I guess I need to change this Blog to ..."Now I'm 60!"

So turning 60 was not as bad as I thought it would be. Still not excited to be older, but since I had no choice in the matter, I'm still aging. 

Life is still pretty much the same for me. Still plugging along with the same old aches and pains, forgetfulness, earring loss etc. 

What will share is that I think I am getting a little more confident in myself. Still concerned about being the best person I can be but I also realize that I can't be the person others think I should be. Good or bad, this is who I am.

I love my family, I miss them terribly, love my friends, I want to travel for fun more and I want more quality time with my husband. 

I've booked our trip next month to Kauai, I'm looking for trip to Ireland and planning a long road trip up the coast, over to Montana and any where else we decide to stop and visit. I'm excited to get this opportunity.

I'll try and write more, but don't feel like you have to read it, it's really just for me. Love ya!

Today is a Gift!

Hi Everyone,

It's been awhile since I've blogged. I've been busy but mostly I've been lazy. I try every morning to have my quiet reflective time and I've not been very diligent about doing it the past few weeks. Much like dieting I slip and fail to make this quiet time a priority and today I watched a video from a Facebook friend and was once again inspired to get back to my morning boost.

The video is amazing and I invite you to watch it during your quiet time http://michaelhyatt.com/the-gift-of-today.html

I guarantee it will move you and remind you to take each day as a gift. As we start this wonderful Christmas season, it's a perfect time to be reminded of the gifts we are blessed with. The gifts are in everything we encounter each minute of the day we just need to open our eyes to enjoy them.

Here are four ways you can transform today, taking it from ordinary to extraordinary.

(taken from the above website)

1. Notice the gifts around you. Whether it is the natural beauty that surrounds you, the interesting people you encounter, or the simple beating of your heart, everything is a miracle—if you have eyes to see it.
2. Open your heart to receive them. It’s so easy to feel entitled and become cynical when we don’t get what we want or feel we deserve. But if we receive everything as a gift, designed for either our enjoyment, our transformation, or both, we open ourselves to new possibilities.
3. Express your gratitude for them. This is one of the things that makes humans unique and sets us apart from the animals. But we have to speak it to experience the power of it.
4. Bless someone else. Let your gratefulness overflow into the lives of those you encounter today. It doesn’t have to be fancy—just offer them a smile, a touch, or the simple gift of your presence. (You could also share this post with them!) 

I want to remember that Today will never be repeated. It is unique among all the days of my life. My gratitude can transform simple things  into something to be remembered. I am thankful for the Lord above who protects me when I am too stupid to listen and learn from the last time I tried to do it on my own. I'm thankful for my wonderful husband who loves me in spite of my flaws. For my children and grandchildren who give me a joy beyond words. For my friends who are always there when I need them. For my health which is amazing since I've abused it most of my life. The opportunities I encounter everyday to witness God's presence in others. 

I could go on and on, but I want to hear what your Thankful for. Did your feet get you out of bed this morning? Were you able to turn on the coffee pot and get a hot cup of coffee? Will someone you encounter make you smile or did YOU make them smile? At the end of today, count your blessings and get ready for another Gift of tomorrow.

Isn't life wonderful!

Warmest wishes from Your Friend Darlene.

Life Should Not be Measured....

My favorite quote is...

'Life should not be measured by the Breaths that we take but rather by the moments that take our breath away!'

I am not sure who wrote it but it was my email tag line for years, it's on the wall of two of my bathrooms and in my kitchen window sill. I still look at it and remember how blessed I am.

I have had so many moments that took y breath away such as meeting the love of my life, Richard, the birth of my 3 kids, the weddings of all 3 kids, the births of my 8 grandchildren and on and on.

There have been so many times that I've also had sadness that took my breath away. The sudden death of my mother at 53 years old, the loss of my dad and 3 good friends in the same year, the loss of my mother-in-law last year. 

So the things that take our breath away is not always happy times, they can be sorrowful times as well. But, what I realize is that this is life. You take the good and the bad and measure the moments. It's not how long we live, it's how we live in the moments. 

Love unconditionally, forgive easily, forget the careless things that people do when they hurt you, love those who forgive you when you hurt them, spend time, time, and more time with family and friends as if it were the last moments you have with them because it might be.

Sadly, my very good friend, Melanie is  probably losing her twin sister very soon. She's on life support and although I know God works miracles EVERY DAY, the truth is, she's dying. She may last a few hours, a few days or she could rally and be with us for many more years, BUT we need to prepare for the loss of our loved one. It's a moment that will take our breath away once again.

For those of you reading this...I love you! I make no excuses or apologies for caring about you so much that it takes my breath away. I want you all to know that you are special and have been  given so much talent and wealth compared to so many, use it wisely and generously because you cannot take it to the grave.

