One Day @ A Time

Free haircuts to Indiana legislators

2012-01-20T15:33:00.000-06:00

Boy am I hot today. Yes I agree that the temperature outside is very cold and it is snowing. As for me though, I am hot. Why you ask? Well here goes. I get email Senate updates from the state that I live in (Indiana). They let me know what is going on as far as what bills are in committee and so on. Our state is going crazy right now over Right to Work. That is all I have heard about for months. I got a survey in the mail from my representative asking how I feel about a lot of things, but never what I am hot about.I graduated from high school in 1968. I received a scholarship to attend a school of cosmetology. It was about 30 miles from where I lived, and it was not the one I wanted to go to. There was a particular school in my area that was highly regarded as the premier school to attend if you wanted to be a cosmetologist. So as per my temperament I told my mom that I was not going to accept the scholarship. To which she replied, then you go to work to pay for it yourself. So I did. I got a job as a nurses aid at a local hospital. Nursing was my second choice for a profession back then. At that time you would spend two or three weeks being trained by hospital staff on how to make a bed with a person in it. How to give a sponge bath. How to feed a patient. How to do most everything that was not invasive to a patient except of course, enemas. If you worked midnights which I did you got to prep everyone for tests the next day. This included enemas. Also in 68 they still used oxygen tents. When the patient is finished using one they have to be taken to a large tub with very hot water and special soap and scrubbed, rinsed and dried. Kind of a pain in the, well you know. I worked on a medical/isolation floor. We got cancer patients, older folks from nursing homes and so on. One particular case was a young woman who had been hit by a semi. The crash caused her to loose both legs below the knee. That is until the infection set in. After three or four surgeries, she had lost both legs just below her crotch. She was in isolation so that she did not get infected by someone.Gearing up to get into isolation is a real task. Gown, mask, rubber gloves, booties and a hair covering. Now you have to give the person a bath dressed in all of this. Ever try to change a bed with rubber gloves on? Takes some time.It was hard, sad and rewarding work. I learned a lot that year. I also earned the money to go to "Beauty School". I had to drive about as far to the school that I wanted to go to as the other one I rejected, but in a better area. At that time you had to go for 1,000 hours and have passed all required classes. You might be surprised at what you have to know just to be a hairdresser. Anatomy, chemistry, safety, health laws and the obvious how to cut, color, style and perm hair. I finally made it, passed my state board exam and then had to work for a master cosmetologist for six months. Now for those of you who are old enough you will remember that in the late 60's early 70's hairspray was king, partly why I have asthma. Women would get their hair done on Friday. You would spray the heck out of it. and it stayed until the next Friday when they came back to get you hair done again. OMG,talk about funky. Stand on your feet all day getting your hands wet and dry all day long. Giving perms(ammonia based) with bleeding fingers was not real fun. Then the state decided that in order to renew your license, you had to take continuing education classes. So even if you were not working if you wanted to keep your license you would have to pay and take classes first. So why am I so pissed off you ask? I see on Face Book today that the legislature was voting on doing away with licensing Cosmetologist, Barbers and nail tech's. I am not sure yet if it passed. I have to do more looking. But what are they thinking? Do you want someone working on your scalp with chemicals that they have no idea what they are working with? I think I am going to offer free haircuts to any legislator that wants one. Revenge can be sweet!

Serenity, not today, maybe tomorrow.

2012-01-03T19:18:00.002-06:00

If I am going to keep up I need to write something today. I should be doing dishes or cleaning my bedroom but I just can't find it in me to do that right now. Maybe later, after all I still have clean silverware. With this I am serene.I had to go to a small town not far from my own today for an appointment. When heading home I noticed a pack of three males walking along the sidewalk, all about 15. One looked halfway normal. The one in the middle had his hat on backwards, headphones in and his ass hanging out of his falling off and too big pants. The third one was wearing sunglasses and a hoodie that would fit and elephant. I wanted to stop and just slap the crap out of them. Well not exactly, just straighten the ones hat, pull up his pants and tighten his belt, if he had one on, till his eyes bulged out. Then just give the one in the big hoodie the stink eye. I have watched National Geographic, I now that all species have mating rituals. Can anyone tell me what kind of mate one would attract with that kind of get up? Oh wait, I know. Someone with multicolored hair that has not been combed since they were born. Gloves with no fingers attached to them but the fingers sticking out have black polish on them and eye gook that is well' gross. Clothing would be either a skirt so short that it should be on a two year old or pants with holes cut in them with the edges frayed and strategically placed so that more butt cheeks can be seen. Do moms look at their offspring any more when the kid leaves the house? Are these moms afraid to say anything to the fruit of their loins about what they are wearing or what trash can they found it in? Two words; grow up people. It is time to be a parent. Before you know it these children will be procreating and then what? Well I guess it will be easy enough for them with the pants falling off and the skirt so short. The scary part of this is not only will will they be re-producing, but also voting? I know which is scarier, I wrote about that last time. Is it any wonder this country is in the shape it is in? I try to go by the Serenity Prayer on a daily basis. Today I did not know the difference.SERENITY PRAYERGod grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change; Oops, did not do this one.courage to change the things I can;and wisdom to know the difference. (Although known most widely in its abbreviated form above,the entire prayer reads as follows...)Living one day at a time; Enjoying one moment at a time; Accepting hardships as the pathway to peace; Taking, as He did, this sinful worldas it is, not as I would have it; Trusting that He will make all things rightif I surrender to His Will;That I may be reasonably happy in this life and supremely happy with HimForever in the next.Amen.See y'all soon.

God Bless the Little Children

2011-12-30T17:14:00.000-06:00

As I opened my paper the other day;The Northwest Indiana Times, I see on the front page a story about a young girl from the Ft. Wayne area. Seems she had been found in pieces. They caught the person they believe responsible for dismembering her young body. Seems that the little girls mom had brought her and two other siblings to the trailer park where mom's dad was living/dying. Dad/grandpa needed help because he was so ill that he could not take care of himself. So far this seems harmless enough, but this is where it gets ugly. This particular trailer park it seems is home to quite a few registered sex offenders, dad/grandpa being one of them. The little girls mom comes down with the flu so she sends the girls to stay with a guy in another trailer in the park. According to the paper this guy was not listed in Indiana as a sex offender but had other offenses. He also had arrests in two other states and now is being charged with the murder.I know that being on a sex offender list does not mean that a child was involved. A person can wind up on the list for many reasons and a lot of them very minor offenses. For example, urinating in public might get you on. My question is why in the world would she take her children to a place that was known to be a haven to sex offenders? I find this to be beyond heart wrenching. I first read the article three days ago and just can not get it out of my mind. Those little girls must have a daddy somewhere. Couldn't mom have called him?I am so sick of reading about the neglect and abuse of children in our society any more it is sickening. They are children, born to us to be looked out for. To be taken care of and protected above all else. Yes I said above all else. We are in a society that thinks about number one all of the time, me, me, and the children are left out to the buzzards. The boyfriend beat the baby to death because it cried. They kept the child in a dog cage until he died and buried him in a garbage pile. Mother scalds two year old in bath water. What the hell? Isn't it about time to start holding people accountable for these crimes? Just because you can breed, doesn't mean you should be a parent and a lot of times you shouldn't. I sure hope that in 2012 I don't read any more of this crap or see it on the news, but something tells me I will. So for the New Year my wish is that God Bless the Children and open their parents minds to what is important in this world.Drive Safely this weekend.

Pass it Forward

2011-12-22T13:39:00.000-06:00

Only three more days until Christmas. I think everyone has memories of Christmas that either thrill you or make you hate the 25th. of December:Sometimes it is both. As a child my first six years of Christmas's were awesome. I lived with my grand parents and was the first grand daughter so I pretty much got way too much. Then the "Event" happened. My mom re-married. I am not going to go into the trauma of all that because it is past not to mention a bummer. Like so many other families just starting out with another baby coming every other year, money was tight. I never went without and usually got one really cool gift. Like my first cigarette pack size transistor radio. It was turquoise. I was in heaven. I also got an intercom set one year. Being a bit sneaky I could set one in the kitchen and one in my room and listen to what was being said after I went to bed. All I had to do was tape down a button on the kitchen unit. I thought I was being very sneaky. Those were the two standouts for a very long time while I was still at home.Once I was married I got lovely gifts from the hubby of course. Although the one gift I remember the most was not from him it was from a cousin. As I said I lived with my grandparents from the time I was born until about age 7. My grandma had started a Sun Bonnet Girl quilt for me before I was born. She only got the top done. It was neatly folded and put away never to be seen again. When I was in High School she showed it to me and then put it away again.After my grandparents both passed away there was an auction of all of their belongings. To me it was a selling of most of my childhood memories. It was a tough day for me. I was able to get a few pieces of furniture that were between old and antique for a song. I still have them. However, in the auction was the box with my quilt top in it. I did not get it, my aunt did. Well I knew it was gone for good and just had to get over it. My cousin T. and I were quite close during the my first years of marriage. She lived nearby with a little one and one on the way. I will guess it was in the mid to late 70's. I don't really remember the circumstances, like if she came over and gave me the gift or left it under the tree. I think it was the first. T gave me a box all gift wrapped. I opened it and there inside was my quilt top. Her mom was the one who had bought it and how T. got it I did not ask. All I know is that it was probably the most thoughtful gift I have ever received. I still have it and my goal this year is to get it finished. I want to hang it on my wall in my bedroom.So now it is time to pay it forward. The following people have to remain nameless. They will be referred to as A and B. A has a relative that needed support. A good home, positive reinforcement and a feeling of being wanted. And also makes sure that B goes to school, has clothes, a phone, a place to live and food. B is of the age that these things are important. B has no cash. I just thought of this fact today. I am going to take B shopping tomorrow so that B can get A something for Christmas. I think that is important. I remember being able to go shopping and buying something with my own money for someone else. It is about the giving and not the getting. I just hope that someday B will remember this and pass it on to someone else.

Here is a dollar, don't throw a rock at me.

2011-12-20T11:16:00.000-06:00

Hello again to my two readers. Three days in a row I have blogged. That is close to a miracle. Well it is Christmas.On my last post I was trying to add a link and was having no luck. My husband who also blogs tried to help me and was somewhat befuddled by my page. I guess the powers that be here on blog-spot are changing things around. His page had been changed and mine had not. So today I go to my posting page and lo and behold I now have the new page as well.I hope that his will get you where you need to go to see where the money goes and why. I notice that we pay a lot of countries a lot of money just to leave Israel alone. I thought that Israel had an army. So the US says we don't negotiate with terrorist, but we will give you some cash to leave someone else alone. Interesting reading. If the link does not work, I am sorry. Try to copy and paste it.Bye for now.

Aid Countries Found, Link capabilities not found.

2011-12-18T17:15:00.003-06:00

Well kids, I found a link but am unable to post it on here. I tried, my spousal unit tried and we just can not do it. So as soon as I am able I will post the stats. However if you are in a hurry, just Google; How many countys get foreign aid from US? You will get a lot of answers. One thing I found out was that we give certain countries aid and then, we borrow money back from them. How stupid is that? That is the article in the Detroit paper I am trying to link to. More later.

Foreign Aid Stinks (In my opinion)

2011-12-17T19:35:00.003-06:00

I think it is about time that I add another post. I have not blogged since last summer. I don't know why I don't do this on a regular basis but I just don't. We are real close to a new year. I think my resolution last year was to blog on a regular basis. I didn't. I am going to try again. If my hubby can blog almost daily then I sure as heck should be able to. I can't add photos as of now because my camera succumbed to the baggage handler on Southwest. I wanted a new one anyway.

Now on to our Government. Have you ever looked into how much money the US government gives away every day? I can not quote statistics but I am relatively sure that you can Google the answer. And I wonder how many countries give us aid? I give donations to veterans, Native American schools, hospitals that do research for children's diseases and to food banks,that is my choice. It is not my choice to give millions if not billions of dollars to other countries. I could be wrong, but I would not think that the working folks in this country go to their jobs each day to support foreign countries, but they do. Is that okay with you? It is not with me. We are in debt past our eyebrows, so why are we giving money away? We put up with traffic, bad bosses or out of date work policies. Next time the garbage man picks up your trash think about him giving his money to a foreign country. Do you think if he had a choice that he would? Health Reform would be a non issue if we did not give money away. We would have the money to take care of ourselves.

I have said on many occasion that if this country wants a valid election it should have on the ballots; None of the above. If none of the above gets more votes than anyone else then "The Powers That Be", get six months for a do over. You should also get to check a box on your tax form that says; None of my tax money goes to Foreign Aid. If you feel the other way then say that. Shouldn't we get a say? I would think so. I just recently learned that our Congressmen and women get to buy and sell stock knowing that the market will probably go up or down on a vote they have coming up. If the public did that it would be insider trading I think. Maybe I should ask Martha Stewart. I guess my biggest question is why is it that we the people know these things and nothing gets done about it? How long is this going to go on before those in Washington and in our state capitols figure out that we are mad as hell and don't want to take it any more? They are busting unions and bankrupting pensions and very few are even concerned. Why is this? Do we get bailouts?

Maybe I should lay off the blog for another six months or just write more so the steam does not build up so much. I really don't think that would help. I do miss Andy Rooney.

Merry Christmas.

What I am not doing on my summer vacation.

2011-07-05T10:56:00.003-05:00

Hi there everyone, So much has been going on I can't possibly catch everyone up. A short synopsis would be; 40th. anniversary, hubby went to Italy and Virgina, Two brothers in law passed away, Sisters graduation from St. Mary of the Woods, weather from hell blew down garage, fell down last two basement stairs, mink got in and killed eight young hens, nieces wedding, nieces graduation. Need I say more? Oh wait and I've had the 24 hour flu over the 4th. Other than that, life is good.

Summer is really going by fast. My poor hubby had his summer all planned out to get a lot of small things done here at the faux farm. Unfortunately, a stormado blew down our new garage. Being the focused person he is he has been spending every waking minute working on or figuring out how to get it re-built asap. Along with working at our county fair all week as the blacksmith and going to Oklahoma with his boxing cohort for a fight, his plate is very full this summer. I was really hoping he would get some time to relax and get his happy old self back. Guess not yet.

My goal for the summer was to sell everything that was not nailed down around here. I have been storing up stuff for a garage sale for years. Never had a garage to use. So with the plans of our new garage I was ready to get started. Then the stormado took care of that. No garage, no sale. I have been to auctions, yard sales, garage sales and just plain collected stuff for 40 years. Oh I had good intentions for all the stuff but you know how that goes. So now, I have decided to sell everything, that is as soon as I have a garage to do it in. Maybe next year.

I am still on a quest for small body of water to cool myself in when it gets so terribly hot. I have to admit that I have a phobia about getting into water that others have been in. I have no clue as to why that is because I never used to be like that, but I am now. The trouble with a pool of my own is that it would involve chemicals and vacuuming and I would not use it enough to warrant getting it. That and I want a new kitchen floor. I look at a pool and think "new floor". So for now a quick cool shower will have to do or a squirt from the grandson's water gun.

I guess it is time for me to get to it. Laundry will not do itself, or the dishes.
Hope to write again soon. Ta ta for now.

Egg-drop soup and good company.

2011-02-17T12:01:00.002-06:00

Hi Everyone,
It is warm here in Hoosier land today. I don't mean upper 40's it is in the 50's. What a nice surprise. I am going somewhere just to be outside.

Yesterday my crochet group went on a field trip. The instructor's birthday is this month so we decided to go out to eat and celebrate. She has had a hard year. Other than the fact that we went through the heart of Michael Jackson's hometown to get to this great little Chinese restaurant, it was great. I had egg-drop soup,egg roll and shrimp fried rice with tea and got change back from a $5.00. You can't beat that. There were six of us and a good time was had by all. The majority of the crocheters are over 50. There is one young lady that is much much younger. I am sure the outing was an eyeopener for her. I pointed out that whenever ice or snow is on the ground she was the appointed helper for the old broads. The birthday girl is short. We went in a van so she had to bring a stool in order to get into the van. For us to go on a field trip it is a real event. That said it was all worth it. We laughed a lot and that is great medicine.
Go out and enjoy the weather. One day at a time.

T-Ball What a HOOT!

2011-01-24T20:19:00.003-06:00

Hello Sports Fans,
Every time I try and be faithful to my blogging, something happens and I don't keep up. I know this is just an excuse, but hey, I got bronchitis, and my sisters husband passed away suddenly.

