Chronicles of Nana

It is with a sense of relief that I bid 2008 goodbye…it has not been a banner year. I really have no reason to anticipate a better 2009. it’s just trauma was my middle name this last year…

JUST LIFE…

In retrospect, we have not gone through anything more than anyone else. But living life can put a sting into the good times and difficulties and adversities tend to take over. Therefore, 2008 is best put to bed for its endless sleep.

Judging by the economic nature and utter unbelievable circumstances our country is now facing to hope for a jubilant year might be asking for too much. The mantra of ‘attitude and gratitude’ surely applies here…

HOPE AND LOVE…

Therein lies hope…and the natural nature of love and wanting and the yearning for peace and happiness to all people everywhere. Americans are still a blessed people. We take too much for granted and are the first to grumble and complaint…because we can!

This past holiday season has seen many in need. However, being in need has opend doors for others to share and serve more than ever. The goodness and best wishes of the heart have brought smiles to so many others. Donations of time and food to the food cubboards have been abundant and many were served warm comforting meals. Plates of sweets and goodies were left on doorsteps anonimously as children learned it was better to give than receive.

Even as Merry Christmas has been labeled politically incorrect, many made merry to reach out and bring joys to those who needed help. I love this season…it opens up to kindnesses and random acts of service from peoples of all denominations or no religion at all. Just by being nice up lifts the heart and offers that hope we all need to approach another year to life.

REACHING BEYOND MYSELF…

It is that hope that I cling to…I wish the spirit of building up could take over the gloom of tearing down. In the past this hope empowered an average person to reach their greater potential and work wonders. I believe in miracles…I have seen them happen on too many occasions to think other wise.

I also believe in angels..those that hang by close to inspire and protect.

I believe in prayer and will be on my knees in 2009 pleading for a greater awareness of others and the need to reach out to them with common understanding and love…

If I can get out beyond myself perhaps optimism will become my guiding light.

                                       HAPPY BIRTHDAY BIG GUY!!            

It can’t possibly get better than this …next year double 2 digits! Where has the time gone? I remember like it was yesterday wiping your runny nose and patting your diapered bottom…

Now, you are scooting around in your mini and sleeping in your own pad in the basement…guess you’re going up (?) in the world…

Best wishes in the life ahead..keep your wits about and give’m hell!

Hugs, Nana

With all the turmoil today and all that will be in the future, sadly I feel sorry for those people who walk with no faith in a Heavenly Father. My heart breaks to think they know not what they are or can be. I can not imagine what it must be like to believe in just the earthy existence we all share…

SPIRITUAL THINGS…

I know there are millions who live who do not have a religion, faith or belief in life after death. They are content with life’s journey as it exist for them. Some look upon others who profess to a power greater than themselves as weak and illogical. There seems to be no need for the spiritual in their lives…

BELIEVING…

I am a firm believer of the natural order of things…the seasons, passages of time, and the orderly expansion of family. Genealogy is the ancestral discovery of our forefather’s past. From them and their sacrifices we have received our freedoms and rights to a happier life. From them come my inheritance upon a beautiful earth in a blessed country. Not only do I feel a connection but also a responsibility. I lean upon their faith in themselves with many others who sought a better life…much of which was based upon their religious freedoms and faith. It is a solid rock upon which to stand for me…

FAITH DELIVERS HOPE…

Without my faith I would not have been able to withstand the trials and adversity that have come to visit me. Understanding who I am and can be have given me a direction to forge ahead and endure to the end…

At this particular time in my life I am most greatful for the blessings and trials I have shared with my family. Family and my relationship with everyone in it has become precious and valued beyond all else. There inlies a granite strength and love. From there comes giving and receiving.,,and forgiveness.

THE LORD’S EXAMPLE…

The Lord is the prime example of devine forgiveness and sacrifice… Christmas has been designated as His time. I am greatful for His life’s journey and what He left to be taught to all of us. Believing in Him does not make me weak… I feel it as empowering and warmly satisfying.

If I could be but a small measure of His example then happiness would walk beside me each day…

We thank thee oh God for thy devine Son…

Christmas always seems to conjour up memories… and I now harken back nearly 50 years ago when Grandad and I spent our first Christmas together, We just had our first son….

