(click to enlarge;)
i was taking the "scenic route" bringing katherine home from school on thursday and happened on to this house. in the photo above it looks like it is REALLY decorated; right??? well, let me just say,
"baby, you ain't seen nothin' yet!!!"
i didn't have my camera nor my phone with me on thursday; so, i went back yesterday morning to take a photo. i was so bummed because all the blow-up decorations (there are many, and they are BIG) were deflated. i went ahead and snapped a "before" picture, anyway, and left hoping that i would be able to get an "after shot" after school.
well, no such luck was to be had yesterday.
i will try again, today:)
stay tuned...
for... the rest of the story!!!
you are going to be sooooooooooooooo impressed:P
bahahahahahahahaaaa!!!!
love and blessings,
dani xx
(my babies;)
yesterday afternoon henderson experienced a little of the white stuff...
unfortunately, none stuck to the ground:(
i told you i am a kid at heart!!!
has it snowed yet in your little corner of the world???
love and blessings,
dani xx
last night, katherine's cell phone rang while she was in the shower. i answered; it was chico (katherine's boyfriend)...
"well," he said, "i'm going to be all alone on thanksgiving..."
"you are; why???" i asked.
"they just told me i have to work. so, my parents will be going to memphis without me," he replied.
"you can come here," i invited. "katherine, oj, and i are going to watch CHristmas movies all day and get thanksgiving buffet to go."
"what about john???" he asked. (now, chico already knew the answer to this particular question because we'd just discussed it this past weekend.)
"john is going to his aunt opal's for thanksgiving," i said.
after a moment of silence...
chico asked, "is aunt opal fixing a real thanksgiving dinner???"
i laughed to myself and answered, "yes."
"well, i think i'd rather go with john," chico replied very seriously.
i thought i was going to crack up!!!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
here's the dilemma:
unfortunately, the thanksgiving holiday for us has always been more pain than pleasure. i hated even typing that, but it's true. i have never been able to go with john for thanksgiving lunch at his aunt opal's because i have had to stay home and cook for my mother's side family's thanksgiving supper. not only that, but i have never been able to go to my dad's side family's thanksgiving, either, for the same reason.
so, last year i surrendered!!!
john went to his aunt's, my parents couldn't make it into town, my aunt and uncle had dinner at their house, katherine and i watched Christmas movies while eating take out thanksgiving buffet, there were no hurt feelings, and everyone seemed to be happy (with the exception of my brother, who was supposed to join katherine and me but had the flu).
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
so, should i send chico with john, or should i fix a bird and the works (even though john is going to come home full, katherine doesn't like the traditional thanksgiving dinner, and i am on weight watchers)???
what would you do???
love and blessings,
dani xx
i had a couple of questions concerning "10 things i'd like to say to 10 different people" from yesterday's post.
so, here are a couple of answers.
suz wanted to know if i'd been tagged.
answer: no, hannah over at fifteen going on seventy had the survey in full on her blog. (i'm going to finish it today;)
shannon asked if there were someone to whom i'd like to say something negative.
answer: no, if someone makes me angry enough for me to feel the need to say something negative, i say it. those who really know me, know that it takes a LOT to get me to that point. further, the things that make me most angry rarely even directly effect me. i get most angry when i see someone or a group (children, elderly, etc...) being mistreated.
now, for the rest of the survey:)
nine things about yourself:
9) i'm cold… as in brrr.
8) i’m sarcastic.
7) i'm an old woman with the heart of a kid.
6) it takes a lot to anger me.
5) i am the most laid back “functioning person” you will probably ever meet.
4) i have too much time on my hands.
3) i have watched soap operas since I was a toddler.
2) i am very over protective.
1) i love being at home when I’m not on vacation.
eight ways to win my heart:
8) love GOD (not just the idea of God).
7) be sweet.
6) be sincere.
5) be funny
4) be serious
3) laugh with me
2) respect me.
1) love me.
seven things that cross your mind a lot:
7) God is so good to me.
6) love for family and friends.
5) missing those i’ve lost.
4) what am i going to be when i grow up???
3) i am getting to be such a creature of habit.
2) maggie’s so sweet.
1) i love my life.
six things you do before you fall asleep:
6) brush my teeth
5) read and comment on blogs.
4) tell kat good-night and I love you
3) make sure all the doors are locked/turn off lights
2) turn on ceiling fan.
1) cuddle with maggie and john. (i pray off and on all day;)
five people who mean a lot at the moment:
john and katherine.
four things you see right now:
4) laptop
3) electric blanket
2) mia sucking up the heat from my laptop
and...
1) maggie, of course:b
three songs that you listen to often:
3) have yourself a merry little CHristmas
2) silver bells
1) the holly and the ivy
(they are the first three songs on my blogger play list;)
two things you want to do before you die:
2) share God with anyone who wants Him in his/her life.