Another quote I read awhile back was something to the effect of...The journey to the grave should not be that you want to look your best in your coffin but to look like you've worn yourself out by enjoying life. It's not how good we look when we die, but that we've used up every ounce of our being to enjoy this life! We'll get enough R&R in heaven.

God Bless you all, and may his warm loving arms give you peace and security for ever.

Your breathless friend Darlene!

Every Day is a Blessing

Good Morning, good Day and Good Afternoon!

When I began this Blogg I thought I would post every day, but so far I've not and that's probably a good thing! I don't want you to get tired of reading how I am, what I'm doing and how the world is treating me.

Today is good, the last few days, Not so good. I'm having challenges with motivation, inspiration and follow through on every day goals. Too much time on my hands or just age related Blahs....is that a technical term?

As I'm aging, I feel a need to do something with my life. Something important like cure cancer, save a life or something that people will remember me by when I'm gone. Write that awesome book, give a child a home that has none, or create something people will use forever. Does that make sense? I don't want to just exist. I don't want to shop just for the sake of shopping, go out to eat because I'm too bored to cook and I want to feel better about how I spend my time. I want to make a difference and I don't know how YET, but I will continue to pray for direction until I find something.

I want to say Thank You! Thank you friends and family for always touching my heart at the right times. For always laughing with me. For being who you are and making me a better person.

I'd like to share my Daily word with you (I promise not to be too spiritual too often).

From Joyce Meyer's "Starting Your Day Right"

Be Slow to Speak - Have you ever regretted something you said as soon as the words were out of your mouth? You can't take back the words you speak to others - and words can damage relationships. The Bible says that if you can control your mouth, you can control your whole body (see James 3:2)

Before you respond to people quickly, stop and listen to what the Holy Bible has to say about your situation. James taught, "Let every man be quick to hear (a ready listener), slow to speak, slow to take offense and to get angry" (James 1:19). Commit your mouth to God's service and use words that speak healing to others.

As we all know, i speak too quickly and often regret not taking more time to think about what I say. I've never deliberately said something unkind or hurtful, but I know that I've regretted the words spoke in jest but wounded someone deeply. My Tag line on my personal email is...

Harsh words may not break bones, but they do break hearts!

I pray that I never break your heart, lose your trust and break any promises I make to you!

Have a wonderful day and may you find peace and joy in everything you do!

Is it the Hair?

Written this morning but posted this evening at 5:30pm

So it's about 3:30 am and I woke up and can't get back to sleep so I thought I would Blog. Doesn't it sound like a cool movie? Sleep has been a real issue as I'm aging, BUT that's another Blog for another time.

Hair, remember when hair growing out of different parts of our bodies was a BAD thing? Now I have to remember 'when ' was the last time I shaved my legs, underarms and bikini areas. It's almost like having Alzheimer's or an old movie like The Lost Weekend.

Any ways. I remember when I was in Jr. High and after begging my mother for months to let me shave my legs and underarms, like all the other girls, she finally relented. Back then as most of you remember, we had to use dad's double sided razor. I think they've been outlawed now.  These razors were deadly to a woman's body. No underarms, bikini are or legs went un scarred, but thank goodness we were still too young to worry about the Bikini area at this age as our experience with these razors would have probably made us barren. I still have nightmares about running with these razors and falling in a pit of them…Ugh!

Now I was a pretty hairy girl in my younger days (including last year). Not a large gorilla, but small chimp would be about right. When mom said okay, I was giddy with excitement and even though my mother warned me that "Once you start shaving, you never stop", I wanted this.

I shaved my arm pits first then sat on the side of the sink and shaved my legs next. I don't think I cut myself then, but I can remember the legs looking like I had been in the war or attacked by the chainsaw crazy killer who preyed on young couples in parked cars.

I was so excited to go to school the next day to show off my clean shaven legs, (I didn't show anyone my armpits, just didn't seem right). My girlfriends were excited for me. Much like boys when they have a 'right' of passage to becoming a man, this is a woman's right of passage second only to the period (sad isn't it!). So here I am in school telling my girlfriends the good news and showing them my legs when one of the girls, I've forgotten her (Charlotte – hated her) asks me why I didn't shave the backs of my legs. Dumb founded I had to think quickly. Back of the legs…Damn, I only shaved the front and there are TWO sides…crap! I said the only thing I could come up with…"Hummm my MOM wouldn't let me!" She didn't want me to shave so she said I could only shave the fronts for now and if I did okay I could shave the back later" Stupid girls, they bought it! They even felt sorry for me that my mother was so strict. I still feel kind of bad about blaming my mother for that and many other things which again are for later issues that I will need to discuss on my Blog. Maybe I do need a therapist. Don't they usually tell you it's your parents fault?

So I ran home and shaved the backs of my legs and began my 49+ years of SHAVING!

