Grateful for blessings, family and friends

I am feeling so very grateful for my personal blessings, my family and my friends. Life is precious and we should make the most of it every day, all day long. Today my big sis, Carol, is having her shoulder ball knob screwed back together, hard to do when she broke it all to smitherines! Why haven't the doc's figured out how to use super-glue for human bones, or do we just need some Harry Potter type of healing? Good luck today!

We rescued a cute little Daisey Dog in October and she has added much to our life. She loves to play and is just learning to be loved. Don't know her history, but know she is a sweet doggie to have added to our family. She hasn't decided as of yet, just how big that family might be. She still barks at Tommy, Justin and his family. She like to tease the kitties, Snickers is getting used to her, but launches off me if she decides to bark at the doorbell or a noise just outside the door. She is definitely a watch dog and so protective.

I think she has the cutest little hairy tan ears that poke up and she does look like she smiles most of the time. She is my constant companion and follows me whenever I get up and wherever I go. She thinks Brent is a big toy and maybe she thinks she is a kitty-cat...who knows, but sure is cute and so tender with her toys.

We will miss our little birdies, so very hard to lose them yesterday. They were so delicate, colorful, chirpy-tweety-noisey and fun to watch. They were such a joy. I will miss all those little fluffy feathers floating around our home.

Will all the medical problems we all share, and the stress we created for others when we are sick and on the mend, I today especially appreciate my dear husband Brent, the beauty in my family, the joy in the world and in all that our HF has done for us.

Snickers

Yes, that is one good candy bar, milk chocolaty on the outside, creamy nougat in the middle and just a of chocked full of nuts.... and great when frozen. Well, almost all of this goes for our newest member of our family (until December). We are now proudly 'owned' by a new little chocolate point Siamese kitten. My big toe will never be the same, it seems that it is a great teething toy!

It took us over a week to come up with the perfect name. I even turned to friends on Facebook to add suggestions, all were great. Brent came up with Dip-Stick, just like her tail was one. So then it was Dipsey-Doodle, but just not quite right. We went through new names each day, Coco (then Coco-Nut from Kaiden, but Coco-Puff might have worked) Minx, Belle, Kitiyakara, Mardi, Sukey or Purr-Ball. Nobody could come up with the 'just right" name. Roy came up with a few good ones, but just not her, until he called her little Snicker-Snack, and it just fit her completely, but extremely heavy on the nuts!

We haven't had a kitten since Spot and Sweetie were little, like 14 years ago. We had forgotten just how much fun and how much mayhem they cause. Now our birds are oh-so glad they have a cage and the fish bowl is just like a TV show to her. She thinks one of my plants is for chewing and digging in, just to get the dirt out of the pot and onto the end table... A feather or a milk jug ring can keep her entertained for minutes.....

Spot is funny, just puts up with the little whipper-snapper. She hissed at him at first, he just looked at her and turned and walked away, now they are saying hello with the old nose sniff, nose touch. The second night we had her, Spot brought us a toes up vole as a present, must have been feeling a bit unappreciated. It's hard to share your kingdom with a princess. But now they will even share the foot of our bed. And Spot loves kitten food!

Brent said I must have had too much HRT and just needed to fulfill my maternal nurturing needs. Who knows, he may be right. I think I was just really missing Rocky and Sweetie, no friends out in the yard to keep me company. But our home is not the same and we are all glad for all the laughs and joy she has brought into our lives..... if we only survive all the trashed plants, sore toes, and kitten curiosity.

Sleepovers

Sleepovers are FUN! Makayla had a sleepover here and what a joy. It is always fun to have some one on one with a grandchild or even our own sons, but this was even better. Having four sons, you don't get to play with nail polish or go shopping to try on girley things or help with hair do-dahs.

She stayed over after the Sunday dinner, played with the new no-name kitty, slept upstairs in "her" room. Having her here in the morning was great, had to make pink pancakes. She tried the brown sugar roll-up kind and liked them.

A spa treatment came next with a luxurious bath in Grandma's deep whirlpool bath, and we did hair and nails. It took a bit of time to decide on just the right color for her toes and hands. This was fun for me, too. Then we headed out to find something to do, around and around and then decided on lunch at Mackey-D's and playing on the jungle gym.

After that we went shopping for some school clothes and a summer purse. But she did need some fancy new pink flip-flops. It was great to watch her try on clothes and make decisions on her own and it was lots of fun for me. She is just growing up way to fast and so smart!

It was fun to see eyes sparkle when she modeled her clothes for her Daddy when he came to pick her up. Granddaughters are so very special!

(Sorry couldn't figure our how to make this rotate to show upright, but boy is she cute in any angle!)

April's Glory

Our Mallard pair has returned back again to our home this Spring! Wild ducks and geese, birds of all kinds, quail, deer and squirrels, Brent says I have a menagerie in our back yard park, and that suits me fine.

Sometimes I even get a glimpse of the fox in the back fields or that most kingly Red-tailed hawk gliding majestically high over our yard or the smaller Kestrel falcon hovering just above his prey, before the dive. We are always looking for the first Robin of the year, even though we hate to see our Dark-eyed Juncos go back home from his winter's hiatus they have shared with us.

Our many feathered friends are waited for and welcomed to our home with food and peace. What a hallmark of the coming of warm glory, the sounds of the spring symphony and all those fragrant flowers.

I LOVE Spring! The yearly early pussy willows and the opening of apricot tree blossoms, bright yellow forsythia and the myriad of all the other beautiful colors in tulips, plums, creeping phlox and baskets of gold that guild these April days. Gone is the sterile white of our winter's garden and life begins anew, again. Easter and the true rebirth of our souls, spring and the rebirth of our wonderful world. Who could ask for more?

I have always loved spring the best of all the seasons. There is nothing like my morning wakening to the sweetest chirping songs of the wild birds out my open window. I know I have a bird fetish and will never apologize for it. We now have birds inside our home as well, with 2 bright parakeets (Sunshine and Blueberry) tweeting all day long and letting us know all is well with the world. But such a variety of the free birds coming to greet the day with me, what a joy.

Spring green and the color is most welcomed. Little by little you see it on the willows, in the fresh new growth of grasses on the mountain side and down in the valleys. The tall trees with the hint of green, then as the leafs open, WOW an explosion of the worlds beauty. I never tire of this and our visions of the true beauty that is all around us!

Who could not believe in Our Heavenly Father and his love for us when Spring comes into our view and is felt so deeply and penetrates our hearts?