TEARING OFF THE LAST CALENDAR PAGE

Well, in a few hours we will have to get use to writing 2012.......and start a new calendar year. With this thought many memories of the past year float by. Thoughts like: I keep trying to lose weight, but it keeps finding me! When Steve Jobs died his last words were: wow! wow! wow! As the vail was lifting for him......what did he see? I really wonder how big a WOW it will be. I hope my ship comes in before my dock rots.......and Betty your too old to die young. You can't start the next chapter of your life, if you keep re-reading the last one! And, find joy in the journey.

I go with the following thoughts for my 2012 New Years Resolutions: Laugh when you can----Apologize when you should----And let go of what you can't change.-----Kiss slowly, forgive quickly, play hard, take chances, give everything your best. Have no regrets. Life is too short to be anything but happy.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

COUNTING DOWN TO 2012

Mertle says: Don't worry about anything, instead pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done. Philippians 4:6

As 2011 is nearing the end and I am fast approaching my 80th year, "Aging' becomes something I have to face. I guess it is time to let go of unrealistic expectations.......I would like to be more like my mother who was one of the most contented people I've ever known. As I grow older, I realize why: she didn't expect much and appreciated everything. She loved people, music and helping others everyday of her life. She made the people around her happy. She never complained about being poor, which was only monatary, because she was so rich in talent, personality and confidence the things that were most important to her. She married the man she loved, no she didn't have a wedding dress or a reception, they couldn't afford that during the depression. Vacations were rare, she never had a career, she loved trying new things and learning and conquered anything she wanted. She was everlastingly grateful for the blessings of home and family and didn't waste time worrying that she "didn't have it all." I resolve to practice that attitude in the years I have left. You know cultivate a "gratitude attitude" for all my blessings.........which are many!

We have no snow, the poor ski industry is suffering and so are my skiing family members. Last year was such a great year.

NO PLACE LIKE HOME.........

Well it certainly was a different Christmas surrounded by water! But being Christmas is all in your heart anywhere can be Christmas. Have to admit when I close my eyes and think Christmas the picture on the left is what comes to my mind. Parents, grandparents, aunts , uncles and losts of kids......and snow. However, they tell me it wasn't a White Christmas in Utah either. I did love the 80 degrees weather we had and lots of warm sunshine. It was a fun cruise and we really enjoyed our time in Ft. Lauderdale, especially our water-taxi ride at night with all the beautiful Christmas lights on the fabulous yatchs and million dollar homes. Oh yes, "Atlantas" wasn't to shabby either.

Today is my third grandson's birthday.......a big eighteen years old. I am so proud of him and know he has a great life ahead. One more year and he will no doubt be getting ready for a mission. He is going to the U in September and is off to the Phillipines in March with YMAD (Youth Make A Difference) ,young people volunteering to help the orphans and children there.

Happy Birthday Rich, looking forward to the Spagetti Factory dinner tonight!

BIG DAY......

Mertle says: "If you ask some one.....where are you heading? And they answer, "Oh, no where special" and you say, "I've never been there.....can I go with you?" Where do you think you will end up?

It's one of those day when your so busy you don't know if you found a rope or lost your horse.......the family is coming to dinner for our annual Christmas party. Let's see, house decorated, presents bought and wrapped, games organized.......then there is that food thing! They all come to eat......I find suitable receipts, go buy the food, THEN the cooking begins. How long on the turkey? Is the dressing dry or too moist? How many potatoes for 16 people? Hordourvers? Same old, same old chips and dip or do I get brave and try something new from Pinterest? What dishes to use, need extra chairs? I have three lists I am trying to coordinate.......shopping list, to do list, and have done list! Also trying to pack and have a couple of lists going for that. We leave very early day after tomorrow.......ready or not! Karrie and kids came over yesterday and tiddyed up and Sher came by early today to help with some odds and ends. I will be ready for this......but must confess I still don't know if I found a rope or lost a my horse! Sherrie will take Gigi home while I am off to the Bahamas......If I survive.

RUNNING OUT OF TIME

It was one of those days when you don't get to that long list of "To Dos". Today was lunch and a little Christmas party with some old traveling buddies, didn't get home till late and the morning flew by as I started a chore I had been putting off and got very involved. I will try harder tomorrow because I am running out of time for the family party, pack, then be off for the holidays......As I stress about getting everything done I came across a cute article that worked for me.......A Doctor on TV said, "to have inner peace we should always finish things we start an we all could use more calm in our lives." Well, I began to look around my house to find things I'd started and hadn't finished, so I finished off a bottle of Grey Goose, a bottle of Chardonnay, a bottle of Baileys, a bottle of rummm , the remainder of valiuminun scriptins, an a box a chocletz and oh yes, the baig of pertator ships. You haf no ider how fablus I feel rite now. Send this to all who need inner piss, an telum u luvum and haf a Jerry Tismas!