Today's post will be short I think. I found out today that my grandson is going to play T ball this summer. If you have never been to a T ball game I highly recommend it. It is better than Prozac. You will laugh until your side hurts, you pee your pants or you just can't breathe. Sometimes all three. My niece who is now 20 played T ball and I would go to her games. My son never played little league so I was new at this kind of thing. OMG what fun. These little people try so hard in their own way to have fun and do what they think they should do. What throws everything off is that they are 5/6 or there abouts and could give a flier. They don't always know which way to run, can't throw a ball for anything and are usually more interested in cloud formations than a baseball.

Waiting for these games to come in the steaming summer heat will give me something to look forward to. Maybe the fun of seeing my grandson play ball will keep my mind off off the heat that we all know I HATE!

I'll just take it One Day @ A Time.

Hellooooooooooooo again.

2010-12-19T11:16:00.003-06:00

Hi everyone,
I think this years resolution is going to be to write a blog post at least once a week. I keep trying to do that but just never get to it. This past week while out doing errands I thought, I should blog about this. Did I blog about it, no? This time of year in this new Millennium too many folks just seem to have lost all of what the season is all about.

This year I have received a couple of emails titled; Where is the line to see Jesus? It is very timely and too the point. Now I am not a person that does not believe in Santa Clause but I do think as adults we need to see to it that the meaning of "Christmas" is not lost in the "Holiday".

I have a story book and a snow globe that I got years ago with Santa kneeling next to baby Jesus in his manger. The book tells a wonderful story and is worth checking out. So what is the name of the book you ask? Well it is in the basement packed away with the rest of my Christmas stuff.

I am not able to carry my Christmas stuff up from the basement and this year neither is my hubby. (torn pectoral muscle, ouch). As for me, after my fall on the ice last Feb. my knees just don't like stairs in numbers more than four. We also don't have much if any company at Christmas so I don't see the point of dragging all that stuff up for just the two of us. I have a couple of small trees I am going to put up, probably today. I will also put up my Nativity set as well. When I make the trek to the lower bowels of my house I will look up the name of the book for anyone that wants it.

Yesterday was a sweet & sour kind of day. We started by going to my hubby's cousins home for a Christmas lunch with family. This past year after the loss of his aunt, it was discovered that she had blessed another family with a child 60+ years ago. We were able to get in touch with him from a letter he had sent her. Unfortunately he was not able to meet his birth mother. Bob did get to meet all of the cousins and two remaining aunts though. He is a wonderful man and it has been our joy to find him, even though he spent 30 years looking for us. Back to the point, he was able to come to the lunch yesterday and be with his birth family for the first Christmas ever. I hope he enjoyed it as much as we did. Having been in a similar situation myself, I know what it means to find family that welcomes you into the fold.

The home we were at for the lunch was decorated so nicely. It truly was welcoming and cozy. The lunch was simple and delicious. Our hostess had done a bang up job of the whole affair. I thank her for all of the hard work she had to do to get ready. It was so very nice.

That was the sweet. The sour was after that when I went to my brother in law's memorial service. He was only 46 and it was so hard to see my sister so torn apart. This will be an awful Christmas for her as well as this coming year. They were not blessed with children so she is pretty much alone. If you have ever lost a close loved one you know what I mean. You can be in a room full of people and still be alone. She will constantly be in my prayers. And as for Patrick, rest in peace.

Okay, thats my post for now. There should be another within a week.

Peace O Pi

2010-09-23T17:57:00.003-05:00

Hello Citizens, how is life treating you? I am doing pretty good now that the weather has cooled down. I won't start that rant again.

My other half loves pies. So for his birthday I baked a pecan pie for him, one of his favorites. This past weekend I baked a peach pie for him. Earlier in the summer I baked a gooseberry pie. He likes pies a lot. When we first moved to the "Farm" he planted gooseberry bushes so I could make him a pie. He also planted a persimmon tree. Well the darn thing is loaded and ready to be picked. Persimmons for those of you who don't know are a little larger than a golf ball, a lovely dusted orange color and tart enough to pucker every orifice on your body. Like gooseberries, I don't care for persimmons either. I am however going to process these into pulp and freeze it for goodies this winter. Part of my problem is that my freezer is full. I need to have a big cook out or something to get rid of stuff so I will have room in the freezer. Somehow that does not make much sense to me.

Another favorite of the hubby's is grape pie. Now don't wrinkle up your nose and say, I have never heard of that. If you like grape jelly, you would love grape pie. It is a bit of a pain to make but worth every minute of time. My problem this year is that my grapes got sprayed and I have none. There is a farmers market about 35 miles from me but I would have to buy 1/2 a bushel of Concord grapes they are the little purple monsters. That is a lot of grapes let me tell you.

I'll get back to you next week on how it all turned out. I am going to try and post a picture of the pecan pie. Not sure I know how. Well I tried and could not do it. I will try again another time. Until next time, take it one day at a time.

Perfume Like Brylcreem, A Little Dab Will Do Ya

2010-08-20T10:50:00.004-05:00

Hello readers, I am getting even more tired of this heat. I must admit that there has been a reprieve the last few days and nights though. Not a lot of news to report that I have not already beaten to death. HOT weather, goofy people and bad choices in clothing. That reminds me, when did it become "in" to stretch a form fitting top or dress over a pregnant tummy? Don't get me wrong, being preggers is nothing to hide or be ashamed of any more. We don't live in the Victorian age and need to hide the fact that women carry children. With that said could someone explain to me the need for a woman to show of the baby bump with the tightest fitting item of clothing she can possibly stretch over her middle? I for one, and probably the only one, do not find that at all attractive.

When I was preggers a very long 38 years ago, I was huge. My little "Heavyweight" came to the weigh in at 9 lbs. 13.5 oz. Now that was a baby bump. I can not imagine what I would have looked like wearing a tight top. Okay, I have said it and I feel better.

Last Friday the 13th. was my 60th. birthday. That might explain the attitude. If that is so, I must change. Why you ask, because of my experience on my birthday. I had made reservations to a luncheon for my BFF and I at a nice restaurant. It was by reservation only and assigned seating. The lunch and program was being presented by a local newspaper columnist and looked like a fun time. The seating was to begin at 12:00 noon. We got there about ten till noon to find lines of over perfumed, lipsticked and bad dye job women and some men. OMG! My friend and I decided right there to slap each other if we ever looked and smelled like that. Perfume should be an ever so slight scent, not a wall of smell. For the most part it was a nice group of 300 people. It was the pushing and shoving to get to the front of the line that began to piss me off. It's reserved seating kids, what's the hurry. Oh I forgot that at 60 I was one of the younger people at the event. Perhaps they felt they wouldn't make it to dinner. One older fella and his wife, companion, date or whatever pushed their way to the front of the line and then proceeded to tell the host what a bad job he had done planning the event. The young man who had planned the event was ever so gracious and kind to the old fart.

This brings me to my point,yes there is a point. Just because you get old why do you have to be so a rude and grumpy. Okay I'll stop with this. Dress how you want, look how you will. It is none of my business, but STOP BEING SO DARN RUDE! If your children acted like this you would spank them or at least give them a good talking to.

At least I have a plan in place with my BFF. Because we have been BFF's since 1959 we know each other well and will say, "If I ever do that, look like that, smell like that or talk like that then you just slap me. Its mutual between us. I think we will have to Thelma and Louise out of this world together.

Have a good day @ a time. :) not:(

Polka Dots, Flowers or a Little Brown Cover.

2010-08-05T21:54:00.003-05:00

Greetings,
My birthday is a week from tomorrow. Yes Friday the 13th. I will be 60. I am going to a birthday luncheon at a nice restaurant near my home. I have not bought a new dress in a long time and had nothing I really wanted to wear so off I went to shop. Why I picked a day that was so hot to shop for clothes I don't know. Well maybe because it has been hot for about 40 days in a row!

I had picked four stores to go to that are all within a block of one another. Store 1. had very little to choose from and what they did have was made of "polyester". Just what a fat chick wants to wear on any day let alone a hot day. I did not even take it off the rack. Store 2. I found a nice sun dress of cotton but it was cut down to my waist and that's not me, plus the markdown was not that great. I am a frugal shopper. Now for stores 3 & 4 I was not sure which to go in first. Store 3 I never have any luck finding clothes in. Never the less I decided to try there anyway. As I walk in I am wondering if they forgot to pay the utility bill. It felt like it was 80° in there, not at all conducive to trying on clothing. A lovely woman came over and ask if she could help me so I told her what I was looking for. She showed me a couple of different dresses which were rayon, I like rayon. One is brown with pencil eraser size polka dots on it in creamy white. But the size was a size smaller than I normally buy. Then there was another one, also rayon with a black background and tiny flowers in pinks and reds on it. It too was a size too small. I took them both to try on. I do have one summer dress in browns and beige that I have had for a while that I like,however; since I have grown my grandma wings I don't really like to go out in short sleeves. The lady says, if you like I have this little light weight short sleeve cover in brown. I look at it and it would be perfect for the dress I already have so I take it to try on also.

By now I look like someone is holding a hose over my head with the hose running. That's how much I am sweating. I tell the lady don't worry about me if I don't come out of the dressing room right away because I am going to just sit in there till I cool off. Since this store is for plus size women and she was pretty hefty herself I knew she understood.

Have you ever wondered if someone sits in a room and watches through a hidden camera while you are trying on clothes. Well if someone did today I'll bet they are blind now. As soon as I shut the door I took off my Capri's and top and just sit on the chair looking at my abundant self in the mirror. When I finally cooled off I tried on the polka dot brown first. It fit, it is comfortable, a size smaller than I normally wear and it was 60% off the already half price. Since it has buttons all the way down the front, it was as easy as pie to get in and out of. Next is the flower dress. I slip it on over my head and voila, it too fits, comfy, and 60% off as well. So I take a hold of the hem and pull it back up over my head. At least that was the plan. By now I am sweating again. The dress is sticking to me like a casing on a hot dog. Have I ever mentioned that I am claustrophobic? I tell myself not to panic because I can just see the paper now. Half naked woman runs out of clothing store screaming for help. I pull it back down, shake it loose, exhale and swiftly pull it up over my head and off. Thank you God! Now I try on the little brown jacket thing. It fits too! I am three for three. Problem though, it is not on sale and it is as much as the two dresses put together will be. As I said I am frugal and rarely pay retail for anything other than food. I broke down and bought it too. I am going to try it on with the dress and see how it looks. I can always return it.

I am looking forward to my birthday lunch with my oldest and dearest friend. Now I just have to decide which dress to wear. I will let you know what I decide. For now, ta ta and today it will be, One dress at a time.

My Chautauqua Memories

2010-08-02T19:02:00.007-05:00

It is hot again. I really must stop bitching about that, but I don't want to. As I sit here writing this the locust are just a singing their little heads off outside. They used to make me crazy but that just kind of passed. Now when I hear them I think of years past staying at a local Chautauqua. I knew nothing of Chautauqua's until a dear friend invited me to the one she had attended all of her life.

I had not ever heard of this thing called a Chautauqua. I can't remember the first time I went to this one, but it set it's hooks into me like an eagle's talons to a fish. I loved the atmosphere, the food, the people and just everything about it. For the next few years I went every summer for at least a few days if not a week. It was around 1990. There was no air conditioning at the hotel so after developing my heart and breathing problems, I could no longer go and stay. The Chautauqua is only held for two weeks a year during the end of July, and first week of August. Now it is held in July. Hot humid July, not good for me.

The hotel I spoke of is nothing like what you might imagine. It is a two story wood frame, L shape building. It is the epitome of quaint. Card tables set up in the lobby with half done jigsaw puzzles or domino's or any type of game just waiting for someone to sit down and add some time to the project. A couple of sofa's and a few old comfy chairs sat around the room as well as a small desk. A piano in the corner was open and ready for anyone to sit down and play for as long or little as they liked and many did. The paneling on the walls and ceiling was beaded aged car siding. There was carpet on the floor and the smell of a building that had been closed up for fifty weeks of every year. The lobby was the corner of the L and the dinning room, kitchen and screened in porch were right behind the lobby, or the bottom of the L.

When I first started attending the kitchen was run by a lovely lady who was the local school lunch lady. Recipes had been kept from year to year and the best of the best was served up year after year. Now this was down home like your grandma used to make cooking. Nothing fancy and nothing commercial other than a cake mix came out of that kitchen. If you were a guest at the hotel then your meals were included. If you were staying in a cottage at the Chautauqua and did not feel like cooking you could always make a reservation and eat in the dinning room of the hotel. They would ring a dinner bell and you knew you had about 5 minutes to get there to eat. A prayer would be lifted up and then the food was served.

Long tables covered with plastic cloths were in rows. Each table would seat about eight. The screened in porch right off of the dinning room had long tables, two of them end to end on either side of the doorway. When the stifling heat beat down you wanted to be seated on the porch for the breeze if there was one. Each table also had a little plastic needlepoint house in the center for tips. The tips were for the teens that served the meals family style and made sure your coffee and iced tea stayed filled as well as the dishes holding large quantities of food. They were usually local kids that had grown up knowing about Chautauqua and could not wait their turn to work at the hotel for the two weeks in the summer. It was hard work but beat detasseling corn. The tips were collected daily by the hotel manager and kept until the end of the two weeks, then divided equally between the helpers and was a tidy sum I would think. They got room and board at the hotel as well as the tips. They stayed above the dinning room/kitchen area away from the quest rooms.

As for the guest rooms, they were to the left when you came in the lobby up the tall end of the L. Down a long dark hall, with the same car siding walls and ceiling as the lobby was one bathroom and about seven bedrooms. Some had two twin beds, some had one double some just a single bed. The windows of these rooms on one side opened right onto the front porch of the building. So if you occupied one of those rooms and was trying to take a nap, you hoped that no one was sitting in a rocker right outside your window chatting with an old friend.

The one bathroom on the main floor had a shower and two commodes. This was the ladies room used by all female guests and other ladies in and out of the hotel during the day. The men's room was on the second floor with the same lay out. The teen's had their own bath at the other end of the L. Since I was there last they have added a men's room on the main floor. The upstairs layout was basically a mirror image of the lower level except over the kitchen and dinning area were the rooms for "the help" were located. And one large room with a lot of beds for a family above the lobby area.

Back to the locust. The park where the Chautauqua is held has been there for over one hundred years and is abundant with old oak and maple trees. As you lay in bed on those warm nights with only the humming of your fan, if you brought one with you, the locust would sing you to sleep every night.

There is so much more to tell about the wonderful two weeks of the Chautauqua but perhaps at another time. As I said I have not been back in quite a while. I keep saying it's because of the heat but a lot has to do with the memories of my friend who is no longer with us. If not for her I would probably never have discovered this wonderful place. I would not have made so many new acquaintances or formed such great memories. This year it has come and gone and I did not make it again because of the heat. But I will always have those wonderful memories of that charming, calming place.

Thanks Mary, I miss you so much.

Summer in the Country

2010-07-27T20:27:00.002-05:00

Greetings Earthlings,
I have actually remembered to write again. This is going to be a wawa post, or more commonly known as a pity party.
I am hot. Not just warm but hot! I dislike days that are over 70°. I have trouble breathing if it is humid, I am uncomfortable and generally just miserable. I use to like hot weather when I was younger. I would get out and ride my bicycle 6 miles in an afternoon just to get out of the house. I have friends with pools but don't want to impose or be seen in a bathing suit by anyone I am not related to by blood. I don't even know if I should get into the water if it is less than 10° of my body temp. I have this heart thing and I am not even suppose to put my hands in an ice chest. Constriction of blood vessels is not a good thing for me. Great news for someone who is in constant meltdown. I get crabby too, and please no comments from the peanut gallery. Even with my head med's I get crabby. I can't bake and don't want to cook at all. Too darn hot.

Tomorrow is trash pickup day so our container is at the end of the driveway. I stopped on my way home and emptied my van trash can. OMG, I don't know what we put in the garbage this week but if anyone else gets a whiff of that they will call the CSI. Hubby said we lost another chicken this week so maybe he put her in there. Boy it is nasty. There are some folks who just don't make enough money,sanitation workers would be in that category.

I always read the Want adds in out paper and today there was a wanted add for of all things, roofers. I am thinking there won't be many calls on that one. My hubby worked putting down asphalt the first summer we were married. He got a great tan but boy it wore him out. That was a hot summer as well.

Well enough of my pity party, I could be in Afghanistan or Iraq and I am not. God bless those folks too. So I will just have to take this heat one day at a time.

