Where to Start?

I have so much to share I just do not know WHERE TO START! I will start with my mother's 92nd birthday celebration only because it is the biggest thing that has happened to me in 2012. Yes ... the biggest ... I have been sick! I do not have much of a social life these days! :( But it is still a big event anyway!

First, I am not sure how it happened ... but I ended up being in charge of decorating and the cake. I did offer to make the save the date announcements and invitations because the idea of playing with paper ... well ... unfortunately ... at this time in my life ... did make me drool! :) So this is what I concocted and they all did have a similar layout and coloring. I REFUSE to purchase any more paper ... well ... at the time ... I did not want to purchase new paper. I have so much! It is really quite sinful!  This is the save the date announcement:

Then the horrors of having to decorate! I had all these great ideas in my head for decorations but for adults only! Not rated X kinda stuff but fragile breakable items. It was all I could do to bring the table scape. Although there were no wild children running around loose ... I did not know this when preparing the items I wanted to use for the table scape. I included pictures of my mom from when she was 15 to when she was 75 and some of her favorite things here:

This is the invitation and yes ... for the invitations, they all had the same design but they were ALL DIFFERENT ... again, that silly idea I had back then I would not buy more paper to sit on a shelf unused. If you look closely into the boot to the right of the invitation, you will see some of my mother's favorite things. She used to crochet a lot. These are her needles and scissors she kept next to her recliner. All the memories I have of her are of her sitting in her pink recliner crocheting and whistling gospel music ... or reading her bible ... but always sitting in the pink recliner. :)

My mom's favorite color is pink and her favorite flower is the rose. Hence, all the pink and pink roses! :) I added the green because the color green of the emerald stone for the month of May. I chose this light lime green because the lime green seemed to go well with the pink but I did use a light pink and I went with the light lime green. I originally did want to use HOT pink and BRIGHT lime green ... but the hot pink is not the shade of pink my mother loves. This is the back of the invitation:

I sadly report ... I did NOT bake the cake. :) We bought it at Amigos. I thought it came out great!

This is the birthday girl, Lipa. Her name is Felipa but she does not like that name and has always been called Lips ... and mom ... and mommy ... and ama. ;) Doesn't she look wicked awesome for 92!

My mother loves Julio and Janie Trevino. Julio used to be our pastor many years ago. He brought both of my children and that I know of one of my nephews to learn of Christ. He is also my landlord. All I have to say about that is that you do not have to be a Christian to be a landlord. I know I have written unkind, but true things about my landlord. But my mother loves the both of them and they are a very nice couple. They both sing and performed for my mother's service and he brought a gospel message to those invited to the celebration. My mother's legacy is that she bring her entire family to know of Christ and His undying love and forgiveness to His children.

This is my brother-in-law, Clyde. He was revited by the song and sermon. :)

We were pleasantly surprised to learn one of my brothers had hired a mariachi band. These guys were the hit of the party!

This is the brother who hired the mariachi band, Manuel. He is posing with his ex-wife, Eugenia ... and what a surprise to see her there! She is also a party crasher because she was not sent an invitation! But then again, maybe my brother invited her ... not to say she was not welcomed ... just a surprise ... we love her ... she appeared to use to be a good wife to my brother. Their oldest daughter, Ellen, sits next to mom and the hidden child is Ellen's youngest son. That is how I was introduced to him. No name, "this is my youngest son" ...

This is the nephew Julio brought to know Christ, Gerald. He poses with his two children, Olivia and Julian. I hope that is his name! I do not mean to do it on purpose but I have LOTS of nephews and nieces and I do not see them often enough to remember their names! Also, Nina's boyfriend has a son named Jeremiah and listening to her tell stories of him leaves the name engraved in my mind and I want to call ALL of my young nephews Jeremiah!

My cousin, Mary, moved up from Austin with her entire family, husband Sammy, oldest son Jesse, oldest daughter ... her name escapes me! ... the youngest son is Samuel and the youngest daughter is named after her deceased grandmother, Carmen. Carmen and my mother were sisters. Mary's father and my birth father were brothers. So we are almost sisters! Last summer she decided to move to Lubbock in hopes of making a better life for her family ... why she chose to come to Lubbock is beyond me! ;)

Finally, this is my brother's Jimmy, oldest son, little Jimmy and his family. He is not little anymore but he cannot outgrow the name! No matter how tall he gets! He is the tall one in the middle with the red shirt. My brother stands next to him with the white mustache and hair. ;) If he knew I was describing him like that he would ... boy howdy! lol Little Jimmy's FIVE children and spouses and all grandchildren showed up. Now, they DO know how to celebrate a momentous occassion! Unfortunately, the celebration was on May 26th. Today is June 14th. Whatever names were told to me are LONG GONE! :( But I plan to burn CDs for those who attended with copies of all the pictures taken. I plan to sit down with Jimmy so he can tell me everyone's names. When I learn them, I may post the picture again with their names! :)

Finally, after all was said and done, I think the spell Ray had over me was finally broken. He received a save the date notice. He tells me Friday before the event that he has to work. He knew this was important to me and I do not ask much of him. To request one day off did not seem like a lot to me. Also, this was a luncheon and it would be over by 3 at the latest and I knew he would have to perform music with one of his many obligations. But he insisted that with work and having to dash off to perform was too much to do along with my mom's celebration. I had my fill. I have cancer and I am grateful to have what I have. If knowing that I have cancer does not make me important to him ... nothing will. I told him this as well. So unless he hires a plane to fly over the skies of Lubbock proclaiming his undying love for me, he is history. This was the FOURTH time we fell apart ... I was not surprised ... I was expecting this. I even had nightmares about it beforehand. So it is all good. No broken heart ... just bitter disappointment ... but life is short, precious and unpredictable ... so I am off and running with the rest of my life to share with people who love me and doing things that make me happy! That's why you find me here writing and posting! :)