Headed into the weekend.

Hope your week has been good.

I have family in town visiting down in San Diego so we have had a couple good gatherings. 

These siblings leave on Monday morning, so we are getting together for a Tostada Dinner on Sunday night.

So how does that exactly work out when we are here in Temecula, and they're down in San Diego.

Well, Savannah hasn't seen her Grandma in 3 weeks, so we will head down to the coast tomorrow afternoon, spend the night and visit with Savannah's grandparents. 

We will do something on Sunday morning on the coast, then Sunday afternoon Savannah and I will go to my sister Liz's for dinner Its about seven and half miles away so it's a super easy drive. 

Savy and I will then drive back to the grandparents and spend sunday night, and I will drive us back to Temecula on Monday morning. 

(This is always a heck of a drive on a Monday). 

I have to get up by 5:45 a.m., leave by 6:20 a.m. no later, and be at the off ramp to our part of Temecula by 7:30 a.m.

In order to have Savy to school by 7:50 a.m.

AND I will work both jobs on Monday, so who knows how I will feel Monday Night.

I hope to do a post on the following in the next couple weeks;

"Welcome Home".

"We are Family".

God bless you and yours!

Along another road...

...we found this place.
Wednesday afternoon.
A late lunch.
But a drive down the freeway headed back into San Diego.
Actually for my friends and relatives it's in Valley Center.
Called, "the yellow deli'.
I beg your pardon. A deli. Cmon. No way.
Yeppers.

But wait, I know you were waiting for a different title called one day.

That's on the back burner for now.

And the 'we' in the first sentence of this post is the girls and I from Bible Study.

I'm so excited about this post.

It's full of fun and whimsical pics from our lunch out today.

So with everyone leading busy lives.

Lots of the bible studies wrapping up for the summer we all agreed it's nice to catch up and hang out during lunch one day a week if schedules permit.

The girls try a new place every week.

I won't be able to go every week, but have been putting $ aside each week to budget for a $10 meal out. 

This is my social life. 

I don't go out during the week.

 So one Wednesday or two outta the month is a treat for me.

So sit down, grab a cup of coffee or tea and check out my fun pics.

Welcome to;

Ok, raise your hands, not everyone at first,  who's dreamed of a little country home out yonder? Ok, me--me...

front of the restaurant.

Ok, I have officially fallen in love....with this picture.

So we ventured to the back patio area. The waitress put us at a big ol' table.
I wish I could pipe the ambiance through the monitor.
Wow.
Birds singing.
little country tunes piped through that was a fiddle and banjo on speakers that looked like rocks.
A slight gentle breeze with temps around 77 degrees.

This was the table we sat at. Looking out to another part of the property. All the chairs were wrought iron with daisy's.

I took this from the walkway near the ladies room, it looks down on the back patio.

our view towards the front side area.

Here's the 'out house'.
It really was.
But they glammed it up.
It was beautiful inside.
The plumbing was rustic but classy.

sorry so blurry.

Here's the walk way back to the patio and indoor dining area.

These next pictures are the inside dining area.
Holy smokes cute.

so sweet. whimsical. Lil daisy's painted on the stairs.

Ok, so back at the o-k corral, and around back when you pay your bill, you can buy produce and baked goods.

So hope you enjoyed your tour of my outing out to Valley Center, CA.
To all my friends in San Diego and my family, take a drive out there. You won't be disappointed.
So much fun.
So tranquil and relaxing.

Well us four girls had to head back into Temecula.
We had a blessed day just sharing in fellowship, and enjoying beautiful scenery.
As we drove out towards one of the side roads, we found a lavender farm about a mile up the road.
Wow, such a treat of a day we had.

LtoR: Tonya, Connie, Debbie, and Me.

Thank you for dropping by this side of the road as we headed down a side road.

My awesome, big, silly family.

My french born mother, being a only child had one wish when she was a child, "to have a big family".

She got that and then some.

She gave birth to twelve children.

A set of twin boys that died right after birth.

And my twin brother that died three days after we were born.

With our mother being gone that leaves us sibs to look out for one another.

There are us Nine kids.

These nine kids have given my mom 17 grandkids.

These darn grandkids decided to have children too, we are now up to 14 great-grandkids my mom would of had.

So being that I'm from a awesome, big, and at times silly family here are some pics from our weekend together celebrating mothers day at my sister Gloria's home.

I have a relative that has asked not to be mentioned by name, nor pictures be shared any longer on my blog so if any of my photo's look cropped, you know why out of privacy and respect.

Hope you enjoy the photo's!

I love you my sisters!
LtoR: Gloria, Liz, Barbara

The newest most precious member of the family, Miss Faith. Hi baby girl!

LtoR: New Daddy Cameron holding baby faith, My sister Liz, and my niece Kate (new mommy to Faith).

Savannah enjoying Our mothers day meal some yummy lasagna

Savannah with Aunt Gloria and my sister's granddaughter Dakota (Big sister to Faith).

My sister barbara visiting from Texas. Hi Sister!

My brother in law Chris and my niece Brigette. (Her parents are Liz and Chris).

