Get rich with me, my good friends! :)

Here is an email I received today. It says if I pass it to at least 6 of my good friends I will be rich! Gee, I wonder how rich I'm going to be, since by posting it here I am passing it on to a hundred good friends??

So pass it on and get rich with me. (Ha Ha.)

(Actually, this caught my eye because I am a sucker for pretty, sparkly pictures, not because I want to get rich.)

Millionaire for Life

Money Angel

This is a money angel

Pass it to 6 of your good friends, or family and be rich in 4 Days.

Pass it to 12 of your good friends, or family and be rich in 2 Days.

I am not joking... You will find an unexpected windfall.

Trust me!!!

Our Fifth Anniversary

A very happy anniversary to Arthur my sweetheart! And for everybody, but especially my widda buddies, here is a clip of a real "oops" moment from our wedding that you will understand. I mean, you will really "get" this one. (This is being published with the full permission of my dear brother in law.)



We love you Allen!

The Tigers won and we were there!!!

Although we are in Michigan to attend a wedding, we are turning this trip into a real vacation. Yesteday we decided to take in a Tiger game at Comerica Park. I had been to many games at old Tiger Stadium with my dad when I was a kid, but had never seen the inside of Comerica Park. Neither John nor Shelby had ever been to a professional baseball game.

John, in particular, is very interested in the sport since he is signed up for the freshman baseball team next year. Well, John got lucky last night. Not only did he get to see the game, but he was given a game ball by one of the players on the field! He also was able to nab a signature on the baseball mitt that he brought with him.

Since we are on vacation my opportunity to upload photos is limited. So here is a photo from last night's game (which the Tigers WON!!!) from the Detroit Free Press, and I will upload our own photos next week.

JULIAN H. GONZALEZ/DFP

The rehearsal dinner for Greg and Liz is tomorrow night, which happens to be mine and Arthur's anniversary, and then the wedding is Saturday, so I won't be around computer-land for a few days. I have pre-posted a very interesting piece for tomorrow in honor of the occasion. So check back tomorrow, it is a "Must See!" :)

See you all soon!

Name Dropping! :)

My brother Doug, sis-in-law Marilyn, and niece Victoria are in good company! Could this be their 15 minutes of fame? lol.

Marilyn's brother Ricky is Twitter friends with Kathy Ireland. Marilyn did not believe Ricky when he told her, but he kept insisting it was true. Finally, he asked Ms. Ireland to prove they are friends, so she printed off photos of them, posed for a pic with the photos and posted it on Twitter! Here it is:

Lesson to Marilyn: Always believe your brother! :)

Absolutely crazy!

The following video is a perfect example of our crazy family. What's interesting, though, is this was filmed even before Shelby and John were born! We just continue the tradition of fun to this day.

Here's the story:

It was Kathy's son Chris' 13 birthday, and she decided to host a pool party for him. All the so-called "adults" had more fun than the kids. The party even involved a cake fight that started because we couldn't throw Andy in the pool.

This is my personal all time favorite family video because Andy's personality shows through, even though he doesn't say a word. Kathy, Chris, and Lesley also star in this, as well as an appearance by Jimmy as the "Chip Dip Boy."

Oh, Happy birthday, Chris! Can you believe this was 21 years ago???

Wedding in the family

I love weddings, but haven't been to one in awhile. The last family wedding was when Arthur and I were married! Finally, another wedding in our family is coming up very soon.

One of Arthur's middle sons, Gregory, will be marrying his lovely fiance Elizabeth the end of this month. It's been pretty much the subject of most conversations this week.

"How many more days until the wedding?"

"Who do you think will be at the wedding?"

"I sure hope the weather is better for the wedding than when Dom and Jen got married."

"Mom! I'm going to need new dress pants for the wedding! Mine are two inches too short."

"Greg and Liz make such a nice couple. I hope I don't cry too much at the wedding!"

"Which dress should I wear to the wedding, Momma? The flowered one or the solid one?"

Weddings are special, love is beautiful, and the time immediately before the wedding has an air of magic. I hope the bride and groom are enjoying these magical days that are leading up to the big event as much as we are!

Real Men Do Dishes

Slow news week here, so here is a clip that was filmed this past Thanksgiving. It's just another example of how my bunch marches to the beat of a different drummer! :)

Another step closer...

... to Shelby leaving for college.


We attended her college orientation during the past two days, and now she's officially enrolled.

Orientation consisted of several seminars, lunch in the student union, dinner in town, and an over-night in the dorms. (Doggone it, the kids had the nice dorms, the parents had the old dorms!) Then this morning featured breakfast in the student union, and finally the big moment: the students enrolled in their classes.

She's excited.

I'm exhausted.

