We Interrupt this program.....

...for a special presentation going on out my window this morning. There is quite a lot going on. In fact, from my seat here, its like watching a special presentation produced by nature herself!

First of all there's a troop of squirrels gathering nuts furiously from the pecan tree closest to the window. They are like acrobats! It is amazing how they go out all the way to the end of a limb and grab a nut without falling.

At the same time, the wind is blowing and golden leaves are dancing around in a circle, like ballet dancers. As the wind blows the tall Georgia Pines are swaying back and forth in a dance and in perfect unison. In the background for all this activity is the fog that is lingering this morning.

I catch sight of two little birds with bright yellow breasts that are sitting way out on a limb of the pecan tree chattering to the squirrels as they busily gather their nuts.

My goodness! How lucky am I to witness all of this going on all at the same time this morning? SO much better than the TODAY Show!

Catching Up a Little

My blogging, which I love to do, has suffered in the last few weeks. It's been our big Contact Lens Event again at work and it takes a lot out of me. This time with the economy a little weak, we had to work so hard to get what we could and even then we were short of our budget which is disappointing but its over now and we can get on with things. I am glad.

Also I'm working on a few projects for Christmas gifts and so my spare time has been devoted to that.

This morning I'm up early for no particular reason, I certainly could have slept late if I'd wanted but it has become my habit to get up when I wake up and lately that's been early even when I don't have to work.

Thanksgiving was so strange to me this year, first my mother deciding we would go out to eat, me deciding I'd rather not, no big deal to me, I cooked my own Thanksgiving lunch and was perfectly happy but then my mother on Thanksgiving day calls me to say they're not going out to eat after all and she was cooking and to be there by three o'clock. (I had already cooked myself and was not hungry at three o'clock) Whatever! I haven't figured out that whole thing yet, but I went up, picked at some food, visited and came home. The good thing is I've had my own leftovers all week.

So, that's about it for me for now. Hopefully I'll be back to my normal blogging rate soon. Hope everyone's holiday was a nice peaceful one.
Love,
Robbin

Enjoying the Moment

As I experience this journey towards menopause with all the ups and downs, I've mentioned before of the mood swings, the depression, the fogginess of the brain (sounds fun, huh?) but only once or twice have I mentioned the period I go through sometimes of complete and utter calmness. Today was one of those days. As intense as the other things can be, this tide of calmness is just as intense.

It's like nothing could upset me. My heart beats slower, and my mind and body are in sinc and it like utopia. Of course on the downside, it could end as fast as it happens but I've learned to enjoy it while it lasts. There are no tears, no bad thoughts, no anxiety, just peace. I like it. I can't think of what to compare it with except maybe a very calm sea before the storm. UH OH.

Just another Sunday

I was off today, which is good. I like off on Sundays. I slept late, until seven thirty, maybe would have slept longer but I forgot to unset my alarm. It was ok, I was done sleeping anyway.

I did a little housekeeping, had a pot of coffee and watched three movies. None of them very impressive. I slept through one and I'm not interested in it enough to go back and see what I missed.

I'm at the moment cooking brown rice that is suppose to cook in ten minutes in the microwave, we'll see how that goes, and I'm going to have tuna salad with onions in it because, well, I like onions in my tuna salad.

I have a book to read but I'm not in the mood to read.
I have other things to do too but I'm not in the mood.
I am actually sort of, kind of, in the mood to make jewelry. Maybe I will.
Right now I'm going to make my tuna salad and try it with my brown rice.

The Spoiled Child

This painting was done by Jean-Baptiste Greuze in 1765 and is commonly known as "The Spoiled Child".

The reason I am posting this work of art is because I am the spoiled child this week. I was really beginning to look forward to Thanksgiving this year and more to the point the meal my mother usually prepares. And then.....she calls me and very cheerfully informs me that this year she is not cooking, we are going out to eat. And to add to my disappointment they've chosen the one place I am not very fond of.

So, I'm pouting and kicking my foot at the dirt. I could cook for myself but that's no fun. So, my Thanksgiving is up in the air!

A Rare Girl's night out!

Steph and little Robbin and I had a night out last night. We ate out, saw a movie and had a very nice time. We hardly ever get to do that and it was fun. We saw Bee Movie and it was great!

Apparently Oprah is filming a show in Macon Georgia today. It is 27 degrees in Macon this morning and there are lots of people standing in line waiting to see the taping which won't be until one o'clock this afternoon. Now, that's saying something for Georgia people, we can't take standing out in cold weather for very long.

Confession

I adore Shirley Temple. I loved her as a child, I love her now. And so.....now that my granddaughter and my little namesake are both old enough finally to appreciate her movies, that is what they are getting from me for Christmas. I've found each of them a Shirley Temple tote bag which I am gathering DVD' s and a few other things with the same theme to fill it with. Isn't it amazing that a little girl that made movies in the 1930's can still capture the full attention of a little girl in 2007? (and a big girl too?)

A Squirrel of a Different Color

I saw a black Squirrel this morning. I wasn't able to get his picture but this is exactly what he looked like. I've never ever seen a black squirrel. He was gathering nuts all alone early this morning. I hope I'll see him again!

Dinner Time

Last night my friend, who is working in New Orleans, ate at a French restaurant and had a Mediterranean Pasta Dish. As he does sometimes, he snapped a picture of his dinner with his phone. Here's what it looked like.



Now, because I had gotten some lovely whole wheat pasta myself and because this sounded so yummy, I made the poor man inspect the dish both with his eyes and his taste buds and tonight I made my version. Here's how it looked.



Now I can't tell you how his tasted but mine was wonderful! Oh, and I had a spinach salad with apples and toasted walnuts with cherry balsamic. It was good too.

