Nov 27, 2008 Happy Day

Happy Thanksgiving

My daughter and I have always believed that when Santa appears at the end of Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade, that Christmas was officially here. She was looking forward to getting back home to start decorating. LOL

We had such a wonderful time. Lots of warmth and time shared with family. We had the meal catered and that was so convenient but we all agreed afterward that cooking had its own merit on the holidays and we agreed we would cook on Christmas. We missed the turkey roasting and the pumpkin pie baking in the oven.

I can barely keep my eyes open right now. It’s been a long and perfect day. The only snag in the day was that Tom, Jeni’s fiancé, was unable to come. He is always on call on his job and he’s been in Ft. Myers for three days trying to correct a problem at their waste treatment center. Not a nice way to spend the holiday. He will get home about midnight tonight if all goes well. Jeni and he are getting used to him always being on call I think but its still disappointing, especially on a holiday and he has to be away.

We were delighted to have June's Mom, Cecelia, spend the day with us. I know June and Mike are worried about her because she has Alzeimers but for a 90 year old woman she looks great and she enjoys herself. I know we enjoyed her. We learned that she is outspoken and funny.

Lexi got her share of attention, as always. I don’t know what level you go to after spoiled isn’t strong enough word. LOL

The Wii was a hit. Michael stayed over after every one had left around 8pm just to get in a few more games. I heard Bill commandeering Michael to come help set up Christmas decorations as he left.

Yamelis, my sister in law from Venezuela, said her mother and sister were a bit perplexed over our Thanksgiving celebrations. In their country they eat Thanksgiving dinner and then leave. Here we eat, play, rest, eat dessert, rest, play, watch Christmas Vacation as we nap, then its dinner time, build a bon fire to sit by, the maybe eat a snack. LOL Maybe that’s why Yamelis weighs about 100 lbs and I don’t! LOL

Great memories here of another Thanksgiving Day and all we have to be thankful for.

Blessings on this day.
This year I’m thankful for my husband. I am so thankful that he takes care of himself so I don’t have to worry about him. He works out daily at the Y, is eating better (not a good subject for this day), and gets his checkups, etc, etc, etc, Thirty eight years of loving him is not enough… I want thirty-eight more.

Jeni, our beautiful daughter I adore and am so proud of. She’s such a hard worker and does so much. She has a wonderful heart and cares so deeply.

Family that keeps growing now instead of disappearing, which was my fear. Though we suffer losses,most notibly our Aunt Betty this past year, and people leave (Guillermo is in the Army now), our family can still gather and even grow. Tom's family has already become family to us and this Christmas we will even get to meet Tom's brother and sister in law and ..ta-da..the twins! We are looking forward to seeing all the family and meeting the ones we haven't met yet.

I’m thankful that Yamelis’ Mom and sister were able to come to America and they were able to be together after seven years of separation. I'm glad we have the opportunity to get to know them better.

I’m thankful for my four brothers and the family tie that we have, the love we share. I’m thankful for my sister in laws and how close I feel to each one of them. Loving your in-laws is not always a given so I know how blessed I am to have Brenda, Rita, Yamelis, and June in my life.

I’m thankful my mother is still alive and part of my life. It’s wonderful knowing she is still able to manage on her own and is vital. Al & Brenda take a load off all of us because she is in a house on their property and they do all the work, seeing that she gets to the store, Dr. and a million other things. I‘m very thankful for Alvin and Brenda!!

We are blessed with a handsome, wonderful, caring, future son in law, Tom. The love that he and Jeni share touches my heart every time I see them together. They will be married in April and I’m thankful that we will be on Antigua on April 11, for this occasion.

I’m so thankful for my family in Texas and for the blessing they are in my life. All of them love and care about us and keep in touch and keep that family tie with Bill.

I’m thankful for all the friends in my life. So many from HCC and Skywriters and here in Plant City and Maggie Valley. They enrich my life and make me more.

Oh, I can see this list could go on and on for eternity. Too many blessings to even list right now. I am so blessed and I am thankful. I will start to think of all the other blessings when I send this and I’ll be thankful for those but I’ll spare you all more words here. LOL

Holiday blessings to each and every one of you who read this.

