Last day of the year 2012.....

Thought I would start my last post of this year with a picture of a beautiful sunset.

My phone camera doesn't do it justice but it didn't last long enough to get a good shot. This was actually right before it got dark.

I have to share this picture I snatched from Jessie's Facebook. This snowman Page made represents just how much snow they actually got. I thought it was so cute. Of course, I think anything with Page in it is cute. Last Friday I put a few pictures up of my friends from Hawaii including a picture of some bunnies Lil Mi makes.

This is an example of some of the other little "critters" she makes and sells through a local boutique. She is developing quite a reputation. I placed Katrina's order for two and another one for me today. I really love her work.

I had to share this adorable picture of Lil Mi I snatched of when she was just a wee little thing of 20 months old. She is going to kill me when she sees that I shared it but I had to. My Kelly is going to love this picture and since she isn't on Facebook, this is the only way she will get to see it. She looks so much like her Dad here.

It took me awhile but I finally got the diamond earrings Barbara Ann gave me in my back holes. I haven't had earrings in the back holes for quite awhile. I like the way Amy cut my hair yesterday. It was getting too long and the sides were crazy. I have always had natural wavy hair but we can't get over how actually curly my hair is now. I know it is from the radiation because the material I read says your hair may change into a different color and/or texture. I like the natural curl but my hair is much thinner and straighter on the top of my head. Oh well - you can't have everything.

This is the ring Amy gave me yesterday. The picture doesn't do it justice. It is yellow gold but on either side of the strips with the tiny diamonds is white gold. It is really pretty. I mentioned it while she was cutting my hair and she took it off and said you can have. I said - No and she said she had two more just like it so I said, "Thank you very much." I like that it fits me. She is going to take me to someone she trusts to have my other rings sized down.  Look at my poor old hands. 

This is what I have to put up with when I drink my Ensure now. Miya gets right in my face like she is  telling me to hurry up because she wants to lick the lid. After she licks the lid, I put it back on and shake it up so she can lick it again. I know - I spoil her rotten. I'm going to take her for her shots and check-up as soon as I can get an appointment. I'll ask the doctor then if her getting those little dabs of Ensure is bad for her. I hope it isn't because she loves the stuff.

We got this picture from Jessie with the caption, "Sweety loves her crackers". She really is a sweetie and so tiny. When Jess and Doug lived in the big house on Hamilton Road they had another little Dwarf Hamster they named Buford. Dwight and I fell in love with the little thing and loved it when they put him in his little exercise ball that he rolled all over the house. Dwight and I both keep thinking it is Friday night instead of a Monday. He has already talked to Douglas and is now talking to Kelly about how to cook something. I got to speak to Douglas for a few minutes and he sounds good. Samantha has one more vacation day and then it will be back to school for her. I had a nice long chat with Zandra earlier. She seems to be feeling better but I will feel better if they can figure out what caused the seizure. Just got to speak with Kelly for a second and she sounds good. Guess this is good-bye to 2012. I'm really hoping 2013 will bring good things for everyone.

Some pictures to get caught up....

I will try to keep this post to mostly pictures and not too many words. Just wanted to share a few more from our fun time this past weekend with family and good friends.

We were disappointed that Douglas had to work half a day on Monday which made it a short weekend with them.

A picture of some of my favorite people getting ready to go out in service. They all look pretty spiffy here don't they? I miss Geral and Sheila...they need to come see me. Might try to guilt trip them. :)

I love this picture of Dante "buying out the opportune time" to read his magazine while waiting for the group for service I'm thinking. He is doing so well. I know John and Joan are both proud of him.

Speaking of service, everyone is trying to get the message out. Fell in love with this. Thanks Sue.

I snatched this from Lil Mi's Facebook. It looks like the hip surgery was a big success and now she just has to get the therapy out of the way and will be as good as new - hopefully.

It rained and rained and rained this past Wednesday. As if that wasn't bad enough, it was also very cold. I'm just glad it didn't freeze. I don't even want to think about how bad that would have been.

