Rainy morning in Columbus

 

 

 

 

 

This picture is about what downtown Columbus looks like today.  Rainy.
 

I ended up not going to Buckeye Outdoors on Saturday.  Marco and I rode the cycle there yesterday.  Scott showed us around, and all I actually got was a holster for my Smith & Wesson.  It has clips, and it can be clipped to the inside or outside of a waistband.  Doesn't need to be looped thru a belt.  But the store is amazing.  Glad we finally got to stop by and see it.  We ate at Roosters, and then just enjoyed the rest of the day. 

 

 

Marco and I did decided again to cut back on eating.  I made a Meijer run, and loaded up on a lot of produce and lowfat stuff.  We are growing tomatoes and peppers in containers on the deck, and they are doing good.  Peppers are ready; I cut up one - a Hungarian sweet pepper - for my birds yesterday.  They love peppers.  The tomatoes are obviously still green, but I'm surprised how big they are getting for mid-June.  I've also been sprouting for quite a while.  I add the sprouts to the birds "chop" too.  Here's a picture of today's sprouts ~ mung beans.  They are great on salads:

 

 

 

 

When "going on a diet" again....I always try to remember that there are many other aspects to each of us beside what we look like.  Maybe a bit of a cliché, but still true:  body, mind and spirit.  Maybe it's better to put these in reverse order of importance:  spirit, mind and body. 

When we were younger and all the kids were still at home, it was fun, but crazy.  Especially when the kids became teenagers, got cars, then got jobs and still had scads of friends over all the time.  At times, it was like a merry-go-round....spinning faster and faster.  We were all so busy all the time. Now of course it's easier, but on many days, it's still one thing after another.  I don't even sit down.  So "going on a diet" is going to be several things for me......among them, finding some down time.  Probably one of the many reasons I started blogging again.  Like writing in a diary.  And it is done sitting down. 

So folks.....try to stay dry today, and here's my quote for the day:

 

Happy Birthday Trent

Today is grandson Trent's 17th birthday.  I looked thru my pictures and cannot find a picture of Trent by himself, so I'll use one with his beautiful sister Kelcie (ignore the duckface) in it.  In looking at all my pictures, it's hard to find a picture of any of the grandkids by themselves, so I know what I'll be doing each time I see them this summer. Trent is a great student and athlete, and this summer he's going to be working.  And of course, he's been driving for a year now.......a really good kid.  Have a great day today Trent.

I was having coffee on the deck and thinking about all the kids growing up, and of course....driving.  I remember I got my drivers license at 16, but I never got a car until after I was married.  I went to OSU for my freshman year, and my dad drove me up to campus each day.  After classes, I took the bus downtown to Lazarus where I worked 4 hours a day in the toy department.  Then I took the Livingston Avenue bus out to Barnett Road and walked about 4 blocks home.  Can you imagine doing that today?  I don't think so.  Just another example how times have changed.  I haven't been on a bus for years....and can't say I miss it.

Today I'm driving over to Newark to the Ohio Valley Outdoor Store where my son works a second job.  I have a Smith & Wesson Model 36 revolver and the only carry I have for it is a purse with a built-in holster.  With niece Jennifer having a large property now where we can all shoot, I really don't want to carry a purse out to shoot.  Hope I'm not the only grandma in the gun department trying on holsters. 

That's about it for the day ~ gotta get rolling; thanks for visiting.

 

Has it really been 4 years?

I've had several requests by family members to start up my blog again.  And like I said on Facebook, I use the word "blog" loosely.  I subscribe to a handful of what I consider real blogs.  Mine isn't one of those.  But I'll try to gather information about all the family members and post it here as a reference or gathering point for those family members who are interested.  I also stick in my "quote for the day" .... I'm a nut for quotes.....I may even stick in a cool recipe..... 

