An incredible love story has come out of China recently and managed to touch the world. It is a story of a man and an older woman who ran off to live and love each other in peace for over half a century.


The 70-year-old Chinese man who hand-carved over 6,000 stairs up a mountain for his 80-year-old wife has passed away in the cave which has been the couple's home for the last 50 years.

Over 50 years ago, Liu Guojiang a 19 year-old boy, fell in love with a 29 year-old widowed mother named Xu Chaoqin..


In a twist worthy of Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet, friends and relatives criticized the relationship because of the age difference and the fact that Xu already had children.


At that time, it was unacceptable and immoral for a young man to love an older woman.. To avoid the market gossip and the scorn of their communities, the couple decided to elope and lived in a cave in JiangjinCountyin Southern ChongQing Municipality.


In the beginning, life was harsh as they had nothing, no electricity or even food. They had to eat grass and roots they found in the mountain, and Liu made a kerosene lamp that they used to light up their lives.

Xu felt that she had tied Liu down and repeatedly asked him, 'Are you regretful? Liu always replied, 'As long as we are industrious, life will improve.'

In the second year of living in the mountain, Liu began and continued for over 50 years, to hand-carve the steps so that his wife could get down the mountain easily.

Half a century later in 2001, a group of adventurers were exploring the forest and were surprised to find the elderly couple and the over 6,000 hand-carved steps. Liu MingSheng, one of their seven children said, 'My parents loved each other so much, they have lived in seclusion for over 50 years and never been apart a single day. He hand carved more than 6,000 steps over the years for my mother's convenience, although she doesn't go down the mountain that much.'


The couple had lived in peace for over 50 years until last week. Liu, now 72 years, returned from his daily farm work and collapsed. Xu sat and prayed with her husband as he passed away in her arms. So in love with Xu, was Liu, that no one was able to release the grip he had on his wife's hand even after he had passed away.



'You promised me you'll take care of me, you'll always be with me until the day I died, now you left before me, how am I going to live without you?'

Xu spent days softly repeating this sent ence and touching her husband's black coffin with tears rolling down her cheeks.

In 2006, their story became one of the top 10 love stories from China, collected by the Chinese Women Weekly. The local government has decided to preserve the love ladder and the place they lived as a museum, so this love story can live forever.

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As I've written in my other blog My Online Journal, I bought a new desktop PC yesterday. It's a lot better using it for a long period of time rather my laptop. It has a wider LCD flat screen monitor. This afternoon after coming home from church and ate our lunch, my hubby went to Wal Mart to buy some things that we need. I didn't go because it's too hot out there. When my hubby came home, he showed me the web cam that he bought for my PC. I never thought that he will buy because all I knew is that he will just go and buy bread and grapes. He knew that I always chat with my siblings in the Philippines using my laptop with built-in webcam. Since I am now using my desktop and parked my laptop in the mean time, my hubby thought that I needed to have a webcam with built-in microphone so I can talk with my siblings. That's so sweet of my hubby. He also love talking to my siblings in the webcam and we just talked to them yesterday using my laptop. I have to be updated with what's going on there with them. My sister-in-law will be giving birth to their first baby anytime soon.

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A guy who lives at Lake Conroe (50 miles north of Houston ) saw a ball bouncing around kind of strange in the lake and went to investigate. It turned out to be a flathead catfish who had obviously tried to swallow a basketball which became stuck in its mouth!!

The fish was totally exhausted from trying to dive, but unable to because the ball would always bring him back up to the surface. The guy tried numerous times to get the ball out, but was unsuccessful. He finally had his wife cut the ball in order to deflate it and release the hungry catfish.

You probably wouldn't have believed this, if you hadn't seen the following pictures...

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Cheers for me!!! I'm so happy that I won the first prize by joining Juliana's contest. This is the first contest that I won since I became a blogger. My effort paid off. Since the start I was really determined to win the top prize. I had a great time reading her posts and making comments in her 3 blogs. She's a good writer and I learned a lot about her. If you have time, visit her blogs and read her posts. She'll be having another contest soon.

Here's her post announcing the winners:

It’s time to celebrate! The actual date of my blog anniversary was not such a day worthy of any celebration because of the mishap. The perfect time to celebrate is today, as I’m also announcing the winners of my first ever contest.

