Things that made me smile this week and how the cat saved my life.

I went to the funeral of a friend's mother this week.  I had met her mother once and at the same time, I met her mother's friends.  These were friends she had had since the 1950s.  When they arrived, I was introduced to each of them and then they went and greeted my friend's mother and introduced themselves.  They introduced themselves because my friend's mom had Alzheimer's so badly that she didn't remember her friends with whom she had been friends for 60 years.  That kindness, that seemed so natural, made me smile and stuck with me so much that I even mentioned it to one of them when I saw her at the funeral.  She just smiled and said, "I didn't mind having to introduce myself, once I did, she remembered for the rest of the day."

Which made me think of Former Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor's husband who also has Alzheimer's.  He apparently has fallen in love with a woman at the nursing home he where he lives and his wife is thrilled.  Here is a link if you are interested in reading about that:

John O'Connor's Girlfriend

On a totally side note, the men I met that day also made us breakfast...is that the meal that is the purview of men?  They barbecue or make breakfast when they cook?  I wonder why that is...

These were people who had been married since the 1950s and you hear in our circles about how marriages worked back then.  Well, the dead woman apparently did something due to depression (although back then they probably didn't recognize it as that) that endangered one of her children.  Apparently her husband's cousin and her husband both gave her what for when they came home and discovered it.  The one man said he came in and saw the baby in distress, took care of her and scolded my friend's mom.  Her husband then came in, after putting away the horses (yes, more cowboys) heard about what had happened and did the same.  They all said it was the only time they ever saw him lose his temper with her and they told the story with a sad smile.

Other things that made me smile...my car has a warning that comes on when I leave my blinker on too long!  Who knew!

My cherry trees have cherries after only two years and a transplanting!  That just doesn't happen.

Okay, I guess I have built anticipation up enough, here is the cat story.

As a little, little girl, I always like small, dark places.  I would climb into the middle of clothes racks at clothing stores because it was dark and small.  Also when I was a little girl, we had a big, old, tom cat.  He was tall enough, that when I was learning to walk, he would walk next to me and I would put my hand on his back to steady myself and we would walk around together.  Well one day, my mother was outside weeding the flower bed and I decided that I wanted to get into the refrigerator because it was small and dark.  I thought it was a great idea, our cat, my walking buddy, was of the opinion that it was NOT a good idea, so he ran outside to where my mother was working and then ran to the door and then back to her (and no, the cat's name was not Lassie and mine is not Timmy), My mom, curious about why our cat was acting so strangely, stood up and followed him into the house, where the cat ran directly to the refrigerator.  She heard me knocking on the door and found me inside. I am sure my mother would never have thought to look there if she couldn't find me.

Happy Mother's Day to all you mothers out there!

Liebster Award

Thanks for nominating me, Blondie.  I never receive awards and I am pleased that you thought enough of my blog to nominate me.

Here is a link to Blondie's blog, she's fun to read!
Blondie's blog

Since I wondered why it is called the Liebster award, I looked it up...yeah, I'm a bit of a nerd.  Here's what I found:

It has German origins – the word “liebster” has several definitions: dearest, sweetest, kindest, nicest, beloved, lovely, kind, pleasant, valued, cute, endearing, welcome, sweetheart and boyfriend (really?)

Here are the rules:

1. Thank the person who nominated you and post a link to their blog on your blog.

2, Display the award on your blog--by including it in your post and/or displaying it using a "widget" or a "gadget".

Answer 11 questions about yourself which will be provided to you by the person who nominated you.

4. Provide 11 random facts about yourself.

5. Nominate 5 - 11 blogs you feel deserve this award, who have less than 1000 followers.

6. Create a new list of questions for the blogger to answer.

7. List these rules on your post. Once you have written published it, you then have to:

8. Inform people/blogs that you nominated that they have been nominated for the Liebster Award and provide a link for them to your post so they can learn about it (they might not have heard of it!)

Here are the questions Blondie asked:

1. Are you generally a happy person?

I am usually a very happy person, try though I might, I can't hang on to a good depression.  

2. Do you look like your mother?

I don't think I look like either my mother or my father.  My hands sort of resemble my mother's. 

3. Favorite sex position?

I don't know, it probably depends on the mood and the kind of day I have had.

4. Will you or have you told your children about your spanking lifestyle?

I don't have any children, but I would think not, children don't need to have those sorts of thoughts running around in their heads.

5. Do you own any sex toys and if so how many and which is your favorite?

Nope, no sex toys.

6. Have you ever had a picture taken of your red bottom after a spanking?

Nope (Okay, now I am getting boring) :-)

7. What decade did you attend high school?

The 1980s

8. What song do you tend to sing in the shower?

 I tend to sing show tunes, like "Good Morning" from singing in the rain.

9. Have you ever thought about walking away from your life and starting over somewhere else?

I have actually done this.  It was not as hard as you might think and I am in a much better place than I was.  I tend to live life asking "What's the worst that can happen" and if I can deal with the expected consequences,  I go for it!

10. Would you go on a cruise with your family and your extended family (parents, in-laws, siblings, etc)

My parents are both dead, but I would do it with my brothers, we get along pretty well.

11. Is there a subject that you and your husband dance around and try to sweep under the carpet instead of dealing with it?

I have no husband, but I am looking...anybody know a nice man in his 40s or 50s who is looking for a girl like me?

Okay, 11 random facts about myself:

1.  When I was a little girl, my cat saved my life.

2.  I have read "Gone with the Wind" 20 times

3.  I wanted to grow up and marry Kent McCord or MacGyver when I was a girl. (Smart and cute, what's not to like?)

4.  My max leg press weight was 525 pounds.

5.  I can list all the presidents of the United States in order, (Did I mention I was a bit of a nerd?)

6.  I love to travel and try to go somewhere fun every year or so.

7.  I'm a natural redhead.

8.  My favorite flower is the day lily.

9.  I have a life list instead of a bucket list and I don't keep anything on that list longer than about  5 years.  When something goes on, I started planning on how to achieve it.

10.  I close my eyes during violent movies.  

11.  I think doing dishes together is/can be romantic.

Here are my questions:

1.  If you could have any job in the world (forget talent or money making ability) what would you do?

2.  What is your favorite book of all time?

3.  What is the one thing that you and your husband just can't seem to agree on and how do you deal with it?

4.  What is the thing you like most about yourself?

5.  What superpower would you like to have?

6.  What luxury in life do you indulge in?

7.  Who is your celebrity crush?

Okay here are my nominees:

Jason's girl over at Taming of the Shrew.  She has such a tender way of writing about her relationship with her husband and I appreciate that she chronicles and ups and the downs!

Taming of the Shrew

I also enjoy reading about Jan over at An English Rose.  Again someone who writes about ups and downs.  (But she was already nominated, so I am just going to mention that I enjoy reading her blog)

I enjoy reading what Kenzie writes too!  I am sensing a pattern about the ups and downs of life:

Trying to Learn, Learning to Try

I also laugh regularly over at Cat's blog

Giggles, Grins and Reflections

Everybody else I tend to read has already been nominated for a Leibster and I don't want people to feel like they have to respond, so I am just going to stop with those three and a cheery wave to all the others I read.