ALL ALONE…

We had married and off to college we went.,,across the great Sierras, through the lonely desert to a small college town. There we were  to set up house in a duplex shared with another couple. However, when we first set sight on the place I was in shock. It was an old, I mean old house with only one bathroom. It, of course, had to be shared. Indignant I opposed the whole idea.

FABULOUS MOTEL LIVING…

So, at such a late date, we settled for a two room motel on the edge of town. It had one room that had a bed and the other room had a temporary slide-in kitchen…really just a small frig and two hot plates. It was here that I came home with our first child. We also had living with us a small dog. I spent many a day in those two little rooms…gloomy and cold. It was winter and we would jump into the car to chased the snowflakes, always ending up at the Falls where we could really see it snow…

The motel had but two windows to see the outside…but it did have a soft drink machine that Grandad would traverse the parking lot to get me a Seven Up. It was getting to be Christmas time and we wanted a memorable holiday with our new son and tiny dog. We had no oven and having a full turkey dinner sounded great since we had been living on Grandad’s Mom’s canned peaches and chili…

MAKING IT CHRISTMAS…

So, we put the bed in the back room where our son’s nursery and the kitchen was. We found a nice tree and placed it in the forward room. Our landlord let us borrow his toaster oven and in went the bird to roast. It really was a turkey but as small as a pregnant chicken..

While going to school Grandad worked at the Academy Theater as a doorman and all around sweep up the vomit sort of guy. He made 70 cents an hour and we hit the big time when he got a raise and it became 75 cents…in other words, we were poor. But we wanted so much to have a grand Christmas since we were spending it all alone with no family nearby.

Having had a baby I could not get out much so I was depressed knowing that our presents would be meager at best.

THE INFAMOUS BATHROOM…

I forgot to tell you about the bathroom. It was very small. You could put out your arms and touch all the walls…In the shower was the smallest window I had ever seen. Well..I was in bed looking out the window while Grandad was taking a shower. The window in the back room looked out upon a vacant field..

All of a sudden I saw Grandad outside in what appeared to be only his underwear!! I could not believe what I was seeing,,how dumb was that ??? The water was still running in the shower so I wasn’t sure what I was seeing…

Grandad finished his shower and I quizzed him about his being outside and somehow he convinced me that I was imagining the whole thing…

IT WAS GLORIOUS…

Christmas morning I awoke to a glowing tree with tons of packages carefully placed beneath it. I cried and silently wondered how we could afford such a splendid aray of gifts. It became abundantly clear as I unwrapped each present. I received a lovely bunch of bobbi pins, one shoe in one box and one shoe in another. And so it went each of us enjoying unwrapping each gift at a time.

We enjoyed our little turkey dinner and toasted our little family with Seven-Up as we gazed out the storm door as the snowflakes got bigger and bigger…

Love has a way of making time stand still…

I am sitting amongst the papers, ribbons, tape and wrapped presents..thinking that perhaps I have met my limit. It’s not that Scrooge has set in but getting back into the groove after a long confinement makes me wonder if I’m definitely sliding down that hill faster nowadays…

WORK IS FUN…

Have I so quickly forgotten that the Christmas holidays mean work…and where does the time go.?  I did plan ahead this year..really!! I knew that I would be not up to par by holiday time. I just did not realize what strength it required to prepare…

SHOPPING…

I mean I started shopping early on the internet…now, that’s a forward statement. How many of us would have thought of such a thing 10 years ago? There is something great about shopping in jammies and surfing the web-stores. 2008 was not a banner year so I knew I would cut back on my purchases this year anyway. But I did start early.

THE JOY IN A CHILD’S EYE…

However, regardless of the world situation and Congress going down in quIck sand, the holidays are for children and parents everywhere will make it the best they can…and I am no exception. The presents might be not so plentiful but the spirit will soar…

As long as there is beautiful music, sweet smells from the kitchen and kind greetings from/to our neighbors and friends the spirit of the season will prevail.

TOUGH TIMES…

As times become tough I remember once being told that you can’t take a Uhaul to Heaven…sounds like a country song, doesn’t it.? Anyway, the point being made here that no one can take away the sweet memories we all have shared through out the holidays. It’s not the presents that make it special.

