Happy New Year !!!

Yesterday was the last full day that Bookmama and the family would be here with us in Florida.   I asked Book Boy if he had anything special that he wanted to do.  We had seen the gators the day before, so this day he suggested that we go to the beach and look for sharks teeth. 

Rickbo and I knew exactly where to go, so the six of us piled into the van and headed south to Venice Beach – about 40 minutes away.  Even tho it was a beautiful, warm day, there were very few people on the beach – and many  of them were shelling.  Rickbo and I had done this before, so we eventually left the “shell scooper” with Book, Timbo and the kids, and we took off for an adventure of our own.

The kids had fun collecting the shells, but not one sharks tooth was found.  Fortunately for all of us, we had stopped earlier at a shell shop in Venice and purchased some nice shells and a bag of sharks teeth.   The bag said that the teeth had been collected at Venice Beach (where we were), so Book Boy decided it didn’t really matter that we weren’t the ones who collected them.   We all left the beach happy – and that was the important thing! 

Another thing we like to do is stop in Venice at our favorite banyan tree and take pictures.  As of yesterday, Junior and Wifey are the only members of the family who have not been photographed in the tree.  

On the way home, we stopped at Mel’s where we had a nice lunch – and Rickbo had one of their famous Cadillac Dogs. 

We had a wonderful time with the family while they were here – and it was sad seeing them pull out of the drive at 5:00 this morning – and surprising because I didn’t know that Book could be “up and about (let alone out)” at such an unGodly hour.   Hopefully the weather will stay nice for the drive back to Michigan - and traffic heading north won’t be too bad.   We’ll miss them til May.

As soon as Book gets home, I’ll have her add some pictures.

Note:  Book and family decided to drive straight through yesterday – arriving home at about 2:15  this morning.  It was a long drive, but I’m sure the kids slept most of the night, so that helped. 

Merry Christmas…….

Have a merry, merry, merry merry Christmas!   Have a hap, hap, hap happy holiday.  Get yourself into a glow, underneath the mistletoe, have a Christmas in the good old fashion way.   Hang a holly wreath and candle in each window, hang your heart upon a shiney Christmas tree, have a merry, merry, merry, merry Christmas, just as merry as it can be!     (unknown)                                                                                                                                                        

Okay, so it’s a little late in the day, but it is still December 25th., and technically, it IS still Christmas and I can give you all the Christmas wishes I wish…..and I wish you many!

Book, Tim,  BB and LS arived this afternoon shortly after one – they left Macon GA a little after seven, so they made really good time.   The kids opened their gifts from Santa, we had a big dinner,  went out to Emerson Point to see the sunset (unfortunately, the park ranger was closing the gates early, and we didn’t get to get out to the point), and then ended the evening with a walk down the fishing pier and a drive through town looking at the Christmas lights.  After we got home we had a few games of cards and pumpkin pie.   Yum!

The biggest thrill for BB and LS was the fact that they got to SWIM OUTSIDE ON CHRISTMAS DAY!   (A first for both of them!!)  BB just couldn’t believe his luck – and we had to fight to get him out of the pool.    LS was happy to go back to the house after about twenty minutes of splashing around.   Tomorrow we’ll head out early to the Red Barn – a local produce market – and buy some fresh veggies and fruits – rumor has it that the strawberries are just starting to come in.   Hooray!   Then I suspect that while the men are playing table tennis, Book, BB, LS and I will all head back down to the pool.

Book made the remark today that this is the first Christmas Day that I have ever spent with LS.    We retired in ’05 and left for Florida very shortly after she was born that November.    Fortunately we do celebrate Thanksmas and the entire group is able to come and enjoy.    One nice thing about Thanksmas – no one has to leave early or arrive late because they “need to celebrate with the other side of the family”!   Every family needs to make their own traditions, and Thanksmas is truly one that works for us.

So, however you spent your day today, I hope you were joyful and surrounded by those that you love.

