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It Was Time to Retire the Firestick

Posted on July 21, 2015 by Renee Spindle

When I was growing up my parents took us on so many very, cool vacations. We got to see quite a few of our national parks and wonderful sights. Our mode of travel was normally some sort of camping. We had a station wagon and a pop-up tent trailer for a long time, and then when my parents retired they ventured into the RV world and bought a beautiful Rexhall motor home. You can read all about their adventures on my Mom’s blog, Joan on the Road.

One of the highlights of our camping experience was always having a camp fire. Building a fire, keeping it going, and eventually roasting the marshmallows for a great s’mores treat. I think one of my Dad’s favorite parts of camping was building the bonfire, I mean campfire, for the evening. He would build pretty big fires, and he was the one who kept it going. I know for myself I couldn’t wait until there were some lovely coals to roast my marshmallows next to. I prefer them lightly roasted, thank you. When we were on vacation we always had our guitars with us, and would play and sing around the fire. We loved to sing John Denver tunes. Oh those were the days.

Fast forward to my Mom and Dad’s RV-ing days, and they kept the campfire tradition going. Most times when we would visit them we’d have a fire, and maybe roast those marshmallows or a hot dog. One thing that was always with my Dad for his campfires was some sort of strong stick that he could use to stoke the fire with. It was a coveted stick, and as we all got older sometimes we would take turns stoking the fire too. What a treat.

When my Dad passed away and we were helping my Mom go through her RV and decide what she was keeping or not, she gave me my Dad’s last campfire stick he used for stoking the fires. It’s really a personal memento for me. It helps me to hold on to the good memories of our family times together around the campfire.

These days Travel Man and I have a trailer of our own that we like to take out for the weekends. We always have the coveted “Fire Stick” with us to stoke our campfires. But on our last camping trip we noticed the Fire Stick was starting to get a little short. I kept catching the end of the stick on fire, and it seemed like it was getting shorter and shorter and fading away. I suppose in the back of my mind I was worried that if the stick got shorter and went away the memories of camping with my Dad would fade a little bit too. So we made the painful (well for me anyway) decision to retire the Fire Stick. We will be keeping it in the trailer with us when we go out on our camping adventures. And eventually I think I will figure out a way to hang it on the wall.

It’s a wonder to me that a stick could hold memories that are so dear to my heart. The memories of your loved ones that are no longer with you are the ones that you hold onto the tightest. You never want to let them go.

3 comments Posted in Family

Sam’s Club Shopping Joy

Posted on July 14, 2015 by Renee Spindle

This past week I tried an experiment. I had been wanting to try using Sam’s Club’s online ordering system which they now call Easy Reorder, for a while. (It used to be called Click ‘n Pull) My grocery shopping efforts, somewhat like my menu efforts, lately have been a little wacky to say the least. So I decided it was high time I shake things up and try something new. I have done a lot of ordering on Amazon.com so I’m well aware of the beauty of just having things arrive at my door.

This is how I went about my experiment. I set a dollar amount that I wanted to spend for my first online experience. Oh and by the way this order was to be picked up in the store, and not shipped to my house. I put together a list of my “pantry essentials” that needed replenishing, and then went online to put my order together. Now what happens the first time you click on the “order” button is you have access to your past purchases in the store which creates a “grocery list” for you. This is how I approached my online shopping for this session. I could delete or add any other items I wanted for this order, and remember I’m working to stay within my dollar amount ($200). Once I completed my order I was then able to schedule a pickup time that was convenient for me at my favorite Sam’s Club.

Once my completed order was submitted I received an email with a confirmation of the items in my order. After this I was able to just go on about my day and wait for the email or text message confirming my order was ready to be picked up. Once I arrived at Sam’s Club to pick up the order, I went to the customer service desk to let them know I was there to pay for the order and pick it up. After the order was paid for, I waited for just a minute or two and then out came the carts with a cheerful employee with all of my groceries. Boom! Now off to the car to load up and head for home.

