Good morning everyone! Today looks as if it will be a brighter cheerier morning. The weather was so gloomy yesterday. I have no errands to do today. I am thankful to have a full day at home.

Everything is falling into place. I’ve laundry to do today and perhaps some tidying up. The house looks all in order but I like to keep it that way. I think I’ll roast a chicken for dinner tonight. I’d like tomorrow’s dinner to be simple as I must pack the suitcases tomorrow.

I keep changing my mind on what I want to wear on the trip. The weather is predicted to be quite warm (80’s). I believe I’ll take my light blue denim jumper, some pastel skirts, t shirts, and my denim jacket. I can mix and match the t shirts with the jumper and the skirts. We’ll be gone for 10 days. We’ll have access to a washing machine if we need anything washed. I just need to figure out how to pack it all. I am determined to take my medium size pullman suitcase. I don’t want to check any baggage.

My husband knows exactly what he’ll be taking. Along with his clothing, he’s bringing his camera and his lap top. I won’t bring my lap top as I’ll just use his. I am confident I will be able to post here on a regular basis and hopefully even have pictures to share! I don’t think I’ll have to time to visit everyone so please excuse my absence from visiting. I will catch up when I return home!

My cup of tea is now empty so tis time to go. Blessings to your day!

I’ve been redecorating again. I love morning glories! They are my favorite flower. I’m still struggling to get the header right. I think I need help from my husband.  He’ll whip a lovely one up for me in no time.  I really need to teach myself photoshop!

It is 3 pm and I am just now sitting down to write here. Today’s to-do’s have been a bit more involved than I thought they would be. It feels nice to sit down for a bit.

I finished my book. I’ve been reading Carolyn Jessop’s book Escape. The book is her account of growing up in the FLDS community, her marriage to Meryl Jessop, her children, and her escape from the FLDS. The book is riveting to say the least. I highly recommend the book if you are interested in all about the FLDS and all that is going on in the state of Texas.

My heart breaks for all the women and children. I applaud the state of Texas for recognizing the danger the children were in and stepping in and doing something. I applaud the child protective services. I applaud the judge who ruled that the children are wards of the state for now. God bless them all.

My heart goes out to the women who must ache terribly for their children who are gone. I pray that God would reveal Himself to them and they would see that there is freedom in Christ. There is no reason for bondage to anyone. May their eyes be opened and their hearts receive truth and comfort.

I read that Oprah is having a special report about the FLDS on today’s show. I would not normally watch Oprah. I personally do not care for her but I will tune in today.

Your thoughts?

My things to do for today are almost done. My errands are all done. All I have left to do is make to make dinner. I plan on catching up with my writing and I’m hoping to finish reading the book that I started. I’m about 2/3 done with it.

It is a beautiful day today. I think I’ll read my book outside in the sun. Perhaps I’ll see the mother robin gathering twigs for her nest. We saw her yesterday. She is quite determined to build that nest soon. A mother’s work is never done!

I remember years ago when my children were young, they loved summertime. They loved the freedom that summertime brings. I always had little projects for them to work on so they would not be bored. They each chose a vegetable to plant in the garden. They enjoyed watching their plants grow and tending to their garden. I also bought them educational kits to work on. One year it was woodworking. Another year it was soldering. They loved working with their hands. Thought they are older, I believe they would enjoy building high performance gaming computers. They have these really interesting kits where you can do just that. I’ll have to ask my husband about them.

I love the scene in the movie The Lord of the Rings, The Fellowship of the Ring when Galadadriel says to Frodo “Even the smallest person can change the course of the future.” What a pivot moment.

I feel like Frodo sometimes. I want to do more but what can I do? I thought and thought and realized there is something I can do besides pray.

You may or may not have noticed the little entries that I write are sometimes sponsored by different companies that ask me to write for them. I try to make them as entertaining as possible but it is difficult sometimes. I enjoy writing them and they do pay quite well. You can donate the money earned from blogging to charities such as the Red Cross and such. I have decided that is exactly what I’m going to do for the month of May. It is just a small drop in the much larger bucket but I feel good about doing it. If you’d like to write on your blog for money for charity or for yourself, I’d be happy to help you if I can.

