Goodbye 2007!!

Wow, just when I get used to writing down 2007, the year ends and 2008 is here! How can that be? How did I get so old? Actually it is amazing I lived this long with the wild life I have lived teetering right on the edge of disaster. My sister can avow to that. I have been an adrenaline junkie my entire life, and now all I want to do is sit back and crochet. I was doing just that tonight. I did not even get dressed today! I changed my sheets and did my laundry, but that is about it. I took a long soak in the tub about 9:30 and got into a clean nightie.

2007 was a sad year for many of us. It started out here with a big slam of a storm that put our power out on the 2nd the 5th and the 9th of January. We got 6" of snow on the 10th then we got a deep freeze here for a week. Our Pastor left us without any notice which left us all feeling like an abandoned herd of sheep.

A friend of mine (Dee Couture)died of cancer on the 14th.

On the 21st my hot water heater caught on fire, and thank God I was sitting right near it and saw the flames shooting straight up!

I started water aerobics in February getting 5 other friends and my sister to go with me. (I found out after about a month that I am allergic to the chlorine they use in the pool and it ate my face up). My sister still goes, and she is doing GREAT!! I am so proud of her. She has slimmed down and it has done her wonders.

We got more snow On Feb 28 and March 1st. We had another big blow of a storm on March 11th that put our power out again!

In April we said good bye to Esther's husband "Rocky". He put up a huge battle against cancer. He was an inspiration to anyone that met him or read about him!!

In June we said goodbye to Esther's cousin Dale. Another blogger friend, and I miss his humor and wit. He was found dead in his house.

In July we got a new Pastor and he is great!

In August I had my 40th class reunion. (All the parents showed up but not my classmates)!! At least it seemed that way, everyone but me got old and fat!!
(yeah, right).
On August 23rd we lost a good friend Ellen. She fought that demon called cancer for years, and lost her battle!! She too is an inspiration and we all miss her dearly!

October took two dear AA friends of mine. Ken Michaels and Diana Sandritter. They too fought the cancer demon and lost.
October 4th my brother was diagnosed with peritoneal cancer. He was operated on October 19th and they said they could not operate. He has inoperable adenocarcinoma of the peritoneum that has metastisized. They started treatment December 3rd after three missed appointments that the doctors forgot about!!!!

October 23rd I lost another friend to cancer. He was a Paramedic here on Whidbey Island.

December 15th my brother was taken by ambulance to the hospital after 12 hours of puking his innards out. He stayed for two days.

And one of the saddest things, on December 15th a 15 year old girl got of a bus and was hit by a car as she was walking on the highway. She did not see the car for some odd reason, and the car could not see her as she was wearing dark clothes and it was dark. She was killed instantly. She had been Christmas shopping in Oak Harbor. I know the guy that was driving the car and he of course is not taking this well at all.

So....as you can see, I am glad to see 2007 leave!! I did not lose my Christmas spirit through all of this, in fact it has made my Faith much stronger! We have a huge battle to fight with my brother this year, and will gladly accept any and all prayers!! He had a CT scan on his brain two days ago and they called him back in for another one today because they found some suspicious spots. We will find out next week what they found. Meanwhile, we are taking one day at a time here and praising God for everything He has given us!
I hope everyone has a SAFE new years eve!!
I will be at home on my knees praying the new year in.

God Bless

Another Blustery Wintry December Day!

I took my 91 year old neighbor shopping today and drove to the Ferry Landing to watch the passenger ferry pull in, but it wasn't running. The wind was too strong.
You can see the waves hit the breakwater and fly away in the wind.
This is one of our bus Operator's waiting for the ferry that didn't arrive. They resumed service after the storm calmed down. We get alot of wind here, and I never tire of sitting at the beach watching the waves.
Well I am about ready for Christmas. I go tro Church tomorrow morning then to a funeral at 1:00, then my boss and her family are coming over to exchange gifts, then I will spend the rest of the day making 3 big baked spaghetti casseroles to take to work. The bus wash crew asked me for baked spaghetti for Christmas. They work their butts off in all kinds of weather, so that is no sacrifice to me! Here is one of 'em sneaking into my candy jar (which I keep full just for them).

