July | 2014 | beyond cinderella

Flowers Make Everything Better

25 Jul 2014 8 Comments

by beyondcinderella in Family and Friends, General Updates, Home Decor

I have been dealing with what I call a cold sore on steroids ever since we returned home from Colorado Island ten days ago… As bad as it looks in this photo, believe me this is only half as big as it was on day one, when my whole face was swollen, not to mention how big my lip was, and OMG does it ever HURT!!!

Funny thing is that the last time I went to Colorado Island, I returned home with the very same thing on my lip and it took eleven days for it to go away… I’m thinking it is more of a sunburn. I put sun screen on my face, arms, and legs, but didn’t apply any directly on my lips.. I would rather it be a sunburn, because I would sure hate to think I could be allergic to Coronado Island… Oh NO!!!

Anyway, yesterday, when my husband, Bill/Bro came home from work, he walked into the kitchen singing “you don’t bring me flowers anymore…” He had his hands behind his back and when he turned around he had these beautiful flowers for me..

I love, love, love, fresh flowers and my favorite are carnations because they are so beautiful and last so long.

Bill said when he stopped to buy the flowers the guy behind the counter said “oh, a birthday?” Bill told him no. Then the guy said “anniversary?” Bill told him no. So the guy asked what was the occasion and Bill told him “because I have the greatest wife in the whole world..” How sweet and precious is that?

I don’t know why, but no matter how bad I feel, or what all else is going on in my life… “flowers always make everything better.”

Now all I have to do is decide where I like them best, on the kitchen table

or by the kitchen window…

I’m thinking by the window. Then I don’t have to move them when Bill and I eat dinner… 🙂 What do you think?

Thanks Bill for always being so very thoughtful and knowing that I love flowers. Because, in my world, “flowers make everything better.” Love you!

Stay Tuned!

I Like Cookies

22 Jul 2014 6 Comments

by beyondcinderella in Aging Parents, Claiming Yourself, Family and Friends, Food, General Updates

I went to visit my mother at the Care Center on Saturday. It was the first time I visited her since I returned from my trip to Coronado Island last week. When I arrived at the Care Center, mom was in the activity room playing bingo.

Instead of taking mom her usual treat, a McDonald’s Frappe, I bought a pack of chocolate chunk cookies at Costco and gave them to her. She was very excited about all the cookies. However, because my mother has been losing so much weight, I asked her to promise me she would eat her lunch before she ate any cookies…, wishful thinking on my part, but at least I try to get her to eat her meals…

We left the cookies in mom’s room and I pushed her to the dining room for lunch. The choices on the menu were Hawaiian pork or chicken quesadillas. Mom wasn’t excited about either choice, but I convinced her (or so I thought) that she liked chicken quesadillas…

However, when mom’s chicken quesadillas arrived, mom asked me “how do I eat these?” I cut them into small triangles and put a little sour cream and salsa on each and told her to eat them like little sandwiches. She took one or two bites then said she didn’t like it. I asked her to try some of her Spanish rice. She took one tiny bite of that and said she didn’t like that either.

I said “mom you always liked chicken quesadillas and Spanish rice, I made them for you when you lived with me and you said you loved them.” She said “well, I don’t like them now.” Frustrated, I said “what do you like mom?” Of course, she said “I like cookies…”

So, cookies it was…

To keep myself calm and not cause undue stress…. knowing my mother is 86 years of age, and in declining health, my motto with my mother now is “if I can’t convince her otherwise… just give in!!!” At this point, I’m all about whatever makes her happy… 🙂

Stay Tuned!

Coronado Island

14 Jul 2014 6 Comments

by beyondcinderella in Family and Friends, General Updates, Travel

My favorite place to be with my husband, Bill/Bro.

We just returned from a four-day weekend on the island, where we celebrated our 25th wedding anniversary, which was really this past September, but we held off on the celebration so we could take our daughter, Shantel, and our granddaughter Alex, with us… Crazy….? Not so much, at least not for us… 🙂

We were also celebrating our daughter, Shantel’s graduation from college, and our granddaughter, Alex’s graduation from high school. Lots to celebrate and a fun time was had by all!!!

Now, as to why it was not so crazy for us to combine our anniversary celebration with our daughter Shantel, and our granddaughter Alex…. First, we flew Alex from Colorado to our home in Chandler Arizona. Then, on the day of our departure, we picked up Shantel at her apartment, and drove together to Coronado Island…

The method to our seemingly madness was… we got Alex and Shantel their own room in the same Hotel but across the courtyard from our room so they could come and go as they wanted and so could we… Yeah!! We gave them money for their food expenses everyday, as well as spending money…. hey… what’s not to love there…? I would for sure go for that deal if someone offered it to me… 🙂

We stayed at the Crown City Inn and Bistro, right in the heart of Coronado Island.

