What To Get Dad For Christmas

It was always a little difficult buying things for dad because he'd only wear new clothes if he felt his old ones were too worn out. He also insisted on baggy pants and actually ordered his own clothes once he discovered L.L. Bean. I did find some nice warm shirts for him that he liked. With his arthritis when he was in his late 80s, he had a terrible time with buttons so he really liked the pullovers I found that had zippers instead.

One year, I took pictures of his cats and put together a customized cat calendar. When he opened it, he thought it was very nice because he likes cats but his eyesight was so good and he didn't recognize they were his until I pointed it out to him. Then he said it was "wonderful"! He hung it up in his dining room and did use it. He'd write birthdays on it that he wanted to remember and doctor appointments and always had stuff like news articles or comics clipped to the side.

I used to tease him about not flipping it at the beginning of a new month. I guess he just didn't have time to do it. When I went to flip it for him, he said, "Nooooo, leave it alone, I'll do it." It normally didn't bother me, but when he was using the cat calendar I made for him, I wanted to see each picture the whole month, especially the one of Sweet Thing because he was my favorite of dad's cats. Sweet Thing was on for the month of November, I think, and it was half way over before dad got around to flipping it.

Since he adored his cats so much, we often bought each cat something a little special which really pleased dad more than things we would buy for him.

To see a related article about custom calendars that gave me the idea for this post,
see Custom Calendars. Another idea is to give your dad my book, "My Funny Dad, Harry." (I couldn't resist, especially since Mountain Woman suggested it in a comment on my previous post!)

Giveaway Contest--Lots of Prizes

Wonderful Things In Life is have a big Christmas Giveaway with lots of things. I am one of the sponsors and am giving an autographed copy of "My Funny Dad, Harry" for one of the prizes, but there are lots of other things too.

Here are all the prizes and sponsors:
FIRST PRIZE - $35 + 16,000 EC
$25 - My Online Paradise
$5 - Blessing In Life
$5 plus 1000 Ec - Moi et mon univers
*1 banner - worth $149 - Buytemplates.net
*1 blog layout - My Web-Blog Designs
*cuties for Christmas - So Cute
5000 Ec plus 125x125 ads space for 1 month - Snapshot
3000 EC - Stranded Life
2000 EC plus banner ad for 1 month + text link for 1 month + ebook for bloggers- Kasakk
1000 EC - Crimson Heaven
1000 EC - Heart Random
1000 EC - More on Health
1000 EC - Jenny Talks
1000 EC - Sharing my Thoughts
125x125 ads space for 1 month worth $20 - Contest For Bloggers
125x125 ad space for 1 month - Shopping Blog

2ND PRIZE - $25 + 13,000 EC
$10 - Follow Your Sense of Adventure
$10 - Yennygirl
$5 - More on Heath
*1 banner - worth $149 - Buytemplates.net
*blog layout - The Designer's Chic
3000 EC - Sweetytots
2000 EC credits plus 1 month ad space - Pink Hues
2000 EC - The Joy Of Love Forever
1000 EC - Show Me your Interest
1000 EC - Days Of My Life
1000 EC - ArticleSnatch Blog
1000 EC credits plus 1 month ad - Random Chronicles
1000 EC - The Artist In Me
1000 EC - Varun's Vagaries
125x125 ads for 1 month worth $20 - kahpeng.com-Bits From My Life
125x125 ad space for 1 month - Another Contest

3RD PRIZE - $20 + 11,000 EC
$10 - Wonderful Things In Life
$5 - My Life's Adventure
$5 - Twinkletoe Writing Space
*complete blog makeover - Designs By Vhiel and Cans Of Thoughts
*Website logo worth $99- Custom Logo and Marketing Materials
2000 EC - Sweet.Pretty.Naughty
1000 EC plus ad space for 1 month - Cheth Studios
1000 EC credits plus 1 month ad - The Positive Side
1000 EC - Show Me Your Interest
1000 EC - Wiehanne Lounge
1000 EC - Medan Daily
1000 EC - Call Center Gal
1000 EC - A Simple Married Life
1000 EC - Programming The Life
1000 EC - Pinay Freelancer
125x125 ads for 1 month worth $10 - Genrya.com
125x125 ad space for 1 month - That Blog 4 Me

