Friends and Quilt

I've mentioned in an earlier post that Jim and I and two other couples host an annual Christmas Party Open House. It is an evening of friends (about 100), lots of food, lots of fun, and.... drink.

Everybody pretty much mills around, tells stories on each other, eats and drinks. At some point during the evening those who want to, head downstairs and sing Christmas carols. By 11:30 most people go home.

Jim and Gerard got all dolled up to direct the traffic (50 cars are a lot of cars!)

Patti and I make most of the food. We cook for days before the party. Every year we try out new recipes.

Me and one of my best friends, Rita

Me, Father, and another friend.

Singing Christmas carols.

Towards the end of the evening, two of our friends, Lillian and Susan (the two white haired ladies) brought out not one, not two, but THREE hand quilted wedding ring quilts they had made for us. One for each couple! It was their thank you to us for hosting this party every year (we've done it 10 years of so). Patti and I broke down and cried tears of joy. It was such a surprise. Belinda told everyone she was on Zolof and doesn't do crying lol. Anyway, here we are with our new quilt. Amazing, just totally amazing.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY JUNYAH!

Happy Birthday JR. I hope you have thawed out from the ice storm. Maybe you'll get a chance to use that new snow blower you got for Christmas! *HUGS*

I dare say everyone knows who Dean Martin is. But how about Foster Brooks?
Foster Brooks was a comedian who was most famous for his portrayal of a lovable drunken man. He was a regular on the Dean Martin Variety Show and played the role of Mindy's boss (I originally incorrectly said he played her father but Chicago caught me on that lol) on the Mork and Mindy show (now that is defintely a blast from the past...). For years I thought he really was always drunk. It turns out that he had battled alcoholism and drew on that for his act. However, according to Wikipedia, during the time of his greatest fame in the 1960's, he rarely drank.

"Of giving up drinking to win a bet in 1964, Brooks said, "Fellow made me a $10 bet I couldn't quit, and I haven't had a drink since. At the time I needed the $10."

Someone sent me the following clip of Dean Martin and Foster Brooks and I just had to share it with you. I had forgotten what a really funny comedian he was. It is titled "The Airline Pilot". I hope you enjoy it!

Cutting it close... and mean grandma backfired

I did most of my Christmas shopping over the internet this year. Travis asked for the Twilight Saga set of books. By the time I got around to ordering them, they were nowhere to be found. The quickest ship date I could find was from Barnes and Nobles. They promised to ship by December 30th. I fumed and fretted and then thought, "ya know Deanna, luck is usually on your side. Order the damn books and they will get here on time". So that is what I did. Four days before Christmas I got an email saying the books shipped! Alright! I knew luck would be on my side! So then I started tracking their progress... and Christmas Eve came... and no books. Oh shit, I'm in trouble now. So I check the tracking again and it showed they were on the truck heading this way. We don't get much traffic on this road but everytime I heard a truck I thought - the books are here! And everytime I was disappointed. Finally 5:45 came. The kids were to be here around 6:00. Oh boy did I mess up this time! So, I sit down to write a sweet note to Travis letting him know his Christmas present is a very special one and would be a few days late. I walk out of the bedroom with my note in hand and in walks Jim with a box in his hand (UPS came through!) and Travis behind him. I grabbed the box, went back into the bedroom and wrapped it and put it under the tree. Has anyone else ever cut it quite this close in getting a present?
Remember the mean Grandma post? One of the things that made me a "mean grandma" was this:

The evening was great - until I let them play pool unsupervised. By the time I got downstairs, the floor was covered with baby powder. The powder is there for the hands so the pool cue slides easily, which generated Rule 2.

2. You don't let the pool cue powder get anywhere except your hands.Mean grandma's punishment? If you need powder on your hands for the rest of the weekend, there is plenty on the floor. LOL you should have seen the hand prints - including mine of course. Dang if I was going to let perfectly good powder go to waste! The floor is concrete so it made no difference - I just wanted them to learn to be more careful in the future.

So last night Dakota's dad comes upstairs and says to me, "Did you tell Dakota that the right way to powder his hands for playing pool is to pour the powder on the floor and then put his hand in it? I'm like, Huh? He says, "Yea, we were getting ready to play pool and he took the powder and poured some on the floor. I asked what the heck he was doing and he said, this is how Grandma said it is done". OMG I was laughing so hard that I couldn't explain!

We had a wonderful Christmas eve, and I'll post more (including pictures of course) soon!

Peace

Peace to all my bloggy friends during this special time of the year.

You mean more to me than you will ever know.

THE CHRISTMAS STORY

And it came to pass in those days, that there went out a decree from Caesar Augustus, that all the world should be taxed.(And this taxing was first made when Cyrenius was governor of Syria.) And all went to be taxed, everyone to his own city. And Joseph also went up from Galilee, out of the city called Nazareth, into Judea, unto the city of David, which is called Bethlehem: (because he was of the house and lineage of David:) to be taxed with Mary his espoused wife, being great with child. And so it was, that, while they were there, the days were accomplished that she should be delivered. And she brought forth her first born son, and wrapped him in swaddling clothes, and laid him in a manger; because there was no room for them at the inn.

And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flocks by night. And, lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone about them; and they were sore afraid. And the angel said to them,

Fear not: for behold I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. For unto you is born today in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord. And this shall be a sign unto you: Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger.

And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying

Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will towards men.

And it came to pass, as the angels were gone away from them into heaven, the shepherds said to one another,

Let us go even unto Bethlehem, and see this thing that has come to pass, which the Lord has made known to us.

And they came with haste, and found, Mary, Joseph and the babe lying in a manger. And when they had seen it, they made known abroad the saying which was told them concerning this child. And all they that heard it wondered at those things which were told them by the shepherds. But Mary kept all these things, and pondered them in her heart. And the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things that they had heard and seen, as it was told unto them.

The Gospel according to St. Luke Chapter 2 verses 1-20.

Bake Day or "Do you really want to eat these goodies?"

