GOODIES ARE ARRIVING!

I just received my new car vac (Dustbuster) and the two books I ordered from Amazon.com using the gift certificate son J.D. and DIL Kris gave me for my birthday (the first of a number of items I was able to order) -- "A Strange Fit of Passion" by Anita Shreve and "The Day I Ate Whatever I Wanted: And Other Small Acts of Liberation" (a book of short stories) by Elizabeth Berg. I am delighted that they came so quickly! I will spend part of the afternoon figuring out how to operate the car vac. I suspect I may need a battery or batteries for it.

In addition, in the mail today I received something that isn't a birthday gift, but is necessary and which I will enjoy using: stamps. What's special about these is that I ordered 2 sheets of twelve "Year of the Rat" stamps, as I was born in the Chinese Year of the Rat, plus a roll of 100 42-cent stamps for when the price increase comes through next month (although I don't know the exact date when that's going to happen). The Year of the Rat stamps are -- amazingly -- quite cute and appeal to me despite the fact that I don't generally like rats. ;-)

In terms of other gifts I have received, I spent some time yesterday picking out pictures and cutting them to size for the picture coasters that Cindy gave me. It worked out perfectly to have the 4 coasters, one for each of the 4 grandchildren. Here is how they turned out:



And Socks had been wanting all too much to help me do that, so I distracted her while I cut out the pictures with a sample picture from the coaster, and I was at least able to get the pics in the coasters before she decided to take over, as shown below:



She became bitey (spell check says that's not a word, but I think it is) when I tried to get her away from the coasters so I could put them in the holder, and she kept biting me when she could get to my hands the rest of the day. Today, she is being good, though.

*****

My progress in the book "Understanding Your Grief" and the accompanying journal is going well. I found a question that I didn't have the answer for last night and I e-mailed my brother Frank about it. He wrote back this morning, which I very much appreciated. I am not going to detail it as I don't want to get too morbid on a public blog but I will just say that my visit with my grief counselor (which will have been my last appointment) the other day went well and she was going to send a positive note to my doctor. She felt I am handling my emotions in a very good way. She was happy to see the progress I have made in the book and journal. It is very therapeutic to write my thoughts and feelings -- it is healing. One thing the book and journal say is that we never get over the death of a loved one. Each person is special and our relationship with that person unique, so there is no "getting over it" or total resolution of our grief. We can find ways to honor that grief and celebrate the life of the person who has passed away.

*****

I love the Maxine above. We all need hugs. I notice that as a person living alone, I sometimes feel starved for hugs. It's good I have my cats to provide their warmth in sitting on my lap or when I pick one (usually Socks) up to cuddle, although she will squirm quite quickly to get away.

The signature tag is the last one I sent out to the tags list, and I also made one and sent it to neighbor Bobi, who is an artist and very gifted when it comes to crafts. She loved it, she said.

*****

As you can tell, I am over my rant of yesterday. But I still feel strongly about what I said. I hope I didn't scare people away with my comments about the forwards I dislike!

*****

I wonder if Socks will let me sleep now. If not, I will have to struggle through another afternoon, half awake. I suppose I could keep her here in the office if she became too disruptive, but I hate to do that. So I may be back later when I am hopefully more alert, although I'm not sure what more I would have to say, other than to perhaps gripe about the alarm that keeps going off at the chicken houses next door. (As J.D. said a number of years ago when I mentioned that problem -- maybe the chickens are making a run for it!) ;-)

I LOVE ENDLESS

I LOVE ENDLESS BIRTHDAYS!

I hope you aren't getting too tired of me talking about my birthday, but it's not every day that #60 rolls around. Plus I am continually reminded of it (which is fine by me, as I'm not a person who is too uptight about getting older), with wishes from online friends and from family, off and on the computer. One of the nicest events today was receiving a pretty card from my 92-year-old Uncle Lincoln, who I saw in January. He also signed it for my cousin Kent, who has always been special to me. Uncle Linc's eyes aren't good any more but he wrote me a sweet note in the card, which I very much appreciated.