Saturday Nov 22, 2008

Today was just beautiful weather-wise. Blue skies, cool weather, sun shine and the beauty of autumn full-blown (Florida style).
We started the day having coffee here and then breakfast at Bob Evans (Bill’s favorite place). We split up then to pursue our day. Linen’s and Things is going out of business so I headed there and Bill headed to the car lot.
This afternoon I picked Hanna up(I am in the Big Brother/Big Sister program and Hanna has been my little sister for two years now. ) and we came back to the house to work on her projects. I am teaching her to knit and she’s going to try to get a painting done of a butterfly. We keep talking about it but so many other things get in the way. Tonight we cooked dinner for Michael, my nephew, who came over to help Bill set up his Wii, and Bill and us. They just got it working a few minutes ago after I took Hanna home so Hanna was disappointed she didn’t get to see it. Next time. She and I made chili, grill cheese and cookies for dessert. Not a bad meal for a cold Saturday night and she’s learning to cook.



Here's Michael showing Bill how to do the balance exercises. This Wii should be a lot of fun, or it was until I went up and stepped on the scale myself! Geez!! After the Wii assessed me, my likeness all of a sudden took on this rotund appearance that was shocking! I don't think I'll play any more and that should take care of that!

Celebration

Not sure how to do the photos in a blog but here's my try:
Tom & Jeni's Engagement , Bill's Birthday

Mike & June's new home & Michael's apartment,

Bettina & Gabriella vist from Venezuela, Wayne with his mother-in-law and sister-in-law, Yamelis showing her mom and sister around in the golf cart, getting attached to Lexi dawg, and feeling full and half dozing on the couch while watching the Bucs.

We had such a great celebration of life Sunday. So much to celebrate. Bill’s birthday, Jeni and Tom’s engagement, Yamelis’ Mom and sister here from Venezuela, Michael’s new apartment, Mike and June’s new home, and life is good.
We had a bon-fire outside because the weather turned a bit chilly, perfect weather! The Bucs played at 1p.m. and won and we had the set on and watched bits and pieces of that win, along with the Titans game afterwards and that undefeated team remained undefeated. Michael is a staunch supporter of the Titans so we were really glad they won as well.
I gave Bill a Wii and Michael will return sometime this week to help him set it up. Michael and his Dad and June have one as well so they are all old hats at this. I got him the Fit and some games like golf and football to play. I’m not sure he will play but he might with Michael and I’ve heard such good things about the Wii from friends that have the set. I hope it will turn out to be a good thing and that Bill enjoy it. He also got Harley garb and some shirts, gift certificate to B&N and other things from family - so he had a wonderful (second this year LOL) birthday.
We tried a new bakery that had the prettiest, most unusual cakes and they turned out to taste really good too so we were really pleased with that. Then the catering..OMG…so much food and the quality was deliciously wonderful. We had ribs, chicken, cole slaw, baked beans, carrot cake and corn on the cob. Wayne & Yamelis brought a Snickers Cheesecake and we had appetizers beforehand. I had worried about quantity as well because of past catered experiences, but we ate two meals, lunch and dinner and then we sent some home with everyone to have yet another meal! We have already signed the catering company up for Thanksgiving. LOL I’m used to cooking Thanksgiving dinner and perhaps this will not work out because I like the process of cooking but with my bum knees right now, not having to stand all day will be a good thing. I will have to let Wayne and Yamelis know that they won’t have to bring the ham and sweet potatoes for Thanksgiving..but, man, Wayne’s sweet potatoes are something I look forward to all year and Yamelis’ Flan is something we all look forward to so maybe we will cook some and cater some. LOL
It was great seeing everyone here and celebrating.
Oh, we opened the champagne and drank toasts to everything imaginable, starting with birthdays, engagements, new homes, visitors from foreign lands and ending with celebration for food, and the bon fire, and family, and friends, and Gabriella and Bettina (Yamelis’ family) would say something in Spanish that no one but Yamelis understood and we’d drink a toast to that as well. Yep, life was good. We missed Guillermo who is in the Army but he will be back home for Christmas before he goes back for more school. He will be going to Ft. Bragg. We sat his photo out on the counter and he was with us whether he knew it or not. :)
Just one sadness, and that is that Jeni and Tom are grieving the death of their beloved pet, Archie, and that was so sad to see the pain, though they hid it well. It was good that we could bring some celebrations in though at this time for them. {{{{Jeni & Tom}}}}

Separate Poetry Blog - I'd Like To Say

I found it difficult to combine my poetry and my journal style (kitchen table, front porch) so I now have a separate poetry blog called, "I'd Like to Say".


http://judyidliketosay.blogspot.com/8557803378399

PAD November 14

Prompt:I want you to write a warning poem. Offer some kind of caution or warning related to your theme.

