Talk about getting scared and sick to your stomach.
 Pete, I and Annie were on the porch enjoying the evening and she wandered down the steps to dig around the bushes, looking for lizards as usual and Pete saw her jump into the air.  We leaned over the porch and she had stepped back and was just watching the bush; I heard the hissing.  We went inside and not soon after I noticed her lip had swelled up.  I called our vet, got the emergency vet number, called them and off we were driving like maniacs to Medford.  Thanks god for 24/7 vets!  I highly recommend them.  They were very responsive and nice.  The place is very clean, almost looks new to me. 
After the vet spoke to us about the antiven working with possible side effects or possibly not working, we decided to take her home with meds and pain killers and keep our fingers crossed.  I am a light sleeper and knew I could keep watch and Pete was pretty good too.
She had a very mild case; lip swelled and swelling went down into her chest (a little).  She never got lethargic and she never stopped eating.  I never used the pain meds because she didn't seem like she was ever in pain.  It seemed like nothing ever happened to her!  We are soooo lucky! 
We went on-line and did a little research and also got info from buddy, Diane.  We are definitely going to get her the rattlesnake vacine. 
Still can't believe how lucky we were!

Pete's birthday

Cake looks good, doesn't it?   I wanted something homemade and yummy, so I went on http://www.tastespotting.com/, where I got the BEST pumpkin cheesecake recipe, ever, last Christmas. 

The blogger raved about how moist the cake was.  I even bought fresh buttermilk instead of using the powder. 

It baked up very well, but it was not moist! I was so disappointed since I spent more time on this and didn't take the boxed mix route!

The frosting was good, but not that great to me, although, Rocky loved it.

If anyone has a sure-fire chocolate frosting (I've tried a few) that's great, could you forward it to me, please..........

Peter's plant

Peter Thomas had this mother-in-law's tongue in his office that was WAY overgrown in a wonderful McCoy planter.

When I had discovered it was a McCoy planter, I was eyeballing it and Peter said "stay away from it Janie!"

Alas, I would have loved the planter but it went home to Randy.

Since Randy wanted the planter and didn't care about the overgrown plant,  I had the "plant" people (here at work) transplant it, but I told the guy I want a piece of it, so he saved me a nice piece.  I found a great pot at Fred Meyers'.  

 I must say this plant has grown so well, in the past year and a half. 

I just noticed this week that it has another new shoot!

I like to picture Peter somewhere with my Shadow since they passed away about a month from each other..........

Daddy's got a brand new........

In less than one week Pete found a new mower and much newer than the one he had. I told him he better spend more and get something from this millennium, so that it can last! 

 Doesn't look like there were too many miles put on this one, the motor doesn't even have dust on it!

He is one happy camper!

Now, I wish I could replace my Cricut that fast, but then again, a Cricut can't mow!

Strong and beautiful

Getting old is not for wimps........
Mom called me on Sunday to tell me that my cousin (that calls her quite frequently from another aunt that passed, my favorite) called to tell her my paternal aunt had passed away.
Today, I get a call from my cousin in Simi Valley and I didn't pick it up because I was at work and I thought she probably called to let me know about my Aunt Millie, but then I started thinking maybe it's her mom (I knew that she was very frail and suffering from many ailments).  Sure enough my Aunt Lala had passed away - today.
These 2 were the last of the "Pagan" women.  It's so hard to believe that, that generation is almost all gone.  I have such vivid memories of them.  More of my Aunt Millie because I spent more time with her, my Aunt Lala moved to LA when I was very small and I didn't actually get to see her until I moved out West. 
My Aunt Millie lived with her son in Orlando (that ironically passed away this past year).  That scum of the earth was living with her and "taking care" of her when in reality, we all knew he was waiting for her to pass away so he could get her money!
My Aunt Lala was fortunate to live with my cousin, Josie that took great care of her and kept her around to see her 89th birthday.
After not hearing from Josie for a couple of years, I recently got a hold of her a few months ago and found out Lala was hanging on by a thread and she told me the stories about my Aunt Millie's "son".  Josie had tried many times to get her to move in with her and Lala but she told Josie "I can't live there, you have earthquakes".   If she only knew she would get Alzheimers and Sonny would neglect her so bad.

This post is going on too long.
Hard to believe once they are all gone, I will become that generation; time is moving way too fast.....

I will post pictures of these beautiful, strong women soon.........

Rocky's room

Before

After

Yes, the bed's not made, everything was in the wash at the time.

Disengaged the corner and side piece of the desk, bought in my old "buffet" from the den and centrally located all of Rocky's media.  Moved the bookcase next to the bed and picked up a lot of stuff that was located on the floor i.e. game system and DVD player (really, Rocky?). 

It doesn't look like much, but believe me, everything is placed better right now! 

We also cleaned out his bookcase, so it's a little more grown-up right now. 

New bed and headboard coming next week!

Alas............my internet is in the crapper, at this time, so I cannot upload photos.  You'll have to wait until next week for some real posts.

Because of this problem out here in "the hills" Pete is NOW considering doing what Rocky has done.  What is that, you ask.........we will be a smart phone family, get rid of our internet and tie into the internet from the phone's wi-fi, and tie in to gmail for texting, it will be a little cheaper for us to go that route and the service will be SOOOOO much better. 

Of course Rocky will have to give us a tutorial since he has figured out how to do all this.

We won't be eligible to do this until February, so until then, we have to put up with our "country" service.  

I still wouldn't trade living in the country, not even for internet service.

Happy Birthday Mr. La Pierre!!!!

A good cause

Just read on one of my blogs about this

and the proceeds of the book (100%) go to The American Red Cross!

