Making Memories

Happy Monday! Did it get really cold all of a sudden where you live, too? Holy-moly! We went from this really hot weather to suddenly-snow on the mountain tops. I suppose this is how fall goes, just like the springtime when it starts to tease us with warm days and sunshine only to then rain for another ten days straight!

So this weekend, Dave took Mason to the civil war reenactment in Fresno. Mason had a blast though I'm not so sure Dave did. Mason is testing every boundary, at home, school, simply anywhere he can try to get away with something. It's not important what he's doing, just that we can't count on him to behave so that makes us think twice about taking him on these jaunts. It's a catch twenty-two every parent grapples with; If you take them and they misbehave, it could be dangerous and it's a pain in the butt. If you don't take them, they never learn to behave in those situations. I'm sure Dave had more fun with him than not as the pictures show. What's particularly cool about the pictures, is that Mason took most of them.

As for me, I worked all weekend, both real estate and household stuff. One of the things I did that you might find interesting is I have been back-loading past Monday Motivator posts to my blog. It's funny, I don't have all posts from 2004. I don't know why I would be missing a few months of posts from the middle of the year. I also went back and posted a first post. It explains how this came to be and still lives more than ten years later. You may or may not want to look back through the years, but it was fun for me. I have 2005-present in its entirety, but some of the older posts are on a a CD, saved in a Word backup somewhere, or the older ones are hopefully are on some archaic storage device (can you say, floppy disk?). The whole collection makes me incredibly grateful to have as much as I do documented. What a gift for Mason and his kids when I'm gone. What do you have that documents your life? Is it enough? Makes you think, huh?

So we are off and running and summer is officially gone. Fall and winter are here and it's time to start thinking about the holidays. How many days until Christmas? Only 81! Enjoy the pictures from Dave and Mason's weekend and think about what you can do to document more, if not for those you will leave it to, but for your enjoyment in a year, two, or ten! Make this week count!

Kearny Park, Fresno - Civil War Reenactment

Mason being Mason!

The view of the park through Mason's eyes.

Fighting for the South.

Living quarters.

Where Mason slept.

Just fun! Truth be told, Dave took this picture of Mason hiding because he knew he was in trouble. And he was.

Cannon accouterments.

Cannons are cool when you're seven...or forty-seven!

Night life.

One tired, happy kid!

Sleepy Fall

Happy Glorious Monday Evening!

What a crazy week it's been. Up until Saturday, Dave had worked 12 days straight and when he works like that, it means I work like that. Even though he had worked like a dog, Dave had plans to do this, and that, go to Mason's soccer game, and then the next thing, too. I suggested that we go into slow-motion and do a little as we could possibly get away with. We slept in, ran one errand and went to Mason's soccer game on Saturday. They won! The Pistol Pete's Pirates are undefeated!

On Sunday, we went to Dixon and conquered the World's Largest Corn Maze. Yes! It actually holds the world record! Isn't that cool? Well as cool as it is, it wasn't cool at all in the literal sense! It was sweltering hot and muggy but fun. Dave did an amazing job reading the map and with only one wrong turn, we did the maze in an hour and fifteen minutes! We made one more stop at Pedrick's Produce where we know we can always get the freshest fruits and veggies for pennies. We stuck with the plan and came home in the afternoon and did whatever each of us wanted to do. Dave painted, Mason watched a movie, and I napped.

I can't help but feel like when the season changes from summer to fall, as the days get shorter and the nights cooler, our bodies feel the changes. So many of us are moving a little slower and ready for bed a bit earlier. As we adjust, we get a second wind, so to speak, and find ourselves back in the swing of things just in time for all the extra activities the holidays bring. I say go with it. It you're sleepy, go to bed early. If anyone asks, tell them Kathy said you could!

Happy Fall and remember:

“Sometimes the most productive thing one can do is to sleep.”

Fall Fun!

Making Amends and It's Fall!

The week is here! My favorite week of the year....Fall officially begins this week! The weather has been cooperating as well, a little overcast, some sprinkles yesterday...it really puts me in the mood to rake leaves, build a fire, make a pot of soup, and bake cookies.

In the meantime, on another frequency our family is going through many of the same things families all across the country are going through. Financial/mortgage stuff, balancing all of our daily chores with a little of what we "want" to do and suffice it say, we sometime get crabby. I've been crabby on and off for the last week or two and God bless my husband for putting up with me. I was given some sage advice before we married to always choose my words and before I speak them, make sure they are loving and will lift my husband up. I've not been practicing that lately and I feel the hurt in my heart. I feel that he doesn't feel my love for him the way I truly feel it. I really opened my eyes to this when I witnessed someone else not choosing her words as carefully as I thought she could. I'm sharing this with all of you because as a weekly column about life, good and bad, I want to share with you when it's not all rosy. I want you to know that we all have times we have to say, "I'm sorry" and make amends. This is one of those times for me. Are you listening Dave?

With that, I always seem to bounce back and find something to smile about. Mason and I were invited to a freinds house to pick apples. What fun! After a lovely visit we came home and made mini apple pies. I have some work to do making apple butter and pie filling, but I'm looking forward to it, the weather is lending itself to apples and cinnamon simmering on the stove. What lifts you up when you've been down? For me it is the colors and smells of fall, oh and the singing-cooked-turkey hat at K-Mart! How can you take life so seriously holding a singing-cooked-turkey hat?

I wish I had said this, but I didn't. Doesn't mean I can't...and I will! Big smiles!

Delicious autumn! My very soul is wedded to it, and if I were a bird I would fly about the earth seeking the successive autumns. ~George Eliot

Pictures of Pie & Grown Up Smiles!

Mason making mini pie!
Dave driving the Nascar!

Busy! Busy! Busy!

This was a weekend full of opportunities, much like many weekends I suppose, but in Auburn some weekends there are many big events that you just can't do it all.

Friday we went to the fair, Fast Fridays motorcycle races, ate some fair food (I love the corn dog!), and we rocked out to our 80's favorites with Tainted Love!

Saturday, Mason and I took care of some business while Dave was off at a game day and we all met up at James and Lisa's for a barbecue that evening. What a lovely group of people and kids (that sounds like I'm implying kids aren't people...I crack myself up!). Mason had a ball with Dolan and guess what happened? Mason asked if he could spend the night, James said, "yes" and Dave and I got a bonus date night! I LOVE when that happens! I can't say we painted the town red or anything, but a Redbox, some microwave popcorn and getting to sleep in on Sunday, well, that's alright!

Sunday Dave went to a Tea Party rally, I got groceries and we met up with James and Lisa again at the fair for the Demolition Derby. The boys all went to the crash-'em smash-'em while Lisa and I worked in the Sierra Brokers Real Estate booth and then we headed home for bath and bed time. All in all, it was a lovely weekend. A good balance of work and play and lots of time with friends!

What about you, did you do anything fun this weekend? Do tell, I would love to hear!

Today's motivator really resonates with me right now. I am in a cycle where I am having to think and rethink something. Have you ever had to do that? Did you come up with a solution that allowed you to do what you wanted to do? I'm hopeful I've found my solution but the answer still remains to be seen. I'll keep you posted!

“You never change things by fighting the existing reality. To change something, build a new model that makes the existing model obsolete.”
- Buckminster Fuller