A New Week Begins ~ June 29th

It's a new week.  It's a new day.  Means new possibilities...

New week already.  I'm pretty sure the guidelines 

regarding COVID-19 will soon be changing again,

 but until they do we go with what we have.  

For now we continue to stay at home, stay away 

from people and do absolutely NOTHING!  Not even

 our walks, because of the heat and the the fact that the

 air quality is pretty bad.  Also, I do have asthma.

Good morning everyone.  The sun is shining, the boats are 

passing by, Sniff is up and about running.  Life is good.

I have always been delighted at the prospect of a 

new day, a fresh try, one more start, with perhaps a 

bit of magic waiting somewhere behind the morning. 

Every day is a new day, and you'll never be able

 to find happiness if you don't move on.

The light of a new day always chases the shadows

 of the night away, and shows us that the shape of 

our fears is only the ghost of our own minds... 

~Nadiya~

St. Patrick"s Day In Chicago ~

May your troubles be less and your blessings be more.

And nothing but happiness comes through your door...

Yesterday I went out early for a walk to be part of 

the St Patrick’s day celebrations that were and is still going on. 

 It was cold 31F,  so I bundled up pretty good.  Luckily it was

 very sunny and before you knew it I was getting warm. 

 Many were in shorts!  Yes shorts. Crazy!

The people. The parade. The life that is this city reminded 

me why we love Chicago so much.  Arvid stayed in to

 watch a soccer game. I just wanted to be out. See the 

river and experience everything taking place.

I loved walking in the cold and brisk air.  Reminded me

 of being in Branson. I had the best time.  Everyone was 

happy and just having the best of times.  The weather did

not seem to matter at all.  Was fun to see and experience.

Arvid and I had our share of being Irish as well.  Later 

on in the day we went to and Irish Pub.  The beer

 was green and everyone was very happy.  

It felt great to experience all of this in the city we love

 so much.  I secretly believe Arvid loves Chicago more than 

any other place.  Too bad it's so cold in the winter time.

So far we have been having a great time.  It is definitely cold.  

I am so enjoying it, but I know Arvid is cold even though 

he is not mentioning it too much.  Unusual for him.  

It just goes to show how much he loves it here.

Good morning everyone.  The celebration continues today.

Hope everyone is having a good weekend and making 

lasting memories.  To all Happy St. Patrick's Day.

I've always thought you have to believe in luck to get it.

May your pockets be heavy and your heart be light.

May good luck pursue you each morning and night...

~Nadiya~

A Little Humor ~

If you could choose one characteristic that would get you
 through life, choose a sense of humor...if I had no sense 
of humor I would have long ago committed suicide... 

One of my Facebook friends posted this the other day and it made me laugh and smile throughout the day thinking about it and realizing how much fun it is to have a good sense of humor and to be able to laugh not only at others, but also to be able to laugh at ourselves. 

I will be the first to say that I love to make fun of just about everything (I do know when to be serious also), and at the same time I do enjoy making fun of myself and having a good laugh at my own expense.  Nothing wrong when it's done in good faith and with no intent to hurt others.  Laughter...a gift we can give ourselves and others.  Hope you enjoy:

The kindergarten class had a homework assignment to find out about something exciting and relate it to the class the next day.

When the time came for the little kids to give their reports, the teacher was calling on them one at a time.

Eventually little Johnny’s turn came. Little Johnny walked up to the front of the class, and with a piece of chalk, made a small white dot on the blackboard, then sat back down.

The teacher couldn't figure out what Johnny had in mind for his report, so she asked him just what that was.

"It's a period," reported Johnny.

"Well I can see that," she said,
 "but what is so exciting 
about a period."

"Damned if I know," said Johnny,
 "but this morning my sister
 said she missed one.

Daddy had a heart attack,
 Mommy fainted, and the 
man next door shot himself."

Have a great day!!!

Through humor, you can soften some of the worst blows life 
delivers.  And once you find laughter, no matter how painful
 your situation might be, you can survive it...

~Nadiya~

Happy Friday ~

A good life is a collection of happy moments...

If today is any indication of what the week has been so far, then I

will combust.  It has been scorching HOT all week and there is no slowing

 down the rising of the mercury.  Prediction is hot, hot, hot in our forecast.  Sure 

not missing Florida because we have the heat minus the humidity right now.

While everyone is out and about in shorts and tank tops, Arvid continues

 to use longs sleeves and long pants.  He says that he actually stays cooler this way. 

 Truth is the heat feels like as if you were being baked alive.  I want winter again.

After being on "vacation" for a few days I feel tired and am looking

 forward to our weekend.  Our weekend consists of mainly Sundays off, 

but truth is we always go in to check on things.  Guess we 

can't help it.  Just feels like the right thing to do.

