Another Year Ending

Well, another year is coming to an end. It has been a difficult year don't you think? Loss of jobs, Congress and the House going crazy on spending and a lot more. I think it has been a lonely year. There were a few bright spots along the way such as my daughter's wedding and my other son gaining more independence in his life.

This year, our families did not exchange any gifts for Christmas. The consensus was that we just couldn't afford the cost of it. It was my father's request and we all agreed. It was quite a lean Christmas for all but it was quiet and we refocused on what Christmas was all about. It's not the gifts or lack of. It's not the fudge or cookies or mauled wine. Christmas is a time to renew our relationship with the Lord. After all, He gave his life so we could all be free of sin. What a gift that was! I, for one, am eternally grateful for the gift that Jesus gave to me. If you do not have this special gift, try to seek it out this year. Your eyes will see the world in a whole different light.

This year, my older son and I again made treats for the Billings Fire Dept, Terry Park division. We have been doing this as a family for almost 10 years. It makes us happy to give them a nice card and treats on Christmas Eve. We actually went into the station this year and that was fun for us. Their eyes lit up and they called for the other firefighters to come down and have some treats. It is always worth the work.

It was very hard to get into the Christmas spirit this year. It seemed to come so fast that it caught us off guard and we couldn't seem to grasp the magic of it all. Everyone I talked to seemed to feel the same way. We decorated at work and I made my yearly gifts for the crew but it just didn't feel "right" this year. Maybe it will be better next year.

There was a little levity for my husband and I here at home however. We went tree shopping and my husband, God bless him, picked out a real interesting tree. Thinking it would "fall out nicely" we put it up and waited...waited...waited. Nope, it barely opened up and when it did, OMG! It was funny as we both work in the Mental Health Center and the tree...was quite the "patient" so to speak. It had branches that shot out in all directions. There were two different tops on the tree that we hadn't noticed when we bought it. It kept sucking the water tray dry to the point that I could barely keep up with it. The lights and the ornaments looked completely out of place. After studying it for a while, we both decided that it was definitely Schizophrenic, Borderline and Multiple Personality Disordered! This brought laughter to us both as we agreed that it was probably the "perfect" tree for us. This was confirmed when my dear daughter came in the house for her Christmas visit and stated "Oh Mother...Charlie Brown would be proud!" She and her sweet hubby enjoyed our rendition of the "hunt and capture" of this interesting tree.

I have come to the conclusion that I will be the "short visit parent" of my children. My daughter has married into a lovely close family and she has bonded well with them. However, this is okay with me as I know our life was not as rosy when she was growing up. She had decided to live with her father after our split and the "new" step-mother was well....lets just say she was a little overbearing for my daughter. She got out of there as soon as she could. I am glad we have a good relationship. We laugh and talk and cry over many things but it is always happy crying not sad crying. I am already collecting toys and fun things for my future grandchild whenever we get one.

The weather has not been the best here in old Billings Montana. We had a white Christmas but it is so cold that we have been "house prisoners". My spouse lovingly stated that he was "going stir crazy" stuck in the house all these days and I lovingly replied "So what are you going to do when you retire?". He just sighed and told me he wasn't sure but knows it will be this coming year. I, of course, have a "Honey-do list" already rolling around in my brain.

This next year has some nice prospects for us. We recently went over 10 years with the Mental Health Center here in Billings. This has given us a very "small" raise but a very nice increase in our vacation to 14 hours a month. This adds up quickly and we are going to make a trip down to Hemet California in February 2010 to visit my father and mother. Of course, we will make their home a "Base Camp" and do plenty of Geocaching while we are there. In July 2010 we are going to attend Geo-Woodstock in Carnation Washington. We will base ourselves in Yelm at the parents Summer home and drive over there. After that, we embark on a Geocaching Cruise to Alaska on the Norwegian Cruise Line that leaves out of Seattle. We will return in later July. This will be the Cruise Director's first Geocaching cruise and if it goes well, he will do more. We of course plan to be on most of them! I never thought I would get my hubby back onto a cruise ship after the last one. He hated that cruise we took right after we were married in 2005. He swore he would never take another but when he saw there was Geocaching with this upcoming one, he jumped on it. However, he almost procrastinated too long and when he paid the deposit, there were only 2 rooms left!