My brother in law Glen who just wanted a catnap. His darn adult kids kept waking him up. I think a hammock is in order for Fathers Day. Ha!

My sister Gloria showing us some dance moves. Pretty darn hot for 59 and a grandmother to Faith and Dakota.

Obviously with the tally I shared on the total count of my sibs, and my nieces and nephews then the new brood of children being born, my mom had a desire to be a part of something larger. I sure think she achieved this. 

RIP mom! Love you forever.

And, with family there comes changes. It used to be all of us in San Diego. Not anymore.

Just my sister Gloria, my sister Liz, and my brother Steve.

Then there are two of us in Temecula.

And two in Georgia.

Everyone is moving away. So when those that come into town to visit it's special and treasured moments to count each visit as a blessing.

God bless you and yours!

au revoir!

Next time over at the Road, "One day...."

Disney On Ice.

Never, ever, could I comfortably afford a splurge on tickets to a show involving the characters of Disneyland, namely, "Disney on Ice".

To my chagrin, a very beautiful mom at Savannah's school with a heart of gold, came looking for me one afternoon when she knew I was working and said, 

"Viola, I have something for you and Savannah". 

"I sure hope you can use them". 

"I can't take my own son or daughter, would you like to take Savannah to Disney on Ice"? 

Giving beautiful family.

I had to take the moment in.

Wow, how sweet.

Generous.

And giving.

I even offered to give her money.

She wouldn't hear of any of this.

"No, not at all".

"Take your daughter and enjoy".

We got the finite details worked out.

I found out the show was about a hour north of Temecula in Ontario, Ca.

Holy smokes...could I do this?

Sure of course I could.

I left almost three hours early for a show a hour a way.

Hey....I wanted to be prepared.

It's all in the planning.

Thank goodness for my GPS. 

So this past weekend was the big show.

We got our tickets.

First off what a beautiful clean indoor arena.

Directions were easy, just a hop, skip and jump off the main freeway.

But before we left there was primping to do.

Check out my girlie, getting all grown up on me.

(As much as I will let her).

She asked if she could wear all her bracelets

(now Savy we are not going to a madonna concert, ha!)

Then we had to take pics on our way out the door

We got to the Arena and found our seats.

What your kidding me, we are 2nd row from the ice.

On the floor.

C'mon really?!

I texted my sister Liz and said, "Oh my gosh I'm a wimp....I have tears in my eyes for savy".

Ok, now for the sticker shock for me.

Just having the tixs were generous enough.

Holy smokes.

Check out how close our seats were to the ice...

I already said this but wow!

Yep 2nd fow from the ice.

Wow!

Oh my gosh cool. Literally and figuratively.

Savannah was wearing shorts and was not even cold.

Ok, enough of these cast-aways.

Let the real show stoppers take it away.

Hi Minnie.

Here's some of the Lion King

This is the cast from Alice in Wonderland.

Savannah said these characters were scary.

I have to agree.

The faces were frontward and backward facing.

We sure had a blessed day going to this event. 

The drive home seemed shorter than getting there.

We grabbed a bite out before getting on the freeway home.

It sure worked out fine.

I now have to draft a Thank you note to my friend Jen at the school.

Thank you for dropping by the road!

Have a blessed evening.

Next time on "Along a Widowed Road".

My awesome, big, silly family.

"I'm so glad we spent this time together"....

Who remembers that song?

Oppps.... just a small flashback to the 1970s sitting around the console TV set with with rabbit ears and watching good ol' Carol Burnet  and friends with my folks, and sisters.

But this post isn't about celebrity's.

It's about those that have come into our lives to enrich our lives.

For either a reason or a season.

Or possibly both.

I can say when I invited a mom from bible study into my home to share all 800+ sq feet with Savy and I, I realistically didn't have a time frame of how long this living situation would be.

Could I really be up to sharing the common living spaces with another family?

Well the time has now come for my roommate and her child to move on.
Out of respect to her I will just say it was time.

I started making phone calls.

I know two gals that have big homes within the Temecula Valley from church.

They could use the extra income.

Both were receptive to a single mom and child moving in.

By May 31st the roommate and her daughter are moving on.

They are super excited where they get to move too.
One of the options will be a gem of a situation to go into.
They get two big bedrooms, a living room area, a bathroom and it just worked out perfectly with the finances for them for this transition that needed to happen.

Continued prayers for them to land on their feet as they find their way.

I will say I sure learned alot about myself in this seven months of having another family living under our roof.

I really do live a super structured life.

I like it this way.

It works for me and my child.

When it starts to unravel due to others around it's time to regroup and say, "I'm so glad we spent this time together".

Next time over at the Road, "Disney on Ice".

It's time to stop....

.....being behind the eight ball.

And, I don't play pool.

I'm sure you too have heard this expression?!

Have you ever felt this way about something in your own life?

Maybe finances perhaps?
Home management practices?
Subjective to each situation.

I shared recently with a friend that I am getting to a place where I want to get by financial house in order.
The desire to pay off bills. Done.
Start Saving for a Newer Car. Already $25 into a Savings account.
Start a Savings account for a down payment on a house. One thing at a time.

