It's Been So Long ...

Received a note today from blogger - did I still want to keep my account?  Can't blame them as one can't post once every 4 to 6 YEARS and expect to still keep it open.

So, told them yes and I will try to write a bit every few days.  So much has changed in our lives, actually almost everything has changed in our lives, so hold on to your bonnets and have a cup of tea and if you're still around, come enjoy chatting. 

One thing I will say, this is my blog - those of you who know me know I don't live with vulgarity, I'm conservative and believe we all have a voice and a right for the voice to be heard.  You may not agree with what I think or believe, and that's just fine - you may leave.  I will miss you but that's the greatest thing about this country, we all have the right to do and say what we believe.  I believe it is my right to use my voice as long as I do not hurt anyone, for the same reason I am saying to you, if you do not agree with what I say, there are thousands, hundreds of thousands, of other blogs you may go and converse with those who will agree with you!  How blessed we are to live in this wonderful and free country!

In patriotic spirit,  

Oh Where, Oh Where Has Grandma Been, Oh Where, Oh Where Has She Been ? ? ?

Well, I know where I am now!  Home!!  Praise the Lord.  I have been away from home for much of the last month, without my sweetie.  It's been busy for both of us, a tad lonely being away from him and home, but fun as I spent time with my little wee ones and then friends.  I'm home for about a week, then fly out again for two weeks.  But, my next trip, I hope to have time to leave blog posts.

Thank you to all of my dear friends who sent messages asking if I was OK, my Sweetie was OK, if my home was OK? Thank You, Thank You, and yes ~ everything is wonderful!  Just much busier than I like it to be.

I have some photos I would love to share ~ I'm working on a post for tomorrow.  So for now - it's good to be home, good too sleep in my own bed, and end each day with a kiss to my sweetheart!

Hope you've all been well, happy, cool and blessed!

Hugs,
Donna

* * * And Time Flies By * * *

I cannot believe it has been a week since my last post!  A couple of wonderful friends wrote and asked if I was doing OK, if the family was well, was everything going alright?  Yes, yes and yes! I've just been really busy and time, literally just flew by!

A lot has happened in all our lives!  Does it seem to anyone else, the older we get, the faster time goes by?  I remember family elders saying that, and of course when we were kids we thought anyone as old as are parents didn't know what they're talking about!  When we were teenagers, time went by so slowly we could hardly wait to get out of the house!  Oh, but then came the rat race of college, working, families, and we all thought, "Ah, as soon as they're raised we'll be able to relax and enjoy life!"

So, here we are and time seems to go by so fast, it almost feels like we're on a fast train!  All these sights keep just keep going by, or we by them, so fast!  I thought of that when Don called me to look out our living room window two evenings ago to see this view ~ "Honey come look at this!"

I ran out quickly to take this photo!  Isn't this sunset incredible!?  We must slow down and notice the small blessings in our lives, and this is one of them!

I'll be back tomorrow, I would love to share some of the cards and journals I've been making.  I'll be by to visit all of my blogging buddies tomorrow, too.  Right now, just know I think of you all often and keep all of you in my prayers!

Hugs,
Donna

Garden Update!

Hi Everyone!

Just a recap ~ I've been having problems when I post like everyone else seems to.  FireFox won't load any photos at all when I use that program to post.  Internet Explorer does, but moves my photos around on the post and sometimes deletes them or some of my blog.   It takes sometimes 2 hours for me to get a post up!

OK - that said - the garden redo - me, myself and I did not do the planting!  Honestly, I thought I had thanked my gardener who did plant them for me, and his helper.  Jose, owner of Angel's Gardening, here in Paso Robles, and his helper, David, did the work - dug all those holes, mixed the dirt, amendments and manure and planted.  Then ran the water lines for us.

My Sweetie and I did pick out and brought home all of the plants, and the plants for the garden, and seeds.  Tomorrow I am going to be aloud to plant my veggies, and seed my herb pots.  My physical limitations won't allow me to do the work needed to accomplish what was done yesterday!  I would have been in bed for - oh - about a week!!

Thank you all for your wonderful comments!  Tomorrow, I'll show you what I actually GET TO DO!!!

Blessings and hugs to all!
Donna

~ Monterey Bay, California ~

For over 30 years, our home was 15 minutes or less from this magnificant beauty!

These two photos were taken in the parking lot of the Monterey Beach Hotel, the first hotel allowed to be built on the beach in the Bay.  I worked here for several years.  First as the Executive Secretary for the General Manager.  Then as Assistant to the Owner of the properties.   Yeah, this was a tough place to work!  I had lunch every day overlooking this beauty!  These photos face west, and south west.

