Blogging A to Z…… Y is for….

Y is another easy letter for me to do in this A to Z Challenge.

Y is for Yard

Our yard is not exceptionally beautiful.

Many of our friends have prettier yards but I love our yard.

It is large. When our kids were home many a fun ball game was played in this yard. We have planted every tree and plant but one.

I especially love my roses. John gave these bushes to me years ago as a Mother’s Day gift.

I think they are lovely even though I don’t take good care of them like I did before the accident. In spite of my neglect they bloom their hearts out.  I have one special rose that really makes me smile.

It is this rose by our front door.  This rose was the one plant that was here when we moved in 33 years ago. The tree beside it has grown up and shades the rose bush so it has struggled to stay alive…. but it manages to give me beautiful blooms each year. It lives up to the saying “Bloom were you are planted.” This sweet rose bush makes my heart smile.

John has planted  different kinds of fruit trees.

We enjoy having the fresh fruit…

….And unusual flowers.

John planted our side yard to be an “Enchanted Forest” for our kids and grand kids.

We have had lots of fun there taking walks… having picnics….and…

Flying through the trees.

Our yard was not professionally landscaped or designed. We…(mostly John)…. have worked hard on it through the years.

It may not be as beautiful as some yards but I think it is Yummy and I love it…. and feel blessed to be able to enjoy it every day.

Yard is my very favorite Y

Have a great day. 

Hugs, Lura

 

Blogging A to Z X is for ..

Some of you have been so cleaver with your letter X blogs. Dee from DeeCoded gave us a XXX post and Carol from Buttercup Land was    X-traordinary. Hop over to their blogs and see how cleaver they were.
X is a hard letter to do in this A to Z challenge.  I am not as cleaver about it as my blog friends but I have it covered.

The X that saved my life is X-ray

After being hit 3 times on the freeway going about 70 miles per hour I was left with serious internal injuries. If it had not been for X-rays I would have died.

Once the CT scan showed that I had a broken sternum and 15 ribs broken in multiple places I was monitored by daily X-rays. The weeks that I was in ICU intensive care I was X-rayed at least once a day and sometimes more. Once out of ICU I was X-rayed weekly.
At the time I dreaded being x-rayed because it was so painful for me but now I am thankful because that is how they determined that my left lung had collapsed from the pressure of  bloody fluid building up around it.

After them draining 700 ml of blood and fluid from around my lung through my back (a procedure that I did not want done but I am glad now that they did) and putting me on a forced air breathing machine, my lung re-inflated almost all the way back to normal. This saved my life and we would not have know about needing to do it if it were not for X-rays.
So, I guess you can see why X-rays are my favorite letter X.
Have a great day…I’m Yearning to start ready your Y posts.
Hugs, Lura

Blogging A to Z… W is for….

W is for Women’s Improvement Club (WIC)

Women’s Improvement Club (WIC) is a national organization with chapters all over the country. It’s goal is to improve the local community and the world. I joined WIC in 2007 when I retired from teaching.

We take on all kinds of projects we hope will make life better for others. Our members are from different faiths and backgrounds. In our chapter a lot of us are retired teachers but we also have lawyers, our past mayor, business women, medical professionals, homemakers, etc. Anyone can join that wants to serve.

An example of one of our international projects was making washable sanitary panty guards and pads for girls in Africa. Most of the girls can not afford to buy sanitary napkins to use so they have to miss school during their monthly cycle.

We met week after week sewing up  a storm. We made up little kits made up of 1 guard, several pads and a pair of cotton panties.

A number of chapters worked on this same project and WIC ended up sending 100s of kits to Africa.  It was a lot of work but we all felt really good about doing it.

We also help local people. We help by donating food and supplies to our homeless shelter here in town.

We got a trailer donated to the homeless shelter that we use to help the preschool children get ready for school and the school age children do their homework. I have not volunteered there since our accident but I did it for years. As mentioned we have a lot of teachers in our club. We paired up and took a different night of the week to work at the center. We read to the preschoolers and had craft time. We helped the older students with their homework and tutored them in areas they needed help. Each holiday we also had parties for the kids. It is hard being a homeless child. Working at the center was not an easy job but  we felt it was worth the effort.