Dress Codes and Unfit Parents

2010-07-17T18:05:00.002-05:00

Hello Everyone,
Just got home from my local home supply store. Our bedroom faces the west and has two large windows on the west wall. By 5:00 in the afternoon it is 98° in there because I do not leave the air conditioner on when I am not in the room. So I have gone green and purchased this stuff that looks like bubble wrap covered in aluminum foil to cover windows and save on cooling. I have used it before and it works quite well. For example; make a condom for your cooler and it keeps stuff very cold for a long time. Now if I had neighbors close enough to see this tactic of mine I would probably not do it, but I have nothing but very tall corn on three sides of my house and a wooded area on the fourth. And actually as hot as I have been I don't care if someone does see it.

While at the home supply I observed some very interesting clothing, or lack there of.
I have to admit I may get labeled a style Nazi but at this point I don't care about this either. There is a place to wear a swim suit cover-up and the home supply store is not it. At least one of the two I saw was to the floor, not too objectionable. The other one though was no more than 32 inches long, a thin terry material and the elastic was being taxed around the booby area. If she had bent over I hate to think what would have been sticking out. I do have to say that both offenders were within their height to weight ratio, thank God.

Let's move on to the the young boy who was at least 25lbs. overweight. He was maybe 8 if that and struggling to keep up with his short thin muscular Napoleon complex adult. I don't know if it was his parental unit but I wanted to knock him down and sit on the skinny shit. Napoleon got my attention because he parked next to me and as I was loading the aluminum bubble wrap he and the kids were getting out of their vehicle. I heard him yell "shut up" in a rude nasty hateful voice then "hurry up and get out of the truck". So he takes off walking toward the home store at a break-neck speed-walking pace, all the while telling the boy to hurry up, pick up the pace, keep up. Guys like that should be slapped or sit on by a 60 year old fat broad like me. That young boy did not get to be his size on his own. Someone is feeding him all the wrong stuff. To humiliate a youngster like that anywhere, especially in public is inexcusable.

So that was my trip to the home store. Scantily clad women and an obnoxious Napoleon complex-ed man. Did I mention I don't handle heat well? Oh well, one day @ a time.

Let's All Go To The Fair

2010-07-16T14:21:00.003-05:00

I received a note today on FB asking if I was going to blog anymore. To tell the truth I had nearly forgotten about my blog. I always say that I will try to blog more often but get busy and just don't get around to it. All I can say is I will try harder so that my three fans won't be disappointed.

I think that part of the reason I don't blog daily is because of my negative thoughts. Just because I am bummed does not mean I have to bring others down too. This will take some work as far as writing something interesting and not being a Debbi downer. I Think I Can, I Think I Can.

This coming week is Fair week in our county. I am a fairly good baker and often enter a cake, pie or cookies. The drawback here is that it has been 90°+ for the last few days and it will be for the next few days. I do not have the luxury of central air at my house. I do have "area", code for window, air conditioners, but I find it is so counter productive to turn on an oven and a window unit at the same time. The fact that I am estrogen challenged, I sweat reading the paper in front of the fan. Entering anything in the county fair this year will be for others to enjoy, not me. After all I should give others a chance at winning a ribbon too. LOL.
It will also be very sad at the Fair this year as well. I will go into that maybe later or tomorrow.

Now my spouse on the other hand loves the heat. He will be at the fair demonstrating all things Blacksmith related, but not horseshoeing. For you layman out there this means standing in a 10 X 12 building with a low ceiling and a coal fire in a forge. Hammering and pounding on red hot steel to form it into something usefull. No thank you, I'll have no part of that. Oh I have hammered hot steel myself a time or two but that was a loooong time ago, before the asthma and lack of tolerance to heat. His demonstrations draw little kids and older gents to watch and shoot the breeze for a while. All in all he has a great time doing it. He has a couple of former students that come and help out during the week. Nice young men give their time so an old craft will not be forgotten. Both are students at Purdue, Lafayette.

So now I have written a little something and feel better for it. I am not going to make another promise I may not keep but I will say that I'll try to get back here more often.

So for now, take it a day at a time.

Litter - Burning - Clean Air

2010-04-02T16:21:00.002-05:00

Hello Everyone,
I have been meaning to write something for a while but, well you know. Spring seems to be here at last. It is so wonderful to see the buds on the trees and our Magnolias are even out. They are gorgeous. Today I spotted my daffodils and they are blooming too. I was even able to open my windows in my bedroom last night. That is so nice even though I wake up all stuffed up in the morning, it is worth it for the cool breeze. I am, lets say, in the warmest portion of my life right now and an open window and a nice cool breeze is truly a gift from God. Thank you God.

Now on to the thorn under my saddle. I live out in the "country" kind of. Lots of farms around. In the spring it is a right of passage for the farmers to burn their ditches to keep the weeds and crud at bay. I will go into the burning stuff later. After a ditch is burned down to the soil in the spring you get to see all the crap that people throw out their windows all winter long. PIGS! What is wrong with you people? If you don't want to get caught with a beer bottle in your car, then don't drink in the car, dah! Since it is obvious that you do drink and drive, don't throw the empties in the ditch. What, you don't have trash pick up or recycling at your house. Oh wait, laps in memory on my part, your a PIG, why would you recycle or worry about taking the bottle home to throw it away. This is disgusting not to mention sad. People live here and don't want your crap in their yards and ditches. I live on 13 acres and the house is at the back of the property far off of the road. There is a R.R. crossing on our road that people are "suppose" to stop at. This stop is the corner of my land. Well guess what. Perfect place to throw crap out the window when your stopping, looking and listening or should I say stopping barfing and whizzing. I will see if I can get a picture for you, but hey, everyone knows what litter looks like. Enough!

On to the next part of my rant, burning. I have written about this in the past but since it falls under the stupid inconsiderate people category I will run it by y'all again. This state has laws about burning. Does any one abide by those laws? Not so much around me. Yes I live in the country however that does not mean you can burn your garbage.

In the 1950's my grandparents had a burn barrel. It was for paper and cardboard and easily burned things. Not so much plastic packaging in those days. They also had what we called a tin can pile that was taken to the dump once a year. Then there was the slop. Now days it would be called compost. The three were kept separate. There was a slop bucket under the sink, and a can container in the utility closet. Grandma would always take the labels off, wash out the cans and then they went into the tin can bucket. Grandma also washed out every plastic bag and hung it to dry with a wooden clothes pin on the light chain above the kitchen sink. The routine was to empty everything right after supper. We called it supper not dinner, dinner was at noon. When all you have is paper to burn it goes right up and then out. If there was even a glimmer of hot ash in that barrel, my grandpa would water it down and make sure it was out. The burn barrel was not that far from his old rickety but loved garage.

I have neighbors that wait until dark so no one can tell who is burning and then light off the foulest smelling mess of garbage ever, and let it smolder all night long. Lovely spring or summer evening fresh washed sheets on the bed. Open the window and GARBAGE BURNING! I have even gotten so upset I have gotten out of bed and driven around the area trying to find the nasty culprit. This year I am declaring war on the burning. With the trees without leaves this winter I have found some burn barrels way behind houses. I know who you are now so look out. Did I mention I have asthma?

Okay, enough of that for now. Hope everyone has a great Easter. After the ham, desserts and chocolate bunnies, take some time to reflect on what this Holy week is about.

Later. D. Deva

39 and Counting

2010-03-12T13:23:00.002-06:00

Hello again,
Today is our anniversary. Thirty nine years with the same person. Oh those years have had their ups and downs like all marriages do. That is just part of the package when two people decide to spend the rest of their lives together. We are so naive when we are young. Most of us believe that "Happily Ever After" is for real. Well it is for some but the hidden part of that statement is not every day. It is ever after, not every day.

As humans, from the time we are born we change and grow every day. We learn we explore we just kind of experience life one day at a time. Being married is kind of the same way. Your spouse will leave their socks on the floor, squeeze the toothpaste from the top, step over the trash and probably put the toilet paper on differently than you do. Those things are the fiber of a good marriage. You can let it drive you crazy and a hate for the other person or you just deal with it and move on. This is the person you loved enough to say I do to and probably have children with. Till death do you part was something I took seriously. In sickness and in health was also part of the deal.

My roll model for marriage was my grandparents. My mom was divorced from my dad before I was two and I had never met him, so there was nothing there to roll model after. I don't think she ever liked her second husband either for the most part. But my grandparents were married for about 62 years before my grandpa died. They used to sit at the kitchen table and play Yahtzee for hours. Accusing each other of cheating and all sorts of things. But the day my grandpa died, my grandma sat at that same table sobbing and ask me, "what am I going to do without him". He had been the other half of her life for 62 years and now she was alone.

Whenever I get miffed about something or another, I think about my grandma. I would be lost without Jeff. Oh I could get by but that is not the same. Watching him with our grandsons is the best. How gentle he is, how in love with them he is, gives me that warm fuzzy feeling. He has been the best part of my life. He gave me a family. A family I never thought I would have. For that I am forever grateful.
Happy Anniversary Jeffie, and take out the trash.

The Little Red Hen

2010-03-09T19:53:00.004-06:00

Hi gang,
Well my back is feeling better. Three trips to the chiropractor and a LOT of crunch and popping sounds as well as some ultrasound treatments and I can at least tie my own shoes now.

One of my all time favorite story books is The Little Red Hen. I have used that philosophy so many times I can't tell you. Today I got another dose of those who will not help the hen, but want to eat the bread.

I went to a meeting today. This organization is a not for profit. All we do is raise money for the benefit of "a public entity". Now don't you think the powers that be at that public entity should try and accommodate folks who are donating a nice sum of cash to them? We are not asking a lot, but it would be nice to have a little cooperation. BUT NOOOOOOOO.
I don't want to go into details, well actually I do but I won't.

I'll try a little analogy. You ask me to paint your house because your budget has been cut and you don't have the money. I say I need to earn some money to buy the paint. Then I say can I use your driveway for a yard sale. You say, where will I park my car for a week, I don't think my board would like me parking in the street? You want your house painted, let me have my damn sale in your driveway. So what is so hard to figure out about that? I think the old saying is, You scratch my back and I'll scratch yours. What's happening here is one scratching and one itching a lot. I guess in the big picture of don't sweat the small stuff, this is small.

Sometimes I just don't understand people. Some people are just too out there to be understood.

But for me, I will take it one day @ a time.

Bad hair and going down hill.

2010-02-28T11:05:00.002-06:00

Hello friends and neighbors,
Well it seems that I have fallen off of the blog wagon again. Two months is just plain unacceptable. That darn facebook has just consumed me. Well not just that but a bad fall in January that has kept me down for a month. That is just an excuse though. You can still type with a bum knee and a messed up back. I guess there has just not been much to say on my blog. The days have been gray and dreary and one can only watch so much downhilllugeskating before you just get numb.

I have enjoyed the Olympics this year. I am tired of hearing about Lindsy Vonn though and Mr. Ohno should stick with dancing. I have a problem with judged events. Timed events are just that, timed, you can't have personal input toward the athlete. In the past I got so tired of listening to Dick Button talk about skaters being young and having to earn their place at the top, that I could have upchucked. If your good your good, age should have nothing to do with it. I do have to say though that I really liked Mr. Button's commentary this time after or before the skating and not during. So if an event is not timed or scored independently,(like shooting) then forget it. But wait, then we would not have the snow boarding. Now that is awesome. Oh well I guess the Olympics have done all right for as many years as it has so leave well enough alone. I would like to see them do the curling down the bobsled track. Now that's entertainment.

And now to hair color. Why do these old guys that do the commentary i.e. Mr. Costas, think they have to dye their hair that dark dull brown? I honestly think that gray hair on men looks distinguished. Knock it off. Isn't it the women that are suppose to do that nutty stuff? And if it's a rug then put it on the floor.

Got to go for now and take one day at a time.

Christmas is in the Giving.

2009-12-06T18:17:00.003-06:00

This is the season that we all should be thinking about giving, not getting. I am very blessed, and need nothing. I have more stuff than anyone needs. I keep expecting to see myself on the show Hoarders. While at the bank last week I noticed the Angel tree still had some tags left on it. Since there were people in front of me I went over to see who was left. ll year old boy, 12 year old boy, 10 year old girl, 9 year old girl. I am sensing a pattern here. If you happen to be over the age of about 8 no one wants your name, how sad. Sure these kids have put some high dollar items on their list, but hey there is no harm in asking is there. This made me sad. Tomorrow I am going back and get a name.

I used to belong to the group that sponsored the Angel tree's in our area. It is a lot of work to collect the names of needy family's, put the tags on trees all over town and then pick up all of the gifts, but it is sure worth all the effort. After they are all collected we would take them to the local library and sort all of them. Many times there are three or four kids in one family, so we would group them together. I worked the pick up day one year. The day that mom or dad would come and pick up the gifts. These folks were truly grateful. Some cried to see the generosity of the people that had done the giving. For whatever reason they were down on their luck and needed help. This year many people need help so that their children will not get up on Christmas morning and find an empty tree.

A lot of folks are making it right now but just making it. Times are tight. So my suggestion is to get together with a couple of your friends, each pitch in twenty bucks and pick a name from your local Angel or Mitten tree. Hey it's the price of one pizza for you but it could be a Merry Christmas for some kid. And pick an older child if that is all that's left. They are the ones that really need to believe in the Christmas spirit. Consider it your own personal Christmas Bail Out Program.

Hope you can do it. Thanks.

Doctor's office Zombies

2009-12-02T19:33:00.003-06:00

Hello to all of my Christmas Elves!
It's been a busy week here. Monday I had a root canal. Tuesday I had a Dr. appointment that was a disaster. More on that later. Today was crochet. Tomorrow I will clean, laundry and domestic stuff as well as make lunch for six on Friday. My daughter in law just called and ask me to babysit for the short grandson on Saturday night while she and my son take the taller grandson to Chicago to see the lights. That should be fun for them and me.

Now for the doctor disaster.
How many times have you made an appointment to see your doctor and when you get there and there are fifty people in the waiting room, and there is just one doc? I used to work in an industry that took appointments. I never ever booked two people for the same time slot. Who do they think they are, those doctors? What, my time is not worth as much as theirs? The nurse tells me it will be at least 45 minutes. Now I was early, but I knew it would be more than 45 minutes. It wasn't like I was sick, I was going for a consultation. So I looked around the waiting room and suddenly felt like I was in a Monty Python segment. No kidding. I can't even begin to explain what those folks looked like. I can tell you that one fellow who had brought "mother" had a jet black pompadour and looked like a cross between Elvis Costello, Elvis Presley and Roy Orbison. It was like an acid flashback. His clothes were very well kept but had to be at least 40+ years old. That is when I decided that I was sick. I told the receptionist that I was sorry but I was not feeling well and would have to reschedule. NOT. I hate to have to resort to lying but sometimes to spare feelings one must drop that low. It was either, I feel sick, or where did these zombies come from? What would you have done?

So I am getting ready for the Christmas stuff that people do. However this year I am going electronic and sending some e cards for Christmas. Hey, you won't have to hang them up, I won't have to pay nearly .50 cents to send them and think of the paper we save. I also plan to decorate this year. Not sure about the tree but I will put up my old angels and my village and the Nativity. We go to our son's for Christmas so why should I decorate here. It would be different if people were going to visit but they don't. So I'll just decorate for us.

Well have a good week folks and be safe. 23 days and counting.

Kids, it's not a party.

2009-11-20T14:15:00.004-06:00

Hi to all you Pilgrims out there;
This weeks rant is about an article in our local small town paper. BALLOONS FOR LEAH.

About two weeks ago on a Friday night our community was devastated by a sad and tragic accident. A group of sixth grade girls were having a get together and decided to go to another friends house for a short visit. I am not sure if it was on the way or on the way back to the first house, one of the girls was struck by a car and killed. No alcohol or drugs of the drivers or the girls. Just a tragic accident. It was about 5:30 and living in the land of time change it was dark or almost dark. The person driving the car did all she could to avoid hitting the girl but clipped her with the front drivers fender. She immediately stopped and ran toward the girl but there was a car behind her that did not see the poor girl and also hit her and drug her about 20 feet. Needless to say the outcome was devastating to all.

In this weeks paper the reporter had gone to the school because the girls classmates were releasing balloons in her memory. There were some photos of that. The photo that got my blood pressure up was the class photo. Those little pin heads were sticking out their tongues doing the gang sign looking finger gestures. I don't know what they mean. In my opinion it was the most disrespectful thing I have seen in a long time. The teachers interviewed were all about them living in the moment and it was time to move on. Bull Shit! I will leave it up to you to decide. I will try to put a link to the article. Until we meet again.

