Thursday, January 31, 2008

Having Fun!

Maddie and Grams shopping in Naples.
Gramps and Maddie on the beach. We are having fun in the sun, Maddie (my granddaughter) and Melissa (my daughter) made it down and we are having a ball. We've been going to the beach, shopping and hanging out at Starbucks and eating. :-) Maddie loves the beach and she has a complete meltdown when it's time to leave. LOL Hope everyone is well. Take care.

Tuesday, January 29, 2008

Naples 2007

We're leaving for Naples tomorrow morning and I wanted to show you some of the photos of our time there last year. Melissa(my daughter) and Maddie(my granddaughter) came down with us last year and here is a photo of them with my sweetie on the berm.
Look at how small Maddie was this time last year, so cute.
And I cannot wait to put on my sandals and walk down to the beach and put my feet in the sand. The sunsets on the Gulf coast can be beautiful so we are looking forward to that also.
And every year we go to the big Superbowl party they have in my Mother -in -Law's building and Maddie enjoyed the balloons last year. For some reason my MIL hides from my camera. I'll have to take some photos of her while she's not looking this year. LOL
And because this one is just so cute. My MIL had this cute little hair dryer that she gave to Maddie because of all of her hair. It's just so funny to see a baby getting their hair blown dry. I am bringing my laptop but my MIL is unsure if her building has wireless. She doesn't use a computer, I've been trying to get her to use one so hopefully when she sees my laptop, she'll come around. I'll try to post a few photos while I'm there so you can see how pretty this area of Florida is. Also Donna from Made In Heaven has tagged me to name 5 things about me, so if I don't get back to that today I will do it when I return. I'm trying to catch up with a few things around the house today but hopefully I can relax later on and do some blog reading. Have a great Tuesday!




Monday, January 28, 2008

Look who's trying to Stowaway and some Babysitting Photos

Look who I found in my suitcase yesterday. Cleo was trying to hitch a free ride to Florida. LOL Actually, I think she was looking for a warm place in the sun and decided the suitcase would do. Sorry Cleo, you have to stay home this time.
Here are a few photos from the slumber party on Friday night. Maddie decided that Grandma's river rocks were the perfect things to play with. She played with these things for at least a half hour until she figured out that if she threw them on the hardwood floor they would make a great sound and that's when Gramps put an end to that fun. :-)
And she is totally obsessed with the keyboard from one of the big computers. So we took it off for her and she was in heaven. She comes over our house now and heads for the office to play with the keyboard. Maybe she'll be a future blogger. I'm finally off to walk at the park again after a short break because of weather. I don't mind walking in the cold but walking on ice and snow really scares me. And I signed up for knitting classes again and once again I am the only one to sign up so far. So I told them that if the knitting class doesn't work out to put me down for the crochet class. We shall see............... Have a great Monday!


Happy Australia Day!






Australian Flag,Iconscripts.com




Happy Australia Day to all of my friends in Australia! My friends Jenn & Jacqui from the Bower Birds Nest have explained Australia Day to me and they said it is the biggest day of celebration in their country and that it is a public holiday in all of their states and territories. They tell me that on Australia Day they come together and celebrate and reflect what's great about Australia and to be an Australian. They also told me that many immigrants become citizens on this date. And the best part is that there are many parties and fun from the Outback to the cities. It sounds a lot like our 4th of July celebrations here in the USA. So I hope all of my Australian friends, Jenn & Jacqui, Shannon, Coll, and Peta and any I may have missed here, have a wonderful day filled with lots of fun! As Charles Schultz, the creator of Peanuts said "Don't worry about the world coming to an end today. It's already tomorrow in Australia" Love that quote!


Friday, January 25, 2008

The Big Sister


Just wanted to show you Maddie's new big sis tee shirt. And her little sister who is due to make her entrance into the world in May has a bib that says little sis. Maddie did not like having to try on this shirt, it was a tug of war to get it on her, but doesn't she look so cute in it? She's coming over for a slumber party with Grams and Gramps tonight.

I also have jumped the gun a little and decorated my blog for Valentine's Day. I just can't take the snow and cold look any longer. It is suppose to get warmer here in Ohio in the next few days so I am looking forward to that. Have a great weekend!


