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Playtime!

10 Mar

The Biased Beginning

I’ve been playing this evening! I have enjoyed myself working on my daughter’s apron. I cut out several strips of the polka dotted material and sewed them together to make 126+ inches I will be ironing into bias tape for trim around said apron.

Wrong Way!

I only made one easily correctable mistake putting the sections together. Other than that I enjoyed the math project of figuring it all out. I have a knack for conversions apparently. That was nice to find out. I enjoyed the fact too that the material was cut at an angle to produce the bias. Once the tape is sewn on the bib and skirt of the apron it won’t have any pull or give. If you don’t cut it at an angle, you can pull your item out of shape once it’s done. It was nice to work on it. In the Right Way! picture I am pointing at the seam you can’t really see. This is the right place to put the seam for bias tape, the angle opens up and keeps the ‘ribbon’ running in a straight line.

Right Way!

I also sewed a button on a jumper for one of the girls. I only have a couple of repair jobs waiting on me now. I like that too.

Other than that the day has been pretty good. It started out that way anyway. I was working on clearing up my to do list at work too. Only I was creating a problem for myself. Every time I opened an item to work on it, another item was created, identical to the first one except for the date. I’m not sure why this happened today. My boss didn’t understand what I was asking him and showed me how to do stuff I already knew. I have used this system before and it has never created a new work item when I visit an old one. Basically I was creating a double workload for myself. Fun right? I stopped working on the list and then spent the next hour getting rid of the duplicates. Hopefully this doesn’t happen next time, but if it does I’ll call tech support. I have enough to do without creating needless activity for myself.

I loved being home by myself this evening. It has been great. The beginning of this greatness is that I found a Sonic on my way home. Yes, I got excited over a Sonic. I don’t know why, but I LOVE their food and slushes. I had my supper ordered and eaten and was home around 6 PM. It was so-o-o-o-o-o good too! I had a grilled chicken wrap with onion rings and a strawberry slush. Yum! Now don’t go hatin’ on me, I said it was good. I did not say it was healthy. But I was H-A-P-P-Y! Still am.

Got home, started laundry and took a bath. Ahhhhhh! I love a bath too! This evening the girls were gone to Girl Scouts…(btw, it’s cookie time! Go buy some already!) and while I enjoy being home with them, today was nice to be home alone. Stuff just clicked and I was able to get all this done! It was great! And now I am sitting here telling you about it, so I am even getting a blog done.

Have any of you ever watched a show called Gilmore Girls? It is not a current show, but there are 7 seasons of DVD’s to be seen. It was a quirky little show that I feel in love with. I also bought the cd from the show, Our Little Corner of the World, at some point and I’ve been listening to it tonight while I work, along with a cd of music inspired by Narnia, The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe. I enjoy tunes while I work on projects or just around the house. I have even been known to have it going while I am reading. How about you? Do you like to listen to music? Do you have specific types for certain things? Rock and Roll to clean to, jazz for reading? I’m pretty eclectic with my music. If I like it I like it, but I can’t always tell you why. I do like music with dark humor in it sometimes too. There is a song that is sad kinda, I guess, but it’s just entertaining to me. It’s called Child Psychology and is on the Gilmore Girls cd as well as a single. My daughter does not like it, and always worries about me thinking it’s funny, lol…”Life is unfair, kill yourself or get over it,” is one of the chorus lines. Yeah, not that funny in itself, just click on it and watch the YouTube link. Maybe you”ll find it humorous too. If not, I don’t mind.

