resolution

1. a resolve or determination: to make a firm resolution to do something.
2. the act of resolving or determining upon an action or course of action, method, procedure, etc.
3. the mental state or quality of being resolved or resolute; firmness of purpose.

i can't decide if i like or dislike it when a word has multiple meanings. today...i think i like it because i can choose which meaning i want to use. take the above word of the day - resolution! hmmm. i think i will rule out definition 3 - considering the mental state i'm in it would not be good to resolve much today. definition 2 - sounds like too much work. so for today i will go with definition 1 and firmly resolve to do something!

new lyrics to an old tune

christmas is coming....and

libby's getting fat!

please put a penny in the old maid's hat

miss ruby louise connors

welcome to the world miss Ruby Louise Connors
born: dec 8, 2008
she is beautiful !

a match made in the kitchen?

my nephew, cousin, dear friend, butler and what ever else i decide to call him, had an epiphany moment when opening his kitchen cupboard. quote: "libby, do you know anyone named bruce? i opened up the cupboard tonight and as always, giggled when i saw your can of pumpkin stuff. but then i noticed right there by you was bruce (yams). thought it might be a sign, a match made in heaven, or at least the cupboard. just thought i would let you know. A a ron" . . . i suppose it is not too far fetched that i would find my one and only via food!

and speaking of food, a big shout out to - a, ash, soph, annie, kate and anyone else who helped provide delicious cookies for my soul and belly! they were yummy. i would have taken a picture to post but ate them too quickly. i must be having sympathy pains for ash because right now, since all my sugar cookies are gone, i am now craving her ginger cookies. ash, you must remove that picture from your blog. it just makes me crave them more. guess i'll just have to waddle over to the fridge and have a chocolate truffle or two instead.

success

he has achieved success who has
lived well, laughed often, and loved much;
who has enjoyed the trust of pure women, the respect of intelligent men
and the love of little children;
who has filled his niche and accomplished his task;
who has never lacked appreciation of earth's beauty or
failed to express it;
who has left the world better than he found it,
whether an improved poppy, a perfect poem, or a rescued soul;
who has always looked for the best in others and
given them the best he had;
whose life was an inspiration;
whose memory a benediction.

bessie stanley 1904

boy am i lucky to know a bunch of successful people. thanks friends!!!

Lincoln Kansas 1905: "Mrs. A.J. Stanley at the earnest solicitation of Mr. Stanley wrote an essay on "What constitutes success" for entrance in a contest carried on by the George Livingston Richards Co. of Boston, Mass. It was required that the essay should be confined to 100 words and should be the best definition of what constituted success, neatness and several of the requirements being taken into consideration. The essay was entered in competition with hundreds of others from all parts of the country. Last Saturday when Mrs. Stanley was notified that she had won the first prize of $250 she did not credit the good news and laughing told Mr. Stanley he could have half. An accompanying draft furnished satisfactory proof."

those darn scallywags

what is it with pirates lately (and i'm not talking about the ones found in pittsburgh) arrgh! a 330 meter tanker, thats 1080 feet!, has been hijacked in the high seas. and no one is quite sure where it is! what! that's a big ship and it is carrying 2 million barrels of oil! that's a lot of oil. i suppose the ocean is much bigger than we think it is. in september some 30 crew members of a french luxury yacht had been taken hostage off the coast of somalia. then i read that an additional 30 ships were seized by pirates last year with the guided missile destroyer USS Porter opening fire in order to destroy pirate skiffs tied to a Japanese tanker! how can this be. pirates? it's 2008! what's the matter with this world. and how do you off load 2 million barrels of oil without everyone knowing about it? this is not good. especially since our dear "silver sailors" are about to set upon the mighty seas themselves! let's hope no one is forced to walk the plank and that captain jack sparrow stays in hollywood! scallywag: a villainous or mischievous person thank goodness i only know of a few of these types personally!

if anyone see's this missing hijacked tanker, please dump all pirates overboard and return to the saudi government.

happy birthday gram

when i was young my mother would often gather us around her overstuffed rocking chair and read to us. the words of stickland gillilan are brought to mind:

“you may have tangible wealth untold,
caskets of jewels and coffers of gold,
richer than i you can never be.
i had a mother who read to me.”

one day, my sister cori, came rushing home from the library with a new book she had discovered and was anxious to have mom read it to us. it was an old russian folktale, set in the ukraine many, many years ago. my mother’s voice was melodic and soothing - a wonderful conclusion to a busy day filled with play.

the book, My Mother is the Most Beautiful Woman in the World, tells the story of a small russian girl who becomes separated and lost from her hardworking, round faced mother while harvesting in the wheat fields. the moral of the story follows the russian proverb: “we do not love people because they are beautiful, but they seem beautiful to us because we love them.”

