Leap Repeat

Four years ago I posted my very first ever post on this blog. I had signed up to do a blog in the fall of 2007 but never did anything with it. I was a bit intimidated I think. My Daughter-in-law Amy urged me to try it and I took the "leap" on Leap day 2008. No pics because I wasn't sure how to do it..but that didn't take long to figure out. I had no followers, no comments...no real understanding of how much fun this could be once it took off. I've had a great time writing about my simple, and many would say, boring life. It's been a good journal tool for me. I've collected many family activity photos, written about the Grandkiddos and anyone else that will let me tell a story. What surprised me the most was meeting so many other bloggers all over the world. Really interesting people..really nice people..really creative and inspiring people. I've learned about other cultures and got jealous of my blog friends who have nice warm weather when we're freezing our bums off! The recipes I've tried and sometimes (when I remember) shared have helped my culinary skills. I've encouraged my other family members to start blogging so we can share pics and ideas and feel connected while we live many miles apart. Many times I hear the statement "I can't blog, I wouldn't have anything to write about". Are you kidding me? You don't need momentous experiences and life changing events to do a blog. You just need to be alive and have something to say. I've enjoyed just reading someones simple and heartfelt thoughts about the stars in the sky, the love of their lives, the work day, the vacation, the simple sounds of a creek flowing by or a decision to do a good deed every day of this year. Not everyone who blogs will turn out to be a "Pioneer Woman" and make money and a career on TV. But alot of bloggers sell their crafts or ideas on etsy sites. Many have advertisements on their blogs that bring in some money. I bet they didn't realize what was in store for them either. I'll never have a million followers, but I do have the cream of the blog world crop who surprise me by taking time to not only read "Whispering Pines"..but comment too. I love all you guys! I love being able to share with my family some of my day to day activities, but more than that I love sharing my feelings about them or about my childhood. I love giving a birthday shout out in the form of pictures and memories to my children and my siblings. So what did you do on this Leap Day? I'm loving this free day we get this year. Did I do anything super duper fabulous? Well, I worked all day and it was a good productive day. I walked out of the hospital and it was 69de. outside and sunny. It was pouring rain when I went in this morning so I was hoping I wasn't dreaming..and I wasn't! Ahhhh....I sat in the sun outside and just breathed in the fresh warm air. I know it won't last but I loved this gift today. No, I didn't discover the cure for cancer, or climb a huge mountain or win a million bucks. I just took this day and enjoyed it and continued to "leap" into this fun blogging world. Hope you do the same!

You Might Not Know This..But..

You might not know this but I have a Sister..just one. I sometimes think about what other woman do who have more than one and how they all get along. I'm happy with having just one. Since I have 4 brothers I really just need this one perfect Sister who's a best friend too. The other thing you might not know is we have designated places we stand when our picture is taken. It's been like that since she arrived in my life. The next pic will prove my point. I could have given a hundred photos to prove my point, but that would be stupid. Just trust me here.
Voila...here we are in our designated picture places. I'm so thankful I have a Sister that has stood by me all my life..and she's stayed on her side of the photos and me on mine. We get along the best that way!
You might not know this but I had a pony growing up. Atleast that's what I fantasized when the man with the pony and camera came around the neighborhood. I was sad to realize the pony was not staying. The hat and chaps were leaving too. The picture however has stayed with me forever. P.S...everyone has a pic like this so I fooled nobody all these years.
You might not know this but I have a weird hairline. I always have had this dented circle thing on my forehead. It's not as noticeable now...It didn't matter anyway back then. When your bad hair days were as frequent as mine, as demonstrated in this photo, any distraction was welcomed.
You might not know this..but I was in the circus. It's the only explanation I have for this collar that's around my neck. Seriously...what was I thinking? You might not know this but I always wanted bangs like my sister. She has straight hair. I don't. However, as this pic shows I went ahead and had bangs..and they are wavy and all the ironing and taping in the world would not make them straight. Unfortunately I didn't learn my lesson because I still sport them today..and yes they are crooked. Get over it.
The final thing you might not know is 59 years ago today I looked like this...and it's exactly how I look today...same hair cut and same chubby cheeks, same look on my face that seems to be saying: "Are you kidding me?" It's good to know that some things never change. Happy Birthday to Me! You might not have known that either!

Blah, Blah, Blah

I feel like this surgery scheduling board...very blank. It's usually covered with our schedule for the day but the technology on this day wasn't quite working right. Many days we wish for the old pen and paper way of life! I wanted to blog tonight but I feel very blank. Not much happening worth blogging about. Jack wouldn't let me take pics of him getting ready to go in for a colonoscopy. Don't ask me why. The weather has been nice and mild (although snow is heading our way tomorrow). I can't even complain about that. I'm still dieting and exercising and slowly taking a few pounds off here and there. I haven't heard if I won the HGTV dream home. That's always a possibility..I never give up hope for that! I did get a zit on my chin today. I'm 58 and I have a zit. I didn't even have those when I was a teen. I was feeling pretty bad about it until a coworker said she had hairs on her chin. Yep, I'll take a zit over chin hairs any day. So I'm going to leave this post tonight as blank as our surgery screen....it's just all blah, blah, blah. Good night.

