Merry Christmas Family & Friends!!!

Dex and I want to wish all of our family and friends a very Merry Christmas! It is a true Christian Day of Remembrance of the birth of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Our giving of gifts is in keeping the tradition of when the Magi brought gifts to the Christ child. It is a reminder to us all of the sacrifice Christ paid on the Cross for our sins and a rejoicing of the greatest gift that he gave to all mankind. I rejoice with fellow Christians in celebrating this birth and counting the tremendous blessings HE has given me! St. Nicholas is a representation of the Magi in the giving of gifts and is a delight for Children all over the world. Time to go to sleep now...I thought I heard bells tinkling! Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night!

Christmas and all that jazz!

Yesterday my sis and I finished our shopping and it wasn't too bad - we had a great time together and bought the things we had in mind, although I found an extra gift for Mishka that I think she is going to love! It was just sort of a "happening" and those are the best gifts! Dex and I got to spend some time with William and Chicken, we had a marvelous time at the museum and I was turned on to Chuck Close, I got to see a new Van Gogh, aquired by the museum, which was beautiful! I cooked for my kids, beef stroganoff, and they helped me prepare it, boy was it yummy! I left them with some left-overs too! My sis was meeting a guy she has been talking to for quite some time today, through an online dating service she joined. She was like a sixteen year old girl, going on her first date. She asked me if she thought he would like her? I told her if he didn't he was a dumb @?^% and not worth the time of day. At our age, we don't have time to waste on STUPID! I will update you when I get the juicy details. My Christmas message for you all is Love, Love, Love - that is what Jesus, my lord and savior requires of us and guess what, it is fun too!

What I've been up to

Well, we had the company Christmas party, food was good and I was the designated driver so I could drive my sister home. She doesn't usually drink, but she had lots of fun and we all danced our feet off. It is always good to see your colleagues "let their hair down" once in a while. I met some of the folks that I never see face-to-face and that was great. Christmas shopping is just about done, just a few things for some special friends at work and then I am done. I am shopping more and more online. It is a great convenience and it just so happens that my family are all bookworms and music buffs so they make it very easy. They are very socially conscious too, so gifts of Charity were sent in their names also.

I received a big surprise from my son-in-law and I am so proud of it. I received a certificate of appreciation for participating in a work project for him. This means the world to me and it gets a frame and position on the wall above my desk. Thank you J - I was glad I got to help!

Dex and I are going to Portland this weekend to take in a Museum with Shorty and William, see a steam locomotive and just take in the sights and sounds of Christmas in a big city. Maybe we can take the Max downtown and walk around for a bit, if it is not too cold...oh and I do have to make a quick trip to Powell's to get a book for my friend at work. He has never read Con Tiki and it is a must read for anyone with an adventurous heart. ta ta

Another Landmark

Today was a lovely day as I celebrated my 57th birthday with family and friends. Received birthday wishes from my wonderful daughters, bling from my sister, nephew and parents. Had a wonderful breakfast with my childhood friend and her husband was give a beautiful photograph/print of Molokai and a toilet paper butler that matches the hardware in our bath, from my husband. He actually got me a 440 motor to put in my 65 Dodge Coronet, so I will forgive him for the "Butler." I have learned a few things these last 57 years, somethings I have carried with me forever, but other things I have picked up on this interesting journey. I am glad that I am in relatively good health (but too fat). I have the most wonderful family that I Cherise, your family is the most important thing on this earth! I still love GOD with all my heart and soul. I love my country and I am proud to be a patriot. I now feel free to speak my mind about what I think is important. I also know when to keep my mouth shut, and believe me that is hard to do sometimes. I have given up trying to "fix" things that I cannot. I try to look at all people straight in the eye as it is harder for them to not tell you the truth when you do. I hug alot more and say thank you every chance I get. It has been a wonderful birthday!

