When I say Sister, You Say....?

My thought process in analyzing the word "SISTER".

Those of you who are a sister, or have a sister can relate I'm sure. But while I was getting ready for work this morning, I pondered the word and its powerful meaning. Do you ever give it any thought? There are so many meanings and connotations to the word. Some observations I have made is that I have many sisters, of many types! Here goes.....

I have a sister, who is a sister-sister. You ask, "WHAT?" OK, the eldest (sorry Carole) sister has led a life of inspiration, love, motherhood, being a grandmother, a missionary and has now entered another chapter of her life being a Catholic nun. So not only is she my sister in the true sense of the word, but my Sister-Sister. Anyone else have that in their vocabulary?

Then I have a sister, who is my sis. My sis and I have become like peanut butter and jelly after a childhood of being opposing magnets. Because of this relationship flipping (kind of like a house) there comes a more endearing name - Sis. There is so much to talk about that taking the time to say a two syllable word 'sister' takes too long - there is so much else to say!!

Then there is the sista. These are my in-laws, a group of women that are not only family, but my friends who I love. There has to be some teasing involved knowing my in-laws, so they deserve the name sista because they are fun gals who enjoy MUCH "laughta". HA!!!

Then you have what you'd call a 'soul sister'.... I have one, but she has three sister names in my life. Not only is she my soul sister, she is my sister-from-another-mother (or sista-from-anutha-mutha) and my sister in Christ. As the kids would say, she is my BFFL. These sisters not only share your life, but they share something even deeper within you, and actually GET you.

Aren't we blessed to have sisters? To be sisters? To know sisters?

So when I say sister, you say......?

Addition to "Toothless Wonder"

OK, so I have yet another queer day at work and leave early to visit the 'new dentist'. So I pick this place because of the TV ads and their advertising skills. Let me tell you, it worked and these PEOPLE work. They do not lie.

Of course, me being me, I joke with the first gal that had to deal with me. My age gives me that benefit. But this gal saw right through me. Fear. Anxiety. Laughter was good, but it didn't calm my blood pressure, which she proceeded to take and it was high. OK, time to get real. After a gazillion x-rays (and let me tell you these were WAY cool, especially with a small mouth that gave her fits) and then sitting me down in the chair with a TV in front of me and .... wait... what's that thing she handed me? Why, it's a remote control!! Does this thing work on a TV? Anyway, the doc finally comes in... he's young, he's Indian, great last name, instantly felt at ease. Of course, what do I say? Yes, the first thing out of my mouth is, "Are you going to be nice to me?" He laughed and proceeded to say, "Heck, NO!" I was sold. Totally sold on the man. I hate dentists, the scars left from childhood were understood.

After he took a full 'pick' he sat back and told me what all had to be done. I knew it was bad. The tears started flowing, silently. Behind me comes Kleenex from the tech - she understood me and my anxiety. These people are going to give me my smile back. The entire crew, won me over. How could I not trust them. Each one saw my heart and didn't make fun of me or belittle me as others have done.

Alright, so then I get in the 'finance' office. Now that's scary stuff. I was thinking a certain number, and then she did this and that and with insurance in there, shot me a price. Don't think my heart didn't fly down to the floor. How would I ever swing this one? I owe everyone in the world, paying people little by little (and I mean little), swallowing pride almost every step of every day. But this woman looked me square in the eye and said, "We're going to work this out so you get your smile back." Now don't get me wrong, I still smile. But it's fairly guarded. She said we'll try for credit here and here, and if that doesn't work, we'll go here. I stopped her in her tracks and said.... "Sweetheart, it isn't going to fly. We've lost it all. We're up to our ears in debt. It won't work." Do you know what she did? She smiled at me and said - DON'T WORRY! Don't worry? What? After getting denied by two loan places (duh, called that one) she pulled a deal out of her hat that said "affordable" to me. What? Me? It's going to happen?

