I'm 59 years old. I've been married to my hubby for ... WOW! 30 years! I'm Mom to 4 great kids - 2 girls, 2 boys - and one granddaughter, now 12, and a grandson who is 5!
I am a firm believer that Jesus Christ is my Savior, and I struggle daily to be the woman He wants me to be.
Susanne at Living to Tell the Story hosts Friday Fave Five in which we share our five favorite things from the past week. Thank you Susanne for hosting this inspirational sharing game!
Oh goodness! I am HERE people! I am HERE! Maybe I should explain... for those not in the know - and even for those who are... we are in the season of Lent right now. I AM one of those who does "something" to honor God and bring myself closer to him during this time... and this year I have chosen to give him the FIRST hour (or sometimes two) of my day, in prayer journaling and Bible reading. (which is in addition to my 3 weekly Bible studies) So that is why I am not getting here early anymore. I try to get posts ready to auto-post during the night -- but that doesn't always happen either. So I am around... just not quite as much! Or quite as early. Now... Lets get on with my FAVES!
1. My BEAUTIFUL day in DC on Sunday. Just walking around the city amongst the tall buildings ... and the old buildings. I'm not really fond of where old meets new... but I still appreciate both. I just wish if they're going to build new they would do ALL new ... I didn't take a picture but there was one block that had brand new high rises along the whole block - except one little rundown brownstone right smack dab in the middle -- and it just looked SILLY! Somebody must really LOVE that little building though... cuz there it sits! Sometimes they can work together. THIS one on the corner worked nicely...
2. Black beans. These yummy little nuggets have become such a favorite lately that they are actually becoming a PROBLEM! Beans are very healthy - but they are NOT low in calories. I am a BIG eater and portion control is my biggest problem. So a whopping serving of black beans and rice is NOT a good thing! But the black beans ARE a good thing. MAN, I LOVE 'EM!!! Anybody got some gOOd recipes for them that don't include the extra calories of rice? :)
3. Honest auto mechanics. Amanda's car needs a new transmission, and she has a guy that has really gone out of his way, above and beyond to find her the BEST deal and the best price on labor - even though it's not HIS! How many mechanics will do THAT for you? I'm sO impressed!
4. Last night. Impromptu visits from the kids! First Hector stopped by before he picked Luz up at the bus stop. He left. Then Amanda showed up a few minutes later ... apparently they had a little mis-communication about who was picking Luz up! LOL! She stayed for a couple of hours. Then Derek showed up to do laundry. And Krysti was home too. The only kid I didn't get to see yesterday was Mathew! I need to make an appointment to see him! ;)
5. The best of the best was... we did NOT get ANY snow yesterday!!! Whooo hooo! But boy did we get WIND! Even today - we are blowin' awaaaaaaaaaaaaay!
NOT a favorite -- I did not lose ANY weight this week. My own fault. I only exercised two days. THAT will not do it for me! I MUST pedal an hour a day. Period! And so I will. And now, I'm coming to visit y'all!
I took this picture from the top of my driveway yesterday. It was 19 days past our ginormous snow storm and as you can see, while a TON of it has indeed melted, most of our grass is still covered though. ... Guess what? We're under a "winter weather advisory" ... we can expect a couple of new inches when I wake up on the morrow! *sigh*
1. Have you ever fired a gun or shot a bow and arrow? I have actually done both! I've never fired a pistol. But Dennis taught me to fire a shotgun one autumn when we were up on his uncles property. And we had archery classes in Junior High and High School -- so I've shot lots of arrows!
2. Do you know where your childhood best friends are? I don't even know where my CURRENT best friends are! No... I have never been a keeper upper. I know a lot of people are very "clingy" to friendships... but I have always assumed that God sends people into my life for "a while" for a reason, and then we move on.
3. Do you usually arrive early, late, or on time? BM (before Mom) I was always an early arriver! I can not stand being late to anything! Most especially WORK! This was drilled into me well in high school business class... I took it to heart, and I found it to be the ONE thing that employers REALLY appreciated! It was mentioned at my yearly reviews on many occasions how MUCH that was appreciated. And at Drs. offices I always show up early because I don't want them to have the chance to say "we called your name, but you weren't here - sorry - you missed your appointment! That will be $30 please."
