Saturday, February 27, 2010

A Change of Seasons

Greetings, readers:  Well, spring is in the air; the temperature approached fifty-five degrees the other day. This has been one of the coldest, windiest, wettest winter that I can remember in my sixty-nine years of life.

The wind has been blowing here in the coastal region of North Carolina for months.  I wonder what March is going to be like?  It certainly can't be any worse than January or February.

I just heard on the news that an 8.8 magnitude earthquake struck Chili early this morning and that the force of it was five hundred times that of the one that struck Haiti.  That's very hard to believe and amazing.  Now, they're warning the entire Pacific Coast of an impending Tsunami, especially the Hawaiian Islands.  I pray that, even though conditions are perfect for a tsunami, no tsunamis strike any inhabited islands or coastlines.  

It seems that earthquakes are becoming commonplace these days.   It reminds me of what the Bible says about earthquakes and floods becoming numerous in the latter days.  I do believe that we are in the latter days and that Christ's return is not far away.   I just want to be ready when that day arrives.

As usual, I've been beading, beading, beading.   I've found a few beading blogs and have seen some of the beading done by others and know, without a doubt, that I will NEVER be that good;  I don't have that much time left to practice.  I wish I'd started beading when I was younger, but I didn't have as much patience then and with children to rear, beading would definitely have been put on the back burner.  Oh well, I don't have to be the very best;  I'll just do the best I can and enjoy the beading process, which definitely relaxes me and when I make up my own designs, I'm using the right side of my brain, which is supposed to make one smarter.  

It is a beautiful day here in North Carolina; sunny and still windy but not too cold.  I can't wait for some spring-like weather.  I can remember, in years past, that in February we would have a couple of days that were warm enough to sun bathe; not so this year.  My gas bill has been stupendous this year.  I got my propane tank filled up the other day and I haven't even looked at the bill, for fear of it being too high.   If I didn't have to pay gas bills, or grocery bills, I would have lots of money to buy more beads.  Ha.

I'm waiting for my granddaughter and great-granddaughter to arrive.  They're coming over for a little visit.  My great-granddaughter is walking now; so cute.  I can't believe that next month she'll be one year old.  Time really flys by, doesn't it?  It seems like it used to take a long time for Christmas and summertime to come around, but now it seems as though all we have is Christmas and summer.  The days are going by too fast for me.   It seems as though as soon as I get up in the morning that it's time to go to bed again.

Well, readers, it's time to close for now.  My grand and great-grands are here and I want to spend as much time with them as I can.  Later - Nana    

Tuesday, February 16, 2010

What's New?

Greetings readers (or reader), It's been a while since I wrote on my blog.  There's been a lot going on in my life.

The new year is here and I haven't kept one resolution - yet.  I still plan to exercise every day, eat better, lift weights, read my bible every day, etc.  Actually, I forget to do these things.  I get so involved in everyday events that my resolutions completely slip my mind.

I used to be very disciplined - when I was younger.  I can remember getting up at 5:00 AM every morning to do Joanie Greggins who had an exercise show on TV.   She's probably dead now; she was pretty old when she was doing her show and it's been at least  25 years since I did the exercises.  Consequently, everything on my body is either sagging, bagging or dragging.  And, you know the sad thing is, I don't really care.  I never thought I would reach this point - not care about how my body looks.  I used to be a fanatic about my looks.  Oh well, I guess that's what age does to ones mind and determination, etc.

Since I last wrote, my grandson has moved in with me.  He'll be eighteen Sunday.  He needed a change, so he decided he wanted to live with Nana and Poppa.  He's a dear boy.  He has Asperger's' Syndrome, which is a type of Autism.  He's had it since he was eighteen months, when he was diagnosed.  He was fine up until that time when he started making lots of hand motions and wanted to play with cooking utensils instead of toys.   I have to get up at 6 AM to get ready and to get my grandson's lunch fixed, take him to my granddaughter's house by 7:15AM and she takes him to school, as she's headed that way for work.  I, in turn, take my great-grandson to school five minutes from her house, as he has to be at school later than my grandson.  Can you figure that out?  I also have to pick my grandson up every day at school, which is thirty minutes from my house.  It sounds crazy, but I actually am enjoying getting up and out that early.  I hope my attitude doesn't change.

I am a reader so, of course, I had to read everything I could find on the subject.  We chose to implement several unorthodox treatments for my grandson, one being Auditory Integration Training.  This involved going to another town, two hours away, every day for two weeks.  While there, my grandson had to put headphones on his ears and listen to music - different kinds of music.  These sessions were supposed to help my grandson sort out different sounds, so he could learn to communicate.  He really didn't like this, at first, but eventually he adjusted.  We had an hour session in the morning, had to wait four hours and have another session the same day.  It was very trying to have to find something to fill up those four hours.  I even resorted to renting a motel room so we could eat lunch and rest a bit.  Eventually, we went to my mother's house, an hour away, after the afternoon sessions, and spent the night there.  This was a lot easier than having to drive two hours home every afternoon.

Anyway, the sessions were completed and after the first session, my grandson said a whole sentence.  It was incredible.  We were driving home and he said, "I see a deer".  We started screaming and crying; it was wonderful.   I do believe that this "unorthodox" treatment for Aspergers started my grandson off in the right direction.  Today, he is a caring, loving, Christian, sweet young man;  we all adore him.

I'm still beading.  I've made a lot of " bling-bling" rings.  They're really big rings that truly make a statement.  I love making these.  I start out with the base beads I like and just wing it from there.  I don't have a plan, I just let the  design ideas come as they will.  I love to design;  this is my passion.  I've said many times to my husband..."I wish I had a passion like your fishing passion."  He does love to fish.

Well, now I have a passion.  The problem is, I don't want to sell any of my rings.  Everyone says, make two of each ring and sell one of them.  If I make two, that means I'll be making two of the same thing when I could be designing something entirely different. Does that make sense?

I just got through eating my "no-no" breakfast - a bacon, egg and cheese biscuit with a diet coke.  I only eat one of these about once a month, if that often, as they're chock full of calories and all kinds of bad stuff, mainly fat.  But, they're soooo good, and I was soooo hungry.

I'm sitting here typing this blog trying to decide if I'm going out of town today, or not.  They're having a big bead, trunk show an hour from here and I'd like to go, just to get out of the house.  We've been pretty housebound in the mid-atlantic lately because of all of the snow, sleet and wind we've had.  I can't remember a winter that has been so crazy.  We usually have pretty mild weather here in NC, but this year has taken the cake.  It's not supposed to get above 45 degrees today.  Yesterday afternoon, it was 60 degrees and 32 degrees last night.  Is that crazy, or what?

Well, I guess it's time to close down this blog; I've got a lot of things to do today.  I hope all of you have a blessed day.  Ciao, Nana