Well, I need to go fold laundry now. You know how it is. Once you wash and dry it you have to do something with the stuff! Hope you are having as good of an evening as I am. The girls made it home safe, yay! Even though I can enjoy my time to myself, I am ALWAYS happy when we are home together, safe and sound. The second best part of that is they brought cookies home with them. Hope you are safe and sound with your loved ones tonight too! Goodnight! Angela

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Posted in Family, sewing

Never Trust A Skinny Chef…

07 Mar

Full Contact Cooking Apron

…or a fat doctor I’m told. Here are a few pictures of the apron in progress. Everything is cut out except the strips to make bias tape. It’s from the book “Seams To Me” I showed you in yesterday’s post. The apron is called “Full Contact Cooking Apron.” Cute name. There are several cute names for projects in the book such as Basket Case, Here’s the Dish Towel, and Magnetic Personality. It has lots of helpful sewing instructions and explanations. I haven’t made bias tape in a long time and the instructions are in the book which is very helpful. The instruction title for this: Maybe I’m Bias. Again, cute name. Now, let me show you what I’ve been doing….

First Cut

This is the first piece to be cut! I started with my rotary cutter but found out quickly this piece needed pinking shears! It was raveling like crazy with strings galore. For those of you who have not used pinking shears before they are special scissors that have a zig zag edge that keep the fabric from raveling most of the time when you cut with them. They were brand new (Christmas prezzie from Boyfriend!) so it really made some sore spots on my fingers at first – ouchie! But after several cuts they were working smoothly. If you want to see the pair I used click on this: Fiskars. That’s the name brand.

Polka Dots

This Polka Dot is the material I am using for the waistband, neck strap and bias tape. The bias strip for the tape will need to be 3 1/2 yards long for the entire project. There are pattern pieces for most of the apron, the rest the author gives you the dimensions to cut things out. The bib of the apron is a rectangle cut to fit the individual, the neck strap is also a measured thing she suggests you wait to cut out after you have put the other pieces together to get a more custom fit. This would be step 41. Of 44. It has more steps than I remember from the first look at this project. Oh well. It isn’t going to take me as long as the quilt to finish it (I hope!), but it was a little daunting reading through it all last night. But today I am very confident in what I am attempting here.

All Laid Out

This gives you a rough idea of how it will all come together. The pocket and ties are made from a striped piece of material. I really liked cutting these pieces. No raveling, smooth cut. I was able to use my rotary cutter and self healing mat with those pieces. That is the quickest way to cut anything! That is how I cut all of my quilt pieces out last time. The bias tape will surround the bottom and top of the apron too with the Polka Dots. My daughter likes the black and white, and now I do too!

Now my daughter is a skinny chef, but I’ve tasted many of her recipes. She is one skinny chef I can trust! She makes the best banana pudding, and I don’t even like banana pudding….yummy! Her Alfredo is also fantastic! You ought to try it sometime . Maybe if I get this apron finished I can ask for some of both…wouldn’t that be nice? Hope you find something good to eat this week too. Let me know what you think. Later! Angela

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Posted in Family, sewing

March 6th…..

06 Mar

My Beautiful Mom

This is my mother’s birthday. She died over 20 years ago, she was only 54. If she was still here she would be 77. I really miss her sometimes. It was bad the first 3 years after she died, but is only occasionally hard now. We had a very interesting relationship. We actually fought a lot over things. But I knew she loved me even when we were having a throw down…:). She didn’t get to see my kids grow up, but she knew my 3 kids before she died.

The last year or so of her life was spent taking treatments to fight cancer. It was an awful year in many ways, the chemo made her very sick. But it was a wonderful year too in that she and I resolved all our relationship issues. I was also having several health problems, so the plan we decided on had me helping her and dad get through her treatments and recovery, then when I had to have surgery the next year she would take care of me while I recovered. That was the plan. Unfortunately that’s not how things worked out and on February 7th that year we had to say goodbye to her. It was a long year after that. I remember watching the trees turn green and leaves start to come out on them and wondering what in the world was wrong with the trees? Just because nature wanted time to move on didn’t mean I did. But it ignored me and turned from winter to spring, from spring to summer, and so on and so forth until we get to this day.

