1983

Ack! It's Friday...I almost forgot to post! This year, we're breaking just about every Halloween tradition that we have; no trick or treating, no harvest festival, no carving pumpkins. Instead, we're going to Disneyland! How fun is that going to be?

Anyhow, before I shove off, I'll post these real quick. (I know that you were all on the edge of your seats waiting...)


Technically, I'm cheating with this one. It's from Christmas Eve, 1982, which is practically 1983 so I wanted to put it in. This is yours truly and my best friend, Nicole. We're getting ready to lead our church choir into the auditorium for the Candlelight Service. Trust me, we felt super special. Please note the lovely color of baby-poop yellow that the choir robes are. I'm not even going to talk about my hair, my dress, my poofy sleeves...


This is one of my mom's favorite pictures of me, so I wanted to include it. It's my 1983 birthday picture (taken at Sears, of course). I'm eight years old. I could nit-pick if I really wanted to, but honestly, it's not that bad.


This picture is significant. The 1982/83 school year was the year that our church decided to start the AWANA program. Being a second grader, that meant that I was entering the program as a last-year Spark. I was not thrilled about this...since all of my close buddies were one and two years older, it meant that none of my pals were in my group. Nonetheless, I buckled down and made the best of it. I completed all three years' worth of handbooks in the one year, so in June of 1983, I received my Sparky Plaque. Yay me! We continued the AWANA program (that church is still doing it today) and I eventually fell in love with it. My own children have been clubbers since they were Cubbies (at another church), and I have been involved with the program in various leader and administration positions for a number of years. Yay Awana!


Lastly, I had to post this one. I never introduced her to you as a puppy, but this is Taffy. Man, I loved her; she was the best dog ever. She was a fierce guard dog, a good playmate (I used to play with her in her doghouse), one of the most athletic dogs I've seen... She was amazing.


Well, gotta run. The Happiest Place on Earth awaits! Happy Haunting, and I'll see you next week!

Stopping to Read the Fine Print

Well, not the fine print exactly. The long poem. Let me back up...

In the Spring of 2007, Matt was blessed to have an amazing, godly man as his baseball coach. He is a friend, a fellow home school dad, and a fierce competitor.

After the season was over, each of the kids was given an 8x10 framed picture; well, sort of a picture. There are three smaller pictures; one of Matt and his coach, one of Matt chasing down a fly ball, and one of the team. Then, between and around the pictures is a long poem. A really long poem.

It's been sitting on his dresser along with his other baseball trophies and game balls and such for almost 18 months now. I admit, I never read the poem. It just seemed too wordy and once I read the words "Team Jesus Christ", I chalked it up to just another corny Christian poem. I've looked at the pictures many times, and even read a few lines, but never the whole thing.

Today, however, I did. It's amazing. You may have read it before; if you haven't take a look. It's a good reminder to me, also a fierce competitor, that there's absolutely nothing wrong with my competitive nature; I just need to maintain the proper perspective.

Thanks, Brad. I get it! Better late than never...

The Competitor's Creed

I am a Christian first and last.
I am created in the likeness of
God Almighty to bring Him glory.
I am a member of Team Jesus Christ.
I wear the colors of the cross.

I am a Competitor now and forever.
I am made to strive, to strain,
to stretch and to succeed
in the arena of competition.
I am a Christian Competitor
and as such, I face my challenger
with the face of Christ.

I do not trust in myself.
I do not boast in my abilities
or believe in my own strength.
I rely solely on the power of God.
I compete for the pleasure of
my Heavenly Father, the honor of Christ
and the reputation of the Holy Spirit.

My attitude on and off
the field is above reproach -
my conduct beyond criticism.
Whether I am preparing,
practicing or playing;
I submit to God's authority
and those He has put over me.
I respect my coaches, officials,
teammates and competitors
out of respect for the Lord.

My body is the temple of Jesus Christ.
I protect it from within and without.
Nothing enters my body that
does not honor the Living God.
My sweat is an offering to my Master.
My soreness is a sacrifice to my Savior.

