Family is Family...No Matter What

To me, family is family. I don’t care if you are my cousin or my fifth cousin. You are still my family. I am kind of confused about something.  Let’s say you have an aunt that gets remarried to a man but who has a child with her first husband.  Who is your uncle, would the first person become your ex uncle?  It is really confusing to me. I think that they are both your uncle, because one is my cousin’s father and the other is my aunt’s husband. I would consider my cousin’s dad more of my uncle because they are my cousin’s dad. Yeah I just confused myself too.  Of course most of the time the ex-husband or ex-wife are the ones that are usually the ones that don’t come to family functions because that could be kind of awkward.  I know I will never go to a family function for my ex’s family and that is fine with me. But, then I am thinking about who are these people. I mean are you really supposed to forget that you spent a huge chunk of your life with those people.  I understand when you divorce someone you divorce their family in a sense. Those bonds are forced to be broken.   It is a fact of life. It is just something that is understood.  I personally think that it sucks. I was really close to my ex-husband’s aunt.  I often think about her, if she is doing well. She has a horrible disease and I loved her, I still do.  I know that I will never have a hug from her, and that makes me want to cry.

I still consider those exes who are the parents of my cousins as my aunts and uncles.  I am just odd I guess.  I still love them.  One of them I used to see all the time at family things.  My family is different though. We are the type of family that would accept you if you were legally a member or not.  I love that about us.  I try to include them if I can.  I think that life is too short, to exclude others.  I love whole heartedly. I can’t just forget about someone like they never existed.  When my Grandma Rose passed away, my cousin’s ex-wife came to the funeral.  I could tell she felt kind of out of place when she went around hugging everyone in my family. She said I’m sorry for your loss, and I replied I am sorry about yours too.  I knew that she spent a lot of time with my grandma, my grandma loved her.  I think that I took her by surprise when I said that. I truly feel that it was her loss as well.  My aunt Mary came to the funeral as well.  She was married to my uncle before he passed away; I hadn’t seen her probably since my uncle’s funeral.  That wasn’t really weird for me either. I knew my grandma loved her too.  Family is so weird sometimes. 

Then I think about those who you call aunt and uncle who aren’t even related to at all.  Those are usually your parents’ friends that you have known for almost or all your life. It is more an honorary title. Then you have your godparents if you are catholic. Even though, it seems like everyone has godparents these days, catholic or not.  You have sisters and brothers that are not even related to you but you just love them that much and you become so close that the barrier of friends and family gets broken down and you are just family. Those are the best kind of friends to have.  I love my friends unconditionally as I do my family.  I love what Gibbs on NCIS said a few weeks ago about family. He said Family is more than just DNA it’s about people who care and take care of each other. I agree whole heartedly.  It truly is not about DNA or marriage or anything but just that, people who care and take care of each other.  I just can’t turn my back on people who I have cared about in the past. I just can’t. It is not who I am, it is not how I was raised. I am here for those, even if they were not there for me.  Someday you never know who might be there for you.

Shopping With Noah for Outdoor Furniture

Noah and I went shopping today; while we were out we were looking at cheap outdoor furniture for him. It was really cute it was a Noah sized table with two chairs and even an umbrella. I loved it and we found it at the grocery store at all places. He sat in it for about five minutes and then I realized that he doesn’t really have anywhere to sit outside. I mean sure he could sit in a big chair but I think he would like to have something more his size. I have looked at the kids sized items that you can put outside and I think as much as we spend outside that he needs something to call his own. I think that it would be cool to have his little chair next to mine as we watch the cars go by.

When I was little my grandparents and I would sit on their front porch and watch the cars and trucks go by. We would play a game trying to figure out which color car would come by next. We rarely kept score it was just something fun for us to do. I have great memories of watching the cars going by with my grandpa. We loved being outside but sometimes you just want to relax. I wonder if Noah would just like to sit down and feel the wind through his hair and watch the ducks on the pond. We have new baby ducks! We also bought seeds to start a garden. I am not too sure how well it will work out but I am hoping it will. I would love to get some garden furniture like a bench or a swing. I love being able to swing and talk on the phone outside on nice nights.

