HOLD YOUR TONGUE

My 60th birthday is slowly but surely crawling up my spine!!! I don't feel sixty and I've been assured by my family and friends that I don't look sixty. Yet I can remember the first time someone called me "ma'am". Until that moment I had convinced myself that I was going to creep past this birthday as if I was never going to be! Wrong!!!! Until that moment I had always been regferred to as "girl," "hon," "sweetie," maybe even an occasional "Hey, you!" but now I was being called ma'am. Ma'am. There's no way to put a youthful spin on ma'am.

"Lady" is about as bad. The first time I heard "lady" in reference to me was just as jarring to my ego. "Hey, lady, do you know that's dog poop you just stepped in?"

I looked around. Surely he can't be talking to me, then I looked down at my feet!!!! ECH!!! I had just stepped into the mushiest, smelliest pile of poop. Which just that alone was bad, but in front of the supermarket!!!! I was travelling at hyper speed to get in and get out of the market and get back home before the afternoon traffic. When I think about it I have to laugh....not that I stepped in poop but that I live around the corner from the market and it literally takes me fifteen minutes just to get out of my subdivision, sit at the longest traffic light in history, (3 minutes) wait for a hundred cars coming from the other direction and get in the parking lot of the market. Try finding a close parking spot, not on this day. Anyway, when the young man called me lady, I looked around and I didn't know he was talking to me. But since he was looking straight at me, and since I did indeed step in the poop, I figured the title must have been intended for me.

Men don't have this problem. Addressing a teenage boy as "sir" is usually considered a compliment. You can be a sir at six as easily as at sixty. We women, however, aren't in that much of a hurry to get to the "ma'am stage," so don't rush us. I suppose it all evens out when we get into our senior years. People go back to callin us "sweetie," "hon," and "Hey, you!" again.

We might even get a few "Hey, babes" tossed in our direction. I wouldn't mind that. It would remind me that I've still got it. Now, if only I could remember what "it" is and where I put it!

Blessings,

Panic Attack Of The Aged

OK, so I'm moving closer to the big 60! It's time for me to stop, slow down, chill out, and veg out. But instead I am cutting my cake into thin slices. I'm tired and worn out but I'm hanging in there. My father is not in good health and I now have the duty of taking over our fast food restaurant. This by itself wouldn't be bad but mix it with all my other duties, I find I have no time for me. Yes, I admit I have been verily spoiled for many years but now? Now is not the time as I creep into my old age! While visiting my husband in Oregon last week we received a notice to vacate from the condo where he temporarily resides while in transition on the selling of his business. It seems that the units were sold and the new owners want to convert for sale instead of rental. Like I dont' have enough on my plate!!! Now I juggle my duties of finances for two states and reconcile 5 different bank accounts as well as doing the books for my business but now I have to help Jerry seek residence by the end of this month! Believe me I don't mean to come across as complaining. I just don't know how to spread myself to cover all my duties. Oh well this is and will continue to be a test by God and I will not lay down!!!!! Thanks for listening.
Blessings,

Knit One Pearl Two, Part Deux

OK, so I took all the rows out to start over. The casting on, of course, was a piece of cake! However!!!!!! the needles are so large that if I bring the yarn to the end of the needle to pearl then I can't get the yarn onto the other needle because the loop is too small to get back over the large needle. If I keep the yarn down the fat part of the needle then it slips off the other side. I have started and restarted and now I am back to "casting on only". But I'm not giving up. It's too bad I don't own a cat!!!! Then I would have an excuse that the cat got the yarn and destroyed it.

Here's knitting to you!!!

Blessings,

Knit One, Pearl Two

Ok, so now my two precious visitors are back in California but not before leaving me with a challenge! Joleen thought it would be a good idea to teach me and Aimee to knit. Aimee appeared to catch on pretty fast and I was impressed with what she had accomplished before returning to California. But as for me, knitting may be the challenge of a lifetime. My knitting as a beginner is more like Knit one Drop Two! However, I promised Joleen that I would finish this scarf and I will, but oh my gosh, what have you got me into? I started out "casting on" a total of 25 stitches but by the time I got to the third row I realized I had dropped about 5 stitches. How does that happen? I was sure I picked up every one of the stitches I started with. Now I am going to take out all but the first row of "pearling" and start from there. Thanks Joleen for your confidence and I will not let you down!

