Fabulous Weekend Ends the Month of May

It's been a whirlwind weekend and I'm so tired, I can barely hit the correct letters on my laptop. If not for the backspace, some of my sentences would look like this: "Thek vame fro tje suppwr tope."

Friday night I spent about 4 hours (until 1:00 am) putting together a special graduation card for my grandson, Todd. If I do say so myself, it looked pretty darn good. I almost came across like an expert "Scrapbooker".

His graduation ceremony was on Saturday afternoon. A fabulous party was held in the evening, with wonderful food, friends, family and fun.

Then this morning, Ron and I got up B & E (bright and early!) and drove to "The Lake" to spend the day with our great friends B & S (I have to get their permission to use their names!)

I am looking SO forward to tomorrow: June 1st! That's when I begin my new, disciplined way of writing. I'm ready to begin!

* Gettin' Motivated.....Again! *

Thanks to a few writer friends, I have once again been motivated to get going on my book, the memoir, remember?

And, ahhh...they've given me some deadlines to meet! Yippee! That's definitely what I need. I'll keep ya'll posted on my progress...

By the way, I found this photo of myself when visiting my dad one of the last couple of times. I don't remember anyone taking the picture of me, nor do I remember ever seeing it before then. Dad said it was one of his favorites of me, and I can see why. Check out that high forehead...definitely a sign of intelligence! ;-)

** Decoration Day & Our Current War **

Decoration Day, as it was called for many years, is really all about remembering and honoring those who died during our many wars. Its name is the definition of what it was all about.....decorating the graves and tombstones of our fallen soldiers and sailors.

Like so many of us, though, I didn't give it more than a moment's thought over the years. It was mainly a 3-Day weekend and a rest from work.That all changed for me a few years ago, when my sister Marian and I, attending a Memorial Day celebration in Greenfield, Iowa. It was very inspiring to say the least.

One of the many things I find very disturbing about this current "war" we are involved in, is the fact that the news we receive concerning it, is determined by the various news stations. Yes, they inform us of the sad news of another "casualty"........is that word used to make it sound less like "death"?....But what we aren't told, are all the horrific wounds and burns our military personnel are living with.....mostly due to road side bombs. Shouldn't there be a way to detect those bombs, before they wound or kill people??? In our world of technology.....shouldn't there be a way?????

I NEED THOSE DEADLINES!

I am one of those writers who definitely needs a deadline. And the funny thing is, I think I just realized that this evening!

Anything I've ever written for a specific publication, always had a deadline, and that always kept me on track to get the story written and submitted in time.

Recently I was asked by a first rate-publisher to interview an individual and write her story. Because it was for a future possible publication, the publisher didn't feel it was right to give me a deadline. After much stressing, trying to get motivated, worrying about getting it written in a timely manner, I asked for a deadline date. I was graciously given one and now I can de-stress and begin my writing! And my headache and neck ache have mysteriously gone away.....Hmmm....

Thank you, Ms. B. !

MORE OF MY CLUMSINESS....

I swear, if I get any more clumsy, I don't know what will happen to me!! Just this morning, I bruised, cut, and burned myself...... all within a few minutes in the kitchen....while making a pot of coffee!


When I was in the Atlanta airport on May 13th, I backed up to sit down on a love-seat type of modular-furniture-thingy, and missed the entire cushion area. I sat "briefly" on the pointy corner, until I immediately flopped onto the cushions, laughing! Niece Tammy said, "You're going to need a different kind of pillow on the plane." :-0

** THE CATHEDRAL OF LEARNING **

The cathedral of learning at the University of Pittsburgh. (Pitt)

What a gorgeous building! The tallest school building in the USA.

** PITTSBURGH......WHO KNEW?? **

My son, Mark, and I arrived home last night after a whirlwind trip to Pittsburgh, Pa. He wanted to meet 2 profs at the University of Pittsburgh, where he may want to apply for grad school.

We flew Air Tran because it was the most economical way to go. (Interpretation: Cheap!)But that also meant, long layovers. We didn't fly the way the birds would. Oh, no! We flew to Pittsburgh via ...... Atlanta....with 4 hour layovers both ways! ugh... BUT, my lovely niece, Tammy, was able to visit with us at the ATL airport on our trip home, so that was really nice.

The city of Pittsburgh is really very pretty! And the area where U of Pitt is (plus Carnegie Melon U) was absolutely beautiful. I really want to go back sometime, when I can spend more days, and also visit old friend, Debbie, who lives near there.

** Habitat Groundbreaking Ceremony **

As girls we played house. As women we build them!

This morning was the groundbreaking ceremony for the Habitat for Humanity, St. Charles County, Mo.........................................."Divas Building Dreams"......Lot #9. It was partly sunny, partly cloudy, very windy and quite chilly! But hundreds of lovely divas showed up, all wearing their Pink Diva Shirts. It was really impressive!
My only silent question though, was......Where's the hot coffee?? Luckily, wonderful friend, Jennifer lives very close to the Habitat lot and we met there for hot coffee and bagels!
The bagels were compliments of another wonderful friend, Sherry.
We're all pumped and ready to help build this house!
(Photo: Jennifer, Becky & Stephanie)