Hooray Spring

The trees are finally getting pretty and the pollen isn't so pretty! But it feels good and the days are a little longer and we get to stay outside more.

Except today which is cool, really dreary and cloudy. Its "blackberry winter" as my grand use to call it. It turns cool when the blackberry bushes bloom. Look around, you can really see the white blooms all around on the fences and in the thickets. All is good and everyone seems to be doing well. Don't talk to people much unless we are outside. I work in yard, read a lot, watch movies on tv..I love tv really, I do...someday i want a big hdtv or small one..might even put the darn thing in the bedroom and watch tv from there! Sweet! Fell and hurt my ankle a couple weeks ago and it still hurts real bad when i walk a lot on it. I think some small bones in the foot were broken , it will just take time to get better but its weak and I have to be careful on it. That sucks! Still walk every day with my son's dog and we go and mile and a half. She wants all the little squrells,squrrels, or whatever and stops dead in her tracks, ears up, being so still and quiet and she

really points at them. We saw a dead one today but i didn't scoop it for her!! could have been a crock pot supper! Might have to start that, can't go anywhere or buy groceries everything is so high. Love being with my grandaughter but her time is short, she has so many friends and people to do stuff with. I just appreciate the time I do have with her. We talk a lot and look at pictures and play. We both got all bent out of shape on Easter Sunday . She had to sit at the kids table and it hurt her feelings and mine. She was already pissed because some of the neighbor kids had been in her room and messed it up when she wasn't there. She likes her space and has a plan in place for taking kids up there and letting them play with certain stuff that she lets them choose. I guess we have to be mindful now that she is a pre teen and her "space" is hers . Its just going to get worse the older she gets. I still remember when she was about 6 and loved everything you bought her. Man, its not like that now! Best just give her money. The food was great, Jill and Lane did the cooking and it always turns out to be the best home cooked meal that I have had in a long time. I really enjoy eating with them and being with them, I wish I had the money to take them out more.

I need to think about getting a cell phone. I don't have one but now that i have a hurt foot, I think about taking one when I walk or even have one out in the yard or if I go to the park. for safety sense.

Looking at that Jitterbug, but its not a camera and has no choices in ringtones or such, I don't need much on one, just a camera, a choice of ringtones, don't need internet or music or such, so I will have to look around and think real hard how to get one thats cheap! Maybe a pre pay? I just don't know. Too old, too stupid. Oh well, maybe my family can put up with me a couple years more..just think, this april, I will be close..real close..to 70!!!

Warmer and warmer and then a freeze Ha

It was a few warmer days and finally I got a new roof...ugh, expensive but probably worth it. I would have to do something when i got ready to sell anyhow and at least now I won't hear any drip, drip during the rain storms...they did it in two days and were really nice and efficient..they should be for the cost! Don't want to get too use to warm days . We got fooled last year and a late freeze burned a lot of the foliage and my fig tree, apple tree and lots of flowers so we will not buy any plants just yet. My grandaughter is taking guitar and she so far likes it a lot. We , my daughter in law, Jill, Logan and I went shopping for her some clothes and we had such a great time. She was in a good mood, we got to see all the Mall had to offer, we laughed, tried on clothes and just enjoyed our few hours together as girls. It means so much to me to be included in their

outings and it just reinforces how blessed I truly am. And it won't be long before our 11 year old would rather go with her friends than us, or walk at least 50 paces in front of us..so, Enjoy the early warm days, your family and your buddies...

Cold weather Our Style

Well, it was pretty, didn't last long and if you were asleep, you missed it! I would rather have it that way than the ice storm we have had in the past.

There were big flakes and you could actuall

make a snowball ...if you were up at 11:00!

So we finally had and have our cold weather and I dread the electric bill. My little house needs a new roof because I can hear it dripping in the attic when it rains...darn, so I am accepting donations..haha. Just charge it baby! and pay the mininum each month!! Charge now, pay later..much later....Jan is a strange month. When I had my store, it was a time to get straightened up, clean up, have sales and get ready for Feb.

Because around here, Feb. starts the spring season and you start looking for shorts and bathing suits....I see my little jonquils peeking up already.. hope theres not a late freeze like last year, it froze my little apple tree and my fig tree right to pieces! Enjoy tv , movies and keeping warm inside, before long all our days will be spent outside!!! yea

Thankful for Small Things

This Christmas I find myself more thankful for the small things in life. That happens a lot when you find yourself "short on cash" but its fun shopping at the Dollar Store!!! My oldest grandaughter is getting married this December and I hope we can make it . The youngest will be 11 in Feb. and shes waayyy too cool for me.

My son and his wife and those two are my small family and The ones I love most in my heart. Its great having them close and being able to be with them and feeling welcome in their home and hearts. Shawna is the one getting married , pictured above with her cat, and she is just so pretty. WE don't live close to her and only get to see her once or twice a year. Happiness to her.

