Laughter

Awh, laughter!  How nice it is to laugh!  It not only feels good, it's healthy too!  The best medicine, they say!  The louder and harder you laugh, the better the benefits!

Anyway! I'm not writing an essay or anything.  Just got an email from a friend that made me laugh - several times actually, and not just a chuckle.

So I thought I'd save it in a blog post. That way, I can read back every once in a while and laugh again.

___________________________________

1. I think part of a best friend's job should be to immediately clear your computer history if you die.

2. Nothing sucks more than that moment during an argument when you realize you're wrong.

3. I totally take back all those times I didn't want to nap when I was younger.

4. There is great need for a sarcasm font.

5. How the hell are you supposed to fold a fitted sheet?

6. Was learning cursive really necessary?

7. Map Quest really needs to start their directions on # 5. I'm pretty sure I know how to get out of my neighborhood.

8. Obituaries would be a lot more interesting if they told you how the person died.

9. I can't remember the last time I wasn't at least kind of tired.

10. Bad decisions make good stories.

11. You never know when it will strike, but there comes a moment at work when you know that you just aren't going to do anything productive for the rest of the day.

12. Can we all just agree to ignore whatever comes after Blue Ray? I don't want to have to restart my collection...again.

13. I'm always slightly terrified when I exit out of Word and it asks me if I want to save any changes to my ten-page technical report that I swear I did not make any changes to.

14. I keep some people's phone numbers in my phone just so I know not to answer when they call.

15. I think the freezer deserves a light as well.

16. I disagree with Kay Jewelers. I would bet on any given Friday or Saturday night more kisses begin with Miller Lite than Kay.

17. I have a hard time deciphering the fine line between boredom and hunger..

18. How many times is it appropriate to say "What?" before you just nod and smile because you still didn't hear or understand a word they said?

19. I love the sense of camaraderie when an entire line of cars team up to prevent a jerk from cutting in at the front. Stay strong, brothers and sisters!

20. Shirts get dirty. Underwear gets dirty. Pants? Pants never get dirty, and you can wear them forever.

21. Sometimes I'll look down at my watch 3 consecutive times and still not know what time it is.

22. Even under ideal conditions people have trouble locating their car keys in a pocket, finding their cell phone, and Pinning the Tail on the Donkey - but I'd bet everyone can find and push the snooze button from 3 feet away, in about 1.7 seconds, eyes closed, first time, every time.

23. The first testicular guard, the "Cup," was used in Hockey in 1874 and the first helmet was used in 1974. That means it only took 100 years for men to realize that their brain is also important.

Finding God

I found myself being beckoned outdoors this early morning as I sat at the kitchen table drinking coffee.  The call was so real that I actually got up and looked out the door.  The loveliness of the day almost took my breath.  The dew was still on the grass and the early morning sun was filtering through the trees.  I knew immediately who was calling out to me.

It was God...inviting me to come find Him in the beauty of this day. So, of course, I changed quickly into shorts and walking shoes, grabbed my camera, and headed out the door. My plan was to take pictures of all the places I found Him. 

Did I say I went out to find Him?  I didn't have to find Him.  He was waiting right outside the door...

 

 

  

 

 

"I love to think of nature as an unlimited broadcasting station, through which God speaks to us every hour, if we will only tune in."                                ~ George Washington Carver

 

 



Heart Things - Treasures

Well, you would be surprised the number of times I log on here, feeling like I have something to say, then maybe writing a paragraph or two before giving up and closing out.

I'm a terrible blogger...

I want to blog.  In fact, I can't tell you the joy I find in reading some of my past posts - not because it's great writing, but because the posts are all about the people and things I love, or fun experiences, or just things that made me laugh or cry.

Heart things - that's how I'd describe them...treasures, and they're all written down in one place allowing me to revisit them as often as I desire. To me, this is the benefit of blogging.

So why can't I blog?  My life continues to be filled with treasures...

Gracie, my cat of five months is laying across my feet as I write this - a long-awaited act of trust on her part...

My family increased in size over the past 15 months - two new daughters-in-law and six new grandchildren, one of which is a brand new little girl, currently just over 3 months old...

I retired in March, something I consider quite a feat for me, as I feared it for a long time, wondering what in the world I would do with all the extra time and reduced income...

I started taking guitar lessons when I retired and have loved every minute although I still struggle playing clear chords.  I'm considering giving piano lessons another shot...