There will be a lot to write about in the future. Stay tuned and check out this Blog to keep up with the "news" as it happens. Good luck to all of you in 2010! As always, Cheers! Freedancer

Last Vacation of 2009

Well hello everyone! I thought I would take a little time and blog about our final vacation of 2009. We had an outstanding time! For this vacation we headed South, back to Utah and Arizona. It was the first time I have ever seen Canyonlands National Park and the Grand Canyon. There is no way, after seeing all of this beauty, that one cannot believe in God! The handy work of these creations could not be made any other way.

We started out on the 12th of September with taking a geo-jaunt down to Wyoming to attend a "Meet and Greet" with some of our Wyoming club members. One of our geocachers had recently lost his wife from heart disease and it was the first time we had seen him since the tragedy. I guess in addition to hunting for caches, we all wanted to rally around him and let him know how much he was loved. We had a blast looking for caches and ran into some interesting scenarios. One of the caches was located on a fence post, close to some big tires. As we were looking for the cache, I started to reach my hand into one of the tires to check and stopped short of getting pricked by several discarded hypodermic needles! Needless to say, we posted a warning on the site so others would not get hurt.

After we returned from this day jaunt, we packed up and got ready to head out South the next day. It never amazes me that we "plan" to get out early but end up leaving at our regular time of 11:00. It doesn't matter how hard we work at it, that seems to be the bewitching hour. This time I just gave up and let it all flow. After all, I was on vacation and didn't have to hurry. We actually made it to Twin Falls Idaho and secured a spot at the Snake River RV Park. We had stayed in this park before and fell in love with it! Nice spaces and clean restrooms. I love to camp but I just am not willing to give up my shower. The next morning I heard a real odd cry of a bird so I grabbed my long distance camera and zoomed in on the cell tower close to the campsite. It turned out that there was this beautiful Osprey sitting on the tower. At first I thought it was a Gosh Hawk but when I looked it up in my bird book, it turned out to be an Osprey. He was really a sight to see! I'm not the best at bird spotting but I had just gotten some really nice books from the book store and decided that since I geocaching, I may as well start bird watching as well.

We packed up and got ready to leave the park and I realized that in the hustle of packing up and putting down the trailer, I had lost my glasses. Oh heck! I am blind as a bat without them. You see, in 2002 I was attacked by a mental health patient who made a punching bag out of my head. Since that time, I see double and get severe migraines. The blows also separated the Vitreous from my eyes which caused floaters to slide across my eyes and impair my vision. I was quite frantic about losing the glasses. Without them, I couldn't help my hubby with the driving and I cannot see at night. We left our name and cell numbers at the desk and headed down the road. About 50 miles away, we got the call that my glasses had been found and my husband unselfishly made the trip back to get them. We didn't make a great deal of time that day but at least I got the glasses back.

We made it down to Utah and planted our trailer at the Canyonland RV Park in Moab. This was another nice park with clean facilities. We decided we would stay here for two days. Canyonlands National Park was so beautiful! We were able to see a wonderful sunset over the park. It was fascinating to see the canyons within a canyon. I took so many pictures and got some stunning shots. I took in the fresh air and the sounds of the wind. Outside of the park, I was able to pick up some sand for my collection. There were reds and creams and dark browns. We drove back late, when the last of the sunlight had faded away. Tomorrow, we would be headed to Arizona.

We got up and of course, made our way out of the camp at our usual time of 11:00 am. We hoped to make it to Flagstaff at a reasonable hour but we wanted to do some geocaching along the way. We got to Monticello Utah where we wanted to find a cache located in the Pioneer Museum so we found a place to pull the car and trailer over. After locating the cache, we made our way back to the car and headed out of town. About a mile out of the town, I saw a funny sign that I wanted to get a shot of so my hubby pulled over and I ran across the street to take the pictures. It was the road departments idea of a funny joke as it had one sign that read "Watch for Deer on Roadway" and the second one read "Dead or Alive". Well, I had to have that sign for my collection...bad, bad mistake! As I made my way back across the street, I slipped and fell onto the side of the asphalt. Beings as I tried to catch myself with my left hand, I fell slightly onto my right leg. The asphalt, which was new from the stimulus money, cut through my pants, slicing my right leg. Well, I knew I had done it up bad this time and hollered for my husband. Not only had I put a large gash in my leg, I later found out that I tore my rotators cuff of my left shoulder. He took my to the Johnson County Hospital where they stitched up my leg. Well, this sucks! I wasn't going to let this mishap screw up my vacation. The doctor was stellar and the nursing staff outstanding at this hospital. About two days later around 0400 in the morning, my leg "woke up". Holy cow! Where's the Advil?? We worked out a system with the geocaching however, my sweetie would do the ground crawling and I worked the GPS and got the high up stuff. It really worked out pretty well.