It would behoove us all to count our blessings, one by one, and remember those memories, and make new memories and recall the real reason for the season…

For those who believe in a kind Heavenly Father, may we delight in His Blessed Son.

Happy Holidays!!! They are definitely upon us now…we took what is becoming an annual trek to see “A Christmas Carol” at a lovely little theater not so far away from us. However, Mother Nature was blowing up a good snow storm as we wondered down the freeway at 30mph…but we made the 11:30am curtain call and all was well…

COSTCO TIME…

Saturday mornings are usually spent making our weekly Costco run. We get there right at opening time so I can capture a scooter to run around the store in. Grandad has the marketing list and goes about his business. He is not a shopper…so I find it a particular challenge to hit all the corners of the store before he is ready for check-out.

Costco proved to be special this time because our daughter and grandaughter came along to examine a new camera that our daughter has been contemplating for several weeks. She had studied the features and compared prices on the computer but she still required her Dad’s advice.

I knew I would have to get scootin” because we had the play to go to and the Christmas crowds came out in full force. We were out the door by ten…a new track record with camera and other stuff in hand.

THE MESSAGE…

But, back to the play…seeing ” A Christmas Carol” is always a great start for the holiday season. The beautiful costumes and enthusiastic protrayals bring to life the meaningful good things we all share. In a time of hurry and great stress, sometimes we need an old fashioned reminder that things mean very little when compared to relationships and doing for others.

One leaves such an experience with a glad heart..tiny Tim still makes me cry and I am even happy for that. When one is bombarded with cloudy days even through the sunniest times, it is good to take note of our many blessings.

BLESSINGS…

I have moaned and groan for nearly six months about my trials this years…starting off last January with the unexpected loss of a loved one. After many months of constant pain..my leg finished it’s journey by breaking in half in July…

It is common knowledge that the loss of someone dear can take months even years to come to grips with and all my  family is struggling to adjust to that reality…

But, I have never had to sit about and wait for my body to heal…my indignation, distain, impatience and even humiliation can not be appropriately discribed. My emotions just scattered and fell where they landed. Unfortunately they landed on my family who took it with great love and patient understanding.

I have never been so challenged where I have needed the help of others in everything I had to do. Without being too graphic let’s just say it was not pleasant for anyone…What I really want to say is the “attitude and gratitude” are the key words to survival in my situation.

KEYS TO SURVIVAL…

Come to think of it ‘attitude and gratitude’ ARE the keys words to life…now that I can see some light at the end of the tunnel my gratitude has filled my heart to over flowing. I am so glad I can now stumble along on a cane. I can leave the house and breathe the fresh air. I can sleep a full night’s sleep. Walk..Breathe..Sleep- nothing to do with things.

I am so greatful to have my life and the families and surrounding about me are the frosting on my Christmas cake. My children ask me what I want for Christmas…I stop dead in my tracks and with blank face say ” Nothing..absolutely nothing- I already have it in you.”

 My dear family and friends, I pray the true joy of Christmas carries us all through the coming new year with abundant gratitude. Sufficient to see us through the hard, tough times ahead…

I have to still work on the attitude thing but a lot of grandchildren and great grandchildren  hugs will help cure that!

Merry Christmas to all!!

Well..it seems like a good time to speak of change. We have been living in a year of change. It was the theme of the 2008 elections and our elected president spoke of change a lot. However, I am sure even he did not expect or anticipate the mortgage, financial and automotive bailouts that have come to spoil his dream agenda..

NOT ALL THAT IT SEEMS…

Politics, in many respects, never change. That’s why I sat so amused listening to the retoric and posturing of our full of hot air candidates. Let’s face it, it is like writing out a budget or filling out the tax form. Nothing is ever as it seems…it’s only perfect on paper, right?

So as women, the closest we got to the presidency this year was Secretary of State and Hillary is it..who would have ever thought!! Can she really be the hostess with the mostest?  Oh..what tangled webs they weave…

BARING THE BURDEN…

Time seems to be the only constant..it just keeps marching on. We all live within the passages of time and women seen to bare the burden most. I mean for years I have carried my heater with me. My body heat kept me comfortable and calm. As women we have had to bare with these changes…

As pre-teens we usually became a woman and suffered the moods and swings of the monthly thing. I don’t know about you, but I regarded it as pretty gross and inconvenient..when it ceased to happen I celebrated!

