Legos

A huddle of heads around a pile of plastic, interlocking blocks transformed into villages, vehicles and creatures. That's my memory of Legos. They were an investment into the imagination of young minds. When my boys grew up and cars and girls were more intriguing, I couldn't part with that part of their childhood; so the Legos were moved to the attic.

A few years ago my neice needed someone to take care of her children for a couple of months in the summer. I agreed to look after them for her and brought down the Legos so they would have something to do while they were here. Amazingly after ten years the Legos were still as big a hit with this new generation as they had been with my kids. They would sit for hours building and making up stories for their tiny characters to act out.

After the kids went back to school and my neice no longer needed me to watch her children I never quite got up the nerve to move the Legos back up into the attic.

New neighbors moved in next door and they had a three year old little boy who was a little hard to understand. He would come over to visit for cookies and to "Pay Yaygos". My husband teased me about having a new boyfriend. I laughed and said, "Yes, but he only likes me for my cookies and Yaygos". He soon met other little boys in the neighborhood and his visits became less frequent.

The other day my youngest son who is now 21 came over to visit. "Mom, do you still have our Legos?" I told him we did and asked him why he wanted to know. "Well." He said. "Me and my friends were sitting around talking about how much fun we used to have with Legos. Their mom's got rid of theirs but I told them I think you still have ours. We thought it would be cool to play with them."

They say boys never grow up and with mine that is so far true. The only thing I'm concerned about now is if my little friend comes to visit and discovers my "Yaygos" have been repossessed.

Health

We don't realize how important our health is until it's gone.

It seems like every decade we look back and say, "I can remember when I used to do this or that with no problem and now..." Getting old is the pits but as one guy said it beats the alternative.

Keeping active is the best thing we can do to help maintain our mobility and stay healthy. I have a treadmill that I absolutely love and I hate exercising. The main reason I love my treadmill is because it has a little ledge that holds a book. If I can read while I walk the time goes by more quickly. Here's a helpful tip: My ledge wasn't deep enough to hold a full size hardback book so I took a long piece of 1/2 inch elastic and tied it around. It now holds any size book and the elastic holds the book open to the page I'm reading. I'm not much on television especially daytime television so my book ledge is great. The downside is that my treadmill takes up quite a bit of space but I felt it was a sacrifice I was willing to make for my health. You see I have fibromyalgia and keeping active is not only important for me but crucial for my well being. Having my treadmill has enabled me to get off some very strong medications that were having adverse affects on my body.

Some people enjoy walking at the mall. I don't have a mall nearby so that isn't an option for me but it sounds like a great idea. They usually have a place where you can sit down afterwards and have something to drink. There are other people walking too so if you are a social person that's a great place to go.

Holidays are over

Christmas is over, the presents unwrapped and 2006 is nearly over, where did the year go.

With the coming of a new year I feel new goals are in order. My goal is to polish up my juvenile fantasy novel and get it ready for publication. I will also finish the second book in my non-fiction series: Mom's Guide to Raising Children.

My non-writing goals are to finish remodeling my home and get it ready to sell. By 2008 I want to at least start building a new home in the forest.