1 year later

Tami on the beach in Haiti

Today marks the one year anniversary of the last time I saw my friend Tami. I have felt this week looming ahead and tried to pray harder for her family. Everytime I feel sad about her death, I pray for her family who feel thousands time more pain and sadness.

It was a Sunday morning during Sunday school, just any other Sunday. I walked in and sat right behind Tami and her mom Val. Tami was talking about Tara's 20th birthday and we started talking about how big her kids were and how fast the time went. She talked about her Son Eddy and when he got married and how it seemed like just yesterday. During class her and Val started eating mints and I stuck my hand between their chairs to get one. I will never forget Tam looking back and laughing, then whispering "Mom, she wants one too." and we all laughed.

I had to leave class early that day and remember smiling and waving a silent goodbye. Who knew it would be "Goodbye for now." As a few short days later, she would leave this earth for good. It is still hard to believe she is gone. We met 10 yrs ago when we moved here, she went to our church. Her daughter Tori was just a few months younger than Conner. Then two short years later, Elizabeth was born on Tori's birthday. Tami was working in Labor and Delivery at the time and wanted to be in the room for delivery. She missed it by just a few minutes but was the first person to meet Elizabeth besides us.

 She was a good friend to our family the whole time we knew her.  I was really young when I met her and had a lot of growing up to do. But later when she came to our new church she got to know the grown up version of me. She went on a mission trip to Haiti with Marty, she sang on the worship team with him for several years. We lived a lot of life together and she is sorely missed.

Please pray for her family this Valentines day as they mourn her passing and everyday. Pray for her parent's, siblings, husband and children.

I just needed to get this out and put it down. I didn't want to let the day pass without marking it somehow. You never know when the simplest of days will become important days.

10 yrs ago

This past month we celebrated our 10th anniversary of moving to Visalia. It is hard to believe that we have been here that long. In October of 1998  I came to visit my sister here in Visalia. We had always come to visit since our dear aunt Pat lived here. Kim had moved here a few years before me and made a life for herself.  I longed to be a stay at home mom and be able to afford to live, since So. Cal is quite expensive. On that trip I fell in love with her church and decided I wanted to make the move. I brought Marty back in December to test the waters and we decided to move within the next month.

 I am telling you, we were nuts! I know it was God moving us because no rational person would have done what we did. We left our jobs, drained our savings and packed everything in my brother in law's tractor trailer and made the move. Conner was 14 months old, just a little guy and we bid a teary farewell to our family and friends. Marty had been struggling to come to terms with his dad's death and needed to move on,  so we did.

 I cried the first year straight and called my grandma's and mom everyday. I hated my new job at the department store and Marty worked temporary work. It was really a mess at first but slowly we started to re-build our lives. I can tell you it took years but finally we got to the place we wanted to be in life.

Now this is home and we miss it when we are away. We are so thankful to have built our own lives, all by ourselves. We are blessed to have many wonderful families that we are friends with and support us like family. Marty has a great job and I am home where I always wanted to be. It's nice to look back and see where we came from and how far that journey has brought us.

Wear red Day

I want to ask you all to wear red this Friday in support of Women's heart health. In 2006 two days after my grandma fell ill, my dear friend Robin had a heart attack. She had flu like symptoms and had been sick a few days before. It was the day before her birthday and she just ignored the symptoms. Finally when the pain in her arm became intolerable she went to the ER. She was told she had a heart attack and probably suffered the brunt of it in the waiting room.

She was 43 years old and no family history of heart disease. She was not overweight and very active, there was no warning signs. I never knew how many women suffered heart attacks and how commonplace this is becoming. It really opened all our eyes to this disease and was a huge wake up call.

I really hope you will take the time to go to this website and take a look.
http://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/educational/hearttruth/

Don't shop at Walmart, especially Walmart Visalia.

Dear Di, don't say I told you so!

So for years I have ignored the don't shop at Walmart claims. I have been a loyal customer shopping there several times a week. The savings simply were too good to pass up and I always had no problems returning items. Until this year or actually the end of last year when the problems began. I bought Conner a pair of pants and they were too small. So I tried to return them but for some reason the number on the receipt rang up different than the number on the inside of the pants. Even though I had my receipt they would not return the item but only exchange the item on a store gift card. Even though I had the receipt!

 So my microwave went out this past week and I got out the owners manual. It said I needed to return it to the store within 1yr of purchase. I had the receipt and called the store before lugging it down there and was told that I needed to contact GE. I called GE and was informed it was a return to vendor model, then I explained the situation to them. When they heard it was Walmart they said "It figures as much." and decided to issue me a Good Faith certificate. I got the certificate in the mail and it was valid for 75.00 instead of the 89.99 I paid for the microwave. So I made one last ditch effort to try WalMart before going that route.

