It missed us

Ahhh, we will be having strawberries and cherries this summer after all. The freeze they promised missed us. My yard looked like ghost land with all the sheets draped everywhere.

Freeze Warning

Here it is the end of April. We spent last weekend planting flowers. I like perennials. I figure I plant them once and then can let them "do their thing". Unfortunately, we've had a drought here in Missouri the past few summers and many of our perennials died and had to be replaced. I love herbs, especially lavender, thyme, parsley, sage, and lemon verbena. *sings a verse or two of Scarborough Fair*. It is so fun to walk down the walkway and reach down and pick a leaf of an herb and crush it between my fingers. The scents are so refreshing. Anyway, we planted cone flowers and herbs. My strawberry plants have beautiful blooms everywhere and my cherry tree that I thought the ice storm killed has more blooms than I've ever seen before. So of course there is a FREEZE WARNING! The herbs should be fine. It is my strawberry plants and cherry blooms that I'm worried about. *Sings freeze, freeze, go away, come again some other day* Lol I guess I'm in a singing mood. Hope everyone has a wonderful week. Huggsssss

Ultimate Game Show

Our church had an "Ultimate Game Show" fundraiser last night. Unfortunately, it was a total bust. For some reason the committee didn't beat the bushes to sell the tickets the way they should have. We were hoping to sell 300 tickets at $25 each. We ended up opening the doors to anyone willing to come and accepted "good will" donations. We had a group of about 10 teenagers who donated $5 each *sigh*. $5 for a prime rib dinner and entertainment is a heck of a deal, I'd say. I think we ended up with maybe 150 people total. I'm sure we lost money on this fundraiser big time. Oh well, you win some, you lose some.
The dinner was very good. The game show was hokey. We were split into 4 "teams". Each team would have a member go on stage to answer questions to get points for their team. The teams were named the Dogs, Pigs, Ducks, and Elephants. The member playing had to wear a fake nose of their team animal and make the animal noise before they could give an answer. Our team was the dogs. I barked my fool head off, but we were still the losing team lol. If you want to see a video of the game played (not by us, though) go to http://www.powersentertainment.com/ and click on Game Show. Just keep in mind, we weren't nearly as wild as the bunch shown on their video. And no, I did not get on the table and dance around...
Well, Jim is working, so I guess I'd better get busy around here and get some stuff done. Later!

FLASHBACK

Jim and I started dating in 1969. We were both Juniors in High School. He attended the local public high school and I attended the Parochial High School. This picture is of us going to the ROTC Ball at the local University where Jim was a Freshman. My mom made the dress I am wearing. She made ALL of my clothes. The first store-bought piece of clothing I owned, other than my undies, was my first pair of jeans. But, I digress.
The real reason for this blog was gas prices. All the buzz about the current ridiculous cost of gas made me think back to when Jim and I were dating. Jim owned a 1960 VW Carmengia (how I wish we had kept that car!) Gas cost around 30 cents a gallon. I don't remember for sure but I think the car got around 35 mpg. We would each contribute 50 cents for gas and we could cruise the boulevard all night long! We had so much fun in that car. I don't remember how many miles it had on it, but it had seen better days. The starter was out, so we would always have to park on a hill and "jump start" it to get going. Many times I would get behind the wheel and Jim would push until we got the car going. Thank goodness it was a standard transmission, huh. One of our favorite past times was to drive country roads. Use your imagination... hmmm, we were just kids ya know. I have a picture of that Carmengia somewhere... Our car was our get away. Now gas costs close to $4 a gallon and cars get 15 or so mpg...

Memories

One month from yesterday I will be another year older. I've become a tad nostalgic lately and got to thinking about some of my favorite memories. One of my favorite memories of all time are my BIRTHDAYS! I was born on my grandma's birthday. She had over 40 grandchildren, but I always knew I was her special one because our birthdays were on the same day. She always called me her brown eyed darling. Grandma never had any money to spare, but for my birthday she and I would take the bus downtown to the Woolworth store and sit at the counter, sharing a scrumptious banana split. It wasn't until I was much older that I wondered where she ever found the money for those banana splits. I don't remember ever getting a material gift from her. She was her gift to me.

Grandma passed away over 30 years ago. For quite a few years after she died, I would cry on my birthday and refuse to celebrate. I missed her so much on that special day. Then one year I finally realized I needed to celebrate as if she was still with me - and I do! Grandma was a very special lady. She raised 8 children, mostly on her own, since my grandpa was quite a bit older than her and died when some of the children were still young. As you can see from the picture, she was a tiny lady, barely 5 feet tall. Funny how such a little lady could have such power over me. She was the one person I never wanted to dissapoint. As far as I know, I never did.

Yesterday was a beautiful day here. I walked the gravel road by our house. It has several steep hills and I was panting by the time I got back home. Now if I can just make myself continue the exercise.


After I recovered from my much needed exercise, I headed into work at church for awhile. For many years Mom and dad and mom's brothers and sisters have had a tradition of meeting at McDonald's at 3:00 every day for coffee and fun. Dad has still been trying to take mom but it is too much for him to handle her by himself. So, I headed into town in time to go to McDonalds. Those old people sure keep Mac's hopping! Then back to their house where I fixed supper for them . I've found that it is the little things, like cooking for them, that seems to relieve dad a lot.

Little did I know that when I got back hom, I would find Jim in the yard clearing limbs and trees from last winter's ice storm. So, Jim manned the chain saw and I hauled wood for a couple of hours. After we were done I looked around me and sighed. I couldn't tell we had made any progress at all. It will take weeks of that kind of work to get things cleaned up. Oh well, one step at a time.

