The Angels were playing an interleague game with the San Francisco Giants, with CJ Wilson pitching.  We love baseball, so it’s always a treat to get to see a game live.  And Evan is getting into baseball more and more each year.  First inning, Albert Pujols hits a three-run homer.  A great at bat, and Evan is on cloud nine because he got to see Pujols hit a homer while he was at the game.  He knows who most of the position players are, and gets lots of questions about the game answered by his Uncle Bryan.  He’s like a sponge this year soaking in all of the baseball details.

Before the game Evan got a mini bat for a souvenir.  He told the employee at the counter that he could only spend $10, because that was Grandma’s budget.  When Evan gets back to his seat he tells me, “Grandma, we only spent $5, so we’re in your budget!”  Just too funny for me.  I was laughing for 5 minutes along with some “Grandma’s” sitting a few rows behind us.

Evan got lots of treats; churros, red vines ( I tried to call these red licorice, but got corrected), peanuts, a soda, a soft pretzel.  Not the usual Grandma meals, but hey we were at the ballpark.  Funny thing is he told his mother last night that we never fed him dinner! 

The first inning was so exciting, 4 runs scored, and 4 runs scored in the 4th inning, more excitement!  Right after the seventh inning stretch we get on the jumbotron!!  Evan had the funniest delayed reaction.  Bryan and I are pointing to the jumbotron telling Evan to look, and he was just in awe.  Then he got excited and started jumping up and down.  Just too funny because Evan had been dancing all night when they had the “dance cams” going in the stadium trying to get on the jumbotron, and then he did.  The 8th inning we score 3 more runs.  The Angels won this game 12-5.  Lots of offense, and fun times with Evan too.

Evan’s getting lots of lessons in reading the baseball stats from all of us.  Bryan is teaching him to read the stats in the newspaper.  Great way to teach a little reading, and the numbers and percentages.  If you have a sponge like Evan who likes sports this is a wonderful way to soak up some knowledge.

It’s always a treat when we get to spend time with any of the kids and with Evan along too.  Bryan is a baseball aficionado, and so knowledgeable about the game it’s always a treat to get to watch a game with him and learn something new.

Travel Man will be back on the road today to South America, so I’m thankful we got to have a trip to the baseball park while he was home.  It’s always a treat.

What’s your favorite summertime adventure?

My grandpa, Harry, lives in Illinois with my beloved Grandma.  They will be celebrating 49 years of wedded bliss later this week.  My fondest memories with my Grandpa growing up in Illinois are the times when I got to dance with him while standing on his toes. And his never-ending teasing of my dislike for mayo.   He is a devoted, loving, kind family man.  The kind of man you want your sons to be like.   It can be hard to be so far away from them some times, but we try to visit as often as we can.

My Dad, Jim, is my hero.  I remember growing up I felt like my Dad was almost untouchable, because I had the utmost respect for him.  Of course I still have that sense of respect for my Dad, but it’s matured.  He’s such a smart man, and his love for his family knows no bounds.  In good times and bad I have always, always known that I can call my Dad anytime for advice or support.  And now he is a Warrior, battling lung cancer, and showing all of us that you should never, never, never give up. 

My brother, also a Jim, is a rock solid, smart, funny, loving man.  He’s our family Uncle, Unc, and in the kids younger years they called him Oinkle.  Such a funny nickname.  He’s so much like my Dad.  He has always been, and still is the calm in the storm.  I have relied on my brother more times than I can count when I needed some advice or something fixed around the house.  When Zach was so sick with leukemia my brothers loving support carried me through the tough times.  He and my Dad have been the greatest role models to my sons.  I don’t know if they realize how much the boys look up to them.

Then,  I have to tell you about Tom, aka Travel Man.  Almost 10 years ago when Tom and I got married this man walked into an entirely new world.  Marrying a single mom with four kids and one of his own.  What was he thinking.  I used to ask myself that.  He must be crazy!  He was crazy, crazy in love with me.  We knew at that time what we were getting ourselves into.  Tom’s goal when we first got married was to have fun.  Show the kids they could have fun with him.  We took little weekend trips a lot, and the boys had their own guy trips with Tom.  We were able to take a few vacations together to Disney World, Chicago, Monterey, and made some great memories.  The kids know now they can depend on Tom for anything.  In the early years they would question his methods, and craziness a lot.  But Tom stayed strong, has gone the distance, and has forged his relationship with each one of the kids.  I am forever grateful for this man in my life.  My Rock of Gibraltar, my calm in the storm, and my soul mate.

Our family Dad team would not be complete without my son-in-law, Brad.  Brad is steadfastly devoted to our daughter Naomi, and such a great Dad to Evan.  Brad and Naomi have a crazy work/ life schedule, but they make it work.  Brad’s work schedule doesn’t always allow him to get to the Party House for every event.  But he always make a point to get here after work, and say hi to everyone.  When he walks in the house on a Party Day we all yell, “Brad!” in unison.  We’re so crazy.