4. Are you more of a New York or California type? Neither really. I'm more of a French Riviera type!
5. Do you have a special ring tone? Yes. Several. A different one for each family member ... and then a favorite for when anybody else calls. I don't hear that one too often! LOL!
6. What is your favorite type of chip? Frito's are my favorite -- original flavor. But I hardly ever eat a chip.
7. Best comedy you've ever seen is ....Menopause, The Musical! I have NEVER laughed harder!
8. Have you ever cut your own hair? To quote Dr. Phil, "How'd that work for ya?" LOL! I do it all the time! I have such curly hair that if my bangs need trimming, or it starts getting a little heavy on top, I can just snip snip snip and I'm good to go! I only get my hair "cut" about every 4-6 months! 9. If you were going to have an extreme makeover, would you rather it be about your house or your personal self? NOBODY is touching my house! I do my own make-overs! Thank you! If they want to pay for it, that would be nice! And I really don't want a personal make-over either. I know I could USE one - I'm a very "dowdy" dresser.... but ya know what? I just don't really care! As a matter of fact, I would like to live where I could just wear shorts, t-shirts, and flip flops ALL YEAR ROUND! (but from what I hear, Hawaii is NOT the place for me... see? French Riviera! Or Texas! SOUTH Texas!)
10. Are you allergic to anything? Codeine.
11. Why is it so hard to change? I don't know. Lack of prayer? Not truly desiring the change? I've changed so much in the last few years I hardly recognize my old self... but there are some things that God just has not gotten to yet, or that I am too stubborn to give up! We were JUST talking about that this morning! But... He's not DONE with me yet! YAY!
12. One last question dedicated to February love: CS Lewis said, "To love is to be vulnerable." Please share one example of that assertion or share any thought you'd like to about this topic. That's an easy one! To love IS to be vulnerable. When you open your heart to LOVE, you also open it to pain. The people you love don't always love back, don't always love "your way"... or... they go home to Jesus and leave you. If you don't LOVE someone, you don't CARE what they do and it doesn't affect you emotionally. But when you do love ... everything they do affects you. And it doesn't always affect you good or happy. We raise our children to be independent people... and then when they go off and live a life independent of us, it breaks our hearts! We raise them to think for themselves, and then when they DO it and make choices that are not OURS, it breaks our hearts! And I'm not even going to get into all the "couples" challenges... but yes... when you open your heart to love, you also open it to pain. And SOME of that pain is meant to be a "growing" experience for US!
Linda, these were really GREAT questions this week! I can't wait to go read other's answers! Thank you!
Okay, I saw this game over at Thom's blog last week and really wanted to play along. Of course, I forgot about it until I visited him again today and saw it! This is week 3 of a 12 week game, so I am playing catch up - thankfully I actually AM in the habit of taking pictures of strangers. LOL! (latent stalker tendencies???) Anyway here are the rules - copied straight from Thom...
Ida at Idathue has a cool meme going on. The challenge goes something like this: 12 weeks. 12 strangers = 12 portraits. Here are the particulars direct from her blog:
Rules:
1.: the person I take the picture of must be a stranger.
2.: show the pictures here every Tuesday for the next 12 weeks.
Bonus points for actually stopping a person and asking if I can take his/her picture.
I’d love it if you’d play along too. There’s nothing quite as inspiring as a little group support and pressure
See you here next Tuesday.
You can get more information by clicking HERE. Thanks Ida for hosting.
Sooooo... here I go with my first THREE... and then I hope to have one a week from here on out!
I took this one up at Baltimore Inner Harbor last May. I did not ask the girl for permission. I just thought that was QUITE an outfit she had on, and was intrigued that she really went out like that! (mainly cuz I would too...)
These two gents were walking along the mall between the Washington Monument and the Capitol in D.C. last August. I was making up stories in my mind about who they were and what they were discussing. If I disappear and my blog is suddenly CLOSED it's because I published this photo! LOL!
I took this one at National Harbor in D.C. (you may notice Jientje in the background) She was happily snapping away and this fella walked by... he just epitomized construction worker to me... only thing missing was the hard hat! Nope... didn't ask him for the pic either! I will have to try that one of these days!