It is not Christmas yet Charlie Brown!

2009-11-16T18:07:00.004-06:00

Well Hello,
I am going to wank some about Christmas. It is November 16th. and it has started all ready, Christmas that is. Enough people! Can't you wait until Thanksgiving has past? I know the weather has been nice and it is helpful to hang lights in 60° weather than it is in 10° weather. I'll give you that, but don't turn the things on yet. And here is one for you consider too if you have a blow up Santa or snowman in the yard, please don't put them by the creche. That is just tacky. Sure you should keep Christmas in your heart all year, but not lit up in your yard or on your roof. The Griswold thing was a movie, not to happen in real life.

Why is it that we Americans have an uncanny ability to screw everything up? It is Christmas. It is a religious holiday. Sure you can incorporate Santa into it but remember what the subject is in the sentence. This one is about Jesus. We have turned it into a frenzy holiday. We wear ourselves out, over spend, get real crabby and take what is meant to be fun and ruin it.

There is Hanuka that is about the same time as Christmas. That holiday is quite interesting. Look it up and see why the Jewish people celebrate Hanuka. You won't drop dead the next time you enter church if you do. Be enlightened, it's good for you.

I believe that if all people would do more research and reading of reliable material regarding world religion, then perhaps, just perhaps we could all live together in peace. Peace, now there is a novel idea.

Give it a try this season. Extend your religious knowledge a little. Tolarence is a good thing, especially one day at a time.

Flu Shot Protocol

2009-11-12T17:33:00.002-06:00

Hello Fellow Citizens or not,

For those of you who do not know me, I have a tenancy to get sick every year in February. One year, pneumonia, another bronchitis, last year it was blood clots in my lungs.

The year I had the pneumonia, I coughed so hard that I broke two ribs. Snapped those babies like twigs. Problem with that was the quack I go to said oh the pain you feel is just pleurisy. He said that for three months until I saw another quack who ordered a CT and found the broken ribs. Now if you have ever had broken ribs you know how painful it is. I had to sleep in my recliner for most of the three months prior to finding out that it was not pleurisy. So when the quack said to me, " do you need something for pain", he must have seen the anger in my face because he backed up on his little rolling stool out of arms reach.

Bronchitis for me is just about as bad as the pneumonia. That coupled with asthma keeps me coughing almost constantly during the winter. At least now they will prescribe strong stuff to keep me from coughing so much. Last year I was sick for a whole month. The cold/flu symptoms finally were subsiding but I could not breathe. If I walked from my bedroom to the living room I was so winded I had to sit down and rest until I got my breath back. During that previous month I had been to see the quack every week. I was tired of going to the Dr. but I went one more time and said I can't breathe. He took a pulse ox. reading an it was about 89%. That is not a good number.

Mr. Quacker sent me right to the hospital for another CT and said to wait for the results. I did and they put me in intensive care. Yep, blood clots in both lungs. Notice I said clots, more than one. Actually I think what they said was "many". So after a four day stay at the hospital and learning how to give myself shots in my belly of anti coagulant I got to go home. That stuff was so strong I got bruises from a strong wind. They actually told me not to use sharp stuff. The kicker was when they started me on coumadin, and the quack says, " you know this is rat poison right"? I only had to take the shots twice a day for two days at home but by then my blood was so thin you could see through it. I had to go get blood test every week sometimes twice a week for the first three to four months. Coumadin is tricky stuff. You can't just start taking 4mg. a day and that is it. You start a dose, take it for a week and get a blood test to see what your pro time is. They were shooting for 2. The first week mine was 7. They lowered the dose. Still too high. This went on for about three to four months till we got close to a good number. Oh and you have to be careful how much green food you eat. If it is green it has vitamin K. Vitamin K thickens your blood. Then I had to go on antibiotics for a week and the pro time went nuts, everything effects it. So they changed the dosage again. A month ago it was 1.9, that is close to the desired level but not good enough. When I went last Tue. it was still 1.9. So guess what? They changed the dosage again. Thank God this poison is cheap.

So what does this have to do with a flu shot you ask? High risk I answer, I am high risk. I have already received my "normal" flu shot, so today I went for the porcine version, H1N1. I get my seasonal shot from my allergist and the insurance pays for it. Today's shot was from my county's health department. So thank you, your tax dollars at work.

The vaccine was given at our local Fair Grounds in the two 4-H buildings. Lots of parking and big buildings. What could be better than getting a swine flu shot next to where they exhibit hogs. They were to start at 2:00 p.m. and they did. People started to arrive however at about 1:15 or so. I got there at 1:35 and was about 80th. in line. The young people who were behind me on the road in, got out of their car, grabbed up the kids and took off for the line. I actually heard her say, hurry so we get in front of the other people pulling in. I should have hooked her with my cane, bad knee today, and beat her with it, but she was caring a child. So wouldn't you think with over 100 folks standing in line with little kids, old people with walkers, one with oxygen and one I know is in her 90's they would let them in to sit down? No way. They did not open those doors until exactly 2:00 p.m. Now here is the part that pissed me off.

When you get in the building the people with children go to one table and the rest of us went to another. There they take your temperature to make sure it is below 100°. If it is they give you paperwork and tell you to go to the next building. When you get there they tell you to have a seat and fill out the paperwork. We could of all had it filled out if they had given us the damn stuff while we were standing in line! Or hey, maybe let us in and sit at the tables to wait. But nooooooooooooo. After filling out the paperwork you get in another line. They had orange tape on the floor that we later found out we were suppose to stand behind until called by nurse diesel. I happened to step past the line before being called and you would have thought I stole the cash box. "Get back behind the line she yells"! So I did. Just yesterday I mentioned to someone that you should never wake a sleeping bear. That would be me. So I patiently stepped back and waited. I saw the ladies waving but ignored them. Finally nurse diesel said you can come here now. So I turned and looked at her and ask in a sheepish voice, me? So I went forth got the okay to go sit in another area and wait to be called for the shot. I only waited there for less than a minute. After the shot, the nice nurse lady said to take my papers to the ladies at the other table, not nurse diesels, so I did. They look at them, and say you can leave now after you show the lady at the door your paperwork. I said no. I had been standing in lines for over an hour by now. Half of that time in a cool breeze. So when she looked up at me with a puzzled look on her face I simply said, "I have to pee". She pointed in the direction of the restroom and I waddled off. I did not have to show anyone my paperwork in there. I then went on my way to Walmart, after showing the kind lady at the door my paperwork.

It would have been easier to sneak across the boarder into Mexico or Canada in broad daylight than get a damn flu shot. Now I know how guys who got drafted felt. Just stand in line. At least I did not have to do it in my undies and shoes like they did. So that is my story for the day. I do urge everyone to get their shots. I learned a lot today so it was worth every minute of the experience. Oh and by the way, I was not the only person cranky about the set up. Folks older than me don't just think about it and write it in a blog. I was in line with every Maxine and Crankshaft in this county. They say what they are thinking on the spot, and real loud. Their deaf so they think everyone else is too.

Take care, and take it one day at a time.

Burning leaves 101

2009-10-29T18:40:00.003-05:00

I am one of those people that when fall rolls around gets sick. Don't get me wrong, I love fall. I love the leaves but I would like to just wallop people who burn leaves. Why you might ask. Asthma is my reason. I am sure there are people out there with COPD and or emphysema and bronchitis that also hate leaf burners.

I live out in the country. In the spring everyone in this county sets anything that will burn on fire. Mostly ditches that can not be mowed. In the fall it is leaves. Here is the deal. A fire needs the following in order to burn. Fuel, oxygen and something to start it oh say a match. Lets start with fuel, in this case leaves. Just because they fell off of the tree does not mean that they are dry enough to burn. Oxygen is obviously available, and how hard is it to find a match? The leaves will probably light but they will just smolder. Smoldering equals SMOKE people. Smoke is the big problem. I can not be around smoke. My throat closes up, I start to wheeze and cough, it is not fun. Why does this happen you ask? The leaves are not dry. So here is what I want you to do. Let the leaves dry before you try and burn them. When they are dry, like when you pick one up, squeeze it and it crumples into pieces they are dry enough to burn. Stir them up so that they will all burn and when the pile is down to the smoking part, put it out. Please don't let the pile just smolder all night or all day long. Actually in Indiana, any fire burning after dark must be attended at all times. Are you going to stand or sit out there and watch the fire smolder all night? I'll bet you won't.

You know you can go over the leaves with your lawn mower and then rake and put them in your compost pile. No smoke involved in composting. Even if you chop them up and leave them on the grass they will decompose and fertilize your lawn without having to put all that chemical crap on there to leach down into the water supply.

I have not been able to figure out yet how to add a link: http://tillandsias.home.att.net/Leafburning.htm See if that works. I also put a link on Facebook. It just is not good for people to put that smoke in the air. Think of all the little kids that want to go out and play but can't because someone in the neighborhood is burning and it triggers their asthma or bronchitis. Or maybe your retired neighbor who is on oxygen because of his breathing problems. Please find another way to dispose of your yard waste than burning. It would just be a nice thing to do, don't you think? More later.

I miss you Lenny

2009-10-22T17:01:00.003-05:00

This seems to me to be one of the most beautiful autumns in a long time. God has sure presented us with a gorgeous palate of colors. This time of year conjures up so many feelings for people. With Halloween fast approaching there is no lack of ghouls and goblins out decorating homes. Halloween is second only to Christmas for decorating.

Next will come Veterans day, don't forget to honor your veterans. Whether it is a grandpa, uncle, brother or your neighbors son or daughter. Send a card. They gave up part of their lives so that we can be free. So the least we can do is send them a card on the day that is set aside to remember these folks.

After that is Thanksgiving. This is the holiday that we eat until we pass out. I'll bet if you surveyed 100 random people and ask them if they give thanks before they eat on that day, less than half would say yes. We really do have a lot to be thankful for. This year lots of folks are out of a job, so remember your food pantries when you are shopping. Give a little something back.

This time of year never goes by without me remembering my cousin Lenny. Lenny was maybe 18 months older than me. God saw fit make Lenny special. I wish I had a scanner so that I could show you a picture of him. He had a heart as big as anyone I have ever met. He could also be a thorn in your side. But he was Lenny and I did love him. A big round face and thick glasses. He could do an imitation of Curly from the Three Stooges that would crack you up. He loved children and helping however he could at church.

When we were about eleven years old we were in MYF, Methodist Youth Fellowship. Our little church did not have a baptismal font. We decide that we would raise money to purchase one for the church.

This was 1961 and farmers did not have the kind of equipment they have today. When they picked corn they would miss some at the end of rows because of turning. My uncle Art, Lenny's dad was a farmer and agreed to let us pick up any corn that was left in the fields for our project. Lenny and I spent hours walking up and down rows of picked corn picking up any cobs left on the ground with even a speck of corn on them. If I remember it was the last of October or the first part of November so it was cold on those Saturdays and nights after school, but we got corn. It wasn't just Lenny and me, it was other kids too from our group. I don't remember if Lenny's sisters helped us, they probably did. We finally raised enough money to purchase the font.

Lenny passed away a few years ago. It was kind of sudden and took us all by surprise. His headstone is right by my mom's so I think of him whenever I go to the cemetery. But most of all I think of him every year when the leaves turn and the farmers are out picking corn. Now I cherish those hours we spent together. I miss you Lenny you were a good soul.

There Baaaaaaaaaaack!

2009-10-21T18:22:00.006-05:00

Lady Asian Beetles. They are a royal pain in the butt. Thank you USDA for bringing these little annoying varmints into so many lives. As I sit here typing this farmer Norm is combining my front and side acreage. Soy beans have been planted this year and that means those damn little bugs have been hiding out until now. Tomorrow I will be inundated with them. At least when I had a sky light in my kitchen they would all congregate up there. Now that it is gone they are everywhere.

For anyone who does not know what a lady Asian Beetle is, they look similar to a Lady Bug. Sweet cute little Lady Bugs that crawl on a leaf and leave you alone. These pesky pests are a little more orange. They will bite and stink to high heaven if you tick them off or squash them. And God forbid you accidentally eat one. They give a whole new meaning to nasty. I hope the link publishes. Every autumn they show up and when it warms up in the spring I'll get a couple that have managed to hide out somewhere during the winter.

I think it is the Apocalypse. Global warming, bugs, Michael Jackson, Octo Mom. What next? Never mind, I don't want to know.

I am posting a picture, I hope, of my pyromaniac Red Hat group having dinner last Friday. We are a fun bunch.

Hang in there it's almost Friday.

What a Christmas party!

2009-10-17T21:18:00.003-05:00

Last night was our Christmas party as I had said in my last post. Turned out I did not have to drive. Failure to communicate. This restaurant does not take reservations but since there were 13 of us we did call and let them know we would be there at 6:15. Actually we called four times this week. They always said no problem at all. No problem for them that we had to stand and wait forty minutes. If there is one thing you don't want to do, it's piss off a group of Red Hatters. We were just about ready to storm the bar when they called us in to our table.

Our waitress was a whiz and the food was very good. We did have a good time once we were seated and got to eat. There were two families with young girls. We always impress the young girls. I think it is the hats. They are just enamored by us.

After dinner we went to a members house for dessert and a gift exchange. She has a beautiful home and she even decorated for the party. Candles on the table and the mantle. It was lovely. White table cloth with red candles in crystal candle holders. Some of the ladies sat at the table some in chairs in the living room and on the couch. The dinning area and living room is open concept so we were all withing a few feet of one another to be able to chat. The gals at the table started one by one opening their gift and showing it off. The next lady to open her gift pulled out the tissue paper and held it right above a candle. Not on purpose of course. It was a low tiny candle and you could hardly tell it was there. Yes you guessed it. Have you ever seen three or four sheets of tissue go up in flame? It does, and fast. Instinct told her that if she waved it around it would go out. WRONG, it just fans the flame! It shredded apart into hundreds of small flaming feathery puff's. It was raining mini fireballs. The gentleman of the house came in to see what all the hubbub was about. By this time the burning clump was on the floor still in flames. So his instinct told him to stamp it out. He was in his stocking feet so his foot promptly caught fire too. We got everyone and thing put out. I just wish someone would have had a camera going. Talk about a comedy of errors. There was soft powdery ashes everywhere. On the wall, on the white tablecloth and the whole house smelled like smoke. I for one was ready to go home. The fire starter felt so bad about the whole thing and nearly had a stroke. We kept telling her it was just an accident. No one was hurt and all in all a good time was had by everyone.

It will be a long time before any of us forget this Christmas party, and I'll bet no one will dare have candles next year.

Ta ta for now. The Deva.

Christmas in October, What?

2009-10-16T15:58:00.002-05:00

I have about 45 minutes before I leave to pick up four lady friends. We are all in a Red Hat Society group called the Mad Hatters of Northwest Indiana. I would imagine that most folks that read this know what the Red Hat Society is. If not, Google it.
The main requirement of this group is that you have to be over 50 and mostly nuts. I am not the youngest in the group but in second place. Our youngest has not made it to an outing yet. Tonight it is my fault because I forgot to tell her. Sorry Jean. Tonight is our Christmas party. What, why you may ask? Florida is the reason for the early party. A few of our group have winter homes in Florida and leave before the snow flies here. That means they will be gone before a December party is held. I brought up the proposal that we do it now so that everyone can come. Everyone seemed to agree. So tonight is the night. We are going to a joint called Popolano's about 30 miles from my house. Since I now drive the Mafia funeral van, all black with tinted windows, I volunteered to take a load.

Today I removed the kid car seat, vacuumed out the salt and white hair out. Salt from an occasional french fry and my hair, I shed like a mountain goat. I now have all of the seats up out of the floor and we are ready to hit the road. Figuratively speaking I hope.

There will be a photo on my next blog of these wonderful ladies. Yes we are nuts by we are also ALWAYS there for one another in times of need. This year there will be three empty seats at our table. Since our group started we have sent three gals on to heaven to start a chapter there. The first was Trudy our Jewish member. Then there was Miss Fran and Flo. Miss Fran was confined to a lovely Christian living facility most of the time, but loved to go out with us when we went to dinner. Fran liked her Sangria and she was not to have it in her room at the facility. As for Flo, there is not enough time to tell you about Flo. She was one of the hardest working women I have ever known and I met her when she was 80+. And how God put such a big heart in a little package I will never know. Both Fran and Flo were in their 90's. Trudy was way too young, in her 60's. They were something and we all miss all three of the ladies very much.

