Friday, May 26, 2006

Happy Memorial Day Weekend

For those of you who are not already taking advantage of the long holiday weekend to skip town and have some kind of recreational fun, allow me to wish you a Happy Memorial Day Weekend. My Daddy was a WW2 Navy veteran, I have a BIL who is a 20 year Navy veteran, a nephew who is a Gulf War veteran and another nephew who served in the Army. To all of you who have served in any branch of the armed services in service to our country, thank you for your sacrifices and your contribution to keeping America free, and in defense of those who needed America's help. Your service is appreciated and will never be forgotten. All of our dear family and friends who have gone on before will always be remembered.
Thanks to all my blogger friends and family who have offered condolences for Lamar's cousin, and for all who have offered congratulations for Jessica's graduation. As my dear friend Andre has noted, we have been all over the emotional scale this week, from joy to grief, and all things in between. When I started this blog back in January of 2006, I never had a clue how many friends I would make here in blogland, or how much I would grow to love and appreciate all my blogging friends. I am blessed that some of my family are also blogging friends, and some of my blogging friends have become very near and dear to my heart. Although there are some profane and vulgar blogs and sites out there, there are some decent, uplifting blogs and sites for those who are really looking for them. This has been a really hard week, and I am sincerely thankful for all your prayers and kind comments.Green Eyes has been especially supportive, too, emailing me and checking on me. Your loving words are medicine to an aching heart, friends. God Bless you all for caring.

Unless someone surprises us, as far as I know, we don't have any special plans for this weekend or Memorial Day itself. Cecil said something about maybe grilling out here on Monday, but I haven't heard anything definite. We don't generally do anything in particular for Memorial Day, we just play it by ear. It's already so hot this year, it will be miserable for most outdoor activities except maybe swimming, and there's not too many opportunities around here for that. You have to drive a good distance, or be fortunate enough to have a private pool. I'm not fortunate enough. Phooey. *Sigh*...................It was 96 degrees today for the high, and miserably humid. That is very unusual for May. It usually waits until June for the really miserable weather, but I suppose we're just lucky this year. Not. Ewwwww..........I hate it when it's so humid you feel like you can wring the moisture out of the air. Just another of the many benefits of living in Arkansas, I suppose. Poor Mike tosses luggage for a major airline in Dallas/Fort Worth, Texas, and I feel for him, really I do. It has to be torture, heaving Samsonite in 100 degree weather with 75% humidity or higher, in the hot boiling sun on that blistering asphalt. Mercy, folks, how many ways can you say hot, humid, miserable.......And on and on. That's summer in the South.
I got a pleasant surprise earlier. Smitten Kitten sent me a request to be added to my messenger list, and I talked to her on Yahoo messenger for over an hour earlier. I enjoyed our conversation very much, and as I told her, I was honored and a little surprised that she would want to talk to an old gal of 42 like me. I told her that teens here tend to think us "old" people are kinda uncool. I asked if things were much the same there in Singapore, and she said they were, but she didn't have to follow every trend her fellow teens did, or words to that effect. Her English is very good, but I already knew that from her comments on here and reading her blog. I have messaged with Yasser a couple of times, and his English is very good, too. He is from Chennai, India. I am constantly impressed with their grasp of English, and I didn't even take a foreign language in high school. It wasn't required when I graduated, though it is now. Jessica took 2 years of Spanish, and she's already using it at her job in the deli at Kroger. There are a lot of Mexican immigrants in this area.
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Once again, wishing everyone a great Memorial Day Weekend. May you be safe, loved, and all your needs be met. God Bless you all, my friends and family.

23 comments:

Anonymous said...

God Bless you and your family too Diane. Thanks for being sympathetic to my job with the heat and all. As I've always said, though, it's the path I chose. So I just bring a back pack of Gatorade on that path with me. :-)
It was nice that you mentioned what Memorial Day is really all about. I never served, but my Dad and many of my extended family have or still do.

I hope you have a great Memorial Day. If you and Lamar do grill, throw one on the fire for me. You can FedEx it to me later. :-)

Dick said...

