What a couple of weeks it has been! My dad is now out of hospital and living with us. My niece is taking over his home so he is not going back. I'm happy he's finally here as I've been trying to talk him into this for years. David and I are enjoying his company and I'm so glad he's not alone - 75 miles away any longer. At age 93 he needs company and I hope to get him back to good health. He is better...tonight I made beef stew with dumplings for supper. He did not eat much but he enjoyed it. We brought 2 truckloads of his things home today. Not sure where all of it will go but we will get things settled in good time. Right now my porch is filled with frozen foods from his freezer. Hopefully the coyotes we heard across the valley won't come to visit it tonight. It is 5 degrees tonight so it won't thaw at least. Tomorrow we will get the freezer going and put it away as it is supposed to be 40 degrees tomorrow.

A big thanks goes out to our friend Tom who went with David with his truck to bring home my dad's stuff. He and David are best buddies and help each other out all the time. Good friends are the best thing in the world. I am blessed to have many. David, Tom and my sisters Mary and Theresa worked very hard today to get things moved. Mary even carried a chest of drawers down my dad's narrow staircase by herself. She always was a show off! She was always quite strong too - I remember that from our fights as kids.
It was sad to think of our home where my mother cooked our holiday meals, birthday cakes and we spent so many hours playing cards and laughing and all being carried away in so many directions but at least my niece is moving in and perhaps one day we gather there again for a game of cards and a meal. It is nice that my dad is giving things away to the family both on his side and my Mom's I was happy to call his niece today and tell her that her Grandma's antique farmhouse table was in the garage and now it will stay in the family. He's my stepdad but as he reminded me the other day, "He's been my father for over 30 years now."
I bought a megamillion ticket the other day at the store - better chance of getting hit by lightning as pigs fly by but I was hoping to win the 207 million so I could open a home for seniors struggling to get by. One of my elder friends lives on $600 month social security, this after working over 30 years in one place. But I did not win - I saw on the news that someone in Ohio won. I hope they do good things with all that money.
Good night! God bless!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY JENNA!!!! My youngest grandgirl is 7 today and we don't have much time to celebrate but I stopped by her house to bring presents and get hugs. She is a very smart 1st grader and I'm very proud of her good work in school.

I spent precious time I really did not have today to post the links to I Give and I Give Search (it should not have taken so long but....) I hope you will visit those links and sign up for I Give Search at least. When you search the web, North Country Life Flight will get .02 for each search. If we all do it, it will add up and mean something.

I'm working today on getting my house ready for my Dad who will be moving in this week. I'll be so happy not to have to drive 75 miles (one way) to see him. And I won't have to worry about him shoveling his roof this winter, power outages and his meals. And my family is coming for a Christmas party with him. It will be so nice.

He's a better housekeeper than I am so I'll get my house in order finally too! A 94 year old woman told me last night, "The older men are great at housekeepers, not the young ones, they are no good at it." I'll make no further comments on that.

I'm so excited for my friend and former colleague John Lloyd Young!!! He is in Spokane, WA filming a movie!!! Most of my readers know that he starred in the Broadway show, "Jersey Boys" as Frankie Valli, winning the Tony Award for Best Performance for a Leading Actor in 2006. The "Jersey Boys" soundtrack which features his lead vocals won the 2007 Grammy Award for Best Show Album. He is so talented and such a nice person as well.

JLY stars in a new comedy, "Oy Vey! My Son Is Gay" with Lainie Kazan, Saul Rubinek, Jai Rodriguez, Carmen Electra, Bruce Vilanch and Vince Pastore, shooting December in Spokane, WA. You can see IMDB listing here. The film sounds great and I can't wait to see JLY on the big screen! What a dream come true for a young man that I first met at the public radio station where we both volunteered. He did the show before mine and played Broadway music on his show. I'm so pleased for him and even more pleased that I got to NYC twice to see him perform in "Jersey Boys."

Visit his blog at http://www.johnlloydyoung.com/ and let's all get out to see the movie when it comes out!!!!

Here's one of my favorite pictures from a "Jersey Boys" visit with JLY, from left JLY, me, my pal M-A, granddaughter BEP and my sister Mary.

I just wanted to add that God is also a copilot of mine. I was remember yesterday that David's Mom always said to us when we left "Go with God." David would reply "If God is going, He is riding with me." Anyone who knows my husband's driving experiences in his younger days will certainly affirm that the fact he survived it was an act of God. You wouldn't even believe some of his stories but I have witnesses.

Not much time for posting, my Dad is in hospital with pneumonia and will be soon moving in with me. He's 93 and just can't live alone any longer. I'll have great material for my blog with our new adventures. He has wonderful stories to tell. It will be a big adjustment for all of us but it will be a very good thing. No more driving 150 miles to visit him. He has resisted this move; I've been trying for years to get him here but he knows it is time. He has a hard time getting meals and eating at regular times. He's lost a lot of weight and got sick as a result. We will enjoy cooking together. He makes a great "chore boy" in the kitchen, preparing all the veggies as we cook soup and stews.

Early to bed...

I should have listened to that advice and not been sending emails to my friends and family at 11:46 pm last evening. I had good intentions (yeah I know the road to H E double toothpicks is paved with them) of inviting others to raise money for North Country Life Flight (my favorite life saving not-for-profit) or their own by visiting I Give.com and signing up. As you do your holiday shopping, many of the online retailers donate a percentage to your designated cause.

Well, I send a link to friends and family, realized it was not the link I should have sent so I sent another message in which I forgot to include the correct link. So a 3rd message was sent in which I used my old standby brain damage excuse - well it's true. ..

I hope if you plan to do some shopping you will consider visiting I Give. I won't email anyone else with info about. Enough is enough. But here's the correct link should you wish to check it out. http://www.igive.com/welcome/warmwelcome.cfm?c=47761&m=578999

I went to bed late feeling like an idiot for all those stupid emails but my dear friends seem to still love me anyway and sent me several lovely notes. They like me just the way I am. Those are good friends to have.

I'm happy to see my nieces both have blogs now! So cool. Great way for us to stay connected in this busy wired world.

I'm wondering....what about the music I've added? Annoying or what? Some comments or feedback would be welcome. Update: I got rid of the music - I found it annoying.... maybe I will try to add a playlist again when I have more time.

I've been reading other blogs as a way of escaping the things I'd rather not be thinking about. Nothing like reading about others to forget your own misery. Not that I'm miserable, just some concerns that I'm dealing with and sometimes you just need a diversion. I heard that there are 6 million people with blogs in the U.S. and the number is growing every day.

Sold my doghouse this morning. My spoiled dog never used the nice log doghouse (with a porch no less!) that I bought her last year. So I put it in the Press Republican (free ad submitted on line) and this morning it came out, the phone rang and it has a new home down the street less than a mile and I have cash in my pocket. My dog watched it go but didn't seem to care. She prefers our porch. Our cocker spaniel neighbor will hopefully appreciate it's new home.

My husband brought me home a bumper sticker last week from Subaru. It says "Dogs Are People Too" of course I ranted that dogs are NOT people - they are Dogs and should be treated like Dogs. My husband just sat and smiled and enjoyed my rant. We gave the sticker to our friend Tom who really does think Dogs are people. It belongs with him.