On this Dad’s day my brother will not be with us as he had to be out-of-town for work.  So we’re sending him long distance hugs today.  As we celebrate this Fathers Day, remember all the wonderful, meaningful things the Dads in our lives have done for us.  Take a minute to reflect on the warm and loving memories, and hold them near and dear to your heart.  My cup runneth over  with thankfulness for the Dads in our family.  Each of them special and unique in their own wonderful way.

Photo credits for this post go to Elaine, Naomi, and my Mom.

I’m now one year out of the stressfulness, fast paced, rat race.  And here’s my revelation.  I love naps.  I can easily take a little snooze after lunch, after a busy morning.  This is my favorite time to nap.  I’m usually home by myself this time of day.  It’s so quiet, and easy to find a spot in the house to nap.  Travel Man teases me to no end on this subject.  He says my napping is now an art form.  He finds it quite amusing that I can now nap at the drop of the word nap.  He’s been a power napper his whole travelling and working career, so I think there’s some sense of victory for him getting me to realize naps are good.  Kind of like a welcome to the napping club thing!

That’s all for now on my napping update, Happy Saturday everyone.

Each week I have something fun planned for us to do.  Funny thing is when we have an extra person joining us for the day,  Evan and I say we have a “special guest” with us for the day. 

Our first week of Camp Grandma,  we had special guest, Uncle Bryan with us for the day.  On Thursday it was a gorgeous Southern California day, and we went to the beach.  My favorite beach to take Evan to is Corona del Mar.  Actually,  I always took the kids to this beach when they were younger, because it’s a little inlet kind of  beach, and the waves don’t get too outrageous.  We packed a nice picnic lunch, threw the boogie boards in the car and off we went.  Evan has so much fun in the sand and surf.  He’s quite brave in the water, and made this Grandma just a bit nervous a few times.

Evan loves to be covered in sand and rolls around in it, especially when he is wet. 

He spent tons of time in the water, and when we got into the car to drive home he was asleep in just a few minutes.

He got some boogie boarding lessons from his Uncle Bryan, and we decided he needs a little bit smaller boogie board to get his arms around.  I wasn’t able to get any good pictures of the boogie boarding.  I was too excited for Evan to be skimming across the water.  He was a trooper and kept going back out into the water and eventually “caught a few waves” (translation – swam in on the whitewash of the waves!).  Thanks to Uncle Bryan for being our first “special guest”, on our first day of Camp Grandma.

On Friday, of week one it was definitely a day of rest.  We were so pooped out from beach the day before, that the only thing we did that day was read a book, went for a swim, and played some Go Fish (Evan’s favorite card game).  Evan read “Go Dog Go” to me and our dog, Clyde.  Clyde really liked the story, he went to sleep.

As a side note, the “Camp Grandma” phrase was coined by Travel Man.  He’s excited for Evan and I to get to spend some time together again this summer.  I think we’ll make some special t-shirts or hats that say “Camp Grandma”.  I’m looking forward to lots of fun craft and science projects, and some reading mixed in there too.  Plus we’ll mix in a few road trips to the beach, or the museum, or the aquarium.  Stay tuned for more adventures with Evan and I in the weeks to come.  Hope everyone’s summer is off to a great start.

For me it was a truly magical experience.   When you are having an experience like this and realizing that one of your dreams is coming true, it is just mesmerizing.  Maybe that’s how I felt during the show, just mesmerized!  he show lasted for about 90 minutes, and it was one good song after another.  Celine sang everything from “Open Arms” by Journey to “Rolling in the Deep” by Adele, and of course a lot of her hits in between all of that.  Her finale song was “My Heart Will Go On” from the Titanic soundtrack.  Oh and her wonderful singing is accompanied by a 31 piece orchestra.  Just phenomenal musicianship.

We did have a slight ”faux pas” before we got to see the show.  Hilary won’t want me to talk about this but I have to because it was part of our night.  Hilary picked up the tickets at the will call window, tucked them in her little evening purse, and off we went to the gift shop.  About half way through our browsing a gentlemen comes up to us and asks if we are going to the show.  Of course we say yes, and he tells us that one of the employees found some tickets on the ground.  Hilary checks here purse and the tickets are not there!  We all have heart attacks, and Hilary finds the employee who found the tickets.  He tells here they were taken to lost and found, and we try to calmly wait for the woman who took them there to come back.  She gets back in the gift shop, and Hilary talks to her and goes over to will call to get the tickets back.  Oh my – we were having conniption fits waiting.  After the disappointment of not seeing the show in February, we did not need lost tickets.  But Hilary calm, cool, and collective strolled back over to the will call window and got the tickets back with her big sister by her side.  Naomi snatched the tickets from Hilary and put them in her purse.  Our night went on without any other hitches.  Just lots of girl talk, giggling, and fun times together.

Thanks to all my kids for such a wonderful gift.  And a special thanks to Travel Man for putting up with our chattering in the car on the way to Vegas, and on the trip home.  Hugs all around!