I had a great mom. She was a very loving and dedicated person. She drove the school bus when we were kids, and she was really good with the kids on the bus. She drove the bus for church, and again was very good with those kids too. At her funeral several adults shared their stories of mom being the reason they chose to be in ministry, or how she was the inspiration for the paths they chose for their life. I’m glad they were there to share. It made the day mean more to me, and is nice to remember all these wonderful things about my mom.

Mom was a seamstress. She could sew long perfectly straight seams. She made clothes for many people. She started quilting a few years before she got sick, but didn’t really ever finish any of them. I do have a couple of things she made for me or my girls. I’m glad I do. I can’t sew like she could, but that’s ok. I sew like I do. That’s the best thing for me.

I have a wonderful dad who is still here. We have dinner at my house every so often. My daughter cooks, because she is the better cook by far. We will sit and laugh watching my grandchildren, his great grandchildren. They climb all over him and talk and play. We have a great time when we are together. I’m glad I’ve still got my dad.

How about you? Did you have a great relationship with your parents? I honestly didn’t think me and mom had a great one until I thought about her not being here. We figured out a lot of things in that last year, so I am very thankful we had that time together. We had a lot of fun too. I hope you have had some fun times with your family recently. If not I would highly encourage you to plan something soon. Take advantage of what you still have.

Seams To Me

On another note, I will finally be starting to make that long awaited apron today. I have to cut out the material later and see if I can follow the directions for it. The book is very detailed, and this is the first project I am making from it. Hopefully it will all go well.

I am using black and white fabrics because that is what my daughter wanted. I think it’s going to look very tailored when it’s finished. I will show you how I do it as well. I also have the material to finish my lap quilt and start the new quilt I will be sewing, so pictures are soon to follow. It should be a great sewing month. The materials are shown below.

Life in Black and White

I will be using the same sampler idea for the new quilt that I used with my lap quilt. It will be a lot larger though, a king quilt is what has been ordered. I was already planning a queen size one, so I have adjusted the idea a little to accommodate the king size. I’m sure the quilting will be tricky, but I will figure that part out when I get there.

So, hope you enjoyed getting to know my mom a little. I’m glad I like to sew. It helps me feel connected to her still. You all have a great day, and I’ll talk to you soon! Angela

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Posted in Family, gratitude, memories, Mom, sewing

Where’s Your Oxygen Mask?

19 Jan

I saw a question on a blog recently that really made me stop and think. Do I treat myself like I am in a relationship with myself? Hmmmm…..What does that mean exactly? Well, I thought about relationships I am already in. Do I take good care of my friends and family, do I show Boyfriend how I care about him? Yes, according to what I observe and what my friends and family say, yes I am good to them and take care of them in many different ways. So, I know how to be in relationship, and have some skills at it. Now the question is: do I apply those same skills to myself? Again, I say “Hmmmmmm…..”

I think my answer is gonna have to be “No!” I don’t. I am always better to others than I am to myself. I have even been known to place myself in dangerous situations in the name of being good to others or helping others that I would never encourage my friends or family to be in just to ‘take care’ of someone else. I tell myself that I am being a nice caring person when in reality what I’m really doing is telling that person they have more value than me and I am willing to devalue myself in order to help them or be with them. So I will take the chance of harming myself to make sure they are happy. What I am doing is setting myself up to be taken advantage of.

By harm I don’t necessarily mean physical harm. I’m talking more about emotional harm here, but that can also open a door to neglect of self that brings the risk of physical harm. Say you are recovering from sickness or surgery, and can’t handle taking care of a loved one, yet you push yourself to do it because they are important too, and they need help. Then you realize you are having problems healing, you’re still too tired, or there are other complications for you physically. You were saying the other person had more value than you, their well being was more important than yours. Let me give you a word picture to show you what a bad idea that is.

I am on a jet plane, high altitude, flying across country with my children. Suddenly, the plane bucks and drops and the oxygen masks pop out over our heads. I reach over and start placing the mask on one of my children, trying to make sure my precious one is not injured from lack of oxygen. But….I can’t breathe! I start blacking out before I can put their mask on. I become unconscious and cannot help my child. My mistake was taking care of someone else before I took care of myself. Put your oxygen mask on first BEFORE you try to help someone else.

