In Honor of My Mom

Seven years ago this past Monday (June 1st), my mom passed away. She was such a wonderful mom and such a special lady and remembering her reminds me of a lot of good things in life. One of which was all of her beautiful flowers. She definitely had a green thumb, which I was fortunate enough to have received from her. She gave me this beautiful Christmas cactus for my birthday the year before she died. It has bloomed over and over and over again and every time it does, I think of my mom. She gave me a love for plants, a love for music, a love for children, a love for gardening, a love for the simple things in life. She usually had a beautiful smile on her face (when she wasn't yelling at one of us eight kids!). I know she would have absolutely adored all three of my grandbabies! Oh, how I wish she could have met them all, but I am sure she is watching from heaven and enjoying herself seeing them anyway! She was also a real giver - of herself, of her time, of her talents (piano playing being the most famous for her), her food (she was definitely a food pusher!), and of her laughter. So many times I wondered how she did all the things she did in her life. She was a remarkable woman, not to mention a wonderful wife to my dad and a fantastic mother to us kids. My dad loved her so very much and until his dying day, he couldn't say enough good about her and all she had done for him. They set a wonderful example for us kids. Oh sure, they had their moments, just like we all do, but overall, they were deeply in love with one another and loved each other until the end. I remember when she met Mike (my own husband) for the first time - she met him the night before I did - and came home and told me what a looker he was! How's that for motherly advice?? She always liked Mike and couldn't resist teasing him once in a while when we were dating, even though he was a very shy teenage boy at that time. All my pictures of my mom are old ones and none are digital, so I don't have a good one to post here, but wanted to at least show something that reminds me of her. I am so thankful for the 70 years she was on earth, even though it seems that she was way too young to die when she did. She missed my dad so very much after he died (10 months earlier than she did). She was lonesome and wanted to be with him. I know she could have gone on without him, but she had given almost 50 years of her life to him and that was pretty much all she knew when he passed away before her. I thank God every day for the family I was able to grow up in. I know it is a blessing that many people don't have, and I know it is a very special thing. Thank you, Lord, for allowing me to have such a special mom.

Long Time, No Write...

So, I'm back again...finally! The last time I wrote here, I was looking forward to our trip to Florida. Well, it was a WONDERFUL trip and we thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. The weather was gorgeous and I couldn't get enough of the sun. It was absolutely beautiful and very restful. We had time to spend with our friends from church also, which was nice. It gave us a lot of time to walk on the beach and visit with them. We also took in a few other adventures with them and had some great food in the meantime! We even bought some shrimp from one of the little stores down by the docks and enjoyed it for several nights, as we were able to cook in the little house we rented. That was definitely the way to go (renting a house) as opposed to staying in a motel. I still think about being in Florida most days, but am also glad to be home and thankful for a beautiful home we have. We are so blessed and I thank the Lord every day for His bounty He has allowed us to enjoy in our life!



It took me two solid weeks to catch up on my typing when I got back home from Florida, but it was well worth the time off. I am still thankful for my job. I love working from home and it has been something else I am very thankful for. If anyone had told me eight years ago I would some day have my dream job, I would not have believed them. God's timing is ALWAYS way better than anything I could have ever imagined.



Now, I am dreaming of summertime and my garden. I have two little basil plants that I have been trying to nurse along and grow. I am not sure they will make it. I also have some basil seed, lavender seed, and pepper seeds I want to start in the house, but am not sure if they will make it either. Of course, my long-time dream is to have a greenhouse...maybe some day. When we were in Florida, we stopped at a local plant sale and you should have seen the beautiful plants they had!! They had lots and lots of beautiful herbs that I would have loved to have for my own garden. I just couldn't figure out how to haul them home on the plane! Oh well, soon I will be able to plant and have my garden to work in. I am also looking forward to having some warmer weather to sit outside and enjoy our deck. That is one perk of living where we do. We have a beautiful backyard to enjoy. Oh, and the birds are back and I wake every morning listening to their beautiful songs! There was one this morning that I recognized, but could not identify. It was really loud and raucous...hmmm. Too bad my mother-in-law isn't around. She would have been able to identify the call for me.



Enough for now. I hope to keep more current on my posts. Ta!

Florida, Here We Come!

So, today it hit 40 BIG DEGREES here in the Northland and it was like a heat wave! And, I am thankful for that, but even better than that, is we are going to Florida for a week on the 18th of February!! WooHoo! I am so excited to go south. I am so ready for some heat right now. This has been a long winter up here, but I have enjoyed the sunny days. I am ready to do some planting in my garden and sit on the deck in the mornings and enjoy the outdoors. Just not quite yet, though. Hopefully, this will be a good sign and we can keep getting warmer as the days are also increasing in daylight hours (something else I LOVE)! Thankfully, my office has some of the only southern exposure windows in the house and I practically live in it all winter (not only because I work from home, either). I enjoy the sun so much and can't wait to have some warmer sun soon. January is almost over and it is a good thing, as Martha Stewart would say.

I've Been Tagged!

Here's my fourth picture! Can you tell that I live in rural Wisconsin?? And we have BLACK squirrels that lie in our trees! Pretty sad, huh, that this is the picture I got to post! (I really do have a life, believe it or not)!

Feeling Old

So when I heard about a guy being trampled to death at a Walmart on Black Friday, I was in total disbelief. Then when I read the articles about the people being mad when the police told them they were closing the store down (since a man was DEAD!) because they had "been waiting in line since yesterday morning," I felt absolutely sick. What the heck is wrong with people these days anyway?? When saving a few bucks is more important than a life?? Wow. That is pretty sad, if you ask me. It makes me feel old like when I used to hear older people talk about how the younger generation was a bunch of ingrates or so unthankful for what they have. I feel like an old, old lady when I hear things like the incident at Walmart. Things like that make me sad, to say the least. Think of all the people who live in other countries and have basically the clothes on their backs and are thankful for one meal a day. I have way too much in my life and sometimes feel ashamed at the abundance I have been blessed with. I am hoping that in our lives of abundance, some day we can give more than we take. I know that is something that I need to work on. The best story I have seen this year was a man who takes his entire family (kids, grandkids, etc.), loads them in his van, and buys hundreds of turkeys for food shelves. Then the whole family delivers them. How awesome is that? It really made me think that I should be doing more things like that in my own family. I am seriously thinking we need to start a family tradition of doing something like that...I'll keep you posted.

The Amazing Race

Finally! The Amazing Race is back on!! Whoohoo!! My favorite show of all times!! My dream is to be on that show some day and travel all over the world! I get a rush just watching it, so can't imagine how I would feel if I ever made it on the show! Some day...

Not Enough Time??

So, what was I saying about a month ago about not having enough time in a day?? Was I crazy or what?? My free time has dwindled down to almost nothingness at this point, but I just had to write to say that I am working from home, which I love and am thankful I can do this job! The work is coming in droves now, but I will try to keep up with the blog from now on. Lots happening, but it is good! Gotta love it, huh??