Post #300.....:-)

And it is Saturday Quotation Day, so here we go.....

G.K. Chesterton: "It is not bigotry to be certain we are right; but it is bigotry to be unable to imagine how we might possibly have gone wrong".

Samuel McChord Crothers: "The trouble with facts is that there are so many of them".

Leo Rosten: "Money can't buy happiness, but neither can poverty".

Herbert Hoover: "About the time we think we can make ends meet, somebody moves the ends".

Francois de La Rochefoucauld: "We rarely think people have good sense unless they agree with us".

Unknown: "What other people think of you is none of your business".

Last thought from Wilt Chamberlain: "Everything is habit -forming, so make sure what you do is what you want to be doing".

Enjoy your Saturday.....I'm off for a wonderful weekend so Gray Matter Sunday will probably be late. :-)

Breaking News -

Years ago when employed, one of my fav vendors was FedEx. I love all the community involvement they participate in and particularly when it comes to these precious little black and white bears. Every time FedEx does a Panda Express I track it all over the world. Today, they are exporting Mei Lan, a 3 year old female born in Atlanta, GA. and Tai Shan, 4.5 year old male from the Smithsonian National Zoo to China. The U.S. and China have an agreement that when pandas born in the U.S. reach a certain age they are to be sent to China to participate in the continuing breeding program to increase the number of pandas in existence. At this point, roughly speaking, their are only 2 thousand pandas living and to continue the species, there needs to be more of these precious creatures born. Safe flight little guys. And enjoy your future....

TGIF! btw, wherever TGIF originated, thanx and hooray!

Peace, Harmony & Tranquility

Every day as I come and go, I see this wall hanging outside my front door. I guess I am so use to seeing it, that I don't see it at all. (I'm sure you know what I mean. My friend Gail gave this to me several months ago and I promptly found a great spot for it. What I neglect to realize is that this lovely wall hanging is exactly what I want my life to be about. Resolving some issues recently that needed to be addressed, I found myself in a quandary and put off doing what I needed to do. Mostly, how to resolve them in a kind and sensitive manner. Now that I've taken the steps to resolve the situation, I suddenly saw the hanging and my life returned to where I want it to be. How simple is that.

Tried and true - I think this is my thought for the day "The best is yet to come".

Thanx Gail, I really do cherish and appreciate the wall hanging and your friendship.

First ASLA luncheon of 2010

First ASLA luncheon of 2010. Woman of the Year went to buddy Karen. Well deserved. She is into everything and has been active in so many activities. The other pic is of some of our waiters/bar keeps...They are young guys full of fun and they generally keep us laughing. Great food, especially good goodies at the end of the meal.

Since I just purchased SUGAR, the Toyota recall has come to light. Last night I called the Sales Manager and ask about my car and situation. Today I took it in after the luncheon, they tested it and it is o.k. Plus I met my service manager. Glad I took the time to make another trip in. Better safe than sorry.

Today's thought from James Thurber "It is better to know some of the questions than all of the answers."

Proudly Introducing.....

my new toy....Golden Beauty! Yesterday I took white car out for a spin and somehow ended up at the neighborhood Toyota dealership. (not to mention I had my checkbook in hand). Between the t.v, newspaper and radio ads, I had to see for myself. Truth in advertising is rare, they always have "lead-in" advertisements for goodies to lull you into buying things you really don't want or need. BUT.....the ads were in truth, the real thing. I believe my salesman knew he had me at the first turn in the road when we went for a test drive. Sweet as sugar. For those I sent a pre-blog email to with pics of Beauty, no I don't really know if that name will remain or I'll find a better one, but I do know we will travel many miles together for a very long time. Hated to say goodbye to white car, but nothing stays the same forever.

From H. Jackson Brown, Jr.'s -Life Little Instruction Book - Rule #123 states :

Learn to listen. Opportunity sometimes knocks very softly."

and so it just hit me, I think a great name for Beauty is SUGAR! how easy was that?

