California- Part 1

I just got back from California late last night and thought I better post a little something about the trip right away since certain persons with the initials G.A.R.Y can't wait to see their face plastered on my blog.

Well, lookie here. What do you know? It's Gary.

Gary is my publisher's father. How would I describe Gary? Let's see...uh...have you ever heard of Paul's thorn in the flesh? No really, on a serious note, Gary is an artist, a writer, and some other profession that has a title so long that it takes five minutes to say it so I won't try. But let's just say that he loves people a lot. And his latest hobby is tormenting me. Of course, I never taunt him back or anything. No, not sweet little innocent me.

This is Anne. She's Gary's wife. Bless her heart! I really bonded with Anne. I love her. She is a great wife, mother, and woman of God and I wouldn't mind spending a lot more time with her. Lucky me, I got to stay in her house for a few days after the homeschool convention.

Did I mention that while staying in their house Gary brought me "broom service"? My hot tea and a freshly cut lemon (as in cut from a tree in their yard) arrived to my room in the morning on the end of a broom. He wanted me to mention this on my blog being that he's so humble and all.

Then we have Dan, the fearless leader of the Teach4Mastery pack.

And Dan's lovely, funny, and very dramatic wife, Angie. Love her! She's the life of the party!

Their two sons. Yes, there is a son somewhere behind those protective arms. Poor guy! I guess he's tired of being hounded by papparazzi.

Mary, my roomie and therapist (just kidding, sort of). Mary is one capable lady and I'm convinced there is nothing in the world she can't do, except maybe choke down some of my healthy snacks.

Lori, who is so devoted to the Teach4Mastery products and she will do anything to sell them including dramatic presentations and singing to her customers. (I was watching you, Lori). I'm really not kidding, ya'll.

And this is Harold, the only sane one in the bunch. But then again, appearances can be deceiving.

I only have two beefs about these people. They make fun of my luggage and my snacks! First of all, I arrived with enough luggage for a six month stay. They all had these itty bitty carry on suitcases that weren't even big enough to hold enough underwear for three days. And they had the audacity to make fun of my mounds of baggage!

As if that wasn't enough they couldn't believe all the food I brought. This was my stash (though I don't think this was all of it).

I don't like to go hungry people! They made fun of my food all right until Harold got hungry one day right in the middle of the convention. Guess who was able to pull a buffet with a dozen choices right from her oversized purse? The gratitude was certainly flowing then!

And we won't even discuss the fact that they want to send me to "Let's Make a Deal" because nobody, NOBODY, has the stuff in their purse that I do. I mean how many of you can produce an alarm clock right in the middle of a pizza restaurant?

This is me in front of my curriculum display. One nice conference goer pointed out that my outfit coordinated with my curriculum. Those types of things are really important to southern girls, you know. (Perhaps, that's why we carry so much luggage. You think?).

I'll continue my California escapades in another post, but I just had to post these pictures because as I said at the beginning certain people are probably glued to their computer waiting in agony for me to show their faces to my big wide reading audience of...three?