think I need to make my own list....hmm, where do I start?

A Saturday Time Out

In the midst of this busy holiday season, I called all my girlfriends the other day and asked them if they wanted to go out for brunch on Saturday. They were all game and surprisingly, available! It's hard to get us all together. More often than not, one of us has already got something going on. So we met at the Cracker Barrel. They have a very nifty gift shop too. I managed to find a couple items there. One being a new cook book for myself. It's from Gooseberry Patch and is strictly recipes for Christmas cookies, frosting and the like. I've always wanted a Gooseberry Patch cook book and never had one. They were on sale so I couldn't pass it up! ;)

After we finished there, I proceeded to drive to Kohl's. For those of you that know me well, you already know that it's my favorite store ever!! I probably own stock in it by now. I succeeded in finishing my Christmas gift shopping. I'm pretty sure that this is the earliest date in history before Christmas that I've been

done with my shopping.

Then I went home and made a batch of Sour Cream Cookies...my Mom's recipe. Another first, they turned out perfect!(if I do say so myself!) Normally they are too dry and the frosting is just chunky. They look and taste just like Mom's! It was a very good day!















1st photo: Madison, Logan and Mom Lisa
2nd photo: Dee and her son Dillon
3rd photo: Tammy, Me and Trisa

Next week is our annual Christmas gathering....with lots of food....stay tuned!

"It Happened To Us"....taken from the Omaha World Herald.

As you have all seen and heard on television, Omaha had a very sad event occur on Wednesday, December 5Th. A young 19 year old male, decided his life wasn't worth living and instead of getting more help, he decided to end his life and the lives of 8 other innocent victims. He drove to one of our busiest malls in town, the Westroads, and had an AK-47 assault rifle. He entered Von Maur, a large 3 story department store, and started shooting anyone that he saw. It started at 1:42 PM and 6 minutes later, he had killed 9 people including himself. By the time the police arrived, it was over. I am going to provide to you a link to hear more about the 911 calls. Please note: you can hear the gun shots so if you don't think it's something you can handle hearing, you may choose not to listen or watch. Here is just one of thousands of sites that you can read about the horror of events that took place on a day that will be remembered forever. (you will first have to listen to an ad but the video plays immediately following.) That story came from Good Morning America. Here is another site for you to read. These are just a sample of what is on our local programming every day, several times throughout the day. It didn't really hit home for me until I heard the 911 calls. It makes you realize that you just don't know what will happen from one day to the next, or where something like this will take place. This is the worst massacre in Nebraska history. My heart goes out to the victims and their families of this tragedy. God be with them.

A Rare Form Of Mother Nature's Art

December 1st, 2007. What kind of weather would you expect to see going on right now in Omaha, NE, on December 1st? Snow falling? Sub-zero temperatures? None of the above. Today, it started out with freezing rain and has switched over to just rain. This morning it was about 25* and raining. And freezing the rain to everything it touched. It was beautiful....if you didn't have to travel. No matter what direction you looked, there was about 1/4 inch of ice on the surface of trees, decks, fences, vehicles, even the grass! I couldn't resist this photographic moment and hence, I found a few things that looked so cool!

The tree in my front yard.

The bushes in front of my porch.
The bush at the west end of my porch.


My deck railing....

My deck.

We have strange weather sometimes......it's been raining all day long. But at least the temps have risen so that the ice from this morning has melted. So my pictures were taken at the right time. I fortunately had the day off from work. I decided to take advantage of being stuck inside and did all the decorating on the inside of my house in anticipation of Christmas. It's done now....and I'm exhausted. Maybe more from keeping my cats out of my tubs and boxes than from the decorating itself.
I hope you aren't having the freezing rain we did.....or at least if you are, hopefully you got to stay home like I did! ;)

The lights are on....and I'm home! ;)

I wanted to show you the lights that I've used to decorate the outside of my house. Pictures just don't show how pretty they look but at least you get the idea. I put some of them up about 2 weeks ago when we still had 70*. The rest went up a week later with 45*. I plan on decorating the inside of the house either today or tomorrow. After all, we are supposed to have a messy storm on Saturday with freezing rain, snow and wind. I actually am off from work too so that is nice! It will be a good inside project.

