Now I know

I've been spending my time labeling posts so I can make some rhyme or reason out of things when I begin choosing posts to include in the blog book Tess and Bill gave me for Christmas.  I so wish I had used labels when I first began blogging.  Shame on me!

As I (rather slowly) have been backtracking,  I come across drafts that were never published.  Sometimes I wake in the middle of the night with a head full of thoughts and write a few sketchy phrases on my computer and then go back to bed.  And then the next morning I find myself scratching my head, thinking "where was I going with that thought"? 

I came across this post entitled "Now I Know" that I started over a year ago.  Here is what it said:

cousins dying
never understood why mom would tell me when a cousin of hers I didn't know died
over 100 cousins both sides
now I know why

It didn't take me long to figure out where I was going with these thoughts. 

Although my immediate family is not large - two brothers and one sister, their kids, spouses, and of course my own husband, kids, spouses, grandkids, etc.  The numbers quickly begin adding up, but they are nothing compared to really large families.  My parents came from families with 8 and 13 children.  The number of relatives is huge.  I have hundreds of cousins.  Many I no longer know.  I could pass them on the street and not recognize them.  But that doesn't mean I don't care.  I know of them and I mourne them when they die.

And that is where the thoughts of this post started.  Quite a few aunts and uncles and a number of cousins have passed away over the past few years.  This includes my own dear parents.  When someone dies, I always feel compelled to call my children and tell them.  For the most part they don't know these people, other than sometimes with a faint recollection.  When I tell them somebody died, they say things "What did she look like?" or "Was he the one..." 

My own mother would always call me when one of her Aunts or Uncles or Cousins would die.  And I was like "Was she the one..."  And I would wonder,"Why is she telling me about these people I've only heard of and don't know?"  And now I know.  It is because they are important.  They are part of our heritage.  They are relatives, whether we "know" them or not.

So to my dear children, the next time I call you to tell you that someone you don't know died, just smile or act saddened (whichever feels right at the time ) and indulge me.  I do believe it is just something that a generation must do when they get to this time in their life.  Just wait.  It will be your turn next - and your own kids can roll their eyes at you.

Another thought now pours through my head.  The numbers continue to decrease.  Where I had hundreds of first cousins, my own children have 12 first cousins.  Their children already have more than that, but not by much.  Is this a good thing (reducing the population of the earth)? Or a bad thing?  I have no answers.  Just questions - and a compelling need to pass unnecessary informataion on to my children.  Love you guys!

TeeHee



Do you ever get so tickled at something someone says or does that you can't stop giggling?

I'm talking about tears stream down your face type laughing -  Double over tummy hurt type laughing -  Laughing where the sound is something like TeeHee TeeHee TeeHee over and over.

I do.  My family calls it "getting the TeeHee's"

License Plate TeeHee



I hope everyone has a TeeHee kind of weekend!  I know I plan to!

This man of mine just doesn't get it. 

As we were looking at clothes yesterday, he pointed out a manequin dressed in a beautiful red turtle neck sweater, topped with a white, wooly, sweater vest.  "That would look good on you," he says.   "Are you crazy!?!" says I.

I have been plagued with hot flashes and night sweats for over 20 years.  One Dr. told me that it would only last a short time.  *insert loud buzzer here*  WRONG!  I've long ago given up on the hope that they will eventually go away.  I no longer call it menopause (or is that mentalpause).  It is a way of life.  Along with things like weight gain, facial hair, sleep disorders, and mood swings. 
I blame my breast cancer on the harmones that I took for 6 months - and they didn't even help.  My advice is don't take harmones to ease the nasty ol' effects of hot flashes.  It isn't worth it.

I've also tried to ease things with:

Black Cohosh
Vitamins A, B, C, D, and E.  I kid you not.  An alphabet worth of vitamins.
Flax
Some sort of ....wart I believe (remember this has been going on for a year or two, or 10 or 20)
Clonidine

There are a ton of other things I've tried.  N.O.T.H.I.N.G works.

Everyone should be an expert at something.  I'm an expert at layering clothing.  First a tank, then short sleeve tee, followed by a long sleeve shirt or blouse, and then a jacket.  Yes, I said a jacket - even  in summer.  The is mandatory when eating out.  Invariably the restaurant is cool to the temperature of a meat locker.  Initially the jacket feels good.  Then as the walls close in, the flashes start, and clothing starts flying.  This is followed by chills as the cold and clammy skin connects.  Where's my jacket?!?

