Merry Christmas

Have a wonderful day and remember to laugh and play.

I did it !

 Remember my post on Dec 28, 2010
I chose the word revive.
This was my word to live by for this year.
And I feel I accomplished the true meaning of the word. I am free of the depression drug Lexapro.  3 almost 4 months of zero use. Yea. I still have minor side affect of what they call brain zaps. it is a springing noise from one ear to the other. And mild vertigo when walking. I had no knowledge before trying to stop that there was side affects. There should be a big warning on all drugs . Giving people full disclosure of things like this. I still would like to know if this is  permanent damage. Your body has to learn to accept your own natural serotonin.   This was my biggest challenge .

I also accomplished finding myself. As in acceptance of who I am and how I perceived my life.  The words choice and acceptance played a big roll in the freedom of self realization. I found when you take charge of your reality and look at it with new eyes, you can overcome most any thing.

I found freedom of the past through forgiveness. I found unconditional love is a gift. That not every one is capable or willing to participate in. So I have learned to accept this as a fact and forgive my self for thinking that they should be able to love. And I will learn to love them any way.
But I also have learned to help till the point of knowing I am wasting my time. I learned some people like to be the victim of there life's story. And enjoy others trying to help them. But they are unwilling to chose to learn to let go and learn to be happy. I have learned many life lessons this year. And I am grateful for each and every one.
I now have 10 days left to find a word for 2012.
Wow this is a challenge to top this years word.
Any suggestions ? And what will your word be ?



Have a wonderful day and remember to laugh and play.

Imagination

 This is my latest creation. It started with an abstract back ground. And I added to it to create this. The only words that come to mind is imagination.
    I have been slack on words lately. But creativity has kept me busy. I am going to let the grand kids make ornaments for there parents as a project on Christmas day. We did dough art a few years ago, and they really enjoyed it.  I have also knitted a scarf. I am not a knitter, so it was the only thing I could make. I normally crochet most items.
   Today the weather is cold again. And I have bronchitis and ear pain. I am on antibiotics. So will be well again soon. I hope.  I am off to sleep soon. So I will close for now.
 

Have a wonderful day and remember to laugh and play.

Let them eat pie

Replacement photo. This is 2 pie's rather than the 1 9x13

Pecan pudding pie

crust
1 1/2 cup. ={ 354. ml] flour
{177 ml} =1 1/2  sticks of butter
2/3 cup.= {150 ml }crushed Pecan nuts

 Combine ingredients and cut together until it resembles coarse meal.
Press well into a greased 9 x 13 x 2 inch baking pan. Bake at 325 to 350 degrees for 30 minutes. It will be golden color Let Cool.

Combing 1 package cream cheese  8oz  I believe

1/2  up to 3/4 cup  powder sugar  {59 ml to 79 ml}

1/2 container of whip cream

mix together, spread over bottom of cooled crust.

top with chocolate pudding made according to package directions, note: you can add whip cream topping to the pudding also if you wish. 

Then top with whip cream and broken peaces of pecan This is very good.
...........................................................................

Banana split pie is also awesome.

make or use a gram cracker crust. 

This recipe will make a 9x13 inch home made crust

or 2-3 store bought round crust.

Layer 1:

Take 1, 8 oz cream cheese  blend in 1/2 container whip cream 1/4 up to 1/2 cup powder sugar. {59 ml or 79 ml}
  1 stick soften butter.
add 1 egg or leave it out if u prefer

 Spread in bottom of crust

Layer 2:

Drain 1 can crushed pineapple. spread a thin layer.

Sprinkle lightly with powder sugar

Layer 3

Slice bananas 1/4 inch (thinly) spread side by side over the top of the pine apple.

Layer 4:

whip cream to cover

layer 5: drop can cherry's here and there to decorate   I use cherry pie filling for the cherry's. 

Note:

Some people who love cherry's will like a layer of cherry's under the whip cream rather than sprinkled on top.
I give min to max  amounts so u can adjust for your needs. Use the smaller amount of sugar for less sweet taste

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F = (175 degrees C).
Have a wonderful day and remember to laugh and play.

