ONCE AGAIN WHERE DOES TIME GO?

I write making a commitment to post more often. Between this and my pictures that is all that I will have when it coms to my legacy. It was a pretty great summer. Spent a lot of time in Colorado dealing with the house and visiting with grandkids. Also spent a lot of time in the Brigham City Pool...it was a life saver! It felt great being in the water, relaxing after a vigorous work out and watching the beauty of the Mountains. I love this area

WHERE DOES TIME GO?

it has been quite some time since I have written in here...wow where does the time go? I need to remember this is a great outlet for getting out what is bothering my soul. So once again I will commit to writing in here more than every year! Life is good...

LIFE GOES ON

Today is Thursday...weeks go by fast! Yesterday I spent a couple of hours with one of my best friends, Aileen...she just happens to be 90. When I am 90 I want to be just like her...active, good looking, funny, still driving, positive, spiritual, and the list just goes on. We love each other because we can say absolutely what we want and the other doesn't judge nor tell everyone. This is great friendship. The element of trust is key. Recently Aileen lost her husband of almost 25 years. Reed was an exceptional person. Pilot in WWII, dentist by trade and exceptional man by life. He wasn't pretentious. We would sit on their patio with our sodas and talk for hours. It felt good to slow down and just share some life experiences whether it be about family or accomplishments or failures. We had some great laughs and great cry's on that patio. Those talks with the 4 of us will be missed. Through them we have met some outstanding people. Aileen and Reed just have a habit of rubbing off on everyone. So my visit with her last night was all over the board...she always makes me feel like the most important person in the world!!

HOME AGAIN HOME AGAIN JIGGITY JIG

So I am home in UT...exciting to see all my friends and loved ones that I have missed..but it is difficult getting adjusted again. Difficult to go from one life style to another. Today I am missing all the grand kids and the hustle and bustle of kids in and out of the house. So a little sad on that part but happy I am home with my husband. We are enjoying the good life again. Yesterday we played cards with Elaine and today we are going to In-N-Out and then watching grandsons play baseball in the 103 degree heat...may just be a little too hot for me. Hopefully I will get back to blogging. Seems like we have have an election coming up so I am sure that I can find fun stuff to write about today....and my little sister is 50 today...congrats to her! 50 years ago today my brothers and I had an upset in the household! there are many years between the rest of us and her. My oldest brother was off to college or the service about this time also. 50 years when you look back can go fast!

CATCH UP?

It has been over a year and a half since I have written here. This last time I wrote I was either delusional or on crack because my world is not that wonderful at this point! I am doing what has been asked...my heart is shattered.

TENDER MERCIES

Recently some one called me a religious zealot! OK stop laughing because we all know that I am not that good or religious enough to be a zealot! But with that said I do have an extraordinary relationship with my Heavenly Father. He has never failed me. He has never once not heard or answered my prayers or request. And no not always the way I wanted but certainly the way he needed!

The Lord loves us and one of the ways that we know this is through his Tender Mercies. He has given me one of the sweetest tender mercies ever for the next couple of years. I am humbled by his love and confidence in me and I pray that I will be equal to the task. This opportunity will provide not only for my spiritual, mental, physical, emotional and what ever else I may need growth but for the others who's lives I will touch. There will be more joy in my journey the next couple of years than I will know what to do with. My mission will be so special! I am grateful for a kind Heavenly Father who loves me!

Democrat or Republican?

Democrat or Republican...hum..probably neither. For me it has always been difficult to choose a party side. Since I can remember I could never get the hang of politics because I always felt that they were all a dishonest, manipulative and self serving group. A friend of mine's father held a Supervisor seat for Orange County. They didn't have lots of money or fancy things but he seemed to be a good man, however his counterpart and fellow Supervisor from another district had money and lots of very nice things...then the reality was pointed out...one took and the other one didn't. I asked my friends father one day why he put up with nothing when he could certainly have lots more? His answer was that at the end of the day he had to talk with his Father in Heaven.

At the time I didn't fully understand what all that meant but now I do.

As I watch the politics in this country I am amazed at what goes on. One party talking about the other party and really nothing nice is being said. I would think that we would all want to pull together and work on solutions that were best for everyone. I tend to think on an issue like Health Care Reform that something must be wrong with the bill if we have to bribe Senators to vote on it with pork for their state. If we have to put a push to hurry and get this passed makes me wonder what are we not really looking at that will affect us in the long run...as a kid my parents always said... nothing is free...or if it seems too good to be true don't believe it! These have been good words for me as I question life's challenges. So when we look at this great country of ours do we question enough...do we really want the government in our business, do we think that government can do it all? Another thing my parents taught me is that if you don't have the money don't go into debt...seems logical enough but when we have our country in so much debt that makes me uncomfortable and they want to pass another stimulus bill...wasn't that basic business management 101...if you don't have the money going deeper in debt might not be the answer?

Well it scares me that we are drawing lines in the sand instead of looking to see what is really best and working toward a solution...sometimes the Republicans have it right and sometimes the Democrats have it right but neither side is really willing to look beyond their own party's views enough to say yeah we ALL agree on this!

