The Lottery

By now, probably everyone has heard that someone won that huge MegaMillions jackpot of approximately 1.34 billion.  I didn't buy any tickets for it, did you? 

In the past, we have bought tickets for various lotteries when they have amounted to big payouts, but it's like throwing money out to the wind, lol.  When looking at the numbers on our "winning" numbers purchased against the "winning" numbers on the actual winning tickets, we barely matched one number, let alone the entirety of numbers needed to get the big payout.  I think over time we have learned to save our money and not buy any tickets.

It is fun to dream though of what we would do if we won such a lottery.  This morning I read this article about 10 people who had won the lottery but wished they hadn't in the long run.  The article also stated that the majority of people who win a lottery run through their winnings within 7 years, albeit it their winnings were not quite as big as last night's drawing. 

Every time we dream about what we would do with the money, our dreams have changed.  There are the usual things we would do.  Pay off all our debt (not much we have in the first place), remodel parts of the 2 houses we have, maybe buy a new car or two, take a vacation; that sort of thing.  We have included at times setting up foundations or charities for different causes we both support.  And then of course setting up trust accounts for the grand kids college funds.  This time around when we dreamt about what to do with all that money, I said it might be nice to buy 20 houses and then rent them out to those struggling to make rent here in Phoenix (which has gone up significantly in the last 2 years) and give them an incentive if they kept the place up nice, they would get a refund of their rent quarterly.  It could be a win-win situation.  We would get a steady source of income (not that we would need it if we would millions) but we might be helping others in the process.  

In the long run, though, I'm pretty content with all the blessings God has given me.  We have a nice place to live, plenty of food to eat, cars that drive us around safely, a variety of clothes to wear, and so much more.  It might be nice to have a cabin in the woods here to escape the summer heat.  But other than that, I don't really care to travel much and especially not by air (airplanes are not my friends).  Perhaps maybe a motorhome with a car to tow behind it to travel the states and Canada.  I enjoy a minimalistic lifestyle, so I can't imagine myself going crazy and buying a lot of clothes, household items, etc.  Besides, I couldn't take them with me when I pass and someone else would be left to deal with disposing them.  

I came to the conclusion a few months back that I'm glad I don't have a lot of money.  We have what we need and a little bit more.  And I trust God will provide my every need as His word clearly states He will.  

So, congrats to the person who won the MegaMillions. Congrats to other lottery winners past, present, and future.  

But for me, I'll save my money or go and buy yogurt or some other little treat with the money I would have spent on a ticket and sometimes think and talk about the "impossible dream" with what we would do if we won so much money.  But as they say, talk is cheap.  

(trying to) let go

There was a time when we watched grandson a lot more than we do these days.  When he was a newborn and through to his preschool days we pretty much watched him two or three days/evenings a week or he was over playing during that time.  So naturally we had toys for him to play with, appropriate ones for whatever age he was at the time.  He is now six years old and has outgrown some of the recent toys he used to play with.  The rattles and the baby toys have been donated or passed on a few years back and I need to donate/pass on some of the toys he played with as a preschooler because he has moved on from playing with them but I can't let them go because of the fun times we had with them.

We had a lot of the Little People toys.  Like this airplane.  We did many an adventure with it and a few crashes along the way.  When you put the pilot in the pilot's seat in the front, songs would play.  The Little People danced many a dance.  How can I part with this?

Or this fire truck? We put out so many fires with it and saved so many communities.

Or the circus train where we put all the Little People we had in there to escape from the lava, going back to rescue those we had left behind, making sure all were safe and secure.

And the Mega Block towers we built, trying to build them as high as we could without them falling over.

And the army men who we would set up to do battle against each other, only to have them all knocked down, to reset them again, time after time.

Some of the books we would read before bedtime when he would be picked up late in the night after a shift at the restaurant son worked at.

The puzzles built.

The shopping cart that he would fill up with toys to take from one room to another to play with.  The many miles traveled from room to room when he was just learning to walk.

