Simple

I stumbled into the most wonderful blog today: thesimplewomansdaybook.blogspot.com This is supposed to be a permalink thingy but I am technologically challenged, have no idea how to insert a "permalink" so if it doesn't work right I apologize. It will have to do until I have DH help...he's the computer guru in our house, God love him. Yes, I was surfing at work..bad girl, I know. It sounded like fun so I thought I’d join in. Here is my first post to the daybook (drumroll please!)

FOR TODAY, New Year’s Eve...

Outside my window the sun is shining on the snowy mountains…so pretty.

I am thinking about how much I will enjoy dinner and movies with my husband and son tonight

I am thankful for pretty much everything about my life, especially my family and friends.

From the kitchen plates of burgers for the grill, which will give me the undivided attention of my dogs :0)

I am wearing old jeans (old, not holey), a long-sleeved shirt under a oversized zip-front hoodie and my Doc Marten boots.

I am creating chaos and mayhem in the office…my work here is done (JK)

I am going home for lunch to eat with my son…..yay!!

I am reading “For a Few Demons More” by Kim Harrison

I am hoping that all my friends and family have a great time tonight! Oh and that whatever little bug that is trying to pull a hostile takeover on me isn’t going to make me full-blown sick on New Years Eve.

I am hearing the radio on in my office.

Around the house are remnants of Christmas…sigh.

One of my favorite things is a nice long bubble bath with a good book…….aaaahhh.

A few plans for the rest of the week are to take down the tree, get my new phone set up, maybe go to a movie…

A picture thought I am sharing is that I REALLY need new running shoes!!!!

Have a fun-filled and SAFE New Year's Eve everyone!!!

Christmas

Post Christmas greetings!!! I hope you all had a wonderfully blessed Christmas and got spoiled rotten :0) Just a little update from last week:

Our Christmas was wonderful. Not enough time with family but it never is. Our oldest daughter and her hubby came down Tuesday night, so we had a late dinner and stayed up opening gifts and playing with stuff. They left Wednesday before noon so they could make their flight to Phoenix to spend Christmas with her mom. Meanwhile, our travel plans for Christmas Day got scrubbed due to the weather…supposed to have a BIG storm that day…so we checked the road reports, the radar, called family to check the weather there, only to arrive at the conclusion that it would be better to wait until Saturday to go visit. Waited for snow…played games….waited…watched a movie….waited…got a good laugh from me trying to snowboard on the Wii Fit (I so suck at that - LOL!!) ….nothing….then it rained…. RAINED! Ugh!!! (Come to find out that about ½ hour north of here it was snowing like a sonofagun all day) But then along 7-ish the wind kicked up pretty good and the temp dropped. We woke up to tons of snow on Friday. Shoveling was brutal….ouch. Went up to Saturday to my in-laws…opened gifts (Chris got a .22 from his grandpa…needless to say he’s one happy camper!) and visited. Ahhh….so nice to see everyone. Did I mention we “pug sat” while kids were gone to Phoenix? Yes, we got to take care of “Benny the Pug” while they were gone…cute little guy. Full of all kinds of silly noises. He snores :0) And into everything! It was like having a toddler in the house…can’t take your eyes off him for a second or he’s off snooping someplace. Our cats weren’t too broken up to see him go home last night though…they were not a fan of “Benny the Pug”. Go figure ;0) I hope to get around to dumping my camera tonight so I will have some pics to share.

Have a great day and a safe and happy New Year’s Eve!!!

Angels

I know I said I thought my previous post would most likely be the last one before Christmas, but I heard something today that I just have to share. You know how sometimes you can get caught up in your own problems, be they big or small…think that life is going poorly or is really stinking at the moment - you hate your job, your spouse is getting on your very last nerve, your car broke down, bounced a check, ect. Then some thing happens that will put life in perspective. Make you realize that whatever you think your problems may be are really pretty small potatoes compared to what others are dealing with. This is one of those enlightening moments.

