What did  I do with my "dash"?  What did you do with yours?
Did I spend it being the best person I could be, living a life that counted, loving my family, neighbors, and friends....or did I just look out for #1?  I would hope that people that know me can say that I cared passionately about my family and friends.  I was faithful to my convictions & I always tried to be a better person.  I know we are not perfect beings.  What I am saying is this -- that I tried and when I messed up, I did everything in my power to make it right.
Some people will never give their "dash" a thought.  They will just live their lives getting all they can and not caring who they hurt in the process. 
This post may sound a little odd, but I heard it in a sermon today at church and it got me to thinking  about what is really important in this life and what I should just ignore.   If you are wondering or haven't figured it out by now.............. here it is:  Date Born - Date Died.................we all see this on tombstones everywhere. The dash is the time a person has spent on this earth alive.  Such a small little mark but such big implications......when we think about it we all have such little time to make a difference in others lives and in our small part of this earth., so we should all try to make that time count for something. 
A short post tonite, but a lot to think about...............Ritzywife out!

Geez, I had the misconception that "life" slowed down as a person got older.  Wow, was I ever wrong!!! I think it has accelerated..... Maybe it seems that way cause it's me that's slowing down, haha!!
I have been so busy, it's hard to find time to keep up with my writing.  Watching those little ones, trying to keep up with my housework, church stuff and everything else has me "pooped".
The son and I went to Owasso last nite to buy groceries, but before that we stopped at the daughter  & son-in-law's to eat supper.  I played with babies and the two guys played x-box while the daughter got caught up on her housework.  Ritzy was no where around because this is his weekend to spend in the woods cutting wood.  He is crazy wanting to cut wood in this kind of weather, but he loves it.... so there ya go.
It was after 10 last nite when we left their house to go buy groceries, and around 1 this morning when we got home.  After putting away groceries, taking my bath and unwinding,  I think I finally dozed off around 3 this morning.  Gonna make for a drowsy day today.  We have a birthday party to go to at 2 this afternoon.  After that I have to go to Vinita to get the food for a party we are having after church Sunday nite.  I am not looking forward to the  shopping at all because of the heat.  Speaking of heat - The next week is going to be brutal here in Oklahoma because of the high temps.  I just hope everyone takes care of themselves and stays safe.
Our family reunion is Sunday at Nowata.  After Sunday morning church, the reunion, getting to church early Sunday evening to prepare the food and then church.....Ritzywife is gonna be one tired Ni-maw!!!
Our garden is just about finished.  All that is left is the okra and a few tomatoes.  The tomatoes probably won't survive this heat in the coming days.  We will just have to wait and see.
The okra will be fine, it loves hot weather.  In fact, I saw it blooming yesterday. I am gonna pick some and fry it the first chance I get......maybe tonite!?!
This Monday July 30, 2012 is Ritzy & Ritzywife's 29th Anniversary.  I cannot believe it has been 29 years already.  Time goes by so fast.  That is one thing I have tried to make that daughter understand with those little ones.  They will be grown and out of the house seemingly in the "blink of an eye".  That is what it seems like to me with my own kids, anyways........
This has been a great 29 years....I could not have asked for a better man than Ritzy.  Sure I get ticked off at him sometimes, but he has always been just what I have needed and I have to believe God knew that when He brought us together ;-)   I look forward to our future together as we grow older and watch our family grow.
*The reunion we are going to is the Ketcum Reunion which was My Grandma Hayes's family.   I just realized when I looked at the date.... that today is her birthday.  She was born in 1910 and passed away in 1986, only 2 weeks before our daughter was born.  I was so sad to see her go. I wanted her to meet her "great-granddaughter" so much.  But, she was in pain and bad health and I hated to see her suffer.  I knew that when she passed she was a lot better off.  I would have lived with this grandma if my mom and dad would have let me, haha!!!* 
Ritzy called a few minutes ago and told me he was on his way home.  It takes about an hour for him to get here, so after he gets here he will have to change clothes and we will be on our way to the party for our 17 year old nephew, then off to Walmart to get the supplies for Sunday nite.  Ritzywife's bed is sure gonna feel good tonite!!!!
Gonna leave it at that..............Ritzywife out..............

It's hard to believe we are already into July.  This July 4th holiday didn't quite seem like a holiday I guess because it fell in the middle of the week.  We had a good time at Mom & Dad's.  We shot off our fireworks at our own home that night.  I knew the babies would be asleep and we didn't want to upset their schedule so we decided to put them down for the night then go out and watch our own fireworks.  Worked out great!  It sure was hot tho......Well, it's Oklahoma in July, I guess it's supposed to be hot, huh?