And my personal all time favorite.  The bath toy penguins.  When he would be picked up late, we would bathe him and have him ready for bed.  He loved his baths.  These toys were the best.  Water squirted out of the hats of the penguins.  The rings floated with the penguins in them.  He would spend a good 45 minutes in the bathtub playing.  With schedule changes and the like, we stopped giving him baths a few years ago and now at age six, he takes showers and prefers his privacy now that he has matured :) 

And so many others on these shelves.  Most he hasn't played with in a little while or will pull them out and play with them for a little bit then put them back.  

Now he is into Legos (we do have a big bin of them) and games on my phone (a whole different post for another day) but so many of these toys are part of yesteryear.  I know it is time to sort through them and pass them on or pack them away for another generation as their family is complete, but I am having trouble parting with them.....

I'll eventually figure out what to do with them.  So many fun days of play.  So many fun days ahead with what interests he will continue to develop as he grows.  Thankful we can be such an integral part of his growing up times, even if it means the hot desert heat  four months of the year.

(Some of my long time readers who have been with me from previous blogs might remember some of these toys as I did a couple of blog posts about them being his favorite back on my "A Bench with a View" blog).  

(Note, we keep the pool toys inside just in case of a monsoon with the high winds we can get.  Before, when we kept them outside, they would blow all over the backyard.)

(Yes, this is the room where the treadmill is.  He had his toys in the den when he was a baby but as he became mobile, he somehow always wanted to play in the "treadmill room" as we call it.  So I eventually moved all his toys there and it is considered also his playroom).  

I had a helper when I was putting this post together.  

Enjoy each day that is given to you.  They truly do pass in the blink of an eye!

games corgis play

Not sure if all corgis play these games, but here are some of Winslow's favorite ones he enjoys playing (over and over and over again).

Most of you know that he enjoys playing fetch and most of you know that he is incredibly spoiled when it comes to things to fetch.  (Squeaky toys and tennis balls come to mind).  Now that it is so beastly hot outside, we play a lot of fetch inside the house.  He'll fetch a few balls or squeaky toys outside once the sun goes down and it cools down a degree or two. 

As part of fetch, he will actually involve both of us in his game.  I may be sitting by my computer and my husband at the kitchen table.  Separate rooms.  Winslow will bring something to fetch to me or my husband.  We will throw it to the next room and then Winslow will retrieve it and bring that toy to the person sitting in the other room.  Back and forth he will bring us the toys; interacting with the two of us.  I think that is clever, but maybe not? 

For breakfast, I usually rotate between oatmeal/hardboiled egg or yogurt/hard boiled egg.  I eat the oatmeal or yogurt first, then the egg.  I will save a few little pieces of the egg for Winslow.  (It is safe for him to eat).  I do not know how he knows when I am finishing up with the oatmeal or yogurt as he will be quietly sitting on the floor, but some inner sense or sound I make alerts him to the fact that I'm about to crack open the egg.  He will start circling around my feet like a shark circling in the water until he gets the few little bits in his food bowl.  One time a week (usually Sundays or perhaps Fridays) he gets his own hard boiled egg.  I will cut it up in his bowl.  He will eat it in 13 seconds or less.  Then he will look at me expecting to get some of my egg (which of course because he is spoiled, I will give him a bite or two).  They say a corgi never forgets a food source.  Winslow is living proof of that.

Now that it is beastly hot outside, my husband has been walking Winslow earlier in the morning, around 6 a.m.  At that time I'm on the treadmill, then I'll take a shower and get ready for work.  When they get home, we have breakfast, then I take off.  Winslow and me play hide and seek when he comes back from his walk.  I see them pulling up in the car (hubby drives to a local park to walk him) and I hide some place in the house.  After Winslow gets off his leash, my husband says "go find mom" and Winslow runs through the house looking for me.  He is good at finding me pretty quickly except when I am hiding in my bathroom.  I close the door just a little bit and hide behind it.  For some reason he won't come into the bathroom but will stand right by the door and bark if he thinks I'm in there.  Then I'll come out and he has found me.  

This may look like a weird picture like he is biting at my shoes.  He is not. 

Between my feet I am holding one of these chew toys that we get for him.  They start out this big but as he chews on them, they obviously get smaller.  He is so spoiled, we will actually hold it between our feet so he can chew on them more.  

