Gratitude Journal

I hope everyone had a fantastic weekend! I know we sure had a good time visiting with friends. We were sorry to see them leave monday afternoon. Sweetie took mom to the eye doctor this morning. I am back to having the youngest grandson, Andy, on tuesdays so I stayed home. Sweetie and mom were going to make a day of it so I hope they are having fun! Andy and I have been busy with the laundry and putting the house back in order. We watered all the flowers make that played with the water hose for a long while. We had a nice lunch and then took in a couple Tom and Jerry cartoons before nap. He is off to dreamland and I find myself with time alone. WOOOOHOOOO! It doesn’t happen much these days but I sure appreciate it when it does. I am slowly trying to get a blogging schedule back so I have time to read what everybody is up to. I also need a few hours to figure out the errors on my blog. I have had a hacker. My header file was loaded with a bunch of nasty links. I found them and removed them and that cleared up my problem for a while but now it is back. I hate to have to get a new blog so I am still trying to figure it out. I am Thankful it isn’t any worse and I am still able to use it. Have a great day!

I  have had the most unexpected delightful surprise this evening! Somewhere around 4 this afternoon I called my girlfriend and her husband. I really wanted to speak to him. He is very involed in the politics of the upcoming election. I wanted to know what he thought of Obamas speech last night, but I started the conversation with…You know, it is not too late to start out for a big holiday weekend! He said, Yes it is… so we had an interesting political conversation. Twenty minutues into our conversation he said hold on, and put his wife on the phone, who had just gotten home from work. I said the very same thing to her…it is not too late to start out for a big holiday weekend! In the background I hear him saying ….I can be ready in 10 minutes. She says, we have never done anything soooo spontaneous! See ya in a few hours! How lovely is that? We will be having company for the weekend….WoooooHooooo. I love these people!!!!

Can you believe three days in a row???…Nah me neither. There is really very little going on in my world today. I have been a little under the weather today but I am taking my tylenol like a good girl and feeling better. Sweetie is home and done now for the rest of the week. We will be starting our weekend early. He is already cutting some firewood, just one of the projects we need to finish around here. I hope to do a major flower garden overhaul. My flowers have gotten so big and overgrown they are almost not pretty….I said almost, LOL. We are going to separate the roses into a garden all their own. I think they will like it. We have big plans to accomplish a lot around the house before Sweetie has to head back out to Ohio next week. I am Thankful today for Sweetie and his ability to do so many things around the house.

Two days in a row….WoooHoooo!! Look out I could be on a roll! I have relocated my pc, so now I can sit quietly with my thoughts and get something written. I am looking forward to catching up with everyones blog, boy do I have a lot to read!! So far, no big plans for the holiday weekend. We may just finish up some projects around the house. Sweetie has a friend who will be camping at the state park all weekend, he and his wife have invited us to come by, so that is on our short list. I think it may be a good weekend to power wash the house. Living out here in the woods it has to be done a couple times every year. There is so much crap from the trees. I love the trees but they sure don’t clean up after themselves.

Has anyone been watching the convention? I have always been a staunch republican but I did want to hear Hillary speak. We watched the question and answer forum from Saddleback Church. I have to say Obama sounds good but he never seems to answer the questions about HOW he is going to accomplish anything. I admire McCain as a man and as an American but I don’t know that I want him as a president. I will say his answers are direct and to the point. I think he has his HOW down pat, I just don’t know that I agree. I am anxious to see who becomes his running mate. I think Obama made a huge mistake in not selecting Hillary. What do you think? There is so much crap from the polititians. I love politics, but they sure don’t clean up after themselves. I am still Thankful that we have the right to choose even if our choices aren’t that great.

You may have noticed, I am having some trouble with my blog. An error in my sql syntax…..okay then. I know nothing about this. I cannot understand what happened because I haven’t used it in a long long time. I changed the look to see if that would help, and it did for a few hours then right back to the error message. I will have to put my detective hat on in the next few days and try to figure it all out. There is so much crap to figure out with a blog. I love blogging, but it sure doesn’t clean up after itself. Well thats all I have for now, have a grand day!

I hope you will all forgive me for not keeping you updated. I know several of you have been quite concerned.You can’t believe how many times I have sat down to write a little something, only to hear my name being called. I have to get up and solve another problem. This has been an unusual and hard summer for me. It has been ages since I have had a moment to myself. I am someone who loves solitude,…oh, I am social enough and I truly enjoy people but I have an artists’ mind. I love being alone with my thoughts. As most everyone knows, my Mother is now making her home with Sweetie and me. It has been working out better than I expected but it still has a few drawbacks. I am not used to living my life as a “daughter”. I am a “Grandma”!!! I don’t want or need to be “Mothered”…….ugh! “What are you doing?”…”Why don’t you do it THIS way?”….”Who was on the phone?”…”What did THEY want?”…”Why don’t you….?”…..and on and on and on. UGH!!! Now I love my Mom but, I am not 15. It has been hard.

