"click, click, click....No place like home, no place like home"

We are back home from our travels. Long days on the road...ugh!
Funny thing though, it was not as bad as I had anticipated. Before we (my daughter and I) started our trip I was Really not looking forward to it. I do not like to travel long distant by car and choose to sleep it off rather than to enjoy the scenery. Wake me when we get there type of traveling. And I do not like the roads and traffic and what if we have bad traveling weather and so on and so forth.
So to make a long story short, too late..., before we left I asked my hubby for a blessing. He did give me a blessing and then left town himself. A sister and brother in our ward asked my daughter and I on sunday if there was anything they could do for our trip. (she is both of our VT and he is my daughter's HT) I could not think of anything and neither could my daughter. Then the couple talked about a GPS. I did not want to bother them and told them we had maps, but they would not hear of that and dropped off the GPS at my daughter's house.
On the day of departure I woke up and got ready for the trip and did not feel apprehensive. I picked up my daughter at 4 am and we were off. I drove the first part and she worked the GPS.
It was quite helpful and reassuring as we made our way through the towns and states.
After we had gotten to our cross country destination I told my hubby about my not feeling apprehensive and gave the credit to the blessing he had given me. Then he said that having the GPS could also be an answer because of the blessing.
Blessings come in many forms. Answers to prayers come in many ways. Recognizeng them and giving thanks is so very important.
We made our trip with good roads, good traffic, good weather. We did all the work we needed to do at our destination, had a good visit with family and friends, helped another daughter in the midwest, and was very grateful for the wonderful help from a busy son. We taxed our muscles and our backs, and did many good works. I was surprised at the stamina that I seemed to have through all this. Yes, I am old and have bad knees and taxed all the muscles but I kept on going. My daughter and son taxed their muscles and backs and took it to another level (they are younger and stronger). This strength and stamina I attribute to the blessing as well.
My daughter was going to have a yard sale on saturday to clean out her storage unit and get rid of some things she was not taking back home. On the morning of the sale it was raining lightly. I knew we wanted to put things in the yard and now the grass was all wet. And who would come out in the rain to a yard sale. I said a prayer. Then I got to thinking about it. Did I think that all I had to do was ask and my prayer would be answered? Did I have a special IN with God?
So I said a second prayer petitioning for the needed good weather. I still felt it was not enough. In the third prayer I poored my heart into it. I knew that Heavenly Father hears and answers prayers and cares about us. And that we could do nothing without His help. The rain stopped and the weather cleard and it was a beautiful bright hot sunny day. I did not complain about the heat because I had already asked for this kind of day. We had the sale and took the leftovers to the good will store drop box. Hot and tired and sticky but truly blessed.
Now it was time for the trip home. I still did not feel Dread. We got an early start and had good weather (except a really brief rain), good roads and good traffic (for the most part- I hate construction areas) We made it home and felt good about that. Exhaustion has now set in and I am feeling my age. I am grateful to have been able to help 2 daughters with their differing projects. I am grateful for the answers to prayers and for the tender mercies of a loving and caring Heavenly Father. I am grateful for family and friends. And I am grateful to be safely home.

It's the small things

My daughter and I recently visited other family members in another state. We had a nice visit and all went well, for the most part.
On the day we were to leave for home it started to snow great big flakes. She did not have a scraper and just as we got a few blocks from home my daughter rolled her window down half way to look for traffic. Then the electric window did not want to go back up. I told her to pull over and try to jiggle the window while using the electic button. She did this a few times but the window would not move.
I told her to use 2 hands to wiggle the window, then use the button. She did but still no go.
I could not think of another thing to do and while I was contemplating this she said, "why don't you pray while I work on this?"
Well, with her faith in the power of prayer I quickly said a silent prayer. I thought about doing the jiggling from the outside. Without saying anything I got out of the car and went to her window. I said to push the button while I jiggled the window. It worked, I got back into the car and buckled up.
Then my daughter asked if I had prayed. I answered I did. She said she wondered because all of a sudden I was jumping out of the car and around to her side.
It was indeed a miracle to me and an answer to pray. I could not think of anything to do differently, but after the prayer I thought of "outside". Why did going outside make a difference? I don't know. All I know is that I got an immediate impression after I prayed. I had faith in her faith in the power of prayer.

Was My Face Red....

Well, if you are of the sweemish sort, I suggest you stop reading, because to get the full affect I will detail the info.
Last friday night I was at my daughter's house in Utah. Her family was there plus my daughter from Nevada and her two children. The little ones were off playing, and the teens were busy with their friends. The "adults" were at the kitchen table playing a game. We are known for uncontrollable laughter. We had eaten a bunch of food and had pop and snacks. Needless to say I felt bloated but had not heard or felt any rumblings.
Something that was said struck my funny bone and I started to laugh, and hard. Then I heard myself Ripp a loud one. My son-in-law shoved his chair back fast, as if it was going to get on him. Then the quote from the Simpson's came to my mind, "Well, that shut me up!" I began to laugh more and even started to shake because I could not get ahold of the gas attack. Spurt, Splort, Sputter! My son-in-law said, "I believe we have lift-off." And I laughed all the more. I was sooooo embarrassed.
We did calm down and I went to the bathroom to relieve any further gas and everytime I thought about the whole thing I laughed again. I am so glad and sorry at the same time, that it happened around family. On the one hand family will just chalk it up to Old People. On the other hand I will probably never live it down.
On Saturday we all gathered at another daughter's house and the first daughter brought along a can of room deodorizer. Funny.....
We all had a good chuckle at that, at my expense. I still feel so embarrassed at the whole thing and yet when I recall it I laugh all over again.
So my apologies to those of you who experienced this first hand, and my apologies to those of you who read this and are shaking your heads.
I shall go down in history as Rip Van Stinkle......

