Awe-Manac catch up.

February 19 2017
Name today:  49 years and counting!
Today I get to: go to church and make family dinner

I'm writing this several days behind so I'm just going to skip all the super creative stuff today about being the center of the Universe.  (which I need to take more seriously, I mean there are thousands of my progenitors/family and my Heavenly Father and Mother who are focused on me and hoping I can hold my universe together successfully.)  Any way, Today is the 49 anniversary of my first date with Marvin.  Who knew that date I had reluctantly accepted would turn into 49 years, 8 children, 21 grandchildren. I might be willing to give up the 49years but not my children or grandchildren or the knowledge gained in those years.---- Our Stake president spoke today at church about a topic I haven't heard from my ward pulpit in a long time.  "Preparing for the Second Coming of Jesus Christ".  His talk was more on being spiritually prepared rather than on the physical aspects. One of the ideas he gave which would make a great family home evening and focus for a year was related to the parable of the 10 virgins. He suggested getting an oil lamp, olive oil and a dropper and each time we do something to build our testimony or the kingdom of God we can put a drop of oil in the lamp.  He suggested that we could then light it and burn the lamp on Christmas.  He states they did this in his ward once and then, at the ward Christmas party, every one brought their lamps and they lined the walk to the door of the church to light the way.   The last two times I could go to church I was able to fell the Spirit.  It is so wonderful to be able to be able to be lifted and edified and not feel so empty inside.

February 20, 2017
Name today:  Monday, Monday (yikes another work week)
Today I get to:  try and sleep and then go to work (boring)
Today is Ansel Adams birthday and for the creativity assignment I was going to take a black and white photo of nature but I didn't get it done, but if I do get it done this week I'll add it to this post.  Didn't nap well but the  work night still went OK,  There were 6 admits today! Each of the 3 night nurses took one admit and one other new pt admitted earlier so the work was spread out. Luckily,  my admit was relatively easy and my new earlier guy mostly just needed disimpacted LOL (always fun to do---not). 

February 21. 2017
Name today: 47th Anniversary
Today I get to:  Sleep and work

I know I should try and think of more interesting things to do.  But if I have to work that night and worked the night before there's not much I will do except that.  I did order some green soft throws for the front room to help pull the yellow bed and chair into looking like they go with the sofa and throw pillows I bought.  I am going to change the yellow and gray patterned, coverlet I have on the end of the bed and matching bed pillows and use the solid green throw on the end to freshen up the room and pull the color from the throw pillows so it coordinate better.  I also bought a new lighter area rug  for the room but when I put it down it looked worse than the dark one already in there. I guess I'll have to keep looking.  When I get the old love seat out of the house so I can get to the bed to place the throw/blanket and change out the rug I'll take a picture and post it here but right now with the love seat still sitting in the middle of the room it's not happening. 

It is the United Nations International Mother Language Day and in honor of that I am tasked with making up a few words in the language of  "Deannese".   *Feralitis:  This is a condition you catch when you begin feeding a starving mother cat and her three kittens  Untreated it can lead to an overabundance of wild animals living in your back yard. It can only be cured with metal traps and a trip to the vet. * complusated  This happens when you FINALLY have enough of whatever it was you were fixated on acquiring in every style and color---from the Latin compulsive and satiated.    *dreamailure:  To constantly dream of things but never accomplish anything.   *Motivacation  The inspiration and motivation you acquire while on vacation that evaporate once you are back in the real world.

Febuary 18, 2017

Name today: Lazy Rainy Saturday
Today I get to --give myself permission to make mistakes

This note gives the bearer (Deanna Steffler) permission to make mistakes.  "just because you make mistakes doesn't mean you are one"  author unknown.   Heavenly Father is not an umpire who is counting strike one, strike two, strike three  You're OUT!  He is the loving parent and coach on the sideline always encouraging you to get up and try again.  he knew this life was to be a learning experience and that we would make mistakes but that is why he also planned for a Savior to redeem us from those mistakes,  Christ makes up for all of the pain, heartache and hurt caused by you and/or any one affected by the mistake.  You can never be beyond the loving arms of the Lord's atonement.

Never say "oops" always say " AH, interesting!     We need to take the lesson/knowledge we learn from our mistakes to move forward wiser for the experience, not to let the mistake stop us in our tracks.

