MARCH MARCHES OUT......

Tomorrow is April Fools Day........children love it!  To me April is much more.....it is the month I was born, that I had twins and have a grandson with a birthday two days after mine.  When I was 14 my mother had my little brother after three little sisters......big day in our family.  My favorite cousin was born 9 day after me and my two favorite sister-in-laws had April birthdays.  It was the month I got married 56 years ago......on the 28th.  Yes, April has always been one of my favorite months.  I took my three girls on a cruise last month to celebrate my 80th birthday and they gave me a fun new computer for my birthday so I hope to just slide through it when it arrives in April.
I recently read that for those in their golden years, age should only be unbearable if it means the cessation of growth. Most will agree that aging with grace involves choosing to live enthusiastically rather than to give in to boredom, worry and stiff joints.  You can celebrate life by looking on each day as a gift and then doing something constructive with it!  Good bye to March.......

PARTY PARTY

Party, party this social life is great but tiring!  Bridge and luncheon again today, and what was the topic of the party......you can guess when a group of senior citizens get together.  You get a lot of confessions like......yes, I am the life of the party even if lasts until 8:00!  I am very good at opening child proof caps-----with a hammer.  I'm awake many hours before my body allows me to get up.  I smile all the time because I can't hear a thing they are saying.  I'm sure everything I can't find is in a safe, secure place-----somewhere.  I'm wrinkled, saggy, lumpy and that's just my left leg.......But, I'm having the time of my life. It's like we don't keep secrets any more........Bettie Barlow had the best lunch.....Wonderful soup, salad and pie.  The pie was one I saw in Pinterest where you boil a can of sweetened condensed milk (in the can) until it turns to Carmel, then pour it in a crust with whip cream.  I will be trying that soon!  Bev Taft called and said John has cancer and TB., poor Toby.  At our age everyday you hear bad new like that about your friends.  Richie who is in the Philippines finally blogged us today, he seems to be loving it.  Alex came by this morning and we had a good visit, It has been a good day.  

YES, WOMEN ARE ANGELS

Had a successful bridge night.....fun friends, food and lots of laughs.  We usually get about eight hands of bridge played, but the evening is dominated by conversation and catch up from month to month. Who has what, who has been where and what the latest with our children and grandchildren is.  Today I spent most the day putting the dishes away, tables and chairs and getting back to my normal piles here and there.  I always feel that my women friends are so special and love the following thoughts:
Women are Angels.......When someone breaks her wings.....She continues to fly.....usually on a Broomstick!
Women are just flexible that way.....If you give her a smile, she will give you her heart.  If you give her a house, she will give you a home.  If you give her groceries, she will give you a meal.  If you give her sperm, she will give you a baby.  If you give her crap, she will give you a ton of shit.  Simply put, women multiply what they are given 100%.  If you don't believe this, think of the great women friends you have.!!!!!   Sherrie called today and is counting the days Alex has left before his mission to Brazil for two years......and Karrie is waiting to hear from her son in the Philippines for two weeks, guess he is just having to much fun.....

DIET ON MY MIND......

 Ahh, Spring.......and the stores are full of fun new fashions for Spring.  I love the colors this year, so fresh and exciting..........Do you find the older you get, the tougher it is to lose weight, because by then your body and your fat are really good friends. I am determined to lose a few pounds, my knees and hips are really complaining, not to mention my doctor when counseling me about heart problems and diabetes. I was just reading an article that said the typical symptoms of stress are eating too much, impulse buying and driving too fast.....Well suck it up cupcake, that's my idea of  perfect day! So I guess I can't blame my problem onto stress.
Just as I was getting use to yesterday.....along came today.  Took my income tax into my tax man today.  I really like Mike Duncan and it seemed like just yesterday I was doing this same thing.....where does a year go.  Good news, bad news.  Money back from the federal but owe the state.  Very cold today, rain, wind and even some snow.....Spring weather!  Bridge club here tomorrow, then off the hook for entertaining for a few months.

