Browsing through our collected pictures over the years I realized choosing those to share was harder than I thought. Every picture seemed too important to leave out, as it should be. It was then I decided to create a few collages of only a small part of our 40 years together. Mind you, these collages contain just our immediate family. To encompass all that we have lived through, all we have held dear and lost would be impossible. It would also take a lot of explaining, and who has time for that?

We both have been fortunate to live and stay in California. Something I know we love and appreciate, though I’m not saying anywhere else in the U.S. doesn’t have it’s charm. We’ve grown accustomed to the warmer climate (dang it was cold here last week, wasn’t it?), having all the amenities’ close by (can you believe that commute?), and since the last 28 years, living comfortably in a nice home. We’ve learned (ok, still learning) the grace of living harmoniously. We’ve seen the wrinkles on our faces and the graying and thinning of our hair happen at a slow, consistent pace. Our hearing is pretty much shot too. It is here where I will offer advice, because I know this much works: If you haven’t understood but a few words your spouse has just said to you, fake it. I’d say you have a pretty good chance of making them believe you’ve heard every single word. Last but not least, tell them you’ve just faked it. That kind of honesty earns you points!

Jerry and I have created and loved three beautiful boys, Jimmy, Jason and Matthew. We’ve mourned the loss of our oldest and held the younger two close to our hearts, though not always close in distance. They’ve all made us proud, teaching us how to handle a life not so fortunate and often accomplishing more than we know we ever will in our lifetimes. Children are a wonderful extension of ourselves, we watch them struggle with our weakness and find joy in our strengths. They teach us more than we realize and make us grateful in so many ways. It’s hard to believe James would have been 39 years old, that Jason is almost 33 years old, and Matthew fast approaching the big 30. Is that right Matt? Geezzzz…oh, sorry hon On that note, Happy 40th anniversary to ourselves, and love, as always. to my family.

Looking for the 2011 Fuller Times?

It’s here,

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year everyone!

So I was just a little bored today…..OK, I’m lying, I was super tired but still felt the need to make The Pioneer Woman, Ree Drummond’s famous pot roast which I just saw her demonstrate on her new Saturday cooking show “The Pioneer Woman Cooks”. The show airs this fall on Saturdays, on Food Network at 11:30 Eastern Time/10:30 Central time. Ree is just as cute on camera as she is on her website. If you haven’t read her blog about her romance with her husband you really should. If anything it will make you want to go all country, at least for a day.

http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/2011/09/2008_the_year_of_the_pot_roast/

So, as I was saying, super tired, gathering my cooking/food supplies and reach up into the cabinet above the fridge to bring down the large crockpot. We used to have a small crockpot, but after trying to cram entire meals into the super small one we had I broke down and bought a large one at Costco and haven’t been sorry since. Well, till now. I used to store the crockpot in the cabinet below our kitchen counter, but because my knees have recently decided that they are not a necessary appendage I moved the storage place where I thought it would be easier for me to get at. Certainly makes me look more attractive, reaching and stretching my body into a long lean machine to get……Right! laugh out loud or lol as it is popular to say!! When I stored the pot under the counter I always had to stick my a** in the air getting down on the floor and trying to get back up was just ridiculous, on all fours in the kitchen doesn’t look good no matter what the age!

With my body stretched high I grabbed the crockpot in both hands and started to bring it down when the lid, which I’ve always placed upside down in the pot, decided to slide off like molasses slides into the cookie bowl. All in slow motion I did a dance with the crockpot above my head, trying to recatch the lid in the pot and not drop the pot itself. When the heavy glass lid bounched off the top of my head I basically gave up and agreed to let the floor win. And now you know the rest of the story, the lid fell on the new tile floor and broke. But what you don’t know is how cool it looked when it did that.

Once the lid found it’s first target, my head, I gave up and emmediately saw a beautiful array of stars and a fuzzy blue sky. In that state I was somehow miraculously able to slow down time and watch the whole process of a large piece of glass beautifully breaking into a million little pieces. I likened it to watching a puzzle in reverse, the light from the kitchen window glistened on the clear glass pieces as they shattered and flew. And boy did they fly. That’s the one thing about a tile floor. You can slide easier on it in a pair of socks then you could on ice skates on a newly frozen pond. Dropped grapes literally roll into an unseen abiss. Maybe they join the socks that get lost during every load of laundry. Who knows, but they are never to be seen again. And dogs, wow! Now that is fun!! Throw a ball and watch your animal run like crazy in the same spot, then take off like a demon and slide right past their target. It’s hard not to be a little cruel and use your animal as a bit of lesiurely Sunday entertainment. The couch always feels softer and more cuddly when someone else is making you laugh.

