Wordless Wednesday - Summer means Dogs at the Beach

Crazy 8s Meme (Who comes up with this stuff?)

I was tortured, I mean tagged by Chicken Nuggets of Wisdom for the Crazy 8s Meme.

The rules are:
Link to the person who tagged you and then list of bunch of 8 fascinating facts about yourself.
Follow that up by inflicting this upon, I mean tagging 8 bloggers, and tell them you tagged them.
So much fun and I promise to be succinct and interesting as humanly and humanely possible.


8 things I'm looking forward to:
- Finishing cleaning out my closet.
- Going out to Fig Restaurant for our Anniversary dinner.
- A visit from our niece and her husband from New Orleans.
- Our family vacation in the Rogue River Valley of Oregon this summer.
- Converting a small patch of lawn into a rock and flower garden.
- Coming up with more inspiration to finish this post.
- The opening of our community swimming pool.
- Summer break for the boys. (It is really nice not to nag them about homework and school projects. It's great to let them sleep in, rot their brains with too much TV, and just laze around which is the right of every teen and preteen in the summer months.)


8 things I did yesterday:
- Went and bought rocks and slate for the garden.
- Laid out a slate path.
- Admired my work.
- Doted on my wildflower seedlings.
- Practiced with my nunchucks and hit myself numerous times with them.
- Was very relieved when my son requested to skip baseball practice.
- Encouraged to go to the Midnight Sun Festival in Yellowknife, NW Territories.
- Realized I had to go on a "blog diet". I can not follow and read any and all blogs that catch my fancy.


8 things I wish I could do:
- Finish cleaning closets, office, and garage.
- Garden today instead of work.
- Take a nap.
- Play my mindless I.touch games.
- Wiggle my nose and have a clean closet, office, and garage. Kitchen too.
- Make some ribbon belts to exercise my creativity muscle.
- Take a hike or bike ride with my hubby.
- Not be so behind on responding to memes, awards, etc.

8 shows I watch:
Project Runway
Real Housewives
Hell's Kitchen
Dog the Bounty Hunter
Number 1 Ladies Detective Agency
Jeopardy
Househunters
Ace of Cakes

8 favorite fruits:
Strawberries
Tim Gunn (props to Chicken Nuggets for this one)
Raspberries
Blood Oranges
Apples
Ollalieberries
Tomatoes
Artichokes


8 places I would like to travel (no one said I had to narrow it down or be overly specific or anything.):
Volcano Village, Big Island, Hawaii
Yosemite, California
Canada
United Kingdom including my husband's ancestral County of Cork
Portugal
Prince Edward Island
Eastern Seaboard of US to visit family/friends
Ohio for my 30th high school reunion


I am going to have to bend the rules and tag folks "Buffet Style" which means -
Please help yourself to this meme if you would like to play along! Many folks have already been tagged, so if you haven't and would like to, please consider yourself Tagged.

Eight is a revered and divine number associated with prosperity and good fortune. It is auspicious to be born on a date with the number "8" in it and good for your business to have an address or telephone number with an "8".

Perfect Moments Monday - Mother's Day

My Mother's Day celebration was wonderful and filled with Perfect Moments:

- Relaxing with my husband who always works so hard to please me on Mother's Day and all days.

- Enjoying a most favorite salmon dinner cooked by this hard working husband.

- Taking a leisurely bike ride with the family and enjoying all the birds and beauty of nature.

- Being the lucky recipient of some lovely cards, not One, Not Two, but Three boxes of See's Chocolates, and a Beautiful azalea plant with a braided trunk for Mother's Day!!

- Appreciating my family, my husband, our two sons.

Please visit Weebles Wobblog for more Perfect Moments and Thank you!

Happy Nurse's Day to Me and My Colleagues

Happy Nurse's Day to me (Class of 1982!!) and all of my nursing colleagues. Nursing is a pleasure and a privilege.
What an incredible ride from my days as a student nurse with a starched white cap and glass IV bottles and syringes to working in a virtual environment caring and educating patients and families all over the U.S.
Here's to my next 27 years in the profession.