It's Sunday, January 24th and this is GRAY MATTER #4

It's Sunday and here is Gray Matter #4. I think this one is absolutely great!!!!

Makes one stop and think and hopefully take action. This message appeared in the WSJ October 1980. For this message United received 15,162 letters and mailed 73,358 reprints.

Even tho I don't usually do "thoughts" on Sunday, I passed a sign this a.m. that said "A joyful heart makes a cheerful face." Looked in the mirror and sure enuff I was looking pretty darn o.k. :-)

In control? What.....

who, me? Today's blog is about ORDER in one's life! HA! I really do try to keep things in some type of order, pantry, linen closet, under bathroom sinks, kitchen sink, closets, etc....you get the idea. The one thing I cannot seem to get a handle on is DAILY QUOTES! I love 'em, love 'em, love 'em. This a.m. I noticed that my inbox was overflowing with quotes that I get everyday, from friends, readers, and daily quote webs that send me "thought for the day". No, I didn't coin that idea. But I love it. So, as I sit here at my desk I have decided to make Saturday, QUOTE day. There will be no rhyme or reason as to how I choose these quotes, just trying to clean out my inbox. Hope you enjoy and perhaps use some of them yourselves....

Harry Golden "The only thing that overcomes hard luck is hard work."

George Santayana "There is no cure for birth and death save to enjoy the interval."

Albert Schweitzer "Happiness is nothing more than good health and a bad memory."

from friend Gail, no author given "Negative worries can fill our heads and freeze our forward motion."

Next Saturday I will jump right into printing the quotes, today tho I had to give you the reason why....ENJOY!

Busy day in H'town

Yesterday was an interesting day. I had to attend a memorial service for a friend/ex co-worker who finally found peace from all of her medical problems. She had a very short marriage to a fine man and had finally found happiness. Sometimes life just isn't fair, but then we don't always have a choice.

Whenever I drive into town, I always try to have a lunch and/or dinner with friends. For lunch Linda and Gail met me at The Raven Grill. A delightful place, food was excellent and it was in the very trendy West University area. After the memorial service, my friends Anna and Grace went to dinner with me. Once again we returned to The Raven Grill. I enjoyed it both times. Wish we had a Raven Grill in Montgomery. It was fun times with all and the drive home was very pleasant. Beautiful night with lots of stars. I think one of the stars might have been Sandra - finally smiling down on the world.

RIP Sandra...

Jury Duty

Being the good citizen that I am, when I received a Jury Duty Summons, I checked my calendar and it was aok. I used the on-line Impaneling and it was very easy. I kept checking both of my emails to see if they sent me any notice but none was received so today I was up and 'em early to go to downtown Conroe. There were 60 of us for this particular criminal case and my number was 36, so I was pretty sure I would not be chosen. It's interesting to watch and procedure tho and listen to the defense attorney and the prosecutor. The judge was a senior judge that floats around the state and goes where he is needed. He actually has been a judge in Ft. Bend for about the last 30 years. We had to be at the court house at 9:10 a.m, did not actually get started until 11:00 am and finally those of us not chosen, released about 2:00 p.m. Long day but I'm glad I went. Hopefully no more summons for a long time.

I like this thought for the day by Anonymous "Write a wise saying and your name will live forever." touch of irony there.

Gray Matter #3 - 2010

I love this Gray Matter - United received 23,344 letters and mailed 99,225 reprints. United knew they were right on target with this Gray Matter when the Air Force Academy asked their permission to use this message in their recruitment advertising and literature. This Gray Matter appeared in June 1981.

ENJOY!

1st Day of Volunteering.....