This next part is very simple. Love your neighbor as you love yourself. In other words, learn how to love yourself correctly to know how to love others correctly. Thinking more of others at the expense of yourself is wrong. It doesn’t prove you are a nice person, it doesn’t mean you are a good person, we are letting the world run over us and wondering why we are hurting so much. Being run over is painful. It leaves marks, and some marks leave scars.

So, even though very often we don’t want to be held accountable for our actions we need to learn to love ourselves better. Love ourselves without selfishness, because love is not about that. Love is: ⁴ … patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. ⁵ It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. ⁶ Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. ⁷ It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. (I Corinthians 13: 4-7, yes that’s in the Bible. Something good about love.)

Do you love yourself this way? I am learning these lessons, and reminding myself that I am lovable, I am worth taking care of, and I have value too. Just like you. Hope you find this helpful on this journey of life. Let me know how you rate in your relationship with yourself. Talk to you soon! Angela

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Posted in Family, Friendship, overcoming, recovery

December…

06 Jan

Apparently, December was not the month for me to blog. My daughter’s recovery from surgery lasted 6 weeks instead of the 7-10 days the doctor told her to prepare for. We got through it, and she was finally released from the doctor’s care on December 30. It was an interesting month, plus as you are all familiar with we had the usual holiday preparations and activities. Whew! I am really glad it’s over! I do have a few favorite cookie recipes I will be sharing soon, and as in November we had another successful Turkey roast for Christmas day as well.

December Sunset

December was actually a lot of fun. My friend had a wonderful open house early on for the holidays, and it was absolutely fabulous! She and her husband have had this event for several years, and we ended the night by playing games for hours. Had a beautiful snow on Christmas day, which was a real surprise. We haven’t had a white Christmas in these parts since 1963. Got to spend lots of time with my family. One daughter and family live close enough to be with us on Christmas Day. Grandkids and presents and food, what a great combination! My son and my dad were snowed in, but I go to see them on New Year’s day. Another day of Grands and food and fun, oh my! New Year’s eve is also my birthday, and we had a blast with some close friends for that too. So there was a lot going on and we did get to enjoy a lot of December.

I also spent a good deal of time contemplating some things. I lost a friend last year right before the holidays, and since she had been in my life for more than 20 years I was thinking about her some this year. I have a wonderful friend that is in France for 1 or 2 years with her husband’s job. We use to talk every day or two, but now I leave her a message or she leaves me one, and we’ve only been able to talk twice in about 3 months. She and I touch base on Facebook and it’s nice to share their adventures that way, but I do miss talking with her. I am very happy and blessed with my friends here too, but seems we are all going through ‘stuff!’ right now. Sometimes it’s just hard to talk. I guess that’s why I didn’t blog more. It’s written talk, and I just didn’t have it in me to talk much lately.

I still have a quilt to finish, and will post pictures when I have that done too. It’s a brand new year and I’ve got lots of great plans for it! Hope you had a wonderful Holiday Season with your friends and loved ones. I also hope and pray for you to have the best year of your life in 2011! Talk to you soon, Angela

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Posted in Family, Friendship, Ponderings

My Thanksgiving….

25 Nov

This is a pictorial review of my Thanksgiving, beginning with the Turkey I roasted myself! This is the first Thanksgiving in a few years that my family and I have been able to be together, and I am very excited! I knew I was happy about it, but didn’t realize until today how excited I was!!!!! Yay! For those of you that may not know, I AM NOT a cook. So, with that statement hopefully you can understand my bird excitement! It was really easy to do too. I defrosted it in the fridge since Monday, and then took it out this morning and took out the giblets (yes, I did remember that ) and stuck him in a 350 degree oven for about 4 hours. I started checking him at 3 hours, but it took a full 4 for him to look like this. I started out with him in this little disposable roasting pan, and stuffed an onion inside for flavor and rubbed a little butter and salt on the outside. Then I covered the pan with tinfoil for the first 3 hours and took the foil off for the last hour. I hope it tastes as good as it looks! We will find out at 4 PM.