Now, mind you it is not my normal modus operandi to pre-blog about an event, but this trip is worth giving you a little sneak peek.  For Christmas last year my kids gave me tickets to see Celine in Vegas, in February, with my daughters.  This is a dream come true for me.  One of those items on my bucket list, as I have always followed Celine’s music, and love her singing.

In February the girls and I make a weekend of it.  We leave for Vegas on a Friday after the girls are off of work to stay for two nights, as the show was on Saturday night.  The girls do some zip-lining down Fremont Street (and no I did not join them, thank you very much), and we had a great time hanging out together Saturday morning.

Our sad Celine faces. Notice the billboard in the background.

As we are eating lunch on this particular Saturday, in February,  I decide to check on the internet to see how long the show would be so we could make plans for after the show.  And ugh!  I found out that Celine has had to cancel her shows due to a virus.  Boo-hoo!  We were soooo disappointed, but daughter, Hilary, got right on the phone and got the tickets re-scheduled to the June 9th show.  We ended up having a nice dinner Saturday night and made our way home on Sunday morning as originally planned.  

So, today is June 9th.  Celine’s return to the Colosseum at Caesar’s palace in Las Vegas.  We are hoping for a fabulous, fantastic show that will knock our socks off!  And if each of you could send us a little good juju (and if you’re a baseball fan you know what I’m talking about) we know that the show will go off without a hitch.  We’re keeping our fingers and toes crossed, and will report on our triumph after the weekend, with pictures of course.

Well friends I feel the need to share another saga in the “when travel man’s away” category.  So Monday I’m all set to go and do some errands, a little browsing at Michael’s (one of my fave craft supply hangouts), and maybe stop for an ice cream treat.  My car had other plans for my afternoon.  I start the car, put the windows down, and clunky, clunk, clunk.  I pushed the button to put see of it would go up, and nothing.  So, off to the car dealer I went, with the window down. Luckily I could get there without going on the freeway.  Oi!  A quick call to Travel Man to let him know what had happened.  ”Just go to the dealer”, he says, ” Nothing else you can do for that one.”. Funny thing was Travel Man had taken the other car to LAX on Sunday so I didn’t have the extra car here like I normally would.  I just love it when good ‘ol Murph pays a visit!

I get to the dealer safe and sound,  get myself checked in with my favorite service guy, Jose, and leave the car overnight.  I had talked to my Mom after this and she said, “Oh that can be a pricey fix.”.   And it was.  Just under $500 out the door.  I did talk Jose down 50 $$ on the cost of the part, but ouch.  And I didn’t even get to go on my little shopping expedition.  I’ll save that for another day.

Just a friendly reminder that stuff can happen when you least expect it.  It’s just a matter of taking care of business and moving on.  And of course I want Travel Man to know that I am extremely  capable of taking care of these things at home, so he doesn’t worry about it.  That’s part of my Domestic Goddess job description you see.  Happy Wednesday everyone, now let’s get through the rest of this week.

It has been so much fun writing and sharing my stories of life, food, motherhood and grandmahood.  There are so many things to learn about blogging and writing.  Sometimes I feel like a big sponge soaking up all of the information available at my fingertips.  Finding out that people like to read what you are writing about is just the icing on the cake.

In the spirit of the award here is some randomness about me.  My adult life until last August was all about work and family.  Sometimes I would get the priority of those two things mixed up, have to stop, breathe and re-focus myself.  This can happen to you when all of your kids are in their twenties, like mine are.  Now I am love, love, loving my new-found title of “domestic goddess”, coined by my husband, Travel Man.   There’s not a whole lot that can compare to setting your own schedule, and doing what you want, when you want.

To my fellow bloggers – there are so many blogs I enjoy reading.  If I list my top five they would be (in no particular order):

1) the thing about joan – Wonderful Mom stories.  Reminds me of my days with 4 kids in tow, going everywhere.

2) Rantings of an Amateur Chef – Love the presentation of recipes here, and the stories that go along with them.

3) Shutterbug Sage- Such a great collection of pictures.   I love photography, and love looking at the world through another photographer’s eye.

4) Maggiesonebuttkitchen - What a plethora of recipes to choose from.  I am looking forward to making some of Maggie’s recipes over the summer.  Yum, yum.

5) Meg Travels- Meg has great pictures of her travel adventures, and I love reading her tips and tricks for great travel experiences.

To accept your nomination please go this link at Food Stories.

Thanks again CJ for this nomination.  It’s really fun writing and exploring other bloggers sites, and learning about what’s interests people.  Happy writing and exploring to all.

Travel Man will tell you he is grateful to have the communication avenues that we have today to stay in touch.  We like to use Skype for the video calling, and the occasional IM(instant messaging).  When he is out of the country we use Tiger Talk to text with each other due to the roaming restrictions on the phones.  For his international travel we have also used Skype’s phone calling feature to make international calls.  We just buy a set amount of Skype credits, and this way we stay away from any roaming charges on our personal cell phone plan.

