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Image taken from Google Images

A Dime a Dozen

The last three game series have been sweeps. The Giants have been on the losing end of the broom stick 2 out of 3. I went back and looked at the Giants record this year and sweeps. Not surprised I saw they have been swept 8 times and they have swept 4 times. A few of those sweeps have been against the Nationals. Can we change the rest of this season so we play the Nationals at least every week?

Picture taken from Google Images.

Fever and Prayer Request

Hi all, if you read this sometime by Monday am, I have a prayer request to ask of you. Monday the VBS program starts at our church and I am leading the games/recreation time each day for 3 groups of children. Thursday night I came down with a mystery virus that just needs to run it's coarse. I have had a fever for most of the time since Thursday evening and still have a slight one tonight. This morning I woke up with a sore throat and suspicious looking spots. I went and had a throat culture done for strep yet it came back negative. That is a good thing but I need to be free of my fever for about 24 hours before I start working with the kids. If I am not able to be there, we already have plan B worked out but it would just be easier if I was able to lead the games. God has a plan and I know He is in control. He if wants someone else to lead the games then I know that will work out just fine. So, if you think of it, please say a prayer for my fever and throat. I have a feeling that God is going to do great and mighty things through VBS this year. In the very slightest way this reminds me of my pre-Mexico mission trip a long while back.

Ultimately, I know this little fever is NOTHING in the scheme of everything. I have been reading a web page called ConnorWatch. This web page was set up 40 days ago when a young man (18 years old) injured his spinal cord while attending a youth camp. This young man is daily fighting for his life and the life that he will now live. So, my little fever is NOTHING but I do ask you to pray.

Who Can Tell Me the Problem with the Arrow?

Check out these 2 photos of the same piece of "art work", if I can call it that. Wondering if any of you can notice a major problem with the arrow? Winner gets a new Cadi! Just kidding, but seriously, let's see who can figure out the problem first. Look carefully. You get extra credit if you use proper terminology.

By the way this is on the water front walking from Bart to the Giant's stadium, AT &T Park.

Answer will be revealed sometime in the future.

Bye Bye Duram, Welcome back Roberts, Last 2 Times at the Ball Park

Last Sunday, my dad took all of us to a Giants game for his birthday. What a guy. Happy late birthday dad. Love you. We had a great time. It was absolutely a wonderful fun time even though the Giants lost. The age range was well represented with our clan. My 93 year old Grandma and my 5 week old nephew attended. My sweet niece, can cheer just like the rest of us. All of us were decked out in our Giants fan wear.

Early that day I heard that possibly the Giant's 2nd baseman, Ray Duram was going to be traded at the end of the game. This saddened me a little because Ray Ray was beloved by the fans. I have two favorite memories of Ray Ray. One time he hit a walk off home run. The stadium came unglued and we all stood and hooped and hollered for about 20 minutes. It was soooosweet. Someone (will remain nameless) who I know well used to work as a bouncer at MoMo's across from the ball park. This person knows of my love of the Giants and liking Ray Duram. Ray Ray came in after a game and spoke with my friend. My friend got out his cell phone and had Ray Ray give me a call. Sadly, I had my phone on silent when he called but he left a message. It was a fun message. I saved that message for about 2 years. It would have been nice if the Giants played Ray for his last game with the Giants. The fans would have given him a proper goodbye. Bye, Bye Ray Ray.

Here are some pictures from the day we all went. The picture above is of my loves in their Giants gear.

Here's Jen, Joe and my mom (in the back ground) holding baby Joey. Cute picture J & J.

Mom you are the best Grandma ever. Trin Trin loves you so much and Baby Joey loves you too!

Amy and I went to a day game on Thursday. We had a great time and this time the Giants won.

Here we are at the ball park after the Giant's won. Always a good day at the ball park when the good guys win. See the giant Coke~Cola bottle in the back ground? Some of you know this, some of you don't but there are 4 long slides inside the bottle. 2 are curvy and the other two are a straight shot down with a couple of dips along the way. On Sunday, Amy and I had a race down the slides. Each time I got to the bottom first. She claimed it was her jeans that held her up. I know better.