Thursday, January 24, 2008

Boxing Up Old Friends

My sweetie and I are temporarily sharing an office and to make room, I had to box up some of my favorite old friends. You should have seen me, taking some down off the bookshelf that we are getting rid of. I would put some in the box and then take a couple back out because I just can't part with them yet. Books have been my friends ever since I learned to read. They have taken me on adventures, entertained me, kept my mind off of problems. When I was growing up we lived right by a library and I would be there every week. There were no computers to entertain me, no game boys or video games and only three channels on the TV for a long time so books became my main source of entertainment. So some of my old favorites are going into storage for now but I did manage to keep a few that I read over an over again out. Does anyone else like to read certain books over and over? And what are your favorite books?

I also had to box up my collection of my old Nancy Drew books that I had when I was a young girl. I have my name in all of these books and on the inside cover where it lists all of the Nancy Drew books, I had marked off each one I would read or collect. I loved Nancy Drew.
Now my sweetie wanted me to box up my little bunny that sat on the bookshelf also but I put my foot down on that one. This little guy has been my buddy since I was an infant. He has no "fur" left on him and has been sewn in many places. He will be sitting on the new table we are putting in the office. There are some things you don't put in a box and in storage. I can see that my sweetie and I might butt heads while sharing an office for awhile, let's hope it's a short temporary situation. LOL Have a great Thursday!
Would you box up this little guy???


Wednesday, January 23, 2008

Awards and National Pie Day

It's National Pie Day, see the bottom of this post for all the details.



My good blogging friend Shannon from Paint Mine Pink gave me this great award! Thanks so much Shannon, I think you are very amazing. I know I have sent you guys over to Shannon's blog before but do yourself a huge favor and go and visit her today. She makes the prettiest things and I just plain love her blog. Thanks Shannon!
And my other good blogging buddy Tammy took pity on me the other day when I did this post , whining about aging. Thanks so much Tammy for taking pity on this Grandma. I love the name of this Young at Heart award, that's what we all should be. And I'm passing this on to all the gals who felt like I did in that post, in your mind you are still young but sometimes when you look in the mirror there's a strange older lady looking back at you. LOL

Okay now on to the pie part of this post. Tammy tells me that today is National Pie Day. I'll celebrate any day that has some kind of sweet involved. So in honor of National Pie Day I am sharing this Paula Deen (who else would I choose LOL) recipe. This is in her Christmas Cookbook. It says it's a Christmas Pie but I think it should be made all year long.




Christmas Nut Pie




1/2 cup of butter, melted


1 cup of sugar


1/8 teaspoon salt


2 eggs, lightly beaten


1 tablespoon white vinegar


1/2 flaked coconut


1/2 cup of raisins


1 cup chopped walnuts


1 teaspoon vanilla extract


1 unbaked piecrust, fitted into a 9 inch metal pie plate


1) Preheat the oven to 350



2) Mix the butter, sugar, salt, eggs, vinegar, coconut, raisins, walnuts, and vanilla together in a large bowl until well blended. Pour into the piecrust and bake for 40 to 50 minutes.




Anything with coconut has to be good. Have a wonderful Wednesday! I'm spending part of the day with my favorite little girl (my granddaughter) so I know it'll be a fun time.


Tuesday, January 22, 2008

How You Live














I wanted to share this video with you because I got the CD the other day. The song is How You Live by Point of Grace and the CD is the same name. My sister June and I went mall walking the other day and the nearest mall from our side of town is a half hour away and when we got there, a sign was on all of the doors saying mall walking was cancelled for that day because of a big sidewalk sale. Well, we seen people walking, so we decided since we were already there, we would give it a try. We had good intentions but didn't get five minutes into the walk when we got sidetracked by the sales, stopping every few minutes to see what each store had on sale. The Disney store in this mall was shutting down so I scored a nice fat Mickey Mouse for Maddie and then we went into the Christian Bookstore where I bought this CD and I also got Natalie Grant's Awaken. I've been sitting here all morning just getting into these two cd's. They are so good, not just the lead songs on the cd's are good but all of the songs are. Hope you enjoy the video, I have the worst luck with these videos so I hope it plays for you. Have a wonderful day. There is snow here today. I went out to take a few photos but did not think any were post worthy. Oh and really listen to the words of How You Live! Turn Up The Music!

Travel Tuesday is below this post. Some really awesome photos of Kauai!