Travel Man uses TripIt to keep track of every bit of his travel information for every trip.  It logs airline reservations, hotels, and car rentals, and it notifies me (aka the Domestic Goddess) when there is a new itinerary in place.  TripIt also has mobile apps for either the Android or iPhone to stay completely connected, and it syncs with Outlook.  TripIt helps me,  to help Travel Man make sure all of his plans are in order.  Especially when he has back-to-back trips.  For tracking the air travel I like to use an app for my iPhone called FlightAware.  This app tracks the flights and notifies you of any delays along the way.  I have used many flight trackers over the years, and this is my favorite to date.  The user friendliness of the app is what appeals to me, and the accuracy of the information.

Since I am fortunate to have Travel Man in my life to keep me informed on the latest and greatest technology, it’s easy for me to learn about new apps, or new technology available.  I’m glad we are both able to have lots of ways to communicate with one another.  It’s how we stay sane.  But you know nothing beats just an old-fashioned phone call to hear the voice of your loved one.   What’s your favorite form of communication in this technological era?

In the little nooks where the birds normally build their nest we stacked a couple of rocks.  I thought surely this will stop them from building.  But lo and behold here’s what they did.

View from the ground                                                        View up at birdie level

There is a nest build right on top of the rocks squished up to the screen cloth on the patio cover.  The birds diligently built this little nest because they are claiming their space.  I was amazed at how hard they worked to build this nest.  One bird would fly in and then the other, but there was so little space they could not squeeze in there at the same time.  We briefly, and I do mean nano-second briefly, discussed knocking the nest down to avoid all of the mess.  But when I cast my vote for the nest, I wanted to save it because the birds had worked so hard.  There was some eye rolling over this decision by some of my family members.

The nest stayed, but oddly enough the birds did not.  They “flew the coop” last week sometime.  I guess they decided their tight quarters were not going to work.  So, Travel Man said to tell you all, so you can tell your birdie friends, that we have a birdie condo for rent.  Great location, warm weather, and a cat perched below watching your every move.  This springtime story will go down in the family history books.

• The patio screen door would not go back on the track.  After a new an improved latte in my coffee mug this one is fixed.  Just needed some caffeine to get past my frustration on this one.
• The washer has a quirky problem.  We have a fancy new fangled front loading washer.  If certain someone’s do not clean out their pockets properly sometimes things get stuck in this little filter/trap on the front of the washer.  This was happening quite often so I got a lesson in how to fix it myself.  So of course today, I had to clean out the trap- yuck, smelly water, and now we’re back in business.  Who needs a washer warranty anyway.
• And my last quirk was that the first latte I made myself this morning had no espresso dripped into it.  The filter folded over on itself, and the coffee never dribbled into the milk.  This one happened before the previous two.

At this moment, I am happy to report that I got my latte, got everything fixed and in shape, and now on with my family weekend.  Oh,  and in case you’re wondering, and even if you are not, a Road Warrior is someone who makes their living while traveling from place to place or customer to customer, or job to job.  On the road, in the air, not usually by bus or train unless they are in some remote location.  My Travel Man is a Field Service Technician, and travels to plants all over the USA for his work.  But the details there are a story for another day.  Hope you all enjoy your Friday.  Mine is much better now.  Toodles!

1. Projects with my Travel Man are fun.

2. We work well together.

3. It is important that I pay attention and know when to leave Travel Man alone to let him think and work.  It can be all fun and laughter.

4. Working a project and meeting our deadline is like a well orchestrated dance.

5. I’m a great “sous” carpenter- clean up is my specialty.

6. Planning is everything.

7. Changing the plan when you are actually in the middle of the project can be important.  Be flexible.

8. It’s ok with me if Travel Man doesn’t like to paint, because I love to paint!

9. Finishing all of the detail work gives you the greatest sense of accomplishment.

10. The detail work is what makes your project spectacular.  This one is still in the works as I am typing this post.

11.  I need more exercise, I am seriously out of shape.

As our entryway project comes to a successful close I have to give a big shout out to my wonderful husband.  He worked by hard to get a lot of work done in a short period of time.  And of course, this week he is back on the road.  That’s our life, planning and executing, and trying to get things done on short notice.   I will have pictures a little later this week, remember patience is a virtue my friends.

For most of this week we have been texturing and painting the walls in our entryway, installing new flooring, and getting all of the trim work completed.  We are down to the wire and will be finishing up tomorrow morning.  Travel man is off to Canada on Sunday.  This project has been a long time coming, and it is just delightful to see it all coming together.  I will post a slide show of pictures once we are completely done.

We have also been putting together a plan to landscape our front yard. Our house sits on a corner lot, the first house on the south side of our street.  So we have a lot of front yard going on.  We had the front yard graded probably two years ago now, and have just been keeping the dirt free of weeds and in check since then.  Putting a plan together with a blank slate is somewhat of a daunting task.  You want the grass and plants to look nice, and you don’t want to make a mistake with your plan.  This is why we have waited to spend any money on our front yard.  We had to have the time to get a vision, agree on that vision, and put a plan in place to execute.  That sounds so “Corporate world” doesn’t it?  

