Why has my waist deserted me!?

First let me say that I was looking at old pictures on the computer and came across one of Russell and me and his parents in the mountains about 5 years ago. I was SKINNY, Russell was thin and so was his dad. Russell's mother never changes...she is probably the only woman I have ever known who stays the same size...........forever! I really don't get that.

Today I made a little retail therapy trip to D*ll*rd's to window shop buy a couple little items I had spied on the sale rack. Today they were an additional 40% off of the 75% off price! You just have to say that is a good deal! I got all the above plus another shirt for a birthday gift for under, drum roll please, $50!

Now I needed the retail therapy because I've been in the doldrums for the past few days. What I call low grade depression. Sometimes when I get like this I go to bed, o.k. I did yesterday. So today I decided to do something crazy, like shop! Yes, I do count my blessings too!

Anyhow, the point of all this is.....L*z Cl*iborne jeans come all the way to your real waist. I seem to have lost my real waist if I ever truly had one! The were too tight....and they were so cheap! But they'll have to go back!

And I will go and do sit ups now. I wonder if shoes are on sale?

Happy Anniversary!

Happy 41st Anniversary to my sister and her husband......that's their daughter Amy with them.

My humble prayer....

First of all, I must humbly apologize for the whole depression, euthanasia thing. How arrogant for me to think that I would or should know when someone should die. I know that God has all our days written. This scripture helped me today.

Psalm 92: 12 - 14a "The righteous flourish like the palm tree
and grow like a cedar in Lebanon.
They are planted in the courts of our God.
They still bear fruit in old age;"

Also, Psalm 139:16 "Your eyes saw my unformed substance;
In your book were written, every one of them, the days
that were formed for me, when as yet there were none of them."

Part of the fruit my aunt bears is the reminder of things she taught us as little girls. She was and is the example of a Godly woman. She built her house, and busied herself taking care of others. Her home was a place we all liked to visit.

Today, I will focus on the those lessons and learn from her and prayerfully ask that I might bear fruit.

The patriot in me!

This is kind of a where's waldo...in a weird kind of way. Russell and I are greeters at church one Sunday a month....today the assistant pastor's wife was talking to me and saying something about our name tags, when suddenly she said "when did you vote?" I thought strange, but said, "a long time ago." She in turn stated that I must be really proud of voting.

I still had my I Voted sticker on my jacket! If you look closely kind of near my name tag, you 'll see my sticker. I just proudly replied, "I want everyone to know I voted!" She knew the truth.....I totally forgot I had that on! Actually, you can see it much better in the picture than in real life!

Oh, but that was only the beginning of my day! We had a wonderful church service, with a great sermon and music....then Russell and I went to eat with my mama at the retirement center. I had to laugh at mama....she knew we were coming, so she was dressed with makeup on and you would never know she had an ache in this world! She loves Russell and was on her best behavior!

After lunch we took her for a ride, then Russell went one way and mama and I went another, to see my aunt at the nursing home. We both left there very depressed. I'm going to say something here that I know is wrong and I don't really believe in....I know God is leaving her here for a reason, but I almost start to believe in euthanasia when I visit her. I know that is wrong....no comments on that please. It is just that it is such a pitiful situation.....one of her eyes is so infected and she recently had fallen and was hurting so badly. She's 92 and is a precious saint......I guess I just want her to be with Jesus! In the back of my grandmother's Bible she had written "There is a reason for our sickness known only to God." I know that is true.

Anyway, after that awful experience, we were on the way back to mama's when I suddenly remembered I was supposed to let my friends dogs out! So we rushed over and I told mama I would just be a minute. I opened her door and the alarm started the warning signal....I punched in what I believed to be the code and it said denied! I tried another number......denied. Then the actual alarm started going off. Ear piercing! I let the dogs out the back so they wouldn't go crazy, answered the phone and told the alarm company the situation......she hesitated and then asked if I knew the password. PASSWORD! Of course, I don't know the password, but I tried her mother's maiden name. The nice lady said no, but it is a 5 letter man's name! O. K. I tried her father and her son.....nope! So I said in my very nicest stressed out of my mind voice, "I really am her friend! I promise!" Of course I'm sure all the burglars say that! So she turned off the alarm. I sighed a big sigh of relief and went to the back door to let the dogs back in......you know what happened don't you??? Yes, the alarm was triggered again. I decided that I might as well go peacefully when the police arrived.

Just that moment, my friend and her family walked in....I have never been happier to see anyone! She called and convinced the security company that I didn't have her at gunpoint and that all was fine. I left and took mama home. I got her settled and she said "are all your days like this?" She didn't really, but I'll bet she was going cuckoo, cuckoo!

Hopefully the rest of the day goes smoother!

What a difference a day makes!

Wow! Today we have beautiful blue skies! The last two days we have had torrential rains! I'm so grateful to God that we didn't flood at our home and praying for the people who did flood. Although our pool did overflow and we had to let water out on the already drenched ground.



Sunshine is a wonderful thing! I got up this morning with a new attitude....started working and shampooed two carpets, mopped and cleaned two bathrooms and dusted (badly needed). I worked for a little while on the pool and it got so warm I thought seriously about jumping in, but I'm betting it is still cold in that water! It needs to be fairly warm for me! Plus with all the rain water, we need to put salt in the pool.



Do any of you have a salt driven chlorine pool? It is the greatest thing! We just basically put salt (table salt, well, in big bags) in the pool and the magical machine by the pump :) makes it into chlorine. But the great thing about it is it doesn't smell like chlorine and it never, ever turns your hair green! We've had it since 1998 and I'll bet the chlorinator has paid for itself 20 times over! So if you're thinking of a pool or doing some changes to your pool, I highly recommend it! However, don't expect the people at the pool place to try a hard sell because they want to sell that messy chlorine!



Well, back to enjoying this sunny day. I hope it's sunny where you are today!

I'm hungry mama!

Jack has to be on a special diet for the next few days....Mikey has to eat in the crate while Jack looks on and cries. Then they shift positions and Jack eats in the crate.

The Best laid plans....

There was a brunch planned for all volunteers to meet this morning with the speaker from last nite's banquet. A wonderful speaker from Focus on the Family, and no, I can't remember her name, I can barely remember my own! I was looking forward to meeting all the other volunteers that work on other days. We only meet at the annual fundraiser and Christmas parties. I haven't been to a Christmas party yet, so I really only know the ones who are there when I'm there....anyhow....

When I woke up this morning, my baby (below) was acting strange and trembling. Luckily I knew those signs and managed to get him in the shower before he threw up...he did that twice and on the third time he threw up blood! Now all you who really aren't dog lovers probably don't need to read further.

I called the vet and said we were coming in, that it was an emergency and I considered calling 911. She said well, come at 10:30! Obviously, she doesn't know the meaning of the word, EMERGENCY. That seemed hours away. But I got ready while Jack lay lethargically on the floor.

You ever notice how vets and doctors never really know what's wrong with you but they just give you lots of medicine to get you out of their office??? Well, he thought maybe Jack was reacting to the weather, no, I'm not kidding. But he gave him something for nausea, antibiotics, something to coat his stomach and some anti anxiety medicine.

Oh, trust me, he needs the anti anxiety pills, he's a lot like his mother! Anyway, a bazillion dollars later and special food for his sensitive tummy, we got home where he proceeded to act like he had never had a sick moment in his life! SIGH!

Missed the brunch. But did a few errands, visited with mama for 3 minutes and got home just before the thunderstorms started........again. I'm so sorry for all of you that get snowed in, this is just the second day of unrelenting rain and I'm already stir crazy. I just keep repeating, we need the rain, we need the rain!