Recently in Def-y's Categorizing Category

I didn't realize it had been a month since I last posted. We are still in the land of the living, doing a lot of the things that we do each Fall.

I am still getting the house ready to sell, but we have pushed back the date for putting it on the market to next March or April.

Dear Husband is going to get a new knee in November, and then will have to go through four to six weeks of physical therapy. Hopefully he will be able to help me organize the basement this winter.

I had the landscaper come in and re-seed an area of the lawn that died this summer. We have grass! I was a Doubting Thomas. I didn't think that seed was ever going to germinate, but it's come in nice and full. I also had them plant two gorgeous hydrangeas, an Endless Summer shrub rose and two hostas. I plan to add three more hostas next year.

Tomorrow I'll be adding dirt around the iris that are trying to lift out of the ground, and I'll mulch the rest of the bed at the front of the house. Later in October the landscaper will return to help me put the gardens to bed for the winter.

We had new faucets installed in the master bath, and the kitchen. Yea! Looking good.

Scraps on a Mission, the little group I manage which makes quilts for charity has made FIFTY ONE small quilts since February. They run from small baby quilt sizes to large lap quilts. We are also going to provide quilts for Facing Forward, a shelter, and will make larger quilts for them next year. I'm sure our founder, Mary Rinn, would be so pleased to see how well we've done.

This weekend we are celebrating our second grand daughter's fifth birthday. I wish I had some of her energy! She runs non-stop. We've agreed not to post pictures of the girls, so I'll just have to tell you that she has the most beautiful dark hair, and her eyes light up her face. It should be a fun afternoon.

Dear Husband is getting the sailboat ready to be hoisted out of the lake. He still has about two weeks of time left to sail, but part of that will be taken up getting the boat ready for winter storage. It's a sign of his dedication to sailing that he continued to sail despite a painful knee. I wouldn't be surprised to see him spending some weekday time on the boat this coming week.

It looks as though our business will officially close at the end of this year. We're finishing the last of the jobs, collecting income, paying bills, and arranging for the disposal of the equipment. It feels really odd after all these years to be closing our doors, but I've really been enjoying the chance to spend more time with Dear Husband. *S*

I had a chair upholstered. I got a new perm. I went to the Sandwich Antiques Fair with My-Sister-The-Nurse. We're getting ready to make a trip in October to visit my sister, Frankie, and her family. We're going to be celebrating Frankie's youngest daughter's birthday. I've been taking a friend from exercise to the Farmer's Markets in the area, and he suggested that I might want to try the Orange Tomato Soup featured on "The Chew." We're going to try it tomorrow.

And I think that may be most of my September news. Hopefully, I'll have pictures to share in the future. I hope you're all well, and enjoying the Fall weather

I'm hooked on Downton Abbey! I've been playing it while I've been working in my studio this week, and I love the stories, the history, the costumes, and the building they are using as Downton Abbey. It's all wonderful.

The DVDs of the second season arrived yesterday. I'm two thirds of the way through the season, but there's a problem. I put the third disk in, and it says it's "Loading," but it's stuck. It's so stuck it won't let me open the disk player. I am very concerned about going through withdrawal tomorrow! *G*

I'm hoping that letting it sit and cool off over night might let me open it tomorrow. (Typical non-techie response.) I may smack it, if it doesn't open up! I NEED to see the rest of the shows! lol

I'm eager for the third season to open on PBS this fall. I should check the schedule to find out when it returns. Dr. Who starts on September 1. I also like the newer version of Sherlock Holmes on PBS. That's another that I need to check on.

Until then, I want to get the DVD player up and running again, so that I can actually LOOK at more of the Downton Abbey footage. Gorgeous dresses (that I'm so glad we don't have to wear on a daily basis!)!

My youngest sister, Frankie, has just completed her first full week in school as a new assistant-principal. I talked with her very briefly, and had an e-mail from her, but it's been very quiet in that part of the world.

You have to know that she puts her all in to everything she does, and most of us who have taught know that the first week back is a killer, even when you think you are prepared for it.

I didn't call her this afternoon for the details because I suspect she needs time to decompress, and I can talk with her this weekend. But, I'm eager to hear how things went.

I hope she keeps a journal, because there HAVE to be stories from this first week that she will want to visit in the distant future! *G*

Sis....I hope you had a fabulous week, and that you love your new job. I am confident that you ARE a success! *S*

I had a GREAT day!

I've been having a problem with edema in my feet and ankles. I've seen the doc, and he and I are working on it. One of the things he suggested was that I should put my feet up so that they are higher than my heart. It's very difficult to do this during the day, so I don't accomplish it as often as I should.

My-Sister-The-Nurse suggested elevating my feet when I was in bed. I've been trying to figure out how to do that, because I toss and turn all night long. I put pillows at the end of the bed for a couple of days, but halfway through the night, I'd kicked them off the bed.

Dear Husband came up with something for us to try. He brought home a cement block and cut it in half. He lifted the bed frame, and I pushed the blocks in place under the legs of the frame. The bed looks a wee bit odd, but it elevated my feet, and I managed to sleep through the night.

I have to wonder if that accounted for having such a great day. I had more energy at exercise, and I came home and jumped right into chores. By early afternoon I was able to sit down and work on quilting, and I finished up two small charity projects, and put the binding on the back of a larger quilt. I was really happy to work on these things, because I had been putting them off for several weeks, and felt guilty about not getting them finished.

IF, tilting the bed is responsible for this spurt of energy, I hope it continues! I'm reminded of what my younger self felt like.

WHERE does the time go??? I just checked to see when I last posted, and it was August 12th. I know I've been busy, but nothing special has been going on.

I have a friend in exercise class who is going blind. He's had the opportunity to take instruction at Hines V.A. hospital to learn how to get around, and how to take care of himself. At the moment, he lives with his mother, and both of them are in the exercise class. David needed someone to take him to the Farmer's Market, so two weeks ago, I picked him up, and we went to the market I usually visit.

He can see enough to move through crowds, but I didn't think he could determine all the varieties of fruits and veggies on the tables, so I kept up a running commentary, directing him to vendors whom I thought were better choices. He used his folding cane to check out the ground, and people gave him a little room.

I helped to carry our finds, putting the heavier things like cantaloupe in my bag, so the delicate things, like tomatoes, wouldn't get squished. We re-bagged things when we got back to the car, and then went on to breakfast.

He needed to pick up half a dozen things at the store, so we stopped at a Meijer's on the way home. He had never been to one, so I steered him through the store.

Last weekend, Dave called, and asked if I could give him a hand again, with the grocery shopping. The woman who normally volunteers for this duty had a conflict. Since I wanted to pick up a few things, I said, "Yes!"

This time, we went to the Farmer's Market in our own town. I was surprised to find it was totally acceptable. I'd attended it once when it was held in a different location, and it seemed there was an abundance of jewelry and kitch. This time there was a lot of variety in fruits and veggies, with just a few non-food booths thrown in. I'm really glad we gave it a try.

We stopped at Panera for breakfast and then headed on to Woodman's, a MONSTER grocery store. Dave shops there regularly, so he could direct me to the aisles where we would find the things on his list. As we walked through the veggie department, people who were in a hurry were practically bowling him over, so I asked him to get his cane out. I thought if he "advertized" that he couldn't see, they might give him a little respect, and I was right. Better he use the cane than have to call for a ride because I was arrested for decking some snotty shopper!

Soooo....I should have called Dave earlier today, but I was happily buried in my quilting and I let the time get away from me. I plan to go to the Farmer's Market early, and I want to see if he needs to go too. I sent him an e-mail tonight. I'll break the 8:00 rule on the phone, and call him before I leave Saturday, to see if he needs to shop.

I've enjoyed the time with him more than I would have guessed.

Did I say we'd been traveling? The summer got away from me. I kept thinking I had a month and a half to get in a visit with my sister Frankie, and her family. What I forgot is that she has just started a new job as an assistant-principal, and her first day was the last Monday in July! OMG! Where did the time go!?

We asked if she and her hubby thought they could fit us in, and they graciously made room in their lives for us. We left mid-day Thursday and were with them through early afternoon on Sunday, and every moment of the time was lovely.

Frankie comes here to stay, and I put her to work. I go to Frankie's, and she lets me sit out on their wonderful porch, or on the deck, and veg out. I was feeling guilty about that by Saturday night, and helped out by making a salad. I really should have done more, and I apologize to you, dear Sis, for being such a sloth.

We visited a Farmer's Market, and ambled through several antique places. We ate, and ate, and ATE! We made a stop at Starbucks, and chatted, caught up on all the family news, and just enjoyed the relaxed life for a few days.

Sunday morning we packed up the car, and headed to church with the family. Frankie and her youngest daughter had gone on a mission project this summer, and Sunday was the day all the mission efforts were presented to the church. It was good to be able to see all they had done, and be there to support their efforts.

After the mission presentation, we headed out to brunch, which was just fabulous. We were so full that I don't believe I cooked the rest of the day!

Dear Sis, it was lovely, as always! Thank you for letting us be a part of your gracious life.

I was in the office and Dear Husband was off on an errand, when the phone rang. DH called and told me to look out the front window at the pear tree. I went to look. Two female deer were eating pears that had fallen to the ground. I watched for some time, and wondered if they had waved at DH as he drove down the driveway. Then, from stage left, DH slowly drove past the deer. One looked at him, as if to say, "Buzz off! I found them first!" The other deer was a little more skittish, and moved further away from the driveway. But, both deer were there, eating, for some time.

Either they are very young and inexperienced, or they are very hungry. They could be both, I suppose. It's quite uncommon to see deer out in daylight hours like this. There were at least three hours of daylight left. Our lot is not manicured. There is a lot of cover for the wildlife, and I know they move through our lot to the forest preserve south of us. I hoped that if I was quiet, they would move around the house to find the birdseed that had been dropped on the ground, or they might even prune the sage for me. The apples must have satisfied them, because they left the herb garden alone.

I'm just a sloth tonight. I have a few things I need to do, and can't seem to pull myself together enough to get them done. I washed the bedroom curtains on Thursday, and still haven't put them back up. They're cotton, and it would take about 10 minutes to press them, and another five or so to hang them. Push me out of this chair, won't you?

We finally got some rain this past week. The weeds perked right up. I was going to weed early this morning, but was a sloth then, too. Hopefully, I'll get some of it done early tomorrow. I'd like to get some mulch down to slow down the evaporation.

I'm still packing. A few boxes here and there. I think I'm dragging my feet because I hate the thought of leaving this house. Thanks to my sisters and one of my nieces, most of the main floor has been packed, and I need to focus on the basement.

My exercise guru was away for ten days, so I got to lead class for five consecutive sessions. The class was just great. Almost everyone came, no one got hurt, and everyone seemed to have a good time. I love it when a plan comes together!

I have two small quilts that are ready to be pin-basted. One is for family and the other is for Scraps on a Mission. The group meets here on Tuesday, so I'd like to be ready to quilt.

I hope to visit with my youngest sis, Frankie, before she begins her new job. She's been hired as assistant principal for a school just ten minutes from her home! YEA! Yea, to the hiring, and yea to the chance to visit! It will be a short visit, too bad we can't go for weeks! She feeds us like royalty, and arranges for entertainment, too!

Okay, this sloth is heading off to get some work done. I hope you're all having a great weekend.

I am delighted to be invited to fill in for our exercise guru when she has to be away. I've filled in here and there, generally doing one class every two months to satisfy our employers. I use the music she provides and recreate the exercises she's done. I don't add anything new to the sessions, I just keep us moving while our Guru is away.

For the very first time, our Guru has decided to take 10 days off just for herself. She arranged to take a yoga seminar with some friends in New Mexico, and then her husband flew in to spend the rest of the vacation with her. They wanted to see Sedona and other parts of the area. So, I am leading FIVE classes in a row!

Usually I do a set of exercises that I am familiar with, but for some off the wall reason, I decided to try to recreate her current session, which meant learning to call four new cardio songs. Things went surprisingly well on Monday. On Wednesday, I goofed in a place that was unexpected, but recovered. On Friday, we're exercising along, and the music was still playing when I had called all the moves for that song......wait......WHAT SONG!?? I did the breathing exercises, and totally skipped the warmup. We were doing the first cardio to the wrong music! All I could do was laugh. Those around me who realized what was wrong were smiling. No one complained, when I lead them through that set of exercises a second time.

I figure that no one else wants the responsibility of charting the exercises, so they are willing to let me play with the class. I'm going to return to my earlier program for the last two sessions, and just have fun with the class.

Thanks, Guru! I hope you had a great vacation!

I'm still working on it. Most of what I've been doing lately isn't apparent. I've been working on closets, and filing in the office. I have seven rooms close to being finished. I may use the rest of today to put away things in those seven rooms, to see how close I am to being ready to show the house. Unfortunately, I still have two closets and the basement to clear out, and I think I will pack up part of the office and studio as well. Both rooms have things I don't use on a daily basis, and by clearing off the shelving, I'll have a cleaner, more organized look.

There's still a lot of work to be done in the basement. At least it will be cool there. I need to create an area to pile up things to be thrown out, and one for things to be given away. The rest needs to be boxed up. I hope I can find the roll of tape for boxes that's hiding down there. I turned my back on it one afternoon and it disappeared!

So, we're still making progress, but it's slow.

Congratulations go to my baby sister who has just landed a job as an assistant principal. It seems prudent to not mention at which school, but I am confident that this unmentioned school has just gotten an incredible administrator!

It was fun to listen to her this week, and hear how the direction of her thoughts have changed from teacher to principal.

Congrats, Frankie. I'm so very proud of you!

"Joy" is one of the many words I could use to describe the past four days. I am part of a pretty good-sized family, and the past four days two of my sisters and one of my nieces have been helping me to get our house ready to show for sale. It may be the most incredible time I have experienced in my adult life!

Wednesday, My-Sister-The-Nurse came to stay with her grandson. They arrived about 10:30 in the morning, and were here before I returned from grocery shopping. She and I spent the rest of the day packing up a good part of my kitchen. I emptied low shelves and high shelves, and drawers. Utensils, sets of dishes, pots and pans and all sorts of odds and ends were packed away.

Late in the afternoon, my youngest sister, Frankie, and her daughter The Artist, arrived. We put together a meal, and visited, crashing early to be ready to work on Thursday.

Thursday morning I was up at 5:00 and slipped out to work in my herb garden. Frankie snuck up on me before 6:00 and we worked for a while until My-Sister-The-Nurse and The Artist joined us. We cut back chives, sage, lemon balm, lamb's ears and salvia and gave the oregano a major crew cut. The Artist collected everything in a wheelbarrow and made trip after trip to the back forty.

MSTN was not happy that we'd gotten the jump on her and wanted to do more before lunch, so I asked if she wanted to cut back all the fern fronds that had died in the high heat. She whipped through that bed in no time and everyone began muttering about MULCH!!! We hooked up the sprinkler to soak the bed and I arranged for two yards of mulch to be delivered.

Meanwhile, I sent MSTN off to get more packing boxes, and lunch from Portillo's. I had to stay for the mulch delivery, so we kept packing things while we waited for her to return. MSTN was really ticked off that it was too hot, MUCH too hot, to be able to spread the mulch. She had to leave it to us to finish what she clearly felt was HER job. Instead, she emptied the china cabinet, while Frankie cleared out the last of my mother's clothing.

Frankie and The Artist boxed up my parent's wedding china while MSTN moved on to packing some of the crystal, and the cut glass dishes. There is a small cabinet in my dining room, and it occurred to me that my sisters could help me decide what to do with the contents. That slowed us down for a bit, but we managed to empty it out.

