HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO TERRY!

I just want to say "Happy Birthday!" to my wonderful husband. I hope this birthday is the best one ever - you deserve it. You are always doing things for other people and you love doing that. You love people more than anyone else I know - you put me to shame that way. I love living with you and doing things with you. You are my best friend ever!! You always love me unconditionally and that has been very freeing for me over the years - almost 37 now. You are the BEST!

SNOW!!! (in spring?)

                                        View from my front porch

This is what I saw when I woke up this morning! We got about 3-4 inches of new snow overnight! It has been sort of like spring all week and then this!!

     Looking out my front door

This is the end of March and I think maybe, looking back, that March came in like a lamb. Not good! Well, I have to look on the bright side (and it is bright out there) - look at these beautiful trees! Did I mention that I love trees? What a wonderful, snowy day!! (and spring is coming!)

                          The trees in our yard and across the street

Oh, and another thing to be thankful for - Terry was sweet enough to shovel and clean off my car before he went to work! Oh, and one more - Isaiah 1:18 "Though your sins are like scarlet, I will make them white as snow..."

Birthday Lunch

Monday some of our family got together for lunch at a restaurant on Jefferson to celebrate Terry and his sister Barb's birthdays. Their birthdays are only about a week apart and as you get older it isn't quite as important to have the celebration all for yourself. 

We had a nice lunch with a really good birthday cake. Terry picked up his dad from the nursing home. He enjoys getting out and being with people as often as possible. Ken (Terry and Barb's brother) and Sandy came, Darlene and Earlene (Terry's cousins), Aunt Shirley, Aunt Bev, and Aunt Muriel, and Ron, Barb's husband. Happy Birthday, Barb and Terry!

Barb got to blow out the candles because Terry had been on the phone (surprise, surprise) and didn't hang up in time to do anything but watch.  :)

O.K......I COULDN'T HELP MYSELF!!

Actually, I was at Partridge Creek Mall the other night and I decided just to LOOK at Janie and Jack's and a couple of other baby stores. WELL....I had a ball! Finally I decided on these two little outfits that coordinate but are a little different from each other. One is a one piece outfit and the other is two pieces. There is a little hat that is reversible and goes with both of the outfits - how cool is that? So I sent them to Shari today. It made me feel good - like it was really going to happen. It is so very hard to picture a child that hasn't been born yet, you know? I can't wait to see her in these clothes. No, I didn't get the usual pink. I'm sure I'll find something, though! Another time....soon.

MORE PICTURES AT THE LAZY FIVE RANCH (See Post Below)

Here are some more pictures that I was able to upload after the fact of the day we spent at the Lazy Five Ranch in North Carolina. I wrote about this a couple of posts down on the page. There were lots of ostriches!

There were three beautiful zebras at the ranch. I just think that they are so amazing!! Animals like this just make evolution look stupid.

It will be a.......GIRL!!

Today Shari had another ultrasound. She is now 16 weeks into her pregnancy and today was the day to find out what gender the baby is. It is a GIRL!!  I am very pleased because now we will not only have a grandson, but a granddaughter, too. Shari and I were looking at girl clothes in some of the children's stores in North Carolina where she and Mark live. We thought that the girl clothes were so cute and there was so much more for girls than boys. So now we can have fun shopping for a little girl. I will have to restrain myself a little because I love little girl clothes and dolls, etc. etc. I just love being a grandma and can't wait to hold this new granddaughter! :)

North Carolina (Part 4 - The End)

While in North Carolina last week, we decided to go to a ranch that Shari had heard about from some relatives who had gone there when visiting after Christmas this year. They had to occupy themselves while Shari worked some of the time they were there. This ranch was very cool because it had  A LOT of animals just wandering around on the premises. You could drive your car along a designated path and these animals would just come up to the car. We purchased a bucket of food and the animals would put their heads right in our car windows and eat the food from the bucket! Here is a Llama that came up to Terry's window. He had the bucket at the time.

The ranch was beautifully landscaped and laid out. It was also a beautiful day to wander around. You could drive for awhile and then there were other areas to walk around and see different types of animals. I wish I could upload all of my pictures -  you wouldn't believe the animals that were just wandering around, but my program here wouldn't let me upload any more pictures. It is being difficult today! Here are Shari and her dad just relaxing on a swing.

