Worth a look....

This is a movie Sam got for Christmas, it is one of his favorites, "Crossing Delancey". We watched it tonight and I can see why it is one of his favorites. If you get the chance to watch it. I very much recommend it!

Those who touch our lives...

Another thing that we think back on at New Year's is those people who have touched our lives but have passed on.

Many touch our lives in small ways. Through our televisions, on the movie screens, on our stereos. Some were our teachers, or our friends, or family.

It is amazing how people can touch your life. You don't even have to meet them in person, or even know them and yet they have touched your life. Yes, sometimes not for the better, but for some reason they have touched your life.

I grew up watching television and there were a few that touched my life through television that we have lost: Suzanne Pleshette, Tom Posten, Harvey Korman-- the Carol Burnett show was always a favorite-- and Paul Newman. I can remember my mom taking me to the movie theater to see "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid". Some of them had led long lives, like Eartha Kitt (81), and some died young. Heath Ledger was only 28.

You also think about those who passed away in years passed. You never stop missing them and they are still very much a part of you, part of who you are. My father, my sister, my in-laws whom I never got the chance to meet. Even they are a part of me because they raised the man that I now share my life with.

This year I lost my mom. Day by day it is an adjustment, losing someone from your life. I still miss calling her on my break at work.

Thank you to all that touch our lives. You are forever in our hearts.

On Star....things that make you go hhhmmm...

An amazing technology that can do diagnostics on your car, right down to the tire pressure, make hands-free calls for you while you are driving, or tell if you have been in a wreck and get assistance for you. It can find a wife that has been out shopping longer than the husband had thought she would be.

I remember hearing that my Uncle Richard used it to find out where my Aunt Coralie was…Boy, she was not too happy. Sam has told me how someone in the sports world had the car locked with his wife inside it if I remember correctly…. another unhappy wife, I bet.

I just bought a new Saturn Vue. She has been dubbed "Vanna Vue". Yes, I am one of those people who name their cars. First, okay, the first was not my car, it was my parents Delta 88 who I named Robert. Then, they bought Joey for me to make payments on…well…I did not get to pick out Joey, so I did not really keep him long, but he was a great little Chevette. He was traded in for Mickey, who then was traded in for the only car that did not get named, who was then traded in for Shelby, who was then traded in for Nellie. I left Nellie at the Saturn dealer in Gainesville and left with Vanna Vue.

Boy, I guess I have had my share of cars.

But, I have strayed from what I had started to write about. This is my first car with On Star. My mother had it on her van and it came in pretty handy for her one time, she had to take it to the dealer and they told her it would be cheaper/easier for her to just back out, call On Star, and have them tell her what was wrong.

So far I have only used the phone feature last week in Michigan. The roads were not so good and it was a new car to me, so I opted not to use the cell phone and keep both hands on the wheel.

I was amazed when I just checked my email. They will send you diagnostics checks on your vehicle.

Vehicle Maintenance

Remaining Oil Life: 78%
Mileage: 3,119

Tire Pressure Monitoring:Normal
Recommended tire pressure - Front: 30 psi, Rear: 30 psi
No issues found.

Left Front:31 psi
Right Front:31 psi

Left Rear:31 psi
Right Rear:31 psi

This is an amazing technology to me, and yet, it kind of makes me think of a sci-fi movie where the powers that be can track people….what do you think?

It bears repeating...I am a Lucky...

Lucky woman!

I know I have mentioned how lucky I am to have Sam as my husband, I could not ask for a better person to share life with.

He truly does take wonderful care of me. While we were in Michigan for the holidays, my terrible knees were bothering me. I guess they have gotten used to warmer weather. There were times when it was difficult to put my socks and shoes on and he would do that for me.

He is amazing. This was our third New Year's Eve together, and each day I realize more and more how lucky I am.

I had thought about getting a room at a bed & breakfast for the night, but after having been away from home it was not as appealing as it could have been.

