If I Could Have One New Year Wish

I would wish that my children could walk a mile in 5 pair of my shoes.
1st pair- when I was a child
2nd pair- when I was a teen
3rd pair- when I brought them up
4th pair- the shoes I wear now
and the 5th pair would be my last pair of shoes.

I went back into my mother's life and tried to wear
her shoes. I understand what her life was like and
why she did the things she did and how she brought me
up.
I forgive her for the things that she may have done
wrong because I understand why she did them. I applaud the
things she did because I know it was hard for her but she
did them.

Funny How Small This World Is!

I'm in Postcrossing, as you may know from my other blog. I'm in Facebook and three blogs. I'm even thinking of adding another blog for animals! I love animals and would like to post things about them and their protection.

Well, today I got an email from someone who is in Postcrossing too! She actually lives in McKinney, next door to Allen! She's from Michigan, although I don't know where yet. She'll tell me. So far, everyone that I have met in my 7 years here is from the east side of Michigan and we're from the west side. But all of Michigan is the same...cold...snowy...cloudy...depressing and what more can I say!

This year is coming to and end and I'm trying to think of what I can to improve my life in the next year. I hope I don't have to have knee surgery. My knee hurts really bad sometimes. I was taking arthritis pills for it but quit taking them. I don't want to take more than the three RXs that I take and I don't think that they were doing any good anyway.

I'd like to lose 10 lbs. Who wouldn't! I'll keep making Chemo Caps for Joyce's Chemo Cap Project and make the blog as interesting as I can. I'll keep sending postcards. I've been making my own because there aren't any for Allen and I want to show where I live, not Dallas which I live close too. I got a pretty good feedback from the cards I sent the last time.

Maybe I can teach Dallas some things before she gets ready to start school. She's only three!

I have to try not nag Denny about his diabetes but, if I don't, he's not going to get the count dropped lower and he's going to go blind in two years if he doesn't (the eye dr told (scolded) him!

So postcrossing, knitting, Dallas, movies, books, gardening. Oh, I'm on two committees for our housing association. So I hope to get a lot done there too.

That's it for my year! What about yours?

MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ALL!

I hope everyone who reads this has a very good Christmas and a great 2010. When I was a kid, 2010 seemed a million years away. And here it is. To everyone a healthy, prosperous, and lots of happiness. Maybe this will be the year that the cure for Cancer is found. Maybe this will be the year that there will be no wars. For my family, I pray for health. God Bless you, one and all!

Christmas Is Almost Here

I can't believe the year is almost over! It sure went fast. We had our Christmas with Denny, Sue and Jordan last night because they're going to Michigan on Christmas Day. I hope that they have good weather. The weather has been pretty bad up north the last few weeks. They got a lot of snow! It was pretty cold here too. The last few days have been nice.

The Weather

I wrote on Facebook how nice it was here for the last two days. Yesterday we took Stella out on two walks. We could have worn our sandals, it was so warm. I opened all of the windows in the house. The sun shone and it was in the 70s!
That's all changed today! It's so cold out that I don't want to go out unless it's absolutely necessary. And they said that there's a cold front coming through.

Now Denny Has Atrial Fibrillation!

So, now beside's diabetes, only half a heart working, has a fibrilator/pacemaker implanted, Sleep Apnea and on 11 different meds, he finds out yesterday he has Atrial Fibrillation! He had to start on Cumiden! That's scaring him! He has to go in each week to be sure it's adjusted correctly. Meanwhile, I'm afraid that he'll cut himself and bleed out. His blood seems so thin now. And his legs have huge veins showing! Poor guy.

We're changing to Secure Horizons for the new plan year. I think we'll save a lot of money! No monthly premiums. The cost of that was killin' us.

Where Is The Time Going?

My gosh, it seems like I'm busy all the time and when I'm not busy working, I'm busy with other things...Granddaughter--work, house---work, chemocaps---not work, Dexter--not work, Trauma, Life In the ER--not work, reading---not work. Hey, why do I have more busy-not work than I do work busy? Well, I'm retired, aren't I?