We all worked on dinner, along with Dear Husband. Flank steak, baked potatoes, mushrooms, green beans with bacon, a special salad that Frankie wanted to try, and Portillo's chocolate cake for dessert. After dessert, MSTN and her grandson had to leave. It was really tough to let them go. It isn't often that I get to enjoy my family like this, and I really would have liked to have MSTN with us for another day or two.

Friday morning, Frankie and I went out to cover the fern bed with mulch. She filled the wheelbarrow repeatedly, moving a cubic yard of mulch, and dumped it on the bed. I pushed it around, to try to get even coverage. We worked on the gardens at the front of the house, pulling weeds, cutting back iris and spent plants, and planting new plants until the heat of the day drove us in for breakfast.

Dear Husband was rained out for the day, and he came home to collect The Artist to show her a source of wood that she might want to know about for her art classes. Frankie and I had lunch and headed for the basement. Frankie moved two pallets into place and then began bringing down the boxes we had filled on Thursday. I sorted through more things, creating a stack of things to be given away, before crying "Uncle!" I just was saturated with packing, and wanted to go sit and put my feet up.

Dear Husband and The Artist returned, and we popped "Jane Eyre" into the DVD player. It was the version that had been shown as a four part BBC presentation. We made it through almost two hours, took a break to cook dinner, and then returned to watch the remainder of the story. We were all absorbed, right to the very end.

Saturday morning, we got off to a slightly later start. Dear Husband delayed his departure to have breakfast with us, which Frankie cooked. She cleaned out the refrigerator, making an egg casserole, blueberries and papaya, and toast. Frankie and The Artist cleared two more gardens of weeds while I continued to cut back the iris at the sidewalk, a project that will continue for some time.

I'd set the timer to let us know when we had to go in to clean up. MSTN returned to us and we all went off to the French Market in Wheaton. The Artist carried things for all of us as we browsed through the jewelry, bakeries, and veggie stands. I have so much food left from this week that I didn't buy a lot of veggies, but it was more than enough to weigh her down.

We made the obligatory Starbucks run, and then headed for home. Can you imagine how difficult it was for me to let these women get on with their lives? What an incredible gift they gave me! They saved me a couple weeks of work, and made my life so much easier. How do I ever tell them "Thank you!" enough?

EMPTY boxes!

I spent part of my evening shaping and taping packing boxes from U-Haul. I have some things to pack tomorrow, and more to pack this coming week, and I thought I'd get a start putting together the boxes. That seems to make the packing go faster.

I ran errands this morning, and one of the stops was at the U-Haul storage facility near my bank. Their computers were up, and then down, and then up again, so it took a while to get what I needed. I picked up two kinds of tape, small and medium boxes, and dish and glass packs. I have some crystal to pack up, and I didn't want to trust it to newspaper. I have two boxes ready to go for the last of the china, as well. I also stopped at a local liquor store and asked for some of their ale boxes. I think they will be just the right size to pack up miscellaneous tools.

I'm not thrilled about the idea of leaving our beautiful home, but surprisingly, I like the pared down look that I've achieved. Well.....I like most of it. There are a couple of walls that seem to be just too bare.

Monday, the plumbers are coming to replace some of the faucets in the bathroom and kitchen. We've had the sofits and fascia painted, as well as the loft. Bit by bit we are getting closer to putting the house on the market. Soon, I think.

I bought a piece of fabric to use as a narrow border in a small lap quilt, and also for the binding. I'm almost ready to bind this little quilt and do you think that I can find that piece of fabric!??? I have looked everywhere. I'm positive that I set it down, thinking, "This is the perfect place to store this fabric until I need it for binding." Unfortunately, I didn't take notes.

The one-inch wide inner border is of a medium dark red, with a darker pattern of flowers in red. It isn't a shade that matches anything I have in my stash. Now, I am confident enough in my quilting that I don't have to match things exactly. I learned about NOT matching my quilting fabrics from a lecture by Mary Ellen Hopkins, so I could comfortably find another red that would work. The thing of it is, I know that fabric is sitting somewhere in this house, taunting me, and I want to use it up.

I can promise that there will be an addendum to this post......saying, "I found it!" And it will have been in some obvious place. I hate having an uncooperative memory!

I FINALLY, FINALLY, managed to get my act together and send a package to my friend, Cop Car. First, I began collecting the things I wanted to send. Then I had to make up my mind what box I was going to use, changing my choice several times. Then, I HAD to write a note to go with the gift. It would have been in bad taste to send the things off without an explanation.

So, finally, I sent the package.

Thursday, there was a lovely message on my answering machine, telling me that it had arrived, making me feel like the best friend in the world! I waited until Friday, to return that call, and that might have been the best part of sending the gifts. I had the chance to talk at length with Cop Car, and catch up on how she and her family are doing. I regret that it took me so long to reach out to her. We have so much in common that she feels like family to me, and now she has been officially adopted as my Sister of the Heart.

Cop Car blogged about the small quilt and movie that I sent to her. She has explained it better that I can, complete with pictures, so go to read her version of this story, here

"Sis," I really enjoyed having the chance to talk with you. Let HH know I'll chat with him next time! *G* Stay well!

Dear Husband and I made our first trip to the Farmer's Market yesterday. DH was traveling toward the boat for the weekend, but stopped to be my pack horse for the market. I was relatively restrained, less than one totebag of goodies, but it was nice to have his help.

Tomatoes, fresh dill, green beans, zucchini, raspberries, strawberries, rhubarb, crimini mushrooms and cheese curds.....I think that was all I got. I passed on the unusual flavors and shapes of pasta, and the potted herbs, kohlrabi, the great bread from Breadsmith, and plenty of other things. I'll get them another time.

Fruit salad to go with dinner tonight, and maybe a strawberry rhubarb pie. Interested?

I've had a great morning so far! One of my friends at Facebook put up a link to Cat Stevens performing "Morning Has Broken" on You Tube, and I thought that was a great way to acknowledge the start of a beautiful day.

I was slow to get started this morning, but I was out in the gardens by 7:40. It's supposed to be in the nineties today, so I wanted to get some gardening in before the heat rose.
I deadheaded six peonies in the long driveway garden, and hacked back the Bouncing Bet that tries to take over the garden. I noticed that the astilbe is blooming at the shady end of that garden. The astilbe, hostas, bleeding heart and meadow rue have come back for twenty years now. The short gold day lilies and the nepeta are making a nice showing, and before long the Rudbekia "Goldsturm" and Purple coneflower should be in bloom.

Earlier this week I ripped some weeds out of the sidewalk garden. It was the first time I'd done anything physical since the gunk settled it, so it didn't take me long to be short of breath. I left the weeds on the sidewalk to be gathered later in the day. Of course, that was the only day I had visitors coming up the sidewalk! Today, I swept the dried weeds off the walk, cut back the vinca that has been trying to take over the entire bed, and planted a purple 'Homestead' verbena, and a fuschia petunia at the end of the bed nearest the front door. There are more to be planted but my knees were crying "Uncle!" I pulled a few more weeds, and began ripping out the volunteer ox-eye daisies that were going to seed. By that time it was warming up, so my last outdoor chore was to water the containers and the two transplants.

Bogie has ferns that she is ripping out because they are so vigorous. I have ferns that have died off from the heat we've had. The back wall of the garage is perpendicular to the house, and years ago, before I learned the microclimates of our house and land, I planted ferns in that corner. I thought it was going to be shaded and cool, on the north side of the house. What I didn't know was that it would get a lot of afternoon sun, and the bricks heat up, and retain the heat, so it wasn't the best of places to plant ferns. When I get out next, I hope to cut back the dead fronds. water heavily, and then mulch, to see if the ferns will grow more fronds.

So, my gardening is done for the day. I've been working on cleaning out the closet in the office that contains a jumble of things, including my mother's fabric stash and sewing things, yarn, some of Dear Husband's favorite posters, pads of newsprint and gridded paper, for quilt design, mailing supplies and boxes of papers that need to be sorted. It's good to be getting one more closet packed up. I think the next packing chore will be the shelves in the mudroom that hold floral and gardening items on one side, and china and crystal on the other.

So, I have plenty to do today, and I've had a nice start to the day. I hope that your Sunday has started out as well as mine.

MORE odd weather! It's been very dry. Other parts of Northern Illinois have had rain, but of the past three weeks, I bet we've had less than an inch. It's been unusually cool, but now it's warming up to more normal heat for June. My day lilies in the herb garden are sunburned, and the ferns in the corner between the garage and house have died. I'm going to try cutting them down, watering and then mulching to see if they are willing to try to grow once more.

I am still recuperating from the gunk. We visited the PA and she put us on an antibiotic and a steroid. My cough has abated, but I'm short of breath. I need to get out and build up my stamina. I'm going to start by cutting down the iris stalks. Bloom time is long over, and I hate the ragged look of the gardens. Next, I'm going to be vicious to the thistles!!! And then, I'll trim back the peonies.

Dear Husband has been enjoying the weekends sailing. He's a happy camper when he gets to spend his time on the water. He went to stow the winch handle last Saturday, and it wouldn't fit into the slot. When he looked at it, there was a black walnut, husk and all, stored there for safe keeping. Some squirrel in the back yard is cussing, I bet! lol

I can tell that summer is here. I want to do a chicken salad with celery, dried cranberries, walnuts and grapes, and I thought I might make a cold pasta salad this weekend while DH is away. It's not his favorite. I think I'll just make one or two servings, so there aren't a lot of leftovers.

Almost everything I'm doing is centered at home these days, but I'm looking forward to the Farmer's Markets, the French Market, and the Antique Fair. I'm sure other wonderful outdoor activities will come my way. I understand that I may have family visiting later this month. It doesn't get any better than that!

Happy summer to you all.

Has blogging become a thing of the past? I made an entry yesterday and then started scrolling through my list of links to bloggers, and was astounded to find that most of them have decided not to blog, or are on hiatus while they consider quitting!

In truth, I haven't given my all to blogging for some time. I was rarely here the last few years of my mother's life, and I didn't return to it immediately after she passed away, but I had always assumed that all of my favorite bloggers had kept the flame.

I wonder if I need to make it a goal to get others to resume blogging. Or, is the rest of the world addicted to Twitter and Facebook and MySpace and GooglePlus?

I frequently feel out of step with the world. I'm so glad that doesn't bug me any more! *G*

I need to find some cooking classes that will help me prepare simple but well seasoned food!

I know how to cook the basic American menu, but I'm very tired of everything tasting the same. I don't exactly know what taste I'm looking for, but I want more interesting food without having to spend the entire day in the kitchen.

Dear Husband doesn't mind crockpot meals. On occasion, I'm willing to use them, especially when we have so many activities there isn't time to prepare a good meal. But, there are some meals where everything shouldn't be blended together. I don't enjoy veggies that have been cooked together all day long, so that you can't tell what kind of veggie you're eating. Crockpots are good for baked beans, or for slow cooking soup all day long.

My appetite has been missing for the last week or so. I find I'm just beginning to think about planning meals, and eating something more than chicken and rice soup. No casseroles for a while, I think

I'm so glad that it's time for the Farmers Markets to be up and running. I'll miss the one this weekend, but you can be sure I'll be out there next week, raring to go!

Give me your best summer meal idea, won't you?

A really great blogger would come up with all sorts of fantastic lines about where she had been, and would weave fantasies of the time spent away from the keyboard, drawing you in to celebrate the time spent off-line. But, you know me, ever fact oriented.

I've been busy. Really busy. I think all the time of things I'd like to post, but until I get a secretary, my posting is going to be hit or miss.

I'm here today because I've come down with an upper respiratory thing that is limiting what I can do. Playing and working on the computer, and reading seems to be the limit at the moment. Luckily, I may have passed the worst of it, or at least I hope so. My-Sister-The-Nurse called to talk with me today, checking up on me. Her best advice was that if it hasn't cleared up in a couple of days, I need to see the doc. Good advice, I'm sure, and I'll take Dear Husband with me, as he's ill now, too.

I looked to see when I posted last, and it was April 27th, my youngest sister's birthday. Since then, I have had 30 friends from exercise over for a potluck brunch, my quilting bee met, the Arr!! has been put into Lake Michigan, and we have celebrated my oldest granddaughter's eight's birthday.

Now, those things do not make for being "really busy." The other part of the story is that we are going to sell our house. I have been boxing everything that we don't need for day to day life. I have worked on our private bath and dressing area, the guest rooms, the linen closets, the mudroom pantry and the BOOKSHELVES. My God, who knew how many boxes of books and tapes and DVDs and CDs we own!!!

I believe that I can finish the "non-necessary" packing for all but the kitchen, the studio and the office with one day's good work. The kitchen will have to be done a few cabinets at a time. There's just too much to sort through and box up. Besides, the pantry scares me!

I started this project working in the basement. I sorted through holiday decorations, boxed up those I wanted to keep, and divided the rest between garage sale fodder and garbage. We had the Rent-a-Teens come to visit, and they helped by carrying all the garbage up to the garage, and bringing the book boxes to storage in the basement. One girl spent two and a half hours breaking down boxes and organizing them for recycling pick-up. Unfortunately, the basement is going to take a LONG time to finish. I wonder if I could get Heracles to help me...

I hope to be ready to have the house videoed by the end of the month, and open our doors to prospective buyers in July. All this depends of course on how much we can accomplish, and that depends on being able to overcome the gunk we're dealing with.

I hope that you are all busy, enjoying the summer weather, and WELL! I'll come check on you.

I saw SIX egrets yesterday (No, Cop Car, I don't know exactly which kind they were.) I was driving to exercise, and saw two to the right of the road, and four to the left. And, earlier, I saw one of the herons. There must be a shallow spot at that point in the retention pond, because that seems to be a favorite place for fishing for both the herons and egrets.

Spring is really strange. I think we have had below normal temps for the past week, and last month it felt like late June. I'm glad that I didn't plant anything tender this past week, because we had a hard frost and I would have lost it all.

Several of the iris have bloom stalks! Nothing is open, but give us a little warmth, and I'm sure the buds will open.

Have you heard about "Pink Slime?" Some companies add this sludge to their ground beef. Essentially, it's assorted meat parts that are ground to a filler and treated with ammonia gas. I discovered that in my area, Target, Whole Foods and Costco do NOT use this filler, so I've changed my shopping habits. I stopped at Whole Foods for the first of my shopping today and picked up ground beef, fruit and bread. I also bought a basil plant. My car smelled like and Italian eatery on the way home! *G*

It's supposed to rain tomorrow, so I'm going to spend the morning boxing things up. I need to begin shifting winter clothes out of my closet, but our weather is not cooperating. I still need sweaters and wraps in the evening.

Dear Husband is clearly ready for spring to land and stay. He asked for Taco Salad for dinner this evening. My new "Cuisine at Home" magazine came, and the cover features a shrimp boil for those of us who are land locked. Sounds like a good idea to me! I think it cooks in one pot, and you eat it like a picnic meal. Very little cleanup!

Dear Husband has an appointment to put the Arr!! into Lake Michigan, May 12th. Boating season is almost upon us. (Quilting days, here we come!)

And last, but not least, today is my little sister's birthday. Happy Birthday, Frankie! I hope you have a wonderful weekend of celebration, and many, many more to come!

Usually by the middle of March we are seeing daffodil and tulip greens, with blooms expected in early to mid April. This evening I saw Ice Follies daffodils, forsythia, star magnolia, and squill in bloom. The crocus have fainted from the heat!

We've had a week of temps from the upper sixties to the upper seventies. I was talking with Dear Husband today, while standing in the kitchen. I looked out the window and saw a gray squirrel flattened out in the grass in the shade of the house, trying to cool his belly. He looked more like a flying squirrel who had come in for a landing than one of our regular visitors.