We had our family over a couple weeks ago, although the weather was too cold and rainy to be outside it would have been really nice to sit on the patio and chat. As I have mentioned before, we have a huge patio. We have a big family so we would have to get some more furniture for the patio to accommodate them all. We had a great time and there were ten of us, which is only a small part of my family. So, to hold a get together with everyone we would definitely have to get some more seats. I remember the family visits at my grandparent’s house, they would have every chair in the house including folding chairs and there still was a few that had to stand. I am the youngest grandchild so I always seemed to have a seat.

It seemed like old times, we talked about all kinds of things. My aunt found records of my Grandpa Jim and his parents from the 20’s or 30’s. My uncle is going to clean them up and make us all copies. I can’t wait to hear them, we no longer have my little toy record player. I really enjoy spending time with all of them. I wish we weren’t all so spread out. I am hoping this summer we can spend more time with them and of course have a lot of time outside playing and relaxing.

What are your favorite things to play outside?

An Unexpected Trip to South Carolina- Part One

We took an unexpected trip to South Carolina a couple weeks ago to visit my sister and brother in law. It was very short notice. We decided on Sunday afternoon and left Monday at noon. We drove so it was a very long drive. We broke it up in to two days on the way down. We could have drove the fourteen hours in one day but that would be really exhausting for everyone. We had a pretty good drive the first day, Noah was excellent. He loved looking at the mountains and all the trucks. I was very proud of him and he would let us know when he needed to go to the bathroom in enough time where we were able to stop. He didn’t have any accidents the entire trip. The first night at our hotel, we were in Knoxville, and stayed at a hotel by a huge fireworks sign. That was Noah’s favorite thing to look at. Later that night I got really sick. I started with a headache and then came all the vomit. I am not sure what was wrong with me. I am thinking it might be from stress or worrying about things. After having a rough night I was fine in the morning.

We loaded everything back up in the car and headed down the road. We only had a four or five hour drive the second day, that felt like an eternity. It seemed like North Carolina and South Carolina took forever to drive through. I probably got 3 hours of sleep the night before. I was so happy when we finally were at my sister’s and brother in law’s house. My sister was at work and well my brother in law was no where to be found. I finally called him and he eventually showed up. They have a gorgeous home, with hard wood floors that you will hear more about later. We spent the evening chatting, watching Sprout of course, and ordered pizza. My brother in law is from New Mexico and he makes the best homemade salsa. I kind of remember the recipe but I might have to email my sister and have him tell me again. This pizza had huge slices. I only had one and I was full. I was so exhausted that I couldn’t wait to go to sleep and wake up the next morning refreshed and more sociable.

Our first full day at my sister’s was very laid back it was raining but warm. We just pretty much hung out the whole time. Noah was able to play with a neighbor boy and they had a lot of fun. My mom and I went to Publix to pick up a few things. We both love Publix. As soon as we walked in, we were handed a sample of Red Velvet cake. My mom had to get her mango pie. I had to do what I call my Publix tradition. When we lived in Florida, every time we went to Publix, I would weigh myself on the giant scale, so I had to follow suit. This was a dangerous day for me. I was down stairs and I needed to get on my laptop so I bolted up the stairs and almost fell down. I decided maybe I should slow down a little bit. I took a shower a little bit later and fell down getting out of the shower. It hurt so bad. I was ok though. I ended up with a nasty bruise and a little pain. I was glad that if someone had to fall that it was me versus Noah or my mom.

We went to a really cool seafood restaurant called The Docks, I think. They have tons of shrimping boats and a lot of the food is caught fresh. The food was amazing. Noah had his own Cherry Coke for the first time. He was so excited. I ordered twin lobster tails for dinner. I thought it was going to be small lobster tails like at restaurants here, but it was two big lobster tails. They were both 6 ounce tails. I had a very delicious lunch the following day too since I had leftovers. The waitress loved Noah, he was talking up a storm to her and she was bragging to the other employees about how smart he is. Noah was really good at the restaurant too, sipping away at his cherry coke. He wanted to be like his uncle and have the same drink as him. We had a lot of fun at the restaurant. My brother in law had to go do his rounds, so we came home and went to bed.