Winter wonderland……

Okay, okay, I have to admit that when I got the snow picture (my new header) from my dear friend Sharon, I felt that I was missing out on something.   

I’m missing out on a White Christmas, walking in the snow with the kids, watching the snow come down and covering the yards and trees, it’s a long list.

Then again, and I’ve said it before, I don’t miss the driving in snow, shoveling snow, having to bundle up everytime I go out the door, another long list. 

So, for now, I’ll look at all the beautiful snow pictures that I can, and then I’ll turn on the weather channel  and watch the reports for the northern states. 

……..and then I don’t feel so bad.

To save or not to save…….

Okay, I’ll admit I have lots of things packed junk crammed away in my closets, in my desk and dresser drawers, under the bed, etc.   If I were to die tomorrow, my kids would look at these “treasures” of mine and wonder “why in the name of God did she keep these things all those years”?   Most of the things they will pitch; some of the things, hopefully, they will want.  (Btwinny has already laid claim to most of my “gold and jewels”….which is probably all right since she is the one who bought the majority of them!!)  And perhaps they will come across a few things and say, “Hey, maybe Sharon/Sherry/Bolin would like to have these”.

A few years ago, my dear friend Sharon remarried and moved all of her treasured belongings to a new home.  She took with her boxes and boxes …. and boxes of items.  Thanks to months of sorting and cleaning – not to mentiion a wet basement – she was able to get rid of all the necessary “stuff” that she no longer needed or had use for.     Or so she thought.

Imagine her surprise when she found a box of stuff in the garage a few days ago.  Inside the box were more old treasures – her Mother’s Bible (okay, I can see keeping that), an old glass cat that she and her brother had given her mother when they were small and still at home, a pill box that cannot be opened, and a small empty Avon perfume bottle (that still had something in it – not perfume!).

Because you will NEVER guess what was in this old Avon bottle, I will tell you – it was an umbilical cord from one of her babies.  Now she has nine children, so her guess is as good as mine as to which child this came from.  She has an idea which child it came from, but since she only has one petrified piece of flesh, she can’t be sure.

What I am wondering is this…..what was going through her mind when she decided to save this piece of flesh?   Perhaps if she had saved all nine of them, I could see why she did it – she is the most sentimental and romantic person that I know, and I am sure she thought that each of her nine children would want something like this.    Did she save locks of hair from their first hair cut?    Did she save their first lost tooth?   I don’t know.  She probably did - that’s the way she is. 

But an umbilical cord?   And only one out of nine?

Do you have things tucked away that will cause someone to say “what in the name of God did she save that for?”   Do you ever wonder what the person going through these things is going to think when they see these things that were treasures to you – and to you alone? 

And so, when we get home in May, I am going to make an honest effort to go through all my stuff – one by one.  Then when I am done sorting, no doubt,  I will put them all back into the containers and put them back in their proper drawer and/or shelf.   Pitching can wait for another day!!

(Sharon, you KNOW you’re the best friend a person could have!!)

There’s always room for one more reason…..

Eat.  Drink.  and  Be Merry……and we did.   Our week end Thanksmas celebration has come to an end – and I am sorry for that.   I am so glad that we got to have the time together before Rickbo and I take off for the sunny skies and warmth of Florida.   It isn’t *all* that often that we all get together for a bit of merriment.  We had a great week end – and – all but for a couple of meltdowns, everything was perfect. 

And I constantly remind myself how fortunate I am to have such a family.  For this, I am thankful.   There isn’t a thing that we wouldn’t do for one another – lucky us.

Another thing I am thankful for are my three best friends – Sharon, Linda, and Sherry.  The four of us worked together for 22 years.  You know, through thick and thin – the whole bit.  During my Michigan months, the four of us get together often for dinner, we go to Frankenmuth in June to celebrate our June birthdays, and in July we go “up north” and spend a long week end at Linda’s cabin.  Traditions – the four of us – the foursome.   It seems what happens to one – happens to four.  On Monday, October 27, the four of us had plans to get together for a “before we head south” dinner (another tradition).  We planned to arrive early and stay late.