I had two golden delicious apples that were on the wrinkled side. I cut them each into 16 pieces and dropped them under the bird feeder during the middle of the week when I filled the feeders. One of the ground squirrels discovered the bounty. He filled his cheeks with seeds and then crammed an apple between his teeth and took off running up the herb garden walkway with his tail straight up in the air. He jumped over the timbers at the end, ran across the lawn and under Dear Husband's truck to the rough area east of the driveway. I watched him do the same routine twice more before I had to go back to work. Half an hour later, the apples had disappeared! *G* I wonder if he was going to have the family over to share the feast or if he was planning on canning apple pie filling....

Tomorrow, when I go out to take pictures of all the blooms, I'll check to see if the May apples are in bloom in the grove.

I love spring, but could be go back to the fifty and sixty degree temps and sneak up on it? Please!

I have been blessed today! First of all, we went to the Corned Beef and Cabbage dinner at church, so I got to celebrate with the Irish and didn't have to cook or clean up. But, there was something even better about our night out.

Each year there is an auction following the dinner. One of my friends, Mary Rinn, passed away at the end of last year. She had been instrumental in creating Scraps on a Mission. I had been making a wonderful, bright baby quilt to show her when we met again, and then she was gone. So, when I was asked if I would contribute a baby quilt to the auction, I said yes. I added a name tag to the quilt saying that it was in memory of Mary Rinn.

I was concerned, in these tight economic times, that no one would want to bid on the quilt. Dear Husband and I discussed it, and came to an amount we could afford to bid. I was actually expecting to win back the quilt I had made.

The crowd was difficult and noisy. The bids were small and slow in coming, despite the fact that the money went to support an excellent cause. I didn't realize it, but the auctioneer saved my quilt for last. The very first bid blew me out of the water. I never had the chance to bid and sat back and watched the bids increase until it fetched two and a half times what would have been my top bid!

The quilt has gone to a very good home. The woman who won it, remembers Mary fondly, and felt she needed the ties it provided to Mary. When she asked her husband what she could bid, he said, "Whatever it takes."

Mary, your big heart and generosity have helped others one more time. Thanks!

I'd so like to tell you that I am a perfect person....that as soon as a piece of paper crosses my desk, I act on it and file it. But the truth is......I hate filing!

I have been doing a lot of spring cleaning recently. I cleaned my bedroom closet, and you can even see the floor now! That went to my head, and I started working on the closet in the guest bedroom. I have a couple more closets to work on, and then I'm going to re-organize the pantries.

But, meanwhile, I decided that I need to tame the boxes of junk and papers in the office. God, I'll be at this for WEEKS! I took a stack at a time from the desk, and sorted it into personal things, and office business. I got all the office business finished so that I could work on the rest. It seems that I am relatively good about the office, to the detriment of our personal papers.

Part of the problem is that it isn't always easy to decide HOW or WHERE to file a paper. I'm going to have to overhaul the files so that we can find personal papers once they are filed. It appears that we need an automotive file, with subcategories of repair, titles, and licenses. That was an easy decision. Dear Husband is on Medicare, and knowing what to keep of those papers would be a big help. Right now I have an over-sized binder, and I'm filing it all.

Today, I opened four banker's boxes, one at a time, and went through everything, sorting it for filing tomorrow. I found a box with electronic equipment, so at that point, I brought up the bag of electronics from my closet and dumped it on the table. I now know what works and what doesn't. Things that didn't work have either been pitched out or saved for the electronics pickup. I must have a dozen sets of headphones, and six or more things that probably convert players from battery power to electricity. There's a headset with a microphone attached. (I bet I could use it as a back up for the computer, for Skype.) I have a complete set of accessories for my CD player for the car, but no CD player. (It died.)

When I finish all this reorganization, I hope to be able to do my taxes. My closets and the office will be infinitely cleaner, and will look airy, and I will be one with the world. Until then......leave sweets on my table and go hide!

I've spent a lot of time in the past two weeks looking out the windows in the kitchen and the "green" room. We've had a love affair with the wildlife around us, and frequently spend time watching what they are doing.

We've been amazed at the numbers of birds and squirrels we've seen lately. Normally we have about four or five grey squirrels under the bird feeders at a time. Of course, they don't wear little name tags, so there could obviously be a lot more than four squirrels in the area. I was astonished to see thirteen of them under the feeders at one time, all playing well with each other. I started counting them, and called Dear Husband to the window because it was so unusual.

Later that same day, I called him back to the windows to see what had to be the re-staging of the Hitchcock movie "The Birds." I have NEVER seen so many birds land under the feeders at one time. This was a very large flock of red-winged blackbirds. Those birds are not uncommon visitors, but we've never seen them in such numbers before. They covered the ground in a ten-foot circle, so tightly packed that you could barely see the ground, and almost as many were under the second feeder. They were with us for about fifteen minutes before exhausting the seed and moving on.

Mother and I used to have a game we played in the spring, as we watched life return to our area. There was a race to be the first one to say "I saw a robin!" Usually Mother or Dear Husband won that race, but I was looking out the same windows last week and saw a robin on February 27th! "Wait.....there are two. No....Look....THREE. By damn, there are FIVE ROBINS in my back yard!!!" I won the race, Mom. Did you send them to me???

Meanwhile, the shrubs around the feeder looked like Christmas. This winter we've had ten to twelve male cardinal visiting at one time plus a lot of lady cardinals. I'm sure they were watching the robins and red-winged blackbirds and felt they needed to get their numbers up. We did a fast count and figured we had seventeen or eighteen male cardinals that morning.

It's been a wonderful winter, and it looks like spring is on it's way to visit us. It's been a joy to get to watch all our visitors.

I just can't believe that it's been more than a month since I last posted. Usually by now my youngest sister nags me to post, so that she can find out what I've been doing, but I saw her and her family just this past weekend and managed to avoid the nagging! lol

Frankie, her husband, her two college age daughters and two dogs came to visit last Saturday. They made the trip up on Saturday morning, thinking about the Portillo's Italian beef that we planned to have when they arrived. I talked with my sister while they were en route, and took their orders, so that we could keep the delay to a minimum. As it was, I thought i might loose an arm to hungry people when they arrived. The dogs were pretty well behaved! *S*

The "girls" took a short shopping trip in the afternoon. We visited Sur La Table and picked up odds and ends. Dear Husband informed me that I needed to replace the pasta spoon that I'd thrown away. It was plastic, and it looked like we might have been eating little pieces of it as it shredded it's layers.

From there we strolled through town, stopping at Adagio Teas, Penzy's spices, and Starbucks. The weather was gorgeous! Not quite spring, but definitely not winter. i noticed that Frankie just declared that winter was over (on Facebook). I agree! My daffodils are about three, maybe four inches high, and they were covered with snow on Friday. I hope they didn't mind the cold for a day.

We did Kitchen Sink Salad for dinner, and spent the evening chatting. Sunday, I tried to kill everyone with a groaning board of food. We did waffles, bacon, fruit, and an egg casserole for breakfast, and just before everyone had to make a dash for the car and the trip home, we made chicken fajitas. One of the best parts of the visit, well, after all the hugs, was the table conversation, although my youngest niece may want us to find more socially acceptable things to talk about at the table. (No more body function comments! lol)

The visit was just great! I SO miss spending time with them now that the girls have grown up. I suppose it's an Empty Nester kind of thing, getting used to them beginning their own lives,

Sunday morning, between meals, my youngest niece asked to work with me on one of the tops for the Scraps on a Mission charity. We have been given a lovely run of red, white and black, and black and white fabrics, and I thought the material would make a striking quilt in 5-inch squares. We cut out the squares (the Olfa cutters were flashing!) and I let my niece design the top. I suggested diagonals of red, and then she echoed the red with the darker fabrics, and filled in the rest with the lighter fabrics. It's a striking 40" x 40" quilt that I'm itching to quilt and bind. Thank you, sweetie, for the time spent with me, and for your generosity for my cause. I promise to post a picture when the quilt is finished!

And....by 2:30...they had to leave. Thank you all, right down to the littlest dog, for having visited. I loved having you here, and hope to visit with you soon. Love you!!

I have been incredibly busy with three charitable projects in the past couple of months. Let me tell you about them, briefly, I hope.

A dozen women in my exercise group wanted to sing for the vets at Hines VA hospital, and at a local nursing home. We met two times a week to learn the songs, and prepared a 20-25 minute program. I had a tiny solo in one song. The most difficult part of the rehearsal was learning simple movements. I tended to be the one going the wrong direction a good part of the time. The day of the performance at Hines, several of the men in class, and husbands of some of the performers drove us to Hines, and helped us with our presentation. We stayed to talk with the men, and that was the best part of our visit. We raised $205 in cash, and another $500 in personal products and books for the men. IT was a very satisfying experience. I'm so very glad I did it.

I also crocheted 50 six-inch squares for Share a Square. Shelly Tucker is working on assembling the last of 150 afghans for kids who are attending cancer care camps this summer. This will be the last season of this charity, and like many others, I'll miss it. My crocheting knowledge grew this year. I've really enjoyed sitting with Dear Husband while I crochet in the evening. I'm looking forward to being able to see the delivery of the afghans to Camp Quality this summer. Thanks, Shelly, for providing such a lovely experience for us!

And......I have been working on lap sized quilts for kids in cancer care, and for adults at a local nursing home. Unfortunately, the wonderful woman who started Scraps on a Mission passed away a week before Christmas. I miss her terribly. I know the ladies want to continue the work she started, so I've been making tops and getting ready for a season of quilting. There will be pictures to follow, probably in a month or so. When my heart is heavy, piecing is a comfort, so these past two years I've made a LOT of quilted items!

I believe we all need to pay back our good fortune. I've been blessed with a good life and feel that I need to use my talents to do something for those in need. How lucky I am to be able to help others! Yea!!

We have finally had a snowfall worth mentioning. Starting early this morning, a fall of the tiniest flakes imaginable began to coat the ground. It looked foggy all day long. By 4:30 this afternoon we had accumulated at least three inches of snow, with more to come.

Dear Husband was cleaning off the area in front of the garage, so I picked up the shovel and cleared the sidewalk. Before I finished, the area where I started was covered. I put down sand and called it quits for both of us.

Just to put your mind to rest, I am VERY careful about my snow shoveling. I use a lightweight molded plastic shovel, and do a lot of pushing, rather than shoveling. When I must pick up a load of snow, it's small. Both Dear Husband and I have bad backs, so neither of us shows off when shoveling.

The snowstorm is expected to abate by tomorrow morning. I think we're going to get more than they forecasted last night, but still an amount that is bearable. I had a haircut scheduled this morning, and had to be out when the roads had just started to slick up. There were too many people who were not driving defensively. One of the worst errors was not leaving enough time/room to safely break when they were following someone who was going to turn. I was muttering to myself about stupidity when I turned onto the major route through town, and discovered that I was behind someone going 25 miles an hour. *G*

If you are in the snow belt, drive safely. I can't afford to loose ANY of my friends or family!

I

Yup.....the retention ponds had a light layer of ice on Sunday morning. It was supposed to be in the 40s today, so that ice didn't last long. I think we're supposed to have colder weather later this week, so the ice was just a taste of the coming winter.

I hope that winter has not shifted by a month. By March I'm really looking forward to warming weather to go along with the longer days. If January and February are supposed to be really crumby, then I vote for Spring to return early!!!

Why is it that I'm never close to the computer when I have a thought I'd like to share?
Mostly those thoughts are just worthy of a line or two, so a bunch of them might make a post. I'll see how many of them I can remember.

This has been the warmest Fall on record for those of us on the outskirts of Chicago. We FINALLY had our first measurable snowfall on Thursday night, and it amounted to less than 1/2 an inch. We have been known to have snow as early as the end of September, or into October; definitely by November, so it's quite a surprise to have waited well into December for the first white stuff. Dear Husband would like me to be quiet and quit tempting fate.

Thanksgiving went very well. As usual, we had plenty of food to send home with everyone, and we ate leftovers on Friday. It was a joy to have not only sisters and nieces and nephews, but some of their in-laws and pets as well. I was thankful that so many of us were able to gather.

The Sunday following Thanksgiving I was invited to do a short trunk show of some of my quilts for the Empty Nesters at church. The theme for the pot luck which followed church was "Leftovers," which seemed fitting following Thanksgiving. I made a raspberry pretzel salad to share, one of my favorite salads/desserts. I'm usually lucky to have just one piece a year, and this year I've topped out at more than FOUR!!! YEA!!!

The trunk show was fun. I started out by saying that I was NOT showing all my quilts. I showed enough quilts to fill about 25 minutes, and was gratified when one of the men told me that he found the presentation interesting.

I've been watching the birds at the feeders, thinking of how my Mother loved to watch them. We have the usual suspects: blue jays, chickadees, juncos, mourning doves and a host of other small birds (mostly sparrows, I think), but my favorites are the cardinals. They are truly gorgeous against the snow.

The house is chilly now. I've been considering using a space heater in the studio when I'm working in there, and I'm rarely without a quilt over my lap when I sit to read in the living room. I don't know whether I just need to acclimate to the lower temps or whether I need to get more exercise to warm myself up, but I'm not fond of the cold. I can appreciate how much DH must dislike having to be out in it most of the day!

Midweek, as the temperatures were dropping, a skim of ice was beginning to develop on the retention ponds. I'll be watching tomorrow when we go out to see if they are totally covered with ice.

I've started a new quilt for Scraps on a Mission. A friend at quilting bee showed us a pattern that I thought might use up scraps. After the next session at the sewing machine, I'll have 25 blocks done. I've used bright children's fabrics, and the blocks will be set with white sashing to a finished size of 40x40.

My plan for the coming week is to finish labels for baby quilts that I plan to give just before Christmas. I'm using "Printed Treasures" to make the labels, adding a picture of the baby to the inscription. This is the first time I've added pictures, so I hope they turn out well.

I'm sure there are lots of other short thoughts that have gotten away from me. Perhaps it's just as well that I've forgotten some of them, or you'd be here all day! *G*

I hope you are all enjoying the preparations for Christmas, are well, and have good weather. Merry Christmas to you all!

I was in the car today with Dear Husband, coming home from a quick trip to the grocery store. It's been the kind of day when you want to stay inside, curled up by the fireplace, reading a book or napping. It's gray and rainy, and we're still recovering from our wonderful Thanksgiving, but not quite ready to be rushing around in the world.

I said to DH that I probably don't tell him enough that I love him. I was thinking how good it was of him to go with me to the store, when neither of us really wanted to be out. He responded that it was probably the same for him.

I told him that when you've been married as long as we have, a woman enjoys hearing a gushing vow of love from her husband now and then.

He made a noise that sounded like the last bit of a shake being sucked up through a straw. "No, Dear. That's not what I was looking for. That was a SLURP, not a gush. You need to work on your definitions."

I'll be endlessly entertained by him, until the day I hit him with a cast iron fry pan! *G*

NO.....I'm not showing trunks. (Blame that comment on Dear Husband, who would have asked what trunks.)

I've been invited to so a short showing of some of my quilts. The church which my Mother attended has an Empty Nester group. I know many of the members, and have worked with several of them on Scraps on a Mission, making gift quilts for people in the hospital and nursing homes.

The woman who founded Scraps on a Mission is the person who happens to be in charge of the Empty Nester Luncheon following church on Sunday, and she asked if I would be willing to show some of the quilts.

