Happiest of Birthdays to Delaney Marie - she is celebrating her 12th birthday today, and what a lovely young lady she has become. Her calm countenance, generous nature, sense of humor, and endearing naivete for her age is really something to behold. She is a joy to have in our lives, coming along as she did so unexpectedly, and we wouldn't trade one second of the past 12 years for all the gold in the world!!
Loving Birthday wishes to Delaney for many happy returns of the day!
The green surface of the ping pong table down in the basement that is!! I spent the whole morning working in the basement - shifting, shuffling, cleaning (and throwing away) tons of stuff from down there, and the table was included in the operation. For the first time in probably 5 years, there is no "junk" on top of it and maybe, just maybe, it will get used over the Thanksgiving weekend! Free entertainment - you can't go wrong!
Heading into the season of "plenty to do"!! I have started doing some smart Christmas shopping, cutting waaay back this year and I've happened upon some very good deals for online and store purchases. First comes Thanksgiving, though, and I can smell the turkey already. We are so blessed to have our family all together at our house, and can't wait till Matthew and Davie arrive. We haven't seen them since last March and miss them so much.
This week we have a little choir concert to go to on Thursday night. Delaney is in an after school choir group at her school and the performance is at 6:30 pm on the 18th. It is remarkable to have her in a program as that is one thing she has never liked, being on stage!!
Then on Friday Steve goes up to Minnesota to visit with his folks, and Gerhard and his daughter Annette from Germany. I do wish I was going too, but this seemed the most prudent way for things to go smoothly. Actutally, I wish that all of those folks could be with us on Thanksgiving Day as well!
I must add that the birds are busy too right now, feeding like crazy, and I am seeing a big variety of them. So many sizes, shapes and colors - just spectacular!
Armistice Day, grateful to all who have been in the service and all who currently serve our country...thinking especially of my dad and Steve's who are both WWII Navy vets, my brother-in-law a Vietnam vet, and my niece's husband currently in the Marines.
Praying for no more wars...
....today, not so much!
First the fun day ~ I met my Pine City friend Beth, now living near Columbus, Ohio, at a Bob Evans restaurant in Dayton, Ohio. She and I go way back to 1968 when she spent her senior year at PCHS and lived with her aunt and uncle. Neither one of us can exactly remember why we hit it off and with only that one year of nearness, we have remained friends for over 40 years. The last time I saw her was 1997 when she still lived in Cincinnati. This time we met to catch up on each other's lives but also for me to receive a package of home grown wild rice from near her lake cabin in Minnesota! Can't wait to try it out!
The not so fun today was finding out we need to have our front fireplace chimney not only repaired, but completely torn apart down to the nubs and then rebuilt with new bricks. Just peachy. For the same amount of money (not that we would be spending it at all, otherwise!) we could get two rooms full of new furniture and have some left over!!
Humbug!
Today in church Ella was sitting next to me and looking at my charm bracelet - she asked me about the "21st" birthday charm and I whispered to her that it meant 21 was a special age to be. She must have continued to think about that, because after the service was over she remarked that being 21 was very old, and she didn't know if she would ever be that age!! I told her of course she would, and that on my next birthday I was going to be an age that would really sound old to her. Her eyes got big when I told her I would turn 60 the day after Delaney turned 12! Actually, when I give it more thought, it's pretty awesome to think I will be that age in less than a month!! Equally awesome is the fact that Delaney, little Delaney, will be 12 years old!! Maybe we should have a big party this year!
Had she lived, Grandma Evenson (nee Alice Amanda Sunde) would be celebrating her 115th birthday today. A testament to her lovely character, I miss her alot even though she has been gone for over 27 years.
