Fifty-Two Candles

Oh yes, if we are friends on social media you already know today is my birthday! If you are sick of it then maybe we shouldn't be friends. Sooo sorry. NOT! HAHA! I will never stop celebrating the day I was born. 

Because you know what? I'm very, very thankful for being alive and being able to celebrate one more year being on this planet. 

I am a cancer survivor. 

And I LOVE LIFE. 

Celebrate your own life, and let's keep celebrating because many cannot. I'm not alone, we all have family and friends or know someone that have had their life taken too soon. So celebrate each day you are here. See the sunrise. Like REALLY see the sunrise or sunset.

Knock on a neighbors door that keeps to themselves. They may need a friend. Ask the co-worker who keeps to themselves how they are doing. Say hello to people in the grocery store aisles.

Volunteer at an animal shelter and give some love to the cats and dogs that are waiting for a family to love them. 

Each moment is a gift, right? Let's live it. Share it. 

From our deck when Harley Man and I lived in Wyoming. 

So I found a website that calculates how long you've been around-and found that I'm 365 years old. If I were a dog. 

Check out your own dog years! 

(The website is:  http://www.howlonghaveibeenalivefor.com/1641057054)

MY RESULTS:

>1,641,057,054 seconds.

>98,463,423,240 electric jiffies.

>27,350,950 minutes.

>455,849 hours.

>18,993 days.

>52 years.

>2,713 weeks.

>1,356 fortnights.

>698 lunar months.

>624 months.

>208 quarters.

>365 dog years.

>53.60 lunar years.

>13.01 olympiads.

>10.41 lustrums (a term for a five-year period in Ancient Rome.)

>5.20 decades (WOW!)

>3.47 indictions (a fiscal period of fifteen years used as a means of dating events and transactions in the Roman Empire)

>2.00 generations.

>1.04 jubilees.

>0.52 centuries.

>0.05204 milleniums.

>0.00000022625033832969 galactic years.

>0.00000000164105705400 exaseconds. (A terasecond is 1 trillion seconds, or roughly 31,558 years)

Wishing you a fantastic night and let's eat cake. Life is too short not too!

Thanks for reading!

Melody
xoxo
"It's a great day to be alive~make it a great day!"
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Grandma Becker's diary entry for April 30, 1990

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Grandma Perrin's diary entry for April 30, 1964

What Little Boys Are Made Of....

HAPPY BIRTHDAY

BRYCE! 

My grandson, Bryce is seven today. His hugs are the best and it's music to my ears and love to my heart to hear him say  "I love you, Grandma". 

A little note to Bryce:

Bryce, I just want you to know that I thank God each day for you and I pray all your dreams come true. Reach for the stars you can be anything you want to be. But right now keep fishing, riding your horses, playing outside with your dogs, raising your chickens, play baseball, take swimming lessons, play flag football, have hayrides with your friends, catch frogs, play with the cats, keep the rooster off of the front porch for your mom, help with chores, and keep being the best "big brother" you can be. 

I LOVE YOU BRYCE!! 

Just keep being "you"!

-Love, 

Grandma

xoxo

"It's a great day to be alive~make it a great day!"

Grandma Becker's diary entry for April 27, 1990

"Light rain in night-still at it at 9:30A.M. Washed load of sheets-changed bedding on west bed-put heavy things away. Baked coffee cake. Raining again. At 3 went to HyVee and Walmart. Home at 5. Brought Long John Silver fish home for supper. Alan and Marc here at 9:45. Made coffee for them and they left at 10:30. Cooler."

Grandma Perrin's diary entry for April 27, 1964

"55A.M. - 64 at noon. Partly cloudy-mid day shower late P.M. Connie here while Charles milked. Charles sold our beans today - $2.40. Bud and D. also Charles went to church board meeting, evening. Asparagus for supper, first of the season.

55 - 10P.M."

Sweet Bluebells

As I was cleaning up after dinner last night I was in awe of how much the colors of spring are making their presence known. The grass is more vibrant, the leaves are budding on the trees, and there is some yellow bush across the street at the neighbors that is simply gorgeous. As I was thanking God for all of the beauty, I saw them. 

Bluebells. 

Great-Grandma Perrin used to have bluebells that grew wild. I remember thinking they were the most beautiful flower and I loved their name. 

And now they are growing right outside of the kitchen window. 

Do you have a certain flower you look forward to seeing in the spring, possibly plant or garden? I'm the lady you'll see wandering the outdoor garden sections trying to decide on which flowers to buy for the patio and front door. Hopefully the weather will decide it's spring instead of winter. What happened to the warm temps and sun? 

At least I have bluebells. 

Thanks for reading!

Melody

xoxo

"It's a great day to be alive~make it a great day!"

Grandma Becker's diary entry for April 26, 1990

"Still warm and windy, quite cloudy but no rain here. Hair at 9:30. In P.M. I baked chocolate chip cookies-washed afghan and red jacket-fixed port roast for supper. Gerald home at 6. Old green car on the blink! I won Scrabble and 2 games of rummy. Talked to Dorothy. Helen's back still bad."