I have to be honest. This place makes me WANT to go back. The stuff that goes on in the exam rooms is still going to be there, but the people are really what made the difference to me here. They are real, compassionate, people oriented folk.

And once my new car, oops, I meant my new MOUTH is paid off the doc actually gave me hope of having straight and white front teeth! Now there's a salesman if I ever saw one. :) But they gave me hope, they showed me light and that little bit of a boost in self esteem I needed.

Grateful? You bet.

Priceless? No, the checkbook shows it's not. LOL

I'm a Toothless Wonder

Yesterday was something else from the moment I woke up till I went to bed! Are you ready for THIS story? HA HA

Woke up nauseous and weak but went in to work anyway. Isn't that what you're supposed to do? It could go away, I could get better.... needed to buck up and get where I needed to be. So about an hour into it, had to let my boss know there just wasn't any way I could do it. At least a couple of hours off to stop being so..... well, you know, urpy. So I go home, could not warm up, actually had BLANKETS on in 90+ weather. But by dinnertime, honestly felt a ton better so Bill proceeded to make us pork chops.

So while my chef was sizzling those chops, I get an email from the publisher of the knitting pattern book that is going to go to press this fall.... with a PDF file of what my 2 pages of fame will look like! Felt like a little kid and had to text my daughter and sister to take a sneak peak. It's absolutely the BEST photography of my pattern and product and it's just the shot in the arm I needed. This has been in the works for nearly 2 years and to see it come to pass is just astounding! And of course I had to show my dear hubby what the spreads looked like - I think he's proud of his wife.

So dinner is ready, I go to take my first bite of a delicious pork chop, and WHAM! There goes the reconstruction done on my front tooth from 15 years ago - gone! So after a moment of "oh, my goodness, I'm in customer service and this is going to suck" mode, it felt better to just laugh through it, take care of it, and not give it another thought. Didn't even tell Bill until I had the dentist appointment made and my boss called to see if I could keep the appointment I just made. I love my boss. Just had to be truthful and tell her that I wasn't comfortable seeing patients looking like a jack-o-lantern and I think something should be done about it - like ASAP.

So anyway, Monday was not a typical Monday at all. It was just a great day to see that people actually care about me, that laughter IS the best medicine, and my old moto still stands: PATIENCE IS A VIRTUE.

Yep, I'm a toothless wonder today, BUT I'm going to be published!!!!!!!!!

Life is good.

Disturbia

There isn't enough time this morning to write my concerns and thoughts about the depression I woke up with this morning. There are times when the dreams aren't dreams; nightmares on occasion still pop up, and my sitting down at the computer too early - so my title this morning.

This will just have to serve as a reminder that no matter what type of sleep we have, what type of dreams happen, whatever is happening in our family or circle of friends, or even things on Facebook that are angering and/or sad, that all this DISTURBIA has got to be left at the cross. I cannot deal with this on my own - today or any day.

I will be leaning on Jesus today - and His promises. Will you be leaning today?

At least it's CLEAN!

Woke up at my usual time this morning, actually happy that I did! After taking a nap of gargantuan proportion yesterday, I was ready to get things going. Didn't think to take pictures of the bare room before I got the furniture put into place from the kids old bedroom upstairs. But here are some shots of the "BEFORE", before yarns, fabrics, patterns, instruction books.... all enter my new guest room/creating room. I hate to say craft, and I hate to say sewing, and it's definitely not a knitting room....... but I know me well enough, it will just be called the downstairs bedroom. Now how boring is that. YOU all come up with a better name!!!

Look at that daylight window down here! It's like being upstairs and with tons of natural light.Talk about a perfect closet for stashing fabrics and yarns - and all the necessary creative STUFF!

OK, so now comes the hard part, and that's finding the perfect quilt of my mom's to put on the bed, get some extra storage pieces I've stashed in the garage down here and placed in the perfect spots, bring in some COLOR (it's SO drab right now) and get the creative party started! Think I've told myself enough times that if the space is right, and you have the right tools, then there's NOTHING that's going to stop me.

