Normalcy returns

Things are finally back to normal (well, kind-sorta). Husband has returned to work. His schedule is for 12 hour days right now, but we can use the over-time since funds have been depleted the last couple months. This will only last for a month or so then back to rotating days off. I will continue working. He has had to take quite a pay decrease so my income will make up for that. Besides I'm really loving my job. Things are coming together.

Now to start thinking about Christmas. "Christmas!" you say? Apparently so. As I was driving down the road the other day I was going through radio stations and found one playing "Winter Wonderland". At first I thought it may have been a commercial, but no, the whole song played. Then another came on. It seems this radio station started playing Christmas music 24/7 on Nov. 1. It's funny how just listening to that music can give you that "all over good feeling" At least is does for me. I love Christmas and I'm going to make sure I do up the outside lights and decorations this year. I neglected that last year and I really missed it. It just felt like something was missing. And luckily my Christmas fund is still intact so I need to get started shopping. Got your wish list made? (If it's not at the $1 store your out of luck!)

Charades-the universal language

I wish my dad was a blogger. You would get a kick out of his stories! He is the best story teller, especially humourous ones, of anyone that I know. Anyway this story was told to me by my mom, but seeing as how it happened to my dad I could just hear how he would tell it.....

It seems my parents have a new family that moved in across the street. They have not had a chance to "officially" meet them but have waved occasionally. They are from Korea. It is the parents, some children and an older mom or maybe aunt that live there. Both parents apparently work and the grandmother (aunt?) stay with the kids. Apparently this older woman was outside and saw my dad and waved for him to come over. She does not speak english. She motioned to her porch light, which was not lit, then motioned to the neighbors light, who's was lit. My dad understood that her light was not working. After looking into it he got it fixed for her and she was very grateful. A couple days later she was out raking her leaves and saw my dad again. She had seen him before raking his leaves and liked his rake much better. Hers was not doing a very good job. So she, using only hand motions, asked to 'rent' my dad's rake. She was very insistent that she rent it and not just borrow it. I think she offered $2. Then she continued. She acted like she was raking then sleeping then raking again. My dad finally realized she wanted to keep it for an extended time because she had a large back yard. I think this is so cute! Come to find out my dad had to go to Home Depot and he bought her a new rake - just like his. I haven't heard yet how she accepted that. Many of us have neighbors that do speak english and have lived next door to them for years and never spoken. But this exchange has made a friendship that I think added something to each of their lives.

I lived in Korea for a year while I was in the service and communicated like this quite often. I will never forget going out fishing in a local stream. We had poles and all the tackle we needed. I'm not sure where we got our bait but I think we just dug up some worms. We were out there for a couple hours without a bite. We finally gave up and started walking down stream. We came across an older man fishing who was catching fish left and right! We showed him that we had nothing. He looked to see what we were fishing with. He laughed at our worms, then showed us his bait. He was using maggots. Ugh! But he offered some to us and we gave it a try and sure enough started catching some. He was very pleased with himself. We thanked him by giving him some of our American beverage - a few beers. He was THRILLED!

Body language - The Universal Language ~~~isn't it great!

Happy All Saints Day!

For those of you not familiar with All Saints Day, you can visit my post on my other web site. I think one of my favorite Saints has to be St. Anthony. He is the Saint of lost things. It's not that I lose a whole lot of things, but when it has been really important he has never let me down. My whole family has depended on him one time or another. When it comes to finding a needle in a haystack, he's your saint! Just last night I couldn't find my digital camera. I looked everywhere! I was sick when I went to bed. It's not a cheap camera and I have an expensive photo card in it also. I said a prayer to St. Anthony and this morning looked again. Still, no camera. Later in the morning I called a friend and when I told her about my missing camera she asked if I had looked in my car. I had no reason to have looked there because to the best of my memory I had not put it there. Anyway, while we were still talking I walked out there and guess what I found under my seat?! Say what you want, but St. Anthony had his hand in this.

The kids had a great time last night and came home with plenty of candy. Thank goodness I had the forsight to buy some low carb candy for myself to help curb any temptation to steal theirs!

Things will start returning to normal around here. My husband went back to work...Whoohoo! Not sure of scheduling details etc...but he may be working quite a bit of overtime till things settle down a bit. At least I think he has the weekends off, which will help with the kids, seeing as how I will be working most weekends.

