Just can't break old habits

Sometimes I hear a joke I just have to pass on and remember here it goes...

A gynecologist had become so fed up with malpractice insurance and HMO paperwork and was burned out. Hoping to try another career where skillful hands would be beneficial, he decided to become a mechanic. He went to the local technical college, signed up for classes, attended diligently and learned all he could When the time for the practical exam approaced, the gynecologist prepared carefully for weeks and completed the exam with tremendous skill.
When the results came back, he was surprised to find that he had obtained a score of 150%.
Fearing an error, he called the instructor, saying, "I don't want to appear undgrateful for such an outstanding result, but I wonder if there is an error in the grade."
The instructor said, "during the exam, you took the engine apart perfectly, which was worth 50% of the total mark. You put the engine back together again perfectly, which is also worth 50% of the mark. This equaled an A. After a pause, the instructor addded, "I gave you an extra 50% because you did it all through the muffler, which I've never seen done in my entire career!"

Grand kids: I have to share these funny comments...

When my grandson asked me how old I was, I teasingly replied, 'I'm not sure,'"Look in your underwear. Grandpa, he advised, 'mine says I'm four to six.'

Children's Logic: "Give me a sentence about a public servant,"said a teacher. The samll boy wrote: The fireman came down the ladder pregnant. The teacher took the lad aside to correct him, 'Don't you know what pregnant means?' she asked. "Sure, said the young boy confidently. 'It means carrying a child."

Dave Letterman - Taco Bell humor, must watch and laugh

http://mail.google.com/mail/?hl=en&um=1&ie=UTF-8&sa=N&zx=uf1h1zh6xn09&shva=1#inbox/11f13c673ea130ad

A tribute to my dentist

I understand that most people do not like going to the dentist office. I am one of those who really don't mind. I am fasicinated with what a dentist can do to make eating (one of my favorite "To Do's" of the day) comfortable and pleasant. We all take out teeth for granted. We expect them to be on duty 24-7 and never give us a complaint. Well, when I visited my dentist he asked me this question. "What can we do to help you overcome your fear of coming to the dentist?" I told him I do not fear the dentist, I fear having to pay him. Dental work is very costly. But more so if you neglect caring for your mouth, which I have done. I lost a filling in my tooth a year ago which was supporting a very fragile tooth. I just figured I could eat on the other side of my mouth and keep my teeth clean and all would be well. Hmmm, not so much. This past week I have been suffering with a throbing in my cheek that kept me from sleeping. I noticed it most when I would eat items that were chewy or hard. After going without sleep for a week I had to give in. My friend referred me to a good dentist and I now have a new mouth. I can eat again without pain or frustration. This of course after 3 hours in a chair and $800. Lesson learned
Do not, I repeat, do not neglect your body just because you do not want to pay for it's care. I could have visited my two daughters and grand children with the money I had to pay the dentist for his expertise. And there is more work to be done...ugh! The dentist said it would of been a simple job that would of only cost $150 had I taken care of it when it happened. What a dope I am. Thank you Dr. Mangum for your excellent care and understanding. The next time I lose a filling, I will take care of it immediately. But for now all I have to console me is a piece of chocolate cake, which I can now enjoy to it's fullest.

Dad is great! Gives us the chocolate cake...

{I'm sure some of you remember the words to this song that Bill Cosby tells of his children singing to him one morning when it was his responsibility to feed them breakfast and in his laziness he gives the children chocolate cake as the children eat they sing the jingle...Dad is great, gives us the chocolate cake. If you have never seen this comic routine, you must treat yourself. It is humor at it's best.}
Hmmmm, yum, yum, chocolate cake. There are times when I crave chocolate cake. It is so yummers! Yesterday I made a visit to the dentist. While waitng for my appointment I went browsing through the magazines available in the waiting room. This time of year, in anticipation of the Month of Love, chocolate is everywhere. One the most common treats is chocolate cake.
If my mouth was not in so much pain I would of ditched the dentist and immediately headed for the store that could offer the best cake. Reading all the recipes made my mouth water. So today I will be baking a chocolate cake with chocolate frosting. And I am sure by the time all is done, I will be in heaven.

Learning something new

At the present I do not have my camera so photographs are not yet available. Gary and I now share a camera and he has it at work today. I wanted to video the snow falling. I know, I know, it' not that great a thing to most people, but I love it when it snows. It doesn't stick to the ground but that is not what I enjoy, it's watching it fall, swirling and dancing in the cold air, drifting down from the heavy grey clouds above. It's pretty! Today the flakes look like pieces of kleenex when one gets washed in a load of laundry and are scattered and stuck to everything in the washer. Then when you shake the clothing to dislodge them, they fly all over the room and land in your hair and eyelashes...just like the snow.