Sympathy Card Writing and real love

Well, I got cards to write to my niece and two nephews along with Craig's girlfriend. Veronica told me the Rini was engaged to Craig and to be married soon, when he was struck with cancer. She nursed and encouraged him for two years and the impression Ronnie gave me was she virtually willed him to live. It is hard to write when you do not know the person you are writing to, but I will just try and thank her for all the love she gave Craig. When someone walks by your side in the way she did with Craig, well, that is what real love is, isn't it? I am thankful that both of my girls have those kinds of loves in their lives and I in mine too!

Faces locked in Time

A few days ago, my daughters informed me of the death of their cousin. He was a bit older than my daughter Mishka and I think in his early 40's - with much more life ahead of him. Although I did not keep in contact with him or his brothers, I do occasionally email their older sister Ronnie. These kids are related through my children's father, children from his older brother who is also gone from this earth now. I cannot get over the fact that he is still a 10 year old boy in my mind, as that is around the last time I saw him. Isn't it funny how time plays tricks on us. I recently saw some dear friends at a wedding that I haven't seen in a long time. I could tell by the look on their faces at how much older I looked and they also to me, but then of course, in a few moments of conversation and catching up on the children and grandchildren, it was like nothing had ever changed. I guess I will just keep this young, sweaty, smiling boy, in my mind, just as he was the last time I saw him. I know when I see him again in the future, it will be just as if nothing has ever changed again.

Red is coming for a visit - woohoo!

Donna or "Red" as we call her, because of her beatiful red hair, is coming for a visit. She will be here on Thursday evening and spend Friday night as well. She is responsible for introducing me to my Dexter. They were longtime friends from Orange County and continued the friendship through their migration to Oregon. She and I have shared a strange part of my life. I am thankful for our friendship as she helped bring me through a dark period of my life. We will go out for dinner, have a few margaritas and stay up late, catching up. Her current job requires her to travel all over the country, which has been marvelous for her. I will give her the postcard book I have put together of her travels...I do miss not getting to see her more often though!

My favorite time of the year!

It's here! It's here! Yellow, Gold, Brown, blowing in the air. Golden colors so bright that in twilight, it looks like midday. Burn piles, pumpkins, corn stalks and fresh apples, pies and ghosts, goblins and witches....CANDY - Coats and scarves at the ready, mitten's too....Oh joy, Fall is knocking at my door....Come in, Come in!!!

Finally settling in

Well, Mishka and J are finally in their home in Okinawa and finishing up making it cozy. Chase will be home soon and then the whole family will be together finally!!! Fall has arrived, just that first hint - you know the hot part of the day diminishes early and the evening air has a bit of crispness in it. This is absolutely my favorite time of the year. Fall colors coming, some great wind to blow the leaves and whoopee you don't have to water as much! Dex and I usually try and go see Chicken and William at this time of year in Portland. We usually go to a corn maze, but they have decided to take us on a hike on Sauvie Island near the wildlife preserve. I look forward to seeing all the fabulous birds before many of them migrate south. I am going to start my savings for a trip to Oki as I can hardly wait to see it again and I am hoping my Dex will get to go with me this time! I am also going to try and blog more, now that things a winding down. I love that part, a good book, glass of wine and looking out my window at the woods. My winter bird friends will be back soon too!

Sayonara Miska and J

It was so great to spend time with Mishka and J. We gathered the families together for a nice long visit at Gma's and all of us had a great time. Mishka and J were able to sell the Carolina house right away and they have been working on the Washington house and now have it on the market. I know it will sell right away also. It is really a cute house and the price is right. I have to pretend in my mind that they are just on vacation, even though is is going to be awhile before they are back to stay in the U.S. But I feel good about Oki - it is a wonderful place and I hope GOD Willing to visit them there again - I have dreams of snorkeling with the beautiful fish and I want to do it again while I am able to do so. I hope the rest of the family will take them up on their hospitality and see this beautiful island and meet the gracious Okinawan people.
So my Children, have a wonderful vacation and don't forget the postcards...