For ten years or so we have had a Bake Day tradition going on. What it amounts to is all us women-folk getting together the Saturday before Christmas to try to bake Christmas goodies. We had two grandkids to contend with on our first bake day. Now there are 10. Nine of the ten made it to this bake day. Can you say Oh My God! By the time we had baked all of our goodies, the kitchen floor was downright dangerous to walk on it was so full of flour. We could hace hosted a dance or something. My dear hubby and son took pity on us women and stuck around to help - for that I am extremely grateful!

Traditionally I try to have something special for my daughters and daughter-in-law. This year deciding on a gift was easy. Our church published a cook book this year and the cover just happened to be the original drawing hubby Jim made that the stained glass window in our church was based on.

I think they really like the cookbook. (son's wife, Alicia, Tessa and Julie) It was wrapped in a decorated kitchen towel.

We just happen to have a Christmas Tree in our bathroom (doesn't everyone?). I didn't quite get all of the decorating done, so my sweet eleven year old granddaughter, Emily, decorated it for me. Thank you Em!

Thirteen month old Reagan is the youngest of the grankids. I tried and tried to get a good picture of her and she just would NOT cooperate. She was a doll all day. And she was the only child there who did not leave germs on the cookies, lol. You'll see what I mean by that as the pictures continue.


This is another picture of Emily. Now she is washing dishes! It seems like she grew up overnight. Just a year or two ago she was making messes with the rest of the grandkids.

Allen, Anna and Dakota spent more time eating than they did helping. I guess they had to keep their strength up for all the hard work.

Travis is twelve and is usually full of mischief. He was so intent on decorating those pretsels that he forgot to cause trouble :)

Now to the messy part of the day. SUGAR COOKIES!

Cara takes over the rolling pin while all the younger ones wield the cutters. Going to stop and tell a story or two here.

See that rolling pin? Many years ago Jim gave that to me as a Christmas present. He wrote a wonderful poem to go with it that basically told me not to use it on him. Dang I'm going to have to find that poem back! He had a local bakery order it for me because I baked so much that I had bent the cheap dime store rolling pin I had. I've always had a thing for making yeast breads and rolls and stuff.

The littles one in the picture below is Austin. He couldn't seem to help himself - everytime he cut a cookie out he had to lick the cutter and we'd wash it. He finally got to the point whee he would cut out a cookie and then hand us the cutter and say "this needs washing", whether he licked it or not - he had me laughing so hard.

Decorating the sugar cookies was a hoot. We had icing and sprinkles everywhere! The cookies will have a sign on them that says "kid baked and decorated - eat at your own risk"

The kids ate and licked their fingers through the day (hence the warning).

Austin is cleaning up the remainis of the Chex Mix (see those cold tootsies there). We ended up with six bags of that stuff! No calories there.

Cara is my sweetheart. Even though she is nine, she still takes time to snuggle with me everytime we are together. She just curls up next to me and says "Grandma, we need our snuggle time"

Like I said, they ate their way through the day. Cara eating.

See Anna licking her fingers? She is getting ready to pick up more sprinkles. The moisture helps ya know. (Allen looks shocked lol). That is my son, Greg to the left there.

James drank his way through the day. It didn't matter a bit who the soda can belonged to either. He was an equal opportunity mooch.

Ah! I even caught Emily in the act!

What did we bake? Massive amounts of Chex Mix, four batches of fudge, 6 batches of molasses cookies, 3 batches of sugar cookies, 4 batches of chocolate chip cookies, and a bunch of dipped pretzels. Hmmmmm I think I forgot something, but that is enough.

Damn I'm a lucky lady!

Awards

I always feel like an imposter when I am told to grab an award. I'm like, no they can't mean me. I just type words, whine a bit, tell stories, and try to support the blogs I follow. I wish I had the time to follow more, but I'd rather have time to really read the blogs I follow and enjoy them. Anyway.....

I got three awards last week. In the order given, they are:



This award was awarded by The Wife O Riley (click on her image to the right to view her blog). She had been going through a really tough time. She initially didn't want to blog about it. So her awesome text messaging hubby, Matt, blogged about the problem. It turns out a friend of many years had turned on her. It all sucked. So then the blogger community offered support. I just happened to be one of them. It meant so much to her that she created the beautiful award. We are here for each other and when someone is hurting, then we support each other! Thank you Becky. Anyway, the next blog was an appreciation award from Wifey's hubby, Matt.



Check out his site too, folks. He has an awesome sense of humor (click on my follower, My Side of the Story). Anyway, as I said, Wifey's hubby explained what had upset her. We offered support. And lo' and behold, another award! Dang I love those hugs. Thank you Matt.

Then out of the blue, the sweetest lady I know gave me another award! Tori gave me a Lemonade Award. How cool is that? Life gives you lemons and you make lemonade! I am honored to be considered worthy of this award too.



I just want to tell my blog friends, thank you for reading my blog and commenting. It means a lot to me. I try to keep things positive, but I also try to blog about what is going on with my life. Sometimes positive and what is going on doesn't jive. I want to be there for you and I thank you for being there for me!

Thank you for the awards!

Top ten things I heard 100 times

Having Jim's mom with us has been a hoot. You never know what she is going to say, and some of it I don't dare blog. She gets stuck on certain subjects that really are not appropriate for general conversation. But hey! who am I to say!

Anyway, today we took her to an assisted living center close to where I work. She never admits to not remembering things and is the best pretender around.

Here is how it went.

Evelyn: Where are we?
Jim: We are at your new home, mom.
Evelyn: I have a new home?
Jim: Yes, remember I told you about it (he actually didn't because he knew she wouldn't remember)
Evelyn: Oh yea. This place is nice.
Jim: You have a room mate, isn't that nice?
Evelyn: I've always wanted a room mate (yea right lol)
Jim: They are getting ready to eat now, are you hungry?
Evelyn: I'm not hungry.
Jim: You said you were hungry. (she didn't really)
Evelyn: Oh yea, I did say that. I guess I'm hungry.

So she walked into the dining room, told Jim goodbye and that was that. I am totally amazed that there was no argument of any kind. Ya just never know...

Anyway, I thought it would be fun to post the things she said over and over and over this past week...