Ritzy cooked supper tonite on the grill.  I did not want to heat up the kitchen so I got the steaks, veggies and corn on the cob prepared and let Ritzy do his "magic" on the grill.   He did a great job.

This morning the son and I went to Owasso to do some shopping and on the way home we stopped by the daughter and son-in-laws home to see those twin grandsons.  They are growing so fast.  They had their 4 month check-up Friday.  Got their immunization shots too. I know they need them but it sure was hard for [Ritzywife,..Ni-maw] to see those little boys crying :-(
 They are sooo cute!!!!!  They were in a much better mood today.
It's getting late so this Ni-maw had better get some rest.   Got a busy day tomorrow........Ritzywife out...........

This has been a busy summer so far.  I have been helping out with those precious grandsons 2 days a week at least.  Been making plum jelly, picking blackberries,  sewing,  gathering and cooking veggies from the garden and trying to keep up with my regular household chores.  That is just during the week.  We never know what to expect on the weekend, so I try to stay flexible, haha.
As you can see, Braedy and Calvin are growing like little weeds.  It is amazing how much and fast they change in their looks and actions.  They are starting to try to talk and "coo" when we talk to them.  It is soooo sweet!!!!!  I love it!
Ritzy and I got to watch them nearly the whole day Sunday.  The daughter and hubby had somewhere to go and I told her we would love watching them.  They were so good for us......turned out to be quite easy, although I know they will have their moments in the future...that's when Ritzywife will "grab one" and then tell Ritzy to "grab one" and we will separate them, hahaha!!!!
The daughter called this evening and said she sure had an eventful day.  First of all I guess while she was at work Braedy got Calvin in the eye and scratched it a little.  Being a new mom, the daughter wanted to make sure everything was ok, so she and her hubby took the baby to get examined.  On her way there  a vehicle passed her  and threw a rock, which cracked her windshield on their new car.  The babies had not eaten and by the time all this was over it was about 6 hours since their last feeding.  {Poor little things}..Well..............she finally got home, got the babies fed and herself taken care of and I think things finally settled down.  She called and said the babies were in their swings, and just looking at mommy and daddy.  She later sent me a picture of them and they looked pretty content to "Ni-maw" (pronounced - knee-maw).  I finally came up with a "name".  I just couldn't find one that sounded right until one day I happened to see "Ni-maw" and thought ----I think I like that........
 Tomorrow and Thursday are my days to watch them.  I can hardly wait to get there to give kisses and hugs to those little boys.  The picture above is one I took last week while watching them.
In two days they will be 4 months old already.  WOW--- I told the daughter the time would go by way too fast.  
She is now having to get rid of clothes they have outgrown.
I have 2 high chairs coming tomorrow.  This  Ni-maw is ready.......
It is about bedtime so Ritzywife is out................................ 

These two little boys are growing so fast.  They each are around 12 pounds at 3 months old.  They seem to get sweeter every passing day.  The daughter told me the other day she could not believe how fast they are growing.  I told her to cherish this time because they don't stay little long.
I get to go over and watch them tomorrow and Thursday for a half day while she goes to work.  I have so much fun being around them.  We bought them a couple of baby swings to hang from our big maple tree in the back yard.   They got to try them out Sunday evening after church.  They sure seemed to like them. 
Not much happening here around Ritzywife's home these days.  The rain this year washed out my fishing.  I have been trying to give more attention to my flowers. Besides the two soaker rains, the weather has been pretty decent.  I spend a lot of time out in my swing. 
We have already eaten food from our garden  and it was delicious.  Ate some green beans, squash, potatoes, onions & tomatoes.  YUMMM!!!  The okra is starting to  produce....I love a big pan of okra, tomatoes, potatoes, & onion - coated with corn meal, salt & pepper... with  cooked bacon added and  fried up in the leftover bacon grease.   Oh my...that is one of my favorite meals in the summer....another favorite is BLT's with tomatoes fresh from the garden.  There is nothing like a fresh garden tomato!
Ritzy has already dug our potatoes and pulled the onions.  We had a great onion crop this year, the best ever.........  The potatoes usually aren't ready until the first week in July, but with the unseasonably warm spring here in Oklahoma this year, everything is about 3 weeks ahead of schedule. 
Maybe the warm spring is why those grandsons are growing so well, ya think? haha
It was so wet and now the ground is really dry.  Our grass is already starting to turn brown and it's only June.  Who knows what kind of summer is in store for us this year......guess we will just wait and see....
Ritzywife's parents will be celebrating their 54th Wedding Anniversary tomorrow (June 6th)....Wow, that is great.  I wish them a happy day and years to come.  Nowadays you don't see a lot of people in it for the "long haul".  It gets a little rough and they "bail".  When Ritzy and I were married, we said "This is it, forever..."  and we meant it.. Being happy in your marriage doesn't just happen, it takes a lot of work, but it is well worth it all!!!  Don't get me wrong, there are plenty of times that I would like to give Ritzy a piece of my mind and I am sure he feels the same, but we don't make that the focus.  We focus on our love for God &  each other, our kids, & our grandkids... and the rest of our family and friends because in the end that is all that really matters. 
Enough said...............Ritzywife out..............