4RTH PRIZE - $15 + 9,000 EC
$5 - Life's Imagination
$10 - The Joy Of Life Forever
1 Blog Template worth $29 - Website Design Services
2000 EC - E-Pamilya
1000 EC plus ad space for 1 month - Thoughts and Obsessions
1000 EC plus banner ad for 1 week - Simplement Belles
1000 EC - Show Me Your Interest
1000 EC - 24x7 Online Diva
1000 EC plus ad space for 1 month - Made Me Glad
1000 EC - Serradinho Blog
1000 EC - God's Best Gift
125x125 ad space for 1 month - Sherry
125x125 ad space for 1 month - Travel blog

5TH PRIZE $10 + 7,700 EC
$5 - Earning Money Online
$5 - A Message From My Heart
1 Blog Template worth $29 - Website Design Services
1000 EC plus banner ads for 1 week - Kalidadis
2000 EC - Wonderful Things In Life
1000 EC - Definitely MAYBE!
1000 EC - The Joy Of Life Forever
1000 EC - My Life's Adventure
500 EC - Love's Haven
500 EC plus ad space - MeiYah/Miah Laborte
500 EC - Chica & Pumuckl
200 EC - Around the World
125x125 ad space for a month - Also Mommy
125x125 banner ad for 1 month - PriZK Dot Com

6th PRIZE $5 + 6,000 EC
$5 - Designers Blog
1 Web design/flash template worth $29 - Flash Template
1000 EC - Life Marriage And Kids
1000 EC - Everything plus the Kitchen Sink
500 EC - Brown Pinay
500 EC - A Message From My Heart
500 EC - In The Eyes Of The Beholder
500 EC - Nierva Dot Com
500 EC - Blog Contest For Pinay
500 EC - Creative In Me
500 EC - Cheth Studios
500 EC - A Zone for Digiscraps
125x125 ad space for 1 month - Dashing Smiles
125x125 for 1 month - That Blog 4 me

7TH PRIZE - 4,500 EC
*1 Web design/flash template worth $29 - Flash Template
1000 EC - One at a Time
500 EC plus 125x125 ad space - Biz-N-Honey
500 EC - Twinkletoe Writing Space
500 EC - My Little Home
500 EC - Journal of Journey
500 EC - So Far, So Good
500 EC - There is Happiness
500 EC plus ad space - Musings of a Pinay Blogger
125x125 ad space for 1 month - Thomas Travel Tales
125x125 for 1 month - Travel Blog

8TH PRIZE 3,500 EC
*1 yr domain - Earning Money Online
500 EC plus ad space for 1 month - The Money maker
500 EC - CharTherCT.com
500 EC - Vhiel's Corner
500 EC - Anything and Everything in Between
500 EC - Love's Haven
500 EC - EastcostLife
500 EC - Contest For BLoggers
125x125 ad space for 1 month - Bohol Paradise
125x125 banner ads for 1 month - Pinky Posh

9TH PRIZE 3,000 EC
*blog layout - My Collection
500 EC plus ad space for 1 month - Starts at Two
500 EC - Aha Mama!
500 EC - Twins happiness
500 EC - A lonely planet it is not
500 EC - Nita's Random Thoughts
500 EC from Bits Of My life
125x125 ad space for 1 month - Filipino Online Community
125x125 banner ads for 1 month - Only In Silence

10TH PRIZE 2,500 EC
500 EC plus ad space for 1 month - Beauty Of Life
500 EC - Nita's Corner
500 EC - Days Of My life
500 EC - Little Soie's Steps
500 Ec - I Travel here and There
125x125 ad space for 1 month - Batuananons
125x125 ad space for 1 month - Love Is A Perfect Gift

10TH PRIZE 2,500 EC
1,500 EC - Seek No More
1000 EC - Nesting Buddy
125x125 ad space for 1 month - Love Is A Perfect Gift
125x125 ad space for 1 month - A Message From My Heart



Consolation Prizes
1. 300 EC - Healthy Living and Lifestyle
125x125 ad space for 1 month - Life's All About

2. 300 EC - CompTechGadgets.com
125x125 ad space for 1 month - Erlinda's Wandering Thoughts

3. 300 EC - Arts and Entertainment Center
125x125 ad space for 1 month - Thomas Web Links

4. 300 EC - Great Finds and Deals
125x125 ad banner for 2 weeks - 24patrol

5. 300 EC - Make Money Online
125x125 ad banner for 2 weeks - Multiply Themes
6. 300 EC - For the LOVE of Food
125x125 ad space - Jocelyn's Journal