Night times are always interesting.  These cool nights are perfect for crawling under a nice, warm, quilt.  Then a flash hits.  Jim hangs on to his side of the bed covers as I start wildly kicking.  Then it passes and I am shivering in my damp jammies, with my head on a hot pillow.  Double yuck.

When I worked full time, all of my co-workers knew if I quickly disappeared from a meeting, it had nothing to do with anything other than I was ready to explode from the inside out. 

After I slugged Jim for being insensitive by suggesting clothing I couldn't possibly wear, we purchased a sensibly cool top and blouse and headed out, laughing at visions of me coming out of that sweater and vest at the most inappropriate of times.  He reminded me of the day my mother was standing in her driveway telling us goodby and a bumble bee flew down the front of her top.  She came out of that shirt faster than Whiskey being chased by Bailey.  Like mother like daughter...  On second thought, maybe he does get it

Triplets

I have a problem.

I can no longer get my my t-shirts, or in the case of these cool Missouri mornings, my much needed sweatshirts, over my swelled head.  So I grabbed my warmest blouse as a substitue, and darned if the buttons didn't all pop off the minute I slipped them in the button hole. Not a pretty sight at all. 

You see, I recently received an award.  Not once.  Not twice.  But three times!  If that doesn't make a person feel special, I don't know what will.

Deanna picking wild flowers and weeds

Originally, Just Stuff From A Boomer, gave me the Liebster Award.  Like her, I had no idea what it meant.  She was kind enough to do the research for me.  Here is what she said:  "Because I had never heard of this award, I did a little detective work and discovered that liebster in German, means "beloved". 

The Liebster Blog Award is designed to bring additional recognition to those bloggers with less than 200 followers.  If you receive the award, you should link back to the blogger that nominated you and nominate 5 more blogs.  And, also, don't forget to let them know you nominated them.

Boomer is one of my newest friends, and I have to say I enjoy her blog immensely.  As a fellow baby-boomer, I find myself walking down memory lane with you more often than not.  You're the best!  I've linked back to you and sure do hope every single one of my 61 (actually 12 if you go by comments left ;) followers head over to your blog right this minute... I mean after they finish reading this post.

My dear friend of many years, Iggy, surprised me with an honorary mention when he himself received the same award from Betty.  Iggy's blog is the first one I ever followed.  His is the most educational, heartfelt, sincere, kind... great blog around.  Although we have never met, I consider Iggy one of my best friends ever.  Do me a favor and check him out.  I guarantee you will be glad you did.  You might want to bring an umbrella, though.  Because he recently sprung a leak in his bathroom!  Thank you Iggy.

And then it happened.  My friend from Wales, Tori,  also nominated me.  When I think of Tori, there is no way to come up with one word to describe her.  Inspiration comes to mind.  Then brave.  Then amazing.  Tori has taken her followers through the agony of losing her eyesight and the fears and tribulations that accompanies her journey.  She wows us with photos of her sweet dog Kero and posts projects of her knitting and other projects.  I am humbled by Tori.  And I thank her for the award. 

Now I have a difficult job ahead of me.  I need to nominate 5 for this award.  Drum roll please....

Steve of Third Half of Life

Betty of A Corgi in Southern California

Patti at Osage Bluff Quilter

Travis at One Word, One Rung, One Day

 (Travis has a little over 200 followers, but I'm nominating him anyway since I never was very good at following rules.)

Cheryl at The Farmer's Daughter

I hope you will check them out.  Trust me... you will be glad you did!

Knock, knock...

