casper35's Xanga

Tuesday, August 08, 2006

Tue, 08 Aug 2006 12:23:56 GMT

Surf camp was this past weekend. Boy, did we have fun! Boy, did we get sunburned!Yes, we put sunscreen on, but I guess we should have reapplied it. We had around 40 people from our church and met up with a few more. We had around 200 Christians out there surfing and enjoying the sunshine. One group had surf shirts that said "Surfers for Christ". It was awesome to look down the beach and see this "wave" of white and blue shirts.

The day was the perfect temperature and not a jellyfish to be found. We saw a group of dolphins early in the day, so we knew there were no sharks around. I didn't surf though and I am kind of kicking myself now. I have two very good reasons though. 1. The water was soooo cold, and 2. there weren't all that many instructors and boards, so I let the kids have at it.

Mackenzie (our 10 year old) did awesome. She had a very good instructor and she caught a few waves all the way to the beach. The instructor told us that she was a natural. She did get smacked in the back of the head by her board, but it didn't even seem to faze her. She did have to share a board with another little boy named, Garret with a G, but they took turns and Jim (hubby) went out and helped them. I will try to post pictures later.

Jaimee (our 15 year old) was sharing a board with her friends, so didn't get that much opportunity. I asked her why she didn't have an instructor and in her typical teenager way, said that she knew how to surf and didn't need one. She has surfed twice in her life, and that makes her an expert? I told her that it never hurt to have a few pointers from the experts, but by then they were all packing up, so she didn't end up catching any waves, but she had fun. There were lots of boys around to flirt with.

On the way home from, California, we stopped at my grandparents house for dinner. Even though we were there just a short time, it was a nice visit and I'm glad we had time to stop. I am so blessed with Godly parents and grandparents.

Church on Sunday was great. Even though we didn't really feel like getting our tired, sunburned selves up and to church, we did. Jaimee's youth leader spoke on God's timing. It was a very good reminder to be patient, God's timing is perfect and He will work it all out in His time. I really needed to be reminded, so very glad we went. I feel like God is working on something big in our lives, because Satan has sure been attacking us and our family. I can't wait to see what God has planned! Please pray for us and our family. Thanks for visiting me!

Tuesday, July 25, 2006

Tue, 25 Jul 2006 13:08:42 GMT

Wow, another weekend has come and gone. Time is just zooming by. We still haven't had any bites on our house. Not even any nibbles. It is a little discouraging, but I keep reminding myself that it is all in God's timing.

My in-laws were here for the weekend. It actually went pretty good. My mother-in-law is recovering from heart surgery and she has lost 65 lbs. She is doing fairly well considering she still has about 50 lbs to lose. I get so frustrated with them because they play favorites among the kids and grandkids and we are way down on the favorite list. I don't care about not being given things, but they really don't have to rub it in my daughter's face that they gave my nephew a car. Anyway, the visit was good. She didn't criticize my housekeeping or tell me how to cook the meals.

We have more company coming in for a visit some time this week. They are some friends of ours from California. Him and Jim have been friends since before we got married. I think they are only staying overnight and it will be good to see them.

Then the following weekend is Surf Camp with the church youth group. That ought to be fun. I haven't decided yet if I will try to surf. I probably will. See ya!

Friday, July 07, 2006

Fri, 07 Jul 2006 11:50:14 GMT

Wow, we have had a week!

It started off with hubby getting a new job, making $5.00 more an hour. That is alot more money! His new boss knows that we are planning on moving soon and he was okay with that. God is Awesome!

Last Saturday, I get a call from my friend. (She is the one beside me in the Goliath ride picture.) She tells me that her air conditioner just went out and she can't get anybody to look at it until Monday. She asked me if her 2 daughters can come stay with me. I say "Sure" and she says "Wait, there's more....Can the 2 guinea pigs and 2 parakeets come stay too". Again, I say, "Sure". And so began our crazy week. It really did go well, but it was alot of extra work. One of the girls isn't supposed to have any form of processed food or sugar, so cooking for her was interesting, to say the least. They finally got their new A/C unit installed on Wednesday, so life is mostly back to normal.

