Hate it when that happens!

You get up from your office chair to file something and…as you return to your chair….discover that a piece of chocolate has melted on to the seat of your chair.


What goes through your head?

1) Turn red and wonder when did that happen? I never let a piece of chocolate go to waste!

2) Immediately check to see if chocolate has, in fact, affixed itself to the seat of my pants. After confirmation in the bathroom mirror that yes, it has….proceed to #3

3)Wonder how long have I been walking around with that chocolate stuck to my but

4)Gasp in horror at the realization that my chiropractor must really think I’m a putz!

5)Sputter and steam and wonder why the heck didn’t my co-workers/friends say anything?

6)Grin, and laugh ....then have another piece of chocolate to alleviate the pain and humiliation of having chocolate melted to your but! (hahahaha) Works for me!

Look Well To This Day

Look well to this day,
For yesterday is but a dream,
And tomorrow is but a vision,
But today well lived,
Makes yesterday a dream of happiness,
And tomorrow a vision of hope,
Look well therefore to this day.
-Ancient Sanskrit Poem

It's a toss up

I had a visit with my dentist today. Now...I've discovered that it's a toss-up:

1)getting lotsa Novocain so you don't feel the drill (bad enough you have to hear it!)

2)getting so much Novocain you look like you had a stroke.


Tried to drink a beverage and drooled out the right side of my mouth. Not cool! ~L~ BUT....didn't feel a thing when he was drilling for oil in my mouth! ~LOL~

I think my dentist is awesome though, and I don't mind visiting him. I told him a long time ago, "Don't even consider touching my mouth without two shots of Novacain!" (Whispers) I do believe he was listening to me! :-)

Rock on!

Yep - it's officially the weekend and I couldn't be more psyched! I had to struggle with my truck to drive past the Wellness Center tonight, but I won and I found myself enjoying a cool beverage on my sister's patio (much more fun that hitting the treadmill!)

My niece Karen is celebrating her birthday on Sunday and I was able to talk with her and catch up with her a little bit. She is in crunch mode right now finishing up her final draft of her thesis. She as some of her aunt in her..the "procrastinating perfectionist."

Never heard of it? Let me explain then. This trait of my personality usually relates to large projects. I mull it over in my head, think it over, plan it, redo it several times as I see it in my head, then, at the 11th hour, start the project and stress because it isn't exactly perfect. OR the other aspect of the trait is ...if I can't do it in my time frame and can't do it perfectly, then I don't do it! (My brother Terry and sister Peggy and I share this particular trait). I've always worked best under pressure! ~hey, it's one of the few flaws that I have (insert grin here!)

What is on tap for the weekend? Minnesota! Yeppers. I get a whole 24 hours away from the ranch with T to an Archeology show in Alexandria. We're packing up the collection (well, T is doing the packing, I'm just watching) and we're headed East to hook up with other rockhounds to talk about rocks. Seriously, it gets pretty interesting and our collection is getting a lot of interest when we show it at these types of functions.

Will I do yoga? You bet your patootie I will! I met an instructor from Alexandria MN while at my 4-day intensive. She just happens to be running classes this weekend and I'm hoping that I can attend while T is off talking with other rockhounds. I'll get to be the student for a change! :-)

A special shout out to "Amy" from Minneapolis! My niece says you've been checking out my blog from time to time. Hope all is going well with you and hope to see you again sometime soon.

A hot time in the old town!

Well, last night at Burger night was certainly fun! The local pub had a golf tournament yesterday and to celebrate all of the teams competing, they had a get together in conjunction with the bi-weekly burger night. Now, most of the teams had been out on the golf course until 11:30 am (T- time) and didn't come to the pub until around 7:30pm. From what I gather, mucho alcohol was consumed while out at the course, and they certainly didn't stop when they hit the pub. Holy smokes! At one point, I looked around and thought, "self, remove from the premesis cuz it's going to get crazy!" ~hahaha~ I wasn't too far off target! Everyone and their dog was out last night and it was getting wild and crazy! It was kinda fun to look around and see everyone in different stages of euphoria (or intoxication as the case may well have been).

While eating burgers, T's brother Doug and his fiance Melissa burst in to the bar. They weren't expecting us to be there and didn't recognize us right away. It was funny when it dawned on them who was yelling their name and waving. Too funny! A bunch of us went outside to sit on my truck endgate and catch up and get out of the (by now) crazy crowd!

It was a lot of fun and, once again, good to see some people that I hadn't seen in a while. Catching up with Doug and Melissa was good too. Melissa is quite the free spirit! Her laugh is infectious and you can't help but smile when she catches something (a little delayed) then laughs and hits you on the arms with a "hey, that's funny!" I can see why Doug is enamoured of her.

