OH NO!

I have missed the past Alphabe Thursday "N" and nearly didn't get this "O" post up and running! Lots of stress and sadness last week. I don't really want to talk about it so I am going to share some fun here! You have to laugh. No tears, no sadness!

I thought this was so cute! It is an "Oh No" moment! You know woodpeckers are endangered species. It is a federal offense to kill them! I have two funny woodpecker stories that happened to people I know. I can not reveal their names because I would not want them to be on a watch list for harming endangered species! Someone I know went on vacation. When they came home they noticed a horrible smell wafting through their home. A woodpecker got into their house and tangled up in their comforter. Of course the poor thing must have died from fright and it was quite a dilemma to dispose of the poor fellow. Someone else I knew was selling their home and a woodpecker was in their attic. It is difficult to sell a home with a rat-a-tat-tat constantly yammering in perspective buyers ears. So miraculously that woodpecker disappeared. Perhaps he left for the woodpecker protection program!

"Oh no" children today watching cartoons imitating Wiley Coyote. I have to admit, when we were kids, we were not total morans! It is sad how protective people are not wanting their children to be let down so they teach them there is no such word as "No" or they fill their heads with expectations that they could never achieve. Life is imperfect, roll with it and respect your parents and other adults!

"Oh no" I should heed my own advice and try this one!

"Oh No" you know your mother told you this, at least once in your life!

"Oh no" you know you just smiled at this one! A shrink I knew once told me we all have these fantasies. But a healthy mind will not act on it! My fantasy was always to carry a large "nerf" bat and big gun so I could shoot the tires out from under mean people and than run up to their car window and smack them with my Nerf bat!

Please join Jenny and the Alphabe gang for some fun, creative, heart felt posts on the letter O

Love is..../Blue Monday

Most morning my hubby is up and around before I am! So although I set the coffee every evening he starts it, pours it, and brings me my first cup!

Some quotes, colorful in pretty shades of blue, for you and Sally

 A Scripture to share!

Always feeling blessed.

Always wanting to forgive and move on never wanting to relive the past filled with bitterness or resentment. Always be better. Enjoy the week and Happy Blue Monday to all!

"M" is for Mercy

 If you look up the definition of the word "Mercy" you will find this

: Kind or forgiving treatment of someone who could be treated harshly

: Kindness or help given to people who are in a very bad way or in a desperate situation

: A good or lucky fact or situation

I was discussing Medicaid with another Alphabe Thursday player Judie ! The two of us can jump up on our soap box and share our opinion. Often other people don't like that! But as I thought about our health care system I thought "God have mercy on us"! There are no easy answers with health care and everyday I hear horror stories from our patients. But I believe we need to care for those in need of medical care, serious medical care. There is a saying out there:

It makes you stop and think. I will continue to pray for those suffering and hurting. The mental ill, the lonely, the dying, the homeless.

 I receive the Catholic newspaper because I am still on the mailing list. There was an article in there that hurt my heart because I already knew these facts but they are still so hard to understand! In Colorado 1 in 4 children are living in a food insecure household. Many families choose between  heat and food, medicine and food, transportation and food. A local program in the Denver Metro area is  called Totes of Hope. They provide tote bags filled with food that children pick up at the end of the week from volunteers. Hunger is such a severe problem that most of the families in need should have at least two totes per child. In 2011 one school was involved in the program. Today 14 schools are receiving help for 1,560 students. The totes contain 9-10 lbs. of  food including breads, crackers,  cereal, soup and canned fruit, vegetables and meats. The cost of one tote is two dollars!

I was very blessed to be raised in a  two parent phamily and had a father that worked in the steel mill so he made a decent income and we never went without food. My mother was a homemaker and we always had wonderful meals, three times a day. Very few people talk about this problem. Often you will hear people comment that perhaps if the parents weren't buying drugs or alcohol they could feed their kids! I just don't buy it. The jobs we have seen in our country in today's economy are menial, low paying, without benefits. You need two or three of them to  be able to pay the rent and often have to struggle with the decision of paying your utilities or feeding the kids. I talk with a lot of teachers who spend their own money to provide snacks for kids so they can pay attention in school.