Back to the present day.  Last January I was helping my friend Patty (Hi Patty) on some stuff at her house and she gave me a random present. You know how fun it is to get Random presents? Sometimes there really cool random gifts that you go "Oh wow!" and other times there just like" Oh, thanks", that's nice and move on? Well Patty always gives cool random presents and this time she gave me a 10X hand mirror for my purse. Now I have a magnifying mirror in my bathroom that I check every morning for stray hairs and it works good. BUT this 10X sucker is amazing! One look and I realized that I had been walking around with a forest on my upper lip and chin for years! Wow, so how long has my face been a forest? What about that job interview I had 5 years ago, was it there then, did the interviewer see it? Does my dentist have to throw up after I leave his office? It really made me start to look back over the years and who were close enough to visit the forest. Talk about needing therapy now!

Now I've had the 'stray' 1 inch long hair on my face before and said "How the heck did that get there?" Believe me I checked my chin every day and no way that hair was there this morning. It must be those vitamins and hormones I now take or something. Kind of like the 10ft woman who grew overnight, some hairs are just like that.

The mirror is great and it goes everywhere with me (I had to draw the line at having it out in church…just wasn't appropriate) but Patty, you should have included a pair of tweezers with it. If you're going to give a gift like that it should be complete with tweezers so people can get to work on the forest right then and there! I was in agony running to the bathroom every few minutes to borrow tweezers to see if I was able to complete the deforesting or if the hairs had suddenly grown back. BUT I will say it was a cool gift.

I've always had angst about hair on my face (and other areas) because as my mom aged, she quit shaving and tweezing. I often felt embarrassed for her and ashamed when I was out in public with her.

I didn't know how to talk to her about it. She also got to where she wouldn't go out in public much and let herself go. I loved my mom and I miss her terribly, I don't want to become my mother, but I can see where she just got tired of clearing the forest herself.

So, as my friends and my daughters, I want us to promise one another that if we see a forest growing on our legs (only counts if we're wearing shorts or skirts), faces and armpits (I'm too old for the full bikini but …yes event the bikini IF I am in a swimsuit) as we're aging, we will be united in reminding each other to get a 10x mirror, a good razor and therapy if needed!

Have a wonderfully free Hairless day and may no wild hair appear unless it's an urge to go play Bingo!

God Bless

BINGO! That's Right I said it.....BINGO!

Good Morning Friends,

So yesterday, my sweet husband drove me 40 miles one way to Polson MT to go on a Bingo Cruise. We left early and walked around town, had lunch and did some DMV stuff. Nice day in town.

At 5:30pm we lined up with 70 other people to board the boat that would take us on a 3-hour cruise on the Flathead Lake. We've not been on this end of the lake before so we were seeing a new side from the water.

Now, most of you know that Richard IS NO BINGO PLAYER but he did have to pay to play so I played his packet and he stayed on the top deck with the captain all evening.

To say the boat was crowded is not descriptive enough. 72 people jammed into an area that should have not be set for more that 50 and even then most planners would have asked for a larger boat.

We jammed our bodies at banquet tables which were 5 people deep. Now, I know I am too big and am embarrassed that when I sat at my seat (luckily I had an aisle seat) my boobs hung over the table. I glanced at the more endowed woman and marveled at how they managed to get into their seats. I can only suspect they do this kind of thing often.

So, let me walk you through the process quickly as I want to lead you up to how I was almost kicked off the boat. The staff checked our names off at the dock but we paid for our packets inside. Inside were 3 banquets on the right side and 4 on the left side. A total of 72 seats were sold. Now we had to line up in the aisle which is barely 2 people wide to pay for our packets. This took me 20 minutes or more, a very slow moving line.

The food was jammed in the corner on the left and the built in bar is on the right side and the Bartender, Teri, either worked in housekeeping and filled last minute or was taking so many antidepressants that she didn't know she was even on a boat with 72 people who actually wanted a drink. I went from feeling sorry for her to feeling like I was on a hidden camera and would show up on YouTube later that night. If Teri was pouring a glass of wine, she COULD NOT answer any questions. The 1-drink advertised was non alcoholic but no one knew that and finally everyone just got drinks and some paid some did not, I never figured it out and I doubt that Teri ever did.

Now I have my packet, daubers and snack. I head back to my table while dodging others. Richard eats quickly and escapes to the upper deck. I should have gone with him.

Once we get started things start out okay. I actually Bingo'd on the last game of the warm ups. Along with two others I received $22.00. I tipped out $2 and feeling pretty good. Meanwhile I am trying to keep the table cloth from pulling everything off the table as I try to breath. The man behind me (in his 40's) is with his mother (did I tell you she looked older than me??) and his wife. I encountered them at the bar earlier and ...you know how some times you just know that this person is going to be trouble? Well, listen and learn.