• It was a year ago Sunday that a relative (NOT one of our children) moved in with us.  With a "gentle" shove, he finished moving out  and slept at his new place last night.
• I hope and pray he does good and stays on the straight and narrow.  It would be nice if he would begin to make smart decisions too.  Please.....
• For the first time in a year Jim and I played pool last night.  I won, by the way.
• We also stood upstairs and yelled - just because we could and nobody was going to hear us and wonder what was wrong!
• The assisted living facility where my MIL has been living for quite a few years quit accepting Medicare patients.  Her money from the sale of her house ran out this month, so we had to move her.
• We found a skilled nursing facility in a little town nearby that we feel good about.  They only have a total of 30 patients and all of the attendants, nurses  and doctors we've met so far seems very nice.  The place is clean.  The food smells good.
• We moved Jim's mom yesterday.  She is NOT happy with us.  More accurately, she is royally pissed at us.  Jim and I always have to be the bad guys.  It's not fair.
• Did I mention that I am happy to have my house back?
• The list of honey/wedo's to reclaim our space is going to be a mile long.
• It begins with cleaning the downstairs bathroom and ultimately remodeling it. 
• The downstairs bedroom has a maroon/burgundy carpet in it.  That sounds ugly but it really is very pretty.  I'm thinking of painting the walls, bookcases and baseboards shades of gray.  Then all my stuff in its many colors can add spice to the room.
• The weather here has been gorgeous.  It makes me feel guilty as I watch on the news the terrible effects of Irene.
• My son told me over the weekend that he is 35 - not the 34 I said he was when I did a birthday blog for him.  That means Tessa is 37.  I wonder now if I got that wrong too.  Where do the years go?
• I'm making a quilt top.  I haven't decided yet whether I am going to hand quilt it, machine quilt it, or have someone else do it.  Decisions, decisions...
• I bought material to make two more aprons.  It is a sickness, I tell you... it really is!
• Months after I completed physical therapy for arthritis and bursitis pain, I am still pain free.  Exercise, exercise, exercise.... it is worth it.
• So, what is gong on in your world?  I'll catch up on blogs again soon.  I promise!

Seven things about me

 
Last week Intenseguy honored me with an Irresistibly Sweet Blog Award.
 Most of those who follow my blog, follow his.  If you don’t, you are missing out.  Iggy’s blog has taught me a lot about history – sometimes things I kind of already knew, and often time the odd bit that I never would have heard of if it wasn’t for his blog.  And then, there are the spattering of sensitive, heart warming, and honest, it is what it is, posts.  Not to play favorites, but I will have to admit his is hands down one of my favorite blogs.  I guess that is the reason this award is meaningful - His opinion means a lot to me.
I'm supposed to tell you 7 random facts about myself, tag people and pass the award on to 5 other bloggers.

• I love to bake homemade goodies.  There is no better scent than a freshly baked loaf of bread, or rolls, or pie, or…. well you get the picture.   Although I don’t bake very much any more, for the obvious reason that the two of us don’t need all of that temptation, I still find kneading and pounding dough as a great way to work off stress and frustration.  Try it sometime!

• I have an apron fetish.  They fascinate me!  I remember my grandma Hood always wearing an apron.  She would be taking it from around her waist as she’d come out to greet us when we arrived at her house.  Then the moment she went back inside, the apron would reappear around her ample girth.  Man how I loved that woman! 

Can you tell by looking at this picture which apron I did not make?  I honestly wear them all the time.   In addition to these aprons, I’ve made them for friends and my kids.  They all probably think I am nuts.

• I recently completed 4 weeks (2 times a week) physical therapy for arthritis and bursitis pain.  We did strengthening exercises, ultrasound, and a treatment call Iontophoresis.  This treatment pulsated steroid medication directly into the painful area without the need for injections.  For the first time in many years I am mostly pain free… and lovin’ it!

• If you ever tell me I cannot do something, you may well be the cause of my demise, because if I am not able to do whatever you said I can’t, I may die trying.

• I hate sauerkraut.  I hate bowling.  I fixed sauerkraut for Jim and a friend last week, and went bowling with Jim yesterday.  True love.

• My favorite dog breed is Golden Retriever.  I still miss our Goldens, Dolly Belle and Lucas, even though both have been gone for many years.  However since I don’t like contending with large house pets, I now have a love/hate relationship with my demon dog Chihuahua, Whiskey.  And yes, I absolutely love the little turd.