Feb 17. 2017

Name today:  Impulse purchase a sofa day
I get to:  Not work and relax

The inventor of the stethoscope was born today in 1781 write a list of things the stethoscope can detect about a person and then write a story, song, poem about them.

Heart health, lung capacity, lung health, constipation, hunger, gas, sensitivity to cold metal objects, shyness, fear of Dr, pregnancy

the healthy heart it dum-dum-dums
The afib heart goes ditty-ditty-dduummmm-dum-dum-ditty
Some lungs breathe in a silent effortlessness
while others are rude and make so much noise that the heart can't be heard above the din.
some abdomens are swollen and firm and hold on the everything so tight that not even a bubble or rumble can escape
while other are sunk so deep their ribs perturb cry out in loud voices- "feed me!"
woops! is that cold? sorry let me warm that up a little
I'm just going to touch you, it won't hurt I'm just going to listen you'll be alright, breathe.
Can you hear that? Let me put these in your ears, can you hear now?   That's the sound of your new child, you are going to bring a perfect new little spirit into the world,  I know, don't cry, it is a miracle isn't it!

February 16th 2017

Name the Day:   recovery day approximately 972
Today I get to: sleep/ rest/watch TV/ RECOVER

I am prompted to write a story using words from a long list of random items/words so here it is.
      
      I sat in the car with the windows rolled down, it was a warm day for February--in fact it had been unseasonably warm all month.  My car was stopped by a small farm, the fields were muddy from all the recently melted winter snow.  My gazed moved further away and across the pasture where there was a corralled area with at least twenty-five cows standing with heads hanging low and tails switching as they chewed slowly on their cuds.  They must run a small dairy business here I thought, that explains the flies.  I guess it has been warm enough to hatch out the first spring batch of the pesky black insects.  I laid my head back and closed my eyes, listening to the deep rumble of the cows as they talked among themselves. The quiet lowing was interrupted by the high pitched buzz of a fly that was determined to check out my nose, look me in the eye and drink from the drop of sweat on my brow. I shook my head and waved my hand around like a crazy man.  I sat back up and contemplated rolling the windows up again but decided against it, I had had them rolled up for a while but the heat from the late morning sun shining through the windshield had heated up the interior to an unbearable stuffiness.  It had already been almost two and a half hours since the line of cars slowed and we haven't moved in over 2 hours.  I listened to the radio for a while until I was afraid I'd run the battery down and I can't really keep the car running since I passed up the gas station in the last town believing I could easily reach the big modern one on the edge of the next town where the price is competitive and the bathrooms clean and bright.  Luckily I still had a bag of sunflower seeds in the car left over from my last sales trip. Unfortunately it was just a bag of plain salted seeds and lately I have been preferring the new dill pickle flavor. Oh well, beggars can't be choosers.  So here I am just sitting and spitting.  It takes the edge off my growing hunger,  Now I wish I had taken time for breakfast before I left but I was in a hurry to get on the road, and when I gassed up this morning I had eyed a big sticky bun and a bag of almonds I saw near the cash register but I passed because they were overpriced--even for gas station pricing.  I gazed out over the fields again and noticed an old mule was wandering through the wet dirt, head low, searching, and then grabbing up the occasional green shoots with his soft lips. I closed my eyes again, I doubt in the olden days there many "mule traffic jams" I mused.  How much longer is this going to last!!!!
An hour  ago the radio reported that some drivers had played bumper cars near the small town of Maurice.  That's at least sixty miles ahead and the announcer had estimated that the traffic was backed up for about 75 miles.  That's another 15-20 miles behind me and I imagine it is still growing.  It's sure to make the record books!  I looked in the rear view mirror at the car behind me.  A middle aged man was in the driver's seat and the woman in the passenger seat was leaning away from him, her shoulder dug into the door frame, her eyes staring blankly out the window.  Suddenly, I see the man pound on the steering wheel and his mouth opening and closing, his face contorted as he yelled over his shoulder at the unseen persons in the back seat.  I see his wife's mouth move without ever turning her head or changing position.  The man gave one more slap to the wheel and then pushed the door open and got out.  He looked up and down the long line of idle cars and then his eyes met mine.  He briskly walked toward me,  I thought of frantically rolling up the window but he was there before my hesitant hand reached the crank.  "Hey buddy" he said then wiped his hand across his brow. (I knew he hadn't rolled down his windows because otherwise I would have heard his outburst)  "Damned hot for this time of year! I wonder what those screw-ups are doing up there! How long do they thing they can keep us roasting out here!" His eyes wandered around the interior of my car.  "you're one lucky SOB.  You don't have a shrew and couple of spoiled whining brats yappin' at you every other minute!!!  He looked up and down the line of cars again,  "you'd think there would be some official response, you know some one bring water or food or at least information!  these government types don't know a damn thing,  they sit in their air conditioned offices like gods and do nothing while we rot out here!!!  His eyes returned to looking at me "you wouldn't happen to have some water or anything to drink that I can give my kids,  They won't shut their mouths and my wife is blaming me because I wouldn't stop at that last town and get lunch like she wanted"  I did feel a bit of sympathy for the man and I did have a couple of gallons of water in the trunk for emergencies, so I got out and gave him a gallon, He turned without even acknowledging the gift, "hey, wait"  I called as I grabbed the open bag of sunflower seeds off the seat and handed them to him.  He took it, gave it a shake and again turned and returned to the car without even a thank-you.  Well, I thought this must be "do a grouch a favor day"  The rest of the day passed in a tedious round of naps, waving off flies, day dreaming and some grouchy words of my own.  Finally, after the sun had set and I was starting to wish for the heat of mid day again, we started to move.  Later I found out the traffic had been backed up 109 miles definitely a record!