It's all good! :)

My sweet grandbaby

Just a 60 second clip with no sound. My little Andy Baby visited Great Grandma and decided that her walker is the best toy of all. He made Grandpa Arthur laugh by waving "bye bye."

I did it. I finally did it!

Last night I created a profile on Facebook. I didn't want to, I swear I didn't. I already have a rather severe computer addiction that I need to address very soon, and the last thing I need is a place where I can socialize with all of my family and friends at the same time.

But the allure was too great, and now I'm stuck.

If you know me and you have a Facebook, come see me! :)

Fun without me

My kids' summer vacation began ten days before mine. Although I still have two more days to work, they decided to take a road trip without me. A dozen teenagers traveled a couple of hours to Mears, Oklahoma to eat at the world's famous burger restaurant and Shelby talked Arthur into driving one of the groups. So not fair! They could have waited until I could go too. But, nOooo, they just had to go right then! There is no way I can take time off at the very end of the school year.

I guess it was a good thing for them that I didn't. They neglected to mention that the trip included a drive to the top of Mt. Scott so they all could go rock climbing. I don't do mountains!!! Art is much more relaxed about things like that.

I'm not going to complain. I think Arthur is a very good sport for making the trip.



Mears looks like a real dive on the outside, but evidently that is their gimmick. My gang brought back a burger and home fries for me, and the food is exceptionally good!



Then for the part I'm glad I missed:
















This distant climber too far away to identify is none other than John.



I'm glad they all had fun without me. Next week I can join them in an excursion but you can be sure, it won't be on any mountains!

There are days this can be downright relaxing

A view from my front porch:

I need to make an 8 hour sound recording of this and play it at bedtime. That surely would bring some really good ZZZzzzzzs!

Stupid hair dryer.

My hair dryer is broken.

No big deal, I can always buy another one.

But... but...

this hair dryer has a memory attached.

It was February of 2002. After almost three months in the hospital, Andy had been on a roller coaster of stabilizing, followed by another downward slide. He had only days left, but I didn't want to admit that's what was happening. Inside, though, I knew the truth.

His condition was so fragile that I knew I needed to stay that night, but because he had changed so rapidly I wasn't prepared. Kathy sat with him while I dashed across the street to Walmart and returned with a few hastily purchased goodies.

I tied a Valentine balloon to the foot of his bed, showed him my new sleep shorts, then on a whim I took the last bag, gave it to him and said, "Now hand this to me and say Happy Valentine's Day!"

Andy peered inside, saw what it was, and smiled his characteristic sly smile. Then he handed it to me and said, "Happy Valentine's Day Honey!"

As I pulled a box out of the bag I made a big dramatic fuss; "Oh Honey! A new hair dryer! How did you know that's what I really wanted?" and we laughed together about this bit of silliness.

It was the last time we ever laughed together.

Anyway, yesterday I tried to dry my hair but the dryer wouldn't come on. Both Arthur and I tried everything we could think of to make it work, but nothing has helped.

Like I said, I can buy another one. But it won't be the same.

Stupid hair dryer.

Photos from Jimmy and Andy's Brief Visit

Jimmy and one grand-twin have come and gone, and now I'm sad. Maine is simply too far away! But it's too cold most of the year to tempt me to move there, at least for now. :)

Tiffanie couldn't make the trip because of work restraints, so my other little angel Stevie didn't come either. Although I know there will be other visits, I feel like my Grandma cup was only half full this time. Sigh.

I know it was a pretty big job for Jimmy to fly with just the one, and I was glad to at least have Andy Baby. So now I'll share some snapshots from their visit. (Sorry Jim, for some reason we took more pictures of that cute baby than of you! Har har.) To tell the truth, Little Andy Pandy looks just like Jimmy when he was small.




Grandma and her little man.





Grandpa and baby enjoyed watching "Dancing with the Stars."















This Grandma stuff is a real treat!












Smile and say Cheese!!




I guess it's a good thing my grandkids don't visit as often as I would like, or else this whole blog would be all baby pictures. :)

Memorial Day... in loving memory

In memory of one special man...





... and, as the edge of our back patio shows, a family that existed once upon a time on Earth forever exists in the heart.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Shelby, John and I went to the cemetery on Sunday to decorate for Memorial Day. As we worked, we talked about how the people bearing names on the headstones surrounding Andy have become almost like "neighbors."

On Andy's right hand side is a gentleman who died in 1978 who shares a double headstone with his wife. On our past visits there was no death date for the wife, so we assumed she was still living. It turns out that we were correct, because this time there is a fairly new date plate on the stone stating that she died last month, along with an abundance of flowers with a ribbon that reads "Mom and Dad." We felt bad knowing this year is especially sad for the family.

