Grateful for 7 Things, plus 7 Thoughts 13 Apr 2014

1. LILACS...I absolutely love lilacs.  Love the smell, the colors (dark purple, light purple, even white) the "home-i-ness"of them, the bushes whether in bloom or not, but mostly the blossoms. I love love love lilacs, and I saw some blooming today! Not at my home.  Gee, I wish I knew someone with a bush because I would beg for a bouquet. The lot I bought to put my trailer on is just toxic I think.  I have planted probably a minimum of 8 lilac bushes over the 4 years I have lived here.  None have survived.  Neither have more than a dozen rose bushes, 3 trees, a dozen Crepe Myrtles, a yard full of "store bought" grass (sod), and way too many plants.  My daughter swears the moles that also live here underground have really enjoyed eating the roots of everything. 
2. RED BUD TREES... The one tree that has survived in my yard is a Red Bud.  When it blooms in the spring it is just so beautiful.  I love it.  I can see it out of my kitchen window. It is not red but pinkish/purple.  Well, here, this is it (photo below).  As you can see there is no other color in my yard other than a glimpse of a yellow plastic grocery bag blown in the yard and stuck in the fence.  Thus, I think Seattle IS the garden of Eden, and why I appreciate the tiny bit of color my red bud tree gives me for a few days. 
   
3. GREEN BUDS ON ELM TREES... It is so nice to see the Elm trees bud out.  Just happy to see another touch of color.  These elms have probably been here a hundred years and Dutch Elm disease is getting to most of them.  These trees are full of dead branches.  I don't have one on my lot but the branches get blown onto my roof every now and then. This is the view out my front door towards highway 287.  It appears that I am right on the access road but it is 160' of vacant lot from my fence to the road. The vacant lot between me and the street is brown, the access road and highway are the gray streaks, followed by more dead brown grass on the other side of the highway, gray dead branches in the trees -- and why I am excited to see some green buds.  The blah concrete stairs lead to a bridge.  Kids can walk across the bridge over the highway to get to the elementary school across the way. 
   
4. NEW MEXICO MAGAZINE...I spent my Sunday afternoon reading a New Mexico Magazine.  The March issue.  My sister sends it to me because I love New Mexico and wish I lived in Santa Fe.  I was born in Tucumcari and lived in NM (Tucumcari, Albuquerque, Rio Rancho) until my 30's. 
   
5. FINDING FREE STUFF...While in Wal-Mart the other day I saw a basket of these boxes.  A woman was stocking shelves with sidewalk chalk and had taken them out of these display boxes.  I asked if I could have one, thinking it would be perfect to store my New Mexico Magazines... and it is even turquoise!
   
6. DIGITAL CAMERAS...I also spent a good part of the afternoon cropping, deleting, saving digital photos of my new grandson.  LOL! Even after deleting some I still have 168 photos of him between a few hours old and 2 months.  He is almost 6 months old and there is no telling how many photos I have to date.  Next Sunday I will work on them again.  I love my digital camera.  I would post tons of photos of my grandkids but I worry about weird people out there and have heard there is a way to get the address of where the photo was taken.
7. ICE SKATING...Nope, I have never skated, on ice or anything else, but I have enjoyed watching it on tv this afternoon.  I am taking it easy this weekend.  I had my 3rd go-round of "the cruise line crud (without the cruise)" this past week and let me tell ya, I am sick of being sick.  It was so violent and frequent this time I threw up blood three different times.  That was scary. Now it just feels like I have pulled loose every muscle in my body or I have had a beating with a 2" x 4" or something.  Went to the Dr Fri for my yearly free Medicare wellness checkup and I am fine, but I told her it has been this bug, the flu, this bug, really bad colds, this bug.. since December and what can I do besides bleach every available surface in my house and spray Lysol until I can't breathe.  She told me it has just been a really bad year for these illnesses here this winter.  Well, I hope all the germs leave soon.  

7 for the 6th

1. rest
2. energy
3. endurance
4. disposable diapers
5. PBS
6. cloudy days
7. homemade "playdoh" recipes

March 30th + 7 Things

Grateful & happy for:

1. Mary Engelbreit
2. Daffodils
3. Umbrellas (yes! We had rain!)
4. Haircut
5. Free cardboard boxes
6. Coupons
7. Hearing

March 16th, 2014 & 7 Things For Which I Am Grateful

Children's birthday parties
Dishwasher
New boxes of crayons
Fruit
Medication
Calm
Sleep

March 9, 2014 - 7 Things

Adding to my list this week:

1. Love
2. Family
3. Friends
4. Touch
5. Kindness
6. Faith
7. Sight

2 March 2014 ~ 7 Things

and this week I am thankful for:

Rain!