Oh, did I mention that we all wear purple clothes and red hats for these outings? Did I mention that we wear red hats and purple clothes, we do.

Well it is about time to go pick up my precious cargo. More tomorrow and pictures.

Shopping at Wally World, Woo Hoo!

2009-10-13T17:39:00.003-05:00

Hello All!
Today I decided to make a day of it and do some shopping. I needed to drop off a check for some baking nuts that I had ordered from a friend. Her Extension Homemaker's club sells them every autumn as a fund raiser. Since I am a former Extension Homemaker county president I try to support what they do. From there I took the "Big Road" I-65 to Rensselaer to the Walmart. I had printed a bunch of coupons on line and Wally World is the cheapest place to use them. I also wanted to get a rubber floor mat for my new van and not have to pay 45 bucks for it. Now that cold weather is fast approaching I need some new socks. I also got cat food, a new head for my spin brush, and anti bacterial wipes to keep in my purse.

I am a fairly frugal shopper. I use as many coupons as I can find and shop sales with them to get the most bang for my husbands buck. The coupon I had was for a dollar off of two bottles of Arm and Hammer liquid laundry soap. I use this anyway and it is not harmful to my septic system. Now I probably will not need soap for three or four months. I have outside cats and one real pain in the ass inside cat. The outside cats get store brand food and love it. As for the P.I.T.A. indoor cat, she is "special". Why you say? She pukes. Hairballs to be exact, so she has to have hairball food. Don't get me started on that one. I found replacement heads for the old toothbrush. I just love my spin brush. I highly recommend one if you don't already use one. It is like having your teeth cleaned every time you use it. The floor mat came cheap enough, at $9.00. Since I am usually the only one who drives the van I just got one for my side. The wipes are for H1N1 avoidance. I have the liquid in the van but every time I squirt even a small amount onto my palm it runs all over. So I have opted for the individually wrapped towelettes. The socks were a deal. I said I am frugal well there is not much difference between ladies white cotton socks and boys white cotton socks. Woman's were 10 pair for $8.49. Boys were 10 pair for $7.00. You do the math. What do I care as long as my feet are toasty.

While making the rounds at the Wally World I noticed something. It was one of those moments when I say to myself, I refuse to be like that when I get old. Well heck lets face it I am nearly 60, so I am old. I notice lots of older than me ladies doing the cart walk. She slowly walks up and down every isle in the store. You have seen them, two big clues. Her purse is in the part where the kid usually sits. The lap belt woven in and out of the strap so that no one runs by and snatches it. God forbid someone might get a five year old candy bar or a clump of half used old Kleenex. I'll bet if you looked real deep you could even find one of those old tubes of Vick's that you stick up your nose and breathe the fumes. You just can't be too careful with an old ladies purse. Second sign is that both arms are on the handle and she is slightly slumped over the cart while she pushes it. The sad part is that this walk of fame in Wally World is probably there weekly high spot, other than church.

I have found myself just stopping and taking something from a shelf when I see one coming so that I can say, "have you ever tried this". Then they open up like the Hoover Dam. I think they just need someone to talk to. If it makes them happy to do this then God bless them. I probably will end up like that someday even though I had the conversation with myself not to. If so I hope someone asks me if I have ever tried something and stands there long enough to let me tell them.
Ta ta for now.

Rainy Days and Mondays and no Tribune again!

2009-10-12T20:43:00.003-05:00

Hello from the bunker as my bro. in law says.

Not much new to report. Got up not feeling a 10 today, more like a 6. I did smile tho when I walked through the parlor. Pretty wall paper in there. Now to pick out the trim stuff. I think I will go with a pine colonial base, and a crown moulding.

So today was overcast with a sprinkle or two, not really rainy and real cool. That accounts for the first part of my title. Mondays don't especially get me down, in fact I like Mondays but then I don't go to work so that does make a difference. However the no Tribune part has gone across the line to piss me off! For those who know me they can tell you that it is not good to get me angry.

My husband does not ask for much at all. He does however like his newspaper in the evening. That would be the Chicago Tribune. He reads it front to back and looks forward to doing the cross word every day, (in ink). I get a local paper and it is delivered by the same person that is suppose to deliver the Chi. Tribune. At least one and sometimes two times a week he does not get his Trib. I call the delivery person and always get voice mail. I have always, and I am being truthful, been polite about not getting the paper. Now I always get my paper but it is his paper that is missing. I have automatic billing so I am never late on my payment. They get their money but we don't get regular delivery.

Times are tough right now. Paper carriers have a thankless job. They get up at an ungodly hour to pick up papers and then deliver them. At least one of my papers gets delivered every day. I sure don't want this person to lose her job, but come on, what can be so hard about remembering to put two darn papers in the box? I emailed the Tribune today and complained. I called the carrier and said we really want today's paper and I would even come and pick it up. As of right now, no call back and no paper.

Yesterday was the Chicago Marathon. My husband is a runner and was looking forward to the special insert in today's paper. Tonight even he has had enough. He said to just cancel the paper. Tomorrow I will call and cancel. Oh well if that is as bad as it gets then were looking okay. And the papers are wondering why no one wants hard copies any more. Well it's simple, all I have to do is to turn on the computer and read.
Too bad, so sad. Have a good one!

Miracles Do Happen!

2009-10-11T17:00:00.003-05:00

Hello from Kersey,
The picture is of my hubby cutting out around a light switch. He has spent the day hanging wallpaper in our parlor. He started early this a.m. and finished for the day just a little bit ago. The miracle is that I have not heard him swear but one time and that was going around a very uneven corner. He is out running now. I call this room a parlor for lack of a better name. The main house was built in 1900 and this room is part of the main house. The stairway to the upstairs is in this room. The rest of the house was remodeled around the original. About the only thing we do with this room is walk through it to get to a bedroom and bathroom on that end of the house. We have always referred to this room as the room with no name. If you said that in public you then had to explain. So I just started calling it the parlor.

When we bought our house everything was blue. Blue is fine if you like blue. We don't. The outside was blue, the carpet in the kitchen is blue. And who puts carpet in a kitchen anyway? The wallpaper in the parlor was blue. So when the branch speared the roof last summer and we had to replace the ceiling I decided to redo the wallpaper also.

I have a few Arts and Crafts period pieces of furniture. So that is what I am going to put in the parlor. I will post a photo when it is done. I wanted paper that looked kind of old fashioned. So I went with the magnolias. I am going to paint the dark ugly paneling in the dining room and living room a neutral greenish grayish color. It goes with the paper and the fabric that I have for the dining room windows. All in all it is a work in progress. I have had the wall paper for about three months, so I am thrilled that it is almost all up and done. I would like to get it all finished before Thanksgiving so I can have people over. Since I am doing all of this I am throwing as much away as possible and giving away as much as I can too.

So for today I will say so long. Hope your weekend was a good one and your saddle stayed dry.

Saturday and I still have dust bunnies and no pumpkin Charlie Brown!

2009-10-10T19:47:00.004-05:00

Hi Followers,
Well I was going to go for it today and get the dust bunnies. I didn't. I got stuff done but not to the level of the bunnies. I did get some of my autumn decorations out and set up. I have managed to misplace a rather large Terracotta pumpkin. I bought it many years ago while traveling through the mountains of Tennessee. I have babied that thing for many years so that I would not break it. Well it is missing. Have not been able to find it for two maybe three years. We have two barns, did have three, and we have looked in those barns to no avail. Tonight I went down stairs and looked in my basement. No pumpkin. I still have to look up stairs. I really don't think I put it up stairs but I will look. I even looked in Rubbermaid tubs in the basement thinking I might have put it in there for "safe keeping". Not in those either. Now how in the heck can you lose a Terracotta pumpkin that is about one cubic foot square and probably weighs eight to ten pounds? It is becoming a challenge for me to find it. That and I am getting really ticked off for misplacing the darn thing.

I sure can't wait until I get a space big enough to have a garage sale next spring. Since I have been married for 38 years to a pack rat and now I am finding that I have become one too. Crap has to go! That said, the pumpkin was not one of the things I wanted to go. I have been trying to throw stuff away every day. So far so good. Maybe just maybe I will move something and my dear lost pumpkin will be under the thing that I moved. I can only hope. If I don't get rid of all of this "stuff" I am sure you will see me next season on, Hoarders!

Got to go, it is nearly time for the Sandman. More later.

Thank God For Blondies

2009-10-09T20:59:00.004-05:00

Hi out there in cold and rainy land.
Wow I think it has rained here for 24 hours straight. Not a hard rain but a nice kind of light showery rain. Now it is suppose to get cold and I am sure that I heard someone say the "S" word. You know the white stuff that Bing sang and dreamed about in his Christmas song. I still have some autumn clean up to do outside before that happens. I need to cut back my raspberries and the iris. I have some more day lilies and a new kind of iris to plant. Oh I will get it done.

Today I met some out of town relatives in Valpo for lunch at Applebee's. I thought they were passing through and that is why they called me to meet them. NO. They just drove up to see me. How nice was that. With today's visit it makes three times in the past week that I have been to Applebee's. I was a good girl today and only had a bowl of clam chowder and half of a sandwich. I thought I was doing really good, then my cousin ordered this blond brownie dessert thing and insisted that I try it. OH MY GOD! I am a total chocolate girl but this was just wonderful. She ask that they serve it on a hot plate and they did. It has a big scoop of vanilla ice cream on top and then they pour a maple sauce over the whole thing. Oh, did I mention the nuts? There really are no words to describe the taste.

So tomorrow I plan to really go after the dust bunnies. Plus it is that time to switch out summer clothes for winter ones. I do so hate doing this, but it is time.
So for now I say adieu.
Here is the official description;

Maple Butter Blondie

Blondes really do have more fun! Baked with nuts, topped with both ice cream and chopped walnuts, and served sizzling at your table where it's covered with a rich, maple butter sauce.

Hello again from the front.

2009-10-08T15:18:00.001-05:00

Hi again kids,
I know it has been a very long time since I have been here. I hate when people use excuses to get forgiven. I don't really want to be forgiven I just want you to know part of why I have not written.

It all started when my spouse wanted to start a blog. And no I am not blaming him. I gave him my old blog and created a new one for me. So far so good. I was trying to write on a somewhat regular schedule. Then I got busy with Face Book and did not blog for a very long time.
When I went to blog again I could not find my slip of paper that had my log in info on it. I tried all the passwords I have ever used. All of my email addresses and nothing. What an idiot. Today I finally figured out the combination to get back in here and write. Wooohoo!

So now my mantra is to try and blog every day. If I can spend way too much time on FarmVille, I can take time to blog. So I hope some of you will read my ramblings on occasion. Leave a note on my F.B. or comment here or keep me in your prayers I will appreciate any of it.
That is all for now.
Me.

Fathers Day

2009-06-21T16:09:00.005-05:00

Hello everyone. I thought I should tell all you fathers out there Happy Fathers Day.
I have always had mixed emotions about this holiday. I have a step father that just is not a nice man and a biological dad who died last year. I did not even meet the bio dad until I was 44.

So on this Father's Day I wish all you dads that are good dads a thank you. Good dads are hard to find.

To my son who is a dad now I can only say how proud I am of you and your dad skills. Those skills are something your not born with. I remember you coming home from school the day they showed you the childbirth movie and you saying "no way am I having any part of that". You have done it twice now. In fact all of my boys are doing good jobs with their kids. Joe, Mikey and Gordy. They don't have my DNA but they will always be my boys too.

Boy on bottom is four now, boy on top is 13 months. Boy in both pictures 36. They are the joy of my existence.

Scroll down for Pie and Rhubarb Bread Recipe

2009-06-02T19:22:00.005-05:00

I have been experimenting with my blog. I found out how to add other blogs for people to look at. I also found this thing that I could add something to the bottom of my blog just for snorts and giggles.

For those who know me, you know I like to bake pies and don't do a half bad job of it. Not to brag, but I do have a few county fair ribbons to substantiate that claim. So I found a pie recipe of the day that posts every day at the bottom of my blog. However you must scroll down to see it. If you don't know it is there then your out of luck. So when you are done reading, scroll a little farther down to get the daily pie recipe.

It is rhubarb season here. This is also known as the "Pie Plant". That is the old version, but some folks still call it that. I don't particularly care for rhubarb but my son and husband like it. What my husband really likes is the Rhubarb Nut Bread that I make. He would sit and eat the whole loaf if he thought no one was watching.

Here is the recipe for RHUBARB NUT BREAD
1 1/2 cups packed brown sugar
1 cup buttermilk
1 egg
2/3 cup oil
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
2 1/2 cups flour
1 1/2 cups rhubarb cut in small dice or thin slices
1 cup chopped toasted walnuts, ( It is not necessary to toast, but better)

Preheat oven to 325°. Grease and flour 2 loaf pans.
In a medium size mixing bowl, mix together the sugar, buttermilk, egg, oil, and vanilla.
Sift together the soda, salt and flour. Add dry ingredients to the sugar mixture and mix until blended. Add the rhubarb and chopped nuts and fold in.
TOPPING:
Mix together 1/2 cup white or brown sugar, your choice. 1 teaspoon cinnamon and 1 tablespoon butter. Mix with a fork until crumbly and sprinkle over top of batter in pans. Bake 55 minutes.
If you test to see if it is done, it may be a little moist. Just bake a little longer but don't over bake.

NOTE: I have also used blueberries or diced apples in place of the rhubarb depending on what is in season. NUTS: To give nuts a nicer flavor in recipes, place them on a cookie sheet and bake in a 350° oven for 5 minutes. Take out of oven and turn them over or toss them and put back in for another 4-5 min. Let them cool before adding to recipe. Do not toast for too long, this gives them a bitter taste, not good for the bread. BUTTERMILK: Unless you will be using buttermilk for other recipes you will have to buy a quart just for the 1 cup in this recipe. Your options would be to make a couple of batches and freeze the bread for later use or sour your own milk.

Buttermilk substitute.
Place 1 tablespoon of either but not both white vinegar or lemon juice in a 1 cup measure. Fill to the top with plain milk. Give it a little stir and let it stand for 5 minutes. Stir again and use in recipe. It may look curdled, not to worry it's fine.

So enjoy your bread, and don't forget to scroll down for pie.

Tomatoes, A Shiner and Schools Out!

2009-06-01T16:56:00.001-05:00

Hello from the country.
I have not written in a while because I really have not had too much to write about. I have also had a head cold.

Things around here are really greening up. The beans are up in the front field. The iris' are almost done blooming and of course the grass is growing too fast to keep up with. I have planted two tomato plants and bought more for the spousal unit to plant in his little patch along with some peppers.

When we moved in here there was a horse tank in the old barn. For years I wanted it drug out and put by my outhouse. About two years ago I finally got that done. It is just easier for a person with a bad back to have a raised bed to work from. I like nice smooth dirt. Jeff just turns the sod over and sticks a plant in it. So that is why we have two gardens. My tomatoes are growing real well. I am going to start mulching them. I want to plant some radishes and herbs too. I need to get on that.

The grandson was with us last weekend. He is so much fun. I took him to a little town museum that I used to work at. He really enjoyed it for a four year old. There was a room with fireman stuff. He liked that even better than the toy room. The next day at home he was sitting on my desk chair watching a train go by and leaned too far to one side and the chair tipped over. He smacked his face on the table and boy what a shiner he got. I just felt terrible. His little eye swelled shut in seconds. Luckily he did not break the skin. The picture I am going to post is from the next day. He and his daddy and papa went on a steam train ride. He truly looks like a boy in this picture.

School is nearly over, thank God! I am getting used up listening to the spouse complain about the day to day crap that goes on. I like to be supportive but I keep telling him things are not going to change. Being the optimist he keeps hoping it will. NOT.

So that's all for now. Will do my best to post sooner next time.

Be a good mom and you'll have the love of your kids.

2009-05-12T19:08:00.000-05:00

How do you feel about Mother's Day? Do you think it is a Hallmark holiday? Well if mom gets pampered one day a year then good. Until you are a mom or dad, you won't know what it means to hear you child say I love you mom. There is no amount of money that can equal that.