I have a list of quilts I think would work, and on Saturday, I'll get them out, fold them up and bag them (just in case the weather is bad). I'll be speaking very extemporaneously, and showing a quilt every 60-90 seconds. I believe that I'll have to prune my list a bit to keep the men in the audience from being overwhelmed. *G*

Dear Husband, and My-Sister-The-Nurse will help me carry the quilts in. The theme of the luncheon is "Leftovers." I'll be taking raspberry pretzel salad, the one item of Thanksgiving dinner of which I never get enough! I may save two small servings, so that the salad has a "cut-into" look about it.

Too bad we can't video tape the show, so that I could put it on YouTube for you. Next time I'm invited to do this, I'll have to think ahead!

Wish me luck!

Whew!!! What a day it was! I love Fall. I love the changing colors, the reds and yellows and the clear skies and wind. I love the entire season as it moves toward Thanksgiving, which for me, is the high point of my favorite time of year.

Yesterday 38 family members joined me in celebrating one of my favorite holidays. I have been working for about two weeks on chores. We've put the gardens to bed, had the trim on the house painted, washed windows and chandeliers inside and out, and generally readied the house for guests. I wound down my activities with Scraps on a Mission so that I could tidy up the studio, and put the dining room back to order, where I had been using the table to quilt lap quilts.

This week I washed everything that sits on the counter in front of my kitchen sink, and washed the inside of the windows above that counter. All our bird feeders are on the north side of the house and my family will stand at the kitchen windows looking out on the feeders, asking me about the birds that have come to dinner. I wanted everything to sparkle and shine. I made sure that the feeders were filled to capacity!

I made dough for refrigerator rolls and for sugar crisp, because I wanted to have them on hand as gifts to my sisters. I could not accomplish this dinner without major input from them. I dusted, and wiped down the faces of the appliances and cabinets, and I took the time to reorganize the cookie sheet cabinet and the Rubbermaid stash! My youngest sister has a way of keeping me on my toes about the Rubbermaid, and if I haven't gotten to it, she's been known to help me out with it.

My-Sister-The-Nurse came to spend Wednesday with me to set and decorate the tables. We had four tables with either table cloths or antique crocheted mats, and real silverware. I was talked into using heavy paper plates again this year. I'm sure the kids all felt that was something to be thankful about. *G* Sis cooked the hamburger and Italian sausage for the lasagna, while I finished baking the last of the rolls. Dear Husband put together his traditional lasagna when he came home from work. It just needed to be reheated on Thursday (and it was REALLY GOOD!)

Frankie and her husband, their oldest daughter and two dogs arrived after dinner on Wednesday. We chatted for a bit, and most of us turned in early. Thursday morning, Frankie created a wonderful breakfast for us, so that everyone could make it to 3:00 when appetizers would be available. She created a sausage and egg casserole with peppers and broccoli that was divine, and cheese grits. Well, one out of two ain't bad! I ate a full serving of the grits, but I'm just not a grits girl. From our discussion I learned that the mush I ate when I was a child is the same thing, with less moisture content. I assume that the texture is what bothers me about the grits, but I can say that I prefer good hash browns to mush, too! lol

I made four recipes of bread dressing, and got the turkey into the oven. Family began arriving by 1:00. Of the 39 people present, seven were between the ages of three and eight. My oldest sister has the tallest family members, and I think two dozen of them might have congregated in the kitchen until it was time to serve.

The meal was astonishing, as usual. Everyone contributed something to our feast, but I have to say that the companionship was the best part of the day. I really tried to talk to everyone. For the most part, I got quick little visits here and there, and I didn't get to everyone, but I tried! There were members of three generations seated at my table, and it was fun to find the connections the youngest ones shared with the older ones. I hope that when they went home they took with them the ties to our family that are so important to me.

So, it was an exceptional day. We have so very much to be thankful for. I'm glad that we were able to come together to celebrate and give thanks.

And for those of you who have read this post, thanks for your friendship!

Putting the house and gardens to bed for the winter seems like nesting to me. Because we invite family to celebrate Thanksgiving here, I tend to do the equivalent of Spring cleaning to prepare. I've had a lot of help so far.

My favorite painter has come to paint the soffits and fascia. I didn't realize how badly in need we were of sprucing up around the outside of the house. It looks brand new once again!

The next helper up to bat was the landscaper who helps me put the gardens to bed. Without him things would look really rough through out the winter, and it would be a MESS to clean up in the Spring, just when the gardens should be at their peak.

I have help with the floors and bathrooms, but this is the time of year I take down and wash screens, and wash inside windows. This week, we'll see the man who does the outside windows, the chandelier, and the high windows inside. It's always nice when they sparkle and let in more light.

It's time to think about baseboards and cupboards and pantries and closets. I have a basket of ironing to do when there's something I want to watch on TV, and I've been reorganizing my studio, putting things in order, and trying to bring some logic to the collection of equipment. I need to clean out drawers in the kitchen, and bring some order to the storage cabinet before my sister comes and sighs at me. I need to wash hurricanes and dust lampshades and in general, make the house fit to be closed up for the winter.

This is the first step to nesting for me. Get it clean, and then find a quilt and a good book and light a fire in the fireplace, and simply enjoy the fact that I'm inside where it's warm! My-Sister-The-NUrse commented on Facebook this weekend that she had begun storing up books, on her Kindle, and in traditional form, to read. She's beginning to nest!

The next part of the nesting program will be reading magazines and surfing the web for new soup and stew recipes. I have a nice collection of recipes, but there's always room for more.

It's been an amazing month so far. While I was waiting for Movable Type to let me back into my blog, we became grandparents for the fourth time. Sophie was born early in the month, and she's a charmer with loads and loads of dark hair. I haven't started shopping for her just yet, but I did manage to get her baby quilt done before she was born. Welcome, sweet baby!

My youngest niece turned 21 yesterday. There are at least eight birthdays in October in my extended family, but turning 21 is pretty significant. Happy Birthday, Becca!

Dear Husband has a birthday coming up next week. He has been initiated into the world of Medicare, and if we didn't know our government was screwed up long ago, we definitely do now! We did an on-line enrollment three months ago and still don't have a Medicare number. AND, we continue to get mailings telling us that it's important that he sign up for Medicare before the enrollment period closes. Our government at work.

The boat is home, safe and sound, as is the sailor, home from the sea. The second weekend of October was glorious, the epitome of Indian Summer, and that was the weekend they lifted the boat from Lake Michigan. DH was truly sad to have missed the sailing that weekend, but the following weekend a storm blew in that made him thankful he was home, high and dry! And the storm that came through yesterday was so bad that they closed the Lake Shore Drive bike path, and probably should have closed Lake Shore Drive, too, given that there were 22 foot waves.

I put out the invitation for Thanksgiving for this year, and so far we have between 35 and 40 people attending. I love having the family gather.

Scraps on a Mission has one month left before we give the quilts we have made this summer. We had hoped to finish twelve, but I think the five of us will have completed more than two dozen just since June. This has been a MAJOR growing experience for me. I'm so glad I've had the chance to participate.

Today, I sent off a box of 67 six-inch crocheted squares to Shelly Tucker, who oversees Share A Square from her home in Denton, Texas. Shelly is busy putting together part of the 100 afghans we hope to give to Camp Quality in Frankfort, Illinois, a camp for kids with cancer. Four of us contributed to that box, and another package will go out soon.

It's time to look for a cat! We need to give a needy cat a home. I plan to visit our local shelter, and see if I can't find another cat who will live up to the reputation of my two previous cats. My-Sister-The-Nurse's family speaks in horrified tones about Jamar, my gorgeous Seal-point Siamese, and Edward Scissorhands had a lot of personality, too.

I hope you've all been enjoying October as much as I have. Happy Fall to you all!

I had a lovely conversation with my friend, Shelly Tucker, this afternoon! She reminded me of her Rule of Tens. Whenever you are faced with things you really don't want to do, do ten things you don't want to do, and then treat yourself to something you would rather be doing.

You can do ten minutes of a chore that you HAVE to finish, and then do ten minutes of something that's more fun.

She said that there is a caveat. If you choose to do ten really simple things, like, picking up a paperclip that has been lying on the floor, you are obligated to do 10 times 10! It makes it worth doing the tougher stuff, don't you think?

I love her approach to getting things done. I need to apply it to my life.

Thanks, Shelly, for the visit, your friendship, and for such good advice!

This past weekend was just exceptional! Actually, it started on Thursday. Dear Husband and I celebrated our 21st wedding anniversary. I have to admit that I didn't realize it was our anniversary until the UPS man delivered flowers.

"Flowers?" "Wait, what date is it...?" And then I realized I'd almost forgotten our anniversary. The flowers were from my sister, Frankie, who sent them by way of thanks for nine thank you notes I sent her. I was only nine months late in getting out Christmas thanks, and five months late in doing Easter thanks, but she rewarded me for my hand written efforts with the most beautiful bouquet of coral roses with a lime green foliage and golden rod. The flowers are just exceptional!

So, I sailed into the weekend on a high, having gone to dinner with DH Thursday night, just a laid back meal at a local Mexican place, and then a trip to visit one of his job sites. *G*

Saturday, very early, DH went off to sail and I got ready for family and friends to join us for dinner. Frankie and her husband and their wonder dog Sydney arrived close to 1:00, and a friend of theirs from Wisconsin found his way to us shortly after that. Frankie helped me in the kitchen, getting things underway to make eggplant Parmesan. She also took over the work on the silk flower arrangement on the foyer table. I had flowers I wanted to work with, but couldn't get the ratio of flower and container right. I'll take a picture of it and post it later.

Our oldest sister, My-Sister-The-Nurse, brought her husband and one of her 20-something grandsons to the house shortly after 4:00, and she set up a fabulous appetizer layout for us to nosh on. We continued to pull things together for dinner so that the eight of us were ready to eat on the stroke of six!

Eggplant and Chicken Parmesan, Vermicelli with red sauce, green salad, foccacia and pugliese breads, followed by pumpkin pie. I was going to offer more desserts, but we figured everyone would be stuffed with dinner. I had two-thirds of a pan of the eggplant left, and that's what we had for dinner tonight!

The conversation and laughter at the table was fabulous. We talked about television humor today and what was on when we were kids. Our youngest family member, who has spent most of his growing years in London or Perth, Australia, didn't know the names: Jack Benny, Burns and Allen, Bill Cosby or Jackie Gleason. We were trying to decide what was missing in what they call "comedy" today, and along the way a lot of silly jokes were tossed around.

All of Saturday was in preparation for our attending the dedication of a tree at church in Mother's memory. We attended church, and were blessed with sunshine just before we stepped out for the dedication. Mother's best friend brought red ribbons for us to tie on the branches. Mother's favorite color was red. She would have loved it!

And, the Empty Nesters invited us to join them in their monthly pot luck. I took a raspberry pretzel salad, coleslaw and broccoli slaw to share. Those ladies know how to put on a yummy meal. I need to get the recipe for the fruit salsa!

It was just a great weekend. That feeling has continued today despite the rain. I'm coasting on the joy of spending time with family and friends and just having a darned good time! I hope putting together Thanksgiving will be this much fun!

Yes, let it be heard here: I AM AN OLD FOGEY!

Part of my extended family attended church at my Mother's church this Sunday. My oldest sister and two of her children, my youngest sister and her husband, and a friend of theirs from Wisconsin, Dear Husband and I attended the contemporary service. I have tried to "go with the flow" and just worship and not be critical, but the contemporary service is not for me.

I studied music and music education. Along the way I realized that my way of worshiping was going to involve music. "Make a joyful noise unto the Lord!" And I did, and have. But, at this particular church, for the contemporary service, they post the lyrics on the screens at the front of the church and have two (or more) people at the front of the church leading the hymns. There is no written music to read. It is extremely difficult to sing out (and make a joyful noise), if you don't know the music.

Okay, perhaps if they sang the same songs over time, you might begin to learn the music, but as a visitor I am muffled and can't encourage those around me to sing with me. It defeats my worship, and leaves me feeling cranky.

I understand the reasons for what's being done. The church is saving on the cost of hymnals, and the cost of royalties to project the music on the screens. Perhaps many younger people have not learned to read music, so the hymnal is wasted on them. And the modern music is more in line with what younger people hear and like.

I miss the traditional hymns and the traditional parts of the Protestant services. I miss being able to harmonize and lift my voice in worship. Clearly, I will have to attend the earlier service in the future.

The old fogey has spoken!

Many moons ago, more than twenty five of them, perhaps as many as thirty five of them, there were two nieces and two nephews who went shopping for their aunt. At the time the Kliban Cat with the red sneakers was very popular. These four wonderful children purchased a desk set, two pillow cases and a mug that all were decorated with the red-sneakered cat.

Over time, the desk set has been packed away or lost, but the remaining pieces, the pillow cases and the mug were still seeing regular use. Unfortunately, this week, the mug slipped from my hands and the handle broke!

I was tempted to keep the body of the mug, because I've had so many years of enjoyment from it, but I'm at the time of my life when it's time to simplify, so I bit the bullet and set it out in the garbage.

Thank you, Lynn, Andy, Terri and Steve for a gift that lasted for ages!

And thanks for the grins! Whenever I want to get a rise from your uncle, I put the cat pillow cases on our pillows! *G*

I've been a busy bee!

I have been learning to use my new sewing machine. I bought it for the purpose of machine quilting small to medium sized quilts. It's capable of free motion quilting, as well as straight line quilting using the dual feed feet. I have been trying to do both of these with my very old Singer sewing machine, and it's astonishing how much easier it is to accomplish the quilting when you use a machine built for that purpose. I have now finished one quilt with loopy free motion quilting, and one that is "stitch-in-the-ditch" style. I completed sewing the binding of the larger one this afternoon, another first. I have always attached my binding to the front, pinned it to the back, and then hand-sewn it in place. This time, I sewed it to the back, and then pulled it to the front and machine stitched it down. YEA!!! I have learned SO MUCH since I bought this machine, and have been talking with the ladies of Scraps on a Mission. I feel like I'm growing by leaps and bounds!

I got up early and went out to breakfast. Dear Husband was off sailing, I had a list of chores to do, and got an early start. I planted two of the five mums I picked up earlier in the week, and set the pots on either side of the garage doors.

I fed the birds, and discovered that the rodent population had found the partially empty bag of nyjer seed that I bought for the finches. I forgot to put it in one of the sealed bins, and it didn't take them any time at all to find it and decimate the seed. That will teach me to be sure everything is put away!

I moved my sewing machine back into the studio and reclaimed the dining room. I still have to press the tablecloth but at least one room is getting close to being back to it's normal use. I folded the fabric I bought during August, and stacked it to be ironed later. I organized the equipment on the long table, put things away, and then cut strips of white for the next quilt I want to make. If you receive American Patchwork and Quilting, it's the simple quilt of depression era reproduction fabric and white.

Then, the Nap Monster found me, and took me out for about an hour. Later, I sewed the first of the squares for the new quilt, and then checked the computer for information on roasting a boneless top loin pork roast.

Second Son was making salsa when it was time for me to work on dinner, so we shared the counter space. I steamed green beans, and broccoli and cauliflower, made up some broccoli slaw, and boiled egg noodles to go along with the pork roast. Mother used to make pork roast with browned potatoes, and I think I'll try to recreate that meal later this fall.

The dishes are done, or at least most of them are done. I had to run the dishwasher twice, we had so many pots and pans! It's nice having the counters cleared to start the week.

Tomorrow......grocery shopping, weeding, crocheting squares for Share a Square, and filing are the big boys on my to-do list, with twenty little things to fit in around them. I hope you all have a great week, and that those of you on the east coast are safe and dry.

We've been to the Farmer's Market, and shopped for fruits and veggies for the week.

I have to take the tags for my Share a Square crocheted squares to the teacher's store and get them laminated. While I'm there, I'll visit the bank, which is in the same mall.

