NEW YEAR WISHES

Was 2008 good for you? I really want to know. I can't figure out if it was good for me or not. But I do have big expectations for 2009. I do have some wishes for some special people for the New Year.

For Nina: I love you more than you can know. I wish for you to be HAPPY, HEALTHY, SMART AND SAFE every single day. I am so proud of you.

For Norman: May your beeper beep less this year than the year before and may your wife get a laptop (: :)

For Bryan & Jenn: May 2009 bring you much happiness. Stay Healthy, Safe and PROSPER.

For Ricky: May all your worries just GO AWAY! I wish for you also to be Safe & Healthy & Happy. Go ahead and get that motorcycle.

For Wes: May this next year be the best year of your life (so far). May college be everything you want it to be and keep up the GREAT GRADES - Straight "A's" = WAY TO GO - GOOD JOB!!!

For Charles & Jan: You are incredibly special people and I wish you the very best 2009 has to offer. Stay especially Healthy, Safe & Happy.

For Darlena: I love you. You are a wonderful person and I am so grateful for you. I hope 2009 brings you all the good things in life that you could possibly want. You deserve it. Thank you for being my friend.

For Paula: I hope 2009 brings you to Arkansas more often. We would love to see you. I have a guest room waiting for you - any time.

For Lydia: You go girl !! You are an awesome woman and I am so glad I met you. I hope next year keeps you Healthy, makes you especially Happy and allows you to PROSPER in every way.

HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERY ONE.

Quick note for (small) dog lovers....

If you have a small dog, you've got to visit www.whitehousedesigns.com . Cici Bear used to go to work with me every day and she loved staying in her Pita Pocket from White House. She has an Igloo here at home and that is where I find her every morning. All of their products are of great quality and they are Cici Bear Approved. Check them out.

Cici Bear

Here is my Cici Bear dog. She is begging for something, not sure what. We call it "sitting pretty". More than likely she wants a treat. Cici is a blue chihuahua and she is over 10 years old. She is the perfect lap dog and loves to be on your lap under some covers.

For those of you who may not know, I enter sweepstakes as a hobby and recently won 2nd prize in on of these sweepstakes. I won a $100 gift card from QVC. I got the card in the mail on Friday and went on line and spent it today. How much fun is that.

I am also a "sonic-a-holic" and got 4 sonic gift cards for Christmas (thank you everyone). I went online today and registered each of the cards, and for each registration I received a coupon for a FREE medium drink - I love FREE.

Oh, btw, the mysterious music that was playing in my computer speakers is now gone - go figure :)

Tis the Season...

For strange things to happen.....I came into the computer room here at the house and heard music - very faint. Well, I don't have a radio or anything else like that in this room and the computer was turned off. I finally held up one of the speakers hooked up to the (turned off) computer and I could hear a local radio station playing. Now how does that happen??? Any yep I just checked, I still hear the music. I really don't think it is me or my imagination even though this has not been the best of days. Hope your Christmas was Verry Merry.

I HEARD THEM EXCLAIM AS THEY DROVE OUT OF SIGHT...

MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ALL AND TO ALL A GOOD NIGHT. Yes a good night was had by all as you can see by these beautiful pictures. Next year guys, I promise to get a bigger nugget tray!!

Nina & Connor

Daddy & Carol

Bryan & Jenn

Ricky, Barbara & Wes

Me & My Beloved (Norman)

Great lookin kids - huh

MY FAVORITE THINGS (part 1)

Have you ever seen the annual Oprah show where she shares her favorite things from the past year? It is always a great show and everyone in the audience gets all of her favorite things (you so wish you could have been in her audience that day). Well I started thinking about my favorite things. My list is WAAAYYY different and much less expensive than Oprahs and NO unfortunately I can't give any of it away but I do like to share so here goes:

1. AMBIEN
Yeah I know - wasn't what you were expecting right. Well I happen to love to sleep and I need this to do it. Just in case you have been living in a cave for the past decade, Ambien is a prescription sleep aid. It works wonders for some people and it is disastrous for others. I'm one of the lucky ones.

