Mom's 60th Birthday

 Someone's 60th birthday only comes along...well...once in a lifetime.  Ya, I know pretty much every birthday only comes along once in a lifetime...I was being dramatic.  Anyway, the big 60 is a pretty big marker and since she was NOT looking forward to turning the big 6 - 0, we knew exactly what we had to do.  My sister, my brother and I knew that we had to throw her a surprise party...and not just any surprise party, either.  It had to be BIG.

We began our devious planning during the Thanksgiving holidays.  We did research online--okay, pretty much my sister and I did the research and my brother sent money when we told him to--but, whatever.

I did an online query for large party accommodations near Bass Lake (a really pretty lake near where my mom lives) and The Gaines Burrow is the first thing that popped up.  If you get the chance check out their site and take a look at all the gorgeous pictures.  I can tell you, though, that the pictures don't do the cabin justice.  It was so beautiful and roomy and cozy at the same time.  I am trying to get some pictures from my grandmother and my daughter of our weekend (can you believe I forgot my camera???  I know, I should be expelled from Blogland.)

We had the best time and my mom was completely and totally surprised.  She had absolutely no idea what we were planning.  My little sister lives on the ranch but both myself and my younger brother lives hours away in different directions.  We both made up excuses for not being able to make it over for the weekend and since neither of us were able to come for Christmas either, she was feeling a little bit...ahem...sorry for herself, I'm thinking.  Pretty down in the dumps.  And my little sister was just kind of playing the whole birthday thing down like it wasn't really anything special.

I made the 2-1/2 hour drive early Friday morning and arrived at the ranch at about 10 am.  Mom was already at work so my sister and I did our best to pack a weekend bag for both her and Jim and some other stuff we knew we would need for the weekend then we headed up to the cabin to get everything put away and put up all the birthday decorations.

My grandmother had been cooking for three days so we were well supplied with food.  She had made dinner for Friday night beforehand and I was going to make Lasagna for Saturday night.  She also had us very stocked up on desserts.  It was a very high calorie weekend, I'm afraid, but it was soooo worth it.

So, the plan was this:  my aunt was flying in from Washington State in the early afternoon and would be picked up in San Francisco by my brother and his partner, Ken,  who live there.  They would then start the drive over to the cabin.  This got kind of messed up when her plane was delayed due to fog in San Fran but it worked out.

Some friends of my mom and Jim's picked them up from work at 6 pm under the guise of taking my mom to dinner for her birthday.  When they arrived at the cabin my grandmother, my sister & her boyfriend, my niece, myself, my daughter, my son and another couple that are friends of my mom's were all hiding inside.  Their friends told them they had some business to take care of inside and they all needed to go in (ya, my mom was kind of freaking out at this point, LOL (just what kind of business did they have in there and who were these people anyway!)  They led her in and we all jumped out from behind a door and about gave her a heart attack.

At this point she knew nothing about my brother or my aunt coming.  We told her he had wanted to be there but he had had to work.

We had a wonderful dinner of chile reyanos (did I spell that right?)  The margaritas and SoCo was delightful and everyone was having a great time.  My mom was beaming she was so happy.  She just said that she wished my brother could have been there.  Well, around 10pm who should come walking in but himself and kind of hiding behind him, my aunt (my aunt and my mom are really close and had not seen eachother for about a year).  It was so awesome!  Getting everything together beforehand was a bit nerve wracking but everything came together just perfect.  My husband drove over the next day to spend the night and we even had my mom's best friend drive over and have dinner with us (she lives near where I do).  Mom started crying at this point and said that this was the best birthday she had ever had.  And that's all we wanted.

Anyway, hopefully I will have some pictures soon and if you are ever looking for a place to stay in the Bass Lake, CA area I highly recommend The Gaines Burrow home.  It was very reasonably priced and the atmosphere was warm and homey and just perfect.  And the owners of the home couldn't be nicer and a pleasure to deal with.

While visiting Swamp Creek Farm's blog this morning I stumbled upon a video she was sharing about Monsanto and felt compelled to pass it along.  It is part 1 of a 10 part series and it really should be seen by every single person living on this planet.  I don't intend for this blog to become all doom and gloom and darkness, but when information comes my way that I wouldn't feel right sitting on--I just have to pass it along.  So, if this kind of stuff really just doesn't float your boat, feel free to ignore.  I just can't.

Back in the Saddle Again

Okay, so not actually in a saddle really, but I am back to doing the treadmill.  I don't think I've mentioned that in the last year I have lost 60 pounds and using my trusty treadmill at least 5 days a week was a huge part of that.  I gained a lot of weight during my last pregnancy with Tino (who is, ahem...going to 10 years old this year!) and just kept gaining after he was born.  I have always used food to comfort and I had to get a handle on that.  It will always be something that I will battle--but, it can be done.  I  have about 60 pounds to go and then I will be back at my high school weight.