After the Monticello detour, we managed to roll into Flagstaff about midnight. We had reserved our spot and were trying to be very quiet as to not wake up the other persons in the camp. However, we were given a site with a huge gully on it and we couldn't even out the trailer no matter how hard we worked at it. Finally, we were just so tired that we gave up. It was odd sleeping on a slope. You sort of had the feeling like you were in the Mystery House in Oregon. The next day, we did some town caching and drove out to the Grand Canyon. That was probably the most beautiful place I had ever been. While there, I got some great pictures of a flock of turkey buzzards soaring on the breeze above the canyon. I wish we could have stayed a little longer to hike around but we had to get back. On the way back, we went through a little storm which produced a fabulous double rainbow. As luck would have it, I snapped some great shots of them which is sometimes hard to do.

We got up the next morning and made our way down to Sedona Arizona. It was a stunning town. The red cliffs towered all around like sentinels protecting it from every angle. I got some great shots of Oak Creek Canyon on the way down to Sedona and some nice shots of the town and area around it. As we headed back, we decided to go out of town the other direction thinking it would be quicker. That was a mistake...there was a round-about every few miles and road construction (no doubt from the wonderful stimulus cash) practically the whole way back. We were starving as we didn't get anything to eat in Sedona and it was pitch dark. After finally making it back to Flagstaff, we grabbed some all night Mexican food and fell into bed.

We left the next morning and drove down Route 66 to Gallup New Mexico before turning North and heading home to Billings Montana. We decided to stay in a motel here so be picked one out and signed in. It was a pretty nice room but the nicotine was so thick on the windows, we could barely see out. Now my husband is a smoker but this even grossed him out! We got the Windex from the car and spent 15 minutes cleaning the grime off the window. Believe it or not, the room actually smelled better just by cleaning the windows! After spending the night in semi-luxury we did some city caching and I was able to find a focal stone to go with the beads I purchased in Sedona. The beads I bought there were the color of the hills and the green foliage. It will be fun putting together a vacation necklace to remember the trip.

We left Gallup and headed North. We were tired and ready to sleep in our own bed. Traveling is great but there's nothing like falling into your own bed. We have another trip planned for February where we will head South again but go to Hemet California where we will visit my parents and do some geocaching. So until that time, cheers! Freedancer.

A Little Update On Life

Hello all, tomorrow will be September 1st already! Gracious, where has Summer gone? We took our first vacation of the Summer in late June. This time, we traveled to Vancouver Island British Columbia. Mind you, it hadn't rained on that island for four long months and as soon as we set foot on the island...it poured down rain! We had one day in the five we were there that it didn't drown us. We had hopes that we could knock down about 50 geocaches while there. The island is loaded with them and most are the ammo can type. That means there is lots of swag just waitin for the takin! However, the liquid sunshine kept us from catching till we dropped on this trip.