And it does amaze me that it's been 4 years since I posted anything.  I wasn't even sure if the old blog was still here, but it is.  We've had one new member of my immediate family.....grandson Vincent Bradley Miller.  He was expected, but not actually here yet when I stopped posting.  We also lost my mother, called Miss Jean by the great grandkids.  She passed away on December 13, 2010, after an awful time with double viral pneumonia.  Up until she became ill, she was a ball of fire, always rarin' to go.  She and Betty White were only a few weeks apart in age, and she was much like Betty.  She was 88, and we miss her and Mr. Jack............glad they are together now............they were true soul mates.  I have more to share about them later......

Marco and I are doing well for old folks.  We still live in the same house, and have the same pets.  We did lose one parrot ~ our African Grey MaggyMay, who died of heart failure in November of 2011 at the age of 24.  And, we still have the same cars.  Our 14 year old Lexus is still going strong.  And our 7 year old Trailblazer is too.  No car payments forever.  That's cool.  But our health is great, and we are very thankful for that. 

Marco has started his own insurance agency ~ Marco Miller Insurance.  He's an independent agent, and has actually only been in business for about 2 months, but it is going very well.  More about that later.

I'm going to wrap this up today, and start fresh tomorrow.  I'll be hitting everyone up for information, and I'm sending a special hug to my cousin MaryAnn who is a big family supporter, and always read my old blogs......

Smooches to all ~
Barb

It's a boy-to-be

I'm posting another pic from Ava's baptism because I don't have a pic of just Todd & Aubrey alone on this computer, and I want to get a post done this evening. So.....that's Todd & Aubrey between Papaw Marco and me. They are expecting a new Miller around mid-December, and they just found out it's a boy. Suffice to say, Todd and Papaw Marco and very happy. And actually, Todd and I both thought it would be another girl, and Papaw and Aubrey thought is would be a boy. Right now we have 5 girls and 5 boys, and this new boy will tip the scales to the "guys". All the other kids - Scott, Amy, and Brad, have 3 kids each, so Todd may try to keep up the all his older bros and sis, and have a 3rd. We'll see. Todd is almost 38, so he can't wait too long if he doesn't want to be the oldest dad in his kids graduating class. LOL

No other good news ~ it was 90 here today and muggy, so I didn't even venture out.

More later! Smooches . . . . Grandma Barb

A baptism in the family

Sunday was a fun day in the family, as granddaughter Ava Maria was baptized at St. Elizabeth's Church. Todd and Aubrey live in Raleigh, and they wanted to do the baptism here at home where everyone could attend. They were here the last time at Christmas, when Ava was just a year old, but the church doesn't do baptisms during the Christmas holidays, so they had to put it off till this visit. Ava is now 18 months old, but she did real good. Here's one of the pics: Brad, Todd, Aubrey with Ava, me and Marco. We loved the priest - I can't recall his name - but he conducted a real nice service. We had a great party afterward at Aubrey's sisters house in Clintonville. Amanda is Ava's godmother, and Brad is Ava's godfather. This was a new experience for Brad, and he was honored that Todd and Aubrey asked him. Also, Todd and Aubrey will make us grandparents for the 11th time around mid-December. We are all hoping for a boy. Like all visits, it ended too soon, and with the new baby due just before Christmas, we're not sure when we'll be seeing Todd and family again. :-(

So....that's it for today....more news and pics soon.

Smooches!

A milestone tonight

Congratulations are in order for Miss Kayla, our 18 year old granddaughter. She graduates from high school this evening. Reynoldsburg holds it's ceremonies at the Schottenstein Center up on the O.S.U. campus, so we'll be making a road trip up there. I'm using my laptop, and I don't have the grandkids pictures on this one, and can't post a pic of Kayla. She is working at Kroger this summer, and heading to O.S.U. Newark Branch in the fall. Good job Kayla!! And best wishes to Scott and Jackie too!

We had lunch with Todd, Aubrey and Ava today. Ava's christening is Sunday, and they are in town all this week. Ava has grown so much, and is a sweetheart, and a little lady. Polite and well behaved. Aubrey is 10 weeks pregnant, but you'd never know it yet. Needless to say, T-Bone wants a boy, but is thinking this one will be a girl too. I agree. Marco and Aubrey and thinking it's a boy. We'll let you know when they find out at the end of the month.

