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Gina and Will are married! Had a great, wonderful, exhilirating time with friends this past weekend. It was great to be in the Big Apple (and Jersey where we spent the bulk of our time) again. My favorite pasttime there is still riding the trains and people watching. And the best part of the trip was seeing friends that we communicate with long distance and getting hugs and first-hand contact. Everyone is off and running on their lives -- we all realized that some of us had known one another for almost 20 years, the others for 15.

We talked for a while about the "cog" in the center that's kept us all in touch, and who has, in many instances, been the impetus for us to know each other. It's Gina. Much like my friend, Kevan, is the center of a whole group of people, G is that way in this group. It's usually easy to identify those people too. In OKC, I knew another person like that - S -- she keeps this huge group of people connected. Cogs keep the world turning. We need people like them in our lives. So who are the "cogs" in your wheels of life?

Goodbye to the Frozen Tundra

I'm a football fan, and through the years I've cheered for different teams. I've been a fan of the Dolphins, the Denver Broncos and most recently the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. I've always liked the Raiders because they are the bad boys.
I don't even mention the Dallas Cowboys, because, that's more than being a fan. That's a consistent religion. That has never changed.

The past few years though, I've always cheered for the Green Bay Packers, for one single reason: Brett Favre. Now he's retiring. So, I, also, will be retiring my "fanship" for that team. It was great while it lasted. He'll be missed.

Happy Birthday thoughts

Yesterday was my birthday I was 21 years old (plus 30). Ouch, on the number. But the day was casual and great. Hubby and I spent the morning slowly getting around. Found a great seafood place for lunch and then headed over to the waterfront for the Clearwater Blues Fest. Fabulous.

Then headed over to our son's house, where we had great Italian and a pink and yellow ice cream cake. We watched the Oscars and headed home. Low-key, perfect day.

Got some presents too!

Great column

AARP pushing its 'Divided We Fail' platform
Alex Rose
Midland Reporter-Telegram
02/16/2008

AARP is pushing hard for its "Divided We Fail" platform.

The organization is asking members of Congress, as well as all citizens, to take the pledge, which asks our candidates to give us action and accountability on health benefits and lifetime financial security.

The platform states that all Americans need affordable health care. All Americans want an emphasis placed on wellness and prevention efforts and need to have choices when it comes to long-term care. In regards to our finances, it is imperative that Social Security be strengthened, more incentives be made available so workers can save and all Americans need to have tools to manage their finances.

These are all wonderful ideas --ideas that no one will deny are necessary. The question is how and when? AARP believes that our two political parties working against each other will not get the job done. We have to find a way to work together, and we need to start this in our own communities. In order to make our communities livable, we certainly need to be working together.

When I pulled up the 221 members of Congress who had taken the congressional pledge or written a letter of approval supporting the Divided We Fail platform, I was disappointed to see only nine names from Texas and these were names outside of our district. We need to contact our representatives and ask them to support this platform. We want to make sure our candidates give us action, answers and accountability on health and lifetime financial security.

Please write to your congressional representative and ask him to support the Divided We Fail effort by signing the congressional pledge. We need to move our nation forward in a bipartisan fashion to address these urgent needs. They can sign the pledge on www.dividedwefail.org.

It is also interesting that AARP has come up with a Divided We Fail mascot -- Champ -- part donkey, part elephant (rather clever, I must say)-- who represents the heart of this campaign. It has the philosophy that for too long donkeys and elephants have bickered and quarreled and wallowed in partisan gridlock. Meanwhile, we, the people, have suffered. Health care is a mess and long-term economic security is at risk. It is time to put an end to it. You can get Champ gear if you wish -- T-shirts, hats and cards.

You can visit the AARP Web site (ww.aarp.org) and find out more information about what the pledge is all about.


©MyWestTexas.com 2008

NYC, here I come

Just purchased tickets for our trip to NYC. I'm excited. We haven't been there in four years almost! It's just hubby and I, heading to my friend G's wedding. NOW that I'm very excited about. Typical G-style, she's planned everything perfectly to the last detail, thinking not only of herself but of the experience she's providing for her guests. I can't wait to meet her hubby-to-be. Much deserved happiness and we're absolutely thrilled to be included! Bonus is that it gives us an excuse to go back to NYC and it gives us a chance to see folks we haven't seen since college.

This week, though, much less glam trip. I'm headed to Tallahassee tomorrow. I'll be there for about three days working from our state office. Should be fun to get to know Florida's capital city. I'll post some pics.

Just "kid" ding

After visiting his favorite pediatrician, "Dr. Amanda," my daughter told our little grandson that he should have asked her how her baby was doing.
He asked, is she married? My daughter said yes, well then he wanted to know how babies were made...so she told him the stork brought the baby...and he said, "Yeah right, a dork didn't bring the baby!"

My four-year-old granddaughter, K-bear, pointed to two heart-shaped stickers on either side of her shirt. "Look! I have bipples!" After the initial shock, it was hard to keep a straight face.

