DADS

Sometime I get frustrated when I hear women talk badly about men.  Particularly fathers, dads, whatever you wish to call them. These are men who step up their game every single day for their loved ones.

My friend Sharon has a brother, Teddy, who was married at a very young age. He and his wife had two children, a daughter and a son. The parents divorced as a result of mom's alcohol addiction. Ted stepped up and raised his two children. Today his daughter is an RN with a Master's degree. Ted remarried and he cares for his son Theo who suffers from Schizophrenia. When the phamily searched for help for him, they went to Fort Logan Hospital. At the meeting the doctors and other staff were shocked when in marched 34 members of their phamily all willing to pitch in and do whatever was necessary to help Theo. They were told by the staff that they had never seen such support for a patient. That is just one example.

Mr. Mom is an old movie from the 1980's but I bet if you look arouns, you will see a "Mister Mom" today. There are men who raise their children while their wives earn the bread and butter.  You have to tip your hat to these dads too. They do what they have to do to make their phamily dynamics work.

There are poems written about dad's just like mom's. If you had a good dad, you were blessed. If you were not as fortunate and you became a good parent yourself, you did something incredibly amazing. I had a friend from work, Dee. Her mom was suffering from terrible mental illness. Her dad split the scene. They were raised in the inner city of Chicago. Her mom left for weeks at a time. Dee was the oldest of four children, probably 9 when this change occurred in her life. She said an elderly neighbor bought enough bread and milk and peanut butter to feed them for two weeks. when she grew up she was angry. She said she looked into a mirror one day and realized she wanted to break the cycle she was pulled into. She married and had a wonderful phamily. She'd be the phamily mom you would call in an emergency! I tell you about Dee because we all have a story to write. Her story ended happily ever after because she changed her circumstances and did what she felt was right for her.

My own father would tell me wonderful stories about baseball and it's players. One of his favorite players was Harmon Killebrew. I love this quote I found attributed to Harmon Killebrew.  It says it all in raising boys.

Jim Valvano was an American basketball player, coach and broadcaster.

Good fathers are excellent men. I just like to remind people that sometime people are put into situations that they have to make the best of. I could tell you stories all night long about good men who raised good kids. who loved their wives and did the very best they could. Please remember to honor them along with all the great women who step up every single day to raise kids.

A little dad humor.

HodgePodge

Visit Joyce and come join some fun.

1. Do you think the pandemic has had any kind of  positive impact on your health? Explain:

I might sound grumpy, I'm not really. I have lived a rather quiet life these past 6 years since losing a job I was at for 12 years. I am use to a slower pace. But my hubby has asthma and I do everything I can to make his breathing better for him. We do a daily vitamin regime and other then a few meds he takes, I only take one prescription medication. I am not interested in a bunch of pills if I can remain relatively healthy. In cooler weather we can walk but with this heat wave there is no way to get out and enjoy the day until the heat drops. I have a dance routine exercise plan I like, I do some chair and standing exercises for my balance. The young guy who I follow says they are designed for seniors (ha) but I keep up with him!

2. A hot mess, hot under the collar, in hot water, hot button, hot diggity dog, hot seat... choose one and tell us how it applies to your life currently:

Hot diggity dog, I watched so many episodes of the Mickey Mouse Club House with Harrison as a small toddler. Now my grandboys Brody and Blake watch me dance the Hot Diggity Dog Dance. I am in heaven!

3. Speaking of the hot seat, do you work well under pressure or do you actively avoid high pressure situations?

I like cool, calm, collected but if I feel something is worth my time and effort I will work hard under pressure to get it all done. I don't like pressure from others to take sides, so I will remain cool, calm, collected. 

4. Hot dogs- yay or nay? If you said yay, how do you like yours? Did you know July in National Hot dog month?

Yay! I love a good all American all beef hot dog. I love poppyseed buns so if I can have one I will take it with mustard, onions and relish. I don't indulge often, but the occasionally one still makes me happy.

