Thanksgiving Thoughts

My favorite holiday is fast approaching. I love this holiday as it is for me, a time of reflection. The changing of the seasons, time with family and friends, reconnection to those who love us, catch-up and feasting together is this season's great gift. This may also be the last Thanksgiving with my step-dad, so I want it to be extra special. My daughter and son-in-law living far away, will be on my mind - they always are, but at this time of year I really miss having them near. My daughter and son-in-law who live near, will be down for the holiday this year together. William will bring his video camera and take some video of Grandpa. That will be very important to us all in the future.

I am extremely grateful for the wonderful family God has surrounded me with. I am thankful I am still employed. I am thankful that I live in the United States of America. She has many things to atone for, but I still love her and am grateful for the opportunites she has provided for me.

I am prayerful for those who do not have the things I do. A warm bed and clothes, family, food or a job. I am prayerful for those who are ill and fighting for their lives. I am prayerful that I will never take for granted all the wonderful things God has provided me with.

I love you my family and my God and my country!

Happy Thanksgiving!

2009

It was a quiet New Year's eve at our house. This is the first year in a while that Dex wasn't playing music somewhere. It was nice that we were home together for a change.
With the downturn of the economy I am hopeful that Americans will learn how to be frugal, ingenius, become savers once again and be kinder to one another, since we will all be feeling the pain. I hope we will hold our elected officials accountable to us. They do take the oath to uphold our Constitution when they are sworn in and it seems they quickly forget about it soon after. We must, in our busy lives, take the time to tell them when they break their promises or we see them take a stand against our views. With the internet, we have great power to be heard (except for the time I tried to email Barney Frank as it seems he did not accept out of state emails) and they do get the message when their email servers time out because of the influx. I keep my email list at my desk so I can let them know my views. By the way, don't forget to tell them when they are doing a good job to. We must always incourage good behavior! I am hoping we all gain great insight during these trying times and so I believe 2009 is going to be a very good year for all of us, if we take the time to learn from it.

Winter Wonderland at Our House

It is absolutely beautiful here at our house. The picture was one I took early this morning. What I really love is the quiet, not a sound. Even the birds were not up yet. They are busy now as I write. I put new suet out and our winter birds, Stellar Jays, Oregon Juncos and Woodpeckers are busy eating their breakfast. I have been working from home all week and it has been so enjoyable as my desk looks out on the feeders and the porch, so I can watch the birds feed and watch the cats watch the birds feed, then when the cats get too cold and decide to come in I get to watch Angel chase the cats! I wish I could send some of this snow we have way across the world to my daughter as she loves it. Don't know if our J would like it though, he is a sun person. Uh Oh, our squirrels are putting on a show now....got to go!

kitties & Pointsettias

Our dear neighbor sent us a beautiful pointsettia plant. I had vaguely rememembered that this could be a toxic plant to cats. Our female Delta wants to eat it and will not leave it alone. Buddy has also shown some interest, so off to the web I went to find out what the truth really is. Well, needless to say there were many opinions, some say yes they are toxic and some say no they are not. One wise source said this - Cats will vomit from eating any plant, including some of the plant grasses that are just for them. I knew that was true as I got some kitty grass and sure enough Delta vomited it right after ingesting, Buddy was not the least bit interested. Best bet is to keep the plant or any plants out of kitty's reach. We will be enjoying our plant in our bedroom as it is off limits to the animals, unless we let them snuggle with us!

Drink up from the Santa Cup!

Thank you daughter for putting our favorite Santa on my blog site. That little cup is filled with so many good memories for me as I know it is for you and your baby sis too! It reminds me of the mysteriousness of Christmas. The joy and excitement a child and parent share during the holidays.
Even though this time of year can be rather hectic, for all the wrong reason I might add, I am filled with a great peace as my faith in GOD is renewed. I sometimes wonder why HE loves us so much as man can be so terribly wicked and self centered and self indulgent; but there is that spark in us all, that wants to do the right thing and has hopes and dreams for a better tomorrow. That spark is what HE gave us, for us to do the right thing, care for others, go the extra mile, and see the BIG PICTURE. We all have several goals in common as human beings. We all want to be loved, hugged, see our children grow up happy, and leave our mark,(hopefully a good one) on this planet. I think that is what HE had in mind when he put us here. To take care of one another. That will be my New Year's resolution this year as I think it is attainable one.
On Christmas eve, I will be thinking of my family fondly, perhaps daydream a bit about when my girls were little and feel that excitement that we shared, once again.

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

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!

Turkey and the Snow

It was a great time at Grandmother's house, although we missed having all the family there to celebrate. It usually snows on the valley floor by now, but it has been a rainy season so far. Great for me and Dex as our wells are now full of water. But now the temp has dropped and the sky is Black and White with snow clouds. This morning I encountered the white stuff on the way to work. I hope it stays off the ground for one more day as I have to drive to the southend of the state for an appointment, but I may stay the night at Gma's for the night as my eyes will still be dilated. Can you imagine driving in the snow with dilated eyes at night! Talk about psychodelic!

I'M Skeered!!!!!

This weekend has been a real scare-a-thon on TV. There has been a plethora of pics to choose from. Anything from Scary Movie 3 to one of my favorites "King Kong" which of course stars the beautiful Fay Ray. It also has special memories for someone else in my family, Mishka was just a little girl, but she was glued to the TV set watching this movie with me. As Fay was strapped to the tiki's about to become Kong's bride, and she sees him for the first time, I had to strike while the iron was hot. Boo at the appropriate time scared the bejesus out of her and she flew up in the air and then she got really, really mad at her mommy. Great scare! Happy Halloween darling!