The View From Here

Guess who flew in for a 10 day visit? Aaron just left this morning, he's heading back to Virginia Beach. We crammed an awful lot of fun into those 10 short days. We went camping up north, and spent a day parasailing. That's Aaron up there.

We took the Chicago river cruise, which was simply divine! We've seen Chicago uptown, downtown, via El Train and aerial view, but this was our first river cruise.

We stayed in a posh downtown hotel, and whined wined and dined our way around this magnificent city.

It was so weird to be around the twins again. I still get them mixed up. When they were toddlers I always dressed them alike, just for the fun of it. To this day one of them will complain "Mom! Why did you always dress us alike? Sometimes I didn't know if I was me or my brother!"

Here I am, playing smoochie face with my man. With cheeks like that, they just have to be pinched. They just have to!

Catching up

Where have I been? M.I.A. I finished my book (woo hoo!) and sent the manuscript to celebrities and church leaders, hoping for endorsements (see button on sidebar if you're looking for endorsements). FAVOR, Lord. Please? We've also been camping a lot this summer. And yes, those are my own personal feet in this picture. I hope this doesn't look too risque. Here are some more pics...

Here's Otis, pudding putting some putting pudding into his diet. Gotta get every last drop of pudding. It's very important. Very important! And now, a word from our sponsor: Pudding. Pudding. Pudding. Well, three words.




Ah, Ramen noodles. A kid's best friend. This was a camping trip in May, when it was quite chilly. A hot cup of soup is just the ticket to warm the soul. Check out those dimples!

Eat your hearts out, ladies. He's all mine. Heheh...There's a story behind this strange outfit. We were supposed to go home, but decided at the last minute to stay at the campground a few more days. Not much of a wardrobe to pick from with all the laundry piling up. Mark managed to make do with his pajamas and dress shoes (where oh where did the tennis shoes go?) His t-shirt says "Feeling Lucky?" Oh yeah...


it had a path to our own private beach behind it. But don't ask where this is, it's top secret.


Here's the private beach. We invited some family and friends to join us all week. On our last day a stranger approached us, asking if this was the campsite with the secret beach. "Um....no. Secret beach? Whatever do you mean?"

I have already made a pest of myself with the good folks at Reserve America. Trying to attain this particular campsite all summer long will make their jobs unbearable. Here's me, in a typical reservation conversation:

Me: "Hello? Reserve America? I need site 57. Could you please check if it's available?"

RA: "No Ma'am, it's not available."

Me: "I know it will be available soon. Would you please just keep clicking it until it's available?"

RA: "Sure lady, I'll keep clicking. Click. Click. Click. Still not available."

Me: "Keep clicking! It must be available! Click it! Just click it! For crying out loud, click it!"

RA: "Ma'am, please calm down. I know how to press buttons. That's my job. Pressing buttons."

Me: "Get the manager. I don't think you're clicking that button right!"

Click. "Hello?"

And no, it's not site 57. That was just to throw you off the scent.

And now I'm off to visit all of you. I missed my blog friends!

Where have you been this summer?

Back in the Saddle

Cowboys, pay no attention to that. I never claimed to have any brains. Dang, it sure feels good to be back in the saddle!

Shew! Where do I start? Oh yeah, that last trip. It was nice and good, but I'm not sure I should have gone. I never did have peace about it. I'm just relieved the plane didn't crash. I got a sore neck constantly looking over my shoulder, wondering why God wanted me to stay home. Maybe it was because I lost $50 the second day I was there. Or because I was terribly homesick. Or because I had a bad case of writers block.

Right on the heels of that, came 3 days of jet lag after I came home. I know that doesn't seem possible, only crossing 2 time zones, but it really hit me hard this last time. I was so exhausted, I couldn't do anything. Zilch. Nada.

Then we went camping for a few days. While backing the truck and trailer into the driveway, the rear axle went out on the truck. Luckily the garage gave us a loaner so we could still go. But I'm like, God, what the heck? I got a red-hot sunburn, and our trailer was full of mosquitos. Yes, I said the trailer was full of mosquitos! We have no idea what was going on with that. It was like, chow-time. Swat. Movie. Swat. Dominos. Swat, swat and double swat. Yuck! And then we forgot the dog food outside one night, and a raccoon made off with it like a bandit. Otis had to make do with steak, hamburgers and the like (poor baby).

Then we get home, and for the first time in weeks I get off my lazy butt to do some work, and the washing machine starts wailing like a banshee! "Well too bad fer you, mister," I said. And I kept jamming more laundry into it. At least it still worked. Too bad I forgot my pen in my shirt pocket, though. Now the whole load has big blue splotches all over. So, yeah. The honeymoon is over. I slid from that mountain into a big ol' valley, lickety-split.

On the brighter side.....I just had an article published in an international magazine (Contemporary Horizon). Yee Haw! (Memories of Manitou) The article isn't on their online site, only in the magazine, but it's posted at my poetry blog too.