Oh, what am I learning...how to use photoshop. It is the most fascinating program. I have to limit my time each day because I would just sit and play with pictures morning til night. So much fun! Oh it's, snowing again. I have to stop and sit and watch....later on!

Wish for New Year

My mother sent the following to me and I thought it was the best "wish" I've ever read. ENJOY!

May peace break into your house and may thieves come to steal your debts.
May the pockets of your jeans become a magnet of $100 bills.
May love stick to your face like Vaseline and may laughter assault your lips!
May your clothes smell of success like smoking tires, may happiness slap you across the face and may your tears be that of joy.
May the problems you had forget your home address.

Which one do you like the best?

To everything there is a season, a time for every purpose...

"Take time for each other~for nothing else is that important."

When we visited Gary's aunt in Maui one of things that impressed him while in their home was that their office was set up with their desks facing each other. Until now, we have only had one desk, for Gary's real estate. This year his broker decided to close their store front office and work out of their home which left Gary without a place to do business, so to speak. They were generous and gave him a computer and printer so he could set up an office in his home. This is great for me because now I have my own computer and printer and we can work together in the same room. Our desks do not face each other, we actually sit back to back, however, it is so nice working on projects and not sitting in front of the television all the time. He works on Real Estate and surfs the net, I play with photgraphs and create scrapbook pages using the Photo Shop Elements computer program. One day I hope to be able to put our desks facing each other but for now this works well.

reading to repair your heart

My mother shared two books with me this holiday season. Both were delightful and did some serious repair to my heart. If you want a quick read and warm fuzzy feelings read the following. You will be glad you did.

The SHACK by William P. Young The Christmas Sweater by Glenn Beck

"What really knocks me out is a book that, when you're all done reading it, you wish the author that wrote it was a terrific friend of yours and you could call him up on the phone whenever you felt like it....". ~ J. D. Salinger

Giggle: to laugh with high, quick sounds in a silly or nervous way.

"IF YOU LAUGH AT IT, YOU CAN LIVE WITH IT!"
Girls giggle. All the time. Why is this so? This week Krystal, her friend Bree and the Sister Missionarys where here for breakfast one day. It was glorious to hear laughter ring throughout the house. These four girls laughed, giggled and screamed for 3 hours. Why is it that the giggling intensifies when two or more women are gathered together. "laughing all the way" The only requirement for such merriment is that you are a girl. Guys don't do this. But put two girls together in any situation and you get laughs and giggles and grins. You get tears on occasion, and "whoa is me", but for the most part it's giggling. "LAUGHTER IS A TRANQUILIZER WITH NO SIDE EFFECTS." Just last night I went visiting teaching and although we talked about some serious things, for the most part we giggled. It did not matter who we visited, in what home, to what age woman, we still giggled. "LAUGHTER IS THE BEST MEDICINE." I am grateful the girls were here with us if only just for the entertainment. It did my heart good to hear them have so much fun visiting with each other. Being a girl is humorous, literally! "THE BEST BLUSH TO USE IS LAUGHTER: IT PUTS ROSES IN YOUR CHEEKS AND IN YOUR SOUL~"

The New Year Begins

"The New Year, like an Infant Heir to the whole world, was waited for,
with welcomes, presents, and rejoicings." -Dickens
We don't know about you, but we are really looking forward to a wonderful New Year.

"If I know what love is, it is because of you." Herman Hesse

The Ashcrafts: Austin, Grandpa Bob, Baby Xander and Arla
Bob with his new bride Dorinda
Dorinda with her grandson. She has 8 grandchildren. Bob now has 9 grandchildren.
Cid, Arla, Izabella, Abby, (this will be Arla's new family soon)
Kevin, Marsha, Brooke and Jessica Lister


Our New Year kicked off with a wedding. My brother Bobbie Allen married Dorinda on a beautiful sun shinning day. Pictured above are a few snapshots of the event. Congratulations Bob & Dorinda.

There's no place like home for the Holidays

As you can see we had a wonderful Christmas. Fast but fun. The evening started with an introduction to the newest member of the family Zander Ashcraft, son of Austin Ashcraft. Granny is in love with this little one. We drove home late Christmas Eve in the rain and fog, got a good night's rest and finally around 9 a.m. Krystal and Garrett opened presents. We made our way down the hill to Papa's for a nice ham dinner. Aunt Sandi and Gary made use of the new pool table. Soon it was time to take Garrett and Krystal back to Phoenix. We visited with Granny a bit and back up to Prescott in the rain and fog. We had a wonderful time with all of our family, but it just wasn't the same without Kerri and Kim and thier families. Hopefully next year we can be together again.....ya never know, it could happen!