I hope your family has a good weekend, too. I have my 9 yo grand daughter with me for the weekend and it has been fun. We have a lot planned to do although our weather isn't helping much. I'd gladly trade you 10 or 15 degrees of cold to bring our 60 up into the 70s and lower you to the lower 80s. I'll also throw in some rain at no extra charge. We did go see the movie, "RV" yesterday along with her Dad who has been here ovenight last night & the night before. It is a good movie & I imagine all theaters are air conditioned so it would buy you a bit of cooler temps for a couple of hours.

We in the past had exchange students from Japan, Mexico and Spain and it is amazing how well these kids do with a "foreign" language. We found that Spanish as spoken in Mexico is quite a bit different than the version those from Spain spoke.

Diane@Diane's Place said...

Hey, Mike,
You may have chosen your path, but I'll bet these 100+ degree days and the ones when it's icy, windy and down in the teens make you wonder if you made the right decision, sometimes. ;-)

I don't know what we might grill, but I'll sprinkle a little extra ptomaine and salmonella on it before I ship it, okay? It might not be green enough if we just depend on FedEx getting it there in time. LOL
I wonder how long it would take to send it from here, pick up at my apartment, and ship to yours? Express, that is. I don't want to even consider what it would cost for, say, a 4 lb. package, with wrapping, carton, and probably dry ice, for food. :-)

Diane@Diane's Place said...

Dick,
The weather exchange sounds good to me. Start your rain dance anytime. We can use the rain, and it's almost 90 degrees at 11:50 am, partly cloudy and breezy. :-)

A movie will probably not be in our forecast, but thanks for the tip. If I get a chance to see that one, I will. We have AC here in our apartment, so I spend a LOT of time inside. :-)

And I am amazed how well Nurun and Yasser speak and write English. I don't know enough of ANY foreign language to get very far. ;-)

I hope your weather improves and you and your granddaughter have lots more fun before she has to go home.
Have a good Memorial Day weekend, Dick. :-)

boomama said...

Diane - I have been so behind on my blog reading (and blog posting) this week - it's been wild here. So I wanted to tell you how sorry I am about Lamar's cousin - you really have run the gamut of emotions over the last week. Your family will be in my prayers!

Diane@Diane's Place said...

BooMama,
Thank you so much, I really appreciate that. Things are better, but we still have our moments, and Lamar's cousin's family is really having a rough time of it. Thanks for caring. :-)

Sister said...

Diane,

I'm also so sorry to hear about Lamar's cousin. Please know that I'm thinking of your family during this time.

I loved seeing the photos from Jessica's graduation. Thanks for sharing them.

On another note, after reading your comments on my sister's blog, I've decided you just may be a Tim McGraw fan! Is that right or were you just admiring his jeans? :)

Diane@Diane's Place said...

Sister,
Actually, I was admiring the way his jeans fit more than his singing abilities. I like his singing okay, but I'm not a rabid fan. ;-) Same with Faith, I like some of her stuff, but I'm not a diehard fan. Seeing as how they and BooMama are BFF, I hope this doesn't mean I'm blackballed from commenting on her blog now, LOL. :-)

And thank you for your words of comfort. It means a lot to me.

Glad you enjoyed the graduation pics. :-)

Susie said...

I tried to post a comment earlier, but
Blogger was being Blogger..
Anyway, just wanted to say hope you have a wonderful Memorial Day Weekend.
We're trying to stay on course and get as much of the kitchen done as we can while the grandkids are home with their parents!

Diane@Diane's Place said...

Sue,
Thanks, and good luck with your remodeling this weekend. Hope you have good weather for it, and no more falls. :-)

Nashe^ said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
Nashe^ said...

hey D... Memorial Day huh? hope you have a great holidae. It's always go0d to take break for this kinda thing.

im surprised and chuffed, too, that you mentioned lil young me.
My English is good? weelll..
Singapore was a British colony last time, so what do you expect? Hahaha!! I'll prolly be speaking Dutch if my grandparents didn't move from Indonesia!
~pardon the references- just reiterating my history notes here. hehe

Diane@Diane's Place said...

Hey, Nashe,
You're my friend, why wouldn't I be proud to mention you? :-)

And my heritage is so mixed up it would confuse you sooooo bad, it ain't even funny! German, Cherokee Indian, Black Irish, English, and much, much more. :-)

Anonymous said...

Diane, it would arrive in exactly 1 business day, so grill away! :-) Actually, with the cost of shipping it with dry ice, I could probably just go eat at Outback. It would be about the same. Throw in a side of mashed potatoes in the Fed Ex box, though, and maybe we'll break even. :-) I am off to work....have a good Sunday.

