I'll miss you Dad!

George John Marcus
5-6-1920 to 2-26-2008

I met this wonderful man 30 years ago. When mom starting dating George I instantly fell in love with him. A person couldn't help but do so, he was such a special person. Dad could make anyone feel important. He cared about what you were doing. He cared about 'your' life. He had a great sense of humor and always smiled. He was intelligent, witty and always wanted to help others. And, he loved Mom.

I won't write an obituary about him that would include such things as him being in WWII and the Korean war, being on the ground breaking beginnings of computers etc etc. But to those who read this you should know that he was a wonderful person.

I thought of this man who was my step-dad as "dad". I love him! I will miss him so much more than words can convey. My only comfort is that he is no longer suffering and that someday I know I will get to see him again.

Yes, I'm Spoiled!

As I've mentioned before (click here) Glenn spoils me. These are the roses I received on Valentine's day. Aren't they beautiful?

We went to a movie and dinner. It was a simple evening but didn't turn out quite the way we'd planned. Glenn got off of work an hour early and I met him at the PD. We drove to the movie theater to see a movie we really wanted to see.

We walked up to the window to buy our tickets.

"I'm sorry. The newspaper printed the wrong times. That movie doesn't start for 2 more hours."

So we chose a new movie that was starting right away. We'd heard good things about. Well....it wasn't terrible.

After the movie we went to Marie Callendars. Nothing fancy, we just wanted our favorite quiche meal. Obviously Marie Callendars isn't 'the' romantic place to go on Valentine's day. Ha! We only had to wait 10 minutes to be seated. Didn't need menus, we knew exactly what we wanted. The waiter came back a few minutes later.

"I'm sorry. We're out of the quiche"

It's all good! Glenn & I were together and we had a great time! :)

Lemonade & Toothpicks

Last Thursday Launa went grocery shopping with me. She did the normal 3yr old thing. "I want this. I want that". She made her fellow age group proud. I told her "no" to the cookies. Reminded her that last time I bought her 2 packages and when we got home she didn't want any of them and instead ate popsicles. This caused Papa & I to eat all of the cookies from both bags. We certainly couldn't let them go stale now could we? Since we're both trying to eat healthier (translation: lose weight) we can't have sweets in the house. Yes, I admit, neither of us has any will power so it's best just not to have it around. But, I digress. In the produce aisle Launa knew we were in the last aisle and about to leave the store. She asked me to buy cookies for her mommy because mommy needed them and didn't have time to go to the store. Good try Launa.

Then she saw the lemons. "Grandma, can buy lemons and make lemonade and set up a table outside and put out glasses and sell it?" The weather lately has been in the 70's and 80's so she's ready for the summer thing. I explained that we didn't have time for a lemonade stand but could make it for ourselves. That made her happy. Homemade lemonade....good stuff!
On Friday, Anthony stayed home from school with a stuffy nose. By the afternoon he was feeling a bit better. He showed me a science experiment. The toothpick is holding the forks on the glass. How did he do that?
I taught Anthony years ago how to crochet. He's making an afghan. Friday I showed him a new pattern for preemie hats that we'll give to the hospital. He made it in record time. (Unfortunately we found out later that the pattern was wrong and they're too small. We had wondered about it. We found a different pattern and are trying it now)
Monday Anthony & Glenn were working on a school project for Anthony. He had to make something 3D. Anthony chose to make it out of toothpicks using my hot glue gun. I laughed as I sat in the other room listening to them. "Ow ouch ow" They finally made a store run to buy straws. Seems the ends of the toothpicks were too tiny. Ha!

Do we live in Paradise?

Some say that living in Ojai is like living in paradise. It may not be paradise but it sure is close. Elisa is going to think I'm copying her idea. But honest, Elisa, I'd already had the idea for this entry. These pictures were all taken within a week of each other.

This first picture was taken from in front of our house looking over the house that's across the street. A person can drive north from Ojai and get to the snow in about 30-45 minutes.

