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Showing posts from March, 2017

Spring Desert Road Trip

We couldn’t have picked a better weekend to all meet together for my granddaughter’s birthday party.  The half-way point for our families is Yuma, Arizona, and we spent the weekend at the Marriott .  The weather hit a high of about 80 degrees; the sun felt hot with cool breezes, perfect!  Our road trip shouted, “Spring” with the bright yellow desert wild flowers which graced the landscape with a background of Saguaro cactus.   Amy turned three.  For her birthday theme, she chose “Peppa Pig and Friends.”  When we weren’t laughing or hugging, we were swimming, playing balloon games, opening presents, playing on swings and slides at the park and taking pictures of each other wearing her funny glasses. Her menu included pizza, salad, chocolate birthday cake and ice cream. Of course, there’s always one in the crowd that has to work out in the hotel gym the morning after pizza and cake.  The rest of us took the birthday girl to the hotel lobby

A Cleanse, Family Style

When our kids were little, we were their teachers.  The tables have now turned and our adult kids are teaching us.  I am reaping the reward of a 30 day cleanse my youngest daughter researched and invited us to do with her. Actually, she got the whole family involved and I learned that when we take on a challenge as a family, the team support propels us to success. This adventure involved meal planning and eating differently so it was either “co-operate or cook your own food”  in each of our homes.  All three of our men decided it was worth it to climb on board. It All Started Before Christmas     We chose not to bake at Christmastime and we down scaled our holiday meals with simple choices.  After all, come January first, we knew we would delve into our new regime for 30 days.  You can put up with anything for 30 days, right?  It’s not a lifetime.  I’m still amazed at all that I’ve learned about myself during those 30 days of eating only whole foods in January.

Anyone Want to Laugh?

My hands dripped with flour as I pressed shamrock-shaped cut outs into the sugar cookie dough on my kitchen island.  A preacher shared his message on Christian TV in the other room and the subject did not interest me.  He spoke about laughter.    T he mess of baking kept me stationary.   Now I’m glad I stayed in that flour prison because I needed to hear what he had to say. Several of his points alerted me to the tension most of us carry in our ordinary days.   For instance, the anti-depressant medication taken in our nation supersedes other countries by ninety percent.  That’s a lot of up tightness . Another stat reminded me of the chronically sick who watch marathons of humorous movies and get healed. The fact about laughter in marriage caught my attention big time.  Speaking for most of us, the preacher man stated:  “Remember how we married couples laughed together when we were dating?” I yelled over to my husband in the den and asked him if we laugh enough.  He

Mum's the Word

My eight year old granddaughter, Sookie, loves to write.  As a tot, she chose books over baby dolls and alphabet letters and flash cards over T.V. cartoons. Sookie began writing stories in Kindergarten.  She illustrates, too, with her drawings.  She always includes herself in every picture.  I remember Christmas holidays when family members opened their neatly wrapped presents and unveiled a stapled-together story written by Sookie from the depths of her heart.  Misspelled words and heartfelt drawings always accompanied her distinguishable self portrait. Sookie has it, the gift of writing, and reaches way beyond her years.  I can only hope discernment catches up.    It’s not easy to encourage a kid to write and then put the skids on how much to say.  Mostly, she does an outstanding job, but sometimes correction follows. I remember the time she designed a sympathy card for the childless couple in our family who had to put down their beloved cat of 18 years.  Sooki