so many things so little time

I don't even know where to begin. Life has been so busy. I love blogging but just finding the time. I am sure I am not the only one. Just a few topics for the next couple blogs.......Mom married a onion farmer. Mackies first few baseball games and his surprise scholarship. Tucker and 1/2 credit to graduate. Jordan's 2 graduations and who is going. The Boomers and Jacks Place. My new kitchen counters, and finally the long awaited surgery. Oh, did I mention Tucker and the egg incident?

Before I go to all of that, I want to say how fun it has been getting reacquainted with old friends from school. My friend from chapel at S.A., from other classes too....and the guitar player. It is amazing how 35 years seems like yesterday. We were talking and we feel the same, we just look different. Some alot different!ha ha!

I am happy to blog to you all that my forever friend, who had breast cancer is doing well. In fact, I am trusting that she will live to be as old as her mother! Mom is 99 and still doing great! We have so much to be grateful for.

I guess I will tell about the party at Jacks Place. The Boomers who are a classic rock band did a cancer benefit. There was a 5.00 cover charge and all the fun you could stand. I frankly can stand alot!!!!! We danced and sang along to the music we grew up with, surrounded by old friends and some new friends we met that night. I'm a little bias because the bass player was my boyfriend in 1976! It was so fun to see Mark again. Other than he has grown his hair longer than mine, he looks the same. He was always great with music! They raised 1,000 dollars. We brought a whole group with us! We are all hopeful the band will tour!

I will get back to blogging on a regular base....I have so much to tell!!!

forever friends

I had a great surprise yesterday, all three of my teenagers were home for dinner. It seems the simple things like sitting down to dinner as become harder and harder. One's off to college and ones here part time. My youngest is working for the flower shop, refereeing basketball games and pulling A's at school. My non-teenager lives 3000 miles away and got married last July. It was hard for me when summer can to a end, and everyone went their own way. That is why yesterday was so great! We sat around the table and filled each other in on the weeks events.

We have two boxers named Bella and Bubba. They are my usual company. We watch reruns of NCIS, and laugh at Jay Leno's monologue. They compete for my attentions, beg for food, and fight over who is going to sit on my lap. When I think about it, it really isn't that different then when the kids are home! haha There is just something about the laughter....it fills the soul.

Growing older is not for the weak! It seems just when you think you have it all figured out...BOOM!! Something whacks you on the back of your head! I had one of though "BOOMS" this last week. One of my dearest and closest friends( the one's I call forever friends) was told she had breast cancer. The big scary "C" word. That happens to you when you get old, not our age! I found myself overwhelmed with emotion. I went through the stages of it can't happen to us. Then sadness that it hit my safe little circle of forever friends. Finally we will all be fine, she will be just fine. Right God? I find myself waking up in the middle of the night praying, praying for us all. I know that sounds funny, only one of us has cancer. Then I realized when you have been friends for 30-40 years, you stop being a "me" and you become a "us". We will fight this together.

Looking over the words I just wrote, I realize how very blessed we are. Some people go their whole lives and don't have even one good friend. We have us! Being a good friend is not always easy. It takes work. But the rewards are worth the time and energy. Think of the example we are being. Children are the product of their parents. Mine kids are just like I was. I would bring home every stray I could find. Every new kid at school, every kid with out a good family structure....you get my point. My kids do the same! Our home is always filled with kids. We even had senior skip day at our house. (better here than who knows where) I guess what I am trying to say is...having or being a forever friend is one of the most fulfilling relationships a person can have. Be a example, take the blessings of friendship into your families future.

who am I?

I've been bothered by a thought all week....How much of myself do you have to give up to make others happy? Maybe at my age and stage of life, that is all I am good for. I'm not feeling sorry for myself, don't interpret this wrong, its just that everyone else issue take presidency over mine. After a day of coaching kids, encouraging acquaintances, taking care of everything around the home, being strong for the surprises in life that we didn't expect,and the disappointments of family. Struggling in this economy, and work, I wonder sometimes who I have become.

I think everyone wonders at one time or another. It makes you reflect back and long for either the good old days, or hope for the future and new......

I am the oldest of two children....actually I am a middle child. I had a older brother that died at birth. So I am left confused. My husband likes to tease me and says that I am both....A bossy peace maker! haha I wonder sometimes how different my life would be if I truly was a middle child. Its a lot of responsibility filling both shoes. Somewhere between all the changes in my moms life and the lack of changes in my sisters life I can't win for losing! What does that really mean, anyway? I'm sure it was a made up saying from someone who had a week-end like mine!
I need to remember that my purpose in life is to raise honest, loving, faithful, giving and grateful children. Be a wife my husband is proud of. A friend that can be trusted to the very end. And a daughter and sister that will choose peace for the sake of the family.

