A New Day January 6, 2010

I decided before the new year that I was going to commit to working out at the gym as much as I could and that I was going to get into counseling to work on the inside of me. Well, so far since last Wed (almost a week) I have been to the gym 4 times and walked a mile on the treadmill. Tomorrow is my first appointment with a counselor so my hopes are that I can figure out why I have been fat all of my life. I’m tired of putting myself last and worrying about what everyone thinks about me. So, that is where we are going to begin.

I live a truly blessed life. I have a wonderful husband who provides a cushy life for me and takes care of all of my needs. I love him dearly and know how spoiled I am by him. Most importantly, we share the love of the Lord and He is the center of our marriage. So as I progress through this new journey, I hope to be able to share it along the way. So until the next time…..prayers are appreciated.

New Year’s Resolutions January 3, 2010

This is way too funny. I was just finishing up one of the most profound thoughts that I had put in writing on this blog and I accidentally hit something and erased it all. So, I guess anyone reading this will only have to imagine what I was saying. Must have been a sign from God that I wasn’t supposed to share those particular thoughts with anyone right now. So, stay posted….maybe as this new year progresses, I will be on wordpress more and share more than I did last year.

Accomplishments April 29, 2009

This is just a short blog to get everyone’s interest. In the past two weeks, a new Hargitt sister found us and I pulled off a wonderful retirement party for my dear, sweet husband Bruce. So, I am amazed at my ever changing life and still in awe of how awesome God is! I’ll post more details later in regards to the newest sibling.   Stay tuned.

It’s a busy life sometimes. March 22, 2009

A dear friend of mine since 1971, Linda Goeppinger, emailed me some time ago and asked me why I had not blogged in awhile.  So in my own feeble way, I’m going to attempt to justify what has been keeping me so busy all this time.

In the Fall when everything starts getting cranked up at church for the new year, we found ourselves not only singing in the traditional choir but also singing the the “Praise Ensemble”.  Both of these groups practice every week so we found ourselves driving back to Holland on Tuesday and Wednesday nights.  We both also play in our instrumental group, Bruce the coronet and me, the clarinet, which plays maybe every 4-6 weeks and practices on Saturdays a couple of times before we perform.  Then I was approached about playing in the bell choir, as they had two new openings.  Fortunately, bell choir practices on Wednesday before Choir so I was not adding another evening out.  At times, all of this music participation can be overwhelming, but when it’s all done, I feel so full of the Holy Spirit that I have to remind myself that part of my worship is through music.  So I will continue to make a joyful noise onto t he Lord.  Bruce and I sang a duet today, “Draw Me Close to You” which was sort of sprung onto us Tuesday night.  While practicing at home and my attempt to find the alto part for harmony, there were many times that the joyful noise sounded more like two cats in heat!  We made it through the song but I vow not to have anymore songs sprung on me without ample practice.  Bell choir also performed two songs today that were just awsome.

Off the music subject and now into even more current events and that is planning Bruce’s retirment party.  My sister-in-law put together  a really neat invitaiton that I’m having printed off at Office Max in post card size.  My friend that I was hoping would cater is not available that weekend 4/25/09 so I am going to do it with help from 3 other friends.  We will be serving just snacks, punch and cake as the party is more like an open house for dropping and wishing Bruce good luck.  We are having it at our church, so I don’t even have to clean house.

Next main event, is our trip to Floriday 5/23-5/26/09 over the Memorial Day weekend.  We are staying at our timeshare in Orlando and will do Disney one day, Blizzard Beach and try to squeeze in some grandson time. 

Then on to the ultimate for this year.  Our trip to Europe!  I’ll blog more about that later but we plan to leave on Friday night 10/9 and stay until around the 22nd.  London and Paris for sure and maybe Switzerland and/or Amsterdam.  We will see how that unfolds. 

I think that’s enough for now….or at least to let everyone who reads this, that I’m still alive.

Another Cook laid to rest…..and then there was one! November 30, 2008

It has been far too long since I have sat down to put some thoughts on my blog.  Why?  Life is so busy with church activities, work and family.  Today, we gathered together in the Holland Cemetery to remember my mom’s sister, Mary, who passed at age 81 a couple of weeks ago.  Suffice it to say, she did not age well.  In fact, she was one of those cranky old women that we pray we don’t become.  She was quick to tell everyone what was on her mind and how she felt about you (my mom was blessed with all the tact).  She was that way all of her life but later in life she seemed to take even more liberties.  I wonder when she arrived at the pearly gates if she had to answer why she said things to some and how she treated them?  I’m sure she did.

There were six in mom’s family (mom was the youngest) …Tom, Rod, Joe, Duncan, Mary & Martha…all two years apart.  They all died from lung cancer – emphysema in Aunt Mary’s case – except for Uncle Rod who is still hanging in.  He turned 89 this year.

