Written By Regina Brett, 90 years old, of The Plain Dealer, Cleveland , Ohio

"To celebrate growing older, I once wrote the 45 lessons life taught me...

1. Life isn't fair, but it's still good.

2. When in doubt, just take the next small step.

3. Life is too short to waste time hating anyone.

4. Your job won't take care of you when you are sick. Your friends and family will. Stay in touch.

5. Pay off your credit cards every month.

6. You don't have to win every argument. Agree to disagree.

7. Cry with someone. It's more healing than crying alone.

8. It's OK to get angry with God. He can take it.

9. Save for retirement starting with your first paycheck.

10. When it comes to chocolate, resistance is futile.

11. Make peace with your past so it won't screw up the present.

12. It's OK to let your children see you cry.

13. Don't compare your life to others. You have no idea what their journey is all about.

14. If a relationship has to be a secret, you shouldn't be in it.

15. Everything can change in the blink of an eye. But don't worry; God never blinks.

16. Take a deep breath. It calms the mind.

17. Get rid of anything that isn't useful, beautiful or joyful.

18. Whatever doesn't kill you really does make you stronger.

19. It's never too late to have a happy childhood. But the second one is up to you and no one else.

20. When it comes to going after what you love in life, don't take no for an answer.

21. Burn the candles, use the nice sheets, wear the fancy lingerie. Don't save it for a special occasion. Today is special.

22. Over prepare, then go with the flow.

23. Be eccentric now. Don't wait for old age to wear purple.

24. The most important sex organ is the brain.

25. No one is in charge of your happiness but you.

26. Frame every so-called disaster with these words 'In five years, will this matter?'

27. Always choose life.

28.. Forgive everyone everything.

29. What other people think of you is none of your business.

30. Time heals almost everything. Give time time.

31. However good or bad a situation is, it will change.

32. Don't take yourself so seriously. No one else does.

33. Believe in miracles.

34. God loves you because of who God is, not because of anything you did or didn't do.

35. Don't audit life. Show up and make the most of it now.

36. Growing old beats the alternative -- dying young.

37. Your children get only one childhood.

38. All that truly matters in the end is that you loved.

39. Get outside every day. Miracles are waiting everywhere.

40. If we all threw our problems in a pile and saw everyone else's,we'd grab ours back.

41. Envy is a waste of time. You already have all you need.

42. The best is yet to come.

43. No matter how you feel, get up, dress up and show up.

44. Yield.

45. Life isn't tied with a bow, but it's still a gift."

Yayy! Grandchild Number Five arrived safely about an hour and a half ago! As yet un-named baby girl Smith, weighing in at 6 lbs, born at home 1 week early. Mum and daughter doing well... BIG congratulations to Wendy & Colin!

My lack of posts, Facebook, and more...

Once again, I really must apologise for not posting any new entries for such a long time... my problem is that I'm just so busy living my life, I don't have much time to write about it!

Anyway, the biggest item of news is that we're now awaiting the arrival of a FIFTH grand-child, courtesy of Number-One-Son Colin and his partner Wendy - due in mid-late October - and if the scans are to be believed it's gonna be another girl...

In the meantime, Colin's firstborn (Lewis) is just getting over a bout of swine-flu... but luckily nobody else in the family seems to have caught it... yet!

Oh, and if you want to keep more up to date with what I'm up to, you can always check out my page on Facebook, which is at http://www.facebook.com/IncenseMan

Yeayy!! Got a phone call just before 1 o'clock this morning, telling us of the arrival of out FOURTH grand-child! Lennon weighed in at 7lb 13 oz - congratulations Jamie and Jess!!

Oh dear... I really have been very remiss... I've just realised that I haven't updated this page for over a year - oops!!

OK, here we go... the Incense Man clan continues to grow - we now have two grand-daughters (Bethany and Courtney), one grand-son (Lewis), another grand-son (probably to be called Lennon) due very soon, and yet another grand-child (as yet un-sexed and un-named) due in the autumn!!
You can see a few photos of the tribe on our Picasa page, http://picasaweb.google.com/incense.man

Other family news - The Elderly Mother has now had to leave her house, and is happily living in a residential care home... so hopefully no more phone calls for us in the middle of the night from neighbours, ambulance crews etc!

On the home front - our prospective move to the West Country has been put on hold, because of the current state of the property market... so I'm concentrating on improvements to our present house - little jobs like replacing our ageing central heating boiler, re-decorating, replacing various carpets, re-turfing the front garden, building a new garden shed (and re-roofing the old one), and generally getting rid of all the garden rubbish that's accumulated over the years. (There's a skip sitting on the end of the drive at the moment, almost full of god-only-knows-what!)

Ah well, that's QUITE enough for now... and I promise I'll try to post updates more regularly from now on!

Did the earth move for you??

Wow! We had an earthquake!! And just in case you haven't heard or seen any news about it, you can read more at http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/7266136.stm

The wife and I had only been in bed for about 15-20 minutes last night, and were just dropping off, when we were rudely awakened just before 1 am by a strange noise... it sounded like a huge gust of wind, followed immediately by what sounded like something sliding down the roof of the house.

(My immediate reaction was that a roosting pigeon must have been been blown off its perch, and slid down the tiles.)

Anyway, I jokingly said to Chris "Don't worry, it was probably just another earthquake." (We'd had reports of a very minor local earth tremor a week or so ago...) So I was VERY surprised when I turned on the radio this morning and heard on the news that it actually WAS an earthquake!

And before you ask - I've checked the roof, and there's no sign of any damage caused by falling pigeons.

Catching up with life!

SIGH... now I know I'm getting old! I've just realised that I haven't updated this page since last August - and that's not because there's been nothing happening to report, quite the opposite... I've been so busy dealing with all the s**t that's been hitting the fan, I haven't had any time to write about it!

So - what's been going on over the last 4-and-a-bit months? Well, I've had another birthday (although I've now had so many I try to forget them!), another wedding anniversary (very scary - it's 30 years now... equivalent to 2 life sentences - you get less for murder...), Number One Son has announced he's going to be a Daddy (so that'll be our third grandchild), Number Two Son has been on crutches, and in and out of hospital with a damaged anterior cruciate ligament (because he was the victim of a vicious tackle during a game of football), and Number Three Son has moved (again), this time to Lancashire.

Plus we've had continuing fun & games with "The Elderly Mother" - various falls, hospital visits etc... and add all the hassle of Christmas (personal and business)... so you can possibly understand why I've hardly had time to draw breath!

Still - it's a New Year and a new start, so maybe things will be a little easier in 2008... and I hope they are for you too!