“some people see with their eyes alone. others see with their hearts, too.” my mother taught her children, this important concept of love and I thank her for it.

colorful politics

it has been one of those frustrating days. a lot going on, no apparent success in anything, late nights and early mornings, moths in the pantry, laundry, laundry, laundry and lots of dishes and general grumpiness on my part. and....i am really sick of politics. i believe in passion and am grateful for my right to vote but goodness this is getting ridiculous. but my day was made much better at about 9:50 pm. i turned on the tv for a moment and tuned in just in time to see characters "denny crane" and "alan shore" in the middle of a heated political debate on the pros and cons of mccain vs obama. during the height of the argument "denny" pulled out a paint gun and shot "alan" in the knee with green paint. "alan" then pulled out his gun and shot his friend with pink paint. soon they were both covered in paint. i laughed and laughed and laughed. i wanted to join in the mayhem. don't you feel like hitting somebody or something every once in awhile? is that something i should admit?

(one of my favorite scene out of the movie steel magnolias is when the character played by sally fields screams at the end of her daughter's funeral that she "just wants to hit somebody". the character olympia dukakis offers up shirley maclaine and says "here, hit weezer!" ... i laugh every time.)

in review this just isn't as funny as i perceived it to be. maybe you had to be there. but i am grateful for the relief and a good laugh. i just hope that once this political race is over we don't end up with an extreme left or right government and that family and friends will still talk to each other. on the other hand maybe it would be a good idea to arm ourselves with paint balls or at least arm the congress.

note to self

1. remember to turn off the tv before midnight. otherwise you will stay up all night watching 2 reruns of without a trace and 3 episodes of cold case and before you know it the sun will start to rise and it is 5 am.

2. remember to buy alka seltzer. (this is needed after eating too many corn chips and salsa at 2 am)

3. remember 2 am feedings are for babies only and not insomniac middle aged women who stay up all night watching tv.

true confession

every year someone in our wonderful, friendly, caring neighborhood makes up a couple of plates of cookies or cupcakes or carmel apples along with a picture of a ghost or witch or something halloweeny and secretly delivers them to a neighbor. the treat comes with a note saying that the receiver must now, as they are enjoying the goodies, make up two more such goodie plates and pass them along secretly to someone else in the hood and thus by halloween everyone in the neighborhood has been treated. (you put a picture of a ghost or witch in your window to indicate you've already been treated so you don't get it twice) the first year i was "treated" made me feel so special. wow - somebody liked me enough to choose me as their friendly "ghost or witch" neighbor. i excitedly made up my two plates, made copies of the instructions along with copies of the ghost or witch picture, placed my picture of the ghost or witch in my front window and promptly delivered my other two. i was happy. .... that was until i got home and discovered i had failed to put a second picture in my back door window and had been treated again. now don't get me wrong, i loved the treats and love my neighbors, but now i had to make up two more plates of goodies and deliver them to two more neighbors! the next few years this "tradition" took place i was sure to place copies of the ghost or witch in both my front and side door windows. this year i noticed that cori had received her halloween witch and had the treats ready to deliver to her neighbors. i had not been treated yet, so while no one was looking, i made copies of her witch so i could place them in my windows and pretend i already participated. but i decided to run an errand before taping her to the glass - when i got home i said to myself, "self - you better put that witch up". so i checked the side door, no treats yet, good and i taped my witch for all to see. the front door was next and as i finished taping my second copy to the window i glanced down and saw a paper on the doorstep. i opened the door and low and behold there was a plate of cookies with a note of instructions and a copy of a witch. so today i will make up my two plates of goodies and find a neighbor who has not been treated yet. moral of this story - it never is good to be a bah humbug at christmas or halloween!

doing my part for the economy

cori tells me it has been too long since i last blogged! look who is talking. but since i always listen to my "elders" and since i have, actually both connors and i have a large wedding party coming to stay at our houses tonight and i need to finish changing the sheets and cleaning the guest bathroom and clean the kitchen, i decided to sit down and post! i believe avoidance behavior runs in my family. because, after i finish this post what i really want to do is go to bukoos and the 5 hour store and bath and body works, etc.
speaking of shopping - i have done my part to help spur the economy on lately. the only problem is that my new toys are making me very sore and tired. last week i went to lowes and bought a new edger and trimmer and blower for the lawn. just a word of caution for any future home purchasers out there - avoid corner lots! my next purchase ended up being a new dyson vacuum. cinny got a new one and i wanted one too! found a good bargain at .... bukoos of course, so after edging my entire lawn i went inside and vacuumed the house, just to see how much dirt my old vacuum left behind. (note: dyson's pick up more dirt than old kenmore's). while at bukoos i also found a cool kitchen faucet and since i needed a new one i bought it. jordon promptly installed it for me and i have enjoyed doing the dishes and cleaning the sink. i saved well over $400 dollars on these purchases. gotta love a bargain. my next and final purchase - so far - was a new dining table. it is 96" long....that's 8 feet!!! will sit 12-14 and if we want to we can add a leaf or two. there is also no "skirt" so mom can roll right up and not bang her knees. now more people can sit at the table and eat. lest anyone thinks i am rolling in the dough, i'm not ... i just got a really good buy. table sells for $1300 - $1500 or something like that. (i verified online and didn't just believe the salesman.) guess how much I got it for ----- $325. and when i die i can be laid out right on it and you guys can have a good ol wake for me. sooooo.... come on over! how about thanksgiving?!