I need to pick up backing for a quilt for the church that Scraps on a Mission is making, and I want to see if I can find a few more fat quarters of Depression era reproduction fabrics for a quilt I'd like to make for myself. That project started out as a "use it up, wear it out" quilt, but I need to add to it a bit, so I don't think everything will get used up. Oh darn.....I'll have to make ONE MORE QUILT! *G*

If the storm coming through doesn't last all day, I may try to quilt another lap quilt for Scraps on a Mission. It's pin basted and ready to go. If the storm continues, I'll just pin another top. I don't want my brand new sewing machine on if there is likely to be a power surge that could kill it.

Other than getting a start on some zucchini bread, the rest of the day will be spent lolling around eating bon bons!

It looks like 9:00 at night outside my window, so I think I'll close down until the storm passes by. I hope you're having a great weekend!

I discovered that my husband has a fan club!

This morning before we went to the Farmer's Market, we stopped at Panera for "breakfast." It seems that Dear Husband has been stopping at this Panera for more than a year, ordering a pecan braid and a cup of coffee to start his day. He never varies, except in that he isn't there on Saturdays once sailing season has ended.

So, we are invited to step up to the clerk, and she's chatting away with him, reminding him that he needs to use up his reward drinks within the next two days, and then she asks if I'm his wife!

It turns out the entire staff adores him, and even the bakers like him. This is the place where the baker personalized a pecan braid, writing Dear Husband's name in frosting.

I felt as though I was sitting with royalty for breakfast!

It's amazing how little things make our days so much fun.

Earlier this summer a member of our family who lives in Colorado was passing through the Chicago area and was able to visit with us over dinner. We posed for several pictures after dinner, and I thought I'd post the one where my step-daughter was facing the camera! *G*

The tallest girl and the little one to the left are our granddaughters, and the other little girl is our great niece.

I've been crocheting 6" squares for kids who are cancer patients. When I finish posting here, I plan to do one more. I thought I'd post a picture of the stack I'm getting ready to send to Shelly Tucker. If you'd like more information on this project, go to www.thiseclecticlife.com and look for the FAQ page for Share a Square.

Yup, I've been away since July 24th! This must be the longest hiatus since I began blogging. I've been incredibly busy, and also, at times, a sloth.

We finished cleaning out the documents and had the shredder visit.

I led exercise twice in July, and will lead again in September.

We made a trip to visit with Frankie's family, to see My-Niece-The-Artist off to Denmark.

Scraps on a Mission has met, and we've made more quilt tops. (I'll take a picture of the one I finished on Sunday, and post it.)

Share a Square is up and running again, and I'm trying to get some 6" squares crocheted for them, and looking for volunteers.

The gardens have exploded with the recent rain. and so have the weeds. I finally started my Fall weeding today, and expect to weed daily until we finally get a killing frost.

Sis....I wanted you to know that we're having Mom's barbecue for dinner! *G*

So, filing, quilting, crocheting, cleaning the basement, weeding, exercise...these are the things of my life. Read on for more.

I hope you are all having a great summer!

If you've read here over the past three years, you know that I crochet squares for the Share a Square project. Shelly Tucker of This Eclectic Live has organized people who crochet to make afghans for children who are attending cancer care camp.

I hope that if you know anyone who crochets you will encourage them to go to the FAQ page on Shelley's blog to read up on what she needs. Shelly has a nice group of people stitching away for her, but she can use more help. Every afghan has 80 six-inch crocheted blocks, and each block is from a different person. Our goal is to make 150 afghans to give to kids at camp during the summer of 2011. Shelly is already accepting squares for the first 50 afghans.

If you look to the right, you can see a link with a crocheted block. Your work doesn't have to be this complex. I'm learning a few more intermediate block designs, but I also send simple (old-fashioned) granny squares. The blocks must be crocheted out of worsted weight yarn (acrylic, no wool), and you need to be sure to weave the tails of the yarn through the stitches on the back. End your stitching at a corner, and leave an 18" tail to be used assembling the squares.

Help......we need your help! Join us at Facebook if you like.

We had the pleasure of a long weekend with my youngest sister and her family before my youngest niece flew off to Copenhagen for a semester of study. Frankie tried to stuff us with the most amazing food, beautifully prepared. We actually skipped lunch on Monday because we were so full from the exceptional brunch she had put together.

I was thinking about a snooze that afternoon when My-Niece-The-Artist brought out the sewing machine and started sewing squares together. "Niece....what are you working on?" "A quilt." (Have you ever heard of Eleanor Burn's series "Quilt in a Day"? Or, Mary Ellen Hopkins who makes a quilt within 24 hours so that she can put that date on the quilt? It can be done, but I was surprised she was doing it less than 24 hours before her plane took off.) I offered to pin the rows together. Dear Husband and My-Sister-The-Nurse helped to move the fabric through the sewing machine. We had the top completed shortly after dinner. The Artist and Frankie flew into town to get the batting, and the two of them, and My-Niece-The-Photographer layered and pinned that quilt and Frankie bound it. The Artist packed it in her luggage, and will tie it into a comforter when she is in Denmark. The coolest thing about this quilt, other than the fact that it went together in a heartbeat is that The Artist will be wrapped up in a quilt that everyone had a hand in helping to make. Lots of love in that quilt! I'll have to ask her to send me a picture so that I can post it here.

While we were visiting, there was a plumbing problem in the newer part of the house. As they were trying to get laundry done so My-Niece-the-Artist could pack clean clothes for her trip, they were trying to deal with a leak in the pipes that had water flowing from the utility room to the garage. The problem spread, and they finally called for a plumber. The bathroom, master bedroom, utility room, the stairs to the lower level and part of the garage all need repairs now. My sis and her husband are fortunate that they are empty nesters right now, so that they can move to the older part of the house while the repairs are made. Tree roots. Who would have thought they could cause so much damage!?

Tuesday morning, a week ago, we all gathered for breakfast because The Artist was flying to Denmark, The Photographer and her SO were going back to school, and My-Sister-The-Nurse, Dear Husband and I were driving home. It was a noisy gathering, and we had a great breakfast. Here's a picture of most of the happy diners:

Here's My-Sister-The-Nurse with The Artist. Don't you LOVE the legs???

It was tough to say goodbye, but we all know what amazing memories she will have of this trip, so we sent her off with love and the caveat that she enjoy every moment of her semester.

Will I get to post tonight.......??

YEA!!! It looks like I can! If you've worried that I had fallen off the edge of the Earth sometime during the past few weeks, worry not. Movable Type, at least my little portion of it, has been very quirky lately, and there are times when it will let me type a title, and then it locks me out of the body of the "Create Entry" form. I haven't figured out what's going on. It's possible that I am here today thanks to T's efforts. She hosts my blog, and may have figured out what's going on. To be on the safe side, I'll thank both the gods and T for their help!

Let's see... In the past couple of weeks...

The youth group brought my Mother's things upstairs, and two days later they brought up the boxes of business data from 1986 through 2002.

My siblings came to have a family meeting, and looked through Mother's things. We shared what was of value or sentiment. My youngest sister helped me put the books out on my sewing table, three lines of books six feet long. The kids brought more books, and we lined them up on the floor the width of the room. My oldest sister came on Wednesday, and we chose books to save, and boxed or bagged the rest for the library and Goodwill. We had TWO CAR LOADS of books to donate! Mother was a prodigious reader!

I asked the Salvation Army to collect about a third of the things, and the rest Dear Husband and Second Son have helped to take down to the garbage.

I've spent the better part of the week and all of yesterday afternoon and evening going through the boxes of papers. I went through our personal papers and my Mother's papers, while DH worked on the business. I finished what was left of the business papers this weekend. I pulled most of the paper clips, even after I discovered that they could be shredded. We'll never have to buy paper clips, dividers, or binders again! I think I have 40 or 41 boxes for the shredder, lined up along the back of the fireplace.

This past week, like most of you, we've had heat in the high nineties. It seemed rather warm as i worked on the boxes, and finally I checked the vents. No cool air on the north side of the house. It turns out the motor had crashed, and then something blew in the unit, putting holes in the copper tubing. Since the unit is 22 years old, we decided to put the money into a new air conditioner. The earliest they can get here will be Tuesday, the day Scraps on a Mission meets here. With the air conditioning from the south side of the house and all the fans running, it should be cool enough for the ladies to work on quilts.

I have a lap quilt pinned and ready to quilt. I was so busy this weekend I didn't get to it. It will be the first time I have quilted using my new sewing machine, so I'm looking forward to having the chance to work on it Tuesday.

Dear Husband went to Lake Michigan this weekend to sail. We had major storms last night. He decided that it would be wiser to come home, rather than to try to sail with all that lightening, but he had to wait for a lull in the storm to row himself to shore. So, he was home by 1:00 or so, and I had some help with the boxes.

And that's about it for now. We're all well, and busy and hope that you are, too!

Although I'm sure my husband wishes we'd finished, too!

My youngest sis, Frankie, came to visit yesterday evening. We went to dinner and discussed our plan of attack for Sunday. This morning we got up and emptied the books from my mother's bookshelves. They are all sitting on the table I use in my studio, organized into subjects with three lines of books running from end to end. Frankie also set out pictures in all forms, and photo albums.

We went through a number of cabinets holding china, crystal, and pottery, culling out things from my grandparents, and things that my mother had painted when she lived in the Ozarks. I found my aunt's bone handle sterling silver knives and added them to the growing collection of serving pieces and kitchen items.

Frankie watered outside, while I watered inside. I went out to sweep the walk. As we worked, the first of the kids arrived to help move Mother's belongings from the basement to the first floor.

Ultimately we had one very tall (and handsome) newly-graduated-from-high-school boy, two VERY STRONG (and pretty) high school girls, and two young adults come to work for us. The five of them managed to bring everything I had tagged and more upstairs in less than an hour and a half. Everything was (and is) horribly dusty. I made them all promise that they would never admit that have seen my basement.

My aunt's paintings and mirror, a picture of our very homely Uncle Charlie, linens, clothing, more books, tax info going back 30 years, decorations, old fashioned cameras, slide viewers, bears, candles and candle holders, everything that my mother has collected, and that we have been storing from previous generations was brought upstairs.

My siblings flew through about half of this stuff before we ran out of time for the night. This really isn't my brother's thing, but he picked up my two older sisters and brought them up here, so he couldn't slip away. He'd get ensconced in the living room with Dear Husband and I'd call him back for a job. He's going to go through a collection of pictures and see what of them can be translated into more modern video forms. We also found his baby book, his senior high school play book, and the yearbook from his stay at Great Lakes when he joined the Navy. There were memories to share with him.

My-Sister-The-Nurse is going to return on Wednesday to help me go through the books. Those that are left will go to the library that afternoon. My second sister will return to box up what's left of the clothing, and take that off my hands. Tomorrow morning, if we can fly through things, we will look through twelve plastic storage boxes of quilt and craft things for Frankie's girls.

There's a HUGE amount left. Part of it will go into the garbage pickup. Part of it will go to a charity willing to come to the house to collect it, and part of it will be shredded by a commercial shredder. I won't be able to complete all that this week, but I can minimize it throughout the week.

And then, the youth group will return to bring up the boxes from the business so that we can have the shredder clear them out for us. My house is going to be in an uproar for a couple of weeks, at the very least, but my goal is to have all the table space back by the time Scraps on a Mission meets at the end of the month. I'm sure it can be done.

Wish me luck! *G*

Today, on the radio, there was a discussion of stem cell research and it's possible effect on our life expectancy. The scientist who was being interviewed claimed that there are people in their 40s and 50s right now who will live to be 150 years old!

What interested me was that they weren't talking about extending life as we are presently, but that the treatment would return the person to the physical status of a healthy thirty year old. He claimed that you would look and feel like a thirty year old at 150 years!

It brought to mind the stories by Robert Heinlein, and his character, Lazarus Long. Science fiction is slowly becoming science fact.

My mother said that she didn't care to live to be 100. I'm sure I must have said something like "How can you say that!? Think of all the wonderful things left to do!" But, by 90 years, she had lost most of her friends, and all the family from her generation and older. I wonder if she would have opted for regeneration, or to be allowed to follow those she loved.

The doctor said that they would be able to reverse the trend toward Alzheimer's, but once someone developed the disease, they would not be able to return the memories that had been lost.

Can you imagine almost doubling your life expectancy? Would you rush to do it, thinking of all the grand children and great grands and so on that you would get to know? Would you study another language? How would you support yourself? Would you have three or four different careers, or would you choose to be an expert in one subject? Think of 130 years of trying to decide what meals to fix! Would you have the same husband or significant other for the entire time, or would you marry every 45 years or so?

I really like the idea of having a 30 year old body again. I'd like to be free of the knees and feet that hurt, and the achy back after gardening and so on. But......I don't yet know how I feel about the trade offs.

What would you want to do?

Sunday, my siblings are coming to my home for a family meeting, and to sort through Mother's things that we have been storing since her death.

Mother lived with us for close to 20 years. When she passed away, she was living in an assisted living facility, and we took care of most of what had filled her rooms there within three weeks of her death.

I have coasted through a lot of the past year, knowing that I needed to attend to these things. I've been working on the steps necessary to close her trust, and my goal is to get this done by the end of the summer. I knew that I needed to go through everything in the basement to determine what should be passed on to my siblings, or to charity, but I dragged my feet about it.

I was making quilts for charity with the Scraps on a Mission ladies, and mentioned that I needed some healthy teenaged kids to carry things upstairs for me. Poof! Ask and ye shall receive! One of them talked to the youth pastor and he emailed me that very day!

So, this Sunday at noon, the kids will come to be our "slave labor." They will help us, and we will make a contribution to their Mission Fund. Seems like a perfect swap to me.

I intend to spend time during the rest of the week marking what needs to be brought up, to make things go smoother. I can get some stuff boxed up, and move junk out of the way. The kids are even going to bring up binders and boxes of company information that need to go to the shredder.

Then, at 5:00, my sibs will be here to look through things, and anything we no longer wish to keep will go to one of the charities.

All these years, I've been talking about the dreaded basement, and I am finally going to get a start on it!

Thanks, Mom!!!!

I'm happy, and I'm not happy!

I get to lead the exercise class on Wednesday! YEA! It's always fun to lead the class, and this time my exercise guru is going to be a part of the class. I expect the morning to be fun, so this is the part that I'm happy about.

What irritates me is the new rule the park district has about subs needing to work at least once every two months or they will be dumped from the employment rolls. What this means is that unless I work, I have to go through all the paperwork to be rehired each time our exercise guru might need a sub. Needless to say, all this paperwork can't be accomplished on short notice.

What's really upsetting me about this is that to avoid having to go through all the paperwork, I end up taking work away from this incredible woman who really should be leading the class.

I hope that the bean counters will be overrun with people having to re-register. It should be obvious that it's cheaper to carry the occasional sub on the rolls than it is to have to continually re-do their paperwork. I'm not sure what benefits they expect to see from this policy. The only positive thing I can think of is that the woman I sub for will have a chance to see me at work.

I'm signed up to sub again at the end of July, and then I won't have to sub again for two months. I'm glad the class seems to be comfortable with me leading them, but what a shame this policy takes away a really superb leader!

This week has been a busy one for me. On Tuesday, Scraps on a Mission met here and five of us continued to work on lap quilts for charity. The house was filled with the sound of busy sewing machines and women's laughter. We have five small projects completed, and I have seven more packaged and ready to be pin basted for quilting. YEA!!!

I've been working on the Casa Buffy National Park this week. It's not its stunning best, but we are well on our way to getting things manicured. Dear Husband has seen to the mowing, and I have used the string trimmer and the trimmer with the shrub blade. (Note to self: get that darned blade sharpened!)

