Friday, April 29, 2011

RIng ~! Ring~! Ring~! it's 3:30 a.m.~!

This morning my cell phone was ringing next to my bed at 3:30 a.m. Couldn't read who was calling and was hoping it was good news.. I answered and it was Dave ~ he was downstairs using the land line.. He said "Come on down , the Royal Wedding is starting"... I grabbed my feather comforter , my phone, my glasses and went downstairs... I made a pot of coffee for us and poured us some of that hot coffee. Can't start my day without a good hot cup of coffee.. I settled down with my comforter and my cup of coffee in my recliner.. I'm so glad he got me up.. It was wonderful to see all the gathering of the people along the streets in London. Lots of flags waving, lots of people excited.. We got to see the whole thing from the beginning to the end...
It was fun to watch all the people arriving to the wedding who had gotten invitations. The ladies hats were fun to see and I wondered how in the world do they keep those hats on their heads.. The best hat was the hat that looked like a deer antlers. LOL.. When I was a small girl ~ women and men always wore hats..especially to church.. I think we should start that tradition back up. Kate and William were such a handsome couple.. Her dress was exquisite and flowed behind her so beautifully. I loved seeing the brothers before the wedding.. William and Harry in their uniforms and white gloves... So handsome. It was a great ceremony and I was so glad I got to watch it on TV, even if it was early in the morning. As we sat in the living room and the sun was rising, we watched the deer jump the fence south of our property. They were so graceful jumping over the fences...It was a great morning ~ watching royalty getting married and to see the love they have for each other. They make a great couple and it will be fun to watch with each new day they have with each other..
Today the sun was shining and it got pretty nice outside. Everything is so green .... With us going to Sweden in a few days ~ Dave is going to have the neighbor boy, Cole Flatland come and learn how to use our lawn tractor so he can mow the grass while we are gone. He is 15 now and well do just fine.. Can't believe he is 15 now, just seems yesterday he was 8... Time marches on whether we want it to or not.
I feel so bad for the people in the South with all those tornadoes. 160 tornadoes in just the month of April... Goodness to be,that is a lot. It's going to be a hard spring.. With all this rain we are getting and the farmers having a hard time getting into the fields to work the ground over and plant the seed. And the fires in Texas and the flooding in Vermont and other places.. Makes a person pray to God a little more . God has a plan and a timetable. Many are the plans in a man's heart, but it is the Lord's purpose that prevails.. Even when our plans flounder, if our heart's right God will still make things turn out for our good and His Glory. When it comes to God's guidance, here are some thing we need to know: First, ideas go away, but His direction stays. There's persistence in His leading; that's why time is on our side. Second: His direction is impossible to follow without His help. He plans it that way.. Without God you can do nothing.
Third: His direction usually begins with discomfort. Like an eagle that stirs up it's nest..... A baby eagle is shocked when it's mother forces it out of the nest, but that's when it finds it's wings. God Will Surprise You...~ ! He is with us everyday and we just need to pray and keep him close to our hearts.
Have a Tiggeriffic Day~! ta ta for now from Iowa:)

Thursday, April 28, 2011

The grass is green as it is in Ireland~ Emerald~!