Or maybe I should have called it LOW adventure! Since the adventure that we went on revolved around things found undergound! Yesterday was the day that my friend, Cindy, and I were going to see the Terracotta Warriors! WE had originally planned to go just us two and take the metro - but when her hubby found out we were going, he wanted to tag along too -- and so he drove! That's always so much better because you actually get to SEE the city rather than riding underground on the subway. I had HOPED we would catch a glimmer of the Chinese New Year parade in China Town - but Bill skirted around it to avoid the crowds... and so I missed it. (so sad) I wouldn't have seen it from the subway either - and didn't even know it was going on yesterday until THEY told me! Such TEASES they are! LOL! But anyway... we did get down to the National Geographic Museum and DID get to see what we went for! SADLY... oh SO sadly, we were not allowed to even take a camera or a cell phone out of our pockets while we were in there! WHAT ever happened to the good ol' days when you could photograph ANYthing? These days you are not allowed to photographic ANYthing - and they had guards posted too to make sure you don't! I wasn't even allowed to photograph the cute little pagoda you go through to ENTER the exhibit! Sheeeeeesh! They did have this one PHONEY warrior at the end that you were allowed to take pictures of and touch and for Pete's sake CLIMB on if you wanted to... but it does not look like the real warriors! See?
Cindy & Bill with P.W.
And me with P.W. too!
He gives the basic premise of what they look like -- but they were each different - each completely hand made, though done in a production line. It was positively fascinating! They had an exhibit set up that showed how the work would have been done to create them. Each warrior weighed about 350 pounds -- and there horses weighed about 750 pounds each! The legs were all made solid, but the bodies are hollow. The neck was left open when they were fired and the head added on later. The heads are solid and each one different! There were photo's on the walls showing what the site looked like when they were first done excavating --- can you just IMAGINE 7000 of these things lined up row after row after row??? And we just happened to talk to another visitor who had visited the excavation site back in 1984 - and was able to actually stand on the ground around these warriors and take pictures! WHAT a BLESSING that must have been to him! He was of Chinese ancestory -- and we didn't get into his religious beliefs - but just from a history standpoint -- that must have been an AMAZING thing for him to see. Of course, he admitted that at the time, he was really too young to appreciate what he was seeing - but his PARENTS I'm very sure were quite impressed! And I found myself, once again, in AWE of the artistry that went into these creations. And when they were created, they were all brightly painted and glazed! Oh, it must have been really SOMETHING to see back then! We are talking 210 B.C.!!! You know... I am really NOT a history buff... but I am an ART buff - and it just really takes my breath away when I see things like this and see what capabilities these people had - with the most primitive of tools! It was an AWESOME exhibit! Truly! If you get the chance - if it comes near you - GO! See it! Read and appreciate it. Cindy and I just kept wondering what God must have THOUGHT of all this -- of course, he KNEW it was going to happen! But honestly - the GREED of this emporer and the suffering that he caused to so many people JUST so he could HAVE all these "toy soldiers" to "protect" him in the afterlife... oh my goodness. My head HURTS from all the thinking this exhibit made me do! And not ONE picture do I have to share with you... So sad...
I DID find some cute stuff OUTSIDE the museum to share with you! They have a little garden area between the buildings with some of the most whimsical little creatures! Well... not so little... take a look!
*singing* The ants go marching one by one, hurray! Hurrah! This was the first one I spotted outside!
And this was the last one I spotted! He was so up high I almost missed him! But he's beautiful!
But THIS guy just stole my heart! I love a praying mantis anyway... but this one just seems so personable!
I have one more - but I'm saving him for another day! haha!
After the warriors, we went and viewed a photography exhibit in the other building, and then walked the city for a bit, ate dinner at Chipotle's and then headed home. It was a delightful day! I had sO much fun! And now Bill has forbidden Cindy and I to go out without him anymore because HE wants to come have fun too! LOL! He is MORE than welcome! I WISH Dennis would have joined us -- he would have enjoyed it! (and yes - I did ask - but no, he didn't want to.) His loss. ;)
As I mentioned yesterday in my FFF, Luz & I had a special project to work on Monday while she spent the day with me! We didn't really mind that it was the day AFTER Valentine's Day... we were still "in season".
THIS was the kit! (take note of what the candy on the box looks like...) OURS won't look like that!
This really was an easy little project because it was all microwavable! It gave directions for doing it this way OR doing the double boiler on the stove... Um... THIS way is 10 times LESS messy! All we did was pour the pre-sorted colors into the 4 separate squeeze bags and nuke 'em for a few minutes... squooshin' inbetween... and then they were ready.
