Howdy Ho Folks!  Just a VERY quick picture post for you all as I am just on my morning break.

I went to Denise's house on Sunday evening for dinner and Big Brother and had to break out my camera to take photos of the flowers at her house.  All of a sudden it seemed as if they appeared overnight.

Here goes:

I loved this photo.......Denise has a cherry blossom tree that is blooming like crazy and some of the blossoms fell off into her Blue Spruce tree:

Random photos:

Denise made this stained glass window years ago:

Here is Denise's furry child Sarah.  Look at where she puts her tennis ball when she is not playing with it:

After dinner Denise and I went to a neighbors house that has Golden Retriever puppies.  We fell in LOVE with them:

Look at the mama's face in this photo:

Walking back to Denise's house I saw another photo op:

OK, that is my quick entry for today.  Happy Hump Day everyone!  Be sure to hug your families.

Happiness comes of the capacity to feel deeply,
to enjoy simply, to think freely, to risk life,
to be needed.
--Storm Jameson

If anyone finds it, please return it to me as I am really missing it right about now.

And folks, here is the song I woke up to this morning: 

Mister Postman, look and see
If there's a letter in your bag for me
(Please, Please Mister Postman)

Does anyone think my Mr. Postman will be bringing me my missing hour??  You never know, someone may have found it and put it in a mailbox to send back to me. 

Speaking of missing hours.....yesterday was the mass in my parents and Christopher's name and guess who missed it?  Yep, I did.  I totally forgot to put my clock forward.  BUT, I'm not the only one that missed the mass....Debbie and Wendy did too.  This is the FIRST time that I've EVER done that before with the clocks.  DOH!  One of my guys was MIA this morning so my boss called him.  He too forgot to set his clock forward yesterday. 

SO, only Sue and my brother Donald and his girlfriend attended mass yesterday.  When I got to the restaurant, there they were sitting at a table for 12 waiting for us:

I had to get a photo of Jessica with her Jack-O-Lantern smile:

Wendy brought Matthew's school (group) photo to show us at breakfast.  This is my nephew Matthew:

I took a photo of the photo (yep, I am savvy like that) to see if you, my very smart Xanga friends could find Matthew in the photo:

In case you didn't find him, he is the little man in the second row with his face hidden, doing the bunny ears!  When asked why he did it Matthew said, "Because it was funny".  Heh heh....I thought so too.  Silly little man!

This not having an internet connection at home is REALLY getting old.  I seriously need to get it fixed.  One thing I'm not behind on is my TV recorded shows.  I only have about 15 hours of recorded items on it to watch.

Alrighty folks, now onto visiting your sites.  Have a wonderful Monday and be sure to hug your families!

OH yes, Mark - Taylor's papa is her grandfather, not her dad!!  Her father is my age!

A single rose can be my garden...
a single friend, my world.
--Leo Buscaglia

Edelweiss, Edelweiss
Every morning you greet me
Small and white, clean and bright
You look happy to meet me

Blossom of snow may you bloom and grow
Bloom and grow forever

Edelweiss, Edelweiss
Bless my homeland forever

We thought of you with love today,
But that is nothing new.
We thought about you yesterday,
And the days before that, too.
We think of you in silence.
We often speak your name.
Now all we have is memories,
And your picture in a frame.
Your memory is our keepsake,
With which we'll never part.
God has you in His Keeping.
We have you in our Heart.
~Author unknown

Joni Mitchell - Both Sides Now

Pierce is turning 8!
It's his lucky date!
Come celebrate!
Don't be late!

(That was the poem on the Evite for Pierce's party
which will take place on Saturday evening)

Yep, today is Pierce's 8th Birthday! 

HAPPY BIRTHDAY PIERCE!!! 

(I'm having a problem posting a photo of Pierce but if you have been reading my site for the last couple of years, you all know what he looks like)! 

Pierce LOVES the number 8.  I have no idea why but it has been his favorite number for quite a few years.  In fact, for one of his birthdays I bought him a #8 balloon and we were at a park celebrating his birthday when one of his relatives that was attending the party saw the #8 balloon from afar and figured that it was another birthday party for an 8 year old.  I asked Pierce if he wanted the #8 balloon or the number that corresponded to his age for that year.  I just can't remember when it was!

