A Hearty "BetterLateThanNot" Holiday Hello

    Vivian Amelia Podd

"I think that I see something deeper, more infinite, more eternal than the ocean in the expression of the eyes of a little baby when it wakes in the morning and coos or laughs because it sees the sun shining on its cradle."    

-Vincent Van Gogh-

It's a New Year and I send a heartfelt hello to one and all!

There is a expression that us procrastinators like to use...you know the one "better late than never?" After receiving 2014 yuletide greetings I started to feel a wee bit guilty about not writing my usual letter. 

So here it is:

I'll start with Joyous greetings & wishes for a HappyValentinesEasterMemorialFourthHalloweenBirthdayThanksgiving Days! (I'll save the Christmas letter for this coming December...I hope!)  

In late fall we welcomed TWO new little ones to our families! Miss Colbie Rose arrived on the 6th of November blessing Nate's brother Luke and Melissa Potter's lives, and Miss Vivian Amelia graced Kyle, Jessi and Carter Podd's lives on the 18th of November. I was intrigued with the definition for Vivian's name. 

"People with this name are excited by change, adventure, and excitement. They are dynamic, visionary and versatile, able to make constructive use of freedom. They fight being restricted by rules and conventions. They tend to be optimistic, energetic, intelligent, and to make friends easily. They may be changeable, restless, untidy, and rebellious."

I want that name!! However, since realistically I am not going to change my name at this point in my life I still have time to use my mantra of "better late than never" and adopt even a few of the characteristics from Vivian's name. To do so would perhaps make experiencing the challenges of being a human being more enjoyable.

2014 found us still living very cosily in our 408 sq ft studio. Our dog Kona passed away last summer leaving a void in our hearts that only a dog that loves you unconditionally can leave. Zoey the kat is still with us, somehow finagling FIVE special catnapping spots (she took some of Kona's).

That's a cat for you.

We enjoyed visits from Shiloh, Isabelle and Cameron (Ronnah & Marks munchkins) and of course lots of hanging out and slumber-jams with Carter which had us creatively figuring out where to put the extra bodies in our just a bit bigger than a walk-in closet living space :)  

I will close this greeting with a quote from the late Maya Angelou:

"My mission in life is not merely to survive, but to thrive; and to do so with some passion, some compassion, some humor, and some style."

Wishing all that and more for you and your loved ones throughout the year.

Laura, Nate & Zoey

Nitty Gritty Details

My Full Name: Laura McNeeley (my parents could not figure out a middle name for me although they gave each of my brothers one) I have also had the last names Wandersee and Amundson, which I inherited from not one but TWO ex-husbands.

Date Of Birth: May 9,1956 (sometimes my birthday falls on Mother's Day which totally robs me of one of my #youhavetobenicetome days.

Place Of Birth: Covina, California (that is more in the southern smoggy area of the state)

My Mother's Full Name: Amelia Monje (no middle name either!)

Date of Her Birth: September 2 ? (will need to check on that)

Place of Her Birth: Mata Ortiz, Mexico (in the state of Chiuahua)

My Father's Full Name: Lyman Dennis McNeeley

Date of His Birth: February 14 ? (same thing will need to check on it)

Place of His Birth: Some place in Indiana

Whew that didn't seem too bad. :) It's funny (and sort of sad) that I did not know a couple of the details like birth year and place of the two people that popped me into the world. 

Oh well.

 

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My stories. My words.

I have to admit that the title of this series of blogs that I am about to embark on does not sound too interesting. (each blog pertaining to this project will be labeled with #mystoriesmywords)

And that may well turn out to be a truth.
However, grand-munchkin #3 presented me (or rather his mother did) with a little book to fill in titled "Grandma. Her stories. Her words."

When I began to fill it in I thought it would be easy-beezy and that I could just zoom through the book and be done with it.
That was not the case.
The first query seemed easy enough, however after thumbing through the questions I found that they took a turn from simple to complicated.  A discussion (and several examples of the questions) with grand-munchkin #1 found us agreeing that:
Firstly, #3 as well as the other grand-munchkins, would not be ready (and may never be) for some of their Nana's not quite "Brady Bunch or Leave it to Beaver" answers. We decided that other than shelving the project I would answer the questions via my Miss Mooty's Musings blog allowing me to answer as candidly as I could. With that plan in place the younger ones could discover a bit about their Nana when they were ready to.

That being said, I should say that I will dive right in...but in my case it is going to be more like a "hold my nose" and make a cannonball splash.

I hope to not get them too wet in the process.

 

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