I set my stopwatch when I walked in the store to pick up my order, and start to finish it took me 20 minutes to get in and out of the store. I was totally impressed with the time factor here. Normally with the size shopping I was doing I would normally be in the store for over an hour. Only because I am walking the aisles, browsing, and maybe stopping for some lunch. After my online experience I am presently in shopping land heaven. I like the price breaks we get at the big box store, but lately I have dreaded doing this task by myself.

I am pleased to report that this experiment was a complete and huge success for me. I will do the online shopping again with no hesitation. My order was complete, correct, and the gentleman who brought my carts out , there were two, helped me take them to the car and loaded the groceries for me.

Boom! I’m loving this service and it saved me so much time that I can spend doing other things I love to do. Writing crazy stories, swimming, and hosting a camp grandma or two.

Have any of you ever tried this service? Let me know is you liked it or not. I hope everyone’s week is off to a great start.

This post has been shared at the #MidLifeLuv linky party.

8 comments Posted in Around the House

Barefoot is Best

Posted on July 11, 2015 by Renee Spindle

The heart and soul of summertime can definitely be defined by what kind of shoes you are wearing. Here in Southern California we are blessed with many days of sunshine and warm weather. I find myself sporting sandals and flip-flops for more months out of the year than all of the rest of you do in other parts of the country.

I am admittedly a barefoot person. If I find myself at home, and I have nowhere to be in the near future I Am Barefoot! It is the best way to be in my personal opinion. Now don’t get me wrong, I do wear shoes when I leave the house. Normally sandals or flip-flops in the summertime, and shoes that cover my toesies in the winter months. Oh, and also I rarely wear socks. This is a budget saver for me. You know it must be cold outside if I have actually put some socks on. In California world this would be when the temps are below 60 degrees. That’s our version of “freezing”.

Now I also have to admit that I am passing my love of bare-footedness onto my sweet granddaughter. When she comes to stay with me during the week here at Camp Grandma and we venture outside to play and explore, and it’s warm enough I always tell her, “Let’s take off your shoes. Barefoot is the Best.” This is the mantra I am passing along to Madison. Hopefully these will be words she’ll remember me by. It is so hilarious to watch her walking across the fire pit area of our back yard barefoot. This area is a gravely substance, and her Pop-pop cannot believe how she just meanders across the little rocks with no shoes on at all.

Much to my dismay I have tried on multiple occasions to garden barefoot with not a lot of success. I always end up putting my sandals or flip-flops on out since this is out in the furthest part of our backyard. I have to avoid the thorns, and a possible nails or even glass buried in the dirt.

So now tell me the truth are you a barefoot junkie? Do you wear your flip-flops or sandals 24/7? Or are your more traditional with your footwear? You know, do you stick to the tennies, socks or some sort of close toed shoes? Let me know what your favorites are. I’d love to find out how many of you aspire to my barefoot theory.

9 comments Posted in Around the House

My Menu Planning has Gone Haywire

Posted on July 7, 2015 by Renee Spindle

Menu planning has been a part of my weekly “to-do’s” for a long, long time. It makes the grocery shopping easier, fewer trips to the store, and if I have a good reserve of menu items in the pantry and freezer it makes it much easier on my brain to get the meals on the table day in and day out.

However, lately the menu planning structure has not been working all that well in my Domestic Engineering endeavors. Do you get into cooking ruts? Can’t figure out what to make for dinner? Tired of going to the grocery store? How do you pull yourself out of it?

Our dinner time can be quirky at The Spindle Ranch. Sometimes I’m home by myself, many times there are just two of us for dinner. If everyone’s home for dinner I’m cooking for 4. If a friend or family member stops by we can have 5 or 6. Crazy menu planning right? Has your household dinner-time ever run like this?

Not knowing how many people to cook for on any given night can boggle the brain. It makes for a wacky menu plan. Will I cook too much food, or too little food? I have my arsenal of weekly “go to” recipes that can handle a crowd or just a few people. My second dilemma arises when I feel like I can’t think of anything new I’d like to try, or my recipe arsenal feels tired and boring. I really do not like to use going out to eat as part of my menu planning for the week. I would much rather be at home sitting around the dining room table having a great meal and good conversation.