Chit chat :)

 Hello every one. Time for a face to face chat. Yep that me as snug as a bug in a rug. I let Jeremy take this photo the other night to post on Angela's wall. So I decided to share it with all, as now you can see the real me with out my wings. In my comfy lazy boy with my warm blankie. I miss blogging and writing. Have been playing games again on face book. But now I am tired of that. I need to find some thing else to occupy my time this winter. Do not know yet what to do. And have no plans. But I will think spring.

Have a wonderful day and remember to laugh and play.

Time to talk

It is almost turkey time for most. Our family had our day last Saturday. And it was joy filled.

 I am so thankful that I am blessed with a kind loving family and amazing people like you in my life.
My grand son Jeremy was looking at my friends on here and face book and was like. "Wow, you have friends all over the world." Grammy. And I smiled and said. Yep, I am very lucky. Thanks to the internet. I have some special people in my virtual life. And know some day we will all be closer as technology advances.

I am thankful we can turn on this computer and see bits of each others world.  I wish you all a happy thanks giving and send big hugs.



Have a wonderful day and remember to laugh and play.

Who am I

 This is a question asked by many. Yet some never find the answer. I am a mom, G-mom, Sister, aunt, etc. You can call me an empty nester. As this defines my status of kids grown. But it is also the best time of your life. You move into the position of choice. You can now chose ,(what do I want to do with this new found freedom?) I have been feeding my self with books,art, fun, self programing. Releasing the old. Like a butterfly in a cocoon. I have been painting, drawing. Home rehabbing. The list can go on. Yet, I do not have a goal. Those days are over. I do not need to rush though my day with no time left for me. Days of getting so much done. With no time to smell the roses. Now I can just do what I want, when I want. No one to report to. Unless you count hubby as this person.

Thought!

I have always wanted to be a traveler. Tonight I planted the seed of Mount Rush more . I asked hubby, if he may want to go see it. So This may be my next great adventure.
Wish me luck. :)

Have a wonderful day and remember to laugh and play.

Birthday bash

Saturday was and awesome night. full of sparks. Both from the flames of a bonfire and stars in the sky.  Love and joy filled our hearts with joy.We celebrated the birthdays of both my oldest (Jeremy) and my Youngest Grandson (Rebel) And 1 & 12. Amazing how time fly's.

Jeremy said this was his best birthday ever. There was BBQ, And roasted marshmallows. Fire crackers and a hay ride up and down the gravel road to end the night.
Have a wonderful day and remember to laugh and play.

Turning a new leaf

I have just came to the conclusion.

I am not a witch with a bee.

I  have just became brutally honest.
I will no longer be a door mat for any one.
I am still nice , loving and caring.
But no longer will I be used. degraded, or abused. By any one.
I will honestly tell you straight up with out fear.
What you may or may not want to hear.
Hay that rhymes. :)
But there is no reason to be weak out of fear.
Because if they do not respect me the way that I am.
That tells me they do not know the meaning of unconditional LOVE.
If some one can not be told the truth. Then you do not need them in your life.
It seems like we go through all kids of challenges and tests in our life time. And we have the choice to be or play the roll of the victim. Or we have the choice to dust our self off and say.
I SURVIVED. And I will not let it happen again.
Some things are simply lessons learned. 
But I feel we are here to conquer our fears.
Learn to let go of what we could call baggage.

And looking back on my life, I think I can now say" I pass." I have forgiven every one including my self. And yet, I have the experience and knowledge to not fall for some things again. But I hope there are no knew challenges to overcome. Sure there will be loss of loved ones. Accidents etc. But I now accept the fact this is all apart of life. Some people have what looks like an easy path to walk. But,  I know there are few people in this world that can say. I never had a problem. But there are also many people who can say there is no easy road for them. So I am happy to be one of the lucky ones to have had a balance, both what can be called good or bad. And I can now say" I am grateful now for both." 

And I can not get over how free I have became.

Have a wonderful day and remember to laugh and play.

Fall color abounds

We are not in full bloom color yet. But the road sides are in the process of change. Red is still a color that has been missing for a while now. I think the ice storms in the past have taken those trees away. But the orange is amazing.

Have a wonderful day and  remember to laugh and play.