Here, he is holding one himself.  You can see how much smaller than the original size.  

And a closer look.  

He has me wrapped around his little paw.  He will hear a noise outside and want to go to the back door to get outside to check it out.  He will run to the back door, bark at whatever he thinks he saw or heard, and if someone doesn't come to let him out, he will come to me (usually) and just stare at me with those adorable eyes he has until I get up and let him out.  Yes, he is spoiled.  You all know that. 

And those are some of the games that this corgi plays.  He definitely keeps us entertained and on our toes a lot.  I wouldn't have it any other way with him.  

June Books

I was surprised to see that I read 7 books in June.  I had some weekends where we didn't do much so I took advantage of reading a lot.  I guess that is why I got through 7 books.  And without further ado, here's June's review (a little rhyme lol)

The Lake of Dead Languages: 

Lori recommended this book.  It is written in the then and now.  The main character Jane is a Latin teacher at a girl's boarding school.  She had gone to that school when she was a teenager and had won a scholarship to it after a Latin competition.  Another student, Lucy, and her brother, Matt, befriend her and help her with Latin.  The story is told of their friendship and the school and the lake around it and then of her returning to the school as a teacher with a young daughter and that experience she has as a former student, now a teacher and her interactions with her students.  Lots of interesting twists with the story line and totally unexpected last few chapters.  Another very good read.  I give it 5 stars.  

The Last House on the Street:  

This was recommended by I think Jeanette.  It is again written in the then and now.  The then is back in about 1965 when a voting bill to get African American people registered was going to be signed.  The main character of the then, Ellie, volunteers to help get the info out to African Americans to register.  The story takes place in North Carolina.  The now's main character is Kayla, who is an architect and she and her husband build their dream house in an area of town that had once had a lot of woods around it.  Her husband had died at a tragic accident in the house but she and her young daughter still move in to to the house though she is reluctant to do so.  There is more of the story of events that happened in the woods back in the 1960s that come to light as the story goes on.  Very good read.  I give it 5 stars.

The Good Son:  

A teenage boy is convicted of killing his girlfriend though he doesn't remember doing it as he was on drugs at the time.  He is sentenced to a few years in prison.  The story begins with him getting out of prison and then trying to rebuild his life.  The story is told by his mom.  He is trying to redeem himself for what he did, at the same time the family is being stalked by someone who seems to imply there is more to the story of who actually killed his girlfriend.  This was a hardcover book I was reading at bed and I really had a hard time getting into it.  I should have put it aside but I kept reading it and finally made myself read so many pages nightly to finish it . I finished the last 70 pages one Saturday afternoon.  It was a strange twist to the story that I had not anticipated.  The story was well written and very thought provoking but hard for me to get into.  I give it 3 stars.  

The Love of My Life:  

The first half of this book was really hard to get into.  It tells the story of Emma who is married and has a 3 year old daughter, but there is some secrecy going on with her and her husband is trying to figure out if he truly does know the woman he has been married to for the past 10 years.  Then the second half of the book starts telling her story before she got married and it was very interesting from that point on.  A couple twists in the plot I didn't see coming.  All in all it was a good book if you get through the first about 45% of it.  I give it 4 stars.  

One True Loves: 

The main character is married to the love of her life who supposedly dies in a helicopter crash.  She recovers from her grief and a few years later falls in love with another man and they are planning to get married.  Then it is discovered that her husband did not die but had been on a deserted island for a few years before he got rescued.  She now has to decide if she will stay with her husband or go with her intended fiancée.  Good story told in the here and now and in the past.  Good ending that was realistic and believable.  I give it 5 stars for a good summer love story read.

Brand New Human Being:

I needed a book to read while I was waiting for some of my holds to be released so I found this book while looking at my e-library site.  It told the story of Logan, a stay at home dad raising his 4 year old son while his wife, a lawyer working on an important case, always seemed to be working and seemed a bit distant to him.  He is grieving his dad who died 4 months ago and has issues dealing with his dad's young wife, his step mom.  It was an interesting read but I'm not sure exactly what the plot was and it was one of those books that just kind of ends.  Not too much gets wrapped up.  It was a quick read (I read it over a weekend).  I'd give it 3 stars if you needed something to read and couldn't find anything else.

