"X"citing Share/

Ok, I know, I know! "X"citing is not a real "X" word but I had to do it! Please accept it Ms. Jenny! My friend Chris posted this really cool gift exchange at Face Book. She is one of the funniest people I know. Kind and funny and sweet. Plus her  son Zach and my Nick were close in age!  I was pregnant at her wedding getting to give birth any day and Zach was born the following year 1994! Chris has had some rough roads to travel just like me with job loss .Her marriage to Tim broke up a few years ago. She is in a great relationship with Sam these days! They are made for each other! So she is a real person with real friends sharing this. I hope you will join me You can e mail me and I can give you all the details. Come join in the holiday fun!  Here are the "X"citing details:

Hi Ladies! I am participating in a secret sister gift exchange which is a fun way to spread holiday cheer this year. Anyone interested in joining in? It doesn't matter where you live - you are welcome to join.
I need 6 (or more!) ladies of any age to participate in a secret sister gift exchange. You only have to buy ONE gift valued at $10 or more and send it to one secret sister and you will receive 6-36 gifts in return! Let me know if you are interested and I will send you the information!
Please don't ask to participate if you are not willing to spend the $10.Tell me in your comment if you're in, and I will send you the info! 🌿 I know not everyone will want to do this or can but please continue to leave comments. Just remember if you want to participate to tell me ASAP so I can send the info to you. Thank you

I feel like the gift can be $10-20 because it is hard to stay in that $10 box. But it depends how crafty or creative you are and what I love is that once you get your person's name there are a few items listed that they enjoy! Makes it fun!

I miss Suzanne hosting the Secret Santa Soiree! I made some terrific friends including Edna and Linda here in blog world and got lots of lovely gifts for the years I was able to participate. Please think about this and join the fun. The more people who participate the more gifts you will get! 

I am not sure if anyone outside the USA can participate. But please I hope you will join the fun   and  visit all the "X"citing Alphabe Thursday posts too. My friend  Myra is joining us, come join us too.

F A M I L Y

So Here we go with Ms. Jenny and our letter "F"! Please stop by later today and share your F posts and all your stories.

You know my P H A M I L Y - kids and cousins and all of immediate loved ones, the hubby, the kids, all together now!

Goodness, without these memories to see in front of me where would I be? Lost, alone, hopeless! You know I have whined and cried and felt sorry for me the past two days! The unemployment office drops the bomb on you, your unemployment runs out on July 14th! Still no job. Panic sets in, the tears fall, I ask God, do you dislike me so much you would rather I drop dead? Then I retract it! Certainly I am not the only person in the world that feels pressured and frightened! Why am I blaming God? He has stuck by me like glue! In it for the look haul. I think of my Sweets and how much I love him. How much he does to keep our heads above water. I tell him all the time, I tell anyone who listens as I babble and cry and wipe those tears away, "I would rather live in a cardboard box with my Sweets at the Platte River under an overpass, then have everything handed to me on a silver platter and be a terrible, miserable human being." I mean that from the depths of my soul, from the very bottom of my heart.  He keeps me encouraged! Makes me laugh, yesterday he said "Hey babe, cheer up, I could always do some nude modeling." We laughed until we cried!

My cousin Mike has been writing about our heritage, our neighborhood since June 1st! He promised to write everyday for 30 days! He says his brain needs a break, so as of July 1st he will take a break, than resume writing July 2nd! I told him I would write posts regarding our heritage during the month of July as well.  The pressure is on, oh oh, what did I get into? It will be a breeze! My cousin Juliane and her daughter Jessica in New York love hearing the stories so part of it is for them. They want to have the blanks filled in because Juliane's folks, are both gone as well. Mostly it is good therapy and definitely a journal of our lives. Our heritage. Something tangible that the kids can have after we are gone. Once I get a job I am going to tuck away money to have my blog put into book form. It will be a series of books that my kids can share down the road.

The wonder of children, the grand kids, the great grands! Gosh my life is good. It is really, really good.

The tiny new baby! Michael is a gift. A precious gift. There is no other gift like this anywhere. There are no material things this beautiful. A tiny new baby to tug at your heartstrings! Little smiles and dependence on someone  else to take care of it all.

Drazah with Michael on his birthday June 3, 2015. There is no love, other the love of God, that can compare to the love of a child.

Look what my girl Noelle got for me! An i pod! It is pretty in pink! You know I love my music. Now to download some. The little I have on my phone I will move here. I use so much of my phone's memory I need to rearrange things. I had to take  pinterest off my phone because I ran out of memory! My son just shakes his head.  As for this i pod, it is very cool and I am very grateful for my daughter. She is a precious soul. We were listening to her tape in the car earlier, that she recorded when she was a tiny child of three or four! She used her durable Fisher Price tape recorder and drove us all mad! For that I am extremely grateful. It has preserved the voices of my folks through all these years. My nephew Brian put that cassette tape on a CD for her. It is such a blessing. Noelle and I were chatting in the car. We had taken Nick to babysit at Crystal's house. That is Noelle's BFF! She treated me to a delicious breakfast and when we were coming home I said, "I would give anything to hear my mom and dad's voices again." Presto! She pulled out her i pod and I was smiling through all my tears. I miss my folks so much.

Dad and Mom and Noelle

I hope you visit Ms. Jenny and all those who participate in Alphabe Thursday. My F A M I L Y is number one in my book! What about you?