These photos were taken on highway 63 near Columbia Missouri. My daughter Amy and I both used our cell phones to take them,  She has a smart phone and the quality is way better than my phone. You can click on the photos to enlarge. 

Freedom of control and judgment

 I have been writing a bit and saving it in my computer. I thought I would start sharing some of it here. some day I hope I have a book that will help others get to the point of freedom I have reached in my life.
I do not have the answer for every one. Only the answer to my life story.

“Believe nothing no matter where you read it, or who said it, no matter if I have said it, unless it agrees with your own reason and common sense.” ~Buddha

I remember learning of the old days, times of cowboys and times of pilgrims. Our history tells us that we came to America for Freedom. In those days there was no issue of how your home looked. It was a blessing just to be able to cut down trees and build a log cabin. We did not even know about paint till one day some one decided to paint a barn. Then it caught on every one wanted a red barn. We did not all have grass or even care if the neighbor cut down there weeds. In those days weeds were medicine to some, food to others. We were rich if we had a glass window to look out of. Many kids were raised in a 1 room home. We did not start imposing excessive laws and rules on our self and others till latter on in history. The thoughts all started with some ones judgment and need to control others. And the power to control grew stronger over lime.

Now we have so many laws and rules it is unbelievable what we pay people to come up with.
We have allowed the government to tell us how to live and we pay them to do it.
We sit back and complain to deaf ears. As we feel powerless to change any thing.
We let our neighbors become victims to city inspectors.
I had one knock on my door in the mid 1990's The issue was,I had a pumpkin plant that was growing near the foundation of my home. It was planted among the flowers, yet it grew legs and started taking over the sidewalk that started from my door to my driveway. (The local beauty police. Aka Building inspector) One day knocked on my door.
She had a dumbfounded look on her face.. She looked at the plant and asked. What is this growing all over the side walk. I said a punkin plant. She seemed distressed and said you do see it is taking over your walk. I said yes.
She had no ideal what to say or do. She could do nothing about it because it was a vegetable and not a weed. And there was no law on the books that said your side walk could not be covered by a veggie plant. So, she could not give me a ticket, But if I would have had snow on my walk. She could have. There is a law that said the walk had to be shoveled in times of snow fall.  At that time i felt so free. I smiled and she left. I was then allowed to let the punkin plant grow as long as it wanted. And they could not pass a new law quick enough to make me do any thing. But my plant harmed no one. It just bothered her.

The issue of rules and laws. People saying and judging others has been one of my biggest issues in this life time.  I think of it as a god complex for some.  You have to dress this way. Look this way. Talk this way. Or you are made to feel inferior. But the truth is. Who are they to judge and make rules for us to follow. If I want to wear a pink shirt and green pants blue shoes, yellow hat. Tan coat. Sure I look like a rain bow. But who said this was unexceptionable. I am a bit of a rebel. I use to be worried about what people said about me. But now I do not care. I dress the way I want. talk the way I want. And wish the world was free for every one to rebel and just live and let live. In peace, joy and happiness.
I now feel, If you do not like the way I dress or think. It is your loss not mine if you chose to leave me out of your circle. To me what counts in this life is how kind you are. If you care about others more than your self. If you want the best for others. To see them happy. I am judgmental when it comes to mean people. I do not see why they have to make sure some one else  has a bad day.  I chose to exclude people like this from my circle. As I feel the painful energy they throw out to the world. I would love it if they would learn to deprogram. But I except that they have the freedom to be the way they are. It is not my place to make them change. My mom is one who has so many rules. And she is full of judgment. But It is like the old saying you can not teach an old dog new tricks. But I have learned to accept her just the way she is. And go on with my life. I live life the way it feels right to me. And that is all that matters.

Live and let live.

Have a wonderful day and remember to laugh and play.