My Darling Husband:

This was a thriller.  The story basically took over about a 5 hour time span.  A young mom and her 2 children are involved in a home invasion/hostage type situation with a demand of ransom from the successful chef husband/father who owns 5 steak restaurants in the Atlanta area.  Over the period of time, the husband is desperate to try to collect the ransom money and get there in time to save his wife and children while the wife is desperate to keep her 2 children and herself alive.  As the story progresses we get glimpses of who the intruder is and why he is demanding the ransom, etc.  It was indeed a thriller of a story with the usual few unexpected twists.  It had one of those endings I'm not fond of where things aren't wrapped up.  Maybe a sequel?  I will give it as a summer read 4 stars.

As always, let me know what you are reading or have read that you would recommend.  And stay tune for August's review of July's books.  Doing a few things differently this month with what I'm reading. 

Happy Fourth of July!

Monsoons and the like

I've been struggling with what to post.  Nothing brilliant has come to mind, but I thought briefly of posting about the beginning of our monsoon season that starts June 15th and ends October 15th though the "big" part of the season usually is between June and August with a rare one in September and October. Our first one this year happened last Thursday. The day started bright and sunny but then I got an alert on my phone of a severe thunderstorm later in the day. I laughed as the day was so bright and sunny and devoid of clouds.  But then as the day wore on, the clouds came in with the wind and the dust storms (called haboobs and really nasty) and then finally in parts of the valley a deluge of rain.  We got a little shower, other parts got more.  That's how the storms seem to be.  Hit one area hard and another a few miles away remains stone dry. I like a "good" thunder and lightening storm. We got some lightening and a little thunder so that was nice to see.  What I don't like is the destruction that can come from the monsoons with downed power lines, trees, and the like.  Arizona desperately needs a good monsoon season as we are in a drought with talk of water rationing so I can only pray we do have a productive rainy season.

Then I thought of writing a post called "in the news".  It would not have featured anything that happened nationally say last Friday.  Everyone has an opinion about that and I'm pretty sure if you know anything about me, you know what my opinion would be. But no, I was going to write about how many young children already have been pulled out of Phoenix and the valley pools this summer unresponsive and in a few sad cases have died.  These are toddlers and preschoolers for the most part.  The recent case a 3 and 4 year old who one fell into their pool and the other went to help rescue them.  One died (not sure which age fell in and which age died).  There have been at least 9 children pulled from pools so far this season and at least 4 have died.  These are such senseless and tragic deaths and incidents and do not have to happen.  The obvious "solutions" are a fence around a pool (of which I am an advocate and our pool has a fence around it) and/or teaching young ones as early as possible how to swim, at least how to get out of the water safely if they find themselves in it accidentally, but the simple act of watching a young child constantly and continually is just as effective (perhaps even more so).  I literally scream (not out loud but to myself) whenever I see a headline of another child pulled from a pool.  I watched my children like a hawk when they were young (and beyond, perhaps I could be guilty of being a helicopter mom) and watch my grandson like a hawk when I am around him.  They were not out of my sight when they were young unless some other adult was there who I asked to make sure they kept an eye on them.  I just don't get it.  This frustrates me to no end.  People talk about bringing up criminal charges to those parents/caregivers of those pulled out of pools.  Maybe that is what it is going to take for people to watch more carefully.  I don't know.  I just know for the most part this can be avoided.

And then I was going to write about the delightful afternoon and evening I had with my grandson.  His sister, who is 16 years old, is visiting her dad in another state for the summer so his built in babysitter is no longer available.  I made myself available to his mom this summer to help out if she wanted to run errands and the like on Saturdays as she was used to having her daughter around to keep an eye on him.  Yesterday she had a lot of errands to run as she was planning a brunch for today.  She asked me if I could watch him, which of course I willingly said yes.  He at 6 years old is inquisitive and active and loves to play.  Me at almost 60 years older than him loves to play but I'm feeling it with more aches and pains this morning.  We were playing some imaginative game and he kept saying "these are the ka-posters".  I realized he was trying to say "imposters."  It gave me a good chuckle. They had gotten a trampoline (with netting) from another family member so he had fun going out (in the heat) to jump on it a few times while I was watching him. Thankfully he didn't ask me to join him (that would have been a firm no, lol).  His mom brought home Subway sandwiches for dinner and he ate his entire footlong turkey and cheese one.  I was worn out after watching him, lol, and slept really good last night.

