Common Knowledge...

During the spring storm season, one message is commonly heard around the office:
Backup Your Work Often!

The Daffodil Principle

I received this from one of my bff's - a girl I met in Colorado about 25 yrs ago. Kathy and I became instant friends - we were inseparable and although she lives in NY now, she is one of those girls that will always be your best friend forever. Anyway, I wanted to share a bit of this email she sent me...
As the story goes, a daughter called her mother to take a day trip with her and witness God's majesty at it's finest. Mother was hesitant but went along, at her daughters pleading. They drove a small gravel road about 20 minutes out of town and as they turned a corner in the road, it looked as though someone had taken a great vat of gold and poured it over the mountain peak and its surrounding slopes. The flowers were planted in majestic, swirling patterns, great ribbons and swaths of deep orange, creamy white, lemon yellow, salmon pink, and saffron and butter yellow. Each different-colored variety was planted in large groups so that it swirled and flowed like its own river with its own unique hue. There were five acres of flowers.
"Who did this?" I asked Carolyn. "Just one woman," Carolyn answered. "She lives on the property. That's her home." Carolyn pointed to a well-kept A-frame house, small and modestly sitting in the midst of all that glory. We walked up to the house.
On the patio, we saw a poster. "Answers to the Questions I Know You Are Asking", was the headline. The first answer was a simple one.... "50,000 bulbs," it read. The second answer was, "One at a time, by one woman. Two hands, two feet, and one brain." The third answer was, "Begun in 1958."
For me, that moment was a life-changing experience. I thought of this woman whom I had never met, who, more than forty years before, had begun, one bulb at a time, to bring her vision of beauty and joy to an obscure mountaintop. Planting one bulb at a time, year after year, this unknown woman had forever changed the world in which she lived. One day at a time, she had created something of extraordinary magnificence , beauty, and inspiration. The principle her daffodil garden taught is one of the greatest principles of celebration. "

After reading this, my mind immediately went to a very dear friend I spent some time today talking, laughing and praying together. Her name is Jessie McMindes and she is 78 years young. She was raised in an orphanage in Canada, went into the ministry as a young woman, met her future husband and spent over 50 years of her life as a missionary in Ecuador. Like the planter of the bulbs - one soul at a time, Jessie has touched others her entire life - sharing the Gospel and her life with everyone she meets. Her gentle spirit and sweet nature has been an inspiration to me since the day I met her. She is that person you walk away from, thanking God for putting her into your life and looking forward to your next afternoon visit.

Have you heard of the Daffodil Principle? It's all about NOT living in regret and goes like this:

Stop waiting....
Until your car or home is paid off
Until you get a new car or home
Until your kids leave the house
Until you go back to school
Until you finish school
Until you clean the house
Until you organize the garage
Until you clean off your desk
Until you lose 10 lbs.
Until you gain 10 lbs.
Until you get married
Until you get a divorce
Until you have kids
Until the kids go to school
Until you retire
Until summer
Until spring
Until winter
Until fall
Until you die...
There is no better time than right now to be happy.

Just couldn't pass up sharing ...

Billy Graham was returning to Charlotte after a speaking engagement and when his plane arrived there was a limousine there to transport him to his home. As he prepared to get into the limo, he stopped
and spoke to the driver.

"You know" he said, "I am 87 years old and I have never driven a limousine. Would you mind if I drove it for a while?"

The driver said, "No problem. Have at it."

Billy got into the driver's seat and they headed off down the highway. A short distance away sat a rookie State Trooper operating his first speed trap.

The long black limo went by him doing 70 in a 55 mph zone.

The trooper pulled out and easily caught the limo and he got out of his patrol car to begin the procedure. The young trooper walked up to the driver's door and when the glass was rolled down, he was surprised to see who was driving.

He immediately excused himself and went back to his car and called his supervisor. He told the supervisor, "I know we are supposed to enforce the law... but I also know that important people are given certain courtesies. I need to know what I should do because I have stopped a very important person."
The supervisor asked,"Is it the governor?"
The young trooper said, "No, he's more important than that."
The supervisor said, "Oh, so it's the president."
The young trooper said, "No, he's even more important than that."
The supervisor finally asked, "Well then, who is it?"

