HAPPY ANNIVERSARY, CHUCK

Today, September 29, 1973, Chuck and I were united in marriage, for a journey of a lifetime. It is so hard to believe that it has been 36 years already. Where does the time go. It seems like yesterday in my mind, that I walked down the aisle, to say I DO. It was a beautiful day for the wedding. While we were partying at the reception it rained a bit. My grandmother told me that was a good OMEN, when it rains on your wedding day. I guess she was right. My love for him has never died, it just has gotten stronger over the years. Yes, I will tell you it hasn't been all peaches and cream, but I made a vow to God, Chuck, and to myself, to death do us part. We have gone through riches and poorer, through sickness and health, and next will be, death do us part.

To all, that reads my blog, I want you to know that marriage is one of the hardest "WORK" I think we have to do in our lives, if you want it to succeed. There are times, I thought to myself, is it all worth this effort and wanted to give up or give in, but I believe that when you say your vows to your spouse in the eyes of God, it is forever, no matter what. I'm sure that Chuck has felt this too, but I can only speak for myself.

To another 36 years!

I love you a whole bunch!

A Beautiful Picture of Jerusalem

Jamie's brother arrived in Jerusalem safely and took this beautiful black and white picture of the city. WOW, I can't believe how beautiful it really is. How we all remember the Bible stories and the old biblical times, well they sure aren't that way now.

He is working for our government. He is so very lucky to travel the world.

I have to add that Jamie's brother is an awesome photographer, so I'm looking for more pictures to show you of this beautiful city.

Patches sleeping with Kobe

My little Patches is a very unusual dog as you can see here in this picture of her laying with Kobe. She just loves when I get kids to babysit. She gets so excited when the kids come that I have to get them settled in a chair first, so I can let her out of her crate. When Kylie comes she takes cover under the blanket because Patches jumps on top of her, no matter how high the chair is.

I was trying to sneak up on Patches to get a head shot of how cute she is beside Kobe, but she caught me.

She finally gave up watching me and just layed down with Kobe. How cute they both look.

Look at this huge Blue Heron bird

My friend, Cyndee and her hubby Paul, went to Richmond over the weekend to the races, so she had a friend stop up at her house to feed her pond fish and clean the filter, and this is what he found. I guess nobody would have believed him when he told them about this huge bird sitting there scouring for the fish. Look for yourself. Look how much taller he is than her statue of a Blue Heron bird, which is about 2 feet in height.

See that lighthouse behind him? Well, that lighthouse is over 3 feet tall, so that tells you how tall that bird really is.



He went from the pond and flew to on top of her shed. Look at his mess he left behind as evidence he was there.



Paul went out yesterday to a pond place to purchase a "Scarecrow" that will scare the bird away. It is a motion kind of scarecrow, that has a censor to it and knows when something is there and it sprays water at the bird to scare it away. Here is the link if you want to check it out, if any of you have a pond in your yard.

http://www.safepetproducts.com/scarecrow-motion-sprinkler.html?gclid=CJfqpJf085wCFWJB5godp1PJkw

I found this picture of a Blue Heron with its wings stretched out. Their wing span is 5.5 to 6.5 feet width. I can't even imagine that in my head.

Happy Birthday, Stephanie

Today, I like to wish our daughter-in-law, Steph, a "HAPPY BIRTHDAY." I hope you have a wonderful day and that your kids did something special for you. I don't remember if she is one or two years younger than our son Tom.

Anyways, HAPPY BIRTHDAY !!

We Lost Our Beloved, Snowball-9/14/09

It has been a very sad week for us here. Our Snowball was developing kidney failure and becoming very sick.

Last Sunday, the 6th, I bought him baby food meats to see if I could get him to eat, because he stopped eating kitty food. He ate a little bit and that was the last time he ate anything. He tried drinking some water but it was so hard for him. I was so hoping he would pass in his sleep, but each day he was still alive.

Saturday morning, about 3:30 AM Chuck came to bed and he crawled out from under our bed.

He was crying, so we made a bed on top of our bed and he slept with us.

He was on his way to be put down, when he let out a cry and he was gone. I'm so happy he is not in anymore pain and is in animal heaven with Princess, Bruno, Snickers, Ductchess, Taffy, Patches (our cat), Spunky. Taffy, Patches & Spunky were all related to each other; Taffy was the nanny cat, Patches was mommy cat to Spunky. We don't have pictures of them, but Taffy & Patches were calico and Spunky was an orange tiger kitty.

Now, we are down to 3 cats & 3 dogs. Our family is getting smaller.

Dr. Phil's Blog

I added a link on my sidebar to Dr. Phil's Blog. Whoever likes Dr. Phil can catch up on their reading of his blog. I am a BIG fan of Dr. Phil. I also, like the show that he had a hand in creating and that is the Doctors.

It comes on CBS at 3:00 PM, Monday-Friday. Have any of you watched it? I know Jamie records it. It is very insightful.

Foods Surprisingly High In Added Sugar

Kids love the granola bars and to find out how much sugar they contain is something else. Maybe that is why they like them so much because they are sweet tasting. Yep, rope those youngsters in very young to the taste of sugar.