Today was really exciting for me. My first day as a volunteer at CRMC. Everyone was so nice, helpful and happy to see me....loved it! I was originally scheduled to work in the Volunteer Office but as I came to learn, nothing is written in stone. I spent the morning working in the Cath Lab Waiting Room. Learned so much and found it was very interesting...That will now be my Monday assignment, except in the afternoon. Fridays will be "on call" for special projects. Several people are in the throes of having to take time off so I'll be a fill-in. Had a nice lunch with the volunteers ( 1 giant table that all the V's sit at) and you really get to meet even more folks. Can't wait to return this Monday.

From Aristotle "The gods too are fond of a joke".

Garden Gals 2010

How nice, today was the first gathering of the Garden Gals for 2010. We had to bring a plant for the exchange and a food item for the brunch. I found these beautiful deep rose flowering Cyclamen at the store and thought they were perfect. Actually, so did all the ladies because it was the 2nd item chosen in the exchange and was passed around 3 times before it was declared "chosen". I myself #7 as it was, chose a "Money Tree" plant which I am very excited about and will take some pics of it soon. Brunch was excellent, a wide variety of all kinds of treats and everyone had a great time. Now that I have accepted the position of program coordinator, I've planned the next function in February with a guest speaker from the Texas A&M Extension Service. I met Mr. Daly at the library last year when he presented a program about summer gardening. A thoroughly delightful gentleman and I know he will give us an excellent program in February.

Today's thought under Personality again: "Make peace with your past so it won't spoil the present." unknown author.

Lunch with new neighbor/friend

Lucky me, I have a new neighbor and friend, Judy. A very delightful lady - she has a very cute little pup named Rose and we visit whenever we see each other. Today being such a reasonably nice day, Judy and I visited and decided that Mexican food was the perfect lunch to continue our visit.

Returning home I started making treats for tomorrow's first Garden Gal meeting. We are having a brunch and everyone is bringing something plus we are exchanging plants. That's always fun and usually I come home with some new type plant that I've yet to have.

Yesterday a friend sent me an email with 39 different sayings of how to live one's life. No info as to where or how the thoughts came to be, but I liked them so here is the first one.

This falls under the group entitled PERSONALITY.

#12 - Don't have negative thoughts or things you cannot control. Instead invest your energy in the positive present moment.

New Year's Resolution # 1

Accomplished. Today I became a volunteer at Conroe Regional Medicial Center. I've wanted to do this for a long time and was determined that this would be the year. Orientation lasted from 9:00 a..m. until 2:00 p.m. with time for a free lunch, a great tour of the hospital and I even had the opportunity to witness a patient signing his will. I'll be working on Fridays, the whole day most Fridays and some few Fridays only half the day. I really wanted to be the "popcorn" lady but found that the popcorn machine was a lot bigger than I am, no way...There were 5 other new volunteers so I now have 5 new friends. One of which is a neighbor. Nice...

Today's thought from Nancy Astor "The main dangers in this life are the people who want to change everything - or nothing."

Gray Matter #2 - 1/10/10

This is Gray Matter #2, date today is 1/10/10 - How cool is that? I'm a numbers person so I like the date sequence. For this Gray Matter, United Technologies received 10,674 letters and mailed 51,034 reprints. I know we have all had decisions to make, opportunities to ponder and paths to take - the important thing, imho, is that we make the best decision possible at that time and take action. Sometimes they turn out well and sometimes not....But at least action was taken. Doing nothing nets nothing! Enjoy this Gray Matter....:-)

#83 - Up close and

Personal with #83 from the Conroe Fire Department. Anytime I can get up close to a firetruck, I love it!!!!

Stopping by Target yesterday, one of the big trucks was there shopping. At least the firemen were. So I took advantage of it by getting very very close to the truck. It was awesome! Bright and shiny, looked fairly new. I've always been a siren chaser (inherited that from my Dad). Someday I am going to luck out and actually get to go for a ride.

Today's thought from Oscar Wilde "Experience is the name everyone gives to their mistakes"...amen to that...

Happy cold weekend, bundle up!

Late Edition of Blog

BAMA ROLLS - WTG TIDE!!!!!! 37 - 21....
Sorry UT....