Someone Bingos and he also calls Bingo. When they check 'his mother's card' she had actually Bingo'd on the previous number. They explain to him that she has a late call and her Bingo isn't valid. He protests that she had tried to Bingo but no one heard her. Now, my hearing is getting bad, but this man and woman are literally at my head and when they swallow I hear them. So although he protest that they are going too fast and need to slow down as his mother can't keep up (did you see the story change here?). The caller explains that he's going at the correct speed and he suggest nicely that he try and help her keep.

YEP, that was 1 of 3 times this happened. AND every time he complained. Now he's ordering the helper around like his personal PA and demanding free (not complimentary) cocktails and he is getting them! Can you see how he's getting on my nerves?

So here's the fun part, ready? So We're looking for a double Six Pack. I am getting closer and I just feel it's going to happen. I need I24 for a six pack. They call G55, then a miracle.....on the screen is
I24....MY NUMBER! I wait patiently and when the caller says I24 , I yell Bingo with a loud confident voice and started counting my money. A the same time, the lady across the aisle from me calls it, the man sitting across the table from me calls it and YEP the man behind me calls it. The helper comes over and passes me by to take the 'Mother's card' to be checked first...it's Not A Valid Bingo! She Bingo'd on G55. The 'good'  son proceeds to get loud and says G55 is still flashing and it's still a good number. The caller and helper talk and say okay we'll let her have it.....I come un glued and began to rant (along with others) No Way! You called I24, I24 is the number for Bingo NOT G55 which although still flashing isn't a valid number...That's BINGO 101 (I didn't say that part).

The caller and helper talk again and realize the error of their ways and agree that I24 is the correct number.

So Good son complains again that his mother tried to call it before he said I24, so she should get it. He says "So your saying it's 3 times now? So 3 times (it's actually 4) she's wrong. I will be talking to the management about this.

Ready? So the man across from me has his Bingo checked and it's Not a Valid Bingo..he didn't have (2) Six packs he only had (1). Ooops! Now I look at mine and realize I also only have (1) of the (2) six packs needed. Darn it. My only response now is ...Never mind....My boobs got in the way and I miss baubbed ...I now refer to it as the nipple Daubbing mishap. 

Can you believe the man actually says, "So she gets the Bingo right?". I think that's when they wanted to throw me off the boat. "NO! You don't get the Bingo! Is this man crazy and am I on a hidden camera? Is this a new Reality Series and we're all just pawns in a game of Bingo? I need to know.

Fortunately the lady across the aisle did have an actual Bingo on I24.

We moved on and the cruise was 30 minutes late docking. See what happens when you have Nipple Daubbing mishaps?

So that was my fun adventure of Bingo Cruising on the Flathead Lake. No one can appreciate it as much as I can, you just had to be there. I was still chuckling this morning but I haven't checked out YouTube yet!

Have a great day and may God Bless you with wide aisles and plenty of room at your table when playing Bingo!

Good Morning Monday!

It is a good Monday Morning!

I can honestly say this is the best day I've had in a very long time. I woke up refreshed (not happened in ages). I slept well and can't remember if I dreamed about looking for that lost meeting room and anything related to finding something! What a relief. It's been ages since I haven't spent sleepless nights looking for lost meeting rooms, missing VIP's, missing or late caterers and almost anything related to meetings. Last night I didn't dream of anything missing! I think chasing those things made me tired every morning!

So this morning I woke up without dragging out of bed, went and did 12 sit ups (this week I am up from 10 to 12 sit ups a day), danced 10 minutes to the 50's oldies station and then after a yogurt I went for a walk on the Wild Mile with Richard. We walked 3.5 miles in 1 hr and 3 minutes. We didn't stop once and walked at a brisk pace the entire time. I was surprised when we finished as I am usually looking for the parking lot on the return leg and thinking Geezzz where is it I'm tired and ready to end this! Not this time. I was okay! I felt good about myself. I said "Self...your pretty good. Yep...I am"

YEAH! I'd also like to say that when I returned home I weighed and I am down 3 pounds from last Tuesday. Can I hear an ...Amen!

So here's to a great week. I am going to continue to eat right and do little things to keep moving. But I am not doing it just for me I am doing it for Richard as well. He's struggling with weight and he's in more of a crisis than I am. He's got diabetes, high blood pressure and high cholesterol. He takes medication for all these things and his weight is a huge factor in keeping them under control. I need to not only get myself in shape I need to help motivate him to get in shape too. It's a win win situation.

An Irritating Fact of Aging ....
One of my things about those automatic online forms that we fill out with options for our DOB, what really bother me is when you have to scroll through all the years to get to yours. It reminds me I was born in the middle of the last century.....!

May God Bless you with Strength and wisdom to do the right thing today and if not, may there be someone else close by to blame it on!

DT