Stella - New Member of Our Family

Yesterday we went to shelters and SPCA showings of dogs to find a dog. We ended up at Operation Kindness. It's a 'no kill' animal rescue in Carrolton, TX. I adopted O'Ley there. We found Stella. She had a different name but we changed it to Stella, after Denny's mother! She's a Chiwuawua, with with black and a little brown. We don't know what the mix is. I laughed and said maybe she's Dalmation since she has black spots! Funny! She only weighs 5 lbs and she's a year old. Stella is fitting right into the family. She doesn't bark, doesn't shake like Chiwuawuas shake. She pottys outside and follows me all over. She snuggled in Jamie's jacket and slept all night. And Willow ignores her.

You'll be seeing more of Stella

Dallas is in Gymnastics

Dallas has been to 4 classes in Gymnastics. She loves it and, believe it or not, she does what she's told. Her coach, Maria, is very nice and patient with these 3 year old children. There are usually only 4 little girls and they are just darling! So much fun to watch. Dallas is learning to do a cartwheel. Yesterday she went to the gym with Jamie and went to the playroom. She was dancing and the sitter said that it was really fun. There was a boy that is a little older than Dallas and he was break dancing. Dallas loves to dance and she started to do her cartwheel (as much as she's learned on it so far). She looked like she was breakdancing. Here are some pictures of her in gymnastics.

Dennis is now 69 Years Old

Wow, my husband is 69 now. I never thought of him as an old man. Well, he is! But, I'm not far behind him! We went to Texas Roadhouse for his birthday. Denny and Randy couldn't be there because they were hunting but the rest of us 'girls' went with him. He said that he DID NOT want us to tell the waitress it was his birthday. But it was too late because Danielle already told her. When all of the waitress' and waiters came to our table, I got nervous because Denny can get upset easy. He was cool and they sang happy birthday to him without a protest!
Here are pictures of our day.

Danielle Is An Artist

Danielle, Dallas and I went to the place that I get my rocks from. She picked out a few big rocks and was anxious to get home to start painting them. I was so surprised to see how good she is at rock painting. Some of the rocks she painted a different picture on both sided. Here are her rocks.

Fun with Danielle, Sue, Jamie and LB

The five of us went to the casino today. We all donated toward a set of towels, blankets and sheets for the hotel. Well, that's just a way of saying we lost our money! But it was fun! It's great having Danielle here from NC while Randy is hunting with his brother, Denny. Coco is fun when he doesn't bite. He can't help it because he's with a crazy family. Beautiful weather here in North Texas for a nice drive to OK to the casino.

President of McKinney TX SPCA Starved Pet Dog to Death!

A woman who was the PRESIDENT of SPCA in McKinney, TX (next to us) was just convicted of STARVING HER GERMAN SHEPHERD PUPPY to death!!! And what did she get? 3 days in jail, $500.00 fine and 3 years probation!!!! Can you believe it?

Postcrossing

I hope you've looked at my other blog called Postcrossing. I'm really enjoying it. In case you wonder what it is, I'll tell you. I go into the website called Postcrossing. I ask for an address to send a card to someone. I'm assigned a number to write on the card. Then, when the person gets my card, they register the number on the website and my address will go to someone to send me a card. I have an album full of great cards for all over the world! And, I have new friends on Facebook now that I got from Postcrossing. I have three friends from Finland and one in France! What fun. You really get to know people and what they do by getting cards. And, for people who like to collect stamps, wow, there are some beautiful stamps from other countries. I'm afraid that our country doesn't have a good stamp for international mailing so I have to get two regular stamps and one ten cent stamp per card. I try to get cute or pretty stamps. I usually send out Simpson stamps. I think everyone in the world must know who they are. Anyway, check out my blog and see the beautiful cards I've received. It's goblepostcrossing.blogspot.com.

Halloween is Almost Here!

It seems as if Halloween is getting to be bigger than Christmas! People are really decorating their yards this year. Of course, we haven't had very good weather for October. In our area, October made the record for the most rain this year. It's really rained a lot. Denny had almost all of his games to umpire canceled because of the rain. That's a big loss when it comes to money for us! They've extended the season to December 6 so maybe he'll be able to make up for the loss. I hope November isn't as rainy as October.

New Pictures of Izzy

Sue Bronson sent me some new pictures of her darling little granddaughter, Izzy and big brother, Brady. So cute!