Feb 15, 2017 Awe-manac

Name today---"swear off sugar day"
Today I get to---- Exercise, read, work
Subliminal message: "I've loved the stars too fondly to be fearful of the night.
I am supposed to change that to make my own quote
"I've loved the peace of solitude too fondly to be afraid of being alone."

It is Melissa Manchester's birthday so the assignment is to pick one of her song titles and write about it by using the perspective of.(there was a full page of suggestions)-- I chose brain surgeon and the song title is Don't Cry Out Loud.

    "I find the message of this title a threat to the health of all of people!  You'll never know how many times I have had to operate to relieve the pressure on the brain that all those internal tears have created .  I have had them practically explode when I've drilled the first hole in the skull spraying everyone in the room with their dark turbid mood!  I have had some success by placing an internal drain to relieve the build up but I find that the person becomes a shell of his former self.  They go around with a flat affect and are unable to feel either joy or sadness.  So don't take the word of some "celebrity" believe me she doesn't know what she is talking about!"

Feb 14 2017 Awe-Manac

Today's assignments, because this was a day that the birds are supposed to start mating we are to let the birds know we support them... I bought a bag of bird seed and need to put out the feeder.
It is also the inventor of the Ferris Wheels birthday so I am assigned to write a poem or a Haiku about Ferris wheels  so here is my Haiku ( a three line poem with 5 syllables in the first line, 7 in the second and 5 in the third and it doesn't rhyme)

Exhilarating

round and round, up, down, flying

Rocking, hang on tight

 

I was also assigned to send an E-valentine to myself.  so I made a "Jib Jab" singing dancing video of "I Got You Babe" for Marvin and me.  I thought it was so funny and cute and laughed out loud but when I called him over to see it he just sat silently with a mild scowl on his face.  I said "you aren't even smiling"  he just said "I don't see anything funny yet!  Is that supposed to be you and me?"  He just watched then got up and walked away without even looking at me--sigh

....four+ years later...