Sam shopped for food for last night and today, and he created a delicious dinner for us. We had Strip Steaks with Gorgonzola Sauce, Roasted Garlic Mashed Potatoes with Roasted Green Beans with Shallots and Hazelnuts.

It sure was a delight to my taste buds! How lucky am I to have Sam for my husband?

Resolve = Solution to Happiness…

That time of year again…Resolution time!

Resolution…Brett Favre…Retire, maybe for real, this year!

Auto industry resolution…All the big wigs in the corporate automotive world...sell your corporate jets. That would bail out your industry and you won't have to hit up the public that has tried to help you by buying your cars. Please resolve to make the change that needs to be done to make your industry move forward!

America's resolution…Wow, our first African-America president!.. Plus a president that actually sounds like he wants to help our country, rather than dig the hole deeper. It is time for America to crawl out from under a bush!

Resolution…Television networks...Resolve not to show the same commercial 3 minutes apart….

Resolution...Detroit…Get some pride!…Resolve to impeach William Ford Clay and resuscitate the Lions! (I guess you could put the Tigers in the same intensive care ward as the Lions.) Although…you will get the first pick in the drafts…again!

Resolution…People, please!…Do not have a baby just for the sake of having babies, or for the sake of getting more welfare, or for the sake of keeping someone in a relationship. That baby is a precious gift from God that you are taking for granted by having it for the wrong reason. Show some more respect to the meaning of life!

Resolution...I...Resolve to be, as stated previously, a better wife but I also resolve to be:

• more organized
• a better housekeeper
• a better cook
• thinner ;o)
• more positive
• more aware of the world
• more knowledgeable
• more patient
  

Whew….Thankfully I have Sam to help me with my resolutions. ;o) He is my solution to happiness!

May you all find your own solutions to happiness in 2009!

A new year....

I have slacked quite a bit in my blogging. I had slowed down quite a bit before my mother passed away and then....it seems I just kind of quit. I have been lax about many things.

To my wonderful husband I apologize for being a slacker of a wife. You are so very good to me and you deserve nothing but the best.

I have mentioned before that I am a lucky woman, and I am reminded daily how true that is.

I sit here typing this and he is scurry around cleaning after he went to the store and shopped for our New Year's Eve dinner and for New Year's Day, too!

On top of that, I was um, slightly stranded at work in my new car, which of course had me wound up. Once I reached him he was on his way to get me so I would not be alone waiting for AAA.

After I got off the phone with him I called the service manager back at the Saturn dealer and asked him a question....."if it was the battery, why will the key not turn in the ignition"...well, my car made the third one he has had this happen to this week, and not the same kind of car. Apparently the steering wheel was locked in just the right spot and once I jiggled the steering wheel the key finally turned and started. Of course this happened after I went "Judy" on the dealership and they were nice to me in spite of it.

Then, I called my husband who was almost to where I was and just came home. Where I am finally and looking forward to a lovely New Year's Eve with the answer to my prayers.

I used to ad a little something to prayers at night. I would pray that God would bring me someone special, to love me for me, and who would help me to become a better person.

Well, God could not have answered all those prayers in a better way.

Tomorrow is new year, it is time for the resolutions we all make. I have many in mind this year. Mostly I resolve to be a better wife, to the man that I love, with all of my heart- my husband, Sam Williams.

Thank you, God!

Day, by day...

It sure has been a difficult few months, losing a parent is such a hard thing to get through.

When you lose the first parent you still have one to turn too when you need, your parent. When you loose the one you still could turn too, boy is that tough.

There really is not a way to discribe it.

I know many of you know what it feels like. I know too, that time is the only thing that helps...

The firsts that you go through after losing a loved ones are tough too, yet, in ways even tougher when you don't have a parent to share the holidays with.

And me, I totally blew the last holiday I had with my mother, now she is gone and I can not make it up to her.

I hope and pray, so much that my mother knew how much I loved her, and how very, very much I miss her....more and more...day by day.....

