The applause dies....

I saw this on a friend of mine's blog, and just loved it and wanted to share with y'all.

The following is the philosophy of Charles Schultz, the creator of the "Peanuts" comic strip. You don't have to actually answer the questions. Just read the paragraphs straight through, and you'll get the point.

1. Name the five wealthiest people in the world.
2. Name the last five Heisman trophy winners.
3. Name the last five winners of the Miss America Contest.
4. Name ten people who have won the Nobel or Pulitzer Prize.
5. Name the last half dozen Academy Award winners for best actor and actress.
6. Name the last decade's worth of World Series winners.

How did you do?

The point is, none of us remember the headliners of yesterday. They are not second-rate achievers. They are the best in their fields. But the applause dies. Awards tarnish. Achievements are forgotten. Accolades and certificates are buried with their owners.

Here's another quiz. See how you do on this one:

1. List a few teachers who aided your journey through school.
2. Name three friends who have helped you through a difficult time.
3. Name five people who have taught you something worthwhile.
4. Think of a few people who have made you feel appreciated and special.
5. Think of five people you enjoy spending time with.

Easier?

The lesson: The people who make a difference in your life are NOT the ones with the most credentials, the most money, or the most awards. They are the ones who care.

That ain't a store bought one...

Sorry that I haven't posted in awhile, but I have been a tad too busy to even get on the internet.

Let's see...we got new tile for the floor, and installed it through-out the house except for the bedrooms, his gun room, and my scraproom. Looks pretty good, now all I have to do is run a quick damp mop over it, and instant clean.

The dog, aptly named Rikoshay, is living up to her God-given name, as she just can't get traction anymore to go chasing the cat. Which, by the way, is only here temporarily as we are cat-sitting for Alixandra. Those two animals love each other, but at times, I wonder. Always something going on between them.

This year for Thanksgiving, my son and his family went to his grandmothers and my daughter and her family went down to San Diego. So Duane and I, being the nomads of the family, decided to go up to my bestest ever friend, Hollye, and stay at the ranch for the Thanksgiving weekend. We are always so used to having LOTS of family around, but this year, it's just friends. Nice. Only 4 plates to wash, 4 bowls, 4 forks, you get the picture. It made it even better since both husbands did all the dishes.

Duane prides himself in being the provider of the family, and this year, which is his first year of retirement, he thought he would be the one to supply the turkey. Now, I'm not one to question Duane as to where that turkey came from, but I can tell you this....it was no store bought bird. As you can see by the picture, I thought he was just calling the bird over so that he could maybe feed from his hand...but I'm thinking, as I looked at what he had behind his back, Duane had other thoughts.

We had a GREAT Thanksgiving, GREAT food, and most importantly GREAT friends to spend it with.

Then early this morning, with our lists in one hand, a plethora of charge cards in the other......Hollye and I venture out for the Black Friday sales. We get in the truck, making sure that nothing else is in it, as to make room for our DEALS, and head off to the Big City, Santa Maria. Our first stop, Michaels, as they had a Cricut on sale that I needed to get for a friend, and their Cricut cartridges were all marked to $49.00, we run inside, only to find the area that held all the Cricut stuff empty. Not wanting to walk out of Michaels empty handed, I did manage to buy a black Stayz-On stamp pad, and Hollye found a few Christmas bells. So much for our big coupon use. We didn't even hit the minimum purchase. So being the nice people that we are, we gave it to a senior citizen lady behind us in line. She was most grateful.