Friday – as I was getting ready for the company – Linda called me and said that Sherry was in the hospital – she was having some chest pains and the doctors were checking things out.  Okay.   Saturday she called and said they were putting in a stint.  Okay.   Last night she called and said that Sherry had had a massive heart attack, an LAD, the “widowmaker”.   Not okay. 

But now, much to my relief, she’s home, she’ll be okay, and for now, the crisis is over.    I talked to her this morning and she reassured me that she would be fine and that in a few weeks she could go back to work.   Sharon and I will go see her later – that will give me a little more reassurance.

When I think about Sherry and what happened, it makes me realize how quickly our foursome could have become a threesome.  It’s something that I don’t even like to think about – but it could happen in the blink of an eye…an illness, an accident, etc. 

And so now, I have one more reason to be thankful.  I am thankful that my dear friend is going to be around for, I hope, a LOT longer.    And I also have to remind myself that there are certain things in our lives that we cannot control – and some that we can.

This post was written last week – before Rickbo and I headed south.  We are now in sunny Florida and enjoying ourselves – it’s almost like we never left.

When is a door not a door….

These past four months have been spent doing major surgery on three rooms in our home – the kitchen/dining area and the two bathrooms. 

It was hard work doing the kitchen and dining area - gutted the entire area and put in everything from drywall to new paint to new flooring to new cabinets to new countertops to new ceiling to new light fixtures and even a new stove.   Except for the counter top and integrated sink, we did it all ourselves and it is beautiful.   Secondly, we attacked the upstairs bathroom – new floor, new paint, new vanity, new light fixtures, etc.  It looks pretty impressive, too.   Lastly, we started in on the downstairs bathroom.  New floor, new paint, new medicine chest, new light fixture, and, at my request a new shower door……I was tired of the shower curtain and decided that a new etched glass door would be a nice touch. 

Sooooo, this evening it was time to get the door and all the “fixings” out of hibernation.   We had taken it out of the carton it came in so that we could throw the carton out with the rest of the “stuff” when the junk man came to clear out the garage a few weeks ago.  

It didn’t take long for Rickbo to realize that something was terribly wrong.   We thought that we were getting a glass pivot shower door that would fit ”any fiber glass stall” (of a certain size – the size we had!!).   Instead, we got a beautiful etched glass door, a shower door frame, and a box of parts and instructions…..everything that we needed.   Except that the instructions and the parts were for a wooden door – like the kind you put on your house!!    It could only happen to us!  So, tomorrow, I suppose we will have to drag our little tails over to Home Depot (Lowe’s) and see what they will do.   The parts and instructions obviously DO NOT go with the door or the metal frame.    When we took the door and frame out of the large carton, it never ocurred to us to check and see if the parts in the sealed parts’ box were the correct ones.   At least we still have the receipt.   And I suppose we aren’t the first person to purchase something for their home improvement project and didn’t get to it right away.    It’s just that we were seeing the light at the end of the tunnel – and someplace along the line someone turned the light off. 

Afterall, with a house full of people due here this week end (it’s Thanksmas), does it really matter if we have two fully operational bathrooms?    Y.E.S. it does. 

Is this the way most home improvement projects go or is it just us?   Fortunately Rickbo is very handy when it comes to projects and when things get screwed up, he always knows how to get things “unscrewed”.    I have no doubt that this latest shower crisis will be solved quickly.

These are a few of my favorite things……

       Book Boy and Little Sis                                      J. D.

And I have to say, the things that I will miss the most when we go to Florida in a few weeks.  Okay, so I’ll miss their parents and the rest of the group, but somehow, not seeing the little ones seems to tug at my heart strings the most.   Don’t know what I would do if the entire gang didn’t have digital cameras.   It’s so nice to receive a picture that was taken – literally – minutes ago!

How can you not miss faces like these!!