I used to have a craft room that totally rocked all craft rooms in our dream house. But you know what? God has given me a second chance at having a special room again. AND be able to have a place where company can park it if they want.

I am TRULY blessed.

It's GO Time.....

With a week full of bad sleep.... the Lord woke me up incredibly early yet again this morning. And obviously for some good reasons.

If I hadn't gotten up, I would never have seen the tremendous lightening happening in the sky, or heard the rumble of the thunder. Both things I enjoy and am always in awe of - probably because of it's size and power.

Do you ever wake up and have your first thought be thankfulness or having a deep feeling of gratitude? I'm sure many of us don't, because I know that would be me on most days. But today was different. After having a very odd day at work yesterday, many evenings at home truly enjoying my husband's company and conversation, and the pursuit of something a little more useful of my skills (which I had buried for years) - it was almost like having a revelation as to what real contentment is. And not just saying the words in hopes of convincing myself things are okay, but really feeling and believing it.

No, we haven't won the lottery. Yes, we still have lost every'thing' that society and America strive to own: a business, a house, maybe even some pride and/or dignity. But this wasn't in the bigger plan for us to keep and/or possess. The bigger plan was for us to LIVE, to LOVE, accept and help others. It's up to us now to start the last part of our life together, together. To work through even the smallest of details, together. Our daughters are grown, on their own, have their families and their own friends and social circles. Our time of being the protectors and caregivers has come to a close.

It's funny how God works sometimes. All the thoughts, happenings, emotions.... all of it this week was put in my life for a reason. After being married for 34 years, I can say that 1/2 of one year of it was spent not worrying, caring, or mothering a child. Not that I will ever NOT be a mother, but the roll has now changed. The apron strings are totally cut. On the backend of life, it's time to get back to what's been lacking, and even missing.... and that is devoting time to our marriage. We didn't even know just a few short months ago if we even liked each other because there were pressures that simply pulled us into people we didn't like. But we are still Bill and Karen. We're still the original deal. And we are grateful that we didn't give up, and have honestly and truly BEAT the statistics of divorce for couples who have lived what we've lived.

There is a bigger plan, and it is definitely Bill and Karen GO TIME! And thank you to God that He still, and always will, open doors.

Welcome!

Welcome to the new blog style and the beginning to the next chapter in our lives!

Yes, we are at last those 'empty nesters' you all hear about. It's only been 3 days since the house is completely empty.... and I was blessed enough to only spend one of them in tears in anticipation of missing the little ones. They all have been with us for 2 years, but not being around the little ones will take some major getting used to.

Couldn't sleep. Up 3 hours too early. Two loads of wash and all the ironing done (that should have been done yesterday). Journal entry. New blog design. Two cups of coffee.

Priceless? We'll see.

An Ode to My Van

Today is the season finale of my van... It has gotten us through many tough spots and events, all beginning with my father-in-law's last days on earth. Hence.. my van story...

In November, 2003 we were on our way out of town to visit my FIL who was gravely ill. I proceeded to hit a deer on the way with my Ford, had the county sheriff come and pick us up, haul us into the next town where a dealership had a used van sitting and warming up for us to continue our journey. We ended up buying that van to use at our business for deliveries. We lost Bill's dad November 15th. Since we had the extra vehicle now, our son was going to buy the '67 Ford from us and wanted it repaired. The weekend he took it to be repaired, we lent him one of our vehicles. That was the weekend that Tyler was killed in an auto accident - just two weeks after losing Bill's dad. The van kept running tho, even though the poor thing was old and had nearly 200,000 miles on it. It was nice to have something that just kept on going, even when we had pretty much just stopped living. But times change, people heal and go on as best as they can. Vans have different stories. They can't last forever, even though you'd sure like for that to happen. Our van took us through the loss of many, and the loss of much. It stood by us through thick and thin, it let itself be made fun of and degraded, it always did it's job, it got old and rusty, but never wanted to give up - it was kind of like the story "The Giving Tree" only substitute my van for that dear tree.

