Tuesday, January 13, 2009

Paid in Full & 2 Birthdays.

Post 557 ~ ~ ~ Tuesday, 13th January, 2009.

Hello my friends ~ ~ I hope you have had as much fun the last couple of days as I have.
My two cousins and I never stopped talking and enjoying the time together. Our mothers were three sisters in a family of ten. Two boys and 8 girls,,, and my grandmother used
to say, "10 kids and not a dud among them." They have all passed away now, but most of us have been close to each other and the cousins still do keep in touch. My Home Care Lady came today, so she took a couple of photos of us.



Three cousins, 2009, Pam, Merle with eyes shut and Michelle.



The same three of us again. I am the oldest, Pam next and Michelle the youngest.

We have two great bloggers and friends having birthdays tomorrow on 14th January.
First is my dear friend Joy and also our photographer friend who takes us all over the
world Jerry aka Lazy Blogger. I hope you both have a wonderful day and many happy
returns. Please drop by their blogs, to say Happy Birthday and for a good read.

My story tonight is called "Paid in Full," Author Unknown. I think it is a good one.

A young man was getting ready to graduate from college. For many months he had admired a beautiful sports car in a dealer's showroom, and knowing his father could well afford it, he told him that was all he wanted.

As Graduation Day approached, the young man awaited signs that his father had purchased the car. Finally, on the morning of his graduation, his father called him into his
private study. His father told him how proud he was to have such a fine son, and told him how much he loved him. He handed his son a beautifully wrapped giftbox. Curious, and somewhat disappointed, the young man opened the box and found a lovely leather-bound Bible, with the young man's name embossed in gold.

Angry he shouted at his father and said, "with all your money, you give me a Bible?" and stormed out of the house.

Many years passed and the young man had become very successful in business. He had a beautiful home and wonderful family, but realized his father now was getting old, and thought perhaps he should go to see him. He had not seen him since graduation day.
Before he could make arrangements, he received a telegram telling him his father had passed away, and willing all of his possessions to his son. He needed to come home immediately and take care of things.

When he arrived at his father's house, sudden sadness and regret filled his heart. He began to search through his father's important papers and saw the still gift-wrapped Bible, just as he left it years before. With tears, he opened the Bible and began to turn the pages. His father had carefully underlined a verse, Matt.7:11 - "And if ye, being evil, know how to give
good gifts to your children, how much more shall your Heavenly Father which is in Heaven, give to those who ask Him?"

As he read these words, a car key dropped from the back of the Bible. It had a tag with the dealer's name, the same dealer who had the sports car he had wanted. On the tag was the date of his graduation, and the words "PAID IN FULL."

How many times do we miss God's blessings because we can't see past our own desires?
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The following list was sent to me by my good friend Sherree MeLernan. Many thanks.

20 ways to Maintain A Healthy Level of Insanity.

1. At lunchtime, sit in your car with sunglasses on and point a hair-dryer at passing
cars. See if they slow down.

2. Page yourself over the Intercom. Don't disguise your voice.

3. Anytime someone asks you to do something, ask is they want fries with that.

4. Put your garbage can on your desk and label it "IN."

5. Put Decaf in the coffee maker for 3 weeks. Once everyone has gotten over their
caffeine Addictions, switch to Espresso.

6. In the memo field of all your checks, write "for smuggling diamonds."

7. Finish all your sentences with "in accordance with the prophecy."

8. Don't use any punctuation.

9. As often as possible, skip rather than walk.

10. Order a diet water whenever you are out to eat, with a serious face,

11. Specify that your drive-through order is "To Go."

12. Sing along at the opera.

13. Go to a Poetry recital, and ask why the poems don't rhyme?

14. Put Mosquito netting around your work area and play tropical sounds all day.

15. Five days in advance, tell your friends you can't attend their party, because you are
not in the mood.

16. Have your co-workers address you by your wrestling name---Rock Bottom.

17. WHEN THE MONEY COMES OUT OF THE atm, SCREAM "I WON, I WON."

18. When leaving the Zoo, start running towards the parking lot, yelling, "Run for your
lives. They're loose."

19. Tell your children over dinner, "Due to the economy, we are going to have to let one
of you go."

20. And the final way to keep a healthy level of insanity - - Send this e-mail to someone
to make them smile. It is called therapy.
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Gregory finally got up the nerve to tell his wife he wanted a divorce, so he could marry another woman.
"Can she cook like I can?" asked the distraught woman between sobs.
"Not on her best day," he replied.

"Can she buy you expensive presents like I do?" she asked.
"No, she's broke," he said.
"Well then is it sex?" she inquired.
"Nobody does it like you, babe," he replied.