Lisa L. - $100
Mari - $55
AiDiSan - $40
Heidi - $30
Rocks - $25

To all my blogger friends who participated in the contest, thank you very much for your participation. I hope you’ll join me again in the future. I will be glad to have you again. This is definitely not the last contest; there will be more to come.

To the winners, please leave me your PayPal accounts so I know where to send the prizes to. Remember, comments are being moderated, so you need not worry about your accounts getting published.

Cheers!!!!

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My hubby and I went to Oklahoma City last week and after 3 days of being away from home, when we got back, my vegetables were all wilted. It was not watered for three days and with the summer heat, the plants really suffered with no water at all. My collard greens suffered the most. My okra also have some leaves that are wilted. Hubby had to water them right away when we got back and after a few hours, my veggies came to life again! It's really amazing what water can do to all living things.

While we were in OKC, my veggies never came to my mind. I guess I was just having a good time with our mini vacation that I forgot all about it. I didn't even take with me my laptop so I wasn't able to blog for 3 days. My hubby said I don't need to blog when we are on vacation so I left my laptop at home. The hotel where we stayed had a free high speed internet service but I'm glad I didn't have to blog and all we did when we were back at the hotel after a long day was to rest, watch tv and eat. Oh, what a life! I was free from all the house chores for three days and I love it. Who wouldn't want to just relax, go sight-seeing and just eat and sleep afterwards? I just wish my hubby and I will go on vacation again so we'll have a good time. Oklahoma City is a beautiful place to visit with all their tourist attractions worth visiting. Let me post some pics of the hotel where we stayed.

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New Cook County Correctional Center, Chicago , Illinois

( I guess if I ever break the law, I'd better do it in Illinois !
Law breakers should have it so good!)
Once again the taxpayer gets stung.

It also shows that in most cases the quality of life for prisoners has improved considerably from

what you might expect. And I always thought prison was for punishment.!!!!!


Just in case you ever get these two environments mixed up,

this comparison list should make things a little bit clearer:


@ PRISON You spend most of your time in a 10X10 cell

@ WORK You spend most of your time in a 6X6 cubicle


@ PRISON You get three fully paid for meals a day

@ WORK You get a break for one meal, and you have to pay for it


@ PRISON For good behavior, you get time off

@ WORK For good behavior, you get more work


@ PRISON The guard locks and unlocks all the doors for you

@ WORK You must carry a security card and open all the doors yourself


@ PRISON You can watch TV and play games

@ WORK You could get fired for watching TV and playing games


@ PRISON You get your own toilet

@ WORK You have to share the toilet with people who pee on the seat


@ PRISON They allow your family and friends to visit

@ WORK You aren't even supposed to speak to your family


@ PRISON All expenses are paid by the taxpayers with no work required on your part

@ WORK You must pay all your expenses to go to work, and they deduct taxes from your salary to pay for prisoners


@ PRISON You spend most of your life inside bars wanting to get out

@ WORK You spend most of your time wanting to get out and go inside bars


@ PRISON You must deal with sadistic wardens

@ WORK They are called 'managers'

THERE IS SOMETHING SERIOUSLY WRONG WITH THIS IDEA.

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Miss Universe 2008 winner Miss Venezuela Dayana Mendoza says an "express kidnapping" in Venezuela taught her how to handle stressful situations.

Mendoza beat 79 of the world's most beautiful women to be crowned Miss Universe at the beauty pageant in Vietnam's resort city of Nha Trang, watched by nearly a billion television viewers worldwide.

She received a crown - made of white and yellow gold and precious stones - by last year's winner, Riyo Mori of Japan.

"I am excited. I cried a lot. I am really glad I made it," Mendoza, the 57th winner of the title, later told reporters.

She admitted she was kidnapped 18 months ago in Venezuela, an experience that taught her how to remain calm in stressful situations.

"It is something that happens in my country and that's why I want to raise my voice and say violence is not the answer," she said when asked about the incident.

Mendoza, an aspiring interior designer, was among four finalists from Latin America, including first runner-up Taliana Vargas, 20, from Colombia.

The rest of the top five were from the Dominican Republic, Mexico and Russia.