I give my all - all of the time.
I do not give up. I do not give in.
I do not give out. I am the Lord’s warrior -
a competitor by conviction
and a disciple of determination.
I am confident beyond reason
because my confidence lies in Christ.
The results of my efforts
must result in His glory.

LET THE COMPETITION BEGIN.
LET THE GLORY BE GOD'S.

Wonderful Words That Start With W

The top ten things that I love that start with W are (in no particular order) :

1. Wait Staff. You know, waiters and waitresses. If I'm going to pay money to eat out, I want to be served. I really don't dig fast food places or buffets.

2. Water. It's a necessity.

3. Winter. My favorite season. It'll be here soon...

4. Watches. I feel naked without my watch.

5. Waiting for Guffman. Love it.

6. Washington. (State, not D.C.) I would love to live there someday.

7. Wedding Rings. Mine, specifically. They remind me who I belong to.

8. Wonderful Grace of Jesus. One of the most fun hymns to sing. It was requested most Sunday evenings when I was a kid.

9. Westin. We've stayed at one of their hotels, and now one of their resorts. Fabulous. They would always be my first choice of lodgings.

10. Wine. A nice glass of red wine...perfect.


Take a look at Beyond Black and White to see what some of my buddies are thankful for.

1982

One of my favorite childhood memories is our Easter vacations. Each year, our family headed out to Lake Jennings and went camping. Not just me and my folks, either. My grandparents went, as well as several sets of cousins. We had so much fun; campfires, playgrounds, coloring eggs, fishing, it was great! It was an annual tradition for many years.

Each year as part of our Easter basket/present, my cousin and I received matching outfits. I thought that today I'd share with you the sweet outfits that we were given in 1982.

Isn't this fabulous? What girls wouldn't love purple sweats? That's pure, Easter delight right there. Add to that the home-made crocheted purses and we were set!

Just when we thought it couldn't get any better, the next day they pulled out the second gift...nightgowns! Woo hoo! AND the nifty bunny puppets. What lucky girls we were!


There's one other picture that I'd like to add for this year. First, let me tell you that my mom was always super cool when it came to birthday parties. Whatever theme I wanted that year, she always did it for me. I had a Muppet year, some various princess years, you know, standard fare. But this year, I wanted rainbows. Well, rainbows it was. My mom was so cool. I know that she hated it, she said it was too busy and kind of made her dizzy, but she did it for me. Looking back now, I totally see what she meant!

These were my best friends; some were neighbors, some were from school, some were from church. One of them later became husband's first girlfriend! After the snacks and cake, we had a two-square tournament in the driveway. And something in the yard, dodge ball I think. Good times.


That's all for today. See you in 1983!

Christmastime Is Here

No, it's not Red Cup time just yet. And no, I'm not referring to the fact that that I observed the Christmas trees going up at Michael's yesterday.

However, for me, Christmastime has officially begun. Why, you might ask? Because.....(drum roll please)

Today the boys came home from their piano lessons with the Christmas songs they are going to play for their winter recital!

Woo hoo! I will now be listening to a gorgeous arrangement of "We Three Kings" and a fun, jazzy version of "Let It Snow, Let It Snow, Let It Snow" every day!

I promise that I won't start playing Christmas tunes on my iPod for another week or two, but I fully expect to start humming one now and then as I am daily reminded of coming holiday season and all of its magic!

V Day

Um, how can it be Tuesday again? Seriously...weren't we just here?

Anyhow, while I believe that the calendar has played a trick on me, I happily submit my list for the week. In no particular order, here are the V things that I am thankful for:

1. VCR. Do you remember your first one? I do; it was a top loader and it was huge! I felt like the coolest kid on the block when we got one.

2. Veggietales. My kids loved Bob and Larry so much. Good times, many smiles.

3. Veterans. Thank you for doing what you do.

4. VH1 Classic. You know, that channel in the 200s that you don't watch very often? It's great! It's like what MTV used to be, before they stopped playing music.

5. Vacation. Who doesn't love a good vacation?

6. Vincent Vega (from Pulp Fiction). Truly one of my favorite characters of all time.

7. Victoria's Secret. Yes, I'm an underwear snob. They can never come from anywhere else.

8. V. On tv. Do you remember? There were two different miniseries and then a regular series. About the lizard-like aliens who came to earth disguised as people to take our water and, well, to take our people for food? Man, I loved that show. I was one of the rebels for Halloween once.

