IN 1970...

How Much things cost in 1970 (in 2009):

Yearly Inflation Rate USA 5.84% (1.8%)

Year End Close Dow Jones Industrial Average 838 (end of the day, 12/28/09 10547.08)

Average Cost of new house $23,450.00 ($200,250 - $300,000)

Average Income per year $9,400.00 ($50,233)

Cost of a gallon of Gas 36 cents (yesterday on my way home $2.37)

Sheaffer Pen $9.95 (I don't know which version this was based on but the Sheaffer 100 goes for $16.00)

United States postage Stamp 6 cents (44 cents)

Gallon of milk $1.15 ($3.50-$4.00)

Dozen Eggs 62 cents (anywhere up to $1.50 but I had to pay $2.49 last week because the store was out of every kind except Eggland's Best. There was a winter storm coming in and everyone stocked up)

AMC Gremlin $1879 (I wanted to find what their worth today but doing a search on google didn't bring up any for sale within the WWW)

And the Kansas City Chiefs won the Superbowl January 11, 1970.

HELP WITH IDEAS!!!...

As you can see by the new image to the right, there's a big event coming up.

Yes, I'm turning 40. That's FOUR OH!

I have mixed feelings about this.

On one hand, I'm entering the midst a group of elite folks that have seen 4 decades of life.

On the other hand, I've seen 4 decades of life! That's a lot.

So for the next 16 days, I plan to recap some events that were meaningful for me from the past 40 years.

Also, I'm in need of ideas. How should I celebrate?

What would you do to celebrate a 40th birthday? Would you go somewhere special for dinner? Would you take a trip somewhere? Would you throw a party?

I can't take a trip anywhere, well, because I'm broke. But I can go somewhere special for dinner or someone can throw me a party.

Help me out. Pass along some ideas to an ol' fogy.

TO YOU AND YOURS...

I was lazy this year and didn't do Christmas Cards.

I thought about it back in October while we watched our first Christmas movie of the year. I didn't do it then because I thought I'd have time. I did, too.

Then November rolled around and it was time for The Teenager's birthday. Then came Thanksgiving. And Black Friday.

I thought of them again at the beginning of December while I watched my favorite Christmas movie, Christmas Vacation, every day for a week.

Well, I didn't watch the ENTIRE movie every night. Just bits and pieces until I had pretty much had seen the whole movie.

Before I knew it, I ran out of time.

It's Christmas day and I didn't send out cards.

So I found this card and thought it so elegant I fell in love with my last minute attempt.

So to you and yours from me and mine, Merry Christmas.

NEW FAV BLOG TO VISIT...

OMG! I've discovered (from where I can't remember) a new blog to visit each day.

Cake Wrecks

You just have to visit it to believe it. Daddeee and I have spent many hours browsing this site with much laughter.

Go. Visit it. Laugh for yourself.

But don't forget to come back and tell me if you laughed.

Or not.

GOD WON'T ASK...

1. God won't ask what kind of car you drove.
He'll ask how many people you drove who didn't have transportation.

2. God won't ask the square footage of your house.
He'll ask how many people you welcomed into your home.

3. God won't ask about the clothes you had in your closet.
He'll ask how many you helped to clothe.

4. God won't ask what your highest salary was.
He'll ask if you compromised your character to obtain it.

5. God won't ask what your job title was.
He'll ask if you performed your job to the best of your ability.

6. God won't ask how many friends you had.
He'll ask how many people to whom you were a friend.

7. God won't ask in what neighborhood you lived.
He'll ask how you treated your neighbors.

8. God won't ask about the color of your skin.
He'll ask about the content of your character.

Merry Christmas from Mommeee.

Isn't it amazing what our kids have today that we didn't have when we were their age?

I was 10 when we got our first microwave. We used it to heat water. Microwave popcorn wasn't even available yet.

For Christmas when I was 11, I got a black and white television. It had 2 dials on it. The top dial was for channels 4, 5, 9 and U. When it was on U, the bottom dial would change and pick up 19 and 41.

A few years later, channel 62 was added. That was huge!

Today, my children each have their own tvs...with cable.

The Teenager has his own computer.

My first computer was a Commodore 64. That's 64K! That's big enough to hold maybe one document. Not even an entire song. Do, Ra, Mi, Fa, and So. La, Ti, and Do are just screwed.

Their spoiled. I tell them stories of what it was like when I was a kid.

I associate these stories with the ones I was told by my parents when I was a kid.

We didn't have school buses. We had to walk to school. In the snow. With no shoes. Up hill both ways.

TYPICAL STAR...

I've tried forever to get some decent pictures of Dexter.

A first he was a little shy and didn't want me to get a shot of him. He kept turning his head.


He finally relented and allowed me to get a few shots.

He's an adorable puppy when he wants to be. Other times he's just a pain in the butt. Just ask Ranger.


See? He's cute.

He won't be a puppy for much longer. He turns 1 year on December 13th.


"Did someone say squirrel?" (shameless reference to the movie UP!)

All this posing for pictures wears a puppy out. He stayed in this position for hours.

Yet he can barely hold still when I want a decent picture of his face.

UNEXPECTED VISITOR...

I awoke this morning to an unexpected visitor.
Maybe he isn't as much unexpected as unwelcome. He has invaded my entire head.

I've napped twice today hoping he'd take the hint and leave.

And he wasn't even gracious enough to arrive with a bottle of wine like any other well-meaning guest would.

CHRISTMAS ORNAMENTS...

Every year, it's our family tradition to each choose a new Christmas ornament.

Daddeee and I have been together for 16 Christmases so we've collected quite a few ornaments over the years. Our tree is covered with only sentimental ornaments.

No plain balls here.

We try to choose ornaments that mean something to us. The Teenager was into Elmo one year, a long time ago, so we have an Elmo.

We have McDonalds, Coca-Cola, Chiefs...

So this year, these are mine.

I love them. They're about 2 inches tall and a beautiful reminder of where I'm spending my retirement money.

I can't wait to hang them on the tree this weekend.

THOUSAND WORD THURSDAY...

This is a first for me. I've never joined this fellow mom and posted along with her for TWT. The Mom Jen over at Cheaper Than Therapy has been doing this FORever.

I was up at the b-crack of dawn this morning looking for something other than cleaning my kitchen to occupy my time so I thought I'd join in.

I chose this picture of The Kid this morning because a) his ear is so darn cute and b) it's 20-something degrees outside and I know my son would much rather spend his day in shorts playing with his chalk on the front sidewalk than bundling up in a bulky, winter coat. I don't like the cold. I won't play outside in the cold. And you can't make me.