Tribute to my Mom

I am inspired today by my bloggy friend, Lori of Weebles Wobblog to participate in a tribute to Mothers.

One of the prompts for the tribute is -

In what ways did your mom influence the woman you are today?

So here goes-

Mom taught me to appreciate the arts in all forms. That good music, books, and art are as necessary as food, water and shelter. I grew up helping my mom practice her lines for local theater productions and listening to her sing the Sinatra and Bennett Standards with my Dad's Big Band. She is never without a book in her purse and her nightstand.

She educated me and continues to do so with her expansive knowledge of art and antiques. My mom (at age almost 80 y/o) will still walk through antique shops, show me furniture or housewares, discuss the markings, talk about the provenence of the antique, and its' approximate value. Incroyable!!

She gave me her love of soil and growing things. She showed me how much fun it is to get my hands dirty. Everything from Cacti to vegetables, she's grown it and grown it well!

My mom taught me to cook and the love of good food. She used to call me everyday after school and talk me through the dinner prep step by step so she would come home to a home cooked meal! She was fearless about trying recipes, lobster crepes; chocolate mousse with ladyfingers; Chinese and Mexican food; pretty much anything.

My mom is inspiring in her quest for a good deal. She loves to prowl thrift stores and book sales for bargains. She then in turn sells them online for a tidy profit. (Not because she needs to, but because she CAN!!)

My parents have been married for almost 59 years. It's a testament in teamwork, devotion, and I don't know what else for the two of them to put up with each other, but It Works.
(I consider this a very good influence unlike the influences she exerted by having me make her an occasional vodka martini starting at age 13 y/o or flick her "bic" when she used to smoke cigarettes. Ah, the Good Old Days of the 1960s and 1970s. That stuff would probably result in a visit from Child Protective Services today. Miracle any of us baby boomers survived, Really. Now, back to the tribute...)

My mom is a Cat lover, Dog lover, animal lover, anything furry. All of her children are animal fanatics, I mean animal lovers. She can't watch nature programs where any animals get injured or die.

She taught me that we don't really "own" anything, we are just taking care of it for the next generation.

Mom gave me many gifts and I am blessed to have her in my life despite the ups and downs in our relationship. I thank her for the incredible strength that she modeled for me when caring for my dying brother over two decades ago. I hope I can give her the gift of forgiveness. I don't think she has forgiven herself.

Don't Bother Me, I'm Blogging

In this last year of blogging-

- My blog has gone from looking as Plain as a piece of notebook paper to Fremont Street in Las Vegas. (I know I'm exaggerating a little, but I overstimulate easily.)

- I've learned a whole New vocabulary and set of acronyms. (Memes, Awards, Headers, Buttons, etc.)

- With my changing eyesight, (ah, middle age!), some blogs' backgrounds make them IMPOSSIBLE to READ! Black fonts on navy backgrounds, umm, can you say Contrast makes the Blog go around??

- Memes and Awards are wonderful and a responsibilty. I feel Recipient Guilt if I don't get these posted right away. I don't want anyone I ever tag to share in this guilt. Oy Vey!

- Giveaways are Fun both as host (totally brings out my Inner Game Show Host) and winner. Gee, I've scored some serious sweet stuff in these last couple months! I can't make the claim that I never win anything anymore.

- I wonder if anything is the matter with me because I have ZERO Interest to do the hit counter/statistics thingie for my blog.

- I've learned I have a true connection and caring for my virtual friends out here in Blogland.

Any other bloggy pearls of wisdom to share? Or feel free to make fun of these. Thank you!

Dedicated to my Mom missing her son this Mother's Day

This Mother's Day, I am dedicating the song "Danny Boy" performed by Eric Clapton, to my Mom and all mothers who have lost their children.




When someone asks my Mom how many children she has, she says, "I have four children, one died."