Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas from our home to yours!

We are thankful for the many ways we have been blessed this year.  Most of all we are thankful for our boys, Jamie & Brandon and their sweeties, Suzanne & Danalyn, and four wonderful grands: Opal, daughter of Jamie & Suzanne and Max, Christopher & Treyson, sons of Brandon & Danalyn.

And here is Treyson (stole the picture from Facebook)!  Hope you all have a Merry Christmas!!

Isn't that the cutest smile you have seen!!

Just Wondering

Just wondering why some people are not direct??? Any ideas???

If someone has an issue with me or Ron it would be so nice if they came directly to us...

How do you handle situations like this???

Trying not to be frustrated and let it go and just move forward.

Emotional Roller Coaster

The last week has had its ups and downs. 

~ Sunday night two phone calls in the middle of the night = sleepless night = :(

~ Tuesday good follow up appointment with Dr. Grabow, right eye is doing well = :)

~ Wednesday fun time at dinner and the movies; saw Happy Feet Two = :)

~ Wednesday night found out power was cut off to freezer, lost between $250-$300 worth of groceries = :(

~ Friday had major Quickbook problems; had to reenter everything from 12/8 & 12/9 not once, not twice but three times = :(

~ Friday could not get deposit to balance; took over an hour to figure out the problem = :(

~ Saturday feeling frustrated and irritated, its cold, wet and rainy (reminds me of Whatcom County weather which I thought we had gotten away from) = :(

~ Saturday received an anonymous gift of $$ with a note to buy some meat to replace what was lost = :))))

And remembered that even though life is rough some times and things just don't seem to be going well there is always a blessing just around the corner...thank you to our Secret Santa.  I will be doing some meat shopping tomorrow after church.

Thank you Lord for the many blessings and ways you take care of us.  Forgive me for feeling so down and frustrated over inconsequential things like a messy motor home and loads of dirty laundry that just seem to keep growing by the minute.  Thank you for the reminder that you are always watching over us and the little surprises that come our way.

Random Thoughts

Random thought #1 ~ had a dream that we were trying to leave the park and get the motor home  packed and we could not fit all our stuff into the motor home.  We had boxes and storage containers all over the place and I mean everywhere - in the shed, on the ground, in the bath tub, along side the bed on both sides, stacked on the benches of the dinette, under the side table by the recliner...and no more room to put anything.  I woke up feeling so frustrated and then looked at our rig and thought about the food in the shed, in the fridge in the shed and in Lane's fridge/freezer and wondering where the heck would we put everything if we did have to leave?  

So now I am thinking of what I need to do over the next 17 1/2 months ~~~ I need to clean out every cupboard and every tote in the motor home and I need a plan to do that...any suggestions out there???  And then after cleaning, purging and organizing how do I keep the "~ stuff" at a minimum ~~~ that is easy stop buying things!!!  So that's what my first two goals are: 1) no more buying except necessary groceries like meat and vegetables and 2) make a list of each cupboard and tote and tackle them one by one.

Random thought #2~ needing to vent ~~~ night before last (Sunday night) the phone rang at 2:01 a.m. and it was a dang fax with an unknown number on the phone = frustration!!!  It took me over two hours to fall back asleep and then at 5:03 a.m. the phone rang again.  This time with a phone number showing so I did something.  I called the number back three times and it was busy, busy, busy!!  So frustrating...this time it took me almost an hour to fall back asleep.  And then that made me late getting up leaving me with only 30 minutes to get up, get dressed and get to work ~ thank goodness the commute is only 20 seconds!!!

So I have decided that on Saturday mornings I am going to be turning the phone off here in the motor home and not turn them back on till 8 a.m. on Monday morning's.  Need to take advantage of having assistant managers on duty to answer the phones on the weekends.

Random thought #3 ~ We are so blessed!!!  This afternoon one of the couples from here in the park came by the office and invited us over for homemade lemon meringue pie and coffee after work.  So after closing down the office for the day we skidaddled over to the Andrews.  We had so much fun.  I think we did most of the talking and of course enjoyed the pie and before we knew it, it was almost 7 p.m.  We headed home with an open invite to stop by anytime and you can bet we will.  You see this is an answer to prayer that we have not shared with anyone - that we would find some friends like Gerald & Sandra or Mary & Jim or Pat & Pat where we could just drop in and enjoy some great company & fellowship!!!  Thank you Lord for showing us these new friends!!!

And now it is time to turn these brain cells off and head to bed.  It has been a great day!!!

Oh, before I forget - an update on my eye surgery.   Saw Dr. Grabow today and had a good report.  My eye looks great, can read the next to bottom line without my glasses and the bottom line with my glasses.  Just need to go back to Eye Masters and have the frames tweaked a little more - my inside glasses are still not sitting straight...so off to San Antonio we will go this weekend, just not sure if it will be Saturday or Sunday.  May have to see about different frames if they can't get these just right!!  Thank you Lord for finding a good surgeon and great results from my surgery!!!

Continuing Celebrating My Birthday and an Early Anniversary Weekend

This past weekend we went to San Antonio and stayed at the Drury Inn right on the Riverwalk.  It was a fun time with lots of picture taking, walking and riding the boats along the Riverwalk.  We are so blessed to have had a weekend to reminisce about our 36 years of marriage.  We hope you enjoy this journey of our celebration weekend.

Having fun in the elevator!

An early morning walk on the Riverwalk.

The church in La Villita

Inside the little church in La Villita

Don't know who they are but they are a cute couple!

One of the many little fountains along the Riverwalk.

Inside the Drury Inn on the Riverwalk.

A scene inside the Azteca Theater where we saw the SA Rose Live show.

The stage in the Azteca.

And this was on a guy's hat that we just couldn't ignore!  And speaks such truth!!

We had a great time in San Antonio celebrating our anniversary.  God has blessed us so much.  We shared about some of the struggles we have faced but through it all we have felt God's love and blessings.  And like Ron said on the way up to our room last night - let's keep doing this for another 40 years!!!

Happy Birthday to Me!

Woke up this morning and hubby greeted me with "Happy Birthday, I Love You!"  what a great way to start my day.  I have had a wonderful day.  Had over 150 birthday greetings on Facebook, received a mushy card from Brandon, a phone message from Jamie, a sweet card from Dee : the outside says "I'm so lucky to have a friend like you."  Inside: "I tend to scare normal people away.  Happy Birthday." - I laughed so loud...we are definitely two peas in a pod.  Another funny card from Kay & Bill : front of the card had a group of people on an elevator and this grey haired gal swaying to the music as well as three other sweet birthday cards.  On the inside: "You know you're getting old when you "groove" to elevator music!"  I was blessed with my first two Texas ornaments, a box of sugar free pecan candies and a sign "God is Faithful" and spent the evening having dinner with new friends who have blessed me over and over since we have been in Texas: Thanks Kay & Bill, Jane & Jerry, Bonnie, Chuck & Rose and Hank & Euona and of course my sweet hubby!!

I am so blessed and thankful for family and friends.