Spa Deena week 4

Summer Break Spa Deena

Hitting the Road with Emelia Bedelia 

This week Spa Deena took a road trip to Sacramento County. My granddaughter and her parents live in the East side of the Sacramento County Valley. I was blessed with a new friend who was able to drive down on Tuesday morning and come back to Redding on Friday evening.

Little Lady Liberty

Beginning my first day we went to swim lesson with Emelia's cousins, the Smiths, and then it was: Target, Trader Joe's,  Costco, Chick-fil-A, or Micheal's and Pier 1. Every day we went to a different place or two before nap time. After dinner Em and I got to play in the pool at their apartment.

Swim Lessons

Friday we had no swim lessons, so we went to the Sacramento Zoo. It was too hot for most of the tired, hot animals. Em  still loved see the "animals" and got to come home with a new Lion. She talks or sings all day long.

 For a "not yet" 2 year old she is amazing and that is not just...because I am her Gammie. She has a box of electronic letters that tell her what the sound and letter name is and she has it almost all memorized. She says, "What says?" all day long. We had so much fun.

setting on an Orangutan

I love that she has no fear. Her mama sat her on a wooden Orangutan and she just sat there.

Amazing Giraffes

The giraffe were very tame and wanted to eat right out of our hands. We decided that next time we will go back to the zoo on a cooler day. Maybe February. Today when she got up from her nap  and I wasn't there she wanted, "Ammie".  That just makes a Grammie's heart swell when your grand-baby misses you the next day.

Here Mama and Daddy are the best parents and I was really proud to get to see them all interact. 

Back Home to House-sit

I felt like I had jet-lag this morning when I woke up in Redding. I got back to my apartment and made the turnaround in 15 minutes to be at my weekend destination. 

A wonderful place for coffee and oatmeal

Fresh Peaches from my Dad's tree

Fresh Sunflowers

My house mate for the weekend

This is a little preview of the house-sitting gig I get to have for the last of July and first of August. My June adventures are over.  Our weather has gotten hot; I pray we wont have bad fires with the dry hot north winds.

 I am looking forward to the weather toward the middle of this next week.

Week 4 goal is just to keep it cool. From week 2 I am trying to keep up with 96 ozs of water and laughing more (week 3). I was able to get a lot of laughing with my daughter and granddaughter. One of the best laughs was when my daughter handed Em my water bottle to bring to me. Em had the lid balanced on her head all the way across the living room. Toddler posture is amazing.

Happy July ~ Keep Cool.

Spa Week 3, "Taking my show on the Road"

Memory Garden for my Mama and Taylor

The 3rd week of June has been a hard one since my Mother passed away in 1986. This is my memory rocks and flowers to honor my Mom and Taylor. We lost Taylor last year on July 4th.

Flowers for Debbie

To keep the love alive before I leave on my trip... I gave my flowers to ,Debbie, my landlady for her office. She will get to enjoy them while I am loving on Emelia and Abbie.

Em just letting everyone know that she will be a big sister

Meanwhile at the nest this week

No toe nail polish for the summer

I am so happy to see my naked toenails without any breaks, bruises or missing nails. It is an occupational hazard of living and working with children to have them step on your feet and drop things on your feet. After fixing my own ingrown toe this spring, it was such a pleasure to take off my polish this week, for the month of July and see almost perfect nails. I rubbed in a layer of coconut oil after a session with the "Foot file".

Redding Rock

Painting Rocks is an international "SMILE" project. Here in Redding we have a Facebook Page with  over 21K  members. I found this 💮Groovy Rock🎕 near Pier1 in the Parking lot. I posted the picture and told the painter I was keeping this one. "It is so me!"

I road my bike three times this week

40#s/No Speed/Hang Ten Cruiser 

I love feeling the wind as I cruise down Hilltop Drive. It is a thrill to glide under the I-5 and HWY 44  underpasses. Then I have to pump a bit to get up to the trail that goes along the river to the Sundial Bridge. I've been thankful to catch the bridge each morning before the washing machine goes by. (The bridge is glass and everyday a person drive a scrubber with a squeegee blade along the bridge.)

Once I get across the bridge it is a short ride before I get off to walk up the hill. It takes me only 15 minutes to walk up the hill, but it is a tough hike to push my big bike up the incline of 250 ft elevation  in less than a half mile.

I found an app called Map My Ride GPS Cycling for my phone that tracks my Route, Distance, Duration, Calories, Speed and gives me a map, graph, picture option and time and temp.

4.5 mile route

I like to see my MPH and Elevation

Even a picture of me.

Tomorrow I hit the road for my mini vacation to visit my Granddaughter and Daughter #2. I completed goal for week two and drank 96 oz. of water every day or more.

    My goal for Week 3 is to laugh.

🤣 Belly Laugh

😂 Laugh from the inside out

😵 Laugh until I am dizzy

                                                                 🦋Namaste 

Deena's Summer Spa Week Two, 2018

WELCOME TO THE NEW LOOK AT "SPA DEENA."🌻

I traded the Pink our for this lovely Blue

Kitty Wind-Chime had to come in as a heavy wind knock him
off the Nest Roof and his legs fell off.
(Inside Kitty now)

Summer Time is a great time to switch out the pink roses for
Big yellow Sunflowers

With so little space inside The Nest I needed to put the Pink Bird House that has graced the South/West corner of my living room outside, so kitty can be a house cat.

Metal Wind Chimes have survived many winds

Picture of the Week

It looks like I am inside the fence, which I guess
I am.