That's really all for today. I need to clean up my birds room and do a quick load of laundry before we head out for the ceremony. Luckily, it's a beautiful day.

More later, smooches, Grandma Barb

Remember me??

Despite many good intentions, it's been over 6 months since I've taken the time to write anything. Shame on me. However, it's not totally my fault. Some of it is beyond my control. I have an old "Fortune Telling Birthday Book" from the 1930's and part of my "fortune" is: "although you plan many things, you tire quickly and drop them before completion." Yep, that's me. It's in the stars that I'm a slacker.

That aside, about 3 dozen things are "new" since my last post, but I'm not going to try to enumerate them. The nice picture above is from Marco's 60th birthday party, and the people in the pic are all relatives on his mother's side of the family. Midgie, Mildred, Teri, Joey, me, Marco and Betty and Maryann in the front row. All lovely people. Almost 100 people attended the party, and it was loads of fun.

Marco and I and all the kids, grandkids and pets are doing good. Granddaughter Kayla graduates from high school tomorrow, and will be going to Ohio State for college. School is out either today or tomorrow for all the school-age children. And Todd and Aubrey are expecting another baby at Christmas, bringing the total to 11. So far.

I am finally going to an orthopedic surgeon to get an opinion on my knee. I think it will be needing replaced, and soon. I don't think the doc will disagree.

My sister-in-law, Connie, has retired recently, and I wish her a happy and long retirement. She's a very nice gal.

Miss Jean is doing pretty good. She stated that she gets around better than I do, and some days, she's right. I'm limping around like granny grunt.

The birdies and doggies are doing fine. Poor Dusty, the 7 year old, had to have a lot of extractions when he got his teeth cleaned last time. I just don't remember any of our pets, when we were kids, having so many medical bills for stuff like teeth cleaning. Dusty's set us back over $500. That's awful.

This is a good beginning. Don't want to tire myself the first thing out of the gate. But check in often, I promise to be back with more exciting stuff from my life.

SMOOCHES!!

3 dry months

Hello, after more than 3 months. Am I going to keep this up? Maybe. Maybe not. I'm gonna try. Have I said that before? ;-)

Here's a pic of our newest pet ~ this is Gracie, and she's wearing her OSU shirt. Another miniature "weenie". Not a very good pic, but it's hard to catch her standing still. She's from the Parkersburg, WV, puppy mill that had over 1,000 dogs is very poor conditions. Our Capital Area humane Society got 25 of them, and since these are purebred dogs, they held a lottery to see who got them. Over 100 people put in applications, and we were one of the lucky 25. She's 3 years old, and very small. Our other 2 dogs are supposed to be miniatures, but we don't think they are. They're not real big, but they're nowhere as small as she is. But she is very affectionate, loves Bud and Dusty, and is pretty much potty trained. A few accidents. But she's fitting in very well here.

We're gearing up for Christmas. I did some Christmas shopping yesterday....all of it at Best Buy. Found almost everything except a video game that I'll check for at WalMart and Meijer, and if they don't have it, I'm sure Amazon will have it. Marco already got himself a Christmas present.....more about THAT later.......

Marco is completely re-doing my Zen Room. Scott came over Sunday and painted it for us. After we tore up the old yucky carpet, Marco moved wires, and televisions and computers and phones will be moved around. The hardwood flooring is great, and we have no carpet left in the house. Just the oriental rugs in the dining area and the great room. I'm going to find a small oval one for in the Zen Room. The ones we have now are red - see pic above - but I'm going to get one with greys, blues and whatever when I go shopping for one. After all, it's a ZEN room, and has to be more soothing.

That's about it for today. No other big news actually. I don't want to overdo today if I'm going to be back tomorrow or the next day. Probably won't try to blog every single day. I'm retired for heavens sake. LOL

You stay warm Columbus.