IT's another cloudy day with rain coming this afternoon. As I look out my window here I see the grass is a lushes green because we have had mega big time rain. My rain gauge says 2 inches . Need to empty it to see what we get this afternoon. Reminds me of the green of Ireland when we visited there a few years ago. I have never seen such a green ~ so bright.. that is why Ireland is called "Emerald Island". That has to be my favorite country to visit..
This morning I watched the ravaged countryside of Alabama, Ga. Va. The damage that a tornado does is just unbeilivable. I feel bad for those people.. No basements to hide in ~ just a bathtub or a closet.. I think if it was my house there and when I rebuilt ~ in one corner I would build me a shelter to go to in case of another tornado busting through my city again. I look around my house and look at what I have in each room.. WOW ~ that would be a lot of stuff blowing in the air...I think my prize possesions would be the photos of my family. and my purse.. It has too much information in there to lose. In years past we have had tornadoes passing near our house to the point we ran for the basement. It would be a hard thing to accept to see ones house gone . But I would have God to get me through the loss and then you have no choice ~ you start over and pray for God's strength.
Yesterday I had Ben with me for awhile.. We played the WII game with Mario carts.. Race car game. He just loves it and of course he always wins.. I don't know how he keeps his car on the track and miss all the obstacles that pop up on the track that one has to drive around. After lunch we took a nap and then he wanted to go to Holly's house.. She has a boy named Nathan age 12 and Ben just loves to be around.. So I called her and she said "Come on over". They were going to watch the movie "UP" ... I popped some popcorn and off we went.. We all got comfortable and we watched the movie.. Oh my, this was such a loving and funny movie.. Ben sat there the whole time on my lap and it was so cute. He would laugh and then when a tender moment came he would say "Awwwww".. If you want to see a wonderful movie take a look at this one.. Up is a good clean movie and had a great story of showing love, compassion and adventure.. Whoever wrote this book had to of had a keen imagination.. It was great~!
After the movie I had to go to town and get gas ($3,83 a gallon) I picked up Dave to go with us and we stopped at the Dairy Queen.. Ben wanted a vanilla cone... I got a mini blizzard and a small one for Dave. He said "We need to get one for Mommy".. So we did.. We dropped off the blizzard to his mom . She was getting ready to go to school. She gave him a little kids golf set , he was so excited.. He designated to us which club we could use and we played a little golf in the yard... He loved it~! We took him to his Dad's house because it was Cory's turn to have Ben for awhile.. Of course the golf clubs came out and he had us all playing golf at his dad's house.. Such fun... Kisses and Hugs given to Dave and I and we left him with Cory. He was talking up a storm to Cory "O.K. dad it's your turn">.. cute...~!
Dave and I had supper and I went up to my bedroom to read my book. There is nothing on TV anymore that is worth watching anymore. Except for Fox news and Amazing Race.. Of course tomorrow I will be watchin the wedding in England.. Ben had his Dad call me when he was getting ready for bed.. he said "Night GranAnnie, I love you"... Now how sweet was that ~!
Dave and I are getting ready to go to town and get a few things for our trip next week.. Going to Sweden to the World's Ploughing Matches.. My knee is mega big time better and doesn't hurt anymore.. Yeah~! Have a Tiggeriffic Day~!~! ta ta for now from Iowa:)