I am thankful that my health is good and that I have the wonderful family that I do.  I’m thankful that I have a job in this tough economy especially since Michigan is #1 with the highest unemployment.  I’m thankful that I had Jesus in my life and that I share that with my friends, family and co-workers.  As we say goodbye to loved ones and we realize our own mortality, I think we need to give thanks everyday for what we have and share it with everyone.  God bless!

Labor Day Weekend September 1, 2008

I love reading my friends posts and yet, I fill my time up with “stuff” that I rarely sit and write anything.  I guess I figure “who cares”?  I have to admit, I have been pretty stressed out recently with way too many committments right now and not getting organized early enough.  Now, I feel like I’m down to the wire and running out of time.  Why do people procrastinate?  Is it because we think we work better under pressure?  Not me.  I had a melt down this weekend because of my procrastination.  And so a friend said to me, actually more than one friend has said that I should prioritize my life…..get rid of some of the committments I have.  Where would I begin?  Do I tell my Red Hat Ladies that I go out to dinner with once a month that I don’t have time for them?  What about my monthly dinner out with Frankie and Alice?  Then there is church.  I have several committments that involve music in the church.  I hate to give up that part of my life because I feel closest to God when I’m singing.  I know…..I just need to quit my job.  That’s the one committment that I enjoy the least and takes up 40 hours a week out of my life.  Well dear friends, I do plan to retire at the end of 2012 and it will be here before you know it. 

My weekend has been filled up with family.  Helped Derrick and wife, Beth move to a new apartment.  Well, lets say I was there, I don’t know how much help I was.  Aimee, Mike and girls were here Saturday overnight.  We went to the beach and KC went swimming for the first time ever!  He was so cute and with his new hair cut he was “wash and dry”. 

Well, I guess I’ll sign off for now.  I’m multi tasking and not doing very well.  I’m on skype with two friends, watching my plurk.com and trying to do this.  So until next time…..God bless your day!

CFO (Camp Farthest Out) August 9, 2008

Good morning to all.  Yes, I know, it’s been a long long time since I’ve sat at my computer and blogged.  I’m sorry to say that life has been way too busy for me.  Let me begin by sharing some of my time at Traverse City at CFO.  We attended camp 7  years ago for the 25th anniversary.  Needless to say, they are still going strong and we were reunited with some fellow christians that we met in 2001.  We had an awsome time and I hope to be able to post some pictures that I took.  They had two very good speakers this year.  Jenz from Colon, Germany and Ruth West from Pennsylvania.  They had wonderful witness talks to share with everyone and more than once I shed a few tears.  We sang some wonderful music that was very inspiring and spiritually lifting and we also did some soul searching through creative writing. 

Every morning they do “Rythms” usually some sort of low key excercise to music.  This year we experienced Yoga.  I discovered that I am not able to stand on one leg and balance myself very easily.  They also expected us to make ourselves into human pretzels at times.  That was very interesting also. 

We took naps in the afternoon and I got some serious knitting time….woo hoo.  Of course, I took plenty of projects with me in case I miraculously finished one or two of them and some books to read.  The only reading I accomplished was reading Stephanie Pearl-McPhee’s new book “Things I Learned from Knitting”.  I even shared it with my husband who roared with laughter as he recognized me in several places in her book.

I now have to turn my attention to writing my Rollo for Cursillo (Reunion Groups) for this Fall and then prepare a presentation on “Are you a Martha or a Mary?” for our church women’s day retreat the Saturday before Cursillo.  I’m feeling the pressure to get these presentations done so I can relax and not feel overwhelmed.  

I hope I have caught everyone up on at least last week’s adventures and I’ll post some pictures of Sean’s visit the first part of the month as well as new pictures of the grands.  Hugs to all.

Plurk timeline August 9, 2008

Plurk.com

Plurk timeline July 31, 2008

Plurk.com

California here we are! May 26, 2008

Greetings to all my friends from San Francisco, California.  We are on day three of our vacation.  Yesterday we spent the entire day in Napa Valley wine tasting.  We had a wonderful time, had some good wine, had a wonderful picnic lunch with a bottle of wine and enjoyed the gorgeous weather and countryside.  Today we are going over to the coast to visit Louis and Tim’s kindergarden teacher who lives in California now.  I don’t know her but I’m sure she is delightful.

Louis flies out this evening to Germany to see his client and returns Friday.  Tim arrives today from Denver around 4pm after being a delegate at the Libertarian National Convention.  We don’t have any definite plans yet for the rest of the week except for my visit Wednesday night to Nine Rubies Knitting shop in San Matao, where I plan to meet a Raverly friend who lives in the area.  We haven’t personally met but we have corresponded by email.  It should be fun.  She is going to show me around the shop and introduce me to her friends and also show me yarn that a friend of hers sells in the shop.  I am anxious to go. 

I brought socks to knit and my afghan of the month square so I”m enjoying the leisurly knitting I am able to do.  Weather is between 65 and 75 degrees.  A little chilly this morning.  Until next time…hugs to all.