Off again

At the risk of sounding like a spoiled brat...I'm going back to Arizona for 2 weeks. Just me this time. I'm going to help my daughter decorate the spare bedroom, write to my heart's content under the palm trees, and we'll do a couple day trips. I'll catch up with you all when I get back!

Vacation Pictures

Vacation pictures from California and Arizona over Spring Break

Remember Jackie from Fresh Oil Today? I met her on our last trip to Arizona. We had so much fun we decided to hook up again. We went to Jackie's church in Phoenix on Easter Sunday. It was awesome! God showed up. 'Church For the Nations' sure knows how to praise our risen Lord and Savior! Then we met up with Jackie and her family at a restaurant for lunch. Boy, those Arizonians sure like their onions, I tell you what.


Clowning around at our daughter Jenni's house in Mesa.


Playing cards.


Wyatt and Faith picked lemons in Jenni's backyard, and we made lemonade.


On South Mountain in Phoenix.


Mystery Castle in Phoenix - and here's the mystery: Why would anyone want to live in a house with rocks for floors? I would probably kill myself just trying to make dinner.


Panning for gold in Old Tucson. Oh yeah, I'm feeling lucky!


Joshua Tree National Park. Our timing was perfect - the Joshua trees were in bloom.

Lunch at Tortilla Flats. The walls are covered with over $90,000 in one dollar bills...giddyup!

Ghost Town on the Apache Trail.

Top of the mountain in Palm Springs. Do we really need to see more snow?

Disney - guess we're having fish for lunch!

Disney hugs.

Disney - Pirates of the Caribbean

Disney glamour shot. Look out Hollywood!

Our hotel at Disney had a water park.

We rented bikes at Santa Monica Pier in LA. I rode a bike too, but...um, let's not go there.

Dipping our feet in the ocean at Santa Monica Beach.

We had a great time!

I'm Baaack!

Got in late last night. Do you have any idea how hard it was to tear ourselves away from all the sunshine and palm trees? We arrived in Milwaukee yesterday to rain, fog and 50 degrees. We felt such a heaviness to be back in Wisconsin. Ugh! It was dreary and depressing, to say the least. But we're seriously talking about moving to Arizona. I think God even approves! I had a vision from God two days ago while lying at the pool, and it involved living in the desert. Woo hoo!

I haven't even looked at any pictures yet. Once I get all that together, I'll come back and post them, along with some great vacation stories. In the meantime, please visit:

Sanctified Together

and read my devotional "I'M HERE NOW AND THAT'S ENOUGH."

I was watching the movie, Shadowlands, a few years ago, and C.S. Lewis (Anthony Hopkins) said this "I don't want to be somewhere else anymore. Not waiting for anything new to happen, not looking around the next corner or hill. I'm here now, and that's enough."

There was a time when I was obsessed with the mailman. I would look out the window twenty times a day to see if his truck was down the block where he always parked it. Once the truck finally got there, my obsession went from looking out the window to watching the clock. I knew it would take approximately an hour and a half for him to get to my house. Sometimes I would get irked because it took longer, in which case the mailman would get a lecture about being punctual, and not stopping to talk to every Tom, Dick and Harry along the way. More...

Funny...cause I'm 'here now' and it's not at all enough! I want so much more, hehe...

I have to unpack now and shake off the jet lag, but I'll be back later to catch up with all of you!

I'm Outta Here!

Well, we're off on Easter break. We're taking our grandkids to California for Disney and a little sightseeing, Palm Springs and Joshua Tree National Park, and then a nice long visit and more sightseeing with our daughter Jen in Phoenix, Arizona. Woo Hoo!

Won't be back til after Easter. Catch up with all of you then!

(P.S. There's a sweet little boy in Taiwan named Jeremiah who has cerebral palsy. Bobby and Tami Sisemore are in the process of adopting Jeremiah, but they need to raise a few thousand dollars first. This must be completely heart-wrenching! If you get a chance, could you head over to their online auction and see if there might be something there you could use? And don't forget to watch the video at the bottom of the page. It will seriously leave you in tears. Oh yeah, grab Jeremiah's button from my sidebar too...)

Off for a work vacation

Hubby and I are headed to Mesa, Arizona tomorrow (I wonder if they'll serve turkey and mashed potatoes on the plane?) Our daughter just bought a house there (pictured), so we're in for a week of painting, furnishing and decorating. We have family there, so we'll get plenty of help.

She's going for a rustic, Mexican look, something like this. My little pea-brain is working overtime! I LOVE decorating, can't wait to get started. Of course we'll do a few tourist-type trips too.

Guess who's going to spend her winters in sunny Arizona? Yep. Maybe I'll even retire there. I'm sure by time I'm 80 my daughter will have had plenty of experience changing diapers and spooning pureed foods. Oh yeah, life is good...

I'll catch up with all of you next week. In the meantime, feel free to browse some of my old stuff here, and talk amongst yourselves.