I need to do some house cleaning, literally and digitally

I'm finally at peace with myself.  I haven't been that way since Jimmy died.  I haven't permitted myself to be happy because I didn't believe that I deserved to be. 

Rick has helped me a whole lot, not just with my own feelings, but he has helped me with all the chores that need to be done around here.  

I am finally able to be and enjoying being by myself.  I have never been able to accomplish that in my entire life, but now I truly enjoy the peace that comes from spending time alone with my own thoughts.  I don't need another person to make me happy, because I can be happy now with my own thoughts, and without anyone else around.

I feel truly blessed, but then I've always felt blessed as long as I've had my Lord and Savior by my side watching out for me.  I've never worried about finances, even between husbands and jobs, because I never tried to live beyond my means.  Today when others seem to be struggling, or so they say, I'm doing better than I have ever done with my fixed income.  I don't rely on handouts from the government, nor do I qualify for any so there I am.

On payday I pay myself first so that I have something tucked away for emergencies.  You just never know when something is going to break down or quit working, so you have to be prepared.  When Jimmy died I lost about two thirds of the monthly income and it took me quite a while to get adjusted on living on less, but I finally adjusted and have gotten back on track.  

I have so many subscriptions, like Guardio, Netflix, Prime Video, Paramount, Apple+, SiriusXM, HBO Max, Peacock, iCloud and all the Apple subscriptions like iTunes, iTunes Match (whatever that is), and many, many more that I can drop if necessary......things that are just fluff and not necessary.  Things that are just there for my entertainment, and not at all required for my existence, so if times get hard I can drop these.  After all I barely use any of them anyway, and can only watch or listen to them one at a time. Sometimes I even wonder myself how many subscriptions I'm paying for and I'm sure that I don't even know half of what they are. I really need that App that finds all of your subscriptions, lists them so that you can decide what you don't want anymore.     

Ody

I hardly ever get to see Ody and it's not because I don't want to, but because their family keeps such odd hours making it difficult to visit.  Brandon works nights and sleeps in the daytime.

I'm so very glad that Ody is now enrolled in Pre-school, and I hope he is having fun there being around other children to play and learn with.

This is a picture of Ody's first day of Pre-school.

It looks like this is a picture taken on the school bus and I'm so very thankful that Brandon and Krystal shared this picture on Facebook.  Ody is 3 years old and has his grandmother's hair coloring.  Every time I see a picture of Ody, I think of Reva, and I can't stop from wishing that Brian & Reva were still here.  They would both be such wonderful grandparents to Ody and would have spoiled him that's for sure.

COUSINS

 I haven't been able to sign in to my blog, so today I tried again and, WALLA! I did it on the very first try.  I had thought, and also I was very worried that I'd never be able to login ever again.

Today I'd like to share a picture that I got off Facebook.  It's a picture of my cousins out in California getting together.  Not all of my cousins, but just a few on my mother's side of the family..

I think this is a wonderful picture of them.  From Right to Left:  Lola, Tirre, DeeDee, Arlene, Jacque, Carla and her husband.  I believe they are all in San Clemente by the beach.  I wish I could have been there with them all.

I miss my family very much.  I left California in 1962, and returned 2-3 times to visit, but it's been a very long time since I have seen them in person.  We do keep up with each other on Facebook, but it's just not the same as seeing them in person, but it will do.

My mother had a very large family.  I think she had 13 brothers and sisters, for a total of 14 children, so you can imagine the number of cousins that my brother Dennis and I had.  There were always quite a house full of kids spending the night on Christmas Eve waiting for Santa to arrive early Christmas morning.  It was so much fun.  Dennis and I would be at Grandma and Grandpa's house in Pasadena, California for 2 whole weeks on our Christmas break from school.  My aunts would take turns taking me to their homes so that I could play with my cousins, April & Jacque, and Annette & DeeDee.  I remember going home with DeeDee's mom and dad, and with Jacque's mom and dad.

I lived with DeeDee's parents, Danny and Betty Arellanes for the first two-three years of my life until Annette was born.  Then I went to live with my father's mom and dad in San Gabriel, California, Pablo and Natalia Flores Diaz.  My dad's name was Thomas Diaz.  

I make no mention of my mother Rebecca Arellanes Diaz because I don't remember her at all.  She disappeared sometime before my first year of life.  Hence the name of my blog, Abandoned in Pasadena, because that's where she left my brother Dennis and I while she went shopping for furniture and never came back.  I did live a happy life tho and I was extremely spoiled by my grandparents in San Gabriel and my Dad too.  

Posting in wrong place is what I seem to do lately.

 As usual, I wasn't paying attention to where I was blogging and accidentally put pictures of Brian, Reva & Brandon on my          Catzilla and Friends Blog today.  So if you want to read about our vacation to the New England states, then you have to read it from there.

The link is in the column on the right of this page or just click on this link: Catzilla and Friends.

More Grands

My grandson Zac, wife Jenn and my great-grandson Jack went horseback riding last weekend.   Here they are posing in front of one of the horses.  

 This is Lyle sitting next to his granny's Mother's Day flower.

Lyle's granny is going to take him kayaking, but he needed a new lifejacket. Here's his new one.  Now he's ready to go.  (Lyle's granny is my daughter Sharon).

Below is a video of Lyle riding his bike.  Turn up the sound so you can hear his sound effects as he rides.  He's all boy.  He makes the same sounds when playing with his cars and trucks.

Matthew & Jennifer

 Here's a picture of my grandson Matt that I got off the internet.  He's with his girlfriend Jennifer.  This must be her Kentucky Derby outfit.

Fishing

 My little Suzanne has been catching fish left and right.  I tried fishing and only got one bite, but it was a very hard bite by a big ole fish that eventually got off.  I didn't even get to see it, but I did get to feel its strength and the line moving from here to there for about 30 seconds or so.

Here are Ray and Suzanne's latest fish:

And here are Suzanne's fish:

It's hard keeping up with Suzanne, and she doesn't even care if she catches a fish or not.  She just loves being outdoors enjoying nature.