Happy Birthday ~ Debbie!

Happy Birthday Debbie!

1. She is the big sister, the oldest of the kids.

2. She got to be the first grandma and it's like she was always meant to be one.

3. She is the best grandma!

4. She married a good man who adores and takes care of her.

5. I love that she embraces his culture, and all that it brings into our family when we are with them.

6. She is a great cook.

7. One (there are many) of my fondest memories of her was the teenagers first christmas as a baby (6 mos.) we stayed with her family. She would get up in the middle of the night, when she heard me up with him... and scoop him off into her bedroom to take care of him, so I could go back to sleep.

8. She loves children.

9. I love to hear her laugh.

10. She is tough as nails, but has the most gentle soul all at the same time.

11. I love to hear stories of her when she was a little girl.

12. She has always protected her little brother.

13. She is resourceful, the type that blooms where she is planted.

14. She knows how to work hard and has good work ethics.

15. She has a great sense of humor.

16. I have always admired the color of her hair; God used a very special paint brush that day.

17. She is adventurous.

18. When I think of her, I will always see her as an "athelete".

19. She types faster than anyone I have ever met.

20. She is allot like her brother.

21. She is humble.

22. She loves family!

Happy Birthday Sis...

we hope you have a wonderful special day!

Now I'm ready for spring...

I went out yesterday and noticed the planter I had been nurturing in the garage all winter had begun to sprout!

This was so exciting... I didn't know if these garlic seeds I had been given would even grow... more than not having faith in them, I really didn't have much faith in myself. I readied it to move to the next stage in protection on the porch, and then panicked that I HAD to have the trees pruned before the sap comes... before spring arrives! And this green sprout was my first sign, it is really on the way!!

So thinking I would get some help from the teenager, I grabbed my gloves and the saw and headed out to prune. I had asked anyone and everyone who would come by, for their expertise on how and which limbs and when to do this. And I was certain I could learn and maybe not even kill the trees in the process. I would look, and chose a place to start, and saw and after it fell to the ground, I would step back and look again. Once I got 3 or 4 limbs off, it became much more clear what else had to go. Then I got to a point, where I couldn't decide when to stop.

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So I came inside to take a break, and find that teenager, who was supposed to be helping me. My hands were cramping up from holding and working the saw, apparently I don't use those muscles very much.

.

And at that moment one of my horticulture specialist friends called and said she was thinking about me, and was almost to my house... so I begged her to swing by and take a look. She approved and I was just at the perfect place to stop (whew, I couldn't have gotten the saw back in my now crippled hand). She had me put white glue over the ends of the cuts and now I was done!

My next big worry, was what to do with the limbs. I had made quit a mess in the yard. I was going to need help with this next part. Just before dinner, I left to go return the glue and when I came home, my strong silent mysterious man was home from work and the teenager was loading up the limbs in his truck! AAAAaaaaaahhhhhh!!!!

This was the best GIFT ever!! Well in the top 5 for me!!!!!

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Now I feel like a ton of bricks is off of my shoulders, it's amazing how freeing it feels to have something done that I had been putting off and dreading.

Now I am officially ready for spring... I might even have to dig out the spring decorations!

Unsettled..

It's already been such a long week. Fighting off "the sickies" I am sure the teenager gave me.

Cough, chest hurts, light headed, fuzzy... so much fun!

And never at a good time...

I had to teach on Sunday at the Spanish Branch in our Stake. So on top of all the nerves, I got to take a nice cold sore with me, just for a confidence boost (NOT!). Luckily I didn't have to do the lesson in Spanish, whew! Singing and saying the YW theme in another language was tough enough... they were cute and invited me back to do another lesson in Spanish next time... LOL! I am pretty sure they were making fun of me because I slaughter the language at any small attempts I make to learn it.

I am busy making invitations and programs for another event... and normally I love the graphic art side of these things, but when your head is exploding, and your behind on everything else in your life, too many deadlines to meet at one time, and no body will cooperate with the deadline to have their stuff turned in TWO WEEKS AGO... it sucks all the fun out of it for me. And since they aren't getting paid to do it, and volunteer out of the kindness of their hearts... I can't yell at them. Darn... I was all ready to yell.

The dogs, loving the feeling that spring is close in the air... wanting to spend all their time outside, and tracking all the dirt and mud inside still.

The trees... they have to be pruned by Saturday!!! Spring is coming. I have no idea what I am doing... but it has to be done. Panic sets in, and I hate having this over my head and having to beg for help to get it done.

Everything I have touched this week at work, has opened another can of worms! I just want it to go smooth, and it's just not. Why am I being challenged so deeply this week?

And if I wasn't crazy enough trying to keep up with my own things, my strong silent mysterious man is really busy taking care of important customers... which means jumping through some hoops, and having crews work through the night to get the job done... which means phone calls at all hours of the night, and when he doesn't sleep well... the pups are up with him, which means I am up with them... they are needy, I nurture, it's something I think I do well.

The teenager... if he asks to play golf one more time, before his chores are done... I just might lose it on him. Why is this concept so hard to grasp?

And the straw... I lost one of my most precious possessions ever, (besides my Temple Recommend). A locket that held a few gold nuggets (more like flakes) that my strong silent mysterious man panned out of the north fork of the Sacramento river when we were dating. This gold was so precious to him, he carried it everywhere, he was so proud of it, and then he put it into a locket and it was one of the first things he ever gave me, I was so honored he trusted me to wear it. I had it on Saturday when we were sighting in our bows, and somehow it got caught as I released an arrow shooting at a 50 yard target at the practice range. I felt my necklace flip around and when I reached down the necklace was in tact but the locket was gone. We have discussed at the speed of those arrows, how amazing it was that the necklace didn't break, it just stripped the locket away to who knows where. And even more amazing nothing bad happened, it could have hurt me (cut my neck off at that speed) or flipped my arrow in a crazy direction and hurt someone around me (counting my blessings, it could have been much worse when we talked about it).

We searched for hours and I have been back there everyday praying and searching on my hands and knees looking, but haven't found it. It is a huge gravel covered range, and it could have been flipped in any direction forward backward either side??? It could have fallen short, or travelled really far with the impact of the arrow. I am sick about it.

I know it is just a physical thing, not replaceable, but not life or death either.

But I am so heart broken... but it was like looking for a needle in a haystack.

I have to let go, and just hold on to the memories and meaning it had for me; for us!

It's been a hard week.