The second part of this post will be soon.

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

I wanted to wish everyone a Happy St. Patrick’s Day. I am very Irish and so St. Patrick’s Day has always been important to me. It is not a day for me to go out and get drunk but a day I think about where I come from. My dad was born in Ireland, My Grandpa Bill was also born and buried there. I have many relatives that came from Ireland on both sides of my family. I am sure I am like 65% Irish because I have Irish on both sides. I know that my grandma Rose’s great grandparents came over to America on a boat called The Spotted Cow. My dad’s family came over when my dad was a boy. I know that a lot of people are Irish which is cool and if you aren’t St. Patrick’s Day is a day you can pretend by wearing green.

St. PWhen I was little we celebrated St. Patrick’s Day. A leprechaun came to our house and brought my sister and me a small gift. We would always look for the leprechaun and come up with schemes to catch him, but we were never successful. I guess the leprechaun was too smart and tricky for us to see let alone catch him.
I think it is important to learn about your family’s heritage and celebrate it. I don’t decorate my house in shamrocks or listen to Irish music all the time, but I am proud of where part of my family is from. I invite you to celebrate your heritage and pass it on to your children. If there are certain traditions, or songs or food, pass it on.

Please have a happy and safe St. Patrick’s Day.

Counting Down The Days Til Spring!

I really don’t like winter and I can’t wait until spring when it starts getting warmer. I don’t like being cooped up in my house all the time. I guess I get cabin fever. Every year around this time I start thinking about how I need a vacation. Now, that I am a mom I would love to go somewhere warm with some of my friends and just have some girl time. We all work really hard as moms and I think that we all need interaction with our friends. I think it would be fun to go somewhere exotic like Bali with some friends. That would require serious planning and passports of course so it wouldn’t be something we could decide spontaneously. I am going to get my passport soon though, so maybe someday I can stay in a Bali villas rental with my girl friends.

I am really close to my mom’s side of the family. I love how close knit we all are. I hear about family problems and I am so glad that we don’t have those kinds of problems and that we have never taken each other to court over silly things. I think it would be really fun to take a family vacation with all my cousins and kids, aunts, uncle and sister, Noah and mom. That way we could have more than an afternoon to hang out together. We are a fairly big family and I don’t get near as much time with them as I would like. Everyone is pretty spread out over the US. So getting us all together has not happened since my Grandma Rose passed away in 2005 and even then I don’t think it was everyone because my cousin’s wife was in labor during the viewing and had just had her daughter during the funeral. I would love for us to get a section of Bali villa rentals and just spend some quality time together.

If you could go on an exotic vacation where would you go and who would you take with you? Are you close to your extended family?

Help #beatcancer Today.

My really good friend Victoria, sent me this email last night.
Today at 9am PST the official #beatcancer race for a new record begins at Blog World Expo.


Last year, a Guinness World Record was set by Everywhere,
out of Atlanta, Georgia (raising more than $70,000) for the “Most
...Widespread Social Network Message” with #beatcancer. In 24 hours the
one-word phrase #beatcancer set the record contributing to the 209,771 unique mentions on Twitter, Facebook and blog posts.


To participate, all you need to do is add the hashtag #beatcancer
(all one word) to any tweet, Facebook status update or blog post.
There will be a donation made of ($0.05)* per
mention of #beatcancer on Twitter, Facebook, or blog post during the 24
hour Guinness World Record attempt. All money will be donated to the
designated cancer serving non-profits, LIVESTRONG Foundation, Bright Pink and Stand Up To Cancer. (full details - http://pitch.pe/94888)


Can we beat the WORLD RECORD this year?
I think we can! Let's get to tweeting!

Today is Victoria's birthday so lets all do this!

This is in memory of my Uncle Jim and Uncle Jorge who lost their battle to cancer and were taken from us too soon.

Cheerios Ultimate Family Vacation

Sponsored By


Cheerios® is giving you the chance to win a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, your ultimate family vacation. As part of a paid promotion for their “Do What You Love” Sweepstakes, Cheerios® is sponsoring my post today about what my ultimate family vacation would be. Read mine, Enter the Sweepstakes for a chance to actually win your own fantasy family trip or one of a bunch of other great prizes.