this much is true

recently i discovered or rediscovered that:

Y gram knows all the words to "la cucaracha".
Y the smell of squash baking on a cool autumn day is divine.
Y even though my lauffice (that's laundry room - office combined) is a mess most of the time, i do prefer it to be clean and free of debris.
Y parker and gram speak the same language. they say "uh-huh" and "yup" and "i doe no" exactly the same. berry propel is also their current drink of choice.
Y my sister can make more peach pies than i can eat. (hard to imagine)
Y i like to work ...
Y i also like to laz around - and am quite good at it.
Y i have inherited a bit of the family obsessive-compulsive trait. (thus my collection of backpacks, shoes, pillows, air mattresses, i don't even camp anymore, and, most recently chairs!)
Y history is still my favorite subject.
Y mia maids rock.
Y we use a lot of salt and pepper.
Y i have the best family in the world.
Y cori's music brings me pure joy.
Y my favorite tv reality show is "the amazing race" can't wait for it to start again.
Y and i can spend hours blog stalking!

castles, unicorns and princesses

it was the blue unicorns vs the purple princesses. the turrets of "castle park" stood as the backdrop. players were armed with hair ribbons, cartwheels, skips and leaps and plenty of smiles. a thumbs up was given to us spectators each time her royal highness sophie passed as she ran up and down the playing field. she was in her game and all of our eyes were on her. by the end of the match it didn't much matter which side of the field the soccer ball was on. the little legs wrapped in shin guards and knee socks were tired and their bodies were hungry. they had played a noble and honorable game. each team cheered the other with grand enthusiasm. high fives were given and little voices saying "good game" could be heard. the proud coaches encouraged their players and thanked them for the doing a great job while handing out boxed juices and teddy grahams. i can hardly wait until next weeks game.

dating decisions?

i find it a bit ironic that i am giving a yw's lesson on dating decisions. mmmm...i didn't do very well in that department. not that i was a dating fiend, meaning a person who is extremely addicted to some pernicious habit, but much to some people's surprise i'm sure, i did date...or at least made the decision to date. what i was never too good about was making the decision to marry. so in the long run perhaps it is not so ironic, me teaching about dating. at least i've done that. looking on the positive side i am grateful i'm not teaching on marriage, finding your soul mate and twooo love!

- - -

Epilogue: (reposted at 8:43 am) after posting this blog and then staying up about another 1 1/2 hours to do my lesson, i finally went to bed. during my short sleep, since i awoke at 6:15 am, i had a dream that i was a bear! or at least that i was in a bear's den watching and participating with all the other bears. the massive, but kind mother bear patted my head with her large paw, then patted the heads of the twin cubs, which i estimated to be about 2 year old cubs and then cuddled down next to a very small and cute cub. i felt myself smiling and feeling somewhat comforted and snuggling down myself. hmm, i wonder if the interpretation of this dream means that i need to take a very long winter's nap!

to infinity and beyond

yesterday i learned of a man and his 12 yr old autistic son who were swept out to sea while swimming off the coast of florida. the boy is pretty much a non verbal autistic, except for his love of disney movie phrases. when the father realized they were in trouble and unable to make it back to shore, he kept in touch with and encouraged his son by shouting out phrases from favorite movies. most often used - "to infinity and beyond". darkness set in. they could no longer see each other. i can almost hear the father calling "to infinity..." and the enthusiastic reply of the son "... and beyond". fourteen hours passed as the two drifted further apart. the water was dark and treacherous. by early morning light the young boy would no longer respond. a rescue helicopter spotted the man and hoisted him to the safety of a nearby coast guard ship. there was no sightings of the 12 year old. despondent the man retreated below deck to gather courage and morn his loss. after sometime the rescuers bid the man to come up on deck. they pointed to a helicopter and said that his son was on board and he was ok. rejoicing the father kissed every guardsmen on board ship. the boy survived because he knew his father was near. in his innocence he simply believed he was on an adventure and did not allow fear to set in.

i think that our Father is calling out to us..."to eternity and beyond". He is on our side, cheering us on, knowing we can make it through dark nights and treacherous waters. we need to be brave like the 12 year old who believed and had no fear. if we are prepared, by knowing that the love of our Father in Heaven is constant, we have nothing to fear. so here's to "infinity...ie eternity....and beyond."

Christopher Marino was rescued after nearly 14 hours in the sea.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/26639098/