Firework!

Hellooooooooo! I've been lurking lately and leaving little notes when I can. My time management skills are horrible right now! I'm very sorry. I can barely find the time or energy to latch on to the weekly memes that I so love! So, I will add to my "New Year's List of Things To Do" item #23: MAKE MORE TIME TO WRITE!!!!! (even if it means that I give up 30 minutes of "sogging" on the couch!)

Katy Perry has a new song out (it's probably been out forEVA, but it's new to me) that has lyrics that move me to tears. I think it's the kind of message that one would give to a good friend who is a little down, or in my case, each of my four children. They all have their special talents and I would love to watch them soar through the sky while sharing their best. Please check out her video when you can.

I'm looking forward to the New Year, a healthier me, a few more "snow days" and a car that can pass the safety and emissions tests! Oh, and I'm looking forward to a lot more reading and writing.

Thank you to all who have entertained and touched me with your writing (which is just about everyone). I have received so much of what I needed to hear. I wish you all a very happy and fulfilling year with healthy babies, adventures beyond your wildest dreams, and so many hugs and kisses that you can't stand it any longer!

God Bless you all!

Liz

Saturday Centus - Santa's Dilemma

Welcome to Saturday Centus, hosted by the Divine Jenny Matlock! Her challenge is to write a 100 word post about the prompt that she provides. The prompt is not included in the word count of the post. This week's challenge is in bold type below.


It was a week before Christmas. Everyone worked overtime to handle the extra requests. When Santa joined Facebook the requests tripled. He worked late reading each request and soon found himself in bed with the flu.

“I’ll never finish!” Santa cried to Elf Larkin.

“Relax, Santa” Larkin replied, “I’ll handle it!” Off he scurried and didn’t return until Christmas Eve, with the list of names, matched up with toys.

“We had such a demand for the FT-105 racers that we ran out. So, we used all of the FT-103 racers that we had in stock” Larkin boasted.

Santa’s eyes crossed. “What was he thinking? OMG Elves are soooo 2009…”

Please visit Jenny Matlock's Saturday Centus by clicking on the logo below. You will enjoy the posts of many others who have met the challenge!

Have a wonderful (last-shopping) weekend!

Saturday Samplings - "...and she sparkled"

Back in November I wrote a post about a fantastic book that I was given. It's called "...and she sparkled" by Joan Steffend. I'm not blowing my own horn by recommending one of my own posts; I just want everyone to have the opportunity to check out the book. It's a heartwarming read, by a lovely lady. Please click here to go to my post, and then once you are there, please visit her website where you can literally read the book and watch a short video of Joan talking about the book.

Please come back and let me know what you think. Have a wonderful...last weekend to shop...weekend!

Just a Spoonful of Sugar....

Hello from a favorite meme of mine which is sponsored by Wednesday Wickedness. Each week,the lovely Janera posts ten quotes from a well-known celebrity, and then poses 10 questions for us to answer following each quote. This week's celebrity is one of my all-time favorites, Julie Andrews. Her performance in Mary Poppins placed the acting seed in me. Although my life has changed paths, I will always have a special place for her in my heart. Thank you Ms. Andrews!

I hope you enjoy her quotes and my sometimes off the wall responses!


1. “All love shifts and changes. I don't know if you can be wholeheartedly in love all the time.” Have ever felt that you’ve been in love with someone constantly over a long period of time?

Like Brad or George, or maybe even Kevin? Actually, I've been married for 34 years. I think love played a part in that. (And maybe some money, some luck and being in the right place at the right time!)


2. “I am an optimistic lady.” How optimistic are you?

Optimistic about what? That I will win the lottery, that I will lose 100 pounds, that my kids will buy me a beach house? Yeah, it could happen! At this point in my life, I am very optimistic. I spent a good deal of my life with negative feelings, and it was a lot of hard work. It's much easier (and since I like things to be uncomplicated) to think, hope and pray for good things to happen.


3. “I don't think today's younger audience... would even know what 1920s musicals were like.” Do you have any knowledge of 1920 films or musicals? If yes, any favorites?

As much as I love movies and theatre, you'd think I could rattle off a bunch of older movies, but my talents do not include photographic memory. I loved the old musicals and dancing movies. I am reminded of the song from A Chorus Line, "At The Ballet", where everyone is beautiful. Watching those movies, as well as, today's song and dance shows, make me feel a part of them as if I were on stage and involved. That feels good.


4. “I hate the word wholesome.” Play word association. I say “wholesome” and you say:

Hostess Cupcakes.


5. “I have always wished I could learn to be a potter. I love collecting ceramics; it would be so fulfilling to create something lovely.” What have you always wished that you could be?

Thin.


6. “Perseverance is failing 19 times and succeeding the 20th.” Tell us about something that you had to persevere through.

Childbirth...but I am not going to do it 16 more times. I'm not crazy!


7. “Some people regard discipline as a chore. For me, it is a kind of order that sets me free to fly.” How do you define your self discipline?

It can't be defined...I have none.


8. “Sometimes opportunities float right past your nose. Work hard, apply yourself, and be ready. When an opportunity comes you can grab it.” Have you ever missed a golden opportunity?

Do you have a few hours? My reference above to "being in the right place at the right time" is something with which I am not familiar! I did have an opportunity to apply for a position as a flight attendant, but bailed because I was afraid of losing a boyfriend. I also found myself walking to the admissions office of a law school when I realized that not only did I have no money, I would have to put off having children. I wanted to be a mom without too many other stresses. Oh, and I once auditioned for "The Dating Game", but I tried too hard to be funny, which wasn't really who I was at the time. Moral: Be yourself!


