HAPPY VETERANS DAY!!!!

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After volunteering at the 

VA CLINIC

for a couple of years

I have a whole new appreciation

for our servicemen and servicewomen.

I love the older veterans.

They are so proud and even though they

may be feeble physically

their pride burns strong and hard.

There are some hard moments

as you watch them struggle to walk

to their appointments;

they are often too proud to

ride in a wheelchair.

AND there are some tender moments-

a son holding his dad's arm

on his way to treatment-

a daughter doing the mechanics

for her mother who is unable

to check in on her own-

all part of their every day life.

If this picture of an elderly vet 

hugging a young vet that has lost his arm

doesn't put a lump in your throat

or a tear in your eye

you might not "get it".

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I will never ever take our freedom for granted

and I hope you don't either.

THANK YOU VETS FOR PROTECTING

OUR COUNTRY.

THANK YOU FOR PROTECTING 

OUR FREEDOM.

BUT- MOT OF ALL

THANK YOU  FOR PROTECTING

MY FAMILY.

GOD BLESS YOU TODAY AND 

EVERY DAY!

Show your support and if you see 

a veteran today,

shake his or her hand and say

Thank You!

You'll be glad you did!

PLEASE GO VOTE!!!

I am at the 

VA CLINIC

this morning-doing my little bit

to honor the veterans.

I wish you could see some of the

men and women that come

through the doors here.

It would make you weep

but it would also make you proud.

Do yourself proud today-

GO VOTE!

If not for yourself--

for our service men and women.

Your vote DOES count!

YES!  I am NAGGING YOU

to 

GO VOTE!!!

God bless America-

After this is all over-

-right or left-

we are all still Americans

and need to stand together

UNITED

NEWS AND MORE NEWS----WHAT'S GOING ON----Where DO I Start?

Remember I said in my last post that

THE TIMES THEY ARE A'CHANGIN'?

Well, they are!

Bear with me as I sort through

WHAT TO DO.

I don't want to keep you all guessing

and wondering what is going on with

Nana Diana

First off-

NO!  The house DID NOT SELL YET!

SO-What is the news then?

I am going back to work.

After 5 years of retirement-

almost to the day-

I headed back to the work force this week.

(more about that in a later post)

This opportunity came up out of the blue

at the end of last week-

right after I had announced that 

I was going to

OPEN MY ETSY STORE.

That puts me in 

A QUANDARY!

WHAT DO I DO?

What do I do about 

ANNA IRELAND VINTAGE?

I started listing stuff

these last few days.

I am guessing I have 

about 400-500 items to list.

So far, I have about 45 listed-

This is stuff that is just sitting out and 

never got packed away as I was

purging and packing.

I am honestly asking myself

HOW MUCH TIME DO I HAVE

to take care of an

ETSY SHOP

if I am working for someone else?

The learning curve where I am going

will be a long one, I am afraid.

After I am trained I can pretty much

set my own hours...

BUT

I can't do that yet.

At this point, 

I think that I will

have to wait until after the first of the year

to open the Etsy shop.

IF the learning curve is not as steep

as I think, 

then I will open it and just sell the stuff

I have already listed 

and not list anymore until the 

first of the year.

I am one of those people that when I say

I AM GOING TO DO SOMETHING

I carry through and do it----

partially because

I hate disappointing people!

That being said,

I know I can only spread myself so thin.

I am starting a new job,

I am hosting a big crew for

Thanksgiving,

I am keeping the house ready for showings,

AND

I want to keep blogging....

To say nothing of keeping tabs on MyHero...

and that in itself is a full time job.

Okay- one more time...

THAT is a TRACTOR..

It does NOT float!

I thought you learned your lesson after 

this fiasco....

 SO--

SOMETHING HAS TO GO

or at the very least

get put on hold.

So, bear with me, will you,

as these next couple of weeks

play out.......

Thanks-I am hoping you all

will understand 

MY QUANDARY!

Now-

Would you like your smile for the day?

This little boy, CJK, likes to EAT!

He ESPECIALLY likes TREATS!

This was after a little

get-together at his school.

AND

They got to pick a favorite animal at school

to color in, to name,

and then they wanted to know 

ONE FACT 

about the animal.

As you can see....

the kid is already crazy warped hysterical

giving his teachers a run for their money.

 Yep!

That's My BOY-O

(one more reason to not be stressed out all the time-

I want to enjoy these little kids

while I can-and while they still want 

to hang around with Nana-

Age 10 seems to be about the cut-off date for that!)

THE TIMES THEY ARE A'CHANGING --IN MORE WAYS THAN ONE

DON'T FORGET

TO

SET YOUR CLOCK BACK 

by one hour this morning----

Unless you already did it last night

in which case-

DON'T TOUCH YOUR CLOCK!

I hope to open my

Etsy Shop 

tomorrow or Wednesday.

NOT Tuesday because Tuesday is 

~CRAZY DAY~

for me.

Here's my finished header.

AND

I have some other news 

to share with you as soon

as all the details are

ironed out.

Have a Blessed Sunday!

Love you peeps!