I have finally gotten my house put back together. I have sorted and gotten rid of lots. It is starting to be comfortable again. Sweetie and I downsized about 7 years ago. Sold the condo in the city and went GREEN ACRES style to the country. We bought a small house and a couple acres, just right for two. Now we are three. The house is small…two bedrooms but only one bath. We have been passing things along to our children and filling our booth at the flea market. Stuff we needed to do anyway. I had just been putting it off. I am thankful that it is getting done.

Summer has slipped by…unnoticed. We have had lots of company as usual. One of my childhood friends, that I hadn’t seen in about six years came to visit. We have been friends for almost 40 years. You can read more about her here. She and her husband arrived on a wednesday and stayed until saturday. We had a blast talking about all the old times. A little background for you….her husband has hepatitis c and is terminal. He is in heart failure and hasn’t long. It was his wish to come for the visit. While they were here, we celebrated their 33rd wedding anniversary! We went all out…a beautiful steak dinner, champagne, wedding cake (with a bride and groom on top), artwork for a gift….yes, the original wedding announcement from the paper 33 years ago. The picture doesn’t do the artwork justice. We framed this for them and it was beautiful. Later that evening with tears in her eyes, my friend thanked us for making such a memorable anniversary, she said she thought it would be their last.

My friends left that Saturday morning. My two brothers arrived that Sunday afternoon. This is a story in itself. My younger brother and I have not spoken in about ten years. I won’t go into that whole story just now but I will tell you he married a shrew from hell. LOL. My older brother called me that friday and asked me if it would be okay to bring the other brother and his three children…to surprise Mother. I said it would be fine so….he did. I had a lot of anxiety thinking about their arrival but eventually decided that I would treat my younger brother the way I would treat anyone coming to my home. We got through it. His children were not so well behaved for him. I planned some activities for them as I do with my granchildren and we had fun. They behaved well for me. My brother and I had a bit of a talk one evening after the children were asleep. I don’t know if we accomplished anything but I do know his life is not a happy one. I think that is sad. This was only the second time he has visited his Mother in the last 6 years. Since returning home he has called her several times so maybe he is rethinking his life a little. I am Thankful that my brothers made the trip, my Mom needed it.

Well thats it, at least part of it. How I spent my summer vacation…caring for my Mother, cleaning up after a devastating flood, sorting and getting rid of stuff, weeding the gardens, entertaining family and friends. Everything but blogging. I am hoping to keep my blog updated this time. Thank you all for all the lovely emails and comments. I have thought of you all, often. I love that you care! I am busy getting ready for a new season…Fall, my favorite time of the year. I have begun dealing with the summer vegetables, 47 quarts of corn last week and getting ready for tomatoes!!

Hi everyone! We are finally getting back to normal around here. We have made a permanent room for my mom. I am still trying to simplify by getting rid of things I no longer need. It has been quite a feat to find places for stuff. We were fortunate to be able to salvage a lot of mom’s things but now we have to downsize. Everyone is still busy cleaning up after all the flooding. It will be a few more weeks until our stores are up and running again. I do miss my Kroger! Our summer is moving right along. The gardens are flourishing. We celebrated Isaac’s 6th birthday this past weekend. What a delightful time! Many of his friends from school attended his party. I think there were 12 little boys and girls. You sure can see once school begins how the children change and grow up so fast. I am not the best playmate anymore, which is kind of a good thing because it gets harder and harder to keep up…LOL. We attended a graduation party on Sunday, for our neighbors youungest son. All the kids are grown and off to begin their adult lives. It is amazing to sit back and reflect on how much these kids have grown up. We are expecting Sweetie’s daughter, Brandy and her family on Friday. We have not seen them since Feb. and I am sure our little Olivia will be a sweet sight. Brandy says she is talking up a storm now and I am so excited to visit with them. It is hard to believe summer is here already! May and June have slipped away. I am Grateful that we have been able to cope with all our drama of the past two months. I am looking forward to a productive summer. Big gardens, lots of canning, and just being normal…with time to relax and time to blog! Have a grand day!

My Dad passed away in October 2002. This was our last dance,almost 10 years ago. Happy Fathers day, Dad! I miss him a lot. I am Thankful for the man he was and the fine example he set.