I read here a list of America's coolest Southern towns. they are Marfa Texas, Greenville South Carolina, Abindgon Virginia, Athens Georgia, Bentonville, Arkansas, Florence Alabama, Oxford Mississippi, Abita Springs Louisana, Wilmington North Carolina Monroeville, Alabama,  McMinnville Tennessee, Natchez, Mississippi.How many on the list have you seen in person?  Which town on the list would you most like to see?

Greenville, South Carolina and Wilmington, North Carolina and Natchaz, Mississippi have been on my list of places I have been. But I would really love to see Monroeville, Alabama as years ago I knew a blogger from there who sent me a post card when I did a post card giveaway. She gave me the story of Harper Lee and the courthouse where  the courthouse scenes from To Kill A Mockingbird were filmed.  Arkansas in general has been on my list as my late father-in-law was born and raised there in a town called Springfield.

6. Insert your own random thoughts here:

My random photo from Westbound 112th Avenue on the way to Good Times to pick up our breakfast burritos. They use Hatch's green chili, shhh.....do not tell Loretta. She thinks Hatch's green chili is better then the Pueblo green chili where I grew up. She doesn't need to know that I am cool and eat both. 

I will continue my DAD post tomorrow since I did my Hodge Podge post here today.

MOMISMS

They say can not pick your phamily. but you can pick your friends. I hit the jackpot with a wonderful, kind and loving set of parents and grandparents too. This is a photo of my dad's folks and my grandmother is holding my cousin MaryJo. Her brother Sammy is on your rights and cousin Dennis to your left. Good memories.

In honor of   all the mothers who have stepped up and home schooled their kids,  here are some classic "Momisms". I will add to these along the way.

I Have heard my mom and her momisms' coming out of my mouth on more then one occasion. Even with the grands!

In my case these days, it is dogs who get into my space.  Leo, all 95 lbs. of him, often lays directly in front of where I am cooking, washing dishes, exercising, etc. The puppies are often so intrigued I feel like some sort of oddity that they wonder who is she? What is she doing? Where did she come from?

Even as adults, they sure know where to scope me out!

Today is especially hard for young parents trying to keep kids from doing this. But I see young kids in store with parents wearing masks so I suppose as far as licking goes, that is a plus!

The author, who is unknown was pure genius. This is something silly my hubby would give to me. Raising children isn't easy particularly in today's unknown world.  But having raised five to adulthood, I would never change a thing even if someone said I could. Tomorrow I will touch on dad's who give their all raising their kids.

Phamily Photos and Fun

This tea time image from 123RF at google images

This google image made me SMILE OUT LOUD! I have never seen anything so cute like this. Some folks are so crafty. I sure wish I were.

My dad had a sister who was two years younger then him. After his untimely passing she was the phamily storyteller who kept us in phamily stories. When she passed away her oldest daughter Audrey took over the storytelling job. We lost Audrey too but when she passed away I found out the most amazing fun fact about her. She and her hubby Chuck were fishing lovers. Audrey was the first woman president of the National Association of Fly Fishing. I keep in close contact with her only son and he has shared many stories with me too. Audrey and her hubby Chuck were the first couple to marry in our hometown church when it was brand spanking new. Somewhere in my photos I have their wedding photo too. I am always asking relatives to send me any photos they would like to share. I love posting them here and giving credit where credit is due. Chuck celebrates his birthday on July 23 with my hubby Avery. It was my dad's birthday also and to be truthful, it was the reason I knew I was destined to marry my hubby. Not only did my dad approve of him, he liked sharing that birthday with him too. Chuck is their triple and cousin Kay is the quadruple with them all sharing the day. My folks were her godparents at baptism and Uncle Bear and Auntie Gela (photo) were my godparents.