1. Are those your glasses, Nanna? (they were hers... mine were always on my nose)
2. I sure like the snow but it can leave now... (uh huh)
3. I sure would like a cookie (so I'd give her a cookie - and she'd say...)
4. Why did you give me this cookie, I don't want it...
5. What kind of dog is that? (my Chihuahua)
6. He looks just like my Brandy did (a Poodle)
7. Where are your kids? (married with kids of their own)
8. I'll get out of your hair as soon as they pick me up. (we never did figure out who "they" were supposed to be.
9. Do you have anything I can do, Nanna? (so I'd ask her to do something and she would go sit down, lol)
and the number 10 thing I heard 100 times is:
10. That daddy, now, he was a lover... (and here I won't post the rest :o

The only thing bad about having her stay with us is that we got very little sleep. She gets up and wanders during the night. Several times I woke up with her poking me. So then I would wake up every time I heard any noise, thinking she was roaming to find out she was sound asleep. I'm kind of looking forward to a good nights sleep tonight zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

Later taters!

Just telling you...

Ok. First of all I want to make it VERY clear that I'm not complaining. I'm just going to tell it like it is. I know this is temporary. I know I will get through it. I know I hope my children will love me enough to put up with me as an old lady as we love Jim's mother.

I believe I have mentioned in previous blogs that Alzheimers is a dreadful disease. Ah, yes, I'm sure I have because once I started talking about it and my mom I got the most incredible support from the most incredible bunch of friends in the whole wide world.

What I didn't mention is that Jim's mom also has Alzheimers. Jim's dad died 13 years ago. We have taken care of his mom in many ways since then. Mostly we have taken care of her house, Dr. appointments, finances, making sure she has groceries and stuff like that. She has done pretty good on her own without having to take on those tasks. She was diagnosed with Alzheimers shortly after my mom was. However, hers is so different from mom's. For years, as long as we didn't change her routine she did great. For years we have called her twice a day to check on her and remind her to take her pills. She lives an hour from us in a little town where she grew up. She has brothers and sisters still living there, so she has been in good hands.
Last weekend we had our big Christmas Party. I will blog about that later... We spent the night at our friends' house and neither of us had our cell phones with us. We got home Sunday morning and there were frantic messages from Jim's Aunt. His mom apparently decided in the middle of the cold winter night decided to walk the streets of Chamois in search of her old home place. The Sheriff found her and the Highway Patrol was called in. She finally remembered the name of one of her brothers and they took her in for the night.
(Note: I am complaining here. Jim has a brother and sister (age 51 and 39) Nobody thought to call either of them. They waited for Jim to show back up. He has been the only one there for his mother)

So anyway, we headed down to the little town of Chamois and picked her up from his Aunt's house. She is doing good but there is no way we can chance leaving her alone in the middle of winter. If she decided to take another midnight stroll, we might not be so lucky to have someone save her.

So she is with us. Let me tell you - it is not easy. She was up at least 10 times last night - probably more - and everytime, she came in to wake me up and let me know she was going to the bathroom. I'd get up to make sure she found her bedroom back. She repeats herself a hundred times - maybe more. I had her help me put the Christmas Tree up today and every 2 minutes she asked "Is that an artificial tree, Nanna? (what she calls me). I'd say "yep, feel it". Jim spent the day trying to figure out our options. I think we are going to be able to keep her close to us. There is an assisted living center right down the road that we think we take her. It is going to take time to get everything set up though. She has no money - so that is issue number one.

I may start blogging the top ten things I heard 100 times today...

Busy, busy, busy

Ok,the faster I move, the behinder I get. There is too much to do and not enough time to do it all.

We help host an annual Christmas open house at a friend's house. The party is this weekend and we invited 70 couples. We've been hosting this party for 7 years now and each year the guest list has grown. Most of the invitees are folks we go to church with. Yea, I know what you are thinking... that doesn't seem like much fun... Let me tell you, it is fun. We get all duded up and pretend we are what we aren't (does that make sense?) It is just nice to get together outside of the confines of church and get to know folks. We do a lot of laughing and our fair share of eating and drinking. Our pastor comes and he kicks back and has fun. His routine is that he comes about 1/2 hour after the party starts, when he gets there he walks over to the bar and gets a tumbler of Scotch on ice. Uh huh I said tumbler lol. He slowly sips on his drink all night long as he walks around visiting with everyone and grazes the food table. At some point during the evening we do the old fashion Christmas Carol singing.

Did I mention food? That is the best part. My friends Patti, Belinda, and I cook for days. Well, at least Patti and I do. Belinda is known to go to Sam's Club and get whatever is in their freezers or deli section. We call her "the weak link" lol. Patti and I usually do a combination of tried and true recipes and then we "poison test" a few new ones before the party. I'm cheating this year. I'm bringing some new recipes without doing the "poison test"... I hope they all turn out ok.

Here is my list of recipes: Lemon bars, Truffle Brownie Cups, Pecan Tarts, Quiche Lorraine Tartlets, Artichoke/Parmesan Spread, Crab Meat Tarts, Spinach & Feta Tartlets, Chinese Chestnuts, Spinach & Artichoke Dip, Crab Stuffed Mushrooms, and stuffed celery.

Anybody want to hazard a guess what I have been doing tonight and will be doing tomorrow? I've been chopping, dicing, and mixing everything I can do ahead of time. Tomorrow I will bake the lemon bars, pecan tarts, and truffle brownie cups. I will wrap the Chinese Chestnuts in bacon, and get all of the tarts ready to bake. Everything else will be ready to go to be put together at the last minute on Saturday.

Late Saturday morning Patti, Belinda and I get together at Patti's House (that is where we have the party) and get all the food in one place. Patti usually has everything decorated beautifully and the platters ready to be filled with the wonderful food. We head to the store to pick up any last minute things we need and the alcohol. It is kind of amazing that we have an open bar and yet I've never seen anyone get drunk (whew).

Anyway, that is a little glimpse into my world right now. This is in addition to working both at church and my embroidery business. Dang I'm tired!!!!!!

