I want to donate something that will be helpful to the people of Japan who are suffering from the earthquake and tsunami a couple of days ago. I am so upset to learn of all the devastation. It is not practical to try to mail anything or ship things all the way over there. It costs too much to ship anything and it takes too long to get there. If you know of a good charity that would put a small cash donation to good use, please leave me a comment or send me an email with the information. I am willing to consider any charity except for the Red Cross.
News
A lot of people are saying that they no longer like to read newspapers or watch the late night news. They say that all the news is bad. It is about crime, tragedies and politics. But I feel it is important to stay informed. You don’t have to react to these stories in a negative way. There are two sides – or more – to every story. Maybe it is a flag that we should heed that means someone needs attention to fix or change!
Happy Memorial Day
Today we thank our soldiers for serving their country. It is a somber holiday for people who have lost a loved one to war or accidental death while in the service. We lost our father many years ago to Cancer, but he served our country in the war and I think of him fondly on every Memorial Day.
Well it’s back to the real world
Back to school time will be here before we know it and as usual, we are running our ‘back to school’ special which is that if they bring a book bag full of the supplies a child would need, they get one night half price. We have to look out for the children with all of the cutbacks in the school system.
It has become a tradition here that we collect school supplies and even people from the community will stop by to donate a few items here and there. They ask nothing in return either. It’s all done just out of the goodness of their hearts. This is a great community and I just love it here.
Well ‘Happy Birthday’ big brother
I have an older brother……………well he’s my foster brother that moved in with my family when I was 12 and he was 15. I used to want a big brother so very bad until I got one. They can be a real pain, ya know!! But I loved him anyway and consider him my brother and not just a foster brother.
Well today he turns 55 years old. That means it’s been 40 years since he became my big brother too. I am so proud to let you know that he is a Catholic Priest too even though our family isn’t Catholic. He does wonderful things for his ‘flock’ too. The only thing I hate is that we have not seen him in about 15 years or more. That’s okay, he’s doing Gods work so ‘Happy Birthday’ to you brother of mine!!!! Love and miss you lots!
Happy Independence Day!!!
I love the 4th of July!! We really go all out to decorate, well we do that for every holiday but there’s just something about Independence Day that I love!! We always have a huge community picnic type party with grilled hot dogs and hamburgers with all the fixin’s and of course potato salad, baked beans and we can’t forget the banana pudding and homemade ice cream.
Then there’s the fireworks display. I love all of the laughter, ooohhh’s and aaahhh’s from the children when the fireworks start. It’s just a wonderful time for all!!! I hope each and everyone of you have a wonderful 4th of July and remember what the celebration is all about, our independence!!!
Who knew?
Here I was looking at some rather awful mug shots of celebrities and ran across one that I had absolutely no idea who it was. By the way, some of those pictures were absolutely awful too. I bet the celebrities didn’t ask for a copy to have framed and put up on their walls either.
Anyway, I’m sitting there trying really hard to figure out who the heck this young guy was and then I scrolled down just a little bit more and my mouth dropped. It’s Al Pacino! Check this out and see if you would have known him. The little article that told me who he was said:
Long before playing lawbreakers in “The Godfather” and “Scarface,” Al Pacino (yes, that’s him!) was charged with carrying a concealed weapon in 1961. No wonder he’s so good at playing tough guys.
If you ask me, he was pretty darn cute even back then. No wonder he play’s tough guys so well. Looks like he grew up a tough guy.
I hope you had a wonderful Easter
We had a great Easter here. We had a huge Easter Egg hunt for the local children and it was my first Easter with Little Joe. He is such a joy. Since I have never had children of my own, he’s like a grandson to me and we had a blast dying Easter eggs and decorating for Easter. The excitement he had over the Easter Bunny coming was just the cutest thing. In the Easter Egg Hunt, whoever found the golden egg got a special gift, a $10 bill. Well as luck would have it, Little Joe found it all by himself.
I was checking online to find some different types of candy to have to put in the eggs and I found a site called thatsweet.co.uk. They had some of the most delicious looking candy for not only kids but for everyone. The only problem was I could not find out if they delivered their goodies to the US. I didn’t find it soon enough to have ordered any in time to get here by Easter anyway but I’m going to do some more checking into the site to see if I can get some sent here. It would be nice to have candy that the children here have never seen, you know. I found it odd that they had candy that’s not here but I guess we also have some candies and sweets they don’t have there.
I wish I had a bird like this
If I had a parrot like this in my critters, I’m sure that he would bring in a lot of people if even for just the day to see him. He would be a perfect addition to my little petting zoo. Speaking of my petting zoo, we’re having babies left and right. I guess it’s that time of year ya know. The petting zoo has been closed over the winter because who wants to pet a muddy animal in the cold? We will be opening it back up once the temperature starts going up but until then, people can see the animals from outside the fence. Besides, some of the new mothers don’t want you too close to their new babies. Anyway, check out this parrot!! He is amazing.
Happy, Happy Valentines Day
Well you should have seen both Celeste and Little Joe’s faces when they saw the apartment. Celeste had no idea that the apartment was for her. She thought it might be for me as a get away from everything. That would have been a good idea too but she needed to have a place of her own where she could feel at home instead of just ‘staying’ here. She’s an amazing young woman and I wanted to show her my faith in her.
Little Joe was running from room to room yelling “Mommy come see this” he was so excited and down right tickled at just about every turn. He absolutely loved his new bedroom. He came out with a huge smile on his face, looked at me and said “Is this all for me? Thank you Mamaw April, I love it all” and then gave me a big hug and a kiss. He loved his bed and the wall mural my friend painted for him of all of the animals he loves so much. I was quite impressed with the way it turned out myself.
Celeste cried. She looked at me and said “How am I ever going to be able to repay you for all you have done for Little Joe and I?” The look on their faces was all the repayment I needed. I simply told her “Make yourself and Little Joe proud by going to college and making a wonderful life for you and Little Joe. That’s all the repayment I need. Well that and having you two in my life, I can’t ask for any more than that. You have brought more light and love into my life as I have yours and this is my way of thanking you for that.”
Needless to say, we stood there and cried like a couple of idiots but isn’t love grand? Love comes in all shapes and sizes. It comes in many different forms too and people need to realize that. Love of a friend or child is every bit as important as Love of a husband or wife so cherish all forms of love you have!!!