• For many years I was a secretary.  Then I went to college and worked my way up the ladder to an administrator in a data center, running after the money rather than happiness.  Now I am retired and work part time as a secretary (among many other hats since I am the only employee) at church.  I am happier than I have been in years, once again doing what I am best at. Speaking of secretaries, in this day and age of electronics, it seems they are a dying breed.   Does anyone else still know short hand?  Do my younger readers even know what short hand is or looks like?  (and no, I don’t mean LOL and GMTA, and U R)  My mom taught it to me when I was still in grade school.  When I officially learned it in high school, though, I discovered mom’s shorthand was different than what was being taught in class.  I had a terrible time undoing the bad habits I had already learned!  After all these years, I still write my notes in short hand.  Old habits sometimes die hard (or not at all). 
  I am supposed to pass this award on, but sometime I don’t play by the rules (ooops that is number 8 about me).  If you think this would be a fun thing to do, please grab the award and join in, because each and every one of my readers are special and irresistibly sweet.  I found it fun to do a “me, me, me!” blog.  Try it, you’ll like it!!!!!

An unexpected rant

Heading home from Austin's baseball game last night I looked to the right and was favored with a beautiful sight.  I said "stop!" and he didn't (more like couldn't).  But he did turn around so I could capture the sky.

The skies over the Jefferson City last night

 As I look at this picture, I can't help but think of our lawmakers roaming the halls of the Capitol Building, making tough decisions that will impact each and every one of us.  I pray that God leads them to quit squabbling and looking after their own petty special interests, and instead work together to get our state back on solid ground.  We are floundering.  I have no answers to the problems and have never pretended to.  These dudes in that white building, though, did claim to have the answers when they ran for office. 

There is so much waste in government.  As a 30+ year retired government employee, I can make that statement with 100% certainty.  And the waste is usually not in the rank and files.  It is with the bosses who think they are entitled to perks and favor constituents.  Get over yourself!  If everyone would get down and dirty and give 100%, we would see results.  And while I'm on the subject.  I want to go on record that Government employees get a bad rap that they largely don't deserve.  As with any business, there are those employees who don't do their job, are lazy, rude, call in sick when they  aren't sick, take extended lunch hours or breaks, and in general are just lousy employees.  But on the flip side, the majority of my co-workers are dedicated, hard working, individuals who gave 100% to their careers.  They care about the service  they provide.  Government should be run like a business and it isn't.  If it were, there would be fewer free-loading employees and the citizens would have a greater respect for government and the service it provides to all of us. 

Missouri River Bridges at Jefferson City

Speaking of government not doing its job.  See the twin bridges in the above photo?  They are a major thoroughfare into Jefferson City.  During the flood of '93, these bridges were out of commission for a long period of time because the flood waters washed out the roadways leading to them.  The headlights coming towards you would have been underwater.  We are now told that the Corps of Engineers plans to release waters from a dam in Nebraska/SouthDakota that is holding back the waters from the heavy winter and spring rains.  They predict that the resulting flood waters here will exceed the flood of '93.  Many are asking why did they wait so long to release the waters.  Why was it held back until it reached this critical stage, resulting in major flooding here, rather than a slow release that the riverway could have handled.  I believe the Corps didn't do their job and now everyone will pay for their incompetence.

This post was supposed to be a simple picture of the sky and a wish to everyone that you have a nice weekend.  And now look!  I went on a rant.  *shaking my head at myself as I hit publish*

Oh, and I do hope everyone has a great weekend!

God Bless Them All

This day was set aside during the Civil War as a day to remember Union soldiers who fought and lost their lives during war.  It was called Decoration Day.  We've been watching the Civil War miniseries that we recorded from the History Channel sometime ago.  It is a powerful message of the futility and destruction of lives wrought by war.  Today I also remember the Confederate Soldiers who were apparently left out of the original declaration. 

Today we know this day as Memorial Day.  We have a great deal to be thankful for, and those who fought and died to protect us, deserve to be remembered.  As I sit here typing, through the corner of my eye I catch sight of our American Flag dancing in the wind.  Without the death of so many brave souls, that flag would be no more.  The thought is a bit overpowering.

I also remember those who fought in other wars - wars that could even have been avoided or were ours not to fight - and lived to come home with memories and heartaches too powerful to talk about.  Experiences that haunted or will haunt them the rest of their lives.  They have paid a very high price for their patrioism.  You, too, are in my heart and prayers.

Today I also keep my nephew, Jesse, in my thoughts and prayers as he continues to serve his country and lives in the dangers of war.

God Bless You every single one - and God Bless America.

