Thursday, May 28, 2009

"Welcome to my Page, Leona!"



By now, you all know how excited I get when a new "follower" comes on board my site! I whoop and holler; I jump up and down; I dance the jig; and I do cartwheels--well, not really...but I do smile a lot!

Seriously speaking, every last one of my "followers" represents someone that likes my blog; that cares about what I have to say; and that cares about me. I'd say that's pretty special. I owe it to all of them to do my very best to at least write something, now and then, that is entertaining, or at the very least, interesting.

My newest "follower" is Leona G. Shankle, a published author and poet. Her book, entitled "At The Starting Gate," is a collection of assorted poetry and short stories ranging from humorous to serious and inspirational.

Leona also maintains her two blogs: Her first blog is named after her book, At The Starting Gate and it's filled with the things she learned "along the way to publishing [her] book," plus "some tips and insights," and what she calls "a mind-boggling set-back every now and then." Her second blog, Fun n Inspiration , is the sister site to her other blog, and in that blog, she shares inspirational emails and stories as well as things to "help make [our] day a little brighter."

Welcome to my site, Leona, and I hope you enjoy being part of the "Cynde's Daybook" family. I am honored to have you as a member, and I'll do my best to make you glad that you have joined us!

Until next time...stay safe, stay well, and may God bless you all.

Cynde

Please visit my other blogs:
Cynde's Got The Write Stuff ~and~ Usurper Exposed. Thank you!

Sunday, May 24, 2009

"Dion and Jon go to the Norwich Antique Car Show"



Today we celebrate Memorial Day, which is the holiday whose birthplace is officially recognized as Waterloo, New York and was traditionally set aside on the 30th of May, each year, to commemorate the U. S. men and women who died while in the military service. Throughout the years, this holiday has grown to mean so much to the people of the United States and its allies who have benefited from the sacrifices of the brave military men and women, and their families, as they have fought for our freedoms and sacrificed for the good of our country. God bless them, each and every one!




Before I got into the meat of my post today, I just had to show you the collage I made of our visit to see little Noah on his two-week-old birthday! It turned out so cute. I made it using a simple, free program, that I downloaded to my computer called Microsoft AutoCollage 2008. Try it. Once you do, you'll be hooked for life!







Ok...now let get on with my news. Dion picked Jon up yesterday (Saturday, 23 May 2009) and took him to the 44th Annual Norwich Antique Car Show at the Chenango Fairgrounds. They met Drew (Dion's youngest brother) and his son, Dana (our nephew) there. They live in outside of Ithaca now, so we hardly ever get to see them anymore and I really miss Vikki (Drew's wife) and Katey, too. (our niece--she was born on Dion's birthday)

The photo that you see above, is from last year's Norwich Antique Car Show, which Dion and the boys didn't make it to. However, I wanted to give you a little bit of an idea of what it looks like at one of them. There are usually hundreds of cars, motorcycles, and trucks, etc. all lined up in rows, so that people can look at them. Some are for sale and some are just for exhibit or just there for judging. There are also flea market items in booths and on tables. It's really so much fun to go to. Dion and the boys used to go with Dion's dad every year; it was a tradition, until he died, of course. We all miss Dad so much!

Had I gone to the car show, I would have taken lots of photos. Maybe next year I'll feel like it. This year, Dion and Jon stopped at the Honda shop outside of Ithaca where we bought Dion's motorcycle, "Punkin" from. It's called RiderSport-Ithaca, Inc., and we have both been doing business with them since we were teenagers, which is a lot of years ago, and before the man that owns the business now had it.

He took a couple photos of a beautiful, old, white 1967 Honda CB77 Super Hawk that some man just had on the showroom floor so that he could let people see what one of the old bikes looked like. It's in pretty good shape, too, but not in as good shape as either of Dion's antique Honda motorcycles! We stop in there to see what they have, windowshopping, and dreaming of what it would be like to have loads of cash to buy what we need so we could go on a nice, long road trip. That would be heaven!

