The Male Shoppers Club

I love to shop. I love to buy presents for people just because. I love a bargain! It’s almost a sport for me. And if I can accomplish all three things simultaneously, it’s a moment of glorious celebration. Obviously Amazon equals fun for me.

     Then comes Christmas. Ah, a hall pass to shop. I’m not so interested in Black Friday and our money tree has seen better days but I do enjoy seeing what I can do with a dollar.

     Enter Doc, aka My Most Amazing Man and beloved husband. He’s fine to follow the advent calendar, get and decorate a tree, see A Christmas Carol, sing along with Handel, send cards to those near and dear, light some candles, and sing Happy Birthday to Jesus.

     I do enjoy all the above and then some including sending Christmas cards to every friend and family member we know. Add a picture, maybe a newspaper column, big hugs and then hope to hear back from those scattered hither and yon.

Semper Fi - A Thank You to My Brother and All Troops

I was the lastborn child in the Cook family of Winder, GA, the baby in a series of four: three girls and one little blue-eyed boy. My mother declared I was planned as long as she was on this earth and I let her think I believed her. Somehow though, with my oldest sister being 20 years old when I made my debut, my next sister 16 and my brother, 14, I doubted the story. In fact, I teased Mother that she and Daddy were surely rusty at best, that being the reason for my red hair!

     The absolute shining star in our family though wasn’t this little redheaded surprise child. It was that precious only son, his daddy’s namesake, the apple of his mother’s eye and the third born, Jimmy. From parents to grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins, and, of course, his sisters, we all felt the same way. Brother, as I always called him, was my hero.

I Hate Cancer!

  A nagging pain developed in my right side recently. A dull, unexplainable ache in the breast area. One of those places that I check often but hope to find nothing.  My last mammogram was fine, thank God, but this ache became annoying enough that I scheduled an exam. Because my mother had breast cancer at age 83, my doctor sent me straight for repeat tests. I dread it every year but I go because I hate cancer more.

     I hate it because it snuffed out the life of my daddy, just retired with a new granddaughter he adored (my firstborn) and plans to travel, explore and enjoy life with my mother. He died only months after the diagnosis. I held his hand as he passed from this life to the next. How I hated seeing this gentle, quiet man suffer. I hated the disease even more.

     I hate cancer because it ripped my precious friend, Diane, from me. Joined at the heart, we did everything together from decorating and redecorating houses to singing to shopping to traveling to laughing so hard we cried. I climbed into the hospital bed with her right before she died and we celebrated the too-few years God had allowed us to share. She promised she’d send me ideas when I get into a hard spot creatively. I believe she does. I miss her. I despise that wicked disease.

Kitten "Gone" Wild!

My family discovered the Great Pacific Northwest two years ago in a move that has brought great healing and peace to us.

     Another source of Maranville happiness comes from two very spoiled kitties named Snow and Savannah. The emphasis is on very and spoiled and the truth is that they allow us to live with them. They let us feed, pet, and love on them as they deem necessary.

     I know everybody thinks their pets are the cutest and the smartest, but these two girls really do push the envelope. Believe it or not, they actually shake paws in exchange for treats (the very paws that, until recently, had never been allowed to set pad outside and they hadn’t known the difference). 

     All that changed on July 22^nd.