This was taken from the other side of the Bay facing east.  Yesterday was one of those beautiful sunny days on the Bay!

Taken from the Southwestern side of the Bay, although not clear, show the mountains around Santa Cruz!

A beautiful Cypress Tree right on the ocean front!

                                                                                    

Monterey Harbor and Fisherman's Wharf.

 

 

So why ever move from such a beautiful place?   With the year round temperature average of 65 to 68 degrees, mostly foggy, almost always damp weather?  I mean - in the winter, when much of the country is freezing their toes off, and in the summer, others could fry eggs on the sidewalk, everyone loves the Coastal areas! 

 

Well, we move because we found another beautiful place to live - El Paseo de Robles.  We actually have seasons and we love it.  We have nice hot summers, with some days well over 100, and some freezing temperatures during the winter.  But for the most part, we have a little piece of heaven here on earth, and we love it.  We're still close to the beach, should we want to go - 40 minutes or so.  Close to the National Forests, just a couple of hours.  We still live in the Salad Bowl of the World, so our produce is wonderful!

 

So for now, we're Californians, and will stay in California.  Always?  Probably not ~ not to a snowy area though as my Sweetie grew up around the Boston area and says he will never shovel snow again, it's why he moved to California.  For now, here we are.   In the "new" wine country!  he he he!

 

Have a wonderful Sunday, and a wonderful new week!

Blessings,

Donna

Just A Little Hello!!

I wanted to pop over and just say hello - no photos to share, my projects are only half finished!  Why do I work on so many at once??

Well, I have my small crochet projects I can work on while sitting in the passengers seat in the car.  Just my scarves, flowers for cards, or headbands.  Love crocheting while glancing at the scenery - and the world around me thinks it's spring already!  Little hints of green on all of the mountains, the grape vines are even showing signs of green and growing!

Then I have my larger crochet projects for bed or while sitting in chair in the living room.  This is usually  an afghan or something more complicated that needs constant reading or intricate stitching.  Lot's of room and I can't loose the hooks!

During the day, it's sewing or crafting in my craft room.  I have a blanket I'm quilting for my wee one, tons for cards, small albums, word albums and scrap stuff I'm working on, many altered art projects!

And, yeah!!  It's starting to warm up so it will be time for working in the garage with messy stuff, like painting and working a bit with wood - something new this year!

That's what I'm doing and hoping to have photos over the weekend!  I wish you all a wonderful weekend, full of what ever you love doing!  Going to garage or estate sales?  Crafting?  Sewing?  Gardening?  Yes!!  Yes, yes, yes!!  I think there will be some of all of this this weekend as the weather is supposed to be in the mid-70's!   Next week rain again, or I should say, finally?  So, I think some seeds will be sown Saturday!

Love to you all!  Have fun!!  Enjoy your family and loved ones, say hello to a neighbor, and smile!  Oh, maybe even a bit of shopping, too!

Blessings,
Donna

Hello My Bloggy Friends!

I try to post every few days, at least, but this last week, I've been a bit under the weather myself and had a bit of a family emergency.  Every thing is absolutely fine now - no worries, every one is good!

I've finished a couple of projects and started a couple of others, so I have been toddling around.  I will post tomorrow ~ ~

Until then ~ May this new week bring you blessings beyond measure!  Our Lord is an Awesome God ~ to Him go the Glory and Honor!

Blessings,
Donna

Grandma's Got A New Do!

You know when you get a really bad hair cut by your stylist, the first time you figure it's a fluke and they were just having a bad day.  The second time I get a bad one, it's Adios!  So, as you can see by my photo below, it's been quite some time since my last hair cut - a well over a year.

I've been looking for someone for a long while.  My key when interviewing is, I'd like it cut in layers all the way down the lenght of my hair.  When they start telling me about the new styles and how I might look better, I don't bother. Been there, done that, had to grow my hair back!  I try to find ladies who have a nice cut and ask them who does their hair.  There are a lot of really short cuts these days, or just long like mine.  I finally walked in to a shop Wednesday and asked the gal, "would you be able to cut my hair like this?" (I'd taken a photo in with me.)  She said sure!  She was wearing close to the style I wanted and was cutting the style I wanted, so I thought I'd actually be in to the right place! 