My ultimate family vacation would be in Hawaii. Noah and I would invite all of my family, including my aunts and my uncle, all of my cousins and their families, my sister and brother in and my mom. We have always been a close knit family but with us all living in different parts of the country we don’t get to see each other as often as we would like. Growing up my cousins and I spent a lot of time together at my grandparents. I can’t remember when everyone was all together. There has always been someone unable to make it. It would just be an amazing family reunion on the beach.

We would go swimming in the ocean, dine on delicious foods, and just have some long needed family time. We would catch up with our lives and reminisce about when we were young. I think it would be great to have us all together again and not have a sad reason for us reuniting. I would try and convince all of the females to take hula lessons. I would love to see all the cousins’ kids playing together and building sand castles on the beach. I am sure we would fill the island with our laughter and love.

Don't forget to enter the “Do What You Love” Sweepstakes, for a chance to win your own ultimate family vacation. I was selected for this sponsorship by the Clever Girls Collective, which endorses Blog With Integrity, as I do.

I Smell Chocolate!

I am sure most parents are guilty of this. I know I am. What is the charge? Sneaking treats and candy behind your child’s back. It is not that you don’t want to share, well maybe sometimes you don’t but usually it is you don’t want your child to have anymore treats. You might hide in your bedroom, your closet, or maybe the car to enjoy a little treat without little hands and faces begging for some. I am somewhat of a pushover when it comes to treats. I don’t go overboard though. I feed my son very healthy foods but I am a firm believer that everyone needs a treat sometimes. Most of the time, I am eating something sweet around Noah I will share a little bit. Sharing is important after all. I don’t let him eat a lot of candy or treats. I make sure he has had a meal first or if it is the middle of the afternoon it is a small amount. I am teaching him about healthy eating because it is best for his growing little body and it is my job to make sure he gets the nutrients that he needs. Thankfully, for snacks he is happy with something healthy versus having a bowl of candy or chips.

When I was little, I loved treats and candy. That has not changed much. I don’t think I eat nearly as much as I used to. My cousins used to tease me about how I would buy pounds of candy but I would always share with them. My mom would used to have a little treat when I was little, she knew that as any child would I wanted some. Occasionally she would wait until I was upstairs or in another room. Her plan would fail because I would come running yelling I smell chocolate! It wouldn’t matter where I was in the house I would always smell it. We have always lived in nice sized houses too. I just had the scent for chocolate.

Do you have me time when it comes to treats? Do you have any good hiding places?

PostEgram Connects Families

We live in such a digital age, everything is done on a computer, we have email, Facebook and blogs. When was the last time you got a hand written letter from a loved one? It has been a while for me I know. I used to get handwritten letters from my grandma Rose. Not everyone is up to date with the digital times, which is fine. I remember the first time I showed my grandma the internet. She thought it was really neat. I am not sure it was something that she could of gotten in to. Some older people choose not to use the internet; it can be kind of confusing even to me. There is a great website called PostEgram. They will print out your Facebook statuses and photos or whatever you want as like a newsletter to send to your loved one and mail it to them through Snail Mail. We went from snail mail to email, well PostEgram made our email now snail mail. It is a pretty cool service.

I also think about how not everyone has a computer. It is somewhat of a luxury item or someone just might not want one in their home for whatever reason. Not everyone can afford the internet. Maybe they live in a rural area where they only get dial up that doesn’t seem worth it. There are many reasons why someone doesn’t have a computer or the internet. However, everyone has a mail box. Now with PostEgram you can sign up for your updates on Facebook either 4 times a month, twice a month or once a month. They also have subscriptions to help you save money.

When my aunt and uncle were visiting from California, I was talking about different things going on with my cousins and I mentioned that I am friends with them on Facebook. Now my aunt and uncle are electronic wizards, after all they had their own electronics store and are very computer smart but they are not on Facebook. They live in the mountains though and they are so busy doing other things on their home. I think it would be really cool for my cousins and I to send something like that to my aunt and uncle because they are so far away and that way they could stay in the loop so to speak.
I hope you all check out PostEgram for more information.

