I Really Want a Dog

I DO... I r-e-a-l-l-y want a dog. Yes, I love my Swoopie cat. She's precious. She loves me and follows me EVERYWHERE. I don't want another animal to take her place. I want a dog because it would be so helpful to my spirit and I KNOW I would be helpful to a kind and loving animal. I grew up with my dad's "bird dogs"...that's what you had in the Missouri Ozarks. Bird dogs! Our dogs went hunting with my dad every fall...shoot and kill. We had bird dogs and they had quail. It all worked out that way; for my dad and his dogs. I grew up loving animals. Now, I want a dog from the Humane Society...or the Rescue Pound in Tulsa... to walk with, to brush, and feed and love. Sounds great to me. My husband does "NOT want a dog!" We may have a conflict larger than the dog.

After Christmas

One thing remains the same. After Christmas, I always think of what I will do "next year." Next year I will plan better. I will begin collecting little things for the grandchildren's stockings in May. Or June or July. I will begin to make things during the cold and dreary days of THIS winter, preparing as the squirrel does for the coming year. That's what I tell myself. I even make lists and write down all the plans and promises to myself. I do this every year. This year will be different. It MUST be different than 2011. That was a year I'd like to "learn from" and move on down the road! As my coach-son says, "Go to school on it!"

2011 was colder than any year I can recall in Oklahoma or Missouri. 2011 was hotter than any I can recall, too! I did not like it, Sam I Am. Several things I did not like about 2011! Get out of here as quickly as you can!!! Please bring me a new year.

I'm starting a journal with scraping stuff and writing and prose and notes. I'm hoping to enjoy the journey of making it; hoping to have something for those who walk behind me. Something they will enjoy looking through one day. The things I miss most about my mother are the stories I never got to hear. Opinions she never got to share. Thoughts and ideas, dreams and desires that were a part of her life... I never knew them. I hope my children know mine. Not that they are so "out of the ordinary," but that they are probably much the same as some of their own. If not now...someday.

To make my day nicer, I need milk. And coffee and Dr. Pepper. And quiet time early in the morning or late at night. A little of that every day. Thank you very much. Love, Lana

Mother Nature makes me think!

Oklahoma has the strangest weather. Truly. If you look at a map of the US, you can easily see that we get the mix of everything...other than hurricanes, I guess! :) Nary enough open water for THAT to happen, but we sure get a mix of the rest! Burning hot temps and humidity in the summers, from warmth to freeze in twelve hours in the late fall...winters cold and damp...spring with violent storms. It's certainly a mix!
And now it's the end of November and the temperatures are dropping. You can feel it in the wind. The skies are gray in the early morning and again in the late afternoon. Step outside and Mother Nature bids you "hello", straight in the face!
I sort of like November. It's kind of a thinking time.
Grab a cup of hot chocolate and a fold-over bacon sandwich. Loafer socks and my fuzzy robe. Do a little searching on the old www.
I need to clean out my kitchen. It's a mess, from top to bottom and side to side. Moving some things around everywhere. You know the feeling you have when nothing is working? That's it.
I'm seriously thinking of getting myself a Christmas gift. A big one.

Wish I Knew How...

Well, this is going to sound a bit freaky, but at my age (63) there are a LOT of things I wish I knew how to do! Some...well...I'm just too far down the road to go back and become a journalist for the Kansas City Star or work for the FBI. I think those things, it's fair to say, are a bit out of the picture now. As much as I love politics, I doubt that I will ever be invited to Morning Joe for cup of coffee and reflection on how this year's election groups are lining up...Lord help us all!! :) Anyway. One of the things I have on my huge bucket list is learning how to do more of the photo things and getting those posted. I'd have to say that posting pictures and losing weight are about the two most consistent items on my list in the past 3 years. Add to that, organizing my family pictures from the past 60 years and getting those scrapbooked~ still in the "to do" column!





I have spent the past three days in a class for insurance producers, i.e., those who will be testing to get a "producers license" in the state of Oklahoma for property, casualty, and commercial insurance. Cram 3 days of information (21 hours) of terminology, stats, etc. How will I ever learn all of this...and to pass the test!? Yikes! Am I too old for this? (probably)...but it's on the list.

Second Yearly Posting!

This is so random, it's laughable!

My second post for the year and the year is almost over...well lacking 40 or 50 days I guess. Not really counting.

This has been one of the most interesting years of my life...one of the most stressful, too.

I'm practicing uploading pictures from my files. This does NOT go with the topic, but in some strange way, I suppose it does! Random citizens of the earth making observations in Athens as was I on this balmy October day in 2010. Looking at life from the mountain tops in Greece. Pretty strange thinking about that today....

Reflections in a Hot July

Anyone living in Oklahoma in the summer of 2011 can tell you this: It is one of the hottest summers we've experienced in a long, long time. Most of us are just sick of it by now. It's hot in the early morning, it's hot at night. The summer sun has heated your car enough to make you sick in 10 minutes. It is wearing on people's nerves. We're sick of it! SICK OF IT.
I have learned so much in the past year; about other people and about myself at sixty three. I've decided that I am one rather normal person with some unusually nice edges. There are parts of myself that I really, really LIKE and parts of myself that I'm not happy with at all.
I think I may try blogging again. I'm tired of some of the Facebook things and tired of some of the things it represents for me. Tired of that. Move on.
I made a list of 39 things that I want to get done here at the house. Some things are very time consuming and some are just those things that can be done in a few minutes...but they need to be done. Just thought of one more. 40 now. I love working out in the yard, but in Oklahoma, in the summer, well...it just gets old after June. April, May, and June are pretty good. July is smothering and August is right there with it. September doesn't let up much and by October,...it's time for Pumpkins, strange corn, and wreaths of some sort! Gardening can be a year-round thing in Oklahoma, only if I would let it.
I'm going to try posting and then pictures again from my iPhone.