I know this is not my usual writing, but someday when my children are reading this and they are having a hard time....they will know they are not alone in how they feel. They are not the first to be disappointed by family or worried about their friend. They can have a week that is not what they would have chosen. But at the end of the day, as they put their head on the pillow, they can rest and be at peace knowing someone "mom" understands.

New Years

As stupid as this sounds, I forgot how to get to my blog! I finally had the time to work my way through it. I have missed the time I spent sharing with you.

Christmas was wonderful! We had parties, presents, great food and the wonderful company of good friends and family. I thought I would write about the Nutcracker. I thought it would be nice to give my family a little culture, so I got tickets to the ballet. We went to the Elsinore Theater on the 22ND of Dec. Everyone was looking "pretty" and "excited" about the evening. Three teenagers, grandpa and grandma, and Dan and I. First of all, don't try to save money! Buy the good tickets! We were in the nose bleed section that was also made for midgets. No offense intended, my family is not what you would call delicate. All three of the teens are 6 foot and above and my husband is 6'6". Needless to say we were sitting with our knees hanging into the row in front of us. The people in that row were not to happy. You could see there faces as we were coming in. It look like the people in the coach seats on a airplane when they see us all squeezing in the middle seats!haha. What do they expect? We are Norwegians! Well, Tucker fell asleep and said he had a hard time following the story line. Jordan was bored and picking on the boys. Mackie, who loved it as a child, didn't seem as excited as I had hoped. Grandpa and Grandma are hard of hearing, and my husband couldn't quite get comfortable! Who'd guess! I of course, LOVED IT!!! The music and costumes. People all around us doing the same thing we are. Making traditions. I will do it again next year, get the good seats, and they will laugh about the sqweezefest the year before.

Christmas and more

It has been a month since I was able to blog. I have to say I have missed it. For those of you who do not know what I do for a living (besides raise 3 teenagers, like that's not enough!) I am a florist. Now the name is a little easier to understand. Aunt Tilly's family garden. aka Aunt Tilly's Flower Barn. This was my second Christmas season. Last year was a blurr. We lost our electricity on the 19th with all the snow we had last year. We borrowed a generator from some friends of ours and proceeded to arrange Christmas centerpieces to the tune of 30 a day in 13 degree weather. Thank goodness for "lifer friends". You know the ones that no matter how late, or cold, or tired we may be, they are there to help you. My husbands favorite part was the chaining and unchaining for the west hill deliveries. Well....that was last year. This year we had electricity and a warm shop to work in. We were just busy! I count that a blessing in the state of economy we are in. Flowers are a funny thing, you can remember a birthday or special occasion at 10 am, and have a dozen roses at their doorstep by 2pm. In the "flower world" people can be last minute. So Christmas eve we were delivering right up till the Christmas eve service at church. It never acquired to me that when I decided to have my own shop I would never have a holiday any other place but home!

Something else happened this season that I would like to share. I only talk about this to see if I can spare someone else from the embarrassment and hardship. I was working away one day at the shop and my phone rang. The voice on the other end was a rely operator. For those of you who do not know what that is, it is used for hearing impaired. The operator reads the text message to me and them types my response back to the hearing impaired person. I had a lady that was ordering 25 poinsettias and she needed to have them ready to be picked up the following Tuesday. I had never taken a order like this before. She gave me her visa and asked for the approval # and asked that I set up the details for the shipper. The credit card went through and I gave her the approval code and set off to purchase 25 poinsettias. I got everything ready and she called back and asked if I could add 20 more. The rely operator this time said to me, " you know this is a scam". I was taken by surprise and wasn't sure I heard him right. I said excuse me? He said this is a scam made with stolen credit cards. I wasn't sure what to do. He said it was probably coming out of Nigeria and that it happens all day long. I was sick to my stomach and shocked that I could be tricked into such a horrible scam. He also told me that he would be fired if his company knew he told me. The companies stand on this is that they can not guess if the call is legal or not. Thank goodness for a honest worker at this phone company. He was willing to risk his job to help me not get in any deeper with these awful people. What about the 10 other operators I talked to in the process of getting this order together. Where was there integrity?
Just so you know the rest of the story, I called my bank and told them what had happened and that the credit card that was used was stolen, I also needed to know what to do. You know what I found out? (this story does not have a happy ending in case you want to know this up front). There is no protection for the small business owner. So I am out shipping and the cost of poinsettias plus the hours and embarrassment that I endured with the scam from Nigeria and the rely operators. I hope this will be a learning experience and a help for all that reads this.