Monday, April 25, 2011

A lot has happened since last Thursday.. In the morning I went outside to burn the trash and I hurt my good knee.My right one.(Left knee I have had 2 knee replacements) On the outside of my right knee I got this huge bulging bump...It hurt instantly .. I came back in the house and put ice on it right away.. I could not straighten out my knee.. Oh my goodness, Tracie wanted me to come over because she had strep throat and needed help.. So I took my ice pack and went to her house. I made us lunch and we both settled on her couch to play the Wii game of Super Mario.. We conquered 2 castles and got through 2 levels.. We were very happy We were starting on another level and I called Dave to see if he could fix himself some supper.. He said "Sure".. I was happy. It was now 5:30 and I decided to pause the game and fix us supper. Tracie took a short nap.. We had our supper and at 6:30 we were back to the game.. Ya-Hoo..we gained another level and at 8 p.m. I decided I better go home.. I love playing that game.. Tracie went to bed and was feeling a little better.. Poor girl she is really sick.. I decided I best go to the Doctor on Friday and see what was the matter with this knee. We are going to Sweden May 6th and it has to get a whole lot better before we go or it's not going to be good.
Friday I called my Dr. and had an appointment at 10.. I decided to go to my Chiropractor. He examined my knee and said that he wasn't sure if it was a pulled muscle or a torn ligament. So he said since it was Friday to go home and keep ice on it and stay off my knee and keep it elevated. He put my hips back in place and the middle of my back.. It felt good. but knee was still in great pain.. Soo all week=end I kept myself in my recliner with my knee elevated and iced.. By Sunday evening I could straighten my leg and the pain was not too bad.. Outside of my knee it has a purple bruise and the swelling is way down.. It was 16 inches around the knee when I measured it on Thursday and it was 13 inches by Sunday evening.. This morning when I went back to the chiropractor he asked me how my knee was and I told him.. He examined my knee again and put my back in place and said he thought I had just pulled a muscle.. But to take it easy today and keep it elevated and iced.. So that is what I did.. I can straighten my knee now and the pain is really not too bad compared to what it was on Thursday. I think I will survive. Before I left the house this morning I gathered all the pennies that Dave and I had stored in quart jars.. I decided to take them to the bank.. DO you know that one quart jar filled with pennies is about $9... I went into the bank and got a cart..They were way too heavy to carry. I took the pennies to the one of the bank tellers and she put all my pennies in a counting machine.. When it was all finished with it's counting she came and told me I had $107..in pennies.. Well, that was great~! So glad I pick up every penny I see whenever I'm out and about.. and put all the pennies I have in the jar . I was surprised it came to that amount but was so glad..
This afternoon I went up to Central City and picked up Ben.. He was so excited when he saw me.. HE was eating some apples with peanut butter and a glass of milk.. His teacher said he had a really good day..and he had a 2 hour nap.. He wanted to go to my friends house (Holly) and play on the trampoline.. Holly has a boy age 12 that Ben just adores.. Nathan's birthday is the same day as Ben's . So I got to talk with Holly while Ben and Nathan went outside and jumped on the trampoline. IT was time to go and Ben and I went back to my house. I fixed supper and Ben ate a huge dinner. He must of been hungry.. At 5:30 we went to Tracie's house and she was just leaving to go to school.. Quick goodbyes and Ben and I went inside.. Of course we turned on the Wii game and played Mario racetrack game.. He loves that game.. Of course I'm not as fast as Ben is and I always lose. He love it~! I had him pause the game and we worked on coloring and drawing letters.. HE can almost spell his name.. He helped me put laundry into the washer machine and then we got the dishes done and kitchen cleaned up. We played until 8 p.m. He got into his pajama's and I read him 4 of his favorite books.. He loves it when I read to him and I just love it because he sits on my lap and snuggles up to me.. By 8:45 he was in bed and falling to sleep. Tracie got home at 9:30 and we talked for a bit and I came home.. Of course I have my leg elevated and icing it again... I have hardly any pain now and all the swelling is gone. That is good. It's 11 p.m. now and I better get to bed..
Have a Tiggeriffic Day~! Ta Ta For Now..from Iowa...:)

Thursday, April 21, 2011

Where does time go ~ it's already Thursday and the sun is trying to shine this morning even thou the weatherman says it's going to rain this afternoon. Need to go out and empty the rain gauge it says almost an inch of rain... We have had lots of rain and many storms. Its 50 degrees today which is not too bad.. Later today before the rain comes I need to go outside and trim some of the branches on the trees and pick up sticks out of the yard so Dave can mow the grass. It's almost that time of yearto mow the grass. When the kids were here they would mow all this grass with a push mower and as soon as they left we got a riding mower.. Isn't that just the way it works?
Looking out at the bird feeder right outside my window I can see the birds are busy at the feeder and drinking lots of water at the birdbath.. I see the Brown Thrasher has made a return trip back to Iowa. That is good to see.. I love the white markings on the white crowned sparrow's. I have lots of birds vying for their spot at the feeder.
Was with Ben yesterday. He was so funny. He talks so much now it's a continual non-stop answer and question conversation.. and always WHY>>>I try and answer every why and he keeps asking why,,,I really get humored at what he has to say...The school year is almost over for him and for this summer Tracie is going to have a gal named Donna who has a daycare in her home take care of Ben.. I can hardly wait. Donna is so good with him and understands him so much better than where he is at ABC daycare.. The preschool where he goes says we need to practice with L and P words.. with him.. He just laughs at us when we try to correct him with the right pronunciation. He just comes back with how he says the word.. I think he thinks we need to change how we pronounce words to the ways he does.. LOL..Good luck Benny when you get to school...He didn't start talking until he was 3 1/2 so he has a lot of catching up to do.. But you know ~ it will come and just be part of his childhood.. Ben's mom Tracie didn't start talking until she was 3 1/2 and now she talks a lot~! and she pronounces words correctly.. ha ha.. Not worth the time to worry about,, it all gets O.K. when they get older.
It's noon and guess I best get dressed for the day.. It's just so nice to lounge around in my PJ's. Have my bills paid for month of April . I like to do mine online.. IT's so fast and quick and no more writing out a check ,stamping the envelope and addressing and plaster on my return address with one of those labels. I write very few checks..those things are expensive.
Have a Tiggeriffic Day ~~~ta ta for now from Iowa:)