At Thursday's game Dave Roberts returned from being on the DL. It was good to have him back and he stole the show, literally. He made two fantastic plays in the outfield and hit a base hit to knock in the lone Giant's run and the only run of the ball game in the 8th inning. Welcome back Dave.

As you can see Amy got attacked by a giant spider on our walk down the water front.

Here is a random picture of an old street car. Thought it was cool. I think it still is in operation.

1 Year in the Blogging World

Yesterday marks the anniversary of when I officially joined the blogging world. Wow. I know my blog is not the most exciting nor is it going to change your view on life. My blog is random and is basically an attempt to keep people posted on what is going on in Shelly's world. My brain thinks of ideas of what I would like to blog about constantly and I keep a little list by the computer. Most of those ideas never make it to the computer mainly because of time and energy. I actually think that I better at spelling and write more grammatically correct now that I have been writing on the blog. I praise the Lord that through the blog I have been re-united with some friends from long ago. What a blessing that has been. Through the connections I have made, I have had the privilege to pray for others and the trials that they are experiencing. Many emotions have filled my heart through my friend's blogs, I have laughed, cried, pondered circumstances in a new light, have been greatly encouraged and have been challenged in my faith.

Thank you for your time and energy if you stop by and read my blog. We will see what God does in this next year of life in the blogging world.

Meet and Greet

On Saturday my mom hosted a Meet and Greet Baby Joey Party. My mom always hosts the most wonderful parties. The definition of a good party: good people, good food, people enjoying themselves, and people not wanting to leave. This was the type of party my mom hosted. My mom is able to host a wonderful party because she is so wonderful herself. Mom, great job on another wonderful party. Thanks for the fun and memories.

Baby Joey was able to meet extended family, friends and neighbors. It was really nice to see everyone. Baby Joey was such a good little baby boy. He was passed around from person to person and did not even give a fuss. Trinity did a great job with all the people and excitement. She is such a good girl and big sister.

Here are some pictures from the party and later that day.

This is Michelle, one of my sister's closest friends. This is her baby Addison.

Sometime during the party the "girls" were teaching me some of their new dance moves. What cracks me up in this picture is that we were trying to get Trin involved in the dance and as you can see she was picking up the steps (just a few beats behind us, or was it that I was a few beats ahead- could be possible because I am not know for the dance and rhythm in me!).

Here is my cousin Lorie, her daughter Elizabeth and the star of the party, baby Joey.




Olivia and Angela brought their little doggy Taffy to the party. Trin had a ton of fun with the "girls" and the pup.





Addison is at least a month older than Joey and look at the hair difference. It was cute when Jen set him down next to Addy (or is it Addie? This was a debate for the day) she said, "You need to sit down here next to your future prom date". This made us all chuckle.







Here is my Gma, my cousin Cheryl, Steve, Trin and the girls.

I love this shot of the girls. They were playing inside the little playhouse. Olivia did not fit inside so she is leaning in the window.

I love my baby Joey Love.

3 sisters and a brother and a sister. We all got down and were enjoying baby Joey.

More to Come

There are about 10 things that I want to write a post on but tonight is not the night. Hopefully, I will be able to get a few more of the posts out within a few days. Here is what you can look forward to: meet and greet Baby Joey party at mom's, the baseball game for my dad's birthday and some of what God is teaching me. Usually, I have thoughts running around in my head of things I want to post on but most of the time I don't have the time or energy to blog. Thank you for your patience with me.

Random Pictures

Here are a few random pictures taken from my trip to Lassen last week.


Firstly, thank all the fire fighters for their faithful committment to fight fires for the sake of civilians. On the drive up to Lassen we saw several "crews" of fire fighters traveling to one of the biggies within the hundreds of fires burning. When my grandma and I went into a local city we stopped at the airport and saw this helicopter. The large tube hanging on the underside is called a snorkel. This snorkel is placed in a lake or creek to suck up water to dump on a fire. Pretty cool!