1 )have a 5th generation portrait made with me being the oldest of a happy, healthy family;)
one confession:
1) i spend way too much time obsessing over my weight. however, the bathing suit in the photoflick from yesterday... the one i'd love to ask for in a small??? i have it in a large; and let me just say, it ain't pretty!!! rotflmao!!!
love and blessings,
dani xx
10 things i would like to say to 10 different people...
10. do you have this in a size small???
9. can i get that passport over-nighted???
8. your new car is in the driveway, be careful, and enjoy it!!!
7. sure, dear, i'd love to join you for 10 days in puerto aventuras; let me pack my bags.
6. you are having thanksgiving dinner at your house, and all we need to do is be there at 5???
5. here is enough money for you to pay off your home and get back on your feet.
4. you are welcome, a basket of groceries is the least we could do.
3. we have come into a fortune???
2. i cannot believe they've found a cure for my auto-immune disease:)
1. thank YOU for blessing us so that we can bless others.
love and blessings,
dani xx
it is so hard when you love someone to admit to yourself your loved one is anything but perfect.
i suppose this is why i assured everyone at my baby shower mrs. moss must have had something really important come up at the last minute causing her to be late
rather than admitting her memory was failing her.
she was the only one missing from the guest list. thus, her absence was noticeable. further, several were wondering aloud if something were wrong.
"of course not," i assured them (i was really assuring myself)."
mrs. moss had had her gift delivered. she had sent me the most adorable appliqued diaper bag for my baby katherine, who was due to arrive in just four, short weeks.
there was a gift card attached,
"love, lucy".
i still have both...
though mrs. moss still wasn't there, i went ahead and opened the gifts and thanked everyone for the lovely things they'd given to me. carrot cake and coffee were served... my heart felt very heavy, and i was really starting to worry.
mrs. moss, being an extremely well-mannered, southern woman, wouldn't have not responded to say she was going to be unable to attend unless something really were wrong. i knew that.
she never arrived.
when it was time to leave, i thanked everyone again, my mom helped me load my gifts into my car, and i drove straight to the moss' home.
from the outside, all seemed very normal. i was so relieved. you will never know how relieved i was to see both cars in the drive, light coming from the windows, and smoke coming from the chimney!
i headed home with a much lighter heart.
after returning home, it wasn't long before our phone rang... (the mosses called us every night at 6 just to see how our day went, share their day, and tell us that they loved us. thank goodness; nothing was different with this conversation!)
"oh, mrs. moss, i love the diaper bag you sent to my shower. it is the cutest thing ever," i said. "thank you so much!"
mrs. moss sat there for a moment. then i heard her say to mr. moss that she knew there was something she was supposed to have done that afternoon. she apologized for forgetting. i assured her it was okay, that i just wanted to thank her for her thoughtfulness and adorable gift.
(it really was okay;
and i really did
just.want.to.thank.her.).
little did i know her missing my baby shower would be the first of many episodes of forgetfulness we would experience together due to the onset of...
alzheimer's.
(to be continued...)
love and blessings,
dani xx
ps you will find earlier entries in ascending order on my side bar entitled, "our love story":)
i took the quiz,
"Are You a Jackie or a Marilyn? Or Someone Else?"
after reading christina's post over at
adventures of maverick and mrs.
btw, she's "the mrs." and her husband, patrick???
he was "the maverick" long before sarah palin was, lol;)
anyway, i have known christina since she was a little girl,
and her results were very accurate
so, i thought i'd give the quiz a whirl.
why not??? there are only 2 questions.
well...
i found that i am neither a jackie nor a marilyn...
no, i...
i am an ingrid.
(ingrid bergman)
You are an Ingrid -- "I am unique"
Ingrids have sensitive feelings and are warm and perceptive.
How to Get Along with Me
* Nice words, they mean a lot to me.
* Be a supportive friend or partner. Help me to learn to love and value myself.
* Respect me for my special gifts of intuition and vision.
* Though I don't always want to be cheered up when I'm feeling melancholy, I sometimes like to have someone lighten me up a little.
* Don't tell me I'm too sensitive or that I'm overreacting!
What I Like About Being an Ingrid
* my ability to find meaning in life and to experience feeling at a deep level
* my ability to establish warm connections with people
* admiring what is noble, truthful, and beautiful in life
* my creativity, intuition, and sense of humor
* being unique and being seen as unique by others
* having aesthetic sensibilities
* being able to easily pick up the feelings of people around me
What's Hard About Being an Ingrid
* experiencing dark moods of emptiness and despair
* feeling guilty when I disappoint people
* feeling hurt or attacked when someone misunderstands me
* expecting too much from myself and life
* fearing being abandoned
* obsessing over resentments
* longing for what I don't have
Ingrids as Children Often
* have active imaginations: play creatively alone or organize playmates in original games
* are very sensitive
* feel that they don't fit in
* believe they are missing something that other people have
* attach themselves to idealized teachers, heroes, artists, etc.