I also watched the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade, for the maybe 44th time in my life. Thanksgiving is not Thanksgiving without me watching that parade! Here are a few of my favorites for you to enjoy too….

First, my favorite of favorites!

Second, their turkey. I think mine is better Alton Brown from Food Network was the pilgrim on top….

Third, another favorite, Kermie!

Next, Hello Kitty! Another big fav in my house.

The last few are:

Yep, Horton hears a Who with his little Who clover, the Pillsbury Dough Boy and The Smurfs.

Santa of course ended the parade, but sadly I wasn’t able to take a pic of him in time. But I’m sure he’ll show up again, probably about December 25th.

The last picture I have to share is of the pecan pie Daughter number one made for us. I can’t wait to take a bite…yum! She’s an old pro at them, she has made 3 or 4 now….I’m so excited! My Daddy is coming too….we are going to have a wonderful meal!

So, as I depart to put the finishing touches on this fabulous family gathering, I will share with you one of my favorite ditties:

May your stuffing be tasty, may your turkey be plump, may your potatoes and gravy have nary a lump. May your yams be delicious and your pies take the prize, and may your THANKSGIVING dinner stay off your thighs!

Happy Thanksgiving everyone! Let me know how much you are enjoying your day as well! Angela

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Posted in Family, memories

Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow

12 Nov

Yesterday was Veteran’s Day. I always remember Memorial Day, but somehow forget Veteran’s Day. My Grandfather served in World War 1. One of his battles was in the Black Forest in Germany. He loved to tell us stories about some of the places he traveled, but would never talk about anything that happened during the war to me. I know he was in Germany and Italy, probably France too but I don’t remember specifically. I loved my Grandpa. He passed away when I was 12. I have a tiny little picture of him in his Army uniform somewhere. Sorry I can’t share it now, I will be glad to when I find it. My dad also served in the Air Force, but not during any wars. Thanks for protecting us, both of you. That’s kinda what dad’s are suppose to do, and you both did it well. I’m proud of you both and love you lots! John Wayne said: “Tomorrow hopes we have learned something from yesterday.” I’m sure every veteran we have ever had hopes this too, that wars would not be the means we had to use in this world, but I’m thankful for those brave enough to put themselves in harms way to protect us and our freedom. I’m not an advocate of war, and I hate some of the things that come from it, but I will never forget the sacrifices that my Grandpa suffered to protect us with his service. There are many service men and women who are sacrificing for us still today. When you see them, thank them for their service. The least they deserve is our thanks.

Today is Friday. It is a strange and wonderful month for me, all at the same time. The month of Thanksgiving with all the food and trimmings a small army could eat! We’ll be celebrating at my house this year because Daughter Number 2 will be recovering from surgery, and I get to have them home with me. I’m looking forward to it! Turkey with stuffing, dressing for my Daddy, twice baked potatoes for Daughter Number 1, other fixin’s to go with those and cheese cake by Daughter Number 2 for dessert. Yum!

Several other things have also happened during this month as well. This is the month of my marriage, and the month of the beginning of my separation. It seemed so strange that first year to have separated from my husband the same month we had promised forever to each other. The first year was horrible, somehow I got through it and got to the new year and new spring and summer. Now we are a few years past it all and I”m glad things have turned out the way they have, really very grateful. I enjoy my life now and wouldn’t have it any other way. I am also glad my marriage produced my wonderful children and grandchildren, can’t imagine life without any of them! Speaking of children, that brings us to….

Ole! Happy Birthday Daughter...