Blessings

My daughter is looking into different medical residencies. She still has one more year of medical school but she needs to apply for her residencies now.  It won’t be long before she will have to go on her residency interviews.  As one of her options, she is considering a residency in North Carolina. North Carolina is such a beautiful state. It isn’t that far from here really and we could visit her and stay in the Outer Banks area.

It won’t be long before we are on the west coast.  I am looking forward to sitting next to the beautiful swimming pool. I would love to catch some of those golden California rays of sunshine. I’m not for actually swimming but the rest of my family is. I can just see them now swimming and splashing surrounded by pool toys!  I can hardly wait!

My husband is so busy, bless his heart. He made a to do list for the trip too. He’s checking things off left and right. He’s bringing his lap top computer on the trip to download all his pictures on every evening. He loves to take pictures. I hope the computer has enough memory. I believe he installed more but I should ask him.

I admit that I know absolutely nothing about wine except that one glass of red wine in the evening is supposed to be good for you. I’ve asked friends to recommend a good wine for me to try. Because there are so many good wines and it is hard to choose, they suggested that I try a wine of the month club.  I will be able to try a variety of wines this way.

Next time I am in the doctor’s office, I need to ask his opinion about acne treatments. My girl friend was talking to me and is so confused about what to do about her son’s acne.  His acne is not going away and it flares up especially when the weather is hot.  They’ve tried many over the counter remedies to no avail.  I am hoping my doctor can recommend a good dermatologist for my friend.

Please let us remember to pray for all the people in China who were affected by the huge earthquake. I feel so sad for the people there. The news is reporting that the death toll is past 12,000 already and they know at least 18,000 people are trapped.

Also please pray for the people in Myanmar. Recent news reports that the death toll is between 62,000 to 100,000 people. Up to 2 million people face starvation and disease. There is very little clean water and people are drinking contaminated water. Much of the aid that is sent in is not making it to the people who need it. It is believed the corrupt government is just keeping the supplies.

All of this is so sad. I know there is not much we can do but pray. We all have so much to be thankful for. We have nothing to complain about compared to those who have so little and are in such dire straits. We are so blessed. With this in mind, we are to live each day in prayer and thanksgiving until the Lord returns. Maranatha!

This week, my daughter has been organizing this and tossing out that. She had to move all her belongings home from college only to move them back next week. I honesty wish that the college provided some kind of storage units for the college kids to keep their stuff in so they don’t have to cart it back and forth. We won’t be here to help move her back so I believe she is enlisting her friends to help her. If they aren’t available, she may need to call the New York Moving Company.

While leafing through a magazine, I came across another weight loss miracle, Curvelle.  I’ve never heard of it before but the ad looked interesting.  I am not in the market for anything to lose weight.  I think I’m just old school that way.  If someone wants to lose weight, just cut back on calories and exercise a bit more.  It may take a longer time to lose the weight but it will work.

When I get back from vacation, I need to visit my elderly neighbor. Her husband died a few years ago and we try to keep an eye on her. She does have a live in aide now who helps but she loves to visit. It’s about that time for me to pick up medication, wipes, and other personal items for her.  She doesn’t drive.  Her visits are always a treat.

It feels good to sit down for a bit with a cup of apple cinnamon tea and an oatmeal cookie. I’ve had a very productive day and I am pleased with that!

I have six separate lists!

1. To Do’s for this week
2. What I need to pack for myself
3. What I need to pack for the kids
4. What I need to pack miscellaneous for the trip (medicine, toiletries, etc)
5. What I need to pack miscellaneous for the plane
6. What we need to buy once we get to California

We want to carry on our luggage and not check it. We’ll just buy things like shampoo and such once we get there.

It feels good to be organized!

I have fond memories as a child of Rodeo Day. The county I grew up in had a special Rodeo Parade to mark the beginning of rodeo season. I loved to sit on the curb and watch the parade pass by. I especially loved seeing all the different horses. What little girl doesn’t love horses? A friend of mine participated in the rodeo. She would compete in different types of barrel racing and such. Her father owned a number of horses and I loved going to her ranch.