Blessings,

{got ya}

happy spring! enjoy the new look!
xo,
joleen

Tears of Sorrow......Tears of Gladness

I know you all have had one of "those days" when as soon as you wake up you know your day is going to be living hell and Satan is partying at your expense! I have been in a blue funk with no initiative to even get out of my pajamas. Well today I made up my mind that Satan wasn't going to win this battle. First thing I did was come upstairs and boot up my computer and download the 60 plus pictures I took during my granddaughter's "Spring Break" visit. I wanted to download them so I can pick and choose which ones I wanted to send them so they would have kind of a memory book! So I put my memory stick in the computer and clicked on "download"
into My Documents, sub-folder, My Pictures. This is a very friendly computer so it started to download a very large file and when it was done I was quite pleased with myself, afterall, this is going to be a good day for me. When the pictures were finished downloading I proceeded to open up "My Pictures" to view and choose the pictures and lo and behold!!!!!Only 11 pictures of the 60+ pictures showed up in the window!!!!OMG! I started crying and it was downhill from there. You see I told this friendly computer, who always does what I say, to delete the pictures off my memory stick after the download!!!! Now I don't have any pictorial memories of their visit. So I got on the phone and called "Computer Geek" and when I finished with them I phoned Jerry, my husband and asked him to explain this to his I.T. department to see if there was anything else I could do. You see I went into every file in every window searching for these precious memories and they were no where to be found. Tears of Sorrow...........


To attempt to perk myself up I treated myself to a mani and a pedi but all the time my mind is on those lost memories. After I was done at the salon I went to the supermarket to buy something for dinner.....never go to the market hungry! When I got home there was a package on my doorstep. When I saw who sent the package my eyes opened wide because I don't remember receiving any packages, ever for this person. I brought it inside and I tore into this package like a kid opening gifts at Christmas, my groceries still in the car, I finally opened it and I started crying immediately! My precious granddaugters, Joleen and Aimee had sent me a photo album with pictures of their visit. I was totally speechless, my heart was so happy at this surprise package. I sat down a looked through the whole album and read all the words. God is always with me and I firmly believe that. What a "coincidence" that this package should show up on my doorstep the very day I lost my pictures.

Tears Of Gladness

Alone - Good Feeling........Or Bad?

Well here I sit typing on my computer to a world who doesn't know I exist. It is almost 8:00a.m. My husband who came to Georgia for Easter just left to fly back to Oregon. After 7 wonderful day's with my two granddaughter's, they are now back home in California with their husbands. Aimee will start her next quarter in college and Joleen will get back to her Nanny position. I know in my heart that their husbands missed them and were happy to have them back at home. My husband will be back at work and he will be very busy. Now I sit here alone and my mind ponders on the wonders of marriage and the greatness of being a grandmother. I give praise to my Lord for the many blessings He has bestowed upon my life, my husband, my children and my grandchildren. I stopped feeling guilty many years ago for having these blessings because I believe and know that these are gifts from a God that loves me very much.

Thank you Father for Your many Blessings but I especially thank you for Your abundant, unconditional Love for this lowly servant of yours. Thank you for your Grace and Mercy in my life, because without You, I would truly, truly be "alone"!

God Bless my husband, my children and my grandchildren!

Blessings to all who read this,

Oximoron

Have you ever really listened to the english language? I mean no wonder it is so hard for non-english speaking people to learn this most difficult language. I mean almost daily Webster is being filled with new, updated, 21st century words! But before I get into that I want to talk about Oximoron's! An oxymoron is a rhetorical figure in which contradictory terms are combined to create new meaning. For example:

Icy/hot, Jumbo Shrimp, a little pregnant, a fine mess, True lies, act natural, alone together, awfully good, pretty ugly, living dead, original copy or plastic glasses; modern history, bitter sweet, random order. I could go on and on. This would confuse most foreign people.

But it is our slang and idioms that is the most difficult to understand, such as:

running off at the mouth, mickey mouse, brainwashed, airhead, Rad, loser; the bomb! Well I think you get the picture. So I'm asking your input on Oximoron's and slang words and idioms.

Lets hear from you brain children.

Blessings,