Tomorrow. It is my baby’s birthday. My BABY is gonna be 25! Just doesn’t seem possible for her to be that old, then again my oldest child is my son and he is 30. Time flies people! Time flies and things change, and you really have to learn to enjoy where you’re at and drink in every moment you can. So tomorrow we will celebrate my daughter’s birth, going out to dinner and see if we can get someone to sing Happy Birthday to her like last year. That’s what the pic is from, the Mexican restaurant we took her and the family to. She declared it lots of fun even with the hat on . Good sport she was! We’ll have cake and presents, and maybe even watch a movie after if she wants to. It is also the month of several of my friends birthdays so it is a month of celebration. Happy Birthday to all and to all a good night! Ole!

Do you have any thing to celebrate other than Thanksgiving this month? I think I have at least one reader who is one of the friends with a birthday this month, right? Hope you have a happy everything everyone! Angela

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Posted in Family, Friendship, memories

My Friend Kathy

30 Oct

My Friend Kathy

Friendships are wonderful things. They bring us moments of great joy, incredible fun, lots of love and laughter. Friends bring color to our lives. Without them our lives would not be as bright and shiny. All the greeting card sentiments that say things like, “Friends are the flowers of our lives,” about the hugs and kisses, knowing each other so well, even where the bodies are buried.

Hope you all have friends like these. I know I am blessed because I do.

And I love meeting new people. You never know when you are meeting your next best friend. But then again you never know when you are meeting your worst frenemy either .

Good friends are great. Old friends are wonderful. They know your history, and love you anyway. They share common challenges and triumphs. Ups and downs and ins and outs. You go through a lot together when you have been friends for a while. This post is about one of my oldest and dearest friends, whom I lost last year.

We had known each other for 20 years. 2 decades of STUFF! Knew lots of things about each other, some we liked and some we just put up with, because we loved each other.

I didn’t realize how often we talked until she was gone. We didn’t start out talking every day. But over the last few years we had the habit of calling each other every day. Whether it was checking in or catching up, just seeing what the other one was doing or if she was ok, we touched base a lot.

Her name was Kathy. She was only 53 when she passed away, and it was a shock to everyone. I remember when my friend Tina called to tell me Kathy had died. And I started yelling at her. “No she’s not dead! She couldn’t be! I just talked to her last night. She’s sick. She has the flu. She’s going to see the doctor Monday!” I’m yelling at Tina, and she was on the other end sobbing. I felt like a big hole had just opened up under my feet and I was going to fall in. It was Saturday. I wasn’t even dressed to go out yet.

So I threw on my clothes, had to break the news to my family, and check on Kathy and her family. Everybody felt guilty about her dying. Why hadn’t we made her go to the doctor sooner? Why hadn’t we been able to tell how sick she was? Her daughter-in-law was heartbroken and very upset that morning, blaming herself immediately for not knowing. How could she not have known how sick Kathy was, she asked me when I got there. Kathy had downplayed it to her, to all of us. She was fine. She would go to the doctor on Monday. Did I say she was 53? Only 53.

Kathy was a very passionate person. She loved her family. She loved her friends. She loved her church. She was also very strong minded, and had a definite set of rules she wanted everybody to live by. But she loved you even though you couldn’t live by her rules. She never stopped loving you.

Kathy In Pink

She and I had fights quite regularly. Over her health issues, our money problems, job issues, friend issues, ex-husband issues. But we were friends, maybe more like sisters or likes sisters are supposed to be. We fought and we loved. Made up when we needed to, laughed about it when it wasn’t that big a deal. We learned to trust each other. We learn to live together even though we lived apart.

I didn’t realize how often I called her until the week after she died. I sent her 2 e-mails, 5 text messages, and called her 7 times. Each time not remembering until after the fact that she couldn’t answer my e-mail, read my text, or get my voice mail anymore. That was when I realized how often we talked and how often I stayed in touch with her. We’d go to Cherokee together. We looked at Christmas lights together,went to the movies, had dinner. Worried about our kids together. Then our grandkids. Shared frustrations and hopes and happiness and fears. Sometimes all in the same conversation.

