My dear Sister.

This is dedicated to my dear Sister, Dawn . Dawn is two years older than me. In her young 52 years she has had her fill of health problems. No fault of

her own, it's just the way life has been for her. 

This isn't going to be a pity party, because she would probably kill me if

she knew I was writing this. I, however feel that it needs to be said. 

Dawn, is the strongest woman that I know. 

She faces her challenges head on, doesn't ever feel sorry for herself . 

She has never worn a badge of " survivor" on the outside for everyone to see.

She just carries on and doesn't look back. I have never ever heard her

say or ask, "Why me?" 

At 33 years old she had a Brain stem tumor, and even though it wasn't cancerous,it

damaged her nerves on her left side of her face where, she lost her hearing on the left side, she lost the ability to smile or wink on the left side, she looked like

she had a stroke, but didn't. She was a mother of 5 children at the time with the 

youngest around 9 years old. 

She was thankful to be alive and pressed on. She accepted

various callings both in her ward and in the Stake.

Her next health challenge was when she was told she had 

Breast Cancer. It wasn't even two weeks from the time she was first diagnosed when

she had her Mastectomy.  She went through Radiation and Chemotherapy

and she received much support from friends and family.

I remember my younger sister and I took Dawn before her first surgery

to do Glamour Shots because we knew there would be changes in

Dawn's appearance. She accepted those changes like a champ. 

My younger sister took Dawn out wig shopping before the chemo started and they had a blast

trying on many wigs until she found a couple she really liked. Throughout these times Dawn received many Priesthood blessings, her name was put on Temple prayer rolls throughout the world, where

dear friends and family members lived. 

She again over came these challenges. Then came 2011, while Dawn was visiting her eldest

Son, daughter-in-law and grandchildren out of state, Dawn became gravely ill right before

she was to return home to California.  She had came down with Bacterial Meningitis. 

This illness almost did her in. She was in critical condition for sometime. 

At this time she was serving as her Ward's Relief Society President and once she was out of the woods,

She, like a General, was directing the troops, her counselors and sisters 

from her hospital bed two states away. She always took her RS Binder with her where ever she went.

She couldn't travel home for a month, so she did a lot of delegation until she

got home. 

Fast forward to this week, April 27, 2014, and again, she came down with

Meningitis.  I have had the privilege to serve my sister as she

has served many others while she has been in the Hospital. She shared with us, that  it

 all started with an ear ache then turning into a Headache that brought her to her knees with

a spiked fever. An Ambulance was called late Monday night with my Brother-in-law

following. I know he was so worried, I'm sure so many things went through his mind 

because of the seriousness of her condition. We got the call in the wee hours of the morning

and headed down to be with her.  I felt calm for some reason and knew that she would

be all right, but we needed to be there all the same. While we were there Dawn received

a special Priesthood blessing from her Bishop and another Brethren that happened to be in the Hospital where he was with his wife who was on the same floor as Dawn. 

I just want to say here - that it wasn't even an hour that transpired after she received her blessing that she was doing much better. From the time we got there in the morning to the time we left in the 

afternoon, she was doing a 100% better.  

Today we were with her again and she is progressing in a positive way. 

The headache is not as bad the swelling around her brain has gone down and she is coherent and still, she doesn't complain. She will have many days to convalesce and recover from this.

I don't know if I could handle the challenges the way she has. I don't know if

I could be that strong.  She is not done yet, I know there is much for her

 do here.  I love her very much and I am proud to be

her younger sister. 

She is Amazing.

 

This is her, on a very Happy Day, with her son, daughter-in-law and husband

at the LDS Sacramento Temple.

regards

"aka" georgie

 

Blah blah blah blah blah.........

Is it uncomfortable when one shows their vulnerable side? People get uncomfortable because

1. They don't know how to respond.

2. They want that person to always be strong.

3. They don't want to be around a person that they think is weak.

 

I kinda like it when one shows their vulnerable side, because to me, it shows me that

they are real and relate able in some respects.

 Not that you want them to be whiny all the time. It's refreshing

when they don't always have to be so strong and carry a stiff upper lip.

Yes, being strong is noble and all but sometimes it's okay to let 

people know you are a real person with tender feelings. 

This is just one thought I have had. 

Now if you are reading this, my thought is, are you going to read this and step away

with the thought - Wow this girl has issues and roll your eyes and leave in silence? or

will you leave a comment with your ideas and thoughts?

Comments are always welcomed even when I don't agree with them. 

I appreciate different opinions.

Another thought I have had lately and more lately than ever is:

Is it me or as women get older they become:

1. Overly sensitive and get offended easily

2. They are NOT afraid to say or speak their mind - when before when they 

were younger they would never dream of saying  such things out loud or to another

person

3. They  become mean and unkind and sometimes downright rude. 

I have noticed from our Religious Leaders that this later part has been a topic of

Concern.

