Happy Birthday!

It's my husband's birthday today. I am from June to January older than he is but now that we are the same I won't hear so much about being the old lady. It doesn't bother me, it's reality. The picture I am sharing here of him was taken on a day at Jackson Lake. We both love that lake and owned 3 different boats while we lived there to enjoy it with. It was always a good day on the lake.

Dinner, one of his favorites, is on the slow cooker. I will begin cake making soon. He has gotten texts from some family members already this morning. I'll see what else he wants to do to have a great day.

Back with more again soon.

Take care and stay cozy!

A Sister's Birthday

My Mom had 5 children, 3 girls and 2 boys. I am the oldest. The sister next to me in age is having a birthday today. I hope today is full of fun and laughter for her. I will send her a text later and maybe a call to let her know I am thinking of her.

She is a very creative person. Where I love hand work when I create, she is more mechanical although she does know how to knit and crochet. She has created with cameras, sewing machines, embroidery machines, sandblasting, and lately laser engraving. She has all the toys and knows how to use them. Sometimes I envy those skills she has but then I remind myself how content I am to sit quietly and knit for a couple hours in an afternoon. I remind myself how boring it would be if we were all the same.

We are also great readers and spend part of every day with a book. When we were taking care of Mom and her house earlier this year, we found out that we share an appreciation for the offerings that Prime Reading has. We didn't know it before but found out we both had read several books by Catherine Ryan Hyde and liked them very much. All 5 of us are readers and in a busy, chaotic world I am glad that we have that in common, even if there is little else. 

Somehow all 3 of us girls have ended up in Arizona a few hours from each other in retirement. This is the closest we 3 have lived to each other in many years. So far it has been a great comfort to have my sisters closer and I think they feel the same. 

So, after a bit of babbling, I wish you a happy birthday Sis, and many more!

Back with more again soon. 

Take care and stay cozy! 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

It is my son's birthday. This picture is more than 30 years old and was given as a Mother's Day present during his elementary school years.

He is spending today in a hospital working to get his health under control. Potassium and blood sugar are heading towards more normal ranges but not great yet. He got to eat some real hospital food yesterday after a couple days on a clear diet of broth and juices. Hopefully he will be home soon. Managing the diabetes that he has developed and that runs in my family will be his new challenge. 

In other news around here...

...there is no other news. We are retired and a bit boring. Computer, creating, reading, house chores, meals and a movie after dinner. Each day blending into the next. I am not complaining at all. I rather like when life is a bit boring.

We did watch the movie Barefoot on Prime Video last night. I really enjoyed it and Jim liked the parts he was awake for.

Going to get my second cup of coffee and start retweeting all those folks who have done the same for me in the last 24 hours. Do you follow me on twitter? You could say hello in a comment here on the blog. 

Back with more again soon. 

Take care and stay cozy! 

A Birthday in My Family

Today my youngest sister turns 60. I am hoping that she enjoys her 60's as much as I have been. I saw a headline the other day that said 70 is the new 40 and that would make your 60's the same as 30's right? You know what that works for me. I feel as good or better than I ever have. I am truly wishing the same for her.

Happy birthday Sis!

Photo by Annie Spratt on Unsplash

Back with more again soon. Take care and stay cozy!

Being a Real Grownup

My birthday is tomorrow. I will be turning 64. I will get phone calls from faraway children and thank them and miss them. I will get asked by my husband what I would like to do on my special day. I will say it doesn't matter and mean it. I don't eat anything with sugar in it anymore so there will be no cake with candles. I am used to that now since I gave up sugar more than 20 years ago to head off a family trait of Type 2 Diabetes. So far is has worked.

With all that said the day will be a good one. I am not sad and without grand expectations I don't get disappointed. Physically I feel really good these days. I sleep well, eat well and get those 10,000 steps most days and a couple times a week do some strength training for my bones.