It's been a long time since I posted anything on this blog.  I returned home not too long after my last post having come to the realization that Marvin would not make any effort to change his life and that I had to accept that and move on.  I didn't really move on I just started to exist/endure living my life work-sleep-TV-computer-sleep-repeat.  Nothing good or bad just how it was.  I decided just to live my life for myself but I found myself sinking into the couch and disappearing.  Not so bad since I was no longer beset with the desires/anger/dreams that I had regarding Marvin so things no longer were emotionally charged.  It is what it is and I just need to accept it.  Early last year I decided to try an antidepressant to see if it made any difference and I do think it helped, the fog has lifted some.  I started to work on losing weight and was successful for a few months but then the holidays came and what had become easy, again seemed impossible to restart.  Here it is  the middle of February, 3 months later and I'm up 4 pounds.  I am taking steps this week to change that.  I'm trying to get remotivated and I have enlisted a help of a friend from church who has lost weight and become very fit and just got certified to be a "health coach"  I thought it would be like a personal trainer but after our first meeting I am seeing it will be more working on my own mental blocks and issues that keep me from being my best.  I also found a book entitled "The Awe-Manac A Daily Dose of Wonder"  Its goal is to help you get in touch with and kick start your creativity.  Every day you spend a few minutes thinking and writing, exploring different thoughts/ideas in different and some times kind of bizarre ways.  I started on Feb 13th.  It began * "name the day"  I named it "Dennis the Menace" because it is my son-in-law Dennis' birthday.  Next: *What would you change your name to if you could and how would that change how you feel about yourself?....."Annie Theresa"--my grandmother's name---- Independent, determined, strong, active, thrifty, but also ascorbic, proud.  Or maybe "Dee Anne"  Dee would be smaller, bubblier, more outgoing and fun loving. but less responsible.  Sky Blue-- a dreamer, free.  The book also asks you to complete this sentence* Today I get to.... "See my new grandson and talk with my new life coach",

      It is also the birthday of Grant Wood the artist who painted " American Gothic" So the final assignment was to imagine what happens next in the painting.

     "It's been a hard year made even harder by the deadly illness that has been sweeping the land.  Homer is not a young man and ever since our son abandoned us and the farm to go out west, he just works sunrise to sunset and hardly speaks at all.  He never takes a rest except for Sundays when he puts on a clean white shirt and his only black suit coat and solemnly walks to the old church.  Reverend Johns has aged poorly in this harsh country and has been beset with frequent ailments so Homer, as head deacon, often is the one who delivers the sermon to our shrinking community of worshipers.  Today though is NOT Sunday--- but he got up and put on his clean white shirt and black coat.  Today, we are going over to the Christenson's, our closest neighbors and friends.  Hans and Homer came to this land together as young men.  Their eyes filled with dreams of "amber waves of grain" and two story clapboard houses filled with children and surrounded by spacious green fields punctuated by the flowers and trees planted with their own hands, grown from the seeds ordered in the dead of winter after pouring over all the pages and choices in the seed catalog.  Some of those dreams came true but the house was a humble one story and the children struggled to arrive and then much too soon slipped away to Jubilee carried on the wings of angels. All except one, our son George. He grew into a handsome lad with sun kissed curls with a quick laugh and a twinkle in his eye. And then on to be a tall broad shouldered man with bigger dreams than a back breaking life toiling in the hard earth year after year.  So he left....  But I digress, today we are going over to the Christenson's.  Homer is going to give the eulogy, then he and the other few able body men will lower Hans into the all consuming earth---"dust to dust".  Then, they will see to pitching the last load of hay that Hans had brought in from the field before he was struck ill into the rafters of the barn.  I will be helping Rebecca, she is consumed with grief and has been in poor health herself, I'm afraid she may soon follow Hans though the veil. Well, Homer has started walking, his head hanging, his shoulders rounded and using his pitchfork like and old man's walking stick.  What a different picture than when we were first married he'd kiss me goodbye and then set out his head held high, the pitchfork swaying jauntily on his shoulder and with a sharp whistle invite Old Shep to join him..... Enough of looking to the past, "for suffient unto the day is the 'work' thereof" and He needs my shoulder to the wheel.  