Ten Reasons Why I Am A "Mean" Grandma

We had three of our Grandsons spend the weekend with us. As most of you know, I have the grandkids quite often. My preference is to have each one by him/herself so we both feel special towards each other. However, this weekend my daughter and her husband needed a "get-away". So we picked the three boys (Travis - 12, Dakota - 7, and Austin 3) up on Friday afternoon. Their mom picked them up Sunday afternoon. This gave them quite a bit of time to figure out I am a "mean" grandma. It is a whole lot different for them to have to share me and my toys with each other than it is for them to have me by themselves. I keep saying me because Jim worked Friday night and Saturday, so he wasn't around very much.

I have a tradition with all of the grandkids that when I pick them up, we head immediately for the grocery store. We plan out our meals on the way to the store and then pick up what we need. Always included in the shopping trip is a box of Dolly Madison powdered sugar donuts. You know, the kind that makes a huge mess when eaten. Yea, those donuts. I discovered the fun trip to the grocery store with one grandchild isn't all that much fun with three. Which led to rule number 1.

1. You don't sneak food into the grocery cart.
Oreo cookies and milk is such a tasty treat, so when Travis asked if we could get a package of Oreo's, I said "of course!" He put one package in the cart and hid another package under the bananas and apples. Mean grandma's punishment? We bought the Oreos and he got NONE.

The evening was great - until I let them play pool unsupervised. By the time I got downstairs, the floor was covered with baby powder. The powder is there for the hands so the pool cue slides easily, which generated Rule 2.

2. You don't let the pool cue powder get anywhere except your hands.
Mean grandma's punishment? If you need powder on your hands for the rest of the weekend, there is plenty on the floor. LOL you should have seen the hand prints - including mine of course. Dang if I was going to let perfectly good powder go to waste! The floor is concrete so it made no difference - I just wanted them to learn to be more careful in the future.

The next morning is when things really began coming apart at the seams. Travis makes fun of his little brother, Dakota. He calls him a dork, nerd, sissy - you name it. Dakota POUTS. He is the KING of pouting. I despise name calling and I despise pouting. To top things off, Austin decides he's not going to bother telling me when he has to go potty. After hollaring at them for about an hour to quit this, quit that, quit everything, I finally lost it. I marched them upstairs, sat them 3 in a row on the couch and became a drill sargeant. Poor little Austin's eyes were as big as saucers. This lead to rules 3, 4, and 5.

3. You shall not call each other names. Period. In fact, you'd better do something to build up each other's ego occasionally. The punishment? Time on the couch with nothing in the room for entertainment - no tv, no music, no book, no computer, no ipod, no NOTHING! AND... the amount of time spent there will depend on how pissed I am at the time (Travis James)!

4. You shall not pout. Not even a downturn of the mouth. Not a single drop of the shoulders. Not a single drop of the head. I don't care what you are unhappy about. If something isn't right, tell me - but DON'T POUT! The punishment? You will be sent to bed (Dakota Cole)!

5. You shall not wet your pants. I don't care how busy you are or how much trouble it is to go to the bathroom! The punishment? You will wear diapers the rest of the weekend (Austin Joshua). (This Grandma just happens to keep a stash in her bathroom.)

After that we did not have a single incident - no name calling, no pouting and no more wet pants.

The other rules have always been rules here.

6. You do not get a can or bottle of soda to yourself.
In this world of excesses, this habit of young people today seems to be one of the greatest excesses around. There is perfectly good water - filtered even, thank you very much. If you're thirsty, drink water. We will share one soda at some point during the day.

7. You do not eat in front of the television and you don't walk around the house with food. As a matter of fact, you do not eat anywhere except at the kitchen table or the kitchen bar. Ok, if you want to take it outside in the 20 degree cold, that I'll allow ;) (they didn't take me up on that). In our house dinner time is a time to talk to each other.

8. You don't eat ANY food without first asking permission, especially not candy and sweets.

9. Internet access is limited to Grandma approved games. Absolutely no instant messaging, chat rooms or violent games.

10. I control the TV remote. No violence or R rated shows allowed as long as kids are in the house. Most PG and PG13 are also not allowed, but there are exceptions to that. And the amount of time spent watching television is controlled by me too - and it is very limited. There are too many more important things to do, like play games, read, talk, or use your imagination.

I want them to have fun at Grandma's house, but I also want them to learn respect and not depend on electronics for entertainment. Once we established the ground rules, we had a great rest of the weekend. As often as they are here, you wouldn't think setting ground rules would have been necessary. But for some reason, they were testing me. I think I won....

Quote of the day

"If everybody minded their own business, the world would go round a deal faster than it does" Lewis Carroll (1832-1898)



TGIF! Have a great day!

I got this from a friend today (huggsss sexy) and thought it would be fun to blog. Here are my answers...

SCATTERGORIES. ..it's harder than it looks! Use the 1st letter of your name to answer each of the following. They have to be real places, names, things.. nothing made up! Try to use different answers if the person in front of you had the same 1st initial. You CAN'T use your name for the boy/girl name question.

WHAT IS YOUR NAME: Deanna

BOY NAME: Dan

4 LETTER WORD: Ding, dang, damn (was I limited to one?)

GIRL NAME: Danielle

OCCUPATION: Dancer

A COLOUR: Dark Brown

SOMETHING YOU WEAR: Dress

BEVERAGE: Dandelion Wine

FOOD: Dumplings

SOMETHING FOUND IN A BATHROOM: Diaper

A PLACE : Denmark

REASON FOR BEING LATE: Death (very, very late...)

SOMETHING YOU SHOUT: Deronamo! or Date Night!!!

OK - Your turn!

Wednesday already?

I don't have much time to post today. This week has been insane and doesn't look like it is going to get any better as it goes along.
I laid awake stewing over an embroidery job last night and am kicking myself this morning for letting such a small thing keep me awake. I have one customer who always nit picks - and this time she had every right to. She had me put the name of their business on five shirts. Usually I make sure I ask what color thread they want used. For some reason this time I just assumed she wanted black thread. I have no idea where I got that idea, but I did. Well, she wanted brown thread (on a light green shirt). Yuck. But she is the customer and the customer is always right. She had gotten the shirts on sale at a real good price, so I can't go pick up identical shirts and replace them. She bought the last ones in the size she needs. I've decided to give her a catalog and let her pick out a shirt and replace the ones I screwed up that way. It will cost me a little, but in the long run we'll be come out ahead. I'll feel better and I'll have a happy customer.
The little old man from down the road who I blogged about a week or so stopped by last night for a visit. His ancestry is from Ireland, so he brought some Irish CD's by for us to listen to. I'm sure he is very lonely now that he has cut himself off from his family. I poured him a shot of Irish Whiskey and we sat and visited for an hour or so. I just marvel at the fact that anyone could possibly have declared this very sharp person incompetent!
Well off to right a wrong and to face another busy day! Have a good one y'all!

