My Casa Bella

COME IN THE EVENING, OR COME IN THE MORNING;

COME WHEN YOU'RE LOOK'D FOR,

OR COME WITHOUT WARNING.

KISSES AND WELCOME YOU'LL FIND BEFORE YOU,

AND THE OFTENER YOU COME HERE

THE MORE I'LL ADORE YOU!

-Thomas Osbourne Davis



Welcome To My Casa Bella

My Casa Bella- means-my beautiful home- but it can mean so many other things. How you make your home a home. The sounds of children or pets playing. The aroma of scones in the oven or a lilac candle burning. The flowers blooming in your garden. The home grown vegetables ready to be picked. Grandma's quilt at the foot of the bed. A fire to curl up to with a good book. Or just a family spending time together with love, laughter and a good time.





















Sunday, September 26, 2010

New Language Class

Hello, everyone, are you
ready for
FALL?
I am so ready!
Today its cool and cloudy.
The past
few days have been so hot
that I had
to break down and put on
the AC.
We're also being attacked
by STINK BUGS
here.
There isn't anywhere you
go that
you don't see them
climbing up
walls or coming at you
with that
buzzing sound.
I HATE BUGS
well,
annoying ones
anyways.

So yesterday was our
first
language class.
I posted about that some time
ago.
Some of you asked what
language
we were learning,
well,
we're learning
Hindi!
In our area we're having
so many
from India moving here
and the surrounding
towns,
which means
yummy restaurants
around
us.
Some of you know that my
husband
and I are Ministers as well.
We're out in the
ministry
pretty regularly
and we're coming across
many who
speak
either
Hindi, Gujarati, Punjabi
just to name
a few.
So we,along with 24
others are
taking this language
class.
Yesterday it was over
Three hours
and by the second
hour my
head was
literally pounding.
It was pretty
overwhelming.
I couldn't sleep well last
night and neither
did hubby.
There's a lot to learn,
we're excited
but
overwhelmed.
We had a good time
with everyone,
laughs,
frustrations,
a moment of when
I wanted
to cry,
but
didn't.
We have 15 more weeks of
it.
It's every Saturday for
16 weeks.
So its a commitment,
but that's OK,
the people
we meet in our ministry
make it worth
it.

Thursday, September 16, 2010

TORNADO-in Brooklyn NY??

(this is in Queens, NY, on the corner of
where my parents live)
It's around 6:45pm, my phone
rings,
"Arlene?"
Asks the concerned voice,
"Hi mom, you OK?"
"Well, we just had a tornado
hit here!"
"WHAT??!!"
I could tell in her voice,
she was scared
and confused!
She couldn't believe it,
the windows
rattled, she thought
for sure
they were going to shatter.
She hid in the corner
of the room.
I felt helpless, she said she's
fine!
"Where's Dad?" I asked,
"Well......"
"Mom is he OK, did you
hear from him?"
"Yes I just did, he scared me
half to death"
Evidently my father had called
my mom as he always
does when he arrives
to the car, after
he gets off
the train,
to let her know he's on his way,
when he did this,
at that moment
electrical lines fell onto his
car,
people were screaming at
him to
GET OUT NOW!
He's screaming
with my mother
on the
phone
all he kept saying was
Oh, my God!
So my poor mom felt
helpless!
He got out of the car
and he's fine.
Somehow he managed
to get back into it
and maneuver
through
the streets of Queens, NY.
He says it looks
like
a war torn city now.
As I talked to him
I can hear
in his voice the fear
and
the adrenaline
still kicking!
Why are they so far
away from
me?!
They're OK now,
but the City is not.
One person died
so far!
Now they're just waiting
to see what happens.
But they're OK!
(I will be posting more pictures
from my dad)

Wednesday, September 1, 2010

We Had Visitors for Two Weeks!

 I would NEVER claim to
be a
Domestic Diva,
but
I will anyways.
I was one
from
Friday until Tuesday!
From
sun up to sun down
I cleaned,
organized,
threw out,
scrubbed,
polished,
froze corn or fruit,
until I collapsed
last night.
But what a wonderful
accomplishment.
I had a goal
to get all this
done
BEFORE
September 1st.
and I did.
Now I still do have somethings
left to do,
but they'll have to
wait til cooler
weather.
But if felt good.
My home
hasn't been
cleaned this way
in a year.
But sadly I threw
things out
that should never
of been
thrown
out.
FOOD!!!!!
What  a waste that was
and it
just ripped into
me.
GUILT!
That will not happen again.
From now on, buy
ONLY
what we need.
Even if its
on
SALE!
WALK AWAY!
That goes
with clothes as well.
I'm trying to be more
disciplined
less wasteful
more organized.

Now on a different
topic,
we  had visitors.
Would you like
to know
who?
Can you tell what
by looking
at this photo?
How about a closer look
then?
It's a visitor that no one
wants
to have in their home.
Well, for
two weeks we've been
killing these
in our house.
Majority in our home office
the rest
in our bedroom.
We've
killed between
15-20 per day
for the past
few days,
altogether,
over
70
Yes,
70!
The final straw was when
I was still sleeping
yesterday
morning and at
7AM
I felt something
crawling
on my arm
and it was
a Yellow Jacket!!
I am
HIGHLY
allergic to
bites and stings.
So after waking
up screaming
I could then
hear them
in our
wall.
THAT'S
IT
I"M CALLING
THE
EXTERMINATOR!!!!
As he geared up in
100 degree
weather,
I stood far away.
I felt
sorry for him, it
was horribly
hot
and when he
started
spraying
they were angry!
But it's
done,
they're
gone,
I HOPE!
So yes
some exciting times
in our home.
Evidently
there is an infestation
of bees in the
area.
It's this dry hot
weather here.
Who said there were a
shortage of
bees in this country?
Come to my
yard,
you can have some!