Going Places

The Dali Lama has been quoted as saying "Once  a year go someplace you've never been before"
I really thought I had met this yearly requirement. I saw the Oregon Coast, Mount St. Helen's, San Francisco, Las Vegas, Death Valley, Valley of fire,  Devil's punch bowl,  Devil's churning, Long Beach, Glacier Park, Yosemite Park, the West side of the Grand Canyon-you get my drift. I've been a lot of places this year that I haven't been before so my adventures have been put on hold and I was getting ready for the upcoming holidays.
But sometimes God has other plans and you don't have a choice.
I ignored some chest pains until they returned a third time with a vengeance. I left work and checked into the hospital in Harrison. They immediately went to work -did you know that there are three types of Nitroglycerin? Got to try them all-not a fan, but no complaints. They won't let you check out of the hospital if your blood pressure does not read normal.
I got to do a stress test, then take an ambulance ride (my very first and hopefully my very last). Then, I checked into Washington Regional hospital. I've visited both hospitals before, but never as an overnight patient. Nice people. Clean rooms. Shitty food menu. I was served English peas at every meal. No joke. I requested pizza and beer and they gave me English peas.
I lost track of how many times they drew blood, but once is much too often in my book. Why can't they just scan your finger like they do when they take your temperature? On Friday morning, I under went a Heart Cath. It's a pretty neat procedure where they send a camera up your arm to look in your heart. I saw my heart, saw it beat, and felt it flutter. Never really wanted to see this, but I'm glad I did.
I wouldn't repeat this whole experience for anything. I'm sorry my loved ones had to worry about me, but I'm grateful for the love and support that I have. My heart is healthy and full of love.

Where? Count down

So every Tuesday I have decided to wrap at least 3 presents. Hopefully, I can get around to getting them all wrapped up before Christmas. If I find them.I know I bought a certain thing for a certain person and I put it in a safe place. So safe, in fact, that it isn't easily seen or found. Not upstairs, not in the blue room, not in my Christmas box. I've got 43 days to find it.

Fate?

I had an interesting conversation with my oldest daughter Beth Sunday morning. She's in a group called the "Environmental Law Society" and they were looking for some non-profit groups that needed a little help. 
Beth told them about a no-kill shelter in Sebastian County that's due to close in a month due to a lack of funds and they all agreed to raise money for the shelter and decided to take it one step further. Surely, there was grant money out there that would help-they wanted to help find grants to keep the shelter solvent.
So with plenty of legal expertise, the group put Beth in charge of contacting the shelter. She had no idea who their grant writer was or if that person would be offended at the offer of more help. Beth put contacting the shelter off to a business day and headed to the dog park on a beautiful Saturday afternoon. With so much homework, this was a treat for Beth, Mellie, and Loki. 
She wasn't there long when a lady commented on her dogs and asked their ages. Beth rambled off Loki's birthday, but told the woman that Mellie was a rescue and so her exact date of birth is unknown. The woman loved rescue dogs and had started working at the Sebastian shelter. She was preparing to start some classes on how to get grants to help them. Beth explained who she was and explained that her friends wanted to raise money for the shelter and write grants too. The woman was thrilled-she almost didn't go to the park that day and now she has professional help with grants.
What if it had been raining that day? What if the woman hadn't spoken? 
I'm glad some people believe that fate stepped in. Me, I think God really likes dogs. Cats, too, but mainly dogs.

The house that built them

This isn't my story so I'll stick to what I've been told. The house behind these people are where Dwight's grandparents lived until they built the house on the hill. Dwight is pictured with his cousins that attended the fall get together down in the holler. Most of these people remember playing at this house and in the Sheldon branch just a couple of yards away. Behind, the house is a cave where Grandma Vernie kept butter, milk, and eggs cold. Grandma was a tall woman and sent her grandkids to fetch things from the cave for her-they didn't mind because she was usually preparing something good to eat like fried pies or cat head biscuits. Grandma Vernie gave birth to her last three children in this house. Ralph was so small they kept in a shoe box to help keep him warm. There were five kids that lived in this house- Edna Leigh, Gail, Fern, J.D. and Ralph. If you were in a walking mood, the Buffalo River is less than a mile away.  Ralph learned to swim in the creek bed leading to the river. Grandpa farmed and ran a saw mill. 
This house is really small for seven people, but I assure you every corner was filled with love.

Another Cold Case file bites the dust 30 years later

yes-you know Halloween just passed and I keep hearing Mom telling us to get our asses to Mr. Beard's house to clean up the mess, but I never rolled Mr. Beard's house.

Umm.....I did.

I rolled some others but not his-didn't matter-what???? you devil you

So you were getting in trouble for the time I rolled his house?

LMAO

hell yes had to clean it up

LOLOLOLOLOL

Hysterical

Mystery solved, eh? LMAO

Nancy Drew at her best

Exactly!

LOLOLOL

Sorry you got busted for something you didn't do. *evil grin*

Happy Birthday Mom

This was taken just three short years ago at Mom's 70th birthday. It's amazing what life can throw at you in three years and how much things can change
and some things don't
Fall will always remind me of Mom. She loved to look at the colors of the leaves changing. She loved the cooler temperatures that inspired more baking. She loved Halloween and dressing up. I think she even loved to tell her grand kids about what rotten teenagers their parents were and what Halloween trouble we had gotten ourselves in.
I had wanted to create a random act of kindness day as a way to remember her birthday so that people would get out and do something nice for others and may be take  their minds off missing her so much, but each time I went to "Create an Event" the words just wouldn't come. Sometimes the tears would, but words escaped me.
So life just went on, and there are a lot of birthdays in October. I bought one for Casey, then Chris, and Beth and I was on my third "Happy Birthday Mom" card before I realized what I was doing and put it back. I got my shit together and braced myself for today. I didn't really need facebook to remind me that it was her birthday, but I enjoyed seeing pictures of her- especially ones that showed her laughing and smiling. And just like always, watching her smile makes me smile.