Rain, rain, and more rain

Just posted a pic of my Amazons, Sunny and Baby, for the heck of it. We're not sure when their exact birthdays are, so the parrot forum I belong to has created a "hatchday" list so everyone's birds get recognition. Sunny and Baby were recognized in June, even tho' I suspect they were probably hatched a little earlier in the spring. I just picked June for them. They don't care, and neither do I. I enjoy them no matter what. One of the ladies in the forum makes up the pretty little cards for them. I need to find time to experiment with things like that. I know so many people who make neat graphics, siggies and videos. I'm sadly behind when it comes to things like that. Maybe when the toilet business slows down.

Marco is busy all weekend here in town with the gay Pride festival. They ordered 60 toilets, set up along the parade route, and then down at Bicentennial Park where the partying is. He just ran downtown again after dinner, to check and see if his 2 employees are on the job. They expect 15,000 attendees. Columbus has stuff going on almost every weekend in the summer. The next festival is the Rib Fest, and Marco only has to take 6 of the big trailers, not individual potties. Easier. It's amazing with all the rain we've had....really super thunder and lightening storms....that nothing has been rained out.

I heard on the news - just caught the tail end of some story - anyhow, something about gas will hit $7.00 a gallon before very long. I just can't imagine. I put $60 worth of gas in my tank, and it didn't fill it up. I don't think Marco has ever filled up his Trailblazer. I know that thing would take well over $100 on a fillup. When I took Sunny to the vet for her checkup, I passed a new cycle lot over on Main Street. I didn't get a real good look at the cycles, but they weren't motor cycles, and they weren't exactly motor scooters either. I guess more like souped up motor scooters. They didn't look like they had a very big engine. But whatever they were, they had every color under the rainbow. New and exciting, and probably will do well. If I were a little younger, I'll check into them. I see more and more cyclers on the road all the time. Several in our neighborhood.

I haven't checked on the fish today. They probably need their filter cleaned out, and some food before it gets dark. Guess I'll take care of that since dad is downtown checking potties.

You stay cool Columbus.

Barb

Ghosts and such

This is my cool pitcher plant. It's carniverous...those pitchers are always full of dead flies. I paid $20 for it; a friend mentioned that they grow wild down where she lives in Florida. Just threw it in, as I have no pictures of ghosts.....

There was an article in the paper recently about the Ghost Train that carried Lincoln's body back to Illinois for burial. According to legend, in April the ghost of Lincoln's funeral train appears on the tracks in Urbana Ohio, where the train paused for fifteen minutes while crowds watched and paid their last respects. People have felt it pass them - felt the rush of hot air, and some have seen a phantom light down the tracks. Some people have seen the actual train, with a crew of grinning skeletons on it. Clocks in the area stop while it passes, and lose 5 or 10 minutes of time. Apparently this year, a history class from Urbana College watched for it, but missed out on actually seeing anything. I was disappointed, as I'm sure they were.

This jogged my memory and reminded me of a friend of mine who has a son in his mid 20's who bought a house last year out in the country east of Columbus. Kyle was recently divorced after a short marriage, and had a friend living with him for a while to share expenses. I forget who first noticed that they had a ghost. It wasn't too long after they moved in. As with other houses that have been empty for a while, it needed cleaned up. Kyle's friend really worked on the windows, and had them sparkling. It was only a day or two later that they noticed a child's handprints on a couple of the windows. On the inside. And no children had been in the house. They cleaned them off, puzzled. And a week or so later, more handprints. Small ones. Then one day, the room mate came home from work, and in passing Kyle's bedroom saw a small girl sitting on Kyle's bed. I guess he flew out of the house, scared to death, and went to his mom and dad's house till Kyle got back home. There have been other instances where someone has seen the child.....usually out of the corner of their eye. Once at a party at Kyle's house, so they have other witnesses. I guess they've learned to live with it. Things were still a little up in the air when I last talked to Cindy. Again, the medical "issues" (I hate that word, actually, but it fits) I had the past 6 months have intruded on a lot of areas. I really need to call Cindy and see what has transpired. I'll let you know after I talk to her......

So....do I believe in ghosts? I do. And I've read where 51% of Americans believe in them, too. I'll also let you know if I ever see one!

