My First Award

This is my first award. I was very humbled. Then I was checking different blogs and stumbled upon Katie's post. Katie was also saying nice things today. I am not only humbled, I am crying. You gals are wonderful, not because you picked me or said nice things, but because you are such lovely, caring individuals. Your friendship means so much, words cannot describe it. And I am not talking about just Dianna and Katie, but each of my sisters in the world of blogging.

Each of you are a source of tremendous inspiration!

May your cup runneth over with good things!

You can visit Dianna at Bits and Pieces or Katie at Dishin' and Dishes. You won't be sorry!

Blessings,

Want to Make New Friends?

The directions are so simple! (Even I should be able to handle this.) Take a moment and see for yourself!




BTW - I found the daffodils blooming this morning while I was on the way to the feed store. They are just beginning to bloom and they are a welcome sight! I loved seeing them. Hope to take a few pictures this weekend.....i

Another of Wade's Wisdom! ~ Whatever doesn't kill me makes me all like, "Whoa! That was close!"

Blessings,

FRIDAY

It is Friday, and I for one am glad!






In the last two weeks, we have found out we are going to be grandparents again . . .X 2. This will be #’s 10 & 11. We are happy and our quiver is full to over flowing!

Our weather is shaping up nicely. The pasture is beginning to turn a lovely shade of green. I am ready for spring! I even killed a mosquito yesterday....wasn't I just complaining about snow?

Once again, this is from my friend Frannie. If you have kids, grandkids, or if you just want to send someone a cute note, try this! The boys loved watching the penguin. If it didn’t take so long to load, we could practice their spelling words with the “flying” penguin.

Want to read an amazing post about a special son? Visit Momza and check this out. Children really can be our greatest teachers.


Wade’s Wisdom: Don't knock the weather. If it didn't change once in a while, nine out of ten people couldn't start a conversation.

For more Friday Fragments visit Mrs.4444 over at Half-Past Kissing Time. Then be sure to visit Friday Night Leftovers.

Enjoy the weekend!

I Forgot to Mention ~

I’m Back…

Before I forget again, Garden of Daises is hosting two giveaways in celebration of reaching and surpassing 100 followers! You have until tomorrow, Friday the 12th, to enter. You can even enter for both giveaways. How cool is that?

Is It Really Thursday?

I have been wondering all morning what to post. The problem is, I do not feel witty or insightful. I feel boring, maybe even melancholy, which is a word I dislike. I associate it with another word I dislike....OLD. Not that being old is bad. But feeling old, now that is terrible!

First off, I have been reading a book (for a review) that isn't amusing at all. The book itself is actually interesting, but just not what I need at this time. What I need is this:



And a little of this:



I need to walk barefoot in fresh turned dirt and smell its sweetness.

I need to see daffodils with their buttery yellow colors.

I need to be able to pick fresh greens for a wilted salad.

I need to feel the sun and breath the fresh air.

But for now, I will take my Vitamin D and some magnesium and settle for carrying out the trash. Because that is what women do. They adjust. And maybe I will discover a daffodil trying rear its little head.

We adjust our wants, our desires and mold ourselves into someone who can handle the situation at hand.

I had an aunt, who was fond of saying, "Where would poor people be without their dreams?" I think, more to the point..."Where would women be without their dreams?"

My best friend died of cancer a few years ago. Linda and I were like sisters. Not only that, our mothers had been life long friends and our sisters (four years younger than me) were/are best friends. When she was at her lowest, she would tell us...."I have to go to my place now." She would close her eyes, relax and drift off into another world, another time. You see, Linda had lost her only child, a beautiful little girl named Amber. Linda said, when she experienced extreme pain, she could allow herself to visit with Amber and with Jesus. She said it was like a little glimpse of what eternity would be like and she was happy there. The pain became only an annoying background and was replaced by joy....joy unspeakable.

I don't know why I am even telling you this today. I pray none of you are in extreme pain or suffering as Linda did. But sometimes, we all have to go to "our own special place" whether that place is physical or just a place we visit in our imagination.

Sometimes, we only get to walk barefoot in warm sand in our dreams. But we are women. We dream big and that is a part of who we are.

May the Lord bless you with days filled with sunshine.



P.S. I miss you, Linda Sue!

Hello. My Name Is Cheryl

Hello. My name is Cheryl and I am a blogger. It has been five days since I blogged.