Ashley Goble

There are pictures of Ashley in the blog but not a section of just her. She is our second grandchild, first granddaughter. Ashley Nicole is 17 years old and is a senior in high school in upper New York. She lived with Randy until a couple of years ago. She visits often and was at the hospital by Randy's bedside after his accident. She's a very nice young lady, going to school, working and sports. I have some nice videos of her when she was a tiny girl and visited us at Sandy Pines.
Here are some nice recent pictures of her.

Pumpkin Patch

Sue, Dallas and I went to the Pumpkin Patch last Saturday. We had a really good time. Dallas got to ride on the ferris wheel and an airplane ride and she rode on a train.

My Polls

Hmmm, I notice that not very many people are voting on my polls. No one will know who you are when you vote! Just scroll down my blog and vote on the polls. I think they're pretty good questions!

House Cleaning with A Three Year Old

OK, I know it's frustrating to try keep a house clean with a three year old, very active child underfoot. Especially when you're a young mother and you want to have a nice clean house for your husband to come home or really so he doesn't think you've been doing nothing but watch soap operas all day! I've been through those days three times! Now I'm a grandmother of three. But it's only the youngest grandchild that is underfoot. Jamie and Dallas live with us. We love having them here, even though we have to give up the idea of having a neat and clean house 24/7.

It's not as frustrating now that I'm a grandmother instead of 'just' a mother. I figure I'll never have this house (which is only 3 years old too) neat and clean like I thought it would be. I take care of Dallas while Jamie is at work.

So this is the way I have to clean...I have to stop a minute because Dallas is trying to take things off from my desk and I have to get her busy again. I thought that she was going to take a nap. Didn't happen that way. When I think it's quiet in the living room with her watching Max and Ruby on the TV, in she walked, still ready to go, go, go.

I took my phone away from her and she's interested in another show now. Maybe she'll fall asleep.

This morning I took all of the chairs out of the kitchen so I could clean it good. I wanted to clean the counter and the walls behind the counter first. I didn't see Dallas take my spray bottle off from the counter. She did and she was spraying the walls that I didn't plan on washing. Then she sprayed me before I could get the bottle away from her. Counter tops clean, walls behind the counter tops clean and the walls that I didn't plan on cleaning but had to (or have streaked walls)are all clean. I thought that I'd mop the floor next. She left the room and was playing train with my kitchen chairs in the family room. I got the bucket and mop out. I already swept and vacuumed the floor. She saw me! "Me, I help you, Mamo!" (all of her sentences start with 'Me' since they all start with 'I'. So I got her little mop out too. Here's where the patience of a grandmother come in. She's dunking her little mop in the bucket and mopping. I tell her to mop in front of the refrigerator. That doesn't last and neither does the water in her mop. She has to keep dunking it in the bucket because she says there's no water in it. I just keep mopping and eventually, even with her help, I get the floor all mopped.

She isn't ready to quit. And I still have two bathrooms to clean. So off we go to the little bathroom. The bathroom she uses now that she's finally potty trained. And the tub is full of bath toys because, naturally, that's where she takes her baths and, naturally, there are going to be toys in the tub...until she's a teenager. We start our mopping and, again, she thinks she needs more water. Since this room isn't big, she dunks her mop in and knocks the whole bucket over on the floor! Good use for the toilet besides her potty training! We both were laughing while we mopped up the floor, rinsing them out in the toilet bowl. (Clean water, by the way). Again, it's the grandma patience I used. That done, we left the room with a nice clean floor. I decided to do the other bathroom later. I said that I was practicing patience but I didn't say I was a saint. A kitchen and one bathroom is enough for today.