9. “In every job that must be done, there is an element of fun. You find the fun and... SNAP! The job's a game!” Have you ever had that perfect job that was always entertaining?

Yes. My job as a mom has always been entertaining...not always fun, but always entertaining!


10. “Sometimes I'm so sweet even I can't stand it.” Has anyone ever considered you as sweet?

Yes, the students at the middle school where I work. They think I'm really sweet when I write them late passes to class!

Thanks for stopping by! Please pop over to the Wicked Lady at Wednesday Wickedness and say hello! Just click on the logo below!

Sundays In My City - Brrrrrrrrr!!

Last night's news showed film of beach buddies basking in Venice Beach, CA. The newscasters moaned and groaned. Then they started with our local weather. First they said we would get a dusting. Then they said the whole dang storm was going to pass us by. I was secretly hoping they were wrong...AND THEY WERE!!! I don't have to work at either job today and I'm loving it!

The picture above is from my kitchen window (because I'm too wimpy to go outside and shoot). We have a "bowl" in the common area behind our house, which, I am told, was supposed to be a pond when the subdivision was built. It never became a pond, but does occasionaly when we get a hard and fast rain...and only lasts for a few hours. So, in the winter, it is a magnet for kids on sleds! I am such a wimp! When the kids were little, I would watch them play in the snow from the house. I would only throw on boots and a coat if I saw a crowd of kids waiving their arms for assistance with a downed sledder whose limbs were bent in unnatural positions.

This storm won't constitute a "snow day" tomorrow, as I am sure by then all of the streets will be plowed and there will be no excuse why I couldn't drive or walk .5 mile to work.

This post is brought to you by Unknown Mami at Sundays in My City. Please click on the logo below and take a stroll through the streets of San Francisco!



Whether you are basking in the sun, or making snow angels, I hope you have a delightful Sunday in your city! I live in St. Louis, Missouri. Welcome to my city!

Gasp! It's Saturday Centus!

I love this weekly meme sponsored by Jenny Matlock. Each week, she gives us a prompt and challenges us to write a story using the prompt but no more than 100 words in length. I hope you enjoy it! (The prompt is in bold.)


Mom was a hypochondriac. She frequently acquired a deadly disease, which, of course, came with a tumor.

“When I die, I want to be buried in a fur coat and my red heels and nothing else!” she’d say from her deathbed(s).

“Okay, mom” I said. “I promise!”

That was twenty years ago. As I prepared for a move to the opposite coast, I began to clean out closets. In the corner of the master closet was a duffle bag that belonged to my dad. I had forgotten I had it. I opened the bag and pulled out a box. An involuntary gasp of shock escaped my lips when I opened the shoebox and saw the red pointy-toed shoes..."

“Uh-oh!”


Please visit Jenny by clicking on the logo below. There are many other short stories to amuse you! Thanks for stopping by!

Exhausted Fragments

The lovely Mrs4444 hosts several wonderful memes each week. Friday Fragments is one where you can write about bits and pieces of your week that may not have made an entire post. Please stop by and read about some of her fascinating followers who have shared their fragments by clicking on the logo below.

I could have written several Friday Fragments throughout the last few weeks! I've been so exhausted, however, that I have barely had time to catch up on reading.

I started a second job at a local department store. Yes, it's a chain store, and there are a million of them in the U.S. Since I have no cashier experience, my duties consist of emptying dressing rooms and returning the clothes from the rooms to their assigned racks and/or departments. Since I'm new, I don't have a clue as to where anything goes, I walk around with a dozen or so items on hangers until I find their sisters and brothers. I could easily kill an hour looking for the home of these 12 items. And, as I am walking circles around the departments looking to match up pants, tops, dresses, etc., I always find something stuck on the end of something else, and it belongs in the department at the other end of the store! My shift is over before I know it! I know there are millions of people who work two jobs and live to tell about it. I think I might not be around in six months, so I'm telling you now. I'm one of those of "mature" ladies who are beginning to feel the effect of being "large and in charge" (i.e. joints hurt, butt hurts, arms hurt and head hurts from circling the racks looking for the "right" place to dump this Calvin Klein number!) I am exhausted, I'm pooped, I'm ready to crawl into the Wardrobe and find myself in a magical land where I am young, thin and beautiful...forever! Oh, and smart, too!

I'm a slacker as far as Christmas decorations are concerned. I've always had them up the first week of December. Maybe I'll get lucky this weekend! Is it me, or does anyone else feel the need to hold back on some decs and keep things simple? I really don't have to see Christmas everywhere I look; there is plenty of that at work! I did get started on my Christmas Song yesterday, as well as, picked up the photo cards from Sams.

Katya is looking for a new job. No more free blizzards!!!! Ed is still hosting at Olive Garden and now that school is on winter break (for 5 weeks), she hopes to pick up a few more hours. If she can't, she will use it as an excuse to sleep in longer every day. Those teens sure like their sleep, don't they!!

And what's up with the dog? She has to pee just about every two hours. That's a breastfeeding schedule, not a "put on coat & shoes and take me outside in 25 degree weather to spend three seconds peeing!" Every day I threaten her with a crate...why I oughta...!

Fifteen days and counting....I'm beginning to feel it!

Thousand Words Thursday

Some time ago, The Mom Jen, of Cheaper Than Therapy, started the idea of posting a picture that would tell its own story of a thousand words. I like the idea because at 6:00am, I really have no business writing anything other than "I love my coffee!" It's the season, and this picture is one of my favorites. After you finish feeling sorry for the younger boy, check out Santa's expression!





Have a wonderful Thursday!