Shine Today

OK, last entry I added a badge. This time I added another blog to this one. It's my book review page. Click on it and review the latest book I have read. By the way, did I mention I got the latest book for free? Yep, from BookSneeze. It's a great way to get good books.

OK, for the most part, I am rather "blog illiterate." Meaning I really don't know how to make all the creative things, add pictures, add badges, etc. I pretty much just do basic stuff, until today. I just learned how to add a badge! I know, pretty exciting stuff. :) but, it is pretty cool to learn things. And, this one? Well, it's a site where if you agree to review a book, they will send you one for free. Yep, that's it. Sign up and agree to do book reviews on your blog site and they will send you a book to read & review. Missed the one I actually signed up for, but I bought it from another site :). I enjoy reading and am really looking forward to writing reviews of the books I have read. It also gives me another reason to blog. That said, today my oldest daughter will be going to her 1st doctor appointment for her baby. I get to tag along :) It is still crazy to think I have a son-in-law and that I will be a grandma. I have been enjoying their c...

or none... Home/public/private school. Raising children. Letting them go. Loving through the good and bad. Staying married. what do these 5 things have in common? None of them are accomplished through a step-by-step program :) yet, people do this all the time. How do you know how to do it? How do we work together to make these things all work out? Each child is different. Each marriage is different. Each person is different. So how do you know exactly what to do? How do you know what's best? sometimes I wish the answers were written down so clear that all you had to do was follow the rule and there ya go...there's so much more to it though. and, lets not forget what the mind will do to whatever decision you make anyway...

A friend of mines daughter posted this on her page " i'll blink, and be thirty-then blink, and be dead." She's 21. I was 21 when I got married and when I got pregnant. 21 years ago. Now, my 1st born is getting married and having a baby of her own. How did that happen? Is there a slow mode anywhere? This same friend made a comment to me the other day about how when she lived in Missouri life was a little slower and being back in California for a VERY short time she already feels the pull to go go go. Sometimes I feel like life has gotten so far away from me that i don't know how to get it back. You know what I mean? Like how do you get done what needs to get done, do what you need to do and get it all done? I move piles from one place to the next, like just today. I cleaned my counters in my kitchen, which included a pile of papers (important papers). guess where they went? my table... If I clean my table, guess where the paper pile will go? my counter...and...

December. How is it already December? Seems like I just wrote a blog entry for Christmas 2008 and now here we are, 2009. Does it ever slow down again?? Well, I've been helping my great-Uncle with some things at his house. It has given me a new perspective of how much we really need each other. Going through things that have been accumulating since 1953 is quite a task. But, I so enjoy it! Watching my uncle as he sees the things we find for him to tell us whether it's keep, give away or throw away is priceless. He can tell stories just with his face. And he remembers so much! He can still remember enough French to teach today if he could! I do miss our times together as a family. We used to get together every year! Thanksgiving, Christmas and any other reason there is. He always brought the homemade ice cream. The other day we were talking and he pulled out a recipe for Orange Marmalade Cake. Told him I'd make it, just for him. And the books, wow, does he have a...

If I could tell you what burns inside of me and knew it would make sense I would. Even as I write this I have already forgotten a thought. My heart aches for you all. Watching the struggles you go through, the aches and pains; yes, I know in life it is unavoidable, but I also know for some of you it can get hopeless. There are some people who say this is just how it is, but that answer always brings me pain and frustration I cannot explain. I want to shout at those who say it, telling them that answer is not good enough. Kids are dying without knowing the truth, without walking in it-I’m not OK with it. But, I’ve never known what to do. A part of me believes I need to start here- I’m so sorry for ever making you feel as though you don’t have a voice, as if you wouldn’t understand. I’m sorry for being hypocritical, religious, judgmental, critical. That is not how it was supposed to be, I never meant to hurt anyone. I’ve judged you by the way you look...

September 7, 2001 - planes flew without concern, people boarding planes could do just that, luggage check was easy, quick and you could bring whatever you wanted with you. People walked down streets and into stores without concern for how they looked. When you visited New York their were towers that stood high above the ground. The Pentagon functioned like it was a normal day. People who wore cloth on their heads never had to worry about being accused of terrorism. The worst terrorist act had been someone from our own home. No one suspected anything if you took pictures of planes. Young men didn't have to fear being shipped off for war the moment they enlisted in the military. It was, as most would agree, "normal" within the definition of itself. But, in 4 days all of that would change, drastically, forever. I was getting ready to take my kids to class. We live on the West Coast so our morning was just getting busy. My mom called and told me to turn on the news....