When we were riding on the trail, we were in our pickup truck. All three of us were riding in the front seat with Shari in the middle. (Mark was at a job interview.) Anyway, I was talking to Shari and watching some of the animals come up to Terry's window. Mine was rolled down also, but I didn't have the bucket of food. I heard a noise and turned toward my window right into this face staring at me!! I screamed and tried to roll my window up! We were laughing so hard. This animal (whatever it was) had a huge wet nose and big horns - pretty scary!

This is the last picture that I could get to come up. This is a ram and some baby deer. I actually have a better picture of the deer close up, but I couldn't get it to load. 

We had a great day and lots of fun seeing animals up close like we did. It was much better than a zoo any day!

North Carolina (Part 3)

This is the beautiful shopping and living village where Shari and Mark live! It has just about everything except a grocery store. It is beautifully landscaped and has lots of restaurants where you can eat inside or outside, lots of wonderful shops, a nice theatre, a LARGE swimming pool, and many apartments. It is a great place just to walk around and watch people. 

While we were there, we shopped, took walks, and ate at a couple of the restaurants.

It was beautiful weather (in the mid-60's to 70 degrees) and the flowers were all planted and the trees were blooming. On this evening we all went to a restaurant in another town. Here is a picture of Shari and Mark outside the restaurant.

North Carolina (Part 2)

Shari and Mark live in a beautiful shopping village. This is the side street next to the Ann Taylor Loft where Shari works. They live in this apartment building. Shari just has to go downstairs to work!

This is Shari outside of the Loft.

Here is a picture of the inside of Shari and Mark's apartment. They finally got their furniture from the house in Connecticut and it looks great!

Here is Shari with Napoleon. (Their "baby" for now) Napoleon is a pug and is very well behaved. He stays in his crate during the day when Shari and Mark are working and also sleeps in it at night.

More pictures to come!

North Carolina (Part 1)

Last Tuesday we got up bright and early to take a short trip to North Carolina to see Shari and Mark in North Carolina. It is about an eleven hour trip, but we were excited to get there to see our daughter who is about four months pregnant with their first child. We haven't seen her since Christmas - to us that is a long time!

To me this is the most beautiful drive I have ever experienced. Once we get past the Cleveland area (no offense to those who love Ohio) we slowly begin to get into the hills and beautiful scenery. The bigger mountains don't begin until we are in West Virginia. Actually, I would love to live in either W. Virginia or Virginia because of the beautiful mountains! I sit forward in my seat and just ooo and aah the whole time. (Ask Terry) I try to get good pictures, but it is difficult taking pictures while moving at 70 miles per hour and looking through the car windshield! But...I try!

It is also hard to take good pictures with all of the trucks on the road. Every time I get a good picture lined up, a truck (or two or three) get in the way. We had fun, though, just driving a long, sometimes silent (just some time to think) and sometimes listening to music, sometimes talking (much needed sometimes!). We really like the truck stops on the turnpike. They are beautiful and clean and have a lot of fun item to look at. Terry found some such items like strong magnets designed to place in spots that you would want to place a cell phone or ipod while traveling or in an office. He bought at least three - and I must admit they are very handy and nice looking, too! These places also have some nice eating areas like Panera Bread and Pizza Hut. They are great places to stop and walk around, use the bathroom facilities, and eat. Fortunately we both were wanting to stop at the same time and we stopped often.

At one such stop I found a trivia book and purchased it to use on our trip. I read the questions and we both gave our answers. The answers were upside down at the bottom of the page. This made time go by very fast on the way there, and we got through about a third of the book. The only thing is, I find out how smart my husband is and how NOT SMART (nice way to put it) I am!

Our trip to North Carolina was completed and we arrived at about 9:00 P.M. on Tuesday night. It was such a joy to see Shari and Mark (and Napoleon, their Pug, kind of)! They live in a beautiful area which I will show in my next post. Even though I hate having them live so far away, I am thankful (at least for the present) that it is possible to drive to see them in one day.

I am also thankful that they love each other and that Mark takes good care of Shari. We really are blessed!


The trip gave us a time to be together and just relax and enjoy God's beautiful creation! We tried not to think of the price of gas! But that will not stop us from traveling to see Shari - it is very hard to have a child (married, or not) living in a different state. But I know that she has her life and marriage and job, and we are just parents. (Did I just say that?) I guess we just have to leave them to the Lord and know that he is taking care of them when we are not there.