One of our main goals is providing college scholarship money for each of the 6 high schools in town. We give 2 scholarships to each school. We have fund raisers all year to earn the money for these scholarships. I’ve been the co-chairman on the scholarship committee and love this job. The only hard part is narrowing down all those we interview to just 2 per school.  If I ever win the lottery I will see to it that we can offer more scholarships to each school.

We also have fun at various social events. My friends, Jan and Sil attended this Wacky Fashion Show with me. (You know that it had to be wacky for me to be a model! I’m the one modeling “The Little Black Dress”)

There are tea parties, monthly luncheons and special programs.  It is very nice spending time with so many lovely ladies.

I’ve enjoyed being the keynote speaker at 2 of the luncheons.

My blog friend, Kris from Simplify attended one of my presentations. That was special to me. WIC is a good organization. If you live in the states why don’t you go on line and join a chapter located in your area?

Women’s Improvement Club is definitely my favorite W.

Have a nice Sunday… and enjoy your  A to Z day off.

Hugs, Lura

 

Blogging from A to Z…. V is for….

Yesterday I was undecided about which letter U to do but today there is no question in my mind!  Today I have my all time favorite letter V to blog about.

V is definitely for Valentine’s

Please note that I did not say Valentine’s Day…. no, no, no…because to me Valentine’s is so special I celebrate it the whole month.

My whole month of February is filled with Valentine fun.

The first week of Feb. I set my Valentine’s tables. Last year I went with a white and red theme.

This year I went totally pink. I even covered and decorated my chairs this year. (My hubby said it looked like there was an explosion in a Pepto Mismo factory.)

I’m glad my sweetheart puts up with all my fancy decorating. I just love it and he sweetly tolerates it. (He would just as soon eat in front of the T.V. on paper plates.)

After getting my tables set,  I start making my Valentine cards.

I love having Valentine making parties with my friends. (Kris and Jan are the queens of Valentine making.)

I love “foofoo” so I embellish my cards with a lot of it. After decorating the outside, I write a personal note on the inside.  It takes me a long time but I want each recipient to know how special they are to me. This year it took me over a week to make all of them. I barely got them all done in time to deliver them by the 14th .

My next task is to make little Valentine goodie bags. I usually make Valentine cupcakes or cookies and throw in some candy. This year I was too lazy  busy so I just bought all the goodies for my Valentine bags. I mail them off to my precious grandchildren and deliver the rest to local friends and family.

Setting pretty tables isn’t worth much if you don’t use them.

I just love having family and friends over all through the month for Valentine dinners.

It is especially fun feeding the Mormon missionaries serving in our area. I know that they are away from their families so I try to give them a little substitute “Mama love”.

My sweet friends love Valentine’s as much as I do. It is nice being invited to beautiful Valentine’s meals at their homes also.

And having our annual Valentine Tea Party with Kris and Jan is

always an extra special treat. I am so thankful for dear friends.
Actually Valentine’s Day has taught me a valuable life lesson. Years ago, when I was young, I used to kind of dread Valentine’s Day. I worried that John would forget to get me a Valentine (or rebel against the pressure) and I would be sad. Instead of it being a romantic day it was more of a stressful day. 
Then, after our children came along, I stopped worrying about what I would get for Valentine’s Day and started concentrating on what I could do for others to make their Valentine’s special. I got so involved with my projects that I wasn’t  even concerned about what was in it for me. That is when I started loving Valentine’s Day. Then an amazing thing happened…. John started responding more positively too. He caught the “love bug” and got into the spirit of Valentine’s Day too.

Now he nearly always gets me pretty flowers  with a sweet card.

I love it…. and I really do appreciate his kindness…. but it is not the best part of Valentine’s for me.
My greatest joy comes from making the day special for others. My experience proves the scripture  “It is more blessed to give than to receive” (Acts 20:35) is really true.
Valentine’s is definitely my very favorite V.

I hope that you are having a very nice day. Enjoy the weekend.

Hugs, Lura