"Then what can she do that I can't?" the woman tearfully asked.
"Sue me for child support."
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A father asked his 10 year old son if he knew about the birds and the bees.
"I don't want to know," the child said bursting into tears. "Promise you won't tell me."
Confused the father asked what was wrong. The boy sobbed, "When I was six, I got the
'There's no Easter Bunny' story. At seven I got the 'there's no tooth fairy speech."

"When I was eight, you hit me with the "there's no Santa speech" "If you are going to tell me that grown-ups don't really get laid, I'll have nothing left to live for."
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Arthur is 90 years old. He's played golf every day since his retirement 25 years ago.
One day he arrives home looking downcast. . ."That's it," he tells his wife. "I'm giving
up golf. My eyesight has got so bad, once I hit the ball, I can't see where it went."

His wife sympathises. Once they sit down, she says, "Why don't you take my brother with you, and give it one more try?"
"That's no good, ," sighs Arthur, "Your brother is one hundred and three. "He can't help."

"He may be one hundred and three, but his eyesight is perfect." says his wife..
So the next day he sets off to the golf course with his brother-in-law. He sets up and takes an almighty swing and squints down the fairway. He turns to his brother-in-law and
asks, "Did you see the ball?"

"Of course I did," says the brother in law. "I have perfect eyesight."
"Where did it go?" asks Arthur.
"I don't remember."
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A woman and a man are involved in a car accident on a snowy cold Monday morning.
Both of their cars are totally demolished but amazingly neither of them is hurt.
God works in mysterious ways. After they crawl out of their cars, the woman says,
"So you are a man. That's interesting. I am a woman. Wow look at our cars, there's nothing left of them but we are unhurt. This must be a sign from God that we meet and be friends and live together in peace for the rest of our lives."

Flattered, the man answers, "I agree with you completely. It must be a sign of God."
The woman continues, "And look, here is another miracle. My car is completely demolished, but this bottle of wine didn't break. Surely God wants us to drink this wine and celebrate our good fortune."

Then she hands the bottle to the man. The man nods his head in agreement, opens it
and drinks half the bottle and then hands it back to the woman. She takes it and puts the cap on and hands it back to the man.

The man asks, "Aren't you having any?"
The women replies, "No, I think I will just wait for the police."

Moral of this story ~~ Women are clever, evil bitches. Don't mess with them !!
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Donald Rumsfeld briefed the President this morning. He told Bush that three Brazilian
soldiers were killed in Iraq. To everyone's amazement, all the color drained out of Bush's
face and then he collapsed onto his desk, head in hands, visibly shaken almost whispering
Finally, he composed himself and asked Rumsfeld, "Just how many is a brazillion?"
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Time to call it a day. Take great care, my friends. Love and best wishes to you all.
Merle.


Post 557 ~ ~ ~ Tuesday, 13th January, 2009,
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27 comments:

Lady Di Tn said...

Merle
Thanks for entertaining us again today. I am so glad y'all have a chatty visit. Those are the best kind. Peace

Joy Des Jardins said...

Dearest Merle....Thank you so much for the Birthday wishes. How do you remember everyone sweetie? How thoughtful of you. We're getting some very snowy and cold weather here....the kids and I will celebrate this weekend...going out to dinner. Take care my dear friend...and thanks for remembering me my sweet friend....Love, Joy

Gigi Ann said...

Hello Merle,

I loved reading and viewing the pictures of you and your cousins. Isn't it nice to get together with old friends even if they are relatives? ;)

As always you entertained me and put a smile on my face again!

The weather here today is COLD! It is -10 degrees. Maybe it will get up to 2 degrees above zero by 3 o'clock this afternoon. We also have had about 12 inches of snow these last two days. Brrrr!!

Oh well, Spring is just around the corner. But which corner?

Have a nice week.

Ann

Gledwood said...

That story about the car is worthy of Jeffrey Archer... he's put out a few collections and they're v good if you like twist in the tale type stories... actually one collection is called A TWIST IN THE TALE

Beth E. said...

That joke about President Bush made me laugh out loud! Thank you for a great post. I'm so glad you had a good visit with your cousins. :o)

Carole Burant said...

Hello dear Merle:-)

I've been in a cleaning frenzy the last couple of days but now it's time for blogging!!! lol We're in the middle of a deep freeze right now and since I won't go out in that, I figured I may as well give my house a good cleaning:-) How wonderful to have your two cousins visiting with you and I can well imagine the fun you are having!!

"Paid In Full" is such a beautiful story and we can certainly learn from it!! I laughed so much at the 20 Ways to Maintain a Healthy Level of Insanity...I'll have to give some of them a try! hehe Can you imagine the look on a waitress' face if someone ordered a "diet water"? lol

Take care, dear friend, and know that I think of you often:-) xoxo

Winifred said...

So pleased you had a good time with your cousins.

You made me laugh again tonight, thanks for that!

Puss-in-Boots said...

Hi Merle. Love the ways to keep a healthy level of insanity...I could imagine doing a lot of those.

