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Archive for Renee Spindle

Milestone Events and the Decades

Posted on April 21, 2012 by Renee Spindle

My life has had a lot of major “milestones”, as I’m sure most of you have had too. And for some kismet-ish reason most of them have been life changing, and have happened when my age was transitioning from one decade to the next. Interesting huh. So, I thought since this is my birthday month I would share my milestones with you.

1991, I’m age 30- A working mom with three kids; ages almost 10, 4, and almost 3, and number four on the way. Zachary Gene was born on July third of that year. He was a big 10 lb. 10 oz. baby boy, and so mellow, Mr. Mellow. Oh and in case I haven’t shared this with you previously, Zach’s name starts with a Z because he was the last child to grace our family. Ha!

Now move ahead to 2001- I’m now 40. My marriage of almost 20 years came to an end, and then Zach was diagnosed with leukemia. Both of these events happened within 60 days of each other. I have shared with all of you before, the only way we got thru this was absolutely, positively one day at a time. So incredibly thankfully for my great family. For some odd reason I remember that my Mom gave me a Barbie themed birthday party this year. Just her way of reminding me to smile and have fun.

Fast forward to 2011- Last April I turned 50, can you believe half a century old. Where in the world did the time go! At the end of April I resigned from the company I was with for 5 years. My career in administration and bookkeeping that had kept me busy and stressed for the last 25 years needed a little rest. The main thing about this change at age 50, is I had the choice to make the change. I chose to resign, I chose (after much discussion with Travel Man) to become a Domestic Goddess, and I had to choice to choose. My 50th birthday party was so amazing. Surprised by my baby sister who flew in from Montana for the event. Surprised by the entire family with my own bagpiper, a personal concert. The most amazing musical experience I have ever encountered.

At this moment in time, I know that my next decade with be filled with adventures, happy times, sad times, and much, much more. But, more than ever I finally realize that I am completely in control of my destiny (or as I like to say “density”), and will continue to explore new avenues, and fun-filled times.

No comments Posted in Around the House, Family

Baseball through Evan’s Eyes

Posted on April 18, 2012 by Renee Spindle

Kids, and especially my grandson, have an entirely different perspective on things than we adults do. At our recent family outing to the Angels game, Evan got permission to use my camera, with the wrist strap on of course. He took some really interesting pictures, and I wanted to share the ballpark experience with everyone through Evan’s eyes.

The Ball Field:

The Fans:

The sky was an amazing blue on game day:

The Fam:

There is always time for the self portraits:

If you know anything about Evan’s picture-taking adventures you know he loves to take pictures of these:

The six-year-old perspective is so amazing, and I absolutely love how he always takes pictures of his feet!!

Evan loves to take pictures. Maybe he needs his own digital camera (not!). There’s probably an e-book somewhere in Evans future, where we’ll collect all of the pictures he’s taken over the years. I’m sure we’ll see lots of pictures of those feet.

No comments Posted in Evanisms, Family, Sports

Happy Days, Sad Days in the Kitchen.

Posted on April 13, 2012 by Renee Spindle

Last week was my birthday week, and my Wonderful Travel Man got me this really cool Mr. Coffee, Cafe Latte machine. I did not even know Mr. Coffee made this type of machine. This wonderful gadget brews the espresso, and then drips it into the coffee pot where the milk is frothing. The entire process happens in the same pot. It’s amazing! Plus you can make all kinds of flavored lattes, hot chocolates, and sugar-free lattes. I’ll be trying out a pumpkin latte this weekend! I’m looking forward to having my lattes, and saving money with no more trips to Starbucks. Travel Man made himself a hot chocolate earlier this week, and it was creamy, chocolaty and truly delicious. This has been our happy days, this week in the kitchen.