Capricorns Unite

Friend Shari and I celebrate birthdays one day apart, so today we lunched at our neighbor Cracker Barrel Considering it was soooo cold and windy, we asked for a table close to the fireplace. How nice was that! Crackling fire, good friend and a delightful luncheon. Shari had visited her beauty salon and I went for pedi/mani. Beautiful ladies. Also, on Tuesday had celebrated with my sister and brother-in-law , visited another dear friend and had dinner with yet another dear friend. That was a busy day but fun.

Today it is totally freezing here. All my plants are covered, I've even kept the drapes closed to keep the heat in. Hard freeze predicted for tonight and the next 2 nights. Whooooo Hoooo! Good thing my Seattle kids are not here.

Today's thought from I. F. Stone "If you live long enough, the venerability factor creeps in; first, you get accused of things you never did, and later, credited for virtues you never had."

Patience pays off

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, so they say. I've been patiently awaiting the total blooms of my holiday Amaryllis to open. Today, all four of the blooms are open and lovely.. On this cold, gray, dismal looking day, before the big freeze hits tomorrow, what a pleasant surprise. It was definitely worth the wait, as all good things are.

I believe today's thought is very appropriate from Soren Kirerkegaard me"Most men pursue pleasure with such haste that they hurry past it."....I'll definitely take the time to pause now and again to enjoy my flower.

January 5, 19**

Many years ago, in a galaxy far far away....... I came to see the light of day....HOORAY! Not Star Wars, silly goose, but Houston, TEXAS....It has been a wonderful journey, withstanding the ups and downs of life, ever growing and going and I must admit I wouldn't take a second for it. All the choices, some good, some not, opportunities taken and some not taken, roads traveled and more yet to come. For friends, especially, near and far, those I've stayed in touch with, renewed friendships, and made so many more friends, I am touched with your kindness and thoughts wishing me a good day and year. Most of all, for family near and far, for their never ending support, encouragement and love, I say a very heartfelt and loving thank you.

It's not every day one has a "second chance" to take advantage of and I am so very grateful to celebrate this birthday. Love to all and mucho' thanx.

This is soooo strange, especially for

TEXAS! We just don't have this kind of weather. They are predicting another hard freeze with the possibility of SNOW on Friday! WHAT!!!! The plants are covered and what is not covered is sitting happily on the dining room table. I have my delish cup of tea ready and I'll be "hunkering" down when it's time.

So crazy! I honestly believe this is global revenge on Texas.

Tonight that adorable bachelor Luke will be featured on "The Bachelor" and I can't wait for the show. Yum!

Today's thought from Marty Indik "Confusion is always the most honest response."

Stay warm and toasty....:-)

2010 Gray Matter #1

First Sunday of 2010 - Gray Matter #1. For this message United received 9,147 letters and mailed 40,214 reprints. This ad was requested by many business people, who at one time or another, had been promised things they never received. I believe there are just some simple everyday type of promises that this also applies to...

Enjoy!

Little Baby Buckeye

Buckeyes 26 - Oregon Ducks 17.....Great game, little baby Buck and I had a good time watching the Buckeyes play and win yesterday. I've become a big fan of the Buckeyes since I have been visiting my friend Diane in Columbus, OH. Not only do I enjoy the football, but I really like Columbus. Not enough to move there, but it's a great place to visit. Diane and I go ever so far back (the early/middle 60's) but our friendship renewed as if we had never been apart. It was an off/on kinda of day yesterday, some sunshine, some fog, some clouds, typical weather for this time of year in Montgomery. Had my black-eyed peas so I'm set for 2010.

Thought for the first day of the New Year from Shakespeare: " 'Tis the mind that makes the body rich." Ponder on that friends. :-)

WELCOME

2010, 2010, 2010, 2010, 2010, 2010, 2010, 2010, 2010, 2010, 2010, 2010, 2010, 2010, 2010!