Fun in the Backyard!

When we were building our house having a big patio was something we really wanted to have. We have a gorgeous view and didn’t want to build a deck so a big patio was the way to go. I don’t know if you have ever had a BBQ and had to squeeze all of your guests plus the grill on a small patio. It is not fun at all. I love having all the extra space to spread out and not have to worry about having people crowding me on a small patio. Another great benefit is I can have quite a bit of outdoor furniture. It gives me a spot to put chairs that are in the grass when it is time to mow. I think it is so much fun to sit outside and eat dinner with my family. I like picnics but I enjoy sitting at a nice table too. I love to sit outside in the evenings and talk on the phone or just relax and take in the nature around me. I live in a really nice area and it is extremely peaceful.

I am reminded of when I was growing up. We had this really old picnic table. I must have eaten a million Popsicles at that picnic table. My dad made the picnic table so it was one that moved with us and was at each of our houses. It is funny that a picnic table can mean so much to me. It surely had a lot of memories of my childhood. I know it was repainted quite a few times from being out in the elements. I also have memories of my grandparents sitting with me at that picnic table. It wasn’t the most comfortable thing in the world but it was a nice place to rest your bones as my grandma would say. Now outdoor furniture is extremely comfortable and it still serves the same purpose, to rest your bones.

Let's go camping

One of the things I am looking forward to doing with Noah is going camping when he gets a little bit older. I used to love going to summer camp. Going to camp was one of my favorite things to do during the summer. I made so many friends and I didn’t want to go home. I really enjoyed receiving letters from my family. It is just something about being outside in the wilderness and sitting around a campfire that does a body good. You can have so much fun just sitting around a fire telling stories, singing songs, and of course making S’mores. I also like to fish. I really think that Noah would get a kick out of it and really enjoy camping. We have talked about looking at camping tents and sleeping outdoors in our backyard. We were discussing that the other day. I am not too sure if it would be something that would last all night and if I would get any sleep.

I used to camp out in my back yard with friends or my sister and most of the time we would end up coming inside once it got late. We would hear a noise and get scared. I have always lived in really nice areas but I am kind of a chicken even now. I think a better idea would be to instead of camping out, spend a few hours outside in our tent and doing everything that you would do when you are camping but then come inside after we did all the fun things. I think that would be the best bet until he gets to be older then we can do the full blown out in the woods experience. Do you like to camp with your family? Please share with me some of your stories.

Great Weekend!

I just wanted to say I hope everyone is having a great weekend. I also wanted to wish my cousin Dan a Happy 40th Birthday! What is everyone up to? Are you enjoying the weather? We are cooking out tonight! I hope everyone stays safe.

Gramps

17 years ago today, My Grandpa Jim passed away. He was a great man. He was the man that I always looked up to. He was a retired diesel mechanic who would still go to work when someone needed him. His finger nails were stained black from the diesel oil from working on the 18 wheelers. He always had a smile on his face. He would go out of his way to help others. He would instantly make friends with anyone who was sitting next to him on the bench at the mall while grandma and I shopped. He was amazing. He would always bring me Mc Donald’s when I was staying at their house which was very often. I loved spending time with him and we even had our own Cabbage Patch Kids Clubhouse which was his tool shed. My sister and I had fun tying him up while our mom and grandma went shopping. Once my grandpa saw that a shingle was loose on the roof and he had climbed up a ladder and was standing on the roof. He scared my mom by doing that.

My Grandpa Jim was a fighter. He broke his neck and lived to tell the tale. I knew any time I would wake up in early morning I would find him playing solitaire and drinking coffee. My grandpa was famous for his hat collection. His favorite hat was his Electronic Butterfly hat that my aunt and uncle had given him from their business. He loved to take pictures and go out west to California. He loved to travel and go on adventures. He also loved to watch ball games. He was a huge Purdue fan. I used to lie in between the kitchen and family room and watch TV and my grandpa used to pretend to step on me. I was a skinny kid and he would call me Skinny Minnie. I remember a time that I had ate a Lifesaver and I was choking on it. He took me outside and threw me over his shoulder and patted me on the back until the Lifesaver came out. He was my Lifesaver that day. He was truly the best gentleman and many people were blessed to have him in their lives.

