Day # 5...my siblings!

I have one brother and one sister. I am the oldest. My sister was born 2 years later. She was the tall sexy girl growing up, and I was shorter, plump and a reader. While she was at the beach in a bikini with boys flocking around her, I was home reading!!! Or playing tennis! Anyway, she married and had 2 boys (grown now) and she lives in Texas. She is a nurse, but she also got a Masters degree in business, and has a big job working for a major hospital chain.

My brother is a master of all. He learned to fly as a young boy (my Dad was a private pilot too), he had many jobs while he was a young adult...including finishing pools, buiding and installing kitchen cabinets, ...he is an insurance broker, and a boat captain. At this point he is a captain full time for a man who owns a luxurious small yacht. He takes him and his wife and dog on trips wherever they want to go, and maintains the boat all year. He is a very loving and generous guy (even though he tortured my sister and I in our youth) and turned out to be a wonderful brother.

I should mention that my sister happens to be a really great sister too, I just wish she was a little more crafty!!! LOL! :0

So there you have it!

Day # 4...my parents.

My Mom and Dad met in the most unusual way. My Grandma took her three daughters to the movie theater...but the two oldest girls stayed in the car while Grandma took the youngest girl in to see a movie. My Mom and my aunt were the two in the car! Well, these two handsome young fellers came walking by the car and struck up conversation with them. The two guys were BEST FRIENDS! They were both in the Air Force, and were airplane mechanics. They managed to ask them out on a date, which they were allowed to do since it was a double date! Well, my Aunt and Uncle married first, and a few years later, my Mom and Dad married!!! Both couples had a daugher the same year (my cousin and I), and two years later they both had second daughters! That was the end of kids for my Aunt, but my Dad really wanted a boy! They tried again and got one, my little brother who is 6 years younger than me.

Mom and Dad led a very interesting life. My Dad got out of the Air Force and went to college to become an aeronautical engineer. He designed jet and rocket engines for Pratt and Whitney his whole career. After we kids got mostly grown, my Mom went to school to become something she always wanted to be...a Registered Nurse! There was no holding her back...and she greatly influenced my sister and I who also became RN's.

They were a good couple together. My Mom was very outgoing, and gregarious, and my Dad had much less social abilities, so they balanced each other out.

Sadly my Dad passed away 12 years ago, and my Mom still lives in the house I grew up in, just 5 doors away from me and my husband. She is, and has always been my best friend...I feel so blessed to have had such amazingly wonderful parents!!! Thanks Mom and Dad!!!

Day #3...My first LOVE!!!

Well....my VERY first love was a boy in elementary school...I want to say in grade 2. My teacher was a witch, and this boy and I used to hide under his jacket when we put our heads down on our desks for quiet time...and one day as we were coming out from under the jacket he kissed me! I have never forgotten that glorious surprise kiss!
Do I remember his name...no.

My first serious love came after high school...the summer after. I attended a small church near my home with a friend, and 2 guys from high school were there and they both asked me out! Well, I found out later that one of them had come to me just to get my number for the other one. The one that I actually dated, later asked me to marry him, but I had just started college and felt it was too early for that kind of nonsense! I ran into him years later, and we were both married to others, we had both finished college (although he was finishing a Masters degree). I was so happy for him. I haven't seen him since, and I pray he is having a wonderful life!

Days #1 & 2...A meme...all about ME!

My blogger pal, Cindy is doing this one-a-day meme that runs for 30 days. I thought I would try it with her for the month of April. I hope some of you will join us! Here's what it consists of:

Day 1-Introduce, recent picture, 15 interesting facts
Day 2-Meaning behind your blog name
Day 3-Your first love
Day 4-Your parents
Day 5-Your siblings
Day 6-A picture of something that makes you happy
Day 7-Favorite movies
Day 8-A place you’ve traveled to
Day 9-A picture of your friends
Day 10-Something you’re afraid of
Day 11-Favorite TV shows
Day 12-What you believe
Day 13-Goals
Day 14-A picture you love
Day 15-Bible verse
Day 16-Dream house
Day 17-Something you’re looking forward to
Day 18-Something you regret
Day 19-Something you miss
Day 20-Nicknames
Day 21-Picture of yourself
Day 22-Favorite city
Day 23-Favorite vacation
Day 24-Something you’ve learned
Day 25-Favorite memory
Day 26-Picture of your family
Day 27-Pets
Day 28-Something that stresses you out
Day 29-3 Wishes
Day 30-a picture

OK...Doozey and I just posed in front of the mirror in the bathroom! LOL. I like that view from above, to block the double chin!!! LOLOL.