This next picture of Lake Casitas is from my car window as I was going down the hill out of our neighborhood. The lake is 10 minutes from our house.

The picture I didn't take was the beach which is a 10-15 minute drive south.

And now a picture of our backyard.
Yup, I guess we do live in Paradise!

Our Sweet Prophet!

The president of our church passed away Sunday evening. I received an e-mail from my niece that night with the news. Glenn saw the tears in my eyes while I sat staring at the computer. I choked the words out and he sat there in shock. Then my sister called me crying. President Hinckley was 97 and we knew it could happen one day but as a friend said in her blog, we "selfishly wanted him to live forever".

Glenn & I never had the privilege of meeting President Hinckley in person but we 'knew' him. He was such a special man with a sweet spirit. When you listened to him talk you felt like he was talking directly to you. He led such a selfless spiritual life. In December Glenn & I began reading a book of inspirations every night before bed written by Pres. Hinckley. It's a peaceful way to end the evening.
We'll miss our dear prophet and his counsel. But we're happy for he and his wife who are now reunited. They had such a happy and loving marriage.

I Want to be a Mermaid!

Launa and her preschool class went to a residential care facility yesterday. They go there often to sing to the residents. On Halloween we walked through and showed them the kids in their costumes.
Yesterday the children were singing a Christian song. One of the verses is: "I'd rather be a sheep than a goat." After singing this verse Launa yelled out, "I want to be a Mermaid". The other kids heard her and followed suit. "I want to be a cowboy. I want to be a ballerina. I want....." Well, you get the idea. The teacher said that ended that song but everyone was laughing so hard it was worth it.
My little Mermaid, Launa.

Glenn is 50

Glenn turned 50 on January 6. He didn't want a party or any type of large get together. After church we had a small family barbecue at our house. He got to eat tri-tip that he didn't have to cook for once. Our nephew stood out in the rain barbecuing it for us. (thank you Ron) Besides eating trip-tip Glenn got to sit on the couch watching football, eating his favorite cake and pie (thank you Erika & Debbie) and opening presents.

He received Packer shirts and misc, lots of cash to put towards a portable garage for his Mustang and to his surprise I arranged to have his Mustang restored. I had help from our son-in-law (thank you Robert). Glenn bought his dream Mustang, a '67 fastback, 4 yrs ago. He wanted to restore it himself but he works too much. Now he can get it restored and be able to drive it before he gets even older. (just kidding Glenn)

Glenn with Anthony & Kourtnie
Launa showing us her tumbling form
Greg and Ron are not cooperating with the photographerRobert & Erika watching Dad open gifts. Too cute!
Inlaws Shirley & George and Debbie also watch with bated breath!Ben Jr. helps Uncle Glenn open his gifts. Benny made sure that we knew his gift was from him and not from his parents. The Happy couple! Especially Wenona now that Glenn has caught up to her and is in his 50's too.
Alas, the day was just too much for the birthday boy!

The Game of LIfe!

Our grandkids have been playing the Game of Life at our house for years. It's their favorite game. We have other fun games we play but come to Grandma and Papa's house and they want to play Life. This year Santa brought the kids the new electronic version. They brought it to our house and taught me how to play. It's very different. I liked that there is no arguing anymore over the money because it electronically keeps track of it for you. No more cheating.... uuhh mistakes. I'm not sure I like that you don't have to get married and have children. Now you have the choice to just be greedy greedy greedy and go for the money. I, of course, did this during one game and I won.

What a difference in the game boards too:
Old game board with spinner, bridges, mansions etc.

New game board that looks futuristic. You have the choice of going to Live It, Love It, Earn It or Learn It. It really is a lot of fun!
I miss the little cars though with the little people.

But in the new version the little skateboard you have to start out with is cute and you have to accumulate cash to get the economy or luxury car.

Either way, old or new, the Game of Life is way cool!