Moving Forward

When this year started and I looked out my window at the leafless trees and the brown grass, I was in such turmoil about exactly what I wanted at this time in my life.

When Spring came and the leaves reappeared and flowers bloomed, my birthday neared bringing with it the fear I faced of turning 50. I still struggled with the fact that I was unhappy with where I was both physically and mentally.

Feeling alone and isolated from pretty much everything and everybody I knew I had to understand myself again and get a true answer. My head and my heart argued and fought and went to bed mad at each other many nights!

The leaves are gone again and green has been replaced with gold and brown outside my window and two things have happened. I know I must first take care of me, physically and mentally. And second, sometimes you have to follow your heart and go where it leads and I've decided to do just that.

Tuesday Ramblings

I've been so out of it for the last few days. I woke up Saturday morning with a cold out of the blue. Sore throat, congestion, fever, the whole works. Not until this morning have I felt human again. Still I'm a little weak and shaky but I'll be fine as the day goes on I think. I took two sick days and I usually do not do that, but I'm glad I did. I don't think I would have made it through the days if I'd tried.
Because it is Tuesday I've had conference call this morning. Same old thing of trying to convince people who don't have money to buy themselves a pair of glasses.
WHATEVER! Its like a broken record to me.
Nothing much new or exciting.
Hope you all have a good week!

As promised......

...here's the details of the party.
My youngest son left last night and I'm alone again. And a little more settled down from it all.
The party was pretty. It fit my vision pretty well, full of apples and roses. I put some pretty picture frames on the tables with pictures of my mother at different times in her life. As you can see, it was really RED. Most of the guest wore red (the invitation asked them to if they wanted.) That helped too.








We did surprise her. She sort of walked around in shock the rest of the afternoon and she kept saying "I can't believe everybody knew about this except me."
Right after this moment, her husband handed her those dozen roses, I handed her my dozen and our little Robbin handed her four roses. And then her grandsons came in and handed her a dozen roses each, so she ended up with over four dozen roses. Red of course. I'm hoping someone got pictures of this moment. I didn't.
After we let her mingle a little and people ate, I read my list of "70 things you may or may not know about my mother." That was a lot of fun and went over well. And then we had someone bring the cake in. We sung happy birthday and she attempted to blow out the 70 candles, (took two tries) and then she opened her presents.
It couldn't have worked out better, I was proud and it was nice to see family members we'd not seen in a while and get to visit.


This is my mother in the center with her sisters. My Aunt Ellen on the left and my Aunt Betty on the right. Notice how close my mother came to wearing Red herself.

IF you're thinking.......

......its hard to get good pictures of your little boys now, just wait until they are all grown up and responsible young MEN......



Their ability to make faces reaches a whole new level!

Red Stang!

My son who is visiting from Washington rented a car. He's so good too. Staying with the RED theme of his grandmother's party, he was given a red Mustang. I wish he could leave it here, I'm kind of fond of it.

Doesn't Anybody like Anyone Anymore?

I seem to be drowning in negativity. It is constantly surrounding me. Everyone around me is constantly complaining about someone else. I'm tired of it. I try to always see the positive in everyone. In the last month or so , all I've heard from anybody is negative things about someone else. Not ONE positive thing can I remember. Not "I really like Jim, he's a good person!" Not "Rose is so good at her job!"
MY GOODNESS! Doesn't anyone I know have anything good to say about anyone???
I am overdosed on NEGATIVITY and I've got to separate myself from it somehow. I think I'll run away!

My Daughter In Law...

...wasn't able to come to 0ur party but she sent me a little something for after the party. She's a good girl, I love her.

A Success!

I'm still sort of in a daze, but we made it through, surprised my mother for sure, had a great time with family and friends and I couldn't be more pleased. With the help of my Aunt, Steph(my best friend), and my two wonderful sons, and my stepfather everything was perfect. And I'm so glad it is over!

We're hoping somebody got some good pictures and will send them to us. My camera needs replacing, the pictures I got were grainy and dark and plus, I was sort of in the moment and didn't take too many at all. I got some of the preparations and a good one of the cake which was yummy by the way, and the sign but other than that, nada.

I promise to write more of the details and how it all came down when I settle down some. One of my sons is still here and I'm going to enjoy some time with him because he'll be gone before I know it and I don't want to miss a minute.

For today, I'm taking it easy, visiting with my son and basking in my glory.

Tomorrow's the Big Day

I can't believe the day is almost here. Tonight I should have both my sons sleeping in my house, that alone makes me smile.

As far as I know My mother still hasn't a clue. She is in fact planning on attending a gospel sing tomorrow afternoon. She doesn't know she is not going to get there.

I've got lots of last minutes things to do today and some shopping for a few more things and have to stock my fridge for the boys.

I'm up early to get started and I hope the fact that I just put the coffee on but forgot to add the water isn't a preview of how my day is going to be today.

Happy Friday guys, see you after the party!

My Poor Mother

My Stepfather tells me that my mother has come in contact this past few days with a few people that are coming to the party and of course they say to her "What are you doing for your birthday?" and he says she tells them "Oh, nothing special, we are going to wait until my 75th and have a party. HAHAHA! She says this because I told her that a few weeks ago when I apologized for not being able to have her one.

You see, back in January I asked her if she wanted a party this year or wanted to wait until her 75th and she said, "This year, I may not be here on my 75th." So that was all that was said about it until a few weeks ago when I told her I'd not been able to do it.

Because she is so sharp, and ah, NOSY, lots of people have told John and me that we'd never pull this off, but I do believe we are going to do it. John says she told him last week, "I guess I should have planned my own party!".......HAHAHAH! (She has so little faith in me.)
Anyway, I have two more days and I am ready for this to happen! I'm excited too because my son is coming in tomorrow night.