Great-Grandma Perrin's diary entry for April 26, 1964

"Cool-mostly cloudy all day-East wind. Went to services. Home with E&G for dinner. Back to Charles's for a while early evening. Home at 9P.M. Had lunch then E&G went home. An inch of rain fell in the night with thunder storm. Bud and D. went to Marshalltown with E. Hansen's to a musical festival -P.M. G. Hansen's at Mason's - evening. Carol and Forrie's baby baptized -A.M. 

Three Days

THREE DAYS
....is all that separates my first born grandchild's birthday and my birthday. His is Wednesday April 27th and mine is the 30th. 
I made homemade sugar cookies and decorated them with how old he will be....

and put a musical note on mine....instead of double digits. haha! 

Not too bad for cutting the corner of a baggie and using as a piping tip! 

Happy Birthday "week" Bryce, Grandma loves you!!

Bryce with his new tackle box and tackle. 

Thanks for reading and have a great last week of April 2016!

Melody

xoxo

"It's a great day to be alive, make it a great day!"

Grandma Becker's diary entry for April 24, 1990

"Up at 6:30. Showered and got breakfast. Quite cloudy. Gerald to Beaver Valley at 8. Elda's funeral. Stopped to see Helen. She has lame back. Talked to Leota. Very humid and quite hot and windy. 

Very tired and lame." 

Grandma Perrin's diary entry for April 24, 1964

"48-Fair-A.M.

Pleasant all day. I planted 2 rose bushes P.M. Telephone still out of order until noon. I walked to Al's A.M.  Frosted and cleaned refrig. Charles and Alberta went to C.F. A.M. Connie here evening. Senior class of N.H. left at midnight for a trip to Chicago. Grace L. one of the chaperon's. Did a little mowing, first of the season.Bud had fertilizer put on land. P.M.

44 at midnight." 

Don't Let Time Get Away

It's been a little while since I've last blogged, but never far from my mind. It's finding the time to sit down and write. We all have the same amount of hours in the day it just depends on how you put those hours to use. So this is going to be short and sweet. 

Last summer I fell into a depression. Not going to bore you with those details, but I came across this meme today and it is exactly what I told Harley Man in December of last year:

EXACTLY!! 

I felt like life was somehow spinning out of my control. 

Depression is such a vicious, deep, dark, hole. Or feelings of even though you are swimming in the right direction and see land, you paddle and paddle and paddle.  You might come across a buoy to hold onto every now and then to give you hope but just can't hold on. 

December of last year I had enough. Although some aspects in my life I couldn't control right then and there, I started to invest in my health. I felt that even though those feelings of not being in control (in some aspects) of my life, I could control my choices in nutrition and exercise. I hadn't exercised in years but seriously, I was at my largest of largies in my clothes. And I wasn't going to buy one more size "up". 

I. Was. Done.  

I decided to try the 21 Day Fix which includes 30 minutes of daily exercise, portion control and drinking a fuel packed protein shake. I don't have cute work out clothes, I do have "granny shorts". (Hey....I did get them at Target-does that count? lol) I don't have cute tanks to wear with fun sayings on them, but I do have old t-shirts. I don't have cute headbands, I have your average hair tie. I don't have cute tennis shoes, although I'm due for new ones. I wore mine out in a cow pasture and they just plain and simply need replaced. What I do have works for me. With my dvd's I can workout in my own living room. With three dogs staring at me. 

Have I fallen off my path and taken another once in a while? Yep. I sure have. I love pizza, pasta, lots of cheese on anything, beer, french fries, wine and Big Macs. And a lot more where all that came from. 

But times have changed in the last 5 months. Now when I haven't worked out for a couple of days I look forward to getting back on track. It's been fun trying new recipes that I would never have tried before. And for the first time in a very long time I'm looking forward to summer clothing. While I might not be in a two piece I'm not going to hide behind a cover up, either. Not this year. I feel better, and am more healthy than I have been in a very long time. 

...and I'm working on that!
#Goals

Well that was long winded. So much for short and sweet!! HA! 
Thanks for reading and I hope you had an amazing day. And if you are thinking of trying something new and positive in your life, GO FOR IT! We all have the same amount of hours in the day. Sometimes enough is enough. Go for your goals. We have one life to live. Let's live it. 

Oh, and life is way too short to give up a great glass of wine! Or bottle. 

Melody
xoxo

"It's a great day to be alive~make it a great day!"

Grandma Becker's entry for April 18, 1990

"Windy and cool A.M. 
Tired today so just taking it easy. Dustin here for an hour and half. Gerald had "green car" trouble but finally got it fixed. Saw Helen a short while and took some summer clothes to her. Evansdale to eat. Very good food. "500" at Jims'. Air chilly and damp. Sure feels like rain. All very tired! Too much Easter, I guess."






Grandma Perrin's entry for April 18, 1964
"Cloudy-cooler-A.M.
60 at noon. I worked outside part of the day. Charles finished hauling fertilizer here. Alberta went to C.F. A.M. 
N.W. wind most of day. 
Mr. Drenner still at Cliffs.
Charles and family, M. Koop and family had dinner (evening) at Hickory Inn honoring the ladies birthdays. 
40 in the evening."