It is also my brother David's 49th birthday today!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY DAVID!

My oldest brother Richard is also 49 years old for one more month, so I have two brothers the same age but they are not twins.  WHAT were my parents thinking?!

Last year my sis-in-law Jennifer told me that she had something to give to me from Pierce.  She found it in his schoolwork.  Here it is:

I have the artwork displayed on my desk at work.  I love stuff like that!

OK, time to get busy.  You all have a wonderful day.  I sure hope I do as I have a dental appointment later today.    Be sure to hug your families, furry and human!

AND I LOVE IT!  No, that THAT kind of high....I'm driving my car again (I got it back yesterday) so I'm in my Honda Pilot and I am riding high above the other cars again.  I was driving a Mazda 6 and I wasn't used to be so low to the ground. 

Thank you all for your prayers for Paul.  His surgery went well.  There was a "questionable" lymph node that the Dr. took a CT scan of after his surgery but that came out fine, thank God.    I e-mailed Dora (Paul's wife) yesterday to see how Paul was doing and this was her response:

Howdy Friends, Family and Neighbors....well, I don't think my neighbors are reading my Xanga, I just thought I would throw that one in.

I called my insurance company and filed a claim.  Poor Sue was so broken up about this happening.  I felt so bad for her too because of all the personal items that were in her purse that only meant something to HER.  Sue's daughter has been telling her for YEARS not to leave her purse in the car but I guess it took something like this to happen for Sue to learn her lesson.  I could care less about the damage to my car (it was only a broken window) but Sue fel really bad that it happened. 

SO, today after doing my payroll, I took the rest of the day off to bring my car to the shop and then get a rental car.  NO, it didn't take all day to do that but I decided to just take care of my business and then go home.

My brother had let me borrow one of his vehicles while my car was parked in his garage.  Of course, Murphy's Law - It started raining today.  Plus, my brother has been trying to sell his truck for MONTHS and guess what happened on Sunday?  Yep, he got a buyer for it. 

The shop is so busy that I brought my car to this morning that they won't be able to look at it until Thursday.  BUT, when I brought my car to be checked out last night by the claims dude, he cut me a CHECK last night to pay the shop.  Can you believe that?  I already have the $$ to get the car repaired.  My insurance company ROCKS! 

Anyway, I'm at Denise's house right now.  I miss my computer at home and miss my Xanga friends.  I'll be back here tomorrow night to watch Big Brother with Denise so I will be able to visit you all then. 

Have a wonderful Wednesday and be sure to hug your families.

I've learned that no matter what happens, or how bad it seems today, life does go on, and it will be better tomorrow." 
~Maya Angelou
 

     FINALLY!

     Important items in bullet form:

• My brother's girlfriend Vickie's sister is STILL in the hospital is STILL in ICU but supposedly she is improving.  She has been there for over 3 weeks now.  She is not in the induced coma anymore but she is not able to talk as she has a tube going down her throat.  Vickie asked her if she was in pain and she nodded her head, "yes".  So, they gave her some pain meds.  Weird, eh?


• My friend's husband will have surgery next week for his cancer.  I will go and stay at the hospital with her and the girls while he is having the surgery.


• My cold is better but I'm not 100% yet.  My ear is almost all the way unplugged and the coughing has lessened.


• I finally called the tech people for my internet connection problem and they say that it's a phone line gone bad so I have to get someone over to my house to investigate the problem.  Who knows when that will happen.  It's not top priority right now.


• Tonight I'm going to a dedication to a baseball field for one of the Compassionate Friends members.  Their son was murdered while at a house party (in Nov. 05').  Some guys tried to crash the party and they were told to leave.  Well, they did leave but returned with a gun and they ended up killing the young man that the baseball field is to be dedicated to tonight.  He was only 18 years old.  Senseless, eh?

     IT'S OFFICIAL - I am diabetic.  It was official on Halloween of last year but I finally got the bling to prove it:

     It's a sterling silver bracelet.  Not the typical "med alert" bracelet though.  It's got two charms on it.  On the larger charm it has my med info on it.  I've ALWAYS loved charm bracelets so that was why I picked the style that I got.

