Oklahoma, Oklahoma, Oklahoma!!!

This week has been very relaxing. My oldest grandson Logan and I left Saturday morning and headed north! We had a great trip up, made really good time, and had a few days to spend with Ma and Pa. Logan slowed down long enough to let me snap a picture of him and Ma. Mostly, he has spent his days trying to hunt down every squirel in PottawatomieCounty. Tomorrow we have to head back home.

On Wednesday, the rest of the family started showing up. I really enjoy seeing the clan, even if we were missing a few important ones. Hopefully we will all get to be together again soon. In the perfect world, we would all be living in the same town....make that the same part of the same town. We always have lots of laughing and lots of leg pulling when the "Abel" clan gets together.

These guys are pretty important to me. I don't tell them enough how much I love them, and don't get to see them as much as I would like. I felt like it was necessary to post this picture without their consent so that everyone could see how much younger I am than they are.....

I am sure they will understand...I am the baby of the family, and according to them I get everything I want....hmmmm.. don't remember that part. I was however the perfect child...that's why mom and dad stopped having kids after me.

I love you guys.

This is going to be fun!

Today Logan, Ethan and I went and did a little pre-holiday shopping. Ethan came home with a few more singing toys than I am sure that his parents will ever appreciate. And, Logan came home with a new "Navy Seals boat" that will help him save the world from all the bad guys. It is great to know that the defender of the free world plays in our spare room. We ended the day with a little pasta picatta and some mint ice cream, this is a relaxing day that I have needed for awhile. Life seems to meet me coming and going lately, and I have felt like life was passing by at a very rapid rate. But looking at the end of the day at 2 precious faces that love me no matter what puts a little sunshine in my heart. I hope you all had a good day.

Here is a 8 second dance with the abominable snow man. I know it is not very long, and mostly you can only hear me laughing, but his little dance is a hoot. I am looking forward to the next month and all the fun we will have.

On the other hand.... Football is over for Logan. While I enjoyed watching him play, I am glad to have my Saturday afternoons off again.

I am looking forward to next weekend when I will be heading to

Tag your it.

I was tagged...
6 Random things about me:

Here are the tagging rules:Post the rules on your blog
Write 6 random things about yourself

#1 I am a site stalker. I have a few blogs, and websites that I check regularly.
Here are a couple of them: http://thepioneerwoman.com/, and http://www.lauraodomphotography.com/clientproofing/ . The first is for fun, the second, even though is a fun site, has some amazing photos, many of people I know. (so, that makes me an internet stalker....but, Laura knows)

#2 I love to watch the Cosby show at night. It still makes me laugh.

#3 I have ridden a van pool to work for 9 1/2 years with many of the same women. It is kind of like an extended family, and even though we sometimes get on each others nerves, we really care about each other.

#4 I worry too much and internalize a lot.

#5 I am going to start going back to the gym tomorrow night. (tomorrow Monday, not the tomorrow that never comes)

#6 I have really come to appreciate electricity.

I am suppose to tag others, but.... I think the only people who read this have either been tagged or are the tagger (thanks Laura, PS, missed you and your family today hope all is well)

My ride to Kentucky

Here I am riding on the bridge over Kentuky Lake, and entering into the area called the "Land between the Lakes"

The weekend we were there, an antique boat show was occuring. We were able to see lots of nostalgia in the boats.

We were blessed to have missed the rain, both coming and going. We also had great temperatures. I was able to meet some really great folks, and do some shopping with some of the other wives. I found a great little rooster for my table. (a great buy at only $4)





This area is beautiful . We stayed at Barkley Lake Lodge. This is a great place for family vacations. The days were warm, and the nights were cool. There were plenty of sight seeing opportunities, and there are areas where you can just sit and relax. This is a picture from the porch of our room. I sat one morning and watched the fish jumping, and wished that Logan were here with us. He would have loved the "Nature" of the area.

Here are some of the deer that hung around just outside of the Lodge entrance. As I said we stayed at the lodge where the rest of the board members stayed, but there are cabins available as well. We were told they sleep 4,6, or 8, and are fully stocked with utensils. All you add is food and fun.







Check out the link
http://parks.ky.gov/findparks/resortparks/lb/



stay tuned for more pictures.

Man am I glad to be home

Here are a few of the pictures from our trip. Others will follow, including one of me when I was bored on the back of the motorcycle. I took a picture and was sending it to people. I also figured out how to access facebook from my phone, so I was able to keep myself busy while dodging all the love bugs.

