Love & The Candy Bar

This aftenoon I picked my niece, Chelsea up from Pierce College. She needed a ride home so I just swung by there before I picked Shea up from school. I had to run into Joann's to buy ribbon for the million party favors that I am in the middle of doing. Chelsea & I had been talking about my love life and all the drama and confusion involved these days. I despise drama and confusion!!! Chelsea & Jason have been dating for about 6 months or so and are in that infatuated, wonder love! I so remember those days of being in young love with Rob. I thought our bliss would never end or be interrupted by anything in the world. I am still thankful to this day that I was blessed to experience that kind of love...even if it did end in divorce after a 18 year marriage and 25 year relationship! I bought my ribbon and Chelsea grabbed a 3Musketeers bar, peanut M&M's for Shea, and plain M&M's for me. I have many quirks on how I eat candy...M&M's- I split them in half and eat the chocolate out of them and save the outer shells and make a pile and eat them all at once/Snickers bar- I eat the whole bottom and then eat the top layer/Heath bar- I eat all the chocolate off then eat the toffee/Smarties- I eat 3 sets of 4, 1 set of 3 (15 total) straight up on my back molars and crush down hard/Reese's peanut butter cups are my favorite but they have to be cold...I could go on, but I won't! Anyway, as we drove home Chels ate her candy bar but only ate half of it. I was just thinking that she was being good. As we were still chatting about "men", I had told her that I love the feeling that you get when you can't wait to see that one particular man. That excitement that you feel when you know he is waiting for you and that you will just burst if you don't hug and kiss him soon! She gushed and said, "I know exactly what you mean...I can't wait to see Jason right now!" Then she said, "I have half a candy bar to give him!" How sweet is that? As she got out of the car, my eyes were watering and I thought how great it will be when I want to share my candy bar with that special man. Well, I'll share if he promises to eat it the way I want to!

An Email From Patti Watti

Over the past 8 years, my friend Patti has become one of my most treasured friends. She has so many great longtime friends and that says a lot about the kind of friend she is. I met her when she ran the office at Shea's school and I would have never known how God would transform us from acquaintances to special friends. In the past, I have spent Christmas with her family (she is an incredible mom) and I always look forward to our times together. She sent me the coolest email today and this was in it and I love what it says! I love my Patti Watti so much!

Happy moments? Praise God
Difficult moments? Seek God
Quiet moments? Worship God
Painful moments? Trust God
Every moment? Thank God

My Shea

I am so blessed to have my Shea (Cookie, Dolly, Sugar, Honeylamb, Honey, Bratty Catty & Sweetie are only a few of the many nicknames that I call her by) and I sometimes wonder if God ever tires of me thanking and praising Him for her! She makes me laugh on a daily basis and I love that she has my sense of humor. Last night we were talking and she made a few comments about her friends at school, etc and I said, "really?" Then she would tell me that she was "just kidding." After this happened a few times, I finally said, "Geez, what did you take today...Lie pills???" My little brat responded, "What did you take today...Gullible pills???" Gotta love a smart mouth almost teenager, huh? LOL

I love that she loves to share everything with me- we are very open with each other. For the last couple of days she has been telling me that this boy in 6th grade (a younger man since she is now in 7th) is really cute, etc...So she says today that he had to take his shirt off for PE and her exact words were, "He has a six pack...coming on." Too stinkin' funny! I told Rudy and he said very sarcastically, "Yeah, I wonder where she gets that from!" Hey, the apple doesn't fall far from the tree!

Love is the seed of all hope. It is the enticement to trust, to risk, to try, to go on.

Gloria Gaither

Love isn't something you find. Love is something that finds you.

Loretta Young

Birdies

There are many things in my day that happen that remind me of how wonderful my life is. Some of these things are small and some can be major but each one makes me appreciate how good God is. One of my favorite sounds is to hear the birds singing outside. Sometimes in the morning I will keep everything silent and just listen for the little songs that they sing. It will always bring a smile to my face. Today I was driving to the store and went my usual side streets. I had to stop and just watch all these birdies (close to 20) all bathing and drinking from a huge puddle in the gutter. I thought how sweet their life must be that they are able to bathe in filty water and still have their feathers ruffled and look like they are having a blast! It made me think that it's all how you view things, right?

Could we change our attitude, we could not only see life differently, but life itself would be different.

Katherine Mansfield

Human happiness consists in having what you want, and wanting what you have.

Josh Bullings

Another Fun Night

Our weekly family dinners are turning out to be great! Each week, they seem to be getting better & better. We just got home and had a mexican fiesta night...7 layer dip, burritos, etc... I am not one for board games (I always told Shea, "There is a reason why they are called board games...because I am BORED while I am playing them!") but we have had so much fun this last month playing all sorts of games. Tonight we played a music game and another "password" type game. Oh my gosh, we laughed hysterically so many times! When I "out of control" laugh, I have no way to stop and I almost spit my milk out when Jason said something funny! Thank goodness that I had only taken a small sip or it could have been ugly! I bought us all an un-birthday cake, it just looked so good and even though it was meant for a birthday, I bought it anyway and had the girl write, "Happy Un-Birthday to all!" We are so blessed to have each other!