On Saturday we have friends from Florida visiting and we plan to meet 

up with them.  We have known them for quite some time now.  At 

one time we lived in the same building by A1A in Fort Lauderdale. 

 They choose to vacation here in Branson and are having the

 time of their lives.  Something for everyone.

I;m tired.  Glad it's Friday.  For me hopefully a quiet day.  With Arvid you

 never know. He likes to create "work" and to be buzzing around finding chores. 

Happy Friday all.  I plan to take t easy and enjoy my Indian Buffet.

Fridays are after all ice cream day at Almost Home and Indian foodies for me.

It's all the Little moments that make life a BIG adventure.

Happy Friday.  Let the weekend begin...

~Nadiya~ 

Sunday June 11th ~

The best feeling in the world is to know 

your parents are smiling because of you...

I have missed my parents, sisters nieces and nephews a lot.  Moving to Missouri 

kept us from seeing them for the last 7 months.  Fortunately I have been able

 to take a little time off from the hotel and come visit.  I'm happy.

I am lucky that 4 out of 5 sisters are together, a few nieces and nephews.
   I am grateful for this and I know that once I leave and head back
 to Branson I will be refreshed and ready to face whatever
comes next. Being with family is the best there is.

This is an almost perfect Sunday.  Would have loved to have Arvid here 

with us.  They all missed him.  For as long as we own the hotels,  Arvid and I 

cannot travel together.  Someone has to be in Branson to take care of them.

So far it has been a very relaxing time.  Of course when you're with family

 there is so much to catch up with.  Not sure any of us has had much sleep, 

but it's not often we get together.  Sleep we can always do later.

Happy Sunday all.  Remember, 

time spent with family is worth every second!

Family, where life begins and love never ends...

~Nadiya~

Happy Day ~

When you love what you have, you have everything...

Some days you're just happy.  On days like that words are not needed.

Just like everyone, I love presents.  Just happens that the kind I like may be a bit 

different from what most like or want.  Arvid brought me the best present, it's a

 forever one, and one day I will show it to the little girl that made it for me.

That little girl is our eldest granddaughter Aleah.  Like all my nieces and 

nephews who have made me cards and drawings, which I still have,  Aleah 

also made me one.  The distinctive thing about the drawing is my hair.

Somehow the thing that is always a constant with them is my "big" hair.

Woke up smiling and just looking at the two precious little girls,

 will keep the smile going.  Arvid, Sniff and I are home.  

All is good in our world.  Wishing the same for all of you.

Happiness is always knocking at your door.

You just gotta let it in...

~Nadiya~

Sunday Again ~

Taking time out to relax and renew is essential to living well.
It's been an eventful week.  Time to relax, refresh and recharge...

The week as usual has gone by too fast.  As always something unexpected happens.

The unexpected of this week was a little "UNEXPECTED"  Let's just say

that hopefully the coming week will have less surprises in store.

That being said it has been a good week and we look forward to a relaxing Sunday. 

 Hopefully we will be able to spend it together without having to each 

run separate ways to check on something.  Fingers crossed.

Yesterday our grass was cut for the first time since living here in Branson.  Yup!

we have a gardener now.  Back in Florida we never had to worry about grass getting cut. 

It was part of the dues we pay to the condo association, but with a house it's 

different.  I still like condo lifestyle better, but this will have to do for now.

Sniff Sniff has been basking in the sun most of the day.  Loves his sunshine.

He is after all a Floridian.  Arvid and I have not had a chance to enjoy much of

 yesterdays beautiful weather.  Hopefully we will today.  Again fingers crossed.

To all a very good day.  My parents are celebrating their 55th wedding
anniversary today.  Like everything else, it has not been the smoothest of roads.
 Raising 5 daughters, both working and trying to maintain sanity was and still is not
easy, but the did it and I know they are enjoying the fruits of their labor and love.

Happy Anniversary to the ones who set and keep setting an example in our lives.

Today as both of you look back with happiness and pride upon Fifty Five
 cherished years that you've spent side by side, may every memory that you share
 of dreams you've seen come true, help make this special day a happy one for you.

I love you.. those three words have my life in them...

~Nadiya~

Final Days...

Even when it is cold outside our memories keep us warm.

My mind wanders and I get lost in thoughts of you...

Yesterday was the start of cold,wet and windy weather coming to Chicago. 

 Even so,  I still went out for a little outing and to look for foodies for sniff.  His

 food is not easy to find in regular grocery stores so in the rain and wind I set

 out to several different stores in search of his soft foodies, of course 

I did not come home without foodies for him. Not a chance.

The fact that I was wet was no big deal.  Here in Chicago when the wind picks up,

 and it's raining at the same time and umbrella is pretty much useless.  I tried but

 mine blew away.  I did not really care because I love rain and I took many 

pictures; at the same time it also made for a good cozy evening at home.