Anyway, we have been doing so much planning for the front yard, and supply purchasing for the entryway I told my husband one morning this week that I had a dream we were planting in our entryway!!  My thoughts were a little mixed up don’t you think?  All of this planning an executing has been making my head spin.

The entryway project is coming along so beautifully it is already creating “the domino effect”.  You know what I’m talking about.  You make an improvement in one area of your home, and it pushes the domino into the next room that needs to be painted or remodeled, which in our case is our living room.  And we all know the “domino effect” creates a never-ending “to-do” list.  But I love lists so that’s ok.

Watch for my entryway pictures in the next few days.  I’m excited to get this project off of the “to-do” list and work on the front yard before it starts to get too hot.  Happy home improvement weekend everyone.  How’s your “to-do” list going?

Now remember, my description of the game and my experience will be completely different from anyone elses who was there.  (That’s why I like to blog)  We got to see a bit of history last night.  The Angels ace pitcher was on the mound, Jered Weaver.  He is in his 6th season with the Angels, and his 2012 record before the game started last night was 3-0. Weaver was dealing with his pitches.  By the end of the game he had  9 strikeouts (that’s k’s in baseball lingo).  He is a smooth operator on the mound.  I just love watching his command of the game.

This game was a hitting fest for the Angels.  15 hits, and 9 runs scored!  A great night for the team.  But an even better night for Jered Weaver.  At the  top of the 8th inning Weaver comes out to the mound, with a score of 9-0, the Angels are in the lead.  I’m thinking, oh cool he’s going to finish this game out.  He had around 98 pitches before this inning started.

He deals the batters once again, three up and three down.  This is the moment I realize that Weaver  has a no-hitter going.  The Angels stay at 9 runs for the bottom of the eighth and at the top of the ninth out charges Jered Weaver.  At this point I remember looking at the scoreboard and Weaver started the inning with 111 pitches.  For every pitch of the ninth inning the crowd was on its feet.  Cheering for each and every strike and out.  At the end of the game the Angels had won, and Weaver pitched his first career no-hitter.  It was the first no-hitter we all had the good fortune to witness at the stadium.  The energy of the crowd was insane.  It was the first solo no-hitter thrown by the Angels since June of 1975, that one was thrown by Nolan Ryan.

We will always remember being at this game, as we got to witness a part of the Angels history in the making.  Kind of like when you saw Neil Armstrong step foot on the moon, or remembering where you where on the morning of 9/11.  This was a completely awesome experience! Congratulations to Jered Weaver, and go Angels!

In the past year I have had the opportunity to spend time with my grandson, do lots and lots of baking, do a little bit of sewing ( I want to get more of this done soon!), start and finish some little home improvement projects,  take a few trips with Travel Man, try some new recipes, add to our list of family favorite recipes, read more books, and generally have the luxury to just come and go as I please.  This has all been so personally rewarding for me.  Getting to discover what I love to do again, and who knew that I had a passion for writing.  I always felt that I had some stories to tell that people would relate to, but I did not realize how much I would enjoy sharing them.

My Domestic Goddess title was given to me by my loving husband.  It is because of his encouragement and support that I am able to do what I want to do.  Thanks Travel Man for all that you do.

One of my biggest perils in my new-found title is getting side tracked when I am working on things around the house.  Does this happen to anyone else?  I have had a few discussions with my sister, who works from home, about this, and she tells me the same thing I am already feeling.  If you don’t stay focused on the task at hand you get sidetracked to some other task, and then you have to re-focus to get back to the task at hand.  Was that statement too confusing, it made my head spin just typing it.  That’s why I am really focusing on my lists everyday.  To stay away from the “side tracks”.

Also, I have had the good fortune to just pack my bags and take a few short trips with Travel Man.  We went to Reno to visit my parents, and last year I was able to take a long road trip with him from Franklin, Kentucky to home.  Lots and lots of fun being on the road with someone who travels for a living.

For awhile Travel Man’s days off were falling during the week, so our “weekends” would be happening on a Tuesday/Wednesday timeframe. No worries for us, we are just able to do what we want to when he is home. Sometimes at Disneyland, maybe out to dinner, a visit to the parentals, some time with the grandson, and hopefully a dinner together with the twenty-somethings.

This has been a great year of re-discovery for me.  A big hug and thank you to all of my family for your loving support and guidance.  I’m looking forward to more and more new discoveries in this next year, and hope to share the stories with each and every one of you.

And now my Travel Man has “the cough”.  He is traveling a lot right now, and he was driving to his destinations for a few weeks and then last week he got on a plane to fly to Northern California. He usually goes through a routine of wiping down the airplane seats and trays with Clorox wipes, but he did not do so on this flight.  I told him that he let his guard down, because he hadn’t flown for a while and was off of his routine,  and then he got “the cold”.  Luckily he has a few days of down time to get over the coughing.

For myself, I am running around the house disinfecting everything; remotes, light switches, faucets, bathrooms sinks.  I refuse to get sick!  I’m doing my Emergen-C, staying hydrated, and getting my rest.  This Momster will not be getting “the cough”.  Keep your fingers crossed for us.  I will keep you posted on our coughing progress.  Now I’m off to get more cough drops!