Right next to them are two graves with decorations that read "Grandma and Grandpa. The kids and I wonder: are they the parents of the couple next to them?

Next door to "Grandma and Grandpa" is a new grave with a shiny new headstone, but interestingly the man's date of birth is given as sometime in the 1800's and he died in 1960. His name is new to us, but will become familiar as the years pass. But, what is his story? Was he really just moved here 49 years after his passing? And why? Was he a MIA veteran? Was he simply moved to be closer to family?

The headstone directly above Andy is a somber one to us. The young man died on the exact same day as Andy. He was buried in the morning the day Andy was buried in the afternoon. His obituary is on the same page of the paper so I even feel like I somewhat know his family. He also left young children behind, and often there are clay figures, paper machete handprints and other childhood art that is obviously created in love by his kids. As many years as we have visited the cemetery on almost every holiday, we have yet to meet any member of his family. I wonder, do they feel a bond with us, too?

To Andy's left is a lady that I knew personally, although not well. The lady had married a widower that later died himself, and she is buried next to him and his first wife. The graves of the man and his first wife are always very well decorated, but sadly there is nary a flower for the second wife. Usually we place a little something on her grave, so this year we used a flower and a little flag from our supply.

It's always a good thing to be nice to one's neighbors.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I promise! Not one more word about graduation!!

... after this! Naturally, this week's Film Clip Friday features Shelby's graduation.

To my dismay, I accidentally deleted the video that I recorded! Fortunately, Aunt Kathy captured a bit. So, one week later, here are 60 seconds of Shelby's graduation.



Oh, also one week after the graduation and my birthday:

Happy birthday Arthur my love! (Allen too!)

Poor Baby!

I don't usually do the "Wordless Wednesday" thing, but here's one of my grandbaby for you!

Shelby has graduated!

Well, everybody, I have recovered enough to post a few photos! The ceremony was wonderful, and actually was not overly long because a thunderstorm had been threatening to hit the entire evening. The sky was ominous, and a distant rumble could be heard all the way through the graduation exercises!

I had questioned the rationale of holding the ceremony outdoors, particularly since the other two district high schools hold theirs at the Convention Center down town. The future alumni were quick to inform me that their school was the only high school in Oklahoma that had a fireworks display at the end of commencement, and they like it that way. I wondered what good that would do if it got rained out and we had to attempt to cram ten thousand people into a auditorium that seats a thousand, but I kept my misgivings to myself.

As it turned out, the rain didn't hit until the last fireworks were finished and everybody was on the way home. Then the floodwaters commenced!!! My sis-in-law quipped that of course Andy would never allow it to rain on his daughter's graduation. I tend to agree!

Arthur and I made it to the house before the full rain hit, but by the time Shelby and her friends arrived for her party it was pouring so hard that we had to get out towels to dry them off after they ran from their cars to the house.






Professor B, Shelby and her best friend Jammy:



Band Friends and Mr. Early:


The party was a triple-adult-chaperoned all-nighter for about 14 grads. We were very happy to give them a safe place to hang out and decompress after all the excitement! The kids had a blast, played Guitar Hero and, (believe it or not) Charades until dawn!



I am so proud of Shelby! But, now her day of glory is over, and the next chapter of her life is beginning. Plus, I'm kinda glad all the hoopla is over. Now I can enjoy visiting with Jimmy and my grand-twin that made the trip from Maine! They are staying until Wednesday, so time is very precious. So, see y'all Wednesday with more photos. :)

A Happy Birthday, and a graduation!

Today, which happens to be my birthday, Shelby graduates from high school! I am writing this post in advance, because the day is going to be completely hectic with a pre and post graduation open house, not to mention the lengthy ceremony.

Twelve years ago almost to the day, I attended my firstborn's graduation. I'll never forget that one! That was an amazing day, seeing my first child making the transition into the adult world. Jim's graduation was not without a bit of drama, however. His counselor was not sure he had enough credits to graduate, and we didn't find out until the day of the ceremony that he actually did! That made Jimmy's graduation a bit more exciting than average!

Since I won't have photos or film of Shelby's graduation ready for a few days, I am offering a brief clip from Jimmy's graduation as this week's Film Clip Friday installment. (It's only 3.5 minutes long. I only wish that's how long the ceremony tonight will be! Ha Ha.)

Jim's the guy with the big, relieved smile as he receives his diploma and gives the peace sign at the end as the class is leaving. :)

Just photos with very few words

Sorry, this post is a bit hasty, but I have almost zero time this week. It is now less than 48 hours until graduation day! These are a few photos of the past few days: Scholarship banquet, Band Banquet, and Baccalaureate.










I'm not too sure how much I will post next week, either. I think I will be in full recovery mode. (Complete with covers over my head for a few days...!)