I am pretty certain no one is following my blog since I update it so sporadically...so why do I keep posting? I like to read over the stuff I put up months ago and check out the direction my life has taken...I guess that's reason enough to keep blogging. LOL

It is a stormy night and a good night to be snug in bed next to my Sweetie, Kevin. It is so wonderful how we found our way back to each other after 31 years! He was my boyfriend when I was a young girl and my prom date when I was in highschool. Talk about "what ifs," who knows what would have happened had we stayed together since highschool. But we didn't and we both have been burned by multiple marriages. :-( But here we are now, trying in yet another relationship with each other at nearly 50 years old.

I still can't believe I am nearly 50. That seems impossible. 50 sounds so, well, OLD! I am rushing things a bit. I am only 47 right now. Three more years till the big 5-0 hits me square in the face. What I have gone through in my life time...what I have done...what I have accomplished. I look back on parts of my life and feel like it was another person that lived it. Yet I know, it was really me. LOL

Choco is curled up between me and Kevin here on the bed. He doesn't like the thunder. Ely is playing the Wii in his room and Lj is at his girlfriend, Janice's house. Tomorrow is church. Kevin's younger brother is a Baptist minister at this small country church between here and Crossett on Hwy 133. I don't remember the name of it. We went last Sunday, my first time, and everyone greeted Kevin like a long lost relative. :-) So, we're going back there again. We went to Journey Church the Sunday before that, but decided that there was too young of a congregation for us...we are at least a generation older than most all the people at Journey. But I like their contemporary style of worship. Then again, there's nothing wrong with the old fashioned hymns I grew up on and the nostalgia of the small country church. I hate I have to dress up each time, but I'll get used to it.

I am on yet another diet trying to lose weight yet again. I wear a pedometer every day, well, every day I don't forget it, and never get near 10K steps! Even if I go walking and do my exercise routine at Curves, which is closing after next week. Then Lisa and I are going to walk on the track for exercise on the days weather permits. Lisa is a childhood friend, too. She has recently come back home from travelling with her husband on the pipeline. It has been fun hanging out with her and going to Curves.

Tomorrow, after church, we are going to see the movie The Book of Eli. It is supposed to be pretty good. An action movie.

Christmas was nice. Kevin and I stayed home. Lj went to Janice's and Ely was in Minneapolis with his dad. I got a beautiful emerald and diamond ring from Kevin. I bought him a Garmin GPS and two LL Bean "Hurricane" shirts to work in. We didn't get much else. We already have everything we want.

I'd better be off to sleepy land if I'm going to get up early enough to go to church I'll try to write more frequently. TTFN: CL

Boy do I ever need a new photo. I hadn't realized how much my hair has grown since this last pic. I'll try to remedy that soon. Long time no hear from. I am back in AR with my boys. They decided MN wasn't all it was cracked up to be and longed for home as soon as school started. And voila -- here we are once again in our little farmhouse in Green Hill.


Tonight Lj and I went to the Monticello Christmas Parade and fireworks display. It was a lot more fun for him than for me since he ditched me 5 minutes after we got there to go hang out with his girlfriend and her family. So I found some friends from Journey Church and watched the parade with them.


Ely elected to stay home in the comfort of a central heated house. I can't say as I blame him since tonight was the coldest we've had so far. But he called me during the fireworks show and upon hearing all the explosions decided it might be cool to come next year.


Christmas is certainly sneaking up on us. The year flew by so fast, who knew? Last summer I was renting a room in a basement, getting to see my kids once a week or so, planning to buy a condo close to their dad's where they were living and then they up and decided they wanted to come back to AR just like that. The rest has been a whirlwind. More of the Cindy saga next time here on cynles.blogspot.com.

I picked up the boys yesterday and they spent the night with me. Lj is going back to his dad's tonight so Andy M. can pick him up in the morning and they can go hang out at Andy S.'s house. Another whole week before school starts. They start after Labor Day up here. Ely is playing Super Smash Mario Bro.s on the giant TV Karin has in the family room here. He's enjoying himself. Lj just went outside to have some alone-time. All in all things are clicking right along. This weekend we'll buy school supplies and get another hair cut before school gets underway. Then they'll be ready. Me? I am pretty bored. The kids didn't want to go to the movies today. They just wanted to hang out here at Karin's. So, I'm just hanging out, too. CL

Well, it has been a few months, but here I am in Chaska, MN - a western suburb of Minneapolis. I've been here since June. I've been doing a lot of work to Karin's house, but that is all over now. She moved in this weekend. I had gotten used to living here by myself, so now I'll have to get used to living here with her. For a little while anyway.