Simple things

On Monday, I went to go see a dear friend of mine. This woman took a chance on me many years ago, and has recently retired, sold her home, and moved to the country. Rozie is now living in the country. She gave the preacher and I a tour of her new "homestead", with the main house still in progress. She kept us laughing while there, which is something I have always appreciated about her. She can find the humor in anything. For example here is a picture of her new bathroom door. (She says there is a story with this door, but she is still tring to decide what it is)

Rozie has always been a great recycler. She has also found a barn that she had all the wood removed from, and milled into her new kitchen cabinets. Most of us would have tossed the wood, or used it to make a really big bonfire. She talked to us about enjoying life in a small community, and how different it was than living in a fast paced Houston suburb. She also has a new love in her life in the form of a fuzzy jack russell terrier rescue pup. Being a cat person since I have known her, I really got a kick out of seeing her dote on "Molly wiggles be". I can almost see a children's story growing out of this relationship. Until her house is finished Rozie is having to enjoy the simple pleasures of country life. Things many of us forget about by living in the city. The amazing quiet, discovering how dark the night can get when there is no ambient light, and in contrast how bright the stars are. Rozie currently has no internet, no TV, and on a good day she says she can get fair reception with her cell phone.

Part 2 of this blog revolves around my grandsons of course. How fun it is to get to see them get enjoyment out of the simple things in life. Many of us have often made the decision that we are too busy to enjoy these simple pleasures. Logan is now playing tackle football. I have never seen a child so proud of a bruise. No I do not have any pictures of the bruises, for fear that CPS may swoop in at any second. Boy, they would be disappointed to hear that his bruise was the result of a GREAT tackle. (also, I have not had the opportunity to go to a game yet) He can talk for 30 minutes about a takle that took him 2 seconds to complete. But... being the grandma I love to see the joy in his eyes when he talks about what he loves. Kind of reminds me of his Dad who at a very early age could spout off sports statistics better than most sportscasters.

Ethan, on the ohter hand.... is learning lots of simple pleasures, like sneaking a drink out of Pop's coke when Mom and Dad are not looking, or eating Oreo's dipped in milk with Dad.


But the latest joy is to see him leading singing with every song leader on Sunday mornings, or dancing to his singing bunny who waits patiently in the corner of my living room waiting for E's return and his never tiring energy. We have learned to keep the batteries charged and in waiting.

These small pleasure in my life have reminded me of this verse. Phillipians 4:11 "11Not that I speak from want, for I have learned to be content in whatever circumstances I am. "

I hope that we all can learn to be content. Whether it is dancing with the bunnies, explaining the finer points of a good tackle, or just learning to listen to the quiet.

The move is on

Wow, I can't belive it has been so long since I got onto the blog. But, I really have had a good excuse. It all started something like this.

I would love to have a red Kitchen.

Well, I got a red kitchen, and new floors, and a repainted family and dining room with new floors, and repainted bathrooms with new floors, and repainted bedrooms with...you guessed it new floors. Then, my sweetie announced

We should see what we could get for the house if it went on the market. "What?'' was my reply. I like my red kitchen, love it, except it is a little small.

Being married for 29 years has given me an insight to the man I share my life with. If it is something he would like to do, I might as well just buckle my seat belt and enjoy the ride. So...we "decluttered" which is a word I have come to hate. Basically, it means take everything that you love to have around you, put it in a box and rent a storage unit to keep it in. This was the most painful part of the entire process. I still do not have my beloved fabric out of the storage unit yet.

Next, we get put on notice that the house must stay clean, and we should find "someplace" to be several times a week, for a few hours at a time so others can come and look at my red kitchen, and decluttered house.

Finally, you get the call that someone wants to make an offer....Of course it is never the offer that you want, but you must declare... let the haggling begin.

After several haggling sessions, an agreement is made, and you have to start with the next phase

Now you get to put all of your treasures in boxes. All the while I am thinking: A) I have no place to live. I need a house. But I hate going into other people's decluttered homes! B) Even if I liked looking at other's homes, I need to be here packing my home. C) All I wanted was a red Kitchen

However, We made the move, packed the boxes, are in the middle of unpacking them, found a great house with a great kitchen (even has a touch of red) and are now haggling with all of the utility companies. Life is fun...

I have been able to have some time to relax away from work, and be jealous of my son's mother in law who gets to stay at home and take care of our 2 grandsons every day.

During this whole process I have had many moments where I had to repeat to myself "And everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or children or fields for my sake will receive a hundred times as much and will inherit eternal life." and I am sure there is suppose to be something there about red Kitchens as well. All I can say is when I get to heaven I am going to have a GREAT RED kitchen, and you can all come on over.

PW

Happy Easter

Family all gathered together on Easter Sunday. I really enjoyed having everyone at the house. It is always great to see your adult children getting along so well, when you thought they might just take each other out when they were younger.

The boys even got Ma on the Motorcycle, (but only for a photo) , and terrorized Pa behind his back

There were eggs to be hid and hunted, although I think we lost Ethan after he discovered that the eggs hid chocolate.