They are going to be staying for a week, so sometime we're going to have to try and plan on picnic. Looks like this Sunday may well be the night, as I'm booked Mon through Thursday, Friday night is packing night and on Saturday/Sunday T and I will be in Minnesota. It'll be hard to pull the guys out of the hayfields to attend a picnic, but I don't know how (or when) to get everyone together.

What is on tap for today? Cleaning! (Nope,didn't get to it yesterday). I was so relaxed after my massage with Jen (she has the magic touch!!!) and my cool beverage with my sister, that I couldn't see ruining the mood with housecleaning! (Ha).

Quote for the Day: "I am incapable of conceiving infinity, and yet I do not accept finity. I want this adventure that is the context of my life to go on without end. - Simone De Beauvoir

Finally Friday!!

Gotta love Fridays! 'Specially those that you don't have to work. Hot Diggity!!

I slept in until 6:30 (damn internal alarm clock!) and then dressed in yoga gear for a practice. For whatever reason, my little Boris kitty decided to plant himself square in the middle of my mat and wouldn't move for anything! Rather makes doing Warriors difficult when you need to adjust for the "kitty factor." Sheeesh! Oh well, I managed and I did a good practice.

What is on deck for today? Well, here goes!:
**Wal-Mart run
**Drop off check for August family (cousins) reunion
**Hit the gym (I foresee a treadmill and weights in my immediate future)
**Hit the street fair (I foresee fried bread - which I can now have because I went to the gym! See how that works??! ~grin~)
**Massage at 1:00pm (oh yeah!!)
**Visit my sister and perhaps have a cool afternoon beverage with her on her deck while we watch the young men putting in her windows (love it when I can watch other people work!)
**HOPEFULLY, pick up the rest of my T-Shirt order (these are cute!!)
**Grocery Store Run
**Home to maybe do some housework (or not!)
**It's Burger Night! (Yeah! No Cooking!)

I absolutely adore my free Fridays!! So, to all you peeps working hard on a beautiful day such as this, I'll be thinking of you as I eat my fry bread and drink my cool beverage whilst enjoying the sunshine of a absolutely fantabulous Friday in the north land!! (heehehehe)

Namaste'

Quote for the Day: Today a new sun rises for me; everything lives, everything is animated, everything seems to speak to me of my passion, everything invites me to cherish it. - Anne De Lenclos

What a Week!

Wow! From one celebration right in to another week of festivities. The last week was the County Fair and the Tatanka Festival rolled in to one and was it ever a lot of fun!

I grew up going to the County Fair with my parents and I still get antsy like a little kid - looking forward to the Fair. Although it started on Wednesday night, we weren't able to get there until Friday night. We donate money every year to the Rodeo Association and they are kind enough to give us free tickets to both performances. As hot and steamy as it was on Friday, we were looking forward to sitting out at the arena and watching the festivities as we thought the wind would take away some of the sting of the heat from that day. Little did we know that the temperature would drop and the wind would turn in to cyclone-force winds! Geeez! I was shaking and shivering so hard by the end of Friday's performances it's a wonder I had any teeth left in my head! (Ha!) However, on the bright spot, after the Rodeo we went to our favorite ride - the Beer Garden ride! We saw so many people there - every where we turned there was someone saying "hey Sherry". Of course, I just HAD to stop and talk with everyone. We saw T's niece (home from Kentucky), his cousin Greg from Vermont, my brother and sister-in-law, my nephew Blaine (who was celebrating his 28th birthday a few hours early!),several co-workers and a former employee of mine from 20 years ago (who just happens to be the mother of T's niece from Kentucky! Small world!). Oodles and oodles of people were enjoying the gardens and the fabulous music of The Roosters. The Fair is always a great spot to see people.

Saturday morning was a bit rough though - I woke up with a horrendous headache (and No! this one was NOT alcohol induced!!!)I spent most of the day in bed until the medication could ease it up a little bit. I don't think I moved more than two feet from the bed until about 3:30. T had made plans with some good friends of ours to take in the 2nd performance of the Rodeo on Saturday night and it was touch and go that I would feel up to it. We ended up going and had a great time - albeit this time armed with blankets and winter coats (the wind was still cyclone-strength and it was cooler than Friday evening). The Rodeo was great and worth sitting there freezing - we had fun. And, of course....we went to visit the Beer Garden ride again on Saturday night! Ha! Do you see a pattern here? Once again, we saw many people and talked our way through the gardens and beyond - out on to the midway where this awesome ride - appropriately called "The Slingshot" was holding every one's attention. Think bungee jumping in reverse. Sitting in a basket and being propelled up in to the air - turning all kinds of flips and cartwheels before being lowered back to the ground. T was seriously thinking he should have a go at it. I did too, if it wasn't for the fact that I didn't want to be the subject at the water coolers on Monday morning.... "man, you should have seen that old lady, losing her cookies on that ride!" ~LOL~ It was good entertainment though and my hats off to all the people that paid the $25 for five minutes of fear!

