Happiness is an unexpected hug.

Thank-you for all the hugs I've received!!!

Diane....Jan. 29th I can't think of any other place I would like to be than seeing Linda and Pete.  Well, maybe I was a bit hasty in saying any other place but it will be exciting to see them again.  It has been a very long time since we met last.  We just finished watching the movie "Amelia Earheart".  She certainly did like to fly and with no fear of doing so.  I love to fly but with someone else in the cockpit, so I can sleep.  Well, here it is almost 2011.  Lets see, what are my "New Years Resolutions" going to be.  I can only think of one and that is I never make a "New Years Resolutions" and I think it will be the same for this year.  Now wasn't that easy, because I know I won't have any trouble, keeping this promise, for the whole year.  This last year has brought some new challenges for me but all in all it has been a wonderful year.  I feel truly blessed for all the new friends I was able to meet along with half of the Drs. in the Tri-Cities.  Also for all the support I have received from family and friends.  In all my years I have never received so much attention as I did in 2010.  Now I don't expect to receive that much attention this year and that is OK.  Everyone, have a wonderful New Year.  I know I will.


A BLONDE'S YEAR IN REVIEW
JANUARY
Took new scarf back to store because it was too tight.


THOUGHT FOR THE DAY
Joy Out of Sadness
As time rolls onward
And leaves the past behind
There is much I counted sorrow,
But proves that God is kind.
There is many a flower I longed for,
Had a hidden thorn of pain,
And many rigged by-paths
Led to fields of ripened grain.
We must live through the weary winter
If we would but value the spring,
And the woods must be cold and silent
Before the robins sing,
And the flowers must be buried in darkness,
Before they can blossom and bloom;
For the sweetest and warmest sunshine
Comes after the storm and the gloom.
The heart, in its hardest trials,
Gains the purest joy of all,
And from the lips that have tasted sadness,
The sweetest songs may fall,
For peace comes after suffering,
And love is the reward of pain,
So after earth comes heaven,
And out of our loss, our gain.

Diane....Well, I decided to add chocolate to the ice chip diet.  The chips just weren't helping with the endorphins.  It really is a good combination.  My girls spent the night last night and I don't think they slept a wink.  I can remember those days, when we were young, and we could stay up all night and all day.  That must have been a long time ago because I really don't remember it all that well.  We spent a good part of the day taking down Christmas decorations, cleaning, sorting, throwing away things and organizing.  I love to organize.  We still have a bit more to do but we wore ourselves out.  A while back I went on google to see how to make a dog bed and I found a very simple idea that didn't cost a thing.  I took an old quilt and tore it into four pieces and then I took a flannel sheet and tore it into four pieces and then pinned the sheet to the quilt, sewed then together, turned it inside out and I am now going to stuff them with newspaper.  The article said dogs love to hear the sound of the paper when they lay down onto the bed.  I will finish my project tomorrow and let you know how it turned out and if our dogs really like their new beds.  Bill said he has a funny to add tonight.


FUNNY (sent in an email from a friend)
I just finished talking with my friend in Minneapolis, and he said that
since early this morning, all his wife has done is look through the
kitchen window and the snow is nearly waist high. He says that if it
gets much worse, he may have to let her in.


THOUGHT FOR THE DAY
The man who says "It can't be done" is interrupted by the man who is doing it.

Diane....wow two funerals in one day, that's a tough one.    Well,  Kareen and Chandler are spending the night and we have been eating and watching movies and I noticed it is getting late and I hadn't done my blog. so I figured I had better get going before it was too late, so here it is.  I got up rather late this morning but once I awoke we went to the gym and only worked out for 30 min.  I can work out a little harder if the time is shorter so I was able to get my heart rate to 103 and that is good for me.  When I first started I could get it to 81 and slowly I am moving up the scale.  Feels so good to have the energy to work out like this.  I love it.


Brevity is next to confusion in the insurance business.  When a client died, her daughter told our agency that she would cancel the home policy the following week, once her mother's belongings were removed.  simple, right?  Here's the note that was placed in the client's file.  "Deceased will call next week to cancel moving her things out.


THOUGHT FOR THE DAY
No day is so bad it can't be fixed with a nap.
Without enough sleep, we all become tall two-year-olds.

Diane....We down-load our books from Barnes and Noble and it goes on the Nook.  Every book is a different price.  We will bring it to the luncheon on the 8th. and we will read every one a little story.  :-)  Just kiddin.  We will also bring pictures from the cruise.  We worked out this morning on the treadmill.  We prefer to go into what's called the, dark room, and watch a movie while we are on the bike or treadmill or the elliptical machines. This way we can work out longer because we get distracted and not noticing, so much, how tired we are or hot or sore, until we stop.  It's a very, very, large screen and at midnight a new movie is put in for another 24 hrs.  Then we went to Target, Winco and then home.  We picked up some containers, at Target, with drawers for organizing some things.  I think we will take down Christmas decorations tomorrow, or at least part of them.  We don't put up a lot so it is so much easier, when it is time, to clean up. 