Klutz and good food

I've had a really good day, even if I did fall on my ass this morning. We went to church this morning and stayed and visited with friends afterward. When we finally headed home I gave everyone a show and fell right off my shoes! Ouchie! I twisted my ankle and fell hard. That I could handle but I really didn't like the wet rump I ended up with or the show I gave the kids who happened to be outside at the time. Those kids were pretty sweet though and asked if I was ok as Jim hauled me back up and helped me to the car.
So, sore ankle and knee and me had to get ready for the kids coming out for a homemade pizza party. Jim was a big help but when it comes to the cooking, he is kind of a fish out of water. We have a deal. I cook and he cleans up. He definitely has the worst end of the deal - I'm a messy cook. Fortunately I had done a lot of the prep work yesterday, cooking the hamburger, italian sausage, & sausage yesterday and chopping the green onions, green pepper, and black olives yesterday too. I make my pizza dough from scratch - you know the kind that uses yeast - it is more work but it is SO worth it!
The kids and their families showed up around 1:30 and we visited and snacked for awhile. A couple of hours later I rolled out the dough. That is when the fun began. The kids "built" the pizza. Imagine a 3 year old, 2 five year olds, a 9 year old, and a 10 year old putting the toppings on pizza. Oh, yea and a screaming one year old in the background. At this point I was almost (but not quite) glad that Julie and her 4 kids didn't make it. I'm not too sure what we would have done with 4 more kids throwing toppings around. It was wild!
We chowed down on the best pizza in the whole world and then topped it off with hot brownies topped with vanilla icecream. YUM!
And now I am sitting with my bum foot propped up. The swelling isn't nearly as bad as I expected. What a wonderful day!

What a Night

Ever have one of those nights where you dream? And the dreams are bizarre? And they wake you up? And you think you will remember them in the morning? And then morning comes and you can't really remember them?

Well, I had one of those nights last night.

I dreamed strange dreams all night long, and yet this morning I can only remember one of them. It was such a silly dream, though, as dreams usually are.

My friend Patti was leaving after a visit. Jim was up by the barn. I was doing laps around the circle drive. As Patti got into her car, I saw something off in the woods. I exclaimed like a little girl, "Oh look! A moonster!" The monster looked a little like this, only he was orange (and no he wasn't an OCHA lol).

Anyway, Jim came running out of the barn and screamed, get in a tree, get in a tree, hurry!!!!! He'll kill you! Then more and more of the monsters came running out of the woods. Patti, crouches down next to her car (why she didn't get in is beyond me, but it was a dream ya know...) I ran from tree to tree and realized that after the severe trimming of the lower branches that we did recently, there was no way to pull myself up into a tree. So I climbed onto a stump that was about 3 inches tall and crouched down (yea, that will save me...) And the dream ended...

Ok, now get out of here - you expected something good and this is all I have :p

Encouraged

Chicagolady gave me an "Encouraged" award. Thank you lady! I hope every person whose blog I read (you know who you are...) will grab this award. If I read your blog, then it means your words encourage me that this world is a good place to live in. I wouldn't be reading your blog if it didn't.

Here is the award. If you are reading this, please take it - you deserve it!

Whoa - You Had Me Declared What?

Last week I stopped by the Post Office and my neighbor from down the road was there. He was finishing up some business. I bought my stamps and then gave him a hug and asked how he is doing. He is 83 and had been in the hospital recently with pneumonia. He lost his wife to cancer a number of years ago, so we talk to him whenever we can. His response to how he is doing was "I'm doing great now - do you have time for a cup of coffee?" Well this is not like him at all to ask me to sit down and visit with him, so I figured he must need a friendly ear. I was on the tightest of tight schedules... so I smiled at him and said "sure" (so what if the schedule is screwed up).

So we sit down with our coffee and he starts talking:

Don: I didn't want to say anything but now that I have my life back, I want to let you know...

Me: What is it Don? Let me know what?

Don: Well you remember when I was in the hospital with pneumonia? I talked to you when I got out? I was embarrassed to say anything...

Me: What are you talking about Don... embarrassed about what?

Don: Well Doug (his son-in-law) picked me up at the hospital and took me home. Next day I went to the Post Office to get my mail and my box was locked. I couldn't get in it at all. So I asked the postmast what was going on. He was very embarrassed and showed me papers that showed Doug had power of attorney. He had me declared incompetent while I was in the hospital

Me: He what!!!!!!!!!! (This man is the sharpest 83 year old I have ever known.)

Don: Yep. I couldn't write a check, use a credit card, get my mail... he had total control of me.

Me: How is that possible?

Don: Well it seems in the great State of Missouri that a person can be declared incompetent if someone says so and one Dr. backs it up.

Me: Oh man... What did you do and why didn't you tell us?

Don: I hired the best lawyer I could find. I was embarrassed. i didn't want anyone to know until I got it sorted out.

Me: And?

Don: There is one rich lawyer out there now and I have my life back. I still have a lot to do today. I want to check my lock box at the bank and see if he took anything from it. I have to get my credit cards reinstated. And I have to get my life insurance policy changed. The name of Doug will be removed as beneficiary of my $100,000 life insurance policy today. I'd better not die between here and the insurance company... I've already changed my will.

Me: Wow, you would think you could trust family.

Don: Well, I want you to know he isn't family. He is Arlene's (his late wife)daughter's husband. He is nothing to me.

Me: Why did he do that? Do you know?

Don: He thinks I was spending his inheritance frivolously. I bought a CAT (big machinery) for $20K, a wood splitter, and a tractor recently. All of which I've never gotten to use because it is at his house. And I'm buying CD's for college courses that are not accredited. I'm learning about Anthropology right now - do you want the CD's when I'm dong (errrrr not really lol). He thought that was a waste of money. And my lady friend's daughter was in an abusive relationship and I paid the $1200 fee for a lawyer.