Primary Week highlights

It's all over but the lawsuits that are sure to come when the winners of yesterday's Florida primary challenge the delegate situation. Clinton's going to want the Democratic delegates. McCain might need that extra 54 GOP delegates that are being withheld. We'll see, the real fun might be yet to come.
One thing for sure, it's already been a fun week. Some highlights:
1. Champ, the Divided We Fail mascot, dancing at the Jan. 28 DWF rally in Broward County with Mitt Romney's grandson, Parker, aka "Mini Mitt". For a two-year-old, the kid has some fancy dance moves. Cute.
2. Standing outside of the Clinton fundraiser in Miami with our signs on Sunday night, and gaining media attention for our campaign.
3. Spending a whole week with campaign co-workers, having a blast and still liking them after the week was out.
4. My son reading a book about how America selects a president to his daughters. The next day, they accompany him to the polls as he votes. He reminds them that he is there to choose the next president. K-Bear peaks into the other room and sees a gray-haired gentleman. She gets excited, "Daddy, I saw the president!" No convincing her otherwise, and she tells the story about seeing the president for the rest of the day.

Gotta love politics.

My first movie

I'd make a lousy traveling salesman

Did you hear the one about the traveling salesman? Yeah, well, probably not since Jack Benny told that joke. Har Har.

I sort of feel like the punchline to that joke this week. I'm T-I-R-E-D. Having loads of fun, but weary of travel. Tomorrow, from our Boca Raton hotel, we're migrating to Miami and some of my most unfortunate colleagues get to go to that bastion of gray wonderment called The Villages in central Florida. So all things considered, I can't complain that I'm going to Miami.

I'm not excited though. Just tired, and miss my granddaughters madly. 3 days and counting.

Red shirt brigade

Boca Raton -- The Divided We Fail volunteers and staff are beginning to be a mainstay in South Florida. The familiar red T-shirts with the Divided We Fail logo are popping up everywhere. Did you see them behind "Morning Joe"? Tim Russert noticed and took a pledge card. Red shirts, plus the purple "Champ" elephonkey were spotted on the Today show, at the airport with Huckabee, at the Embassy Suites with Giuliani, in Little Havana, Pensacola, Sarasota...the list goes on.

One lady shouted, "The red shirts are coming! Geez, I feel like Paul Revere."

We're worn out, feel like we're making a dent with some candidates, and more importantly getting the message out. I've given away so many of the Champ buttons I wear I don't even keep count anymore. www.dividedwefail.org

When was the last time you were this happy?

Missing the Grid

This is the month that we would be in the throes of rehearsal for a badly written, badly sung, funny and fun show to be involved with in Oklahoma City. Dang, I miss the Gridiron.

GOP candidates are expected to pour into the state after Saturday's South Carolina primary. Still no Democrats. They are sticking to the ban. Hard to believe they would go out of their way to disenfranchise voters -- the DNC. Almost enough to make me change parties, 'cept my family would disown me. I'm going to hate voting for the GOP candidate in the general, but I've decided. If the Dem nominee doesn't come to Florida, I'm voting for the other guy. OK, maybe I am. We'll see.

Go to www.dividedwefail.org -- sign the pledge.

Diva's Game

Playing a fun game from a post by Redneck Diva

Go here and the name of the first article is the name of your band

Go here and the last four words of the last quote is the name of your album (that's c.d. for you young ones)

Go here and the third picture is your album cover.

Here's what I got:

Band: Spencer Compton

Album: Love It Into Greatness

Good grief

Do you have electionitis? I think we -- hubby and I -- most certainly do. Any given time of day, pundits are blaring in our house, dissecting the races, the candidates and each other. That gets old, but nothing's more fun than watching the election returns.

During my recent trip to Orlando -- hubby was at a conference while I was working -- we met up with some of my campaign cohorts in the hotel bar to watch the New Hampshire returns. Fairly soon, we had side bets going on who was going to beat whom. Kucinich versus Thompson; Rudy versus Ron Paul; Clinton versus Obama. Fun stuff.

In the end the big winner was the one who took the ever-growing pot of Gravel guesses. A buck bought you a guess on how many votes Gravel would get by the end of the night. If he went over, you were out.

The whole evening was proably a sad commentary on what this election has become: entertainment. Britney who? Paris? Dubyah, who? We're all too busy paying attention to the latest poll, and we won't have learned. Next week we'll be watching the polls just as closely as before they proved to be just plain wrong.

But let's hope we don't all get too involved that we don't notice Bush's new strategy in Iraq, his visit to the Middle East and what Congress is passing while everyone else is too busy being entertained. Don't get me wrong. I absolutely support and love it when people pay attention to the electoral process. Just not at the exclusion of everything else.

That said, who'll lay a buck on Thompson dropping out after South Carolina. I still think Kucinich can take him...

Live each day

This is the time of year that makes me sad. The experts say that's typical, but my sadness is not necessarily full-blown depression. It's a sad twinge of leaving something behind. Taking stock and then realizing that maybe we didn't accomplish everything we wanted during the past year.