I attended the funeral service for my daughter's best friend's father today.  As I was going to the service I was making plans to stop at Claremore to visit an old friend whom I had not seen in over 10 years.  You may wonder why so long, but we just got out of touch and I didn't know where or how to find her.  I recently found her on Facebook and we visited back and forth  a little bit.  Recently  I saw that she was opening a Boutique in Claremore so I decided I was going to pay her a visit whenever I got the chance.   Today's activities gave me that chance.  I walked in and we hugged and immediately started talking about everything.  Just like old times before.  It was a wonderful visit.  There have been lots of changes over the years in both our lives but as far as I am concerned our friendship has never changed.  I would have to say that she is and always will be my best friend.......I am not letting "life" get in the way again.  Her friendship is worth that to me.
Now on to the "soapbox".....I keep seeing family members and people I know post pictures of them doing different things.......Well, my problem is that these same people who are doing these activities profess to be Christians.  I have to ask my self "How in the world can you call yourself a Christian and be doing the things I see you posting?!?"  It is beyond comprehension.  And they wonder why their lives are in such messes.  Geez people....don't you get it????  We are supposed to look different than the "world", not blend in........People should see something different in our lives.  "Our walk should match our talk."   When it doesn't, we are asking for trouble and we lose any credible witness we thought we might have. 
Ok, I'll step down now.
I get to go sit with the babies tomorrow while the daughter works her half day.   This grandma loves those two little boys and they are gonna know it.....
I was looking at a large tree limb just right to hang a couple of swings on the other day,  Now, if I can only get Ritzy to get up in the tree to hang the chains/ropes, haha!!!
Our garden has produced the largest onions we have ever had this year....they are about the size of a softball.  Our potatoes are being dug now, a month early, and they are really nice too.  I have some green beans that I need to pick in the next couple of days.  The weather has been really dry this May, but we are looking to get some rain tonight and tomorrow.  I can hardly wait on the tomatoes and okra.  I just hope nature doesn't just shut off the faucet like it did last year.  Our gardens were devastated.  We got nothing!!!
Our grass is already turning brown and it's only May here in Oklahoma.    Ritzywife's crappie fishing was crappy this year.......(sorry about that).  I had such high hopes, hmmm....
Well, I am going to turn in early to get rested up for those grandsons tomorrow.............Ritzywife out....

I never knew how wonderful it could be to become a grandparent until it actually happened.  Yeah, I have heard others talk about how wonderful it is but you never really know til it happens to you.  I love spending time with those precious twin grandsons.  I love to watch them, hold them, feed them,  rock them and yes even change their diapers.   They are growing so fast.  They both weigh over 10 lbs now and it is starting to feel like it......I told the daughter and son-in-law that they had better cherish this time because it will go by so fast.  Before long, those boys will  become mobile and start doing things on their own and they won't want to be cuddled and talked to.  I wish I had realized this when Ritzy and my kids were growing up.  It seems like such a short time ago.
Today I was "talking" to them and they were listening, watching and even trying to talk back to me.  It was so sweet.  Tonight the daughter called and I could hear a baby on the phone and I started talking to Calvin, he immediately  got quiet and Keri said he was listening to my voice and trying to make a sound.  I loved it!!
This Sunday is Mother's Day.  I hope everyone tells their mom how much they love her.  Kids and Dads have no clue what it is like to be a mom.  You would do anything in your power for your kids to keep them safe and healthy. 
I finally bought some flowers to plant outside.  Ritzy and I are going to do that tomorrow evening.  I love geraniums, rose moss, petunias, and most perennials.  One of my grandma's always had red geraniums planted and I guess that's where my love for them came from.  The other grandma always had those hen & chicks and I love those too.  The Oklahoma weather the past few days has been absolutely glorious.  The only drawback for Ritzywife has been the lake level.  It is way too high for me to fish in my fishing hole.  I don't know if I will be able to fish anymore this year.  The crappie have usually stopped coming up into where I fish by the end of May.  To catch any throughout the rest of the year a person has to be in a boat to find them.  
Did I mention that I love those grandbabies----always brings a smile to my face............Ritzywife out!