Tuesday, April 19, 2011

It's Tuesday and almost 11 a.m. It's so dark outside we have to have the lights on in the house. It's pouring down rain and the sky is getting darker and darker.. Now the hail has started and my wildbirds have flown off and are taking cover. Yikes~! Rain gauge says 3/4 inch of rain so far. The wind is blowing briskly.. This is a good day to stay home and read a book or write on your blog.. Yesterday I went to the Coop Feed Store in Springville to get black oil sunflower seed. They were out. So I bought a 10# pound bag of wild bird seed.. They are gobbling it up and the feeder is very busy. The white crowned sparrows are here this morning.. They don't stay long, they are migrating and this is just a stop over for them.. They come every year. I feel bad for the birds when this kind of weather is happening.
I looked on my computer to the website of the eagle cam that is in Decorah, Iowa.. They are getting 1-3 inches of snow today and the lens of the cam is covered with snow. So one can't see the eagel or her 3 eaglets.. I'll bet her nest is swinging to and fro high up in that tree. Maybe it will warm up enough the snow will slide off the cam and we can see her in her nest.. Her mate is really taking good care of her.. Sometimes I see him bringing her twigs and nesting material to repair the nest she is in with those 3 little ones. Yesterday he brought her a rabbit.. I didn't stay to see her pull it apart.. It's really cool to watch this eagle with her eaglets.. if you would like to see her,,,just to to ;;;;www.eagle cam decorah,iowa that should take you to the website.

Yesterday I picked up Ben at daycare.. He wanted his Mom to pick him up so he wasn't too happy.. But once he was in the car he was O.K. I took him to McDonalds and he got a cheese burger and some fries and a chocolate milk. Went to his Mama's house and we played Thomas the Train.. He hasn't played with the train for along time... Pa Pa Dee came and he played with us. I get to pick him up this afternoon and then he goes back to his dad's on Wednesday..:(
I hate divorces.. Ben has adapted . Poor kid he hates change and he is now getting better at going to his dad's and then to his mom's.. When I have him I just take him to his mom's house ~ one less house... This summer I'll bring him here to the house. We can go down to the creek and play...Try to make damns with rock piles and mud.. It never works because the water just washes it down stream. But it's fun while you try and get it built.. I used to do this with my other grandchildren.. Memories are fun to make..

My daughter , Jodie ordered this cane seat for her dad to use while we are in Sweden.. The other day I saw him fold it out and set on it.. It has a hammock seat and it looks really sturdy. He doesn't have the best of balance so he was seated in the hammock seat and then he was wobbling and trying to keep his balance.. He didn't fall down but it was funny watching him try and get his balance. He heard me laughing and said "Guess I need to practice using this">> I said Yes..
Preferably before we get to Sweden.. He has really bad feet and knees and can't stand for very long. This will come in handy when we go on the tours. or watch the plowmen plow.. Usually they have bales of straw to sit on while we are there and that is really good. It's an all day contest and one gets very tired... There will be almost 30 countries there to represent the World Ploughing Contest. There will be 2 contestants for each country. This year it's in Sweden mext year it will be in Croatia...I would really like to go to that one too.. But it takes $ to go.. I'll have to start saving up right away.