The sun is shining here, the heat is upon us, and the cicadas are singing louder every day.  We were able to hear them inside our closed up house this morning.  It is an amazingly powerfully irritating song.  The shells they are leaving everywhere are pretty irritating too. 

I am out of my funk now.  Sometimes life just gets a bit overwhelming.  In answer to some of your comments on my previous post, our "situation house guest" will have been here a year on August 29.  We have told him that it is our goal - and must be his goal - to be in a place of his own by August 29 of this year.  He now has a steady, although low paying and no benefits, job.  Once he is again standing on his own two feet, it is my belief  that his self esteem will return.  With that, hopefully, will come better opportunities.  I can only pray.

Love and good wishes to all.

Funk

Hi everyone.  I'm sorry I haven't been around commenting on your blogs.  Blogger has wasted so much of my time not posting comments after I took the time to comment, that I finally gave up.  I think it might be working better now, since I was able to comment on a few yesterday, but I am terribly frustrated.  That plus I am in a bit of a funk. 

I am tired of having the perpetual house guest still living in my downstairs.  I am tired of the phone ringing over and over again because his daughter is trying to get a hold of him and can't find him.  I am tired of not having a place, other than the floor, for my grandkids to sleep because of said perpetual house guest.  I am tired of worrying he may have reverted back to his old ways when he doesn't come home until hours after he gets off work.  I am tired of feeling guilty that I don't invite him to eat meals with us, even though I know that would just perpetuate his dependence on us.  I am sick when I look at his idea of cleanliness and know that when he does move out that, at the very least, I am going to want to gut my bathroom and start over.  And I am totally pissed that I can't even offer my only sister a place to stay when she comes to visit for two weeks.  So, I am in a bit of a funk.

I hope everyone has a good Memorial Day.  I may just run away from home.  A nice hotel room is sounding real good to me right now.

Yesterday was a great day. 

"They" were calling for rain to roll in yesterday.  "They" were once again wrong.  After a morning of going to the gym, running errands, and cleaning up around here, we cleaned up (yes, it was necessary) and joined the kids at Greg and Alicia's for my birthday party.  Everything was so relaxing.  Alicia fixed Mint Juleps.  I'd never had them before!  They were scary good. - you know, the type of good that would sneak up on a person if they are not careful.  I was careful and only had two.  We then all stuffed  ourselves on grilled pork steaks, potato casserole, broccoli/cauliflower salad, baked beans and maybe I'm forgetting something else.  It was all delicious.  Then we had cheesecake for dessert. Since they were worried about smoke soot damage to their ceilings, we decided to forgo the candles. 

Jim is working this afternoon.  I am smoking a pork loin and checking out blogs.  As soon as I get done here, I do believe I need to "pick up" the house.  I'm terrible about not always putting things away.

Oh, and I picked strawberries this morning.  And the cherries are almost ready.  So far the birds are leaving them alone.  So maybe I'll get some.  Apparently this is the year the cicadas are supposed to get really bad.  While walking around outside this morning, we saw two of them hanging around.  I hate the damage they do to trees, especially the tender barks of new fruit trees.  I hope the pear trees we planted last year survive.  I'm not looking forward to the deafening noise they create when they are in great numbers.  Sitting smack dab in the middle of the woods equals full surround stereo.  Sometimes that is not a good thing!

I hope every one has  had a great weekend.

Happy Birthday to me!

Happy Birthday to me

I belong in a tree

With the Indigo Buntings

And the Humming Birdies

Original prose by my dear husband, Jim

Yessiree, it is my day.  As Iggy said in his comment on my previous post, today is a day of LOTS of candles and mountains of flames.  Well put! 

I'm celebrating 59 glorious years!  How is that possible?

Today is going to be just like any other day, with an eye Dr. appointment this morning and work this afternoon.  I can't wait to ditch the readers I've been constantly losing for the past two years and get back into a pair of bi-focals.  The next picture you see of me, I will be wearing glasses again.

Look what Jim surprised me with. 

Willow Tree - Peace on Earth

I absolutely love it.

Tomorrow we'll CELEBRATE! with a party at Greg and Alicia's house. 

Thank you everyone for your sweet comments and birthday wishes.  It means a lot to me.

