Reflections of Mom

As life does I've endured the loss of my Grandparents, Aunts & Uncles I adored, my younger brother, my Dad, but none hurt as much as loosing my Mom. As abusive men often do my Dad isolated her from her parents, her siblings, friends and her children. God blessed me with 15 months to really know my Mom after my Dad passed. She was a totally different person, one I came to cherish! She was a beautiful 5' tiny woman with good looks and a feisty, determined, and courageous personality. I wish we'd had more time, but I know we will have it in Heaven. She passed 17 years ago on September 1, 1997 and my heart aches just as much today as it did that day. This picture is the way I try to remember her in my mind...before life had left scars! I miss you, Mom! ༺♥༻

    My Mom "Jewell Arlene" at age 36...34 years before she passed. She was gorgeous! 

Sparking a memory...

(Picture from Pinterest, don't know who gets credit, but it's wonderful!)

...music brings on memories that can be a time machine for the mind! I love feeling "young at heart" at 15 again or sharing a moment with someone I love that has passed on or overwhelmed with the presence of the Lord just from hearing a melody that touches my soul! The next best thing is our sense of smell! It can take us back to holidays, vacations, our babies, or make us fall in love again! You know, life is a wonderful ride! ༺♥༻

...tomorrow is another day!

Am I the only one, besides Katie Couric, that can't seem to get my office closet cleaned out and organized.  I started this process days ago when my husband put some new shelves in the closet so I can make it fabulous and now it's all over my office floor to the point I have to take jumps from one spot to another to get to my computer...and then shove all the papers out of the way to find the mouse!  My intentions being noble are not getting me very far.  I've got 3 things in a large trash sack after going thru box after box.  Why in the world do I want to keep all this junk I haven't looked at most of it in years?  I did find one very good item I'd looked for a couple of years ago and couldn't find...nope, I didn't throw it away. If I needed it then I may be looking for it again one day!  Katie did have a show on this week about cleaning and organizing ones office.  When the camera panned her humble little office I could have fainted, it looked just like mine!  Of course that made me feel much better, because if someone of her status can't keep her things organized they why should I feel guilty. I have pins galore on Pinterest on how to organize with examples that boggle the mind!  So, I'll take my pajamas off tomorrow, put on my working clothes and my thoughts are exactly what Scarlet's last words conveyed to the world,

 "after all...tomorrow is another day!"  ༺♥༻

If all of us only could...

When I opened the email from Avalon Rose Design today and saw this beautiful creation of theirs I immediately loved it, and gave it a lot of thought. The statement itself by the accomplished Thomas Edison might have been made before he changed our world forever with what he was capable of!  Now in my life I have a bucket list of things I'd like to accomplish before I'm called home, the least of is writing a letter to each member of my family telling them a memory I have of them and how very deep and forever lasting my love is! Then my thoughts turned to time and the length of my list! I'm not naive enough to think I could even begin to do all I want to before I leave this earth and honestly some days I don't feel like accomplishing anything. So, this moment in time I say to the world...I will do what I can and some of it will most assuredly astound me and I'm hoping some of those I love so dearly! ༺♥༻

The Charm of Tenderness

•٠•●♥Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ  I find nothing so endearing as to find someone who is truly tender hearted.  How could one tender hearted soul not be drawn to someone that will cry with you during the sad times and yes, during the happy times! I always carry an extra "hankie" to share!  ༺♥༻

Sleepless in Oklahoma!

*´¨)
¸.•´¸.•*´¨) ♥ღ♥¸.•*¨)
(¸.•´♥ღ♥ (¸.•`Yep, it's 4:45AM and I've had about 3 hours sleep!! And the night before I got even less. The total knee replacement (November 19th, 2012) was the best thing I've ever done...I can do things that have eluded me for years during the day, I'm a new woman! But come sundown it hurts so bad it drives me crazy. Heating pad doesn't work, ice doesn't work, Ben-gay doesn't work, Aleve doesn't work! How long does this last? Any of you who've had this surgery, please tell me it's almost OVER! I want to sleep peacefully like this baby! I walk like a youngster, I can kick like a Rockette, but I can't sleep! Woe is me! ༺♥༻

The Farmer's Wife, July, 1932

Happy Valentine's Day!