Merry Christmas everyone!!

A-Christmas-Caroling!!

Another tough day at work! We work hard, so then we can play hard.
A bunch of us got all decked out and went Christmas Caroling!
We piled in a small bus and went to the County Courthouse to serenade them.
The local Police cruised by to be sure we were within the noise level. He covered his eyes and shook his head and drove off!
We traipsed down Front Street, stood in the Tavern and sang a song and went back to work.
We aren't afraid to say MERRY CHRISTMAS!!

My Brother Mike

My brother is the one in the white T-shirt. Sherry's brother is the other guy.

Sherry my brother's wife called me this morning to tell me she might not be able to come to the lunch we were going to have today with our Bible Study friends. She said she was up all night with my brother Mike. He got sick last night and was puking for 4 hours straight then she called the ambulance. I went to see him in the hospital and he was in alot of pain. They are keeping him tonight and maybe tomorrow too. His second chemo treatment will be on Tuesday. We are worried about him because he has trouble keeping anything down.
I'm not ready for this. I want to keep my baby brother for another few years. My heart breaks when I see him in so much pain. Poor Sherry is broken hearted too. She loves him so much even after 32 years of marriage!
Mike's son Galen and his future wife Sumre came over to see him and I cooked them all dinner. My poor sister Mary lou is taking this very hard. We want to do something for him, but there isn't anything we can do! We are helpless here. We'll get through this. Mary Lou went shopping for a Christmas tree for herself and brought Mike & Sherry a little 4 foot tree. They are thrilled with it!! Mike usually goes out in the woods and comes home with a little scrawny "Charlie Brown" Christmas tree, so this is a TREAT!!
Mike is sure seeing and feeling the love from friends, and even people that he doesn't even know. My next door neighbor's family pooled together and gave Mike & Sherry some money. That sure came at the right time! Sherry just sent off some bills with a letter saying this is all she can pay right now and had only $26.00 for the rest of the month! Other people are being generous too. People are bringing over cord wood and stacking it for them to heat their house, others have brought over food. My heart is full right now.
I just don't know what to blog about right now so I will say goodnight.
God loves you. Trust in Him and all will be well.

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Oooops. Poor guy needs a new car!

I was driving back to work Thursday afternoon and came across this car fire.
I saw the black smoke and knew it was a bad one. When I came up on it I took the picture as I was passing it. The heat was intense! I got back to work and called the Editor of the paper and told him I had some pictures of the car fire and he told me to email them to him and he'd put them in the Wednesday paper.



I have no idea what happened, but this Jeep Wrangler is no longer.

I sure hope everyone is staying warm and safe.

In the 60's, people took LSD to make the world weird.
Now the world is weird and people take Prozac to make it normal.

I got elfed!!

Ok, I can't help but share this fun site Office Max put on!
Click here
What fun I had tonight putting friends faces in the elf and sending it on!!
Have fun!!

Old Man Winter has arrived!!

I know December 21st is the official start of Winter, but today it arrived!! We had wet snow flying sideways in the wind but not sticking. We are having major snow in the mountains which is great for the skiiers, but bad for Monday when the warmer weather gets here and melts it all and floods the lowlands.
But this is something that happens alot here. Very seldom do we get snow that sticks and stays for a few days. Maybe in January or February. We'll see.
Today was the Christmas Parade in Coupeville (which I was late getting to) We had a bus in there all decorated. Dang, I wanted to get a picture of it! I got stuck in Oak Harbor doing some last minute shopping for the weekend.
The weather was too windy for the annual boat parade. Too bad, it makes the festivities more exciting. But I guess it would be really exciting if we had a boat rescue during it, huh?
We are supposed to get more of this wintry weather tomorrow and high winds into Monday. I have my candles, propane, food cooked. I'm ready!!

This is a photo from the web.
I decorated my house tonight, so I am all ready for Christmas now!!

Are you prepared for Winter disasters? Can you survive in your house for a week?
You better get your supplies in your car too in case you get stranded anywhere.
Better be safe than sorry!!