Roadside Wildflowers
A perfect time for a Sunday drive, with no particular destination in mind! If you live in Arizona, look out your window! Today is one fine day, meant to be enjoyed.

Me and my best friend, Sony DSLR are headed out for destinations unknown. Oh! And I’m taking the hubby with me!

Whatever you choose to do today, find some joy in it! Find a reason to smile, a reason to laugh. Find a memory for a snapshot in your mind and heart!

Most of all, make the most of it! Whatever that may mean to you.

Love,

3T

ATTENTION: I (danalyn) am hijacking 3T’s blog for a brief PSA...please show some love...see text below video.

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Lisa was diagnosed with ovarian cancer for the third time on April 1st.  While we hoped it was just an April Fool’s joke, it wasn’t!

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This stands as a warning to all unsuspecting wives out there. TODAY IS April Fool’s Day. My magnetic husband nailed me first thing this morning. And it wasn’t pretty!

First, take into consideration that I woke up last night at 11:30 PM wide awake and stayed that way until after 1:30 AM. (I fell asleep by 8:30 pm last night) Only to awaken by 5:30 AM this morning. I gave up the sleep-ghost and just got my dragging a$$ up.

The hubby was already showered and wide awake, when I started down the hallway heading for the coffee pot. (I don’t try to speak before that first cup.)

Then, in panic he yelled, STOP!!! THERE’S A SCORPION RIGHT THERE. He pointed at my feet while I hopped from foot to foot down the hallway screaming, “WHERE IS IT?!?” Yes, I could have skipped my morning coffee at that point. He just laughed at me, and let lose with those two words a good deal of us are bound to hear today.
APRIL FOOLS!

As silly as this may sound, you have to take into consideration my great and irrational fear of the scorpion. I showered with one who was creeping towards me while I had a head full of shampoo. We have found INSIDE our house about half a dozen of them over the years. And I know our front and backyard are crawling with the little nightmares.

The last one we found is the one in the photo at the top of this entry. It was discovered about a month ago, when my smart and “afraid-of-nothing” daughter let out with a blood-curdling scream from the miniature basketball court in the backyard. Practicing her shot, she came foot to head with the little critter and lost all control. I’m not sure if the little guy was dead or not. But I have read that they will “play dead” when confronted with any sense of danger.

So having this photographed reminder just a mere month ago set the stage perfectly for Paul’s practical joke. I’ll be spending the next year trying to come up with a way to nail him in 2009! As my brother-in-law Jim pointed out this morning, after a while today everyone’s radar is up, and it’s harder to trick them. (Jim’s wife, Barb, did get him this morning, so that’s one for the ladies!)

Consider yourself warned. In the meantime I’m hoping for a nap at some point today. My nerves are rattled and my sleep has been deprived. If I end up dreaming about scorpions though, someone is going to pay the price!

Love,
3T

Sedona Sunsetting - Teri Maryniak

I grew up on fairytales. Not necessarily the children’s books that end with the damsel finding her Prince, and living happily ever after. I do have vague memories of just such books, like Cinderella, which, face it, when you’re a slob like me with a total distaste for scrubbing floors, didn’t appeal to me much. As I was the oldest, if there was any sibling bullying, it was most likely perpetrated by myself. Not any wicked step-sisters or my real sister. Add to that the fact that I had huge feet for a woman (they do match my height), I saw the Prince hunting for the tiny little footed princess to be discrimination. So that isn’t a good example.

When I hit that delicate age of twelve, when young girls start changing, my fairytales were Harlequin romances. Again, they always ended with the self-sufficient woman finding her Prince and riding off into the sunset together. (In an expensive car, of course) There was one other book I got my hands on at this tender age that I don’t think I’ve ever told my parents I got hold of. “S*x on the Beach,” was inadvertently stuck into the bag of Harlequin Romances that a neighbor lady would send my way, when she was done with them. Now that was an education!  With no happy ending either.

