Jubilant June

June 30 - Just to finish out the month so that we can begin July with a clean slate, here is my selfie from this month:

I am in my craft room, working on new projects and I was following a scrapbook challenge at the time, which asked for a selfie at my work table.  I really love being there and creating new things or updating my concert album, sadly far behind.  I have lots of plans for projects, if I just didn't have to do "real" work!     

Here is the Full Strawberry Moon that we had on the 20th.  The Strawberry Moon asks, "What delights you?"  I guess the answer to that is pretty obvious from the picture above.  

Just in case you were wondering, here are some of the recent pages I have made for the concert album.  These are the last two shows we saw in 2008, Tina Turner in San Jose and ACDC in Oakland.  I was still using my old camera and our seats were not that close but I think I captured the essence of them.  I want to hurry up with these old pictures so I can start documenting the recent concerts where my camera has a better zoom and we are sitting closer!  But, all good things take time and I don't want to make this a sloppy album just to get it done.  

Each concert I am able to put in the book, brings back the memories and I am having a great time reliving them.  

In this Jubilant June we have also gone through a pretty major surgery on my husband, who came through it quite nicely even if he does have a scar running down his left leg, and we are spending the last day getting ready to move our daughter to Rohnert Park for her Junior year at Sonoma State.  The fun never ends at our house it seems!  

How has your June been?  Ready for some July madness?    

Jubilant June

June 29 - Half a year gone already.  Seems like just yesterday it was January and I was making my vision boards for the year.  Now we are almost at the end of June and I am reflecting on what I/we've accomplished so far this year and what needs work on for the next six months.  Using my vision boards I can see that there actually has been quite a bit of progress!





Starting with the "Home" card, I think this is where we have made the most changes.  We got a new mattress, and purged some things from the closets, but most of all, gave the outside a much needed facelift!

Isn't she pretty?  Next comes yard work, but we need to build up our financial reserve a bit first.  For now it will be just making some dump runs and using the weed whacker to clean it up. 

The other card that has gotten a lot of attention is Travel.  

I really wanted to get away, just my husband and I, for a few days to relax.  I guess we could have picked a calmer place than Las Vegas, maybe somewhere in the mountains?  But, I knew that he's been wanting to go to Vegas for a while now so that's where we went.  We did get to see the Grand Canyon, and we did spend time with each other, without the distractions of our usual surroundings.  Maybe later in the year we'll go to Carmel...

The next card is about finances.  

You might think that we are deeper in debt now because of the home improvements, but with a bit of creative money juggling, we actually are not that far in the hole.  We were able to shave $4000 off our "pre-remodel" debt and now that hubby's Social Security Disability has been accepted, we will have a better income than we have had for the past year. 

Business is another card.  

This is one of the areas that I think I need to focus on over the next six months.  I have two things going on, the transcription business that is my real job and the crafting business that I want to be my real job.    

I have read the book by Marc and Angel Chernoff about being happy and successful and found that a lot of their ideas I was practicing already, so I know I'm on the right track.  Here again, organization and planning will help, so I have made an inventory notebook of a lot of my crafting tools (stamps, punches, templates, etc) so that will help when I am looking for something particular and so that I don't buy duplicates.  I also participated in one vendor fair and have an application ready for another.  They won't buy what they can't see, right?  

I am hoping at some point to be able to transcribe less and craft more, but I still have some learning to do about different techniques and how to incorporate blogging and a website into my creative endeavors.  I'm thinking about adding videos and showing how I make some of my projects. My main goal is to be able to continue to work for myself from home and not have to go back out into that jungle.  

And last but not least, is the Healthy Me card.  It seems that I just get started on a healthy program for myself and something happens to derail me (or I should admit, I allow myself to be derailed).  I need to realize that I am worth taking the time and effort to be the best person that I can be and also to know that I am pretty darn good right now as well.   

I am taking steps to get more activity into my life, as I feel my joints starting to stiffen up from sitting so much and I already have bad knees and diabetes.  I know I am capable of following a healthy eating plan because I have done it and had some success.  

But it is important to have mind and spirit health as well as physical health and to that end I am going on an "Inner Excavation" with Liz Lamoreux.  It is a six week exploration of self-care and the inner me.  I started it last year but didn't finish.  I'm hoping to get farther along this time.  You can read all about it here.  Feel free to join in!  

And that is how we end the first half of 2016.  I am sure there are many more adventures awaiting us for the next 6 months, after all, we still have 8 concerts to go to, include ADELE, that I just was able to score tickets to.  You will remember what a hard time I had trying to get them when they were first on sale.

How about you?  Did you have goals set for this year?  Are you meeting them?  Love to hear about your experiences!  Leave me a comment :)

 

Jubilant June

June 19 -- Happy Father's Day

This is the only picture I have of my dad as a youngster.  He is on the far right and to me, looks like a hooligan.  His older sister was queen of something (she's the one in the middle with the hat) so I am supposing they took a family photo for the occasion.  I love old photos like this and sadly, I don't have that many from my father's side.

My dad was very proud of his plants.  He was a florist and at one time was part owner in a local nursery.  When the nursery closed down, he worked as a delivery man, picking up flowers in the early morning from the flower market and delivering them to florists up and down the Peninsula.  He loved his flowers. 

