Love my cats!

This is Craig and I with our two kittys! Grey one is Nikki (she is 16 years old!) and Angel (she is 14 years old!)
We love these two girls. Nikki is the most vocal of the two and the one with the most personality. Angel is the one who still acts like a kitten. Playing with string and loves to be chased. Nikki went through a rough year with a big weight loss and we thought we might lose her. But thanks to some thyroid meds she has gained a bit of weight back and is back to her old self.
We hope they both are with us for many years to come!

Good Bye Andy And Abby,and best of luck on your new life!

This last summer my Nephew married the love of his life,Abby. She finished college and got her degree as  Phyto Technologist (I really hope I have that correct) anyway  I know its important lab work diagnosing  the pathology of cells (cancer,ect). Abby tried hard to find a job in the Michigan area. Unfortunately there was nothing to speak of in her field. As many people coming out of college with looming school loans ,she started to search out of state for work.
She landed a job in Buffalo, New York a couple weeks ago. So in a flurry of two weeks they are on their way Oct 28th to start their new life in a whole new area. It happened so fast that it's been hard to wrap our minds around it.
Both Andy and Abby worked with my brother Ed in his Bookstore for many years. Them leaving will leave my brother with a large void not only on a personal level but on a business level. My sister n law ,Linda,who threw them a wonderful going away dinner,will also miss them so very much. She gave a very heartfelt ,tearful toast to send them on their way. Her heart is breaking that they are leaving,but she is hopeful that this will be a good thing for them. We all wish them well and that this will be the start of a wonderful life together.
Another place to visit! But considering how much snow they get there,I think I will wait till Summer or Fall!
Good Luck Guys ,we love you!!!

Time marches on

I find my self in a bit of a funk today. One minute Im ok,next minute consumed with sadness,then the next grateful for everything in my life. Such is the process of mourning. I've done it before. We all will do it or have done it at one time or another in our lives. Depending on how close you were to the person that has passed or in what capacity they affected your life will dictate how deep or for how long the grieving will go on. No matter what, it will cause you to question your own mortality.

Why are we here? what is this life all about? If we just die, whats the point? I believe that the human energy (spirit,as some call it) has to go somewhere. That is just plain ol physics. All energy goes on. I am agnostic. I do not know for certain what happens to this energy but I know it will go on.
Being a person that can have a decent imagination I can picture a "good" life force. Passing on to inhabit a new life that will have good things befall it. And if your a 'bad" life force,you will go on to suffer and live a hard life. Possibly until you get it right ,if you ever do. Most of our life forces probably fall somewhere in between the good and bad and we are just sent on a path that teaches us lessons we have not learned yet.

This is nothing I am certain about. It is just the way I think it may go. I really do wish I had blind faith in Jesus,or Allah ,or any number of "gods" that people worship. It would be comforting to say the least.

All I know is that I am acutely aware of how quickly our time on this plane goes by. You blink and another decade has gone by. One day your graduating from High school,the next your starting your family.
SLOW DOWN!! I hear my mind screaming. I am not ready for it to go by so fast. I want more time.

And I miss all of the people I loved that have passed on so much! I talk to them and once in awhile I imagine they hear me,and maybe even answer me. The memories swirl around in my head and my heart aches. I think of a funny memory and I smile. The worst thing is the silence. The phone not ringing,the lack of hearing their voices on a regular basis. The smiles in their eyes when they saw you and you them.

Then another week passes and you feel like you better get a grip and take what life you have in both hands and relish every split second of it. For to be able to go outside and look up at the sky,feel the sun on your face is a gift from this universe. Enjoy it,live it! Do not waste it on small thoughts,or hatred or pettiness. Embrace it,because every single one of those people that have moved on would tell you to.They know like no other what a gift the now is.
Laugh and love the best you can every single day as if it is your last. Hard to do? maybe. But so much harder not to.

Loss of a friend

Sept 25th my ex-husband died. I don't really like refering to him like that. He was the father of my beautiful daughter and had become a friend.

He wasn't always the easiest person to deal with.Which is why we were ex's. In the last 9 years since he had gotten injured I had taken on the unlikely role of one of his caregivers,and we had formed a friendship.
I have never been one of those people to hate my ex's. How can you hate a person you used to love? Relationships end for a variety of reasons and I choose to relish the good memories. It doesn't serve your growth to hang on to bad feelings.
He was his own worst enemy most of the time. Causing himself more pain and agony than he needed to. He loved life and I have never seen anyone try to hang on to it like he did. I am thankful that he was here to see our daughter graduate with her masters and to get married.
I know he is in a better place now,but I doubt he would agree. He was in constant pain of varying degrees but he fought it just to live the best he could. I hope he is flying free with all those loved ones that passed on before him.
I am thankful for this man, My wonderful husband . He was understanding and secure enough in our relationship to let me help my ex. Knowing that by doing so would only make our relationship stronger.