We just did ONE color at a time and found that they do cool rather quickly! Luz started out trying to paint the details in the molds first... that wasn't happening! The melted chocolates cooled far too quickly. So squeeze it is!
She was very creative with it, putting this color here and that color there...
Until they were all full up! (well, as many as we could do...) I think the box said it would make like 28 pieces -- and it MIGHT have IF you didn't make any of the cute FUN ones!
But of course, the BEARS were the most fun! And they were BIG... she made one of each of them, and I think we ended up with 18 pieces overall.
Aren't they DARLING???
She really had a GOOD time making these!
AND bagging them up! I didn't taste one - I wanted to send them ALL home with her so Amanda & Hector could SEE them! But they said they were very tasty too! (Amanda was actually surprised at how good they were!)
This was a GREAT, FUN project and I bet we do it again for other holidays!
Beats the pants off a gingerbread house, I'll tell ya that!!!
Oh! And here's a little video of what I got Luz for Valentine's Day! She loved it!
Susanne at Living to Tell the Story hosts Friday Fave Five in which we share our five favorite things from the past week. Thank you Susanne for hosting this inspirational sharing game!
1.My week (as many other's in Blogland) had a bit of a pall thrown over it with the death of Dr. John on Monday. But even in that, while I'm certainly sad for losing this dear, dear friend, I was also able to be happy and thank God that he is no longer suffering. THAT is a great thing. COPD is a horrible HORRIBLE thing to live with... but by the strength of God, and his love for God, Dr. John did it with grace, charm, and a sense of humor. And now he is being rewarded! Amen! Of course, I hold the family in prayer, that God will comfort them in their loss... but I know they rejoice that he is with our Lord now too.
2.This was the week that all the people finally went back to work... and to school... and to life as we are generally supposed to know it - though it IS still mighty covered in white. (I'm fearing white may be the new green!) Anyway... getting life back to some form of "normal" is a good thing!
3.So, despite normal being in the plans, wee Luz had a "planned" day off school on Monday. Neither mom nor dad could possible afford another day off from work so ... you guessed it! Nana got to babysit! We had FUUUUUUUUUN! I had bought a kit to make Valentine candy and had given it to Amanda so that THEY could do this fun thing together ... but they never got around to it... because they were too busy playing in snow and such. So Amanda sent it back to my house with Luz Sunday night, and she and I did it together on Monday. I did take some pictures and haven't posted them yet... that may happen tomorrow!
4. Oh! RED ROSES! Yes! Hubby did NOT bring me chocolates for Valetines - as he knew I would probably kill him... he's just smart like that! But he did bring me a dozen GORGEOUS red roses! 5. And I just can't help myself! I'm jumping for JOY! We didn't have our weigh-in and Bible study last week because of the snow -- but I knew I was doing good! When I got on the scale last night I was down 6 more pounds!!! Whoooooo hoooooo! Thank you Lord!
So... what is the "good stuff" in YOUR life this week? Why don't you pick your top 5 and post them - link up over at Susanne's and play along!
Tuesday, while I was roaming the blog world reading all the tributes to Dr. John - which by the way just baffled me! One lead to another, to another, to another... it was sO cool to see how many people he touched and how many LOVED him! Of course, I think in my own mind that NO ONE loved him like I do... but I know that's not true. MANY loved him like I do... I was just the fortunate one that got to meet him and know him in person too! And this brings me to my main thought for today's post. As I was roaming... and I hadn't roamed far... I stopped at Quilly's and she had posted the news of Dr. J's funeral and where to send flowers. And in the comments was this:
Now, those of us who DID know Dr. John also know what a dear and special man he was. But not EVERYONE knew him. And I thought to myself how sad I was for Linda that she never got to know him. And I thought, well, she could go to his blog and if she started reading from the beginning, she would get a real good idea about him ... but she still wouldn't know him. She has missed out on the opportunity to "converse" with him, and to know him on a personal level. And that makes me sad.