Both boys had a good time collecting the goodies, even if Logan did get picked on by his uncle just a little. He could not understand how the eggs in his basket kept ending up back in the trees, flowers, and other hiding places... Even when they grow up, boys will be boys.

And then there was this picture... Not really sure what was happening here, all I can say is like father like son.

All in all it was a great weekend. Lots of kids laughing, lots of stories being told, and lots of memories being made. I hope that you all had a great holiday.

Happy Birthday E

Wow, where did it go! I am sure that just last week I was ignoring the cardinal rule of no noise while Jack saves the free world, and focusing all my attention on this cute, wrinkly, little bundle of joy. Luckily we have a DVR, because no world was being saved from evil terrorist the week of Jan 25, 2007. We were too busy taking pictures!

Now suddenly he is crawling, standing, eating chocolate cake with his fingers, and enjoying every minute of it (even if he was not sure if he could get his fingers dirty!)

He did eventually warm up to the idea!

I really enjoyed my boys being little, however I frequently forgot to enjoy the fun they were having. Life gets busy, dinners have to be cooked, and bills have to be paid. However, life is sweet. 3 years ago we were blessed with meeting our first grandson, and have learned all over the fun a boy can have with the simple things in life. Give the kid a stick and he will be busy for hours! 1 year ago we were blessed with our second joy! While we all hunger for the prissiness, and lace that a girl would bring into our lives, we can not even begin to imagine what life would be like without our little bundles of snails and puppy dog tails!

Happy Birthday E!

The Flu has landed

In 1969 I remember coughing so hard my head would start to ache. That is the last time I had the flu. I have been very lucky. I have taken the flu shot since 1989, this year included, with little to no side effect other than a sore arm. Wow! imagine my shock when after having a swab that must have been at least a yard long (it seemed that way!) shoved up my nose and then tested came back positive for FLU. Both the preacher and myself had been sick since Wednesday. I knew that this put us out of the "miracle cure" window, but was not worried because walking in to the dr.'s office I was 100% sure that we did NOT have the flu. Surprise!! The conversation went something like this.

Doc: Glad you had the flu shot. It is very important to protect yourself from influenza.
PW: blankly staring back because speaking would have caused me to exert energy that I was using at the moment to breath.
Doc: And....I hope that you continue to get one each year.
PW: continue eye contact while thinking "maybe he can read my thoughts about how cold his office is to someone who has 101 fever and would prefer to be in her bed with Sandy the wonder heater
Doc: However your swabs have tested positive.
PW: glazed look continued while thinking What, this can't be. I was one of the first in line at work for the flu shot. I then enlisted all of my co workers (who were exposed on Wednesday Sorry!) to be quick and go get their shots to protect themselves.
Doc: No need to test your husband he has the same symptoms and time frame. Stay away from everyone until next week. If you don't feel up to work on Monday don't go (oh! lucky me It's my last holiday until May. Thanks doc!) . You don't want to relapse.

Boy is he right. I will continue to be a flu shot campaigner. And if any of you out there who read this think you might be getting the flu, Go immediately to the dr. Don't lay around for 2 days thinking that you can whip this. Tamiflu is only effective for 48 or so hours. Luckily for us I think we were on the end of that.
Still have the symptoms, and the cough (tussi pearls are great) but I can definitely tell I am on the mend.

Are you Glad?

Our oldest Grandson just recently returned from a fantastic adventure! He was so excited, and had to tell us all about it. He was invited to go to Hawaii with his other grandparents for a week. He called several times to check in and let his parents in on all the fun he was having. He was able to tour a volcano, see (and from what I hear get water blown on to by)whales, go snorkeling, swim with the sea turtles (his favorite by the way)and do all sorts of other adventurous side trips. What fun!! He had statements that really struck home with me. On the day that he got close to the whales, he called and told his mom all about it. I soon received the report. Dil #1 said she asked him if he was excited about seeing the whales so close?, and he replied yes (fairly calmly). She said "Well, you don't sound very excited are you ok?" Grandson replied, "Mom, I'm just so excited that I don't know what to do with my excitedness!" Later, when his trip was coming to an end and they were flying away from the Island in which they stayed, his Grammy noticed that he looked out the plane window, reached up, and closed the shade on the window. "What's wrong?" she asked, "Don't you want to see the Islands from the air as we leave?" He looked over at her and said, "It's just too sad".
While I heard all the stories and have seen some of the evidence of his trip (a great tan!!) his statements really made my mind take some quantum leaps.
The Psalmist states "I was glad when they said unto me, let us go unto the house of the Lord" Wouldn’t it be great if we were all so excited about Worship that we just "didn't know what to do with our excitedness?" and if upon leaving worship services, or even the fellowship of other Christians we felt as he did "It's just too sad"
I am hoping that we call all regain a little of our excitedness about being together and worshipping the Lord.

pw