Don't Pinch Me!

Good morning son! Happy St. Patrick's Day! There's green in the rainbow today. Have you seen one? Me either, but we know it's there. Jamison is barking his head off at everything that walks past his window this morning. He just saw a new dog he's not seen before headed up into "his"cemetery" along "his" path and he's not very happy.

Before

After

Wow, it's been a busy week this week here. How about you there? I've been painting a set of chairs this week and just finished yesterday. Today I'll be  recovering the chair cushions. I painted the chairs semi-gloss black and I'll recover the chairs in a black and white toile. I can't wait to see how they turn our. Friday I stayed with Jamo, Josh and Josie and made Skittle cookies. Those kids love Skittle cookies. Dylan was the one who came up with the idea for his birthday gift a couple of years ago. Dad kept the home fires burning, ran errands, made about four trips to the house for things I needed and took care of Jamison.

Next week we're covering for Diane (Acosta) taking care of the Troy 7. Diane's father passed away last week and she'll be out of town. Say some prayer for her and her family. We all know what it's like. It's tough and she can use all the prayer she can get. It's going to be a full week again. Dad and I have another project to begin but I think we'll hold off until week after next. We're a little older than we use to be and working two jobs just doesn't work out like it use to. Dinners are going to be interesting next week. So far Josh wants biscuits (doesn't care if there's anything else with them). That will probably be a breakfast night. Trey wants hot dogs. That will be fun because I found a new way to add a different "twist" to them. Josie, well Josie's idea of dinner is lemon pie....with her name on it of course. We'll figure out what the meal is that's going with it when I get there that day. Hunter wants garlic bread. Guess that will be a spaghetti night. They're all pretty easy really. Now I justt need to find out what Dylan and Jamo want. Sierra is away so she'll have to get her favorite meal wherever she is!

Dad and my next project is going to be a fun one we've never done before. We're going to turn an old dresser into a bench. I'm very excited. I'd love to finish it in bright red. It's just the first color that popped into my head while I was drafting the redo plan. I'll let you know when I decide.

Dad & Josie

Well, dad is finally in the 21st century! His six year old cell phone got to the place where he could barely use it and Virgin decided to raise the rates. He barely ever had coverage here with the phone he had and it was a concern to both of us when he and Jamison walked alone. So yesterday morning I began the long and arduous exploration for another option. I expected it to take a couple of hours. I didn't expect it to take until 6 pm last night!  Since I have Verizon with the iPhone and we have Verizon wireless for home I decided to see if the plan was still available. I spent two hours on Verizon chat and received excellent customer service. I thought we were all set but about twenty minutes later got an email that said they needed more information. When I called in they wanted me to verify the plan change and wanted to transfer me to Customer Service.  I didn't order a plan change and by the time I spend another twenty minutes on the phone I told them just to cancel the entire thing. I went back on line and started to do my own. I looked at everything, or so I thought and then remembered seeing a "hidden" plan on the Verizon site at one point  65+ Plan. Did some more digging and found that in order to get the plan you had to go to a Verizon store. You can't do it on line or on the phone. Since there is a Verizon store just down the road from us dad and I headed down there. At 3:30 pm I might add! At 6pm we left, dad had a brand new iPhone 4 for free and we had a new plan with unlimited phone and text, 4G of data for only $25 more a month that my previous plan. Dad's plan with Virgin had been $25/month. So we ended up with dad a new iPhone, a better plan and zero increase in cost. Not bad for a day's work! Yes, we bought him a HARD case! I wasn't born yesterday! LOL

Easter morning in Castroville CA

Well son, next week is Easter. I pulled out the Easter things a week or so ago. I think I told you that. But, what I didn't expect to find was the last Easter basket I made for you. I'm not talking about when you were 10. I'm talking about 2011! I don't think I ever missed an Easter. Although this basked is only 4x5" it holds many memories. You loved getting an Easter basket so I always had one by your plate at Easter dinner. It was a lot of fun for all of us. We use to have a great time with Easter egg hunts. If it was beautiful outside we hid the eggs outside. Once in awhile it would be a rainy day. Those days we'd hide the eggs in the house. However, after one mishap early on we learned to hide plastic eggs filled with treasures rather than hard boiled eggs! Boy is that ever a smell! You and I would color the eggs and dad (the Easter bunny) would hide them.

Easter is a sign that Spring is returning. To us, it holds a more important meaning. Our Savior rose that bright and beautiful morning so long ago. Because of that I know that you are there with Him now in your heavenly home. If I didn't have that knowledge I can't imagine what my life would be like right now. I am so forever grateful that He endured the death He did so I can have the assurance I have. What a supreme sacrifice. We've always enjoyed the "Easter Bunny" and all the trimmings but never forgetting what Easter truly means for us.

And for that, I am eternally grateful.