1.) So this year, rather than making a yeah-riiiight resolution to eat healthy and lose weight, I'm determined simply to become physically stronger.
The exercising 5 days a week, using weights, taking walks--I can promise to do those without crazy major doubts. Really, I've got a good feeling and who knows? This might even lead to a healthier eating lifestyle.
Making one right decision often leads to making another.
2.) Have you ever sent me an email at GladOne4@yahoo.com, but received no note back? Well, last month I discovered two emails from a blogging friend in my spam folder(!) and, horrified, thought, "Oh no! Maybe folks out there think I'm a hypocritical ol' meanie because I sent no email reply."
So seriously, if that's happened to you, please try again. I answer all email (that I actually see) from people commenting about my blog/certain posts. I never just ignore them.
Which reminds me--hopefully, if nothing else, being online is teaching us to communicate better, more concisely, patiently and to believe if someone, say at Facebook, ignored our question or comment, it was only because they didn't see it. Not because they hate us. :)
3.) So I collect bookmarks, but you'd never know it.
Oh, the times I've grabbed a nearby kleenex, ripped a corner of a newspaper, used a spoon or even my reading glasses to mark where I stopped reading! I keep my bookmarks upstairs, but it seems I mostly read while downstairs.
Well, this week I discovered a solution. And be still my paper-crafts-loving heart! These are just a sampling of what I found here at Ebay (darn! I took the photo correctly, but Blogger flipped it. Oh well, you'll have to turn your head. Click to enlarge--it'll help.) --
Gorgeous, gorgeous things. My bright idea is to place one inside each book I'm likely to read this year. (The Valentines, though, I'll send out to friends.) No more using (boring) found objects to mark my place.
4.) Doesn't your heart become so encouraged by each January day's lengthening of light outside? Mine surely does.
5.) What's my very favorite thing(s) about Winter? Not having to mow the lawn or trim our miles of hedges. Oh, the luxury!
And my favorite way of using my gained time (and traveling, too) in Winter is, of course, reading. Especially the books I set aside from Summer's yard sales and ones like Gladys Taber's (I prefer hers written prior to 1963) which make snowy winters sound like the warmest, coziest things, ever.
Oh, and of course, Laura Ingalls Wilder's series, especially The Long Winter, which always reminds me I've got it remarkably easy, so stop complaining already!
6.) Have some extra time? You may enjoy Vee's post like I did. Sounds like we've both been walking around our houses making changes to things which annoyed us or simply can be made prettier. It's more a matter of attention to detail than needing lots more money.
7.) After something like 20 years, I finally ordered a nice old copy of A Lantern In Her Hand. Want one for your Kindle? Here's a copy for just .99 cents--but it's annotated, which, when I see that word on any older book, makes me run, screaming. But hey. Maybe that's just me.
8.) Oh, and yay! Netflix added their original series, Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events today. I really enjoyed the email Netflix sent to me announcing this series last week--what a hoot! --
| Hello Debra, |
| Please forgive this intrusive message, but I thought email was the best way to send you a dire warning about Netflix’s dreadful new show, A Series of Unfortunate Events. It’s not something you ought to view, even for a second, as you can see below. |
 |
9.) And lastly, here's an excerpt from another obituary from my old home town in California. "Honey" Bunch and her husband, Gene, passed away only 4 days apart(!)
"Honey Bunch, (Marie Johanna Bunch) ... was born to Swiss immigrants, Joseph Gnos and Johanna Schieber, on April 1, 1928, in Sacramento.
The eldest of six siblings, she worked on the family dairy farm and often looked after her brothers and sisters. During high school, she was trained in opera and made a couple of albums, later making an album of Swiss yodeling in Mill Valley.
She managed restaurants, a motel and even ran the Graeagle Frosty for a time. Both Marie and Gene were excellent cooks. She was an outstanding seamstress, even making her own wedding dress without a pattern. Most notable, of her many skills, though, was furniture refinishing. She loved the outdoors and many walks in the woods with her loyal dogs. To the end, she was positive and grateful for each day and loved her family and friends dearly."
Aww... right?
Gratitude turns what we have into enough. ~Author Unknown
"I wait for the Lord, my soul waits, and in his word I hope..." ...Psalm 130:5