My mom and I did not really get along that well. I like to make my own decisions. I really don't like having other people think for me. Sure, as a kid someone had to think for me simply because I did not have enough life experience to know anything of real value at a young age. However when you have taken care of your siblings, a house and a parent who drank a little too much, you tend to get a grip on life a lot sooner than others your age. As a teenager I wanted to make some of my own decisions but no freaking way. She was my mother and she would tell me what to do and when to do it. I did not realize it then but in her own way she was teaching me what she could. We never did see eye to eye on anything. I could not even think of her without getting nervous. My mom passed away 15 years ago the 18th. of May. I have to say that for the last 15 years we have gotten along famously. Now I know that must sound very harsh, but it is true. Since she died, whenever I think about her I think of the good times we had. I think about how much she loved and enjoyed my son, her first grandchild. I visit her grave and decorate it without any resentment what so ever. I went there on Mother's Day and just sat and thought about how much she would enjoy seeing her great grandsons. I will tell them about her. I will tell them the fun things about their great grandma.

So for now ta ta. Do your best to be a good person and when it comes to your children, just love them all you can, whenever you can, as much as you can.

Goodby my dear friend, and God Bless

2009-05-03T19:43:00.000-05:00

In 1995 I started going back to my childhood church. I still knew a few people who were much older now but there were a lot of new old faces. One such face was Florence. Florence was only 78 that year. She was one of the first people to come and introduce herself to me. We were instant friends. After a few months had passed and I decided to re join the church, Florence offered to be my sponsor.

Flo was a widow and lived by herself. She still drove her car then and lived in a modest but lovely mobile home in the small town not far from our church. I would go and visit her and call her on the phone. She told me stories that had me laughing till I nearly wet my pants. I knew about her parents, her brothers and sisters. She also told me about working in the mills in Gary, IN during the war. She told me how she met her husband and how they got married on the q.t.
She wept telling me about the loss of her baby. With pride she talked about her step sons that were as dear to her as her own two daughters. Her grandchildren and great grandchildren were flowers in her life's bouquet.

At church functions, Florence was one of the first to get there and one of the last to leave. Always helping, running a vacuum or wiping a counter. She was one of the hardest workers I have ever known. Even though those gnarled fingers were screaming with pain, she never complained or stopped working. There were times she could barely even walk, but she did.

As we all will one day Flo started to need help. She had to give up her car and driving. Then she had a fall or two. The decision was made to move into assisted living. By now Flo was in her early 90's. I could tell she hated being there but not as much as she would have hated being a burden on her children. At least that is what she thought.

I think in December, Flo would have celebrated her 93rd. birthday. She will miss this one, because it will be her first birthday in heaven. I will miss you my dear friend. Thank you for being there for me all of those years.
I love you for always.

It's Prom Time

2009-04-26T16:57:00.000-05:00

Hello again Kids,
Hope things are going good in your world. I have good days and bad, but the good ones are happening more than the bad. That is a plus.

My brother passed away in 1998 from complications of chicken pox, he was 38. He was the daddy of my niece Joanie. I assured him I would watch after her as much as I could. I have I think. She was 6 at the time.

Friday night was her Senior Prom. I went to her house and helped get her dress zipped and ready to go. She looked so beautiful. I know if it weren't for my depression drugs I would have been bawling my eyes out.

It has been 41 years since my prom so they do thing differently. Her school has a Grand March. The auditorium was packed with mom's, dad's, grandma's, grandpa's and at least one aunt wanting to see the prom goer's. At first I thought this would be hokey. I was thoroughly entertained.

Now I don't know what you paid for your prom dress but OMG! It really was a red carpet event. Long dresses and short dresses. Fluff like Glenda the good witch. and slinky and clingy like a movie star. And the colors. Bright solids, sequins, patterns in colors that looked like an acid trip. They were great. I only saw one boy with Chuck Taylor type shoes on, but lots of baseball type hats worn in what I would call gansta style. Even though I believe it looks like dumb ass style.

I had been in my friends wedding in Feb. of 1968 so that is the dress I wore to the prom in May that year. I think it cost $75.00 and I got to use it twice. I overheard girls talking about their dresses. The highest I heard was $500.00. and yes I typed it in correctly. It was pretty and I hope she saves it for her wedding. HA!

When all the little darlings had promenaded from the stage they gathered in the hall outside to watch their friends. I went to the hall about two minutes before the last couple did their thing.
The excitement in the air was contagious. Newly acquired coifs, some up some down. All done to enhance the prom queens. The boys walked around like , what do I do now, and when do we eat? Flash's going off everywhere. I have to admit that I took my share of photos as well.
I made my way outside to get some air and what did I see, a line of limo's. A stretch white Hummer. A white stretch Chrysler and the very long black Chrysler 300 or something like that.
I ask each driver who had booked the car that they were driving until I found Joanie's. It was the black one. So I stood by it and waved my hand in the air so she could see me. She waved back and without notice I was bombarded with sparkly chiffon clad girls and guys who wanted to eat. I made sure there was no alcohol in the car. At least to the best of my ability. The driver assured me that if there was it was brought in by someone else. I left the rest of that search to God. I took some more picks and left as this procession of limo's left the parking lot.

On the way home I though about my brother. How proud he would be of his Joan bug. And how he would kill her escourt if he thought he was even thinking about, well you know. I hope that there is a little window in heaven that parents can look out of when major life events happen to their children so they can at least see it, even if they can't be there. She will graduate in a month and I will be there hoping my brother is watching too.

Well now I am crying. Bye for now.

Crochet Day with a little salad mixed in.

2009-04-22T17:45:00.000-05:00

Good news and not so good news. I'll make it short and give you the not so good news first. Pain is back. Now on to the good news. Other than the pain, I had a great day. Today is crochet day but one of our group was working at her church's salad bar fundraiser. So two of us decided to go to that first and then off to crochet where we met up with the fourth one of the group. If I can figure this out I will try and put photos up of these ladies. No promises. We got together about two years ago as a class. When the class was over three of us decided to keep on meeting and work on our own projects. So that is what we have been doing. Not long ago we picked up another lady who fit right in with or eccentric group gets along well. For example today we sang hymns that we all liked. That did not last long. We talked about felting. The lady on the left in the photo with the other lady is holding a purse that she made and felted. That for those of you who do not know is a process where you make your project, in this case a purse, out of wool. It has to be one third larger than what you want it. Then you wash it. Because it is wool it shrinks and closes any openings from either the knit or crochet. Her bags come out just beautiful. She has many granddaughters so she uses them for birthday gifts.
The gal on the right in that photo was and is our benevolent teacher. She shares her vast knowledge of crochet with anyone who wants to learn. She has done some of the most intricate and beautiful pieces that I have ever seen.
The other lady is pictured with some man she picked up at the salad lunch. She tried to convince us it was her husband but we know the truth. She too is a devout crocheter. She starts a project and does not stop till its done. Unlike the rest of us who have ten projects at a time going.
All of these women are a joy to spend three hours with every Wednesday. No matter what our mood we always leave feeling better than we did when we came in. There is always a good laugh and sometimes even tears. I have to say it is a lot less expensive that therapy and a lot more fun.
Now I am going to attempt to put in photos that I am talking about. Wish me luck.

Customer Privacy My BUTT!

2009-04-21T21:10:00.000-05:00

Today I had a mental list of things that I wanted to accomplish. As you read in a previous post some butt wipe got my credit card number and subscribed to Netflix. So I followed up today with Nflx. I ask if they had come up with any info on the offender. I was told that they could not give me that information. If I wanted it I would have to get a subpoena. I ask the young lady in as calm a way as I could muster up, why was that. Her answer was privacy. That is when I started having mini strokes. I said, you mean this person can use a stolen c.c. number and your protecting their privacy!!!! Well yes she says. Now my left hand starts to tremor. I decided to go to my second question and see if the tremors would stop. So I said to her, the only way that I could find a number to call and report this fraud to you was to sign up for Nflx myself. I want that cancelled. So she looks up my account and says I can't find an account for you that was just opened only one from a few weeks ago. So being the detective I said is the address correct and my name name? So she looks and says yes it is. Then she proceeds to ask me if when I opened my account if I put in my c.c. number. To which I responded I was trying to get your phone number so that I could report to you that an unauthorized person was charging things to my c.c. account from Nflx. so no I did not put my credit card number in. Well then your account has not been validated. I said good. Just to confirm what I had heard earlier, I said but my name and address that was on the other account is correct, to which she said yes. O crap! Now I have to call the c.c. company and cancel this card out and get a new number, which I did immediately. So next step is to put a freeze on all of the credit bureaus. This should keep anyone from opening anything with our information. What a pain in the fanny.

Now for the damage control. This particular card is the one I use for my online payments. This means I have to get in touch with all of those business' and change my payment method. I am just going to tell them to send me a bill. Back to the good old checks. It is just doing it that is a pain.

My husband was attacked by a dog four years ago. The people from where the dog came from told their insurance company that it was not their dog. So the insurance company said that they would not pay, when I called and ask. I said it is their dog. Why don't you just send the local agent over there, he will see that is their dog. No this ass wipe guy says it is not our responsibility to do that it is yours. You prove it was there dog.

Well do you remember the old television commercial for some kind of butter product that said "It's not nice to fool Mother Nature". Well it's not good to piss me off either!
I told they guy from the insurance company I would see him in court. I took movies, got statements from others the dog had attacked and there were many, I even went to the animal control board and reported the nuisance dog. Nearly four years to the day the insurance company settled the claim. They did not admit to any wrong doing of course. I proved it was their dog. Poor dead dog.

That is it for today kids. Coming soon, my new mp3 player. Grammy is going techno.
And no I did not kill the dog. Animal Control did. The dog was deemed unfit to rehabilitate for adoption. I had to go identify the body.

2009-04-20T18:02:00.000-05:00

Hi again,
Today I went for my MRI. They were right on time so I got in and out right away. It was the time in the middle that was an event. I have claustrophobia, so I get what they call an open MRI. It is suppose to help those of us with this malady not be quite so spastic when they put you in it. Ha! Luckily I got a tech that was very nice and liked to explain everything. I like that. So I lay down on the bed part of the thing. Jeff the tech then puts a pillow under my knees to make me more comfortable. That to was nice. He also puts these headphone like things on me to help with the noise. He says he can hear me if I need something just tell him and he will stop the test and pull me out. Then he hands me this thing like a nurse call button and says I can also squeeze it if I am in distress and he will hear that.
Now he says the he will slowly move me into the unit. So I close my eyes and go backwards head first into this thing. When it stopped, I opened my eyes and nearly peed my pants. This thing was about two inches from my nose. No kidding. So Jeffie boy is still standing in the room, I say, this is an open MRI? He says yes both sides are open. I look and see daylight. I tip my head all that I could and see that I could reach back and pull myself out if I needed to escape this small white culvert. It was just a few seconds and I hear Jeffie boy say, okay we are going to start.
If you have never had an MRI before this is the part that scares the crap out of you. It sounds like they call in Blue Man Group to stand on the outside of the culvert with big hammers and they start to pound on it. Fast. This can go on anywhere from three to five minutes with a short break and it starts again for a total time in the culvert of about 35 minutes.
Because I have an active imagination and can't stand being in closed in places I picture in my minds eye, Blue Man Group standing out there pounding on the culvert. Or I try and count the number of hits, which is hard because it is so fast. This helps pass the time and kept me from spasing out. I have heard some people say it is like being in a coffin. No it's not. A coffin would give you more room.
I hope the test tells the vet something. I must admit though that these new pills he gave me are doing a good job so far.

Got to go now.

Like Huey says, I want a new drug!

2009-04-18T12:31:00.000-05:00

Hi Kids,
I have a question for you to ponder. Have you ever been sick and the vet [that is code for Dr.] could not quite figure out what to do for you? So he say's I think it is this so take this drug and have this test and we will see if that helps. What a bunch of crap. I have been sick since the end of January. Bronchitis/asthma, Blood clots in lungs with shooting stabbing pain in ribs. So the bronchial stuff went away kinda. The clots also took their leave. So now its the pain. When it gets bad and it does most every night it is like getting stabbed in the ribs between your ta ta's and arm pit. Then it radiates all the way around my back. It is shingle pain without the blisters.

So yesterday when I went to the vet again for a blood test, he is trying to keep my blood thin so it won't clot so easily, I told him about this pain again. I tell him every time that I am in there and it is always something else. This time he says I think it might be nerve damage. So Monday I go for an MRI. I swear I am going to glow in the dark or levitate from all these test. I have had radio active stuff put in me. Now I will be in this damn tube that could pull a quarter out you butt if you swallowed one. And while your in it, it sound like someone with a very large hammer is pounding on the thing. JUST RELAX they tell you. Relax my ass I just lost my quarter! However I will do what I have to to get rid of this pain. So the vet gave me another drug. I was taking 1500 mg. of vicodin at night for t he pain and it barely touched the pain. I have only taken two of the new ones and so far it is ify at best. I woke up at 8:00 a.m. and for those of you who know me that in itself was like an act of God. I was up, dressed and had errands done by 10:00 a.m. back home doing laundry and cleaning the house. OMG. Vision is a little fuzzy but hey. I read the sheet that tells you what the side effects could be but I did not see running around like a chicken with its head cut off.
So I am going to hang out my sheets and hope a bird does not poop on them and clean some more.
This one day @ a time will get done in 8 hours. Woo Hoo.

Ham, Fraud and look up for Returns.

2009-04-13T17:12:00.000-05:00

Hi Everyone,
He has risen, He has risen indeed. That is what Easter is about for millions. Today I heard a four year old say that Easter is for Jesus because he rises from the dead. Out of the mouth of babe's.

My Easter Sunday was filled with ham, cheesy potatoes, green bean casserole and corn. Oh yea cupcakes and brownies and cherry pie. We were invited to a very dear friends house. I usually cook on Easter for the kids. They were under the weather and I have not been up to par myself.
We had a very nice visit with our friends.

So I get a c.c. statement today. I have a charge for Net Flix. I don't belong to them, order from them, nor do I want too. This is the second bogus charge in two months on two separate cards. I am vigilant about checking all charges on my accounts. It is a good thing. I immediately disputed the charge with the c.c. company and once I finally located a number I called the N.Fx. people who are looking into this. The last time I had to change my c.c. number. What a pain in the butt. This however is getting old. I guess I will have to go back to just cash and checks. I have my account set up now to be notified for all charges. Boy this ticks me off.
Befor you ask, yes I check my credit report often for these preditors. Lesson for all you kids out there, you should too. You are entitled to one free one a year from all three credit bureaus.

If you read my blog a few back I suggested buying chocolate the day after Easter. I was too late. However I did get some awsome egg coloring kits for next year. Woo Hoo. And I learned a valuable lesson as well. If you buy software from Wally World you can not return it if it has been opened. So how the heck are you suppose to know if it's realy what you want? Luckily it was not pricy so I will chalk it up to "Lesson Learned" and leave it at that. I suggested to the rotund lady at the returns desk that they should tell people that. Her response was, "It should be posted, but I will pass your suggestion on". So I was curious and walked back to the software dept. and looked. Yes there was a sign that said RETURN POLICY hanging from the ceiling. Now I don't know about you but I don't usually look up for signage. In small print is did stat that software is not returnable if it is opened. I wanted a publishing program. Something simple to make flyers, cards and stuff like that. My Vista did not come with that. The one I purchased is okay but not easy to use. However I inted to master it if I go cross eyed doing it. NO OFFENSE GRUMPY UNK.

I must go now and eat something that is not wrapped in foil and is the shape of an egg or bunny.
L8R kiddies,

C'est Moi Salon or Finally some one gets it!

2009-04-09T17:24:00.000-05:00

Hi Hi Hi I am so excited!
I am going to get right to it. I am 58 years old. I have a cosmetology license and have had it for 40 years. Unlike some though I can not cut my own hair. Maybe bangs on occasion but that is it. As in a long ago blog I ranted about the current day hairdresser/beauticians or whatever they want to be called. I have been to shop's, parlors, even a barber to try and and find someone that knows how to cut very thick coarse hair. I would just start feeling good with someone and they seemed to decide that they can cut my hair with their eyes shut and in 5 minutes flat. Time is money you know. That just does not work! So then I am on the search again. I go in and tell them what I would like they agree and (the first time) they take their time and do a fairly good job. Then once I have been back three or four times BAM, sorry Emeril, the 5 minute haircut that looks like they cut my hair with a lawn mower is back. I have more steps in the back than the Capitol building has in front. One side is inevitably longer than the other and even after telling them I have a cowlick my bangs on the right side are usually saluting to the hair god.
Next would be the shampoo. OMG! I have a bad back so laying back in a shampoo bowl chair can cause me discomfort not to mention numb legs. I have never met a shampoo bowl I liked. That is until today, more on that later. Then comes the water that is usually too cold or hot and they never ask. The top and sides of my hair might get some soap but forget about the nape. If they do get it you have a stream of water go down your back to your butt crack. Pleasant.