CHANGES....

This time of year we are surrounded by the "Spirt of Christmas" .When you think about it......life is one long series of changes. Just when you get things running smoothly----along comes another change and you have to up your effort to smooth it out. As I look back over my life I can't think of one thing that hasn't changed. Everything changes! Seems the world is always in a state of chaos and we owe it ourselves to survive and make the best possible life we can in the midst of it.
Today another day and another change, I have definitely learned to be flexible.......Sherrie needed to change our planned April Cruise because of it being just when she was needed at home for Alex's farwell, take him through the temple for endowments and be sure he had all the things he would need for two years in Brazil. She jumped in and we all agreed on the change, so now we are off on the cruise in February. It is the same ship with the same itenerary and Karrie & I got our airline tickets purchased, but I don't doubt we still have some changes in things ahead,that's just life.
Every moment......no matter how dire it may seem has something to offer us......every single moment!

IT'S A GOOD DAY!

Mertle says: It's not that life has been easy, perfect, or exactly as expected. I just choose to be Happy and Grateful no matter how it turns out............

I guess it's just time to stop and think.....someday everything will make perfect sense. So, for now, laugh at the confusion, smile through the tears and keep reminding yourself that "EVERY THING HAPPENS FOR A REASON." I so believe this, infact I have "Things Happen For a Reason.......just believe" written on my kitchen wall as a every day reminder.

As my sweet grandson Alex, turns 19 and has been assigned a Brazilian Mission for two years, I keep thinking of him as this darling baby with so much charisma, of the baby sitting, of the vacations, of how I will miss him. I guess the only reason why we hold onto memories so tightly for so long is because memories are the only things that don't change, even when people do. I am thrilled and excited about it. I know that if you are depressed, you are living in the past. If you are anxious, you are living in the future. If you are at peace, you are living in the present.......and that is all that really counts.

Last night my youngest grandson Scottie spent the night with me. Such an intertaining little fellow. We dined on pizza and pop, followed by ice cream bars. Isn't that what all grandmother's feed their grandchildren? A couple of hours of TV...... "Wipe Out", one of our favorites. Yes, it's things like this that memories are made of.

IN MY GRANDMA'S DAYS.......

Mertle says: "Dear Santa: This year, please give me a big fat bank account and a slim body. And please, don't mix those two up like you did last year!"....Thanks.

Life takes us to unexpected places. Love brings us home.......

Today I decided with two weeks to go before I leave town, I better get out my Holiday receipts and start planning my family dinner. First book that popped up was "Take Two and Butter 'Em While They 're Hot!" (Heirloom Recipes and Kitchen Wisdom).

One page tells us "How to Tell If Company's Coming".......They know all of that way back then and didn't even have enternet...cells phones....etc. ? I wish my grandmother was still alive and I could verify some of these predicitions! Take two pieces of bread at one time, hungry company's coming........Drop a knife, a man's coming: a fork a woman.......If your nose itches, company's coming!.......Drop a dishrag, someone nastier than you is coming.......If a straw falls from a broom that's being used, company's coming........A rooster crowing at your back door means a caller.....When a spider builds a web in your house, expect a caller the same color as the spider.....If you drop a wet dish cloth and it falls loose, a woman's coming. If it falls in a knot, a man is coming????? Wow, how can I remember all that????

My grandmother Goff lived up the street and I think she would have easily quoted some of the above. The other grandmother, I only saw a couple of times I remember. She doesn't seem like a real grandmother to me. I wonder what my nine grandchildren think of me? I do say strange things but mostly what I read on email or see on TV or hear on Face Book.... probably will some day sound just as strange as my grandmother's list. Well, back to looking up how to make dressing.

Been a busy week with my first grandson turning 21 and a sweet call from him thanking me for the Birthdaypresent and telling me of the exciting things he is doing. Love that kid!

Well, back to hunting the recepts I was looking for.

MY FIRST MISSIONARY.....

Got an early morning call from my second grandson, Alex. "Grandma I got my mission call and I'm going to Brazil in April!" I knew it was coming and how can anything so good feel so bad at the time? Of course, I cried.....not because he is going, we prayed he would, but because that is so far away and two years seems so long and because I always cry when I am happy! My cousin's son and her nephew both went to Brazil and loved it, as many of William's fraternity brothers have also had their missions in Brazil. It will be the perfect place and he will learn portugese and be a wonderful missionary. I never had boys so this is a first for me. I also have four more potential missionaries coming up.........so suck it up cupcake and enjoy. He is a precious boy and has always had so much charisma. A quiet, hard worker that the people in South America will be lucky to know. He will miss the snow and snowmobiling, but in two years we will still be having snow in Utah!!!! Good luck, my sweet, sweet boy my love and heart will be with you, and I am so proud of your decision. How did you grow up so fast?