My oldest daughter, Naomi totally amazes me with her menu planning. Every weekend she is trying new recipes, and giving us her pictorial reviews on our family Facebook page. I really have to draw some inspiration from her, and just dive in and try new recipes. If anyone needs me I will be perusing Pinterest, or maybe The Tasty Kitchen to seek out new recipes for my arsenal of goods.

If your menu planning’s been a little wacky lately can you let me know how you pull yourself up out of the rut? How do you find that little spark that entices you to try to cook something new and / or different? I’ll be here waiting to hear from everyone.

4 comments Posted in Food

It’s Been a Long Time Since This Happened

Posted on July 3, 2015 by Renee Spindle

There are many moments in my kids growing up years, their early growing up years, that I sometimes just do not remember. I’m fairly certain I can attribute this fact to the events of 2001. The year I turned 40, the year my first marriage fell to pieces, the year that my daughter, Hilary, had her first grand-mal seizure, and the year that my baby boy, Zachary, received a diagnosis of Leukemia (ALL) at the tender age of 9½. 2001 was definitely THE most challenging year of my parenting and adulthood to date. It was the most trying year for my kids too.

Zachary’s leukemia and other health issues are one of the reasons I started blogging. I have always felt that I had a story to share just because of my multiple experiences with chronic conditions, and now childhood cancer. If I can touch one person’s heart with my stories, and let them know they will be able to get through anything, then that’s why I’m here.

July 2001-ronald McDonald Camp

4th of July 2001

Now back to Zachary; during Zachary’s treatment and recovery from his leukemia he had many, many visits to the pediatric oncology clinic. For certain procedures or appointments he would have to go to the hospital for an outpatient procedure. At this point in his chemo regimen he was going through so many procedures one right after the other. It makes my head spin just to think back about those times. There was one particular day in the beginning of his treatments that he had to have a spinal procedure. This procedure requires the spinal fluid to be drawn for testing, as they are checking for any cancerous cells in the brain stem. For these procedures Zachary would be given Demerol. This would make him quite relaxed, a little sleepy, very chatty, and you never knew what he was going to want to talk about next.

Zachary was laying on the gurney and his little, pale face was chatting up a storm about something. As the medical staff was prepping him for this particular procedure he began to sing. The song he sang still melts my heart every time I hear it to this day. He started to sing Lee Greenwood’s, “God Bless the USA”. When I think about this moment I can picture Zach’s little face while he was lying on the hospital bed softly singing out the words, “And I’m proud to be an American where at least I know I’m free”. I cried like a baby for half an hour. It was such a sweet, memorable moment my words here can barely do justice to the emotions I was feeling. This is one of those stories that will be forever ingrained in my brain. This was the sweetest moment ever with my baby boy.

After this happened my Mom sent a letter to Lee Greenwood about Zach singing his song, and Lee sent Zach a nice hat and an autographed picture as a gift. A grand gesture for my little 10-year-old battling the chemo mapping and procedures.

This summer will mark Zach’s 11th year cancer free. We are forever thankful for the tremendous care, love and support he got at Loma Linda Children’s Hospital.

Zach & Brookelynne’s Wedding Day

Easter Weekend 2015

Today is Zach’s birthday, and he is doing so well. He is married, has a lovely wife and a pet turtle. Zach is way less schmoopy about remembering all he’s been through. His mother gets teary eyed at the drop of a hat thinking about times gone by, and what we all went through together in 2001. But my heart is also overflowing with love, pride, and admiration because all of my kids have lived the definition of perseverance. They all know that at any given moment if they are faced with difficult circumstances they can find a way to push through and they will be just fine on the other side of life.

Just know that this is another one of those families stories just waiting for the right moment to be told. Today is the day for this one.

This post linked to the GRAND Social and at MidLife Luv Linky Party.