And then it occurred to me, that I have another friend. And as much as I love Dr. John, I love THIS friend a lot more! He is even MORE loving than Dr. John was. He has a BETTER sense of humor. And He's almost NEVER grouchy! And even though He makes Himself readily available, many of my friends don't know him at all. ALL of my family, many of you, and many of my neighborhood friends as well. Let me introduce you to my friend, Jesus! You've ALL heard of Him! But so many of you don't KNOW Him. And if I EVER had a friend worth knOWing, He is the one! Of course, He doesn't have a blog... but you can pick up a Bible any time of day or night in almost any country in the world and read it... just flip to the New Testament - it's all about Him! And like Dr. John's blog, that would most assuredly BE a good start to getting to know Jesus. But one time through the Bible does not build that relationship. That FRIENDSHIP! In order to KNOW Jesus on a personal level, you must "converse" with Him. Some of you never got the chance to know Dr. John before it was too late. But I hope and I PRAY that ALLLLL of you will take the time to get to know Jesus ... before it's too late. Don't let stodgy priests or ministers stop you. Just do it yourself. Don't be afraid that you'll have to spend the rest of your life "being good!" ... Jesus is in the business of forgiving! It's what He lived for! It's what He died for. If we were all perfect we wouldn't NEED Him. The fact is that NONE of us are perfect... but He loves us anyway! And He really REALLY wants to be your friend! So, this is my post... in honor of Dr. John, on his funeral day... When Jesus comes again... and He will... don't ASK if we can fill in for you! We CAN'T! I can't knOw Dr. John for you... and I can't knOw Jesus for you either. Only YOU can know Jesus on a personal level. Don't miss your chance. I'm not asking you to accept Him as your Savior. I'm just asking you to "get to know Him". How can you decide to believe or not to believe, if you don't know Him? Talk to Him. THEN decide.
1. If you could compete in one Olympic event (not necessarily winter sports) what would it be? Well... it wouldn't be pretty - but I think if I could TRY any of them... winter it would be downhill skiing! Summer - diving!
2. Do remember a specific Olympic moment from the past? Sadly... I don't think I'll EVER forget Nancy Kerrigan being attacked, and the whole incorrigible episode that came from it - or caused it! But on a happier note, I will also never forget Nadia Comaneci's perfect 10 on the uneven parallel bars!
3. Have you ever known anyone who competed in the Olympics? Yes! As a matter of fact I have! But I did not know him WHEN he competed - and it's too bad, because that would have been SO exciting! But my eldest daughter's first weight trainer had competed in bobsled competition ... and I THINK it was the 4 man sleds. Yes, it was.
4. If everyday activities were Olympic-worthy, which activity would you have a gold medal in? Oh good grief! I can't think of a single thing! I can't even claim blogging after having taken almost a week off from it! Perhaps EATING! I'm pretty darned good at that!
5. Do you know anything about your ethnic heritage? Yea... I'm Irish.
6. Do you enjoy sleeping late? My body enjoys it... my head HATES it! I feel like half my day is GONE. I like to get up around 7:00. But my BODY likes to get around 9:00!
7. Have you ever performed CPR on anyone? Do you know how? (Yes, that's two, I know. Whatevs.) I have been trained in CPR and infant CPR - but that was many many MANY moons ago and I am not CPR certified at this time. So... is that a yes or a no?
8. Name one country you'd like to visit and explain why. I would like to visit Spain to see it's beauty and visit Mar. I would like to visit Belgium to see IT's beauty and visit Gattina. I would like to visit Egypt to see it's beauty. And I would like to visit Israel to see Jerusalem and experience that whoooooooole religious thing! Hm.... that's more than one, huh? And I forgot Paraguay and Betty... I wanna go there too...
9. Have you ever fixed up a couple romantically? Nope... can't say that I have! Don't think I'd want to claim responsibility even if I did!
10. What is the last book you read? Aargh... I am currently reading two... but the last one I finished was Primal: A Quest For The Lost Soul of Christianity. (EXCELLENT book!)
11. Do you enjoy sleeping late? NO, YOU write the question! How's that for random?? Okay then... MY question is... what is your favorite Old Testament Bible story? Why? I have so many it's hard to choose just one - but I think I'm going to go with the entire story of Joseph. When I think of the ways he was tested, but that he never took his eyes off the Lord... his faith was sooooo strong and he just knew that no matter what happened God was with him and good would come from it. He was truly a "positive thinker"! At least that's the one that's my favorite TODAY!