6:15 am - Woke up, big stretch, got up to pee and brush teeth
6:17 am - Curled  back up in bed
6:47 am - Crawled Jumped back out of bed to face the day
6:48 am - Grabbed a cup of coffee and turned on morning news
6:55 am - Kissed hubby goodby as he headed to work
7:15 am - Turned off news (ugh) - do I really care about Arnold, Newt, and that dude from France?, grabbed anothed cuppa coffee and bowl of cereal and check email.
7:22 - Done with emails (where did all my friends go?!?)  Started writing this blog
7:26 - Blog time!
8:15 - Grabbed another cuppa and started chores... made bed, put out a load of laundry (how can two people dirty so many clothes...), unloaded dishwasher (how again...), fed cat, looked at dog who Jim already fed, filled the bird feeders, put first load of laundry into drier and put another load (again, how...)
9:00 - Grabbed another cuppa in a clean cup because the previous one is sitting cold somewhere in the house and continued with blogs.  If anyone tries to tell you that blogs are not time consuming, they are kidding themselves!  But I love them.
9:30 - Phone call with Julie
9:45 - Fold clothes, put out another load (again, how...)
10:00 - Heading out to mow grass.  This is a biggie for me because Jim is at work.  He usually gets the mower going for me.  Cross your fingers!
11:30 - Time for a water and left over fried chicken (compliments of WalMart) break.  Turned drier back on to fluff clothes because I was outside too long (come on, admit it - you do that too!  Don't you?)  Mower started right off!  Five sections done.  I think everyone has a different method of mowing.  Since we have so many trees and "areas", I tend to section my mowing off by trees or terrain.
12:00 - Got sidetracked by my Nook - reading John Grisham's "The Confession"
12:20 - Sister called
12:30 - Returned to mowing
1:15 - Another break.  Took bird pictures and posted them on my blog.
1:45 - Returned to mowing
4:15 - After numerous breaks, I'm DONE!  Jim came home around 3:00 and helped finish
4:30 - Jim discovers our 21 year old cat, Shelby, curled up in a pile of leaves, close to death.  We've made her comfortable and hope she is not in pain.  She's lived a good life.  It is going to be hard to let her go - and that is all I plan to say on the subject.  Can't dwell on it.
4:45 - Heading for a much needed shower!
5:15 - Margarita time
5:45 - News
6:15 - Supper of chicken and rice casserole
7:00 - Television and then bed
I am soooo damn tired!

I think I missed a load of laundry somewhere... Pretty sure I missed a few potty breaks too.

Hope everyone had a great.  They are calling for rain for the next countless days.  Am glad the grass is mowed!

The loves of his life...

I'm going to admit it to the world.  Jim is having a love affair.

If you ask him, he will say I am the love of his life.  And there is no doubt in my mind that is true.  But... he is having a love affair - and his secret is out

Her name is Iris and the love affair has been going on since before I met him.  I should have known he couldn't give her up for me.  She tried sneakinig up the sidewalk when she thought I wasn't looking. 

When I caught the brazen hussy dripping wet from a shower, she just shook the water droplets at me and went on




He knows I am on to him and doesn't care *wipes a tear*.  He's even threatened to relocate her from her current home where she is not doiing well!  How dare he!






I tried to talk to Bailey about it, but she didn't even pretend to care.  I think she is in on it.

  


If only I could have gotten a picture of him sniffing these pretty little girls.  The evidence would be overwhelming.  The  thing is, they even have beards.  What oh what does he see in them?  I just don't get it *sniff, sniff*





My only consolation is that I know her beauty only lasts a short time and then she will shrivel up, and his fascination will be over - at least for a while



The sad thing is that as soon as FloozieFlag fades, her cousin Chio from Japan will take her place.  I've seen it happen year after year.





And after Chio's glory fades, their distant cousin, Lily, from Asia will take their place.  I guess I'm just going to have to live with it and learn to do a little sniffing around of my own.







Whiskey pretended to care but then went back to his reading without a care in the world.  I should have known the guys would stick together.





 









And the answer is...

 I absolutely cannot cook without my Pyrex measuring bowls/pitchers.  They are essential for me to cook.

However, everyone who guessed coffee was a close second.  I honestly didn't place that cup there to throw you off.  It just happened to be there.  Sorry, but no prize has been offered!