Isn't this a cool graphic? I love Tim Horton coffee, and have it almost everyday. The price of coffee is shameful, but isn't everything these days? I consider it money well spent. Good for the soul and all that.

For my far-flung family members and friends, you probably don't know about the part time jobs that Marco and I have. Briefly, a friend of his that has a whole empire of businesses, bought a porta john company and needed someone to get it rolling and coordinate it. Someone who could light a fire under $10 an hour employees, and all that. Well, Marco took on the job, and lured me in to help in the office. I do site management, routing and billing. A bit much for part time, but hey, it's fairly seasonal, too. I was working 4 days a week till this week. There have been days that I've had to take off for my mom's doctors appointments. But now I'm just working on Monday, Wednesday and Friday. "Just". Sigh......

Since I'm a little focused on blood pressure, due to mine freaking out on me a few months back, I'll mention 2 alternative therapies that I've tried. First, I tried acupuncture. I only had 2 sessions of that. I just happen to believe that if you spend $60 for a session, you should see results after a couple of them. I didn't. Also, it was more uncomfortable that I thought. The second time, a needle really hurt my wrist, and the acupuncturist had disappeared. He came back about 20 minutes later with a cup of Starbucks coffee in his hand. Jerk. Rather than mess around with more sessions, I tried cranial-sacral therapy. Rather than explain it, if you're really interested in it at all you can Google it. Better explanation there than I can give anyhow. And this was the interesting thing: Even thought the therapist only touches you lightly, it's the intent of the therapist that is what is healing. And it worked. After the session, I went home and took my blood pressure, and it had dropped a whole lot. It was during a stressful week, and not only did the b/p get lower, it stayed lower for days. And for me, that's good. My b/p still jumps around. It was real high during a bad day about 2 weeks ago, and I took an extra 1/2 pill after dinner, and took a reading before bed, and it was 92/48. So I have to watch out. I kinda feel like I'll deflate or something.

But I'm surviving, and doing okay. My family, parrots, and dogs keep me busy. My African Grey parrot - MaggyMay - has survived heart problems for 15 months now, and seems to be doing okay also. Our older weenie dog - Buddy - is on thyroid medication and "light" dog food. Poor guy. He's only 8 now, but seems older.

Anyone who has waded thru this boring blog - my hat is off to you. Right now it's just catharsis. Hopefully, I'll get more interesting.

Love all you guys!

Barb

Just a note...

No pictures or anything for me today. And I have some nice pictures from "Dancing With The Stars" that we attended last week. Scott and Jackie gave us tickets to the show at Christmas, and we had a ball. Such a great show. Wayne Newton looked bizarre of course, but everyone else was great. Cheryl Burke, Edyta, Karina, Sabrina, Dru.....a whole bunch of them. Put on a super show. Hopefully, I'll get them uploaded for you soon. We had 2nd row seats, right in the middle of the stage. :-)

Anyhow, just want to mention that I haven't been feeling my best lately, and have had blood pressure problems mainly, and found out this moring that my EKG looked bad, and they did lots of blood work, and I have to have a stress test and heart cath, and I hope that's IT. I don't want them to have to crack my chest. What a pisser. None of my friends are having any kinds of problems at all, and here I am in bed and looking forward to some crummy stuff. Anyhow, I haven't been blogging like I should lately anyhow, so I may be offline for a bit. Hopefully, I'll be back in the next few days. Depends on what my blood work shows when the doc calls me in about an hour. I'm sure it's not much. "Looks like an electrical problem" the doc said. Whatever.
Will be you soon, take care Columbus.
Gramma Barb

Mr. Gnome

Marco took his gnome to New Orleans. We've had this little guy sitting out on our deck for about 2 years now, but he's never been on vacation till his BCS bowl trip with his "daddy". And probably wouldn't have gone if it weren't for Jennifer gettting a "family gnome" for Christmas, and instructed to take it whenever she goes somewhere during 2008. Then it's turned over to another family member. I guess you could say we snitched their idea, altho' we've seen things like this on television for years. Little statues disappear out of people's yards, and then they get pictures of them from Disney World, and the Grand Canyon and Las Vegas....stuff like that. Too funny.