This is in a meadow near the cabin. I had stopped the car to take a few pictures of some daisy's. Thought this fence was pretty with the green grass below.













I love this picture. Daisy's remind me of the silly saying we did as kids when we liked a boy and plucking petals, "He loves me, he loves me not. . ." But since being a Christian I like to say, "He loves me, He loves me, He loves me, He forever loves me. . ." Because I am His, it is always, He loves me!








Just looking up a tree trunk. As you can see the air quality was poor the day I took the picture because of a few close wild fires burning. There was no blue in the sky this day.










This picture was taken up at Lake Helen at the base of Mt. Lassen. The elevation here was close to 8,000 feet. On this day, my grandma and I drove up to the national park and had lunch by the lake with the peak in the background.

Speaking of the peak, it has been a few years since I have climbed to the top. Hopefully, I will get up there this year.

Ping

Ping
Ping
Ping
. . . (counted 29)

Today I canned another round of jam. This time my job was easier because I had skinned, pitted and cut up the fruit about 10 days ago and stuck it in the freezer for when it was convenient to can. I made 29 jars of jam. Surprisingly, I only have about 10 jars left from the first two rounds that I made (47 jars). I have been giving them away to different people. The round today consisted of apricot, plum and apricot raspberry, all reduced sugar. The plum might have some problems setting up because I used more fruit than the recipe called for and the label warned me that it might have trouble setting. If it does not set, I will either open the jars and use the 6 cups the recipe calls for and try to set it again, or turn it into plum sauce.

I love to hear the ping after the jars come out of the water bath. You know that your jars are sealed when you hear that cute ping. Each batch that comes out of the bath I count to hear the pings. It got a little confusing today because my first batch was not finished pinging when I took my second batch out and they started pinging. Thankfully, all of my jars sealed properly.

I am also trying a recipe that I pulled off of the Ball Canning Jars web site for Strawberry Vinaigrette Dressing. The strawberries are sitting in a large steel pot with distilled vinegar over night. Tomorrow after I get back from the farmers market I will finish the recipe and can the dressing.

What a joy to have learned how to can jam. I am having loads of fun. By the way, if you remember a few post back when I first spoke of learning how to can. Marie told me that I had to pass along the skill of canning to someone else. The second time that I made jam I taught my good friend Janet how to can. Still hoping to teach my sisters one day.

My Cutie-Pies

Just have to share the latest picture of Trinity and Joey. Trinity is such a good big sister. I think it is just adorable how dark baby Joey is. They are both my favorite loves. I am so excited to see them next weekend for my dad's birthday.

Thanks Jen for sharing pictures with us. I am wanting to get back down and spend time with you all. Love you!

Check

One of my life time goals has been to learn how to can fruit and veggies. Growing up I watched my grandmother and grandfather can tomatoes and I helped my mom one time can cherries. I was young and did not really pay attention because there really was no need to. Now that I am some what grown up (I say some what because I am still a little kid at heart at times) I have seen and tasted the benefit of home canning.

On Saturday, Dawn and I picked enough plums and apricots to fill 3/4 to the top of 3 five gallon buckets. We picked about 1/5 of the fruit that was on the trees. There is still more fruit to harvest. Marie from church came over and taught me how to can my yummies. Actually, she knew the process of canning not making jam. So, we were both learning something new.

There is a whole process in canning and I don't need to tell you how to can here. But if you are interested here is a link that we used to guide us through http://www.pickyourown.org/. In the end we had canned 33 total jars of peach/plum sauce, apricot jam, reduced sugar apricot jam, reduced sugar plum jam and reduced sugar apricot/plum jam.

Yummy, yummy. The jam and sauce turned out wonderful. I had such a wonderful time with Dawn and Marie of sweet fellowship and fun. Marie learned how to can from another dear sister named Yvonne from our church. Yvonne told her that if she teaches her how to can that she has to teach someone else how to can. Now Marie has taught me how to can she told me I have to teach someone else how to can. I hope to teach both of my sisters, Jen and Amy, how to can. I am looking forward to the opportunity to teach others how to can (or how to make jam). Anyone want to learn how?