Sorry, I have brain “crud” disease. I really am sorry I haven’t posted in a few days. Decided it was time I brought you in on the life changing events that have been taking place around here.


Remember him?


Sorry, about the picture quality. The little scamp would not be still!

First and most importantly, this little critter was found! He was discovered about two hours after he went MIA. Rather than wait until morning to give his rear the boot, he was escorted immediately to the first set of cedar trees in the pasture!

David (son-in-law) is still sore. He was suppose to go to the doctor yesterday to get the results of x-rays, etc. However, their van was acting ugly and had to be brought to Papaw for correction.

Papaw was able to set the van to rights. But because he was working on the van, he couldn’t work on the drain lines (to the house), that were slowly refusing to drain. That is today’s project. (But, hey! It got me out of cooking supper last night! We had pizza instead.) (Just learning to dance in the rain.)

With my remaining aches, pains and the crud that seems to have affected everyone this year, having eight kids under one roof for five days was – difficult, interesting, challenging, fun, terrible, funny – you name it and we experienced it! All the animal babies got more TLC (sometimes it was a little lacking on the tender) than most animals receive in a lifetime. And I moved into an area of some kind of brain fog that is just now beginning to lift.

Speaking of animals – more to the point – speaking of dogs, we have inherited two new poochies. Kit is a long hair Chihuahua, reddish-brown and white (looks like she could be a strange relative of mama horse). We took her per Elijah’s birthday request from a family who could no longer keep her. She’s about three months old. Then came Petey. He is a small short hair Chihuahua with black spots and black markings on white. He is two months and his original owners referred to him as “Pokka Dot”. However, he looks a little like a miniature Petey from the Little Rascals. Then we got a call about a mini black and tan dachshund, about a year old. We were going to accept him, thinking it wouldn’t take long to find a great home, but in the end the owners decided they couldn’t get rid of the little fella. (He is so small, when put outside he goes through the fence.)

The ugly white rooster is scared to death of Kit! He is so mean, I can’t believe he is scared of such a little dog. But while he is scared, we have a red hen who has never exhibited a mean feather on her body and she has put the fear into Kit. I will have to take some pictures once the sun shines enough to dry out part of our lakefront property! They are all so funny to observe.

No more baby goats, yet. Every night we think we will wake up to find new babies with their mamas, but so far - nada! The other babies are doing great, even the “lil orphan girl.”

This is about all my brain can handle for now. Three of the grands returned home yesterday after David and Papaw worked on the their van. Only five here today and it is almost quiet. Very strange, but nice.

Once the drain lines are cleared, I have a ton of dishes and laundry to work on. Two of the boys are complaining with headaches and are lying down. I think they are exhausted from all the extra activity day and night, so we are going to take school easy today. Maybe we should declare the rest of this week spring break and then do school next week when the schools are out.

If you are looking for something that sounds wonderful for dinner tonight, check out Katie’s Honey Orange-Glazed Chicken at Dishin’ and Dishes. I think we are going to give it a try tonight. I asked Katie if she delivers. No word yet. LOL

While I was sidelined from posting, I did find the time to visit several your blogs and that was nice. I need to work out some sort of system, whereby I can touch base with everyone on a regular basis. But figuring how to achieve that will have to wait for another day. Anyone have a suggestion?

Also, if you are an Oklahoma Blogger, I made a suggestion that once a month we blog about Oklahoma in some form or fashion and link our sites. If you are interested please let me know. There is also a button for the Oklahoma Bloggers Club at the bottom of the page.

And now for the important news!! The winner of the Jacquie Lawson gift account is (TADA) Unknown Mami. Be sure and leave me a comment, so I can figure out how to bestow this gift! (Well, you know I am challenged, technically speaking!)

May the remaining part of this week be wonderfully blessed for you and your families!



P.S. Just got the green light on doing dishes!

The Post I Promised

Here is the “make you wet your pants” post I was telling you about. And of course this story comes from my friend, Frannie.

A few days back, Frannie decided to hold a little contest. We were suppose to send Frannie our funniest, weirdest stories about either when we had company or when we were the “company.” The following is one of my favorites!