They have been Asking us to be KIND, gentle and respectful, or

just be more Kind. Why is that? I know why, it's because, I have noticed

that we haven't. Why is it that we, especially women are more inclined to be

intolerant or less patient with each other? 

Where are the days of  biting ones tongue so as to not say something

that cuts like a knife into one's spirit?

I remember growing up my best friend's mom always saying, "If you can't say

anything nice, then don't say anything at all".  And this women

never did say anything unkind to another person, or at least never in my presence.

I'm not here to judge because in no way am I a saint, but...

It makes me genuinely sad when people are unkind.

I just want everyone to get along and be happy. 

I want people to be happy for each others accomplishments

and not be petty or jealous. 

I wish for people to be compassionate for others when they are down or

 in their sorrows.

I wish there to be less cattiness.

If I have lost you in my soap box of words, I am sorry.

I pray that I may show kindness and respect with no 

judgement to all. 

Someone asked me recently if I would be mad at them them for doing

something wrong? I told them, that  I wouldn't be mad, but that I would

be sad. And that's because I want the best for them and for 

everyone. I really do.  

I make no apologies for having a Pollyanna attitude.

That is me, I can't change that. I don't know how to. 

I am fun or funny and I hope that I am friendly. 

Yours truly

"aka" georgie

 

 

I've been AWOL.

I am still alive, just been busy with Life in general. I am even debating to start all over again with this

Blog. We officially moved in September - and Life has been too busy to sit down and concentrate on blogging. Between home life, work life, church calling life it takes so many brain cells to balance it all.   So to start somewhat fresh -

This is what Hubby and I are thinking about installing in our back yard: 

 

                                        What do you all think?  Our new place is a lot smaller and we only have a large shower, sooooooooo, hubby misses his baths and............One day I was just sitting there thinking and it came to me, Why don't we put in and outside bath tub, it would be pretty easy, I think. I know crazy huh!  A long time ago like 24 years ago when we were building our first house we were kind of camping out at our property as we were building we had an old bathtub and we used it to take baths outside, the kids loved it, again, I think. It was summer time. I know I have  a picture of hubby taking a bath in it somewhere, oh well.

 

We love our new place as I always love anywhere we live, as long as we are together right? That's all that matters. It's very cozy and about 15 minutes to town. So its very quiet. Every day I get to drive down a dusty country road and see cows in the pasture. I just love cows. It reminds me of a simpler time, I get very nostalgic when I see them.   Well this is all for now. 

Maybe I'll be back sooner. 

TTFN

                                   "georgie"                                 

Like manna from Heaven - power!

So tomorrow it's suppose to be hotter than today and I was thinking 

when the power went out this was the first time I have felt

anxious.  It all started this morning when I was walking from my

car and heading into my office. The wind was blowing

and it was hot and the sky wasn't as blue. I knew there was going to

be a fire today. All the elements were there for a fire. I even 

told my co-worker that.  We even talked about, where we kept our

family albums and important papers and if they were handy just in case. 

What are the things we would grab if we had to leave in a hurry, things like that. 

I kept a list in my head, I'd grab our computer tower, our laptop, the plastic bins

with our family pictures, the fire box I purchased several years ago that held

all our important papers, certificates etc. 

But it didn't cross my mind about not having electricity, until it happened. 

Yes we lost power at work, but then it was time to go home. 

Except I had an appointment down in Folsom and so I  still thought I

could make it down there in 45 minutes. I heard about the fire, my daughter texted me

because it was near where she worked. She said it was on both sides of the freeway. 

I just didn't think it was going to affect me in the direction I was going. 

So I thought.

 It wasn't until I  passed a few exits as I made my way down the hill when

I could see the traffic backing up, and backing up really fast. I knew I wasn't

going to make my appointment. I quickly got off the freeway and called to reschedule. 

I told them what was going on, no big deal. I thought fine, I'll just turn around and take 

another exit heading towards home,but first I'll stop and pick up something

for dinner, Dave would like that.

 Nope.

 I got to the establishment, and I noticed

the business next to it was dark, and  sure enough, the poor guys in 

my favorite restaurant were sitting in the dark apologizing that they

were without power. It wasn't their fault. But like a ditz I was finally

realizing that the whole town if not most of the county was without power.

I made my way home, and sat in the driveway with my car turned on charging

my phone or attempting to. Out came my husband, he was on his way

to the Hospital, because he was on call, and he couldn't get through and

his phone wasn't working.  My phone was working and he was able to check in to make sure

they weren't trying to get a hold of him. We found out that our phones were now

going from having cell service to not. This is when I started feeling 

anxious. We were worried about our daughter, because she couldn't

leave her job until the parents of her charges were picked up and

her workplace was right in the middle of the chaos of traffic and the fire.