My biggest challenge in Spa Deena this week is to drink 96 oz. of water every day. I had read this was a great way to hydrate and just to take on one "spa" challenge a week. 

Last week it was simply, "breathe while I eat" and that I am eating sitting down. During the school year I don't get to eat sitting at lunch time and I sit in my Papasan to eat sometimes when I am really tired. I am trying to eat most meals at the table. 

Pier1.com  Stock Photo of Papasan

I read an article last night, that I could totally relate to; after deciding to take the challenge for week two of: drinking "96 oz" of water every day. This New York City, young adult, working girl had a realistic approach to the goal. She wasn't stopping coffee, alcohol or even soda. She was just adding the water to her other fluid intake. Working in the school system where you have to train your bladder to only empty every four hours...this may become a challenge for  the school year. However, I am going to give it a try this summer break.

I am blessed that at Pier 1 if you have to go, you just ask someone to cover you and you get to go...unfortunately, that is not a luxury of public school employees. The sweet gal that wrote the article said that NY had great water. Redding isn't exactly in that category, but I was spoiled by well water most of my life. I have filled all my glass drinking bottles (1 liter Kirkland Tequila is one of the best, don't judge me!) with tap water and let these set over night to get rid of the chlorine smell. I'm also adding a packet of electrolyte replacer to one of the bottles.

Great Winter mixer

With Stevia, nice taste

There you have it, The News from THE NEST. My first two weeks of summer without tiny humans in my life. My creative energies are working in a different avenue this summer.

I got the pleasure of making our last two chalkboard signs for the entry of Pier1.

The first one was for an event that we had on Friday and Saturday, last weekend. The second one is our "Let Savings Ring" June 22 to July 4th. It is so fun to do these signs. This next week I hope have more creative adventures.

I found a rock outside Pier 1 today as I was dropping off a friend for work. The rock painting and hiding has become an international way to say, "Smile."

Feeling Groovy

Enjoy🦋

Summer Reading List

It all started a few weeks ago while playing Bold Moves on my phone at the Doctor's office.
I completed the puzzle and this was the quote. "You can't argue with Passion."
I fell down the google rabbit hole looking up Tim Burton and the "Passion" behind his quote.

My next step was Amazon.com and ordering the book: "The 8 Traits Successful People have in common".



#1 Passion...Find what you love and do it with all your heart.💗

I also have been working on: "Dodging Energy Vampires"



I subscribe to Dr. Christiane's  email newsletters. She has been a great source of information through my midlife years and this book is a must read for all ages. I am an EMPATH was a capital "E". This is a great soak and read for the summer

These two books should give me plenty of food for thought during my school break.

My other book on the table is my Bible. This summer I am joining Good Morning Girls



I had my own journal for the project started, so that will be my keeper. My goal for the summer is to achieve more balance before the school year begins. I'm riding my bike or taking walks on my two or three days off a week. This week it is Tuesday and Friday. Tuesday I gave myself grace and had coffee with a friend and took a nap in the afternoon.


Tomorrow I get to meet a corporate visitor for the first time at my retail job. This has been an adventure to return to my roots of retail. In 1974-77 I took retail courses at High School which included design and a lot of art classes for lettering and painting. In the spring of 1977 I competed in layout and advertising in San Diego. Today I made a hand written chalk sign for our entry to advertise a sneak preview for Reward Members. It seems so crazy that skills learned over 40 years ago are being used today in our computer age.
Another feather in my cap was being recognized as the Reward Superstar for the first quarter. That means I signed up the most people. (This is my part-time job.) ☺️

I don't have TV or WiFi at home, so, I read a lot of fun books too. 

Recently I read a A cat of one's own : an Alice Nestleton mystery As well as about a dozen others by Lydia Adamson.

Currently I am reading Kate Jabobs Friday Night Knit Club  collection.

I like reading winter books in summer, it keeps me cool. It only hit 98 degrees today.

99 degrees tomorrow and 101 next Tuesday

I love my little nest. Upstairs and away from the street. My property manager, Debbie is amazing. Her husband and maintenance guy is great and comes right over and fixing whatever goes wrong. Having a washer and dryer in my apartment is a safe and time saving addition. Yesterday I showed the "Pink Elephant" phase, I have been on since Christmas. Friday I will be spending part of my day off changing to the blue backdrop and changing all the pink roses on the mantel with sunflowers. 

I only have four weeks home before I will be house setting the last week of July and the first week of August. I am excited to see what the Lord will do with me in the coming two months of school summer-break.

My closing thought was something that a customer brought to my attention today. We are like Artichokes. We may have pokies on the outside, but after we steam with God, our hearts are tender.

 ~ Namaste ~

Summer Spa Deena

Welcome to Spa Deena. Just through the door to a place of peace and rest for the summer.

A new addition to "The Nest" this year we have Rufus Hummingbirds with the Annas

School was out last Wednesday. WOW! I am working a lot at Pier 1, but not so much I can't enjoy my outdoor terrace.

Over Mother's Day weekend I cleaned the Fairy Garden.

When it is too hot outside I can enjoy reading in my newly designed living room space.

My friend, Alice, brought me a hand painted, rice paper fan from So Korea.

I made this little ballerina in the the 1970s for my niece, Kate. She and her two sisters enjoyed it on their bedroom walls.

At the end of the month I get to go visit this ballerina  and give it to her for her , Big Sister Room.

I plan to write more this summer, read more this summer and live & love more this summer.

~Shalom~