7. 250 EC - Genrya.com
2 weeks link ads SimplyWP

8. 250 EC NetzDesigno.com
Footer text link for 1 month worth $5 - Genrya.com

9. 250 EC Stacykoay.net
Footer text link for 1 month worth $10 - Bits From My life

10. 200 EC - it's A Woman's World!
Footer text link for 1 month worth $10 - Contest For Bloggers


Special Prizes:
1. Free Icon set - Custom Icon Design Services
2. Semi-solid light red toddler hat, fits approx 2t-4t - Cherish Sweet Knitted Bottoms
3. 1 book - My Funny Dad, Harry
4. 1 book "Princess Charming" by: Jane Heller - Just Say These Words
5. 1 book "Siren's Song" by: Trish Albright - Just Say These Words
6. 1 book "Weddings Can Be Murder" by: Christie Craig - Just Say These Words

Go enter! Here's is what you need to do:

Go to Wonderful Things In Life and then:
How To Enter:
1. Blog about the contest with all the Prizes and Sponsors.
2. Subscribe to my feed via email. (you can see it in my sidebar)
3. Put the logo contest in your post.
4. Choose one logo for your side bar. (One is shown above in this post, the other is on the sidebar)
5. Leave a comment along with a link to your post.

Thanks to Rebecca For This Butterfly Award!

Rebecca at Cat Lovers Site gave me this pretty award and I do appreciate it!

The rules for this award are:

1. Put the logo on your blog.
2. Add a link to the person who awarded you.
3. Nominate 10 other blogs.
4. Add links to those blogs on yours.
5. Leave a message for your nominees on their blogs

OK here are my nominated sites:
Carol Denbow at A Book Inside
Mountain Woman at Red Pine Mountain
Page McManus at The road I'm Traveling
Healthnut Wannabee Mom
TC at My Love for Animals
Tashabud at Tasha's Take
Wildcatsthree at The Cat Dog Log
Terri Terri Quite Contrary
Blogging 101
http://fashionparamedic.com/?page_id=221

Bookworm Meme--I've Been Tagged!

I've been tagged with the Bookworm meme by Page over at The Road I'm Traveling. Here's how this meme works:

1. Grab the nearest book.
2. Open the book to page 56.
3. Find the fifth sentence.
4. Post the text of the next two to five sentences.
5. Don’t dig for your favorite book, the cool book or the intellectual one. Pick the Closest.
6. Tag five people to do the same

My Funny Dad, Harry is the closest book to me. I have a small pile of copies on the end table near my computer which I have on hand for direct sales or for marketing purposes. It only seems appropriate for this blog to do this book. Although my dad had a lot of books, most of them I have sold or given away and they were mostly books about.

Here is the excerpt from page 56 of the book I wrote about my dad:

"He (Sweet Thing) would lick himself so much, that his fur seemed to wear off. Finally, after much persistence, I persuaded dad to take them to the vet. Neither had ever gone before. The vet I used for my cats was very good but it would have been almost an hour drive from dad's house so we looked for some place closer. I made the appointments and left work early to go with dad to the vet for the first time."

This section is about Sylvester's and Sweet Thing's first trip to the vet. Harry and the vet did not click at all!

I am tagging the following:
Tina at Creative Nerd
Signe Says
Small Town Mommie
Frogs in My Formula
Life With Kim
Polly at Random Ramblings

Good Things About Funerals

I can think of two very good things about funerals:

(1) IT BRINGS THE FAMILY TOGETHER.

Growing up our family was not what you'd call close. We did not do gift exchanges at Christmas with our relatives and the extent of our visiting relatives was our grandmothers and the aunts who lived with them. That was pretty much the only contact we had with our extended family. Once in awhile, I think a total of 3 or 4 times, we visited our cousins in Mansfield (which was about an hour's drive). I remember one party we went to at another cousin's house. Other than that, the only cousin I saw on a semi-regular basis was Carol because she's a hairdresser so I went to her for haircuts and perms. When an uncle or aunt died, that's when our whole family would get together. It was always awkward because I never would know who certain people were that I should know.

