29 Gifts ~ Days 10 & 11 Acknowledging Mom

Day 10 ~ My parents are both retired, well dad is semi-retired so they they are pretty used to each other's company. Dad is out of town this month, and while Mom keeps herself pretty busy during the day, I'm sure she's finding the evenings a little unnerving, so I stopped by her house and dropped off the book: The Shack by William Paul Young. It's a nice read with a great message and I think she'll enjoy reading it.

 Day 11 ~ Mom is on my mind and I have been noticing how much of her time she spends taking care of my 96 year old grandmother's needs. Nana lives alone, but she hasn't driven in decades and has been having some health challenges of late. The thing that really makes this special, is that admittedly, care-giving is not in Mom's gifting. She claims not to have the patience :-). And yet, at the drop of a hat, mom leaps into action and does whatever needs to be done. Doctor's visits, grocery shopping, hair-dying, hair-cutting appointments, lunches or shopping excursions, ER visits, house cleaning, yard tending, Christmas decorating, hearing aid battery changing take up much of her week. The list goes on, because like all of us, Nana has needs, but unlike most of us, she needs some help getting things done.

When I posted on my other blog that Rick and I were reviving date night and were going to see Country Strong, Mom asked me how it was and said she would like to go. She and my Aunt Judy, who also works with mom taking care of Nana are going to see it together. So, today I dropped off $50.00 in Theatre Gift Cards and a $10 Starbuck's Gift Card so they can treat themselves. I don't think Mom knows it's there because I just quietly left them on the counter....:-) I hope she doesn't accidentally throw them away :-) She got tendencies :-)

Mom...Enjoy! :-) Love you!

Today, I am grateful for:

1) A beautiful warm and sunny day :-)
2) Home cooked dinner 4 nights in a row! It makes the next one really special :-)
3) Date night revived! :-)

Have a wonderful weekend! ~Blessings, Janet

50 @ 50 ~ Number 8 ~ Everyday Extraordinary: Capturing God Moments

I created this list over a year and a half ago, and with the best of intentions, I allowed things that were not on this list to take priority and, consequently, I'm not even half way through the list. I thought about re-visiting the list and taking things off that don't still appeal to me and when I did, I decided that I really want to accomplish what is there. I decided that if these items were important, I could figure out how to make myself accountable. Duh, blogging content is always a great way. Tell the world and then get to it. So here we go again.

Even though the items are numbered, I'm not taking them in any particular order, so here's what's going on with Item #8 ~ Creating a Coffee Table Picture Book. In order to "finish" something, we often need to know why we want to do it to begin with. I want to create the coffee table book because every now and then I take a photograph that captures the essence of the place. It is always an acknowledged "God Moment," and I want to be able to share those priceless moments in the pages of a book. So far, I have chosen eight such photographs for the book and my goal is to choose one hundred photos. I will share them here as it comes along and not keep them a secret until the project is complete. I hope you enjoy them and get a sense of those "God Moments" as well.

Here are the first eight:

Bridal Veil Falls ~ Utah May 2007

Provo River ~ Utah May 2007

Oak Creek Canyon ~ October 2008

Oak Creek Canyon ~ October 2008

La Jolla, CA ~ April 2009 ~ Celebrating 5th Anniversay

La Jolla, CA ~ April 2009 ~ Celebrating 5th Anniversary

La Jolla, CA ~ May 2009 ~ Meeting My Grand Niece and Nephew

Dobson Park ~ July 2010 ~ Morning Walk w/Rick and the Puppies

I am so grateful that life is full of these beautiful surprises. I only have to open my eyes to the beauty that surrounds me everyday. This last photograph was taken while the hubs and I were walking our two new cocker pups in our neighborhood park. It was happenstance that we even noticed this...and it was like our entire family was, in that moment, getting a big Divine hug. :-) Enjoy. ~ Blessings, Janet

Organizing: Books ~ Makes my heart go pitter patter

http://www.library.illinois.edu/ugl/about/dewey.html

Book Case in need of a makeover

"Am I nuts? I love the idea of putting my personal library in Dewey Decimal order LOL :-) What the heck. I love to know exactly where to find things when I want them. Like when I was on vacation in Durango and my friend Candace called and wanted to know if she could borrow my book on healing mandalas. I told her it was the fourth book from the end on the first shelf in the middle bookcase!