He's off to maybe help some other of his kind work better, look better, feel better.... and to give other owners maybe some peace of mind at finding local parts.

I know, this all probably sounds pretty soppy and silly, but this van has seen a lot and been through even more. He's been our best friend through it all.

I will miss you - now it's time for you to go help others...........

Mother's Day 2010

I have to say that almost 80% of this Mother's Day weekend was the best ever. Nothing is ever perfect, so I had to shave something off that 100% goal. But all in all, it was one of the best weekends I've been able to enjoy in a very long time.

I miss my dear little mother. Her last years were some of the most precious ones to me. I still strive (maybe a little obsessively) to please her, do what she would have expected of me, and love to think on her life as MY mother and be thankful for all she ever did for, and how much she loved me.

.... on the weekend note, I was able to finish a project all the way to the very end! Even got all the Snapfish photos in the mail Saturday so the scrapbook journal of my projects is done except for little captions. There are notes and cards stuck in this scrapbook, too. I love to see my friends' handwriting and re-read their wishes. It's a good chance to stop and pray for each one as I touch, open and read each one. I know I have notes and cards stashed in other places, and when those are located, they'll go in there, too.

Thanks for reading, and enjoy your Monday's out there in blog-land.

Psalm 45:6-7

With an endeavor to reconnect, get back to the basics of my life, I decided to pick up a study book, and told myself whichever one I find first, THAT is the one I will work on. Wasn't sure what I'd find since we moved and I had downsized my library by about 90%. Well, right there in a drawer I never open in my nightstand, was a Beth Moore "Stepping Up" study. Need I say more. A workbook and study in the Psalms. What a great place for me to start. In just the first 6 pages of reading and studying, I was overwhelmed at what I'd learned in such a short span.

For those of you who are feeling a little on the unconnected or disconnected side, do yourself a favor and read through Psalm 45:6-7 today. (That wasn't in the study, my Bible just fell open to that one this morning, and for good reason.)

So step up your life's journey soon, if not TODAY! There is peace to be found and enjoyed.

^6-7 "Your throne is God's throne,
ever and always;
The scepter of your royal rule
measures right living.
You love the right
and hate the wrong.
And that is why God, your very own God,
poured fragrant oil on your head,
Marking you out as king
from among your dear companions." The Message

Life's Rollercoaster

Got to thinking today about the cycle of life; life's roller coaster; swinging door; or however you want to look at it. The perfect order of how things work always seems to amaze me.

It came to mind today as two co-workers were dealing with family things during the afternoon; one with a very ill grandfather who needed his family beside him, and another who was alerted her grandson may be born very soon which would call for family gathering also.

Life's passages. Where one life may end, another does begin. Each instance bearing great emotion, and in both there is great love. There is celebration to beginnings and endings - if we LOOK for it. It's there. God doesn't leave us to deal with joy or grief alone.

It was such a great reminder that every day is a gift, whether it is the first OR possibly the last.

Ever Just Sit Back?

Do any of you out there ever just sit back and contemplate what's happening around you? Your life, your circumstances, your family or why you look at things the way you do? If I could write everything that has passed through my head this week on this one post, I'm thinking it could be a mile long......

One of these days, my husband and I will have our lives back. Yes, that's a selfish thought, but we are on the back end of life and we truly wish we could just enjoy each other. One evening out this week, to a meaningful event, has only solidified our feelings.

Watching, watching, waiting, waiting.....

One day, and we pray soon, my true love will be out fishing again - enjoying his time and his friends and family; getting involved more deeply in the things he knows are important to his life. Along side that will be having a house back in order. A poor home, but one with heat, light, and creativity once again.

You know the term "letting the cat out of the bag"? On a different twist to the saying, we are the cats in that bag and when the day comes when we are released, I can only see light and joy; organization; our marriage taking the front seat again; priorities getting put back where they belong. It has been a long time. We are anxious for the next chapter in our lives to be written because we aren't ready for the epilogue yet.

