The Big SoCal Storm of '10

We should have seen it coming.

"Red sky in the morning, sailors take warning."



That was for folks sailing the ocean and not landlocked desert dwellers, I thought, discounting the adage completely.

Instead we went and visited friends so we could see their darling new baby.





We noticed as we were leaving that it was really windy and it had rained all day.

And all night.

The next morning, we rose and saw that water was gushing off our neighbors perfectly level cobblestone driveway pad and rushing down alongside our house.

Hmmm. Not good.

Mucking out a short trench helped bring the water level down enough that we figured it would hold until Jeff returned home from work and could help me dig a longer, deeper trench to better divert the water, and so he and Jericho left for school.

Inside the house on that very same wall, the closet began to smell a little moist.

Uh oh. Looks like the trim has some water starting to seep through. (Sorry for the scrambled pictures. The camera card is worn out.)



Being the damage was already done, and the water level outside was no longer an immediate threat, I decided to go ahead and go to Bible Study and worry about things later.

When I arrived home, not much had changed, but I put Judah down for his nap and went out to shovel away some debris that seemed to be clogging the downward flow of water.

I came in soaked to the skin and shivering from working in the pouring rain.

About the time I warmed up and got a few things done around the house, Jeff and Jericho returned home.

Because of the seepage inside the master bedroom closet, we went back outside and dug a deeper trench along the edge of the backyard as a precaution. The water closest to the house came down several inches further, completely eleviating the problem along that side of the house.

While we were working, it began snowing....and sticking...on all that wetness!

It was coOooOold!

We came inside and moved the shelving from that side of bedroom, which naturally involved rearranging furniture in other rooms so that we could move it permanently.

Thankfully, upon inspection we found that only a small portion of wall nearest the master bedroom closet seemed to be affected.



For the past couple days now, we've had the carpets and padding pulled back since and are drying out that area as best we can. It appears to be working.

We may have to cut out a chunk of drywall to treat it inside to be sure there aren't any mold issues later on, but thankfully we still have a partial sheet of the needed drywall in our garage from a patching job when we first moved in.

It doesn't appear that it will be necessary to replace the carpeting or make any insurance claims, and for that I do thank the Lord.

It's still raining.


It's still cold.

And school has been canceled today.

Kind of like a snow day but not. There isn't any snow left, but the roads will be closed due to dangerous road conditions.

All that water just doesn't have any place to go when it comes down that fast and heavy.

Last evening we had thunder and lightening overhead, and then had a bit of hail.

I'm just thankful we haven't had to worry about tornados or waterspouts or mudslides like folks closer to the coast do!


And I pray we don't have any earthquakes in the mix!

Off to make some hot tea...

A Bit Of Catching Up

Hello? Anyone home?

Well, as all 3 of you may have noticed, I've not been around bloggyville much of late.

Things had gotten craaaazy for a while there after the Holidaze, something had to give and unfortunately blogging took the hit.

It's good to be back into the swing of things again, though...and I have a lot of stuff to catch up on.

Last year at this time, I was babysitting full-time and just wasn't able to pick up and go do things at the last minute. Now, with just Judah and I at home we have that freedom. Which I love.

I'm really enjoying this stage that he's at right now...very literal and observant, trying to make sense of the world around him...and some of the stuff that comes out of his mouth just cracks me up.

Yesterday morning began with an impromptu ladies tea at a friends home, held in honor of a mutual friend who was back in the area for a visit. Because Grandma (my usual daytime babysitter) was also attending, Judah came along as well.

Judah noticed that Grandma had left the tea early, and came up to whisper, "Mama? Can we go to grandma's house after dis?"

In the middle of a discussion, I just pulled him close and said quietly, "Grandma went to run errands...but your friend is over there wanting you to play basketball with him out back." And so he ran off to play.

However, as we were heading home a little later, recognizing the neighborhood and knowing we were very close to grandma's house, he asked again, "Mama? Can we pwease go to grandmas house?"

"No, honey...remember? She's out running errands."

A few moments later he asked, "I know...can we go watch?"

He wasn't sure what these 'errands' I referred to were, but the prospect of seeing his grandma running them sounded pretty entertaining, lol!

:: :: :: ::

Later, once again on the road, Judah was chatting away at me from the back seat when some dude on a Harley went roaring past us on the main thoroughfare across town.

"Where is dat man on da motopsycho goeen?" he asked.

"Hmmmm...I'm not sure. Maybe to his house?" I offered.

"Nope, I fink he's goin' to da grocery store."

"But where would he put all his groceries?" I mused aloud.

Seeing no obvious place for bags of groceries, he thought about that for a minute and said the only logical thing a tag-along little brother could come up with, "On da handlebars!"

:: :: :: ::

In early December, we finally (months after installing our flooring) had new trim installed in the house. The living and dining areas are finally all done project-wise. It was a long time in coming, and I was as excited about that as our boys were about Christmas coming.