Yesterday, Jaimee (our oldest) gets a call from one of her friends saying that our local movie theater is showing a midnight showing of "Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest" and they are going and did we want to go. We, as a family, had already decided that we were going to see this movie at the earliest possible time. I didn't really expect it to be midnight, but whatever. I told Jaimee that I would ask hubby and let her know if this was possible. I called him several times through out the day to no avail. He had left his cell phone in the car, which I understand, but could you please check it every once in awhile?Anyway, when I got off work, I decided to just go buy the tickets and if he didn't want to go, I could probably sell his ticket to someone else. Jaimee called her friend to tell her that we would be there. I couldn't believe how packed the theater was at midnight. We had about 20 people from our church alone. Some of them were even dressed like pirates. We had one lady passing out eye patches. Anyway, all of that to say, it is a really good movie, but it really leaves you hanging on for the next one. Anyone know when that will be? And I am really tired this morning. I tried to nap in the early evening, but it didn't happen. We finally got to bed around 3am and I had to be up at 6:30am. I really need more coffee! I am really getting too old for these kinds of things, but I think that there will be more of this kind of thing with our girls going into their teenage years. It was fun and yes, I would do it again....Just give me a few days to recover first! I really do want to know when the next Pirates movie is coming out. Must go see! (Mom, don't go see it! )

Tuesday, June 27, 2006

Tue, 27 Jun 2006 12:13:04 GMT

Okay, okay, I know I need to update. Quit yelling! :)

I am still recovering from this weekend. Our church youth group was planning a trip to Magic Mountain and we have been wanting to go there for the last....20 years. We decided to tag along and help out. The trip was on Friday. We had so much fun! Magic Mountain has some of the most AMAZING rollercoasters, but I didn't know it was so much work to ride these rides. I haven't laughed so hard in a long time.

The new ride, Tatsu, was so much fun! I screamed and laughed so hard! You ride laying face down. It is like flying! It was my favorite ride, but they were all truly amazing.

We left the church at 6:30am and drove for 5 hours, had lunch and went into the park. We left the park at 10pm and headed for the church that we were sleeping at. It was another 1 1/2 hours away. We then had about 40 people (mostly teenagers) to get settled in for the night. We finally got to sleep around 2am and then we left Saturday morning at 9:30am to head back home. I think we went to bed around 7pm on Saturday. We were so wiped out. I told my hubby that I am getting too old for this kind of thing, but I think it was well worth the trip. It really makes me wish that we had gone sooner. If you live near Valencia, California and like rollercoasters, GO! Now! The rumor is that they are closing the park in about 6 months, unless they sell it. We might try to go again, if we don't sell our house soon.

Is there anything that you have been wanting to do and have been putting off? To borrow the Nike Slogan "Just Do It" before it's too late.

Thursday, June 08, 2006

Thu, 08 Jun 2006 11:40:36 GMT

Edited to add: Jaimee passed her driver's permit test! She only missed 2 questions. Yay!I am so proud of her!

Wow, 3 weeks since I updated this thing and really nothing to report. Our house is still on the market. We have only shown it once since then, but that was to another realtor that was looking for some clients of hers. She is supposed to bring them back to see it soon.

I have to take my oldest daughter to the Motor Vehicle Division today to get her permit. Where has the time gone? I can't believe that she is driving already. I hope she passes the test, or maybe I don't. I don't know if I am ready for this.

Let's see what else. It is still really hot here. Earlier this week, it reached 117 degrees. Yesterday was cooler, but it was cloudy and humid. We got a few sprinkles, but it didn't really rain. It is just nasty!

Jim(hubby) has been sick. I'm not sure what is going on with him. Maybe the heat is getting to him more this year.

My bosses' wife has informed me that starting next week, she will be coming in every morning for a few hours to find out what I do every day so she can take over when I am gone. Won't that be fun! I hope that doesn't last for very long. Hopefully she will get bored and stop coming in. It will be hard to read all my Xanga friend's blogs with her here.

I think that's it for now! Bye

Thursday, May 18, 2006

Thu, 18 May 2006 11:44:22 GMT

I think I have lost my Blogging Mojo....if there is such a thing. Either that or life is really boring right now. I had a really good Mother's Day. The girls made me breakfast and gave me presents. Jaimee gave me some sapphire earrings and Mackenzie gave me a bookmark. Jim gave me some Beanie Bucks (Certificates for free coffee) After church, we had some friends over and they stayed all day. We played games and watched a movie. It's nice to have friends to hang out with.We haven't had that in a long time. It was a very nice day.

I tried the new Coke Blak. If you haven't heard of this, it is Coca-Cola with coffee added. My brother called me up and told me I had to try it. I couldn't find it at my regular grocery store, so had to go around to the different stores searching. I stuck it in the fridge and waited.....I finally tasted it the next day. It's okay....not something I would buy all the time, but it's good.

It has really gotten hot here. It's supposed to be 112° here today. It has been more humid too. I am so ready to move out of here. I don't like heat!