The first steps have been taken.......

Keep Watching and Checking....

For those who want to keep up with the knitting side of me, and not just what's happening around here..... check out my new blog at The TygerLily. You can watch the yarn action over there.

Have a great April, y'all!

Eight Hats All In a Row

After a busy week and a brain that just did not want to function today, I did get the finishing touches on the last of the caps I had done. These are the Newsboy Hats again! Yes, you see EIGHT of them, 4 baby sizes on the top, 4 child sizes on the bottom. As I was too lazy to get my camera, take a picture, crop it, size it, make it pretty, etc. ... I opted to use my phone. Hence the dreary colors shown, when actually they are quite bright and cheerful. Four of these have owners, just looking for buyers for the others.

I did some surfing today to look at what luscious yarns are out there these days and found WAY too many - and the COLORS! Beautiful colors. I restrained myself and bought only one type in "Hawaiian" oranges. I think it could make a vibrant bag or some sort. And of course, it was on sale with free shipping - how could one go wrong with that.

Keep plugging away, everyone! Or as Bob in "What About Bob" says: baby steps, baby steps...... too funny. :)

Not Enough Hours :)

Have you ever had one of those days or weeks where there just aren't enough minutes and hours to get everything done that you want to get done? Some days there needs to be two of me, then maybe I'd make some headway. :)

Since before Christmas, I have crocheted over 30 newboy caps in all sizes, from baby to adult. I have more orders sitting here waiting to get done. I have a snowboarder hat that I am dying to try my hand at, and haven't gotten further than looking at the yarn in the bag. But at least that's done, right? :) There is also a scarf and hat comb that is nearly complete - just need to find the perfect knitted or crocheted flower pattern to put that pop of orange on the beautiful purple base.

And all the babies that are coming!!! What about them? There are 2 at work, probably more because my mind just went blank. HA! A baby shower the first part of March and I haven't even gotten a good dig on that baby blanket project but I'm going to give it a try. This is a picture of what I hope to accomplish and in the same color.

I will post pictures at some point, but where is the time to find my camera - take pictures - then having to download them onto the computer!

Just keep me in your prayers that I will find serenity and peace while working on my projects and keep Mr. Anxiety at bay. :)

May you all have a fantastic week!

Hats, Hats, Hats......

Not much to blog about other than hats hats hats..... I have made so many newsboy hats for coworkers I can just about do them in my sleep now. Here is a photo of my friend Bonnie's three granddaughters who received my hats for Christmas. Aren't these the cutest little girls? So sweet to model their new hats.

I didn't organize anything yesterday when I got home from work. Well, I organized my food into a bowl for supper but that's about it. Where did my commitment go already? sheesh

School has been canceled today again, but work still is happening. The wind is howling out there and we are already at our high for the day right now at 5:30am. By supper it will be below zero and I don't get off work until 8 tonight. Will be a chilly commute home for sure.

Happy New Year 2010

OK, so let's try writing this post a THIRD time! Every New Year's Day I struggle to keep positive, to keep pushing myself, and not beat myself up for all the problems of the last year.

Some things I had learned in 2009 were actually surprising to me.:


1. I need my friends at work. SO many have become so incredibly special to me.

2. I am more devoted to my job than I'd ever imagined I could be.

3. Organization makes life peaceful.

4. Life without hobbies, books or puzzles is just not an option.

5. Boomerang kids can be a blessing, and a curse. :)

6. Grandchildren with divorced parents need an extra calm in their life - hopefully us.

7. Creativeness CAN be stifled without the right atmosphere - space, availability, time, calm

If I were to make a resolution for the new year, one that always tops the list (of many) would be organization. (Thanks Amy B. for getting this ball rolling) If I could approach each day and look at it as ONE DAY + ONE PROJECT = PROGRESS, then I think that 2010 will be one of the most rewarding years so far.

Hope you all have a wonderful new year - may your resolutions and objectives be attainable and rewarding!