Never Forgotten

I love this picture of my Dad. I'm not sure how old he is but I think I Mom said he was about 17 here. He looks not only handsome, but very happy. Just as he usually was when I was a kiddo. He had his moments of "not so happy"..usually associated with the antics of my older brothers! My Sis and I however always made him smile...Ha! Well, she would agree with me anyway! He looks very much like my younger brother Jim...especially the smile. Today he would have been 92. He died in 1976 at age 56. Taken too soon and he left a huge hole in the family that I don't think we have filled up, even with all the Grandkiddos and Great-Grandkiddos....Dad was one of a kind. The best kind. I'm very lucky to still have my Mom and I'm grateful everyday for her good health. But I know she misses my Dad too. She has his love letters that he wrote while fighting in WWII that I'm hoping she will have printed before the ink fades too much. They were written with his talent of putting thoughts to words on paper that could make you cry. They tell just a small tale of who he was. I blogged last year about him on his birthday but I decided to do it again this year so he's not forgotten...so Happy Birthday Dad! I know you're looking down with that great smile and hopefully are pleased with what you see in your family that misses you.

Happy VDay!

What makes a Happy Valentine's Day? Well for me it's beautiful flowers...

In a really cool looking vase. I'm easy to please! Thanks Jack for the lovely flowers and all the many VDAYS we've shared! Love Ya! Hope everyone's Vday was great!

Chili Nite..Inside And Out

Every February we have our annual "Cheap Good Night Out and Chili Cook Off" at the Church. Anyone who wants to enter their chili recipes just brings it in and they're judged in different categories. The judges don't know who made the entries because the pots just have numbers on them and all the judges have to do it taste and decide.

There's other food too....it was all very good!

Hey, here's two hungry folks who look a little familiar:

After dinner our emcee, Greg announced the winners.

Catergories were: Hottest..won by Rachael!

Sweetest? Yep, sweetest won by Steve whose wife in the green sweater seems more than a little excited!

Derrick wins this catergory every year..what is it? Most unusual...this year his entry looked like creek water and it had a lobster claw floating in the middle. I kid you not. I guess congrats are in order....I did not taste it and I didn't ask for his recipe...sorry Derrick!

The entry everyone wants to win is best tasting..well, duh! If it doesn't taste great, what's the point? Who won that? DRUM ROLL PLEASE: DRRRRRRRR....That would be ME! Yep, I won and I'm humbled and very thankful for judges that have exceptional taste. I say that with all honesty and tongue in cheek!

After dinner and awards comes the skit portion of the "Cheap Nite Out"...The winners are chosen by the loudest applause. This years top winners are the Primary activity girls class. You can't beat a cute face! Plus, that upside down face act just never gets old!

The Cub Scouts got to "spoof" the Branch President.

Even Jack got into the act! He was very funny!

Finally our Missionaries closed out the evening with a duet. These guys have really nice voices.

We've been doing this skit night for over 20 years. It evolved into the chili cook off and it's always been a fun time. So even though it was "chilly" outside, the "chili" inside warmed everyone's stomach and the fellowship and fun warmed everyone's heart.

Low Census

Today I was given a low census day. It happens every so often that we have enough staff to fill the day. One of our Docs is taking off for a mission trip (and taking our Donna (Starkey Hollow) with him!) and we wouldn't be as busy. It just happened to be my turn and I said "sure"...I never pass up a day off..without pay of course. Oh well, I knew I could fill my day with a chore that I have been putting off. Cleaning one of the rooms in our basement so I could use it to exercise. Our basement is a good size and this room was just turning into a glorified storage room. It's still pretty full and I'm planning on having a garage sale this Spring, but for now it will do nicely. Here's my before:

Here's the after:

Atleast I'll be able to hop around, stretch and bend to this lovely tape:

I enjoy this work out. It's about an hour and 10 minutes of constant movement that I can actually do with my sore knee. It's been a big help in my weight loss journey. There are a few different DVD's so try one out for yourself.

Eddy is so supportive of my efforts. He always hangs around and seems so amazed at my athletic ability...

He also likes to hang around the computer room and just chill. Sort of like me on my big free day!

Repeat Saturday

I can't believe I haven't posted in a week. I also can't believe that this week was very similar to the week before. It consisted of work...drama at work...weird weather...warm weather...me smiling when the temps were in the 50's and 60's...and then this Saturday we had a replay of last Saturday....yep, after sun and a bit of warmth and snow all melted I looked out the kitchen window this morning and saw this:

Well, OK, I can handle this. As Jack and I made breakfast..well, Jack made the bacon because I am awful at making bacon...I made my own eggs..the snow just kept on coming down in big wet flakes. But the bacon was tastey!

After breakfast and after the Pioneer Woman was done on food network we headed out to town.

As we drove past my neighbor's house I was amazed how far away the house looks with all that snow!

We went to Jack's office so he could work on my knee. It's been killing me for the past week. I've been exercising in my efforts to accomplish my goals I set on January 2nd. I'll post more about that later. I thought exercise was suppose to make you feel better...I guess I just need to keep at it. I have lost a few pounds however..12 to be exact. But..poor knee!

Our downtown was having another event to promote area businesses. They used the warehouse that had the farmer's market in it in the fall. Heat was added...thank goodness!

Here's a sampling of what was there. Many fun displays and wares to look at. I held off and bought nothing...but I did enjoy the atmosphere!

That was all the excitement I could handle for one day so we headed back to the Pines where I spent the rest of the day doing chores, hiking in the woods and finally making some potato soup that turned out pretty darn good if I do say so myself!