I've been getting up at 5:00 in the morning to weed. It's been cool, even chilly at that time of the day, so I've gotten a lot of work done. There are still spots here and there in the gardens that need work, but the overall look is of lawns and gardens that are loved.

Yesterday I weeded for two and a half hours, and then went for a pedicure. A pedicure is one of the absolute best ways to pamper yourself! I came home to work in the office, and then I used the leaf blower to "sweep" the garage. If you try this, I suggest you cover your hair with a bandana, wear a face mask to avoid inhaling the dirt, and remember to carry the blower tube pointing up until you are ready to put it to work. Oh....and move the cars first! lol

Tonight is the "Fourth of July" picnic for my quilting bee. The ladies will bring dishes to pass and Dear Husband and I will grill a variety of meat. This is the only meeting where husbands are invited. I decided to do some extra things for the meal: deviled eggs, hamburger beans and a fruit salad, and we'll provide all the condiments and beverages. I have some cooking to do, so I'll keep this short.

I'm going to see "Larry Crowne" tomorrow. I love all of Tom Hanks movies. I expect this will be rather like "You've Got Mail," not his most serious work, but the perfect sort of movie for a summer afternoon. I need to get bird seed, and potting soil, and rooting hormone in the morning, and I may make a stop at our local farmer's market, and I plan to be lazy and bring something home for dinner so that I don't have to cook. It should be a lazy day!

I hope you will all have a wonderful Fourth of July. Be sure to teach the younger ones why we celebrate, and the responsibilities that come with freedom! Happy Fourth!

I love rainy days! I like to hear the rain on the roof, and watch the drops make the leaves on the shrubs and trees dance and shine. The only thing better than a rainy day is one with my family around!

Last night, two of my sisters and a niece joined us. My-Sister-The-Nurse came to visit and have dinner with us, and my youngest sister, Frankie, and her second daughter are here for a couple of days. I love it when we are together, sharing what's been going on in our lives.

Today, we are going to look at a quilt in progress, and see what we need from the fabric store to complete it. My niece is working on a quilt for her sister as a birthday gift, and that birthday is only three weeks away! And, I need some backing fabrics for three of the Scraps on a Mission tops that I've been getting ready to quilt. I can see that we will be wandering the aisles of the fabric store for a bit.

IF we have a break in the rain, we may do a little trimming in the gardens. I need to deadhead the peonies and cut back the oregano and chives. There are still things to plant, but I think the trimming might be the best use of my sister's help. I'm amazed that she is willing to go out there and risk getting drenched, but we are drip dry, after all.

Tonight, Dear Husband is going to share what he knows about glass blowing, or more correctly, glass work, with our niece. She's an artist in training, and he thought she might like to experience one more medium. This is the girl who welded spoons and forks into an incredible owl for a class project. Who knew she could weld!?!

So, I'm going to have a lovely unstructured day with my family, doing two of my favorite things. Life is Good!

We've had a couple of rainy days this week. We have had LOTS of gray days, but not a lot of precipitation. We live in this tiny dry micro-climate, and storms frequently slide just north or south of us. I'm sure that I80 and I88 direct the rain away from us.

I live in an area where a subdivision can not be built unless there is room for a retention pond to collect run-off from heavy storms. Whoever designed the ponds immediately to the east of us clearly needs to go back to school and take those lessons again.

The first year the ponds were created it became obvious rather quickly that the series of ponds, which interconnect, do not drain fast enough. Their response to it was to increase the size of the middle pond. All along the northern shoreline of the pond are homes with walk out basements, just waiting to flood.

So, with just two days of occasional heavy rain, the ponds have filled up to the point where you can no longer see the concrete culvert connecting two of the ponds, and with just a little more rain the last two ponds might overflow, and meet each other on the road between them. The homeowners must have interesting conversations with the developer when we finally get rain!

I think the developer might luck out this week. As I came home today, I could see from a ring of trash on the grass that one of the ponds has actually dropped eight inches or more. We've had gray skies, but no rain today, so perhaps it will drop some more.

I'm very surprised that they haven't had to increase the size of the tiles to allow for better drainage. Perhaps something downstream prevents them from opening up the flow. Dear Husband wondered if they have ever cleaned out the drains.

We're not in any danger. Our house sits almost at the top of a rise, and we are higher than the area that will flood. I'm just fascinated at the ineptness of designer of the pond, and the fact that the building department wasn't able to determine that the design was inappropriate. It ticks me off that my taxes pay for a department that allows problems like this to slide by.

Could it really be nine says since I last posted? I've certainly thought about posting, but my days have been full, so the ideas haven't made it to the page.

The egrets and herons returned around the seventh of May. We don't have huge numbers of them yet, but I have the pleasure of seeing at least one of them each time I go out. I have seen the big gray herons in flight several times, and they always remind me of pterodactyls.

Up until this week we had a long run of gray weather without the rain. This week we have finally gotten the rain. I made a trip to Morris, Illinois last Tuesday, and was pleasantly surprised to see that about 90% of the fields between Yorkville and Morris were planted, and many even had corn 4-6 inches tall. I know that many of the Midwestern states have had so much rain that the farmers haven't been able to get into the fields. We seem to have been a little area short on precipitation, so I'm not complaining. What I don't care for is being drop-kicked from the 60s to 90 degrees overnight!

Despite my post on being frugal, I bought a sewing machine! I have been concerned that my beloved Singer 301A would eventually go kaput, and not be repairable. I've sewed on that machine for more than fifty years, and adore it! I thought that it might be wise to have a newer machine as a back up, before Dear Husband and I retire. The new machine couldn't be more different. The Singer is a straight stitch portable machine made of iron. While I can drop the feed dogs to stipple quilt, it was never really intended for that purpose. The new machine is computerized, has a built-in dual feed system and an 11 inch opening through which I can feed quilts. There is a built-in needle threader. It has more than 100 stitches, an alphabet and numbers, and pattern memory. I can arrange for the needle to stop in the down position and there is a knee lever for lifting the presser foot. It's possible to run the machine without using the foot pedal. Most women who sew today take a lot of this for granted, but it's all new to me! I hope the learning curve won't be too steep.

I've planted all but two of the plants I picked up in my first garden shopping trip. The last two to go in were purple fountain grass, along the back of the bed next to the garage wall. If I had planted them a month ago, it would have been a lot easier, but this week I had to work around iris that were ready to open, and the last of the tulips. I asked DH to bring a chair and sit where he could keep an eye on me as I planted. I was afraid that I would get into a position I couldn't get out of. Luckily, the plants went in well, and with the use of the shovel handle, I was able to maneuver myself out of a tight spot and back onto my feet. I'm sure that his presence was what made that work. Had he not been there, I'd still be waiting for a hand out of the garden! *G*

I believe that eight to ten iris were blooming yesterday. One was open for a couple of days, and then it was a domino effect. It must have been just warm enough, and sunny enough to move them along on Tuesday. I have a lot of dark colored iris: navy, purple, burgundy, bronze, contrasted with yellow and peach. There's no rhyme or reason. If I see one I like, I try it, and they almost always multiply for me. They are at the top of the list for my favorite flowers.

We are going to celebrate my oldest granddaughter's seventh birthday today. Her birthday was last week, and they did a party for the kids, but the adults are gathering this weekend to celebrate. Last weekend was so popular there wasn't enough time to fit everything in. I was tickled to hear that GD1 wanted to be the Cake Boss. To further this goal, I bought her a Nordic pan that lets you create filled cup cakes that resemble a soft serve ice cream cone in shape when they are assembled. The top and bottom are baked separately, and then pudding or frosting or even ice cream can be spooned into the indentation in the bottom half. I doubt her mother has the time to cook with her, but I thought it might be something that GD1 and I could do this summer. It interests me that it's not the eating of the cupcakes, but the baking of them, that appeals to her.

Tomorrow is Memorial Day. I hope that those of you who have been around for our wars will help our younger generation understand why we choose to remember those who have fought on our behalf.

(I hope that's how you spell it.....it looks right)

At any rate, I have an appointment to talk with a dietitian. I seriously need to loose weight, and I want help creating a structure of meals to follow in planning what I eat during the day.

I've worked at home for twenty years and fell into the trap of snacking through out the day. Food is comfort and love to me, so I frequently think of what food I can serve for family and friends who visit. Rather than looking at food as entertainment, I need to switch my philosophy from "living to eat," to "eating to live."

I need help breaking my eating habits into three smaller meals and two or three snacks a day. My purpose is to keep hunger at bay, while I make sure I hit the food groups I need.

I want to find ways to get more protein into my morning meal, and I want help to determine what volume I should be eating. When you eat all the time, you tend to loose track of how much you should eat.

I know the strategies. I have them in my head. Now, I need to put them to work and see some success. Thank you, to all of you, who have shared your strategies with me. I hope that I'll be able to remember all the great suggestions I've heard.

Exercise early in the day (Kim K.)
Drink WATER (Lynda and Nan)
12 raw almonds make a great snack (Nan) (walnuts, too)
Fat free yogurt as a snack (Dr. E)
Drink water before meals
Put your fork down between bites (Dr. S.)
Make my goal 5 pounds, a manageable amount (Shelly)

Those are just some of the good ideas that have come my way. Perhaps I'll have more to share once I get going on this. If you need to loose weight, don't wait! It gets harder the longer you put it off!

Carrel is the word of the day, and it takes me back more than forty years to the period in my life when I was working on my bachelor's degree. Like may students, studying in the dorm, or in my room when I lived off-campus, was not possible. Too much noise, too many distractions, or just too many other things to do, forced me to look for a quiet nook to study.

At that time you could walk into the stacks of the college library, and around the outside walls of the stack they had places where graduate students could go to study called carrels. Each carrel had a desk and a chair, a light and shelves to hold books that were currently being used. If the grad student was not using the carrel, you could slip into the chair and immerse yourself into your studies. Occasionally someone might walk past you, but for the most part it was a very quiet world that encouraged you to learn.

I remember the dry, slightly musty scent, and the low light level of the walkways. The carrels in use created warm pools of light surrounded by shadows, which provided a sense of isolation that helped keep you on task. You could occasionally hear a voice drift up the stairwell from a lower floor, or hear someone's footsteps on the metal steps. The stairwells were open, but wrapped with a wire grid to prevent people from falling over the side. Probably a good thing given the stacks of books we carried from time to time.

I loved the library, and I enjoyed studying in the carrels. I have a great nephew at school now who has learned to hide himself away when he needs to study. I hope that he comes to love the carrels as much as I did.

My week was unusually tough. I felt like I was rushing around putting out fires, and trying to prevent new ones from popping up here and there. I have not worked in my studio in a month, and the weather has been keeping me out of the gardens while the weeds develop stronger and stronger footholds.

The one pleasant spot in my week has been the crocheted squares from the Share a Square project. Shelly Tucker sent the squares for two afghans to be assembled. One of my friends took one set, and I have the other. I need to get my afghan finished within the next two weeks, so I have been spending the evenings stitching the squares together.

I think that many of us have lost the pleasure working on a project like this gives us. I really enjoy sitting with Dear Husband, assembling these squares while we sit and chat or watch TV. It gives me time to reconnect to him, and also makes me feel that something useful is coming from that time.

Once the squares have been sewn into rows, I'll crochet three rows around the outer edge to finish off the top. I'll take a picture to share with you before I send it on to Shelly.

Share a Square will be starting their third year in August. If you crochet or if you know someone who crochets, who might be interested in making squares for this project, click on the link to the right for further information. You can be stitching now, but you need to wait until August to send your squares to Shelly. It's the perfect way to end a busy day, and a child who is fighting cancer will carry the love you send for the rest of their lives. Give us a hand, won't you?

Our oldest granddaughter's birthday is in May, and we will celebrate with her soon. We were surprised to find at Christmas that she is interested in crystals. When I heard about this, I thought she was into the multi-faceted, shiny stones that you might see in jewelry, but she is more interested in rocks. Her grandfather not only increased her collection of crystals, but found boxes for her to store and identify her rocks. He's gradually helping her to expand this interest, so I wouldn't be surprised to find him giving her rock hammers and things of that nature when she is older. One of Dear Husband's sons has trained in Geology, so we might need to have him arrange a crystal-hunting trip one day.

While I know very little about crystals (although I'm learning more every day thanks to my granddaughter), I do know a thing or two about cake baking and cupcakes. Dear Husband's daughter announced that GD1 wanted to be a Cake Boss when she grew up. There is a show on TV called "Cake Boss." We'd never seen it, and made it a point to watch one day. I have no idea how my granddaughter saw this show, or what about it appeals to her, but it's resulted in frequent bouts of cupcake baking.

I think I have the perfect gift for her. Sur La Table is a chain of stores featuring things for the kitchen, the grill and the table. I was surfing through their newest catalog and discovered a pan to use to make filled cupcakes. Envision the shape of a small ice cream cone from Dairy Queen.....the kind with a sugar cone. This pan will create the bottom piece with an indentation that holds a couple tablespoons of pudding or other fillings, and a top that looks like the swirled ice cream. The pan will bake six sets at a time. Bake, cool, fill, top and dust with 10x sugar and you have an amazing dessert! This is a Nordic Ware pan, so it should be good quality, and long lasting..

I figure I need to buy the cup cake pan to offset the rocks that Dear Husband will be giving her. I hope my step-daughter will still be speaking to me after a few rounds of these cupcakes. Perhaps we can have a baking day at Gramma's! YES!!!

Do you suppose that this will be the child who carries on the sugar crisp recipe for the family?

Moveable Type tells me that my last entry was May 7th. This has been one of those weeks where my blog and a number of fun things have been put on the back burner while I attended to things for my Mother's estate, and other obligations.

I'm happy to tell you that both the egrets and herons have returned. I'm not seeing them in huge numbers, but I've seen an egret a day for at least two weeks, and I finally saw a heron this week. Mother and I used to watch for these beautiful birds as we drove to exercise, and I find I'm still checking out the retention ponds for a glimpse of these beauties.

In 1981 I went to stay with my parents for what I thought would be a brief summer visit, that turned into a year and a half stay. When I graduated from college, my parents and youngest sister moved from northern Illinois to far southwestern Missouri, to Table Rock Lake. My visits to them were during the summer so I had never seen the hills filled with the blooms of serviceberry and dogwood. The area is hilly, and the roads twist around, and you need to pay attention to your driving.

My eyes were drawn to the beauty of those blooming trees, and more than once I came closer to the edge of the road than I should have. It's much like those days, watching for the egrets and herons, but at least the road is straight. Now I just need to worry about cars coming up behind me, wondering about my strange driving.

OUr spring has been mostly gray and wet, except for two unbelievably hot days this week. We made a new record in the Chicago area in the upper nineties on Wednesday. Thursday was almost as hot, but the weekend is thirty to forty degrees cooler. It will be one of those years where spring is missing for the most part, and we go from late winter into summer with no preparation. I don't mind the cool, rainy weather, but I really need to get into my gardens!

I hope you are all faring well, high and dry if you are in the areas with too much water, and able to find a cool spot if you are in the heat Enjoy this day that the Lord has made, we will rejoice and be glad in it. :-)

I noticed that the word of the day is "serviette." I know this word, but I generally don't use it.

My mother and my aunt were big on linens. When my aunt closed her house, preparing to move to an assisted living facility, she had loads of linens to share with us. She no longer needed so many and wanted to pass on to the family things that my grandparents and she had loved and used over the years. I have antimacassars, doilies, serviettes, dish cloths, pillow cases and I think there may even be some sheets.