Arvid and I have already started to pack.  Yesterday Arvid bought Sniff's ticket.

The ticket agent asked a few questions about Sniff.  First was, "how old is he?"  

Second, "how much does he weigh?" and finally, "what's his date of birth?"

Little Sniff is already racking up frequent flyer miles as my mom used to say

 about Brutus.  Arvid gave me the keys to our Florida home to put in my handbag.  

The first thing I said without even thinking was, "I can't wait to open the door and see 

Brutus' face."  It was always with a great joy Arvid and I would go home to Brutus

 and the first thing we did was pick him up.  I miss him very much.

I am really excited to see how Sniff is inn Florida.  More space for him to run
around and to stay busy.  From the day we got him to today, he has gone
 through quite a lot of changes.  He is finally snuggling up to us.  Sleeping
 close to us and on us at times.  He plays a lot something he never did
when we first got him.  Yes, little Sniff is growing up fast.

Still a little time to go around the city.  Enjoy a few of our favorite before we leave.
I will definitely miss this city one day, but for now I am looking forward to being home.
  Home where Brutus filled every space, every corner and where Shadow also graced
 us with his cuteness and uniqueness.  Home where we will now go with Sniff.

To all a very good day.  Never forget if you want to be happy, be.

There is sunshine in my soul today.
Happiness is not out there, it's in you...

~Nadiya~

Busy Day...

Life is more than just chess. Though king dies, life goes on.

If something does go wrong, here is my advice... KEEP CALM and CARRY ON.

The secret is keeping busy and loving what you do...

Today we stayed busy with getting the final "items" to be shipped out to Norway.

Our job is fun.  We do do just about everything, but we also have a fun time doing it.

Today we drove this really cool Raptor F-150.  Cool ride and fun to drive.

We loaded boxes.  Unloaded the boxes.  Bubble wrapped a Murphy Bed among other things 

and still had time to stop by for coffee and danish.  While I enjoyed one of my favorite

 Arvid enjoyed something called school bread.  This is just a Danish with a cheese 

filled center and sprinkles with coconut flakes.  Found here in the USA,

 but according to Arvid not the same.  I don't care much for it, but then we

 are all different.  I got something I liked so it was a win-win.

For today we are done with the warehouse and shipping stuff.  The fact that we are both hot,

 sweaty and filled with grime from doing "hard" work just makes it even more fun.

It's good to be able to say, "today we really worked hard"  Now time to do paperwork, 

play with Sniff, clean up and yes make lunch.  late today, but I did have a delicious

 Danish pastry so overall, it has been a good day.  Hope yours is also a good one.

 Beautiful day in the Sunshine State.

When you are working and staying busy you

 don't have time to be depressed and sad...

~Nadiya~

Facebook Hiatus...

Finding yourself consists of peeling off years of social conditioning
to find a self as it existed during childhood, un-masked....

I have decided to take a "vacation" from Facebook.   It has become too much work lately.

It is always the same old, same old, and I am tired of it.  Arvid for one is always telling

 me to do so and finally I came to that conclusion on my own.

It's the same everyday.  Millions of pictures of people doing this or doing that and

sometimes I feel as if I have to hit the "like" button just because.  I'm tired.

I don't need to see what someone does at every minute of the day.  I don't need to know 

what you ate for lunch, I don't need to know anything really.  Right now i feel this way.  I 

guess I am in a little slump.  Have had a good day, but suddenly it changed.

Facebook has this way of reminding you of what happened on this same day a year ago, 

two years ago and so forth.  My memories are always with Brutus and it is just too painful.

Just when i think the day will go smoothly a memory will pop up and it sets me back.

Arvid is not that interested in anything on FB.  Says he does not care what so and so is doing.  

"None of my business.  I have better things to do with my time."  That's Arvid.

We see our grand kids on Skype every week, Arvid talks to his family every Sunday.

And I am in touch with my family daily.  So all important bases are covered.

I am still on messenger, Whatsapp, email, text, Snapchat and god know what else.

The point is if someone needs to get hold of me, there are many ways to do so.

Right now I need to come to terms with the turmoil I am living.  I really don't 

have the time to waste nor do I feel the need to.  May you all have wonderful vacations, 

delicious lunches, wonderful cruises, and whatever else it is you do.  

One day when I feel better I will once again be ready to participate in the "nonsense" 

of Facebook.  I will be able to see the the fakeness of everyday life again through the eyes 

of social media without getting upset nor wondering how people can be so superficial.

I will be able to understand once again that people just mean well even if it's all a lie.

For now i wish you all better times than what i am experiencing.  Life

sometimes does not go according to how we want it, but we do the best we can and we 

take it one day at a time.  One day it will be better.  I am looking forward to that day.

You have to fight some very bad days to earn some of the best days 
of your life.  Either you run the day or the day runs you..

~Nadiya~