Can't let the day of "love" come and go without acknowledging how important it is...

I feel like Valentine's Day is a day of love, not just for sweethearts, but for each and every person we love in this life.  It gives us an opportunity to make sure we've passed on the love we have within us to those that share our lives.  Love encompasses so much... compassion, kindness, forgiveness, acknowledgement, laughter, thoughts, friendship, kinship and whatever it means to you! 

Being loved is just about the greatest asset we can have in this life.  But not just being loved, but in loving others.  A heart full of love soars!  I know love can hurt, too.  I've been there where I thought I'd never recover and to make it from one day to the next I had to push the pain to the deepest part of my heart.  Heart aches come in all different ways, too. Being disappointed by someone we love. The pain of a lost love is one that everyone thinks they will never recover from, but we do. To me the worst pain is that of a lost life. When someone we love is called home to Heaven it makes a scar on the heart that lasts a life time. Oh, with time we can push it further and further back, then one day a memory comes flooding in and the remembrance of that loss renews the pain.  Here come the tears! If you're like me I try to hide them 'cause everyone doesn't understand tears from years past.  We are just flesh and blood trying to live in this world and the greatest need is love!  ༺♥༻

So for this Valentine's Day I wish you LOVE!

Don't keep it for yourself...pass it on!

And for each of you a virtual hug!

(((((((❤)))))))

Oh, Danny Boy...

I wasn't going to get carried away and post personal stuff "quite so soon," but today is different. I just posted this to my Facebook wall and because posts there seem to disappear I thought I'd go ahead and post it here, too.  Hope everyone doesn't mind.

*´¨)
¸.•´¸.•*´¨) ¸.•*¨)
(¸.•´ (¸.•`This date, February 12th, has meaning in my life. It would have been my only brother Danny's 65th birthday. He left this earthly life when he was but barely 21 years old way back in 1969. I've missed him. We fought like all siblings do growing up and I didn't always understand him. After all we barely made it to adults when he passed and he'd been in the Navy for 2 years. What I remember was his big heart. He loved our Dad in spite of his being a mean man. He always let me have the dime when I'd ask to trade telling him the nickle was bigger. He knew the difference. He wouldn't take messages when I was away and wanted to know if someone special had called, but would always tell me by bedtime. He got a BB Gun for Christmas one year. He and the neighbor boys promptly went out to shoot birds. Danny killed a robin. He brought it all the way home, put it in a box and buried it in a special place in the yard. For weeks I'd watch him get up early every morning before school, go out and stand at the spot he buried that robin and let tears slide down his cheeks. He'd be mad that I told this story. He wanted to be a man in everyone's eyes. I named my only son after him just 4 months before he passed. I'm thankful God let him know I loved him enough to want my son to carry his name. He's been gone a long time. It still hurts, some things we never get over. Today is his birthdate and I'm blessed to have been his sister. ༺♥༻

Ready, Set...Go!

     I've wanted to start a blog "forever" and intended to do it on January 1st this year, but here it is February 10th and I'm finally putting words on paper.  Each of you will have to be my editors and tell me when to go and when to stop because I love to write so I write too much! It's as though my brain is at the end of my finger tips because I get a keyboard under my fingers and the words won't stop!  If I post a picture that is copyrighted, please let me know and I'll remove it or add your link and required information.  It seems there are so many pictures online anymore it's hard to be sure if your using something you shouldn't and honestly, I just am not sure how one finds out.  So if anyone knows out there, please drop me a line with instructions!  The templates and little snippets of pictures I've used for my background are from the Graphics Fairy@ and Vintage Workshop@, so as soon as I figure out how to put their links on here I will.  I love their vintage graphics and use them on everything!  When Vintage Workshop offered greeting cards I was one of the card designers...I loved it!

     Well, this isn't much, but it's a beginning!  I'm exhausted just from reading instructions and trying to figure this all out!  I'm not even close to doing all this right! I'll take any suggestions that anyone wants to take the time to give!  Ideas, instructions, critiquing all accepted with an open heart!