Warning:

Not everyone will stick with you when times are tough
Not everyone will be willing to weather the storm with you.
Nobody wants to deal with your loss or sadness for long.
Just when the shock wears off and you can really feel the pain
don’t be surprised if there is no one there. Your friends are
surrounding themselves with positive people, people who will
lift them up, if they are smart and take care of themselves.

This journey is yours.You have to pick yourself up and find
your own way through the abyss. The most likely help will
simply be time, being open to the help available, and your
willingness to keep going. Graces are there to get us through
but we have to do the work to find them.

Loss and grief are ultimately private journeys
even if everyone around you is on that same journey
their road will never be the same, grief is never the same.
Ultimately you are on your own to stumble as you will
enter a new plateau or find a new mantra that gets you through.
This is just a warning. You are on your own.

Judy Roney

RIP Archie

Today my daughter called to let Bill and me know that Archie, her fiance's dog, had passed away. They are both brokenhearted and their grief is so raw and tangible. Of course my thought is to do something but, what can you do but grieve, too. They decided to take the day off, hop into their jeep and see where it takes them.I thought that was a great way to spend the day and honor Archie. If I know them they were at the beach and there is nothing more calming and life affirming than the ocean.
Tom got Archie, the English Sheepdog, as a puppy and had him for twelve wonderful years. So much love was lavished on this BIG dog from Tom, Jeni, Livi (Jen's dog), Tom's family, friends, and us, too.
I think everyone who met this gentle giant was taken in by that face and his disposition. He looked like he was walking around in a tuxedo because of his coloring. He had an aristocratic bearing that belied the love that spilled out on everyone that got close enough. What a great presense he was in our lives.
We will miss you, Archie. What a great big boy you were. How lucky we all were to have known you and loved you. How lucky you were to have Tom and Jeni devoted to you and loving you for all your life.
I will include a cartoon sketch of what Archie's breed looks like. I will send photos of Archie later.
This will fit in with this month's theme of grief (unfortunately) as I know Tom and Jeni both are grieving now over the loss of their beloved pet.
Brian always wanted a big dog. It gives me comfort to think he has one huge , beautiful, loving dog now.
You will be missed Arch.

Dentists and PAD 13(Poem A Day #13)

I had a friend tell me she didn't think she would visit my site often because of the subject matter, "Loss and/or Grief". Just a reminder that I am just writing poetry on this subject for the Poem A Day and after November I won't. We have to have a theme and that is my theme for this month's writing. I want to have something, a chapbook or poetry book or maybe non-fiction novel on Brian and the grief process eventually. This is my way to that goal. I know its not everyone's cup of tea and I sure wish it weren't mine, but..it is what it is.
I went to the dentist yesterday and I'm still reeling from the quote he gave me on fixing me up good as new. The guys a real joker! I know I have a few problems, what sent me there was a cracked bridge. After he held me captive with explanations on what I needed done, he said for $25,000 he could fix me up better than new. HA!I will be going to a new dentist next month. All of a sudden my teeth are looking very good to me.
I have had two implants come out. He said its because I must grind my teeth at night and my bite is off. Bill used to tell me when he got married again the first thing he would do is check her teeth. Well, I understand completely. I am ready to get dentures. Its looking more and more like a good idea actually and Bill is running that campaign for me. LOL
Bill had his physical today and came out with A-1 good health. Mine comes later in the month and I'm hoping for a good report card, too. I also hope to get something better for my arthritis. I guess I'm officially old, talking about my ailments here.
Wishing you all good health.
Hugs, Judy

Wait

Experts say wait one year
make no major decisions
no moves or changes.

We wait impatiently
for one year, two weeks
three days, four hours.

Then we make our move
search real estate ads
call agents and canvas.

The need to get out, get
away predominates, run
leave the memories behind.

That first day, the first call
net results, we’ll take it
a condo on the water.

We had seven hundred thirty
days to regret it before we could
sell and move two blocks from home.