Life's updates

I know that I have not posted in over 3 years, and of course some of the circumstances in my life have changed and I am trying to make changes in myself as well.  I haven't changed much since last I posted, I'm still overweight and out of shape only now I"M 60!!!!!! I can hardly say the word!  Any way, currently I am not living at home, I felt very strongly that I needed to create an opportunity for Marvin to want to stop drinking and I really wanted our lives to be better and his health to be better and the dream of dreams that we could start working towards being a forever family!! So far however, I have learned that at this point, he still chooses Beer and TV over me :(   I am living in a home very graciously and generously offered by my new son-in-law Stephen. He is letting me stay at a very reduced cost with no lease since I don't know how long I will be here and I really couldn't afford to rent another house and still pay all the bills on Marvin and I's home. Anyway here I am.  Major life event updates:  I still work at Hospice, no change there,  We had two new grandchildren since last I wrote, Holly and Jonathan has a beautiful little girl Kara Joy,  and Aimee and Dennis have a bouncing baby boy Jacob Andrew.  Both are so cute and fun.  My oldest two granddaughters have graduated from High School,  Isabelle went to BYU last year and Morgan will be going to ASU this year.  My beloved son-in-law Micah Kaplan was killed in a car accident in 2010 and our sweet daughter Susie has now remarried to the above excellent man Stephen.   Susie also graduated from nursing school and now works as a valued RN in a hospital.  Scott moved back to Phoenix and now back again to the Northwest, his wife Kim graduated with her BA in criminal justice, Brian became a cross country trucker because of the economy, he is hoping to find a job at home soon as he is DONE living in a truck,  Danelle and Vince bought a house in Sherman Texas and Danelle started working at the middle school., Monica and Del have moved to a new home, and Monica also now works at a school. Aimee and Dennis started their own AC repair business and Dennis joined the church and now he and Aimee and family are sealed in the temple!!!!!, Allen is doing OK but has struggled with employment though this downturn in the economy and currently lives in our home with us but is hoping that he can secure a better paying job soon, so he can get out on his own.  Holly and Jonathan not only added to their family but moved to Utah and are now going to move to Texas for his work.  He is doing well in his jobs and Holly is excited to be moving close to Danelle and Aimee.  I'm sure I am forgetting many major things but I think I will close for now.  I have some pictures I want to post and maybe will get to them later today.

April 20th walk

I worked last night and was going to go the same park after work as I did yesterday but then decided to come home and change and go to WW. I made it as far as home and weighing in on my own scale and decided I would give it another day before going to weigh in, I need to see a loss for my motivation and as everyone knows who has tried to lose weight it is a up 2-3 lbs one day and down 2-3 another and while I understand water weight and hormones and that I need to look at the long run it still is fun to see the loss on the official stamp! Anyway instead of taking a nap I just vegged all day, dozing on the couch watching tv and late this afternoon I did put on my shoes and start to head out but decided I would just walk on the treadmill instead. And I got my new fancy-schmancy pedometer in the mail today. So I walked for 30 mins and per the pedo I took 3975 steps and walked 1.5 miles. I know I have a lot to go to reach 10000 but I don't think it will happen today but I did make it yesterday. I hope to do my core, upper body and lower body workout also but I know I'm going to crash soon plus DWTS and AI are on. LOL It's almost time to start watching, I don't start until the show is more than half over so I can skip through all the blab and commercials and catch up right at the end!! Love that DVR!

Here's a link to my new pedometer hope this works I suck at adding stuff to my blog.
Well, I'm getting frustrated, it shows in my post but won't show when I publish. Any way you can see it on Amazon.com it is a OMRON HJ 303 GoSmart Tri Axis Pedometer.

Good Morning, I didn't do too well this weekend with my walking, I missed Friday, rode my bike on Saturday with Holly but didn't take my camera and then missed Sunday too. But as soon as I got off work this morning, I went walking at 59th and Thunderbird. It was overcast and a little gray this morning as you can see from this first picture.



This reminded me of a wedding band placed in the bridal bouquet.


I walked for 30mins, per my pedometer (which worked this am and didn't fall off) I walked almost 3500 steps or 1.65 miles. Hope you all have a great day, love you all.

April 15th walk

This is looking up into one of the huge pine trees, This one is so full of pine needles that it blocks out the sun, several birds flew out so they probably have nests in there.


A neigbors poppies


The view of the park from my house


In my own yard looking up and out.

Good Morning, I spent all my free time this am planning my walks, looking up parks etc. I made a list of about 23 places that aren't too far away to go walking at each day. I printed them up and cut them apart and put them in a jar to draw from. I then promptly drew the one farthest away and I don't have time for that this morning, I have to work again tonight and need to get to bed. So I ended up just going out my front door and walking in my own park. No fun wildlife, just birds but I did find 11 cents!! Anyway, here's a couple of pics of todays walk.