Blessings to all who stop by.

Lord, Grant Me the Serenity.......

OK, so I'm still trying to get my head a little more organized. After finding so many fun things that I could make on Sunday while surfing, I need to get my head back in the game. I think this picture to the right has a LOT of different options that could play out. In the past 2 days I have started and ripped 4 different designs/yarns/ideas that just didn't feel right. Could I be getting picky in my old-ish age? :) Probably. Anyhow, this neck wrap with button closure is just plain intriguing.

On the home front, Bill's eyes have been getting worse again and with his regular eye guy retired now, he's been put back to the original doctor. Now tell me why this happens tho..... when he called to get an appointment, the original gal was nasty to him saying he'd not kept an appt last May and why does he think he should be able to GET an appt in the next week? He told her he knows his eyes and knows when he needs and doesn't need an appt. She huffed and connected him to the triage nurse who said basically the same thing, but in a nice voice and ended up laughing with him KNOWING he knows his eyes and when he needs in. He was SO frustrated and I'd certainly love to give the first gal a nice piece of my mind. The worse his eyes get, of course the worse his attitude. This is a bad time of year for him at work, too, so he decided next year he'd use this week as vacation time. But then he asks, "What the hell would I do for a week at home?" Then he smiles and says he'll just go fishing in Florida with my brother-in-law. Maybe someday that could happen again for him and/or us. Anyway, good news is he can get his eyes taken care of on Monday.

Need a haircut - starting to look like my dog. :D

Something dreamy....

I wish this was my design - I absolutely ADORE this one. Located it on Ravelry this afternoon since I'm finally enjoying decent computer 'work-age' and much better wi-fi. I've been surfing patterns for an hour now, but only after ironing for almost 2 hours and my knee took a beating.

I absolutely HAVE to try this one - may use someone at work as a guinea pig again. Now where does one find those cool stick pins like in the picture? Antique stores? The Oriental Market? Just putting it out there. :)

Do you know how LONG it's been since I've actually SURFED the web? It has to be longer than year, maybe more. So fun finding such pretty things out there that I can do, too.

Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow.......

Quality Time.... and stuff

After all the snow we have received, it's going to take a few muscles to get everyone's car on the road to work tomorrow. I won't have problems, but that's because our Ford has 4-wheel drive. Just feeling for everyone else who doesn't. Careful everyone.

Was sitting here thinking about how calm the morning was yesterday before the grandkids left to go to their dad's. They had both gotten Nintendo DS' for Christmas from their mom. So they played with those for quite a while. But after a bit, they reverted back to simpler things - shocking huh? All of the sudden Dylan comes upstairs with paper and his drawing pencil, sat himself at the kitchen table and contentedly drew pictures. Raegan put her DS down and decided to snuggle up to see what I was doing (yes, I was slacking) and we decided to work two word-search puzzles together out of a PEOPLE puzzle book I'd gotten as a gift at work. Of course we had to work the 'Troy' (High School Musical) one first. But sitting there and seeing what was happening, these two kids DO know how to be busy AND quiet. Such a long shot from when they come home from visiting their dad's house. .....and then they had to leave.

I have been a little more successful in setting up the wi-fi in the house. I just plain started over. Haven't been real happen how IE works on the old computer, so am trying Mozilla and have accomplished more on the web in the past day than I can even believe!

Shawna's significant other surprised us with a gift Christmas. Out of the blue. He wasn't supposed to do this, that's why we have the mystery bag exchange every year (and yes, he's involved in that, too). He comes bringing up to us a Blu-Ray DVD player with an internet connection so we can watch Netflix on our TV! We haven't had a DVD player forever!!! Ours had broken ages ago and we just didn't afford to replace it. Now how special is THAT? I have found the wireless adapter at SamsungParts.com and hopefully soon we'll be up and flying. We watched our first movie last night on it: "Burn After Reading". Strange movie, but one I knew Bill would want to see.

I smell the coffee, and the day can now officially get underway.