I remember turning 27 and for some reason it struck me that I was a mother of three and supposed to be a real grownup. It is called adulting now isn't it? I didn't like that birthday at all. The big zero birthdays of 30, 40, 50 and even 60 didn't phase me at all, just 27. I still struggle with being a real grownup, not even sure of what it means.

I thought by now I would be a wise self assured old lady ready to pass on the wisdom of my age. That hasn't happened yet and probably never will. I have doubts and consider myself still learning. I have come to think of this as a good thing.

I do still make goals and look forward to projects I want to accomplish. I have more ideas in my head than I will ever get done for knitting, crocheting, sewing, quilting and more. I am never bored. Projects to do and books to read along with Netflix and Amazon Video binge watching take care of that. All of these things keep me out of trouble and happily occupied.

I have one other goal that I am very serious about. I come from a family of many long lived people. I want to have a 90th birthday and I have 26 more birthdays to go to get there. This goal is the reason I quit smoking 12 years ago. This goal is the reason I try to stick to healthy habits.

So tomorrow, the day that marks my 64th year is another day towards my goal  of 90 years and I will be and am thankful for it and each day that comes along.

Will I still be here and blogging at 90?

Will I still be having a life worth a few words and be able to write them?

Who knows?

Maybe.

Will you still take the time to read and comment sometimes if we make it that long?

Photo by Adi Goldstein on Unsplash

Back with more again soon. Take care and stay cozy!

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year!

Well there's an original title for the first post in a new year. LOL. I do hope you are all full of grand plans and happy events in your future though.

Today is Jim's birthday. Like mine in June it is one of the 0 birthdays. We are both 60 now. Rather strange to think about being this age. I made him some brownies this morning to have as a treat this evening after work since he likes those better than cake.

This photo is from our trip to Hawaii last winter. I know he has in mind a trip to some place warm again in the next few months.

My shops on Etsy and Zibbet are reopened after being in vacation mode since Thanksgiving. I spent all that time away from home in Salt Lake. Some of that time was full of joy and laughter, some not so good, hellish at times in fact but let's just not go there okay.

That's all I have for you all today. I'll be back again soon, promise.

30? How did that happen?

Thirty years ago today my husband was handing out cigars because our son was born in sunny San Diego. James Michael is thirty years old today and I have no idea how it happened so fast.

With no offense meant to my daughters because I love you all he was the easiest of my three babies to take care of.

He is now a great problem solver. You know the kind of guy you call if you are not sure what is wrong with your car or how to do a home repair or how to make all your electronic gadgets work like they should.

Since I am not with him today I will let this video sing happy birthday for me.

Can you tell that he does not know how he got this old either?

Happy Birthday Jimmy!

It is official

When I talked to the young gentleman you see on the right yesterday he was not yet officially 4. According to his logic he could not be a year older until he had his celebration. The celebration is over now and he is 4 years old whether he likes it or not.

Have we just discovered the secret to not aging? Just don't have a party?

Another Week Went By

It has been a week since my last post. I am feeling a bit disgruntled. I find myself restless waiting for a lot of little details to come together. I thought about rearranging furniture because shaking up my environment actually settles me down sometimes. I can think through a lot of ideas while shoving around a sofa.

It is very warm however and I settled for finishing off the last of my birthday brownies. Chocolate is good for damn near anything, right?

considering 55

My age will change next week. I will go from early 50's to mid 50's and the thought is a bit depressing. I notice I am a bit grayer this year and it really shows because I have never colored my hair unless you count a teen-aged experiment with lemon juice and sunshine. Some things are good though. I can be thankful that knees, hips and ankles are in good shape. My hands ache sometimes after a long day of knitting or crocheting. I suppose I will have to find some kind of joint pain relief one of these days because as long as I can see and my hands work I won't stop those hobbies. I need them as much as breathing whether anything sells in my shops or not.

My thoughts shared with you and noted for myself and a way to take a break from cleaning chores for a minute.

Let me know what is up with you.
I love comments.

Dusting is next.