By the time I fixed our supper, I was almost (but not quite) too tired to eat. Jim and I have an agreement that I cook and he cleans up. I didn't do another darn thing the rest of the night!

This morning I am sore as the dickens from all the things I did yesterday. But it is a good sore. We are supposed to get rain today and tomorrow and then it should be a gorgeous weekend. I can handle a forecast like that. I'm planning on watching Austin (3) and Dakota (5) Friday night and Saturday so that Julie can have a much needed night off from her day to day mothering.

Hope everyone has a wonderful day!

Whew!

Got those nasty ol' taxes done with 13 hours to spare.

Nobody can say I wait until the last minute...

"Gentle reminder" for me next year, ok Iggy?

T-Day and still not done...

Will someone please kick me in January next year?
I am a terrible record keeper. All the information is here but well, it is here........
*looks around*
I think I am rebelling from all the years I took care of record keeping for state government. I put everything about my business in a file and then on April 13th I have to do the spreadsheets.
Anyway, the pressure is kinda off, I've done enough of the tax stuff to know that I don't owe any money. Tomorrow morning I'll finish things up and make a pledge that next year will be different!
Taxes suck!

YIKES!

TWO MORE DAYS TIL TAXES ARE DUE (can't count today because I'll be gone)

AND MINE AREN'T DONE YET!!!!

AM I ALONE?

HAS EVERYONE ELSE DONE THEIR TAXES ALREADY?

Geeze! Give me a break...

Got sick yesterday and am still feeling awful today. Suspect it is the flu. Stay away from me!

And to top things off, the weather sucks eggs. Spitting rain, sleet and snow.

Tell me again about global warming... just try...

Going to beg Jim to build a fire for me to curl up in front of.

Hugs and hope you are doing better than me! Keep on keeping on.

MOM

I wrote a poem/song about my mom and where she is in her life today. If you or a loved one are showing any symptoms of Alzheimers, don't hide it - get help. They have medicine that will slow the progression of this disease, but the key is to admit there is a problem and get help early. My mom and Jim's mom are both battling this disease. We were able to recognize the symptoms early and they have both been stabilized for years. But time and the disease has caught up with my mom. This one is for you, mom. I love you.

MOM

I see the little girl in her
She’s gone back in time
Saying, “where’s my mom and dad…”
Oh, where’s that mom of mine…

She fed me, she bathed me
She held me so tight, and
Now I’m doing the same for her,
Just trying to make things right

One potato, two potato,
three potato, four
A frightened little girl I see
In clothing of the old

Five potato, six potato,
One potato, more…
Trapped in the memories
Of life from before

I pray to sweet Mother,
Hail Mary, hear my plea
Wrap your loving arms around my mom,
From fear set her free.

Hold her so closely
And love her so long
Like your Son of long ago,
Protect her from harm

One potato, two potato,
three potato, four
A frightened little girl I see
In clothing of the old

Five potato, six potato,
One potato, more…
Trapped in the memories
Of life from before.

Smile!

Happy Tuesday everyone! It sure is dreary here, but I guess it could be worse. Some unlucky people are still getting that 4-letter word *snow*.

I've not been around much for many reasons - one of which is my mother. She has Alzheimers and it has gotten worse lately. My dad still watches over her at home, but it is taking its toll on him. I'm spending as much time as I can with them. Many of us have been touched by this dreadful disease, and if you have, my heart goes out to you.

My dear old friend, Jopete, had a saying that I often repeat.... "Getting old is not for sissies". Truer words were never spoken.

Have a wonderful week and remember... "Wear a smile and have friends; wear a scowl and have wrinkles." - George Elio.

I'm back!

I can't believe it has been several weeks since I last posted. Things around here have been incredibly busy!

Snowman (Dennis) and his wife, Kris, visited us last weekend. They are from Wisconsin and wanted to just get away from all the snow. Although it rained a little, the weather was fairly nice. The sun even peeked through the clouds a few times on Saturday. Anytime we have visitors, we either take them to the wineries in Hermann (45 minute drive), or to Branson (5 hour drive). Off to Hermann we went!

Hermann is a quaint little town built along the banks of the Missouri River.

We usually start at the wineries in town (Stone Hill and Hermanhoff) and then end at Adam Puchta. We've found that three wineries is about all we can handle in one day. They give very generous samplings of all of their wines - and I like it all! Puchta is the oldest family farm winery in Missouri, having been established in the 1840's and is my favorite because everyone there is so nice and their wine is awesome. The town of Hermann and its wineries took a devastating hit during prohibition. Many of the wineries in Hermann began growing grapes and producing wine again after prohibition. Adam Puchta winery didn't begin shipping wine again until the 1990's, and I sure am glad they did. Two of my favorites are the Vignoles and Jazzberry. Both are a sweet wine - Vignoles a sweet white, and Jazzberry a sweet red. I am especially fond of the Norton wines. It is a very dry red wine made of Norton grapes, which I believe (but am not sure) is unique to this area.

After a day tasting wine, we came back to Punkn's Place and I fixed a tasty meal of brisket, corn on the cob and potatoes. I made a cherry pie for dessert. Dang it was good!

On Sunday we headed to the Osage Beach Outlet Malls at the Lake of the Ozarks. Amazingly, the guys stayed right with us while we shopped. Back to Punkn's Place for home made pizza for supper. And what am I doing this week? Dieting of course!

Hope everyone is doing well!