Earlier in the week, probably Tuesday or Wednesday, Evan asked me if I could make him a loaf of bread. So, I told him sure I would make him his own loaf to take home. So yesterday I put all of the ingredients in the bread maker, got it set-up to make our favorite loaf of white bread, and went on about my afternoon. About an hour or so into the process I go to check on how much longer the bread has to bake. I can’t see straight into the bread maker, so I grab the nearest flashlight, and look down in there and see all of the ingredients just sitting there staring up at me, and not mixed one bit! Then Bryan and I realize the bread maker smells bad, like something is burning bad. We open the lid of the bread maker to see what is going on and there is a small fire. We have flames!!! Bryan blows out the flames, and we quickly unplug the bread maker, and it smells terrible. I’m guessing that the yeast got heated up and there is some obnoxious smell coming from the yeast, and the heating element. It was terrible.

We get the bread pan out of the bread maker so it can cool off, and this morning I had to throw my lovely bread maker away. I was advised by Travel Man that I should make no attempts to plug it back in and see if it’s “ok”. So, sadly into the trash it went. I will get another bread maker eventually (hint-hint), but for now my bread making will just go “old school”. I plan to get out my recipes and just make some bread the old-fashioned way, and maybe some cinnamon rolls too. What fun have you had with your gadgets in the kitchen this week? Happy weekend everyone from a rainy, and thundery Southern California.

No comments Posted in Around the House, Family, Food

We made it to an Angels Game!!

Posted on April 12, 2012 by Renee Spindle

What a feat. 12 tickets purchased, 12 family members all assembled at Angels stadium. This is a family outing that has not happened in years and years.

My family, at the party house, are huge fans of Angels baseball. It has been a long-standing, favorite pastime of most of my family members to enjoy the games on TV, and we also try to make it to the stadium for a game or two in a season.

This past Saturday was one of those times. My son, Bryan, made an extremely early trip to Angels stadium a few weeks ago to buy tickets for all of the family who could make it to the game. This also happened to be our family’s birthday celebration day for myself, and my son-in-law. All in all there was a group of twelve of us that made our way to the stadium for the second game of the Angels open weekend games.

This was a 1:00pm game so we were prepared to be sitting in the sun for most of the game. We donned hats and sunglasses, slathered on sunscreen, and made sure we had our water bottles with us. In attendance at the game were myself, Travel Man, my parents, our niece Mary, son Bryan, daughter Hilary, Evan with his parents, and my brother Jim, with his girlfriend, Elaine. Whew!! What a group! Here’s a shot of almost everyone.

When we got to our seats we were totally in the shade for the first 3½ innings (yay!), good planning Bryan! So we weren’t completed melted by the middle of the game! It’s always fun going to the stadium to see the game. The singing of our national anthem, an F-18 flyover, and the first pitch being thrown out. Play ball!!! Singing “Take me out to the ball game”. What a great tradition.

The Angels didn’t win this game but we had some great family time. Evan is old enough now that he is asking questions about the game, and pays attention to the numbers on the scoreboard. He’s our Angels fan in training.

Everyone got to have their favorite stadium treat. Peanuts, frozen lemonades, hot dogs, and nachos. All those treats that cost wayyyyy too much but are part of the experience. Evan got a foam finger, and we all got fleece blankets with the Angels logo. Really cool. It’s so much fun to get to do a group outing like this. I hope we get to have a few more of these over the summer. When’s the last time you got your entire group together for an outing?

No comments Posted in Family, Sports, Travel Man, Travels

Thank you’s to all of you

Posted on April 11, 2012 by Renee Spindle

As I was looking at the stats for my blog this morning, yes I’m analytical like that, I discoverd I broke the 3,000 views marker. I have been blogging and telling the world my stories since last August. In that process I have discovered that I like to write, and tell my life stories. It’s fun to share the life happenings around the Party House from the past and present. My Mom keeps telling me, “Who knew you could write, and enjoy it?”

I found this quote from Hemingway that rather sums up my writing experience to date;

“It’s none of their business that you have to learn to write. Let them think you were born that way.”

So thank you to everyone who has been following my writings, and stories. My plan is continue on my writing journey and expand it to share the stories of our family and our everyday experiences. Wishing each and everyone of you a wonderful week. May all your dreams come true.