October 26, 2009 ~ Drew's 5th Birthday

Last time I wrote was around the middle of September and I was talking about some of the leaves already having changed color. Well, here it is toward the end of October and many of the leaves have fallen off the tress already while still in the summer color of green. The wind and the rain has caused them to fall before they even had chance to transform the trees into a beautiful shade for us to enjoy! My best guesstimate would be that half the trees are half bare already. The ones with most of their leaves still hanging on them, are very pretty though. The reds, yellows, oranges, Burgundies and gold ones still mixed with some of the green ones make a very pretty picture to see! I happened to see a tree on Saturday while running errands that had all if not most of its leaves still on. What was so interesting about this tree was that along the top and upper branches, the leaves had begun to turn different colors. Some were gold, some were orange, some were red, etc. All on the same tree with the solid green below it just struck me as being strange, yet beautiful in it's own way. I may just go back and take a pic of it so You can all see what I mean!

Work seems to be going okay............I may be taking my Tuesdays back and giving up the half day on Friday. My co-workers husband has found new employment and they just sold one of the houses they had been fixing up to help make extra money. It had only been on the market for 2 weeks and it sold. I'm happy for them, so she may not need that extra day of Tuesday's that I gave her. I'll talk to her and see what she thinks about it.

Well, if I am ever going to get this computer room organized, now is the time I should be doing it..........so that is what I am off to do. I'll be back..........eventually!

Almost Autumn

Well, I have been very busy.......doing what exactly I don't know. Just working and family stuff mostly. I can't believe that it is almost fall already. I feel as if I have missed the summer season again this year. Not that summer was really very summer like this year. It was a tad bit on the cool side for summer in Michigan. Plus the fact that Amber nor as many grand children came to spend time with us made it seem like school was still in session........sigh! And now that school has started up for this year, they will all be busy doing their own things and we will see them even less. But that is life.............children and grandchildren grow up and actually become people with lives of their own and interests of their own and friends of their own. They are busy just growing up, and that is what life is about after all! Sort of that 'one season following another' type thing. Life follows patterns just as the seasons do.

And speaking of the seasons, I am really looking forward to enjoying this fall season. The trees in Southwest Michigan have begun to change colors........not all of them, but some are beginning to and I am ready to watch and see what kind of a masterpiece the Lord will paint for our enjoyment this year! I love the cool, crisp feel to the air too. To me it just has a different smell to it. But then each season in Michigan does have it's own smell.............and that is one of the reasons I love living here so much. The only thing I would ever change would be the snow. Now mind you, I love to look at it, and even go out and play in it still............what I don't like about it is the accumulation on the road where I must try and navigate to work, the grocery store and anywhere else my errands take me. If we could just do something about keeping it off the roads I would have no complaints at all about the winter time. And now that I've said that, it seems like a good time to close and go outside and enjoy what is left of the beautiful weather that Michigan has to offer.

Well it is happening. Amber is growing up so fast, she is outgrowing us! I know that is the way things go as they become teenagers, still it is hard! It is like letting go of another child and realizing that a part of the relationship you once had is gone and nevermore to be! I just hope she can get the guidence and support that she still needs at her age from her mom or another female figure who is a big part of her life! I miss her so!

My daughter the photographer.............

does an awesome job. She is not a professional, at least not yet, but in my opinion is good enough that she could and should be one!

She took these photos of some of our family, her children, our grandchildren,including some fantastic shots of Amber.

Puppy

Here are the more recent pictures of the pup....although she is only a pup in her actions. She is way too big to be considered a puppy any more. These pics were taken within the last couple of months.
In fact, these first two were taken just last night. She had just finished tormenting us and the other dog, Prancer and was looking for more mischief to get into. I wanted to get some of her before she went to the vet today to be spayed. We both took her so she wouldn't be mad at just one of us. Much to our chagrin, we needn't have felt too badly about it. She went with the vet technician happy as a lark, with tail wagging and never even so much as a glance over her shoulder to see us. I thought she would have looked rather forlorn as we left her with strangers but obviously I thought we were more important than we really are! Although, I am thinking that by the time we pick her up tomorrow morning she will be plenty glad to see us and more than happy to return home. At least I'm trying to convince myself of that!