But this time of reflection is also a time of hope that this year, I'll finish half-completed projects. Hope, that this year I'll find time to pick up my paintbrushes again, finish that novel or find the job of my dreams.

When I get melancholy, I usually end up tuning in to country music. If you need a good cry, listen to country. There's bound to be a song that makes you tear up. A good cry is cathartic.

Tim McGraw's song "Live Like You Were Dying" was the song today. But it also made a lot of sense. We wait so long to do so many things. We don't use the good china every day, we don't take things off "the list" until it's too late. I thought about people who give in and live with regrets of what they wish they could do. They wait for a rainy day, for a special occasion and, then it's too late. Even 100 years is not so long after all.

So this New Year, my resolutions won't have so much to do with losing weight or finishing projects, as much as DOING. Yes, I still want to finish that book and those projects, but I also want to run a marathon, learn to speak a new language, go hiking in the mountains, laugh a little more, get extra hugs every chance I can. I want to hold those I love a little closer and tell them I love them more.

My wish for you my friends is that you all take stock, resolve to live your life to the fullest, take chances, grab opportunities, love more. And, as always, Take time to watch the sunsets along the way. Happy New Year.

Who needs snow?

Merry Christmas, ya'll. It's been a long, hard month, but we had a nice Christmas. Just us and son and his family. Missed are daughters, but it was nice that we recently got to see them. Here's a few shots of our family Christmas. After dinner, we lugged kids and chairs to the beach. The guys fished, we looked for seashells and the little ones made sand angels. Who needs snow?

And, if you need a little more incentive to come visit, here's a ditty for ya.

Betty Lou

When I first met my mother-in-law, I wasn't quite so sure she liked me. OK, I sort of knew she didn't like me. From the hyper stressed-out "no, no, no" when R picked up my suitcase that first visit home -- before we were married -- and she thought he was taking the suitcase to his room to her "sharing" photos of R's first wedding with me -- after he and I were married, the first few years were rough. I remember, after only a year or so of marriage, vowing to never talk to her again.

Fortunately, I did talk with her. During the past 20 + years, I've come to admire and love her. She's my husband's mother and she did a fine job of raising him and his brother. They are both good men. She became a grandmother to my children.

Betty Louise was the best darn cook I ever met. Pretty much NOTHING she ever cooked in her life was healthy for you, but it sure tasted good.

When she was ready to move from her apartment to an assisted living facility without a kitchen, the one thing every one of my kids asked for when asked if they would like to have anything was the big pot she used to cook chicken and dumplings. I never have tried to pretend I could cook as well as Betty Lou. And, I've worked for years on a cookbook taken from her handwritten recipes that I'm hoping I'll finish by this weekend -- at least a shortened version of it. I want to give it out to her friends and family at her funeral.

She died yesterday, and the past few days have been a blur. I'm so exhausted that I can't think and I've tried not to cry. I've been pretty successful until I read this post on my son's MySpace blog.

It's gonna be a long weekend trip to Oswego, KS

Divided We Fail

Friends, I'm sharing our latest ad. Go to http://www.dividedwefail.org/ to learn more or get involved!

Thankful

Because I know I won't have time to post anything tomorrow, here's the list of things I'm most thankful for today:

1. My family

2. My friends

3. My mother in law coming out of hip surgery today.

4. Getting over the cold that has sidelined me most of this week

5. My job

6. The Tigers kicking KU butt this weekend

Highs and Lows

Again, it's been forever since I blogged. Here's a list on the highs and lows of the past month:



High: Got to go to a Jimmy Buffett concert. Totally a Florida experience. Loved it, fun. If you get a chance, ever, go. Stay sober and watch the fun. Cross one off my list.



Low: Mom-in-law took a turn for the worst. We ended up having to go to Kansas and move her from assisted living to a nursing home. We chose one in OKC because family, friends etc. offer support there. The ideal would be to move her near us where we can go visit every day. Joint family decision though, so that was not to be.



High: We did get to see some friends we left in OKC. It was nice to be back home again, even under the circumstances.



Low: We got bumped off a tight connecting flight in Dallas.



High: We got some vouchers for air fare and a ride in First Class on the way to Tampa.



High: We moved into the new house two weeks ago.



Low: We've gotten to be here a whole five nights. Still have no furniture except some borrowed stuff, and since we spent so much money going home for the whole moving Hubby's mom thing, we probably won't get our furniture out of storage until after the first of the year.



High: The couch we have here is comfortable to sleep on. And, we're buying a new bed later this week.:)



Note: The trip to Oklahoma was bittersweet. Oklahoma feels like home. But Florida has my job -- a great job I love. It has my three wonderful granddaughters and it has the most beautiful views. Most importantly, for me, it doesn't get so cold here. That means I'm not in so much pain all the time (arthritis is a real pain).



And, and one more high: The Missouri Tigers are RANKED in the top five in the nation. Of course the fact, that KU is ranked higher is sort of a big low. But that will change on the 24th. Fingers crossed. Go Tigers!