Piano

In the previous post I wrote about our piano. It reminded me of my Grandfather; Daddy Joe. When I was growing up he had a player piano that he refinished. I don't mean he took some pieces off and took some steel wool after it. No, I mean for months when you went to his house you were stepping over piano pieces. I remember being fascinated with all the parts and pieces. Then when he got it all together and I heard what it did. WOW! My mom and her sister were always looking for piano rolls to give as gifts. Then once the gift was given and opened we'd all gather in this tiny room that featured the piano and listen to roll after roll. Good family fun and memories. My Aunt has it now in her home. It still works. I would be most humbled and over joyed if it one day found it's way to my home. Not only is it a fascinating material thing to have; it also holds memories of good times and great people....my family.

Furniture and Father's Day

Michael and I cleaned out the garage Friday. Man what a mess it was. It looks really nice now; even the kids were impressed.
Saturday I got up ready to tackle the house. Yikes was it a mess. Lots of things in the garage came into the house to be put away. My house looked like we had just moved in; there was stuff on every available surface. Michael helped me tip the piano to take the wheels off. Then we realized they just needed oiling, not replacing. In the process I learned that there are lots of pieces that can be removed from the piano. So I took off all the pieces and vacuumed it out. Amazing how dusty something can get on the inside! We bought this piano second hand when Gab was I guess about 7 years old. I only payed $300 for it. I felt we got a deal! I had no idea at the time that Gab had such a talent and that the piano would bring her so much joy and comfort. Michael has hated the thing since I bought it. "It's an eye sore" (He was with me when I bought it, I didn't do it behind his back) Gab is now 18 and the piano is still with us. So I thought I might try to spruce it up a bit. It has a laminate finish so it won't be easy. My mom suggested just taking some steel wool to it and then maybe some poly urethane. So when I saw that it could come apart in pieces I was excited, the job would be easier. Okay, so here's the point. We like it better with out all it's pieces! Even Michael said it looks kind of neat like that.

Next thing I know the cleaning was abandoned and we were all in the car traveling to Wickes Furniture. We purchased a new dining room table with 8 chairs. You know for all the entertaining I do, not! It's a pub table. I like it because it can seat 8 comfortably in a small space. Then we picked out new sofa, love seat and chair, with 2 end tables and a coffee table. I'm not sure how we're going to stuff it into our small living room. See when Michael and I first got married we bought a sofa and love seat after a year of looking and debating. We kept that thing for over 10 years. Then one day I decided I wanted new and turned purple until I got it. We hated the new sofa. I can't even remember why. So then we bought a new Love seat and two chairs. Mission style stuff. It is beautiful to look at! The chairs are comfy but it just isn't cozy. So we decided to go for it. What we got is comfortable! In fact I'm almost afraid that we went too far in the opposite direction. :) Here's the sad part. They will deliver, but the date is the day after Michael leaves. So we wrote the deposit check and skipped out the door. All of us happy. Oh, but my honey wasn't done. He took us all to Best Buy. We left out of there with a new TV, surround sound and TV stand. He was so excited. We went to Olive Garden and ate and then came home. It was 1100pm when we got home and he stayed up and put it all together. I'm glad he will be able to enjoy it for a while before he leaves. We got a great deal on the TV. By the time we got home I was so exhausted and overwhelmed that I went straight to bed!

Vacation

First, Happy Father's Day to all your men.

Now vacation...
Last Sunday we drove to Long Beach and got on the Catalina Express. Off we went to Catalina. The first day there we visited most of the shops and saw a movie. The theater there is awesome! A movie you say? Well, yes. It's what the Arnett's do on vacation. The kids have gotten too big for zoos, or so they think. So now it's the theater. Every new place we go to we find a theater and take in a movie; if we're there longer than a day we also know where every potty with in a 100 mile radius is located. Any how, Catalina was cold! Of course I didn't pack my usually standby of tennis shoes and jeans, so I was COLD. The second day Michael and Kevin headed out for their diving trip and Gab and I headed out to do more shopping. We couldn't go to the spa until the third day. The dive was a bust. Michael said in all the diving he's done it was his worst dive every. Kevin's laid out on the bed and he ask Michael, "Did I almost drown?" "Yes, son you did." Well, that just caught my attention, let me tell you. Soo I got all the details. The long and short of it: it was so cold in the water that it took your breath away even with a wet suit. There was only about a 10 foot visibility. Michael was able to stay down a little longer then Kevin and see some of the kelp forest but the surges beneath the surface had him sea sick. So we regrouped and left Catalina the next morning.

We drove up the coast to Cambria. We had a blast. It was still cool because it was central Ca. We bought some jeans and I learned to wear socks with my sandals. Out here that's like a-ok. On the East Coast, at least at one time I would have been shunned for my weirdness. We went whale watching and saw quite a few. Spectacular! We drove up the beach a ways and saw the elephant seals. They were all laid out on the beach like sardines in a can. Across the street from or motel we could walk out on the rocks and see the harbor seals all laid out. They were quite accustomed to being gawked at. As long as you didn't get to close you get look all you wanted to. There were sea otters with babies too. They are my favorite for some reason. We ate with abandon all the rich sea food we could handle. Then on Thursday we came home.
I'll try to get pictures posted. I personally think pictures are so much fun! I really enjoy it when you guys post pictures. I just haven't done it enough for it to be second nature yet so I procrastinate the process. :)

The weekend

Here I sit in front of the computer. Big deal because?