9. Valium. Face it, it's good stuff.

(If I was putting these in order, this next one would be at the top of my list...)

10. Van Halen. No rock and roll playlist would be complete without plenty of Van Halen. And you need a good mix of David and Sammy because they were both fabulous!


Thanks for checking in with me. To see what everyone else is thankful for, head over to Beyond Black and White.

The End Of The World As We Know It

The world is officially coming to an end.

Some of you might already be aware of this. Some of you have become aware this morning because a friend that I shared this with verbally was quick to get online. But for the rest of you who may not have heard, I felt it necessary to pass on a conversation that I had with the cashier at Vons this morning. I will call her Sally.

Beep. Beep. My groceries were happily floating across the scanner.

Beep went the sound of my orange and white, Halloween themed Circus Animal cookies.

Sally: "We still have some Mother's Cookies in the store?"

Me: (thinking that she must be referring to the Halloween rush) "Yep."

Sally: "Huh. Interesting."

Beep. Beep. As more groceries went by, I felt compelled to follow up on this.

Me: "Why? Are you almost out of Mother's Cookies?"

Sally: "No, they went out of business."

Me: "WHAT???"

Sally: "Yeah, there was no warning or anything. Last week they announced that they've gone bankrupt and are shutting down. There won't be any more deliveries. Once we're out, we're out."

Me: (spoken as I felt the panic of my world crashing down around me) "Um, could you hang on while I run back and get some more cookies?"

Sigh.
No more pink and whites, no more macaroons with coffee for breakfast, no more evening snacks of English tea cookies and milk.
Gone.
All gone.

1981

Hi, folks. I don't have much to offer today; things have been crazy (but fun) with AC's family for over a week now. We've had a beautiful wedding, and now we're camped out by the pool in lovely (HOT) Palm Springs.

So, while I know it isn't much, I hope you appreciate my feeble offerings from 1981.




Okay, I mentioned last week that today you'd see me going on "one of my favorite outings". Can anyone tell where this picture was taken? Ahoy, mate! I'm in Captain Kidd's World, at Sea World, of course! We had annual passes when I was a kid and we went all the time. The whales and dolphins and such were fine, but I especially looked forward to our after lunch play time. Remember that monkey bar thing where you'd fall into water if you slipped off? Yeah, I "slipped" quite a bit!


Aside from Captain Kidd's World, what could make Sea World more fun? The snow! Each winter, for a period of time, they would have a whole area with snow and you could slide down hills on little sleds, throw snowballs, make snow angels, all kinds of stuff! For a girl from southern California, snow days were some pretty big fun.



So that trip into the wild that I was telling you about? Here it is. I went camping with my neighbors in the fall of 1981 and we did some horseback riding. I look mighty fine in my bikini, don't I? Man. Words fail me. I think I'll just let you study the picture and take in all of it's beauty. :-)

Have a great week, my friends. See you in 1982!

Uniquely U

Here you are, my friends: the top ten U things that I'm thankful for.

1. Uno. The classic card game.

2. Uruk-hai. This one is a bit of a stretch, but they really are up there with the top bad guys ever.

3. United States. For all of its flaws, I'm mighty glad that I live here.

4. Underwear. Quite necessary.

5. Underoos. Not to be confused with your ordinary underwear, Underoos are the bomb. Mine were of the Wonder Woman persuasion.

6. Unicycles. They always imply a little bit of fun.

7. Uniforms. I do like the look of a neat and tidy uniform, regardless of if it's snappy Marine Corps dress blues, or a fresh hotel maid.

8. Ukulele. I mean, really...can you help but smile when a ukulele is involved?

9. Ultimate. Such a powerful word. Tyler's Ultimate, the Ultimate Cheeseburger...who can argue with the word ultimate?

10. Underwater Cameras. My brother in law has one and we're totally having fun with it this week!


Cruise on over to Beyond Black and White to see what everyone else is thankful for.

1980

Hola, Friday Friends!