Now we head on over to Target, knowing that we will find a oodles and oodles of bargains there, we literally had to fight for a parking spot. We had all this planned. When we spot a most coveted parking lot space, Hollye would jump out of the truck, and position herself in the spot so that all who tried to park there couldn't while I made the parking lot rounds in order to zero in on our space. WE gather up our purse, lists, and charge cards, find a shopping cart, because those women just can't seem to put the cart back in the cart corrals, and head off into the store. First mistake. Sign on the door said OPEN AT 6:00am, and here it was 9:30am. We look at each other, and think, like who in their right minds would actually get up that early just to shop at Target? Now come one, I ask you....would you? We run to the electronics department, well, ok, maybe not run, but we did briskly walk...only to see bare shelving where our much researched items would have laid. Holly did find some Christmas candy that she had been wanting for a few years now, and went ahead and bought some. We left there, a bit discouraged, but determined.

We head on off now to our next destination.....Best Buy. There, again, we found the PERFECT parking spot, so once again, Hollye jumps out of the truck, and claimed it as ours. The look on her face told others that they had better not dare enter our spot. Needless to say, they didn't know she had stepped in a HUGE wad of gum and was stuck. We push our way through Best Buy, and head on over to the Digital Camera and Camcorder department. After dang near throwing Hollye threw the throngs of people, we found that they had sold out long before we even woke this morning. Hollye did however, walk out with Faith Hill's Greatest Hits CD. I guess she is having a bit of luck with her list....cuz I haven't gotten a dang thing yet.

A bit of discouragement now sets in. I feel a tad bit panicked as I haven't been able to cross out anything on my list. I haven't even broke out a charge card. Hollye assures me that I will find everything at our next destination, Circuit City.

We pull into the parking lot, but this time we had to make a few trips around before coming into a shoppers dream - the first spot. I had somewhat passed it up, and Hollye once again, had to jump out and save it. So as I was able to back up, and jockey into it, Hollye went around the back of the truck trying to get out of my way when some friggin Prima Dona comes out of the store, not watching where she was going, and almost runs her cart into my truck. I had to put the brakes on quickly, only to have Duane's rifle dang near decapitate me as it falls from the Easy Rider Rifle Rack, when I hear Hollye let out a God-awful scream as she quickly disappears from my rear view mirror. I jump from the truck, only to realize that Hollye had run into the trailer hitch. Boy was she in pain. I managed to pull her up to a shopping cart so that she could balance herself on her one good remaining leg (the other leg had the residual gum wad still intact) as she help me locate my gifts that I needed. We quickly find a store clerk to help us, only to be disappointed once again as I showed him the sales paper with the items that I needed to purchase circled, and he telling us that they had sold out, again, very early in the morning. He told us that people were lined up in front of the store since 1:00am. I laughed, because that is when we had finally called it a night. Don't these people have lives beyond shopping? They must not have cable or the internet. Hollye did manage to find Reba McEntire's Duets CD.

Panicked, discouraged, and a feeling of Bah Humbug, mixed with gloom and despair, and did I mention some depression, we head on home. As we are heading back to the ranch, enjoying the ever changing leaves of the vines from the recent wine harvests, when all of a sudden......

BEEP

BEEP

BEEP

the alarm goes off....and I awake from my turkey induced slumber, I realize that the turmoils of Black Friday, was only a dream. Duane was nice enough to set the alarm for 5:00am for me, knowing I had things to accomplish. I flew from the bed, put on a nightie, and sit at my computer, and within 15 minutes, I had purchased all that I needed to get. With confirmations from all purchases securely in my email....I pour myself a cup of hot tea, and go sit out in the courtyard with my bestest ever friend, and we plan our Thanksgiving layouts. Our hubbies come by in the truck, and tell us that they are headed out to the Big City, yes, Santa Maria, to go shopping at some mystical store that is having a HUMONGOUS Black Friday sale on Makita. Makita? Hmmmmmm is that a new scrapping item?

I hope y'all had a GREAT Thanksgiving and all your shopping adventures were memorable.

The Little Princess

Just a short, little post about Kaydence.

Check out her first halloween costume.

Tinkerbelle

She's about the cutest little fairy a grandparent could have.

Duane and I love our grandchildren, especially now, in our 'gold years', as Alix says, LOL.

She's a handful too...almost 15 now. Time sure flies while they grown.