Daily (hopefully) Walk

Thought I would post picture from my walk today and thought it might be inspiring (to me) to post one for each day's walk. So here is a couple of pictures from my walk though Cave Creek Wash as it travels from Greenway to Bell (at abt 9th Ave). It has an improved bike/walking sidewalk so not really like hiking but got to see some wildlife. I saw 1 butterfly, 1 squirrel, 2 quail, 2 bunnies (one a baby) 1 coyote, 1 humming bird, 1 lizard, dove, sparrows and assorted other birds. I got a pic of one of the bunnies but missed the coyote (well actully tried but it didn't turn out). I think I walked about a mile and a half but I was bummed cause the pedometer I clipped on today didn't work so not sure how many steps. My expensive pedometer keeps popping off of my waistband and pops the battery out when it hits the ground so I lose whatever info was on it. So I tried this little one that came with a walking Dvd I bought last year. I think I'm going to have to buy a more expensive one that will read even in a pocket or a purse (and that comes with a secondary tether so even if it comes off your waistband, it doesn't fall) It was a nice day out today and hope that I can commit to increasing my activity and decreasing my portion sizes. I have been kind of off the wagon for the last two weeks so trying to recommit. Hope you guys have a great day.

Book covers and dishes

Hi everybody, I know it has been a while but I guess I had the winter doldrums. I have been promising my mom that I would show her what she got me for my birthday, clear back in January so here it is. I have been trying to lose some weight and joined weight watchers after much pleading by my daughters who are enjoying success with the program. I had been wanting some new plates/dishes and had been looking for a smaller plate to eat on since that is one of the recommendations from most weight loss sites. Anyway I found these dishes and really liked the butterflies. I like to think of myself as a butterfly flying free after years of being a caterpillar. LOL So here's a pic of my new dish set.





I also wanted to show this easy but cute craft I did to give to my visiting teaching ladies. This month the lesson is on strengthening our faith through personal scripture study. I found a tutorial on how to make these book covers on a blog called U-Create at (http://kari-youcanmakeit.blogspot.com) (I tried to make this a link but I can't seem to do it. It inserts it in my copy but doesn't put it in the finished post so I guess you'll have to manually enter it) They were quick and turned out really cute. You just pick whatever scrapbook paper you like and a paperback Book of Mormon (or any book) and before you know it this is what you have.



Aimee and family are coming next week for spring break, I can't wait. All of my grandchildren are getting so big, Bailey is 20 and Isabelle will be 17 this month! Jonathan Robert (my youngest is 3 and is "Not a Baby!"). I'll try and post again sooner and share some pictures from their visit

Silliness with the Halloween candy

Last night at our Sunday family dinner, Susie and I played with the left over halloween candy. One of the candys I purchased to hand out this Halloween were these whistle pops. The results was the silliness that follows. Just a glimpse into life at the Sunday dinners.

Also since I posted twice today be sure and check the previous post with the winners of the Halloween literary contest winners revealed!

Del is head-over-heels excited about winning October's contest.


Chris James also won for his creative entry, way to go!



It's official! Del won for the best entry in the Halloween literary contest, and Chris James won the all entry drawing. Thanks for entering. It is so much fun to read your entries!!! You can read all of them by view the comments on the last post. Monica had some cute Cookie monster stories and Susie entered a cute poem too. I am thinking of a new contest, probably something related to Thanksgiving or gratitude and will let you know soon what it will be.

Here's Del's entry:

The Day of The Dead
and past Halloweens,
The best years are gone
and never more seen.

I've fond memories
of the Good Ol' Days,
Far more simple TIMEs,
free and CARELESS ways.

HYPERVENTILATE,
racing door to door.
Fill my pillow case,
always wanting more!

Witch with black nails from
CUTICLE to tip,
Dark GREEN PASTA hair,
fat mole on her lip.

Zombie, SKATEBOARDer,
HUFFALUMP, and ghost.
Look! COOKIE MONSTER,
he scares me the most!

At home with my Queen
and three little ogres,
I fall asleep smiling
in my FOUR-POSTER,
Dreaming of Harleys
and '32 roadsters.

A SMART man knows while
simple times are past,
The memories made
then will always last.

When the Day of The Dead
dawns in my hallowed den,
I may not be as
young as I was then.
Remember these words
and I'll find my Zen;

When Mister Owl speaks,
yes, the whole world stops.
"Only three LICKS kill
a Tootsie-roll Pop."

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!!!!

And here is Chris's

The old gray mare let out a snort,
With the echo of the rifle’s report.
The air was crisp, the night was dark,
The hunter’s aim had missed the mark.

In the woods a flash of something GREEN,
This was no place to be on Halloween.
Undaunted, the men knew this was the night
The mysterious HEFFALUMP would be alight.