North Carolina and Saying Goodbyes

I haven't posted in awhile, so I thought I would update you on my trip to my daughter's in North Carolina. Flight out was great, stopped in Minneapolis then on into Raleigh. I was about an hours drive to Mishka's home and I have to say NC is absolutely beautiful. Very green like Oregon, but the pine trees are reminiscent to our Ponderosa Pines, but with much longer needles. We did something fun everyday. Got in lots of geocaching and eating and bird watching. Mishka made several Asian dishes for me, that were soooo....good. She is quite the cook. I did get to get my feet wet in the Atlantic and brought home some great seashells.
The best of all was helping J on a work project. It was so exciting and I will never forget it, and I got to see my first fireflies. I could live there with no problem. NC reeks of southern charm and hospitality and graciousness. Their storms are pretty awesome to watch too, but you don't want to get caught in them, they are downpours! Mishka and J are on their way west. We will have a gathering of friends and family and we will be saying goodbyes again....I hate goodbyes!!!

A Real Vacation for HaHa

I will be leaving in a week to go a visit my daughter and son-in-law on the east coast. They will be going overseas later this year and they invited me out to see there home before they sell it. I am really looking forward to spending time with them and seeing a few sites. I love there company so much though that we would not have to go anywhere and that would be fine with me too. I am sure Mishka and I will get a few geocaches in and have a few late nite gab sessions as mothers and daughters like to do. My daughter made all the travel arrangements and fixed it so I do not have to change planes but one time which keeps me pretty worry free. I do think it is so important for people to take their vacations. I work in a job that can be frenzied at times and dull others (but mostly frenzied) and your mind just needs a rest from all that. I was fortunate when I was raising our family, that I was able to go on vacation with them and sometimes had a few days off for myself. That is the best of both worlds.

Taxes - At the last minute of course!

Well, I spent all day Sunday, getting all the stuff ready so I could do our taxes. I do not have an organized system like I should have. We just throw all the stuff in a box and then go through it when the time comes. I use Turbo Tax which is a big help and so I finished about 9:00pm Sunday night. I efiled and got a confirmation from the feds right away. That was cool as we owed them a little, but even this morning when I checked for confirmation from the state I could not get one. So I ended up printing out our return, signing and sending Dex to the PO to get it posted with today's postmark. I did put a post-it note on it telling them that I did try to efile and could not get a confirmation just to make sure they did not deposit what they owe us in our account and send us a check in the mail also. We will see how this scenario plays out and I will keep you posted.

Good news and bad news

Well, it has been a week of good news and bad news. Let's get the bad out of the way first. A musician friend of Dexter and me, committed suicide this last week. No, it wasn't because of drugs, wait, I correct myself. It was because of drugs - chemotherapy. Janna had survived breast cancer for two years, she suffered a double mastectomy and lots and lots of chemo. She was one of the cancer patients who have very strong reactions to chemo. I learned the other day that her cancer had returned and she chose not to do chemo again. I do not know if she was already in pain or not, but I do know she was not willing or perhaps the odds were not in her favor, so she chose to end her life. As a Christian, that is not an option for me, but I cannot say for sure, that I would not do the same thing if in the same shoes.

The good news is that Chicken,(my youngest daughter) has a new job as of April 23rd. I am so happy for her and she will be learning a very valuable job. Once you learn purchasing, no matter what the product, you can pretty much go where you want to go. Added benefit, she will get to see MindSprite on a daily basis. I hope Sprite will walk with you everyday at work!

