Happy Birthday Christina!

Christina - The Birthday Girl

I love this letter Christina wrote me when she was little. I keep it in a frame and it is hanging in our hall. If you can't read little kid writing, I'll decipher it for you. It says: To Mom, I love you and this is why I am sending you this to you tonight. Love, Christina Don't you just love this? I will keep and treasure this forever.

This my sweetie and I and Christina on the day she was christened. Oh my, we look so young!
This is classic Christina! If you look really good, you can see she has a black eye! She was always in a hurry and ran into a wall playing with her brother Jimmy.
And I love this picture because it shows her spirit. Christina has always had an adventurous spirit.



Happy Birthday Christina! Our baby is 26 years old today. That's hard to believe. We are so proud of you and all of your hard work. We believe in you and are here for you! Happy Birthday Christina! (I know I got a little carried away with the pictures but couldn't decide which ones to post).

Awesome God

My Mom holding me with my Grandma and my brother Alan , this was probably 1956.



My Mom when she was young, I have no idea the date of this picture.

My Mom and I in Florida probably in 1999

Our God is an awesome God
He reigns from heaven above
With wisdom, power and love
Our God is an awesome God





Many of you know this praise song and it is one of my favorites. Let me put together these pictures and why I have this praise song in my post. Today marks six years since my Mom died. This post is not so much about her death but how God showed me his awesome love. So let me go back to the fall of 2001. You all know what happened in September of 2001. Well, there was a European cruise my sweetie and I were supposed to go on in the Fall of 2001 for our 25th anniversary and then 9/11 happened and my Mom(who never asked me for anything) didn't want us traveling overseas, which if you remember alot of people were afraid to travel back then. So we cancelled our trip. Now pay attention the cruise will come into the story later on. On October 25th, 2001 I was working at my office and had a extremely difficult day, a woman was very nasty to me and well the things she said just really upset me. So where does a girl go after a difficult day at work, to visit her Mom & Dad for some love. Let me just say this, I never usually went over my parents on a workday evening because I usually had to go home and get dinner together etc... So I was led to go over and see them and they were in such high spirits. It was one of those beautiful fall sunny days in Ohio and my parents had been out all day, outlet mall shopping , lunch, the casino boats, dinner. They had a wonderful day and my Mom was in such a great mood. My Dad had just bought her a SUV and she took me to the garage and was so excited about it. So I stayed for a few hours just chatting and enjoying the fact they both were so happy. My Mom walked me out on the porch and gave me a kiss and told me she loved me. She was very reserved and didn't do this all the time. Three hours later I received a phone call, my Mom was being rushed to the hospital and wasn't breathing. In fact she had already gone home to the Lord. She died of a massive heart attack. In the days that followed and in my grief, I didn't put things together right away. But I believe I was given a great gift from God. He knew what I needed before it even happened and took care of my needs because He loves me and wanted to ease my grief. He gave me the gift of seeing my Mom totally happy on her last day on earth and of her saying goodbye to me, though I didn't know it at the time. Oh, and to get back about the European cruise, if my Mom didn't ask me not to go, my sweetie and I would have been floating somewhere around the Mediterranean at the time of her death and it would have been a nightmare trying to get home. I know this is a long post and I still miss my Mom and so wish she could have seen her great grandbabies but I know in my heart and soul, I was given a gift from God and I feel so humbled that He loves us so much that he takes care of our needs before we even know that we need them. So yes, I believe our God is an awesome God, and He does reign from heaven above with wisdom, power and love.

Blog Friend Forever Award & I won a Giveaway

Karolee has given me this award and I thank her for being a great blog friend and I agree with her idea that everyone on my blogroll that says Friends & Strangers deserve this award. It is so hard sometimes to narrow down an award to just a few so you are all Blog Friends Forever.

Okay people, I WON. No, I don't think you understand I never win, ANYTHING and I was so happy when Mary e-mailed me and told me I was one of the winners for her banner/logo giveaway. You can check out all of Mary's creations at Isabellas Closet . Actually Mary is so sweet she's going to make a banner/logo for everyone who left her a comment on her giveaway post. Thanks Mary, you really are a sweetheart and I love your banners and logos.

And here's a funny story. It's been raining a whole lot here in Cincy and because of that our house phone lines are messed up. I can hear someone else on our line talking. When a phone call comes in to them our line rings and I pick it up (but no caller id comes across and it has static) and I can hear someone else's whole conversation and they can hear me. Well, this afternoon it started again so I picked it up and started to say hello, who's there? Who are you? And it's a young girl, I'm guessing around 12yrs. old or so and she was home by herself. I know this because she heard me talking and totally freaked out thinking someone was in her house with her. She hung up and then my phone rings again and I can hear the young girl talking to her mom telling her about me and her Mom is telling her to call the police. So I'm trying to tell her I'm not in her house and our phone lines are connected somehow and the young girl then says to her mom and listen to this "Mom, can't you hear the old lady on the phone with us?" OLD LADY!!! Hello, I'm trying to help you little girl but if you call me an old lady again, all bets are off. I called the phone company and they are going to fix it. But I've been walking around all night going "Old lady, I can't believe she called me an old lady"

Travel Tuesday - San Francisco

This picture was taken right before the ship went under the bridge. It was so cool coming into San Francisco by ship. Everyone was on the top deck and right as we went under the bridge the captain blew the horns and everyone cheered. It was great!
This picture is for Kari. I've never heard of Menopause The Musical and it just cracked me up. This was playing down at Fisherman's Wharf. Can you just imagine this musical? I really have to go see it if comes anywhere around Cincy.