I'll leave you with this quote I got yesterday at lunch out of a fortune cookie:

"Every adversity carries with it the seed of an equal or greater benefit"

A last minute Halloween

We (read: mom) pulled it off! My daughter decides she is going to go trick-or-treating with her boyfriend and his mom and little sister. The two of them traded roles. He wore one of her short bluejean skirts, t -shirt, black fishnet hosiery, and a pair of my black zip-up boots. He also wore a wig and make-up. She just really bummed out, put her hair up and wrapped a bandana around her head and wore a pair of her brothers baggy jeans and a big jersey. Also colored in a mustache and gotee. She was terribly disappointed with the results though, said she still looked like a girl. I told her she was too pretty to NOT look like one. Well that was all their work. Now the youngest wants to go with them (this was all decided just last night). We decide he is going to go as a puppy-dog. He wears his brothers brown sweat pants and a brown sweat shirt. I went by Wal-mart today and bought 1/4 yd of some brown furry material, and a cute hat that is suede patches on one side and brown fur on the inside w/a pair of matching gloves (Brittany wants these after he is done, double duty-yea!). I cut out a set of floppy ears and pinned them to the hat (turned inside-out), used some black shoe polish on his nose and presto! - cute puppy-dog! Add a leash and off they went.

We also had not gotten a pumpkin as of today and my son insists we have to have a pumpkin. So I picked up one on the side of the road (leave your money in a tin box) and he carved it when he got home from school. I cleaned up the seeds and just finished roasting them and am snacking as I type. Also sipping on a cup of hot cider spiked with a tad of rum. It all came together.

Happy Halloween to all and watch out for ghost's and goblin's!

Goodness shines through

I'm not sure if I'm am naive or if it just my nature to see the good in things.....but as a whole I think most people are honest and good. There have been a few instances at work that have shown this. One gentleman made a return for a $40 something item but I inadvertantly circled the one above it for $100. I did the return, gave him his change and he left. Only to come back and tell me that I returned the wrong item and gave him too much change. Another guy was making an exchange but at the same time told me that there was an item that got placed in his bag at the register without being rung up and he hadn't paid for it. When I shared this with others on my break they told me similar stories. People are good. Bad things happen and there are those that may not be as honest, but I like to think that most people are. I also believe that sharing these stories and even being a part of them will spread to others and in the end make this a better world.

I believe that everyone is born with goodness. Hatred and evil are learned things. Things that are learned can be un-learned, but the goodness we are all born with will always be there waiting to come out. Just a little something I wanted to share.....a little goodness to spread your way. Let your light shine on others today!

Warning! Warning!

Said like the robot on "Lost in Space", waving his arms wildly! (Or is it "Danger! Danger!"?)

As you may have noticed I no longer have music videos on my site. I have noticed when I go to those pages I tend to get oodles of pop-up boxes and as soon as I close one, two more pop up. I knew this couldn't be good. One site was worse than another. I'm also computer suave, and smart enough to know that you don't get something for nothing. The financial backing for these sites comes from advertising and the smart advertisers have learned how to take over your computer. Anyway, the last time (yesterday) I went to one of these sites my computer really started acting up and I couldn't even get into Explorer. Needless to say I was quite p***....uh....(shame on me).....perturbed. I just reformatted my computer a couple of weeks ago and thought I was going to have to do the same thing, but luckily I had the sense to use my "restore" feature and just restored it to the settings of the day before. This solution worked (whew!).

So just a heads up for those of you using music videos or considering it.....don't say I didn't warn you!

You asked....100 things about me...