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I've been blogging about my vegetable garden in my other blog. I planted some vegetables in our backyard and I've been busy weeding my garden these past few days. I water them too everyday. I've been looking at my collard greens and it looks like they're ready for harvest now. They grew quick when it rained the past few days. I'm planning to harvest some tomorrow and cook it for our meal. All my vegetables are organic. I don't use insecticides, pesticides or fertilizers. I'm afraid of the bad effects it may caused in or health so I'm an organic gardener. Take a look of my collard greens.

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I received this in my e-mail and I thought of posting it here to let my readers know about this modus-operandi that's happening out there.

This was written by a guy from KVLY-TV in Fargo; see bottom of message. This is true. Scary!


This is something that happened to us on the way back from vacation last week. At first I didn't think much of it until now. The reason we were a little suspicious is we had been riding in a jeep all day with 100 degree temps and we stopped at a truck stop for something to drink.


When I was leaving, a young girl followed me out and asked what kind of cologne I was wearing. Well, after 7 hours in the car sweating, I don't think you could tell if I was or was not wearing any cologne. We just got in the jeep and said no thanks.


Then it was about 3 weeks ago, I was at a service station in Birmingham getting gas. It was about 9:30 pm. I was approached by 2 men and 2 women in a car. The man that was driving asked me 'What kind of perfume do you wear?' I was a bit confused and I asked him 'Why?' He said, 'We are selling some name brand perfumes, at cheap prices.' I said I had no money. He then reached out of the car and handed me paper that was laminated; it had many perfumes on it. I looked quickly at it and gave it back. I said, have no money.


He said it is OK, we take check, cash, or credit cards. Then the people in the car began to laugh. I just got in my car and said no thanks.


Then I received this e-mail yesterday and it sent chills up my spine. Please read this. It is no joke.


Dear Friends:
I know not all of you are women that I am sending this to, but am hoping you will share this with your wives, daughters, mothers, sisters, etc. Our world seems to be getting crazier by the day. Pipe bombs in mail boxes and sickos in parking lots with perfume. Be careful. I was approached yesterday afternoon around 5:30 PM in the Wal-Mart parking lot by two males asking what kind of perfume I was wearing. Then they asked if I'd like to sample some fabulous scent they were willing to sell me at very reasonable rate. I probably would have agreed had I not received an e-mail warning of a 'Wanna smell this neat perfume?' The men continued to stand between parked cars, I guess to wait for someone else to hit on. I stopped a lady going towards them, pointing at them and told her about how I was sent an e-mail at work about someone walking up to you in the malls or in parking lots and asking you to SNIFF PERFUME that they are selling at a cheap price or at least compare to which one you like best.


THIS IS NOT PERFUME...IT IS ETHER!
When you sniff it, you will pass out. They'll take your wallet, your Valuables and heaven knows what else. If it were not for this e-mail, I probably would have sniffed the 'perfume' but thanks to the generosity of an e-mailing friend, I was spared whatever might have happened to me. I wanted to do the same for you.


PLEASE PASS THIS ALONG TO ALL YOUR WOMEN FRIENDS AND PLEASE BE ALERT- MOREOVER, BE AWARE.

IF YOU ARE A MAN AND RECEIVE THIS, PASS IT ON TO YOUR WOMEN FRIENDS


Ladies, this happened to me yesterday and I didn't smell the perfume either, thanks to this email This is true. Believe me, I know.

I was over by Big Lots in the parking lot at lunch time when I was approached. So either day or night, it does not matter. There were 3 guys together when I was approached. I called the police when I got back to my desk.

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"F R O G" we all need one.


I was told a story about a lady in the hospital who was near death when an area Chaplain came to visit her. This Chaplain was a very young female with long blond hair. She listened to the lady who was ill and left her a small gift for comfort It was a tiny ceramic frog. The next day one of the people from the lady's church came to visit. The lady told her friend about the beautiful young Chaplain who had come to visit her The friend was so impressed with the way the lady had improved and felt the need to talk to the young Chaplain. In her search to find the young gal, she was repeatedly reassured that the chaplains are never very young and that there was never a gal that fit the description given.