Liz had an appointment open for today at 2:30 and look what she did for me!  I love it!  Bangs need to grow out (I'd been chopping them off for the last year!), but the cut is perfect!

I have the straightest hair, so I'm thinking in a couple of weeks I'll be getting a body perm and that way it will have a little bounce and body (duh) to it.  It's long enough to wear it up, which I do 80% of the time, especially in the warm weather.  I love it! And, my Sweetie loves it, too!

If you live in the Central Coast, Paso Robles area, Liz McMahan, at The Secret Garden, is a wonderful stylist.  She's not afraid to cut layers in your hair, listens to what you want done - I think she's great!

Thanks for taking a peak - I know this isn't something crafty or something good to eat, but just thought I'd share a little of me with you!

Blessings,

Donna

Smart Phone Photo Alert!!

I don't do this very often, but I believe this too important not to share with all of my blog land friends.

We don't sent photos via our phones, but our kids do all the time, as well as many friends.  Even if you know this, we all need to make sure our kids, teenagers, and even young adults do as well.  This is something we could easily forget.  We were shocked, as we get photos all the time of our grandchildren and this was really scary!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N2vARzvWxwY

Using simple software, stalkers, and worse, are able to TRACK us, OUR CHILDREN, to exact locations - I was shocked.

Please feel free to pass this on.

Blessings,
Donna 

45 Lessons Life Taught Me

A friend passed this on to me, and as a general rule, I don't even open "forwards."  But since she and I feel the same way about these, I took a look at it and thought I'd share it with you all.  Regina has learned a great deal in her short 90 year life, and these are all gems.  I'm going to take her advice and read this once a week.

If you like this as much as I do, please feel free to copy and post, share this with as many people as you you would like.  These aren't new, we've heard them all before, but Regina has put them all together and listed these "45  Lessons Life Taught Me."
 
Thank you, Liz, for sharing these with me!  Blessings to all who read and pass this on!

Have a marvelous day today!
Blessings, 
Donna 

Written by Regina Brett, 90 years old, of the Plain Dealer, Cleveland , Ohio .

"To celebrate growing older, I once wrote the 45 lessons life taught me. It is the most requested column I've ever written.

My odometer rolled over to 90 in August, so here is the column once more:

1. Life isn't fair, but it's still good.

2. When in doubt, just take the next small step.

3. Life is too short – enjoy it.

4. Your job won't take care of you when you are sick. Your friends and family will.

5. Pay off your credit cards every month.

6. You don't have to win every argument. Stay true to yourself.

7. Cry with someone. It's more healing than crying alone.

8. It's OK to get angry with God. He can take it.

9. Save for retirement starting with your first paycheck.

10. When it comes to chocolate, resistance is futile.

11. Make peace with your past so it won't screw up the present.

12. It's OK to let your children see you cry.

13. Don't compare your life to others. You have no idea what their journey is all about.

14. If a relationship has to be a secret, you shouldn't be in it.

15. Everything can change in the blink of an eye But don't worry; God never blinks.

16.. Take a deep breath. It calms the mind.

17. Get rid of anything that isn't useful. Clutter weighs you down in many ways.

18. Whatever doesn't kill you really does make you stronger.

19. It's never too late to be happy. But it’s all up to you and no one else.

20. When it comes to going after what you love in life, don't take no for an answer.

21. Burn the candles, use the nice sheets, wear the fancy lingerie. Don't save it for a special occasion. Today is special.

22. Over prepare, then go with the flow.

23. Be eccentric now. Don't wait for old age to wear purple.

24. The most important sex organ is the brain.

25. No one is in charge of your happiness but you.

26. Frame every so-called disaster with these words 'In five years, will this matter?'

27. Always choose life.

28. Forgive but don’t forget.

29. What other people think of you is none of your business.

30. Time heals almost everything. Give time time.

31. However good or bad a situation is, it will change.

32. Don't take yourself so seriously. No one else does.

33. Believe in miracles.

34. God loves you because of who God is, not because of anything you did or didn't do.

35. Don't audit life. Show up and make the most of it now.

36. Growing old beats the alternative -- dying young.

37. Your children get only one childhood.

38. All that truly matters in the end is that you loved.

39. Get outside every day. Miracles are waiting everywhere.

40. If we all throw our problems in a pile and saw everyone else's, we'd grab ours back.

41. Envy is a waste of time. Accept what you already have not what you need.

42. The best is yet to come...

43. No matter how you feel, get up, dress up and show up.

44. Yield.

45. Life isn't tied with a bow, but it's still a gift."