Wow, paying off  all those bills in seven months was the start.

Next is my car.

I had a opportunity this week to make some changes.

and I say, "to make".

A friend here in Temecula, shared that her husband is a car broker, and maybe I should contact him.

I did, while giving him my scenario.
Basically I was looking to get out of my leased vehicle 16 mos early and into a low monthly payment as a purchase.

He ran my credit, got the mileage and the payoff of my leased vehicle.

Next thing I know, I had a approved car loan for a purchase with a 72 month car note.
I then had several cars to pick from.
I picked a 2011 SUV.
Only 30,000 miles on it.

The car would be coming down from Los Angeles.

Here's the check list that was going through my mind.

Going from a lease to a purchase. = Good. Just what I wanted.

72 MOS terms = ummm wow, hmmm, alot longer than what I wanted.

A super small down payment spread out between four payments = ummm not so wise.

Adding four thousand of negative equity from my trade in into this new car. = Put the Brakes on right there girlie.

For the first time in my adult life with a Financial decision, I slept on it.

Normally, I just leap.
C'mon do it. You know you want to. All small little incentives to dig myself into a hole again.

The big factor was burying the 4k in equity into this purchase.
I felt all of a sudden, not a smart move.
I would only be saving $31 a month.
In 16 mos I will be able to turn my car back in and go into a purchase without the remnants from this lease.
And I only want a  car note with only 3 years on it, and under $200 dollars a month.

I knew as much as I wanted to leap, I'm making the best possible decision at this moment.
 I have a good 16 mos to save for that down payment and want to do so with being able to negotiate terms that are much more conducive to my situation, and not be behind the eight ball every again.


Thank you for dropping by and reading my latest blog entry.
Hope your enjoying this series of my Financial Spring Cleaning.
Next time over at the Road....

"I'm so glad we spent this time together"....

Uh no way.....

...are you kidding me Savannah?!

Why did you do this?

You know better!

Silence from my eight year old daughter as we pulled had pulled the car into the garage and started our Thursday afternoon.

I then tell her to please get the rest of her stuff out of the car. NOW.
She then say's this is alot of stuff to carry in by herself. (backpack, jacket, stuffed animal and plastic horses).
Ummm hmmm, no problem trekking all this into the car this morning right?!

"no, I can't help you Savannah, I now have to figure a way to get the Hershey Kiss that is melted on the seat".
Of my car.

My leased car.
With beige fabric seats.
That are not scotch-guarded.
Every car I've owned with having two kids there's always been some type of seat protectant on there.
Not this time.
Oh well.
(And where she got the hershey kiss  I will never know).

If I hadn't walked around to the passenger door to help get her stuff out I seriously wouldn't of seen the melted chocolate.

Glad I opened the door.

So she takes her stuff into the house.

I don work gloves, a yellow micro fiber towel and some cold water.

Fortunately, I got it all removed.

Who would think one piece of chocolate could make such a mess.

About 15 min later guess who is telling me to turn around and look at the front door?

She then says, "mama, do you think I'm funny"?
Oh my gosh.
I just started laughing.
She seriously reminded me of her Dad right then and there.

Oh it doesn't end there, about 10 min after these shenanigans, she taps me on the shoulder with this purple piece of paper and puts her arms out for a hug;

Savannah, I love how you went and did this all on your own. 

You said you created this using bubble writing. 

Wow, I was happy you didn't pitch a fit, when I asked you to bring your stuff in from the car while I was cleaning up the chocolate. 

You went one step further, understanding the Cause and Effect of your actions.

Have I said I love you tons enough lately?!

Next time over at the Road, I'll share, "Time to stop  being behind the eight ball, and I don't play pool". Just a small antedote of managing finances with what's left.

Have a blessed weekend.
Savannah and I are headed tomorrow to Ontario, CA just a short 45 min drive up the freeway to see Disney on Ice. One of the mom's at school couldn't use the tickets and she said when she gave them to me, "I bet Viola would love to take Savannah to this".
Little nervous about the drive but it's early in the day.
It should be fine.
 I'll take pictures too.

On Sunday we are headed home to San Diego to spend mothers day with my sister's and my brother.
I have sister's visiting from out of town for two weeks.
So happy!

Till next time.

Accomplished.

Lot's of Thanks Going out to God today.

You know how it's said, "In God's time" yea in his time for sure.
For everything.

Seven months ago I brought a single mom and her young child into our home as a way of getting her out of her living situation and helping me reclaim life one month at a time with a breather financially.

When Dennis passed I wasn't left financially solvent.
I then had no insurance. 

What's a mom to do with a preschooler when they get hurt and sick?

In the end, lots of out of pocket $$$

And the bills add up.

So starting in 2007 all the way to 2012, It's been super tough. 

Today I can write accomplished and breathe.

It's called putting a game plan in place.

Sticking to it.

And finally done paying everything off.

Finished.

Fineto.

Thank you to another Single mom and her child for taking a leap of faith in her own situation and how much she helped me in not living in the stronghold of debt by renting Savannah's bedroom/bath.
Seven months sure have gone by quickly.

Next time over at Along A Widowed Road Blogspot: Uh no way...!