I joined a fly fishing group of ladies back in July and will start fly fishing classes next week - watching someone fly fish in a mountain stream always made me think of God...

I've reconnected with several old friends since retirement - a retirement resolution. We laugh together over how much we've changed and yet stayed the same...

My Friday Night Group and the Dinner Divas remain as vital to my life as family...

My husband...well, life with him grows sweeter every day...

And my walk with God is finally finding it's rightful place in my life...

...plenty of treasures...plenty of memories-in-the-making...plenty of reasons to blog.

My Annual Post-Christmas Delemma

Well, Christmas is over and like every year before, I face my usual January dilemma -- when MUST I take down my Christmas decorations?

Most of my neighbors had every sign of Christmas removed by the evening of the 26th!  If it weren't  for the trees lying out by the curb, one might never know that just the day before planes were having trouble finding Charlotte airport because of all the lights shining up from my neighborhood here in Salisbury!

WHAT IS THE RUSH???? 

I've been told that the holidays are so hectic, people are just ready to get things back to normal.

What??  The shopping is over, the gift-giving, the parties, the dinners...the hectic part of Christmas is over!  Now is the time we can truly enjoy the peace and the quiet and the serenity of sitting in the soft glow of Christmas lights and candles and shiny Christmas balls!

My house never feels so warm and peaceful and inviting as it does when it is aglow with the lights of Christmas. Gives me a feeling of good will toward all men. 

I'm just never excited to pack that away.

Hope in the New Year!

I actually wrote this last January, but never posted it.  I don't know why. I had forgotten it was here, until I found it today, still waiting.  It makes me a little sad to read it, but then I was sad last January.  We had lost an important member of our family and so it was difficult to imagine how we could march full of hope into a new year.

Nevertheless, the words are just as true for me this January, as last. I always face a new year with a little apprehension.  The up-side to that is it's never without hope.

So, here's last years words for this year...

Well here we are, the first day of a new year!  As usual, I enter the new year with mixed feelings - excitement, hope, apprehension, and yes, fear. I guess this is probably true for many of us, but especially for those of us having a little age on us.  Unlike the young, we older folks no longer feel invincible and we've learned from experience that things don't always work out.

So I enter the new year, excited for the opportunity of a new beginning, hopeful that this year will be better than the last, apprehensive because I know the possibilities include both good and bad, and fearful of the bad.

I guess of all these feelings though, I'm the most hopeful!  I am hopeful that this new year will bring jobs to those in need of work, food for those who go to bed hungry every night, love for those who yearn for it but don't have it, healing to those who face devastating illness, peace to those whose minds harbor demons they have to fight every day of their lives, and hope to those who feel they are without hope.

Yes, mostly I'm hopeful.

Hello, it's been a long time.

Well, it's been a long time since my last blog post - January 2012 actually. I started out with good intentions, as always, but it didn't last. My heart just wasn't in it. The few people who do occasionally read my posts already know that 2012 was a rough year for the Zirt family.  Our beautiful daughter-in-law Jennifer was diagnosed with late stage cancer in October 2011 and so 2012 was all about chemotherapy, radiation, trips back and forth to the cancer treatment center in Chicago, and finally having to say goodbye long before we were ready.

That was October 2012. I often tried to blog about some of our experiences. There were certainly a lot of stories. We met some very courageous and wonderful people along the way, most of them fighting the same fight. We all became cheerleaders for one another.  Laughed and cried together. Saw some miracles. Suffered some losses.

But I couldn't blog about it.  I was always holding my breath, afraid to breathe. The doctors never gave us any real hope, and I think I needed there to be hope for me to blog about. I'm sorry, too, because I learned so much about the beautiful, courageous young woman that was my daughter-in-law.  She amazed me every day. It would probably take a poet to adequately do justice to the beautiful young woman she was and the courageous battle she fought.

Just let me say that we were truly blessed to have called her our own. 

http://youtu.be/RWm2qr25oxg

This First Month of the New Year!

I know January ends tonight, but better late than never...Happy New Year!

January is almost always a busy month for me and January 2012 has been no different.  The month begins, of course, with a holiday - New Year's Day.  This, in itself, should says something about the month.  Either it's a day to rest up in preparation for what lies ahead, or it's a day to start out celebrating!

Bob and I usually start the year with a New Year's celebration, but this year I had to work. So, in addition to no party, there was also no blackeyed peas, greens and hamhock for me.  Hope that doesn't mean I can forget about good health, happiness and prosperity for 2012!  My mom used to say, too, don't fuss or fight or say unkind things on New Year's Day because whatever you do on the first day of the year, you'll repeat over and over throughout the year. So I guess that means I can count on working in 2012 - not a bad thing the way things are right now with the economy.