Me: It's your money...

Don: Damn right it is. And he won't see a dime now!

Me: Did he use your credit cards?

Don: I hope so. I have no problem turning his name into a number.

Me: I'm glad you have a lady friend.

Don: Well we are just friends. (then he kinda glanced down....) This thing wouldn't work even if we weren't just friends... I sure wish I was 30 years younger. But if that was the case, I'd be running after you....

Me: LOL I'd probably let you catch me.

Don: I just wanted to let you know what has been going on. Tell the Mr. he is a lucky man. I may be crazy, but I'm not senile.

So I hugged him and headed out, thinking just how crazy life can get at times. I called him today to invited him to join us for Thanksgiving. He replied that I was the 4th person to call and holidays were family and he wouldn't come. I begged and he wouldn't... He's quite a guy. I want to be like him when I'm 80.

If this doesn't make you laugh....

I received this in an email today and I found myself laughing out loud as I watched it. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did! Have a wonderful Thanksgiving everyone!

Message of the day

Every sixty seconds you spend angry, upset or mad, is a full minute of happiness you'll never get back.
Life is short, Break the rules, Forgive quickly, Kiss slowly, Love truly, Laugh uncontrollably, And never regret anything that made you smile.

Question of the day - Maxine Style

Maxine is standing next to a stove with a spoon, stirring something. She asks, "When making Thanksgiving Dinner, do your giblets end up in your gravy?" The says "Or do you wear a bra when you cook?"

Have a wonderful week everyone!

I received this award today from Ladystyx. Thank you dear. Blogging is such fun. It is such a release. And then to think that people actually like to read what I write, well that is overwhelming!



"These blogs are exceedingly charming. These kind bloggers aim to find and be friends. They are not interested in prizes or self-aggrandizement. Our hope is that when the ribbons of these prizes are cut, even more friendships are propagated. Please give more attention to these writers! Deliver this award to eight bloggers who must choose eight more and include this cleverly-written text into the body of their award.”

The award translates as, "This blog invests and believes, the proximity" [meaning, that blogging makes us 'close' -being close through proximity]

Every blog I read deserves this award. Please dear friends take it and pass it on. It is such a pretty award.

Dolce Vita Ristorante

We were invited to a "small get together" tonight. OK, I like free food and good conversation, so we said alright!
What we didn't know was this "small get together" was 100 or so people and the food was catered by the owner of a renowned Boston Italian Restaurant - Dolce Vita Ristorante www.dolcevitaristorante.com .I kid you not! The Graceffa family were visiting Jim's boss and decided to treat his family and friends. There were 14 of them in all - some from Boston and some from Michigan. The owner of Doce Vita Ristorante, Franco, MC'd the event. They had an 82 year old accordian player and singer, Antonio. He was walking around and singing to all the ladies. I put my hand over my heart (be still my heart). He was so cute - in an 80+ year old way... They were talking about the fact that he was in a movie many years ago. The movie was call The Stiff or something like that and it was about a funeral home. I've searched the web and haven't found anything about it. I take my camera everywhere. I keep it in my car. So, where was my camera tonight? In my car. What did we drive? Jim's truck (sigh). Oh well.
We had a really good time and the food was soooo good! We had salad, Italian sausage, pasta and the most wonderful meatballs I have ever tasted. I didn't know very many people there because they were mostly people Jim work with, but it was a great opportunity to meet some interesting people. (burp) Oh, excuse me! lol did I mention that the food was great?

Raynauds

I have this disease called Raynauds.

I had it for many years, undiagnosed. Then one day I was sitting on the exam table with my feet dangling in the cold examination room of my podiatrist. My toes turned an ugly white (like they were always prone to do) and the rest of my feet were red. The podiatrist walked in, took one look at my feet, said "Oh My" and left the room. He returned with his entire staff to see my feet! Apparently it is rare for them to see this disease in action. Patients describe the ailment and the disease is diagnosed based on the description. So he wanted everyone to see what Raynauds actually looked like in real life. He then took my feet in his hands and warmed them through the purple, tingling, stage and then continued with working on the problem that brought me to his office originally. There are some medications that relieve the symptoms, but, unfortunately, none have worked for me.

Here is the Mayoclinic's description of Raynauds:

"Raynaud's disease is a condition that causes some areas of your body — such
as your fingers, toes, tip of your nose and your ears — to feel numb and cool in
response to cold temperatures or stress. In Raynaud's disease, arteries that
supply blood to your skin narrow, limiting blood circulation to affected areas. "

Raynaud's disease is more than simply having cold hands and cold feet, and it's not the same as frostbite. Signs and symptoms of Raynaud's depend on the frequency, duration and severity of the blood vessel spasms that underlie the disorder. Signs and symptoms include:

Sequence of color changes in your skin in response to cold or stress
Numb, prickly feeling or stinging pain upon warming or relief of stress."

Simply put, if I get cold, my fingers and toes get numb and I can't feel a thing. It is such a nuisance! Why am I blogging about this now? Well the cold weather is here and I have had nonstop Raynauds. It is difficult to type (try to imagine not being able to feel the keys when you hit them because your fingers are numb). It is difficult to eat, especially in restaurants. Restaurants are a year round problem. They typically keep the temperature low and if the temperatures drop to around 60, I am doomed. It is almost impossible to hold a spoon or fork or worse cut meat when fingers are numb. I have a pair of wool gloves that stay in my purse year round. I may look wacky when I pull them out in the middle of summer, but they usually do the trick. And walking? Well it becomes a nightmare. When the toes are numb, it is like walking on a brick of ice or something. It is very difficult to describe. I don't even try to wear dress shoes in the winter. They don't provide nearly enough protection. Socks and lace up shoes usually do the trick. I stay away from the insulated boots, though. They make me TOO hot.

This is a picture I got from the Mayoclinic to give you an idea of what the disease looks like - no, it is not my hands but it could be.