favorite cereal

When I was little we ate oatmeal and cooked grits for cereal, pancakes and bacon, eggs and toast, french toast....and while all these are still good I remember my favorote Store Bought cereal. My choice was Frosted Flakes, the tony the tiger one, because they're Great!
My brother chose between Sugar Smacks and Sugar Pops. I liked those too, but they weren't as good as Tony's. My dad's favorite was Wheaties. He ate so many of them that I am surprised they never put his picture on the box. These were special cereals. Back in the day it was the oddity, not the normalcy to have store bought cereal. And there were not many choices either.
Today eating cereal out of the box is the norm. We eat it for breakfast, lunch, and supper. Snack time too. The variety is so tremendous that I am sure you can find Something you will like.
Recently a family member came home with the Old Shredded Wheat in the Big Chunks. My hubby was surprised they still made it. Speaking of hubby, he was a farm boy so he had hot cereal and eggs a lot. He still likes those today. He will eat a cold cereal sometimes, but not too often. And when he does it is like this shredded wheat thing.
I bought boxed cereal for my little ones and also had hot cereals of oatmeal, mush, and Cocoa Wheats. Cocoa Wheats are made in Indiana. We can find them at the Walmart in the west though. The Big Walmart, not the Small one.
The cereals I bought were the generics of their day. Captain Crunch and the like. Occasionally we would buy the Real cereal for them, the kind with the commercials on tv. I am sure they had their favorites too. It seems like each child sat with a box infront of them.
And that thought brings me back to my childhood. I remember my brother and I sitting at the kitchen table with our little cowboy hat bowls and boot cups eating our cereal. Mine was red and his was yellow. Each with our favorite cereal box infront of us.
How about you, what was your favorite cereal?

Found Her

With the help of my niece and her husband I was able to re-connect with a high school friend. She does not have facebook but her daughter does and I have been following her. Sadly my friend's spouse died of a trucking accident a few years ago. Her mother is still alive and she is enjoying being with her. My friend has children and grandchildren and it will be nice to catch up with her after all these many years.
She was my best friend and she got me through a lot of tough years by just being there and being my friend. I was part of her wedding party and saw her first child as part of her family. Then we lost contact and I have been unable to find her through the years. My moving and her moving did not help very much.
We had a nice long phone conversation. We laughed and just enjoyed the moment. I look forward to visiting her in the near future.
Why don't you reach out and touch someone today. Let your fingers do the walking. It will lighten your spirits..

I think I can, I think I can, I think I can

The other day the garage door did not work. It was frustrating. It went up part way and then went down again. I could not get my car out and had to make arrangements to get to work. I tried to respice the wires, no go. I tried to unlatch the automatic latch so I could open it up manually. The latch was hard to pull and it took all my strength. Finally it came down but it made no difference. I was not able to open the door manually. Talk about frustration now. So I had tried everything I know and nothing was working. It had taken me quite a while with the wire work because it was old and brittle and kept breaking as I endeavored to strip it.
So I decided to put the manual latch back into place and then my hubby could look at it when he came home. The stupid latch would not go back into place. Ugh!!!!! I was up and down the ladder several times. I tried to put it in by hand and then by hammer. No go. Double Ugh!!! So I asked myself "why don't you pray about it? you are always asking your hubby that/"
I stopped what I was doing and said a short prayer asking for the strength to put the latch back in place. I took my trusty hammer and climbed the ladder. Voila! Latch went back in to place.
I remember another time I said a 2 word prayer and was immediately helped.
Prayers can be for anything, anytime, anywhere we need help. I pray fully expecting to receive an answer....even if the answer is no. I trust that I am only a "prayer" away from the Father's help.
There are not enough words to express my belief in prayer. The only thing I can say is that with God all things are possible.

You want fries with that?

Little granddaughter was over and she was pretending to be a waitress. She brought her pencil and pad of paper over and asked what I wanted. I told her a hamburger, She said "we're out of that" so I said "chicken" and she scribbled it down. Now since she is only 3 it really was a scribble. Then she asked what else I wanted. I answered "french fries". She echoed "fries" as she scribbled that down. Then she asked what else I wanted. I answered "chocolate mild shake". She scribbled that down. Then she asked what her dolly, which was sitting beside me wanted. I told her "a chocolate milkshake". She echoed " a small chocolate milk shake". Now I had to smile because she processed that since her dolly was small she gets a small shake.
Then she went over by the couch and held out her hands for the order and said "thank you" and brought me my imaginary order.
Then she went over to her mom and asked what she wanted. Her mom started to say what she wanted but then the grand daughter says "we're out of that". Then the mom asks "what do you have?" The grand daighter says she has chicken and the mommy answers that she will take that and the other things she will have. Then the grand daughter walks over to the couch to retreive the order and the mom says "oh, that must be the kitchen". I answered, "yeah, what do you think? these things just appear out of thin air?" We laughed at that. Grand daughter will make a good waitress some day.