I fed my "Dinner Divas"on the 10th. We're a group of ten ladies who've been getting together on the second Tuesday of every month for the past 100 years.  Really, I don't know how many years.  The first pictures I have aren't dated, and they're not digital either, so there you go.

Anyway, we each take a month and so everyone gets together for dinner in that person's home.  We meet in restaurants the empty months. There are some excellent cooks in this group. Unfortunately, I'm not one of them, and so, every year I pick up this wonderful Rosemary Baked Ziti and Greek Salad from Romano's, a nice little Italian restaurant not far from my house.  Unfortunately, Romano's burned down a few weeks before my dinner.  I truly believe everyone was afraid I was gonna cook because only four came - five counting me.  Their excuses - two had to work, two were ill and one had to milk goats. Hmmmmmm.   But they needn't worry.  I wasn't about to cook!!   My month follows Ruth's, and she's one of the best, if not the best cook in the bunch.

Here's a picture of us all at Ruth's in December: 

First row left to right:  me, Karen, Marsha, and Zandy.
Second row:  Bonnie, Ruth, Jean and Sandy.
 Top: Nancy (Missing: Sherry)

 Here we are at my house in January:

That's me in the chair.  They let me be Queen that night - probably because it was my house:)  That or they were
just so happy I didn't cook!)  Behind me: Bonnie, Jean, Zandy and Nancy.

I'm really just joshing about my Dinner Divas.  They're really a great bunch of ladies.  I know they would have been very gracious about my cooking, had I cooked.  Fortunately for all of us, Romano's has a sister restaurant across town - Capriano's - to whom I thank from the bottom of my heart for not only being there, but for having the same menu!!

On the 17th of the month, several of us met at a friend's house for a vegan cooking class. Now that was a lot more fun than I anticipated - and the food was very tasty. We had vegetable balls that could have easily passed for meat balls, a wonderful soup called Deeply Rooted Winter Soup, made with beets, carrots, potatoes, celery, onions and parsley, hmmmmmm! a great bread ....and wine (It's nice to know I won't have to give up wine if and when I go vegan!!!) We're all planning to get together once a month for a class. I'll take some pictures next month and share them here.

Then there was the surprise birthday get-together for my sister who turned 60 on the 19th. I didn't have to really do anything for that - just go. It was a very nice evening. I am very proud of my sister. She had gastric bypass surgery this past July and has lost 80+ pounds so far. I wish we'd had a group picture taken that evening so I could post it here, but I just didn't think of it at the time.  So here's Dolly, her husband Larry, and son Tim in the background...

Dolly's daughter Darlene made the cake!

On the 20th of the month, my husband's swing band played at Kepple Auditorium for a Night of Jazz and Swing. It was a benefit for our Rowan Helping Ministries and it was terrific!  There were both swing and shag dancers on stage as well.   This was their second year doing this and since I don't have the video yet from this year, I've attached the one from last year to give you an idea just how great it was!!

http://youtu.be/U9QHbVOcx7I

Finally, we celebrated my husband's birthday on the 27th. His birthday was actually the 24th, but we've had to give up partying on work nights.  This celebration has become an annual thing for us and one we both absolutely look forward to. This particular one was especially special for me in that one of our new friends took the camera from me and took pictures all night long.  I've never had so many pictures with me in them in any one night (or ten nights, for that matter) in all my life!!! You'd a thought it was my birthday!  I usually have to give the camera to somebody and say "now take one of me" just so I can prove I was there! Ha!  Anyway, just saying...

The highlight of the evening of course, was our "crazy" picture.  We've started ending all of our big occasions with a crazy picture.  It's a lot of fun and always produces a lot of laughter while we try to get the perfect shot.  I've included the last three year's here just so you can see why I think it's the highlight of the evening.

January 2010:

January 2011:

And now, January 2012:

Finally tonight, this last day of January, I drove to Burlington to have dinner with my grandson, who turned 13 yesterday.  It was the perfect ending for a near-perfect month. I say near-perfect only because  there were still some family and friends that I didn't get to see during this first month of the new year. I'm looking to change that, though, in the coming months.

Here's to all my friends and family - Happy New Year!  May you all be busy with happy occasions the whole year through - and may each and everyone of you show up in my pictures!