Travel Tuesday ~ Kauai ~ The Garden Isle

Napali Coast State Park

Kauai's Coconut Coast which is on the east side is known for it's many coconut palms.


Tree Tunnel on the road to Koloa
Rainbow in Waimea Canyon
Kauai's Famous Fern Grotto
Wailua Falls near Lihue, Hawaii



Are these not the most amazing photos? I cannot take credit for any of them (I wish). I have never been to Kauai so this is the first Travel Tuesday that I am doing without the benefit of going there. It is so much easier to talk about somewhere when you have been there but I'll give it a try. First I want to give credit to Kauai's Visitors Bureau , this is where I got all the wonderful photos and information. It's a great site to visit if you are planning a trip to Kauai.

Let's begin, Kauai is known as the "Garden Isle." Probably because of the beautiful tropical greenery that you see in the photos. Renting a car on Kauai is a must, most of the resorts are on the North shore, and on the eastern Coconut Grove side, and on Lihue and Kalapaki and Poipu in the south. On this island, buildings can be no taller than a mature coconut palm. So here are a few things to go and see. Close to the Coconut Coast resorts is the Fern Grotto, which you can reach by boat via the Wailua River. The natural grotto is popular and a site for weddings. Then follow Route 50 north beyond the North Shore to Hanalei. South Pacific was filmed at the famous pier there. A lookout is just beyond that offers views of the Hanalei Valley. Continue on to the Napali State Park to Kee Beach where you can snorkel and hike along the Hanakapiai Trail that takes you into a gorgeous tropical valley. You know I had to read about that twice because it seemed odd to me to snorkel and then go hiking but they say you can do this so when I go I'm going to go and check it out. On the west side of the island you can go to Waimea Canyon and into Kokee State Park. The lookout there looks amazing on the website. If I'm not mistaken, Jurassic Park was also flimed in Kauai, probably because of all the lush tropical wilderness. This place is so beautiful and it is on my list of places to see in my lifetime. Just looking at their website makes me want to see this wonderful destination. Well, I hope you enjoyed our visit to Kauai but we are moving on to the Big Island of Hawaii next week. Aloha!









P.S. Spellcheck had a field day with all of the Hawaiian names. LOL

Sunday, January 20, 2008

Girl Talk

Here are my posse of girls at the coffee house the other day, minus my youngest daughter Christina who stood us up with some excuse about working a 24 hour shift and needing to get some sleep. What kind of excuse is that? LOL My daughter Melissa is on the left and then there's my granddaughter Maddie and my niece Stephanie, who we all consider part of our immediate family. I think I already told you about her Mom who was one of my best friends and who died when Steph was really young. Some day I'll write a post about my unlikely friendship with the southern beauty queen who would have been a part of our girl power today if she was still here. Stephanie was at our home a lot while growing up and she was the target of my sweetie's infamous lectures more than once. Now with Melissa's and Jamiel's new baby girl (yet to be named) coming we will have yet another girl to add to our group and if my son and Allison allow us we will add their little boy to our mix. :-) The only boy who we will let be in our girls group.
The coffee house has a little play area for kids so parents can drink their coffee and talked and their kids can play with all the toys. Maddie was having a ball playing with Steph.
Okay now I am going to bounce to the subject of aging. I don't know about you but sometimes in my mind I am still that fresh face young 16 year old in the above photo with my sweetie in 1972, so it comes as a shock to me when the aging stuff quite literally smacks me in the face like the other day. The other day I am getting ready to put on my makeup when I noticed in my mirror what looked to me as an eyelash under my eye, so I'm trying so hard to get the eyelash off, rubbing and trying to pick it off, when all of a sudden I realize that it's not an eyelash at all, no it's a deep set wrinkle under my eye. Okay, don't laugh at me, my eye sight is bad in my defense. And then of course I start really inspecting what's going on underneath my eyes and am shock to realize that I have become am almost 52 year old woman. Where did she come from? And why didn't I see her sneaking up on me? I could have planned an attack measure. Now, don't get me wrong, I would not go back to being that 16 yr old again, I love this time of my life, I'm just not sure I'm ready to embrace my winkles just yet. So maybe when I look in my mirror I should be seeing this little old lady:
But isn't she cute and dressed so stylish with all of her jewelry and white gloves? Truth is I am somewhere between that 16 yr old fresh face girl and that cute little old lady(though I want to be just like this lady when I get to her age, she's stylin') and I'm becoming comfortable with that. And with that said I am going to the hairdresser tomorrow to get the gray dyed out of my hair. Ugh, a girl just can't win.