Cheesecake

Health

Opportunity

Social Security
House plants
Photographs

23 Feb 2014 ~ 7 Grateful Thoughts

Grateful this week for:

Patience
Recovery
Remembering
Rest
Help
My old van
Grandbaby smiles

7 Word Sunday 2 Feb 2014

Life was made better this week because of (and I am really grateful for):

• Zicam
• Puffs with Lotion
• Skyping with my son
• Clean, fresh smelling sheets
• Large print books
• Birthday greetings
• Socks -- soft, thick, new ones

( I KNOW, not just 7 words but "zicam puffs skyping clean large birthday socks" doesn't get the same thing across)

7 Word Sunday 26 Jan 2014

This week I was grateful for:
Heat
Porch light
Library card
Lotion
Tylenol
Skype
Scriptures

I Feel Grateful For That Huge Electric Bill

      I often wake up in the wee hours of the morning and if I can't get back to sleep I get up and get on the computer.  I know, totally wrong thing to do, but I do it.  It is currently 7 degrees outside but since we always have wind it feels like -8, according to my local news website.  I haven't opened the door to see what that feels like but when one of my dogs went out and came back inside the doggy door in just a minute her fur was freezing cold.
     I am grateful for a working heater.  I am even grateful for the enormous electric bill I received for December because it means I was toasty warm through a very cold month.  I am even more grateful that I am hot natured and am comfy with the thermostat set at 67 degrees or that electric bill would have been really, really bad.
     I have been thinking a lot about things I am grateful for this week.  Of course I am grateful for my most important blessings like my kids, grandkids, dogs, sister, nieces, Heavenly Father.  This week it has popped into my head numerous times that I need to say thank you Lord for some other things that make my life better.
     I am seldom out after dark.  I can't see well to drive safely ~ mostly I see glare from the streetlights.  Sunday I had a chance to visit with my grandkids and I left their home a little late.  By the time I got to my house it was dark outside.  I always park in my driveway, then walk along the 50 feet of sidewalk next to my trailer house to get to the back door.  Even in the dark I feel perfectly safe since I have a 6 foot chain link fence surrounding the back yard, and a couple of Dobermans next door that watch me through the fence until I get inside.  I feel safe because of the porch light which lights up most of my back yard. I was grateful when the motion sensor on the porch light turned it on for me so I could see to unlock the door before I got too cold. I was grateful that I just bought a replacement light bulb for the porch light last week.  I had done without a porch light for a while.  You know how I hate to pay retail for anything and when it burned out recently I was waiting for a sale since those big bulbs are pricy.
      I am so extremely grateful for a library card and a wonderful library.  My daughter came for dinner last night and on her way through town she picked up a bag full of library books for me.  I honestly don't know what I would do without a library card.  I read more than anything else, especially when it is too cold to get outside.
     I think on Sundays I will post 7 words.  7 things I found myself grateful for during the week.  Other than the important things -- family most likely -- what do you find yourself feeling grateful for?
     

Garth Brooks' Biggest Fan

      