He also loved my mother and my sisters and I.  You can just tell by the way he is looking at her in this picture.  I think that's one of the reasons my own marriage has lasted so long.  I had an excellent example from my parents.  I used to say that I was his favorite because I was born on March 10 and his birthday was March 13.  Mom and I were able to come home from the hospital on that day, so I said I was his birthday present.  

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                            He was a bit of a prankster as well.  He would dress up when the occasion warranted, even wearing a dress one time when my mom wanted to wear pants (a thing he did not approve of -- very old fashioned he was!)  I'm sure he had the B. S. on the front of his shirt to signify something other than his name ("Bash Stagnaro"), and would have had a good laugh with his buddies.  

My parents and their friends went on several bus and train trips to Reno in their time.  He probably asked the bus driver if he could sit in the driver's seat on this particular trip.    He usually wore a cowboy hat instead of a ball cap.  In fact, I don't think I've ever seen him with a ball cap on, although he liked to watch baseball and football. 

He was also a great handyman.  In our backyard he built a huge table and a big barbecue pit so that we could have the neighbors over for summer barbecues.  Our Fourth of July parties were legendary!

He was a fan of the "selfie" before anyone knew what they were.

I think this picture is from one of the last cruises that he and my mother were able to go on.  Sadly, he died way too soon, somewhere in his late sixties.  He never met my husband or the children, something that I am sad about.  I am sure he would be proud. 

I have many memories of my dad and I will make sure to pass those along to the kids so that they will know a little bit about their grandfather.  Happy Father's Day, Dad.  I love you! 

Jubilant June

June 16 - 2016 Reading challenge

Book # 8 - A Thousand Days by Arthur Schlesinger, Jr.

Definitely not breaking any speed reading records with this year's challenge.  Pretty sure I'm not going to make 52 books!

I did finish Zen Pencils 2 and it was pretty good.  I may look for the first one in the library because I think I could handle it in two weeks :)

On to Book 8:

This will fulfill my Political Memoir category.  It is over 1000 pages so I know it will take me some time but I have always loved stories about the Kennedy's and this seems to be written in a way that is not strictly about politics, but also about the human side.  At least the first few chapters have been easy reading so far.  Mr. Schlesinger was Special Assistant to the President so he was privy to a lot of the personal behind the scenes happenings in the Kennedy White House years.  Since this is an election year, reading about the steps leading up to electing the President is kind of interesting as well.

Wish me luck!

Jubilant June

June 15 --

Wow, half of June gone already.  Another busy month for us, but hopefully things will slow down a bit now.

Yesterday was Flag Day, significant in that it was the 100th Anniversary of proclamation by Woodrow Wilson that June 14 was the day we Americans would celebrate the adoption of the Stars and Stripes as our country's flag, which we proudly display from our porch on all the significant holidays.

June 14th is also significant in the fact that 20 years ago we moved into this house.

I was very pregnant with our youngest daughter at the time so I could not do much of the physical moving but I still remember putting the key in the lock for the first time and knowing that the house was ours.   

For the first time we were not able to fly our flag from the porch because we have not put up the flag holder yet after our recent renovations.

It definitely looks much better now with her face lift.  We still have some work to do with the yard, front and back, but at least we know our investment is protected from the elements for another 50 years or so.  

Even though it is not the same color, I still get that feeling when I put the key in the lock!  This is OUR home.  

Jubilant June

June 3 -  Who Are You?

On May 19 we saw The Who in Oakland.  This is another one of those bands that we wanted to make sure to catch because while the name of the tour is The Who Hits 50, the founding band member are more like in their seventies and how much longer can they keep touring?  

They did pretty much cover all their hits and we had the added excitement (?) that it was Pete Townshend's 71st (told you!) birthday that night. 

He certainly didn't do any of this!

They had a large screen behind them and showed lots of pictures from their 50 years of hits.

This was the one during "Behind Blue Eyes."

                                          Peter stopped a few times during the show to chat up the crowd and seemed to enjoy bringing up the fact that "It is my birthday..." to which the crowd cheered, and to pay tribute to fallen band members, Keith Moon and John Entwistle

Roger Daltrey shared a few of his own stories (like the time he got a girl pregnant early in their career and then married her but it didn't work out).

But mostly it was about the music and after 21 songs, there wasn't one I could think of that they missed.  

Pinball Wizard

It was a great start to our 2016 concert series.  One down, eight more to go.  

What about you?  Ever seen The Who?    

Jubilant June

June 2 --

Since May was here and gone in an instant, I'm going to take today to recap some of the things I had planned to post but didn't get a chance to:

First there is the May selfie:

I've been wearing my hair up so much that I didn't realize how long it was getting.  

I finished "The Devil Wears Prada" for my 2016 book challenge and have started "Zen Pencils Volume Two, Dream the Impossible Dream" by Gavin Aung Than. This is going to fulfill my "Graphic Novel" category.  Mr. Than takes quotes from famous people and turns them into cartoons.  I heard about this book from one of the participants in the A to Z Challenge I did in April.   

Last, but not least is the shot of the full moon that occurred on May 21:  

That about covers the bits and pieces leftover from May except for the Who concert that we went to on the 19th and an update on the house beautification project, but those are kinda big stories so I'll give them their own space in the next couple of days.  I know you can't wait!