Linda's World

Happy Mother's Day !!

Sun, 11 May 2008 16:22:39 GMT

Happy Mother's Day to all mothers, step-mothers, foster mothers, grandmothers who are raising their grand kids & dads who have had to be both mother & father to their children. Also, for those you who have never had a child but have pets....consider these wishes for you. Our pets take a lot of care and we do the same things for them that we do children. So Happy Mother's Day to you, too.

My son is taking me to lunch today and then I'm going to the home of my niece and family to celebrate her little Ella's 3rd birthday. After a gloomy Saturday and a stormy night, the sun is shining (at least right now) here in the beautiful Pacific Northwest this morning.

AOL Community Photo Challenge~Landscapes in Color

Sat, 10 May 2008 21:30:33 GMT

For FUN Category~

Spring is here & so is the color!!! So Our Challenge this week is easy.....
LANDSCAPES in COLOR! FOLLOW GUIDELINES which can be found on the sidebar, must leave permalinks, also found on sidebar. Post your NEW entry now till Friday May 16th for Judging. If you have any questions email me or Vicki.

Avalon Harbor on Catalina Island

It's Here Again~My Favorite TV Commercial

Sat, 10 May 2008 18:57:52 GMT

I love this commercial, they have it on TV every year at this time and even though I can't get the song out of my mind...I still love these darling "actors."

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nNlt0D_xba4

The Haircut

Sat, 10 May 2008 00:35:38 GMT

Thanks to my long time friend Ruthie down in Hemet, California for this one.

THE HAIRCUT
A young boy had just received his driver's permit and asked his father if they could discuss his use of the car. His father said he'd make a deal with his son. 'You bring your grades up from a C to a B Average, study your Bible a little, get your hair cut and we'll talk about the car.'

The boy thought about that for a moment, decided he'd settle for the offer and they agreed on it. After about six weeks his father said, 'Son, I've been real proud. You brought your grades up and I've observed that you have been studying your Bible, but I'm real disappointed you didn't get your hair cut.'

The young man paused a moment then said, 'You know, Dad, I've been thinking about that, and I've noticed in my studies of the Bible that Samson had long hair, John the Baptist had long hair, Moses had long hair and there's even a strong argument that Jesus had long hair.'

To this his father replied, 'Did you also notice that they all walked everywhere they went?'

Sunblock

Fri, 09 May 2008 20:27:18 GMT

Just got this from my friend Charlotte who lives down in Vancouver, Washington. However, she was born and raised up here in the Puget Sound area and she & her family were our neighbors back in the 1970's .

Monday's The Day......

Fri, 09 May 2008 19:55:48 GMT

......that our postage rates go up. Yup, First Class Postage goes up 1 penny to 42 cents for a letter. If you can get to the Post Office today or Saturday, you can get the Forever Stamps for 41 cents each. On Monday they will be 42 cents each.

I still have stamps that require additional small denomination stamps to go along with them, so I've done my best to get rid of my 42 cent stamps. And whenever I've had a few extra bucks, I bought a booklet of the Forever Stamps. So I think I have over 100 of them now.

I would imagine all other rates will go up too including International rates, post cards, Priority rate, Media Mail, etc.

I know that we tend to complain about our postage rates but from what I hear we have on of the best Postal Systems in the world. And I'm sure there are countries with higher rates than ours. I have friends in northern Alberta Canada, who have never had home delivery and they live inside the city limits of their town. I have always been blessed with the mailman leaving my mail just outside my door or just a short walk to the mail box.

Since so many of us have computers, allowing us to keep in contact with friends & family by email and to pay bills online, I'm sure there's a huge decrease in mail volume...except perhaps during the Christmas holiday.

So for now...I'm not complaining about this newest increase almost exactly 1 year from the last one.

AOL Cummunity Photo Challenge~Tribute to Mothers

Thu, 08 May 2008 20:53:59 GMT

EXTRA Creative Challenge-Tribute to Mothers

This Challenge is a "Tribute to Mothers" ALL mothers, one mother....any mother...
Could be your sister, if she's a mother....could be your own mother, could be a portrait of yourself as a mother.
ANYTHING GOES, be creative, use whatever you want....quotes, poems.....things your mother always said..... Stories of your mother, childhood memories....
Only one category this week, "FUN"
You have now till THURSDAY, May 8th 7PM EST to post your tribute to your mom. Or any mom...... I will post them on Friday.