OK...now to 15 things about me that are interesting! Hmmm...weird, maybe, but probably not too interesting!!!
1. I always wished I had become a librarian! It is probably too quiet in there, and I would have lost many a job to not being shushed.
2. My dream librarian job was to have MY OWN library near a middle school, where the kids could hang out after school. The main library space would have ultra groovy music playing and there would be a juice and snack bar as well. There would be quiet rooms available for the boring Julie's of the world...and I was planning to have a young social worker there, available to talk to the kids about anything they chose. I think we would have certain days where there would be group interactivity...like art sessions, etc.
3. I still dream about that a lot.
4. I no longer dream (during sleep) in my old age. (54). At least not that I can remember.
5. I graduated from high school in 1974.
6. I was married then divorced, and remarried again in 1980 to my hubby now, and we are really soul mates. I put him through a lot of tests to see how he would react to situations, before I allowed myself to think past "friends".
7. We have 4 grown kids and 4 grandchildren. You all "know" Emily and Donovan, but we have Shelby and Georgia Ann in Louisiana also.
8. I think you all know by now that I am a hospice nurse for the past almost 12 years. Before that I worked 20 years in 2 different hospitals. 10 years in each.
9. I am looking forward to retirement. My husband hopes to retire in about 2 more years. I will get to be the one to work for insurance until I reach Medicare age.
10. I like/love the color orange...and I have been thinking of doing a post showing all of the orange stuff in my house...I am looking in this one room, and I have an orange plaid curtain, an orange wall, and an orange computer desk!!! Not to mention an orange pen and pencil set my blogger friend, Marianne sent me from the Netherlands!!!
11. I used to drive a convertible orange Fiat Spider...at age 19 and 20. Oh my god did I have fun!
12. My religious beliefs come out closest to a Quaker! To take a short test to see what your beliefs come out closest to, go to HERE.
I had to buy a few books and study up online to find out about them. They are very peaceful people, and live very simply. That's me. I also do not believe in shoving my beliefs down anyones throat...we all find our own paths!
13. I love cooking in my crockpot. I am all about easy ways to do anything!
14. My family is very close...my Mom lives 5 doors away, and my brother lives within 5 miles or so.
15. Whew...I'm glad this is almost over. Hmmmmm...one more thing.....hmmmmm...OK, I was always a cat person, but then when I got Doozey, I changed to a dog person!

That's all...basically a fairly boring person, eh??? OK...now since I missed starting this on April 1st, I am going to do day # 2 right now...the meaning behind my blog name. It is self explanatory...as I had started collecting succulent plants, and when I first started blogging I got kinda caught up with a bunch of general gardeners. I found I really wasn't very interested in flowers! I was all about succulents...and now my blog has gone more of a general blog about anything I choose. I have lost some of the interest in my succulents, although they are in my screenroom, and in my tire gardens, I have shown them all on here, and generally feel any more of them, and everyone will be yawning...which you probably already are...so, anyway that is the way it got it's name! I could never change it, because it has sort of become ME...I feel like I do lead a succulent life, although VERY modest...it is more a way of thinking than anything!

Giveaway winner!

OK...I have the results for the cookbook giveaway! I added the following names in a jar: Mandy and Candy (because they knew the name of the succulent). Then I decided I had to add Judi (because she asked to be added, and I know she is a bigtime cook), and I added Lancanshire Rose (because she cooks Prickly Pears and I thought she would be someone who might like to have a look at the cookbook). So I bent my own rules, but I'm sure you will all agree that it was essential!!! Hehehe.

I put everyone in a jar, and as you can see, my sweet daugher-in-law drew one out for me...

and it was

JUDI!!!!!

I am looking around for your address Judi. I will let you know if I can't find it so you can re-send. I will hold off mailing it until you get back from vacation. Congratulations!!! Thanks to everyone who participated! I'm glad someone can get some use from this pretty little book! Knowing Judi, she will not only cook something, but will give us a whole photo layout! (I hope so...hehehe). :)