Happy Birthday To My Daughter, Julie !

My daughter Julie Michele was born December 4, 1961. Here we are checking each other out a month later on my birthday.

The day she was born was also my dad's 48th birthday....he always said she was the best birthday present ever.

This was taken om Mother's Day 1962 at "the farm" where my folks lived. You can see the pasture in the background.

You can see why she captured her grandparent's hearts.

Here she is with grandpa blowing out her four candles in 1965. She loved horses & my dad worked for the railroad so every once in awhile my mom or I would make a sheet cake and decorate the top with a pasture scene with little plastic horses and a plastic train running across the pasture. But this particular year the cake was strictly a girl's cake.

Here she was in one of her Christmas nightgowns. She has always received something with a Christmas theme for her special day.

December 4, 1989~This is the last birthday shared with grandpa. A few months later he suffered the first of several strokes and by September 1990, he had passed away.

Julie has always been a special joy to me. She's married to a great guy and just happens to be the mother of my two grand angels.

Happy birthday to my dear daughter! Love from your mommy

New Header Picture

I have so many great Christmas pictures I can use the next few weeks, I'm going to be changing them often. This is the latest one. What do you think?

Black & white is in again, don't 'cha know?

Christmas Lights

For two weeks the wife asked her husband to put up the Christmas lights. He finally did and now can't figure out why his wife isn't talking to him! Duh !!!!!

Ageless Wit & Observations

This has been around before but seems to be so much more relevant now.

"If you don't read the newspaper you are uninformed, . . . .if you do read the newspaper you are misinformed."Mark Twain

Suppose you were an idiot. And suppose you were a member of Congress....But then I repeat myself.-Mark Twain

I contend that for a nation to try to tax itself into prosperity is like a man standing in a bucket and trying to lift himself up by the handle . . .. -Winston Churchill

A government which robs Peter to pay Paul can always depend on the support of Paul.- George Bernard Shaw

A liberal is someone who feels a great debt to his fellow man, which debt he proposes to pay off with your money.- G Gordon Liddy

Democracy must be something more than two wolves and a sheep voting on what to have for dinner.-James Bovard, Civil Libertarian (1994)

Foreign aid might be defined as a transfer of money from poor people in rich countries to rich people in poor countries.- Douglas Casey, Classmate of Bill Clinton at Georgetown University

Giving money and power to government is like giving whiskey and car keys to teenage boys. -P.J. O'Rourke, Civil Libertarian

Government is the great fiction, through which everybody endeavors to live at the expense of everybody else.-Frederic Bastiat, French Economist (1801-1850)

Government's view of the economy could be summed up in a few short phrases: If it moves, tax it. If it keeps moving, regulate it. And if it stops moving, subsidize it.-Ronald R eagan (1986)

I don't make jokes. I just watch the government and report the facts. -Will Rogers

If you think health care is expensive now, wait until you see what it costs when it's free! -P.J. O'Rourke

In general, the art of government consists of taking as much money as possible from one party of the citizens to give to the other. -Voltaire (1764)

Just because you do not take an interest in politics doesn't mean politics won't take an interest in you! -Pericles (430 B.C.)

No man's life, liberty, or property is safe while the legislature is in session.-Mark Twain (1866! )

Talk is cheap...except when Congress does it.-Unknown

The government is like a baby's alimentary canal, with a happy appetite at one end and no responsibility at the other.-Ronald Reagan

The inherent vice of capitalism is the unequal sharing of the blessings. The inherent blessing of socialism is the equal sharing of misery.-Winston Churchill

The only difference between a tax man and a taxidermist is that the taxidermist leaves the skin.-Mark Twain

The ultimate result of shielding men from the effects of folly is to fill the world with fools.-Herbert Spencer, English Philosopher (1820-1903)

There is no distinctly Native American criminal class...save Congress.-Mark Twain

What this country needs are more unemployed politicians.-Edward Langley, Artist (1928 - 1995)

A government big enough to give you everything you want, is strong enough to take everything you have.-Thomas Jefferson

Thanks for the help~

Thanks to all you sent emails, with suggestions for getting rid of the orange background. I finally figured out how to fix it.

Have enjoyed the PBS broadcast of some old Andy Williams Christmas shows on TV tonight. That & singing Christmas carols in church this morning has put me in the holiday mood. I got my 4 foot "always decorated" Christmas tree out of the storage shed this afternoon, brought it in the house & plugged it in. Also put out some silk poinsettia's here and there. I'll do some more decorating but not like I used to do when the kids were little. Hardly anyone comes to the house anyway, so the decorations are basically for me.

I hope you all had a good weekend~for some it's back to workie tomorrow.

My little tree, to my left as I sit at my computer.

BLACK FRIDAY

Never in my adult life have I set the alarm and hit the stores at the unreasonable hours of 5am or 6am on this, Black Friday. But after looking thru the mountain of ads in Thursday's paper I ventured out this morning. However, I did not set the alarm, I woke up naturally about 7:15am, got up & got dressed, fed Gabi, had my bowl of cereal and left the house about 8:10am. I had three stores in mind....Half Price Books, Target & Best Buy. I got what I wanted at all three stores and was back home by 9:45am. So now I know, that getting up at that ungodly hour is not necessary.

They say the economy is bad, but the parking lot at the Mall and the three stores I went to were all full. People we circling the Mall parking lot like sharks and I had little trouble finding good spots at the three stores I visited.

And my approximate wait time to get checked out was 12- 15 minutes. So it was not a bad experience like I expected. I think the trick was NOT getting there at the early opening hour and having to wait in line for the doors to open. Sure I didn't get the freebies handed out to the first 100 people, but I don't care~I got what I wanted at excellent sale prices and that's all that matters.

I know some of our friends in Bloggerville, like Linda down in southern California work in retail and were up at o'dark thirty this morning, to go to work & put up with the obnoxious early bird shoppers.....I hope they survive the day.

How about you? Did you get out there & get some good deals? Or did you stay home & snuggle in your nice warm bed?

Our Thanksgiving was wonderful. I went to my brother & sister-in-law's home along with my son and the new woman in his life. We had a great day and plenty of good food. We ate early so I was back home shortly before 6pm in time to feed the hungry kitty that lives here with me. Bob went to Enumclaw for dinner at the home of his #2 daughter & family. He also had a good day as daughters #1 & #4 were also there with their families.

I don't normally ever take a nap but I think I'm going to gather up Gabi and go take a little nap. Until next time.....Linda

Happy Thanksgiving !

The pumpkin pie is made, my car is loaded for the drive to my brother's house across town so it's time for me to say "From my house to yours~a wish for a warm and wonderful day. Let's all take a moment and reflect on all that we have to be thankful for!"

Happy Thanksgiving ! Linda