ZOOLOGY 101- GIRAFFES IN LOVE -OH MY!!!

My daughter, Mimi, and family 

came to town last weekend

for Halloween.

We decided to take the kids to the 

local zoo.

I picked CJK up from school

so he could join his cousins

for a fun day.

First up was the lions.

They are BigBoyE's favorite animal

in all the world.

Since he has been old enough to talk

he has said he wants to be a 

ZOOKEEPER.

I always felt that was my calling which is

why I had 4 kids-

the last 3 born in less than 4 years.

You will notice, of course, 

that MAMA was alert and on watch

while the lazy daddy other lion rested.

Baby Bright Eyes was absolutely 

FASCINATED by something!

What was it you ask?

Well- absolutely the 

MOST FASCINATING ANIMAL

in the whole zoo---

Yes- it's a 

SEMI-BLIND BADGER!

Only in Wisconsin, folks, only in Wisconsin.

We could barely drag her away

and on the way back out

we stopped once again for another

peek at this 

FASCINATING ANIMAL!

As you can SEE, he was equally 

impressed with us!

I could bore you with hundreds of pictures.

But I won't.

You're welcome.

I will skip right to the 

GIRAFFES IN LOVE.

OH!MY!

You get up on a platform so that you

can see them up close and personal.

For the measly sum of 

ONE DOLLAR

you can let them eat lettuce out of your hand.

We get up on the platform and

pony up our bucks.

We feed the giraffes.

If you are easily offended

PLEASE STOP READING NOW

AND COME BACK TOMORROW.

Apparently, MS. Giraffe is in heat.

MR. Giraffe knows 

JUST WHAT TO DO.

He proceeds to TRY to do so in

front of the pre-schoolers,

SweetCheeks, age 9 and Ria, age 12.

I thought SweetCheeks' eyes were 

gonna pop out of her head.

Add about 5 years to this picture

and you will get an idea of her expression.

To be honest-

I was quite impressed myself!

Apparently, Ms. Giraffe had a headache

and wanted NO PART of 

Mr. Giraffe's fun and games.

EVENTUALLY 

(after about a zillion minutes)

he left the 

Arena Of Love

and went back to his hideout.

Meanwhile, the guide is telling 

ALL THE KIDS ABOUT

BREEDING HABITS OF GIRAFFES.

You will forgive me if I started 

laughing hysterically and walked

off the platform.

I WAS going to show you a picture

of the FUN but then thought

NAH--Even I can't do that!

Well, I could!

But I won't.  m'hmmm

You will have to use your imagination!

The highlight of the day for me

was watching the human animals

at play.'

From This---

To THIS-

in the blink of an eye!

You will notice how 

the youngest fashionistas

wear 

THEIR SWEATERS!

So, if you are looking for a

bit of an education,

feel free to check out 

your local zoo--

make sure it is mating season-

otherwise you might as well

stay home.

Have a 

GREAT WEEKEND.

I will be washing

the kids' eyes out with soap.

A BEFORE & AFTER MAKEOVER- Reversed

Just a super quick post

this morning.

I am off and running for the day.

I am trying desperately to get

my Etsy shop 

up and running.

My pictures were all the 

WRONG SIZE---

of course they were.

Got that fixed so--

fingers crossed this is gonna

happen at the end of this

week or the first of next week.

~ANYWAY~

Here is the 

BEFORE!

This is what little

BRIGHT EYES

looks like eating breakfast

and enjoying her day.

This is what she looks like

after her 

Two Year Old Visit

to the doctor 

for her shots!

That's kind of how I feel

after my annual

MAMMOGRAM!

Which reminds me--

Get

THE GIRLS

checked, ladies!

Be proactive rather than reactive!

Happy Birthday To Our Son-In-Law- BIG J

BIG J

He came into the family

when he married

our youngest daughter,

Mimi.

Aren't they cute

together?

The Key West Island Scout 

&

The Irish Princess.

He has

great parents.

(yes her eyes do open!;>)

He gave us two

wonderful little

grandsons,

BigBoyE & 

Charles In Charge.

and a sweet granddaughter-

Little Bright Eyes.

You did good, BigJ,

very, very good!

He used to run the 

scouting base camp

in Key West 

but NOW he is a 

Harley Man.

He is part of the management team

for Harley Davidson

in Indiana and the surrounding area.

Yep- He rides a HOG!

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No- not THAT kind of HOG--

This kind of HOG-

you know- complete with heater

for cold weather and every other option 

you can think of...

Harley - Davidson

Every man I know hates him

BECAUSE 

 they wonder

HOW DID HE GET THAT JOB?

They ALL want his job!

Hmmm...could it be his degrees

and business acumen combined

to bring him to the perfect job?

We are proud of you, buddy!!

We won't see you on

your special day

but we wished you a 

HAPPY BIRTHDAY

last weekend when you were here.

Hope you have a GREAT birthday!

ps---MyHero wonders if you can 

squish a piece of birthday cake up for him

so he can put it through his feeding tube

                                   

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You can just cut me a regular piece, m'kay?

I'll eat it after I get home from

pushing the boys around at the VA!