Things can change

 I am so happy with myself now a days. I have been able to get quite a bit of work done to the house that I have not been able to do in a while. I now have The living room completely wired for cable and electric. And most of the drywall hung. So I will soon have a real living room. I am amazed to say I did it. I had help holding the top cuts of the dry wall. And took my time but to say I did it is a blessing. Sure it took 6 weeks to do what I use to do in less than one. But I did it. Time was not an issue. I only have been here 6 years. And have been in my lazy boy most of those years. But I feel free of depression and free of issues that use to cause me problems. I can now look at life with new eyes and say. " There are no problems just challenges to overcome." And it is all a choice. Chose happy or chose blaw blaw. When you put away judgements and learn to live and let live, Life is so much easier.
Wishing you all an awesome day.
Miss ya. Grammy E

Have a wonderful day and remember to laugh and play.

Japan

After our wonderful Island adventure, we decide we are having so much fun. We will just hire tutors for the kids and adventure on to tour the world.  We decide to sail to Japan, We ask Angela you want to come along. She says sure. I just need to call hubby and see if he wants to meet us there.
To her surprise he agrees. Since we are all well off from our treasure find in machu picchu. Money is not an issue.

So we set sail with our solar powered hipper drive at full speed. We reach the shore of Japan. We are astounded to find it looks like a ghost town. There is no sign of life from the Tsunami and earthquake of last march. We look closer and there is a snow monkey with her 2 kids near the shore. So we pick them up and sail down the coast. We find a set of steps going up a hill side with Buddha and thousands of other wise ones statues filling the ground of each side of the steps. We set anchor. And walk to the top. We are pleasantly greeted by An elder man his daughter and grandson sitting upon a beautifully decorated horse. He says welcome, I have been expecting you. Please follow us back to the golden palace. We have made arrangements for you to stay with us there.

We smile and say thank you sir. We walk over the hill to find a beautiful pond full of koi and a laughing Buddha with a fishing pole. We laugh with delight. Then we glance over to see the golden palace is on the side of a huge lake. We then see a man walking toward us. He has a head dress with large crescent moon shaped horns on his head. We are amazed he can keep such a heavy thing on his head. He says welcome friends. Lets go in. We have prepared a special feast for all of you.
We take off our shoes and sit on the floor. And beautiful geisha girls bring out all sorts of dishes to try. Suddenly we hear Jeremy say. Alright! Pizza and shrimp.. We all laugh. The grandfather said. We knew he would like that. So after dinner we sat by the lake talking. We then realized we forgot our bags. Mrs Ogwana said no problem we have plenty of things for you to wear. So we all dressed for bed and had a peaceful nights sleep.

We were awoke the next morning by birds singing. We dressed our self in traditional Japanese clothing. And had breakfast. We then helped the family plant rice in there rice field on the other side of the hill. Then   Mr O decide it was time to show us around a bit. So we loaded up in the ox and wagon. There were fields of flowers every where you looked. Purple lavender and yellow sunflower. for miles and miles. We crossed a stone bridge and saw a bonsai tree on the side of a rock cliff. Then the most amazing waterfall it must have been 3-400 foot drop. We stopped for a swim and cooked out on a campfire. We moved on to town. There we were taken to a beautiful city full of life. We were given another palace to spend the night in. It was family to our host that took us in..

The next day we take several rickshaws to the largest Ferris wheel we have ever seen. From the top we can see the whole city. We visit many shops while the kids watch the festival parade. Around 4 pm. Angela and Amy take scooters to the airport to pick up Tim and Angela's hubby. While there they notice a sign that had all of our photos on it. All they could make out was WANTED. So we have no clue why we would be wanted in Japan. She takes a photo and brings it back to us. We ask our host to tell us what the words say. He laughs and said it was a joke. So we were re-leaved.

We all meet at a wonderful restaurant for dinner. Then spend the night watching sumo wrestlers.

The next few weeks are filled with days on end of taking in the sights. The boys took sward lessons. And practiced with the local ninjas. We stopped at Pokemon headquarters. And Jeremy was thrilled. He sat at one of there computers and started designing his own Pokemon. They were so impressed. They offered him a job. Gave him a satellite phone and laptop computer. They took us to the airport and showed us a Pokemon plane that was for us to use anytime we wanted. So no matter where we are Jeremy is available when they need him. We then were taken to the dragon festival. Where we were declared official citizens. And the Monk blessed us with happiness. And we are escorted to the Tokyo harbor where we find our ship at a privet dock. It is full of colorful decorations. And They show us a beautiful palace on the shoreline.  They inform us this is our own home there. We are amazed to find every thing we need in the palace. We have our host family over for dinner. And decide when and if we will sail to our next destination
Have a wonderful day and remember to laugh and play.