The other good news is that Mishka, (my first born daughter) and J will be returning to a place overseas that they love. This means I may have a chance to go to this wonderful land again. I will have a different set of priorities this time, which I am anxious to share with her and J.
Wonderful family friends will be visiting her soon, I know they will have a wonderful time together. The good things about old friends is the old cliche, "IT's LIKE THEY NEVER LEFT." Wish I could be there too.

global warming in Southern Oregon

I finally went down and bought a battery charger for my camera batteries. When I last tried to take a picture, it was of the snowfall we had a few weeks ago - I thought I had got one pic of the snow, but I wasn't sure. So I charged up some batteries and downloaded 1 pic of the snow. Today it is 64 degrees and we have been outside working most of the day, getting our vitamin D and a little color on our skin and more importantly getting lots of yard work done...hope you all are having a nice sunny Sunday...By the way we ended up with a foot of snow from this snowfall - This is a view from our kitchen window looking out to the road and you can see our pump house and the foundation for the building we are about to erect for our old cars we are restoring.

A Mother gone to Heaven

It was with great sadness that I learned my best friend and ex-sister-in-law's mother passed away a few days ago. I wasn't home all weekend - went to visit my mother and stepdad and took in a movie on Sunday. When I got home, there was a tearful message on my machine. Our two lives have paralleled in so many instances. We are exactly 6 months to the day apart. Mishka and Sean her cousin were born within weeks of each other and Chicken and Lynn's next child, Charity grew up hooked at the hip. Our fathers died at young ages and she and I are psychic with each other too. We feel when something is wrong or a shadow passes over either of our families. Her mother intimidated me when I was a young girl and I was mad at her in my teens when she sent Lynn away and called my mother and told her I was a bad influence on Lynn (it was her way of justifying sending her away), but true friends can never really be separated and Lynn forgave her mother and I did too. I grew to love Lois and her sisters and Mother. They were second family to me. Lois not only gave me the gift of Lynn in my life, but she also led me to the Lord and that is the greatest gift she could have given me. She joins her wonderful mother "Mama Ritchie" who died three weeks ago. She joins a husband, mother, sisters, grandchildren born and unborn - Jesus says "You shall be known in Heaven as you are on Earth" and I know she is rejoicing with HIM and family right now. I will miss you Lois Mom!

Bow Wows!

Got a chance to watch the Big Kahuna dog show last night and of course I want a dog. I have wanted one for some time, but I know I cannot have one until I don't have to work full time. I am a firm believer in a disciplined dog, although my cats are not too disciplined (I try). These dogs are so beautiful and really do love strutting their stuff in the ring. You will also learn a lot about the different breeds from watching these shows. I think Eukanuba does one also.I love the herding and hunting dogs. They are so bright and you can see it in their eyes. The announcer's on the Westminster Dog Show are very well-informed and let you know the pro's and con's of the breeds and whether they would be right for you as a pet. I know someday I will have a dog again, Buddy will enjoy having a dog around and Delta will probably just ignore it. I would love to have a pure bred dog, but I know my heart will take me to the animal shelter to adopt another member into our family.

Update on M

After viewing some horrific video of M's rant and ordeal with the police on the news this morning, I was pleased to learn that they did admit him to the psychiatric unit of the hospital. Dear M, I hope your mind is now at rest and you are getting the help you so truly deserve....my hopes and prayers are for you to get the answers you have been looking for.

Falling Through The Cracks

Today was a very sad day. A dear friend of our family who is homeless (he chooses to live his lifestyle) went over the edge. I first learned of the incident on the morning news, but did not make the connection that it was M. He pulled his van up to a local TV station and lit some flares, when the employee's called the police (swat and state, local authorities) he threatened to ignite the inside of the van with himself in it. They played it on the news as a "Bomb Threat" and of course evacuated the area. He spoke with swat and he must have told them he had been treated at the VA hospital and that is how they found my sister, who used to be his girlfriend. M has had issues of anger over society, politics and law. He chose to opt out. My sister did not want that lifestyle and so they parted company, but he was and is our friend. We love him and want the best for him. We went to the hospital hoping to be able to provide some background info on him as he has no family here and we are his surrogate family. We are praying that he will not fall through the cracks of the justice system and get the help he so desperately needs. He is such a good man that has had a tragic past and has made some bad mistakes. Thank GOD he was not hurt and he didn't hurt anyone else....I am hoping for a happy ending to this story, please join me in thinking the good thoughts for him.