The pictures all look different due to my experimenting with the settings on my camera for night time photos. I'd never used it before so I thought I would see what they look like. I like them....I think. Here is a brief explanation of where all the lights are:

• 1 string in each of the upper windows
• 1 string around the tree on the left
• 2 strings along the gutters
• 1 string wrapped around the railing (behind the bushes) that are all white
• 2 sets of net lights on the bushes in front

There you have it. I had planned on buying some pathway lights that were sold out when I went shopping. Maybe next year...

I will also get one more string for the deck on the back of the house. You can actually see the deck from the street out back. So I thought I would light it up as well. Why not?

Computer Kitty Chasing Computer Mouse

Yoda decided he needed to "attack the mouse" while I was working on the computer. He usually jumps up and sits on my lap when I'm sitting at the desk. Today he happened to notice the mouse moving on the screen and got a little closer to investigate. Can you see the white speck next to his paw? Good eyes! He's still got it....

Update on my Dad

Dad was finally released from the hospital. You may recall my telling you about his heart problems. He was sent on his way on Wednesday a little before noon. They are not to leave Reno until after he has a checkup with the cardiologist next Thursday. I spoke with him on the phone and he feels real good. He has been trying to get out and walk and move around a bit so that his joints and knees don't get so stiff. But he's anxious to hit the road too, and get further south before the real cold weather moves in. Thanks for all the thoughts and prayers concerning him and Beverly. It's all very much appreciated....and I think it's safe to say that Dad would thank you all as well! ;)

Parent Locator #1--2ND Annual Winter Getaway

This year marks the 2ND year that my Dad and Beverly have "closed up shop",(if you will) loaded up the motor home, hitched the car behind and have begun their travels which will ultimately end somewhere in the south with warmer temperatures.

Last year, my brother Kevin, was kind enough to keep everyone up to date on where they currently had set up camp as the days went by. So this year we decided that I would try to keep you informed. Here goes....

The traveling duo left the farm in ND around the end of October sometime. After making a quick stop in Dickinson, ND to visit my brother Kevin and his family, they set their sights west with the first destination being Blackfoot, ID. It's located southwest of Idaho Falls, ID and north of Pocatello, ID, approximately halfway between the two on I15. They have friends there that they met last year while staying in Castle Rock Shores, AZ.

From there they continued west to see my sister Cathy and her house that she's been in for two years now. Cathy lives south of Portland, OR in a town called Woodburn. They found a nice travel trailer park and stayed there about a week. From her house, they continued on their way but headed south towards Reno, NV. Dad's younger brother Ray and his wife Connie live there.
That's where they are right now. Except that my Dad has decided to spend a few days in the hospital there with some heart problems that will soon be resolved! We thought he would be released on Saturday but that wasn't the case.

And special thanks to Uncle Ray and Aunt Connie for the extra help for Dad and escorting Beverly around. Also thanks to Bruce, Ray's son-in-law. He is a doctor specializing in pulmonary critical care in the hospital that Dad is staying and happens to work on the same floor that Dad is on! So we are blessed to have him watching over Dad too!

Our prayers are with you Dad....take care....we love you.

The real meaning of Thanksgiving

This year, I chose to work and get paid the overtime on Thanksgiving Day. Plus I signed up and worked a 14 hour day today--Friday--which was all overtime as well. I'm thankful for this.
But the night of Thanksgiving, I had a phone call from my Dad's wife Beverly. My Dad was in the hospital....in Reno, NV. This is where my Uncle Ray and Aunt Connie live. Ray is my Dad's younger brother. I'll be writing more on this trip very soon to catch you up on what they are up to. But for now, this is what happened.
Dad had some tightness in his chest but from what I'm told, didn't think he needed a Doctor. My uncle Ray had gone out to the motor home to talk to Dad and after finding out how Dad was feeling was able, along with Beverly, to talk Dad into going to the Doctor. He went to the emergency room and they found out his blood pressure was elevated to almost 200. NOT GOOD! Then they decided to test the enzymes in his blood. This, I found out from a web site, WEB MD, will help determine if the heart muscle has sustained any damage. For example, a mild heart attack. As hours pass by more tests are done. If the enzymes are high, there has been some damage. My Dad's were higher than normal. He had had a mild heart attack. He, in the mean time had been moved to ICU and was being monitored and was given something to rest. He is fine and will be leaving the hospital on Saturday. What more can we be thankful for! We all love you Dad! Take care and be safe.