While we were at it, we put up a quickie pre-made mantle, as I was itching to have it all look 'finished' for the long lineup of Holiday entertaining.

Just prior to decorating for Christmas, however, I rearranged some of the living room furniture and noticed that the wall with the mantle seemed unusually bare. It was going to need a little something extra. So, while at a pre-Christmas sale, I picked up a blank canvas. It has been sitting in my craft room beckoning to me for weeks with all the possibilities.

This past Saturday ended up being a blissfully free day for me. Jeff took off with the boys for most of the day and I had nothing pressing on the agenda, so I dug out my brushes and paints and got to work.

Voila! Zee finished masterpiece.



Kinda loud, kinda funky, and way out of my comfort zone where home decor is concerned...but I think it's just what that space needed.

I joked with Jeff that it should be entitled, "Pile of Laundry", both because it kinda resembles that, and because that was what accumulated on my sofa during the couple of days that I was busy working on it, lol.

Naturally, when Judah caught on to what I was doing, he thought it looked like great fun and hinted broadly that he'd love to paint.

Remembering I still had some watercolor paint sets from when big brother and his cousins were little, I dug those out and let him go to town.

As you can see, young grasshopper was very pleased when I gushed over and prominently hung his works of art on the fridge in the family gallery.



He even thought to sign the one there on the left. He doesn't know how to write cursive just yet, so he did the best he could, lol.

A Congratulatory Shoutout...

I just couldn't help myself...we've been on a baby watch around here lately.

Our dear friends Chrissy & Steve just became grandparents today.

Here is their adorable little bundle of joy sleeping after his entry into the world.



Isn't he precious?

Congratulations to the proud new grandparents, and Auntie Lo and of course to new parents Mike & Kelsie. Love you guys!

Sons are a heritage from the Lord, children a reward from Him. Like arrows in the hands of a warrior are sons born in one's youth. Blessed is the man whose quiver is full of them...
~Psalm 127:4&5a

Merry Christmas

♪♫ Yea, Lord, we greet Thee,
born this happy morning,
Jesus, to Thee be all glory given;
Word of the Father, now in flesh appearing;
O come, let us adore Him,
O come, let us adore Him,
O come, let us adore Him...
Christ, the Lord.♪♫

For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son,

that whosoever believes in Him will not perish
but have everlasting life.

John 3:16

Merry Christmas!

The Frumps

Some Christmas Randoms

Jericho has gone to plenty of activities at other folks houses. Birthday parties, work parties and even overnighters with his friends.

But tonight he has something going on that just 'felt' different to me somehow, and I was trying to put my finger on exactly why that was.

I suppose that because when we've been as involved in the church as we have been all his life, we are present or on the same campus as he has for just about every activity he's ever attended.

But tonight, we came to a definite "y" in the road.

Tonight Jericho is headed off to a junior high Awana Christmas party at his leader's home.

A place we will not be. And that's okay.

Except that it's a place he will also be with lots of girls, a couple of which flirt shamelessly with him.

And he's at that age when he's beginning to enjoy the attention.

How did this happen, this whole growing up thing?

He was just that little boy who didn't want me to leave him at the door in Kindergarten, and now here I stand looking at a strapping big wrestler nearly as tall as me and with a faint fringe of a mustache and a crackly voice?

It's one of those 'firsts' that kinda snuck up on me.

And for the first time, I've realized that he's really getting past the stage of my taking pictures of such things for the scrapbooks.

And (Lord help me) we still have the big school-sponsored all-nighter at the pizza place in a few days.

There comes a point where we moms, who have been clucking and fussing over their little chicks for so long, suddenly step back and realize...wow...he's not that little yellow, fuzzy chick taking shelter under my wings any longer...

He's starting to strut across the yard like the young rooster that he is, not needing us quite so much as he did in the past.

Just takes some getting used to for the mother hen, I guess.

And somehow I know it's going to be a whole lot harder than I ever expected when he goes off to college.

:: :: :: ::

It started off as a good idea, this business of our collecting Nativity Scenes.

Adding the toy versions were meant to get the kids familiar with the Christmas Story from a young age, and give us the opportunity to foster in them an appreciation for the true meaning of Christmas.

When we found the toy sets, I had visions of the boys quietly playing with them by the light of a fire or in that ambient Christmas decor lighting, pondering Jesus' birth.

Generally, while trimming our tree, we bring out the toy Nativity scenes and allow the kids to play with them for a while, cautioning them that while it is okay to play with them, they weren't to get silly...the toys represented something that was never to be regarded lightly.

Recently, however, after bringing in several tubs of decorations from the garage to get things ready for Christmas, we found the boys had already rifled through the tubs we'd brought in earlier in search of the toy sets and were playing with them...all this before we'd given our usual 'talk'.