Just the fact of not being able to call Dave's phone from my phone or anyone else for that matter

made me nervous.  Okay here's the over the dramatic part, I told Dave, what if

this was the great disaster, not the fire, but no power and not being able to 

communicate. Here it is triple digit heat, no power for the gas stations, no power

for the atm machines to get cash if we needed it. 

All those preparedness questions were running through my head. 

And yet nearly a month ago, I was thinking, I need to refresh our 72 hour kits, 

and I hadn't done that yet. And where was my battery powered radio, I know I

have it somewhere. Do we have enough water? Well if not,, do I have enough bleach

to purify some water from the pool? Wish I had some extra fuel for the

car if we needed it. But mostly it came down to not being able to 

communicate with the world so I didn't feel all alone in this

experience. Silly isn't it. This was the reason for my anxiety. And  then like a 

Light from Heaven - harp music please -  my cell phone came back to life with

a tweet sound - it was a text from our Bishop, Matt Hutchings asking if we were okay

and if I heard from any of our elderly ward members. I don't know if  I was just a name

on his list, but it didn't matter, there was someone out there who cared if we

were okay. Sigh- cue violin music and pass the Kleenex. But seriously folks, 

It felt good, because I knew were weren't alone. He asked if we had power because he and his family just got power.  But of  course I hadn't even checked yet, because

I was still in my car in the driveway. I thought, well he's asking I better go check......

and so..... like manna from Heaven, I walked up the first couple of steps on to our porch and

as soon as my fingers turned the toggle of the light switch, the porch light came on.

We had power! It's a Miracle!  I quickly texted him back, Yes! with an exclamation mark.

I ran into the house, opened the back door and yelled to Dave, the power's on!

He responded back very casually, yes, I know, I heard the neighbors AC come on. 

Oh, okay, I said. Well it didn't matter, I went around resetting all the clocks, 

emptying the dishwasher and it became a regular nothing unusual evening

 I kind of forgot what just happened the last couple of hours. 

But did I??? 

 So today, nothing happened that was too serious, but what if the next time it was?

Would we be prepared if it was the real thing?

Not a drill but the real thing? 

I must not procrastinate and act now

or..... be acted upon.

"georgie"

 

Summer time and the feeling is....

This post will be short on words but the pictures should 

describe this Past weekend when our California

grandkids spent 5 days with us. 

They were in the water from 10am til after 6pm they only came out to eat.

 

Saturday morning before anything else, and while everyone else was sound asleep, Tacie and I ran to the Farmers Market

and picked up all kinds of fruit, then picked up some bagels . 

We roasted Hot Dogs for dinner.

After dinner it was time to play Bacchi ball? That cat over there is a stray cat, and every 

time we threw out the first ball, he would chase it and move it. It was literally

a moving target. 

We played mixed doubles, then boys against the girls. Tacie used her age as a handicap, wink

wink, she always ran a few paces before throwing her ball. 

Don't ask who won. 

After our game, it was time for S'mores and scout campfire ghost stories.

 

 

 Tacie is very serious about roasting her marshmallows.

I'm so proud of my potted garden. They all started out as a seedlings in my kitchen.

 This was just one day. But a good one at that. 

"georgie"

 

***Thankful***

I'm out in Utah just loving up my little granddaughters, but I thought I would pause and to give thanks for the many blessings that I have.

I am thankful to be living in a country that (even though I may get frustrated with where it's heading)

I still have my freedom to choose what I want to wear, to choose what I want to eat, to choose to believe

in the beliefs I want to believe. I know there are countries that do not respect those things,

and therefore I am thankful for them.  

I am thankful for the men and women who have fought for our Liberties

and have died for that. I  am thankful for the men and women who 

put them selves in harms way to protect our freedom and others as well.

 

***

I am thankful for my husband and my children and my family 

and good friends.

I am thankful for running water and electricity. 

I am thankful that I can get up in the morning and start a new day.

I am thankful that I can repent and be sorry and be forgiven

for the errors that I have made. 

I am thankful to know that there is hope and that true happiness comes by 

doing good  and being obedient to God's commandments. I am thankful to know that being happy is a choice and that it doesn't depend on

someone or somewhere to make me happy.

I am thankful for my precious grandchildren. It gives me a chance to 

truly enjoy the little ones, their funny antics and noises that maybe

I didn't  savor when I was a young parent. That's why being a Grandparent

is the Cat's Pajamas, it is simply the best!♥

"georgie"

Odds and ends

We have now lived in our place for a about a year and a half

where has the time gone? 