Just because

I don't really have anything to post, but I feel like writing, so here I am :)

In reality it am avoiding the unavoidable. I have an embroidery job going that should be a piece of cake. It is a very simple design on a hat. It just happens to be my company logo placed on the hats of a bowling team I sponsor (hubby's team, of course). Anyway, I popped out to The Loft after church this morning thinking I'd stitch those hats out in short order. So I set it up, hit the start button, the machine starts chugging to the right thread, the needle goes down to stitch and THUNK. Ut oh. OK, so maybe I have the brim of the hat in a bind against the machine, which would put the needle in a bind and cause it to break. So I check that out. Man, it sure looks good. So I try again - THUNK. Crap! Two needles down and the machine is not liking the abuse at all. So I change the thread placement to another area of the machine, realign the hat, hold my breath, hit start and THUNK. Double crap!

So now I have redone the design a bit and made it smaller. I dread loading it on the machine and hearing thunk again. But I'm a positive thinking person and once I quit procrastinating and get my butt back up to The Loft and try again it is going to stitch out like a dream. Really it is.... and if it doesn't, Marmie will probably hear my scream in the UK and Ausie will hear me Down Under!

Here is the design. The colors I'm using are nature colors because it is being stitched on a camo hat. If you look closely at the logo you will notice that it is D's interlocking with each other. The reason for that is the D's in Deanna's Designs :)

Now, back to work and IT WILL WORK! (Please, please, please...)

It worked! One dozen hats later, I'm back to finish the post. Jim wouldn't pose for me, so I enlisted my buddy bear to do it for me (I'm going to just have to get a squirrel stuffie for such things lol)

Give Me Novacaine - Green Day

OK, here is one going around that I haven't done yet. I got it off of Intenseguy's Blog, who got it off Wife O Riley's blog, who got it from... well you get the picture. Anyway, Wife's and Iggy's answers were so intersting, I just had to do it. Keep in mind that I have thousands of songs (compliments of Joepte) and some of these songs I've never even heard. Of course Hubby thought I had lost my mind (again) when he came in and I was sitting here letting the computer shuffle through tunes but never listening to an entire tune. How does that man put up with me... Ok, here goes nothing!

Here are the rules:

1. Put your music on shuffle
2. For each question - press the next button to get your answer
3. YOU MUST WRITE THAT SONG NAME DOWN NO MATTER HOW SILLY IT SOUNDS!!

IF SOMEONE SAYS "IS THIS OKAY" YOU SAY? The Man I Love - Etta James (sing it Etta! and I always check with Jim first)

WHAT WOULD BEST DESCRIBE YOUR PERSONALITY? Fire On High - ELO (need I say more...)

WHAT DO YOU LIKE IN A GUY? I'm Bad - Bo Diddly (again, need I say mmore...)

HOW DO YOU FEEL TODAY? The Long Run - Eagles (yep, I feel like I've run the long run. I was hoping I Feel Good by James Brown would pop up but no such luck)

WHAT IS YOUR LIFE'S PURPOSE? Give Me One Reason - Tracy Chapman (just give me one good reason and that is all it takes for me to do something...)

WHAT IS YOUR MOTTO? Saddle My Pony - Taj Majal (Hi Ho Silver - Away!)

WHAT DO YOUR FRIENDS THINK OF YOU? Can't be Satisfied - George Thorogood (not enough blogs or friends to satisfy this little lady - keep em coming friends!)

WHAT DO YOU THINK ABOUT VERY OFTEN? It's Only Make Believe - Glen Campbell (that about sums life up, doesn't it...)

WHAT DO YOU THINK OF THE PERSON YOU LIKE? Love Lifted Me - Collective Soul (whoa! that one spooked me out. I couldn't have said it better!)

WHAT IS YOUR LIFE STORY? Rides Again - Blue Collar Comedy Tour (it has been one big rollercoaster ride and I definitely keep getting back on...)

WHAT DO YOU WANT TO BE WHEN YOU GROW UP? Tiny Dancer - Elton John (LOL this one just ain't gonna happen!)

WHAT DO YOU THINK WHEN YOU SEE THE PERSON YOU LOVE? Nobody Knows - Paul McCartney (now that just isn't true! Everybody knows!)

WHAT DO YOUR PARENTS THINK OF YOU? The Journey - Boston (that would describe any parent - wow!)

WHAT WILL YOU DANCE TO AT YOUR WEDDING? Anus of Uranus - Klatuu (good thing I don't plan on ever getting married again...)

WHAT WILL THEY PLAY AT YOUR FUNERAL? U Got It Bad - Usher (lol, ya think?)

WHAT IS YOUR HOBBY/INTEREST? Enough's Enough - Alice Cooper (now that is what hubby says about all my hobby's and interests - enough's enough!)

WHAT IS YOUR BIGGEST SECRET? Nights I Can't Remember - Toby Keith (LOL apparently it is even a secret from me)

WHATS THE WORST THING THAT COULD HAPPEN? Mr Roboto - Styx (now I'm going to have this song in my head the rest of the night. I hope Mr. Roboto comes clean my house...)

HOW WILL YOU DIE? Red River Valey - Sons of the Pioneer (well at least it isn't the Simpson Desert that Ausgrl blogged about...)

WHAT IS THE ONE THING YOU REGRET? So Happy Together - The Turtles (OK, can someone tell me why I would regret that...)

WHAT MAKES YOU LAUGH? Red Red Wine - Neil Diamond (If I drink enough of it, it makes me sleep, not laugh...)

WHAT MAKES YOU CRY? American Woman - Guess Who (why?)

WHAT SCARES YOU MOST? Bosa Nova Baby - Elvin Presley (be afraid, be very very afraid if I'd ever try to do the Bosa Nova!)

DOES ANYONE LOVE YOU? Ball of Confusion - Temptations (and your point is...)

IF YOU COULD GO BACK IN TIME - WHAT WOULD YOU CHANGE? Don't Look Back - Boston (Ok, I know what you are thinking... but I SWEAR I am not cheating! This one popped up. And I certainly would not want to go back)

WHAT HURTS RIGHT NOW? Life Is Sweet - Natalie Merchant (say no more)

WHAT WILL YOU POST THIS AS? Give Me Novacaine - Green Day (some days are just like that - the numbing effect of novacaine would be good...)