That's Eric on the left at a VooDoo shop with the gnome, and the gnome attending a pep rally on the right. Marco has tons of pictures of him....crossing state lines, in restaurants, at the camp ground, all kinds of people holding him, and even standing on a urinal.

The only downside is that it's inconvenient hauling Mr. Gnome around. Next trip we'll buy a little carrying thingy for him. But I think he had fun.

Sunny and her hormones

I wanted to post a video of Sunny, my DHY Amazon. I want to share it on one of the sites I belong to, but can't get it to copy.
I think it will post to the blog okay, and then I can link to the blog. Sigh. Will I ever get all this copying and stuff straight??

Anyhow, here is poor Sunny, getting hormonal in December:

Let's feature Jeff

As I mentioned in my last post Jeff had the misfortune of hitting a deer on Christmas Day. He just sent me a link to his online photos, and he was nice enough to include a pic of the damage the deer did to his vehicle. And nope, that's not Santa.....it's Jeff with some hair on his chinny chin chin. That was new to me the last time I saw him. Anyhow, Bro, I don't see any blood, so I'm taking the liberty of posting your misfortune. Plus.....I've left you out when it comes to pics. There are a couple nice ones of Jeff and Vicki in his album, so I'll include some of those....plus his kids and grandkids in some of my 2008 blogs.

We're all cleaned up and Christmas 2007 is now a memory. A good one, but it's always nice to "get the house back". It took us a million trips up and down the basement stairs, and my knee had to be iced last night. I did make an appointment with the knee surgeon for an evaulation on January 16th, so maybe I'll find out once and for all the extent of my knee damage and what it will take to fix it. Gulp.

Marco is preparing to leave for New Orleans on Thursday, along with 4 friends. He's going to take his clothes and misc. items out to where we keep the motor coach this evening. I think they are going to leave around 3:00 am, so he needs to have everything in place. Several people have said to me, "You're not going???" It's hard to keep a straight face and just say no. I think I did say HELL no one time before I could catch myself. I have a list of souveniers that I want from the French Quarter, some of them from Madame Eruzlies. Heh heh.

Okay, that's all for tonight. You say dry Columbus.

I love: having the house to myself for 5 days.

Just shoot me

I took a picture of my little African Grey Pepper the other day, and though it didn't come out the way I was aiming for, I thought it was kind of interesting. She is such a sweet little girl. But when she calls for me, "Barb", she uses Marco's voice and sometimes I actually think it's him. I'll say, "what?", and Marco will say, "I didn't say anything." It's never dull when you have animals that talk.

Christmas was wonderful and extremely tiring. It was spread over 3 days, and actually more, if you count the parties and get-togethers leading up to Christmas. I won't go into everything, as it's long-winded and a bit confusing. We just had plenty of time with everyone, and it was wonderful, and I'm so happy to have such a big and basically happy family. A few of the littler ones got crabby from time to time, but that's to be expected. Marco and I gained a few more unwanted pounds. I also fell in the driveway, as my stupid knee gave out on me again. Hurt my wrist some, but nothing broke. I promised to call the doctor today. Lordy, I'm scared when it comes to actually replacing something like a KNEE.

My poor brother hit a deer on the way to Jennifer's on Christmas day. Practically everyone I know has hit a deer, except Marco and me. Knock on wood. Haven't spoken to Jeff yet, but I imagine it will cost him a few $$$'s. Bummer.

Well, I think I'll limp into the kitchen and fix a sandwich. I got Marco the DVD "1408", and altho he's working today, I think I'll watch it without him. After all the work of the past week, I'm pooped.

You stay dry Columbus.

I love: pillows

Mike Harden commentary: Post-office angel helps little girl's sadness

This article was in today's Dispatch. Mike Harden and his family have been friends of our family for over 25 years, and Mike always has a great column. Please click on the link below to read this story.