INTERESTING OBSERVATION

"Your own expectations are the key to the whole business of mental health.If you expect to be happy, healthy, and fulfilled in life, then that is where you will place your attention, and that is what you will manifest."
I have been thinking how lucky I am to be living in the time of all this modern technology.....I can carry my cell phone around with me and enjoy a call from the family in Walmart, Smirhs, the Dentist's office, at the Macey's sale.   I don't have to stay home being afraid I will miss their call.  They can text me and not even bother talking to me, which seems the habit of some family members.....that's OK, at least they think of me now and then.  Then, I am on Face Book where I follow the doings of my grandchildren and my many nieces and nephews and their children.  I thrill at their achievements and happy moments and very sad when I see someone so angry he is saying 'F...K the Mormons'....Which is not good!  I worry about this child! I can only watch at a distance....with no comment, but wonder what his grandmother....my sister.... feels about it?  Then I can keep up with some of my nieces with e-mails when neither of us would probably sit down and take time to write each other.  One of my favorite things is following the blogs of some family members which give me more personal information about the fun things in their lives.  One of my favorite ones is my sweet granddaughter who lived with me five and a half years, I'm lucky if I see her every few months now days, but I love hearing how her life (and health) are going. Another one is my nephews wife as they work together trying to get a blended family of 8 kids all under control.....she is my hero.   Everyone but me is smart enough to add pictures, maybe someday.  Did hear from my sister today and that always makes me happy to catch up with each other's lives.  I have so much to be thankful for.

CLEANING DAY......

The Cook group came over (Minis Richie who is in the Philippines this week), but reinforced by Scottie's friend Carson to clean my house so I can have bridge on Tuesday.....A gift like this to someone who is old is worth more than all the gold in the world. They vacuumed, dusted, cleaned floors and bathroom.  Did the back windows and got down the cobwebs.....not that they bother my bridge club girls too much....but make me feel better.  They brought up the bridge tables and chairs and put the table leaf in, things that are such an effort now days.  Thank Goodness bridge only rolls around twice a year!  Their love is so appreciated.  Got my nails done and finished up some odds and ends......I am ready.  Mike called me this morning, I have always loved Mike alot.  He is having some health problems and busy trying to keep harmony with his new blended family.  I love his new wife who has gone beyond what a step mother should have to endure with step children.  She is one of the greatest people I know.  I realized early on that I could never be a good step-mother......reason I remained single after my divorce.  I have never regretted it. 
MERTLE SAYS;  The secret of abundance is to stop focusing on what you do not have, and shift your consciousness to an appreciation for all that you are and all that you do have......

YEP, I'M GUILTY

Mertle says;  "Send out love and harmony, put your mind and body in a peaceful place, and then allow the universe to work in the perfect way that it knows how......  Yep, I'm guilty  of being sucked up in the Hunger Games mania......   I did read all three books in two weeks,  I couldn't stop.  Then when I got a chance to see a sneak preview for my granddaughter's fund raiser I jumped at the chance.  It was good and followed the book pretty close..  Having read all three books, I was not ready for it to end....but, I know who Katniss ends up with and how her life ends?????  Did some house cleaning for bridge next week, my house gets cleaned at least twice a year for bridge......Still not feeling the greatest.                                                    

INTERESTING DAY......

Is he cute or what???? My Richie is 18, a senior in high school, a super LaCross player and off to the Philippines today for a two week volunteer program with YMAD (youth make a difference) group.  I am so proud of him and yes worried with him going so far, but it will be such a great growing experience.  Good Luck Rich,
And tonight is the opening of the movie" Hunger Games".  The Brighten High Cheer leaders were selling tickets for the opening night so I lucked out. 
The past two weeks have been non-productive.  I was sick last week, had Ken for four days while he was sick and yesterday my coffee buddies came at 10:30 and left at 4:00.  Zero things done, so today is going to be catch up day as I have to finish up my income tax by Monday and have bridge at my house Tuesday........
"Families are the compass that guides us, the inspiration to reach great heights, our comfort when we falter."  I greet each day with the thought "the nicest thing about the future is......that it always starts tomorrow.  In the future I will lose weight, clean house, call a good friend, finish that pile of magazines that has been piling up etc. etc.
One last thought; You create the results in life, you believe you deserve?  Is that why I am still single?

