BLOGGERS THAT ARE RETURNING TO THE REALM OF BLOGLAND

All of you bloggers know how hard it is

to build up a base of followers.

It can be disheartening at times

when you pour heart and soul into

A BLOG

and then no one visits

or comments.

I followed both of these ladies

for several years.

Many of you will remember

Laurie,  In My Dreams I See.

Many years ago she suffered

a tragic accident that resulted in

traumatic brain injury.

One of the worst problems

was with her vision.

AND she is AN ARTIST!

Can you imagine?

She quit blogging because 

she couldn't read blogs anymore-

nor could she see to paint.

While her vision is still not perfect,

they had discovered some treatments

that are helping her and..

SHE IS BACK!!!

Please go visit her  HERE

and sign up as a follower.

She is one of the

BEST STORYTELLERS EVER !

And the other blogger I want to 

tell you about is

HAPPY LOVES ROSIE.

She had some very serious family issues

and had to be away for a while

but now she is back and trying to

find her old followers.

She lives in the UK

and if you love all things ENGLISH

including things like

Cath Kidston's delightful collection--

well, you will LOVE Happy.

Wondering who Rosie is?

I'm not gonna tell you-

you will have to pop over to Happy's blog HERE

to find out!

Have a wonderful Wednesday.

Lord willing, I am on my way to my daughter's house

as you are reading this.

Just a 6 hour drive listening to news,

fighting Chicago traffic,

and drinking coffee 

which means SEVERAL wayside stops

because--well---you know....

If you have time,

please pop over and say HI to these two gals

and give 'em a little blogland love!

Thanks so much!

LOOKING BACK- A STORY TO REMEMBER

Grab your coffee, tea or Coke

this is a ramble!

I did a post about this

early on--

when I first started blogging...

and....because I am going to

talk about a special

Christmas tradition later this week..

I wanted to acquaint some of my

readers with this first.

You have never seen a show

quite like a show

performed by

the one

the only

SWEETCHEEKS!

This happened several years ago..

and is as funny today

as it was then.

SweetCheeks is a performer of

extra-ordinary talent. It's a lot like

pay-per-view except she is

a lot more expensive.

Her best performances were usually

preceded by the words..

"Hey, guys..wanna see sumthin'?

(as if we had a choice)

She got the stunning new outfit you

see above for Christmas when she was three.

It seemed to fit her personality

which runs from flamboyant

to downright outrageous.

And, although she liked to pretend

she was a princess..

she was much better as her

own character.

Take a seat, ladies and gentlemen,

the show is about to begin.

This entailed lining up on the couch

in our assigned seats.

We always had to leave a space

(or two) for those "friends"

that we can't see.

(We knew they were there because

SweetCheeks told them where

to sit and they got the primo seats).

After we had plunked ourselves down,

the ticket collector took our stubs.

She looked suspiciously like the actor,

and director, and performer

of the show

we were about to see.

If it was an especially exciting show

we had to fasten our seat belts.

Don't ask because I don't know..

but I think "we" sometimes

had SHOWS and

AMUSEMENT PARK RIDES

a bit mixed up.

Makes no difference.

Here comes the announcement...

(told in present tense)

WADIES & GUNTULMANS..

WEWCUM TO THU SHOOW!

Now I gonna dance and sing

ouprah.

(that would be opera for those

in the know)

Oh Boy! I can't wait.

I am already laughing while

MyHero has that

deer-in-the-headlights-look

the one that means

OH NO-NOT AGAIN.

Buck up Buddy! This will

be over before you know it.

By the time the first few lines

of Jowly Old St. Nickkolus float out

I am suffused with laughter.

At this point

the show

STOPS!

THISSS PLAYH ISSS NOTT FUNNY!

NOW- Stay in yoah seats..

we are gonna haffta starht all

ovearh again!

This statement is accompanied by

a dramatic sigh and

an arm swiped across the brow.

The seat belts must be

refastened and tickets collected

once again.

The show resumes.

I look over at MyHero who

whispers out of the side of his mouth,

without moving his lips..

I can't wait for the intermission.

And, once again,

the strains of

JOWLY OLD ST. NICKOLUS

fills the room.

Every time I look back on that time

I am reminded of that precious little girl--

full of imagination and one that knew

she was adored.

She is a big girl now and 

adored just as much today

as she was then...

but-OH---how I miss that little girl sometimes.

All grown up---

and as you can see---

still performing!

Happy Thanksgiving!!!