All of them are amazing and I wouldn't have a blog if it weren't for them and I wouldn't feel right putting this up for this time of year without mentioning family, friends, neighbors all those you are there for and all who are there for you , I wish for them so much happiness and joy. So , Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to all.

Hey Merry Christmas

I love love Christmas. Its got its own spirit and its own way of making people smile at you and talk to you and be nicer than at other times. The real meaning sure gets lost sometimes in the busy shopping days but you know its never far from your thoughts. There are miracles and things that happen for no reason or for some reason. Some doors get closed on your life while others get opened so you can go forward in another direction. I miss so much the people who are not with us anymore. My mom, my Dad, my Aunts and Uncles and husbands. We use to have a full house and tummys when we would go to my Aunts and before that my Moms. My little family is small now and I am so thankful for them and for the way they make me feel special at Christmas and all the time. When I worked for myself in my business I could hardly make time for anything. The week ends I worked so employees could be off, early mornings and late hours were normal and i got to where i hated the Christmas season. People were irritable, mean and demanding and the hours so long i use to fall exausted in sleep on the sofa as soon as I got home. I would rush to get to my Aunts on Christmas Eve, all loaded up with gifts for everyone and excited to finally be out of the store and able to see her and my son and his family. It made all the hard work worthwhile because i was able to buy them the presents and gifts that I really wanted them to have. We would have a big evening dinner, open the gifts because they would have to leave for Santa the next morning.

Then, my aunt and i would consume some wine and fall asleep , sometimes both of us would sneak pesents under the tree for each other we had hidden till Christmas morning. She was 84 and still thought of me as her "baby". I hated to leave early that day, but the awful day afterChristmas at the busines...the exchange day...would dawn early...there were no normal holidays in retail. All it did was drain you and leave you nothing more to give.

The holidays were another day to be open so other people could shop. Many a time we celebrated the 4 th of July at the store with "take out" bar b que. from 1976 to 2003 ...my time was not mine. It was so wonderful to retire and be involved with the holidays with family, neighbors and other friends....watch football, celebrate Thanksgiving and Christmas and the 4th and Easter with each other..finally, a time to just be. I still miss the ones not here..so badly sometimes I wish I could re-create the past. But we can't and this day is the one to be thankful for and Celebrate the miracles, even the little ones that Christmas and all its meanings bring.

Thanks to my little family for letting me have the time with them that they do because i do know what "have so little time" means. Thanks to my neighbors for taking care of me too and for letting me be part of their lives and mostly for letting me love everyone and share the joys and the small miracles that happen each day.

Time Goes Fast

Aha, its finally cooler ..and really nice.

But, its also darker in the evening and I miss getting outside with all the neighbors and just talking for a while before going in to chill before bedtime. Its already dark when my loved ones and very special neighbors come home and somehow it seems like bedtime comes too early. I like the daylight early but honestly, I don't see where is saves you energy since you turn on more light in the early evening than you do in the morning. Its been a fun football season so far and my gosh, Thanksgiving is only a few weeks away and then its Christmas and another year...really went fast. Hope you have time to get out and enjoy the weather, even if it is sooo dry, it is truly beautiful with the skies so blue and the trees turning color . Time of the year to hunt up some firewood and find all the sweat tops you put away last Spring..we still have some shorts weather , I remember several Thanksgivings that we had on shorts and ran the air conditioning so we could cook the turkey in the hot kitchen! We had a great Halloween party in the circle and the kids looked so cute..even the monster ones! Good food, friends and fun for all. Looking forward to our Christmas party in the circle...Happy Fall ya'll.

Almost cooler!

It won't be long before the nights are cooler and the days shorter and maybe we can stop sweating. These days are good in the morning, for walking, working in the yard. The outdoors gives you a sense of peace and contentment and time to meditate or daydream. Its good for the soul, just like cats, dogs and horses. The smell of grass, trees , dirt, fires in the fireplace, reminding me of how very blessed and lucky we are to be here in this time and this place. Everywhere I go and stand or wait or be in a place where there are people..I hear a lot about politics and the people running for office. Mostly what I hear is the discontent about not having someone running that is close to the real people. The working crowd, the retired people, the middle american that is finding things so hard to achieve anymore. I hear that we need a third party and someone that remembers their roots and where they came from, working class or affluent, just someone to be their champion. The politicians stay in office too long, get corrupted and forget. People are saying their health care cost too much, even if you save in a 401K, IrA or savings or put money away in mutual funds, you can't make it because things not even realted to this country are having such an effect on our own stock market and thats what those funds are invested in.

There is way too much money being raised by the candidates and no revealing where that money came from. If it came from big business or foreign business or someplace unknown, that candidate will have favors to pay back. There is wayy too much pushing our senate, congress and executive office in the US that is from abroad. So , mostly, like me people are wating to see who comes out with the platform that most makes sense to them. We may have a long wait.