My family, at the party house, are huge fans of Angels baseball.  It has been a long-standing, favorite pastime of most of my family members to enjoy the games on TV, and  we also try to make it to the stadium for a game or two in a season.

This past Saturday was one of those times.  My son, Bryan, made an extremely early trip to Angels stadium a few weeks ago to buy tickets for all of the family who could make it to the game.  This also happened to be our family’s birthday celebration day for myself, and my son-in-law.  All in all there was a group of twelve of us that made our way to the stadium for the second game of the Angels open weekend games.

This was a 1:00pm game so we were prepared to be sitting in the sun for most of the game.  We donned hats and sunglasses, slathered on sunscreen, and made sure we had our water bottles with us.  In attendance at the game were myself, Travel Man, my parents, our niece Mary, son Bryan, daughter Hilary, Evan with his parents, and my brother Jim, with his girlfriend, Elaine.  Whew!! What a group!  Here’s a shot of almost everyone.

When we got to our seats we were totally in the shade for the first 3½ innings (yay!), good planning Bryan!  So we weren’t completed melted by the middle of the game!  It’s always fun going to the stadium to see the game.  The singing of our national anthem, an F-18 flyover, and the first pitch being thrown out.  Play ball!!! Singing “Take me out to the ball game”.  What a great tradition.

The Angels didn’t win this game but we had some great family time.  Evan is old enough now that he is asking questions about the game, and pays attention to the numbers on the scoreboard.  He’s our Angels fan in training.

Everyone got to have their favorite stadium treat.  Peanuts, frozen lemonades, hot dogs, and nachos.  All those treats that cost wayyyyy too much but are part of the experience.  Evan got a foam finger, and we all got fleece blankets with the Angels logo.  Really cool.  It’s so much fun to get to do a group outing like this.  I hope we get to have a few more of these over the summer.  When’s the last time you got your entire group together for an outing?

Our latest endeavor is to get our entryway flooring replaced.  Now, the first phase of this project is a story all on its own.  You know how you get a plan together for demolition, begin to execute that plan, and then realize you need a plan B?  Well that’s what happened on this project.

With my Domestic Goddess status in full swing,  I told Travel Man I had plenty of time to try to take out the tile.  The key word here was “try”.  I had a big chisel, hammer, and a multi-function, variable speed tool to begin my project.  I was using the multi-function tool to get the grout out-of-the-way, and then the chisel and hammer to get up and under the tile to get it removed.  Seemed like a fairly simple task.  I can do this, is what I told myself.  Well,  after the demo of the first two tiles, I was done.  This was a project that was going to kick me in the bootie, and I had to ask Travel Man, “What’s plan B?”  I much prefer sticking to the painting and decorating.

Plan B was to purchase a hammer drill, and get under the tile to bust it out of there. There was so much mastic under the tile, it was like the previous tile master in this house used all the mastic he could muster for this project.  So, the demolition for this project now falls in Travel Man’s lap.  Remember I was on jury duty for most of the month of March, so when Travel Man had a few days off he was working on the  tile removal.  This was a very, very labor intensive undertaking.  It also created more dust in the house than I have seen in a long, long time.  Dust here, dust there, dust everywhere!

Here’s a few pics of the project so far, and my dusty hubby from the process!!  It was quite an undertaking, and took about 3 half days of removing the tile and then I volunteered to get all of the old grout/mastic dollops off of the floor.  Now we have a nice smooth concrete pad that we are looking at putting some laminate flooring down on.  That’s our next phase,  flooring purchase and installation.  So once we ( or should I say I) decide on the flooring,  we will wait for a weekend when travel man is home to get it installed.

In the meantime I will be painting the entryway, and hopefully trying out some wall texturing.  More on that project later this month.

If you have a DIY project to complete how do you find the time to work on it from start to finish?  It’s not like the TV shows where rooms are complete in half an hour.  It takes much, much longer…and in our case requires a lot of advanced planning.   Happy DIY-ing everyone!

We had to drive home on Monday, because Travel Man was back on the road Tuesday.  I was pretty insistent that we take the I-5 home.  It’s a reliable route, even though it’s a slightly longer drive.  Travel Man drives the I-5 a lot, so he was voting for the 395 route.  All weekend we are checking the weather, checking to see where there are chains required, getting updates from my Dad, and generally disagreeing on which way to drive home.  But come Monday morning the weather report was not good for the I-80 to the I-5 route.  There were some chain requirements, and the 395 was showing clear sailing.

So off we headed south on the 395, I’m sure my hubby was smiling on the inside, although I did not notice it outwardly.  Within 10 minutes of being in the car we are driving in light snow flurries.  I didn’t say anything to Travel Man at this point just gave him an “I told you so” glance.  I’m crossing my fingers that we won’t be driving in cloudy, snowy weather for the next 8 hours.