Moving on to the Pioneer Woman’s Pot Roast recipe. First things first though. Cleaning up glass on tile. It is definately easier than trying to clean up a spilled mess on carpet, but it does seem more time consuming because of the glass flying factor. So now that the kitchen, TV room, and living room floors were swept and vacuumed I finally moved on to preparing the food for the roast. I will just say, after all is said and done this roast was delicious!! Now that’s what I’m talking about!!!

To begin with I’ve never seen so many children at Soup before. They seemed to outnumber the adults 10 to 1. The sign was up by the register to “please wait to be seated”. We saw the outdoor patio looked mostly empty so we asked the manager if we could go ahead and pick our seats out there instead of waiting. After a kind yes the manager carried my tray for me making it a bit easier to navigate the maze like pattern of people all around us. We set our plates pilled high of salad down on the table and started walking towards the food bar to gather the rest of our glutinous meal.

The food bar area is much like an intersection if you will, without the stop signs or light signals. Since there are no guidelines to show you where to wait your turn, the true colors of a persons character emerge like your last drink on its way back up your esphogus. With the kids out numbering adults 10 to 1, I decided it was best to proceed with caution. Children were filling their glasses with every single flavor of soda possible, waiting knee deep in line for the apple cobbler Jerry said he never saw (I sent him out for refills and dessert too afraid to venture out on my own), and eating macaroni and cheese from the pasta bar with their sticky fingers. How many ways can I say “eewwww”? The line for the multi-flavored soda fountain was 5 to 6 people deep with a young boy in front of me as I waited my turn. Just as it was this boys turn to fill his glass he turned around, looked at me and offered to let me go ahead of him! I snapped myself out of the shock that had quickly set in and kindly told him, “thank you so very much, that was very kind, you go ahead.” See I have manners and apparently one child at Souplantation that night did too.

Balancing my full drink and tray with one hand, using my cane in the other I gathered my soup bowls and starteded heading over to the soup line. There was only one person ahead of me so I felt fairly confident I could take those few steps to the counter and set my tray down without tripping then sending my high calorie drink flying all over an underdressed teenager. While cautiously walking I saw the long row of deep stainless steel barrels of soup and was trying to decide “diet” or “just this once”, when out of the corner of my eye I saw 2 girls, probably 10 and 7 years old, running at a small gallop right towards me. There wasn’t enough time or any way possible to move my sorry ass out of the way quick enough, and as far as the girls were concerned I was invisible. Before I could say “woah nelly”, while really meaning, “what the hell?” both girls ran smack into my left side stomping on both my feet. The scene that followed was quite awesome as I contorted like an acrobat on a high wire, my cane flailing around my body as if to protect me, I handled my tray as if I were a pro juggler. And then it was over. The 10 and 7 year old were in front of me laughing and giggling as if they tripped over their favortie stuffed toy. And I was behind them quite shaken and in disbelief. Moving faster than I should have and before I could control my tonque, I loudly exclaimed “That was incredibly rude what you just did. Both of you need to get out of line now.” Much to my surprise they cleared the area ahead of me and I felt a bit of calm come over my body. Well, that’s not entirely true. I was still amazed that there was not a single word uttered, no apology, no eye contact, the girls just moved out of line like a couple of blind sheep being guided by a limp, old herding dog. Willing myself to calm down I once again started to focus on the soup, with “just this once” now turned into “I sure as hell deserve this” in the line up of delectible choices. While lifting the first full ladel of tomato onion into my bowl I felt my elbow get slighty knudged from the left. Looking over my shoulder I saw the same two girls, chattering a mile a minute while going about their business and again completely ignoring me and the fact that they were all over my personal space and then some. My frustration quickly resurfaced and all images of my contorted angry face got left behind while I said even louder “Girls, get out of this line, go back to your seats and let this nice lady waiting behind you help herself first.” What happened to my mouth next I’m sure showed up on my face like a huge gaping tunnel a semi could have driven through. Immediately following my comment about letting the “nice lady” I had just suggested the girls let go ahead of them, said woman sarcasticly and with a slight snicker uttered, “that’s alright, they’re with me”.My mouth opened wide in a repeat preformance of Semi’s Going Through Huge Tunnel’s. “Oh!” I said to Ms Nice Lady watching her stand with her hand on her old lady jeans. “Did you see they just trampled over me?” Again with a snicker, this blonde, short haired woman looking more like the wicked witch of the west than I, said “No, I didn’t”. How dare I insult her by saying her child misbehaved while she was busy overfilling her plate and no where near her kids. By now with almost a complete lack of words I felt would be useful or appropriate I replied with what was now my turn to say snickerlying “Oh, I see, that explains everything!”, and turned away trying to finish filling my soup.

