February is National Wedding Month!

I seriously didn’t know this fact and was rather surprised to hear about this one. February isn’t the warmest of months in our area or a very popular one for those choosing a wedding date. The other surprise was…Dave and I got married on February 5th and we never knew it was National Wedding Month. Well, as some of you kind readers know already that Dave is in Heaven now, losing the battle to evil cancer 9 years ago. So, I can’t actually tell him about this fact in person anyway…But I’ve got a feeling he already knows the news.

Anyway, to be very honest we also didn’t want to get married on Valentine’s Day because seriously everybody aims for that date. Please don’t get me wrong, no offense to all of those who select Valentine’s Day as their wedding day! Dave and me, well we wanted to stand alone and have our wedding date very special and as unique as we were and it was, too. 🙂  Anyway, I was thinking about weddings after reading the fact that its National Wedding Month…Of course inquiring questions kept popping into my head.

Autumn answered one of the questions for me which was thoughtful of her. She said her Darling Man and her will be marrying in one of the warmer months and certainly not on Valentine’s Day or any celebrated holiday. Well, still no date out of the Twinnie and her Darling Man isn’t talking either…They really haven’t set a date yet and that really is the truth of the matter!

How about any of you kind readers thoughts on weddings. It will be fun, chime in with the month you picked to marry. If you haven’t married yet, do you have any particular month in mind? Anybody else marry in this month of February? Do tell please…Sharing is so much fun! 🙂 🙂

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Pinky Swears Are Serious Business

Another fascinating and perhaps bizzare title…Never fear kind readers, I will explain! 🙂 I’m not sure if you all will know what a pinky swear is, again never fear if you don’t know because I will explain! 🙂 It’s something we used to do as kids, Autumn and me and still do as grown ups just to be silly of course.

A pinky swear is locking or linking your little finger (the pinky finger, that is) with another person and promising to keep the big and exciting secret that’s divulged. It seems so funny thinking about it and it makes me laugh at the words that can go along with it, too. Hope you are ready for those magic pinky swear words because here we go–” I will not bend, I will not break, this pinky swear I now do make”. How is that for young girl drama, I bet it made some of you laugh and maybe remember something similiar about your own pinky swears.

Oh my goodness but they were such serious business back in the day. I do need to add one thing, the little rhyme or magic words, sometimes we didn’t bother saying them if we were in a big hurry. Just merely locking pinky fingers still counted as a pinky swear, at least to us! 🙂

 The question I just have to ask is how many of you ever did your own version of the pinky swear? I sure am hoping somebody has and will be happy to share, please. I am so counting on you kind girl readers to share. After all, it really is a “girl type thing” this pinky swear business…No offense to you guys but it’s just a fact. Anyway, if you all are maybe wondering what reminded me of the pinky swear don’t ask! My mind tends to wander all over the place, random thoughts just pop into my head…And I was merely polishing my fingernails. Doing my little finger, the pinky one of course just conjured up this fun memory! Go figure, huh? 😉 🙂

Overhearing A Conversation and Catching a Memory

It’s a funny little happening and one I sure didn’t expect to be overhearing, but I did! Laying in bed, resting and reading during my convalescing I sure heard a chat among young teenage neighbors that made me laugh. Wasn’t that a fun happening, since resting and laying down was kind of getting to me. I am so not used to tiring easily or being in pain so the teenagers gave me a smile and a memory and they’ll never know it!

Only you kind readers will because I am sharing it will you all, because I just feel the need to. My bedroom faces the direction of my nice neighbors with a 13-year-old girl, she is a nice young girl with sometimes a rather loud voice. Of course my bedroom window was open since there was a nice breeze blowing, so I really wasn’t eavesdropping on purpose! Anyway, she was hanging out on her front porch with her “kind of boyfriend“…That’s what she calls him. Her parents say not, because she is a bit young to have a boyfriend but they let them hang out on the front porch swing.

I’ve never asked about the kind of boyfriend, but she feels the need to share her life’s happenings every so often when I see her. So, back to the chat I overheard as I digress all over the place. The nice neighbor girl Nicole is entertaining the “kind of boyfriend” Justin and they were teasing each other and having a good time I thought. But Nicole is a tad touchy and had enough of his teasing and she was going to set poor Justin straight.