We leave for a family vacation to Catalina Island tomorrow. It is 1300 and I haven't begun to pack. I also accepted a dinner invitation at a very dear friend's house and I have to leave my house at 1600 to get there. I still have to do laundry, clean the house and pack. Amazing at the change in me!! The house will probably be left undone. The dogs won't mind but the neighbor feeding them for me may change her opinion of me. :)

Twenty years ago things were different. Michael and I planned a week end trip to Las Vegas. His friend was getting married and we were invited along. Two weeks BEFORE the planned week end I started packing. For a 2 day week end mind you. Here it is 3 hours before I think I should have it all done and I haven't even started. But it gets better. This night 20 years ago that I started packing for a two day trip; I also ended up in the closet in tears because Michael refused to get up and come help me. He's a man, the morning of the trip, regardless of how long, he throws in a hand full of shirts and underwear and he's packed. How could I know this as a newlywed? I learned. We still laugh about that night though it was far from funny at the time! Maybe I have learned to relax a little too much. I'll know as soon as we arrive at the Island and I realize what I didn't pack. Or I'll be up until 2am packing and cleaning tonight. As long as Michael doesn't have to drag my crying self out of a closet at some point all will be well. :)

See ya in a week.

It's Been Twenty Years!!

We did it. Michael and I have been married for 20 years. Unbelievable. I can not even begin to explain how incredibly amazing this is to me. When I got married, I believed that I loved this man and I had every intention of staying married to him. Can I just say that as a 21 yr old I had no idea what that actually meant!!
At our wedding it was Michael that cried. No one realizes that because they didn't hear him. As we were saying our vows I looked at this man and saw a single tear trailing down his face, that's when I got choked up. He loves me. He has spent the last 20 years proving to me in action and word that he does indeed love me.
It has been no picnic; more like a rose garden.

When you look you can see beautiful roses. However, when you walk close or stoop to care for the bushes you can see and feel the thorns. Our thorns have come in every shape and size through the years. Some of those thorns have caught us by surprise and some of those we saw coming. Let me tell you though, the roses are beautiful and they bloom all year round.

I love it when people come up to us and tell us we look like newlyweds. At first it made me a little uncomfortable. Then I realized they meant it as a compliment.

Jesus has pruned us, He has held us together. I know that in spite of the love Michael and I have for each other if there was not Christ at the center we would not have made it to 20.

20 years. That for me is a major mile stone in my life. 20 years ago I had not a clue. I can honestly say that I love Michael more today than I ever thought possible. I look forward to the next 100 years with him.

Speaking of Cars

Shame on me for taking so long to share this. Remember a few months back when I tried to take Michael's Honda Civic 4 wheeling, only to end up air borne and then sand locked?
Well, we used our tax return to order the parts so it could be fixed. When the parts came the bumper was the wrong color. The parts people told Michael that the bumpers were always that color. So off to the body shop place he went to get it painted. The first place quoted him over $400. Then on the way home he stopped at another place he had seen advertised. This lady quoted him a price that was about $100 cheaper and said she'd put the parts back on for him. He was so excited! So he left the parts and we took the car back later. When we went back to pick up the car the lady told him he didn't owe her a thing. We were over whelmed at her generosity. She told us that she appreciated what our service men were doing for our country. Because he is a Marine his car was fixed for free. Not just fixed but cleaned. Such a small thing on the surface. Of course we have told every one we can think of. She isn't just generous, she's a good business woman. She knows good business comes by word of mouth. :) Oh, please don't get me wrong, I'm not trying to undermine her generosity. She gave a gift to a service man, God gave a gift to His children.

Tangerine Marine and The Ghi-Ghi car

I so wish I had pictures to share! Bare with me here as I tell THE. Whole. Story. Not just the little bit that inspired the story.

When we lived in Virginia Beach, Va my Marine bought himself a Volkswagen Karma-gia. It looks like a Volkswagen bug that has been flatten a little bit. It was orange, hence the nick name, Tangerine Marine. He looked so cool in his cammies driving to work in this car. It needed much work. It is very hard to find a car on the East coast that isn't full of rust. There were huge holes in the floor pans. Then we got got orders to the Drill Field in South Carolina. Do you know how much it rains in SC?! By this time there were no floor boards in the car. If you didn't take the corners slow you'd be wearing the mud puddles. Ask me how I know! Kevin was the one that coined the car Ghi-ghi car. One of those cute kid things that stuck.

My favorite story about the car and my Marine happened while he was a Drill Instructor. He was at work and I found this huge balloon. No kidding it was as big as his car. So, I bought it and took it to tie to the mirror of his car. What I didn't know until he got home LATE that night was he was actually outside with his recruits while I was putting the balloon on his car. He had his boots lined up facing the parking lot and his back was to me. He was madder than a hornet at them for something and was giving them heck. Well, they all knew what car he drove and they could see what I was doing. They are all trying not to laugh. Finally I got the job done and left. At that point one of his peers came to him and told him to go take care of his car. It was great.

Then we got orders to come back to 29 Palms and the ghi-ghi car had to be sold. We sold it to another Marine and handed him the floor pans that were bought but never put in the car. Over the years Michael has wandered about the car and the 'kid' that bought it.

The last couple months he has been admiring another karma ghia in the neighborhood. The other day the owner was out in the yard and we stopped so Michael could talk cars. Michael told this guy that he had and sold an orange Karma-ghia. The guy asked what he sold it for. After Michael's answer he said wait right here. He went in and came out of his house with his wife. He was the one who bought our car!! What I small world it is. He isn't a kid any more. Maybe you have to be a military family to understand the uniqueness of this story. We were all just amazed. He resold the car shortly after he bought it. Like I said it needed a lot of work.