You don't choose your family. They are God's gift to you, as you are to them.

Desmond Tutu

Each friend represents a world in us, a world possibly not born until they arrive, and it is only by this meeting that a new world is born.

Anais Nin

This quote was on my Facebook and I thought it was funny! Not true in all cases but still quite funny!

A man is basically as faithful as his options.

Chris Rock

Jeremiah 29:11

For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope.

Laughter Is The Best Medicine

We went to Cindy's again for dinner tonight. Shea & I were both exhausted with the first day of school and all, but she was making her pot roast and it's so yummy! The best part of the night was when she read something that I had written to my friend (who shall remain nameless to protect the innocent) and she literally gasped out loud! She did it on 2 separate occasions and Chels, Jason, Cindy & I were in hysterics!!!!! It was so funny and I believe her exact words were, "I can't believe my little sister wrote that!" Oh how good it feels to laugh!

A good laugh overcomes more difficulties and dissipates more dark clouds than any other one thing.

Laura Ingalls Wilder

My Cinny

When I was a little girl my mom would ask, "Who did this??????" only to hear me say, "Cinny, Cinny!" Cindy is 2 years older than me and I love her more than I can put into words. She knows the last several days have been a bit rough for me after I was weepy with her on the phone over the weekend. We are trying to have dinner every Tuesday just to get the family together more often- she only lives 2 minutes from us. Last night, we did Chinese food and just hung out for awhile. She started her second year of teaching 5th grade today. Last night, we were both hysterically laughing as I vented about "men" and my experiences lately. She has not started the whole dating scene yet since her divorce...hopefully, I can give her some insight on what NOT to do!

Lori

I went for my post op yesterday to which Dr. K replied, "Lookin' good beautiful!" Since surgery, I'm already down 15 pounds- I guess I had a lot of junk in there! Over the last couple of days, I finally put makeup on and did my usual routine to get ready and it felt sooooo good after a month of "resting" and "healing"- I am one to get ready every morning even if I'm not going anywhere. Hey, you never know who you're going to run into! I ran into my neighbor, Lori, (I was wearing a pair of workout capris & a white t-shirt) and she immediately said, "Wow! You look great...you look like you're getting back to yourself!" She is so funny & we have a very silly friendship but I do love her. She then went on to tell me that I was so lucky that my boobs are "tiny"- (Excuse the next bit of foul language-if you get offended easily, please don't read on) to which I replied, "My boobs are NOT tiny- I am a FULL C cup- thank you very much!" She went on to explain that hers are just soooo big- double D- and that she would love to be "my size." So...you know me...I said, "Get the hell out of here you big boobed bitch!" We were laughing so hard- it's good to be able to be silly and have fun with your friends!

Hate has a reason for everything. Love is unreasonable.

V. Raiuhes Ahaefvthe

It takes a minute to have a crush on someone, an hour to like someone, and a day to love someone but it takes a lifetime to forget someone.

Author Unknown

Prayers Are Heard

God, I don't understand it, but I trust You. And I'm not going to spend all my time trying to figure out why certain things have happenend. I'm going to trust You to make something good out of it. You are a good God, and I know you have my best interests at heart. You promised that all things will work together for my good. God, I know that you are at work in my life. Although the miracle that I've been watching for didn't happen today, I know I'm one day closer to it! I'm one day closer to my answered prayer, and I'm not going to get upset. I'll not allow myself to become discouraged. I know that Your timing is perfect, so I am going to stay in an attitude of faith and keep trusting You to do what is best.

Feeling A Bit Blue...

It seems that I am always happy. I am the most positive & optimistic person that I know. Amy calls me "Pollyana" and I am ok with that. Last night, someone that I truly care about and have grown very attached to, totally pulled the rug out from under me. It's strange how the people that you think you know the best turn out to be the ones where you sit shaking your head like in a cartoon. I am feeling sad yet at the same time I know it is all a learning process. I know that the way I love is a gift...it's up to the other person whether or not to accept that gift. I will continue to say my Bible verse that I rely on every day:

Proverbs 3:5&6- Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding; In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will direct your path.

Sadness flies away on the wings of time.
Jean de La Fontaine

There's a certain sadness because things didn't go the way I wanted them to go.
Billy Joel

In a world where there is so much sadness and so much to be afraid of, good things do happen to people. Romance is still something we can find even if we're not consciously looking for it.
Kathleen Quinlan


Even a happy life cannot be without a measure of darkness, and the word happy would lose its meaning if it were not balanced by sadness. It is far better take things as they come along with patience and equanimity. Carl Jung

Psalm 126:5

Those who sow in tears shall reap in joy.

Good judgement comes from experience, experience comes from bad judgement.

Mark Twain