Po-Ke-No

Once a month I get together with 6 to 8 friends and play Po-Ke-No. Everyone gets a card with pictures of miscellaneous cards from a deck of cards on it. Each player takes turns calling the cards from a deck of cards. A player gets chips based on combinations of cards called or getting the Pokeno, which is 5 cards in a row (two chips for that!) Other combinations are a postage stamp (4 in the corner), first person to get center gets a chip, 4 of a kind, 4 corners, and.... well you get the idea. Anyway, I call it glorified Bingo. It takes a little more thinking than Bingo but not a lot and there is no skill (other than watching your card). We rotate from house to house each month and the hostess fixes lots of goodies. All in all it is just fun to kick back and laugh and share fun stories. Oh, did I mention that we all kick in $5 at the beginning of the game? And then the top three winners get a share of the pot. And for the first time - I WON! Number one!!! lol I came home with a whopping $15 - $5 of which was my own to start with.

One finger salute

I was running erands yesterday during the noon hour. Now first of all I'll say, what's up with that? I can pretty well schedule my day to my liking since I can work when I want and play when I want. So, stupidly, I was in Noon traffic. Traffic here is 5 or 6 cars at a red light, unlike traffic that most of you experience. But here I was at this red light turned green. And the dude in front of me was still seeing red. Well, actually he was seeing no color of lights because he was looking down at something - cell phone maybe? Nahhhhh, couldn't be... Well I waited a bit and then tooted my horn. One little toot. Beep. That's all.

Well you would've thought I had blared my horn and given his bumper a nudge or something. His head shot up and his finger shot up both at the same time. I actually burst out laughing he looked so stupid. But it made me start thinking (dangerous) about society (even more dangerous). Why is it when a person is in the wrong, for whatever reason, they want to blame someone else. I see it all the time. People are late for work - it was their family's fault and not their own fault for not scheduling their time better. People can't pay their credit card bills or mortgage payment - it is the finance company's fault for loaning them the money, not their own fault for spending money they don't have or couldn't afford to pay off. It goes on and on and on.
So back to this kid. Rather than be pissed at himself for not paying attention, he was pissed at me for pointing it out too him. I'll bet he was late for school and needed someone to blame for his lateness.

Another thought I had was with it being Veterans Day, he should have added a few fingers to that salute and made it matter. He could learn a lot from our military.

Do you have a pet peive about the irresponsibility of people?

We Honor Our Veterans

Thank you from the bottom of my heart to all the men and women who serve to keep America Free. God Bless America and God Bless our Veterans!

What Do You Know About Veterans Day?
Veterans Day gives Americans the opportunity to celebrate the bravery and sacrifice of all U.S. veterans. However, most Americans confuse this holiday with Memorial Day, reports the Department of Veterans Affairs.
What's more, some Americans don't know why we commemorate our Veterans on Nov.11. It's imperative that all Americans know the history of Veterans Day so that we can honor our former servicemembers properly.
A Brief History of Veterans Day
Veterans Day, formerly known as Armistice Day, was originally set as a U.S. legal holiday to honor the end of World War I, which officially took place on November 11, 1918. In legislation that was passed in 1938, November 11 was "dedicated to the cause of world peace and to be hereafter celebrated and known as 'Armistice Day.'" As such, this new legal holiday honored World War I veterans.
In 1954, after having been through both World War II and the Korean War, the 83rd U.S. Congress -- at the urging of the veterans service organizations -- amended the Act of 1938 by striking out the word "Armistice" and inserting the word "Veterans." With the approval of this legislation on June 1, 1954, Nov. 11 became a day to honor American veterans of all wars.

Source

I Don't Do Rockers....

This post was inspired by three things. First inspiration was MarmiteToasty's I Don't Do Pink Blog. Go read it if you haven't already. It is hilarious and she DOES do pink!

The second inspiration was Intenseguy'sMutt Mitts Make Good Barf Bags Too Blog where he points out a "few" quirky things about him, and by Ladystyx's Quirks Blog (I couldn't get the link to work no matter what I'd do :( where she talks about counting her food. Again, very funny reads. It made me start thinking about my quirks and I just don't have any... right? Wrong! I have many and my rocking chairs might just be the biggest!
The third inspiration was the rocking chair we bought for our granddaughter's, Reagan's, first birthday. We started a tradition with our first grandchild 12 years ago that we would give a child's rocker to them on their first birthday. Well, 10 rockers and $900 later, I believe we are done buying child rockers. Well, at least if my kids are to be believed, we are. They say they are done having kids. I'm thinking good idea. Actually, you all know I LOVE my grandkids but 10 really is enough kids to keep me happy.
When I got home last night from Reagan's party, I happened to glance around my house. And I thought OMG we have a rocker fetish (Jim really is as bad as me)! We love going to auctions and if there is an old rocker there, it isn't safe from us. And strangely enough we usually get them for between $17 and $22. I think everyone sees the fire in our eyes and moves out of harms way. We're like "I HAVE to have that rocker!" I have no more room for no more rocking chairs though. I think my kids feel the same way about the child rockers. Every time a first birthday comes around they just roll their eyes as we walk in with a rocking chair. But we know down deep they love it, and anyway tradition is tradition and cannot be broken! Well, it can be... The rest of the tradition is that each grandchild got a quilt made by grandma for their first birthday. I'm only three quilts behind and darned if they aren't holding me to that tradition! Even if they don't get it until their 16th birthday, they expect to get those quilts!
Ok. For those interested, following are pictures of the one or two rockers we have in our house.


Reagan in her rocking chair.

Living room rocking chair.

Other living room rocking chair.

Other living room rocking chair.

Living room glider (if it moves, then it is counted as a rocker). Yep, that means we have FOUR rocking chairs in our living room.

Rocker/recliner in our bedroom.

Rocking/recliner in our kitchen/reck room.

Rocker in the downstairs bedroom.

Rocker in the downstairs office.

Another rocker in the downstairs office.

Rocker in The Loft where I work.

Wooden rockers on the front porch.

Two more rockers on the front porch.

Metal rockers around the fire pit.

Yep, we are definitely off our rockers!