RAIN, RAIN, RAIN...

Will the rain ever stop? Here in Southern IL we ended 2006 at 50+ inches of rain ABOVE normal! I always thought I might like to someday visit Ireland, where they say it rains every day, but why bother? I have rain here, almost every day and I don't have to risk the airplane ride to experience it. I don't do airplanes. I like my feet to be firmly on Mother Earth at all times, even if it is by extension of my horses hooves.

My pasture looks like a lake, my back yard looks like a lake and even the goose (McGoose) decided she'd had enough water today and went in the hen house! When it's too wet for McGoose you know we've had way too much rain. My husband had planned to hunt this weekend as it was going to be his last chance to deer hunt until next fall, but he decided to stay dry instead. Of course it could always be worse, right? I understand in St. Louis they are under an Ice Storm WARNING. The weather man says it's going to get cold next week, so I guess we'll have winter after all. Oh Joy! Can't wait! Haven't ridden a horse in weeks and I'm going to get way out of shape!!!

What a week this past one has been. On Monday I took my father-in-laws puppy to the vet to be spade, that was in the morning. Then in the afternoon I drove back to the vet's office (about a 40 min. drive) to pick her up. On Tuesday I got up, really early, to take my daughter to MO for carpal tunnel surgery on her hand. Thank goodness everything went well and she is healing as she should be. Then on Wednesday I took both my mother-in-law and father-in-law for doctors appointments, which took all afternoon. I felt like a bird out of a cage on Thursday! Friday means a trip to town and then, finally I managed to get some work done in the office. Time to get all the tax stuff ready to go, what fun!

Tomorrow the weather man says, "More rain", can't wait. Oh well, when it rains I get a lot accomplished in the house. As they say, "When life hands you lemons, make lemonade!". Yeah! PUCKER POWER!!!
Just gotta LIVE, LOVE and LAUGH!

2007

Happy New Year!

In about, oh, two or three weeks I will adjust to 2007 in print, my print that is. All of my checks for the next couple of weeks will be messy due to the scratching out of 2006 and correcting with 2007. I know a lot of us do that, with every new year, but I really wish that just this once I could get it right from the very first opportunity.

Change. Do we learn to adapt better as we grow older or does it become more difficult? The older we get the more practice we've had, right? Does "practice make perfect"? Apparently not in my case! I think I'm a little more patient now that I'm a little older, or maybe it's not patience but rather just the slower reflexes. Takes me a lot longer to respond, or to even realize a response is on it's way. Maybe that's a good thing...

So we've started another new year. Because my horses and cats are registered, they are all considered a year older as of January 1. It won't be too long before I (hopefully) will see another birthday roll around. I tried to stop having birthdays at the age of 35 but my family and friends just wouldn't go for that. One of my oldest and dearest friends gets a big kick out the fact that I reach that "another year older" mark about seven months before she does. Sure, it's funny now, but when I turned 16 and could drive while she had another seven months to be "hauled around", it wasn't so funny! My how things change! My kids are getting older too, doesn't seem possible they could both be over 30 now.

Regardless of age, mine or someone else's, patience, reflexes, or lack of, it's time to start a new year. Life does go on and I still believe it's best not to take ourselves or this life too seriously. So, please take the time to just kick back, relax, take a deep cleansing breath and always remember to LIVE, LOVE, and LAUGH!!!