Life is like a box of chocolates...

Christmas time makes me hungry for chocolates. Not just any chocolates. The kind that comes in a 5 pound assortment, with nuts, cherries, cream and carmels. When I was a litte girl my father always purchased one of those big ol' boxes of chocolates. I loved it. Of course it never takes long before most of them have been poked and proded so as to determine the filling. But I looked forward to this treat every year. When I began working at the school one of the teachers, Dear Sweet Mrs. Sigg, would bring in a large box of chocolates every year for the holidays. Those babies kept me going till it was time for our Christmas Break. Earlier this week I was thinking on this subject and thought I better make a trip to Sees Candy to pick up a box of "nuts & chews" to make my holiday complete. That same morning my neighber brought over a cute little box which was just enough to get me through for the next few days till I can get to the mall. I don't know how anyone can go without chocolate during the holidays. Now my question is, who gave Mary chocolate when Jesus was born? You know she needed it! I'm thinking the wife of one of the wise men must have been sensitive to this need. So I decided it was the wise man that brought the myrrh...that's what chocolate does to you, it makes you myrrrrrrrh. ha, ha, ha!

How can they know me so well?

The women I live next to are delightful. They have become such good friends. Lily is recently widowed and she is my shopping pal. I know, I don't like to shop, but she makes it so much fun. She lives to the right of me, to the left is Barbara. I call her Nurse Mama. She is a retired RN and is a yarn crafter which mean she creates whatever she can out of yarn. Barbara brought over this adorable box of chocolates . It is the perfect gift for me because #1 hey, it's chocolate and #2 Snowmen. The other day I received a gift from another neighbor, Tracey, she gave me a ceramic ginerbread house and a CD of an old radio show christmas story. And Lily gave me a beautful angel that had wings and gown like a fairy. All these things are so ME. These women have only known me a short while, since June and they all gave me gifts that only family and old, old friends would know I enjoy. People are so perceptive or maybe totaly receptive to the spirit.

Sparkling Jewels compliments of Mother Nature

Our first winter storm rolled in eariler this week. When I looked out the window early one morning this is what I saw. The trees were drapped in beautiful translucent beads of ice. I thought it looked so pretty. The mountains all around are covered with snow. Being that we live in the "valley" the snow hasn't accumulated much, but it still snows. But baby it's COLD outside.

Downtown Glowing

left to right: Justin Cameron, Rae, Scott, Baby Emma, Lisa, Laura and Gary

When Kim moved to Prescott she invited us to attend the Courthouse Lighting. We have been attending ever since. This year we are without our lovely daughter and her family...we miss them sooooo much, but we attended anyways. Here we are pictured with Nate's family and the newest addition Baby Emma. Isn't she a doll. We brought along hot chocolate and whip cream and later gathered at Yuri's for the tradional Chili dinner. I did my best to keep my camera still duirng the shoot, but I think you get the idea. The city added some new lights this year along with a Santa Workshop in the gazebo. If you look closely you can see my attempt at making a winter hat. No giggling...I like it! It kept my ears nice and warm. Oh and Justin is a new additon also. Laura was married in October. We love being a part of this wonderful family. Thank you Nate for marrying Kim and giving us someone to claim us while you are in Hawaii.

All I want for Christmas is YOU!

It's beginning to look alot like christmas. I decorated just a bit for the holidays. I was going to put up just the little pine trees, but Gary began to pout. So I dug out the "Charlie Brown" tree and he was happy. The only ornaments I have left are the hand-made one given to us by various family members and friends. It's a bit pitaful but fun! Yes, the lighted garland is up also. Gary says it's not Christmas without the garland. Here are a few pictures of us goofing around in front of the trees. Our house is the only one on the block with lights outside. We are a becon in the night.

Bride and Groom

Two brooms were hanging out in a closet and after a while they got to know each other so well they decided to get married.
One broom of course was the Bridge Broom the other one the Groom Broom
The Bride Broom looked very beautiful in her white dress.
The Groom Broom was Handsome and Sauve in his tuxedo; the wedding was lovely! After the wedding and the wedding dinner the Bride Broom leaned over to the Groom Broom and said,
"I think I am going to have a little whisk broom."
"IMPOSSIBLE!", said the Groom Broom

Are you ready for this?


"WE HAVEN'T EVEN SWEPT TOGETHER!"

Laugh...it is the best cure for a bad day.

Vote for Marriage Man & Woman

If you are living in Arizona Vote "Yes" on Prop 102. Marriage between a man and woman preserves our way of life. The Lord set it up that way for a reason.