I snatched these beautiful pictures of P and K from Heather. There were so many gorgeous pictures it was hard to decide which ones to share. It is obvious K is going to be a wonderful "big sister". As I recall, Bryan and Kevin were wonderful "big brothers" to their baby sister. Speaking of babies, we just got off the phone with Pam and she was telling us Randi is having a little boy! How exciting! Pam and Leif had three beautiful daughters so this will be their first little boy. We might ride down there this weekend to spend a couple of nights with Pam and Leif and visit GG. I would enjoy that so much. Dwight is suffering from cabin fever so I know it would be good for him too.  I've been so worried about Zandra. Long story short, she passed out and fell right on her face busting her nose and lip. They ran some tests and said she suffered a seizure.  While she was in the hospital getting these tests, Mike had to call an ambulance and follow it to take Doris to another hospital because she has double pneumonia. They sent Zandra home with anti-seizure medication and her doctor will follow up. Poor babies - between Mike, Eric, Crissie and Alex, they had to take care of Amy (just had surgery), Zandra and Doris while making sure Bailey was okay.  Thank goodness everything is calming down now. Last night Alton and Patsy (thank you guys) let me catch a ride with them to their meeting so I could hear Marlan's grandson give his first talk. Her entire family (minus Garry who had to work) were there for the talk.  He did such a good job.  His Dad had a talk also and as usual, he did a great job too. I was sad I didn't really get to speak to Pat and Kris.

Marlan has such a sweet and supportive family.  I wish I had gotten a picture of all of them.  I will have to admit the picture below is special to me for several reasons. Of course I'm always happy to get a picture of Katrina with her pretty little baby bump but also of this sweet sister with her, Grace. I studied with Grace many years ago. Lora was studying with her and asked me to take it over.

Lora's son Steve was studying with her husband Leon. I studied with Grace for quite awhile before I spoke to Gerome about an idea I had. I felt like it would be better if a couple were studying with Grace and Leon as a couple. Gerome agreed and after talking with Steve, he and Lillie took over the study. She was talking last night about how she wasn't happy when I first turned her over but laughed about how she now saw what a good thing it was. She has been regular pioneering for quite some time now. I'm very proud of her.

I can't believe how grown Chelsea is. It was good seeing Brenda last night. It has been a long time since I've talked with her. She looks great. I took a picture of us but believe me, she will thank me for deleting that one. lol I almost forgot to show you what the kids got us for our 47th anniversary. We really weren't expecting anything and were both surprised. When we were at the coast in November, evidently Dwight mentioned something about an electric George Foreman grill that was in the condo we rented.

So they bought him one for our anniversary. It is very nice and I know he (we) will enjoy it.

This picture does not do it justice but this is the coat they bought me. It is SO NICE. I will get Dwight to take a picture of it on me. It is suede, fits like it has been tailored to "fit perfectly", comes to my mid-thigh, has a fur lined hood and is very warm. I feel quite "chic" in it.

It is now time to sign off and finish my Bojangles sweet iced tea. Yum. I have really been enjoying tea and coffee again.

Good friends getting caught up.....

Boy, Biscuit and Jen came over during the early afternoon Saturday. Of course Jen brought goodies with her including some chicken salad and brownies from "chick fil a". Boy and Page picked up where they left off last time and were inseparable.

They still play so well together. Of course Biscuit found many ways to entertain herself. She has always made herself right at home anytime she is here which I love. We saved the box

Dwight's anniversary gift came in and Biscuit loved it. I love how Miya is trying to figure out what the little girl is doing in the box.

Don't you love this picture? I love her pretty sweater and she has her Mom's gorgeous hair.

I love the little flower on the hem of Page's jeans. Jessie had her dressed so cute all weekend. Her legs are getting so long it is hard keeping her in clothes. She is still quite small for her age. I asked her who she sits with on the bus and she said "name". I asked her how old he is and she said, "14, he is in the 8th grade" and I'm like "what?". I asked her if he thinks of her as his girlfriend and she was totally "no way". 

She was showing me pictures on her phone of friends on the bus and from the KH and this is the boy. Yeah - I think she is tired of answering questions about him. I know Jessie and Doug are on top of it so am not going to worry about it. :) I will post pictures of our anniversary gifts later. We both love what the kids bought us. I truly wasn't expecting anything this year since it is an "odd" year. Jessie bought everything but all of them went in on the gifts. I was so happy to have all of them at the meeting with me Sunday. Page sat beside me in the back and took very good care of me. She is so sweet. Always stopping whatever she is doing to come kiss me on the cheek and tell me she loves me. I've got more pictures and stuff to share but am getting pretty tired right now so will write more tomorrow maybe.  Hope everyone has a good night.

Getting there....

So today I woke up determined I was going to accomplish more than I did yesterday and I did. I put all the clean towels and washcloths in the bathroom chest, put all of my clean clothes away, put all of Dwight's clean clothes in his room and/or drawers, got rid of tons of old paperwork that had piled up on my desk while organizing the rest of it, and put the clean dishes in the drainer away. Then I got a shower and put some nice clean clothes on. I was happy to see Camryn with Debbie when she came to clean today. She goes to year-round school and is out for a three week break. It gave us a chance to talk a little and get caught up. I think she is looking forward to going to middle school next year. I can't even begin to tell you how happy I am we have made Debbie cleaning every other week and permanent thing. Now that she lets us pay her like the other people she cleans for do, Dwight and I are both thrilled. There is nothing like a freshly cleaned house. After they left, I went for a walk in the yard.