 . 
My daughter, Tessa (Tmarie) was probably the most accurate.  She mentioned the Pyrex measuring bowls, the coffee, and the butcher block.  I hadn't even thought of that butcher block when I took the picture but she hit the nail on the head.  It would be like cooking with my hands tied behind my back if I didn't have my butcher block.

Tessa had to bring up whether I looked in the closet for my coffee!  You see, during my child rearing years I'd often move at what Jim calls "warp speed".  It was hard getting everyone going in the right direction, working full time, keeping the house in order....  She knows what I'm talking about now, since she has four kids.  You'd think she'd take pity on me.  Anyhow, my coffee cup was suppposed to move at warped speed with me, but sometimes it got left behind - often getting left in strange places, such as a closet shelf.  It became the family mantra that when I would yell "Where's my coffee?!?", they would respond "Look in the closet!"  After all these years that darn coffee cup still has a mind of its own and stays behind in the strangest places.

Our company was an 80 year old guy Jim works with.  He is a sweetheart.  His wife died a month or so ago, so we thought he might like to spend an evening with us.  About an hour before he was supposed to arrive, the heavens opened up with torential rain and hail.
 

This is not snow - it is hail

Fortunately the storm didn't last long.  John showed up right on schedule and we had a fun evening together.  It is hard to believe, but I did forget to take a single picture more.  Between putting together the final touches, visiting, laughing and just having a good time, it didn't occur to me.

Before dinner, we sipped on a Cubalibra (rum and coke with a splash of lime) for an hour or so. 
The dinner menu was a lettuce salad, chicken spaghetti casserole, and asparagus.  We served a light red wine with dinner.  I tried to keep it simple but that casserole took me forever to make.  Dessert was a chocolate sheet cake with a homemade icing that resembled whipped cream.  It took an insane amount of beating to make the icing.  Next time I will go back to beating heavy whipping cream.  Sometimes the basics are best. 
After dinner, we spent a couple of hours curled up in the living room with an after dinner drink.

The evening flew by.  John is one of those people who has done so much in his life, and likes to tell stories of his experiences.  He talked comfortably about his wife and her passing.  We were all suprised when 9:00 came and John said he probably should be heading home. 

And here we are - Saturday and more drissle.  I'm just glad it is not snow!

Last night's hail

Can you guess?

We have company companing tonight.  I'm out to impress because I like the guy.  So I am cooking up a storm today.  Looking at these pictures, can anyone tell me what I cannot live without when I cook?

My messy kitchen.  I'm cooking up a lot of goodness in the middle of this mess

  Maybe this closeup will help you guess.  Anyone?



What in the world can I not do without?

 If I remember to take pictures, I will blog the final feast.  But don't hold me to it.  I seem to be rather forgetful these days.

Progress

This…

Has been reduced to this…

Whiskey is very proud of me.
The plan is to sort them by three categories:  page layout ideas, journaling ideas, and technique ideas.   I’m trying to use the KISS principle.  I tried to do the sorting while I was reducing, but kept putting pages on the wrong stack.  I guess I’m not as good at multitasking as I thought I was!

James spent the day with me yesterday, recuperating from a chest cold.  He wasn’t much help, though.  His only contribution was to lay around and play with his lego’s.  Oh and make me smile every time he grinned at me and I looked into his big brown eyes.  The bear hugs were nice too.
Stay tuned…

Just a scrap

There was a time when I was a serious scrap booker.   I bought every possible gadget, pen, paper, sticker, and computer design software. Then my daughter, Tessa, gave me subscriptions to scrapbook magazines.  I was in heaven.  I poured over all the design ideas and kept buying all the latest and greatest gadgets – and of course I kept creating wonderful scrapbooks. 

Then about eight years ago I quit.  I’ve kept taking pictures.  Many pictures!  But the scrapbooking juices stopped flowing.
Today I took one look at the bookshelf piled high with magazines and decided it was time to get rid of them.  The problem is that they really do have a lot of good advice and information.  What to do….

The simple answer was to go through the magazines and remove anything of interest and throw all of the useless advertising away.

About 30 magazines have been reduced to this thin stack, which will be filed by categories. 

I’m looking forward to catching up on all the memories as I get back into scrap booking the simple way – with lots of journaling.  It will be a walk down memory lane backtracking eight years.  And of course, I’m going to have to do something with the over 90 years of family photos I have been scanning.  Just what I needed – another project!