I decided to buy my own place up here and am moving into a condo within the next 6 weeks. Just waiting on the closing date to be decided. Once we close, I'll be only 3 blocks or thereabouts from the boys. They'll be able to walk or ride a bike over to my house any time they want. I really miss them being around all the time, so that will be better.

I got them registered for school a couple of weeks ago. Tomorrow, I take Lj to his High School orientation. It's an all day thing. Somehow I will have to find time to squeeze in a way to make a doctor's appointment for Ely. He needs his ADD medicine refilled for when school starts. I also need to visit his school about his EIP, I'm not sure what that stands for, Educational Individual Program or some such thing. I'll be glad when all is done and they are in school full time. Then I can get more involved in school activities as well and will have something to do besides sleep.

When I get into the Condo, I'll have plenty to do. I need to repaint the whole house. Especially the bedrooms -- they're getting painted first thing. The rest can wait until winter when I'm really bored. Another thing about living in my own Condo, I can have Choco, my long-haired chihuahua come live with me so I won't be so lonesome without the boys there. And he'll give me reason to get out of bed every morning -- to take him for a walk. I may not appreciate it on days that it will be 20 below 0, but I've done it before.

Mike and I are totally over. He is dating Midge now. A friend of mine from our highschool days. I was a bit surprised, but am happy if he's happy, and he says he is. So I am single again.

Sometimes I think I am just meant to be single. Alone. Lonely. Oh well, we'll see what happens as I move into the new condo and start my new life. So far it has just been a long transition.

More as time goes by. CL

Took the kids to see Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian this afternoon. Movie ticket prices have gone up again. But the concession stand, as always the rip off, costs more than the tickets! And I bought 4 tickets!

It rained here today off and on. And yet the frogs are croaking for more rain. This has to be the rainiest May in years. At least for this part of the world.

I am reading Susan Elizabeth Phillips' Natural Born Charmer. It was on sale at Barnes and Noble last time I was there, and I have met and worked with Susan Elizabeth Phillips, so I have to support her! Well, no I don't, but what I've read of hers, I've really liked.

Tomorrow is a family reunion I wasn't planning on attending, but at about 6:30 pm, my mother came over to announce she'd changed her mind since a cousin has come in from AL and she thinks we should go although she is sick and really doesn't feel like it. So I'll have to get up a bit early in the morning to get ready for that.

Nothing else of interest to report. :-( CL

I am downloading Steve Miller Band's Very Best Of 1991 from MP3Fiesta.com , our favorite Mp3 website. I have most of the songs on CD, but with this new "baby" computer (HP Mini) there's no CD player, only a tiny little disc slot and a USB drive for a flash drive or stick memory or whatever you want to call those stick thingies. I bought a new flash drive that had like 4GB of space on it and moved all my pictures to it. It holds more than several CDs. And doesn't get scratched up. Maybe I'll do the same thing with my music. I have a lot on my desktop that I would like to take with me to Mpls. That'd be easier than taking all my CDs. I have tons of them.

I found this cool site that has a lot of original guitar music and have been enjoying some free mp3s from it. RiffWorld.com. If you check it out, listen to Guitarshredder557. Pretty cool stuff.

More next time...CL

Feeling really tired today. Got a little disappointed that I left my car at the detailer's all day only to pick it up at 5:00pm and find it not detailed! They got the outside washed, but didn't have time to clean the inside, which to me was more important. They had too many cars today. Anyway, I stopped by the carwash and vacuumed it out myself. It only cost me 3 bucks and some advil for my lower back. :-(

Lj has taken to climbing up on top of the storage shed to get a signal on his cell phone so he can text his friends. He originally climbed from a tree that grows behind it. I put a ladder up to make it more accessible. He had just better not fall off that thing.

Ely climbed up there yesterday via ladder, but he doesn't particularly like heights and didn't stay long. I am glad. Having one son risk life and limb at the time is enough. It worries me that they like to climb, but I did too at that age. I just pray they'll be extra careful.

We have one more week and two days before we head to MN. I am so ready to get up there and get this next part of my life started. I am still worrying about how to pack so much stuff into my car. We'll probably use plastic garbage bags instead of suitcases since they are so much more malleable. Well, I have a couple of suitcases I'll use, but other than that -- color-coded garbage bags. The phone is ringing...better go. CL