I hope everyone has enjoyed the long weekend, which is quickly coming to a close. I think I end this post now so that I can spend a little time with my husband (which happens to be my favorite thing to do in life).

Until next time...stay safe, stay well and may God bless you all.

Cynde

Please visit my other blogs:
Cynde's Got The Write Stuff ~and~ Usurper Exposed. Thank you!

Friday, May 22, 2009

"Two-week-old Noah's photos!"

This past Saturday, 16 May 2009, Dion (my husband) drove Jon (our son) and me out to see our other son, Josh and his wife, Chrissy and their two-week-old baby, Noah, who just happens to be our very first grandchild.

Jon had never in his life held a baby before, so when Noah gets older, I can't wait to show him the photos of Uncle Jon trying to get used to putting a little tiny baby in those great big hands of his. It was really an adorable sight! He did very well, though. I think Jon is going to make a great Dad--just like Josh and just like his own father has been.

I had never seen Josh and Chrissy's new apartment before--they moved there just before the baby arrived. It is so adorable! It's really quite big and it's really nice inside. My only problem if it were my place would be the stairs. I didn't mind them when I was in my apartment in Interlaken, just before I married Dion, and also when I lived in the townhouses in Virginia and Texas, but my knees aren't in the same shape as they were back then. Plus, I can't imagine myself being able to carry a baby up and down those stairs, but Josh and Chrissy will probably be able to handle it with no problem at all. I'll pray that nothing happens, just to be on the safe side, though. Other than that, it's an ideal place to live. I don't like living in town and this is the perfect combination of being just far enough outside of town so that it feels like it nowheres near, and just near enough so that you don't feel like you're out in the boonies. I think you can probably tell that I love their apartment, right?

I guess it must be just like riding a bike, because when Dion took baby Noah in his arms, you sure could tell that he was a pro. It's been a long, long time since these two boys were little. Jon's almost 18 and Josh is almost 22! Can you believe that?

And now, blessedly, we have a wonderful daughter, too, besides the most adorable grandson in the whole wide world!

I'm kind of ashamed that I haven't pinned Josh down on exactly when Chrissy's birthday is and how old she is, but I'm pretty sure that she'll be 22 yrs. old in December (on Christmas day, I believe). We'll see how close I am when I ask him the next time I see him--or else I'll have his dad ask him.

She let me hold Noah for at least a half an hour or maybe even a little longer, and I was so happy. It felt so wonderful to have him in my arms. I had such an overwhelming need to have a baby of my own, and I know that it will never happen. It's just too late now. Plus, with the way my health is now, I'm not sure that I could handle it. I resent my "ex" so much for what he did to me to make me lose my own babies (he was an abusive husband). I forgave him, but then I pick it up all over again. I need the Lord's help with this one, because it's such a huge ache in my heart. Thankfully, Dion understands and is very supportive and loves me no matter what. I love him so much!

Until next time...stay safe, stay well, and may God bless you all.

Cynde

Please visit my other blogs:
Cynde's Got The Write Stuff ~and~ Usurper Exposed. Thank you!

"Query Tracker Turns Two--Let's Celebrate!"



Guess What! It looks like it's a proud parent moment--only I'm not the parent, and Query Tracky isn't exactly a kid anymore. But it's still the same excitement!

They're having a PARTY!

Copy and paste the link below the picture at the bottom of the page for more details. Oh, and there's also a little blog chain contest going on. The grand prize of this hulla-baloo is a FREE WEBSITE designed by the awesome Carolyn Kaufman and QT's daddy, Patrick McDonald. That's right. FREE. (They're the Purple Squirrel Web Designers. Check 'em out.)

You want that, don't you? Um, yeah..

You get one entry into the grand prize drawing for every contest you enter. (Details on the carnival page, click below.) You can also get another entry by helping us advertise!


Thanks, Elana!