On my TV right now, this very minute, is Garth Brooks.  Garth Brooks, Live from Las Vegas. Be still my heart! I love Garth Brooks.  I am his biggest fan, not because he is such an excellent singer-- even he says he is not that great a singer, but because he is so funny, he is such a showman, I like how he sings, and he just seems like such a nice guy.    
        My heart was broken when he was on Oprah one year, quite a while back, and I could not get tickets to go even though it was filmed right here in Amarillo.  Do you remember, in 1998, when some fool monied rancher here in the TX panhandle sued Oprah because she said -- on her TV show -- she would never eat a hamburger again and cattle prices fell the next day?? Obviously her fault. (picture big eyes rolling here) It was during a mad cow scare.  Oprah brought her crew here to Amarillo and filmed her show from Amarillo Little Theater for months during the trial.  That was back before Phil McGraw, PhD was "Dr. Phil."  He was here too, every day, guiding her through the trial.  At the time he had a company in Dallas called Courtroom Sciences, Inc, a trial sciences firm.  He is a big guy -- we saw him on the local news every night right next to Oprah, and we all thought he was a bodyguard.  By the way, she won.
     Anyway, back to Garth.  I didn't get to see Garth on Oprah, except on TV like the rest of the world.  It was his birthday.  Oprah had for a surprise for him -- she brought his Momma & Daddy out with a big birthday cake.  Oprah seems like a real nice person too.  However, one year, I DID get to go to a Garth Brooks concert ... the only concert I have ever in my life been able to attend.  Some times one is enough, if you get to go to the best one.  The year Garth Brooks came to Amarillo for a concert my daughter wanted to go.  I hadn't planned, even dreamed of being able to get tickets but my daughter, who seldom asked for anything, wanted to go.  I have no idea how I came up with the money but I did and me & the 4 kids had the time of our lives.  I remember standing in line f.o.r. e.v.e.r. with my daughter to get those tickets.  I remember going to the concert.  It was outside at a football stadium.  It was awesome. That was one of the best nights of my life -- me and my kids having a blast listening to Garth Brooks.  Life was good. No, life was great.
    I am enjoying this TV special so much.  If you are a Garth fan I hope you were able to see it too.  The only thing I don't like is how often he stops singing and lets the audience sing the words.  Well, at least we know he does not lip sync! :) 
     Tonight, sitting here watching Garth on this TV special I felt happier than I have in I don't know when.  I love his songs, I love his facial expressions, I love his fun, I love his sense of humor and he made me feel good. It reminded me of good times with my kids. It made me feel Happy with a capital H.  That, my friends, is no small thing.  I think this feeling is "the joy of life" my therapists and psychiatrists have told me for decades that I should feel (as I look at them like what the heck are you talking about).  Something even bottles and bottles of Cymbalta haven't been able to do for me.  I am grateful for this 2 hour special that brought me so much happiness. Some where I have some worn out CD's of Garth's.  I need to find those and play them all day long tomorrow and try to keep this feeling inside of me.
    P. S,  I also giggle at myself ---- me, this almost 60 year old, non-alcohol drinking, can't carry a tune in a bucket, Mormon grandma, belting out "I've Got Friends In Low Places Where The Whiskey Flows And The Beer Chases My Blues Away"  along with Garth on the TV.  Too funny! 
     And one more thing,  I am starting my bucket list.  It seems impossible but you never know.  The first thing I am putting on my bucket list is to have a front row seat  (okay, I will take any seat) to see Garth Brooks in Las Vegas.  Or anywhere else, for that matter. 

My Story Elizabeth Smart

 

This is only November 5th so I know I most likely will read a dozen more books this month but I know today that for November this title will be the best of the bunch.  

      I, along with most of America, read the newspaper articles and saw the clips on news broadcasts regarding the Elizabeth Smart case in 2002 and 2003.  In case you are one of the few who might not recognize her name she was 14 years old when a man stole her from her bed and held her prisoner for 9 months.  I did not read the book her parents wrote, nor the book her uncle wrote about her abduction and rescue back in 2003 and 2006.  That I did not read them was a little strange for me because I love biographies and autobiographies, and like Elizabeth I belong to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.  Normally those two things would be enough to insure I at least looked at the books.  I was curious, but I chose not to read them because I have a very tender spot for people who have been abused, especially children, and I thought it would be too painful for me to read.  For the same reason, I probably would not have read this book had I not seen an interview Elizabeth Smart gave to Meredith Viera last month.  I only caught a portion of it but it was so powerful I decided to get on the waiting list for the book at my library. I started it last night and finished it today.

     If you are looking for a gritty, full blown description of the rape and abuse she suffered you will be disappointed.  I for one am glad she left much to the imagination.  I did not want to read about that. What impressed me from the interview, and from the book was the strength Elizabeth had, strength of faith and determination.  She was only a child but she had more faith, determination, sense of survival skills than most adults.  

    Should you not want to read the book I hope you will at least read the last chapter.    Chapter 40, entitled "Gratitude and Faith" is only 9 pages long.  One of my favorite remarks was Elizabeth saying that at the time she wrote the book she had lived for 307 months. 9 months had been "pretty terrible," (what an understatement) but that 298 months had been very good, and that she liked those odds.  To me that is an incredible attitude. Her other thoughts in those 9 pages are even more remarkable.  Her tender feelings of gratitude were amazing, inspirational, and a lesson we all could learn from her, no matter what trials we have in our lives.