I found out an interesting fact while visiting Vancouver Island and that is that slugs are as ugly on Vancouver Island as they are in Washington State. Yes...I said SLUGS! Dear God, how could you possibly have a use for these disgusting things? They don't do anything and if they were to do anything or go any place it would take them a lifetime to actually accomplish it. As we walked through the woods on our way to find a geocache, I literally found myself doing the slug dodging dance to keep from stomping on one and ruining my new hiking boots. None of you know this next tidbit of news about my hatred of slugs. I have severe PTSD from them. As a child, I grew up in Burien Washington. We did all the fun kid stuff growing up and one of them was sleeping out under the lovely stars at each other's homes. We'd just grab our sleeping bags, a pillow and a flashlight and cram ourselves on to a half inflated air mattress in our friends back yard. The great anticipation was...what was our buddy's mom going to fix for breakfast the next morning. Oh yes...that was an unspoken rule between the parents. You let the kids sleep over, they don't come home until their bellies are full. Now that posed a problem because my mother was probably one of the best breakfast cooks on the block, so our back yard was always chalk full of kids and the other parents ended up owing a lot to my parents. Well enough of that side track...back to the slugs. As life would have it, I chose one Friday night to stay over at my girlfriends house. Her mother was French and could she make the crapes! As we slumbered under the stars, the slugs decided that my hair was the perfect place to cross over to the other side of the yard. Oh yea...remember I told you that it takes a really long time for a slug to do anything? Well, I awoke the next day as the sun came up in great anticipation of having strawberry crapes. Nope...never saw one single strawberry. My friend took one look at my hair and let out a blood curdling scream. Her mom thought one of us was dead or something and bolted out the door to see what was wrong. The slugs had gotten tangled up in my long hair and couldn't get out! She marched me home to my sleep deprived parents who spent the next 4 to 6 hours cleaning slime and slugs out of my hair. I've been traumatised ever since! Needless to say, if I could have cornered the market on salt, I would have. In case you are not familiar with it, salt will melt the little buggers in seconds flat!

So...as we flip back to present time...that was the jest of our first vacation, slugs and lots of rain.

There were a few stellar moments on the trip. The trip across the strait from mainland Canada to Vancouver Island was quite delightful, especially the trip back. The sun decided to come out on the way home so we sat out on the deck of the ferry and took in as much of it as we could. We also chose a different route back to I-90. After we got through the Canadian border we drove down a little side road and went through Duvall and Carnation Washington. When I was a kid, my parents would take us to the Carnation Dairy Farm for a tour. I remember it being quite interesting but the best part was they gave us ice cream at the end of the tour. It was kind of like the kids version of the Budweiser brewery tour! It really is a sweet little town. We were able to geocach on our way back to Montana while traveling through some of the little towns and that made the whole trip worthwhile. Any time we can geocache makes for a good time for us.

My daughter and son in law came to say their goodbye's after we got home. They moved to Belgrade Montana where he was able to accept a teaching job and she could finish college. She too will be a teacher. Of course it was a teary-eyed moment for me. I thought I had gotten over the butterflies in the stomach but they all came back as I watched the kids drive away. It is good for them though. Now they have to rely on each other if times get a little rocky. She can't run home and neither can he. They have their own place together now and taking ownership is half the battle. She called the other day, asking for the ever famous hamburger pie recipe. She hadn't started classes yet and was settling into the housewife roll. She's learned to make meatloaf instead of breadloaf and can even make a mean cuppa joe! She always starts the conversations with "First of all, I'm not pregnant" but I hope someday I get a call that says she is. I'd like to have a chance to spoil the little darling rotten before they don't want to have grandma wipe their face off with the sour kitchen rag! I'd like to sit and watch stupid B movies with them and eat popcorn in our jammie's. I'd like to make tents over specially placed kitchen chairs and get cookie dough on the ceiling fan. I'd like to sit and play with play dough and finger paints and maybe scrape color crayons onto wax paper, sealing it with an iron and hanging it in the window. I'd like to snuggle in a handmade quilt that was made especially for them. Oh, how I want to be around to do all of those things and more. I want to gaze into the angelic face of my grandchild while they stand defiantly, asking me "Grandma, why do I have to always do what you say?" I hope I am around to watch them accept Jesus, get baptised, graduate from high school and college and someday, take a wife or husband. So much to look forward to and so little time to do it all in.

So...I keep on working at my job, trying to help my clients survive their crazy, mixed up lives. My husband plans to retire soon and I hope he can have some time to enjoy his life for a while. I've seen so many folks retire and end up dying right away! What's up with that anyway? I have plans to hang around and annoy everyone with my blogs for a long time! So you better make room for me because I have a lot more to say. I guess you can compare me to the slug in a way. Slow and methodical with my journey but always leaving a lasting impression! As always, Freedancer

It Was Beautiful!

The wedding was just beautiful! We couldn't have asked for a nicer day. She was the "Belle of the Ball". She was the most beautiful princess the world has ever seen. He was gallant and handsome. Two star crossed lovers gazing at each other in front of Jesus, taking a life long vow to love and cherish each other until they are called home. Yes...they will be happy. They will love the Lord and they will honor Him always.