Our hotel was just perfect, and was just a mile from the beach in front of the famous Hotel Del where we love to plant ourselves for the day and just watch the ocean waves, people, and of course walk up and down the beautiful Coronado beach…

Nothing, absolutely nothing, can replace the feeling of putting my toes in the waters of Coronado Island… Each and every time… so many memories come flooding back to my mind as I remember when Bill and I first discovered Coronado Island together (27 yrs ago, even though we were celebrating our 25th anniversary) , and so many years of happy vacation times well spent here on this island… Again, Nothing, absolutely nothing, can replace those memories for me…

This year, this is how the REAL ” beautiful people” spent their time on Coronado Island…

And this is how the others spent their time… (which we have been fortunate enough to partake in ourselves once, and are very thankful for that experience… 🙂

If you notice in the picture above this one… Bill is holding his umbrella… I asked him if he was embarrassed to be holding his umbrella… he said no, because if you look around at some of the people (in the picture below)…. I’m sure they would love to have my umbrella in a couple of hours.. I had to agree.. 🙂

When we are not sitting on the beach watching people, or the ocean waves… ,we like to go looking for ocean creatures… like these little crabs we always find in the rocks…

And there is always some unexpected surprise like this flower growing right out of the rocks..

But, as much as Bill and I love Coronado Island…, as always, our time there had to come to an end… So with high expectations of Bill and I returning together again…, I said my good-byes once again to Coronado Island…

Stay Tuned!

Pool Buddy

10 Jul 2014 2 Comments

by beyondcinderella in Family and Friends, General Updates, Health and Exercise, Humor

I love being in and around water. Every morning, in the summertime, I jump in our pool and do my morning exercises. I swim laps, do jumping jacks, leg lifts, and jog around the shallow end of the pool…. However, I also love spending time just playing in the pool. So I couldn’t be happier that our granddaughter, Alex, who is visiting us from Colorado loves playing in the pool too! I have never been one of those grandmothers to just sit on the side and watch their grandchildren have fun… No, not me… if they ask me to play with them I won’t hesitate one minute especially if water is involved… 🙂

I bought some pool rafts in anticipation of Alex’s visit, hoping she would say she wanted me to go play in the pool with her… Obviously, if you are going to play on a pool raft… you have to first climb up on the raft and stay there without falling off… Alex jumped right in the pool and hopped right up on her raft the very first try… Hey, she’s 18 and very limber… me… not so much. 🙂

Alex had a real fun time watching me trying to get up on my raft.

After several attempts I gave the big thumbs up that I made it. Yeah me! 🙂

Once on the raft, the next order of business was to paddle over to Alex so we could actually hold on to each other’s raft and float around and chat about anything and everything. We had a lot of grandma/granddaughter bonding time to catch up on.

Once I reached Alex, and caught on to her raft, I realized we were not facing the right way and we needed to get turned around so we would be head to head so we could chat better….

Finally, after a lOT of maneuvering…, I was able to get turned around so Alex and I were head to head. Alex had fun watching me trying to accomplish that too. Suddenly, I realized that I seemed to be the only one making all the difficult moves to get us in the right position to chat… I found out it’s all about who ever gets up on their raft first stays put and the other one has to keep trying to get in the right spot… I guess I’ll have to keep practicing that first leap to get on the raft on the first try… 🙂

In the end, it didn’t matter which way we were facing, Alex and I floated all around the pool laughing and chatting the evening away. What a great pool buddy she is!

Stay Tuned!

Vacation

09 Jul 2014 4 Comments

by beyondcinderella in Family and Friends, Humor

My husband, Bill/Bro and I have had a vacation to Coronado Island in California planned for months. Both Bill and I love Coronado Island, and have spent many vacations there over the years. It was one of the very first vacations we took in the very early years of our relationship, and we absolutely fell in love with the Island…From our home, it is about an hour away by plane, and six hours by car, which makes it always an easy to get to get away…. Most anywhere you want to go on the Island is within a mile or two making it perfect to walk or bike (our hotel supplies bikes at no cost) around town and to the beautiful Coronado Island Beach…

So naturally, we choose Coronado Island as our vacation destination to celebrate our 25th anniversary, which was really this past September, but we decided to save the celebration date so we could also take our daughter, Shantel, and our granddaughter Alex, to celebrate their college and high school graduations as well….

Alex lives in Colorado, and will be attending Seton Hall University in New Jersey in the fall so this will be the last time we visit with her for a long time. We got Shantel and Alex their own room together in the same hotel we are staying at, and Bill and I are so looking forward to having our “alone time, including dinner alone, to celebrate our anniversary. We are also looking forward to spending time together, at the beach, and lunch/dinners, with Shantel and Alex over the course of our stay…

Our granddaughter, Alex, arrived Tuesday morning. Both Bill and I picked her up at the airport and spent the rest of the day just hanging out together in our home…. We spent a good deal of time talking and just reconnecting… but then we told Alex to just make herself at home and do whatever she wanted to do… Bill took a day off (Tuesday) to be there to welcome Alex when she arrived, but he had to work Wednesday (today) and Thursday (tomorrow) before he starts his actual vacation… Hold that thought…

This is Alex and Bill just hanging out together after her arrival..