From there on out the Snickety MoWitch and her two stampeding girls were behind me filling their trays with soup, potatoes, bread, you name it. I tried hard not to notice anything about them wanting to push this whole scenario out of my mind as quickly as possible. I skipped filling my tray with the “you deserve it” because honestly I’d already made myself a mountainous salad to eat,and moved on to cautiously making my way back to our table on the patio. Feeling strangely happy to leave Souplantation’s famous all you can eat Soup,bread,pasta, and dessert bar I silently made a mental note to never go to a resturant at 6:30 again! Ever! I proceeded slowly to the outside patio table where my husband was waiting for me.

From our patio table I was facing a window in which I could clearly see into the resturant as well as the door right beside the window that seperated the two areas. During our entire dinner that glass door became what I now refer to it as “the revolving door of nicety”. I decided right then and there these people in the outside patio area must have taken a class in “treat others as you would like them to treat you”. In other words everyone that had any ounce of decency had come out to join us. They were there to celebrate my mature and responsible action to a couple of wild unattentended children. Well, not exactly, but this story does sound better like that doesn’t it? Still, to share this end of the story I must admit every single man, lady, girl or boy with the exception of one young asian boy who clearly thought he was a king in a foreign country by showing his strength by keeping his hands in his pockets at all time, opened or held open the glass door that led them into the resturant. In fact I probably heard more “please, you first”, or “why, thank you” and “you’re welcome” more than I had in the last year while dinning in public. In fact the next time we eat at Souplantation, and we will, that is where Jerry and I are going to sit. Because only the nice people are allowed to use the revolving door of nicety.

It was suppose to be a wonderful day at the beach with gf Jill, shown in the upper right hand corner. It was her last day of freedom before she went back to being the awesome 5th grade teacher that she is. So what do I do? Well for one, set the alarm for pm instead of am. Yes, it was nice to sleep longer, but still I missed that 2nd cup of coffee that I really don’t need.

I head out to the kitchen to grab breakfast, open the fridge and say “wtf” and “goodmorning” to myself when a ton of eggs fall on the floor at my feet! Not good enough? Bring it on! I am a grown up, I have handled much more stress that this.

Decide I need to go to the little girls before I tackle the eggs which are now crawling under the fridge to a point of “you will not be able to reach that unless you get on your hands and knees and stretch untill your back hurts” place! Finishing my duties, the feeling of the panic sets in when I realize I might just be late getting to enjoy that glass of wine while listening to the ocean waves break, so I pick up my pace just a little. Reach across the bathroom sink to grab the soap and knock the vintage china jar that holds my hearing aid on the bathroom floor. No cussing occured, I promise. A bit of disbelief, but still, let’s get on the with this wonderful, sunny, miserable morning.

Back out to the kitchen, tackle cleaning the eggs, sweating like the old woman I am because it’s already bloody hot and the air isn’t on, I move to gathering food for the beach. Ah yes, this new bottle of dark red wine will go nicely with the cheese, crackers, asparagus and sliced strawberries for lunch. Fill the container to the tippy top with wine when the container starts leaking all over the counter, down the cabinets that our son Matt just cleaned and all over the floor. No problem! I can handle that just by thinking about relaxing on the beach with my wonderful gf! While I’m cleaning I’ll just pour myself (a tiny bit) of wine, I’m driving after all and I think it’s justified!