12. What is your favorite meal at your favorite restaurant? ROFL! MY favorite meal is not AT my favorite restaurant!!! How's THAT for an answer??? My favorite MEAL is a specialty burger at Hamburger Hamlet. But we don't have one near us and I almost never go there, so there! And that is probably the ONLY reason it's my favorite meal! But my favorite restaurant ... is a hard choice. We have a lot of good ones. For ME a favorite restaurant is not as much about the food as it is about the ambiance. I like my restaurants "on the water". And then I like a seat by the window - OR... oh yes! My favorite restaurant is Stoney's in Broomes Island - I like to eat out on the floating dock, and my favorite meal there is probably the seafood platter! Although Stoney's makes THE BEST crab cakes in THE entire world - trust me on this one - I live in Maryland and I KNOW my crab cakes -- my seafood pallet can not be satisfied with only ONE type of seafood. Therefore, it takes the entire platter to satisfy me! If I order just one thing I spend the entire meal saying "mmm this is good, but I wish I had gotten that, that and that too!" And now you know why I don't go out to eat when I'm dieting!
Funeral Service for Dr. John will be held Thursday, February 18, 2010 at St. Mark's Evangelical Lutheran Church 140 South Green Bay Road Neenah, WI 54956-2247
There will be a viewing from 9:00 - 11:00 a.m. with the service beginning at 11:00.
If you would care to send cards or flowers they may be sent to the church. I know cards will not arrive in time for the funeral, but I also know that they will still get into the hands of his family and loved ones.
Betty's husband, life partner... but mostly, best friend. I can not be MORE thankful to have had the opportunity to spend 10 days visiting with them... laughing hysterically, and loving the life and the family they built together. They are gonna miss him. Pray for them.
A Child of God. A Man of God. A Man of the Cloth. Pastor John Linna giving the children's message at St. Mark's last April. Since the first time I read one of his sermon's on his blog, I have been sorry that I never got to "listen" to him give a sermon. I'm certain he was a powerful speaker. He certainly had a powerful heart for our Lord. St. Mark's will miss him. Pray for them.
Dr. John... railroad engineer and imagineer of Pigeon Falls. Tommy UK, Tommy TW, and all the other Tommy's as well as Pastor Joan, Herman, and Nancy are now entertaining Moses, St. Peter, and Jesus... around the canasta table! His blog friends will miss them all. Pray for us.
The silliest, funniest, most life-lovingest, adventure seeker I've ever met! A man right after my own heart! I will miss him. Pray for me.
Dr. John, you LIT up my life for such a short time... but you will live in my heart forever! I LOVE you Pastor! Give Jesus a HUG for me!!!
1. Are you pleasant when you're ill, or are you a grumpy, fussy patient? I don't know if "pleasant" exactly describes it. I'm not a witch! Usually I'm just asleep. Leave me alone and I'll be fine when I feel fine. But when I've had to be hospitalized for surgery... the nurses LOVE me. I really GET how much they have to listen to people whine, so I go out of my way NOT to whine and to be as self sufficient as I can possibly be.
2. When you find out that school is canceled (due to inclement weather) what is your gut reaction?It has always be YAY! When I was a student, when I was a Mom, when I was a teacher, and now that I'm a Nana!
3. What is one domestic skill you wish you could improve? Ohhhhhh boy... all of them! I used to be SO domestic... and the older I get the less domestic I am. I wish I really ENJOYED cleaning my house. I know some women who DO!
4. Do you decorate your home for Valentine's Day?NO!
5. What song is on your mind today? Actually... none.
6. Do you prefer contemporary movies or classic? Classic. That doesn't mean I want to sit down and watch one. It just means that if I'm bedbound and can't use my laptop that I would PREFER a classic movie to something new.
7. How well do you "compartmentalize" your feelings? For example, how well can you put aside a really trying moment to deal with the immediate situation which is not related to the trying moment, e.g., putting aside a tiff with your spouse in order to finish wallpapering a room. It really depends on the urgency of the something else. AND the intensity of my feelings. Sometimes I can do that easily... other times... not so much. Of course, it's much EASIER to put aside gleeful, joyful, happy feelings than it is to put aside anger, frustration or sorrow.