Rest in peace Linwood.

Sultry Summer

Yes it's been HOT all summer. But since we haven't been able to really afford a tropical vacation in well..ever I have been thinking of this summer as one :-). It has been busy with lots of fun stuff! The summer started with my daughters house warming party.

Many people turned out to welcome them to their new home and the day was allot of fun.

The first week of July I took off from work and spent a good part of it with my daughter. That much time with her these days is very rare and I enjoyed every minute of it. We went for massages together,spent a morning on the beach and went out on the lake in their boat. The week was warm and sultry. Very nice.

My nephew got married to a wonderful girl that same week!

Next we celebrated our friend Mike V's birthday and him earning his Master's degree!

Started out the night at Slapstick's for some pool and ended the night at their home with a fire pit and drinks. Ahhh friends how I love you!!

My sister came up for a quick visit early August

She lives in Florida (that's her dog Lola and her son Joe. Last I saw her was three years ago ,way too long!

Oh we also took a trip with Rachel and Fred to Port Austin which turned out really fun even though I contracted some kind of food poisoning the very first night! In spite of not feeling 100% we managed to have a great time.

This is us at the Port Austin Farmers market / flea market that they have every Saturday morning May through September. We just stumbled into this event and it was much fun! Rachel and Fred scored some nice sheets for pretty darn cheap!.

All and all it's been one of the most fun summers in a long time . Not over yet! Next up a Labor Day BBQ with friends . Hope all of you have enjoyed it as much as I have .

BP and I can't sleep..

This is the plan to contain the massive amounts of oil spilling into the Gulf Of Mexico.

It has been two months since this thing blew and to say this is an environmental disaster is a vast understatement. Not only has it contaminated miles of land and water,sea life ect It has put many more people out of work,possibly for the rest of their life. At least most of the fishermen that have lost their jobs will not be making their living doing that anymore. The food source that is tainted and the health of the people in the region living there and helping with the cleanup is compromised.

It is also very likely that this oil will make its way around the coast of Florida and start to come up the East coast of America. Contaminating land and more sea life... Can you even wrap your heads around this people?? Life as we have known it has been changed forever. I compare this to the dropping of the bomb in Hiroshima or the Nuclear accident in Chernobyl.

Seriously,It is that bad. I am beyond sick about this. Our children and their children will never know the Gulf the way it was before this leak,never!

My sister who lives in Florida has been unable to sleep more than 4 hour stretches since this happened.STRESS. She was able to smell the oil in the air within a week of the accident. Once they started burning it she said the stench was sickening. Lately the gulf winds have shifted and taken the smell away from the area and given them a break, for now.

 I am starting to feel like we are all in one of those Hollywood disaster movies.Only the price of this admission is way more than we can afford and the movie doesn't seem to want to end.

The smartest most intelligent species on the planet?? Really? How do we ever make this up to all the life we have killed ,the birds,the fish,the shrimp,the whales on and on. We can't make it up,plain and simple. I am feeling like we are a cancer that consumes everything in its path. We use up all the resources available. We will start wars to get them we will sacrifice people in our quest for more resources.

And we want to know who will pay? Make BP pay! everyone yells. BP,its all their fault! No it really isn't ALL their fault. We can all share in this . We knew this day would come didn't we? Were we not warned something like this could happen? Haven't they been saying we need to find alternate energy sources?

The Americans,we live large,we consume ,we waste. Just ask the world.

Lessons come hard sometimes. And this is the biggest one we have had in a long long time. Will we listen this time ? Will we change our ways? Frankly I don't think we will. Maybe its too late,maybe not. I'm not a scientist,but I'm not stupid either. Put a stop for 6 months on deep shore drilling they say. SIX MONTHS?!

It would cost too much in job losses to stop any longer...seriously?

I am ashamed of us. Plain and simple. That is how I feel,ashamed for our greed,stupidity,and wastefulness.Shame.

Busy but awesome weekend!

This last weekend My Nephew Andrew and his longtime fiance Abby got married. They did a small courthouse wedding followed the next day by a yard reception at My Niece Anna's new home in Linden Michigan.

It is very apparent that these two are crazy about each other and it was so nice to help them celebrate the day! The weather was absolutely beautiful ! Totally clear blue skies and warm temps.

The next day we went to a BBQ at our friends new home and stayed till late roasting marsh mellows and watching their neighbors fireworks! The temps went up quite a bit, 93 and it was pretty steamy. But it was so fun to visit with good friends.

