Before and After

I don't remember if I mentioned it before, but at the risk of being repetitive (forgive me...I'm old) here I go again...Bert is going to the Aveda Institute, so I got her to practice her newly developed hair cutting skills on me. First, me--an unkempt, gray haired hippy. And then ME again, totally gorgeous. Now if I can just lose 30 pounds and get a couple of botox injections...

Catching Up

I've gotten behind with my posts. SO...I'm throwing a couple of pictures up of some friends from church. First are some disinguished ladies I have dinner with about once a month. We can't think of a good name for our group....the old crones or old bags sounds rather harsh. How about the fabulous fifties...or the senior sisters. Which reminds me of a funny story...my brother is in town; we went to eat at a buffet and at the cashier line I was thinking out loud and said something like "I wonder how old you have to be to get the senior discount?" Now, I was with my son (who is 2 feet taller than me) my dad and my brother. So when it comes time to pay, my brother says, "2 seniors, 1 adult and 1 child." The cashier looked at him and then at us and back at him and back at us...and rang it up. I don't think they are allowed to ask for ID. The next picture I posted was of my dear friend Celeste and the Cottles. Eric just graduated from dental school.

NC Botanical Garden

It was a perfect day for a trip to the garden. It's really cool the way they have it set up. You can wander through the various sections and get a sampling of the great variety of plant life we have in this state...from the coastal wetlands to the piedmont to the sandhills and the mountains. Plus they have a nice herb garden. It was so peaceful in there and smelled so good. Next time I'm going to take a book and find a quiet place to sit and read for awhile. Afterwards I went to the old folks home and visited mom. I trimmed her hair, sort of...I'm not exactly trained in this. Then I gave her a shower. She was kind of sleepy, but cooperative. The thought occurred to me that as bad as being in a nursing home is...it's better than prison. But then I thought...wait a minute! Mom is doing life without the possibility of parole and she didn't do anything wrong! Bummer. Well, enjoy the pictures. I gotta go. I'm helping Bert with her housesitting duties at the neighbor's house. So, I'm on the way up the road right now to feed and walk her dogs. There's no rest for the wicked.

Something fun

It's me again. I just can't get enough of me. I took this picture at the building where I work. It's an awesome building, really unusual. Hey, like ME--awesome and unusual. Sorry...I'm just so full of myself today I can hardly stand it. Actually I have a cold and I'm zoning on Nyquil at the moment. So, Jon is 30 years old now. Wow, how old does that make me? OK, let me tell you how old I am. When I moved to NC 29 and half years ago, I started working at a convenience store. I remember one evening when the guy that delivered the gas came in and told me that very soon gas was going to be OVER a dollar a gallon. I didn't believe him. It was inconceivable to me that gas could ever be that expensive! The pumps were not even set up to register gas at that price. It could only go up to 99 cents. And in case you're interested, cigarettes were 48 cents a pack, 50 cents with tax. I think they're like $4 a pack now...I don't really care since I don't smoke. However, I do drive, so I'm extremely interested in the price of gas. Today it is $3.65. Mom fell last week at the home, but she is okay. She falls at least once a month and has to go to the ER for xrays. The woman has bones of iron. She's indestructible. She cannot be killed with conventional weapons. I went to see her Saturday with Dad and he made her laugh. It was wonderful.

A really special day

I wanted to post something to mark this occasion. I went to the Temple for the first time today and got my endowments. It would be inappropriate to go into detail...let's just say it was really wonderful. You wouldn't believe what it took to get to this point in my life. This is such a tremendous blessing. I wanted to thank these dear friends who came with me and all the others who supported me in prayer. And to top it all off, this is also Jon's birthday. I can't believe I have a CHILD that is 30 years old. Life just keeps getting better.

Quiet afternoon

Kitty Boy Jones resting in the "garden." I planted a couple of tomatoes (cherry and grape) to go with the herbs. I don't have space for much more...we're out here under the trees and don't get enough direct sunlight. Maybe I should try growing mushrooms instead. So, last weekend we had our branch cookout at Vista Point (on the shores of mighty Jordan Lake). I came for the food, but left before the sleep over. I told them if they ever have a camp out at Embassy Suites to count me in. Otherwise, I have to go home and sleep on my mattress in my climate controlled bedroom. I did enough camping as a kid to last a lifetime. I went to see mom yesterday after work. I gave her a shower and washed her hair, which I do about once every week....because for some reason the nursing home staff can't seem to get around to it...but that's okay, I'm glad to be of service. She never said a word the whole time. After about a hour and a half I called Dad on the cell phone and let him say hello to her. I asked her loudly (because she's deaf as a post), "Can you hear Dad?" She smiled and said, "I can hear him." I told Dad that was the first thing she had spoken. He told me he had said "I love you" in Japanese. She had indeed heard and understood. That made us all happy. We have to hang on to these little moments because they're so increasingly rare.

WOW

My little Bert is a student at Aveda now. She just loves it. She's is their fashion show tomorrow and will be proudly representing Japan. One of the other students cut and colored her hair, geisha-girl style. She looks so incredibly adorable, I just had to take a picture and share it with the world. What more can I say...she's a stunner.