The young trooper said, I think it's Jesus, because he's got Billy Graham for a chauffeur!"

Good things come in TWO's !!

I bet you've always heard that good things come in three's, right? Well, this ole ticker can only take so much goodness and right now, I'm doing good trying to contain myself because there isn't one but TWO giveaways currently in action from two of my favorite artesans !
The good Lord has blessed me with some awesome friends and a special sister, Suzanne of PearTree Primitives is celebrating her one year anniversary in blogland by giving away some handmades that will have you drooling on the spot!
I'm late in getting this up, but make haste to her blog, Painters of the Past and toss your name in her bonnet for the drawings she will be having this Friday, the 25th!

In my best Randy Jackson voice....

"check it out now, check it out"....
my sweet friend Lana of Honeysuckle Lane fame (also lovingly call LL by some of her TDIPT buddies) is having an anniversary celebration marking one year in the Blogosphere!

She is going to have a drawing for *3 lucky recipients - who will get to go shopping on her website and the marketplaces where she sells. I adore LL's cards - they are breathtakingly beautiful, as is all of her work, so I would strongly encourage you to jump on this bandwagon and make tracks to Lana's to toss your name in the hat!

*need not be present to win* ;)

Cookie Got Her Socks Blown Off

In years past, I've always listened to Idol from the dungeon as my hubs was the one addicted to the show. I paid just enough attention to be able to follow along when someone mentioned a singer's performance from the previous night and know what they were talking about. That is, until David Cook came on the scene....
This guy gets better every week (if that is possible) and last nights performance was par excellence!
I thought to my self, "Mariah Carey songs? UGH - give me a break." Wow was I EVER shocked and entranced when the guys started singing. Little David (I think he will always be known as "little david" - poor kid) walked out on stage in a pair of leather pants and all I could think of was Ross on the seriously infamous Friends episode. Hubs turned to me and in his deepest macho voice said "oh no... leather pants?" I had to agree - when he started singing, I thought he did a decent job but I still think he is just too young for the stress and weight of being THE AMERICAN IDOL.
So, I patiently bided my time, waiting for my boys Jason and David C to show up and wow, I was not dissapointed at all. I love Jason's voice - and adore anything he does but my socks were totally blown off when David Cook started singing. Yeah, about that new 'doo? LOVE it...and that voice of his seems to grow more intense by the week. So with the Looks and the Talent department all sewn up - and finally figuring out that the "AC" on his guitar stands for his brother Adam Cook - coupled with him tweaking the lyric to "You will linger on" (as opposed to Mariah's original "we"), I totally GOT what the emotion was all about by the end of the segment!
I sat in numbed silence for several minutes and was totally spent!
All I could utter was a feeble ROCK ON HOMETOWN BOY!!!

A Friend Indeed!

I got this from a friend today - and thought the message was worth repeating, so I'm sharing it with you. Please feel free to snag it and pass it on. It's meaning goes way beyond an email "forward"...
Life is too short to wake up with regrets so love the people who treat you right.
Forget about the ones who don't.
Believe everything happens for a reason.
If you get a second chance, grab it with both hands. If it changes your life, let it. Nobody said life would be easy, they just promised it would be worth it.

Friends are like balloons; once you let them go, you can't get them back. So I'm gonna tie you to my heart so I never lose you.

Remembering Grandpa

I got an email this morning about "remembering when" - it contained all kinds of images that brought total recall to a much younger period of time in my life.

One of the photos was the test pattern for the television ... and for some reason, I associate this with CBS and my Grandpa. I remember seeing this on Grandpa Lynch's television on more than a few occassions. He had a pleather chair (recliner style??) set up in front of his tv - with an old coffee can always at his side for chew. I can say boldly that I'm so glad I never ventured a peek in that can! I would have been scarred for life ~haha~

My dads parents passed away when I was very little. My dad was the youngest in his family of maybe 9 brothers and sisters and by the time his baby was born (that would be me) his folks were well on the way to their "upper years". I do remember making sausage biscuits with my Grandma Lynch and drinking coffee with cream and sugar out of those milky green coffeecups. AAAh.... life was good in Grandma's kitchen :)

My newest Angels

My newest precious ones never fuss or fight, never make a mess in the house and even better ... no vet bills!