1. I have to copy Cheryl here…I’m a Christian..(hope you don’t mind Cheryl)
2. I am Catholic and love my faith.
3. Mother of 3 wonderful yet challenging teenagers. (Is there one that isn’t?)
4. Married to my husband of 19 ½ years.
5. I was in the Army for 4 years.
6. That is where I met my husband.
7. I spent one year of it in Korea.
8. I loved country (music) when country wasn’t cool, when I was in high school.
9. My husband taught me to 2-step.
10. Can’t sit still when I hear oldies, especially Motown.
11. I’m most comfortable in a pair of blue jeans
12. But I do like wearing skirts too.
13. And I love wearing boots in the Fall and Winter.
14. I had a brain tumor removed in 2002.
15. Because of the surgery I am deaf in my right ear
16. And the right side of my face is partially paralyzed.
17. I wear a patch over my right eye occasionally because it doesn’t blink and gets dried out.
18. I am the oldest of 8 children
19. Have a wonderful relationship with all my brothers and sisters.
20. Was born in Louisiana but lived most of my life in Georgia.
21. In my heart I’ll always be a Southern Gal no matter where I live.
22. Love Cajun food (it’s in my blood)
23. Love seafood
24. Love Mexican food
25. Love….ok, lets just say I love food!
26. I need to lose a few lbs,(Hmmm, wonder why?)
27. I tan easily and stay dark almost all year
28. My favorite color is purple.
29. Before having kids I was an Air Traffic Controller.
30. My hair is light brown, but I always wanted Auburn hair.
31. I wore braces as a teenager.
32. Took out my bottom retainer with a pair of needle-nose pliers.
33. I like large dogs.
34. I have a Doberman and a Rhodesian Ridgeback.
35. My first car was an MG convertible (have I mentioned I miss that car?)
36. I’m a terrible flirt. Not really, actually I’m pretty good at it. ;)
37. I was paralyzed from my waist down for 2 ½ months when I was a little. (I felldown some basement stairs)
38. I go to church every Sunday and have only been late once but that doesn’t count because the priest was late too!
39. Taught CCD (Sunday school) for 8 years
40. I love to sing but I’m terrible! Can’t carry a tune in a bushel basket.
41. My favorite mixed drink is a Pina Colada but I like most anything
42. I like my Margarita’s on the rocks, not frozen.
43. I like beer too.
44. I can eat with chopsticks
45. One of my favorite things in life to do is camp
46. and my favorite smell is a campfire.
47. Some of my favorite memories are backpacking the Appalachian Mt.s
48. and camping with my family at Lake Lanier
49. I almost always see the glass as half full
50. One of my worst faults is procrastination
51. I got my belly pierced this year with my teenage daughter
52. I like to play euchre
53. I enjoy cooking
54. and I’m pretty good at it if I say so myself (my family does)
55. I’m pretty easy going
56. I want my tombstone to read “No big deal”
57. because that’s how I live life.
58. I’m a very patient person
59. until you put me behind the wheel of a car.
60. This is my 2nd marriage.
61. My first was right out of high school but only lasted 7 months.
62. Let’s just say he had a wicked temper.
63. I get very nervous whenever I fly.
64. I like driving, even long distances.
65. I admit it – I’m an American Idol fan
66. I like to stay up late
67. and sleep late in the morning (but don’t get the chance very often)
68. With out coffee first thing in the morning I can’t function
69. I play golf fairly decently
70. I enjoy shooting skeet
71. I was once called Annie Oakley
72. I enjoy fishing, even when I don’t catch anything
73. I can get up and water ski on one ski.
74. Never went to college
75. but wish I had
76. Got suspended from school on my 16th birthday for smoking behind the school
77. Used to shoot pool on a Busch pool league
78. Met Paul Newman at a race in Atlanta
79. He even offered to buy me a hotdog.
80. I’ve ridden in a car at ATL motor speedway at 100 mph.
81. I’ll go to 4 or 5 card shops if I have to, to find that ‘just right’ card for someone.
82. I’m a ‘ham’, for those of you that don’t understand that – I have my amateur radio license.
83. My favorite holiday is Christmas.
84. I love giving much more than receiving.
85. My two favorite Christmas movies are “How the Grinch Stole Christmas”
86. and “Yes Virginia, There is a Santa Claus”
87. I still believe in Santa
88. One of my most memorable presents I got was 2 Tom Jones Albums.
89. I’m a sucker for tear jerker movies and songs. I’ll cry at the silliest of things.
90. I don’t like to wear make-up except for lipstick occasionally.
91. I like canoeing down a river.
92. I have a very crooked 2nd toe on each foot. It’s a family trait.
93 I wear a size 13 slim shoe (that’s a men’s 11 narrow)
94. I have very few regrets in life
95. but one is that I did not stick with my golf when I was a teenager.
96. I can ride a motorcycle.
97. I like doing jig-saw puzzles.
98. Have to have lots of blankets on me at night.
99. Organization is definitely NOT one of my strengths,
100. But being compassionate, thoughtful, and caring are.

These boots are made for walkin'

I came across this today and it nailed me right on!

You Are Western Boots

Your boots can sure walk a long mile - but they're still chic!

What Kind of Boots Are You?

Things still going well. My daughter got the job that she wanted and tonight was her first night and she really liked it. Said it was a lot of fun. I'm sure she'll do great! Today was a day off for me and I got some things done around the house. Tomorrow back out to the golf course...last day for the season. I'll miss it.

Weather is starting to cool off. Had frost on the windshield this morning and my friend says her horse's hair is getting thick early this year. Could that mean an early, cold winter? As long as there is snow I'll be happy. (I say that now...somebody refer me back to this post 3-4 months from now....LOL)

Think I'll wear my boots tomorrow......so long!