Now it's time to vacuum. This is the game that Dallas loves! I can clean the family room, dining room and living room all at the same time. I have to chase her through the house with the vacuum cleaner. She yells "Get me, Mamo!" and the chase is on. I get every spot of the floor clean! She runs to the couch in the family room and jumps up on it. I'm always right behind her. Then she jumps off the couch and takes off running again, yelling "Get me, Mamo!", into the living room and jumps on the couch there with me right behind her. This goes on for a while as I try to get other spots while I have her trapped on the couches. It works! The carpet are clean! Did I mention that I have to pick up Tinkertoy, blocks, babies and sippy cups before I can vacuum? I think that's enough work for today. Jamie will be home from work in a couple of hours. Denny is watching TV, Dallas won't take a nap today and I'm sitting down for a rest. Hey, I got my exercise. While other women are taking walks for their exercise, I'm running through the house with a vacuum cleaner in hand. That's like running on a treadmill and lifting weights, in my opinion. In closing this story, I hate to tell you but all of the Tinkertoy, blocks and babies will all be in their natural spots on the floors before Jamie can come home from work. I'm glad that Denny was home to see it because I'll bet Jamie thinks that I didn't do anything all day. And she comes home tired! Awww, poor girl.

Halloween

Why do people celebrate Halloween?

Halloween is a combination of holidays. As a night of ghosts and witches it was started by the Celts. They were people who lived "France" and the "British Isalnds" hundreds of years ago.

The Celts had a holiday called "Samhain" (pronounced - SAH-Win), which means "End of the Summer". They believed that the spirits of the Fruit and Vegtables, and the ghosts of people, visited the earth n Samhain, which was October 31. The Celts would light large bonfires on hill tops to scare the ghosts away.

Many years later when the Celts beame Christians, they celebrated "Allhallows Day" (now called - All Saints Day) which is November 1. It was celebrated to remember important Chirstians who had died. The Celts called the night before (October 31), "Allhallows E'en", or Holy Evening. Later in time it was shortened to "Halloween". Of course many of the customs of Samhain were continued on Halloween.

How did Trick-or-Treating start?

Trick or Treating started in Ireland. People went from house to house and begged for food on Halloween. They promised good luck to those who gave and bad luck to those who did not.

Who was Jack-o'-Latern?

To the Celts, Jack-o'-Latern was the spirit of the Pumpkin. The Celts would carve a pleasant-looking pumpkin face to show Jack was a good spirit, not a nasty one.

The Irsih claim that Jack-o'-Latern was a person who couldn't get into heaven because he was too stingy. But the devil didn't want him, either. So ever since, he's had to wander about carrying a lantern. The Irish had no pumpkins, so they made Jack-o'-Lanterns from the turnips and patatoes.

Why do people wear spooky costumes on Halloween?

The custom of wearing spooky costumes on Halloween began with a group of Irish Celts called Druids. The Irish believed that the evil spirits roamed about the earth on Halloween. The Druids wanted to fool the evil spirits into thinking that they were spirits, too. So they dresses as ghosts and goblins.

Randy Finally Found His Cereal

Randy was looking for his favorite cereals and was having a hard time finding them. Denny told him that he and Sue found them at Walmart. Well, Randy got his cereal...40 boxes of them! He wants to be sure not to run out!




Is your favorite here?

My Movie Review of the Week- Zombieland

It was a good movie. Funny. I didn't know Bill Murray was in the movie. He had a guest spot and he was funny in the small part he had. It was bloody but after a few shots in the beginning, it was possible to eat popcorn and still watch the movie. Woody Harrelson is his usual funny self. He's a good actor. I'd recommend seeing it. I'll give it a 9.

One Year Ago Today

It unbelievable that it has been one year since I got the call from Deda telling me that Randy, my son, was airlifted to the hospital because he was in an accident on his motorcycle. I can remember the warmth that went through my body, the same warmth as having an anxiety attack! It was an awful day. You can read about it and watch a video of him when he first started to wake up and talked to me. We were only able to spend a week there. It was a scary week for me. Thank God, Randy is ok. Congratulations to Randy for making it and for having Danielle for a wife. Without her, he may not have survived.

Faces of Dallas- No Order of Age

Make a Smilebox slideshow

My Movie Review of the Week- FAME

We saw Fame yesterday. I never saw the original Fame and I thought that we were seeing the same thing, same songs. We didn't like the acting. Never heard of any of the young people in the movie. The known actors had bit parts. Not worth seeing. The singing was terrible and they sang awful songs. I'll give it a 2.

Regular Shows Are Returning!

It's about time we get to watch some good TV! House is back! Dexter is back! Curb Your Enthusiasm is back! Gray's Anatomy is back! Now a few more shows to return and I can start watching TV again.