Holidays = Foul Weather

It would seem that Mother Nature paid a visit to Omaha and parts of Iowa just in time. That is, in time to disrupt the Thanksgiving Holiday travelers that have embarked on their respective journeys to visit family, friends and the like, with our first snowfall of the season. Some hadn't even hit the road, some were enroute to the airport and some were simply just leaving home and finding themselves amidst several fender benders on the interstates and roadways. However, there were reports today of many accidents that were more than just fender benders. In fact, after I left work today around 1:30 PM, I came upon an accident not more than a couple of miles from the airport. It happened to be right in the middle of an overpass too. So it was very slippery and because the overpass itself curves, I had little time to react as I couldn't see what was ahead immediatly. Now, before you assume the worst, NO!, I didn't get into an accident. But, I had a close call! I found myself fish-tailing, and aimed directly at 3 vehicles involved in an accident plus two police cars that had responded to the unfornunate event. As I'm doing everything in my power to avoid all of them, I'm seeing car doors of the stopped vehicles open! Just as I'm getting closer and closer to wiping out some car doors, policemen, and maybe a curb or two, (from sliding on the road) my van straightens out and I'm able to stay in my lane and drive by the entire scene without incident. Cut scene: while this is all happening at blazing speed, I'm cursing (yes, me...) and seeing myself in the future (through the thick, blue cloud inside my van!) ....maybe in a small room with 4 walls, a cot and a steel toilet seat and nothing more....harrumph! Because somehow, with my luck, I'd be in trouble for an "accident".
Fast forward 30 minutes: my nerves have settled, I've made a stop at the grocery store and I've arrived home without further incident! As you can see from the photos, I found quite a bit of snow had accumulated on the roof of my house and the grass everywhere you looked.

Here's wishing you all a wonderful Thanksgiving. Be safe in your travels and eat like there's no tomorrow!

Snug as a Bug

Well, there isn't much to say about these photos. My cat, Yoda, had been snuggling with me watching TV. I got up and he stayed right where he had been laying. So I wrapped him up into the blanket I had been using. He doesn't mind either. He will sleep for hours under the blanket if he's tired enough. He's my "cozy kitts."



P.S.
See his tail sticking out from under the blanket? ....big kitty!!!

Fall or Spring?

Friday I was outside for quite awhile raking (the 2ND time) the leaves in my yard. I filled two yard waste paper bags and a regular garbage container. It's been so windy this whole week so I haven't even bothered going out prior to then. I think the wind gusts on Wednesday were up to 45 mph....give or take. My big tree in the front yard still has about 1/4 of it's leaves still hanging on as if not wanting to accept the fact that winter is just around the corner. I don't blame them! (Do leaves think like that???) Anyway, I don't plan on doing anymore raking this year. My neighbor to the east hasn't raked and their leaves haven't migrated to my property too much. I found a lot of leaves on the west side. It seems to be the area that the wind swirls them into the most. The fence aids in trapping the leaves back there as well. My grass is still nice and green and the weather has been very mild yesterday and today so it doesn't seem like it should be fall. Right now it feels like spring.

Looking southwest at my still leaf covered tree

Other trees around either bare or partially covered as well.

I think I may have to dig out what Christmas lights that I have and start figuring out where to hang them. I have seen others in the stores that I'd like to purchase to add to the yard and house. Hopefully the weather stays warm enough for a few more days.

I kind of felt like my Mom yesterday. She was so good at getting the outside of the windows of the house washed up. She would use the pickup and get her little red and white step stool, bucket of water, squidgy and a couple old rags. The pickup was backed up to each window that was out of reach from the ground, then she would climb on the step stool (that was in the bed of the pickup) and wash each window like this. I, fortunately, didn't have to use a pickup to reach the windows. But I did use my step stool and cleaned a couple windows on the front of my house. Mom instantly came to mind. When the sun shines into these particular windows, they show all the dust and small fingerprints of the young neighbor girls that have come over to visit. They will stand and peer into the windows, with hands acting as sun shades around their eyes to view into the house, and see if I'm home or coming to answer the door! But next spring, I'll have to wash the other windows on the house. My ladder will allow me to reach these, with the exception of the two on the second level. I'll have to get on the roof to reach these.

Last year at this time, I was preparing for my drive to ND to spend Thanksgiving with my family. I can't believe it's been a year already!

As mild as the weather is today, it's like a spring day......or is it fall?