The girls

Allison, Mary Helen, Amanda

A few days after Christmas my nieces had their cousin, Mary Helen, and dear friend, Katie, come over to stay for 2 days and nights.  What a hoot!  It was so much fun to watch them and listen to them shriek with laughter over EVERYthing!  I love these girls and being around them.  They are so enthusiastic about life and help make the future look very bright indeed.



Charlie's Angels :-)



Cold hands ~

It's cold in Minnesota this year - as it is most winters!  This year is especially beautiful.  I'll let the pictures do the talking.

Giving Thanks on this Thanksgiving Day

The last chapter of the book Write It Down, Make It Happen is entitled Giving Thanks.  "When you remember to say thanks, when you live your life in a spirit of gratefulness, life will present you with even more things for which to be grateful."  Just a little something to think about on this day of Thanksgiving. 

Thankful ~ November 13

Today I'm thankful to live in the land of plenty - and especially where fresh fruits and vegetables are so good and so plentiful. 

The haul from today's Bountiful Baskets pickup was good - not wonderful - but really good.  I mistakenly set my pickup for the wrong place so I had to drive a good ways out of  town past the fields to a school about 15 miles from home.  This was included - celery, tomatoes, leaf lettuce, squash, 5 lbs potatoes, bananas, dark grapes, honeycrisp apples, pears, tangerines and 5 loaves of 9 grain bread.  Everything is so good.  I'm thankful to have so much good fresh food!

Thankful - November 12

Tonight I'm thankful for a strong body.  Sure it's not nearly as strong as I'd like it to be . . . and the strength is covered up with too much fluff.  But it's there and was there when I needed it.

Olivia

When I got to Olivia's house she needed help getting up off the floor and I was able to lift her up off the floor and to a standing position.  I'm very thankful I was able to do it.  And that I could quickly figure out what to do.  I'll be returning to my workouts as soon as I can.

Thankful ~ November 8

The honeycrisp apples this year have been to die for!  Starting yesterday I'm trying to eat at least one every day.  I think I'll buy some this week from Bountiful Baskets.

Today I'm thankful for food!

Thankful ~ November 7

Bernadette

Last night I went to a surprise birthday party for Father John (Msgr Oliver).  He turns 85 tomorrow.  I really don't know him hardly at all but his sister-in-law Bernadette is my very good friend and she asked me several times to please be there.

So I picked up Anna and we went to the party.  It was outside on the beautiful patio of one of Father John's friends.  The weather was perfect and the outside space had a fireplace, small fountain, bar and tables, candles and round white Christmas lights.  We could look up and see the palm trees and the stars while we had drinks and appetizers.  One of the appetizers was cream cheese with blueberry chipotle preserves on top.  It was so good!

Bernadette came with her family, Audrey was there too and we all talked and laughed - like a mini girls nite.  I didn't know the others - they're part of Father John's morning coffee group.  Father John came 30 minutes later and he was really surprised by the party.  We had a nice dinner and the birthday cake was homemade carrot cake.  I took a card that played "Somewhere Over the Rainbow" and signed JRR's name and my name.  Father John had a big smile and a lot of fun reminiscing about the days when JRR helped him in years past.  It was a one-of-a-kind evening. :-)

Today - and every day - I'm thankful for friends.