Things were going fine until we were midway through the tree-trimming process and heard a terrible commotion from across the living room, complete with the kind of sounds the boys usually make when tons of Army guys are scattered around the floor.

"You know the rules, Jericho...nobody in the Nativity scene is supposed to be shooting anyone" I commented, eyebrow arched as I glanced in his direction.

"But mom," he said as he held up the Wise Men, "They look like terrorists!"

Perhaps we missed something somewhere along the line in his training?

:: :: :: ::

While I realize that our oldest is, in fact, growing up, I did have to chuckle that he drug me through the toy aisles at WalMart to show me the toys he "wants to get Judah" for Christmas.

Buzz and Woody from Toy Story fame.

"Uh, huh. Sure they're for your brother" my skeptical expression must have read, because he suddenly got very defensive. "Seriously, mom. He'd love them."

Somehow I'm thinking that the only reason he'd be willing to fork over the hefty $49.99 those particular toys cost and even moreso to deign to 'play with his little brother' would be to re-live his own childhood a bit without asking for the same toys for himself, lol.

Easy 'Gingerbread' Houses

While our niece was visiting over Thanksgiving break, we made 'Gingerbread' houses.

Though I've baked actual gingerbread in the past, this time there was no baking involved.

When you're short on time or have tons of other stuff to do, graham crackers are a very convenient substitute. , and though we kept it simple this time around, they can be assembled into very elaborate structures.

To begin, you must have the right kind of icing. Royal Icing dries hard pretty quickly, which is imperative for holding the walls of your structures together. It also securely holds candies to the houses.















Jericho made the Picasso-esque house in the upper left. Cousin S made the one in the upper right. Judah and I assembled the one on the bottom left.

Jericho, our resident artist, said after looking at the three completed houses together, "Everyone is going to think Judah made mine and I made yours", and sure enough, when his friends arrived that evening, they all said that very thing, lol.



And just to clarify, that would be the pointy ice cream cones, not cones of sugar.

We make the trees at our annual Youth Group Christmas parties.

We line a couple of long tables with festive Christmas wrapping paper, give each person a paper plate and a cone, set out bowls of candy and few bags of fresh Royal icing down the length of the tables, and (as HisGirl would say) POW! Super-easy group activity!

A Frump Thanksgiving Break in Haiku and Pictures

So very thankful
God has abundantly blessed
We live in Freedom

Turkey and trimmings
long since put into the fridge
loaded van departs

Outdoor recliners
Glittering Starry Pictures
The sky our TV



In the dark, "Who-whoo?"
Boys chasing after owl sounds
Pigeon feathers found

Campfire crackling
Chairs circled around for heat
Laughter abounding











Desert winds howling
Hot cocoa and marshmallows
more logs on the fire



Temps have dropped quickly
We numbly dress in PJ's
Will we freeze tonight?





Camp style breakfast
Hot tea to warm cold insides
Boys raring to go



Morning light hiking
Jericho, Matt, Luke and Mark
Climb desert towers

Pacific Crest Trail
Many wonders to explore
Return ravenous







From Judah
Go in da desert
Quaio famiwee rwunneen
Bwue bird in da trwee

Daddy and Judah
Climbed up boulders, hills and trees
Learning to ride bike





From Jericho
Jericho is cool
Mom is writing haiku now
which is kind of odd

Hot beef stew dinner
Night-time temps will be freezing
Cozy warm beds wait







Crackling fire
it's heat warming cold fingers
Dog-moon lights the sky













Roasting marshmallows
Perfect bubbly golden brown
Can I have S'more?



Frightening stories
night seems darker that normal
Judah cuddles close











Quiet peaceful place
just a short jaunt from our home
restful get-away

Just snuggled in tents
Rain clouds move in overhead
Should we go on home?

All night long, rain fell
Pitter-pattering on tent
'sealed' tents stay dry

Until Four AM
Puddled water under tent
Soaks up through the floor

Clapping thunder sky
drives us from our soggy beds
Lightning much too close

We jump up quickly
Wake boys in the other tent
Grab bedding and go!
During the raging storm, Judah (recalling last weeks Bible Study lesson) said, "Mama, we need Jesus to calm da storm." Just blesses my heart when I see that all the training is getting through even at his young age.



In the van we wait
What is taking them so long?
They packed everything!
"We packed up all our stuff, mom...I even packed the hatchet!" I had to laugh...he might as well said he'd remembered the kitchen sink.

Van packed to the roof
It's windows would not defrost
Pouring rain ride home



Climb into warm beds
Long nap before returning
Rest of gear retrieved





Snow-capped mountain peaks
boys had climbed the day before
Got home just in time

Boys go to movies
Mom is left to contend with
mountains of laundry

Mom needs a vacay
To recover from camping
Also, foot massage