Latest adventure

Brandon wrote this virtual vacation

Hi every one.  Hope you all had enough sleep and are well rested, because this is the day that you need to  buy your suitcases before time runs out ! 

Are y' all ready ?

We are all going to take our ship the patriot stone to the best tropical deserted island, to build our fantasy theme park. I know I am said Brandon. So lets go cause day light is burning. Our bags are packed and we hear the horn of our Hummer stretch limo.We all head out the front door of our ranch house and load our bags into the boot of our hummer.  Load up ourselves. Then to Grammy E's great surprise the divided window comes down and Angela says

 you think y'all gonna have all the fun mate, ya got another thing coming  she says. With a big smile. She flew in from Australia to be with us.

Were headed up to Columbia international Airport, where our plane is waiting for us. It is a gulf stream mark S jet.  But before we leave we find an Australian bunch of lobsters and pina colada's being loaded. Thanks Ange, You are awesome to bring us lunch.  Angela says Hay where is the pilot. Brandon and I smile at each other, while the others laugh. Angela says ? Wow! you got to be kidding me mates. As we climb into the cockpit together. Yep you got that right Angela, Its me and Grammy flying. There is a look of astonishment on Angela's face as she turns back to take her seat.  Jeremy pick up the mick and says lady's and gentlemen this is captain J, I would like to welcome you all aboard. Please take your seats , buckle up & enjoy your flight.
We are in flight now and Amy & Tessa serve food as flight attendants. And Papa Jerry is the chef. We are in the air about 3 hours and land in Florida. We take another limo to the docks and board our ship the Patriot Stone. We sail for 3 days until we come to our island.

As soon as we set foot on our island we are greeted by Chance our personal attendant, who has a cooler. As he sets the cooler down the kids surround him as he hands out ice cream to all of us.  Next we hop into a motor cart and go further into the island. We find a big roller coaster already built. We are all amazed by its height, We climb out of the cart and get on the roller coaster.  We are all screaming yelling and having fun. We end our first night on the island with a fireworks show and roast hot dogs  on the beach. Afterwords we all camp out on the beach for the night.

The next morning were woke up by the chattering of the islands villagers. We gather around our beach camp fire. We have coffee eggs and fish for breakfast. When we are done eating, here comes Pablo with our scuba diving gear. We load up on a small motor boat and as we go off shore we all jump out of the boat into the ocean. We see big fish little fish, all kinds of fish. We all climb back into the boat around noon and eat crab and lobster sandwich's for lunch. When we are done we cast out our poles. y'all catch all the bigger fish, And I (Brandon) catch only a small one. LOL

Next we go back to the island and head to the highest peak. As we get to the top we are looking around in a 360 degrees show of miles of blue. Suddenly we hear Grammy and Angela yell "Come quick!" We all run over to where you 2 are and to our utter delight, it's a really big water slide. It starts from the top of our island and it doesn't stop with all it's twists and turns until it hits the ocean. Next we all take turns sliding down , we were about 50 feet apart. so we won't crash into each other. We finally make it to the bottom and play in the ocean for a while. We all get out to the smell of BBQ. Yum. We follow our nose where ever it goes. We eat so much we have to take a nap. When we wake it is night time. So we go out into the woods and play flash light tag in the dark. When we get tired we go back to the village and sleep in our huts till dawn.

All in all we stay on the island for about 2 month until we have to go back to the states so the kids can go to school.
Love to all
Brandon

Virtual vacations

I have been writing virtual vacations to my foster grandson Brandon.And he has been sending back wonderful adventures. I thought I would share them with you. As our stories are getting bigger and more exciting all the time.
In a virtual vacation you can do things you would never do in real life.
Here is my story sent to him this week.