8. What is the first thing that attracted you to your spouse? (Or if you're single, to your best friend.) Hm. I'm not really sure. Dennis was my foreman first, and over the months became a very good friend. He was easy to talk to and knew a LOT about the trade I was trying to learn, so he was a great helpmate. Our "relationship" just sort of grew out of that. So, I'm not really SURE what attracted me first. He was CUTE. But it wasn't that. I think it was probably just the fact that we clicked as friends.
9. When was the last time your heart raced? Probably the day my daughter called to tell me our son had been in an accident and totaled his car. That was a few years ago. We were on our way home from dropping his twin off at college.
10. What are your memories of Valentine's Day at school? Little heart covered shoe boxes with a slot in the top, and candy message hearts.
11. If you were going to receive candy for Valentine's Day, which would you prefer? I do like Whitman's Sampler! But I really love Lindt chocolates... especially the truffles!
So, this morning Mom & I got dressed for the first time since Thursday! LOL! (well... WHAT was the point???) I had to go to (Lord, help me) the grocery store to pick up one of Mom's prescriptions! So we set out...
FIVE days after the snowfall... this is what our "main" road looks like. (not the highway - just the road that runs in front of my development! (Ha! My development consists of 5 houses!)
The (yes THE one and only) Highway looked a lot better. Remember... we live on a peninsula. We have ONE hwy that runs north and south. This is it! It BETTER be clean!
The parking lot at Giant. That is NOT a hill. It IS a mound of snow the plows moved out of the parking spaces! (thank you plow man!)
So, of course, once I picked up Mom's script, I decided while I was there... yep... to pick up a few things! I ended up with a full cart... but I don't know how I did it considering the fact that I could hardly move through the aisles and ...
this is just one of MANNNNY frozen food cases that looked just like this! Oh well... last week it was the produce aisle. At least this week I could get bananas and apples! My poor little birds are going to suffer soon though... their aisle was empty except for some thistle.
I past this guy on the way home. I hope he gets to MY road soon!!! More snow is due... any minute!
Soooooo our friend Rick came by this morning with his tractor. Dennis sure wishes we still had our old John Deere with the front end loader! Rick made quick work of our snow with his!
So guess what?
We're under a storm warning for tomorrow night into Wednesday. Another 7 - 14 inches can be expected! WHERE are we gonna PUT it???
Post your piece this weekend and include a link to my blog. Then pop in here to say you’ve posted your “Simple Things.” Post by midnight, Pacific time, Sunday, and don’t forget to link with me and notify me that you’ve posted. You can borrow the “Simple Things” photo. If you don’t have a blog, a comment on my blog will count too if you tell me so. Let’s keep those blessings flowing.”
So, I know I have a simple thing or two that I can add here! (my MIND, for one!) Yes, simple as it is, I'm thankful for it! And then there are these simple little things:
electricity ... we didn't lose it!
running water - clean enough to drink
a home big enough to comfortably house at least 3 dozen homeless Hatians... why do I need all this space? (okay maybe this is not a simple thing - but it seems like it in light of earthquakes and such...)
a pantry full of canned food ... we take so much for granted.
a closet full of warm clothes, some of which never get worn.
a car ... used almost entirely for pleasure.
a church that I can easily get to.
my stereo and my music
books
my camera
access to the world... any time... every day.
And now I wonder what the Hatians would list as simple pleasures if asked what they are thankful for? Right now. Today. We have so much... they have so little. How I pray for human equality.
For US, this storm is turning out to be NOT what they predicted. Don't get me wrong... it IS a BIG storm... but we did NOT wake up to 30 inches ... not even 20! There may be some drifts that are close to that, but for the most part, I think we have maybe 15-18" overall. And the worst of it is over. They say we may get another somewhere between 1 and 8'' by nightfall... depending where you're at! I suspect WE will fall closer to the 1-2'' range!
I have come to the conclusion that when it comes to big storms at my house, if you've seen one, you've seen 'em all! Yes, there was a bit more snow clinging to the tree limbs this time - but with the blizzard came the wind and the trees are shakin' it off and feeling like themselves again!
Same view as I posted last night... only now we don't seem to HAVE a driveway!
