My husband told me last night that he wanted to get me something really special for Christmas and not furniture.  He was thinking more along the lines of something from Oscar de la Renta.   Excuse me?  I thought the only Oscar de la anything he knew of was Oscar de la Hoya, the boxer.

I wonder where the heck he got that idea from??mmI told him that I really appreciate the thought but designer things just don’t belong on me.  Well if he really insists, just make sure it’s something I will really like because if he has to pay a lot for it, I’ll have to wear it a lot to get his moneys worth.

MURFREESBORO, Tenn. - Billie Watts said she was tempted but couldn’t bring herself to keep $97,000 she said she found in a Cracker Barrel restroom. The 75-year-old Murfreesboro woman told The Daily News Journal that she discovered the money inside a tapestry bag hanging from a hook on a stall door last Thursday.

Now let me get this straight.  A 75 year old woman found $97,000 in a bathroom stall in a Cracker Barrel restroom.  That’s a heck of a lot of money.  I would have assumed it might be drug money since there was no identification in the bag.

Watts said she and her husband took the money home, but later called the restaurant back and asked if there was a lost-and-found department. She was told yes, and left her number.

A woman called about 15 minutes later and verified she was the owner by identifying pictures left in the bag. Watts returned the bag to the owner, whom she described as an elderly woman, but said she does not have the woman’s last name or phone number.

Okay, she handed over this money to a woman but didn’t even get her name.  That sounds a bit odd to me.  Well I guess the woman should have asked them for their name though if you think about it.  This must be one special woman to return all that money.  But this is the part that gets me.  I do believe in Angels here on earth and I think Billie Watts must be one.  What do you think after reading this part?

Watts said the woman told her that the money came from selling her home and her belongings and that she was going to start a new life in Florida with her son. Watts said the woman offered to pay her $1,000, but Watts refused it.

For weeks now my hubby keeps asking me what I want for Christmas.  Well we haven’t bought new furniture in years so I think I want some new modern furniture. Most of what we have has been around for most of our marriage. I like it okay but I think we need to go with something a little more modern.

Maybe I’m just trying to keep from feeling that I’m getting older.  Maybe I don’t want to become antique like some of our furniture is becoming but without the value of an antique.  In other words, it’s just old.

With all the greed we have seen is business lately from the oil companies to banks and insurance companies, this story warmed my heart.  You see there’s a company outside of Chicago that sold their business.  It was a family owned company called Peer Bearing Co. and had been family owned since 1941. When they sold the company, they gave each employee a bonus check based on their years of service with the company. It was a unanimous family decision to do this. The story read in part:

“Dave Tiderman wondered if the decimal point was in the wrong place when he opened his $35,000 company bonus. Jose Rojas saw his $10,000 check and thought, “That can’t be right.” Valentin Dima watched co-workers breaking down in tears over their bonus checks and didn’t trust his emotions. He drove home first, then opened his envelope: $33,000.”

“They gave out whopping thank-you bonuses. A total of $6.6 million is being shared by just 230 employees of Waukegan-based Peer Bearing Co., with facilities in England and the United States. Amounts varied and were based on years of service.”

Now that’s what businesses used to do. They took care of their employees but in this day in time, all that seems to matter to the owners or CEO’s is their bonus. These are some truly wonderful people to do this. See, there are Angels right here on earth and these people had the privilege to work for a whole family of them. What a wonderful story I think.  God bless this wonderful family.

My sons Harley was stolen the day after Thanksgiving.  Thank God he had good auto insurance or he would still have to pay for something someone else had, his Harley.  He was absolutely heart broken when he saw it was gone.  I’m just thankful that the bike was all they took.  They could have come into his home and stolen everything they had or hurt his family during the break-in.  The bike is easier to replace than his family is.

Besides, I told him that maybe God was trying to tell him that he needs to think more of his family than the bike because that bike could take him away from his young daughters and his wife.  He needs to try and look at this as a blessing because they only took the bike.  It’ll take him a few days but he’ll see it my way.