While Bill and Alex were “hanging out together… ” I told Bill that since Alex was here now…, I was going to take Alex with me on Wednesday to Shantel’s apartment so we could take her to get her groceries and then I was going to take the girls to the mall … I said they both want to go to McDonald’s for breakfast which I would treat them to, then the mall, and I would treat them to lunch as well… Because I said “let’s just consider tomorrow as the first day of vacation…

Bill smiled his big boyish smile that I so love… and said “I’ll try to remember that tomorrow is the first day of vacation while I’m at work… Opps,, my BAD…. but I did pack your breakfast and lunch honey. All you have to do is put it in your lunch box in the morning….. 🙂

I sooooooooooooo love that man and his sense of humor… if not for humor… I don’t think we could have ever made it this far. 😉 😉

Stay Tuned!

Summer Trips

05 Jul 2014 4 Comments

by beyondcinderella in Family and Friends, Food, General Updates, Humor, Travel

Lots of summer activities happening here at our little Chandler Arizona Ranch Home this summer. Our granddaughter, Alex, is coming soon from Colorado to spend a week with us. Part of her time will be spent here with us at home, and part of her trip will be spent with us in California, on Coronado Island, which is both my husband, Bill and my, all time favorite vacation playground by far. Bill and I have spent many, many, summer vacations on Coronado Island… We LOVE, LOVE, LOVE it!! 🙂

Then, in August, my cousin, Kathy Vezie Barton will arrive, and stay with us for 10 days. Bill and I are so excited to have Kathy come and visit. Of course since I am a planner… I planned lots of day trip activities for Kathy and I to do while Bill is at work, as well as overnight trips Bill, Kathy, and I will take together… But today, Bill and I took a drive from our home in Chandler, to Cave Creek Arizona. I wanted to scout out cowboy/cowgirl type towns I can take Kathy to where she can get a real feel for the “old, wild, wild, west… and Cave Creek fits the bill perfectly!

Bill and I drove to Cave Creek and had lunch at the Buffalo Chip Saloon & Steakhouse this afternoon.

When I take Kathy here, I am sure she will feel as if she stepped into a time machine and is truly standing in the “wild, wild, west” of days gone by… All that was missing was the dance hall girls…but remember it was lunch time and I’m sure they don’t venture out until later in the evening… 🙂

Immediately upon entering the establishment, we were told to seat ourselves (remember it was lunch time, we later found out that in the evening, during tourist season which is Sept – May, you may need reservations to get in… who knew?) One of the first things I noticed was this rustic box sitting on each table with help your self to napkins, silverware, and condiments…

Our waitress, Lynn, was a lovely, chatty Cathy… ( I told Bill I think we finally met someone who can talk more than I do…) but Lynn was a fountain of information… telling us all about the history of the Buffalo Chip Saloon & Steakhouse. For example:

Lynn told us when this restaurant first opened cowboys and cowgirls would come in and order food then say they left their money in their saddle bag, or vehicle… yeah, right… so they were told to “leave their boots and go get their money… apparently, by the many, many, boots that line the rafters of Buffalo Chip Saloon & steakhouse… not many of those cowboy/cowgirls ever came back to settle their bill…

Buffalo Chip Saloon & Steakhouse features live music and dancing 7 nights a week. Bill and I had our photo taken on the dance floor… right in front of the “beer wagon… Ya Hoo!!!

and in front of the “belly up to the bar, bar… 🙂

Buffalo Chip Saloon & Steakhouse also offers Live Bull Ridding on Wednesdays and Friday nights!!! Oh, my!!! Get your chaps ready Kathy… 🙂

They also offer free dance lessons on Thursdays and Sunday nights. 🙂 No wonder they were voted Best Western Saloon & Restaurant! Cowboys/Cowgirls giving you free dance lessons… who could ask for more? Even Bella is busting at the seams over this… 🙂

But wait…, just when I thought it couldn’t get any better… they also have an outdoor bar and wagon camp complete with Dutch oven dinners…

The only drawback I could see for my cousin Kathy… is she lives in Pittsburg Pennsylvania, and just may be a Steelers fan… unfortunately, Buffalo Chip Saloon & Steakhouse is a Cheese Head establishment… Yes, and they boast that throughout the facility… they even have artifacts from past bets where some woman said if the Packers lost she would take off her bra ( under her shirt) but they now have it proudly hung on the outside bar wall… along with their Green Bay Packers emblem…because as I was reminded over and over again .. their establishment is Green Bay Packers all the way…

Now, Kathy, I am not a sports person at all… but I am assuming, coming from Pittsburgh, you would be a Steelers fan… so not to worry… apparently several of the restaurant establishments along Cave Creek Highway proclaim their support of their various teams very proudly… and it just so happens, right next door to the Buffalo Chip Saloon & Steakhouse, is another establishment we can check out ( sorry I didn’t get a photo) because I’m told they proudly hang a banner from their restaurant saying “This Is Steelers Country In the Wild West..”

Can’t wait for you to get here Kathy… we are going to have sooooooooooooooo much FUN!!

Stay Tuned!

beyond cinderella

Flowers Make Everything Better

I Like Cookies

Coronado Island

Pool Buddy

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