As a general rule, most of my generation lives a much more casual lifestyle. We don't use napkins that need to be ironed every day, and I rarely use the wash and wear napkins. We're much more likely to grab a paper napkin. But, I can't bring myself to throw or give these things away.

This Easter I let myself be persuaded that we should not use the china and linens. It actually made things easier on everyone. No one had to be chained to the kitchen sink to wash the china, and I didn't have to press napkins for everyone. But it sure seems a shame to own all these lovely things and not use them.

I think Mother's Day would be the perfect day to use the serviettes. Can't you see a table set with beautiful antique linens, china and crystal? I was planning to make grilled cheese, but perhaps I can put together a simple but elegant meal to do justice to the setting! *G*

I've seen egrets this week! Or, maybe I've seen the same egret more than once. He/She must be the scout to see if our weather is ready for the migration! lol Now, I'm watching for the herons. They are harder to see because of their smoky gray color, and how thin they are. If you are not seeing a side view of those birds, you might miss them!

Spring is FINALLY showing up!

I asked the man who has helped with some of our landscaping to fill my veggie beds with a mix of compost and dirt. I thought it would be delivered about three weeks ago, and was getting ready to call to find out what had happened. Dear Husband pointed out that it had been delivered yesterday. I have seeds to plant! I'll have to pass on the spinach until this fall, but I can get other things in, soon!

Tomorrow the Arr!! goes into Lake Michigan. Dear Husband is going to come home tomorrow night. He says that it's a bit too cool to sleep over on an unheated boat. He'll go back Sunday to get things squared away, and I'll spend the day piecing quilts!

Egrets, the Arr!!, seeds and quilting. It's Spring.

Shelly Tucker, the originator of Share a Square, has announced that she has enough squares for this year! YEA!! She has put out the call for enough donated 6" crocheted squares to make 150 afghans, each having 80 squares. Do the math....that's 1200 squares! People have been generous, and she reached her goal for this year.

Once the squares started coming in, Shelly organized people to assemble them into afghans. One of my friends and I have each done one for her, and last week she sent us two more to be done. Now that we are past the preparations for Easter, I should be able to sit each night and work on this project.

If you crochet, or know someone who crochets, please click on the link at the top of my blog, and it will take you to the FAQ page for Share a Square. Shelly is going to do another year of afghans, starting this August. If you want to participate, you could begin crocheting now, but be sure to read through the requirements before you start.

Size is important. Your block needs to be SIX INCHES. Please leave a 12" tail off the corner of your block when you finish the last row. Crocheted blocks only (no knitted ones...they stretch too much). Worsted weight yarn. I know there are a few more guidelines, so be sure to take a look.

Hold your squares until Shelly puts out the call, and then you can send them to the address listed on the FAQ page. If you are on Facebook, you can join Share a Square to keep up on the news for the group.

And.....if you can't contribute squares, you might consider donating cash to cover Shelly's expenses. These afghans go to kids who are participating in Cancer Camp in Texas, Arkansas and Louisiana. It's a really good cause. Help us out, won't you?

Normally this time of year Dear Husband and I make a trip to Indiana to celebrate my youngest sister's birthday. It's rather odd....we drive down and act like couch potatoes, and she slaves over meals for us, and finds great ways to entertain us. It seems backward to me. SHE should be the one we are waiting on.

This year, it was a bit odder still. She packed up her 20-something daughters, their boyfriends, her husband, the dog and half the house and came to us for a short weekend. We met at Portillo's for lunch on Saturday, and then spent a couple of quiet hours catching up and settling in. Sis organized a pizza order and she and DH went off to pick it up, While they were away, I began baking Vernice Kastman rolls for Easter dinner.

After dinner, DH put together his famous lasagna, which is offered at every holiday gathering in this house. Sis did dishes as fast as we got them dirty, and had things pretty well under control by the time we older four decided it was time for bed. The kids were awake for hours more, but the rest of us knew that we needed to get enough rest to make it through the next day.

Sunday morning Sis was up to walk the dog, and I caught up with her around 7:00 a.m. I made an egg casserole, and set out cereal, fruit, fruit juice and bagels. One of the boys told me that he couldn't remember the last time he'd had breakfast, but that didn't stop him from eating it! Sis prepared crudites, and my step-daughter arrived with her spinach dip.

My-Sister-The-Nurse brought most of her family to join us on Sunday. She arrived around noon bearing two hams, a roaster filled with funeral potatoes, a vat of pickled eggs and beets, and assorted other goodies. I made cauliflower with browned bread crumbs, roasted sweet potatoes, tiny French green beans, bread pudding and a pan variation on S'Mores. My brother in law made a dark fudge cake, and my nieces brought green bean casserole, corn, and raspberry pretzel salad. By the time we added DH's lasagna, and his Caesar salad, the island was almost overwhelmed! I'm still stuffed.......and so is my refrigerator!

I love these family gatherings. I like having the chance to talk to my relatives, I like seeing how the little ones have grown. We'll have some wonderful pictures to share soon. My next to youngest niece is a superb photographer and she took wonderful pictures of the littlest members of the family, hamming it up and in repose. She will send some of them to me, and I'll try to post a few of them here.

MSTN and her daughter washed the dishes for me. It wasn't as bad as it sounds. This year they FINALLY talked me into using plastic plates and cups. We put the glasses in the dishwasher and they washed silverware and serving pieces. I kept trying to help, but they kept saying, "GO SIT DOWN!!!"

Frankie and her family were the first to leave, because they had to return to central Indiana. Two loads of cars went to Frankie's home, and then the girls and their boyfriends reorganized their things and drove on to their respective universities. Both the girls had work to be turned in on Monday so I know that it was difficult for them to devote those two days to us, but I'm so glad they did.

And Frankie's birthday celebration...? It will be a little quieter this year than most, but I think she made up for it this weekend. Although she's not posting at the moment, I hope that she will post this summer and tell you about her return to "throwing pots." She's quite the artist, and it contemplating a new career in clay. (Besides, she nags ME to post....she should TOO!!)

So, I hope your weekend, and your Easter celebration was as wonderful as ours. If you find yourself alone for a holiday in the future, join us here. We love visitors!

My sister pointed out to me that I had not posted in some time. It's been a busy spring, despite the fact that it hasn't seemed warm enough to get out into the gardens. We're getting ready to host about 25 people for Easter dinner. I've been cleaning and sewing, reorganizing spaces, and today I caught up with some of my paperwork.

Read on, to see what else has been going on the past few weeks.

My youngest sister is a teacher, and last week she was on Spring Break. Each day she posted how she had chosen to use the day and everyone sounded envious of all the fun she was having. She came to visit us and rather than get some much needed work done on our Mother's things, we vegged out on Friday. I know I'll regret that, but it was really nice to be a sloth, and visit and chat and snooze and eat. It turns out we were charging up for Saturday.

Saturday morning we met our oldest sister and we spent the day shopping in a four by three block area of Naperville. It started with dropping off knives to be sharpened, then we browsed our way through Penzy's Spices, Barnes and Noble, a new tea shop, and a boutique before walking back to have lunch at Hugo's Frog Bar. Luckily the cars were just across the street, so we left the morning's round of purchases in the cars before going to lunch.

Lunch was to die for! Our waiter was perfect. He had the answers to a multitude of questions and was present when needed, otherwise unobtrusive. We ordered fish tacos, seared scallops and a jumbo lump crab cake, and all three of us were totally happy with the meal. I enjoyed it so much that I told Dear Husband that we needed to plan a lunch-time visit so that he could enjoy it too. (I had the crabcake!) (With a heavenly remoulade)

We had a loose list of other shops to visit. Sur La Table was right next door, so we started there. I bought an immersion blender that I had been coveting for some time. Chico's was next, followed by Eddie Bauer. Since we were right there, we paused for tea at Starbuck's, and stopped at Anderson's Book Store as we worked our way back toward the cars. The list doesn't seem terribly long, but we spent SEVEN HOURS together. I was absolutely astonished. I don't think I have ever shopped that long before, but the company was so totally entertaining that I never realized how much time had passed.

While we sat at Starbuck's my techie little sister took out her phone so that we could make a list of what we needed for Easter, and had the menu planned in no time flat. We thought of one more of Mother's quirky sayings, and that went into the phone, too! And while we were in Sur La Table, she opened an app to try to find out what music they were playing. Those phones are scary, ya know?!

I hated having to say goodbye to our oldest sister. I think Saturday may go down as one of the best days I've ever had. My youngest sister stayed a second night with us, but by morning, she was thinking about all she needed to get done before school resumed today, and she was on the road before 11:00. We are a family that worries, so she called as she got to the outskirts of her home town, to let us know that the trip had gone well.

Both my sisters and their families will join my family for Easter. We are all conscious of needing to store up memories. We can only hope that Easter Sunday will be as wonderful a day as Saturday was. Perhaps we will be able to share that wonderful sense of community with our children and grandchildren.

We have had the oddest problem in the main bathroom. We thought that condensation from the upstairs bathroom pipes was dripping onto the ceiling drywall. Eventually it became so bad that the wallpaper began sliding off the wall! At that point, I nagged Dear Husband and Second Son into checking it out, to determine if we needed a plumber or whether we could do the repairs on our own.

It turns out that the medallion behind the handle of the upstairs shower was coming unscrewed from the fiberglass shower wall. When SS would shower, he'd splash water on the wall and it would slide behind the medallion and soak the ceiling. We might not have discovered the truth of it, if the ceiling had not been opened, but when we saw the volume of water that covered the counter, potty and floor in the lower bathroom, we knew that more sleuthing was needed.

Dear Husband seriously caulked behind the medallion, and pushed it back into place, removing the excess caulk that squeezed out. He tightened the screws to re-secure the medallion to the wall, and then they did the shower test. No drips. A second test the next day. No drips! YEA!!!

Today, my favorite contractor, our painter, came to strip the wallpaper, close the ceiling, and spackle rough spots. Tomorrow he will paint, and hopefully, our bathroom problems have come to an end.

I have egg on my face in a major way!

Today, I received an e-mail from a friend about children of Congressmen not having to pay back student loans. I had just been listening to a local radio program where the speaker was talking about how much it costs to send students to various colleges for four years. The cost is astonishing! Moderate expenses might be $60,000 or so for room and board and tuition. Most private schools are much more expensive than that for four years. The students or their parents are left with huge loans that have to be repaid, and a years worth of some of the payments could be the equivalent of buying a brand new car for cash each year!

At any rate, I read the opening of this e-mail and saw red. I hit forward, added a personal message, and then sent it to almost everyone in my address book. (Those who live outside the US were spared, as were business contacts.)

So, I started to post the message here, and found myself writing "If the item about not having to pay back student loans is true..." I hadn't checked. Drat! I'm always the one who gently tells friends that they should check with Snopes before sending on rabel-rousing e-mails. So I checked, and sure enough, most of it was false.

I HATE making an error of that magnitude. The only good thing that might come out of it is that I'm bound to hear from a lot of people I haven't talked with for a while. Of course, they will be writing to tell me that they forwarded it BEFORE they read my mea culpa.

For the record, I think an amendment requiring Congress to operate under the same rules as everyone else in the United States is a good thing. They should be required to participate in Social Security, Medicare, and the health care reforms, and they should earn MODEST pensions based on years of service. If there's a grassroots movement out there to accomplish this, I'm all for it!

And for the record, I'll be more careful about what I pass on in the future.

Mea culpa!

There's nothing earthshaking to note today, but I have a lot of tidbits to share.

The amaryllis bloom that I posted about recently has begun to wither, but the bloom on the second stalk is just starting to open! Tomorrow, I'll cut off the first stalk and move the supports to the second. I think we'll have another week to ten days of pleasure from this plant. This summer, I'll put all four of the amaryllis plants outside, in a bid for a Christmas display.

Dear Husband and I had a light breakfast together, and talked about our (read:MY) plans for the weekend. I want his help to clean out the mudroom closet and the shelves under the counter. The hanging things are his, and I suspect there are dead boots and odds and ends that could be thrown out. I need to have him tell me why something should be kept.

I hadn't intended to clean out three of the shelves in the cleaning pantry, but I wanted to put away the food processor, and it seemed like a good time to do the job. I store potatoes, onions and garlic on the lowest shelf, and discovered four sweet potatoes lodged behind the onion bin. Wouldn't you know that I had just sent DH off to buy a sweet potato? I reorganized all the cleaning products, threw out an old iron (there were three stored there, I should really throw out one more), and generally got things into a more usable order. When DH returned I told him where to find the mink oil for his shoes, and he said he had just purchased more mink oil, not knowing it was there. I handed him two containers, and the brush. I think we need to do this reorganization about once a quarter until we've used up all the doubles and triples of things. Note: I did this with the food pantry and the freezers last week!

Mark the calendar. Today was the first day we have seen chipmunks for the 2011 warm season, and they are exceedingly frisky! The gray squirrels have been ruling the roost during the winter, but these little rodent cousins will eat them out of house and home now that they are awake.

My brother-in-law's sister, Karen, is in the hospital. She may have had a heart attack. Prayers and positive thoughts would be welcome.

I've started a book called "The Coffee Trader," by David Liss. It's set in Amsterdam in 1659. I love novels in historical settings. If this turns out to be a good book, I'll post more about it later.

I have to buy a skein or two of red yarn this weekend. I am assembling an afghan for Shelly Tucker, the organizer of "Share a Square." She has organized the donation of more than 12000 six inch crocheted squares, as well as the assembly of these squares into 150 afghans for kids who will be attending cancer care camp this summer. It's been a pleasure to be a part of this effort. If you crochet, or know someone who crochets, Shelly will be organizing a repeat effort for 2012, starting in August. Visit her FAQ page for information on what she needs.

I had a good day yesterday in the sewing room. I have just two seams to sew and I will have finished the second of five or six baby quilts I plan to do this year. YEA!!! I have the parts cut for one, and half of another, sailboat quilt. There are times when it's just comfortable to sit and cut pieces for quilts. I have another quilt on which I've completed the blocks, and just need to sew them together.

SUN!!! OMG, the SUN IS SHINING!!! I understand that we are supposed to have a week of gradually warming temperatures, with some sunny days. THIS is what I have been missing for the past two and a half months. I think that I experienced a little SAD this year, and I'm very happy to have this glorious light around me!

And with that, I think I'll open the shades in the studio and sew for a bit. I hope you're all having a great weekend. Don't forget to turn your clocks back!

Why is it that when you want to try a new recipe, it seems that you are always lacking just one ingredient?

I am a new subscriber to Cook's Country magazine. I've been a part of the America's Test Kitchen family for a long time, but I've used the cookbooks and the Cook's Illustrated magazine.

So, my first issue arrived and I sat down to browse through it. YUMMY recipes, a lot of comfort food, not especially oriented toward someone on a diet, but great older recipes updated. There were several recipes I wanted to make immediately!

No....I need smoked paprika for the paprika potatoes. Hmmmm, no half-and-half for the cheese sauce for the broccoli. Darn! I need HOT Italian sausage for the "Quick Sunday Gravy," Dutch-processed cocoa and milk chocolate chips for the chocolate pudding. Ooops...that's two ingredients. Oh nevermind, it calls for heavy cream, too. I don't think I have clam juice in the pantry to do the popcorn shrimp, and there are no Granny Smith apples for the apple fritters!

I've been told that if the local grocery store runs out of anything, they could call on me, but I can see that I'm falling down on my motto of "Be Prepared!" I don't mind having to wait on most of this, but the potatoes and fritters are really talking to me! *G* Maybe it's a good thing I don't have all the ingredients.