Very few celebrities talk about this problem. I know of two, Nick Cannon, married to Mariah Carey. He grew up in poverty and Reese Witherspoon. She was raised in a comfortable lifestyle. Her father was a doctor.Many other celebrities like  Oprah and Bill Gates, don't feel the need to help people in this country but rather go into other countries. I am not saying we should not help anyone in need but I believe what the bible says,  1 Timothy 5:8 says "But if anyone does not provide for his relatives, and especially members of his household, he is worse than an unbeliever."

I think everyone has to be responsible, our governments seems to shun this, and as Mother Teresa always said "If you can't feed a hundred people, then feed just one." She always said "Love begins by taking care of the closest ones - the ones at home".

Our middle daughters friend spent time in Chile as she was studying for a degree in Spanish. She was amazed how people helped each other. When a major earthquake hit she helped build homes. She said they were small, like a one car garage and made of concrete and cinder block materials. She said the people getting the homes acted as if they were given a mansion! The country takes care of its own. During that earthquake, the leader of the country of Chile said they were capable of helping their own. You do not hear that enough  these days.

I was raised in a home where my fathers motto was this, "If you can't offer someone a  beverage and a bite to eat, than don't invite them into your home." My mother always had a full pantry. The fridge was full and we had a comfortable life considering how hard my dad worked and how different times were when I was a child. I had four older siblings and none of us ever suffered from hunger. I know I can't solve the troubling situations in our world but I can support programs that are working. During the Summer Adams 12 School District runs a program that provides free breakfast and lunch for kids and it offered at several local schools. Adams County, where I live, is one of the poorest counties in the Denver Metro area. But that my friends is a story for another time. Please visit Ms. Jenny and the players with Alphabe Thursday.

A quick note please pray also:

My sis just let me know that her kids Karla and Holly ask for prayer for their dad Bob who is hospitalized with a blood clot on the brain. Pray for Marydon's phamily and her sisters phamily during this difficult time  for the loss of her sister Carolyn. Prayers for Cindy who lost her mother at hospice last night. Pray for Susan who is dealing with her mothers stroke and having to make some very difficult decisions. Prayers for Rebecca's father Reverend William E. Elliott as he is in ICU at Mercy in OKC.  Pray for Mary and Becky as they struggle through the end of a cancer battle with their mom.

Jeremy, Kindness and Love/Blue Monday

I fall behind! I could write a song about it! But my life has been a whirlwind of life happening and not a moment to catch my breath! So I am combining three weeks of Alphabe Thursday and sending Ms. Jenny and the gang over at her fun filled place a combination of the letters "J", "K" and "L". J is an easy one! Our oldest son Jeremy was fearful of flying! Then a couple years ago his friends refused to take their annual Vegas trip via car. He boarded a plane with Cameron "the Bird" and since that time he is hooked on flying! He loves it so much he took a non football fan, Rebekah's beau Zach, and before it was all done turned him into a Denver Bronco fan! They traveled to the Super Bowl to watch our beloved Broncos play the Sea hawks. We know the Sea hawks have the best defense in the league and the Bronco's just could not keep up. But Jeremy and Zach do not regret the money they spent to watch the game and see all the excitement it involves. Besides, no offense to other NFL team fans, but the Broncos and Sea hawks were at the Super Bowl beating a combination of 28 other teams to get there! So if you are a fan of any other NFL team please don't say the loss was an embarrassment.  Every year one team wins and the other experiences the heartbreak of loss. The media had a field with it, because so many think we are out here in the old West rustling cattle with the likes of Billy the Kid and the Dalton Gang! If anything all the negative media the Broncos got was over rated! If your team has never been to the Super Bowl I would think that is much more embarrassing than being there.

This is Jeremy chillin on the Staten Island Ferry. Thank you sweet Carol and   Pat for giving the guys some ideas of free and fun things to do in NYC. People who said my son must have been sorry he spent all that money to go to see his team lose were rude and out of line! He is a Bronco fan and always will be so it was an experience of a lifetime not a loss!

Pure excitement at the big game. Check out the photo bomber. Scary dude! I had to delete a few Seattle people I knew. They did not even have the courtesy to tell me that Denver was awesome winning their division. I am appalled often by the lack of manners I find everywhere I go!