I Finally Figured it Out

Well, I have been trying to blog for some time now and could not get back in since Blogger changed over. I have realized that I need to keep a book with all the passwords for all the places I go, as the only ones I really remember are the ones I use for my regular email and at work. The places I do not visit regularly just escape from my brain. So this one is now written down in the "BLUE BOOK" for safe keeping. Glad to be back!

Spring or Bust

I know, I know, we haven't even had real winter yet and here I am longing for Spring. Daffodils, birds chirping, grass and tree buds appearing, the feeling of renewal. Is that too much to ask, so soon? I always get the winter doldrums at this time. The holidays are past and here we are stuck in this winter limbo. Time seems to stand still for me during this time, (except for upcoming taxes) of course. I want to be outside in the sun, digging in the earth, spying on my birds, don't you? My Dex just laughs at me and says we still have a some way to go, but I am impatient with nature. I want to see her burst forth in the glorious way she always does, showing off on her own private runway, her latest fashion. I am ready to buy!

Four Wheel Drive Dummies

You know who I am talking about - you are the ones that have this false sense of security in your SUV or Truck. You think your vehicle will drive on any type of road condition - you also think you can continue with your daily habit of talking on the phone through your morning commute, or eat your breakfast, put on your makeup etc. Well, guess what? Your vehicle works no better than my little commuter car on ICE. So, please quit putting the rest of us in danger and just for a day or two, let the phone ring, it will go to your voice mail. Wait until you get to work and eat your breakfast or eat it at home before you leave. Please do not try and put you mascara on in the car while you are driving, you could cause an accident or POKE YOUR EYE OUT! How about just using a little common sense and quit being so damned Narcissistic - it really isn't all about you!

Keep your germs to yourself

I am trying not to become Howard Hughish - but darnit, why can't sick people stay home! Intestinal flu was going around the network which is 30 miles away from the executive offices where I work. You would think I would be safe from "their" germs, but I forgot about the inter-office envelopes that are shuttled back and forth between locations daily. I get one everyday from production and of course production is where the "crud" originated. Needless to say, I have been home for two days, not exercised, unless I can log the trips to the loo - only good thing is I have seen some great movies, got to talk to Mishka and got to watch Dr. Phil and Oprah (not afraid to admit it) so it has not been a total loss. I will have two hours of spam to wade through when I get back though. On second thought "keep your germs and spam to yourself" if you don't mind.

The Kitties who own HaHa

I have wanted to introduce our kitties to you for awhile now and finally got some decent pics of them. I think the one of buddy (white and black tabby) really shows his attitude (very much like Morris the Cat on TV) and Delta's pic doesn't do her justice. She was declawed (which I abhor) by her previous owner, but she will always be safe with us. She uses her teeth (against Buddy) instead of her claws, but she still pitterpats and "sharpens" her claws like a regular cat. Both Cats were adopted and although they still fight with each other (we use a spray bottle to break it up) they do seem to love each other too! We were going to get kittens, but I am glad we adopted them instead and I highly recommend it!

I Finally Made it

Whew! I finally made it through the new conversion. It wasn't too difficult once I realized my password and username. I am finally resigned to keeping a book with the info in it as it is too frustrating trying to remember all the user and pass info for all the accounts on the web. I told Dex, I thought it would be nice if you could buy a box that had all the plug ins for a Tuner, receiver, speakers, sat dish connection, vcr and dvd along with cd player, game connect too. Just a simple box, you connect to and everything works, then a truly easy universal remote that has buttons that say, VCR, TV, CD, etc. We are getting so tech these days, that it is hard to keep up with all the current changes. I try, but as soon as I get it down, it changes. I would pay someone to come out and set everything up, but trouble is, they have to be up-to-date too! I just got an idea for this, what about a device that you plug in your computer that downloads all user/pass and you uplug unless you need it. You watch, someone will have invented it before I get this posted. Happy New Year everyone!