Today is a day of rest and relaxation - kinda. I cleaned house (which should've been done yesterday) then headed in to town to take my mother-in-law out for lunch. Then off to Wally World for the essentials. It was kinda kewl there cuz I formally met a man that I've seen down at the Wellness Center for the last year and a half. Never knew his name - but we'd always wave, smile, exchange a few comments while on the treadmill and such. Today we saw each other and started talking and I said, "I don't know your name so I'm going to formally introduce myself to you, I'm Sherry". You know how they say that everyone has a story? He proceeded to tell me that he had a heart attack in 2007 and that is when he started coming to the Wellness Center. People, you should see this guy run on the treadmill! He's at a full out pace for 30 minutes! Awesome. So...Jim...if you're out there....it's a pleasure to meet you and I'll be seeing you at the gym! :-)

I also ran in to a former co-worker. I wish that I could say that he looked good. He had a heart attack also and has had bypass surgery. He was riding a little motorized scooter around and quite honestly, I didn't recognize him when he came down the aisle where Jim and I were talking. It's always good to see him though and I gave him a hug. He has a little boy that will turn 6 in a few days and all I could think of was "dude....do something....fast...or you won't see him turn 10." Sad, very sad.

Greg - travel safely back to VT and give us a call next time you're in town. Shannon - we'll see you for a picnic (hopefully) when Doug and Melissa get here from West Virginia this upcoming weekend. To everyone I saw at the Fair...rock on!

Thought for the Day:It is that my friends have made the story of my life. In a thousand ways they have turned my limitations into beautiful privileges, and enabled me to walk serene and happy in the shadow cast by my deprivation. - Helen Keller

The Pickle Jar

The following story was sent to me in an email. It touched me in my heart, as my Father had such a jar in the basement where he had his office and his painting gallery. Every year, the week before the 4th of July, he and I would transfer the money into icecream pails and take them in to the bank. That was the money that we "went to the Fair" on and celebrated. I can't tell you how many hotdogs or fair rides that "money from the jar" bought me. More importantly, the lesson it taught me and the memory it gave me. Dad, if your listening.... the lesson wasn't lost. I miss you!

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The pickle jar as far back as I can remember sat on the floor beside the dresser in my parents' bedroom. When he got ready for bed, Dad would empty his pockets and toss his coins into the jar.

As a small boy I was always fascinated at the sounds the coins made as they were dropped into the jar. They landed with a merry jingle when the jar was almost empty. Then the tones gradually muted to a dull thud as the jar was filled.

I used to squat on the floor in front of the jar and admire the copper and silver circles that glinted like a pirate's treasure when the sun poured through the bedroom window. When the jar was filled, Dad would sit at the kitchen table and roll the coins before taking them to the bank.

Taking the coins to the bank was always a big production. Stacked neatly in a small cardboard box, the coins were placed between Dad and me on the seat of his old truck.

Each and every time, as we drove to the bank, Dad would look at me hopefully. 'Those coins are going to keep you out of the textile mill, son You're going to do better than me. This old mill town's not going to hold you back.'

Also, each and every time, as he slid the box of rolled coins across the counter at the bank toward the cashier, he would grin proudly 'These are for my son's college fund. He'll never work at the mill all his life like me.'

We would always celebrate each deposit by stopping for an ice cream cone. I always got chocolate. Dad always got vanilla. When the clerk at the ice cream parlor handed Dad his change, he would show me the few coins nestled in his palm.

'When we get home, we'll start filling the jar again.' He always let me drop the first coins into the empty jar. As they rattled around with a brief, happy jingle, we grinned at each other. 'You'll get to college on pennies, nickels, dimes and quarters,' he said.. 'But you'll get there; I'll see to that.'

No matter how rough things got at home, Dad continued to doggedly drop his coins into the jar. Even the summer when Dad got laid off from the mill, and Mama had to serve dried beans several times a week, not a single dime was taken from the jar.

To the contrary, as Dad looked across the table at me, pouring catsup over my beans to make them more palatable, he became more determined than ever to make a way out for me. 'When you finish college, Son,' he told me, his eyes glistening, 'You'll never have to eat beans again - unless you want to.'

The years passed, and I finished college and took a job in another town. Once, while visiting my parents, I used the phone in their bedroom, and noticed that the pickle jar was gone. It had served its purpose and had been removed.

A lump rose in my throat as I stared at the spot beside the dresser where the jar had always stood. My dad was a man of few words, and never lectured me on the values of determination, perseverance, and faith. The pickle jar had taught me all these virtues far more eloquently than the most flowery of words could have done. When I married, I told my wife Susan about the significant part the lowly pickle jar had played in my life as a boy. In my mind, it defined, more than anything else, how much my dad had loved me.