Christmas its self was wonderful. We had a lazy day and watched football, ate till we were ill, and open presents into the evening hours. It makes me so grateful for the gift of family and friends. I will blog more about Christmas and the comings and goings of the season, I wouldn't want you to miss the story of December22nd and the whole family at the ballet.

give your all

Well Thanksgiving is here and gone on the calender, but hopefully not gone in our hearts. This was a particularly happy Thanksgiving for me. All my children (sounds like the soap opera) were home. Not only that, but my whole family was present and accounted for. The only missing link was Ben's wife. We had two new places at the table. Gabriel, my three month old nephew. It is so fun to have new life around. So often we think about getting old and forget to celebrate youth. On the flip side, or should I say on the other side of the table, both literal and age wise is Wayne. Mom's new bow. He has years of wisdom and humor to draw from. The rest of us, just filled in the gap!

I hope that the traditions that I try so hard to instill in my childern will live on.
People ask me why I don't make it easy on myself and use paper plates, or have others bring things. After 4 days of dishes I asked myself that also. The answer was still the same has always, I want my family and friends to know how special they are to me. It's easy to take shortcuts, or to take the easy way. Thats not who I am, and not who I want my childern to be. You see, the choices we make, even in the little things, determine who we are and the qualities we hold. I'm not saying that if you use paper plates, you are not showing good qualities. All I am saying is for me I want to give my all. You get one chance with this life and I want to make a differece.

So I will continue do dishes, wrap each gift with pretty bows, set a festive table, decorate every room in the house, and be an example to my friends and family. Remember to live each day with Thanksgiving in your heart.

My favorite holiday

It as been so long since I have had a chance to "blog". So many things are happening. I remember my mom use to tell me that once you were out of school, time go by so quickly. Boy, is that the truth! I thought I would never be done with school. Twelve years was a long time, (this was before I was even thinking of college). Now I have been out of school two and a half times longer than I was ever in! Ok ...almost three times.

With Thanksgiving just around the corner, and time being such a commodity, I thought I'd better talk a little about being thankful. Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday of the year. Most people like Christmas, don't get me wrong I love Christmas, there is just something that stirs my soul about thanksgiving. Its not that only good things have happened on thanksgiving. I lost my father-in-law at thanksgiving. When something like that happens, most people decide that they no longer want to celebrate, or it will never be the same. Of course it won't be the same, but that doesn't mean it can never be fun again, or we can't be thankful for other things. One of my favorite memories is also on thanksgiving. My oldest son Ben, was about a year old and my parents had moved to Camano, Is.,Wa. They had bought a 800 sq. ft. cabin on the bluff above sunset beach. The view was incredible not so much the cabin. My Dad was a visionary, and He knew someday it would be a beautiful home on water front property. One of my closest friends and her husband and Al and I, drove 5 hrs with two, one year old boys, (by the way we both have different husbands, same boys). It started raining on the way up, but it didn't dampen our spirits...remember we had already started our Christmas music, it is after Halloween. By the time we got to the Island the wind was blowing so hard that there tree branches in the road and stuff flying everywhere. The cabin sits on a 200 ft bluff that looks out over the San Juan Is. Along with the view, you also get the wind, the rain, the storms, even snow! The funny thing about this Island is that even though you do not have to boat to it, there is one road on and one road off. It truly has the makings of a good Halloween story. So you get my point...Anyway, we arrive and get settled in. Mom and Dad have the only bedroom. The master suite, 8x6. We are sharing the kitchen/dinnig room/living room. We brought our sleeping bags, things are good. The house smelled of turkey and pumpkin pie. We were excited to be there. Debbie and I were setting the table (in our make shift bedroom/living,dining and kitchen), when the lights started to flicker and then go out! The storm had won, and we had a half cooked bird in the oven. We found candles and Dad stoke the fire up in the wood burning stove and Mom finish cooking the turkey. We ate by candle light and instead of watching football and melting into the couch, a strange thing happened...we talked.

I'll never forget that Thanksgiving. A idea was born that became a tradition for me and everyone over the years that has shared my Thanksgiving table. I buy or make gifts for all that are coming. Not expensive, sometimes it something like homemade jam, but it is thought about, and hand picked. Wrapped and placed on the plate of the person seat at the table. It is my gift to each person, saying I am thankful on this day of Thanksgiving, that you are part of my life. There is a catch, everyone has to share one at a time, what they are also thankful for before they open their gift.

It does't matter if you are 3 or 93, everyone shares...everyone talks with each other, not at each other. A couple years ago, we were having our first Thanksgiving with out Ben. He had moved to Ct. It was hard on all of us, but especially Mackie. We often refer to Mack as "o man of little words". He was avoiding Bens phone calls, and wasn't texting him. He was mad Ben had left him. It really was that he was missing him terribly. As we were going around the room, taking our turn at thankfulness, Mackie was notably uncomfortable. I was getting prepared to hear " I'm not thankful for anything! or leave me out this year!" But to my surprise, Mackie cleared his throat and said, "I am thankful that Ben has found someone to love and that she loves him back". It was a heart thing, spoken out of my quiet sons pain.

You see most people think Christmas is the giving holiday. Thanksgiving is the giving holiday for me. Giving of one heart to another.