Filling the car up with all the crap that I am going to have to haul down the hill, across the hot sand and back up again I notice that the smell in the car from yesterday has turned from “hmmmm…..that’s smell kind of moldy” to “holy shatt, I need to find the source!!”

OK, got that sorted out. BTW, Jerry missed out on a good meal from Mimi’s, spice muffin, half of an omelet, potatoes and bacon. Hello trash, can you say goodbye? Thinking I might need to take a shower before I go pick up Jill, I’m hobble into the house and grab a can of Oust to spray the hecketygone out of the car, opening all the doors. Towel, check, chair, check, cute hat, check, food drink napkins purse camera check, check, check, yada yada yada, gawd, no wonder my shoulders and back hurt, I have too much junk! Let’s lock up, call Jill, and head on out to that crisp white sandy beach for an awesome day with my gf!!! Turn the key in the car and NO!!!!!!

Yup folks, AAA towed my car to the shop and I’m still waiting to hear why it wouldn’t start! Jill and I go went lunch, skipped the wine and had a yummy lime margarita, after all we both deserve it! Thank you for all your help today Jill.

PS ty sweet sis of mine for the cute birdy honey do magnet, Jerry really does love it!! emots I win!! luboo

If you frequent your local thrift stores often enough you’re bound to find wonderful treasures. More times than not you will come home empty handed or a trunk load of items you really didn’t need. Sometimes though, if you are patient enough it is worth it. For example, the painting or picture if you will above the couch. $5.00. I know!!! I would have had to buy it even if I hated it because I mean, come on!! $5.00? Someone I knew would like it, and as it turned out it was me. The 2 (blurry photo-sorry) candle holders beside the fireplace? $5.99!! for both!! yup, heavy iron candle holders! Both candles cost more than the 2 holders! The bird ginger jar and tall flowered vase on the other side of the fireplace? Total-$16.00!! What? Large turqouise cane holder? $7.99. 2 turquoise jars on kitchen counter? $2.99 and $4.99. Geez!! 2 green vases in 2 different pictures? $1.99, $2.99. A Mickey tin you ask? For $4.99, of course! You’re on a Mickey Mouse roll, so lets grab that cute Mickey Mouse umbrella for $3.99!!! Last, (for now of course) another side table, $14.99!! Shut up and put that baby in the car!! Yes, tis sweet isn’t it?

The tile we chose is a 14″ x 14″ porcelain tile that has a look similiar to flagstone. It runs from the living room, through the kitchen, and into the TV room. We also had tile laid in the hallway, all of which matches the tile we had put in our bathrooms 2 years ago. The colors on the wall are not as intense as they appear in the photo. The living room and TV room are painted a pale green, while the hallway and the kitchen are painted a pale aqua. We are very pleased how well browns in the carpet, couch and valance’s goes with these colors.

After much discussion we decided to tile the fireplace. It had small reddish bricks around the opening and it had been laid crooked. Overall I never liked it from the day we bought the house.

Once finished and with the pencil border around the opening of the fireplace, we definately loved it. Eventually we want to buy some new logs, this is a gas fireplace, or maybe a different type of display all together.

It is so wonderful to see a straight line of tile from the living room through the kitchen and into the TV room. Makes it so easy to keep clean too! Thanks to Joe DeCillo and crew for a great, timely job!

Carpet on top of tile on top of more tile showcased the original once sought after wood grain tile linolium. It was interesting to watch the whole process of taking out the carpet, linolium and tile. 2 unawesome discoveries in the living room led to a short delay on the time frame and a big kaching on the pocketbook. The living room has a fairly large crack across the middle of the room. Where the crack is the biggest there was a rise of about 3/8th of an inch. In about 3 hours Joe DeCillio’s company ground down the 3/8″ rise. The large kaching to the pocketbook came when we discovered subterranium termites on the living room wall. Several years back we dealt with another nest of subterranium termites in a different area resulting in opening and drilling the inside of the wall and in the floor concrete. Always unpleasant stuff. Early next week the job continues….

The mopheads and lace caps are up against our house facing the SE side. During the peak summer season they really suffer, for now they are happy, happy. I had to cut a few back quite a bit, which shows in the photo. I have 2-3 off white plants the rest are different shades of pink with a random blue one thrown in!

