What is she thinking?

Here I am again in the bathroom. We have two bathrooms in our house. One off of our bedroom and one in the hallway. I use the one in the hallway most of the time because it is closest to my office. Every time I go into the bathroom off the hall, no matter where she is or what she is doing, Roxy comes in and sits in front of me, looking up at me like a lost puppy, so I pet her. If I use the other bathroom, she does not follow me. What do you think she is thinking when I go into that bathroom? And why does she think something different when I use the other bathroom? Does she think the front bathroom is the "petting room"? Woo Hoo it is petting time again!! Or, oh great there she goes again into the petting room so I guess I had better get in there. Why does she always want together time when I am taking a nap? Boy she has a short attention span. Why can't she just pet me while she is watching TV? If we only knew what our pets were thinking ...

New Year New You ... and Me

Yes, I have been listening to Dave Ramsey again ... and today it was about Goals. He talks about the seven areas that you shouljd make goals in for the new year. Career. Financial. Spiritual. Physical. Intellectual. Family. Social. If you don't make career goals you will be at the same job doing the same thing this time next year. Talk to God daily. Physical goals can be hard ... losing weight, exercising, running a marathon. Pick something that is obtainable. I will not be running any marathons this year. Read a book. Millionaires read one non fiction book a month. Spend more time with your family and that doesn't include watching TV. Have a girl's night out. Get our of the house. Take time to talk to friends, not on the phone or with texting. There are five rules to setting Goals to make them obtainable. Be specific. Measurable. Your goals, don't do it because some else wants you too. Time limits. WRITE THEM DOWN. Goals are dreams ... don't stop at dreaming them ... make them happen. Goals lead you to activities that bring you to accomplishing your dreams. I have set my goals for Physical, Spiritual, Intellectual and Family but am still working on the others. I am going to attend Weight Watcher meetings once a week for three months. I am going to read every day from my Daily Bible. I am going to read a non fiction book before the end of February. I am starting with Multiple Blessings by Kate Gosselin ... gotta start somewhere. I am going to play and walk with Roxy everyday and I am going to take Jamie and go on an outing at least once every other week. Wish me luck!

Our Step Daughter

It is not often that you find a young girl (11) that will spend any time with boring old married people. You know when your friends have kids and you are forced to spend time with those kids. Sometimes it is OK but sometimes it doesn't really work out. They are BRATS but you can't say anything to their parents. Well, we do not have that problem with Hannah. She is a great kid and we enjoy the times we spend with her. She calls us her step parents. We enjoy watching the same stupid reality shows (at least her and I do .. not so much Gary.) We have Big Brother night when it is on and we are starting Bachelor night right now. She is growing up and I can't even imagine what her Mother feels most of the time ... it is scary when you realize that she really isn't a little girl anymore and she is on her way to being a teenager ... and I am not even going to go into the boyfriend thing. Hannah tried out for Honors Choir at school and made it! We love you Hannah and are very proud to call you our "stepdaughter".

The 4 year old will steal your heart

We had a birthday party for Gary at my Mom's house. It was a small party. Gary, Me, Mom, Jamie, Dean, Amanda and Justin. We had dinner and cake and ice cream. After the birthday festivities were over .... Jamie took control. The ages of the people at the party were forty plus, three teenagers and a 4 year old. Apparently no one told Jamie that teenagers are too concerned with their appearance and their reputation to do silly things. After cake and presents Jamie just walked up to Dean and said "come on Dean, its time to play duck duck goose" after about a minutes and a half she had not only won their hearts yet again but she had Amanda, Justin, Dean and even Nanny in the front room playing this game. All in the floor, sitting criss cross applesauce taking turns tapping the others on the head ... duck duck duck and goose. After a couple of rounds of that, the teens (15, 18 and 19) were all holding hands ... ring a round the roseys pocket full of poseys ... we all fall down. Hide N Seek. It was a good time for all. Nothing like a four year old to remind us all that it is OK to be silly sometimes and enjoy your family.

Happy Birthday Gary!

Live intentionally.

Happy Birthday to Gary (and Dad ... we miss you.)

Boy do Wii look silly

Gary and I got a Wii system for Christmas this year. It is a lot of fun. We had our granddaughters for the week after Christmas and we have had a great time. We have played several different games. Papa cheerleading with Elissa was a sight. Dodgeball. Bowling. The weather has been nice so we have had the front door open and the shades up in the front room. As I was playing some vollyball today I noticed people outside walking by. That got me to wondering ... boy, do we look silly to those passing by. Gary and I jumping around waving our arms .... I guess those passing by should just feel lucky that we don't Wii in the nude ...

It is a new Year ... what are your resolutions?

What will it be this year? Be nicer ... tried it and it only lasted a couple of days. Weight loss ... tried it. Healthier .. tried it. Better with my money. Get more involved with the community. Take Roxy on a walk every day. Read more. Shop less. Be better at keeping in touch with friends. Take more time for myself and time for Gary and I. Be a good role model for my Granddaughters. At what point in our lives do we realize that we are no good to others if we don't take care of ourselves. I think I am a good person. I have spent the last 8 years trying to be everything to everyone and somehow someone is always disappointed. This year ... 2009 ... is going to be about me. My new year's resolution is to be Selfish. I need to figure out who am i? what do I want? I need to find myself again. If there was something you wanted out of me ... you missed your chance.