Happy Halloween

I've Crossed Over

Into the Land of Old Ladydom.

Yesterday I went with Susan Coudsy to Magic Mountain. Their family got passes this year and Susan wanted to take a day (use a free friend pass) for her and I to go together... just the two of us. We got to the park, (it's all decked out with spider webs and such - looks cool), took a picture with my boyfriend Batman, and proceeded to ride roller coasters. The park was empty, there were no lines. We rode Viper, Superman (2 times in a row), Scream (2 times in a row), Riddlers, Circus Wheel, Scrambler, Tatsu, etc etc. Now here is the old lady part:

I love roller coasters, I love spinny rides. They never really affect me. Yesterday was different. There are so many HUGE coasters there now, they are bigger and better and that equals a lot more force. Well. Almost every single roller coaster - due to the force of the ride - like going through a loop backwards and upside down - made me black out (NOT to be confused with pass out). Due to the consistent blacking out, my stomach got nauseous. So with Susan getting nauseous from the spinny rides and me getting nauseous from the force of the rides.. we had to stop and sit in a restaurant for like an hour to calm our stomachs down. I couldn't believe it. But what I also realized was.. there is definitely a grace period that you give your body as you wait in those lines. The lines are a good thing. They let you recover a bit before being flung around. So I learned that next time I go to a theme park and there are lines.. I will not complain because they are beneficial to me.. at least now that I'm an old lady.

'If you're gonna do it, you're gonna do it right.'

My Uncle Jim visited from Arizona this weekend. Last night we all had dinner together at my grandparents. When dinner was over and the kitchen cleaned up my Grandpa, Uncle Jim, Dad and myself headed out to the back porch so Uncle J and Gpa could smoke their pipes. A nightly ritual for my Uncle. It was a neat time. My Grandpa began reflecting on stories from when he was in the military. Sounds like some good times, tough times, and funny times.

A Non-Military Story My Grandpa Shared:
When he was a youngster, the next door neighbors had a grape arbor on their property. Grandpa said he would go over to that arbor and pluck off the drying grape leaves. He kept a tin in his pocket and as he picked those leaves he would crumble them into the tin. He also kept some pieces of toilet paper and some matches and he would make little cigarettes. He kept his stock amidst a shelf of other tins. One day his Mother and Father discovered it. When grandpa got home from school his dad called him into his bedroom, showed him the tin and asked what it was? Grandpa said he played the idiot on it; "I have no idea?!" He said his dad then said, "Well if you're gonna do it, you're gonna do it right." He had my grandpa roll a cigarette and light it up and smoke it. Grandpa said he took fast little puffs and soon it was gone. His dad told him, "No, that's not the way you do it." And made him slowly smoke the cigarette. Grandpa said it cured him til he was out of high school.

My super cute new jacket.. last night I titled it my smoking jacket:

J n K

Friday, October 26, my brother graduated from Universal Technical Institute. So proud of him. He was part of a 13 month program where he was certified in a bunch of vehicle related things (smog, air conditioning etc) and learn how to be a person who works on cars, I supposed that would be a mechanic. He learned allllllllllllllll about engines and how to fix them, he workd on hot rods.. and did bunches of different things.

He graduated with perfect attendance which is a big deal at that school and looks great on his resume. Perfect attendance when class starts at 5:45am - 5 days a week - 13 months straight PLUS coming back from every single break and lunch on time. Go Jeremy! He had an interview/meeting with Power Ford on Monday and also a meeting at Honda. He was offered jobs by both places. This is such a huge thing for my brother and Kim. Jerm loves cars and working on them and I'm excited that he will be able to make a career out of it.

In other news, I've not announced that Kim is pregnant again. She is due on May 28. They say at this point they don't plan to find out the sex, but they also admit that decision could change. No matter.. this will be so fun.

Jerm and Kim will now be moving back from Rancho Cucamonga. I'm excited about that. I like having them close by. So pray for them as Jerm decides where to land his feet - which dealership to choose for employment. Also pray for them to find a place to live. Affordable and big enough to bring a baby home to.

Take A Lookity Look

Stumbled across this.

It's satellite pics from when some of the fires started. The first pic was taken by a satellite then a second satellite passed by 2 hours later and took another pic and there was HUGE increase.. its kinda visualizes just how fast the fires took off.

This website is pretty cool. It lets you see satellite pics of all natural disasters worldwide.

what IS this?

what in the world is going on here? there has been so much going on in santa clarita that is just out of anyones control.

3 weeks ago there was a huge traffic jam on the freeways when a big rig spilled his entire trailer of watermelons at the 5 and 118 merge. 50,000 pounds of watermelons i heard.. all over the lanes.. i didn't know about that accident til i was already on my way.. i had to go from here to pacoima... normally takes me a half hour.. took me nearly 2 hours to get there..

then that saturday.. i give violin lessons every saturday in sylmar.. at 7am my mom comes in my room and said the 5 is closed.. and i said AGAIN? what is going on with the freeways? turns out that was the 15 big rig pile up inside the 5 and 14 truck tunnel that trapped some rigs inside in a huge fire.. closed the freeway for days.. and backed up traffic like none other.. took me an hour to get to the lessons where it normally takes 30 minutes.

now the winds are gusting like crazy.. and there are fires everywhere.. yesterday placerita canyon was under voluntary evacuation during 3rd service because there was a fire at the oil rig right at the opening of placerita canyone. there are fires in castaic, san francisquito canyon, canyon country, the one in placerita is out, there are 2 in agua dulce, and others in southern california. the smoke was so thick yesterday it was like dusk at 2:30 in the afternoon. the ash was blowing in the wind making it nearly impossible to be outside.

in light of all the fires.. church last night was amazing. there were 10 baptisms.. it so so amazing to me when there are that many testimonies.. to hear how each person was saved.. and they all share the scriptures that stuck out to them and helped guide them and it just made me love God's word so much more. it is fitting for every person. it speaks just what needs to be said. it convicts and it shapes and helps. we had a time of prayer, like usual, but prayed for the people in our church especially who were evacuated from their homes. many many many were evacuated. when church ended we heard the fire was in the backyard of a fellow church member. haven't been able to talk to him to hear how he and his house are.

so santa clarita has been quite a mess lately. between all the freeway accidents with the big rigs.. and now these fires..

we are safe. trying to be helpful to those who need it. we've made many phone calls to let people know they are welcome here if they need a place. but for now i'm just sitting back and thinking.. this is crazy.

Eat Fresh

I laughed so hard.

courtesy: rhett and link