I found this ancient photo of Nick with his high school track coach Mrs. Hammerschmidt. Nick has always loved different teams and the Texas Longhorns were one of the college teams he liked to follow. It also reminded me that he qualified for Nationals two weeks ago at Texas Tech (the Red Raiders). He fell ill with food poisoning on Wednesday evening. He ate chicken in the school cafeteria and became violently ill to the point that five of his friends and team mates, excuse me, bros, called an ambulance and followed him to the hospital where they stayed the entire night until he was released. This folks is what kindness is!

This is a teeny tiny photo of the college indoor track champions 2012-2013. So a huge thank you to Elonte, Joshua, Justin , Kevin and Sterlin for helping a friend in need. If you have ever experienced such kindness please share it here with me. Nick missed the meet at Southern Missouri this weekend but we have been watching the results and we think a few more Cowley Tigers have qualified to go to NYC for Nationals.

For Beverly and the Pinkies. I have been missing in action with you too. A kindness quote in pink.

A kindness costs you nothing and may save a life, make a sad person glad or simply touch a cold heart.

Mother Teresa always said we can not save the whole world but we can save one person at a time by doing small things with great love.

February is the month of Love. It is also Womens Health and the Go Red campaign to stamp out heart disease. Do you know that it is still the number one killer of women? Do your part and save your heart. I am also a big fan of the Love is...comic strips by the late Kim Caselli. I share lots of these favorites with Marydon and you should tell me some of your favorites too. This one above, Love is...when attraction meets passion is precious to me. I will celebrate thirty years of marriage with my honey this Spring so we always had a strong attraction as well as plenty of passion in the years we have been together. I am not one to kiss and tell but thirty years later my honey still can make me smile, laugh and surprise me.

Love is...certainly more than just scratching the surface. A back rub or someone to scratch your itch is handy too!

Happy February!

If you have a chance please read this book. Especially if you have lost a dog. This pretty blue cover is filled with a wonderful story about a dog who lives and relives his/her life.  The story will make you blue and it will make you smile. But it really helped me when we lost Roxanne in November 2013. The book was given to me by a dear friend Mevely. I am so grateful for her sharing this with me. We both lost sweet furry friends in 2013. Now visit Sally and some of those cool Blue Crew folks!

Now I am going to have one last cup of hot tea, Sleepy Tea, before I drift off to sleep so I may dream about these pretty blue hydrangeas and Springtime.

BlueMonday/Love is.../Prayer Request

There are lots of commercials about local law firms on the T.V. Some of them act real tough and scary so we love to joke about classes they took in college/law school, How to Be A Jerk 101, How To Intimidate People for Your Own Pleasure 102! My hubby is the master of silliness and often I find myself rolling on the floor! So this Love is...was a good one to share today. Marydon often shares her Love is....on Face Book.

Rebekah my middle daughter and my grandson Colton and I spent half a day at the Denver Zoo. They were rooting for the Broncos too. Sad as the loss was I am a tried and true fan. I enjoyed the singing of the National Anthem, Bruno Mars and the prayer circle at the end of the game with three players from the Denver Broncos led by a Seattle Seahawk.  I also enjoyed the reading of Our Constitution. But we had great fun at the zoo. It was cold outdoors but inside the different zoo houses we warmed up quickly. The Rain Forest is always fun because it is naturally humid inside and the colors are bright and beautiful.

These colorful frogs looked sticky but they almost looked like someone put a fresh coat of paint on each one. The frog on the branch was blue!

This striped fish was ready for a Bronco win too! But he was a good share for Sally and the Blue Crew.


                                            

I like to add a few prayer requests. So many asking for or needing prayer. Sandy, struggling with cancer. Amy recovering from a heart attack. Darren traveling home in unpredictable weather. Jeremy and Zach coming home from NYC tomorrow and lots of flights cancelled and weather turning wicked all over the place. Pray for a safe journey and flights able to leave LaGuardia. I always pray for weather. A nice answer to prayer for Nick. He ran at Texas Tech this weekend in Lubbock, Texas. He was not sure if he qualified in the 1000 meter but today he found out he did! We are excited for him. He will travel to NYC in March to run and fortunately with the wild weather everywhere it is indoor track! His qualifying time was 2:40:62 in the 1000 meter and he placed 20th. He felt his 3k run was terrible on Saturday but that Friday 1000 meter run clinched his spot on the Nationals. We are very proud.

My final blue tonight. This bedroom is so calm and sweet. I like the blue and crisp white. Say hi to Sally. Have a great weekend.