I still remember the day he died. I remember when we got the call to go to the hospital right away, since they won’t tell you over the phone. It was an hour drive. It was a very long hour. I remember I cried the whole way there. I remember going in to the hospital and finding out he was gone. I remember sitting in the room and staring at the box of tissue. A family friend’s daughter was a nurse at the hospital. I knew her parents because they lived across the street from my grandparents and her sister was my grandma’s hair stylist and she cut my hair sometimes. I remember I drank a little can of Shasta. I cried and cried that day. They told us that he was laughing one minute and joking with the nurses and the next minute he was gone. There were so many people at his funeral. He was buried with the one thing that was most fitting for him… his wrench.

I think about him all the time. We talk about him often. I hate putting things together and when I can’t figure them out I am sure my grandpa is laughing at me and thinking it is so simple. I wish both my grandparents could have met Noah. Noah’s middle name is James after him. Noah does a lot of things that would make my grandpa smile. Noah has that same urge to fix things and figure out how they work. Noah is definitely his great grandfather’s great grandson.

I am sure my Grandpa Jim is looking down on us and whenever Noah is doing something with wheels or trying to figure out how something works he smiles and says that’s my boy.

I have returned!

Please pardon my absence. I took some family time over the holiday week combined with some computer problems. I have spent lots of time hanging out with my son and family and enjoying just relaxing. I have been playing Bananagrams with my mom too. I am back and I have so many exciting and wonderful things to share with you all. I hope you have enjoyed your family time as much as I have!

Just a little memory of mine

I used to love watching Soaps. I was a huge Days of Our Lives fan. I haven’t seen it in a very long time though. I started watching it when I was in the 6th or 7th grade with my sister. I fell in love with the story where Marlena was possessed and the evil Stephano was around. I loved to watch Day’s when ever I could. We would actually tape it on the days we had school. It was a guilty pleasure of mine. So lately I have been thinking about Days a lot. Even so much I looked up Deidre Hall on Twitter and even tweeted a couple times to her.

Back in the day, I don’t remember what year it was but it was a long time ago. Lol. My cousin was getting married in Virginia Beach. He was in the Navy and that was where he was stationed. I remember talking with my family about the wedding and some of my family knew how I liked to watch Days of Our Lives. So when I found out that Deidre Hall’s sister Andrea who used to be on Day’s was coming to the wedding I was so excited. Of course I was excited that my cousin was marrying such a nice woman too.

I found out that growing up her husband and my uncle Steve were really good friends. He was the best man at their wedding and all of that fun stuff. My grandparents knew him really well too. I think my mom did too but I can’t remember. Sadly, My uncle Steve had passed away. My uncle Steve was a great man who loved his family and friends a lot. I couldn’t ask for a better uncle. All of my mom’s brothers were/are wonderful people. Yes, even my uncle who lives in the mountains with all the dogs.

When I went to the wedding I was so excited. I was so star struck. I know she was just a normal person but it was a big deal to me. I hadn’t been watching Day’s long enough to ever see Andrea on the show but she was “Marlena’s” sister. She later returned to Day’s as Hattie. Anyone who knows what Hattie looked like I promise you that Andrea doesn’t really look like that. She looks so much like Deidre it is scary. Andrea is gorgeous.

Andrea and her wonderful husband ended up sitting at our table at the wedding. I ended up sitting next to her at the reception. We took pictures too. They are both really nice people. She gave my sister and I both autographed pictures of Deidre which I still have to this day. It was just really cool to meet her. I think my sister took her napkin as a keepsake.

I don’t know if she still remembers me or not. I do remember her and how much fun we had at the wedding. I am sure they will always both remember my uncle Steve. When my Grandma Rose passed away, I remember that they sent flowers or a plant. That time period is all a little fuzzy to me still. It was a very devastating time for me losing my grandma.

I just felt the urge to share this story with you guys. It has just been on my mind and I think it was totally awesome.

Be Thankful!