Well, I think that's all I have.

Shakespeare and Stupid Realtors

Tue, 09 May 2006 11:47:26 GMT

Well, lets see....We haven't sold our house. He did finally show it, but the people decided to make an offer on something with a pool. I had a long talk with the realtor yesterday and he wants us to lower our price and I want him to actually advertise it like he promised us he would. I can't figure out how come it has been on the market for 2 months and it hasn't been in one newspaper or real estate book. He says the ads are coming out this week. Ok, so you didn't put them in until......I called and yelled at you last week. He says these things take time. Yeah, right!

On to happier things. Our homeschool group put on the Shakespeare play "A Midsummer Night's Dream. They did a fantastic job. Our girls were not in it, but Jaimee did help out back stage. I didn't let them try out for it because I thought we would be moved by then. I feel like our live's are on hold right now. The girls can't try out for any plays, sports, etc. because I don't want to get half way thru and move. That isn't fair to the team, play, etc. I want to move so we can get on with our lives. The youth group has a trip to Magic Mountain coming up in June. Will we be able to go? I don't know. I guess we just have to rely and trust in the One that does know.

Monday, May 01, 2006

Mon, 01 May 2006 11:56:06 GMT

We had a great weekend. We went and saw United 93. Very tough movie to watch. I went to school with one of the main actors in it though so wanted to go see how he did. He did a wonderful job. I can't even begin to fathom what those people went through in the last moments of their life. Anyway, good movie, just very hard to watch.

Saturday, we cleaned house and then went and washed both vehicles. Poor Jim...not even an hour later, a bird tagged his car. Oh well, it was clean for an hour.

Jaimee had a friend stay overnight, so we heard much giggling.

Sunday after church, we went to the beach to hang out with friends. Very relaxing. It got up to 100 degrees yesterday and is supposed to be the same today. Yikes! Time to head for cooler climate.

I invited a bunch of Jaimee's friends over for Pizza and games, so we had a houseful of teenagers. She had a blast and the house survived. Fun times!

Anyway, it's Monday now....Time to get to work.

Oh, I forgot to tell you that Jim ran into our realtor on Sunday at the beach and told him he has 1 week to do something. Either sell it or let us out of our contract. The realtor agreed, so we will see what happens!

Thursday, April 27, 2006

Thu, 27 Apr 2006 12:37:26 GMT

Wow, it has been over a week since I blogged and I still don't have anything new to post about. Still no nibbles on the house. The realtor hasn't done anything new as far as we can tell. He has until Monday, and then I will call him and try to get out of the contract. We don't think he is upholding his end of it.

I took Jaimee and her friend shopping Saturday. We didn't really get much shopping in, but we had fun. We couldn't go until after 3pm because I was waiting for my friend to get off work so she could go with us. The nearest mall is an hour away and closes at 8pm. That didn't give us much time, but we had a nice dinner at Joe's Crab Shack. We ended up shopping at the Wal-mart Super Center and I got 2 new outfits. So it wasn't a total loss.

On the way home, Jaimee and her friend were making up stories using English accents. It really was quite funny.

Over the weekend, Jim went out of town to a soccer tournament with his buddies. When they picked him up on Friday, they talked him into letting them shave his head. (I provided the clippers.) What a big dork! Giving in to peer pressure at the age of 42.... He actually looks good. He isn't totally "Kojak" bald, but his hair is very, very short.

Well, I guess that's it for now. Please keep praying for the house to sell soon. Thank you!

Wednesday, April 19, 2006

Wed, 19 Apr 2006 12:00:43 GMT

No, we haven't sold the house yet. We haven't even had anybody look at it. Our realtor is taking a group of his realtors through it today, so maybe that will generate something. We had the carpets cleaned yesterday, and it is all spiffy looking now. We cleaned and scrubbed everything last night, again. Why can't it just stay clean? That would be nice.

We had a nice Easter. Our church had church at the beach/park. It was very nice, but windy. After the service, they had a baptism and then they provided lunch. It was great! Jaimee got sunburned really bad though. It is still hurting her 3 days later. We did tell her to put on sunscreen, but she didn't think she was in the sun that much.

I have been spending my down time playing a computer game....It is called Pirate Puzzles. It is so much fun. You get to be a pirate and play puzzles. You can check it out at http://www.puzzlepirates.com/ You can puzzle against other people to sword fight, or my new favorite is rumbling.

Anyway, that's it. I know, not very long or interesting, but life is about cleaning and packing right now.