I lit the candles and walked back to the foyer where I was led down to my seat. I looked over at my ex-spouse with his new wife. He was happy for his daughter. They were so precious walking down the isle and he stated that "he and her mothers give her to this man". He didn't want to leave out the new one in his life. His boys are precious. They are the boys I could never give him. It wasn't in the cards for me but I gave him a lovely young bride to give away. How proud he was in his tux and shiny black shoes!

The kids danced the night away! They laughed, sang and cried tears of joy. I watched, I thought, I cried tears of a nagging emptiness that I can't seem to shake. It wakes me up in the morning and sends me to bed at night. I don't know what to fill it with now. I ask the Lord to fill it but some how, I am not sure if He is listening to me right now. I call her answering machine just to hear her voice even if she does say a different last name. I miss her terribly and find myself going through page after page of baby pictures and wedding pictures. Will this emptiness ever go away? What do I do now? I feel like I am no longer needed and it makes me sad.

Yes, the wedding was a success. It was a grand show for all to celebrate. I look at this as something I got right in the world. This is something I can show the Lord that I can take some credit for. What will my future bring? How much time have I got left here now? I can remember asking the Lord to let me stay long enough to see my baby walk down the isle. I've asked to hold my grandchildren and watch them graduate high school and college. I've even asked to see a great grandchild. Will He grant me these wishes or will I have to settle now for what I have already seen?

Only you know Lord, what it is that I have left to do. Will you allow me to have a glimpse of what is to come or will I slowly fade into the background of life? As always, Freedancer

My Daughter is Getting Married Tomorrow

It seems just like yesterday that I first wrote and shared the news that my little girl is getting married. It all came up so fast that I can hardly take a breath. Tomorrow is the big day. May 23 2009 at 5:00 pm in the little Baptist church on the corner where my husband and I took our vows. I've been on an emotional roller coaster since the first dress fitting. She looked beautiful then, when she picked out the dress. That was back in August 2008. There she was, all in white, with a lovely red sash around the waist. Gosh, how did I create something so beautiful! Now, it's the night of the rehearsal. We ran through it twice and everyone is ready, except me. My stomach is tied up in knots and I feel like she's slipping further away. The in-laws are the most kind and loving people anyone could ask for. I know this union is of God because for her to have an extended family this precious can only be something straight out of Heaven. As I look at her across the table from me at the rehearsal supper, I no longer see a little girl, she's blossomed into a beautiful Christian woman.

He sits there next to her, all starry eyed and so much in love. I know he will keep her grounded and they will always put God first. I know she will adore him and love him like Christ loved the church. He's strong and handsome, gentle and kind, thrifty and fun. I know she would walk through an alligator infested swamp just to bring him a glass of lemonade and he would do the same for her. How do I let her go? She has been my rock, my best friend and my helpmate. As I light candles tomorrow, how do I turn and hand him the tiny Lilly-white hand that has held mine all of these years? My stomach feels as if it has a thousand butterfly's trapped inside of it and I have cried so may tears that I don' t think there are any more but they will be here, slowly running down my cheeks tomorrow.

I wonder about the journey she will embark on soon. It will be filled with rough patches and tall hills, soft grass and breathtaking valleys. They will lean on each other through the hard times, reaching for Jesus, learning to be more like him. He will be there in their lives, leading, laughing, teaching and hugging them.

My daughter is getting married tomorrow. She will get a husband, I will gain a son and for a few hours, everything in our lives will be perfect! What a joyous occasion it will be! As always, Freedancer