Speaking of jam, I want you to check out one of my dear friends blog page. Tim and Sandi's 2 1/2 year old son recites a wonderful poem called Bread and Jam for Francis. Check out the blog link here.

Cabin Time

Last week I spent a few days up at my parents cabin near Mt. Lassen. Mom, Dad and Gma had already been there for a few days when Amy and I arrived. I absolutely love going up there. I love the pace of life, I love God's creation, I love being with my wonderful family, love playing cards, love exploring new and old things, love eating the food that we make (it always tastes better in the mountains- ALWAYS), love going into Chester, love the fresh air (although this time the air was very smokey, there was a fire about 10 miles away), love watching the animals around the feeding stump, oh . . . I could go on. Lassen is one of my most favorite spots on this earth.

Here a cool picture that I took.

This is an actual working fire truck. I find the speed limit sign funny, "Ranch speed 12 1/2 M.P.H. next 2 miles NO exceptions".

Today's Pick

I just had to show you another picture of what was picked today. Really hope that you are not getting sick of my garden. God has been abundantly good and He has allowed my garden to produce goodies.

This year is proving to be one of the best yet since I have been in the house (can't believe it has already been 6 full years). But this year's crop has brought some lessons too. My young fruit trees are loaded and I am not the most experienced fruit tree "farmer". I did not thin out the crop when it was just forming and now many large branches have broken and I will need to cut them off when the fruit is done. My trees will take awhile to regain the girth and strength that they were prior to this year.

This summer I have started to buy my fruit and veggies from a local farmer's market. The produce is so fresh and I love supporting local grown farms. I am thinking about starting my own little market with my yummies. J/K!

Tonight Janet and I are going to visit and have dinner with a widow from our church. We are bringing dinner and I am bringing some of the love from my garden.

Yard and Garden

I love working in the yard and tending the garden

that the Lord has allowed me to have. Honestly, I

have some of my best worship times with the Lord when I am out working in the yard. And I love to give away to others what God has blessed me with. Here are some pictures of the latest happenings.

These are the yummies that I pulled from the garden on Saturday. The basket is about 15"x12".







With organic gardening you can get bugs and fruit and veggies that are not perfect. Here are two prime examples of my"special education" garden. Both are Siamese twins. The picture to the left are two summer squash joined at the stem and the picture just below are two carrots sharing one head. I think that the kitchen knife will have a successful separation of the twins. A full tasting dinner will result. Even in my garden the "disabled" veggies and fruit are very dear to my heart.






















Not sure if these pictures are going to post correctly because I can't get them to move where I want them to go.

Here is what I worked on Thursday in the front yard. I roto-tilled and conditioned part of my side yard and in front of my windows. The side yard I planted 3 more Landana's. They have great summer and fall color. I finally was able to plant the Camellia's that I have had for about 3 1/2 months. All 5 are of differing varies. They will add some color in the mid winter months.

Some of you know that I am in the process of re-landscaping my front yard. Some of the work I can do myself and other parts I can not. So, I have been waiting (and my plants too) for the gardener to help me out. He has been way laid because of a remodel at his house. When I was finally able to get the Camellia's in I said to them, "welcome home babies".

Is that strange that I talk to my plants?

Yicky Air Quality

There are several hundred (last I heard over 800) wild fires burning up here in Northern California. Honestly, I have not really seen the sun or blue sky since Saturday from all the smoke. If I have seen the sun it has deep haze to it. You can look at the sun with your naked eye and see the outline of the brightest star in our galaxy. At sunset, the sun is a big huge orange ball in the sky. I took these two pictures at about 6 pm on Tuesday. The sun is setting now at about 8:45.

The air quality has gotten even worse since taking these photos. The visibility is about 1/2 to 1 mile. I love walking in the morning during summer vacation with my friend Suzi from church. Due to the quality of the air, I have not done my normal exercise routine.