Today I was on twitter and I saw that a man tweeted about something that a big company did for people in Kenya. I tweeted him back and said how wonderful it was, and he responded with a link with pictures of the trip. I looked at them and my heart sank. The tears started flowing it was so sad. The streets were filled with trash and the people had sores on their feet. The houses were what looked like cardboard shacks. It was devastating to me.

I watch the 700 club a lot so I know what it is like in third world countries. It is so depressing. I find myself not wanting to watch those stories because it is so upsetting.

So I just wanted to remind everyone to be thankful. Be thankful you have a place that keeps you dry when it rains and keeps you warm in the cold. Be thankful for the clean water you drink and bathe in. Be thankful for the food you eat and that you and your family have full bellies. Be thankful that your children can go to the doctor when they are sick even if you don’t have the money to pay for it. You still have the OPTION to go. There are qualified people to take care of us when we are sick. They also can help prevent it. Be thankful for your nice warm bed. Be thankful to your children’s schools and teachers for providing an education for them. Be thankful for all you have.

Sometimes it is hard to focus on what we have vs. what we want. Unfortunately we live in a society where people always want more or better. More Money, More things or Better Cars, Better Electronics or Bigger Houses. Everyone is trying to keep up with the Joneses and trying to have a better status symbol. While you do that you carelessly forget about those little things that sound like no big deal. You know those little things like food, water and shelter? To those people in third world countries we live like KINGS and QUEENS.

Some of them work their fingers to the bone for a week for what we get for minimum wage an hour. Some walk miles for water, not clean water mind you but dirty disease ridden water, it’s wet. Parents are being killed by other people or disease which leaves 12 year old sometimes younger kids to take care of their brothers and sisters because they have no one else to take care of them. There isn’t foster care; there isn’t much help at all. Those children that are now responsible for their siblings, they don’t eat so they can feed the younger kids.

The diseases they get are horrible. They don’t have proper medical care. They don’t have proper protection of the elements. Thousands of people die each day. Sometimes all it takes is $5 dollars worth of medicine to save them and they don’t even have that.

So please remember to BE THANKFUL for what you have vs. what you don’t. After all you have a lot more than some.

God Bless Tylenol!

Noah has a cold. He doesn’t get sick very often as he is pretty healthy. I am extremely happy about that. He has had the sniffles and a runny nose. He has been sneezing and coughing as well. I know that the AAP (American Academy of Pediatrics) says not to give children under 6 cough or cold medicines. So of course I would not do that.

Noah has a fever of 101.5 tonight. I gave him some dye free cherry Children’s Tylenol. That he thinks is absolutely delicious. It is hidden on a high shelf in the hall linen closet right next to the baby powder. Well at least I don’t have to fight him to take it. I am happy to report that his fever has gone down already. It is still kind of high but it is an improvement.


I started thinking about how Tylenol has been a great thing to have in my home and all the times I have given it to Noah. It was there when he got his shots almost every time. It helped take the pain away and reduce the fever from the DTAP vaccine. It was there when Noah was cutting his little teeth. It was there when he has been sick. It is really nice to have a product that has been around for forever and you can rely on in your times of pain and fevers.


I remember the taste of chewable Children’s Tylenol. I used to have a pill issue where I couldn’t swallow pills so I would just take the Children's Tylenol chewables. It got to the point when I got to be a certain age and I was taking so many of them just to make a dose. Then I learned about sticking them in apple sauce. Works like a charm. Heck that is how I got my prenatals down sometimes when I was pregnant with Noah.

I used to get really bad car sickness. Whenever we would drive home from North Carolina when I was young my mom would always give me a car sickness pill in a spoon of peanut butter. Please, please don’t do it. It traumatized me. Well not really but it is not a good suggestion in my opinion.

God Bless Tylenol!!
I really am glad that Tylenol is such a trust worthy caring company.
Thanks Tylenol!

Somehow I know we'll meet again. Not sure quite where and I don't know just when you're in my heart so until then it's time for saying good bye.

