The world breaks everyone, and afterward, some are strong in the broken places.
Ernest Hemingway
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HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY!

5/10/2015

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REALIZE DEEPLY THAT THE PRESENT MOMENT IS ALL YOU EVER HAVE.

                                                                    Eckhart Tolle

Best wishes to my daughter, my sisters, my sister-in-laws and all you family and friends out there on this special day. Sure do miss Mother and Little Ma today.

  I am writing this kinda late since Lon and I went to Bettendorf for the afternoon and then had a late supper before coming home. We were celebrating his birthday.

On this Mother's Day I was thinking about some of the stuff my mother told me as I was growing up.  One thing she said (and I have tried to instill it in my kids, too) is "Never write down something that you do not want anyone else to read."  I guess that's to keep some stupid thing you've jotted down - perhaps about someone else  -  from getting read and then there may be hurt feelings a'happening.  For example,  I remember writing down something I had heard Alec saying over and over again, because I wanted to ask Jenna what he was referring to.  It was an odd statement but I realized that he was scripting from some movie he had watched and I was curious to found out which one.  Lon found the note by telephone and brought it to me with a very puzzled look.  He wanted to know if I was okay. What I had written down went something like this  "Last night was the absolutely worst night of my life . . .  bar none!"  Poor guy thought that something was really wrong and that I had felt the need to vent.        I believe that line is from the movie "Chicken Little".

Hey, I've got a new commercial to gripe about!  EEEEEEEWWWWW.  Have ya seen the one advertising some new personal razor/shaver thingy?  Three young bikini-clad women come into view and stand behind a table, upon which there is three small topiary bushes.  Uh huh . . . you see where I'm going.  The first two gals have inferior, crappy, some other brand razors and they each chop and cut up their topiary, doing a bad job.  The third girl delicately sculpts her topiary into a lovely heart shape with her special handy dandy razor.  The end of the commercial shows the ladies standing strategically behind the topiaries. This is not what you would call a class-act!  Just my opinion. But I'm from the old-school.  I just about fainted when I saw the first TV commercial for women's sanitary products.  Couldn't believe it at the time.
I
Since my last post, I have been to two wonderful showers.  Nieces Tina  and Kim did a gorgeous job with a bridal shower for great-nephew Ben's fiancé. Lots of beautiful food and lots of wonderful people.   Then yesterday, I went to a really cute baby shower for Cousin Deb's daughter, Amanda.  It was themed "Willy Wonka's Chocolate Factory" and it was all done in pastels with tons of candy and cupcakes.  There were really neat candy topiaries (is this the day for me to write about topiaries???) on all the tables. The invitations were even Golden Tickets.  Good job, ladies.  P.S.  I am so glad that I am finally the old aunt/cousin, that gets to go to these neat events and just sit and enjoy myself and let the young women do all the work. 

Talking about wedding and baby showers, the oddest shower I ever went to was about 40 years ago.  The lady of the day was getting married, but was also expecting her first baby.  How confusing it was, when half the guests brought wedding shower gifts and the other half showed up with stuff for a baby.  The invitation hadn't specified what the occasion was for.   OOOOOPS!  (Glad I wasn't in charge of that party).

Thought I would post a picture or two of Jenna and Alec on the 4-wheeler.  

Thanks to son Dan for the Mother's Day card, also to Alec for the Grandmother's Mother's Day card, and Jenna for all the plants that we plan to put in my yard. 
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                                                                      GOD BLESS YOU ALL
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IT'S MAY DAY

5/1/2015

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DEFEAT IS SIMPLY A SIGNAL TO PRESS ONWARD.

                                                                       Helen Keller

Hey, it is May Day.  I remember as a little kid, sitting down at the red Formica kitchen table and us four little girls would work on special May baskets to take to our neighbors.  Since there weren't very many kids living close to us in the country, we had the opportunity to make up elaborate baskets 'cause we didn't have to make a whole bunch of them.  They usually consisted of the bottom of a Quakers Oats round box, which we covered with ruffles of crepe paper.  With a construction paper or cord handle attached, we could paste on various decorations. After filling it half-full with popped popcorn, we loaded pieces of candy on top.  Then Mother would drive us around  to the various farms and drop them off.  Usually, we received one in return from each of our friends.

Last Sunday sister Judy and I got to go to the Giving Tree Theater again.  This time we saw THE MIRACLE WORKER and it was fabulous!  The actors were truly amazing and almost everyone in the audience ended the show by crying . . .  including me.  Monday night, Lon noticed in the TV guide that the movie was coming on, and I watched that.  Let me tell you, both performances were practically word-for-word, and even though Patty Duke won an Academy Award for her part as Helen Keller in the movie, the young actress that we saw Sunday did as good or better.  Every single actor did an outstanding job.  Good things are going on in Small Town, USA.

Two days ago (April 29th) was the first anniversary of Dad's passing.  In thinking back, I realize what a whirlwind of things were going on then.  But we got through it.  Remember when things get almost too overwhelming, YOU . . . WILL . . .  GET . . .  THROUGH . . . IT.  Trust me.

At last, Spring is truly here.  We have finally made arrangements to have our roof redone and new shingles put on, and the siders will be coming in a few weeks to reside the house.  Yup, it will be a year on June 30th (sis Karen's birthday) that the straight-line winds came through and did all that damage around here. I had thought it would be a wonderful change to redo the house in light yellow with white trim, but     sigh    it will be green again.  Why not?  It's been that color for 37 years.   

Latest on niece Heather:   Recently had surgery on the injuries to her feet that occurred when she was in the car crash back in February.  Still going tough.  As I recall, Dad nicknamed her "Tuffy", which is really quite appropriate, wouldn't you say?    :)

                                                                 GOD BLESS YOU ALL



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