My Mom~Edythe Irene Smith March 17, 1915 ~ October 8, 1987

Mom, you were one of a kind. Sweet, gentle, loving, kind... but you didn't put up with any monkey business. You didn't like my rock & roll music, you hated red fingernail polish but as I grew up you provided me with other music so I'd learn to love it all and you bought me a bottle of nail polish remover. LOL You sat me at your knee and taught me about my loving Heavenly Father at an early age. You took me to Sunday School and church even when, as a surly teenager I really didn't want to go. You took care of me when I was sick. You played with me when I was well. You spent your days recuperating from major surgery, sewing (by hand) clothes for a doll you gave me for Christmas. You got me my first sewing machine & taught me how to use it. You taught me how to embroidery dish towels. You tried to teach me how to cut up a chicken even when I pointed out to you that "some day chickens will be available already cut up." You taught me how to weed the garden even when you knew I hated it. And when I had to milk Daisy when dad went fishing...you assured me that she wouldn't kick me. You taught me how to do things around the house, when I wasn't interested. You didn't get too upset when you said "Linda, clean your room" and all I did was move the stuff from one side to the other (your words). You giggled at the way I could stack the clean dishes in the dish drainer. You taught me about growing flowers and encouraged me to always have a flower garden no matter what my economic status might be. You said "Flowers even in a small pot are good for the soul." You were patient when I was learning to drive. You were there for me during the most difficult times of my life. By your example, you taught me how to be a mother...I pray I didn't disappoint you in that area. You loved me when I was the most unlovable.

Thank you mom for all that you were....I miss you so much. And I thank God for choosing you for my mom.

May Book Club

Wed, 07 May 2008 22:21:12 GMT

Today being the first Wednesday of the month, was book club day. It's a group of female readers that gather once a month at a local Round Table Pizza for lunch and the chance to meet two local authors.

Today the two authors visiting with us were Elizabeth Boyle and Jane Porter. Both of these authors live in the Seattle area, so traveled down together to be with us today.

Jane was telling us one of the books she has written, "Flirting with Forty" is being made into a Lifetime Movie and will be on TV this coming fall. The movie stars Heather Locklear and Jane recently returned from Hawaii where she met with the producer, screen writer & the cast. This story is based loosely on her own life, depicting her divorce that happened when she was turning 40. Of course the story and the movie will be slightly different...as the screen writer took the liberty of changing things here and there. Some of Jane's other books are "Odd Mom Out" and "Mrs Perfect." Jane taught 7th grade History for many years but now concentrates on her writing and her children.

Elizabeth told the story of her first book. In 1996 she entered a writers contest. All the entrants had to submit was the first 3 chapters...of course they were expected to have a completed story available in case they were among the finalists. Well, she submitted the first 3 chapters...did not have the rest completed and went about her duties as a Microsoft employee. When the letter came that she been picked as a finalist, she was back east trying to get back home to Seattle. She'd called her husband to tell him the status of her flights arrival and he mentioned the letter. He read it to her over the phone, it stated that she had to have the remaining chapters of the book into Dell Publishing in 6 weeks. Needless to say, she freaked out. She got home and between work, being a mom, a wife and a homemaker...she worked on the rest of the book every available minute. The deadline was on a Monday ~the book had to be in New York at Dell Publishing by 8 am. She called several places to see about getting her manuscript delivered "over night" and the closest she could come was getting it to Sea-Tac airport by 5pm on Saturday to fly out on a Fed Ex plane. She was so stressed, she could see that she wasn't going to make it.....when her husband walked into the room where she was working and said "honey, just calm down. You have until 10pm Sunday night to get this together." That dear man had called and made a reservation on a red-eye flight, leaving Seattle at 11pm Sunday night getting into New York the next morning. He had a backpack with a few essentials and her completed manuscript, arriving at Dell Publishing right on time. Four hours later he was back on a flight to Seattle. They hadn't shared this with any of their extended family...didn't want to get anyone's hopes up. But about 5 months later she attended the Writer's Conference where the winner would be announced, eating lunch at a big round table with the other finalists. She said she was so nervous but was cordial to all the other women, knowing that if she didn't win it was important to be nice and friendly and not look like a sore looser. Well, lo and behold when the announcement came ......she was the winner! She was so thrilled...she knew that she might really get to realize a dream~that of being a writer. That book was titled "Brazen Angel." Since then she has written 15 published books and no longer works at Microsoft.

