I have been so saddened today. My co-worker, Angele, passed away this morning at 10:50 am. She was a wonderful friend, co-worker, companion, mother, sister, etc. She had been suffering with Pancreatic Cancer that had matastasized to her Liver. Her doctor told her two weeks ago yesterday that she probably had about 2 weeks to live.

Angele and I worked next door to each other's cubicle. She has taught me over the last 5 years of working with her, everything I do at work. She is the kind of person I want to be when I grow up. She never had a bad word for or about anyone and if we were with a bunch of people and we were talking about someone, Angele would say "Now, I don't think we should be saying these kinds of things about that person." Such a lovely angel was Angele. I know she is looking down on me from the greatest of places to be. When she found out she was dying with cancer, she said she was happy she would get to see her mother and her aunt and all of those she had lost before. She even said to me "Do you think I will get to see God?" "Of course!", I told her. Absolutely, there was no question about that. She would be on his knee looking into his eyes. When she turned gold in her last two weeks, I told her she would be God's star angel and that was why he turned her gold. She smiled and said, "Awww, that's so sweet." I miss her so much, I can't even say how much.

More bad news.....My mother had to put her 17 1/2 year old cat down yesterday. He had started loosing weight and the doctor said he was de-hydrated and would have died any day now as his kidneys were shutting down. He lived a long and luxurious life to be sure. My mom never let him go outside, he stayed inside all the time and was take care of so well. That is why he lived so long. Goodbye Bandit.

And one more thing....Heather just called and her little dog, Shimmer, was killed in their driveway. Apparently the postman ran over her and she died a little earlier today. Heather is so upset, she can hardly talk. Heather just recently lost her dad too. She also lost one of her cats about 3 weeks ago. I know how she and my Mom feel. I lost one of my dogs about 10 years ago and I grieved for over a year. I still feel so sad when I think of her. Her name was Grace. It's so hard to loose those little ones that become such a big part of our families.

I hope this is all the bad news we will get for a while......it's been one thing after another for the last two months. I don't think any of us can take any more right now. Hopefully the new year will be better for us all.

Happy New Year everyone.

It's been a while since I have written and I am having withdrawals. Each day since Christmas Eve, I have sat down to write in my blog, but have been sidetracked by something or someone. That is so aggravating...don't people know I am busy? I am not a 'talk on the phone' person and yet people want to call a chitty chat on the phone. I would rather communicate through this blog, or by email. I guess once I retire, I will be more willing to chat on the phone more. Maybe!

Anyway, we had a wonderful Christmas. Tom got a guitar and he loves it. My brother and his wife and son were here and my mother came for Christmas dinner. It was really good. We had a lot of food but it's gone now. I think I have some turkey left (who doesn't). I will have to figure out something to make with that. I just froze it for now.



I have received a request for the Dirty Rice recipe and I will be happy to post it here very soon. Daisy Mae, keep checking for it, because I promise to put it here. Just give me a couple of days. Here I am putting the rice in the dirty! Voila.....Dirty Rice! Yummy!

I wanted to show you one of the things I got for Christmas. Tom gave me a real cookoo clock and I love it. Here is a picture of it hanging in the interim spot on the wall. I plan to move it. See the little cookoo bird? He was actually out there singing his song when I took the picture. It is absolutely beautiful. The cookoo is an authentic recording of a real cookoo bird. You can hear the echo and the water running in the brook near where the recording was taken. I just love this clock. I plan to move it to a lighter colored wall so it can been seen more clearly. When I get around tuit! LOL

We are going to my daughter's house for New Years Day dinner. I am to bring the cabbage and make the cornbread. I love cornbread! I guess that is typical of a southern bell!

I will try to write more and get that recipe up here in the next couple of days. I had two injections in my back today, so I am supposed to rest a lot in the next 24 hours. See y'all soon. Happy New Year! And Happy Anniversary to Karen and Ron. Love you guys!

Tom and I attended the wedding of our














son-n-law's brother Saturday night. It was a small but very beautiful wedding. I am including a picture of the bride and groom (Marci and Aaron) as well as Heather, in blue, (my daughter) and her husband (don't they look snazzy!) and one of Tom and me (we clean up pretty well too! huh? but someone forgot the flash! oh well.) The wedding colors were royal blue and silver. It was beautiful! Just thought I'd share.

I spent the afternoon with my friend, Cynthia. We went to eat at J.Alexander's and then went to a movie. We like J.Alexander's Salmon with Orzo and Wild Rice. That's a really good dish. I think we have finally reached our limit on it though. I think next time we will go eat something else. I have had so much of the Salmon, I am a little burned out. Today it even upset my tummy a little bit. (TMI?)

Anyway, we went to see Just Friends at the Rave Theatre. It was a lite comedy. It was pretty funny at times. It's not a movie I would go out and buy now though. Between lunch and the movie, we went to WalMart and I bought Mr. and Mrs. Smith and March of the Penguins. I know, you think I am crazy for buying March of the Penguins. I though it would be a cute movie though. I haven't watched it yet, but I will. Cynt said she was going to laugh at me about it...I don't know why she said she was GOING to laugh at me....she was laughing already! Oh well, I will like it anyway. Cynt you don't have to watch it with me, I promise!