Look how many people have addictions to soda. Soda contains 8 teaspoons of added sugar, which is about 33 grams and 130 calories per can. I just read my Wild Cherry Pepsi and this is what is in it, calories-160, total fat-0, sodium 30mg, total carbs-42g, sugars-42g, protein-0g, total carbs is 14% and sodium is 1%.

Wow, I just read my two cans of diet soda that I have here, Diet Mug & Diet Crush Orange. Diet Mug contains 65mg of sodium=3% and no sugars, fat, protein, or calories. Diet Crush Orange contains 70mg=3% of sodium, 6g=2% of total carbs, 5g of sugar and calories is 25.

Wow, amazing and they call it diet!

Well, I just learn a very important thing by reading these labels, today. Bottle water for me.

I really don't drink much diet soda, only when I go out to hear Chuck play in the band or when I play with my Shuffle Board League. From now on though, I will ask for bottle water and if they don't have it then I will ask for tap water with ice.

I had to add this after I first posted this post......I went to Giant and checked out Mountain Dew soda regular and diet. Here is what I found.....Reg. Mountain Dew has 160 calories, 65mg sodium-3%, 47g carbs-15%, and 47g sugar. Diet Mountain Dew has 50mg sodium-2%. Too much salt and sugar in this soda.

The reason why I checked Mountain Dew is because I was always told that soda is the worse soda on the market, if you want to be healthy.

The New Happy Addition to Cyndee & Paul's Family

Paul came home Wednesday night and surprised Cyndee with a little girl. At first, Cyndee was a little upset because she knew this was going to change there lives for a bit, but it will work out I told her. She was fine on Wednesday, but Thursday came and she started acting sick. She was coughing and choking. I went with her to the vet and Cyndee was told she has kennel cough. So, it has been a fun weekend so far. She is getting a little better, after her second trip to the vet yesterday.

They didn't have a name for her yet by Saturday. I told her she has to have a name before you go to Paul's brother's house for a picnic. So, her and I sat by her laptop and looked at all the girl names from A-Z. The ones she liked she saved and showed Paul. None really popped out at Paul, until Cyndee said she was leaning on Billie, after her dad. You see, her dad calls her his baby girl every time she calls him. So, when she saw that name it just reminded her of her dad. Paul really liked it too, so that is her new name Billie girl. What a little cutie she is. She is so smart at 10 weeks old. She pee pees and poopies outside not in her crate already. That is amazing that she knows that at her little age.

Good Luck to Cyndee & Paul.

I will have to get pictures of their other two dogs, Harley & Evo. They are Teacup Yorkies. Harley Barley, as I call him is such a sweet little boy and Evo is so shy. Harley wants to be held and played with all the while I'm there, where Evo is lying in his bed on Cyndee & Pauls's bed. He doesn't come out too much when I'm there, so I go to him to pet him.

Two Happy Siblings

Joss looks so content on Michele's lap. Michele is a co-worker of Jamie and her best friend. She is a very beautiful lady inside and out, as you can see in this picture. And of course, we can't forget that little cutie sitting on her lap looking at all the fun at Jonathan's 5th Birthday Party.



Jonathan and his Uncle Cory. You can tell that Jonathan was a very happy camper to have his Uncle Cory surprise him after his party. His Uncle Cory looks just like Jamie's dad in this picture. He is a younger version of him.

The BIG #5 B-Day For Jonathan

The Birthday Boy

Jacob trying to play basketball

The birthday gang

John and Jamie had an early birthday celebration for Jonathan yesterday at Bounce U. All the kids looked so happy to be able to bounce around, slide on slides, and hit each other with extra large boxing gloves and not worry about getting hurt. It is so awesome on different things there are today to make a child very happy and safe.

September 11th is his original birthday, but they celebrated it early, because his favorite Uncle is moving to Israel around his birthday, so he wouldn't have been able to attend his celebration. His Uncle Cory made a surprise visit for Jonathan and I really wish I could have been there to see Jonathan's face to see his Uncle Cory walk through the door. He loves his Uncle Cory. Who can't blame him, to have an Uncle who was like Jonathan when he was his age. I was told by Jamie that her brother was just like Jonathan. He was very happy and content to stay in the house and entertain himself with his legos or anything else he enjoyed playing with. You give Jonathan a lego, it doesn't have to be for his age, it can be for an older child, Jonathan can put it together and play for hours on end. He is one very smart child when it comes to building, or constructing it.

Here are just a few of his birthday pics for you all to enjoy. I really wish I could have made it. But that is a story in itself.

Tom & Steph's Gang

Steph is making it official. She is going to homeschool Leanna this year. She has been contemplating this for awhile now.

My sister-in-law, Jeri, which is Chuck's sister, homeschooled her kids when they were doing mission work and was traveling a lot. Her kids did quite well with being homeschooled. Their youngest, Becky, was homeschooled for a short time, until Jeri got a job with a Christian School, then Becky went there to school.

Good Luck to you Steph for making this decision.