I walked into an office at work this afternoon to find 2 coworkers in conversation. Needing to ask a question of one of them, I waited patiently for them to finish. They were talking about liver transplants. The lady – our company nurse - was speaking about a transplant that had taken place the end of October, that the insurance company refused to pay for the operation ect. Then it occurred to me that the person she was talking about who underwent the transplant was her son. He’s 30. Her 30 year old son just had a liver transplant. After I picked my jaw up off the ground, I asked her if she was indeed talking about her kid; she said yes and started the story over…telling us about how they had found out he was in dire need of a transplant, how they would drive to SLC after being put on the transplant list in hope of a liver becoming available, how they were about to leave one evening when the doctors came in to ask them to “hang out for a little while longer” then telling them a donor had been found. They operated the very next morning; the operation took well over 12 hours. And how while she was in the waiting room during this time that she received a phone call from a relative to tell her that her father had just passed away. Operation was a success; kid is doing wonderfully well. The insurance company refused to pay for the operation, sighting several reasons (one of which – and by far the most ridiculous, asinine thing I have ever heard - was that the mother and father were divorced), refuse to pay for the antirejection meds this kid will have to take every day for the rest of his life, but is paying for his physical therapy (huh??) In the last couple weeks, the woman has received word from the doctors that performed the operation that they were DONATING their services…no payment needed. This operation costs well over $450K, and the whole transplant team – all 14 (I think that was how many people she said?) are donating their time. In addition to that, the donor’s family paid whatever fee it is to get put on the transplant list (I had no idea you had to pay to get on this…I need to ask some questions about that) on top of donating their loved one’s liver.

Everything in my life that I was mad about or worried about has been reduced to the trivial things they are. They’re not life and death and in the grand scheme of things, they don’t matter. Hearing about acts of kindness and compassion like those extended to my coworker and her son really restores my faith in humanity. And reminds me that there are angels among us and there is a higher power that we all answer to who works miracles everyday in ways we never know.

Linus' Speech

Happy Friday to you!

After enduring a couple days where it has been colder than a snowman’s toe (it was -2 yesterday morning when I left for work, not including the wind chill), it is almost a heatwave this morning – a balmy 31 degrees out! Whoo hoo!!! The warmer temps are thanks to a big snowstorm that is moving in…round 2 of the snow is supposed to start here in a couple hours. The National Weather Service has issued a winter storm warning for us from 6 a.m. today thru 6 p.m. TOMORROW night. Hope Christopher feels like doing some shoveling :0) And I am not above bribery…I think a nice big Starbucks cappacino with a blueberry muffin would go a long way toward getting the driveway cleared out, don’t you??

I will be finishing up my wrapping tonight…figured I’d throw in my “Charlie Brown Christmas” dvd to watch while I’m cutting, taping and ribboning. This movie has the best speech in it…in fact it is my FAVORITE part of the entire movie. Linus gives this speech, taken from the scriptures, at the Christmas play rehersal, which has gotten a bit out of hand for it’s director Charlie Brown. Now, while I do not actively attend church of any kind, I certainly believe in the Father, Son and the Holy Spirit; I try to be a spiritual person and follow the “Big 10”, doing my best to be a moral and decent human being. Yeah, I fall short sometimes, not as good a person as I should be some days, but overall I think I’m doing okay. I hope you enjoy this as much as I do; it puts Christmas into the correct perspective…one that sadly so many lose sight of.

Linus’ Christmas Speech
"And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the fields, keeping watch over their flocks by night. And lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone ‘round about them, and they were so afraid. And the angel said unto them, ‘Fear not, for behold, I bring unto you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. For unto you this day is born in the City of Bethlehem, a Savior, which is Christ the Lord. And this shall be a sign unto you; you shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes and lying in a manger.’ And suddenly there was with the angel, a multitude of the heavenly host, praising God, and saying, 'Glory to God in the highest, and on Earth peace, good will toward men'. That's what Christmas is all about, Charlie Brown.”

This will probably be my last post before Christmas, so I would like to wish you all a very Merry Christmas and a new year full of love, happiness and peace.