I praise God for the men and women who are fighting the wild fires and I pray that none of them lose their lives.

Peaches and Cream

One of my summer time favorites to eat anytime (for breakfast, lunch, dinner, a snack or dessert) is fresh peaches and milk. Yumahuh! Click here for a past post on the defination of Yumahuh! My mouth is watering just thinking of it. Think I will have to have a mid-afternoon tasty snack. Here is the basic recipe.

1-2 fresh peaches (the fresher the better), cut up in slices
1-2 Tablespoons of sugar (really best with organic sugar) 1 Cup milk (any grade will do, I use 2% because that is what I use for my coffee and anything else)
Stir and eat.

O, you just can't go wrong. Let me know what you think if you try it.

Photo taken from Google images.

God's A/C

It has been hot in Northern California for several days now. Today the temperature is projected to reach up around 106. This is the 3rd or 4th day in a row over the century mark. My house does not have air conditioning, mainly, because I really don't need it. In a given year if I added all the days up of where I would need to turn on the A/C on (when it reaches 82 or above in the house) would be about 25-30 days. So, those 25 or so days are really warm in my house and the rest are manageable.

The Bay Area is a unique area in that in the summer time, it can be hot for a few days and then usually the fog rolls in (literally rolls in over the hills) from the coast giving the inland a cooler breeze in the evening and mornings. This wonderful cooler relief air is God's natural A/C.

Thankfully, God provided me a home with a pool. When there is no relief inside the house, I simply take a dip in the exhilarating, refreshing cool waters of my pool. This morning at 10am the temp was already 90 outside and 82 inside. I did a little work outside and then swam around for a bit. Very delightful.

Pictures taken from Google images.

Nieces and Nephews are Blessings From the LORD

Oh my goodness, I love my niece and new nephew. I am very grateful to God for allowing me to be an Auntie. My two little Loves are incredibly special to my heart.

I had a wonderful visit down with my sister to help her out a little. Trinity and I hung out quite a bit (which I just love and adore). We went to the little gym, to the pool for a picnic lunch, read many books, watched the same episode of Dore the Explorer every night, snuggled in the morning on the "air track" and we went to the park to feed the geese, play in the sand and explore.












On the last full day that I was there, Trinity said a comment that will forever be etched in my heart. We had just returned from our picnic lunch by the pool where we swam too. Jen was on the phone with one of her best friends from growing up and college, Trin was jumping on my bed- an air mattress that Trinity calls her "air track" and I was putting things away after our outing. I walked back into the room where Jen, baby Joey and Trin were and my sweet Trinity Love says, "and her comes my new best friend, Auntie Shell Shell (as she pronounces it- Auntie Sha Sha)". Oh she melts my heart, I love her.

Baby Joey started to track people/voices with his eyes too on the last day that I was there. He would gaze up at me when I was holding him and he would look straight into my eyes. He had the look of calmness yet curiosity. He is my Baby Joey Love, and oh do I love him too.

Trinity is a very good big sister and she loves her little brother very much. It is adorable to hear her say, "Baby Joey is my little brother and I am the big sister!"

Here are a couple of photos that I wanted to share.

Baby Joey is Here!

Praise the LORD for bringing my sweet and handsome nephew into this world on Thursday. He is so precious and I love him so much already. Thankfully, he was born in the hospital and not the front seat of Joe's car (another post at another time). Here are the details:

Name: Joseph Charles (Joseph after his daddy and Charles after my daddy)

Date: June 12th at 7:44 pm

Weight: 7 pounds, 9 ounces

Height: 18 1/2 inches

Hair: a ton of jet black hair

Eyes: blueish brown for now

Cute Feature: his chin is a little button with a dimple and he sucks in his lower lip, almost making his chin disappear. It is so cute. You give his chin a little push and there is a little "pop" from the suction between his lips.

Yesterday my sister, my grandma and myself went down for a day trip visit. Tomorrow I am going to go back to help out for a few days. I am so excited to see all of them again.

Here is a picture of him when he was 17 hours old. I will post more photos soon.

For those praying, thank you!