And so now I have written what I had thought about writing in blog posts over the past week or so.  We are heading into a 3 day weekend with the 4th of July coming up so very soon.  We bought some calming pills for Winslow as fireworks are not his friends.  We'll see if they help or not. (They don't have CBD in them, but valerian root, lavender, melatonin and the like.  They are made for dogs).  

I'll be back around the first of July for a review of June books.  In the meantime, be safe out there.  It's a jungle!

The cocktail hour

Prior to this week when the beastly hot summer temperatures arrived, we had a routine that my husband and I did daily on the days I worked.  I would get home from work, greet him and Winslow, change out of my work clothes and then make a "cocktail" (water and lemon juice).  My husband would make his "cocktail" (water and lime juice) and we would take our "cocktails" out to the back patio where we would sit and enjoy them while we talked about our days, the weather, the news, world's problems (that we solved each and every one of them) while Winslow either laid by our feet or explored his backyard or would play fetch with me.  We would spend about 45 minutes out there (so I guess technically it wasn't a cocktail hour) and then would come inside and start making dinner.  After dinner we often went outside for another 30 minutes or so in order for Winslow to enjoy more fetch time and more sitting outside guarding his backyard.  Now that it is so hot, the afternoon "cocktail" hours we no longer do but do go out once the sun goes down for maybe 15 minutes so Winslow can play fetch if he so desires.  He will catch the squeaky toy or a ball for a few times and then he usually just sits and pants.  When he has had enough of the outside, he goes to the door and we let him and ourselves in.  I'm going to miss these afternoon "cocktail" hours but in the blink of an eye it will be September and a bit cooler temps and we'll resume them again.  

It is hard to believe but I have been at this present temporary assignment for one year.  I started June 7, 2021.  Time flies when one is having fun.  

This is our neighborhood pool.

Actually, I guess it is really 2 pools.  

The pool is called the David Uribe Memorial Pool.   

We have visited this park many a time and I always wondered who David Uribe was.  Out of curiosity one day I googled David Uribe and found out that he was a Phoenix policeman who had lost his life in a traffic stop back in 2005 just a few blocks away from where the pool is located.  When he approached the car for the traffic stop, he was shot and later succumbed.  Nice way to honor him by naming the pool for his service to our community.  

The City of Phoenix has 29 public swimming pools.  All of them were closed in the summer of 2020 due to the pandemic.  A few swimming pools reopened for the summer of 2021, this pool being one that was not opened.  There were complicated rules and regulations for swimming.  So many allowed in the pool, reservations having to be made, and the like.   This year I was hoping that this pool would be reopened, but alas, a few months ago I read an article that only 14 of the 29 pools would be opened.  And not because of the pandemic.  But because they couldn't find lifeguards to man all of them.  The city was offering incentives and training for those who wanted to be lifeguards and bonuses but not many takers.  So they could only staff 14 pools, and sadly, this pool was not one of them.  I had read, but I have not found any further info about it, that they were going to offer shuttle services from a closed pool to an open pool, but I haven't found anything to substantiate that that is what is  being done.  

At this same park where the pool is, every morning but Sunday, there is a group of men who drill together with exercises.  They always plant the flag there.  This group was only four men; I've seen it as high as eight men.  At the end of their time together, they always end with a prayer time.  (That is what our country needs more of, prayer).  

And finally, one must always include a picture of the corgi if one is sharing pictures.  

Have a great weekend! Stay hydrated and cool as you can if you are in a hot part of the country!