Sounds like you and your cousins had a great time as I did when I caught up with my cousins in NZ.

There is a gift for you on my blog today, much deserved, too, I might add.

Hugs.

Margaret Cloud said...

The pictures of you and your cousins look great, I am glad you all had fun. Those stories are the best and the one about the graduate was a peach, and I really liked that healthy list is really funny. Thank you for coming by.

mreddie said...

Very happy faces on the cousins - looks like you had much fun. I try to keep a healthy level of insanity as well - enjoyed that one. ec

LZ Blogger said...

Merle ~ You have so many nice relatives and friends! You can't ask for much more than that to make life wonderful! ~ jb///

Peter said...

G'day Merle, the 2nd photo is better of you and Michelle but the first one is a lovely one of Pam, glad you had a good visit, keep well.

Jeanette said...

hi Dear Merle,Lovely photo's,
By the looks of the smiles on your faces you have had a wonderful fun time catching up with Michelle and Pam.
Nice story "Paid in full"
I laughed out loud at a couple of the jokes tonight Try to stay cool more hot weather on its way... Love janxxxxxx

Dave said...

*LOL* Great post as always Merle!!! Loved the 20 ways part!!

Dave said...

Oh, and I love the pictures... it's great that you had such fun with your family! *S*

Gina E. said...

Hi Merle, I've only just caught up with the photo of the puppies that you posted to show me - soooo cute! I'll show Ken next time we are in here on our computers at the same time. He won't come when I call him to come from elsewhere to look at something on my computer. He says I never come to look at something he is watching on t.v. - duh, men!
I really envy you and Jeanette; you both have such great times with your respective families! I only see my cousins at weddings and funerals....actually not even at weddings - we move in different circles!

Jack K. said...

Glad to know that your visit with your sisters went so well.

I am sure the neighborhood was much brighter with the three of you shining with love.

I had read some of the stories before.

The gift story is particularly appealing, sad and so true.

The funny stories about the birds and the bees, golfing and the recipe for insanity are making me laugh out loud.

Thanks for sharing. Have a great day.

Anonymous said...

Some really funny stuff, took away a little of the winter doldrums, thanks for taking the time to give your fans something to look forward to.

Sue Seibert said...

Great when cousins can be close. I have one I am very close to...a boy, but, hey, he's ok.

Of my 3 daughters my mother used to say, "And not a horsy one among them."

Carl H. Sr. said...

So many cute,funny,and entertaining stories in your last few posts.(as usual) I really enjoy visiting "Merle's Third Try".
I'm glad you are having such a fine visit with family.
I am fasting today for an endoscopy procedure I am having in the morning.They call it out-patient surgery,and They will put me to sleep first.I can't WAIT to get woke up and given a snack!
God Bless you and your's Merle,
carl

Pear tree cottage! said...

Merle every time I come on over to your blog it looks like it grows bigger and bigger every time. so this time I made a cuppa and sat here and read many post to catch up on your day........you are one very busy lady with loves of love Around you.

Now try and keep cool over there I was watching our news last night and could not believe how hot it got there for you and up at Mildura as well.

Lee-ann

Rosezilla (Tracie Walker) said...

I've been catching up and enjoying myself thoroughly as usual! Love the golfing one, and so many others - like the story about Kyle, plus lots of funnies! That's great about your visit with your cousins, you all look really nice together. Happy.

Christina said...

Love the golf joke and the Bush joke!

Patty said...

Dear Merle,
Loved the Paid in Full Story. And poor old dumb George, will he never learn. LOL

Nice you and the cousins were able to get together for a visit.

Hope you sleep well tonight. Cold here again today, driving is a mess because of the ice and snow. Daughter that normally gets home in 30 mins took an hour and 30 tonight.

Another daughter had to have their dog put down last night. We've had pictures of him on our blogs, Abe and I. Vet thinks he had some tumors in his nose which were cancerous. He's been having some problems for several months now. But it was hard on Becky, she called me on the way back from the vet's last evening, crying. They had him about 14 years. The family that did have him was going to take him to the pound, they were moving and couldn't take the dog. So our daughter and her partner took him in and he loved it at their house as much as they loved him. He would come and visit Grandma and Grandpa for a week or so at a time, if they went on vacation. He loved to lay and watch out the front door. I'll have to find a photo of him and send it to you by e-mail.
Good night,
Love,
Patty

linda may said...

G'Day Merle,
I get to see 2 of my cousins this Saturday when I go to Sydney, cousins are special aren't they.
It is a bit hot isn't it at the moment. Even here in Canberra everything is wilted, me too.
I like the "Want to" story, very clever Daddy that one.

Gutsy Living said...

Your photos are so full of laughter and happiness. I wish we took more time to laugh with our friends. I loved your jokes again. Thanks.

audrey` said...

"Paid In Full" is so touching.

I love the profile pic on your Facebook account, Merle =)