So that is why I hate politics...kinda like 2 religions arguing over who's God is the best...hum seems to me He is the same...Truth is truth. The Lord is Lord!

Getting into the New Year

So I thought that I would have more time to write....wrong! Seems like so many things still pulling at me and some days I get a little tired of it all. Larry has been really sick for the last couple of weeks...Monday he said he was feeling lots better started on the treadmill and then yesterday he was so sick again...I am worried but he is insistent that he is not going to a Dr. so there you have it. Oh well what better act of kindness can you do than be nice to your husband when he is sick? (oh I see some of you are gaging after that statement!) I know that you are feeling my pain and thank you!

We are getting ready to have some work done to the house and that carries its own stress to it...so much prepare work before they come in...lucky us we will leave for St. George and they will come in while we are gone to do the work..so that is a blessing.

Life is good though and I don't mean to complain so maybe a few days in St. George will take my mind off of this everyday grind. Funny now that I am not working I can't seem to get everything done that I want but when I was working seems like I got so much more accomplished. Although I would have to admit that big "L" is high maintenance and the fact that while with him I still get things accomplished is amazing. And the good part is that he is amazed at what I get done so always good to be in his minds eye that way.

Remembering When...

So my first memory of life was when I was probably around 2....I remember having my diapers changed and looking at out bathroom ceiling and marveling over the wall paper on the ceiling. It was a black design...after that I remember just little things with my brothers, my crib and how all of us shared a bedroom...4 of us to a room...so I was in the crib a very long time it seems...I can remember climbing in and out of it so it seems like I was maybe 3 almost 4 when I was taken out...my 3 older brothers were not very kind to me...always hiding my things and teasing me. They thought that it was appropriate that they scare me about the boogie man and that torture went on for years. One time when we were traveling we were stuck in a motel room watching the mummy (I was about 4) and when they saw I was scared I became the brunt of their entertainment. I still have issues at night 50 some plus years later....and watch any kind of scary movie I just can't.

I loved the house that I grew up in. My maternal grandfather owned a lumber yard so our home was custom built. We didn't have any furniture that wasn't a hand off or a cast me down but it was a nice house and wonderful neighborhood. We spent a lot of time in our back yard and in our neighborhood playing. Since we only owned 1 TV we didn't watch it very often and when we did watch it was controlled by my father. When he wasn't in control... well ... I was way down the line in the pecking order! But I had a playhouse that my grandfather had built for my mom and now it was in my backyard and my little house to run. It was quite roomy for a playhouse and many fond memories of tea party's and school and house were had there!

I lived in a neighbor hood that I knew almost everyone that lived on our street. To the left of us was the Reynolds (he was a vet of WWI), next to them the Characters (she lived up to her name) Across the street in the cul-de-sac was the Wells, Smiths and Halliwells, across the street was the Stricklands on the corner, next the Debois (had a real crush on their son who was many years older) Waltermans (10 kids) to the right of us the Chapmans(taught at Fullerton Jr. College) , the Helveys...and the list goes on and on...I even knew most of the people on the street behind us...it was a great life and very simple...not much expected becasue we lived so simple.

Happy New Year 2010

So one thing I have decided to pursue this year is some personal development...I am not one to make New Year goals because I think we should be consistently reevaluating ourselves and always adjusting our guide to stay on course...now with that said one of my goals is to write more! I spent most of my school years in the corner because I didn't read well and was not at the same level as the rest of the class...putting what was in my soul/head on paper was so much of a challenge that most of the time I would rather take a poor grade than to attempt exposing my feeble heart. It wasn't until about 15 years ago that I got some help and am now able to sound somewhat intelligent and enlightened on paper. The computer has opened up a whole new world to me and for that I am grateful. Even though the stigma still sticks of being the outcast in the corner I gain confidence each and every day that I am an able and capable person. So this begins my time to write my thoughts and practice transferring my feelings of the heart to understandable words that will touch someone's heart hopefully....someday!

Like I said I spent most of my educational experience in the "slow" group. When I showed up at first grade I thought that the world had just become huge for me. Kindergarten was for babies and now I was a big first grader. It took just a couple of days before I found that my world perception was different than it really was!

My first grade teacher was Sister Eileen Therese...I don't think that she was much older than us...maybe 18 or 19 years old. We expressed our welcomes by putting worms and snakes in her desk drawers...that would be the first of many "nice" things that I would do for my teachers! Although somehow those pesky boys got all the credit, I mean blame, for the shenanigans we all paid the price of losing part of our recess time.

First grade at St. Marys Catholic School was both fun and fearful... being pigeon toed I was put in orthopedic shoes that would help me turn my toes outward and not trip over myself so much...seems right and for the most part the shoes worked the only problem was that they were brown and tan saddle shoes and everyone else got to wear the "normal" color ones of black and white...well as you can guess having to wear uniforms everyone looked alike except for my shoes that stuck out like a sore thumb! Kids are mean, I was timid and lets just say cried a lot for the first few weeks. So I walked funny, couldn't get this alphabet thing down, and yeah kinda had a speech problem and couldn't always pronounce words like everyone else....oh did I mention that kids are mean!

So that is it till I write more of my adventures...