The group pressed on for a while,
Like a manicurist pushes a CUTICLE file.
The Heffalump was dangerous and SMART,
But the men smelt his silent but deadly fart.

The chase was on as they galloped to the stream,
Till the horses’ started at a blood-curdling scream.
Big Bird had been CARELESS and gone on alone,
Now he lay on the ground like a big yellow stone.

His insides looked like PASTA,
And Elmo just lost it.
While Oscar drank one for him and his homie,
This is where our poem gets corny.

Bert and Ernie beat a quick retreat
Back to Sesame Street.
Only one dared remain,
COOKIE MONSTER was his name.

Cookie splashed into the stream,
Like a chocolate chip dream.
This ball of blue fury
Had a Heffalump to LICK and bury.

The Heffalump was big like a FOUR-POSTER bed,
With SKATEBOARD wheels weaved in his dreads.
Cookie charged on, till the beast did HYPERVENTILATE,
He knew this was the TIME, he must not be late.

He reached for his chips ahoy,
And smacked that macadamia nut
Upside his pistachio.

Then he followed it up with some milk in a glass,
And that’s how he kicked the Heffalump’s ____.

Another Contest

(Just a fun picture to ask "What are you going to be this Halloween?")

Hi all, I'm finally going to start the next contest. So here is the contest. Write a halloween story/poem/essay/whatever using the following dozen words somewhere in the story (which were collected from those family members present at the last contest drawing and by opening a book and blindly placing my finger on a word).

Cookie Monster, cuticle, lick, hyperventilate, green, smart, Heffalump, four-poster, skateboard, time, pasta, careless

Hope you have fun, the entries will be judged on Oct 31st with the 20 dollar prize going to the one I judge to be the cleverest. "ah-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha!" (wicked witch laugh)

New contest.

Sorry I have taken so long to post a new contest but here it is for your creative perusal. It is a multi-parter and I will draw for the winner(s) as I just couldn't decide last time who was the most creative because they all were!!! So let the creative juices flow!!!

1. (Monica's suggestion) Decribe yourself through the medium of alliteration.

2. Fill in the blanks "It was so_____________ that____________________!!

3. List what you believe to be the five most beautiful words in the English language.


Have fun and help your little ones have fun. Contest will end September 26th and I will draw the winner at Sunday dinner on the 27th.

Winner, Winner, Chicken Dinner

THE CONTEST WINNERS!!

Hi, had Sunday Chicken Noodle and dumpling dinner yesterday and picked the winners of the writing contest. We enjoyed our evening, I played Apples to Apples for the first time and we watched old family videos that George and Nancy put onto a DVD for me. How fun to see my beautiful family from the "other side". When it was happening, I was so often overwhelmed, I'm sure I didn't enjoy and love them up enough. Now seeing my little babies all still lap sized I just wanted to grab them up and smother them with kisses, even (maybe especially) Scott who was pouting with his back to the camera the entire way through one of the videos, (I'm sorry your feelings were hurt, I'm sorry you struggled so with being a middle child, but you are my first born son and will always be special!)

Trying to judge the contest was especially difficult, All the entries were fun and since I LOVE you all, I wanted everyone to win. I wasn't a very good judge--I couldn't narrow it down so I declared a tie between Del and Monica. The Random drawing was won by Grace. And I awarded Holly a gift for her outstanding writing even though it wasn't really what the contest was about. I LOVED READING EVERYONE'S ENTRY AND THOUGHT THEY WERE ALL SO CREATIVE! We must strive to do something creative everyday! To that goal, I am going to have another contest, but I have to decide on the details, it will probably be writing of some sort again but not necessarily. (I love Monica's picture gallery where they took one theme (light houses) or one object (flower in vase) and had everyone draw it.) So watch for the details to come soon, maybe even today.

The winning entries were:

DEL"S:

1.) With a voice hoarse from screaming, and fingernails caked with earth from clawing the ground, Earl spies the sign that reads; 'PLEASE DO NOT annoy, torment, pester, plague, molest, worry, badger, harry, harass, persecute, irk, bullyrag, vex, disquiet, grate, beset, tease, nettle, tantalize, or ruffle the animals' and realizes that dangling the corndog in front of the alligator was not the greatest idea for a good time.

2.) It has been commonly accepted for centuries that they numbered twelve, so the shockwaves are still being felt throughout the world as we find more proof of the thirteenth and fourteenth apostles, Rick and Bill, the Twins of Pagreha.