THE PICTURES BELOW ARE FROM 1999 WHEN MY SWEETIE AND I WENT TO SAN FRANCISCO

The Sea Lions at Fisherman's Wharf. They are a crazy bunch and a smelly bunch!
That's me in jail on Alcatrez. Let me out of here!
That's me back in 1999 in San Fran
That's my sweetie walking around Alcatrez



This was my first time coming into San Francisco by ship and it was a really wonderful way to come into this great city. My sweetie and I have been here a few times. It is a romantic city, Tony Bennett left his heart there and I can see why. Does anyone else love Tony Bennett? I love his music. Anyway, I'm off the subject as usual. When we docked in San Francisco, my friend Sherra and I decided to just walk around the city. We had both been here a few times so we took the cable car and headed into town to shop. And we did shop till we dropped but if this is your first time to San Fran, let me tell you a few of the not to be missed highlights.

First off take a cable car ride, especially the scenic Powell-Hyde cable car to Fisherman's Wharf, which goes through ritzy Nob Hill (don't forget to hold on tight). Then go to Alcatrez, it's well worth the trip to the Rock. Okay off the subject one more time. Did any of you see the movie The Rock? Well, then you can get a good idea of what San Francisco looks like including Alcatrez. Take a walk across the Golden Gate Bridge. Go to Chinatown. My sweetie & I literally walked all around San Fran or hopped on a cable car to get where we wanted to go. While you're at it, don't forget to visit Golden Gate Park. The Blue and Gold Fleet have tours year round on their sightseeing boat and Grayline tours is another tour operator on land. And I haven't even mention the good food, you can find all kinds of seafood to eat in Fishermans Wharf and downtown around Union Square. The shopping is amazing in Union Square, so if shopping is your thing you will not be disappointed. I feel like I am just giving you a quick overview of San Francisco. But really it is one of those places that is a must see and there is so much to see. Okay, I am having so much fun in California let's just stay here a while longer. Let's go to one of the most romantic and beautiful places in Northern California next week. Let's go to the wine country and visit Napa and Sonoma. Remember the old Lucy episode where she was crushing grapes with her feet, well my hubby and I got to do just that. Can't wait to share that fun.

The Zoo!

Maddie thought these little guys were so funny! I think they are Lemurs.
Maddie & Mommy at the Gorilla exhibit. I really tried to get the picture of the Mama Gorilla with her baby on her back but she kept moving in and out of the shots.
Maddie just loved the Manatees. I almost got in trouble in here because I couldn't figure out how to get my flash to stop working. You are not allowed to use flash with your camera in here. My camera is kind of complicated, so I keep it on one setting. Look at her face, pure delight.
And just because I think these guys are the cutest! They are some kind of Penguins from Australia.




We had a great day at the Cincinnati Zoo today. Maddie loved all of the animals. I think she thought some of the big cats were like her kitties back at home. But the Manatees were by far her favorite. The weather stayed beautiful until we were leaving the Zoo and then it started to rain, so that was a blessing. If you are ever in Cincinnati, you should make the trip to our zoo, we have a wonderful zoo. And for anyone who really cares, my good hair day ended when the rain started. LOL I'll be back tomorrow with Travel Tuesday but it might not be until later because I have a work thing. Work just keeps interfering with my fun, but isn't that the way it always is? :-)

New Blog Home and Fall Pictures

This is the new home of my blog. I found the picture for my header and just had to build my blog around it and the pink in my old blog just didn't match it the way I wanted it to. Don't you just love the picture of the cornucopia? It just says Fall and Thanksgiving. I've been kind of searching for a home that I could live with and I think this new style will be great. I have the most beautiful pictures picked out for my header for Christmas and can't wait to put them up. Hope you enjoy it!


Those are the hills of Kentucky across the river.
Also, I have to tell you it has been one of the prettiest weekends ever in Southwest Ohio. Sunny and temps in the 70's and cool at night. Best sleeping weather! This is the park that I walk with my sister June most mornings and these are pictures I took this morning on our walk. The park is right on the Ohio river and the leaves are starting to change. If you click on the pictures, you can see the trees better. I love that I live so close to this beautiful park. Today is suppose to be more wonderful weather, so I called my daughter Melissa and we are packing up my little granddaughter Maddie and heading to the Zoo. Days like this are a gift from God and sometimes you need to goof off and enjoy them. I'll be back later today to catch up on all of your blogs and hopefully have some good pics of the zoo. Oh yea, to top off this beautiful day, I am finally having a good hair day, LOL. That's a big deal if you had my hair. One day I'll have to do a post all about bad hair days! Have a great Monday!

Scrapbooks of Alaska

I finally finished my scrapbook of Alaska. I really enjoyed scrapbooking for the first time and I'm sure it won't be my last.



I've also been wanting to do this virtual scrapbook since I seen it on Kat's blog. Smilebox is alot of fun but it's slow sometimes.



Anyway, it's a beautiful day in Ohio. It really feels like Autumn so enjoy your weekend! We are heading to Saturday evening church services today and some Pumpkin Spice Lattes when we are done. Can't think of a better way to spend a Saturday night.