This is a CHRISTmas phamily photo of their phamily.  Les (far left) was married to cousin Jeanie. They had three daughters and one son but only Savannah is pictured here. Chuck and Audrey pictured with Julie and only son Michael. They had lost a daughter Anna Marie as well and went on to have more daughters, Janet, Susan and Mia and lots of grandchildren and great grands. Kenny was younger here but he is married to Kay who does lots of ancestry work for phamilies and they have two sons, one who is a pastor. Danny ran the filling station and auto repair . He is married to Joan and they have one son and two daughters. Ray is married to Kathy and they had two sons and one daughter. All of the kids pictured have grand kids too.

I love tea and anything related to tea. This humorous tidbit was too cute not to share.

We don't hear people discuss self control very much these days. Occasionally someone will say they need more self control while dieting to being around desserts ans other sweets. Bu it seems to be an ongoing problem in our world today.

Self-discipline is another problem not often mentioned in today's society. We have kind of gotten away from an organized world I think.

I love the Book of James. As a child I heard many of these words from my own father and as I became an adult and studied the Word of God for myself I realized everything my father said to me he took directly from the bible. You might not think that was a big deal, but being raised in the Catholic faith, the church never encouraged people to read the bible. So I know my father studied his bible as he knew they words and applied them in his daily life. He was never angry either and anger is another emotion people use way too much. As a child, I was very spoiled, being the youngest and I had a temper. I try to be a calm, collected person today. But I don't lie, it is hard being a kind soul constantly. I just know I feel better when I am calm and cool.

Before I sign off, I hope you all have sweet dreams and a restful night. Do you have a night time routine? Do you use a special pillow? Is there a specific pillow that you love? Do you get 8 hours of restful sleep?

                                  Thank you all for your visits and being such lovely blog friend.

Happy Birthday to my Honey

Today my sweet hubby has another birthday and another year with me! I am the happiest person ever! We celebrated with his sister this weekend.  Since their birthdays are three days apart it was a double fun time.

When we were first married my sweet hubby had no baby picture of himself that was in one piece. Actually it was in pieces like a puzzle. I was able to find a photographer who put the photo back together for me and he did a wonderful job. My sweet Avery still has those long skinny legs. But he is the best thing that ever happened to me. He is kind and caring and very logical. He loves the Lord with his whole heart and he has helped me to learn and understand the bible.

This handsome lad grew up to work hard and marry and enjoy a big phamily. He attended Bellview Bible College for 2 years.He studied New Testament Greek and I believe he understands the bible so well because he knows it in it's original form.

With our middle Rebekah at Guanella Pass 2018.

With our baby girl Hannah at Niagara Falls State Park May 2020.

With our oldest daughter Noelle for the milestone birthday 2019.

Nick our youngest son, with Avery on Father's Day 2020.

Our oldest son Jeremy and Brittany with their phamily Father's Day 2020.

Avery is not a birthday cake kind of guy. He loves French Silk Pie. So when it is his birthday, he gets what he wants.

My heart is and always will be yours. Happy Birthday silly!

A Traveling We Will Go

When we visited Hannah and Jake last week, we had the pleasure of enjoying an old fashioned bonfire. They had saved up all the wood from cleaning up around their property to have a bonfire. I love the country because you do not have all the city rules although I Have a few neighbors who occasionally bend those rules. The fire kept us warm on a crisp evening and we enjoyed conversation. The wind was not blowing on us so we never ever smelled the smokiness on our clothing or hair. Pure joy for me. I love the little things in life and always will. Simplicity is such a joyfulness for me.

The kids sent us this photo yesterday. They were enjoying an extra day together before Jake headed back to work. They have the loveliest home and we enjoyed their company. Hopefully we did not annoy them! HeeHeeHee!

Thinking of Ravi Zacharias today. Having lost this Apologist of the gospel only last week I am smiling as he has come full circle and has settled into Paradise. I will miss him and his heart for Jesus and his love of the gospel. I know sir, you are resting in peace.

A brilliant man with the most incredible heart for his faith. I am going to miss him very much.

I am not so interested in traveling the world anymore. I would rather  finish seeing our country before it is no more. Our quick trip to Hannah and Jake's made our week. We were refreshed and relaxed. Life is funny. It goes by fast. It is fleeting. Enjoy as much of it as you can.

