Time flies...and friends pass....

I apologize, once again, for not being online recently. I have had many things going on this week...including losing a dear friend of our family, early this morning.

Irene Bopp, mother to our children's godfather, passed away this morning. She was 89 and full of spunk, up until the last moment. I will forever remember the last time I saw Irene. It was the Sunday before my surgery, January 13th. She was walking up to the church with her walker, and I asked her how she was doing. "Oh, you know", was her polite answer. I did know. I knew that she had been struggling with an undiagnosed pain in her chest for several months now...and I feared the worst, cancer.

I didn't get a chance to see her after my surgery. She was weak, and I missed a Sunday, due to recuperation. How I will miss her frail hugs and the smell of her perfume (I believe it was White Shoulders). Her pearl or beaded necklaces that she would wear every time I saw her. Sharing "pinching" time with her at beerock making. Her FABULOUS stories of her growing up. She had a few sisters, and an honry brother who used to shoot BB's from his gun at his sisters, in order to make them do his chores. Hearing her tell about "Germantown" in Fresno....LONG before my parents were ever born. Watching her strength as her lifelong friends disassociated themselves from her and her husband, Roy, when we started having division at our church. Such a strong, poised, graceful, wonderful woman. A definate cut above the rest. They truly don't make 'em like they used to.

Her funeral will be Saturday, and I can hardly wait to pay my respects to her.

I was having lunch with two of my girlfriends from high school yesterday, and had planned on visiting her. Unfortunately, time passed so quickly, and I was in dire need of a nap before visiting. By the time I woke up, it was already past 6pm, and I made plans, in my mind, to see her today. The phone call that I received a little after 7:30 this morning, changed my plans completely, and left me with a TERRIBLE sense of guilt.

I didn't so much need to see her for MY reasons...I wanted to see her so that she knew she was loved by me. Dearly. I hold tight to the faith that she was immediately welcomed into heaven, and knows full well how much I loved her, and how much she meant to our family. I will forever have fond memories of sharing time (and holidays) with her.


That being said, the days previous in this past week were nothing short of crazy. There were days where I had 4 different trades working at the house. Good news is, the tile in the media room is finished, along with all of the tile repair that needed to be done since we replaced all of our interior doors. Also, our pool and jacuzzi are in complete working order. We have the stain and lacquer chosen for all of the doors and baseboards. Baseboards should be installed this coming week, and the painter will begin working on the doors and frames this week. We have our woodworker who has come by a couple of times, trying to match up the hew and color of the wood that he will be redoing. Once everything has been installed, then we shall start conquering the repainting of the ENTIRE interior of the house. I don't think I shall ever watch "The Money Pit" again in my life. Terrible flashbacks. Through this whole ordeal, I kept telling myself that "one little match could take care of SO many problems!" Take my advice: Build new. DON'T remodel an entire house. And, REALLY don't try to live there during the whole fiasco!

I hear my next project is to replace the 4-tier fountain we have in the front yard. It's been defective since about 6 months after it was installed... I miss it. It will be nice to get it going like it SHOULD be working.


Saw a few movies this week. Saw two last night: The Brave One (with Jodie Foster) and The Kingdom (with Jamie Foxx, Jennifer Garner and Chris Cooper). BOTH were INCREDIBLE movies. The Brave One was my favorite, I must say. Riveting.....the whole way through. I cannot recommend this movie enough. Jodie Foster is such an amazing actress, anyways...but, the whole movie was incredible. The Kingdom was excellent, also...I just felt it lacked the speed at the beginning of the movie. (It might not have helped that Dean was having me play a game of cribbage at the start of the movie, either. I can't concentrate on too many things at once, anymore.) Regardless, I couldn't stop watching, once the action began. Jason Bateman was in it also, and did a great job. It's been a long time since I have seen him in anything. He did great.

Also saw Across the Universe. That was Alyssa's request. It was....interesting. It is a musical with a lot of Beatles music and some Janice Joplin thrown in for good measure. I found it vaguely familiar to "Sgt. Pepper's" from the late 70's...just more updated....with a HUGE anti-war theme. Bono was in it, if that gives you any idea on the anti-war content. Although I didn't agree with everything it proposed, I DID find it VERY interesting how they worked their way through the Beatles lyrics, and came up with some REALLY creative spins.

We watched something else, but I can't think of what it was right now. If it comes to me, and is worth sharing, I will bring it up again later.


Tonight, Dayna has two girlfriends over, as tomorrow is a holiday from school. Hopefully, they can keep it down. I have had a couple of good night's rest...and I need a couple more. We'll see how it goes. I have to figure out what we are doing for dinner tonight. I'd go for Chinese food...but, we had that at the beginning of the week. I think the girls are vying for pizza. Yuck.


Looks like we (all 5 of us) will be traveling down to Irvine soon. Bri has picked out a college, and we need to take a look at it and figure out her housing situation. They are charging an astronomical amount for dorm-style living...for an apartment for 4 girls. Will see how that all turns out. Hopefully I can squeeze in a couple of days at Disneyland. I am hoping that JoAnn, Joe and Kohl might join us...my treat. :)

Mom and I have been talking, and it looks like we will try a road trip with the girls at some point this summer. She would like to see her old house in Venice...along with her old schools. She also brought up the fact that she has never been to her grandma Morris' burial site. I am trying to find out where she was buried at. JoAnn, if you or your mom happen to know, I would REALLY appreciate the info! If I could get the name of the cemetary, I am sure I can take it from there to find her plot. After visiting those spots, I thought I would take them all to The Original Pantry in Los Angeles...and another day, maybe The Filling Station in Orange. I like great little restaurants...let me know if you are from the area and have some recommendations! I KNOW we will be making at least ONE stop at Chris N Pitts in Fountain Valley!! ;)


Well, I am going to end this session for today. Hopefully, I will be MUCH more deligent in writing every day. Thanks for hanging in there with me....