I will be having more celebration coming up soon as my friend Linda e-mailed to say she will be in town from Redmond, Oregon, in the next few days.

Also, I will be receiving the items I ordered last night from Amazon with J.D. and Kris's gift certificate, although at different times because of some availability issues as well as the fact that some are coming from other companies and thus will be shipped separately. I bought a bath rug (my housekeeper Norma -- bless her heart -- washed the coral ones I had with a brown bath rug from the business, and this time the brown bled into the coral; my new one is sage green and from India), 3 large bath towels as I need to replace a few more that are rough and uncomfortable to use, a car vac that will be very handy in a number of venues both in the car and out, a jumbo bag of litter box liners (had to get something for the cats), 2 books (one by Elizabeth Berg and the other by Anita Shreve), and flannel pajamas -- maroon striped. As you can see, the prices were good and the amount of the gift certificate generous. I did go over a bit due to the shipping but not by a whole lot, and that's not a problem.

I am still feeling quite tired today but when I tried to sleep, Socks was doing all sorts of crazy things in my bedroom and after a while, I just gave up on that. I suppose that I could drink another can of diet Dr. Pepper and hope that will give me some energy. It is almost snack time, anyway.

*****

I love the Maxine this time. So true, so very true! LOL!

DREAM WHEN YOU'RE FEELING BLUEI started the

DREAM WHEN YOU'RE FEELING BLUE

I started the book, "Dream While You're Feeling Blue," by Elizabeth Berg, a few months ago. I would read it while waiting in doctors' and dentist's offices and I wasn't making very good headway. The other day, I decided to get into it and finish it -- somehow I found myself in the mood to read again. After I had read a ways, I was engrossed enough that I couldn't put it down.

The book is set in Chicago during World War II, and features a quite large family, with 6 children, particularly the daughter Kitty but also her younger sisters Louise and Tish. They are all out of high school except Tish. The book details their loves, their experiences in the war effort, how patriotic people were then, and makes an excellent point about how we were fighting that evil madman, Hitler.

Some elements were quite graphic, mainly about what it was like to fight back then. I could foresee some of the events in the book; however, the ending surprised me quite a bit -- I didn't see it coming at all.

Elizabeth Berg did an excellent job of capturing the way life was back in the early 1940's. I will definitely be reading other books she has authored and continues to write.

*****

On the subject of books, I received a sizable Amazon.com gift certificate from J.D. and Kris today (the gift that they had both mentioned yesterday). I am going to enjoy spending it -- I love Amazon! Stay tuned for that!

As for other birthday gifts, I received two in the mail today. One was from my online friend Cindy in North Carolina, and she had included a number of neat items. (I had thought we were going to cut down on gifts to each other but I know how hard it is to resist doing that when we find cute cat and scrapbooking items we know the other would enjoy.) The other package was from my youngest son Tony and family (DIL Kamie and grandsons Michael and Alex). It is a beautiful cat figurine and contains a lovely necklace with a cat pendant that's carved out of stone. Here are pictures of some of the items -- first an assortment including some from Cindy and the gifts from Tony's family, then a close-up of the cat figurine from Tony and Kamie and kids:





I have received so many good wishes and I am truly thankful for my online and offline friends and family. One of the enjoyable cyber-cards I got yesterday was from my friend Karen R, who has quite an earthy sense of humor. The card included a song about one of the unfortunate physical effects of aging for a woman -- it totally cracked me up!

I think I may be in my second childhood and -- like a little kid -- be experiencing too much excitement, as I am very tired and need to nap. ;-)

A PRETTY REMARKABLE DAY

A PRETTY REMARKABLE DAY

This is a day that feels somewhat like any other, except for its being too cold for the third week in April. It is remarkable, however, due to all the good wishes I have been getting because today I turn 60! That is so hard to believe as it seems like just yesterday I was 50, then 55.

