CoCo's Corner

How fast does ten years go by? It's crazy how fast it goes by. Ten years ago yesterday, I went to work as usual. George had not felt good all the night before and had hardly slept - so all day long he slept. I had to be to work early, because I had a supervisor meeting that I needed to attend, so I left the house around two. I remember him sitting on the edge of the bed, could barely keep his eyes open, and kept touching his lips for me to kiss him goodbye. KayeLynn was the only one home with him - Rodger had gone to spend the night at a friends house and Crystal was working for Mark Travel in their call center. I had made a chicken dish before I left - much too much for the two of them. I called several times during my shift. KayeLynn told me each time that he was sleeping. She warmed up his dinner and he came to eat, but kept falling asleep and nearly landing in his food. People may say that this should have been a warning sign, but those of us who knew George as well a

Today is Brandon's birthday. Brandon came into my life a little over five years ago. I was telling my daughter, Crystal, that I was thinking of internet dating; you see there were a couple people at work that said I had been single long enough and that I needed to think about dating again. Crystal told me that I should do it, too. Then she told me that she had gone on a web site and that she had gone on a date with a guy she had met from the dating site. My very beautiful daughter was on a dating site. Well, next thing I knew, they were dating kind of regularly. I met Brandon one warm spring evening. Crystal, Rodger and myself were trying to get the Camaro (AKA Satan's car) from Skywest to our home. It made it to 700 North Redwood before it died. We had to have it towed to he mechanic (a very familiar place for that piece of silver junk). Brandon came to the scene and that is where we met. We kind of bonded that day over words and Chinese food - you see we were both

I'm trying to get back into sweeping again. I've been entering quite a few again. I got worried that since I won my trip to Paris, that my luck would be gone. But, then I look at my friend Andy at work and see that he wins ALOT!! He just got back from Las Vegas a couple of weeks ago. It was a trip he won "this year". Last year, he won a trip to the Sandals Resort in Jamaica and another one to Hawaii. He told me last week that he and his wife are working towards a trip a year. I figured if he could have a goal like that, I could just try to win another anything!! I follow the forums and such and listen to these people who say what they've won. There was a guy on one of them that said he has won five trips in two months - all on sweepstakes he had won!! And that wasn't all he had won. So, I'm getting back into it. I'm entering all the trip sweepstakes that I can find - as long as they are all one entry per person. Maybe in a while, I'll

For me, Christmas is pretty much over. The celebration was last night. We had a great day together. I love watching Zach and Chelsea get so excited. They had to help everyone open their presents. Part of Christmas is about that childlike excitement. All of the adults wanted to let them help open their presents - I think because we all remember that excitement from when we were children. I love my family so very much. There is some sadness too. There has been a lot of loss this year and friends that have lost loved ones. You always remember the loss at this time of year. My memories of George and my dad seem a lot more vivid during Christmas time. Probably because Christmas is such a family oriented time. Not only is there loss because of death, I get sad that Kara has chosen the path that she has. I love Kara very dearly, but I am sad that she feels it necessary to make the choices that she does. I guess I just can't fathom why anyone would choose a path of lies, dece

It's Christmas Eve today. So much to do and I'm so excited. I love having my family all together. Ted was raised Catholic and he wants to go to midnight mass. I'm excited to experience that, too. I hope everyone has a very Merry Christmas and I hope the New Year brings prosperity, happiness, health and love.

I'm off today. I have to get ready for tomorrow. Christmas Eve is when we celebrate Christmas now. When the kids were little, we always woke up Christmas morning and everyone was so excited to open up the presents. However, when Zachary was a baby, I decided I needed to change it to accomodate my kids who were growing up. They needed to have Christmas morning for their own now, so they could have those little excited faces so early in the morning. So, for Zachary, Chelsea and any future grandbabies, I gave up Christmas for Christmas Eve. And now I have Ted. Ted knows that I call him the biggest dork ever born. But, he is the smartest man I have ever met. And he is so very giving. Three Christmas's ago, Crystal asked if she bought the Santa suit if he would come to the children's Christmas party she was helping to plan and be Santa for the kids. I wasn't sure how he would respond, but he agreed right away. You see, Ted didn't really celebrate Christmas mu

It's Christmas time. This is probably the poorest I've been for Christmas since my kids were oh so little. My kids grew up not having much. They grew up with a mom who worked nights, weekends, holidays. I remember Crystal's very first Christmas. The most I could afford to get her was one of those pegs you stack the colored rings on. She was five months old, so she didn't know any better; but, I did! The next year, she and I were living with my parents, I had been working at the police department and I could afford a bit more. She was actually quite spoiled. She was kind of a princess in the eyes of all those grownups living there with her. After that, I met George and we were married for the next Christmas. It seems that George and I never had any money at all. The kids got some presents, but I would feel so awful when I would see the Christmas presents that all my relatives would give their children and my kids got so very little. They never complained - they always