Writer's Workshop: Make "last" Last.

4. Write a blog post inspired by the word: last.

At this time last year, we had our family reunion. My husband's side. Lots and lots of people. Our son (my stepson... but that doesn't matter) was there.

He didn't bring his girlfriend... She didn't want to come. We'd never met her. She felt that it was too big of a step. That in her "culture" (she was Vietnamese), it was a huge deal to meet parents. Forget the fact that our son was LIVING with her and HER SON was calling him "Dad" and had even given him a Father's Day card. So... he sat in his chair. For most of the day. His cell phone on his ear. Arguing with her about what he did wrong this time. He was so occupied with her. It was really sad. He said goodbye to us all and told us he loved us. And then he left.

Little did we know.

It was the last time we saw him alive and talking. It was his last good bye.  It was his last, "I love you."

Less than a week later, he swallowed his last cocktail. It was a corrosive. It gave him his last breath on his own.

And less than a week after that horrible day, he took his last breath on a ventilator. We said our last good bye.

RIP - Jr. I know this was one of your proudest moments.
We love you and this of you every day.

Please visit Mama Kat and check out other posts. There were lots of prompts to choose from, and much happier ones, too. I'll post another tomorrow that's more upbeat... but this is where my mind was today. Sorry for the bummer...

Beachy Fun

I have a lot of catching up to do! So if this all seems far behind... remember, I'm just catching up! So... here goes...

G-Ma and the Gang! As the first actual outing with just Grandma and her grandchildren [sans babysitting], the beach (we went to Huntington) was a wonderful and peaceful experience. Right before Spring Break, we (my mom, my brother's boys, my girls and I) went to the Beach. It was a beautiful day. A little hazy, but that burned off in the early early afternoon.

Mr. J loves the ocean. He loves to pick up the wet sand and dribble it through his fingers, run it through his toes... He loves to get wet and have the waves chase him up the shore. He is always laughing and playing and just having fun. His laugh is infectious and makes you smile. (Right here, he doesn't look too happy... I think we were calling him up to eat... lol!)

Mr. M is as cute as he looks. He didn't like the ocean very much at all. Actually, he screamed when the water tried to tickle his little feet! [It really was pretty cold... I didn't go in either!] But, Mr. M had a great time playing peek-a-boo, hanging in the shade and making sure he got attention at every. single. moment. He loves the camera, too. Kept trying to reach for it, and move other body parts into the view. (See his foot? Isn't it just WAY adorable!!!)

Miss Marissa is such a cutie [when it comes to the beach]. Along with Mr. M, you couldn't stay away from the waves and the sand, as they were continuously running about into it. Luckily, she just loves her life jacket and wouldn't be caught dead [in the water] without it. Marissa had lots of luck that day... she just kept finding sand dollars... almost whole ones, without much damage to the shells. She loved playing with her cousin(s) so much, she didn't want them to go home.

Grandma made sand castles with her grandkids (I took control of the camera, with Mr M's help, of course)... We all just enjoyed the sun and the fun and made the best of our day! You see, we rarely see them, and we are rarely all together. Even though we all live in Southern Cali, life is busy. We all have different schedules and lots to do. So... we cherish every moment we have with them and with each other.

Just a little note (off-topic), I am getting seriously tired of Blogger! The formatting doesn't do what you code it to do and it just does your own thing (I really did not format the original this badly!... So... don't be surprised if I find another venue to switch to... On the lookout... any suggestions?

Going, Going... Almost GONE!

Here, the summer is going by so fast. The kids here (we are on a "modified" traditional schedule) have been out since mid-June. They started summer school a week and a half later (June 25th). They will finish this Friday. New packet pick-ups for the 2008/2009 year are Monday, enrollment/registration is the following week (August 3-6), then they go right back to school mid-August (the 13th!). It was a rush! It is almost gone. Where did it go? I believe it went away with the lower gas prices...

The girls are excited though. I've been showing them things that were revealed at the Summer 2008 CHA!

Cricut is coming out with a "Tinkerbell and Friends"cartridge! Rey loves Tink, and so does Renee (the other one), so I should be able to do some awesome things with that, provided I can get one. I was a little bit disappointed though. It appears that the friends are her woodbound pixie people. I was hoping for a little bit of Peter Pan, Hook, the Crocodile, some Lost Boys, Wendy, Nana, and the bunch... I guess I thought her friends were a different lot. Duh! (Huh?)

Then... I got another major blow by Cricut! I was so excited about the Hello Kitty cartridge. I some of the shapes and fonts on the cartridge and was delighted. Then... I got on a website that was taking pre-orders. Whoops again! Apparently, they are dividing it up and are doing a "Hello Kitty Greetings" cartridge and a Hello Kitty Font cartridge. Ugh! I'm not that wealthy!

But... Cricut is coming out with a Pixar Cars cartridge. I am also really excited for that. There is no font cartridge to go with it... just the shapes. Still pretty cool.

Cricut also came up with a deep cutter (yeah! I'll finally be able to cut that magnet sheet I've dreamed of cutting...) and an embossing folder? and a stamp maker? We'll see how this stuff goes. I have to read more on it...

I've been watching for lots of the other lines. Pretty neat stuff. There is a really cool "icing" to go with my chalks. Love the chalks! Lots of really cool neato new papers. Bazzill (a line of cardstock - mostly) came out with a 12x12 sheet of "Swiss Dots." Yippee! I can do so much with that, as I don't have a Cuttlebug to emboss, so I am SO glad for this!

Besides watching CHA over the internet and not winning anything (I'll try to stop harping on that one any day now...), we did go to Juan's 25th Annual Family Reunion. It was pretty ok. The weather was much cooler than here, and it seems there were more people than last year. That's always good. My 20th High School Reunion was that night also... I skipped it... no desire to go. It was too expensive, and I don't believe in the "fake" formal things.

I let the girls (mine) pick out a pattern last week and cut up their shirts. I had to approve it ahead of time (of course), but they picked out a modest girly pattern. Much cuter than those ugly crew necks! So... we cut up 5 shirts here. I took my scissors... just in case. Sure enough, I did about 6 shirts at the Reunion. I could have done more, but appeared busy. I wanted to enjoy myself, take pics, and socialize! Not work... [Here's a link to the video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8-FN-J283XU (youtube). I'm not sure about infringement rights and such, otherwise I would've downloaded the video directly to my blog... I'm sure I'll figure it all out as time goes on; however, any comments to direct me in the right direction are also welcome! Thanks!]

The food was so-so. It used to be everyone brought homemade items. I get it. A lot of people don't have time anymore, so now you see a ton of store-fried chickens, rotisseried chickens, purchased baked goods, pizza, salads, etc. I made homemade garlic bread sticks and brought spaghtetti sauce for dipping. Other people must have liked it... I didn't have any to take home.

I got some great pics. I can't wait to print them and put them into pages associated for family. Some of them are really cute. Marissa discovered Barbies there. YIKES! But to see her play happily with other kids was great. She really entertained herself with all of her "new" friends. Juan actually played volleyball this year. So... I took the action shots (you just can't tell he hit the ball out of bounds!). They will go great in my book.

It's amazing that something I thought "just" happened (last year), happened again so quickly. It was anticipated; it came and went really fast; and here we are... anticipating another year. Time is going... too fast. Gotta go! Toodles for now! lisa