Wishing You All

A Beautiful

And Blessed

Happy Thanksgiving

Now WHERE did that

turkey get to?
He knows we have a date!

PUTTING THE BRAKES ON FOR A BIT! Grab your lunch-this is a long post!

ICY ROADS!

DANGER AHEAD!

SLOW DOWN!

Grab your coffee, coke or tea-

This is a LONG POStT!

We went to the most beautiful wedding

last Saturday night.

MyHero performed the ceremony.

It was magical.

It was held in a spectacular exclusive setting

about an hour south of us.

The ceremony started at four 

so we left home at two,

following my son & his family down.

We wanted to be early.

On the way down,

we hit a steady fine, sleety rain.

The roads weren't bad yet

BUT

you could tell it was coming.

The ceremony started and the bride walked in.

Erin looked movie star beautiful 

AND

there is a special connection.

Not only is she friends with my son
 & his wife,

she was MyHero's nurse for the radiation part

of his treatment.

Used to seeing her in scrubs,

MyHero's mouth dropped open

seeing her walk through the door as a 
BRIDE.

He FINALLY recovered, 

told her she was beautiful,

and the ceremony commenced.

I will post some wedding pictures
in an upcoming post
because they deserve a post
of their own.

Following the ceremony,
we walked a brick walkway

to the main clubhouse,
greeted the wedding party,

and went to the Irish pub on the second floor 

for drinks and fabulous hors d'oeuvres.

(internet photo)

Later, we went back downstairs to the

main dining room to eat.

It was the best five course meal
 I have ever had at a wedding..
maybe anywhere!

It was all done effortlessly, 
at an easy pace,
while we chatted and listened
to a few speeches.

There was a dance that followed
back upstairs in the Irish bar.

It was fun to see my little grandson.
CJK (age5)

ask a little girl to dance with him.

She was shy and said NO 

and he was heartbroken,

and embarrassed, 
and hid until the bride's mom,Judy,

dragged him onto the floor.

Such a tender thing to watch unfold.

A hint of what is to come when he is a teen?

Okay--so the

REAL REASON

for this post....lol

We left early because we heard

from latecomers to the dance

that the roads were bad.

My son & family 
decided to head home, too,

so we followed them.

The first few miles of road were fine,

clear, not even a hint of rain, ice, or snow.

About 30 miles into the drive,

the weather changed abruptly.

There was a heavy 'mist' and the roads looked slick.

They WERE slick.

We slowed down to about 20 MPH under the speed limit.

There was a line of cars behind me

and ahead of me,
 with only a few fools flying past, 

well over the speed limit.

About 5 miles from home we saw

a lot of police cars and the road was down

to one lane--almost to a stop.

We snaked through and carefully 

wound our way home.

On the news this morning I heard there were

125 ACCIDENTS IN OUR AREA!

The road we were on had been closed 

earlier for part of the night

AND--

the police lights and one lane?

Clean up from a fatal accident

on the overpass there.

When I got home I realized that

I had to peel my hands off the 

steering wheel because I had

been gripping the wheel so hard.

My neck and shoulders were tight

and actually ached.

I started thinking about all that is going

on in our lives at this point.

An upcoming move,

which means purging and 'letting go',

some family issues,
someone moving in temporarily,

a recovering husband,

and a recurrence of an old 

auto-immune issue that requires

steroids and anti-inflammatories for me.
That's a whole lotta stress.

10 years ago-this would have all been
a piece of cake to handle.
Today-I wish I was 10 years younger...lol

But it doesn't stop there--

To punish myself further,

I decided to open an Etsy shop and 

a second blog to support it.

Hello, Blondie!

I had an ephinany!

I guess I needed ICY ROADS to point

out that I need to 
PUT THE BRAKES ON 
AND

SLOW DOWN.

At this point, 

I have decided to put Etsy on hold,

along with the second blog.

My original intent with Etsy was to 

do all handmade items

and not use it as a 'dumping ground'.

I have not had the chance to do much creating

with everything else going on.

I want to thank everyone that made purchases

from the shop.

I did really well in the few weeks I was open

SO

I won't close the shop completely,

nor will I kill the other blog,

but I am taking a 

BREAK by putting the BRAKES ON

for a bit.

I will still be keeping/using
THIS BLOG-
Nana Diana Takes A Break
so you will always find me here.

I need to look forward to

my volunteer work at the VA

and my grandson's library/school.

I don't want either of those to become 

A CHORE.