Mike Harden commentary: Post-office angel helps little girl's sadness

Ah.....cool weather

I love this picture of the front of our house, even with the flag pole in the way. This is from last week, when we had about 3 inches of snow, which I loved. In fact, I had a dermatologists appointment that day, and one of the things he was going to check was the Rosacea on my face, which has been worse than ever due to all the heat this year. And naturally, since if had been cold for a couple of days, my face didn't look bad at all. But I still got a prescription for Metrocream, which is an anti-inflammatory. Also had some pre-cancerous lesions frozen on my chest, the area where I've had a couple of bad sunburns, and it's all catching up with me. Luckily, my dermatologist is rated one of the best in town.

Unfortunately, the snow is gone now, and it is raining today. It's supposed to be about 54 today, and no really cold weather is in the forecast. Mom is having a Christmas party for the family this coming Sunday, which should be really fun. It's been a long time since we've all been together, and I have to remember to take my camera.

I just finished my Christmas cards, so that is one more thing out of the way. I think I've got everything wrapped, but still need a couple of things that I hope to get tomorrow or Thursday. Then that's IT.

Okay, Columbus, you stay dry today; I've got to get dressed and take mom some places today, and then we both have dentist appointments this afternoon. It's always something.....

I love: The Maijishan Grottoe

New Year on the horizon

Although it's only the last day of November, and a whole month away from New Years, I'm already thinking about what kind of resolutions I'm going to make. I remember reading that 100 million people in the United States make New Year's resolutions.

In addition to the "standard" resolutions of "lose weight" and "save money" and "exercise", one thing I want to do is start a "gratitude journal". And actually write in a journal, not type, like I'm doing now. Pen and paper for a change. I need to take stock each day of things I'm grateful for. I get bogged down with all the tedious things in life, and then get bummed out. Time to really look for the good things. It's all just a frame of mind, and I need to get into that frame more.

I'd like to see family members more, but everyone is in the same boat. Too much work, and too little time and energy. I have to think about that one, and what might be done......

I need to make sure I'm doing what I can environmentally. I passed a church that had something on it's sign out front about "this planet being God's creation; what are you doing to honor it?" I worry about the world my grandkids will be living in when they are adults.

And of course, we need to weed out all the junk we've accumulated AGAIN, and simplify.

I'd like to experiment with baking more, but again......gotta find the time. Marco's our cook, so I should be able to find time to do some baking.

So....I still have 4 weeks to think about resolutions and how to implement them and keep them. I've never really made any before, but this year I'm going to try. Maybe in 4 weeks I'll have mine done....

You stay warm Columbus.

I love: pay day

Farewell Thanksgiving

Ugh, I am probably the only one in the whole U.S. of A. who hates Thanksgiving, but so be it. Exhausting buying and fixing and taking stuff. The kitchen is a hundred degrees even with the window open. My knee is killing me..... well, I won't dwell on it. Christmas is a bit of a hassle with all the food and stuff, but somehow it's pretty much okay. Anyhow, I'm so glad Thanksgiving is OVER.

We had friends who camped outside of Best Buy for a couple of days in order to get all the specials, and Marco had them pick me up a Sony Vaio laptop, which of course was the best part of the Thanksgiving weekend. I'm so proud of it, I had to post it. Now I can take it in to Panera, and "be like everyone else". I swear, everyone who comes in to Panera has a laptop. And speaking of Panera, mmmmmm, it's my favorite place to hang out in the mornings and keep filling up the coffee mug with delicious coffee. While eating a fabulous pastry. Mom loves it too, and we go there a couple of times a month together. Once in a while, I get to go there by myself, and just chill out. But not very often.

Finally got rested up from the trip to Raleigh. Very nice town, by the way. But very glad to be home. I need a few things at the store, so I think I'll venture out today. You couldn't have budged me out of the house yesterday. Marco went out and said traffic was horrible. I'm getting spoiled, which is okay, after 35 years of having to go out and deal with the world every day out of necessity. Ahhhh......

Okay Columbus, you'd better start decorating your outdoor stuff while the weather is nice and warm!

I love: my own laptop to carry around. :-)))