As you know, I love my blogs and have come across many wonderful recipes.  Here is an opportunity to take advantage of some of those recipes if you're not a blog hopper.............

here's the link http://recipestohelp.bigcartel.com/

Read about it, here http://www.shanty-2-chic.com/2011/08/its-here-its-here-2.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+shanty-2-chic%2FWwSe+%28Shanty2Chic%29 if you want more info......

As a kid living in NY, in a very diversified neighbor, "Limbe de Coco" was something I always had in the Summer!  I was excited to find this recipe.  I had some molds, but only 4 and then I used paper cups (small) and filled about 1/3 up, waiting until they set (in the freezer) and then stuck in a popsicle stick.

Okay, I totally changed this.  I didn't use evap. milk, I used sweetened condensed milk because that's what I had on hand.  I didn't add cinnamon or coconut extract and it was still great.  I think I'll try it again as per her recipe and see the difference.

Here's the recipe, enjoy! 

Coconut Cream Pops (Limber de Coco)
Gina's Weight Watcher Recipes
Servings: 10 • Prep Time: 10 minutes • Old Points: 3 pts • Points Plus: 3
Calories: 106.3 • Fat: 4.5 • Carbs: 13.6 • Fiber: 0.4 • Sugar: 10.7 • Protein: 2.8

• 12 oz can fat free evaporated milk
• 14 oz can lite coconut milk
• 1/2 cup powdered sugar
• 2 tsp coconut extract
• cinnamon to taste
• 1/2 cup of shredded sweetened coconut

Mix all ingredients in a bowl. Pour into freezer molds.
Freeze and Enjoy!!

bye-bye mower

Yesterday afternoon, while Rocky and I were merrily re-organizing and cleaning his room, Pete came flying in the garage door yelling at us (crAzY wild man).  He calmed down when he realized it WASN'T OUR FAULT!   He was mowing and the mower died and then proceeded to catch on fire!   Pete was scared out of his wits that he would start a brush fire.  He finally got a hold of himself and ran in the garage and got the fire extinguisher. 

So, bye-bye mower.  Now we're down a mower and the brush hog on the tractor broke beyond repair and we've got a whole TON of star thistle out there.   He did manage to mow around the house, so we're okay for a bit. 

Well, needless to say "a picture is worth a thousand words". 

last week

a month ago

I actually should have taken a photo last year!  Kathy Claussen, receptionist at OSF gave me a cutting, really small cutting, we planted it and I protected it from being rabbit food and this is what we have this year.  When we got back from vacation I took off the small fencing and released it.  This will grow pretty big.  We're happy the cutting survived, just can't believe all the growth in one year.  

Scrapping with the girls at the Library today!

Shadow's tree

Shadow's tree.....

As we like to call it, it's actually some type of "Ash". 

Shadow's tree is getting soooo big.  The gal that helped us with the landscaping really did a good job with picking out all the trees; we're very happy with them.  On the other hand some of the bushes - hmmm, not so much.  We actually had to change some of the things on the plans (after I did LOTS of research).  There are a couple of things I would like to rip out and restart but that will be way in the future when we're finally done (hopefully next Spring)! 

This Fall, I will be working on the backyard wall and of course planting more bulbs................because you know I LOVE bulbs!!!!!

Birches

Just had to share how big our birches are getting...........finally!

They have been very skinny the past couple of years.  Our trees were the only things planted in these big beds out front on the right of the path.  This past Spring (as many of you know) we have (finally) filled them in.  In a couple of years I hope to post some photos of everything growing in nicely.........

tent worms/caterpillars?

f you look closely, you'll see "cocoons" on this tree.  Ugh, how the heck did it happen?

Last week Pete said, hmmm, I think I can see "tent" worms on the tree.  I could not see anything (of course we were on the porch during this chat) but, two days later I did see that cocoons were taking over the tree and when I was deadheading this weekend I noticed that my beautiful "redbud" (not pictured) had a couple too!   I told Pete to get to the store and get something to kill them, they're taking over our trees. 

Pete finally sprayed on Sunday and it looks like he might have killed them all.

Geez, this has been the year for spiders and now, tent worms!

p.s. The headline in the paper 8/9/11 mentioned this pest!  

Exercise bike

Did you miss me?

Sometimes there's not that much to say, ya know. 

 Plus, I was feeling kinda lazy and doing other things, you do know it's Summer, dontcha?

Anyhoo.....let's get started.

After accupunture, and the chiropractor, I was referred to physical therapy.

For a while now, and I mean a while, maybe closer to a year I've been having problems.  I exercised more thinking, hmmm, maybe this will help - wrong.

Long story, short, physical therapist thinks my other hip is starting to go!  Bummer, huh? Not exactly what I wanted or expected to hear. 

What to do?  Well, he's given me an exercise plan to strengthen and to get the fluids in the bone moving around. 

 Guess what? 

It's working.

First thing, no treadmill.  I've been using it every week since I bought it in '05 (with a break when I went through the other hip crisis), so sorry I'll miss you old friend.

A few exercises and my new friend pictured above. 

You see the treadmill is more high impact, bikes better! 

I sat around all day Saturday scrapping with the girls and not once did I have a hard time getting out of the chair - yeh!

Well, needless to say, this will buy me some time (don't know how long) until the inevitable.

  Yes, ladies and gents, I will be the "bionic woman", just call me Jaime (wasn't that her name?) or Lindsay. 

Right now, the bike is on the porch, while the weather is nice and I'm catching up on my reading.  I've pushed the treadmill to the wall and there will be just enough room for my new friend, when the weather gets too cool.

Mission San Carlos Borromeo

oh, my gosh, this grows everywhere in California!

Photos from the Old Mission that has gone through many renovations and they are fundraising for another. It was originally built in the late 1700's.

There is a parish and school that is currently used.........