I heard her telling him how she would never marry him unless  he really straightened up because his teasing was a bit too much. Anyway, she elaborated for a good five minutes…I’m guessing because no I wasn’t timing her! It just struck me as funny and amusing as I flashed back to thoughts of dear Autumn at that same age. She was smitten with neighbor boy Tim as he was with her, I have her permission to report how she could get a tad bossy with Tim. If he overteased her or got too silly she would get him in line and often would say how she wasn’t going to marry him if he kept up such things. It was cute and funny, Autumn had the touch to get her way while still making Tim think it was his idea.

Maybe you had to be there, but I can remember it like it was yesterday and picture her with her hands on her hips giving him the speech! Of course the dear Twinnie had a good number of years of keeping Tim in line…She had been doing it since we were about 5 or 6 years old. Young Tim bounced a toad off her head and Autumn had been keeping him in line ever since! A whole other story, a whole other blog and Autumn hates toads to this day.

Anyway, the whole chatting of Nicole and Justin had me reminiscing to those younger days of Autumn and Tim. I later shared with her and she laughed, dismissing the toad incident with a shudder but we had a good laugh chatting of all those younger days. Autumn always makes me get a chuckle about how her and Tim might have made a better marriage than her and her ex….Well, we never know but time marches on. Autumn is now happy and engaged to her darling man and the rest is just history! I did love sharing this little flashback with you kind readers. But, please whatever you do…Do Not tease her about toads! 😉 🙂

Meteor Watch Day is Here!

Wait a second, shouldn’t that be night? Yes indeed, this day should be called Meteor Watch Night…We need to rename it at once! Because, even if you tried as hard as you could, it would be impossible to find a meteor during the daytime! It is a kind of fascinating day/night though, isn’t it? A whole day/night devoted to the searching of the skies to catch a glimpse  of a shooting star.

Also called by some people as a falling star or meteor burst, a bright trail in the sky…Call it what you may! There is just something quite magical about the whole deal is what I think. Watching, waiting and looking to see that shooting star in the sky…Because then, Yay you get to make a wish! Everyone knows that, right? Wishes on shooting stars are among the long list of fun things in my opinion to wish upon. Not saying the wishes will come true of course, but you just have to give it a whirl just in case.

There were more than a few times I have witnessed a shooting star when my husband Dave and I were hanging out, he laughed as I wished! He thought it was so cute of me wishing on fallen debris from space as he called it, he did humor me and also made a wish once or twice.

I was talking to Autumn about this Meteor Watch Day thing and she of course thought it was quite awesome, too. The Twinnie says she and her darling man will hang out on the deck for a spell and watch the night sky to try to spot a falling star of their own! Well, that was good news to hear and I am hoping they see one!

How about any of you kind readers? Will you be out looking for your very own shooting star or do you perhaps think it’s just another silly day? Do share if you’d like, your thoughts and all are always welcomed! I feel pretty lucky myself, I am aiming to see one and make a wish! 🙂 🙂

A Case of Mistaken Identity

What an enticing title this is if I do say so myself!  OK maybe not, but  this is the best title I could come up with for this very strange happening. First I do need to state, I think I really dislike shopping without Autumn and I am never going anywhere without her again! Of course I am kidding since she can’t be with me everytime I venture out there in the shopping world. But she handles these wacky things so much better than me.

There I was in a department type store, shopping and minding my own business and looking at greeting cards. That would finish up my shopping and then I could be on my way. Well, I was going to slowed down because I was suddenly approached by a stranger in the form of some guy who was just plain overjoyed to see me! Here’s where the mistaken identity comes in, and no this guy wasn’t mistaking me for Autumn…He was calling me by one of our younger sisters names.

The funny part is sister S is 9 years younger than us Twinnies and I seriously don’t know or would never remember who all her friends, etc. were/are. Plus, what a nice compliment to be mistaken for a younger sister, right? Well, kind of except this guy was having a hard time believing I wasn’t S and that was somewhat interesting and annoying. He started telling me how he remembered me dumping him after only 3 dates and on he went, it got just a bit amusing as I heard all about S and his never forgetting her.