This is a constant at our house. Doesn't matter what time of day or the year or the times. It is always Mister Kitty bullying the pups or Leo bullying the cat! I am unable to load anymore photos from our trip until my hubby has time to do it on his end. My phone does not have the storage space.

Aw....Mondays Ten Things of Thankful Love is.. and Much More

Here is an old photo. We celebrated Boots as a new kitten back in 1998. He was born on our wedding anniversary of May 3rd. I saved my post about him until Aw...Mondays. He was a devoted feline friend of mine his entire life, which was too terribly short. Hannah, Nick, Rebekah (holding Boots) and Colton. Harrison saw this photo and thought Colton was himself rather then seeing a photo of his dad as a kid. HaHaHa! It was too cute. I will always hold a special place inside my heart for Boots. As I sort through old photos I will share more. He was a real character and sat like a good soldier as the girls dressed him up in costume. If I tried this with Mister Kitty today I would have shredded arms and possible lose an eye because he is not a cooperative feline. I have often felt I have known true angels in my lifetime and Boots was one of them. I think he was sent to me directly from God. He came at such a good time where he made me so happy just by being at my side. He did not act like a snarky cat. He was kind and gentle and very sweet. Don't get me wrong, I have a good life with a great hubby and wonderful kids but he was there when I suffered from terrible migraines. He saw him though some difficult times. I will never forget him. Happy birthday while you roam the Rainbow bridge Boots. I love you my friend.

I was visiting Mimi and she is participating  with several others Ten Things of Thankful. So  I wanted to participate and share some of mine today, stop by Kris's and be thankful, share your thankfulness and thank her for hosting. I am new at this blog hop so I will learn as I go.
1.) Weather:  living in Colorado we natives we get use to crazy weather but lately, the beautiful days have made me extra thankful.
2.) Rain : the simplicity of the sound of hitting the windows and the fresh clean smell it leaves makes me happy and thankful.
3.) Good food: Thankful for all the delightful food we have had especially during the lock down. I forgot to take a photo before we indulged in our anniversary dinner of steak, mashed potatoes, green beans and corn with a tossed salad and homemade Bleu Cheese dressing. Yummy toast too.
4.) Health : happy to have really decent health and keeping that way with simple vitamins and good choices.
5.) Eyesight:  I have really awful eyesight but with corrective lenses I am blessed to be able to see clearly. As a child seeing my grandmother lose her sight when I was 8 years old made me extra thankful to have eyes to see with.
6.) Water :  always thankful not to take clean water for granted and having a fridge that pops out ice cubes automatically. Our ice maker went out and our handy son-in-law Zach and the hubby bought a new part and repaired it in a simple hour. Thankfulness galore!
7.) Springtime: looking around our yard and seeing butterflies making their fluttering sounds around the flowers and a bush in our backyard that is tarting to show many new signs of life is thankfulness for the simple things we enjoy. Love the smell of newly mowed lawns too and our back yard was a labor of love after ten years of mud and muck out there. Thankful for the simple smells of Springtime.
8.) Grandkids:  seeing the little ones in videos and drive by's in the car have been a thankful blessing.

The Baby Shark Boy Brody. At age two thankful for his parents who work with him to learn all his colors and reading every single day.  Love and am thankful for all the grands.
9.) Music:  thankful music is available to listen to anytime and anywhere. Having been raised by a father who loved country music as much as opera, I am thankful for a dad with such an array of beautiful music he shared with me as a kid.
10.) Good neighbors: extra thankful to live in a nice, quiet area with good neighbors who help out in times of need and are friendly and social. Thankful they are interesting and fun to be living nearby.

Ah...love is....right on que.

A google image of Jaipur Blue Pottery. I Had a high school friend who was an amazing artist and he made pottery, I had a few pieces and still do. Oneday I will post some photos. Thought I would share this beautiful image for Blue Monday

My eleventh thankfulness.

I hope your week is beautiful and blessed.