Another Year

Joslyn, also known as Posie in our family, had a birthday over the weekend. She is becoming quite the little lady and one who tells you exactly what is on her mind. She pulls no punches and lets you know on a phone call "I'm done talking to you now." She puts the phone down and is on to something else.

Happy Birthday and many, oh so many, more.

With love from Grandma.

Have Fun Today!

This is a message from Grandma to a special guy who is turning 7 years old today-

Happy birthday to you,

Happy birthday to you, 

Happy birthday dear Hunter,

Happy birthday to you!

Officially over

The holidays are officially over. In our family they begin with Thanksgiving, then Christmas, then New Year's Eve and finally on the 4th of January my husband's birthday.He had two long weekends at home and this morning he is back at work and I have the house to myself. Nice and quiet but strange.

He is not the type of person to sit around much. You know the type. When he works he works hard, when he plays he plays hard and when he sits he falls asleep. He spent a lot of his time off looking at our insurance coverage on different things. He checked out homeowners and our car insurance. He started gathering up information for taxes. We watched football, took a drive to Payson, played with a new mixer, snacked too much, put away the holiday decorations, got cars washed, and I don't know how many other things. Some days I get tired just watching him.

Now that I have gotten way off track here let's get back on topic.
This post is to say-

Happy Birthday Jim

and many, many more!

Happy to You

Here she is. This is my oldest child. Her birthday is today. I know that because 33 years ago today I was at a hospital giving birth and missed my sister's wedding. She was born just about the time they would have been saying I do.

Happy birthday Tammy!

Very Happy Birthday Wishes!

aycee is having a birthday today!

Even though we can't be with her today we enjoyed her visit last week! This is our last picture of her from the Thanksgiving visit. She and her family were setting out on their long drive home.

Happy birthday Kaycee!

This is....

This is Lisa. She has two beautiful boys. You see one of them here. She is married to my son. The day they married was one of the very few times I saw my husband and son in tuxedos. They looked so handsome. Lisa had a birthday last week and being my strange self the last little while I didn't get her birthday post with her picture up. Since she rarely holds still to get her picture taken at family gatherings I got this from her Facebook page. I had to. Who can resist a laughing baby?
Happy birthday Lisa and many, many more!

Reminded

I was reminded yesterday that I did not post one of my infamous birthday pictures for my youngest daughter on her birthday earlier this month. Since I wished her a happy birthday on her facebook page I thought I had it covered but I guess not. Here she is for her moment of fame with her children on a visit to Arizona last year.

She turned 27 this year and like me this birthday kind of bothered her. I didn't mind turning 30 or 40 or even 50 but for some reason I remember being rather depressed on my 27 th birthday. Maybe it has something to do with being firmly in your late 20's and being forced to accept that in the eyes of the world you are expected to be a competent grownup. You have to spend time worrying about all those adult things like auto insurance, health insurance, caring for kids and hoping for the best in their education, taxes, spouses, home, jobs and on and on and on. You believe that this is drudgery is your life for the next 50 to 60 years or so.

However each stage from wife to mother to grandma, from busy house and jobs to empty nest has its own joys and challenges and it will all be okay. Like I did, Cindy will get over this slight bump and get very comfortable with who she is and how old she is. I am certain of that.

Do you remember an age that really bothered you? Why? I love when my readers share their stories. Tell me yours.

Happy Birthday!

Happy birthday to you,

Happy birthday to you,
Happy birthday dear Jordan,
Happy birthday to you!

Happy He Is Not 30 Yet?

However he only has one more year to go from today. My son, the poor middle child, is having a birthday today, his 29th. I am rather infamous for putting up pictures on birthdays that my adult children don't like. I am sure that today this photo will keep up with my currently low standards of picture choice.

Happy Birthday to You Jimmy!

Look Who Is 3 Now

She is not normally this serious. I liked capturing this moment during my last visit.
This is my granddaughter who turned 3 last weekend.
Happy Birthday Posie!