That sister S was quite the heartbreaker in her dating days, but my goodness she sure must have stomped on this guy’s heart only after 3 dates! I am not kidding how hard it was to shut him up either and convince him once and for all I wasn’t sister S! I finally stopped him in his tracks by pulling out my ID! His face sure got red as he quickly started apologizing tripping over the words, “You are one of the twins and I can’t believe I thought you were S and I knew she had a bunch of sisters”, etc., etc…You get the idea. Thankfully, he left in a hurry after telling me his name and asking me to tell her he said hi.

Oh, you just better believe I would tell sister S all about it as soon as possible. She is happily married with 2 kids, but I just had to know the story of their 3 dates. Here’s the kicker, first S couldn’t remember him and it took her some thinking to recall the guy at all! So no big story, but she did think it was cool he still thought so highly of her, oh sister S and that tiny streak of drama she has! So, there you have it…Case of mistaken identity and the weirdest thing of my solo bout of shopping. Yes, Autumn was missed because that Twinnie would have handled it much better. On a sidenote… She did have a good time of it teasing sister S though! 😉 🙂

It Seems Like Yesterday

I really had to write this, it’s one of those posts that really just have “to be”. It’s a story that spans 25 years and it seems like yesterday. She was born on New Year‘s Day, that in itself is special wouldn’t you say? This is a story of my niece and of course I am her favorite Aunt, but why you may be asking? Well, because she is Autumn’s beautiful daughter and I was always and will always be her kind of second Mom. Thanks so much for sharing her Twinnie!

I did my best with the loving, the spoiling, the holding onto that little girl hand of hers as I strolled her through some magic times, with your permission of course. You were, are and will always be the best and most fun of Moms Twinnie dearest! I loved the time Twinnie had on her leather cowboy hat in the school pick up line and darling niece who was maybe 6 years old was not pleased. I got called Mom and Autumn was Aunt Gabs until that evil cowboy hat got taken off!

The darling niece had a fine sense of humor from the start and it still remains.  I feel blessed I had a major part of this lovely niece’s life, and those years seemed to roll by way too quickly. The darling niece learning to walk, then running everywhere she went because walking was way too slow! The girl had a zest for life from early on, she was clearly her mother’s daughter!

Then    

The days of schooling, well they seemed to fly and then, onto college…Those 4 years went by in a blink of an eye, too. Anyway, I am along with Autumn having a hard time of it these days. The beautiful niece has moved way too far away, 2, 000 miles away…I am still convinced she will tire of this new location and be back very soon. Her new job will end up boring and dull, she will miss us too much and move right back where she belongs. I just knew  we Twinnies should have kidnapped her and refused to let her go, except that’s not how real life works. I should have bribed darling niece with the shopping trip of her dreams, because I had helped teach her to shop until you dropped. Did I mention along with loving this niece like crazy, that I spoiled her shamefully? I couldn’t help myself, her big brown eyes just had me from the start!  Well, I know that kids have to find their way and live their own lives as they see fit…But who would have known it would be so difficult? Trying not to make this sad, we Twinnies shared a new batch of tears last night.
NOW

Autumn was a single Mom for way over half of darling niece’s life…Sorry to report, Autumn’s ex-husband was really not father material and forever shame on him! Thankfully our parents were a marvelous help, I helped and so did my husband along with other family of course. It’s just hard to believe, here we are 25 years after the miracle of darling niece’s birth and she is really off having a new adventure of it. Well, I am trying to be strong and be there for Autumn and somehow we will get through this! I love my darling niece and want the best and brightest for her..Whatever the future holds for her, may she be blessed! But it still seems like it was only yesterday…

International Tiara Day is Here!

Wow, was this ever a good find…International Tiara Day! In my opinion we all deserve a tiara to call our own to wear it gladly and proudly. Give a royal wave to match our sparkling tiaras and treat ourselves like royalty, if only for this day. I actually bought my Mom a tiara some years ago, since we all call her lovingly “The Queen“. Of course it’s not some real jewel encrusted tiara, but it was the thought that counted! She laughed so much and smiled as she placed that tiara on her cloud of curls, it made her happy. It was the year we lost our Dad, almost 9 years ago now, and she sure needed something special. Mom still keeps her tiara in a place of honor and wears it every so often, too and some of the little nieces think she has got the coolest one. When visiting they all need to try on Nana’s tiara, even though they all have one of their own.