* become anti authoritarian or rebellious when criticized or not understood
* feel lonely or abandoned (perhaps as a result of a death or their parents' divorce)
Ingrids as Parents
* help their children become who they really are
* support their children's creativity and originality
* are good at helping their children get in touch with their feelings
* are sometimes overly critical or overly protective
* are usually very good with children if not too self-absorbed
wow!!! the quiz was pretty darn accurate!!!
are you an ingrid, too???
if you'd like to take the quiz,
click HERE.
let me know your results:)
love and blessings,
dani xx
i have been playing around with my background and template for the past couple of weeks... i've only tweaked it a little here and there so as not to lose all my widgets (those cute little gadgets (including ALL the blogs i follow) i've added along the way on my sidebar).
well, yesterday, i got a little too brave for my own good!!! i was "tweaking" away at my background when all of the sudden, i happened to notice all my widgets were gone with the exception of my "about me" and my blog archive...
admittedly, i said a curse word!!!
but, don't worry; it was not "the mother of all curse words"... for i knew that i had followed the directions and backed up all my template/widget information. i was relieved to know that all my problems would be solved. all i had to do was restore the information; right???
WRONG!!!
relief quickly faded to despair... blogger wouldn't let me save the restored template and widgets. i kept getting a message that said my info was in the wrong form... something about "closures". i almost cried... really. (probably because i have been pms'ed and have been just a little stressed this week over my linda;)
anyway, i just left it for a while.
we went out to dinner with my parents, brother, aunt and uncle, and some friends.
and, when we returned home, i, feeling like a new woman, tore down my whole site and revamped!!!
all of this to say...
please, check my blog roll to make sure you are there.
if you are not, kindly leave me a comment and let me know:)
love and blessings,
dani xx
has awakened!!!
(gary and linda)
i hadn't posted an update because linda (see previous post) decided to take a little extra time to awaken... the transplant team expected her to wake up from her surgery on tuesday night (the night of her surgery).
however, linda didn't decide to do so until...
THIS MORNING!!!
to say that we were starting to get a little worried about her would be an understatement. however, the worry turned to relief when her son called this morning to say that her venthilator had been taken out and she had been sitting up in a chair early this morning (thursday)...
ALERT!!!
thank you all for your kind words, thoughts, and prayers:)
love and God's blessings,
dani xx
about five years ago my phone rang in the wee hours of the morning... that is never a good thing. and, it wasn't. my sister-in-law's niece, kelly, was calling to let us know that that linda (sil) had had a massive heart attack and was in intensive care. it was very iffy as to whether or not she would survive.
i packed our bags, and katherine and i travelled to go be there for linda.
linda had gone to a charlie daniels' benefit concert for the families of police officers who'd been killed in a high-speed chase. she had started feeling sick, had gone to the restroom to splash cool water onto her face, and was sitting on a table in the hallway.
when she had the heart attack, she went face first onto the concrete floor. thank goodness she was at a public event... as there were paramedics and police on hand. the paramedics had to shock her heart 3 times before they could get it beating again.
she was rushed to st. thomas hospital in nashville.
her heart situation was negatively compounded by the head injury she'd sustained when she fell from the table; hence, the doctors were unable to give her blood thinners.
linda's prognosis was grave...
thankfully, linda did pull through. she surprised all her doctors!!!
her cardiologist told her that the type of attack she'd had was called "sudden death" in the medical world. further, had there not been medics right there when she suffered the attack, she would have surely died.
though she was a trooper and pulled through the heart attack, things have not been easy for linda. because her heart was greatly compromised, as time passed, its inefficiency began to affect the rest of her health (breathing, energy, etc...) to the point that in august her cardiologist had to put her on a donor list for a heart transplant.
well, yesterday morning at 8:30 am her phone rang. it was st. thomas hospital. she was told to get to the hospital asap as her new heart was en route!!!
she promptly arrived and was prepped for surgery. the heart arrived mid-day. after a four hour surgery, linda had a new, healthy heart pumping in her chest. she was doing well last night.
THANK GOD!!!
however, stories like this are always so bittersweet... the heart linda received had been donated by the family of a 14 year old girl. so, as we are jubilating over linda's blessing, a family somewhere is mourning the loss of their beautiful daughter... for them, i ask for prayers. i just hope they find peace and comfort in the knowledge that their little girl didn't die in vain.
those of us who love our linda are so grateful!!!
there are just no words...
love and God's blessings,
dani xx
(click to enlarge;)
