literally purchased from a little

old lady.

It had very frew miles on it when

he purchased it.

Today he was leaving the parking

lot and as he was about to turn,

gosh, the whole wheel and the tire

with it fell off.

Fortunately he was going so slow

that he was not injured.  But imagine

if he had been on the highway and

all of the sudden his wheel fell off.

He told me the technical explanation

for why this occurred, during some

failure to fix the car correctly recently.

Regardless of the explanation, it is still

very upsetting to me.  Like a brush with

death, and God gave you a get out of

jail free card, if you will.

It was as if God was reminding him

to take each day as a blessing, and

also not to waste any days, and to

be sure to appreciate each day that

we are living.  Which surely we do,

but now even more so.

I am so glad everything turned out okay.

love story, that is here, but I also

have advice for you about getting

along in marriage.

Leo thought about being a pastorm

and I have to say that I probably

would have been a good pastor’s

wife cuz I find myself acting that

way regardless of my job. LOL!

Here is my advice. You have to

both remember that you are on

the same side.  There is not HIS

side and HER side or HER side and

HIS side.  It is OUR side, and so

what is the use of fighting just to

prove oneself to be correct and

victorious in an argument.

Think about it.

about big fires in Australia.

I do not know why they seem

to have fires there so often.

Seems like every year, just

like here in California.

Australia is one plae that

I have always wanted to go to,

but now I would be a little

bit anxious with all the fires.

I would not want to leave my

kids when they are little if

there is a chance I could be

hurt.

The other thing is my in-laws went

there and it seems like the flight

took them something like 24 hours or

some crazy number.  That is a long

time to be en route.

and was trying to figure out what

to prepare for the anniversary of

our first real date out to the movies

together.

I found this one online for chicken

wings. 

My plan is to soak the chicken in the

mix and then bake it real slow at about

250 - 275 until they are done.

12 chicken wings does not sound

like enough.  If I am going to go to

the expense of turning the oven on,

I might as well cook more than a

measley dozen chicken wings.

1/2 C ketchup

1/4 C vinegar

2 T brown sugar

1 tsp worcestershire sauce

1 - 2 tsp Tabasco sauce

1 T paprika

12 chicken wings

scant salad oil to mix in.

Leo has alot of medical issues.

This has not been easy based on our

lack of consistent medical insurance.

The worst problem he has right now

is his excema. 

If we lived in a different part of the

country this probably would not be

an issue.  His skin gets all scaly and dry

and fluffs off.

When we spend time other places, it

actually resolves quite nicely and is

not an issue.  But here is is constantly

scratching himself regardless of

whether it is day or night.

He has been to the dr of course,

but they only offer palliative treatment,

and not anything that actually cures

his complaints.

Some lotion actually burns his skin

because it has alcohol in it and his

skin is already scratched open.

Sometimes even if you read the

label you are not sure abou the

alcohol because of all the long

words, so he doesn’t find out

that there is actually alcohol in

it until he puts it on his skin

and then screams out.

We try to avoid this, but it has

happened.

I told Leo I was gonna write something

about him and only tell the truth, and

he turned all white. LOL!!

The fact is that he is a real sweetie,

and a person can’t say much bad

about him.  Lucky for him. LOL!

What I wanted to write about was

one of his most endearing qualities.

This is how he is always so attentive

and kind.

When were were dating and talking on the

phone, we would get off the phone and

as he hung up he would always say “God

bless you.” 

This was a small thing, but I found it

so adorable, I have to tell you.  Nobody

had ever said that to me, a boy I mean.

The other thing that happened is this.

I had one of those girlhood fantasies in my

head that I would marry the first boy

who gave me roses. 

One boy did bring me tulips once. Guess

I didn’t have to worry about him.

Well, Leo actually did bring me roses once,

and the whole girlish memory came back

to me.  I figured, hmmm, maybe this guy

is worth a second look. LOL!

And he was. 

the fact that he and me didn’t go to

the same church.

You wouldn’t think of this as being

such a big deal, but in our town it

was.

Pretty much from the beginning we

started going to his church cuz the hours

were more convenient on Sunday, but

that of course was irksome to my mom

although she did not say anything.  It

was more my aunts and all that gave

me a hard time.

These days I think we have it pretty

much worked out.  We do spend time

at both churches, and although we

do not have alot of money to donate

for churches, we do volunteer

ourselves to both churches by making

baked goods, or providing physical

labor when needed.  It seems to be

alright now, and both churches actually

like the fact that we can be relied on

to help out.

When couples are together, it is natural

to have problems along the way.  We

didn’t have any problems as much as

she had us.  I can write this because

she has moved out of the country

with the Navy and has her own

husband now.

At the time way back when there

was this girl who was crazy about

Leo.  I mean she was crazy in love.

They had gone out for awhile, but then

Leo and I got together after they had

parted ways and then some.

Her dad was a big guy in town because

he owned the car dealership.  So to some

degree she was this poor little rich girl,

somewhat spoiled if you ask me. 

She was ga-gah over leo and that

was all there was to it.  She figured that

he was her’s even if they had gone their

separate ways.

Once on a weekend the whole town was

at the park picnic, and she had not just a

little, but way to much to drink.  She got

into the sobbing frenzy about Leo.  It

was so embarassing, as people were bringing

us reports from the other end of the park

about what she was doing or saying.  Leo

being a nice guy, he felt bad for her.  I have

to say I was a little more defensive and

territorial than that.  I figured she could

cry all she wanted, but that didn’t change

the fact that it was Leo and Pat not Leo and

her. You know?!

So in the end one of the ex football players

scooped her up and drove her home in

one of her daddy’s convertibles.

It was just one of those incidents that

marks a couple’s journey towards marriage,

and one of those things we talk about from

time to time, but more out of pity than

fondly or anything.

The good news is she met this Navy officer

like top gun, and now they live in Okinawa

or somewhere exotic.  She is just -from what

people say- the life of the base, and really

enjoying military life and making a home for

her and him.  So I guess things all work out

in the end if you give them enough time.

as you know, the better friends etc

we became.

We just wanted to spend time

together.

One day we were in the park and

he picked up the aluminum part

of a soda can that flips off.

He put it on my finger, which fortunately

it fit.  So that pretty much sealed things

for us, even tho it was just a piece of

trash from a soda can.  It was the world’s

best ring as far as I was concerned.

From then on I figured I was his girl.

Even if other people did not know

about the soda can flip top ring, or

even if they laughed, I did not mind.

We were like two turtle doves in love.

We got married June of 2000.

So far this is our first blogwebpage.

I am Pat and I am excited about this.

I was born in Indy (in Indiana), but

met Leo at school.  He’s from the

local area, most of you already know.

When we met the best thing was

that he was not a jerk.  His friend

was friends with my friend.  When

she said I should meet this guy I

figured oh no, another loser who

only likes to party and drink beer,

because I was at the time of such an

age that it seemed like those were

the only boys I was meeting.

Leo was much different, and actually

how he managed to be friends with

some of those other boys I don’t

know.  I guess just because they’d

known eachother since high school.

So we started going out, at first just

to the library or to church, and then

later to the movies.  It was nice.

And we still managed to stay together

and get married.  I will write about

that also.