Now here's how you do it: Simply make a post like this one you're reading on this blog. Make sure to use the wicked fun graphic and direct them to the carnival page for more deets. Then go here and leave a comment with your link and real name. Or email your link with your real name to any one of the members of the QT blogteam (listed on the right-hand side of the blog) on this page here. Use: Their Name(at)QueryTracker(dot)net.

They'll make sure you get in the drawing.

Be sure to tell your readers to EMAIL THEM (or comment here) your link and real name so they can put your name in the drawing. You can link to this post so everyone knows how to make sure they're entered for the FREE WEBSITE!

And hurry! You must have your blog post up by next Saturday, May 23 to get the extra entry.

Spread the word! Win a FREE WEBSITE!

Thursday, May 21, 2009

"WooHoo--I Have Two More Followers!"



Amazing as it may seem, I have two more followers for my blog! I'm so excited about making these new friends, so let me tell you who they are, ok?

First we have: Suzette Saxton.

Suzette is the author of the short story entitled The Bone Setter , that was recently published in the popular, new Fantasy and Science Fiction magazine, called Mindflights. (Mindflights is the new magazine brought to you by Double-Edged Publishing by recently combining two award-winning magazines - "Dragons, Knights, and Angels" ~and~ "The Sword Review" - into one frequently-updated, high-quality magazine.)

Suzette's blog, entitled Shooting Stars is refreshing, informative, and packed with all kind of fun information. You'd be crazy to miss out on all the fun!

Next there is: Michelle McLean.

Michelle is an author who writes young adult novels, children's picture books and sometimes even historical romance novels. She also writes non-fiction articles about varied subjects, essays, and other works. Michelle's blog, which is entitled Michelle McLean's Writer Ramblings , is full of quotes, writing advice, tips, book reviews, and all kids of neat stuff.

Well folks...that about wraps it up. I hope I'm up to the task of keeping my "follower" happy as they go through the ups and downs of life with me.

Until next time...stay safe, stay well, and may God bless you all.

Cynde

Please visit my other blogs:
Cynde's Got The Write Stuff ~and~ Usurper Exposed. Thank you!

Saturday, May 02, 2009

"Say 'Hello' To Our Brand New Grandson!"

Announcing the arrival of our first-ever grandchild, I give you: Noah Christian Hammond Noah is the son of Joshua James and Christina Elizabeth (Scowcroft) Hammond, and the grandson of Dion Richard and Cynde Lou (Bond) Hammond, all from Upstate New York. He was born at 3:15 a.m. on Saturday, 02 May 2009, in the Geneva General Hospital. Noah weighed 7 lbs. 9 ozs. and was 20 inches long, with a head full of curly, medium-dark brown hair.

When Dion and I visited Josh and Chrissy at the hospital, Noah was in the room, snuggled in hisMommy's arms. I was so overwhelmed with feelings of love for him that tears immediately filled my eyes. He definitely looks like a "Hammond," that's for sure; he's the spitting image of Josh, and he also looks just like Josh did when he was a baby (and he looked like Dana, too). He looks like a perfect cross between Josh and Chrissy, too, which is great because they are both extremely good-looking kids. Noah looks like Dion, too, because Josh looks like Dion (his Dad) so I'm happy as can be!

This has been, without a doubt, one of the best days of my entire life! I feel so thankful and blessed by the Lord. I am thankful that Noah is well and that everything is alright with Chrissy. I do feel bad that she had to have a cesarean section (C-section) delivery, but I thank the Lord that He watched over her throughout it, and that she's going to be fine. I pray that she'll heal quickly and that she won't have a lot of pain and suffering--I love her so much.

I'll be posting more photos as I get them, and I'll probably bore you to tears with stories about my new little guy, but I promise you...the stories will all be filled with love!

Until next time...stay safe, stay well, and may God bless you all.

Cynde

Please visit my other blogs:
Cynde's Got The Write Stuff ~and~ Usurper Exposed. Thank you!