Part of what has reminded me has been all the good wishes I have received on my Genchat and Friends and Family Graphics lists, as well as via private e-mail and snail mail cards sent by friends.

I have heard from family members, with Jeff, Steph, Noah and Emily saying they donated to American Idol Gives Back in remembrance of my birthday, which I am very pleased about because I think it is such a good cause and I didn't give to it this year. (Any cause that demonstrates that Simon Cowell has a heart is very worthwhile!) J.D. wrote and said that the "birthday frog" (an invention of my late husband Steve's) was moving slowly and would probably be here by Friday.

I unwrapped the gifts I had here -- the purse from my friend, Jackie, and the gifts from my sister Kathy, and took photos of the purse and Kathy's present of Mooah cats (i.e., kissing due to magnets on their noses). She sent Japanese cherry blossom lotion but I can't get the dispenser to work, although I'll keep working on that. I want to keep it in the kitchen and use it after I dry my hands there. Here are pictures of the purse and the Mooah cats.





I decided to run in to town after lunch to buy a slice of chocolate cake at Cutsforth's Thriftway, and they only had chocolate with mint frosting, but that was okay. I got that and a sandwich, so I can be lazy for dinner. I came home and ate the cake with milk (I didn't think the mint would go too well with decaf). Here is the slice before I ate it.



I did not dunk the cake in milk! Ewww! Steve used to do that and I think J.D. does. I have my own way of obsessing over cake, especially this piece -- eat several bites, take a swig of milk, then repeat. LOL!

Most of the family's celebrating for my birthday will be combined with a Mother's Day dinner at a Mexican restaurant in Molalla, Oregon on May 9th. I'm looking forward to that!

Back to today, though -- regarding the snail mail cards, inside one I got a note from a friend who has had knee surgery (poor lady!) and she brought me up to date on people we knew when we went to the same Mormon ward in town. (She is still Mormon but has retained a lot of her Pentecostal upbringing, despite now living in Utah.) I also received a card from my very good friend in New Jersey, Mary Jane, which she had made on her computer, I believe, and done a very nice job on. (I am jealous!) Then there was a card from my friend from church, Sheila -- very cute, saying "Born to Shop" and with little fabric "purses" hanging from a ribbon. Inside, she said that her husband Ken had wanted to pick out just the perfect stamps for the envelope (he is an avid stamp collector) and what he told her was right -- I did like the stamps very much. (One had a little bear on it, but I had seen none of them before.)

It seems that at my age, I am noticing details that I hadn't in the past, and I am more grateful for the small things, and in fact all things, that I am given. (BTW, thinking of that, another beautiful card I received comes to mind -- from Dawn, who often comments here; I received her card last week.)

Thank you to everyone who has offered your good wishes for this notable birthday. I appreciate them tremendously!

A later note: I just received an e-mail from Tony and he said a package is on the way. So I have heard from all my sons today already -- this is such a pleasure!

*****

I have had a minor dilemma regarding my car. It turned over to 5,000 miles while I was on vacation at the coast. I had had the oil changed and a lube job at 3,000 miles, and I was told I could wait until 8,000 miles for the next one. I generally have my tires rotated at 5,000 miles but I didn't know if that had been done at the 3,000 mile service or not. I wrote an e-mail to the local Ford dealership regarding this, and Larry, the service manager in the Fast Lube department called this morning to let me know that they hadn't rotated the tires and I believe he said they would wait to do that until the 8,000 mile service. I'm about 99% positive that's what he said. I don't know, though, if that will be waiting too long to have the tires rotated the first time. Something nags at me, wanting me to go to the Les Schwab dealership in town and have it done now, at 5,000 miles, like it's supposed to be! LOL! Really, though, I think those extra 3,000 miles won't hurt the brand new tires. D'ya think?

*****

The Ziggy all wrapped up in dental floss above is dedicated to my dental hygienist DIL, Stephanie. Enjoy, Steph! ;-)