MONICA'S:

1.) I hate the saying home is where the heart is, since I don't have one thought the scarecrow.

2.) "He loves me, he loves me not, he loves me, he love me not" Carrie always thought she would love to come back as a flower until she bloomed and was carelessly destroyed on a young girl's whim.

The random drawing winner-Grace:

(Grace's story. Age 4(Her words exactly) I think it's cute how many (and)s she uses.)

There was a pretty princess and a prince and a witch, and the evil witch put the princess in the castle, and the witch was able to dance with the prince, and the witch's friends were Jealous. Her friends noticed that she put the princess in the castle and they saved the princess. Than the princess was able to dance with the prince, and they lived happily ever after.

Special award for outstanding writing: HOLLY

The nurse had a tear on her cheek as she brought her in to me, all bundled in pink.The nurse was like a saint to me during the 16 hours of hard labor full of complications. The baby had showed signs of stress. And now here she was being placed in my arms. "Oh," startled as I looked at her for the first time, "she's so beautiful." I didn't expect her to look like an angel! Oh her hair! Her dark, full head of hair and her creamy completion makes a beautiful contrast to her dark hair. She's so perfect. I adored her precious lips, and smelled her perfect new baby smell as I cradled her in my arms. Her skin felt so soft and I counted her cute tiny toes and fingers!"She looks just like she's sleeping." I whispered, I didn't expect that. Well, they told me she would, but Oh, I can almost imagine her breathing, as I looked at her perfect angelic baby face and chest. "Oh God, please, please." I started to cry out. My very soul started to quiver in grief. "This precious baby. My miracle baby. I can't, How can I live without her? God Please!" was my cry into the night as the realization of death hit me. Like a tumbling mountain rolling over me crushing my soul as each stone laid their heavy weight upon the pile leaving me... breathless.

End of the contest and some pictures from trip.

Here's a picture of Alex, isn't she turning into a beautiful young woman!!


Her body is changing as she blossoms into a stinky preteen LOL :)


She had alot of fun taking pictures, but I think she makes the best picture.


On our way to Mount Rainer we found this fun HOBO INN made out of old train cars. Alex took this picture and it is one of my favorites


The next day we went into Seattle to the Pike Marketplace here's a picture of one of the many many wares available there


There were lots of fish and shellfish


There was a giant brass piggy bank--


And several street performers, The guy down at the end of the sidewalk, played his guitar behind his head and while he was hula-hooping


Saturday Scott took Dad down to the pier to fish and crab. Unfortunately all they caught were a few undersized Crabs, but it was fun.


Thanks Scott and Kim! (FYI Josh was in Montana with his other Grandparents)


Here's my pretty MaMa. Pretty spry for an almost 79 year old!

Kim has posted more pictures of our trip to visit them on her blog so check them out at http://kimnscottonthespot.blogspot.com/ (you can click on their link in my sidebar)

Thanks everyone for your creative entries. I am having a hard time choosing the winners I am in my usual Saturday slump (I work every Friday night and then end up laying around all day Saturday) But hopefully my brain will be in tip-top condition tomorrow for the final judging and I will let you know tomorrow who is taking home the prizes..

Aguilars!!! Where are your entries??? Love you all

clarification of contest

After talking with a couple of my daughters I have decided to clarify this contest. The $20 prize will go to the person with the most creative entry as judged by myself and whoever else I consult. As further incentive I will have a random drawing prize of all the remaining entrys as I want to encourge lots of entrys and not to discourage anyone who is not feeling too creative. I am going on vacation next week and it has been requested that I give you all plenty of time to enter so the contest will end July 31,2009 after I get back. You can enter as many times as you want and each entry will be considered for the judged prize. However, the random drawing will be limited to one per person who entered. (you must enter at least once to be in the drawing). I had fun writing my creative sentence and I know you and your family will have fun too. This could generate alot of laughs as a family home evening activity. Try looking through magazines at pictures as a way to get started, as I did with the picture Dennis posted. Have your young non-literate children tell you a story about a picture etc. HAVE FUN! This is just a little activity to keep the brain cells humming over the long summer.

Please check the previous post, July 4th, and read the comments, Holly has already posted two outstanding entries. Don't let this easy money pass you up.