Pregnancies would come alone and hormones start to ebb or race. Some of us would suffer from morning sickness, for me usually at dinnertime, I seldom sat down to eat the nightly meal. Some of us got pimples, stretch marks and boobies bigger than usual, much to the delight of the man of the house.

Once we reached the prime of life, women once again face change…The Change. Grumpy, irrational and hot we clamor for the coolness of sanity…

And then…the wrinkles twinkle more, the face cream gets thicker, and all that once was firm and stood out now is sliding south big time!! You see, once you reach 60 life turns around and gets even…

OLD, CRUSTY AND COLD…

When did I become my mother-in-law? She was always cold! You walk into her hot home and be hit with such a hot breeze it would take your breathe away. So, here I am pounding on my blog quite a sight to see. I have my knee high socks, my muu-muu and a heavy blue sweatshirt and still can’t work up a sweat!  Burrrr…I refuse to turn up the furnace!

Not only can I feel every draft in the house but it drives right up the muu-muu…

Life is just not fair…who said you can’t be a sissy getting older..?

I no sooner posted my last entry on the political honeymoon when once again there comes another “politics as usual” explosion …this time in the land of Lincoln. Following the historic footsteps of the first black United States president is the fall of yet another elected official…

HOW HIGH A PRICE?…

Seems the senate seat of Barrack Obama has been up for grabs to the highest bidder by the honorable governor of Illinois. Blagojevich has taken the old Chicago political machine to news heights by using his power and influence to line his pockets with gold…however, he leveraged his power to the point of exposure and now he lays naked for all the world to shake their heads and admire his pretty hair!…

SOME THINGS DON”T CHANGE…

This is a rather obvious reminder of the politics of old…so prominately put forth by the corruptable states of Louisiana and the Illinois Chicago mob wiseguys. So, President-elect Obama, what has changed???

There will always be those whose power over shadow their good judgement. Corruption will surface its ugly head in any business that requires a “committee.”  What bothers me is that these people actually believe they will get away with dishonesty and graft. No doubt there are those who do get away with it…I have always supposed that when a person gets to the point of running for president then he/she must have compromised a bushel of idealistic dreams…

I mean where else but America can a woman become Mrs. President and run for election on that experience; then call her opponent every name in the book; then hold her rank and power outso to be named Secretary of State to her winning opponent, now President-elect…

WONDERING…

Ever since I have become interested in politics…I have wanted to lend my ear to the back door meetings that most of us do not know about. In business, they say the deals are really being made on the golf course. In politics the smoked filled rooms were the places where the action was. Today’s politics. being politically correct, the rooms have been traded for the evian, latte crowd with hot raging blackberries..and the media held at bay for the lastest info leak.

The president-elect was an Illinois senator. He spent several years in a state obviously  corrupted by old time mob politics. I find it rather naive of him to say he did not know that these influences were not swarming about it’s capital. He has had so many dubious associations within his tenior as a public servant that one must wonder how squeeky clean he may be as he marches into the White House.

Regardless, he will be in good company with all the Senate and Congressional cronies who pound us deeper into debt with no sight for improvement and solvency. Judging the actions of Congress lately I am more likely to believe that it “takes one to know one.”

I am becoming distrustful and have much doubt in the abilities of these people who profess to being in control…

Lincoln must be turning in his grave…

I have purposefully waited until the hoopla of the elections to go political again. I was making myself mad and frustrated over the melee of media blitzes and public displays of pandering to John Q Voter. It is over…and the relief from it is better than imodium!!..

EUPHORIA OR PANIC..?

The dust is settling…am I happy with the outcome? No..but you get what you vote for or in my case who I did not vote for. Having said that I was not exactly jumping up and down for the other guy either…

No..I was not surprised. My amazement was in the general public who seemed to swallow the Obama retoric hook, line and sinker. This pie’d piper played his tune…he painted a canvas of shangra-la and they followed. So be it…

REALITY CAN SUCK…

Now, is the time for the entrance of reality. And it has been striking and it stinks big time. We have now before us a monumental Congressionally passed debt. True to the American way of shoot, aim, fire we have a debt so out of contol no one can even predict the outcome.