Tiaras have become somewhat of a tradition in our family, and no none of us has a real one! So here it is International Tiara Day and I do hope each and every one of you kind readers get a tiara to call your own! Just drop lots of hints to your family and friends, somebody is bound to get you one. Or maybe not…So be prepared to go off and buy one of your own! I hear tell one of the Dollar type stores is the best place to get a nice one, without spending lots of money. You can find some seriously nice ones for a mere few dollars or so, go check them out! It’s where Autumn and I picked up ours, we found some awesome tiaras I do need to tell you.

It’s an idea, I hope you girl readers do treat yourself to a tiara and you can celebrate in style, for today and any time you want to. Trust me, it will make you smile and you will feel like you are true royalty and hopefully your friends and family will treat you the same! I just had to share this not marked on the calendar holiday…Just remember, we are worth a tiara. Now, please do make up your mind to have one and if you are crafty…Well, then you can create one for yourself! Happy International Tiara Day and now I am off to go fetch mine…I only wore it  for an hour or so today, I’ve got to log a few more hours.

Oops, I will have to call Autumn to make sure she has hers on, too…She just can’t forget to prance about for a while with hers on and I bet her darling man will notice, too. He already does treat her like royalty of course, so I bet she already does have hers on! 😉 🙂

May is Get Caught Reading Month!

May is “Get Caught Reading” month, Yay! I am so embracing this one because I just love, love, love reading! Right now I have 3 books started, they are all different genres and I am going to finish them all. That just may sound rather odd, but it’s another quirky side of me, (I have many) but they all are so needing to be read! Like I said, I will get to them all…. I always do.

This Get Caught Reading Month was launched in 1999, as a nationwide campaign by the AAP (Association of American Publishers). It has now stretched all over the world and that is just so exciting! The program is also now supported by schools, libraries and booksellers. Lots of activities and events are happening and all geared toward the promotion of literacy, Yay! All such good and wonderful things

I must say. Autumn and I I have a very deep love for books because growing up at our house we started reading very early! Dad and Mom, both lovers of the written word encouraged us all to always get caught reading. It was such a blessing, and besides listening to music we all are to this day avid readers. TV was honestly not big at our house although there were a couple TV’s in residence. The stereos and books outnumbered the TV’s I must admit! It all just seemed to pale in comparison to reading and music and that has stuck with me, Autumn is the same of course…Did anyone doubt it?

How many of you are going to be caught reading this month? Come on, we all need to be on board!  I have a good feeling most of you kind readers will be. Just think of all the wonderful blogs we all read everyday from our fellow bloggers… That sure counts, too! The writing and reading go hand in hand of course, Autumn and I both started writing at age thirteen. I was thinking about that, too and I wanted to ask all of you how old were you when you started writing. Anybody who wants to, please do share! Any input is also so greatly appreciated and I sincerely mean that. So, that’s it from me for today and I do hope you all will get caught reading! 🙂 🙂

Memories of Hiking With Dad…

I woke up early, it was a beautiful sunshiny weekend day. My mind does its own thing and thoughts and memories just pop into my head at random. Maybe this happens to other people, too and if so you will know what I’m saying. Most of you kind readers know me, so you will go with the flow and continue reading, I hope!

Anyway, I was just remembering all the hikes and trips in the mountains with our Dad. Autumn and I were so blessed to have trips alone hiking and meandering the mountains and all with our Dad. We both miss him still so much, we lost him to evil cancer close to 9 years ago. That makes these wonderful memories just all the more precious. Having been born the oldest of 6 sisters, Autumn and I had a lot of hiking trips alone with just our Dad. Mom kind of stayed behind at our cabin, minding those little sisters.

As they got older, then we all hiked as a family…So many, many times!  But, getting back to the Autumn and me, those hiking trips with Dad. We live only about 8-10 miles from where we usually hiked, so it was fun as well as being close to home. Dad was so patient when we had our first hike, pointing out all the interesting things on and off the trail. So many times we probably got on his nerves answering our wacky questions, but he never complained.