UP SIDE OF SLOWING DOWN......

I guess the up-side of slowing down there is always something left to do.  I use to have a schedule and finish everything I started, but now days I figure if I get one or two chores done every day then that isn't a wasted day.  Sunday and Monday have been a zero done day, but have a good excuse.  Kennedys cold got worse Saturday and by Sunday I took him into instant care and found our he had strep throat.  Sherrie is still out of town so I kept Ken and Brayden braved the snow storm to get home for school. My cold is still hanging on so Ken anf I have been catching up on our movies and having a gay old time hanging out.  Kar came by today with treats which helped our moods.  Today is the first day of Spring, but you wouldn't know it weather wise.  Trying to get around to calling people for bridge next week, always glad when I get my turn over.......and my income tax is still spread all over the dinning room table.Oh well, tomorrow!

PURSE-ONALITY

Don't you wish for the days when you bought one purse for spring and summer and another for fall and winter?  Now days seems everyone suffers from multiple "purse-onalitys".  We have to have a different purse to go with every outfit in our closet.  As a modern grandma on the go, I'd prefer buying one good basic black purse and using it until the straps fell off, but no I'm hooked on one of every color and size on the market.  For to many years I carried a big purse, a very big purse so crammed full of my treasures I ruined my lower back, developed tennis elbow, perpetual stiff neck and might need a new rotatory cuff, hoisting the sucker over my shoulder.  I just stuck in cosmetics , toiletries and medications, a book to read,snacks .For so many years it wasn't just your stuff, but the family added their things.  Eye drops, ear drops, gum drops, nasal spray, hair spray, and pepper spray, a first-aid kit, a sewing kit and a tool kit. I am now trying to down size to a smaller purse, I am not gone from home any length of time, I do not have the energy to carry such a load any more and I am don't change my purse with every outfit anymore.  Oh yes, I still have all those wonderful purses,....just in case.....but I am changing my ways slowly.  I am enjoying Brayden and Kennedy for the weekend and had Scottie last night.  The cousins miss each other.  Feeling much better. Last week was a lost week, I hate being sick. Suppose to be a big storm coming in tonight, worry about the boys driving home tomorrow.

WABI-SABI

"Wabi-Sabi'......Is a way of seeing the world that finds beauty and Harmony in what is simple, imperfect, natural, modest and mysterious. I guess that has been a part of me for many years, even though I didn't know it's name.  That explains why I love drift wood, rocks and trees that look like they have lost their way in growing straight and tall.  Modern art that gives no rhyme or reason and funky clothes.
I try to think of life as a good book.  The further you get into it the more it begins to make sense.Speaking of books I am on the home stretch on the last book of Suzanne Collins the 'Hunger Games' series. I can't believe how much I have read in the past two weeks. Yesterday Sherrie and Alex came to town for the last shots Alex will need for his mission next month.  Met Karrie at Zuppas for lunch.

BEAUTIFUL WEATHER......

A beautiful sunny Sunday....62 degrees. SPRING!  All winter I have used the excuse not to exercise because of the weather, now what excuse can I use?  I try to get my exercise in the stores shopping....I call retail therapy which includes exercise.  If you hit enough stores and go up and down enough isles you've walked several miles.  Maxine.....one of my favorite characters puts it this way.  If walking is good for your health, the postman would be immortal.  A whale swims all day, only eats fish, drinks water and is fat. A rabbit runs and hops and only lives 15 years.  A tortoise doesn't run and does nothing and lives 450 years.  And they tell me to exercise more, I don't think so.  Just walk around me!  Stayed up and finished "Catching Fire" the book that follows  "The Hunger Game"....and now I can't lay down the third book of the series..... "Mockingjay".  I am not much of a reader so this is huge for me.......Need to get busy on my taxes, yard work and clean house for bridge the end of the month.Yes, I'll do that tomorrow.

IT IS WHAT IT IS.......