I have never been able to figure out why the folks who have salons don't get it. It is the Golden Rule thing. Do unto other, especially those who are paying you, as you would want done to yoursself. For a lot of ladies getting their hair done or cut is a real splurge for their budget. They want to be pampered. They want to feel like someone is listening to them and get's it. Some one who will give them at least 45 minutes of their time or more. I have finally found my place.

I had to get another charm for my medical ID. No one in my town had one. So I called a nearby town that still has an old fashioned honest to goodness service counts jeweler. They had just what I needed and could engrave the medication name on it before I got there. And I might add at a very reasonable cost. While walking back to my car I see the store next to the jeweler has a large cross and a crown of thorns in the window. A small sign says, It is all about Him. I was impressed with the display and when I looked inside viola' it is a beauty salon. I needed a haircut so I thought hey why not try another one.

I went inside and was greeted by two lovely women behind the counter asking if they could help me and with smiles. I said that I needed a haircut/trim. They ask if I had a preference as to who does the cut. I replied, anyone who is not afraid of thick coarse hair. A pretty young lady stepped forward offered her hand and said hello, my name is Paris. I was relived that it was a name I most likely would remember. I was ask to fill out a short questionnaire. Paris then ask if I would like a beverage to which I replied yes . I sat on a nearby sofa to fill out a form which only took a minute and handed it to the woman behind the desk. Paris then came over and showed me to her station where my beverage in a real glass sat waiting for me. She ask what I was looking for and I told her. She felt my hair, and assessed it and suggested what she would like to do. I agreed. She then took me to the back of the salon to a room that had very pleasant calming music playing and ask me to have a seat in a chair in front of a pedestal shampoo bowl that was at least as high as the back of the chair. She then moved a footstool over for my feet. Very very comfortable. She folded my collar down, placed a towel around my neck then put on the cape. A nice fabric cape, not plastic. She had me lean back ever so slightly and again voila' comfort. We discussed shampoo preference and the best shampoo experience I have ever had began. Now keep in mind that with a pedestal shampoo bowl it is not up against a wall. She stood behind the bowl. It was more of a 15 minute scalp massage with shampoo, conditioner and the perfect temperature water. It was wonderful. I would go back just to have the shampoo and nothing else. OMG what a pleasant calming experience. And she got all of my hair and no water down my back.

The haircut was most acceptable and what I wanted. Paris seemed to be on the same wave length as far as my perfect haircut is concerned. I left felling great. Happy with my style, happy with my stylist and just happy damn it.

The salon itself is chic [not sure how to spell that] with some shabby thrown in for good measure. It is a very old bank building. Quiet with soft music in the background. Price wise it was most reasonable. I have to say I gave her a good tip as well. She earned it and I wanted her to know how much I appreciated her work.

So if you live in N.W. Indiana and your looking for a good place to get your hair done. Go to Lowell, IN. to C'EST MOI SALON 316 E. Commercial Ave. right down town. It is worth the time, drive and money. ($ is very reasonable)
This is one day I had time for.

2009-04-08T19:24:00.000-05:00

Greetings,
Yesterday I made the jump to Face Book. I found more people than I knew existed. I am still figuring out how it all works, but so far so good, I think.
DISCLAIMER.
If I mess up more than usual in this blog tonight it is because I took two vicodin about and hour ago and they kicked in.
Today was pretty much uneventful. I went to my crochet group and that is always fun. Four women over the age of 55 sitting around crocheting and solving the worlds problems. Today we even sang show tunes. Don't ask!
This group started about two years ago. Classes were offered at our local library. I always wanted to learn so I signed up. The class started out with six people. By the end of the six weeks there were only three of us that wanted to continue. We decided to meet on Wednesdays about noon. Starting the second year we recruited a newbie, and then we were four.
We came to an agreement at the start that what happened at crochet or was said there stayed in that room. All of us had personal issues that needed some input by a third party who was basically disinterested but had constructive comments. We also agreed on no judging. Everyone is entitled to his or her opinion and even if one of us disagreed with what a person said we had to do it in a civil way, and we do. I am sure we all talk to ourselves on the way home about what is said, but that is as far as it gets.
We have all benefited from our crochet days. We discuss religion and politics and just about everything else. We have a Baptist, a Catholic and two undecideds. It can get dicey at times but not hostile.
I just finished a wonderful book called the Faith Club. I recommend it to everyone that is at all interested in the differences in religion. I learned a great deal from the book. It reminds me of our crochet group.
The baptist makes just beautiful things. The catholic is dedicated to each project and they come out looking so nice. One of the undecideds is our teacher and there's nothing she can't make. The other undecided does it for therapy I think more than anything but has made some cool stuff. Including an American flag afghan, slippers and a little frog.
Today we were discussing the 24 hours that a person sits Shiva. Since we have no Jew in the group we were at a loss. Well while discussing how the word is pronounced, the tomato, tomaato thing came up which lead to the show tunes.
We still don't know how to pronounce Shiva, but we got to sing.
And that was my one day @ a time. I am going to Google now to find out about Jewish funeral customs.
Stay tuned.

N E S T L E S, Nestle's makes the very best CHOCOLATE.

2009-04-07T20:04:00.000-05:00

Today's topic is chocolate.

I have this insatiable lust for chocolate. Always have and probably always will. As a child my chocolate palate was very limited. Chocolate bunnies and Brach's chocolate stars. On occasion a Hershey bar, Kisses or those little bars that come in a bag. Krackle, Mr. Goodbar, Hershey and the always fun Dark Chocolate. Since I was the only one in the house that liked the dark ones I lucked out because they were always left in the bag for me. My grandpa was a fan of the dark brown confection as well. He would keep a candy dish on the end table next to where he sat on the couch. I was not know for my ability to pace myself when I knew chocolate was in the house. I got really good as a four year old not clinking the glass lid against the side of the candy dish. I could clean out those stars in an afternoon. Well grandpa figured out what was going on pretty quick. So the next Friday trip to town the candy purchased was maple walnut goodies. He loved them, I hated them. A safe bet for the candy dish.

As I got older I my chocolate palate became honed to the tastier brands. I prefer Dove over most anything on the market these days. However at my local Aldis's store I discovered a German made chocolate that is EXCELLENT. Mosier Roth. It comes in milk, dark and caramel.
Oh baby is it good. I know the dark is better for me but I do switch of between dark and milk. One little milk chocolate bare, they come 5 in a package, in hot milk and viola, hot chocolate. Yum.

Now that Easter is almost here I am going to remind you, bite the head off the bunny first. If it is hollow try not to be too disappointed, just carry on. That always ticked be off getting a hollow bunny. What a rip. But hey, better than no bunny at all. Another tip is that Dove makes those little foil wrapped eggs too. The day after Easter the CVS and Walgreen's of the world will have them marked down. Freezing is not beneath me. I have been known to break open a bag of Nestle's chocolate chips when jonesing for the sweet delicate taste of chocolate @ midnight.

So for today that's it. I am going now to have a wee bit of chocolate and relax. If I am up to it tomorrow is my crochet day. I have missed three weeks now. Must get back to stitching.

How big is your fist?

2009-04-06T21:12:00.000-05:00

Wow, I am blogging two days in a row. I am on a roll.

So I have had some medical things going on lately that I just don't like at all. If I write about it here, I will really sound like an "old person", well I am not young but I don't like to think of myself as old yet. For those of you who read this that are under the age of 40 the following is for you information, but not intended to be preachy.

I was born in 1950. You know, a baby boomer. I was raised for the first six years of my life by my wonderful grandparents. Grandma was a wonderful cook, and when I think back her meals were very healthy. She is the reason I like spinach. That being said, she lived through the depression. When it came time to eat, she would fill my plate and expect me to eat everything on my plate. What most adults do not know is that a child's stomach is the size of their (the child's) fist. I remember her saying, "finish what is on your plate". I was full and could not put another bite in my mouth. Now this was WAY before Monty Python made the phrase, "If I eat another bite I'll explode" famous. I would have to stay at the table until one of us gave in. It was usually her.

Well grandma if you can hear me or you read blogs in heaven, here is a news flash for you, I got fat! I clean my plate as well as others. There is very little I don't like to eat. Now I struggle to not eat what is on my plate. My point is, being fat is not good for you, me or anybody. Unfortunately, you gain a little, you slow down and then gain a little more. Then even if you try to exercise you struggle and don't move at all. Then you gain more weight. So for all you kids out there, don't gain weight. First your feet hurt, then your knees, then you start to breathe hard when you walk up stairs. You will likely get back pain from toting around all that fat in front as well. The key tip off in knowing you are too fat is this. Look at your shoes. Is the bow tied to one side or the other? If so, your fat. Why, because you sit down, put your leg up on your knee and tie your shoe which makes it nearly impossible to tie it in the middle of your shoe where it should be. When standing straight up and you look down, can you see your feet? No. Then your fat, or pregnant. If your really not sure take a bath. If you hear the sound of suction and the water level goes down by inches when you get out of the tub, your fat.

Now for point #2. When you get fat, you get sick. Fat does nothing for your health. I am quite aware of this. I get reminded quite often by certain people who shall remain nameless. I am sorry. I am no longer 110 lbs. I have gray hair and wrinkles. But I earned every gray hair, every wrinkle and can I help it I am a good cook? I stopped drinking and smoking and got fat. The only payoff for being fat is that I have grammy wings and a fun butt to run into if you are four.

So to finish off today's rant I will say this. Eat what is good for you. Portion control is key, and get off of your ass for 20 minutes a day. One day at a time.

The dog ate my blog!

2009-04-05T12:20:00.000-05:00

Hello again blogger buddies.
I must say I thought I would be able to keep up with my blogging six months ago, but that did not work out. I get on the net every day and read my email but just don't remember to blog. So I decided to tell you that the dog ate it.
My spouse decided to start a blog and he keeps his going quite well. He is a teacher/overachiever/sometimes not too compassionate good guy. He has plenty to keep writing about in his blog. I must say though a spouse can get an idea of what their other half really thinks about things by reading their blog. It is a shame that the communication between two people who have been married for 38 years boils down to a blog.

The month of March was not good for me. I got some kind of respiratory crud which is never good in me since I have asthma. It just would not go away. When the cough finally did start to go away I got short of breath. No not really short, more like could not get my breath. That is not normal. So I went to the vet. aka doctor. He sends me to the hospital for a CT scan, after which I was admitted to the hospital with blood clots in both lungs.

I was in for four days. Now on anti coagulating drugs to keep from having more clots.
Where is this going you might ask? I read my husband's blog and in it he says, "the missus managed to wind up in the hospital", like I planned it. My idea of a good day is not having blood clots! You would think an educator could think about his wording before printing it.

Okay, enough of that. So to update since my last post; autumn was nice, Christmas was great with the grand kids, Jan.& Feb. were too long, March just plain sucked and now I am recuperating.

Easter is next week. I usually have dinner for friends and family. I am going to pass on that this year. Kind of my own Passover. Someone else can do it since my house is torn up and I can only stand to be on my feet for about an hour at a time. (I managed to plan it that way) Oh yes that is passive aggressive.

Adios for now, and I will do my best to keep blogging, but only one day at a time.

NONE OF THE ABOVE

2008-11-05T18:30:00.000-06:00

Well hello again my friends. I must apologize for being gone for so long.
I am so happy today because the election is over. So now instead of all the campaign adds spewing nastiness about the other parties candidate we can hear the news media blat about all kinds of stuff that they think is important in today's world.

I don't know about you, but during the last two years I have been getting email from "friends" telling me how to vote and what a butt wipe this one is and that one is. Did I know that candidate A uses blue bath tissue and that candidate B does not use tissue at all! Who gives a crap! No pun intended.
I guess these folks that I thought were my friends do not know me well enough or think that I am smart enough to research the people running for office on my own. And what is worse, that I am shallow enough to believe a forwarded email and not check the facts.
What set her off you are probably asking yourself. The first email that I opened today was about the president elect. The top of my head flew off. Not even 24 hours since this guy was elected and already I am getting more crap email. So I proceeded to write an email stating that if I did not ask for anyone's opinion on politics then DON'T FREAKING SEND IT TO ME. I don't want to offend anyone, that is why I did not send them unwanted email regarding any presidential candidate. Come on kids give it a break.
I don't know how anyone can be totally for one party anyway. Talk about tunnel vision. I can, without any problem,find things in both parties that I do not like. I vote for the person I hope will do the best job with what he/she has to work with. Or should I say has been left with by the outgoing party. The problems in this country did not start with one party or the other. It is a collective work of both and just plain greed and the pursuit of ones own happiness when they were elected to serve the people. I have always maintained that when the ballot has a spot to check None Of The Above, then we will have a choice. Think about it. If none of the above gets more votes that either party, then you start over. Instead we tend to choose the lesser of two evils.
In closing I will just say I plan to take the new administration One Day @ A Time.
Will write again soon.

Crop Dusters and Bird Poop

2008-07-29T13:33:00.000-05:00

Slow day in this blogger's world. Eventful but slow. It is hot today. As a woman approaching being old, I get hot just thinking about going outside. So as I was putzing around the house doing a load of laundry I hear this small plane buzzing the house. When I lived closer to the urban world this would have bothered me, especially after 9/11. However, now that I live in the "country" I know what is going on. I am surrounded by fields. Front yard is in beans this year but behind and next to us is all corn. Because of the rain we had this spring the crops got a burst of energy and grew like heck. Now I don't know if that is the reason but you can only get a tractor in a field to spray for so long then its no go. The sound that I heard was a crop duster. It is so cool to watch those flyer's zoom down, spray and swoop right back up again.

Many years ago I read the book Wings by Daniel Steel. It was about a young girl before WWII who lived on a small air field. She wanted to learn to fly in the worst way but parents said no. One of her fathers friends decided to take her out and teach her to fly on the sly. He was a barn stormer as well as crop duster, and anything else he could do in an airplane. So I guess most people who would know what a crop duster is would be older. Either way, it is a good book, and I thought of it when I heard the plane. Again I digress.

Back to my day. My laundry was ready to hang out so heat or no heat I ventured out to the clothesline to hang up my sheets. I heard the plan again and he was close by. I went inside to get my camera to take a photo for you to see a crop duster in action. I get the camera go out back walk across the yard to the ditch. Cross the ditch to the tracks and here he comes. I turn on the camera and what do I get? Batteries depleted. Crap! By now I am sweating like a horse after the Derby. I trek back to the house find some new batteries and put them in the camera. Head back out to the tracks again, now dripping wet with sweat. I see the plane come up over the trees but instead of turning my way to circle back for another spray, he heads back to the air strip from whence he came. Crap! No picture. So I head back to the house to cool off. I get to the clothesline and what do I see? A bird had left a deposit for me on my nice clean pillow case. Just goes to show you, some days your the bird and some days the laundry.

The picture of the tracks is just for the fun of it. I figured since I missed one form of transportation I would take a picture of another.

Have a good day and stay cool.

Keep those kiddies safe!

2008-07-25T10:40:00.000-05:00

Hello Readers,
Boy oh boy it is a beautiful day out there today.

On a couple of previous post I dropped a , more about that later, line. One in particular was about farm safety and children. When I typed this into my search engine it came up with nearly 400,000 hits. There is one site in particular that I would recommend you look at. fs4jk.org
That would be Farm Safety 4 Just Kids. There are plenty out there and I urge you to look them up and see how to keep our kids safe. One article I came across is from Alabama A&M and Auburn Universities www.aces.edu
YOUTH AGRICULTURAL INJURY STATISTICS
The information below was taken from the article.
In the article it states that an estimated 104 children younger than 20 die of agricultural injuries on U.S. Farms and ranches annually. Of male youth, fifty-three percent of the fatalities occur in crop production. Female youth fatalities are primarily in livestock production. Farm machinery (including tractors) is the leading agent of fatality, accounting for thirty-six percent of deaths to youth less than 20 years old. Thirty percent of farm machinery-related deaths are among children less than 5 years old. Drowning is the second leading mechanism of death on farms with children less than 5 years of age, accounting for 32 percent of farm deaths.
There is more to the article but I think you get the picture. On the Farm Safety 4 Just Kids site there is a plethora of information and tools to use to help keep our kids safe. But we have to remember they will only be as safe as we teach them to be. It is not just there jobs to watch out but our only job to keep them safe and out of harms way.
I hope this informs those who read this enough to take that extra step to watch out for our youth. No one wants to see a child hurt or worse.