I'll Give Up the Cat Wish for a Blood Hound

Hi folks! It's just little 'ol me here. It has been interesting at work lately. Someone finally listened to us about the space problem. They were in measuring the office the other day so I guess they are trying to find us a better floor plan with more room. One of the girls is heading off to Hawaii next week. Of course, we are jealous of her and begged her to put all of us in her suitcase but...alas...not possible. We decided that we are all going to use self tanner before she comes back and then we won't feel so slighted! Sometimes the job can be very rewarding even if it is just a small thing. I have a fella who keeps having seizures in his apartment which causes him to fall and hurt himself a lot. I was finally able to convince him that he needed to go to an adult foster care home for safety. I was able to locate one that not only allowed him to have his birds but let him keep his 50 gallon fish tank! Not only that, I was able to get him a spot in the only foster care home in the state that allows residents to smoke inside when the weather is bad. Every question he had about the place had a solution. When I took him over to see the place, he fell in love with it. He had been asking for a dog for a long time. The foster care home has three dogs. When he was visiting the home, he was very unsteady on his feet and almost fell over several times. The big dog ran over to him and wedged her back and side into his legs and prevented him from falling down! She just started following him all over and licking his hand. When we sat in the living room and started to talk about the paperwork, the other two smaller dogs came over and the smallest dog jumped onto his lap and started licking him and cuddling him. We were all fascinated by it. He will be moving on the 1st of March. There was even a current resident there that he knew and was friends with. I told my boss that sometimes, as stressful and thankless this job is, there are times when God really shows you that you are absolutely in the right profession. I truly praise Him for that.

In an earlier post I spoke about losing my Cockatiel of 9 years. I was asking for a cat but my sweetie stated that there would be no cat's in the house. After pouting about that for a while and coming to the conclusion that it was a dead issue, I started thinking about another dog. My little dog is on a wing and a prayer right now and the vet is surprised that he is still hanging on. Well, my sweetie and I were talking about another dog last night and what we would want if we actually got one. Both of us said that we would like to get a Blood Hound. It's actually quite funny as we had a really interesting experience with hounds when we were lost in Wisconsin on one of our Geocaching trips. We ran across this little house out in the woods with several hounds all chained up in these big barrel dog houses. They were barking and some of them were trying to get off the chains (probably smelling lunch) to get at us. That took some breather time to shake off. We started talking a little more last night about Geocaching and I said that if we got a Blood Hound, we could teach it to sniff out the caches! My sweetie got quite a kick out of this and we started talking about names and came up with "Geo pup" and "Geo pal". Well, we both seemed to take immediate ownership of the idea so I think we may look around a little. It was a very fun exchange of ideas.

The wedding is falling into place. We solved the dress material crisis and all it took was a color change. We are now going with red for the brides maids. There was plenty of material and it is a kind that they are always going to have in stock so we lucked out. The kids picked out the church and I am pleased to say that it is the church where my husband and I got married! They have the hall paid for and the father and step mother are paying for the food. All that's left is to buy the Mother of the Bride Dress. AAAAKKKKK! I ain't buyin it until right before the weddin so as to no be too fat for it. Anyhoo, all is going well. How does everyone like the talk about taxing everyone for how many miles we drive? We are not too keen on the idea. I mean, we pay a huge gas tax as it is. Well, all I can say is you who voted for Obama, got what you PAID for! Now you all are going to have to PAY for his ideas. Well, not much more to talk about today. Hopefully, the Spring weather will soon arrive and I will be off with my Trusted Steed to Geocache my life away! Cheers all! Freedancer

They're going to go free!

Well folks it has finally happened. Our two wrongfully imprisoned boarder guards are going to go home to their families. I thought I would never see the day. Let's just hope that after they are home they can have their records es ponged clean. I can't believe how rotten that prosecutor Johnny Sutton was. Can you believe how much evidence he had sealed? I would love to know what his beef was toward those two guards. I think that someone should arrest him and put him in the same prison the two guards were in. And...not only that...the Mexican government had their hands all over this case as well. They obstructed the outcome in every direction! I wish they would get it into their thick sculls that they don't have a right to come here and sell their poison to our children and take away jobs from our people. If we did that there in Mexico, we would get arrested and thrown into their prison. Well, enough of this soap box. I gotta hit the hay. I wish the best for the two guards and their families and for Johnny Sutton...go pound sand! Cheers for now, Freedancer

Gettin Ready for a Weddin

Well folks, things seemed to be coming together real fine for this upcommin weddin. My beautiful daughter and my handsome, soon-to-be son in law are working hard on the plans. I thought we had the dresses figured out for the girls but after I ordered the material from Hancock Fabric on line, disaster fell upon us! They didn't have enough of the material that we wanted and had to cancel the order. Hells bells!! Anyhoo, we now must regroup and get this show on the road. Would anyone out there like to talk about your kids wedding experience?

