My Bella turns one -- but aging is so much cuter on her!

My sweetie Bella turned one on 8/8/8 --- how's that for a lottery winning combo! Of course her Mom had to throw her a big party which I thought was just about the stupidest thing...... why not admit she threw the party for herself is what I thought to myself in my cranky old person voice. What one year old is going to remember a big birthday party? As it was she was cranky through a lot of the party (crankiness must run in the family..............) and I am sure when she is old enough she will tell her Mom -- I don't remember anything about it!...............along with a lot of other stuff her Mom is not going to want to hear!

Another year closer

Well today I am another year closer to the end.........the end my friends as the Doors song goes. So I decided to spend part of my day writing a list of happy things that have happened in my life in the last year since my last birthday. Obviously on the very top of that list was the birth of my one and only grandchild, Isabella, who has become one of my most favorite people on earth....sometimes even more so than my own kids. I imagine I will not feel the same way once she hits her teens but right now she's all smiles and fresh baby smells. If only we could all retain that specialness we have as babies........the world would most likely be a better place!

Love hurts

It's been a month since I lost my beloved cat Callie and I am still struck with sadness pretty much every day when I think about her. I've had lots of animals throughout my life and I've loved them all but there are certain ones that just seem to imbed themselves in your heart and their loss is even greater when they are no longer with you. Three months ago she was her normal feisty and annoying self, threading herself through my legs under my desk talking loudly to me while I worked. Did I take the time to pay attention to her then? Sometimes but most of the time not so much.......which makes me realize that I need to PAY ATTENTION. Just as I am aging so are my pets and their stay here is most likely much shorter than mine. So from now one when my animal family is asking for my attention I need to give them just that .......... I never know when I will be sitting here missing them too!

How Hot is HOT!

They are forecasting 114 degrees today........so how hot is hot? I've lived in Arizona pretty much most of my life and I can tell you that once it's over 100 it's hard to tell how much hotter it is........although that June day that it reached 122 I can attest that it was pretty blast furnace hot. So I'm off to run errands before it gets to be much later in the day..........if you are caught outside after 3PM it's enough to make the lipstick in your purse melt................not to mention anything else that cannot withstand heat. Looks like another driving with oven mitts day awaits.......... SO today I am going to imagine that I am here in this picture lounging on the piazza on the Southern coast of Italy.......eating pasta and drinking wine!

I have been feeding birds in my backyard for over a year now and here is a pix of my favorite morning visitor. Sometimes he comes with friends. I have a feeder out for him but he prefers my flowers.....guess he likes his sugar the natural way!













I also feed a lot of doves much to my next door neighbor's disgust. Oh well. This is a mourning dove and they are so sweet looking......and their poop washes off the slate walks we have in the backyard easily. I used to feed them in the front yard but had to stop because a neighbor from up the street offered to "kick my ass" and I had not signed up for that particular activity.......so now they are in the backyard where I have to act like a traffic cop what with our cats and dog thinking I am feeding them just to fatten them up for their personal liking.........

So It Begins.......

I really had good intentions when I signed up to blog in April..........but silly me.........life got in the way in a big way! It never fails to amaze me how time keeps zooming by.......for fear of sounding like an old foggy.........but I just want the calendar to slow down........I feel like one of those cartoons where there is a calendar on the wall and the pages are just ripping off it at the speed of sound.......that is how I feel like my life is going right now and actually I've felt like that ever since I turned 50 which is almost five years ago.

As for the old foggy thing -- I was informed by my daughter-in-law over a month ago that I AM OLD. Ha ha ha..... just you wait girly.........time will get you too! I do have to admit that when I was in my 20s I really did think for a time that anyone over 30 was not to be trusted so I guess we are all just idiots during our late teens and early 20s. And.............I do feel old on the one day that I babysit my dear darling granddaughter for 12 hours straight.....or actually I feel old after I am done babysitting and sitting at home again on the couch trying to decide if I even have enough energy to get up and make something to eat more complicated than cereal. It is during these times that I realize that there is a reason why woman are not supposed to have children after a certain age.................and for those that do........well insanity is one way I would describe that!

So I've adjusted my thinking slightly and now I think anyone over 80 is old..........I'll let you know what I think is old once I hit 80!