WHEW!

I think I'll go bake a pie...

because we all know...

Thank you to all of you that

read this whole mess-lol

You guys are THE BEST---

I don't care what anyone else says about you!

Now pardon me while I go relax~

REQUESTS FOR PRAYERS FOR SOME SPECIAL PEOPLE

I had an outreach from someone

NEAR AND DEAR TO ME

via Messenger.

She is traveling now- 

gone for the winter-

 but is worried

about her brother's wife.

This is her plea.

Please pray for my brother Bob

and his wife Jeri.

Jeri has been in the hospital for 9 days.

She had surgery on her back.

She is not doing well.

She can not walk.

She does not have feeling

in her hands or feet.

Her digestive system is not working well.

My brother is very sad and discouraged.

Many things are not going well.

He is desperate.

He is tired. He is discouraged.

Thank you for your prayers.

Please pray for the person that sent this to me, too.

Her name is Carol

and she is suffering the anxiety that comes from

being away from home when someone is ill.

Also, Robbin's mom, Donna-
Down On The Farm

During the procedure Monday on mom's back, they discovered she has another compressed vertebra.  So 3 compression fractures instead of 2.  Sometime in the last 3 weeks another vertebrae became compressed.  They were only able to fix 2 of the fractures since, as the doctor explained, they can only do 2 at a time so instead of coming out of the procedure pain free . . . she's still hurting.

They have put her on a stronger pain medicine which helps a little, but of course doesn't take the pain away. She will have to go back in a couple of weeks for the same procedure to get the third compression fracture fixed. 

The only way to keep the compression fractures from continuing is to start giving her injections every six months to strengthen the bones.  But she has to have some teeth pulled before they can give her the injection, since the injection will make pulling any teeth nearly impossible, and my mom's teeth are not good.

In the middle of everything, my mom is trying to take maintenance chemo every week.

As you can imagine all of this is very discouraging to my mom, and to our entire family. 

And..continue to pray from 

my best friend's family.

Mainly her son, Mr. T.

They still don't have the full scope

of what is wrong with him

and are going to do more biopsies.

It's a scary time for all of them.

Thank you, as always, 

for all the prayers.

If you are not a pray-er-,

please send good thoughts 

and wishes their way.

I hope each and everyone

reading this will have a

blessed Sunday.

MY PERSONAL THANK YOU TO OUR BRAVE VETS

I am ashamed that I don't

always think about what the cost

is for my freedom.

source

I don't always think about

the person that laid

down their life so that

I can enjoy the freedoms

this country allows.

I don't always think about

the day-to-day struggles that

some of our veterans must deal with...

the physical, emotional, spiritual end

of it.

I do think about my Father,

a vet of WWI (yes-WWI)-

He was a young man in the service and 

a man of many years when I was born (53).

His gas mask was in our attic.

He never talked about WWI

but I have 1/2 of the letters he

wrote home to his family.

My dear brother had the other half.

I do think about my Uncle Samuel,

that fought in the Korean War~

but I don't ever remember him

mentioning it.

I do think about my foster brother, Gene,

that was part of the Vietnam war years...

the war that wasn't a war,

or so they say.

I do think about my nephew, Scott,

that suffered permanent damage

when he was fired on as

he guarded one of

Sadam's palaces.


I think about my friend, Tom,

a man that shared a 3 room 

schoolhouse with me in the 

shadow of the mountains 

in Pennsylvania,

a career man that was a 

Chief Petty Officer.

And, I do think about a man

that has a blog..

A man that I met in my blog travels...

you know when you hit that

Next Blog button on the top..

This is a man that gave it all

for his country...

and is now but a shadow

of his former self, on the outside..

Inside- he is a fighter of the

greatest magnitude.

I have so much respect for

Kurt The Krippled Warrior.

He lives a hard life but asks

for no pity or sympathy.


As many of you know,

I volunteer at the VA on Tuesdays.

I am so blessed to be a small part of it.

Two of the men I work with

were in Vietnam and served faithfully.

Thank you Dave you crazy fool

and Rick.

Rick is the "normal" to balance

Dave!

I am blessed to know you both.

Today, I hope  to

raise a salute to every man or woman

that fights for all of us.

God Bless Our Veterans

and those that are serving

our country today.

 source

Without you- we have no hope.

Have a wonderful Tuesday

and if you out and about and see

a service person shake his or her hand

and tell them 

Thank You For Your Service.

You'll be glad you did.