We have checked the "outages" maps at both of our local power companies, and there are really no MAJOR outages. Up town, near DC probably has the most - but even they are doing really well considering - being only 500-600 without power. OUR town has none! So mostly there is just a LOT of white stuff to get moved out of the way so that life can carry on in the small town, and the big city... Krysti had gone back to Fredericksburg to run calls this weekend - which she doubted they would HAVE any - but they wanted as many EMT's as they could get, just in case. I hear THEY may have reached more near the 30'' mark than we did!
My little friends...
... and the starlings!
Of course, the birds are very happy to know which house they can go to for a quick meal! It is really funny to watch because one minute I'll look out and it will be ALL starlings -- just a sheet of black under these feeders. And then they all fly away... and the wrens and sparrows come back! Oh - and the cardinals! But they seem to take turns feeding.
All except for the finches who don't even like to share with EACH OTHER! They nip and squabble and chase each other away constantly! Surely there is room on this feeder for just one or two more!
Dennis is happy as a clam! He's heading out into the cold yonder to play with his plow! I noticed when I went down to the garage to take pictures of the back field that the neighbor to our left is already out with his snowblower. What IS it with MEN that they can't just leave pretty to be PRETTY for awhile??? We don't have a bloomin' place to be before Monday ... WHY NOW??? I think he's afraid it all might MELT before then! ;)
* 11:00 update -- Well, I'm wrong about us being in the closer to 1-2" range. We have gotten an additional 3" in about the last hour or so! The tunnel that Jewl made when she went out this morning is almost filled in... and I tried to turn Mom's shows on for her - but the satellite dish is full of snow and so we have no reception. This will last a long LONG while as we can NOT reach our dish - not even with our tallest ladder. Dennis will be stuck with DVD's for the duration. But so far he's happy just playin' in the snow!
* 2:00 pm update -- I went out a little while ago. I thought I'd walk up to the cul-de-sac! LOL! There is definitely mORe snow out there than I thought there was! LOL!!! My boots go up to my knees... but walking up the driveway, the snow goes ABOVE my knees! We have about 24" overall -- I would say some drifts most definitely hit 30". Dennis is having a heck of a time with his little plow. He's basically just playin'! We've decided we will have to get a big plow in to do the majority of it! Our neighbors to each side both have snowblowers. The neighbors to the left had theirs out this morning but have given up. The neighbors to our right haven't been out. But I can't imagine a snowblower being of much use. This snow is SO heavy and wet! Temps are hanging right around 31-32F.... so you know it's as WET as it can possibly be!
I took this picture from the top of my driveway yesterday. It was 19 days past our ginormous snow storm and as you can see, while a TON of it has indeed melted, most of our grass is still covered though. ... Guess what? We're under a "winter weather advisory" ... we can expect a couple of new inches when I wake up on the morrow! *sigh* 
I took this one up at Baltimore Inner Harbor
These two gents were walking along the mall between the
I took this one at National Harbor in D.C.
Cindy & Bill with P.W.
And me with P.W. too!
*singing* The ants go marching one by one, hurray! Hurrah!
And this was the last one I spotted!
But THIS guy just stole my heart!
We can FINALLY open our back door again!!!
AND... I have found a patch of grass - and it wants to be green!
It will still be awhile before THIS pile goes away though.
THIS was the kit! 
We just did ONE color at a time and found that they do
She was very creative with it, putting this color
Until they were all full up!
But of course, the BEARS were the most
Aren't they DARLING???
She really had a GOOD time making these!
AND bagging them up!
This was a GREAT, FUN project and I bet we do it
Now, those of us who DID know Dr. John also know what a dear and special man he was. But not EVERYONE knew him. And I thought to myself how sad I was for Linda that she never got to know him. And I thought, well, she could go to his blog and if she started reading from the beginning, she would get a real good idea about him ... but she still wouldn't know him. She has missed out on the opportunity to "converse" with him, and to know him on a personal level. And that makes me sad.
Betty's husband, life partner... but mostly, best friend.
A Child of God.
Dr. John... railroad engineer and imagineer of Pigeon Falls.
The silliest, funniest, most life-lovingest,
FIVE days after the snowfall... this is what our "main" road
The (yes THE one and only) Highway looked a lot better.
The parking lot at Giant. That is NOT a hill. It IS a mound
this is just one of MANNNNY frozen food cases that
I past this guy on the way home. I hope he gets to MY
We're under a storm warning for tomorrow night into
Same view as I posted last night...
My little friends...
... and the starlings!
