Lovely morning

When I woke up this morning at 6:30 (Larry was snoring so loud he woke me AND himself up!) there was a glorious vision in the southeast sky. It was the crescent moon and a brilliant Venus. I didn't take a picture, but I SHOULD have. It was just so beautiful. Maybe tomorrow morning.

Have a wonderful, happy, friends and family-filled new year!

Thank you for being there to read this. It means a lot.

Bless you all.

New Leaves

WELL.

I just decided something. You all get to hear it!

Blogs are supposed to be uplifting, right? Well at least not depressing.

So I've decided that I won't be complaining and whining any longer on this blog.

Lucky readers!!

Instead, I will be HAPPY! And CHEERFUL! And post HAPPY pictures!

Like THESE!

At Yankee Stadium with my cousin Joe. HAPPY!

I'm the flower girl. Happy!

And our Wedding! Happy! (scared too)

And this is the day I came home from Italy! Happy to be home, sad to not be in Italy any longer. Happy with our lilacs!

Backwards in the mirror. Happy at Time Out For Women

Eating pizza in Salerno. VERRRRY Happy!

Me on the left, my cousin Joe and my cousin Mary - 1969. Happy with my family.

On a cruise ship somewhere between Ketchikan Alaska and Vancouver BC. Most happily sailing on the sea.

Juneau Alaska, happily holding a sweet puppy.

This is Alaska, too. Doesn't it look FAKE? It wasn't. This was REALLY the sunset on that HAPPY, chilly, windy night!

As a doula. I really miss birth. But I think I have to retire. My energy is shot. But happy that day!

With the handsome eternal companion. Happy together forever!



And one of my favorites. This is 1959 and I am happy in my dad and mom's lap, with my cousins surrounding us.

So there you have it.

You have permission to yell at me if this gets depressing again.

HAPPY NEW YEAR! May God bless this year 2011.

And to All a Goodnight

So I was like 8 years old and my cousin was 6. That's my new Betsy Wetsy doll. Life was good.

Today, life was good as well. My mother and I spent our first Christmas together since 1995.

It's 5pm and I'm still in my toasty nightgown! That's our tradition Larry and I. We stay wrapped up, eat leftovers and watch videos. Today so far we have watched Julie and Julia and The Nannie Diaries. Now we'll read and then a little later watch another movie, and then make sure I am ready for my class tomorrow. It will be Sunday!!

MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ALL OF YOU WITH LOVE

Snow 'n Slush

Okay, so I live in Rochester, New York.

And it snows here.

It's not even officially WINTER yet and we have already had 48" of snow. People, that is FOUR FEET.

C'mon.

I must be getting old. If I can stay home and enjoy the prettiness of it from in the HOUSE, that is a happy day.

Anyway, Larry and I stayed up last night until past midnight talking about stress and stuff. It affects me big time.

I figured out that since my father died fifteen years ago and September 11 happened nearly ten years ago, my life and anxiety level changed. I am more fearful. Walking around with my brain would drive anyone out of their cotton pickin' minds. I drives ME out of my mind!

I've always been kind of a worrier but NOW, good grief, you'd think I was personally in charge of world peace and everyone's well-being.

Well to be fair, there has been a whole lot of sadness with friends and family in the past couple of years. For one, Larry lost his job. Two of my aunts died, my cousin died, four of my dearest friends lost their husband - three to death and one to divorce. And they were YOUNG. You kind of expect this when you are 80, but one of these guys was 30, with four little kids. Another dear friend is moving to Florida this weekend.

AND, I'm losing my hair. Hormones you know.

It goes on and on.

ENOUGH already! I told Larry that we need to get away from everything for a while. No phones. No Sunday school lessons. No trouble. No sadness. I want to walk in warm water on a secluded beach with white sand and did I say WARM water? It must be warm. Our cruise to the Bahamas is coming up in two months and maybe I can wait that long.

These last few posts have been miserable. To you dear friends who get to read this sorry blog, forgive me for dumping. This apparently is a journal of sorts.

But to make you laugh (and me too,) here are two pictures from the fifties. It's my cousin Mike and me with our grandparents. I'm the one wearing the funky overalls and saddle shoes.

It's Christmas time! I must remember to celebrate the birth of He who was born to help us deal with all this nonsense.

Breathe......nice and easy........

Love you!

Mother in Training

I believe God is teaching me how mothers feel. I can't begin to tell you how much of my mental energy both my mother and Larry's mother use up. Not to mention physical energy. My mother has 8 doctor appointments this month. Eight. So it's like when I am actually home, I want to be alone. Just give me a book and leave me alone. I don't know what's going on in the news, don't watch television hardly at all, rarely talk on the phone.

Then one of my very dear friends fell and broke her hip and she is young, not elderly. They have needed visits and meals 'cause she's going out of her mind sitting all day long.

Another close friend has oral cancer for the second time. She had surgery Monday to remove part of her jaw and another 1/3 of her tongue. Her husband died a couple of years ago at 55 and she is raising her granddaughter. All of us friends are pitching in to stay with her at the hospital now.

Is this how moms feel when they are struggling to keep their sanity?

And Larry and I are both looking for work!

So all you moms out there - consider yourself hugged.