I haven’t been to a rodeo in years. I’d love to go again. The National Finals Rodeo takes place in Las Vegas in early December. I may just drop a hit to my husband to check out National Final Rodeo tickets. I love seeing any event with horses whether it be bareback riding or barrel racing. The events with the bulls such as team roping or bull riding make me nervous. I’ll have to peek through my fingers while I watch. I’m always afraid someone will be hurt. I shouldn’t worry. I know they are extra careful.

If anyone else is interested, make sure you order your tickets soon because they always sell out and you wouldn’t want to miss an exciting experience.

First I wanted to thank everyone for their Happy Mother’s Day wishes. It was a treat to see all the comments and emails. What a blessing!

I am glad that Mother’s Day comes just once a year as I am exhausted, exhausted but very happy! I can not think of anything better than having all my children home together all at once. The weekend was filled with love, laughter, talking, games, movies, presents, and food! Each moment was treasured. I don’t think we will all be together again until Thanksgiving.

Today will be may day of rest and lists. I have much to do before we leave Saturday and I need to make my lists!

Blessings to you this lovely Monday morning.

I was watching the home television network the other day and the man was laying down floor tiles. It brought back a lot of memories when we had our bathrooms remodeled. We did not do the work ourselves. Gosh, I can imagine what it would have looked like if we did! Instead we hired a contractor who redid both bathrooms. I can remember going to the tile stores and looking at all the tiles. It was overwhelming.

I wish we’d known about Glasstilestore.com. We could have looked at beautiful glass mosaic tiles at our leisure and then decided on what we wanted. The prices are much better there than what we paid for them. Their tiles are below wholesale prices and I love all the beautiful designs.

Just when you think things are going smoothly, something happens. Some friends of ours were taking a road trip and their car broke down. They had to have it repaired on the spot and it cost them over a thousand dollars. They were able to put the charge on their credit card but were worried about how to pay it when the bill came.

They didn’t want to ask family or friends for a loan so they decided to take out a Pay Day Loan. They were able to apply online and receive confirmation within a short amount of time. They said it was simple and the people were very courteous.  They are confident they will pay it off in no time.

I had a wonderful surprise last night. My son and husband were late in returning from daughter number two’s college for a good reason. They had picked up daughter number two at the train station on their way home. She is staying for the weekend! Her husband has to fly to a conference this weekend and she is here with us! I’m so happy ~ all my little chickies have come home to roost.

There has been quite a bit of buzz lately about credit cards and whether they are good or whether they are bad. Some people think that you should not have a credit card at all. I think credit cards are a good thing if you can use them wisely. I don’t understand why people need to pay a finance guru to teach them how to spend and save wisely. It is just common sense.

Anyone can start saving and spending wisely no matter where they are. You don’t have to be debt-free to start making wise decisions. If you know your credit score or credit history, you can look at your spending habits and start from there.

If you have more than one credit card, consolidate them to the one card that has the lowest percentage interest rate. Take a good look at your monthly budget and trim what you can. Pay off whatever you owe as soon as possible and you will be saving the money you would have spent on interest. You may not think it can be done but it can be!

It is a sad fact, but thousands of the Americans are in deep debt today. Every day lots of people file bankruptcy. But the worst thing, though credit cards bring us many problems, we can’t live without credit cards. They are essential part of our life.

It is a hard task to rebuild one’s credit after bankruptcy. But everyone deserves a second chance.

Today credit card companies issue a wide range of bad/no credit cards. These offers are specially designed for people with credit history that needs some improvement. Bad credit cards let consumers enjoy features and services of regular credit cards and also they give an opportunity to rebuild or establish credit.

No doubt, bad/no credit cards can be hardly called beneficial offers. Often these plastics come with an annual fee and higher interest rate than credit cards for good credit have. But mind, your bad/no credit card is just a mean to get out of debt and rebuild credit history. Having reached your aimed, you will be able to obtain a more beneficial offer with rewards or with low interest rates, for instance.

If you want to repair credit and recover strong financial position, pay attention to bad credit cards. They will help you to overcome debt and get control of your finance.

I’m patiently waiting for everyone’s arrival. I have a bit pot of Nightmare Chili on the stove for my hungry travelers. It smells wonderful but I shall wait until they get home. My son called me and told me that the traffic was terrible and they would be later than they originally thought. No doubt the rain is causing the traffic to go slowly.

Here’s to a lovely day tomorrow!