COLD WEATHER UPON US....

Mertle says: "When you go to your knees, God will help you stand up to anything."

I know each of us is an innkeeper and we must decide if there is room for Jesus.....hopefully your answer is yes.

I am determined to not let anything ruin my Christmas! I'm not sure how many more Christmases I will have. When you get to be almost 80, you don't even buy green bananas anymore.....At this time Christmas isn't shaping up as usual, but hopefully I can stand for anything? I was reading where Christmas music can spur production of mood-lifting neurotransmitters by reminding you of happy childhood memories. I love the Christmas music and it does make me feel better especially when I know the words and can sing along. Singing floods your body with feel-good endorphins that help squash the effects of stress harmons. Even the good ole candy cane with it's supply of peppermint oil, which contains active ingredients like menthol, menthone and cineol, helps sooth the intestinal wall. AND color studies show that slipping into some bright color, like red, draws favorable attention from others. And when you're condfident in your appearance, your mood will soar as the stress level plummets......So my plan for tomorrow is to go sit in the car and listen to Christmas carols and sing them all at the top of lungs,(that way no one can complain about my singing), I will munch a candy cane and wear my red sweater! So there, just try and ruin my day!

We are hoping tomorrow is D-day for our first missionary to find out where he will be going? We have tried to guess where we think it will be.....time will tell. Good luck Alex.

A 100 YEARS FROM NOW........

As I write this I can't help but wonder.......a hundred years from now how will I be remembered?????

It won't matter what kind of car I drive......

What kind of house I lived in......

How much money I had in the bank.....

Nor what my clothes looked like.......

But, the world may be a little better because I was important in the life of a child!

I hope I have influenced the life of my three children, my grandchildren, nieces and nephews, that they will remember me as being fun and kind and always there for them. This weekend I had a reminder that maybe....just maybe..... a few of the nieces and nephews recalled some times in the past that they remembered me with love and kindness and even some of my children and grandchildren think I might have made a few fun memories for them. All I can say is: I tried to do the best I could. I think GOD will give me credit for trying!

I realize you only live once, but if you do it right.......once is enough!

This week has been ruff, but ......when you go to your knees God will help you stand up to anything......

A fun day with one of my best friend, Patty.

A FAREWELL TO CAN"T......

How often do I say, "I can't'? Is it easier than trying too, not caring one way or the other, or I cannot take the time or be bothered? Anyway with a New Year fast approaching I am going to try, try, try so there is no need for saying I can't. "This goodbye does not make me sad. I will not miss you. I have discovered what it feels like to do the unthinkable. The hard. The long. The challenging. You have no business here anymore. From now on, difficult will seem doable. I will see the impossible as simply not-yet-conquered. Farewell, Can't. You will haunt me never again. Hello, Can. Welcome to my world."

Isn't it interesting? An X-sister-in-law dies and after 25 years of having no contact with any of the family you send you daughter into complete orbit----because you didn't show up at the funeral. I have lived in my house for 25 years and I am in the phone book, etc. but wow, have any of them reached out to me? I got a message saying THEY all asked about you and wanted to see you.....I'm not sure who the they are, perhaps an out-of-town niece and the wife of a nephew. Well, Hello, I am right where I have been as I raised their nieces and cousins, had seven more grandchildren none of them acknowledged or barely even seen. The family walked out on my girls and I when their father did, of course loyalty in families is good. Well, suck it up cupcake, I am not going to be plied with guilt from a non-existent family out there.

It has started snowing and I know many of the boys in my family are doing the "snow-dance."

JUST ONE OF THOSE DAYS.......

Yes, I know we all have good days and bad days, but some days are worse than others. So I pray: Lord, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to hide the bodies of those people I had to kill because they pissed me off!!!!!! Of course, that is just socially speaking, I have finally learned to "act" not to "react" when I am mad. I just look at the person coming down on me, and think 'they must really be having a bad day', and I am not going to let them ruin my day too. You find the yeller wants you to yell back and say all kinds of things that you don't really mean, but when we are attacted we learn to defend......or not! When someone is angry there is no way you can calmly point out your side of the conversation and win, so let it be upon their shoulders to work out their problems.

My daughter's aunt, Gertrude Peterson, was buried today. Gert is the last of their aunts and uncles on their father's side. She would have been 97 in January, but had alzheimers for many years. Funerals are sad, but some can be good.

Utah has just survived one of it's worst wind storms in many years. Up north was hit the hardest. My power was out for four hours, really makes you appreciate your morning hot coffee, toast and morning news on TV. We are a bit spoiled!