A couple of years ago I was in Florida to see Keith's kids and we stayed with my cousin Wanda. She's a real sweetie, more like the sister I never had. Anyway, she and her new husband had to go out the second day we were there so before she left she gave me instructions on arming and disarming her security system just in case she didn't get home before we did that night. As luck would have it, we got home first and the house was pitch black. She lives in the woods north of Tarpon Springs. We had forgotten to turn on the outside light and of course we didn't remember to leave on an inside one either...go figure. We finally found the right key on her jailer's assortment of keys with the help of the headlights from the car. It must have taken Keith 10 tries to get the lights angled toward the key hole and he only took out 4 shrubs in the process. Imagine Wanda coming home to see her tropical jungle mowed down by our car.

When we finally got the door opened, we entered the black hole of Calcutta and realized I had to disarm the security alarm. Duh, you'd think I would have remembered that little bit of information but nooo, not moi.. As Keith, in his usual dulcet tones asked me..."How do you disarm this @#%^^ @##% thing?" I told him, in my normal calm voice..."I can't remember with you yelling at me. Let me find the light switch and we'll assess the situation."

Keith: "You don't know where the light switch is?"

Me: "It has to be on this wall somewhere."

Keith: "This alarm is going to blow any second now!"

Me: "Maybe the switch isn't on this wall...let me try the wall over here." As I swept my hand over the cold damp plaster there was a bump and a crash.

Keith: "What the @#$% was that?"

Me: "Why dear, I do believe I bumped into a piece of furniture and knocked something off it. As soon as you calm down and stop yelling, I'll find that little ole switch, look at the alarm and disarm it before we get a visit from the Keystone cops."

Just as my hand finally touched the magic switch plate the room was a blaze of light and with calm demeanor, I looked at the alarm and remembered the combination and saved the day. Almost...there on the floor in a million shards of glass was my dear, sweet cousin's ginger jar and lots of dust. I quickly found the dust pan and swept up the evidence and asked Keith how much money we had on us because in the morning we'd have to find another Ming vase to replace the ginger jar.

Enters dear sweet cousin Wanda and her new husband. "How was your evening. Any problems with the alarm system?"

Me: "Why, no. I disarmed it as soon as I came in. But I have to inform you that your home was planned very strangely. There isn't a wall switch on the entrance wall. It's over on the side wall behind the former ginger jar."

Wanda: "Former ginger jar?"

Me: "Yes, it blocked the light switch and when I bumped into the little table in the pitch black darkness, I accidentally knocked the jar onto the floor."

Wanda: "What did you do with it and the contents?"

Me: "I swept the mess up."

Wanda: "Mess...that was my dear deceased first husband's ashes in his cremation urn. What have you done with Dick?"

Well, now I was at a loss for words but Keith interjected. "It appears that Dick is in the trash under the sink. I'm sure Nancy will be more than happy to sift through the egg shells and coffee grounds and retrieve Dick."
Carl, her new husband: "I told you to get rid of your dear deceased first husband's ashes before we got married. I'm glad he's in the trash and not on center stage every time I come in the door."

As my dear sweet cousin Wanda and her new uncaring, insensitive lout of a husband continued their discussion at the top of their lungs, Keith and I beat a hasty retreat into the guest room and didn't reappear until morning.

We replaced the urn with a ginger jar from Target. It sure looked just like a cremation urn to me but then, I'd never even seen a real cremation urn up front and personal before. We left for Indiana right after handing Wanda the vessel for Dick who now had a few egg shells clinging to his remains. She had really sifted through the trash while we were gone! She put him in the jar and now it sits on top of the bookcase in the office, out of traffic and danger from her clumsy cousin.

When we left, Carl (husband number two) winked and said: "I can't wait to get out of the house and away from Wanda to let out a belly laugh...that's the most fun I've had since moving in here."

P.S. We haven’t been invited back. ;-)

Wasn’t that worth waiting for? I laughed until I cried.

Personal Note ~ David is experiencing some problems (not major, mostly he is very sore). We do have the kids, so that is one of the reasons I am posting this a little early. This is promising to be a very busy weekend! Thank you for keeping David, Travis and the other driver in your prayers.

The tub that was being used by "lil orphan girl" has/had a new resident. One of the cats caught a baby rabbit. It wasn't hurt, but the kids wanted to keep it inside overnight and release in the pasture tomorrow....only he doesn't seem to be in the tub ....now... What do people who live in town do for entertainment? (I can't wait 'til my sister reads this. She lives in Chicago.)