Our new President, a well versed liberal, is faced with a leadership deficit so big that the next four years can’t possibly bring forth all the promises and  the camelot that was so widely publicized. 

EDUCATE WITH EXPERIENCE… 

I am an old coot so I will just say it…what does a 40 something wiseguy know of life.? I mean that has crossed my mind as the president elect fills his team and cabinet. So, he’s reaching to the Clinton years for advisers..isn’t this a bit of backward thinking for a guy who rammed change into the national character..? I thought we were to empty Washington DC of the deadbeats…

Hey, I get it; he’s left with a mess. Some of the messiest people have come forth with dollar signs driving their ambitions. Pelosi, Dodd, Reid and the democratic majorities are cashing checks our pocketbooks can’t deliver…we are bailing out the banks, mortgage companies and auto factories with billions of dollars controlled by the same execs who sunk them. Yeah, there is great logic in that! And they drove their hybrids to DC..big whoop!

Folks, someone is going to be disappointed. We have a polarizing factor that is dividing the country. Under liberalism rule, the hot heads and cause stalkers will fill the streets and will make main street a little less safe and a lot less appealing. I mean it is strange that we pay our farmers not to plant and we pay our poor not to work!

It’s going to be a long row to hoe…I know how to work hard. My father’s generation knew how to work hard. And beyond that the people of America worked hard for a better future for their children. Sacrifices were made…

What are we leaving the current generation? Have we taught them all that they should know?

I don’t know..the long lines I see waiting for the newest electronic gadgets is a sign of people living for the moment with their own self gratification.

Has anyone bothered to tell them that life is not fair?…And that ‘No’ and self discipline are action words. That parts of life are messy and sloppy…

Someone needs to step up and make sense out of the insanity…

It is time for my annual QVC plug now that I am in the throes of holiday buying and preparations. Actually…I am sitting on my perch looking out upon the valley with big snow flakes crashing to the frozen ground. I have been to the mall once before Thanksgiving and now QVC keeps me company as I pound out on my computer….

SIGHTS AND SOUNDS…

Last night we went to the Church Christmas Devotional with about 20,000 other people. Besides getting the Christmas tree up, this is when the holidays start for our family. We love the choir and there is nothing better than carols to bring the spirit of the season in the heart, However, the reason for the season is paramount in our thoughts and this event always sets the mood and tone for the holidays.

LOOKING ALOT LIKE cHRISTMAS…

The snow is coming down and sticking to the ground. Luckily my shopping is nearly over because we are cutting back this year…which intimates a sad time but really it has been nice to concentrate on less and have more time for other things. I have pulled the candy recipes out which in the past few years I never got to do..and now that I have my caboose child as a at home mom for awhile I will enlist her help in firing up the kitchen for some good eats…friends and neighbors will get lucky this year!

THE GREAT ESCAPE…

Speaking of the caboose child, she and her 6 year old just returned from the Mouse House. Yes, she took advantage of her connections with Southwest and flew off to Disneyland for the weekend. Christmas at the Park is always special and they wasted no time to celebrate Mommy’s birthday together alone with several thousand other people. What can I say, I gave birth to a child with mouse ears and a long tail! If she could she and her little one would take up residence in the castle…An added plus is the southern California weather that was in the 70’s.

True to the times we are now in, their arrival time home was to be 7:30 pm and the actual arrival was past 10:00 pm. Welcome to airline cutbacks and tough times..

DON’T LET IT GET YOU DOWN…

I am thinking on a national level we might be in for some really difficult times. My heart goes out to all who are having to struggle to make ends meet. As an old broad I wish I could convey that an accumulations of material things really does not matter. What matters is the love from family, the associations of good friends and the renewal of a faith based way of life.

REACH UP AND OUT…

Giving service to people is a great way to receive a natural high… it warms the heart, it calms a restless spirit and it makes gratitude grow…

It’s the presents that can not be unwrapped that matter…