I spoke to another person claiming to be the asst. manager and she basically ignored my request and told me it was a GE issue. I informed her that I spoke with GE and had the receipt and owners manual to back up my claim. She really didn't care and I told her they would lose my business completely to the new Target built near my house. She said "That's fine and she understood." so I hung up and gave up.

I went to Best Buy and bought the new microwave, I ended up paying 10.00 more for the same item. So now I will be out 24.00 all in the name of saving 10.00.  Really not worth the hassle and I have learned a hard lesson. You get what you pay for and Walmart really is evil. I did however get the last laugh because I wrote to Walmart corporate and complained about the imaginary store manager in Visalia. I also wrote him a scathing letter detailing the inept staff at his store.

So people, take my hard lesson and don't shop at WalMart. or if you do make sure it is for nothing of value.

another 5lbs and the end of a series

Woot, woot! I lost another 5lbs this week bringing me down 10lbs so far. Really you can't see the loss just yet, I can feel it in some clothes though. I am just getting down to my normal weight and then the real work begins.

I finished the last Twilight book today sadly, I wish there was more. The last time I got so involved in a set of books was the Mitford series by Jan Karon. This book has totally taken me by surprise, I really thought I would dislike them. Instead they were wonderful reads, I read them in 8 days time that is over 1600 pages in 8 days.

The writing is such that you can see the characters and places that they are speaking of in your head. Just like with Anne of Green Gables or  the Mitford books. You like certain characters and despise others, you want the heroine to be happy and you love the good guy. The books are not scary at all, I have never been one for anything scary. I think because the main character loves the other main character so much that is really is a love story.

So back to my long wait for Jan Karon to come out with another book and for this movie to come out on DVD. Even though, I suspect I might not like the movie because I tend to be a purist about those things. The only three book movies that I love are Anne of Green Gables, Pride and Prejudice and Emma.

Time to check in

Things are going great here in the T household. School is back in full swing, the kids are working hard at being better students. Marty is busy at work, working hard for our family and trying to stay active. I have been working hard on my diet and being a better eater. So far 5lbs has come off, a small but exciting victory.

I have something to admit.........I have become hooked on the Twilight books. This is very hard for me to share because they kind of don't fit with my belief system. Our bowling partner gave me the book and I was leery to read it. First of all, I don't read horror, Sci-Fi or mystery books, EVER. Secondly, I wasn't sure about the whole vampire theme. But I wanted to see why she wanted me to read this book and what the hype is all about.

So, I have finished two books in the series already. I am anxiously awaiting borrowing the third in the series from my friends teen aged son! One thing I can say is the writer has written a beautiful story, one of those that you can picture the people and places in your head. The books are not scary because the heroine in the book is not scared.

I really can identify with the main character Bella and the feelings of a teenaged girl. There is a abstince message in the book which I really love. At the end of the book there are some question and answers in the back and one of them said she based the theme on Austen's Pride and Prejudice. No wonder I loved this book.

I love the story of Pride and Prejudice and Twilight because they both remind me of my start with Marty. Things weren't always as lovely as they are today, I really didn't like Marty when I met him. He would never speak to me or talk to me when I was near him. Later I found out that he is just really shy and I think some of it was me too!

Anyways, just wanted to share my newest obession in the world of books. Hope you pick up a copy and tell me what you think.

My first post of 09'

Sorry for the long break, I needed a break. So far 2009 is flying by or so it feels like that's the case. We had a quiet New Years at home, for the first time in years Marty was with us instead of working. My mom also made the trip up to celebrate and watch the Rose parade with us.  Oh dear, the Rose parade was the worst I have ever seen. The economy really took it's toll on the grandeur of the floats and they were very small compared to years past.

The kids and I started back up with schooling last week instead of taking the extra week off. They both are working towards goals that I set but my Dad provided the prize for. Conner will get a pre-paid cell phone and Elizabeth will get a American Girl doll.

Speaking of American Girl, we watched the new movie "Chrissa Takes A Stand" on HBO the other night. My cousins Alex and Randon have extra parts playing swimmers, you can see Randon quite a bit. My kids enjoyed seeing their cousins on tv and my cousins enjoyed their 15 minutes of fame.

I am working on weight loss this new year, just trying to watch my portions is the first step. I also am trying to drink more water. I am taking small steps and not trying to go overboard but trying to make a lifestyle change. This is a for "me" type thing, not for anyone but me to feel better.*update* I weighed myself last night and I have lost five pounds already*

Keep reading and checking in, I have lots more to say and share in 09'