As I suspected, there were significantly less pictures to choose from this week. It's just as well; this week has been crazy for me. I'd even wondered if I was going to remember to post!

Not wanting to let down my faithful few, I have two pictures to share with you this week. Enjoy!


1980 was a big year for me in the kitchen. Gone were the childish ways of last year's Raggedy Ann Kitchen! I now owned my first major appliance...the Easy Bake Oven. Had I not been given such wonderful opportunities so early in life, I might not have become the baker that I am today!


1980 would not be complete if I left out my Kindergarten picture. Ah, wasn't I lovely? That truly was my favorite dress. The skirt was excellent for spinning around in, I got some great lift! I'd also like to point out the homemade hair ribbons. Yep. I took some heat for those. I totally remember this day...they took our pictures after lunch. After lunch! Who takes pictures of a bunch of five year olds after lunch??? I'm sure that my hair, crochet work aside, looked much more tidy when my mom dropped me off!

That's all I've got today. Next week should be fun. I'll go on one of my favorite outings and take a trip out into the wild! You won't want to miss it!

Terrific T Words

For your reading pleasure, I present ten things that I am thankful for that begin with the letter T.

1. Toyota Sequoia. My husband bought me a beautiful new Sequoia last year and I absolutely love it.

2. Taboo. You remember the game Taboo, right? My buddy and I used to totally rock that game; I'll bet we still could!

3. Tostitos. In my opinion, the perfect, store-bought corn chip.

4. Tombstone. One of my top ten favorite movies of all time.

5. Tootin' Tilton. He's provided lots of entertainment to our family over the years. Seriously, look him up.

6. Thumbs. They really do make life easier.

7. Texas Roadhouse. So delicious. How I wish we had one here; the closest is in Yuma. We just might make the road trip for dinner one of these days. A plate of ribs, a warm roll and some sweet tea. I'm in heaven!

8. Thunderstorms. I am a happy camper if I find myself in Arizona during monsoon season.

9. Ticonderoga Pencils. The only non-mechanical pencil I will use.

10. Thanksgiving. My second favorite holiday. The sights, the smells, the food, the football, the family, the traditions....it's perfect.


To see what everyone else likes this week, check out Beyond Black & White!

Well Said

While I would never put one on my car, I do appreciate a good bumper sticker. We saw one yesterday while driving home from baseball that I loved. I had to share it!


To Err is Human,
To Forgive is Divine.
Neither is Marine Corps Policy.

1979

Greetings, Friday Friends!

Today we find ourselves in 1979. As was the case with "last year", 1979 was pretty busy. I suppose the number of pictures will dwindle in the weeks to come as I start school. From the looks of things, I enjoyed 1979 quite a bit; I hope you do as well.


I know that this was taken at a wedding, but I don't recall who the happy couple were. Frankly, I just love this picture of me and my dad.

It's during the brief period when he sported a beard. As the story goes, when I was little I was totally scared of people with beards. He grew one so that I would get over that fear. It must have worked; I'm not scared of men with beards any longer. :-)

The other funny thing about this picture is that I totally remind myself of my niece, who is actually AC's niece, so it's not like we share genes! Can you see who I'm talking about, Ruth?



What journey through time is complete without zoo pictures? Some of you are aware of how much I hate the zoo now, but I assure you that as I child, I loved it. Remember when you could hold the baby chicks? Always my favorite part!!!

I would now like to introduce you to Little Gary. (His dad, obviously, was Big Gary.) They lived across the street from us. Our families did quite a bit together; our moms were in a bowling league together and our dads fished together. I hung out with Little Gary and his older sister almost every day. I was absolutely convinced that when I grew up I was going to "marry Little Gary and live in my room (at home) and he could sleep out in the living room on the couch."

Unfortunately, they moved away just one year after this picture was taken and I never saw him again. What a break for AC; had they not moved, I surely would have grown up to be Mrs. Little Gary.

Finally, we arrive at my favorite time of year; Christmas.

Proof that if you write Santa a heartfelt letter and ask for it....

...and then you wait patiently for it...

...he won't let you down on Christmas morning!

Santa Rocks.

Thanks for joining me on my whirlwind tour of 1979! See you next week!