Cinnamon and Your Health

Cinnamon: Help for Insulin Resistance and Weight Loss
Popular and Flavorful Spice is New Aid in the Battle Against Buddha Belly/Belly Fat

If you think cinnamon is simply something to sprinkle on your cookies or cappuccino, think again. The popular spice, once considered more precious than gold, has medicinal value that is making even pharmaceutical companies take notice.

Cinnamon, it turns out, has long been used to cure everything from athlete’s foot to indigestion. Early civilizations recognized its ability to stop bacterial growth. The Egyptians used it in embalming. During the Middle Ages, it was mixed with cloves and warm water, and placed in the sick rooms of victims of the Bubonic Plague.

Recent research indicates that cinnamon can have favorable effects on brain function. Participants in a study chewed cinnamon gum or smelled the sweet spice. Cognitive tests revealed that subjects who used cinnamon had better memory functions and could process information more quickly. Encouraged by these findings, scientists will now conduct studies to see if cinnamon will improve mental skills in the elderly and those prone to anxiety before testing.

That antiseptic power of the spice could also account for a couple of other medical applications for cinnamon. A Japanese study suggests it can not only soothe the stomach, it may even help prevent ulcers. German research claims cinnamon “suppresses completely” the bacteria that causes urinary tract infections and the fungus associated with yeast infections as well.

But few could have predicted its current high profile. Recent headlines about cinnamon are the result of an accidental finding in a Maryland USDA research center. Incredibly, the catalyst was as American as good old apple pie, flavored with -- what else -- cinnamon. Scientists were testing the effects of various foods on blood sugar (glucose) levels. They expected the classic pie to have an adverse effect, but instead they found it actually helped lower blood glucose levels.
The researchers then took their surprising discovery and tested it in a small 60 patient study conducted in Pakistan, reporting in the journal Diabetes Care. All the patients had been treated for type 2, adult onset diabetes for several years and were taking anti-diabetic drugs to increase their insulin output. But they were not yet taking insulin to help process their blood glucose. The subjects were given small doses of cinnamon ranging from as little as a quarter teaspoon to less than 2 teaspoons a day for 40 days.

The results: Not only did the cinnamon reduce their blood sugar levels and increase their natural production of insulin, it lowered their blood cholesterol as well. Even 20 days after the cinnamon treatment had ended, the patients continued to see beneficial effects.

This is good news for the more than 50 million Americans who suffer from diabetes and/or heart disease. All the patients in the study showed better glucose metabolism and natural insulin production when they took cinnamon capsules that delivered less than two teaspoons a day of the spice.

Specifically, their blood cholesterol levels were lowered in the range of 10 to 26 percent, affecting overall cholesterol levels and reducing the LDL (known as the “bad” cholesterol) but not reducing levels of HDL, the “good” cholesterol.

This is also potentially good news for the many millions more of us who suffer from insulin resistance, sometimes known as “prediabetes,” or the “Metabolic Syndrome.” Lowering blood sugar levels, and improving cholesterol ratios can help reverse prediabetes and Metabolic Syndrome, and in fact may actually prevent the worsening of health to full diabetes.

In addition, addressing elevated blood sugar levels and helping to combat insulin resistance may be a successful factor in helping you lose weight. The fat cells in your abdomen are particularly sensitive to high insulin levels, and are very effective at storing energy – far more so that fat cells you’d find in other areas such as the lower body (i.e. hips, rear end, thighs). Because abdominal fat cells are so close to your digestive organs, and there is an extensive network of blood vessels circulating in the abdominal area, it’s even easier for fat cells to store excess glucose there. So tactics that help to reduce

If you suffer from elevated cholesterol or diabetes you will want to consult your physician before beginning to use cinnamon in large quantities. And if you are already taking a diabetes medication, you should talk to your physician before trying cinnamon for medicinal uses, because cinnamon may have an impact on your blood sugar.

A friend that I knew in Michigan, Maria VanderMolen, an artist and her husband, Scott, also an artist live in Las Vegas and have displayed beautiful artwork there. I was so impressed by her artwork that I asked for her permission to put her artwork on my blog. I hope you enjoy it.

Man and His Dog

A man and his dog were walking along a road. The man was enjoying the scenery, when it suddenly occurred to him that he was dead.He remembered dying, and that the dog walking beside him had been dead for years. He wondered where the road was leading them.