     RANDOMNESS:

     Can someone tell me what is sexy about this:

     There is a high rise condo complex that is being built in downtown San Jose.  Do you see how they are advertising the units?  "SEXY"?!  What the heck is sexy about the complex?  Why do they have to use THAT word and how do you explain to a child what that means when advertising a building complex?  Pierce and Jessica are doing pretty good with their reading nowadays and I know Pierce likes to read things at random.  What would I tell him when/if he asked what that meant?!  WTF?  I know, to some of you the price would be the topic of conversation in this post!  Heh heh........we are used to it around here though!

     Last, but not least.....my friend's daughter Jenny has a boyfriend and yesterday was their first Valentine's Day together.  Jenny works at a bakery part-time.  LOOK at what she brought home for her boyfriend:

     THAT, my friends is a HUGE chocolate eclair.  Does it look sinful or WHAT?!  It was so huge, she had to put it in a 12" cake box.  YUM YUM - AND, he didn't share it with anyone.  He actually didn't cut into it last night though when I was there!  I wonder how many Weight Watcher points the entire eclair would be.  Probably about 99!

     Alrighty folks, that is my "Proper Post" for the day, week, month!  You all have a great weekend, take good care of yourselves and as always, be sure to hug your families.

Everytime you smile at someone, it is an action of love,
a gift to that person, a beautiful thing.
--Mother Teresa

A Valentine Sent To Heaven

Angels come swiftly, hurry to our side
Carry our hearts back with you, to our children in heaven now reside.
Carry them gently, handle them with care
And take them to their sides, and gently lay them there.
Whisper to them of our love, and our longing hearts
All our lonely aching while we are apart.
Hold them gently to you, and let them see our love
Let them see this, our valentine to them above.
Reassure them of our love, that it is still the same
And gently hold us when we cry, when we hear them whisper our names.
Let this exchange of love be our valentine
And whisper to them that our love will stand the test of time.
Show them the memories are safely held inside
And with us they will always abide.
Let them see this day, a day filled with our love
As we shed our tears, and whisper their names, to our Valentines above.

by Sheila Simmons Dallas, GA

    This is me:

     I started getting a cold on Tuesday evening.  SO, I stayed home on Wednesday and Thursday.  Whenever I get a cold, it goes right to my ears.  SO, I went to the Dr. yesterday because of pain in my left ear and he said that I do not have an ear infection.  BUT WAIT A SEC ..... I feel it coming on.  The Dr. gave me some nasal spray that just about makes me throw up.  It tastes so bad .... I know, you aren't supposed to spray it in your mouth but somehow, amazingly when sprayed up the nose, it ends up in the mouth.  DOH! 

     SO, we shall see how I am feeling on Monday.  Hopefully I will not have to go back to the Dr.

     It's actually not my laptop that is sick, it's the connection to the laptop.  It worked for about 2 hours yesterday morning.  I wiggled some wires in the back of the laptop and it started working.  YEAH!  A connection to the outside world. 

     Regarding Jeanie - GOOD NEWS:  She is doing amazingly better.  She is not in an induced coma anymore.  She is awake but not able to communicate because she has a tube down her throat.  She has really improved since the beginning of the week. Thank you all for your continued support and prayers!

     My brother called me on Wednesday because his girlfriend Vickie (Jeanie's sister) was in the hospital having emergency surgery to remove her gall bladder.  She has been having problems FOREVER with her gall bladder but I don't know why her Dr. wouldn't do surgery to remove it.  She had to wait until she had a horrible attack to have it removed.  She was in the hospital overnight after surgery and is home now resting comfortably.

     I had my gall bladder out in 1986 when they cut you open to remove it.  Nowadays, the surgery is so simple as they just do a laparoscopy to remove the gall bladder.  The recovery period is very short not like mine....I was off work for 6 weeks when I had my surgery.  It was kind of nice as Debbie was off work too as she was home on maternity leave with Brianna. 

     Mind you, anytime you have surgery and have to "go under", it is VERY serious business but compared to the surgery I had almost 22 years ago, it is a simple procedure!

     Time to begin my workday.  Not sure how long I'll be here as I feel like crap.  Time will tell.

     You all have a wonderful weekend, WASH your hands often and be sure to give your family GINORMOUS hugs!