The stops for us Twinnies picking up little rocks that caught our eye, insisting the moss on rocks and trees needed investigating. But we walked and talked and so much joy and wonder as younger Twinnies we had! As we grew older we seemed to have gotten a pattern going, the hikes were fun and amazing, but the talking with Dad was just so awesome. He was a most special one, always ready to discuss just about anything and loving to share laughs, too.

Dad’s laugh, oh my goodness it was one of the most beautiful sounds ever! I remember it and can hear his laughter in my mind, talking it over with Autumn, Mom, our sisters and other family members…So can they! That makes me so happy, he had this contagious and most ear catching and pleasing laugh. It would just make you smile yourself and then join in laughing…Just so joyful, so full of love of life.

The hiking was just a wonderful memory that popped into my head on this fine spring morning. But I realize I am also writing lots of mine and Autumn’s love of our precious Dad. I think sometimes the tears we both have cried over remembering could fill more than a bucket, but that’s OK. Because ,never would we have ever missed one single hiking trip or one moment with our Dad. He was always so watchful and teaching us about good plants, bad plants, looking out for snakes, the balancing of your backpack and just so much more.

Autumn and I are still good hikers to this day, because Dad taught us well. We always had the best of hiking boots, too because that really does matter and any of you that hike know what I’m saying! Anyway, it was a beautiful memory and I guess I just wanted to share it with you kind readers. Thank you for listening and please do share any thoughts or memories of hiking and backpacking if you would like. Autumn and I will be planning our first hike of the springtime together…I can hardly wait! I know for sure Dad will be watching from Heaven and keeping his eye on us, too. 🙂

Thoughts…I Have Many

Yes I certainly do, I will never be accused of not thinking enough that’s for sure. I know everybody has thoughts, I just seem to have an overabundance. Well, how do I know that is a true fact? There’s not some thought- a- meter that can check you out for that kind of thing. You know what I’m saying kind readers, right?

Anyway, my thoughts…One certain one stuck in my mind earlier. I was thinking of daylight savings time starting here in the United States, it’s on March 11th. I was going over all the clocks and watches I have to change so they can “Spring Ahead” an hour. Setting each and every watch and clock ahead an hour. For an ordinary person, it may just take a short while…Not for me I’m afraid.

In the fall when we did the “Fall Back” thing, setting them back an hour I wrote a post about this. Also telling of my many clocks and watches, which over the years spells out I have a lot of both. I won’t get into all that here, but I kept thinking about the chore of doing it all over again. There’s no escaping the chore, but I was thinking that maybe there was a short cut of sorts to doing this time consuming task. I pondered and I wondered about it…Notice I did not say obsessed! 😉 There is no shortcut, there just isn’t!

I was actually considering maybe giving some of the clocks away, I had to banish that thought very quickly! That’s just not going to happen…Many of the clocks have sentimental meaning. The majority of the clocks and watches, too have memories of Dave attached to them. I thought about that and took my stroll down memory lane. My husband left this earth way too soon, evil cancer and I won’t got into it all many of you kind readers already know. Giving clocks away, not an option…Banish that thought forever is right!!

I just thought about it all realisticaly, I would be cheerful and make it a fun happening, Yay! I will do just that. sometimes thinking does pay off, doesn’t it? I am thinking I may just have a small group of family and friends over to make a party out of it all, it’s a nice thought isn’t it? Well, it was until I told Autumn. That Twinnie laughed herself silly for just way too long! 😉 OK, maybe it was a wacky thought and I have a feeling she just may be right, maybe. Autumn pointed out a very kind fact…Did I really want to draw attention to all my clocks and watches to the family and friends again? Is that ever true, they all do tend to worry about the clock/watch collection. Why have them all over to my house? Each and every room looked at with all the clocks, just not the best idea. Hmm…Autumn has a good point, I think I will celebrate the clock setting ritual all by myself. It’s my final thought on the whole matter…I think.   P.S. Was anyone paying attention to each and every time I said thoughts and thinking? *Counting the last 2 and also the one in the title, it was 17…That’s a lot of thoughts and thinking I do believe! 😉 🙂