May books

May was a prolific reading month with 8 books read.  That makes 28 so far this year.  I would imagine over the summer I'll probably read a little less due to some other summer plans etc.  So it is good I'm "ahead of the game" so to speak.  And now on to my reviews:

All Your Perfects by Colleen Hoover:   

This is a love story that begins when the two main characters catch their partners cheating with each other.  The story is told in the then and the now.  As a couple, they eventually get married and eventually want to start a family which leads to problems with infertility.  Without giving away anything with the plot, no spoilers, it was a very well written book with a lot of emotional upheaval.  Having dealt with infertility, I could relate to a lot of the story.  For me, good reading. I give it 5 stars.  

Summerland by Elin Hilderbrand:

This is story about a high school junior driving a car with 3 other young people in it (one of them being her twin).  She crashes the car and dies as a result.  The story tells of the aftermath of dealing with her death, what lead to her driving the car recklessly like she did, the stories of the families involved in the accident.  It was based in Nantucket.  The author  bases the majority (maybe all?) of her books in Nantucket and I've read a few of them.  All I have read have been interesting reads.  I give this 4.5 stars.

High Stakes by Danelle Steele: 

Okay, I said I wouldn't be reading anymore Danielle Steele books but then I got this from our e-library. This might actually be the last one I read.  It involves women working in an agency representing writers and actors/actresses and what they have to do to keep their jobs, succeed at their jobs and  balance their home lives with the demands of their profession. There was also a story behind the scenes of one of the male executives at the agency who was hitting on women and sexually harassing them.  I give it 2.5 stars.  

The Whispers by Heidi Perks:  

This was based in England.  It is a story of 2 women who were friends since grade school but not as close in recent years since one had moved away from England to Australia for a few years.  She ends up moving back to England and wants to reestablish a relationship with her friend from before.  The book begins with finding a body at a beach at the bottom of the cliffs and the story then is told backwards so you figure out who it is that is dead.  It was very interesting with a few twists.  A story of control and of friendships and keeping things secret from years past.  I give it 4.5 stars.

The Wife Between Us by Greer Hendricks and Sarah Pekkanen:

At first it was really hard to get into this book and I almost gave up on it but one Saturday I said I was going to spend some time reading it and seeing if I could get into it.  This was the hardcover book that I would read before bed.  Sometimes on my hardcover books I might only read a few pages and then be too tired to keep my eyes opened.  This was one of those books so I never got the rhythm of the story, if that makes sense. I needed to read it for longer than 10 minutes at a time. Once I got into it, I couldn't put it down. It is told from the woman whose husband has cheated on her and left her for another woman. It is told in that she is almost jealous of the woman her ex husband will soon be marrying and stalking her but as the story goes on there was a twist in the plot that I didn't see coming.  It was riveting and held my attention to the last page.  I'll give it 5 stars.

Did I Say You Can Go?  by Melanie Gideon

I think Bijoux recommended this book.  It was really good.  Two friends and their friendship over the years . One a bit controlling and manipulative.  Both single (one widowed, one divorced).  One very rich.  Another just getting by.  Both with daughters the same age.  Very interesting plot with again a few twists.  Surprise ending for me! I give it 5 stars.  

The Good Lie by A.R.Torre:  

I got this one off of Amazon Prime reading so it was free in the e-book format.  This was definitely a thriller of a book.  Town has a serial killer who is killing teenage boys.  A psychologist is called in to help the attorney (whose son was a victim of the serial killer) to help come up with a psychological profile for the killer after a 7th teenage boy had managed to escape from the killer.  The teenager who escaped pinned the crime on someone else who the attorney did not believe had committed the crime and said he would represent that person.  There were a lot of twists in this book and gruesome scenes regarding the deaths of the other 6 young men.  I will give it for intrigue 4 stars but for all the "blood and guts" of which I didn't particularly care for, I'll give it a final score of 3 stars.  

Under Her Care by Lucinda Berry:  

This was another book I got from Amazon Prime Reading.  I've been reading these books on my phone during lunch at work.  This was another mystery/thriller.  The mayor's wife is found dead and the prime suspect is a young teenager who has learning disabilities/autism.  The rest of the book involves trying to "pin" it on him or see if there are other suspects.  Lots of twists in this.  Interesting unexpected ending and lots of loose ends.  I give it 3 stars.  

 

And what have you been reading? Anything good to recommend?