After I got through being jealous and having my pity party for one about my little girl going to her in laws for the Christmas holidays, I managed to finally take it in stride. After all, I am not losing my baby, I am gaining a wonderful and talented music teacher and a dear Christian. That is what I wanted in the first place was to have my baby marry a good Christian man. Still, it's hard to let her go. I mean after all, who the heck am I going to drink cocoa with and watch scary movies with now? I can't ask my main sweetie to watch them. Well...I could I guess... but I can't feed him anything because he goes to right to sleep! I can't ask my oldest son to come over and watch them because he doesn't like the old, classic, scary ones.

Work is getting a little stressful for all of us. Our space at the office is too small and there are 9 of us in there. We are constantly moving desks around and finding ways to give more space. Thank God for the new guy! He loves to decorate and celebrate. If it wasn't for him, it would be kind of drab around there. It's after the holidays now and all the girls are wantin to diet in the office. The problem is, one of us loves to make peanut butter fudge and the new guy is a master at cheese cakes. (OMG, they are out of this world too!) As soon as the weather gets better, we'll be out in droves walking off the holidays. I live close enough to walk to work on a daily basis when the weather cooperates. I just have to make sure that the days I walk that I can drive the company car.

On a bit of a sad note, I lost my 9 year old Cockateal on the 13th of January 2009. I dearly miss her as she was my companion on Sunday mornings when I read the paper and listened to Lonnie Bell's Country Classics. She really loved that song that went "Ain't much fun since I quit drinkin". She used to peep loudly and dance around in circles. She would often hop down for a drink of water and do the "cold water song" too, which was pretty funny. I came home from work one night and she was in the bottom of the cage, holding on to the bar to steady herself. I just scooped her up and rushed her to the vet. Unfortunately, I was a day or two to late as the vet called the next day and told me she passed away. It is amazing how attached we get to our pets isn't it? I'm asking for a cat now but I can't get my sweetie to authorize it and pettin the fake on on the back of the couch just doesn't cut it. Have any of you had a pet that really left an impression on your heart? Reply to this blog and tell me about it. I think sharing about them can be quite cathartic.

Well, I have babbled enough for one night. Hope you can comment on this or any of the other blogs. Cheers for now, Freedancer.

2009 is Finally Here!

Hello everyone and happy new year! I don't know if you feel the same but I've never been so happy to see a year be put behind us as 2008. I mean, don't let the universe door hit you in the butt on the way out! Gracious, what a year huh?

Christmas has come and gone and the tree is down and in the back of the pickup. I've vacuumed and dusted the house and taken down all the Christmas decorations. In a way, I was glad to put it all away. I have plans for this year...I'm going to find a nice church and get to know some great people. I realized that I've been lonely. Not for lack of people mind you but lonely for Jesus.

I've been a born again Christian since August of 1984. He pulled me up from the lowest point in my life. I was ready to pack it all in and take my life but Jesus saved me and I've never felt that way since. I've been in quite a few different churches since then. I've visited Baptist, Methodist, Church of Christ, Pentecostal, and many different non-denominational ones but a few years ago, I quit going because I just couldn't find my niche. I've never stopped believing or hoping or praying. I talk to Jesus all the time and ask for his Divine guidance daily with my job and life. I guess what I am searching for is more of a closeness to Jesus. I got frustrated when I visited the many churches. Every time I thought about joining one, I was told that I had to go through 6 or 7 weeks of new member classes. These classes went over salvation and how to get it and etc. I was already saved! I knew all that stuff and what I wanted was to sink my teeth into the meat of the gospel. I thought that just being married would fix everything but I was still lonely and when that marriage ended after 14 years, I pretty much gave up.

Enter 2009, a whole new year, a whole new chance at improving my life and erasing some of this loneliness that I have been experiencing. My sweetie has agreed to commit with me to finding a church and I'll pray daily, asking God to lead us to the right one. I don't know where that will be but I am willing and able to step out on faith and let Jesus and the Angeles show me the way. I hope we can find some comfort there. I hope we can find some friends there. I crave the Word. I want to feel empowered again by the Holy Spirit. I no longer want to fear death as I have been.

This will be a journey that will bring out many feelings and memories. I hope I can grow and learn to be the Christian that God wants me to be. I hope I can face the Devil and tell him boldly "Get behind me because you're not going to hurt me anymore". I look forward to this journey. I look forward to sharing this time with my dear husband. I yearn for the healing that Jesus has in store for me. For now, this is my deepest wish. Cheers! Freedancer