I love you and I miss you so much mom!

"modern day packaging"...

"Modern day packaging"....

Something I remember my dad saying a lot as he had a hard time opening something. I find myself saying it more and more.

Think about it....you have cold pills, sinus pills in packaging that is more often than not difficult to open. Medicines that people are taking because they are sick. You have to wonder if the manufacturer even thinks about it when they design the packaging or do they just think "oh wouldn't it be funny to have people who are sick struggling to open these pills they just bought with the hopes of feeling better".

My husband mentioned to how they put arthritis pills in child proof containers...whats up with that....people who have sore fingers and you put the pills in containers that make it more difficult to open....

Boy, dad, did you know what you were saying when you would sputter about the "modern day packaging"....(it's only gotten worse dad)

It sucks!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I WANT MY MOM BACK!!!!!!!!!!!!!

too hard to write about...

It has been over a month since I have written.

Boy, has it been one rough month.

My birthday is October 3rd. It was a nice birthday. I went to dinner with my husband and step-daughter Emlyn. We went to a nearby Italian restaurant that we like. It was a good dinner, we had a nice time. It is not a fancy place, but the waitress brought me a dessert and sang to me. I certainly was not expecting that. But it was fun.

We then came home and I opened my birthday gifts. A cast iron grill pan from Emlyn...boy is that thing heavy! Works great too! From my wonderful husband I got a great sweater, a fun and colorful bowl for pasta dinners, a Danielle Steel book, did I mention my husband is wonderful. He shopped at the new Kohl's store that just opened here, because he knows I like Kohl's...and boy does it sound like his shopping trip was an adventure.

We had a wonderful light dessert that he bought, it was very delicious and moist and I blew out candles and they sang to me.

I turned 45 this year. Numerically this was to be a cool year. On the 3rd I would turn 45 and on the 6th my mom would turn 78.....get it....3-4-5-6-7-8!

We went to bed and because I had tried to call my sister back I had the phone on the night stand next to me.

That phone rang around 2 am and I wished it had never rang. At that point my worst nightmare was beginning.

It was my sister, they were on the way to the hospital with my mother. My niece Julie had heard her fall and found her and called the ambulance and my sister, Judy. She said they would call me when they knew more.

Oh, what a long night, sitting and waiting for that phone to ring, yet, not wanting it to ring. That theory "no news is good news".

When she called back, upset of course, she told me that they thought it had been a stroke and they had her sedated. Judy was upset too because Julie kind of kept her distance from her. They are not as close as Julie and I are, but I was there with Julie when her mom died, and I lived with her and my mom since she was 10, that is half her life. It is natural for her to be closer to me.

What could I do, I am 1200 miles away. Helpless is how I felt. I tried to think of who I could call that would be a help to Judy, and Julie. I tried to call my cousin Diane, but she did not answer so I tried her daughter Stacey, and she called her mom who called me back.

Help was on its way to the hospital. Yet, I sat here in Florida feeling totally helpless.

Praying for good news, but it was not to come.

After a long sleepless night they told me I should fly back to Michigan, that it did not look good.

My husband booked me a flight, my cousins picked me up at the airport and off to the hospital I went. I was so afraid in the car on the way there to ask how mom was doing. Somehow I guess I knew it was not going to be good.

Mom had suffered a massive aneurysm. If she survived she would be in a vegetative state.

Basically they were just waiting for me to get there.

Too hard to write about in one sitting...so...end part one.

a must see....

Emlyn turned me on to a great web site. http://www.icanhascheezburgers.com/ You have to check it out. They have hilarious pictures of cats that people put humorous captions on. They also have link to "loldogs" which is also great.

Her house is the home to 2 dogs, and 2 cats. None are hers, they are my nieces, plus one of mine. Though, my mother is their caretaker. She will not admit to loving them but she does. (I know you do mom!)

This picture made me think of my mother!