In the middle of all of this weather stuff, while we are driving,  I am checking Travel Man’s email on his work phone.  His next project assignment is in the works and the coordination was happening on Monday, that’s the day we were driving home.  For the first two hours it seemed like I was reading him an email very 10 minutes.  Is this anything like being a virtual assistant?  We had to make a few stops so Travel Man could answer his emails and make phone calls.

Nothing that Travel Man told me about this drive could have prepared me for the spectacular scenery we were about to embark upon.  About an hour into our drive, we broke thought the storm and were surrounded by sunny, blue skies, and glimpses of the eastern side of the Sierras.

Here is a small selection of the scenery we were getting to see on our path towards home.  For awhile there around every corner there was a new and improved breathtaking view.

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We arrived home a little later than we expected, and it was time to get Travel Man ready for his drive the next day.  I’m so glad we got to make this trip to spend time with my parents.  There is nothing better than getting a chance to connect with your loved ones.  And I have to admit that when Travel Man suggests an alternate route from now on I will definitely be more receptive to a new adventures.

On our continuing travel saga from last weekend, Travel Man and I made the drive from the Oakland airport to Reno on Saturday at lunchtime.  We were on our way to see my Mom and Dad.  My Dad is having some chemo treatments as an outpatient, and we just wanted to give them some moral support.  My Mom’s blog-Joan on the Road explains all of the details of the treatments.  Take a look at her stories and you’ll get the jist of what they have been going through.  My Dad’s been  battling his lung cancer and some complications for over 2 years now.  He is a shining example of perseverance, and refuses to give up or give in.  The best thing that has happened to me this year to date,  was seeing my Dad this past weekend.  His coloring was so much healthier looking, and he is getting his appetite back.  I just love, love, love seeing my Dad feeling better.

The road to Reno was delightful.  It was a rainy Saturday, but I had never traveled on this stretch of I-80, so I was glad to be the passenger taking pictures.  Here are a few of my favorites along the way.

A cool bridge!

The local Ikea!

The highlight of this drive was the trip over Donner Summit at 7200 feet up in the mountains.  We stopped and got a great picture of Donner Lake, and a few other sites!

The worldly travellers.

The train tracks through the mountain

Donner Lake

A snow plow - what an unusual sight.

The views were really great all the way through the mountains.  When we got to Reno we checked into our hotel, and then I called my parents to let them know we had arrived.  We quickly got over to their hotel, and that’s when I gave them the HUGS.  No better medicine than a good hug to soothe your soul.  My Mom and I got a little teary-eyed, as we hadn’t seen each other in about three weeks.  That’s a long time for us.  I gave my Dad a huge hug and told him how great he’s looking. 

Everyone was hungry so we headed to PF Changs for dinner.  My Mom and Dad have taken up residence at the PF Changs during their stay in Reno. My Dad lovesssss the crab wontons, and we had a really great dinner.  Too much food of course, but wonderful company and conversation.  I’m so glad Travel Man and I were able to get this trip put together, just for the hugs.

Finally,  last Friday all of the cards fell into place.  My jury duty was completed at 4:30.  Travel Man was in Northern CA, just finishing up his work.  The stars were aligned, and the kismet was in place.  We could squeeze in a little trip to Reno, so I could give my Mom and Dad a hug.

I quickly called Travel Man to let him know I was out of court, and lo and behold his work was done for the week too.  Except for his drive home.  He was already in Tracy, CA close to either Sacramento or Oakland.  So, I suggested that he fly me up to Northern CA, and then we could drive from there to Reno, a lot less driving for you know who.  Then Travel Man got all of the plans in place, including hotel stays.  I packed my bags and Saturday morning off I went to the airport.

Me being the one going to the airport and flying off to meet up with Travel Man, that was a first for this trip.  Upon my arrival at the airport I was greeted by the security line that required me to go through the body scanner.  This was another first for me.  In the travels that I had done, in the past few years, I had avoided the scanner, but not this time.  I am no longer a body scanner  virgin.

I arrived without any incidents at the Oakland airport.  Once I got off of the plane, I made my way to the escalator that would take me to the baggage claim area.  As I start to travel down the escalator, there off to the left is my Travel Guy, waiting for me!  This is a total role reversal for us.  I’m usually the one waiting at the bottom of the escalator.  I wave to him, rather excitedly, and run over to give him a big hug as soon as I hit ground level!!  It seems like we haven’t seen one another for weeks and it’s just been three days!  Hopelessly in love.

We make the drive to Reno, check into our hotel, and I open my suitcase to get a clean shirt out.  Lo and behold another first, TSA opened my suitcase to inspect it.  They leave this cute little note in your suitcase, just to let you know they’ve been there.

Not sure what they saw that required inspection,  my tennies, the curling iron??  Travel Man told me it’s completely random, and his suitcase gets inspected all of the time.  Not sure I like this one though.

I have a few more stories to share over the next few days about our trip to Reno.  Sometimes Travel Man and I have to do some crazy last-minute planning to have our mini trips together.  But whatever we have to go through is completely worth it in order to have some time together.  Being married to a road warrior can make for adventurous times, and I love every minute of it.  I wouldn’t want it any other way.