2. WORLDS SOFTEST SOCKS
I am one of those people who is cold all the time. In the winter I wear knee socks every day. Yes I know I am a 48 year old woman and knee socks were what we wore in grade school but these socks are so snuggly and warm. www.worldssoftest.com is their website (they are currently on vacation until after Christmas). They have mens and womens socks in all styles and colors and they are so soft and snuggly and warm.

3. SONIC
Sonic drive in restaurant's are not in every city in the country - but they should be. A major womens magazine did a reader poll a few years ago asking women what their favorite restaurants was. At the time I was shocked to find out that it was Sonic and not Red Lobster or Outback or Olive Garden. I love Sonic. I go at least 6 days a week and yes I get the same thing every time. A Medium Cherry-Vanilla Diet Coke and a Sausage, Egg & Cheese Breakfast Burrito. YUM!!

4. SINGULAIR
Oh, I know - another prescription DRUG. I can't help it. I have very bad allergies and I have asthma. I take one Singulair a day (along with a Dura-Hist) and I am well. Ten years ago I told my husband I could not go on living the way I was. Every day I was miserable - sneezing dozens of times per day, blowing my nose CONSTANTLY, you know - the typical allergy symptoms only mine were amplified because of all I am allergic to (almost all trees, almost all grass, almost all weeds, dogs, cats, dust, on & on & on). I lived on Benedryl. Then I went to a doctor who specializes in Allergies, got tested, got put on the right medication and immediately felt as though I had been healed from a fatal disease.

5. DIET A&W ROOT BEER
Try it and you'll know why it is on this list. I don't drink diet drinks because of the calorie counts - I drink them because they have no sugar (I have very bad teeth and do not need all the added sugar of soda). This root beer tastes great, has no sugar and has no caffeine. I love it.

OK, enough for today. I promise to share more soon.

Shopping - What was I thinking...........AAAGGGHH

Oh my, the traffic should have tipped me off that it was not in my best interest to go shopping. The traffic on Central Avenue (the main drag here in the metropolis of Hot Springs) was quite the challenge. People (in general of course) here in the natural state don't typically take Drivers Ed in school. OH NOOOOOOO, grandma, grandpa, mom, dad, and/or uncle Jim Bob teaches these people how to drive. They are NOT taught how to use turn signals, they are NOT taught that "green is for GO and red is for STOP" and they ARE taught to drive with foot on the brake AND the gas at the same time. I am amazed I have any hair left, I was sure I had pulled it all out even before getting to Wally World.

Once there, things looked good at first, found the first few things on my list. Then I headed to the toy department to find something fun for my Connor Monster. I could not get my cart down any row in the toy department - not UP the row, not DOWN the row. However, I did not abandon my search. I parked my cart at the end of the row with toy cars, tractors, etc. and then mosied on down to the section with items from the "CARS" movie (Connor loves that movie) and played with all of them (all the while my cart is in EVERYONES way-bummer huh). Finally found a cute remote control car and made my way out of the toy department. YEAH.

On the way to the cashiers, my beloved called and wanted to take me to lunch - heck yeah get me out of here. I didn't finish my shopping but I can see the light at the end of the tunnel and should finish this week (as long as I have cash in my wallet - the shopping aint done).

Very First Post

Tales from the empty nest, I love that name. Why the empty nest? Well the kids are grown and live elsewhere and it is just me and my beloved husband Norman. My daughter (Nina) lives here in town and Normans son (Bryan) lives about 2 hours away in Searcy.

What do you think of my daughter and grandson? I think they are beautiful. Connor loves lemons and as you can see from the picture, he has just taken a big bite out of one. This picture was taken on the day before Mothers Day (2008) here in Hot Springs at "Art in the Park" which is a local art show put on annually that I love to go to.

Tomorrow is the day for shopping for me. If I don't get it then, I probably won't get it. I can't wait. I get all excited at this time of year. I love to shop for gifties for the people I love and then watch them as they open the presents.

Times are tough this year so the budget is a lot less than I normally like to spend. I had to tell Norman that I would try to keep it down because I tend to go a little nuts when shopping for gifties. He just told me to "remember we have bills to pay". He certainly has the Christmas spirit huh?? Stay tuned, I'll let you know how the shopping went.