As usual the book table was full of books for exchange and I brought more home ~ yup I did. Before next month, I really need to go thru my books and bag up some to take and put on the table.

I Am So Angry~Am I Over Reacting?-Take My Poll

Tue, 06 May 2008 23:29:31 GMT

It all started about a month ago. I got some literature in the mail from AARP. In the packet was a self addressed postage paid card where you could check for your choice of a free gift. I checked next to a home fire extinguisher and sent it in. It said at the bottom of the card "FREE~NO OBLIGATION."

Well, this morning at 8:45am (a little early as far as I'm concerned) the phone rang and a man introduced himself and told me he wanted to drop by and bring me the fire extinguisher. I said, "I hope there's no strings attached & if there is...I don't want it." He said that he wouldn't be associated with any company that would do that & he understood where I was coming from. Ok...so he said he'd be here about 12 noon. Well, just before 11 am my door bell rang and there he was. He came in.....sat on the sofa, started petting Gabi and asking me how long I'd lived here, etc. Then he got up and was looking at the family pictures on the wall asking me questions about them....then after about 20 minutes he asked if he could use the bathroom...so I showed him where it was. Then when he came out of the bathroom, he's in the hallway looking at all the pictures hanging in there...ok that's fine I don't mind but now he's here almost 30 minutes. Finally he sits down and hands me the extinguisher, along with a little piece of paper that had a list of fire hazards on it. He asked me to take a little fire quiz, while he went out to his car. He came back in with all these notebooks and a big case. Then he started his spiel. About 15 minutes into it...he asked for a glass of water, so I got up and got him a bottle of water. He continued on & on, showing me all these newspaper articles about people burning up in their homes. By now it's noon~he's been there for an hour and I've missed the "Ellen" show.

About 10 minutes after 12 noon I asked him, "how long is this going to take because I have to be out of here in 30 minutes." Actually I didn't...I lied to him....but I figured, hey this guy has lied to me and what I just said to him was justified. As it turned out he was selling and in fact is the Regional Field Manager for a home security system. This system sounds great but it's like $6,000 to install and anywhere from $30 to $50 a month service fee. He finally left here at 12:45pm saying he could either come back or would be calling me in the next few days to get my decision. So standing on my front porch I told him, "No that's ok, I will call you if I'm interested!" I did leave the house, went and bought some more bedding plants and to the grocery store. But I am still angry at this knucklehead, I feel he was dishonest. And he hogged up 1 hour and 45 minutes of my day. Take my poll and let me know how you feel about this experience.....

May 5, 2008

Mon, 05 May 2008 18:22:03 GMT

Well, it's a bright sunny day here in western Washington today. Maybe today's the day the ice will melt in the bird bath. LOL

Yesterday, was nice also and we went to see Bob's oldest daughter. She's been up to her elbow's in alligators trying to clean out the home of her mother & step dad. Her mom passed away last August and her step dad works out of town on a tug boat...so she's been left to get the house ready to sell. We had said we would come help her yesterday but when we got to the house she said she just couldn't get into it so.... we just sat and visited with her for a few hours. It was a nice day, visiting with her.

When we got back I planted one of my hanging baskets but I still need lobelia and I can't find any in any of the garden centers yet. I'm going back to Lowe's this afternoon and see if their's has come in.

Today, I'm off to deliver some Avon, check out Lowe's and then back home. I've been thinking about tuna-noodle casserole for a long time. I think that's what I'm making for dinner tonight.

Today is Cinco de Mayo~Mexican Independence Day. If you're out this evening...please remember to "celebrate" responsibly. Your life (and maybe some others) depends on it.