When I asked my friend if she was planning to attend church, she just shook her head.  "I haven't gone in a long time," she said.  "Besides, it's too late for me.  I've probably already broken all seven commandments."


THOUGHT FOR THE DAY
Realize that life is a school and you are here to learn.  Problems are simply part of the curriculum that appear and fade away like algebra class but the lessons you learn will last a lifetime.

Diane....I know what you mean by the clothes not fitting.  I am going on an ice chip diet.  You know it is the rage now.  It is cold, refreshing, goes down easily, no calories and the crunch is amazing.  I will start tomorrow or maybe the next day, we will see.  Today was a stay at home day, which felt very nice.  Bill has a new book, on our nook, and that is what he did most of the day, read, read, read.  He says it is a very good book, hard to put down.  It is called "Unbroken".  True story, he says.  I have a book on there also but I don't think I will be able to finish it until Bill gets his done first.  We love our nook, it makes reading so much more fun and easy.  I have a lot more laundry now that Kristene, Nicole and Andrew are living here so I did a lot of catching up today.  Going up and down the stairs, to do laundry is good exercise.  We were going to go to the gym today but we didn't make it so we plan to go tomorrow.  I really need to go. 


Do you realize that in about 40 years, we'll have thousands of old ladies running around with tattoos?
(And rap music will be the Golden Oldies!)



THOUGHT FOR THE DAY
Courage is being scared to death but saddling up anyway.
   John Wayne

The end is coming, of a wonderful day.  I had my, coming out, party today.  I will explain;  I went to church, for the first time, without my wig.  I felt a little exposed with nothing, on my head, but hair.  I also felt a little colder.  I may just have to wear a hat now and then just to keep warm.  I sure wouldn't like to live back east, during this time of year, with the bad storms that they keep having.  The weather west is much easier to handle.  We went over to the Law's for dinner and took the leftover prime rib.  They didn't complain even though it wasn't as rare as Fri. night.  Kevin, Kareen and Eric sang to us while Kevin played the guitar.  It was a lot of fun.  They sang so pretty.  Most of the Law family sing very nicely.


After I reviewed engine parts, gears, and dashboard gauges, it was time for my nervous driver's-ed student to take the wheel for the first time.  But as I reached for something in the backseat, I felt a pop in my shoulder.  "Do you know where the rotator cuff is? I said, wincing.  "Under the hood? he asked.


THOUGHT FOR THE DAY
If you want to feel rich, just count all the things you have that money can't buy.

Laughter is the shortest distance between friends.

Diane....we sure hope Larry is feeling better and yes the prime rib did get done, just right,  I was told.  We figured the problem was we cooked the meat in our cooker last year and everything was OK but it was a small roast and this year it was much bigger.  Nobody seemed to mind waiting because it was so good and we had a lot of fun waiting.  That picture is a little goofy of me. Wished my hair would have been longer, by now, but it is growing very slowly because it takes about a year to get the chemo out of ones body.  I do like the curls though. 


My husband is Irish and I'm Scottish, so communication problems abound.  One evening, he switched on an old film as I left the room.  When I returned, I recognized one of the actors.  "Is that Stallone?" I asked.  "It's only just started," he snapped back.


THOUGHT FOR THE DAY
A story of two brothers
A father died, leaving two sons.  One son lived on a hill and had a large family; the other, a bachelor, lived alone in a valley.  One night the son in the valley awoke.  He said to himself,  "Did my father's equal division of his property between us give my brother a just portion?  My poor brother, living on the hill, is weighed down by the responsibilities of a large family, and here am I without responsibilities and obligations.  Tonight I will take some of the sheaves of grain my father left me and quietly put them in my brother's barn; otherwise he would not take them."  That very same night, the other brother, on the hill, could not sleep.  He said to himself, "I can see my father did not treat my brother and me equally.  I m surrounded by a loving wife and family, and my brother lives alone.  I'll take some of the sheaves left me by my father and, unseen, leave them in my brother's barn, because he would not accept them knowingly."  That night, the two brothers met, halfway between their homes, their arms laden with sheaves, and when each realized what the other was doing, they wept with tears of understanding, of brotherly love.  This love between relatives, neighbors and friends across the world is the true spirit of Christmas.
   Ralph Jones