Have a Tiggeriffic Day~! Ta Ta For Now...from Iowa:)

Sunday, April 17, 2011

Now that I'm rested up from the Women's Retreat I think I can write something without falling asleep.. Friday was cold ~ rainy and windy.. Holly and I got up to the lodge at Camp Hitaga at 1:00.. We had a heavy portable piano to unload from her van and we just prayed for God to give us strength to carry it into the building.. Over the hill above us we could see Curt Baily coming with his truck.. I have known Curt since he was a young boy. He is now the maintanance man for this camp. He is now nearing the age of almost 50.. He came over to see if everything was O.K. and we told him he was an answer to prayer.. So he helped us carry this heavy piano into the lodge.. We were jumping for joy~!.. Curt was glad he could be there to help us.. He left to put mulch on the walking trails around the camp.. Holly and I got the rest of the things unloaded and into the building. By 4:30 we had everything in place and ready for the girls to arrive at 5:30. I had a huge fire going in the fireplace and was warming up the building ... there is no other heat source in this lodge.. Needless to say, we could see our breath it was so cold.. We told everyone to wear warm clothing and bring blankets.. I then went over to the building where we would be sleeping and got the fire going in the wood burner that was there. Curt had lots of wood for us to use in both places.. Yeah~! we were going to need it..~! The ladies arrived and settled in by 6p.m. and we started our evening with prayer and then singing praise songs.. IT was wonderful... We had supper with candlelight and it was just wonderful.. We then settled down to listening to a Christian Comedian ~ Tim Hawkins.. Oh my goodness was he ever funny... We laughed so hard,,it was a good thing I had gone to the bathroom before I sat down to watch this ...He was relentless in his skit and all we could do was wipe our eyes, blow our noses and kick back and laugh somemore.. This DVD was called "Sanitized"... So if you need something funny to show a group of guys or gals just get this one ,you won't be disappointed Saturday morning we woke up to snow blowing ...I thought it was really pretty. It snowed from morning until noon and we got about an inch of snow. IT was magical sitting in the lodge eating our breadfast and watching the snow slowly come down. We had a DVD with Beth Moore. She talked about 'From Ashes to Beauty"... She is such a great speaker and we were all blessed by her spiritual insight on what God does is our lives.. We had our lunch and then watched somemore of Beth.. After Beth we wrote some things that we wanted to give over to God and put on his alter.. We had a cool vessel that we burned all our thoughts that we had written on paper and took it outside ~(after it was cool) . We let the wind blow it into the valley that overlooked a river. Holly and I had bought these cool silver round boxes that had butterflies on the top, inside we had bought each girl a silver butterfly necklace, we put these inside the silver boxes.. It was so cool. We gave each girl a silver box and the girls were so excited when they opened their boxes and saw the necklaces.. .The true meaning of "From Ashes to Beauty" was implemented and it was a great feeling. I felt the Holy Spirit upon us cleansing us and filling us with his presense.. IT was fantastic~! A God Moment~! We cleaned up the building and the girls got all their stuff they had brought with them loaded up in their cars. The piano was put back into Holly's van and everything else we had brought . The girls said they could hardly wait to see what was in store for them for next year.. When I got home I put all my stuff away and took a nap... a long one.. I was so tired.. I was so happy and blessed by another Women's Retreat being a success.. Even thou the weather was cold, rainy and snowy it was still a wonderful week-end and we all lived.. ha ha.. Today it's another cloudy day and it's chilly ~ but that's O.K. I know that warmer weather is upon us and I will be busy.. I'm going to wash the Benny Mobile today as it got very dirty driving on the back roads of Iowa to get to Camp Hitaga. It needs a good cleaning inside and outside.. I love to drive a clean vehicle.. Trust me it will feel good to me when I get it back to clean again. I can hardly wait until tonight.. "Amazing Race" is on ... I really like this program and enjoy every season. I'm rooting for the cowboys..~!~ Have a Tiggeriffic Day~!~! Ta Ta For Now From Iowa~!~!~!