Our families became friends, and during the day while my husband Jerry was at work I started babysitting several neighborhood children. Eventually this included watching Patrick. Our youngest son Matthew who wasn’t in school yet really enjoyed helping with Patrick. He used to wait on the sidewalk for Jill to bring him from across the street. In May of 1985 Jerry and I bought our first house. Shortly after the Bennets moved into a bigger home within walking distance of our house. They welcomed their second son Alex a few years after Patrick was born, much like our family.

It was during this time that our 2 families starting getting together during the holidays and summers. Halloween was always fun, trading costumes or carving pumpkins. Summers at the nearby Lake Mission Viejo were a fun outing. Thanksgiving dinner became a tradition, as did taking a photo with both families seated at the dinner table. As always, time marches on. As the kids grew up the parents counted their birthdays with more celebrating. We began adding Christmas, Easter, and birthdays in addition to other special events in our lives as a great excuse to get together.

Our son Jason moved out of our home, (this photo shows a mock sword fight between our two boys) during Christmas break. Matt graduated from high school and then ventured on to UCI in Irvine, a college where Jill had graduated from.

While Matthew ventured into photography, Jason continued to live up north enjoying the great outdoors. Jerry made buds with a local srub jay whom he named Jay. Patrick and then Alex attended UCI, both in medical majors. The parents were proud.

Our families continued to spend time together, marking anniversaries as they passed, enjoying the 4th of July fireworks at Lake Mission Viejo. During the summer we house sat for each other during our vacations. (Patrick and Alex shown in this photo in Hawaii.)

June of 2005 our youngest son Matt graduated from UCI with a major in Digital Arts. We are of course very proud of this accomplishment. Naturally the Bennet family attended and celebrated. More was to come of course.

Left to right, Steve Bennet, Patrick, Matthew and his father Jerry.

In 2006 Patrick followed in his mother Jill and friend Matthews footsteps when he graduated from UCI with a degree in Biological Science. At the ceremony I reflected on my memories of Patrick. The first time I met him I was surprised at what a big baby he was, all 11 plus pounds! With a mothers heart I remembered watching a video of him reading a speech when he was in kindergarten. How could that little boy be the same person as this grown young man?

In 2010 Patricks younger brother Alex also graduated from UCI with a degree in Biological Science. Although not as tall as his brother Patrick, Alex stood proudly both over his parents and my husband Jerry and I. I felt my heart swell as if I were Alex and Patricks mother watching both boys graduate. To have witnessed their rise to adulthood and to remain close friends is a great honor for me.

And still the years pass, even swifter now. All 4 boys have become men. Being friends with the Bennets throughout all these years is a truly wonderful feeling. A lifetime of joy.

I have become a mother of 5. How awesome is that?

Handed a ticket to this event I over time became unsure if I could attend. A decision which made my heart sink with sadness. Thankfully at the end wonderful friends of Patricks offered me a ride to the Pasadena Auditorium with them. A huge thank you go out to Piper and Gerard! You rock!

The staff of the Asclepius (had to look that one up!) was lit on the wall in the auditorium, never letting us forget for a moment that at the end of this ceremony we would be exiting with a lot of doctors!

The 2011 Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine graduates had their fair share of speakers. I enjoyed several of them, although I think I liked the class Vision Statement the most. “I will always be an advocate for my patients and treat them with compassion” is just one part of that statement that I’ve felt time and time again when I walk out of several doctor’s office’s.

As Patrick walked across the stage I thought “It’s almost official. I’ll have to start my calling my friend a doctor in a few minutes!”

Can you see the pride in Steve and Jill’s faces? Congratulations Dr. Bennet!

With all the activity outside the auditorium following the graduation it seemed almost overwhelming at times. Once Patrick arrived though our purpose was clear. Let’s congratulate the doctor!

Have you noticed how Patrick already looks different? It may be that he’s practicing his patience smile what with all the cameras around. Two very handsome young men standing side by side.

I was sorry to learn that the graduates did not get to keep their sashes’s. I felt they earned them with all their hard work over the last few years. I later heard comments that they were always sliding off their shoulders.

Patrick had quite a few graduating friends coming by to get their picture taken with him. His good friend Lauren here is taking just one of many.

At last it is my turn, friend to friend, Dr. Bennet and friend. Who know’s someday maybe Dr. Bennet and patient?

You never know what might happen right!