The first Christmas after our daughter Jessica was born, we spent the holiday with my parents. After dinner, Mom and Dad sat next to each other on the sofa, taking turns cuddling their first grandchild. Jessica began to whimper softly, and Susan took her from Dad's arms. 'She probably needs to be changed,' she said, carrying the baby into my parents' bedroom to diaper her. When Susan came back into the living room, there was a strange mist in her eyes.

She handed Jessica back to Dad before taking my hand and leading me into the room. 'Look,' she said softly, her eyes directing me to a spot on the floor beside the dresser. To my amazement, there, as if it had never been removed, stood the old pickle jar, the bottom already covered with coins. I walked over to the pickle jar, dug down into my pocket, and pulled out a fistful of coins. With a gamut of emotions choking me, I dropped the coins into the jar. I looked up and saw that Dad, carrying Jessica, had slipped quietly into the room. Our eyes locked, and I knew he was feeling the same emotions I felt. Neither one of us could speak.
This truly touched my heart. I know it has yours as well. Sometimes we are so busy adding up our troubles that we forget to count our blessings.

Never underestimate the power of your actions. With one small gesture you can change a person's life, for better or for worse.

God puts us all in each other's lives to impact one another in some way. Look for Good in others. The best and most beautiful things cannot be seen or touched - they must be felt with the heart ~ Helen Keller

Oh What A Night!!

July 4th, 2008 will go down as a night to remember for me. My nephew, Randy, who is 4 years younger than me, had a rockin party last night. Randy wed his beautiful bride Sherry in January of 2008. Since then, they've been planning this party to celebrate the occasion.

Festivities started at 4 pm in the afternoon, though "T" and I were not able to make it any earlier than 5:30pm (ranch duties prevailed). My sister Pat and brother-in-law Gil had their lawn manicured beautifully and there wasn't a bug or mosquito to be seen! More importantly, the weather was absolutely fabulous! All of my siblings were there and we were missing only two of my nephews.

Pat and Gil were owners of a bar and they know their stuff! They had 3 kegs of beer, 4 or 5 different types of wine, not to mention liquor for mixed drinks. The weather was warm and the drinks went down real well - too well actually (judging by the pounding of my head this morning!) I might also mention that the food (brats and burgers, potato salad and baked beans) were awesome! Kudos to the caterer!

Music was playing in the background as everyone mingled and chatted. At 10pm (or dusk) they started the fireworks display. They were truly spectacular and dare I say, better than some of the displays my town has put on in the past. With the patriotic music playing in the background (the DJ was equally outstanding) while the gentle breeze stirred the night air, the fireworks lit up the night sky and warmed me to the core - (or it could have been that last beer....I dunno! ~ha~).

Anyway - Randy and Sherry - congratulations on your marriage. Sherry, welcome to the family. Remember, I'm known as Sherry 1 cuz I was here first! ~S~ (We spell it the same - first and middle names - we were both born in September, and we're the same height!)

And...thank you for a wonderful 4th of July celebration! I had a truly outstanding time!

Happy 4th of July America!

Good Morning and Happy Birthday America!

What a great day to wake up and realize the freedom that we have today was fought for so bravely by brave souls past, and present!

Think of where this country started and to where we are now, and the incredible journey we've traveled as Americans. The personal freedoms we enjoy today - speech, religion, right to bear arms - are sometimes taken for granted. I watch the news and see citizens of other countries that are not as fortunate as us - example, those living in China or the Darfur region - and I thank God that I live where we live.

Right now our country is going through some difficulty with the recession sitting in our backyard. As we struggle with the high costs of fuel, food, health insurance, etc., and deal with the Iraq & Afghanistan wars (and the tragic loss of our young men & women serving so bravely for our country), I can't help but think of our for-fathers and what they went through and experienced during the Revolutionary War, the Civil War, WW1 & WW2, Vietnam.

It wasn't easy, I'm sure. Nor will it be easy for us to fight through the challenges that lie ahead. The world is a different climate now than it was in the past, and America isn't quite on the same footing with the rest of the world as it has been in the past. Anti-Americanism is strong.

The American Dream is harder and harder to achieve as our economy struggles in the world market. But,we've been through hard times before America. We've pulled ourselves up by the bootstraps and fought hard to pull through and made the country better for the next generation.

I have faith in us as people - as Americans. We need to work together. Tighten the belt, forge ahead and persevere. Have faith. Fight for what we believe in and make sure that this country (this beautiful land of ours) lives on for the next generation to enjoy. Will it be easy? No, it will be damned hard. We've done it before and we've come out better on the other side. We can do it again.

I'm proud to live in this great country called the United States of America and call myself an American.

Today I'm celebrating and honoring the country that I live in, and thanking the generations who have gone before me, for making the sacrifices in order for me to enjoy the wonderful freedoms and life that I enjoy today.

Will you remember and celebrate as well?