When my mom died my foster brother, John, and one foster sister, Pam, didn't even come to her funeral. I think it was because they didn't know about it in time because we had no idea where they were, no phone or address for them. Since then though, we did get in touch. When my dad died, it was the first time in years that I saw Pam and John and first met John's family. That was a really good thing. It was such a momentous occasion that Michelle's, daughter even took a picture of us all together--one with our spouses and one with just us. (Michelle is my other foster sister.)

(2) WE SEE OLD FRIENDS AGAIN.

It was actually fun seeing some old friends again who came to the funeral home to console me and pay their respects. My best friend that I grew up with came! We exchange Christmas greetings but I've only been to her house once since we've been married. I mention her in "My Funny Dad, Harry" so I told her about the book I wrote and she bought it and passed it along for her sister to read as well. It was also great seeing friends from my old church again.

I recently attended viewing hours for the father of brothers I had in the youth group from years ago. It was wonderful seeing them again and they were very surprised to see me since we hadn't been in touch at all for such a long time. They both live nearby and we exchanged email addresses so we can keep in touch now.

I think this aspect of funerals is a glimpse of what heaven will be like. It'll be one huge happy reunion with our loved ones who have gone on ahead and people we've known throughout our lives who we seldom see. I have lots of questions about this such as: "Since we get new heavenly bodies, how will we recognize each other?" "What about age--will we be the age we were when we died, or be younger or older?" At any rate, I really look forward to seeing my parents again!

John 11:25-27 says:

25Jesus said to her, "I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies; 26and whoever lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?"

27"Yes, Lord," she told him, "I believe that you are the Christ,[b] the Son of God, who was to come into the world."

I John 5:9-12 says:

9We accept man's testimony, but God's testimony is greater because it is the testimony of God, which he has given about his Son. 10Anyone who believes in the Son of God has this testimony in his heart. Anyone who does not believe God has made him out to be a liar, because he has not believed the testimony God has given about his Son. 11And this is the testimony: God has given us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. 12He who has the Son has life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have life.

It is so comforting to know Jesus and have the assurance of being re-united with our loved ones again.


(3) THE FAMILY GETS SOME VERY PRETTY FLOWERS.

Here is a picture of my cat, Spunky Doodle (the one I got as a kitten from dad's), enjoying the flowers we brought home from my dad's funeral.

This Is The Worst Bathroom I've Ever Cleaned!

Thank God for cleaning people! I'm not a cleaner, so when I lived alone, I hired someone to do the cleaning for me once a week. I did run the vacuum myself and at one point, dusted but not on any regular basis. Once I got married, my husband did all the cleaning. He doesn't mind and likes things neat and clean. He is very adamant about keeping our house clean which is great!

Consequently though, when we visited my dad, Gerard would just cringe. You see, cleaning was not even on my dad's list of things to do, EVER! Once in a blue moon, he would get the urge to wipe off a counter or possibly rearrange his stuff on his table. He was hesitant to vacuum because the noise frightened his cats. A few times I brought our vacuum cleaner over because it was quieter than his and his place was so dirty, it even bothered me.

He resented me cleaning anything but there came a point where I just decided I HAD to step in and do something. One day I was in his kitchen and looked at the top of his stove and decided to clean it. When I lifted up the coils for setting pans on to cook stuff, there was globs of junk in the tray with lots of cat hair! EWWW! It was SO disgusting. He's telling me to just leave it and I'm yelling back at him that I can't leave it like this. It's too bad! (Not that he ever used the stove, but still.) Once I got it cleaned, I bought him a couple tin shields that lay over the burners so that the cat hair wouldn't get in there anymore. He liked them and used the top of the stove to hold his paper towels and some bags after that. I made several attempts to get him to let me hire a cleaning person to come in at least once a month or every other week, but he wouldn't hear of it.

When it came time to sell the house, oh what a job it was to clean up that place! I hired a cleaning lady to come to do the big jobs. The bathroom was the worst and most needy, so I had her start with that. I believe it took her about 5 hours! She said she never saw a bathroom as dirty as his was. She apologized for not being able to get the tile floor any cleaner but she did the best she could. The next time she came, she brought a friend to help.

Some people are not bothered by clutter or dirt and my dad was one of them. My mom used to do some cleaning before she got too weak to do it but after she died, the only cleaning that was done was the little I squeezed in now and then. Mostly when my dad was in the other room and couldn't see me dusting his furniture. If you are like my dad, please let your adult children help you out by either hiring someone to do it or letting them help you do it.