After a while, they came to a high, white stone wall along one side of the road. It looked like fine marble. At the top of a long hill, it was broken by a tall arch that glowed in the sunlight. When he was standing before it he saw a magnificent gate in the arch that looked like mother-of-pearl, and the street that led to the gate looked like pure gold. He and the dog walked toward the gate, and as he got closer, he saw a man at a desk to one side.

When he was close enough, he called out, "Excuse me, where are we?"
This is Heaven, sir," the man answered.
"Wow! Would you happen to have some water?" the man asked.
"Of course, sir. Come right in, and I'll have some ice water brought right up."
The man gestured, and the gate began to open.
"Can my friend," gesturing toward his dog, "come in, too?" the traveler asked.
"I'm sorry, sir, but we don't accept pets."

The man thought a moment and then turned back toward the road and continued the way he had been going with his dog.After another long walk, and at the top of another long hill, he came to a dirt road leading through a farm gate that looked as if it had never been closed. There was no fence As he approached the gate, he saw a man inside, leaning against a tree and reading a book.
"Excuse me!" he called to the man. "Do you have any water?"
"Yeah, sure, there's a pump over there, come on in."
"How about my friend here?" the traveler gestured to the dog.
"There should be a bowl by the pump."
They went through the gate, and sure enough, there was an old-fashioned hand pump with a bowl beside it.
The traveler filled the water bowl and took a long drink himself, then he gave some to the dog.
When they were full, he and the dog walked back toward the man who was standing by the tree.
"What do you call this place?" the traveler asked.
"This is Heaven," he answered.
"We ll, that's confusing," the traveler said. "The man down the road said that was Heaven, too."
"Oh, you mean the place with the gold street and pearly gates? Nope. That's hell."
"Doesn't it make you mad for them to use your name like that?"
"No, we're just happy that they screen out the folks who would leave their best friends behind."

Way to Get Out of Debt

It is a slow day in the East Texas town of Madisonville. It is raining, and the little town looks totally deserted. Times are tough, everybody is in debt and everybody lives on credit. On this particular day a rich tourist from the East is driving through town. He enters the only hotel in the sleepy town and lays a $100 bill on the desk stating he wants to inspect the rooms upstairs in order to pick one to spend the night. As soon as the man walks up the stairs, the hotel proprietor takes the hundred dollar bill and runs next door to pay his debt to the butcher.

The butcher takes the $100 and runs down the street to pay his debt to the pig farmer. The pig farmer then takes the $100 and heads off to pay his debt to the supplier of feed and fuel. The guy at the Farmer’s Co-op takes the $100 and runs to pay his debt to the local prostitute, who has also been facing hard times and has lately had to offer her “services” on credit. The hooker runs to the hotel and pays off her debt with the $100 to the hotel proprietor, paying for the rooms that she had rented when she brought clients to that establishment. The hotel proprietor then lays the $100 bill back on the counter so the rich traveler will not suspect anything.

At that moment the traveler from the East walks back down the stairs, after inspecting the rooms. He picks up the $100 bill and states that the rooms are not satisfactory…… Pockets the money and walks out the door and leaves town. No one earned anything. However the whole town is now out of debt, and looks to the future with a lot of optimism.

Nice Note from the Netherlands

One of the people that I sent a post card to received my card yesterday and sent me a nice note back. She's a young lady that is studying Pharmacy at the University of Utrecht and lives in Odijk. Here is her note:
Hi There! Thank for your nice card. I like your blog a lot! It's really
funny. Thanks for the music you 'send' me.

The ladybugs are really great! In dutch they are called Lieveheersbeestjes,
which is english for lovely-lord-animals haha.

Bye!
Meike

To see the cards I've received, please check out my other blog: goblepostcrossing.blogspot.com

Dallas and Her Artwork

I guess artists run in our family genes. Jordan is a great artist and now Dallas is becoming one. Her pictures have progressed just in the last week since she learned how to make a circle. Here are a few of her pictures: The first one only had the head, arms and legs. Then she started to add hair and grass. Today she made the picture of our cat, Willow!

Strawberries

They don't look good enough to eat but they won't get overripe.