I have the next few days off so my daughter and I spent Tuesday morning getting massages and then going to Partridge creek for lunch and to meet some other friends for a showing of the new Twilight movie!We ending the day with a long walk and a ride along Lake St Clair.

All in all a very nice few days. I still have 3 more days off before returning to work and I plan to enjoy every minute!!

What a Week!!

Haven't posted here in awhile. We just finished having the most absolutely beautiful week of weather that I have seen in ages!! Day after day of bright blue sky's and warm temps. My daughter had a housewarming last Sat and it turned out to be perfect. Low humidy ,sunshine and lots of fun and wonderful people!!

They received many nice gifts. Many of the gifts were plants that they can plant around the new home and as they come up year after year it will be a reminder of all the wonderful friends and family that they have in their lives.

On Sunday my husband and I took a nice long walk at Metro beach. It was another perfect day of sunshine. Many boats were out on the lake and there were many people swimming and picnicking.

Monday was spent hooking up the digital cable box,well My husband did this and I tried to cheer him on as he became frustrated when the VCR no longer would record properly after all was hooked up....He spent many hours of frustration trying to figure out how to make it work. After searching the Internet and basically just putting his brilliant mind to it ,he came up with a solution and all is well now,lol.

whats been up? kitchen redo thats what!

Hi everyone,
I've been busy working on my new blog,helping my daughter getting her new home ready and finally stripping and painting my kitchen.
The year is already flying by!!
Well I promised all that I would post some before and after pics of the kitchen redo so here we go,

The kitchen had this old fashioned wall paper from maybe the 80's?? but I like the wood shelving across the top. I wanted to just bring this kitchen up to the current century without losing it's country charm.

see the green formica counter tops?(shudder) well they were going to have to stay becouse we just couldn't afford to replace them at this time.

ok so there is the before shots. I will now show you some of the work in progress....

UGH!!! I detest removeing wall paper. Sticky sloppy messy . I must say that the fabric softener trick works BEAUTIFULLY!!

Paper off and prepping for the next step. On this main wall I decided I wanted some texture,so I put up some paintable wallpaper. Yes,I did put up paper after just taking off paper ,what a nut eh?

This picture doesn't do it justice but it turned out really well. I used a slightly darker golden yellow on the textured wall and a brighter yellow on the rest of the walls.

For the backsplash I put that plastic that looks like metal look. It has made the green formica sooo much more bareable.

And this is a view of the table area.

That is all the pics I have for now. I am still putting some more finishing touches here and there but over all I am really happy with the way this project turned out. I am going to save for a new sink next. And someday maybe we will replace that old stove,but hey we have that home insurance that will replace it when it quits working . So I figgure we'll just wait for that day.

Saying good bye to this blog!

Well I am going to spend my time mostly on my new blog this year. It is going well . I am slowly building a following and I am finding it fun to work on. In doing the research for the new blog I find that it is simulating my learning . I hope those of you that have followed this blog enjoyed it. I may pick up a personal blog again at some point. But right now I just dont have the time for both!
Take care ,keep blogging! and if you havent joined my new blog yet,please do!
Thanks everyone!

Keeping an open mind and being an advocate for your own health

This is what I am reading right now. I am only a couple hundred pages into this book and I am so thankful for having been recommended it. I have been an advocate for many years of supplements and eating healthy. Not to say I follow any strict diet and never indulge in eating crap. I am human like anyone else. I have followed a vegetarian diet for the last three years. By choice, for my own well being. I do not say people should not eat meat. For many people eating organically raised meat is a good idea. Depending on our ancestry many people do well on a diet with meat in it.

But back to this book. If you have ever known anyone who has had cancer and been treated in the "conventional" way and thought to yourself "there has to be a better way to do this" then please read this book. Hell, if you want to learn how to eat better and live better to "prevent" getting cancer in the first place, read this book. It is informative. It will shock you. It may very well change your life and your attitude about many things. Especially on how we deal with cancer in this country. Cancer is BIG business. And by this I mean there are allot of people that make BILLIONS of dollars every year off of chemo and all the other treatments involved with giving that poor soul just a couple more months of life.

I am not saying ditch the standard protocol. I am saying educate yourself; know what is out there besides the standard protocol. Chances are in the toxic world we live in we will be faced with us or one of our loved ones having to make choices in regard to cancer.

It will serve you well to know that there ARE other ways to go about treatment. I really hope and pray that I will live to see Medicine and Holistic Medicine co exist side by side one day. Some of the methods Suzanne Somers covers in this book are not just vitamins and enemas, they are valid scientific methods.



Do yourself a favor and take the time to add this one to your reading list