These are just two examples of the roots that are in our backyard. Many of them are no longer attached to a tree (we had some removed) but they are still there.

This is just one more that I thought was interesting looking. The sun was nice a bright but I still needed my coat and found the breeze to be a little chilly. I also watered the few plants I still have and was a little sad to find

there are only three little blooms left on the pretty orchid Carmen gave me. I need to get in touch with my Orchid Whisperer to see what I'm doing wrong. My dear friend Mimi and her daughter Mi called me tonight and we had a very uplifting and fun conversation. She is still recovering from painful hip surgery but sounded great. They both sounded good. Dwight got me to order him a small extra cheese, pepperoni pizza from Papa John's tonight after he went over to his friends for a little bit. He cut me three tiny pieces off and I ate the topping off of them. They were pretty good. Douglas called me earlier today and we got caught up. They are coming down Friday night late but have to get back home Sunday night because he has to work on Monday. I can't wait to see them. I am so hoping they will go with me Sunday - it would be nice to have my family with me at the Hall.

Getting caught up with an old friend......

I had a nice phone call from my friend in Honolulu last night. I met her in the early 80's when she and her daughter came here for the American Dance Festival. A brother asked me to help them while they were here for the month they would live here. She rented a small furnished apartment right across the street from Duke where the ADF takes place. I provided her transportation to the meetings and for other adventures.  We were pretty inseparable that month and have been friends ever since. She and her daughter came back for several visits over the years, then she came alone for several years - but it has been quite awhile since we have seen each other and much has happened during that time. Her Mom died, her daughter got married and had a child and she lost her husband a few years ago. She had her house torn down and built a new one on the same site which now houses her in the downstairs and her daughter, son-in-law and darling grandson in the upstairs. I think she had me on speakerphone because I could hear her daughter answering some of my questions in the background. There used to be three Mimi's. Her mother (Miriam), her and her daughter whom we call Little Mi.

This is a picture of Mi, Little Mi, her son-in-law and grandson. I wonder if Little Mi would have named her little boy Mi if he had been a girl? I'll have to ask her that the next time we talk. I friended her on FB and have snatched a few pictures from her page to share.

This is Mi's grandson and I think he is very handsome young man. He looks a lot like his Gma and his Dad. Little Mi has done some modeling and acting. She had a role on Hawaii 5-0 not too long ago and I got so excited when I got to see her brief little part on TV!

Little Mi truly is a beautiful woman. She got her looks from both of her talented parents.  Her Dad  was a famous artist. He painted huge murals that are in a lot of the public buildings in the Islands and other places. He would occasionally take a sabbatical and they lived in England for awhile. They also lived in Virginia some years ago and we got to see each other then too.

These are two pieces of his work. I'm very honored to have two small pieces (little pieces he did that he would copy later onto a larger canvas).  She  brought me the first one and had it matted and framed for me. The second one she sent to me and I had it matted and framed. They are both in my living room on the wall and I always think of them when I look at them.  They had a huge show of his work several years ago and both Mi's were thrilled by the turnout,

I like these pictures of her grandson with her Dad in one and Little Mi in the other one.  Mi recently had hip surgery and she said it went very well. She seems to be pleased with the results. All those years of dancing, choreography and teaching finally took their toll on her body. Little Mi came from two extremely talented and creative people who both made their living with their talents and art. She and Little Mi both participated in the ADF when they were here. I subscribed to ADF for several years and enjoyed it very much.

Little Mi makes these little bunnies and other "stuffed-sock" animals and a local boutique keeps her very busy selling them as fast as she can make them. Back when she first got started with this she sent me one. I still have it and love it. The famous artist, Margaret Keane, used to live in the islands. Both Mi and I loved her work and one year, Mi brought

a doll that looks a whole lot like this one for Kelly. Margaret now lives in California. Mi loved coming here and going out in service with me. It was so much fun for her to actually meet people at the door as that is very hard to do where she lives with all the gated communities.

I am very happy that she called and that we could have a few laughs and get caught up a little. She has called several times during the past year but this is the longest we have talked. She was very careful not to let me talk too much or tire me out.  I'm happy to say I made it to the meeting tonight in spite of the wet, cold weather AND I got to make a comment. Randy, Abi and JoJo brought me (and chair) home tonight (Linda had to take Drewby home early - he got sick - bad cough going on) and I really appreciated it.  Such a sweet family.  Lucy sat with me until her back started bothering her.  Matt also sat with me for a little bit toward the end of the meeting. Everyone was so sweet as always.