Friday, April 15, 2011

GOOD MORNNG~!~!

This morning it's so cold and windy ~! 40 degrees and the wind is just blowing away.. The birds are having a hard time landing on the birdfeeders. Have been watching the Eagle in Decorah, Iowa.. There is a web cam someone has there and you can watch the eagle 24/7 with her 3 baby eaglets.. They are so cute... The wind is so strong today ~you can actually see the tree swaying ... Kind of eery.. Just type in your browser: eagle cam Decorah Iowa.. Have been so busy organizing the Women's Retreat that my friend ,Holly and I are getting ready to have this week-end.. We have it at this wonderful campfire boy/girls camp called Hiataga... Went up yesterday and got the lodge all set up with the tables and decorations.. It looked so nice when we left.. Today we are going up at noon to get the rest of our things laid out and set up so we will be ready for the girls to come this afternoon at 5:30.. We have wonderful things planned for these ladies that are coming . I'm quite excited~!. Our theme this year is "From Ashes to Beauty"... Isaiah 61:1-3. Yesterday a gal from our church, Chris Brown came to help us set up.. What a wonderful girl.. We had such a great time decorating and getting things ready.. Usually Holly and I do this all by ourselves SO it was so nice to get help. Plus Holly's two children Nathan age 12 and Caryn age 10 was there to help us.. Extra arms we so wonderful in getting things done. Computer is still in the shop and I now have this laptop that I got from my daughter, Jodie.. I have had it for quite a few years but thought it was too old to set up for the Internet . The other day I got it out , called my Internet server and they walked me through this computer on how to set it up to be able to get on the computer.. Ta Da~! it's working.. The battery underneath gets very hot so I got a cold pack from the freezer and laid it underneath where the battery is located and it's keeping things cool... Cory, Ben's dad called me this morning and said Ben had the flu last night.. Throwing up and diarrhea. I told Cory this was his first time ever in having the flu.. He said Ben last night was scared when he threw up.. I bet he was.. Poor thing.. His other Gramma , Joann came today to take care of him.. Thank God for Grammas.. He said this morning he was feeling a little better.. He will be with Cory until Sunday evening and then comes back to Tracie's house.. Ben's mama.. Ben is talking more and more everyday and now he says WHY after everything you tell him. and there is no satisfying answer.. he alwasy come back with WHY>>> Yikes.. Read the book Broken and that was a wonderful book.. I would rate this book in my list of top #10 books I have read.. It was that good. It was written by Laura Hillenbrand. She wrote the book Sea Biscuit.. I'm now reading a book called "From A name to A number. " written by Alter Wiener- A Holocaust survivor's autobiography... It's a really good book. Reading my devotion this morning it was talking about our Spiritual Growth.. Sometimes we have personal problems and thinking "I can overcome this I'll be okay. The good news is by God's grace you can overcome it... When you've overcome a personal problem another one is waiting to take it's place. One is always going to be working on something. Spiritual growth is a work in progress.. And it doesn't come through human effort, self-condemnation, or the white -knuckling works of the flesh.. IT comes as a result of spending time in prayer and having your mind renewed daily by His Word. As you agree with God, believing what He says is true,,change automatically happens.. One starts to think differently, talk differently and act differently.. Be patient with yourself; its a process that develops in stages.. Would you think there was something wrong with your child because thy couldn't walk perfectly on the first few tries? No, you're delighted each time they take a step. Whey they fall you pick them up. When they mess up, you clean them up and encourage them to try again.. You never stop working with them. And God does the same with us.. He's not angry because we haven't arrived.. He's pleased that were pressing on, endeavoring to stay on the path. It's God's job to "cause us to be governed by the Holy Spirit".. 2 Cor. 3:8. If you could do it by yourself you wouldn't need Him. So instead of driving yourself harder and harder , start leaning on God more and more and you'll go from strength to strength. Ps. 84:7 Have a great day.. Be transformed by the renewing of your mind... Romans 12:2 Have a Tiggeriffic Day~! Ta Ta For Now...from Iowa:)

Friday, April 08, 2011

I'm Back home~!~!