Saturday, January 19, 2008

An Award and I've been Tagged


Karen from Karen's Ramblings has given me this award and thank you so much Karen. I LOVE this award. First I love the message of the Spread the Love Award and it also is one of the prettiest awards I have seen. Thanks again Karen and if you have never been over to visit Karen please go here , her blog is filled with love, especially her love for the Lord shines through. So I am passing this award on to a few ladies:

Teresa at Livin the Life
Kari at Just Livin Large
Jennifer at The Beaufort Lookout
and Shannon at Paint Mine Pink
All of these girls spread the love in so many ways. Thanks for being my blogging friends.

And Sandi from Holding Patterns has tagged me to tell 8 things about why it's good to be me. First of all, I just want to say I have had the most fun getting to know Sandi, her blog is fun and she always makes me laugh. So here goes:



1) It's good to be me because I have a husband who loves me and supports me in everything I do.

2) It's good to be me because my children are all healthy and safe.

3) It's good to be me because I have one beautiful granddaughter and a grandson and another granddaughter on the way and they all are healthy and growing.

4) It's good to be me because I have a nice warm home and great neighbors.

5) It's good to be me because I really want for nothing. I mean there are "things" I always want but if you think about it all of my basic needs like food and clothing are met and beyond.

6)It's good to be me because even though I have a few "health" issues, they are nothing compared to what others are going through.

7)It's good to be me because I know the love of God.

8) And it's good to be me because I have met so many wonderful friends through blogging.


That was fun so if anyone wants to play along, please do so and let me know why you feel it's good to be you. Hope everyone is having a great weekend! It's cold in Cincy, I think we are suppose to hit the single digits tonight.............brrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr..................Stay warm!



Thursday, January 17, 2008

See Ya Later Alligator!



My sweetie and I are getting ready for our annual visit to his Mom's in Naples, Florida in a few weeks and we were talking the other day about the year when the alligator came across the berm where we were taking a walk while we were visiting her. He just came out of the water on one side of the berm and went into the water on the other side. We were actually closer than it looks in the photo. I, of course had my camera with me so I handed it off to my sweetie and jumped on the tram that was coming down the berm. Sometimes it pays to have that camera with you at all times. LOL Have a great Thursday! I am off to the coffeehouse to have coffee with all my girls.

Wednesday, January 16, 2008

An Award, A Movie, Books and Photography

I just finished this book this weekend and had to share with you all. This is a TERRIFIC book. If you want to see more of Karen's books go here and check it out. I know it may seem like I only read Karen Kingbury and she is one of my very favorites but I am also a big fan of Barbara Delinsky too. Barbara has a new book coming out on January 22nd called The Secret Between Us. There's a few authors that I'll get their books as soon as they come out or one of my sisters will and we will pass the book around. My sisters and I like the same authors, and I think we all agree Karen is one of our favorites. But if you haven't read Between Sundays yet, go an get it, it is well worth the read.

This is Karen's new book coming out February 5th. I've read the whole series and can't wait to read this one.
And yesterday afternoon I pushed myself away from the computer and went to see this movie. Yes it was hard to leave my computer but I did it, I've been really busy with work and the computer was starting to give me a headache. Kat seen this movie also and wrote a post about it also and I totally agree with her. I really liked this movie. It was just plain good, now I know not everyone likes the same kind of movies but I did like this movie. I think everyone knows about this movie by now. Two terminally ill men makes a wish list known as "the bucket list" before either one of them kicks the bucket. We should all make bucket lists.
And I was given an award from Lille Meg who is from Norway. Please take some time and go visit her, she is so sweet and don't be intimidated by the language barrier, she does write in some English. And leave her a comment I know she would love it. Anyway thanks so much Meg, that anyone would think I was amazing in any capacity is amazing to me. And because there are so many of you guys that I think are amazing I am passing this on to everyone who visits me. I am going to update my blogroll here as soon as I get a chance.
And I also wanted to tell you about one of my new blogging buddies, Myra's new photography website. Go here and check it out. She really is talented. That's about it for today, hope everyone is having a wonderful day!