We just had a wonderful adventure With Angela and her family in Australia. We set sail in our pirate ship "The Patriot Stone, And tell our caption Jacob Stone to set sail  for south America. He reply's How wonderful " I can use my new solar powered Hyper drive engine .   So the sails were lowered and we had to buckle in. WOW ! What a ride only 3 hours pass and we are on the shore of Costa Verde.We are then driven to Manchu Picchu resort to rest for the night.
We were awoken the next morning with breakfast in bed.
And off we went to a near by airport. We boarded a small 12 person airplane . With in a half an hour our pilot said. " We are almost there. it is time for every one to get on there para shoot." What !!!! I said. He said there is no place to land you have to jump" A helicopter will be sent to pick you up in a week.
  So the door opens and out we go. We are all in a circle in the air. One by one we open our shoots. And it is amazing. I have now flown like a bird. Every one touches down safely. And I see my self floating into the only tree. RRRR. Help. So Brandon and Jeremy climb the tree and cut me loose.
We are then greeted by the chief of the Inca tribe. 
Túpac Amaru. He says welcome. I will show you to your home for the week. They give us a refinished stone building. We all decide to change for dinner to find. We have no clothes. HEHEHE. So the tribe sends us some and Jerry says I am not going to wear a loin clothe. I will wear what I have on all week. So we all laugh, and go out side for dinner. There is much to chose from. And the men of the tribe are dancing like I have seen back home in the Us with our pow wows. 
A young beautiful girl comes over to us and asks Brandon to dance. So up he goes. They come back with smiles on there faces. And her father comes over and sits down. " Welcome to the family my son. He says to Brandon. He just did a marriage dance with her. His eyes open wide. WHAT ? !!! We all laugh, I say we will work this out later. So we then retire to our house. The sun rises to wake us. And I take a deep Breath of cool dense clean air. And walk out to find breakfast awaits. We decide to explore the structures today.   By mid day, Amy, decided to sit down against a wall on one of the dilapidated buildings , and suddenly the wall behind her starts to crumble.  She hops up quickly to find it has exposed a tunnel. 
We all look at each other with surprise. TREASURE HUNT !  Yells the kids. So we all one by one crawl through the opening. We find a room at the end. And lucky we find there are torches for us to light our way.  So the room begins to lighten up.  And we see an alter and a chair. I go closer to find a book. I pick it up and have a seat. It seems to be full of had painted flowers and plants. This must be medical and healing knowledge. I thought to my self.  I look up and Jeremy has found what may be a key.
So We all start looking closer at the walls. Tessa says. I think I found it. As she moves a small flat stone back and forth on the wall. Brandon takes the key. And it fits. He says. Should I turn it. We all agree. Yes. Suddenly the room starts to shake. OH NO! Booby trap ! Jerry yells. The alter soon falls into the ground, The shaking stops. We all slowly move forward to find. Steps. Should we go down. I ask. We all agree, yes.  We find it is level after level of rooms. There are air tunnels that lead out to the sides of the mountain. And gold and diamonds every where you look. Along with ancient artifacts.   We pick up a few things and take them back to the Chief. He is so amazed at our find. And so impressed that we were honest. He said. Take what you want and call or write me if you ever need any thing. He gathers his tribe. And declares us all to now be family. 
So we spend the rest of the week exploring. And taking in the sun shine. At the end of the week. We have to cross a net bridge to get to another mountain top. Where it is flat enough for a helicopter to land. We are taken back to our hotel . And we all run to our rooms. Awe nothing like indoor plumbing. And a hot bath. We all meet up by the pool to discuss were to go next.

___________________________________________

I altered the faces. The first man on the rope bridge is Brandon , 2nd is his new virtual father in-law 3rd Scott, My hubby Jerry, Jeremy 

These images were taken from the web 

Manchu Picchu

Our ship The Patriot Stone

Please let me know if you would like to write a virtual vacation to send to Brandon.
Have a wonderful day and remember to laugh and play.

Good by clutter

 Out with the lazy boy

Out with the lazy girl

Good by comfy chairs

Grammy is cleaning house

 Hello scraps of paper

Let me throw together a back ground

I feel like a kindergardener

But this is only the begining

Next de- cluttered my brain

And see what the future holds for me.

Look out world I am cleaning house.

Have a wonderful day and remember to laugh and play.