Gosh she was fiesty. Sometimes I couldn’t take her being so upset about certain issues. And she would get frustrated about me talking down to her. I didn’t realize I was. She was a fun person. She knew how to have a good time, and laugh and enjoy herself and a good joke or funny story. Planned some great trips. My favorite was a trip she and I took to Charleston one year. We both loved the beach. There was a womens conference we went to. Afterwards we spent the last day at the beach acting like kids again.

She was such a big part of my life and I don’t think she understood it. She felt very threatened by a new relationship that had started for me and it took us a few weeks for she and I to figure it out. I didn’t understand her fears at first. But one night after a heated debate we were able to work it all out and she had realized her fears so far were unjustified. And we did our regular scheduled thing of taking a friend out to dinner and a movie just a couple days later. She told me she was sorry for being insecure about my boyfriend and I told her I was sorry for talking down to her. I hadn’t meant to.

The next week I got the flu. Got over that. The following week I went on vacation. So she and I were talking on the phone but did not getting to see each other during this time. When I got back from vacation, we were suppose to go to dinner. Kathy got sick, and we postponed going out to the week after. Unfortunately there wasn’t a week after for Kathy. She died that weekend. Now I miss my friend.

I am sure her children miss their mother and other friends miss her as well. I have other wonderful friends,and they try to help me deal with my grief too. I’m sure the anniversary of her death is what is bringing it so close to home again.

So I miss you Kathy.
And I am sure I will always love you.
You make sure God has heaven straight.
I am going to join you one day.
I am mostly glad you are having a good time.
I am happy for you, sad for me. Sad for us.
I just miss you. I just miss you still.

Did I mention she had a thing for Peanuts? Charles Schulz’s Peanuts. She had a few little collectibles and so did I. She always tried to steal mine. Kathy, I am going to make you jealous now because Boyfriend bought me a book. “Peanuts Holidays Through The Year: Five Classic Stories.” All mine. Not yours. That’s ok. If you wanna, we can have a fight over it later.

I love you girl. Always will. Period.

Me and Kathy

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Posted in gratitude, memories, Ponderings

Anniversaries: Love is the Best Refreshment in Life

08 Oct

Well, this has been an exciting few days. I have celebrated an anniversary with Boyfriend, met his parents for the first time, and celebrated one of my three grandson’s 5th birthday. The anniversary part was wonderful! The other things were great too, but I have to say our anniversary was the best . I have a great sweetie! Let me tell you all about the neat stuff boyfriend got me, he is really great about things like that . I don’t know if you have ever read the book, The 5 Love Languages by Gary Chapman, but I have. It has a simple and complicated version of a test you take that tells you what your primary love language is: Physical Touch, Acts of Service, Gifts, Quality Time and Words of Affirmation. The answer for me is always the same: gifts. Boyfriend took great mental notes when we have talked about this, and now always does a great job. Now don’t think that I have to have big expensive things, sometimes the gift can be a simple flower picked in the yard, or a handwritten note, or a card. Boyfriend is learning my tastes very well and got me some wonderful things for our anniversary. Now, for the stuff!

Butterfly Glitter Star Lamp/Lantern

This little beauty will be added to my assortment of Hippie Lights at home. That’s what my granddaughter calls them, the 6 year old. We get on my bed to snuggle and turn on those lights and the room is bathed in a beautiful soft light. I love it! I love butterflies as well, so this was the perfect addition to our little group. Next…..