Back to topic. From the too-many-to-count Harlequins I read over those years came the desire to find my rich, handsome, dashing and sexy Knight in Shining Armor. I craved a romance like the ones had by all the beautiful women in the Harlequins. As I was merely 14 or 15 by then, my wait was bound to be years into the future.

Now, as a somewhat jaded and cynical woman of 44, I have come to realize just how damaging those fairytales are to girls and then women. With every fairytale ENDING at till death do us part, no one bothered to tell us there was more. Much, much more to life than what Hollywood and fairytales gave us.

Consequently, I believe there were those of us who searched for their fairytale. Two failed marriages and a few illicit attempts at finding it proved either that it didn’t exist or I wasn’t “good enough” to receive what the rest of the world seemed to already find. At the time, I leaned toward the “I wasn’t getting it right” and I wasn’t worthy of the fairytale.

Now, I finally have my “prince charming.” Translated, that means I found a man who I love and who loves me. One who has some similar interests as mine, and treasured togetherness as much as I do.

Is it a fairytale? Nope! Far from it. At least by Harlequin Romance standards. What we did find was a mate to stand with and work together on life’s many problems. Not quite the carefree fairytale of childhood dreams. But worth fighting for till the very end. An ending that is unknown and goes far beyond “and they lived happily ever after.”

In the seven years that my boyfriend/then husband and I have been together, we have faced sickness, cancer, both threats of it and the real thing, catheters, peri-menopause, bulged discs, financial problems, kids’ schedules that have had both our heads spinning in opposite directions, cat puke, lost jobs, stomach bugs, that if anything are not conducive with romance. Now add broken appliances, flying pieces of roof during monsoon season, broken down vehicles, BBQers catching on fire, pool cleaners that break down yearly, weed-pulling, burnt dinners, the eX-baggage problems, and a few family feuds. Now I ask you, does this sound like happily ever after to you? No, I didn’t think so.

I think that my sub-conscience belief in the fairytale existed right up until we went on our honeymoon. Except as we headed for the plane, we were worried about my job, (lay-offs were imminent) and my mother had breast cancer, with the tests of how exactly advanced it was, still unknown.

It was well after the honeymoon that I gave up the ghost of happily-ever-after. Each day presented its own unique set of problems that had my inner romantic screaming, “That’s not fair!!! I found my Prince, now I want my Happily-f*cking-ever-after!” Before the thought was complete, a new problem would pop up.

And that, dear friends, is life. I’m sure a good deal of women never struggled with this lesson. I however, wasn’t one of them.

Over the years we have learned to snatch moments of happy whenever we could work it in. From trips to far-off places, to playing pinochle on the patio, we steal laughter and love as often as is possible. My clever husband came up with a way to give me moments of happily-ever-after in the form of a daily email that speaks of love and persevering over our problems. Reality with a touch of the melodramatic love story my inner romantic was after.

And it is these moments, trips, emails and laughter we focus on whenever we are faced with a daunting project, sickness and the daily grind.

We are dealing with a possible return of cancer, as I type this. Coming to this point, after all we were able to persevere over, (with prayer and God’s intervention) are two seasoned pro’s that are praying and taking it one day at a time.

There is no emotional melodrama or impatient hand-wringing worry. We know that the future is in God’s hands. And we will be taking this one step at a time. Starting with another PET scan.

Paul’s PSA readings have shot up out of nowhere. One went extremely high, then it came down a week later, and then it really shot up a couple of days after that.

Although we dealt with his prostate cancer and the complications the botched surgery caused, this is new territory. We have searched the internet, asked the doctor, (who’s response from what I gather came down to he didn’t know what was going on) talked to the RNs in our family, and of course prayed. The doctor wanted to get him started in radiation as soon as is possible. WHY? That’s the question of the month right now.