This month we have been working hard around the property

lots of weeding, weed-eating, trimming we even incorporated

some paid help.  It looks so good. 

So a few months ago when I was meeting with our CPA, I was telling him

(like he's a therapist) that I am at a point in my life -the second half that I want to pursue some of my interests,

and he said, "yes you do" but your other half is looking at wanting to slow down because

his retirement is on the horizon. "But, he said,  "that's okay", as long as we both support each other we will be okay. 
 As I approach this "new number" in my age, I'm feeling so excited about

opportunities,  - we are now "empty Nester's" officially and I LOVE our lives. Sure,

my body is changing menopause is not too far down the road, but I'm still the 20 something

if not the 17 year old inside. Ladies and gentlemen, maybe on the outside I look "ahem" but

I'm telling you on the inside, my spirit/mind could go TP a friend's house or "Oreo" their car, talk

all night with the girls till 3 in the morning at a sleep over,  play dress and make up, and make up home video short films - silent of course. 
 I love this time in my life. I am thankful for the opportunity to  pursue my hobbies, things that I am passionate about and developing them. Life is too short. I was listening to an interview
with a Former LDS  Mission President, President Gonzales.  I believe he and his wife are originally  from Guatemala. Any way the interviewer was asking them all kinds of question regarding their service for the Church and then she asked President Gonzales what is his passion, what does he like to do. He exclaimed that he loved the game of Soccer. Before he and his wife came to the United States he played on a league, he loved to attend the games and  now as he is  residing in the States he follows the American Teams. He said you need to take time for yourself and balance your life. Yes, you have your responsibilities, whether it is with your family, your work, your Church Callings, but the Lord also wants you to be happy and enjoy your Life. 
I feel there is a time and season for everything. When our children were young I remember seeing my mom in a different way, she was in her 50 or 60's and she shared with me the things that she was doing, she had written a couple of small pamphlet type books, she had taken up
painting and quite good if I might say. She was taking electronic keyboard lessons, she made Christmas cards, etc. 
I wasn't jealous, I was in awe. I never knew she had those interests before. I  knew 
she loved gardening, because she did that all my life, whether it was flower gardening or vegetable gardening. But these other interests were something I never knew about my Mom. 
I loved that for her. It was, after all, her time and her season to develop those things that she probably had to put off until her children were all grown and gone. 
What I took from that, was I looked forward to that time for myself to pursue my
creative interests when I graduated to that season. 
Well that time has come and I am enjoying discovering my interests. I know I can't fail 
because it is whatever I want it to be and that makes me happy. 
The only caveat is that I need to remember to balance my life. 
I still have my responsibilities and sometimes I feel guilty that I am doing
something fun.  I need to remember to prioritize. 
Kind of like homework, I need to do "the homework" first "my responsibilities first"
and then I can go out and "play". 

And now I get to do something that I love dearly and that
is, I get to see three little girls that I cherish deeply - my grandchildren
in Utah and I'll boarding the plane real soon. 
I am happy - so very happy!

TTYL

"georgie"
  

Whole food box lunch

A Couple of weeks ago, I happened to be in Folsom and I knew Cece was in between

classes so I thought it would be a good chance to have lunch together.

We decided on Whole Foods.



Now, I have been in A Whole Foods Market before but not the one closest to our
town.  We each picked up a box and started filling our own.
I made a note of how much per pound.
I kept telling myself, that I wasn't taking too much,
but you know how your eyes are bigger than
your stomach. Where did that saying come from anyway?





So here is mine. Okay it may not look that delectable, but Ladies and Gentlemen,
it was delish! So what we got here is Kale salad with Feta, Curry Chicken salad, Asian Noodle
salad, pita bread and I forgot what the red salad was.
Funny I stuck with the salads. Cece and I both whipped out our IPhone's and
took a picture of what we were eating. Weird how we both did that.
We sat by the window, to catch the warmth of the sun and just enjoyed
the moment, eating good food and small talk.

Thanks Cecelia for indulging your mom
with a lunch date. 

p.s. We both couldn't quite finish our salads. So we learned.....

choi!

"georgie"





Tip toe through the Tulips....

I feel so blessed to live here where 

I get to enjoy Spring at it's finest. 

The Tulips are blooming. Each day new

buds are blossoming.

Saturday afternoon, the sun peeked out and I was

able to do some weeding.

 Once I started, I kept going

till it was too dark

too see. But it felt so good to

work out in the yard.

It's the easiest time to weed, because the soil is

moist and the weeds come out without much trouble. This is the

before and...

This is the after.  They are so vibrant. 

I just can't get over how beautiful they are. 

Have you tippy toed lately?

"georgie"