But they are my sweet babies - and will be popping up on the TDIPT Merc come April 15th.

oh, that Jason!

I have to say, my favorite American Idol this season is David Cook but running a close second is the always adorable Jason Castro. I love everything about this kid... from his gentle spirit to his awesome dreads. Last nights performance was pure poetry for me and I think his version of Over the Rainbow is even better than Braddah Iz - (I've uploaded both renditions - you be the judge!)
I remember the first time I heard this version of Judy Garland's song - it was in the movie Meet Joe Black - but it made an even greater impression on me when I heard it in Finding Forrester, as awesome movie with Sean Connery as a reclusive pulitzer prize winning author who is befriended by a talented kid from the Bronx. What draws you in is watching the impact they have on each other.
If you haven't seen the movie, I highly recommend it!
You're the Man Now Dog

ROCK CHALK JAYHAWK!

If you told me 2 days ago that I would be blogging about a college basketball game, I would called you a lunatic.
I'm not a big fan - and I'm the first to admit it... but I watched the NCAA Championship game last night between KU and Memphis and I have to admit - it was unbelievable!
If you know basketball at all - you can imagine what the atmostphere is in my office today. Residing in Kansas City, we are on the MO/KS border and apparently you are either a KU fan, a K-State fan or an MU fan (and by the sneers and jeers from some associates here, never the twain shall meet).
So after watching the game, I was still pumped for the Jayhawks - and came into work this morning with lingering moments drifting around in my noggin of the missed 4 free throws by Memphis, the 3 point shot by KS that sent the game into overtime, and the 5 minutes of OT when the Jayhawks could do no wrong. And I decided something... if every game is as exciting as this, I could become a fan!

Slowing Down to Catch Up

My nephew is one of the funniest kids I know... and everything he knows, he learned from his dear old dad!
My brother Randy's birthday was Sunday, so we got together to celebrate over the weekend. Now, this guy has a knack for picking out the BEST birthday cards. My sil found all the beautiful sentimental cards, trying to help my brother with the one that filled the bill - to which he would wave each one away - and then he spotted it... the perfect card!
You see, I went through a rebellious stage right after my mom died and consequently, my 6th grade picture has me sporting a navy blue dotted swiss tie and the funkiest pair of sparkly white winged glasses you ever saw (which I will NOT be sharing with you lol). The minute I opened this card, it reminded me of that school picture and I busted out laughing!
His birthday card to me said: If you could re-live your youth, what would you change? .... besides your glasses? On the inside he wrote "we liked your glasses better!"
ha! I think he kinda looks like this girl, dont you? :)

LATEST UPDATE: I searched my puter but I don't have a copy of the picture scanned, sorry! (muwahahaha) I will look for the photo and ask hubs to scan it for me one of these days - I'm warning you... you have no clue what you are in for!

Made it through another year

If you are like me, our family birthday celebrations seem to clump together - there are about 5 birthdays that we celebrate along come the end of March into April and I'm happy to report we have made it through the current barrage of birthday celebrations without incident. (that is, unless you call barking at the moon and chasing rabbits an "incident" ) lol
I saw this today and thought it was too funny... and maybe just a little too close to the mark! Not having kids, I see everyone else growing up and old but me. I'm doomed to be a 90 yr. old punk!

For My Birthday

The guys at work threw a little wing-ding to celebrate my oldness.
Some folks acquire the title of "your Highness" ... I managed to come up with the short stick and get "your Oldness"!

Anway, it's all in fun and if I can't poke a lil fun at myself, well - whats left?

Just wanted to say thank you for all the well wishes, cards and comments.

You have all made this such a fun-filled day and I'm thankful the Lord has blessed my life and enriched it with each and every one of YOU !

Lost Cat - REWARD!!

April Fools!