Barb said...

Hey, Diane. Wanted to tell you, Bev and I are kind of making up our own rules regarding the Thursday Thirteen thing. She came up with the 13 reasons I love my husband idea and the rest of us just jumped in. So when you see a Thursday topic you like, just jump right in with us. Who cares about rules? There are NO rules in blogging. And I hope things are a little better there, emotionally, for you. This has been a trying week for you and you've been in my thoughts.

Greeneyes said...

Hi Diane
Hope your memorial Day weekend is going well , to bad no pool ! Sounds like it is so hot there already , so you are the ones with all the heat , it is still chilly here, God forbid the sun come out , LOL we would all run in fear not knowing what it is LMAO . Our planet is really diverse huh! I hope your feeling good and what are we having for dinner , I'll be there , LOL wishful thinking :)

You flatter me so , thank you but I think you are a wonderful person and you have a good heart ,I am honored to call you friend , wishing happy times and lots of fun for you and yours and asking God to take an extra peek in on ya now and then :) sending you a big Hug (SqueZzEEEEEEE)take care MY friend
Greeneyes

Diane@Diane's Place said...

Hey, Mike,
I don't think it would be quite the same after shipping it, so we'll have to make other plans for the grilled stuff. It may turn out to be a fish fry, now. Things have changed this afternoon, and Ducky's son invited us to a fish fry tomorrow, so we may do that instead.

Barb,
I agree about blogging rules. I follow them when I feel like it, and do my own thing otherwise. ;-) I might surprise you sometime and participate in the Thursday Thirteen. :-)
And things are better, but still not resolved here. Thank you for thinking of me. I appreciate it so much. :-)

Green Eyes,
Hi, and Yes, it is icky, sticky and miserably hot here. Things are a little better here, but still emotional and a work in progress. As far as dinner, we ate out for lunch, and I haven't had any supper yet, so don't know what that will be yet. Monday we may go to a fish fry, still don't know for sure yet. ;-)

Thanks again for your prayers and concern, and I hope you are having a good weekend, too. God Bless You, my friend. :-)

Andre said...

Hey Lady Di,

I think that what impresses me most about you is that, even during your difficult times, you always have a positive spirit (at least you exude positivity via the world wide web). You've got a huge heart and -- like our good friend Job -- can worship and appreciate even in the face of difficulty.

You inspire me more than you know!

Diane@Diane's Place said...

Hey, Andre,
I just came from your blog to see if there were any new developments. :-) I'm still praying for you, hope God has resolved your situation, and if not that His peace is enough for you right now, till He does work this out for you. :-)

I try to be positive, but I get overwhelmed with cares of this world just like everyone else at times, and have to cry out to God and my friends and family to support me. I'm not usually down for long, but I do get down occasionally. And I do appreciate your Christian insight, too, so I guess we'll just form our own mutual admiration society. :-)

Let me know how you're doing, friend. I care.

Meow (aka Connie) said...

Hope your Memorial Day Weekend went wonderfully. It is alway great to have an extended weekend. I hope the weather was great for you.
Take care, Meow

Brenda said...

I was in Arkansas this past weekend. Didja see me wave as we went by? Seriously, I did think of you.
My mom and dad live in Mosquitoville, and I forgot to bring my Off. I was nearly eaten alive. I gotta get me some citronella cologne.

We made the trip without A/C, too. I know you wish we had stopped by to pick you up, what with the heat and all, but I'm sure you'll get over it.

Hope your weekend was memorable!

Diane@Diane's Place said...

Connie,
Thanks, I did have a good Memorial Day. Nope, no barbecue, catfish instead. :-)

Meow,
As I told Connie, Memorial Day was good, but HOT!! :-)

Brenda,
I thought I saw something out of the corner of my eye. ;-)
Yep, the state bird of Arkansas is beginning to start gnawing on everybody they can get their bills into. We can sit outside for a while in the evenings, but they're getting worse all the time. :-)

I don't mind not having A/C as long as the car's moving.....But when you have to stop for construction or other stuff, it gets miserable FAST!! Oh, well, maybe next time I can go with you for all the fun, LOL. ;-) Enjoy your time with hubby for the next several weeks. :-)

Brenda said...

You've been tagged! Yes, another meme. :-)