For now I am taking this day and only this day at this time.

How can I help you?

2008-07-22T11:51:00.000-05:00

Hello friends and family,
My grandson came down on Saturday to visit. He is three and a half now. Really getting to be the fun age. Last week his mom and dad and new little brother and I went to the fair to see papa working as a blacksmith. M.J. has never been to a fair when he was old enough to remember what is was. The knight we were there they had the tractor parade. Keep in mind that this is a small county 4-H fair. He was duly impressed with all of the old tractors. Papa has an Alis Chalmers, 1952 I think, so when M.J. came down Saturday it was on the schedule to take Alis for a ride on Sunday. He was very excited, and of course so was papa. For those of you who may be a little worried by the photo, the tractor was not running and I was close at hand as was papa. More later on farm related injuries to children.
M.J. makes the noises like a tractor and shifts gears and gives orders to fill it up with gas. He is a riot. When he is in his make believe mode he refers to either papa or me as "boy".
Boy, full up the gas as he points to one of us. What a hoot!

So now for my title. May I help you?
Is it only me and my spouse that have noticed that in this service oriented society that the only thing missing is SERVICE! I am only 58. At one time I considered that to be old. Now it is only skimming the edge of old. I was brought up to say please and thank you, respect your elders, (I had issues with that at times) and just use the Golden Rule when dealing with people. You know; Do unto others and you would have them do unto you. So which generation forgot to teach these important things to their offspring? If it was the Boomers,[1946-1964] then shame on us. Bad Boomers.

The event that caused this post was a visit to a large electronics store. Hubby and I are looking for a new computer. I walked in and the sound of some kind of new age music, if you can call it music, was at a decibel that would make Helen Keller wonder what was going on. I found my way to the section where the computers were located, which to my dismay was close to the sound room. To my right was an entire wall of flat screen televisions. All on the same station. There had to be at least a zillion of them. Enough to cause a person become somewhat mesmerized by watching them. I stood in the isle looking at the different computers offered by the store and started to have some questions. A young man at the end of the isle was helping another customer but noticed I looked puzzled. He ask if I needed any help to which I replied, yes. kudos to him. In a few minutes a lovely young, early 20's, woman with lots of hair and bangs came and ask again, do you need some help? I said yes and proceeded to explain to her what I was looking for. In the mean time the music kept getting louder and louder. The computer I was looking at was on sale but they did not have one on display. It comes with the following; monitor, keyboard, tower and printer for a reasonable price. That being said, I would like to see the thing prior to buying it. I ask the young lady through her bangs if I could see one, to which she replied, we don't have one on display. Well if it is on sale then why don't you have one on display damn it. That was my thought but I did not say it. I then said that the music was so loud I was about to have a seizure. She did not even blink. I really don't know if she did or not because I could not see past her bangs. I do know that if someone said that to me I would have to ask if they were in distress or kidding. I then said thank you for your help and left. Enough was enough. I don't believe that I should have to shout at someone to be heard over music while trying to make a substantial purchase in a store. I truly believed I was boring her.

Do you remember the commercial with Clara Peller, "WHERE'S THE BEEF?" Well that is how I feel these days. Where is the service? My husband works hard for his money and I try not to spend it foolishly. I also do not want to spend it at a store that is inconsiderate to its customers. I also know that fast food drive up windows should not be considered in this equation. But come on, why do I have to ask for a napkin when you don't know enough to wipe off the drink after you spilled the contents of all over the outside of the glass. Have a nice day my foot. Perhaps I should ask, do you have the time to wipe the glass off so I do not get soda on my blouse? I believe that is what is expected of anyone under the age of 28.

In the Chicago Tribune Business section on Monday 7/21/08 there is a great article. Closing the gaps between the ages: by Ann Meyer. I recommend looking it up and reading if you can relate to what I have said. In the article it talks about how the different age groups relate to what is said. If a person was to say, I need to get this job done, a Boomer would know that you meant now. An Exer sees it as an observation not a command, an may not do it immediately. The article also observes that Gen Yers [1981 - 2000] do not even like rules and become offended when given a deadline. They seem to prefer to be ask when they think they might be able to get the job done.
I for one think that classifies as, dumbing down. Someone in the press just got in trouble for saying that Americans are a bunch of whiners. So much for free speech. Well if they are not now they soon will be with this kind notion about work habits. I would love to put a link to this article but I have not figured that out yet. I really do encourage you to look it up.

Well I do not write often but I do write much.

Take it One Day at a Time.

L.P. is how much?

2008-07-14T22:02:00.000-05:00

Greetings,

Today is Monday and it is wash day. You know, like in laundry. When it is nice out I hang my clothes on the clothesline or I have my spouse do it if the rotator cuff is acting up.

We use L.P. gas to heat our house, water, dryer and cook. For those of you who have a municipal utility that you get your gas from probably do not know about L.P. You may have a gas grill with a small white canister that you have filled now and then at your local Mega Mart. If you have ever watched King of the Hill then you know what L.P. is. Good old boy Hank Hill sells propane for Strickland Propane in the make believe town of Arlan TX. I digress.

We live in the country and have a driveway, we call it a lane, that is close to a quarter mile long. To pay the local utility to run the gas line up here would cost a bunch. So far we have continued to use L.P. like the people before us did. I don't really trust the gas utility company. We called once about a gas leak at the corner pumping station and they put us on hold, for 45 minutes. This half of the county could have blown up while I am listening to bad elevator music on hold.

Unlike the backyard grill our propane tank holds 500 gallons of L.P. You can purchase it by the gallon on a monthly basis at the going rate per gallon. Like regular gasoline. And like regular gas the price fluctuates. When we moved here 12 years ago we paid .699 cents a gallon. At that time we did not know about Pre-Buy.
That is a system which your gas company, AKA Co-Op sells you X amount of L.P., you decide and tell them, at a fixed price. You have to decide how much you might use in the space of six months. Basically from October to March. It is kind of like futures in the stock market. I have gotten pretty good at knowing how much gas we will use in that time.

This year I got my letter/contract from the Co-Op and the price for L.P. this year is, $2.389 per gallon and I ordered 975 gallons. You do the math. This is where the scream comes in. We do get a discount of .039 cent per gallon because we own our own tank, but still. Imagine paying your whole years worth of gas utility at one time. And I didn't even get kissed!

When wash day comes around I hang my clothes outside on the line and let the sun dry them, no charge. I do not have a problem getting them hung out, my problem is getting them back in. When I remember the clothes, it is night and I hate mosquitoes. I just leave them out until the next day. Hey unless you have some kind of pantie stealing pervert in your neighborhood it really is not a big deal. I will say though the first time I see a big dear crossing the yard with a pair of my panties on it's head I will change my laundry hanging habits, or perhaps bite the bullet and put the undies in the dryer.

Tomorrow I will continue my laundry story. Old school vs. young laundry doers, and do you know what a wringer washer is or Fells Naphtha soap?

This one day has taken a long time and tomorrow is another day.

Later.

Falling Barn not Fair

2008-07-12T16:14:00.000-05:00

I hope this day has been as good to you as it has been to me.

I baked my cake last night for today's Fair. Well I did not like how it turned out. I tried a new frosting recipe and had to beat it a long time. This created a less than smooth finish on the cake. It was also about 85° in my kitchen and when a person is trying to layer three cakes it is tough without putting in a toothpick or two to stabilize the layers. Since my plan was to enter this in the Fair I did not want to take the risk of skewering a judge in the palate with a toothpick. Not to mention they frown on that kind of thing and the cake probably would not have placed anyway. So I continued without the toothpicks and when finished the cake looked like the Leaning Tower Of Pisa. The average person probably would not have noticed but I did and that made two things wrong. It was wrapped and put in the refrigerator over night. I had decided not to take it to the Fair.

My husband and son were going into our old barn today to take a staircase out before demolition. The son called last night and said he could not make it because he was sick. This morning about 9:00 a.m. my husband announced that he was going to pick up a photo he had framed since he was not working in the barn. Upon returning he came in the house and said, "The barn fell down". I had not heard a thing because I was still in the back of the house in the bedroom with a window air conditioner running. When I went to look I could not believe it. It fell down alright. Our dog Gracie who lives in the barn was not hurt because she was outside in her run. I have not found our Mame gray cat yet though. This could make me very sad.

Now comes the "IF" part of my story. If my son had not been sick, he and his dad would have been in said barn when it fell. If I had entered my cake in the Fair, I would have been gone when it fell. I spend the whole day at the fair so it would have been about 9:00 p.m. when I got home. If they had been hurt and they surely would have been, they would have laid there all day.

This is where I say thanks be to God for his blessings today. I still have a husband and son. His sons have a dad and papa. I will be on my knees again tonight thanking Him again.

One memorable day at a time. And the cake tastes great!

Pie oh my!

2008-07-09T10:47:00.000-05:00

Good morning folks,

Well I have only written two blogs so far and I have already fallen behind. I think that the weekends should be considered a free zone, as in blog if you want to, so be it.

The picture to the right is the pie I made. Not one of my prettier ones but a pie none the less. Anyone who has ever made a berry pie knows they puke. This one looks like it should be in a pie slasher movie. My husband says it is a great pie. As I said before, I do not eat mulberries so I would not know. I have him trained when it comes to critiquing my pies. You can lie about weather or not my butt looks big in a certain outfit, or if you like my hair cut or not, but do not I repeat do not lie about my pie. If it is icky I need to know. He will tell me if it needs something or has too much of something in it. This one he claims was great. Good man.

Our county fair is coming up soon. I usually enter a pie or cake. I have won blue ribbons with my pies but my cake won best in its division. It was a great cake. Chocolate Mocha Turtle Cake. This year I am going to enter a grape pie. You have to make grape pies when grapes are in season. That season is Fall. Since the fair is in July I had to figure out how the heck to do this, so I made the filling and froze it. If it does not turn out the way I want it to my poor husband will just have to eat another pie and I will enter a cake. If you have never tasted a grape pie you don't know what you are missing. If you like grape jelly, concord grape that is, you will love this pie. It is a pain to make but worth the time and effort.

Today is my crochet therapy day. I have always wanted to learn to crochet. My grandma tried her best to teach me but to no avail. I was very young and a tomboy. I wanted to be outside climbing a tree or exploring in the acre of tall horse weeds next to their property. Crochet was a girlie thing that I wanted no part of. She tried to teach me to do thread crochet. Not going to happen. I still have trouble with that, but give me yarn and I am off.

The local library offered crochet lessons in March of 2006 so I signed up. There were about five of us including the teacher. It ended up with the teacher, M, another middle aged lady, C and me.
We had so much fun just the three of us that we continued to meet at the library on Wednesday afternoons ever since.

Our meetings became more than just crochet. Each of us had heavy burdens on our hearts that needed someone to listen to. Someone that was not going to judge or condescend to or repeat outside of the four walls we crochet in. We have helped each other heal and grow and laugh. We are a good group and better human beings because of crochet. It is the kind of thing that even if you are tired or it is hot and you don't feel like going you go anyway because you know that when you get there you are going to have a good time and come home feeling better about everything.

It is now time to get ready to go to The Gathering, that is what we call our little group.
Have a good day and try and eat some good pie.

The Joy of Cooking

2008-07-05T14:18:00.000-05:00

Greetings,
Well here is day two of the old blog.
To recap, I made the pie and a most delightful dinner as well. Steak on the grill, baked potatoes, grilled sweet onions and creamed corn and of course mulberry pie. I must admit that I am a fairly decent cook. I like baking more than general meal prep. I can make darn near anything. I have been cooking since I was old enough to hold a rolling pin. My grandma would make pie dough and give me some scraps to roll out on my own. After rolling the dough out I would cut little circles about the size of a half dollar, butter them and sprinkle cinnamon sugar on top and bake. I thought that was just the best thing in the whole world.

I was always with my grandma and watched her do everything. I learned the technique of making noodles and canning and making applesauce and so on. Cooking just seemed like a normal thing to me. I was in 4-H and home economics in high school. I also had an aunt that was a great cook. My mom, not so much. Well I was doing o.k. with my culinary tasks and then I met a wonderful young woman who turned me on to the Joy of Cooking cookbook. She is diabetic and has been since the age of about three. She explained to me that being a diabetic means that you really need to know what you are eating and the only way to really know is to make it yourself from scratch. So my cooking door was opened to real scratch cooking. Yes I did watch my grandma cook from scratch but I got married in the 70's and pre-cooked foods and short cuts were the way to go then. So once I started cooking from scratch my whole world opened up.

Even though I was a fair cook the two things that I just could not get right were fried chicken and steak. Grandma made fried chicken and it was darn good but after getting popped in the eye with hot fat one Sunday I no longer watched that process. My grandparents were frugal people so I do not recall ever having steak while living with them, or later with my mom.

Fast forward to the double nauts; that is a Jethro Beaudeen term from the Beverly Hillbilly's in case you wondered, meaning 00 as in 2000. Thank God for the food network: Good Eats, Paula Dean, Emeril, Bobby Flay and so on. I have learn so much from watching those shows and reading cookbooks. I have a few, more on that later. I tended to over cook steaks because I like them well done. Not everyone does however and if you want to be able to chew your steak there is a simple process to cook them so that they do not resemble or taste like shoe leather.

So now back to yesterdays evening meal. I marinated my two New York strip steaks for about two hours. I used garlic wine vinegar, diced garlic, soy sauce, Worcestershire sauce, Mrs. Dash and lemon juice. Put all of that with the meat in a zip lock and stuck it in the fridge. I think it took me the two hours to clean the grill. After the two hours I had the spouse turn on the grill to medium and when it was hot enough to brand a calf, I slapped the steaks on and closed the lid and turned the heat to low. The meat was about 3/8 inch thick so seven minutes on one side and flip. Seven minutes on the other and we had steak. It was the best I had ever made. Even the spouse said so. Of course he was in hog heaven because of the mulberry pie I had made for dessert. It turned out very good he said. I don't eat mulberries so I don't know. I just tasted the crust to see if it was flaky. It was.

About 9:30 we drove out behind the big silver barn and watched the 15 minutes of marvelous fireworks. Then it was watch the Cubbies win and off to see the sandman. How boring is that?

Today has been catching up on little things and computing. I do have domestic things to get done so off I go. I am working on the pie photo.

Always, one day at a time.

2008-07-04T12:32:00.000-05:00

Well hello to whoever might read this.
I had a blog once and did nothing with it. I gave it to my spouse. He is blogging his butt off. So I decided to try again and what a better day than Independence day. I will give you his blog address when I figure out how to do so. For the guys, it is a splendid blog.

Writing a blog is not as easy as one might think. You have to come up with a name and all kinds of stuff. Thinking up a name that will convey what you plan to discuss on a blog is not all that easy. I kind of went generic. That being said, I know what one day at a time means to a lot of folks out there. I too try and live one day at a time. For the rest of the world who rides the wave of life on a breeze, good for you if it works, carry on.

So what will this day be for me? In years past I have gone to picnics and parades. And even though I am not what I would consider old I have heard all of the fire engines and police cars screaming along than I need to ever hear again. I am at the age that if I hear a siren I check my own pulse. And let's face it, those Shriner's are not getting any younger. The thought of a 70 something year old tooling around in figure eights on an 800 lb. motorcycle does not make for a stress free day for me. God bless them for what they do, but not on a bike. As for politicians shaking hands, GO AWAY ! Another thing, who thinks up the theme for these parades? Just leave it up to the theme of the day, Independence Day.

Today is beautiful here in the mid west for July. It is in the low 70's and breezy. Just lovely. Since it is cool I have decided to make the sacrifice and clean my grill and cook something yummy on it for our dinner. Ribs or steak? I will have to ponder that. My spouse picked mulberries yesterday and I made pie crust last night so I will be making a mulberry pie when I am done blogging and cleaning the grill. If the pie turns out worth a hoot I will try and post a picture of my work.

A local church not far from our "Green Acres", has fireworks on the 4th. We drive our truck out behind the steel shed and watch them. If the mosquitoes are not running a sortie this evening, we might be able to just take the lawn chairs out.

Our son and his family live near us. I was going to go visit them today but they just moved into a new house and and have a new baby plus a three year old. I am sure they have plans today and I do not want to intrude. That might change. More on the grandkids later.

Well for my first post, I think this is about it. I have mulberries waiting and a dirty grill. I hope everyone has a wonderful Independence day and a safe one. Remember to wear eye protection and have a bucket of water for those sparklers. It's a mom thing.

Remember, take it One Day @ A Time.