He doesn’t HAVE a prostate. WHY are his PSA readings shooting up? No one seems to know. I guess what I’m hoping at this point, is that somewhere out there in the great big world-wide-web SOMEONE who has had his prostate removed, has experienced what Paul is going through right now, and will run across this and enlighten us.  Fat chance I realize, but one never knows…

We will be searching out a new urologist after the pet scan. This doctor that he’s seeing now, has lied to us on more than a couple of occasions.  For all we know, there was more to that botched surgery than we were told. If that’s the case, the only way to find out is through a new doctor, who has higher ethics and is more concerned with patient care than his ambition.

In the meantime, appliances continue to break down, kids’ schedules must be met, work must continue. Life goes on, but with a new mountain to climb.

Fairytales be damned; but if you believe in the power of prayer, we’re asking for them. If you believe in meditation, healing, positive thoughts, or budha for that matter, we want those thoughts and prayers too. We want some answers to questions that do not seem available to us right now.

We have every intention of attacking this “blip” on our radars with the gusto and aggressiveness of the strong realists I know we have become. Stealing some laughter and love along the way.

And to family that we didn’t share any of this with, we had our reasons. Not to keep you in the dark, but to not spoil some celebrations that deserved nothing but happy thoughts and feelings. Margie, I hear the big 5-0 is the new 40! A very special and Happy Birthday as well as a wonderful year ahead, from Paul and me!  Rob and Cheryl, you’re beginning your lives together, with so many wonderful adventures ahead of you. As well as some rough times; but those adventures and rough times are what help build a strong marriage, when you work together. Besides your relationship with our Savior, make each other your number 1 priority in life. And make love, laughter, fun and good times a priority as well. They’ll see you through those rough times.

With Love,

3T

Mr. & Mrs. Robert & Cheryl Johannes

Is getting married! My baby boy will be marrying a lovely young lady on March 9th. They have asked me to take the photos of their wedding and reception. So if anyone out there is reading this, I need PRAYER and a miracle. Seriously. I will give it my very, very best, but I know when I’m out of my league. I’m out of my league. The rest is in God’s hands.
My baby then

And Now…

I pray God blesses their union with health, wealth and happiness. (Not necessarily in that order)

Love,

3T

Oh Holy Night!

Oh holy night!
The stars are brightly shining
It is the night of the dear saviors birth!
Long lay the world in sin and error pining
Till he appeard and the soul felt its worth.
A thrill of hope the weary world rejoices
For yonder breaks a new and glorious morn!

Fall on your knees
Oh hear the angel voices
Oh night divine
Oh night when christ was born
Oh night divine
Oh night divine

Led by the light of faith serenely beaming
With glowing hearts by his cradle we stand
So led by light of a star sweetly gleaming
Here come the wise men from orient land
The king of kings lay thus in lowly manger
In all our trials born to be our friend.

Truly he taught us to love one another
His law is love and his gospel is peace
Chains shall he break for the slave is our brother
And in his name all oppression shall cease
Sweet hymns of joy in grateful chorus raise we,
Let all within us praise his holy name.

Since my beautiful daughter Tayler taught me how to put a YouTube video/music on my blog, I decided to share what I consider to be THE voice of Christmas music with my favorite Christmas song.

For me, growing up and decorating for Christmas went hand-in-hand with the Johnny Mathis Christmas album. I’ve seen that same album in the form of record, 8-track, cassette and now CD. (Don’t quote me on the 8-track, I could be wrong on that mode of delivery)

The sound of his perfect voice singing Oh Holy Night never fails to put me in the Christmas spirit. My parents raised me and my siblings with this music, and I’ve raised my kids with Johnny Mathis at Christmas.

Growing up during the Christmas Holidays, I have the best memories of my family enjoying the Holiday to the sounds of Johnny Mathis singing. His voice transforms me back to the childhood innocence and anticipation of this very special time. I know my kids now associate this particular album with decorating for the Holidays as well.

I wish each of you a Merry Christmas, however you choose to spend it. From my family to yours, Merry Christmas and have a Happy New Year 2008!

Make memories to cherish always.

Love,

3T