Upon returning to the lady in the hospital, a visiting nurse entered the room and noticed the ceramic frog. The nurse made the comment "I see you have a guardian angel with you." As she held the little frog. We asked why she made the comment and we were informed that the frog stood for:
(F) Forever ( R) Rely (O) On (G) God

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If you're fond of watching a one-man show, you'll probably enjoy watching Glenn Beck. And who is he, you might ask. Glenn Beck is an American radio/television host, conservative political commentator, and entrepreneur. He has his self-titled television show. He also stars in a one-man stage show which tours the United States twice a year and this summer, he will be having a comedy tour. I've watched some of his videos and he is really good in doing his political satire comedy. He talks fast and he has the guts to talk about top politicians and current events. This man is really talented because doing a one-man show live is not that easy. I'm pretty sure you will enjoy his political jokester so watch out for his show. His Summer Political Tour and the Dallas show will be on July 17th and will be broadcasted live via FathomEvents to select movie theaters nationwide on that date. Don't miss out.

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(Anyone who has ever dressed a child will love this one!)

Did you hear about the Texas teacher who was helping one of her kindergarten students put on his cowboy boots?

He asked for help and she could see why.

Even with her pulling and him pushing, the little boots still didn't want to go on. By the time they got the second boot on, she had worked up a sweat.

She almost cried when the little boy said, "Teacher, they're on the wrong feet."
She looked, and sure enough, they were.

It wasn't any easier pulling the boots off than it was putting them on. She managed to keep her cool as together they worked to get the boots back on, this time on the right feet.

He then announced, "....These aren't my boots."

She bit her tongue rather than get right in his face and scream, "Why didn't you say so?", like she wanted to. Once again, she struggled to help him pull the ill-fitting boots off his little feet. No sooner had they gotten the boots off when he said,

"They're my brother's boots. My Mom made me wear 'em."

Now she didn't know if she should laugh or cry. But, she mustered up what grace and courage she had left to wrestle the boots on his feet again.

Helping him into his coat, she asked, "....Now, where are your mittens?"

He said, "I stuffed 'em in the toes of my boots."

She will be eligible for parole in three years.

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My falling hair has always been my problem. Everytime I shower and then I comb my hair, a lot of my hair fell out. I already tried different kinds of shampoo to remedy my falling hair but to no avail. My hair is thinning as a result of the falling hair. It must be my day when I stumbled on this website that sells Bumble and bumble Thickening Shampoo and Bumble and bumble Thickening Conditioner. Bumble and bumble Thickening Shampoo is a volumizing shampoo that gives hair fullness. Unlike other thickening shampoos, Bumble and bumble Thickening Shampoo helps seal your split ends and control flyaways. Formulated with panthenol, wheat protein and aloe, Bumble and bumble Thickening Shampoo adds body to fine hair. This product is the wonder-drug of shampoos. It makes fine hair look and feel fuller, moisturizes, and helps seal split ends and smooth flyaway's. Panthenol, Wheat Protein and Aloe Vera Gel moisturize, soften, and add volume and shine. Bumble and bumble Thickening Conditioner is a volumizing conditioner that leaves your hair light, hydrated and detangled. Formulated with ultra light silk fibers, Bumble and bumble Thickening Conditioner separates your hair strands to give limp, fine hair a fuller appearance. Both products are for all hair types and they both work well together. You can purchase the Thickening Shampoo and Conditioner Combo at mybumbleandbumble.com.

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According to a news report, a certain private school in Washington recently was faced with a unique problem. A number of 12-year-old girls were beginning to use lipstick and would put it on in the bathroom. That was fine, but after they put on their lipstick they would press their lips to the mirror leaving dozens of little lip prints. Every night the maintenance man would remove them and the next day the girls would put them back.

Finally the principal decided that something had to be done! She called all the girls to the bathroom and met them there with the maintenance man. She explained that all these lip prints were causing a major problem for the custodian who had to clean the mirrors every night. To demonstrate how difficult it had been to clean the mirrors, she asked the maintenance man to show the girls how much effort was required.

He took out a long-handled squeegee, dipped it in the toilet, and cleaned the mirror with it. Since then, there have been no lip prints on the mirror.

There are teachers, and then, there are educators.

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