A beautiful pair of hand enameled earrings, again in the shape of butterflies. They are mostly blue and white, small and beautiful. I tried to put a photo here to show them off, but wordpress is not cooperating at the moment. He also gave me one of my favorite movies, the newAlice in Wonderland with Johnny Depp (again, I can’t get the picture to upload, sorry). It is such a beautiful movie. I saw it first with my Bug (youngest child of my three, mother of two). She also loves Mr. Depp. It was of course in 3-D. Boyfriend was sadly away on a business trip the weekend the movie came out, so naturally I had to catch him up to speed the next weekend, so he and I went again, and yes, again in 3-D. I really loved how the flowers and colors and little things like the horseflies and dragonflies jumped out at you. Alas, the dvd is not 3-D, but I am still very happy with it nonetheless.

Well folks! How do you celebrate your anniversaries? What are some of your favorite prezzies? I would love to hear your stories too, just leave a comment below to share! Have a great weekend too….again! How do they get here so fast?

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Posted in Deep Deppness, Ponderings

Lightning, Thunder, RAIN!

26 Jul

Rainbow from another storm

Wow! Did we have a storm tonight….some of the biggest lightning strikes I’ve ever seen, and I have seen a bunch! We got lots of needed rain, but it came down very fast and hard, so not much time for soaking I’m afraid. Oh well, we are in a drought in the South, so hopefully it will help.

I have always been fascinated by storms. When I was a child we apparently lived in some sort of special spot. Special to lightning that is. I think the total count of lightning strikes to the house was 12 or 13. Once it knocked our 7 bricks from the outside, blew out an outlet in my grandmother’s room, blowing up her little lamp as well, then ricocheted somehow into the toilet, which was cracked. That was a very surreal experience. I think I was about 6 or 7 at the time. The boom from the strike was so loud we couldn’t hear for a while. Mom and Dad could smell something like a weird burning scent, and after about 15 minutes of searching, Daddy found a nice big hole in the back of the house. We didn’t have power for a couple of days while the electrician repaired the damage. It took a few more days for a brickmason to fix the hole, but soon the house was good as new, waiting for the next storm…

Then there was the time that lightning managed to charge the bolts on our kitchen door just as my sister was trying to unlatch it to let the dog in. She was hanging there for a while it seemed, pinned by the electrical charge from lightning that was running our main eletrical lines outside the house, the ones that come from your meter box. The lightning landed there that day, but just glanced off we were later told. Oh yeah, and my sister? She suddenly fell to her knees, a little shaken but unbelievably unhurt. And our dog was fine too.

When I was in my early 20′s, another storm blew up our way and brought a small twister with it. It didn’t touch the house, just pulled the basketball goal out of the ground and chunked it at me. I was trying to put out a small fire that had started outside, and was very happy said ball goal missed me. The storm’s aim was off that day . I didn’t get to pull a Dorothy Gayle either and check out Oz, but maybe one day!

I could go on for several more stories, but I’m sure you get the idea. So yeah, I have a little storm experience, and today just added another tale to the list. As we were closing our office, a fairly big storm started pelting rain in the parking lot, with leaves and trash swirling everywhere. Then the lightning started, big bright bolts with loud, close thunder right behind. The building slightly shook a couple of times, then the surge protector in the back office started beeping at us, letting us know it was a good thing we had shut down the equipment and were headed out the door. So no umbrella, (after it all it was hot and sunny this morning, why would I need an umbrella?) I dash to my car as fast as I can. Home again, home again, jiggety jig!

The lightning seemed to still be close as I headed up the road to go home. It would strike and I would hear thunder immediately, indicating the storm was right on top of me. I was feeling glad to be in my car with rubber tires on the ground under me when suddenly to my left…..BOOM! Lightning strikes! BOOM! It strikes again, this time hitting a transformer off to my left, and I don’t see how anything could be left of it! Quite a little sizzle and fizz going on there too, but it was far enough away that it didn’t touch my car and I hit the gas and kept heading home. Whew!

So, I hope your evening was a little quieter and more relaxing. But then again, I do like explosions, and a little entertainment never hurt anyone! I think mother nature was just putting on a great big show for me. Let me know if you ever make it to Oz, and I will be sure to do the same!

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Posted in Ponderings