Be a girl with a mind.....
A woman with an attitude and
A lady with class.....  This is what I am working for.
Every choice you make, including the thoughts you think---has consequences.  When you choose the behavior or thought you choose the consequence.
There is no reality---only perception!  You know and experience this world only through the perception that you create.   You exercise this power of choice in every circumstance every day of your life....no matter what the situation, you choose your reaction, assigning meaning and value to an event.
We view the world through individual filters.  If you view your world through a filter created by past events then you are allowing your past to control and dictate both your present and your future. Filters made up of fixed beliefs, negative ides that have become entrenched in your thinking.  We teach people how to treat us. Some thing to consider.
Today was lunch with Karrie and Scottie.....no school bored!  Off to a favorite spot of the kids "IHOP"....The pancakes with the funny face on them....nope....today was hot chocolate with Mac and Cheese.

WELL, I FINISHED IT!

She wasn't where she had been......She wasn't where she was going.....But she was on her way........
That seems to apply to me every day.  I feel every day is a new page in my book of life and that I am constantly on my way to the end of a glorious story!
The past two days I was completely immersed in the book "The Hungry Game".  My granddaughter's favorite book of all times.  Her cheer-group were selling tickets to the movie in a couple of weeks so I bought one because I am hooked.  Started the second book of the series today,.....two more  days down the drain!  Vacuumed the house today and washed the salt off the car.  Think of this as a dream.....You go to Hershey Pennsylvania.  The Spa at the Hotel Hersey, to be exact, so we could sample the new Cocoa Facial Experience. The ritual includes an edible dark chocolate mask (rich in antioxidants) that's applied to the lips as well as the face and then wiped off with a warm towel, creating the aroma of baking brownies.....yum. I have visited the Hotel Hersey in Hersey Pa, and no one told me this was available.  Maybe next time!!!!

YOU ARE WHO YOU WERE BORN TO BE...

I love pictures.......they can say so much about the time and energy of the moment.  This was dress-up night on our cruise last week.  Yes, it was to celebrate my 80th birthday!  You forget how different your children are until you spend 24-7 with them all together again.  They are all three very different even though  two are twins and there is 11 years difference in my oldest and the twins, which puts them a century apart.  This means in those 11 years you and your life has probably changed immensely.....and their likes and dislikes are very different. It reminds you that as the years go by .....things remain the same, but different.  There is contention when they are young and it doesn't change when they are grown. The one thing we all agreed on was the fun shopping in Mexico and Belieze.....we did what we could for their economy. Yesterday was a beautiful 60 degrees and today it is cold and cloudy and snow is forecast for tonight. I guess we are just going through March weather.  I just started a new book, "The Hunger Games"....and I can see I'm not going to get much done today.  The movie will be out soon and I need to finish it.

HANGING ON........

 

Seems some days you just have to hang on and keep going......I am  still trying to learn every thing about my new computer.  Took lunch over to Tiff today as she is laid up recuperating from her knee operation and she adjusted some things for me.  When I got home I tried to scan some of my vacation pictures into the computer and it told me it was not connected. So now I have another challenge to figure out.  I will get my son-in-law to help me the first of the week, he lives closer to me than Tiff. AND then my favorite TV in the kitchen is stuck on channel 5.......another to do problem this week.  We are finally having some winter now the first of March, but can use the water, and the skiers are loving it. I am still not moving to fast from the cruise......part of getting older.
"Do not pray for an easy life.  Pray for the strength to endure a difficult one."

TRYING TO GET GOING......

Seems I just can't get in gear and get going this week.  I use to bounce back in a couple of days after traveling, but this week hasn't been that way. Could it be I'm getting old?  Snowed last night and is finally showing signs of winter......the first day of March.  Did get my bills paid and went grocery shopping, but not much else today.  Talked to the twins and Tiff today, she, Tiff, said she was feeling better today so will take her lunch tomorrow.When she had her other leg done she was living with me and I could really keep an eye on her.  Lucille called to see if I made it home without some kind of ship trouble.....it is becoming a habit with cruise ships lately.  Well, my meat pie is done so will try to do better tomorrow......