Unfortunately, around Samhain (Halloween) I took a day or two off of exercising and for some stupid reason I never got back on the durned thing.  I could make up every excuse in the book but it all boils down to the fact that I just didn't do it.  Fortunately, I did not gain any weight during the holidays--yay!   I was able to maintain but that also means that it has been several months since I lost anything at all.  Now, I have no problem with losing at a slow pace-- I think by doing it that way, it really gets ingrained into you how hard it is to take off each extra pound gained and you are much more likely to keep it off--but, I don't like being at a standstill.

So, tonight I got back in the saddle again and will continue to do so at least 5 or 6 times a week.  Hopefully the scale will start moving again. 

A Seed by Any Other Name

It finally arrived...

I have been enviously reading some fellow blogger's posts about all the seed catalogs showing up in their mailboxes and have been eagerly awaiting the arrival of my own.  And, today...finally...my hopes have been realized.  My Baker Creek Heirloom Seed Catalog has arrived.  I am pretty picky about where my seeds come from these days and Baker Creek is #1 on my list.  Get your orders in early, though, folks.  They sell out quickly of the more popular varieties. 

Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds was started by a 17 year old named Jeremiath (Jere) Gettle back in 1998.  Today he owns one of the largest heirloom seed companies in the United States.  Jere also produces a seasonal magazine called The Heirloom Gardener.

Jere, his wife Emilee, & Their Wee One, Sasha

Don't know what an heirloom seed is or what all the hype is about?

Heirloom seeds are seeds that have been passed down through families and have come from varieties of fruits, vegetables, flowers, etc. that are at least 50 years old.  In Jere's words, "some varieties even date back to Thomas Jefferson's garden and beyond." 

Heirloom seeds have not been genetically modified like most commercially popular seeds available today. They have not been messed with in some laboratory somewhere and changed from the original "Grand Design".  They can be saved year to year and passed down from generation to generation--which is in fact how many of them have survived to this day--without some Monsanto police stopping by your house one day and accusing you of messing with "their" patented seeds. (It has happened, people, and continues to.) You see, you are not allowed to save Monsanto seeds.    But enough about the dark side...

Once you've opened up an heirloom seed catalog and spied all the different, colorful, and whimsically named produce that you will never see on a grocery store shelf--and most important, lets face it--when you have tasted some you will be as hooked as I and a lot of my fellow bloggers are.

 

 

You just wait.

And next year, you will be the one eagerly waiting by your mailbox in late December/early January for the colorful sight of a seed catalog. 

Do You Dare?

I Stumbled Upon the Cauldron

Yesterday, in my half-assed, desperate attempt to find ideas for a small ritual I could perform during the Blue Moon, I stumbled upon a website I had never visited before:

http://www.pathcom.com/~newmoon/Homepage.htm

After reading through the Cauldron for quite awhile and really feeling Celeste's words resonating with my own ideas and beliefs, I knew I had to share it with all of you.  Enjoy...

A Clean Slate...A New Beginning...Happy New Year

I hope that everyone had a wonderful and safe New Year's Eve yesterday.  We partied quietly with my husbands cousin and his wife and some friends of theirs that are now our friends as well.  Nothing like a few shots of Southern Comfort to bring people together, LOL.  We finally drug ourselves through the door this morning at 2 a.m. after my 17 year old niece drove us home. But, let me tell you, when my son came in to wake us up at 8:30 a.m. wanting breakfast, there was only one thought flashing through my mind (and it was not Happy New Year, LOL).   It was more along the lines of  "I'm getting too old for this sh*t!"  The recovery time is way longer than it used to be!

Was that not a fantastic Blue Moon last night?  I did manage to do a small impromptu ritual that felt very thrown together at the last minute--I will share what I did in another post--and this is one of my main resolutions for this New Year.  I want to become more present in my own life.  I feel sometimes like I am stuck on fast forward.  For instance, I realized that it was to be a Blue Moon--and a very powerful one at that--yesterday morning right before I went to work.  What the hell?  This could have been an amazing opportunity to work a very powerful ritual filled with all my intentions for the coming year.  Instead, I came to it half assed and not very focused.  I do not want to let that happen again.  This is not how I want to walk this path.  I need to plug in.  So, that is what I am going to start working on.  I think it is a practice that can only bring more stability, focus, and presence into every aspect of my life.  I am excited about the possibilities.  And what a perfect day to begin.  I know that the Pagan new year is actually at Samhain but January 1st is still embedded pretty deeply in my psyche, too, so I believe with the proper intentions much good can come of this. 

I wish each and every one of you a very happy, healthy, safe & prosperous New Year.  Be blessed...and be a blessing...