And this last photo needs an explanation. It is a little dark and I apologize for the lack of photo retouching before I posted it. She had discovered her own reflection in the glass fireplace doors and was jumping at the doors and barking rather furiously at the other dog staring at her. We had a pretty good laugh while she was carrying on. She even took it to the next level of hilarity when she spotted hubs reflection in there too!

Weddings and Graduations

Here it is, the end of May. Memorial Day weekend is over and the unofficial start of summer has begun. And with it come the many weddings and graduations that take place in the month of June. My work has been busy helping brides and grooms order wedding invitations and graduates graduation invitations. It is always a busy time of year for that.

I, as you may know, have been filling in for a gal at corporate headquarters the last few weeks while she recovers from her surgery. The time spent there was quite educational really. I learned a lot of what goes on that we don't see while working in a satellite office. I know now that we must be more detailed in taking classfied ads from walk-in customers and those that call on the phone. Classifieds is a very demanding and busy part of the paper I work at. And though it's been educational, I am exhausted from working the extra hours. The position I am filling in for is full-time, and I usually work part-time. I know it's only two more days per week than my usual work week, but it seems to take it's toll. But I will be returning to my office Tuesday, June 2 and it will almost seem like a vacation. I will work the rest of this week and Monday of next week at corporate and then back at 'my' office amd my regular schedule. I have accumulated comp time and am planning on using a couple days in late June. My baby sister is coming home for a visit from Denver and I will take some time off to spend with her and my older sister. I am looking forward to having a good time with my only two siblings!

I had planned on posting some new photos of our pup, Cocoa, but something is wrong with the transfer process from camera to computer. I have some more recent ones than are already posted, but I wanted to post the latest ones too so all could see how much she has grown.

Sunday - the beginning............

October 2008 - Grandma and Hub at Grandma's 90 Birthday Party

of another work week. I am supposed to be ironing something to wear to work tomorrow. I seem to be putting it off as long as possible. Perhaps my thinking is that if I don't do it, tomorrow won't come! In all reality I know that won't happen, but in my mind I don't seem able to accept that concept!

It has been a rather ghoulish week for us. Hub's 91 1/2 year old grandma passed away on Monday April 27Th about 4PM. We arrived at about 4:20PM thinking we would be able to say our goodbyes. Grandma couldn't wait........weeks ago she told me that it was 'taking just too damn long to die!' She was more than ready and last summer the doctors informed us that she probably wouldn't see another winter. What did they know? Grandma fooled them all.........she probably stuck around just to embarrass them.....that's the kind of stubborn she was! But she was a dear old lady and I loved her. Coming into the family only 19 short years ago, she didn't have to accept me as a grandchild......yet she did. And she accepted all my kids as great-grandchildren and my grandchildren as great-great grandchildren. She was a classy lady and I learned a lot from her.....too many things to list here. Oh, they weren't things like knitting or any kind of needlecraft.......it was things about life that she had learned and just listening to her I learned. Go in peace Grandma, have that dance with Grandpa Joe in Heaven. I can picture the look upon your face when you met our Maker face to face!

The day of visitation at the funeral home wasn't too difficult for the older ones, but the younger ones......say early 20's and under had a hard time with it all. The only hard time us older ones had was when an old and dear family friend came to pay her respects and dropped dead of a cardiac arrest two feet from Grandma's casket. She wasn't pronounced dead at the funeral home. They took her by ambulance to the nearest hospital but I know she was dead before she even hit the floor. So the day after Grandma's funeral, we had to go back to the same funeral home and the same room to pay our respects to our old and dear family friend.....the only thing we can say about it is that she passed away fast and didn't suffer with friends near her and we were able to contact her family right away.

I have several drafts started and never finished because I ran out of time. I will get to them in the near future I hope, and now I must go and iron, and then turn in for some much needed sleep.