Well, it's Friday and I returned from South Carolina on Monday.. I got all excited after I unpacked to get to my computer and read all my e-mails and then maybe get pictures downloaded so I could post a picture with my post... I looked at my e-mails and read all them and deleted a lot and then I decided to make me some coffee.. Well, when I came back to my computer there was so picture and nothing working.. So I tried to get that fixed to no avail and so i just turned it off unplugged it and took the tower to the car.. Today I took it to my friend, Jeff who is a computer wizard and he is fixing it for me.. So I'm here at the Springville Community Library using their computer... I miss my computer but that's O.K.. it will be back as soon as Jeff gets it all fixed.. Doggone virus's... I had such a good time in Columbia South Carolina visiting my sister, Lynn and my brother Dave.. I arrived on March 23 and on the 25 we went to the ocean.. Pawley's Island.. I love the ocean and we had a nice place to stay.. We decided when we go back next year we are going to spend the extra money and be right on the beach.. It was cold while we were there , but still was able to go to the beach and walk and enjoy the area.. There were some kids swimming in the ocean.. March is too early to be able to swim in the ocean.. We said 'It must be someone from Canada"... Found some really nice sea shells on the beach and took lots of pictures. We came back to Columbia on Sunday and then left on Tues for Ashville to go to the mountains.. We went to a place called Rivermont... If you would like to see where we stayed go to Rivermont.com we stayed in a cabin called River Roost. It was a beautiful place with the cabin built right on the side of a mountain.. The view was spectactular.. ~!~! We went to Mount Mitchell one day,,very foggy.. but it was so fun to wind up those mountains and see everything. One day we went to dillville or something like that and I bought me a dulcimer.. I have always wanted one and this one was made in the mountains.. It had hummingbirds and flowers on the instrument.. The lady showed me briefly how to play it.. This dulcimer had a book to show you how to keep it tuned and how to play it.. My favorite song was the 3rd song in the book.. "I'll Fly Away" I have been playing /practicing almost everyday it's really coming along.. It helps that when I was younger I played piano and this helps with playing this instrument.. Ben was so glad to see me~! He kept telling me "GranAnnie I missed you so much">>He was glad that I was home.. I'm going to pick him up today at daycare and take care of him tonight, Saturday and Sunday... Tracie is going to Holiday Lake somewhere in Iowa.. for the week-end.. I have lots of things planned for Ben and I to do.. Just finished reading the book called 'Unbroken".. Oh my goodness this is a great book.. It was written by the girl that wrote Sea Biscuit.. Don't have the book here with me so I can't tell you the authors name.. BUT it is a awesome book.. It's about the struggles that a man had with growing up, becoming a great runner and entering the Olypics in 1944, but the Oymics had been cancelled because of World War 2.. He enlisted in the airforce and was flying with a sqaurdran in a B24... The plane crashed and he was then in a POW camp in Japan.. It describes his stuggles with being in prison camp and how he survived.. and then married and how his life went on after getting out of the POW camp. It was a wonderful book and I would recommend everyone to read... When he was in his darkest part of his life he went to a Billie Graham Crusade and was lifted up by God.. He accepted God into his heart and his life got better right Away... It's just a wonderful thing what happens when one accepts God into their lives. When I was in High School in Akron, Ohio I got to sing in the Billie Graham Choir.. It was so wonderful.. All those voices singing to God. I was really excited. ' Have a Tiggeriffic Day~!~! Ta Ta For now...from Iowa