4 years ago today
On August 12, 2005 my best friend went to Heaven. She was no doubt greeted by her husband Jim, Her sons Jimmy and Steve and many other family and friends that love her. My best friend that I lost was my Grandma Rose. I had a unique relationship with her. She was more than just an old lady who was my mom’s mother. She was my best friend. Ever since I can remember we were attached at the hip. My favorite thing to do when I was young was spend time with my grandma. She was an amazing woman who touched the lives of thousands no make that hundreds of thousands. She opened a soup kitchen and with that single act has fed 100,000’s of hungry mouths. She would hold garage sales for charity and she was a member of many clubs and organizations that helped so many people. She would take in her kids’ friends. She had amazing faith and was a strong Catholic woman. She always put God first in everything she did. My grandma would help anyone she could. She was truly an inspiration.

Growing up Grandma and I would play many games and sing songs. Some of my favorites are Sookie and witch in the well. I someday want to publish the story of Sookie and dedicate it to her. I remember how we would play London Bridges too. I caught myself the other day playing it with my son. I cherished every moment and memory with her. We would walk to the store and get treats. We would have to walk thru the deep valley to get there. It was always fun and we would hold hands the whole way there and back. We would sometimes have lunch at Mc Donald’s. Ok we almost always had lunch. We would go to the mall and walk around the whole mall a few times for exercise. We used to play a lot of cards as well. We played Euchre, Bone yard, Old maid, and 21. We also played Rummy.

My favorite thing to do with her was the I love you more game. Whenever one of us would say I love you the other would say I love you more. We would go back and forth until one of us would say we love each other equal.

I knew if I just showed up at her house she would have a cold drink in the fridge and a goody bag made up for me. The grand kids would spend New Years at Grandpa and Grandma’s house. It was family law. It was a big party. We would have a piñata made out of a brown paper sack filled with treats. We always made two banners. One saying good bye to the year that was ending and one welcoming the New Year. Grandma had a clock that you could move the hands on it and we would change it to midnight some years and then go outside and bang pots and pans. I have so many wonderful memories of my Grandma Rose. We had so much fun. She would make me lists of chores and I would pretend to be Amelia Bedelia and mess them up. It was one of my favorite games we would play. I loved to cook with her and help her do the dishes. I would stand on a chair right next to her. I usually would dry them because I didn’t want dish pan hands. She taught me how to iron and sew. I still sew like I did when I was oh say 9 years old. That is ok though.

Grandma would tell me all kinds of stories about when she was little or when my mom and aunt and uncles were little. I remember I would listen to her wide eyed and attentive. We used to read Good Old Days Magazine before bed. She and I would play a game to see who could go to sleep the fastest and the winner got a candy bar. She always let me win.

My Grandma Rose was a fighter. She might of weighed 112 pounds and stood at 5’2 but she wasn’t going anywhere without a fight. She had her first open heart surgery in 1979 when I was still in God’s pocket. People are supposed to get another one every 10 years. She went 16 before having another. There were a few times where the doctors would say to us this is really risky you should say good bye to her because there is a good chance she won’t make it. Every time she pulled through. She had a whole lot of living to do.

She ended up developing Alzheimer’s disease. It was heart breaking to see her go through it. She didn’t know who anyone was or where she was and in some cases who she was. I can’t imagine how scared she must have been everyday. She seemed to remember me the most often probably because I am the baby of the family.

The last time I saw her was when she was in the hospital. She was pretty out of it. When I had to leave knowing this was the last time I would see her on Earth probably. I said I love you Grandma. She responded I love you more. It was like for an instant she was her normal self. I really feel like God granted me that moment and I will never forget that. Of course I cried the whole way home. She went peacefully with my mom and aunt by her side.

I think about her all the time. Sometimes I come across her things and I smell her on them. It is like she is there with me. I know she is. I strive to be like her every day of my life. She was and always will be my role model and best friend.
I miss her so much. I wish she was here to play with Noah. I know she is smiling down on us and living through all that love her.

Rest In Peace Grandma Rose 1917-2005. I know I will see you again. I love you and miss you always.

Here is a picture of My Grandma Rose and My Grandpa Jim. It was from their 50th wedding anniversary in 1988. They were the happiest couple in the world. They were soulmates.

Wasn't she so beautiful?