Did anyone else have a great travel weekend?

This is such a great way to re-connect with everyone.  How’s everyone doing?  Anything exciting going on at work or school? Anything else significant going on in your world?  Did you do anything exciting over the weekend?  These are the questions I like to get answers to.  It’s my personal barometer of how everyone is doing.  The kids just enjoy the chat.  Sometimes Travel Man gets into story mode, and starts sharing his travel stories, or stories from his day in the Air Force.  For myself, I like to just absorb it all.  Laugh and joke, and listen, and take it all in.  It’s one of those moments that you know you will cherish in the years to come, because they will not happen as often as they do right now.  So, for the moment I look forward to our Monday night dinners, and relish the moments, and absorb all of the good family times.  The coolest part of all of this is it just kind of happened this way.  Not really any specific plan, just a happening.  One that makes this Mom feel good to the core.

Does your family have any weekly “happenings” that you look forward to?

Tom and I were walking out of the house through the garage to say our goodbyes, and right in front of our big freezer is this huge puddle of water!  Oh no!  And the water was all the way out on the driveway.  So I’m thinking oh no, the freezer died.  I open the freezer, and it’s still going strong,  lights on and the food is frozen.  This is good news.

Then,  I trace the trail of water all the back to the ….. washer!! Grrrrreat…..

There is a little stream of  water coming from the bottom of the door,  on the front of the washer while  it is closed.  Oh no!  My husband cringes because he must get on the road.  He has a six-hour drive ahead of him.  I can tell without even look at my Travel Man that he is thinking, I should be able to check this out.  One of the perils of being a road warrior.  But I know he needs to leave.  We decide to call for service, that’s my department, and put some out-of-order tape on the washer. (This will throw the twenty something’s off course a little.)

I got an appointment and the washer will get fixed on Saturday morning.  Isn’t it funny how when things breakdown around the house it is always at absolutely the wrong time.  And as a matter of fact is there ever a right time?  So, c’est la vie, life goes on and I have a legitimate excuse not to do ANY laundry for a few days!!  And besides my laundry was already done.  Lucky me.

The next morning I wanted my cup of coffee.  I think I became a little grouchy at this point, very unlike me.  Then I foraged in the kitchen and found some Taster’s Choice samples and got a cup of coffee. Yay!  I felt much better.  Over the weekend we did not rush out to buy a new coffee pot, and I had a few Taster’s Choice samples to use up.  They were not as good as the “real thing”, but they would suffice.  Travel Man and I were going places and working on a house project over the weekend, I did not want to take time out to shop for a coffee pot.

Then this morning my wonderful,  Travel Man went to the store for a few things and came home with a new coffee carafe.  Oh, and he also bought some additional Taster’s choice as a back-up just in case the carafe did not work out.  I realized just a few minutes ago I think I’m obsessed with having my first cup of coffee in the morning.  This was quite an aha moment for me.  Now mind you I don’t drink coffee all day, just first thing in the morning.  It’s my morning routine.  And when my morning routine was off,  I felt off-balance all day long.

So to start my week off right I am sitting here enjoying my morning coffee.  Life is good when everything in my world is in balance.

Is it hard for us to stay connected and feel close to one another you may ask, why of course it is.  But we try not to dwell on that fact.  We are fortunate in this electronics age that we have many tools we can use to stay connected, communicate frequently, and try not to feel disconnected with the miles between us.

Our favorite form of travel communication is being able to Skype with each other.  Skype is a great way to have a video phone call with your family members near and far.  We have even had the opportunity to have a “group” Skype call, thanks to my brother.  We got on a group Skype call for my Mom’s birthday, and sang to her.  She was left speechless.  I love to Skype with my grandson, even though he lives close by just to be able to chat with him via video.  it’s always fun.  We also Skype with distant relatives, and it’s such a great way to stay in touch. 

Travel Man likes to be able to Skype every night or every other night depending on which time zone he is in.  It’s  always great to be able to see him on Skype, and for him to be able to get a glimpse of home while he’s on the road.  For myself, once I’m able to see him I can tell how he’s really doing on the road.  All of you wives out there know what I mean.  If he’s looking really tired, and telling you things are fine you know he’s having a rough work week.  If any of the kids are home they take the opportunity to say hi to their “Tom Dad”, and chat with him for a few minutes.  That always helps Travel Man keep the connection with the kids, more than the kids realize.  (Until they read this blog post of course.)

And of course we utilize email and text messages.  I can Skype from my iPhone.  Travel Man can Skype from his Vizio tablet.  We are fairly well-connected, but I always like hearing his voice up close and personal on the phone.  The good, old fashioned, phone conversations sometime can be fewer and further between than usual or than we would like them to be.  But it’s always the best way for us to try to catch up with each other at the end of the day.  And I do have to say that all of the various forms of communication are wonderful for both of us, but nothing beats going to the airport to pick up Travel Man.  Then of course we come home for a great meal of homemade spaghetti.

If you have a road warrior in your life what’s your favorite way to stay connected?