We have a daytimme racoon, which is a bit unusual. For the most part, raccoons are nocturnal. However, this raccoon seems to have a problem. The first thing you notice is that it walks oddly, protecting it's back right hip and leg. The second thing you see is that it's missing a large part of its tail. The guys in this household have taken to calling it "Bob."

I've watched this animal for several days. It comes to gleen what it can from under the bird feeders. Its winter fat has faded, but it's not gaunt. When he, or she, walks, she puts the right foot down carefully, so I think the damage might be higher up. She doesn't limp as much as she shuffles.

Either this animal has been clipped by a car, or a larger preditor may have hurt it. We have learned not to feed the raccoon population, but it's very hard to keep from helping this one. I really don't want to encourage it to stay. I suppose it would be best to let it sink or swim on its own, but I hope it recovers.

I HAVE to find a job!

How do you go about figuring out what to do, especially in THIS job market, when you have done only three jobs in your adult life? I know my strengths, but I also know my weaknesses, and I'm having trouble believing that someone would care to hire someone my age, with the skills I have to offer.

I feel a bit overwhelmed.

I knew there would come a day when my husband and his partner disbanded their company. Our partner is older, and has already reached retirement age. Dear Husband is coming up on it quickly. Unfortunately, I'm a bit younger than they are, and still need to work.

My youngest sister suggested that I might be working for MickeyD for a few years. Unfortunately, I don't think I'll be able to do a job that requires I stand all day.

I can remember driving my mother somewhere, talking about this situation. It must have been eight or ten years ago, so I was concerned about it even then. At the time, I was worried about having to work away from home, when Mother might need me. I turned to her and flippantly said, "Pehaps I'd be a success at phone sex!" Not a rise......not even an eye roll.

I am so envious of those of you who can reinvent yourselves and move on with your lives. I need to get out of my rut, and figure out what I might be able to do that pays more than minimum wage.

I presently manage an office of one. I use Quick Books (with occasional help from the CPA), Word, and Excel. On the right keyboard, I can probably type roughly 60 wpm. (I plan to ditch the streamlined keyboard I have and go back to an older model with higher keys and a caps lock light.) For my present company I am responsible for Accounts Receivable, Accounts Payable, banking, filing, and I am the back up Payroll person. I determine expenses per job and provide material waivers. I am a notary public. I also manage an LLC which rents two business condos. I can do double entry manual bookkeeping, but I doubt there is a company left that doesn't do it's books electronically.

In another life I was a grade school band director. I don't wish to substitute. It's a whole different world out there since I last taught, and I'm not prepared to deal with kids on a daily basis. However, from that experience I bring the ability to organize large groups of people, to plan goals, and determine the steps necessary to reach those goals. I'm trying to apply those abilities to my current situation, but it's easier to do when you are not focusing on your own needs.

I have the feeling that this is going to be an on-going series of posts. Feel free to jump in with suggestions, or tell me to stop whining. The door is open.

We had the oddest weather yesterday. We had a little bit of everything except warmth!

There was sunshine early in the day that gave way to our usual gloom. We had a bit of snow, but nothing that amounted to anything. Then it rained, and by ten at night we had lightening and thunder, along with a major downpour.

When I woke this morning, everything was swathed in ice! The trees are gorgeous, glistening in the sun. It won't last long now, but the first half of the day looked like a fairyland, with all the glitter from the shrubs and trees. Unfortunately, the road had pockets of ice that made driving very dangerous. On my way to exercise I saw the first accident on our road in the 20 years that I've lived here!

It's actually supposed to be colder tomorrow, but the forecasters are teasing us with the possibility of temperatures in the forties on Friday.

Wowwwwwwww.......a heat wave!

The amaryllis is at least 34" tall, but since I last wrote about it, there is another bud stalk coming up, and there are at least four leaves. The longest leaf is about eight inches long, the others are just starting to come up.

The bud on the tall stalk is just beginning to open. I noticed a slit on the outer shell, and you can see the tips of the flowers within.

Perhaps most people are not as interested in how an amaryllis grows, but it reminds me of my father. The last year or so of his life, I lived in Missouri in a cabin on my parent's property. I worked for my Dad, and ate meals with them. Dad had built a rustic fireplace in the dining room and that particular year, Mother was growing an amaryllis. Dad's chair at the head of the table had him facing the fireplace, and as the amaryllis grew, he kept track of its height by measuring it against the stones of the fireplace. We received a daily report, and it created a sense of anticipation as the stalk grew taller and taller.

I'd forgotten how tall this particular amaryllis was. It might have skipped a season of bloom, or perhaps I was just too busy last year to make a mental note about it's growth. My Mother would be thrilled to see it blooming again. I'm sure she would encourage me to take pictures and print them out for her. She truly loved these flowers.

I'm blessed that such simple things bring good memories.

How does a squirrel remember where he's stashed his food?

I just fed the birds, and I had half a bag of peanuts in the shell that I decided to give to the local squirrel population. I use the top of a recycling bin when I don't want to set things right on the ground, so I poured the peanuts out onto it. It doesn't take the grapevine long to announce that I've put out food, so by the time I was in the kitchen the back yard was a beehive of activity.

I stood at the window and waited to see if the squirrels would show any interest. One did. I think he might be at the top of the pecking order because none of the other squirrels went near the peanuts. Alpha found them right away, picked one up, secured it in his mouth, and charged off. I watched him repeat this procedure a dozen times or more. I know that he will move every one of those peanuts within the next fifteen minutes.

He's buried them all within the cleared area of our lawn and gardens, on the north side of the house. Several are under tufts of grass, and more of them have been tucked into my herb garden. Some of them are under piles of leaves at the edge of the lawn, and at least one of them has been tucked into the dirt at the edge of the raised veggie bed.

But.....there are no little markers saying "Peanuts, here." There's nothing to remind him where he put these things under piles of leaves. HOW is he going to find them again? Thank God these were roasted, or we'd have peanuts growing all over the place this summer! I can see how the chipmunks have repopulated the dill and cosmos and tiny tomatoes, and I think it's possible that their bigger rodent cousins have helped!

It was fun to watch, another of the gentle amusements that are a part of living here.

I love my youngest sister dearly, but there is quite a dichotomy between her life and mine. Lately, I've thought her life is MUCH more interesting than mine!

On Face Book last night, she quoted Thoreau: "We live meanly, like ants." She asked what we thought he meant by that. Her reading is extensive, and she frequently finds concepts to apply to her own life, and she's had an incredible influence on the lives of the students she teaches.

The most involved passage I've read lately is a recipe for Bolognese sauce!

Way to go, sis! Keep up the quest, and you'll be young forever!

We have gone from the frigid blizzard to Spring rains. Tonight we may return to the snow, but we are not expecting another blizzard.

Dear Husband and I made a quick trip to the grocery store this morning. I had intended to wile away the morning working on baby quilts, but it seems that I've frittered it away! I need to clear off kitchen counters, have some lunch, finish defrosting a turkey breast for dinner tonight, and then MAYBE, I might get to that piecing. How is it that time gets wasted like this?

I talked with one of my sisters for about 20 minutes or so, and I read my e-mail. I've visited my blog and published two comments (one of which was my own! lol) I put away groceries, and made toast. I gotta get to bed earlier so that I'm up at five o'clock! I do my best work early in the day, and maybe I wouldn't fritter as much.

So....I'm off to get things going. I hope you're having a great day today, rainy or not!

Imagine my surprise when Dear Husband turned to me and asked if I cared to go grocery shopping with him! I had been wanting to take him to a local chain that carries almost everything Italian. We finally made that trip, and it was fun to see him checking out the aisles. I believe that he could have happily spent three hours shopping!

So, we went again today. This time I had several new recipes in mind, and it was the perfect place to get the ingredients. I have never cooked with fennel. At this store fennel is called "California anise." I think fennel might be one of the ingredients that gives a vegetable broth depth and complexity. I plan to make my own vegetable broth for soup later this week. I need to read up on using fennel, so that I know how much to use, and whether to use the lacy greens or just the bulbous part.

We found a pasta called "mafaldine" that might work in a pasta dish I want to do. I've found a lightened version of Bolognese sauce to try later this week. I bought several small eggplants and plan to roast them for this casserole using Bolognese sauce, cubed eggplant, crumbled Italian sausage and mafaldine. The pasta is a long strip that has a ruffle on one long edge.

I have a new recipe for bread pudding for dessert on Valentine's Day. This one calls for coconut milk. We found cans of it in two of the ethnic sections. I could see the wheels turning as Dear Husband looked at all that was offered and though about how he might use things we don't normally have in our pantry.

We're going to make saganaki one evening, and one of the deli men talked us into trying a cheese other than Kaseri. I'm too lazy to look up the name. I'll let you know what it is if it turns out to be good! *G* We also bought Gruyere for something called a "Grape Pickers' Skillet" that's in the February "Cuisine at Home" magazine. My only other experience with Gruyere is in fondue.

It was fun! We so rarely get to shop together it was novel to spend the time wandering through the store. I'm delighted to have some new things to try. DH helped me bring in all the goodies, and put lots of them away for me. It's been a pleasant day, one I hope we'll repeat occasionally.

Can someone explain to me why it is that whenever I really would like to find someone to talk to on-line, everyone is in sleeping, or out in the sunshine, or celebrating with their families or in general off living their lives????

I am probably on-line more than the average woman my age, but I have retreated from the point of being addicted to my computer. But on those rare times when I would really like to chat with a friend, it always seems that I am out of sync time-wise. Either my English friends have long ago gone to bed, or my local friends are otherwise occupied.

Why is that!?

I've been so busy lately working on two charitable activities that I'm out of touch with my friends. You'd think with all the bad weather and snow we've had, that everyone would be glued to their computers for lack of anything else to do. Perhaps laundry, dishes and cleaning have taken priority.

This too shall pass, and then perhaps I'll be the one guilty of sleeping in, or weeding, rather than attending to my friends. If I have missed you of late, we are fine, we hope you've come through the bad weather well, and I'll chat with you soon!

Mother Nature is chillin us out! We're supposed to get to a low of minus six degrees F. tonight, and -11 tomorrow night. About all I can say is that Dear Husband better be prepared for me to snuggle!

I'm going to add an extra quilt to my side of the bed. I'm thinking about wearing an old long-sleeved turtleneck to bed with my flannel jammies. I'm going to burrow in!

I'm supposed to go to exercise tomorrow. I really need to be there, to collect granny squares for Share a Square. We have at least 80 ready to be sent off, I think, and I don't want to miss picking them up. I want to have the time to box them so that they will be ready for the Post Office when I have to go out again on Thursday.

The mantra for this week, is BUNDLE UP, STAY WARM, STAY AT HOME IF YOU CAN!

Well, not really. We are one of thousands of households in the Chicago suburbs who have weathered the Blizzard of 2011. Our newscasters tell us this was the third worst winter storm since they started keeping stats on the weather here.

Tuesday morning, Dear Husband finished up on a job site and made it home in time to drive me to the grocery store. The roads were clean at noon, following a small snowstorm, and I could have driven myself, but I wanted to give him the chance to pick up whatever he might want to weather the storm. It started snowing around 3:00, and the snow was so dense that it almost looked foggy. It was forecast that we would have 8.5 inches of snow by 10:00. I think we lagged behind a bit, but obviously the snowfall increased over night.

The wind picked up, and it was fierce. I was so concerned about the wind bringing a tree down on the house that I gathered my clothing and anything I might need for today, and moved it closer to the interior of the house. We have a gorgeous old evergreen tree that stands next to the SW corner of the house. That corner has two skylights over our bathroom and dressing area, and I was worried about that tree coming through the skylights Still...I went to bed. There was no point in sitting up and worrying about it.

When I woke, it was sunny, and the wind had abated. Dear Husband was plowing the driveway and the area on the east side of the house. My stepson had shoveled during the night (he's a night owl), and DH had even put out seed for the birds. Tomorrow, I'll shovel a path to the bird feeders and fill them up again.

We think we got 22 inches of snow. It's tough to get an accurate reading because of the incredible drifts. We have an herb garden on the north side of the house that is raised to the height of two landscaping timbers. You can see the head and shoulders of the St. Francis statue in the center bed. The southern side of the bed has two spare timbers sitting on one edge, and you can see just the side of the top spare timber! You can't tell where the beds are and where the walkways are.

We lucked out. No interruption in electricity or any other services. The house is warm, we have light, and the computer and TV are working. I spent the day in my fabric sweatshop, cranking out pieces for charity quilts. It's been a great day. It feels as though it should be Sunday.

One more thought. I was railing at DH that people no longer help each other because we are afraid of being sued, but today I heard TWO stories from friends about neighbors who had come to shovel them out. There's hope for us all, yet! Go visit Joy, at the Joy of Six blog. She was one of the lucky recipients of neighborhood kindness.

How can it be that we are already at the close of January? I've been busy all month, as I am sure you have, and I'm satisfied with what I have accomplished, but there's a lot left to do. Scraps on a Mission is coming along nicely, and I've got the tax planners for our personal taxes, and Mother's final tax return. We plan to shop for carpeting for the hallway, and for the living room, which is long past needing to be replaced. We're ready to face February and see what our shortest month will bring.

I was talking with Dear Husband about the need to clean out the basement. Our basement is truly a disgrace. I don't trust my knees on the stairs, so I go downstairs very infrequently. I think I'm going to need to live in the basement during February, because so much needs to be done.

We need to destroy documents from our company dating back to 1986. We need to destroy personal documents that we no longer need. I need to gather all my Mother's things into one section of the basement, so that my family will be able to see them, and decide what we will do with them. I need to store all the Christmas decorations in their bins, and throw away a collection of boxes that we probably no longer need. AND, I should go through a collection of ancient electronic stuff, to determine what needs to be given to the recycling center. All of February, right? Maybe I need to put up a bed down there, and add a hot plate and refrigerator! lol

I'm looking forward to Spring, and warmer weather, but not until this mess has been sorted out. I'll take my cell phone with me, in case anyone needs me. *G*

How can it be that we are already at the close of January? I've been busy all month, as I am sure you have, and I'm satisfied with what I have accomplished, but there's a lot left to do. Scraps on a Mission is coming along nicely, and I've got the tax planners for our personal taxes, and Mother's final tax return. We plan to shop for carpeting for the hallway, and for the living room, which is long past needing to be replaced. We're ready to face February and see what our shortest month will bring.

I was talking with Dear Husband about the need to clean out the basement. Our basement is truly a disgrace. I don't trust my knees on the stairs, so I go downstairs very infrequently. I think I'm going to need to live in the basement during February, because so much needs to be done.

We need to destroy documents from our company dating back to 1986,and personal documents that we no longer need. I need to gather all my Mother's things into one section of the basement, so that my family will be able to see them, and decide what we will do with them. I need to store all the Christmas decorations in their bins, and throw away a collection of boxes that we probably no longer need. AND, I should go through a collection of ancient electronic stuff, to determine what needs to be given to the recycling center. All of February, right? Maybe I need to put up a bed down there, and add a hot plate and refrigerator! lol

I'm looking forward to Spring, and warmer weather, but not until this mess has been sorted out. I'll take my cell phone with me, in case anyone needs me. *G*

Could you PLEASE explain to me why someone in a third world country feels it's appropriate to spam my blog? It's not like I have a gazillion readers, and by now you'd think they would have figured out that most comments have to be approved, and I'm just dumping them in the trash.

Please, you turkeys, go find someplace else to roost!

(Now, watch, it will take me hours to clean out all the comments. Sheesh!)

I was cleaning the kitchen Sunday and discovered that "something" had taken bites out of a plum tomato on my kitchen counter! I had just two tomatoes and had put them in the fruit bowl to make more room on the counter.

I showed the tomato to Dear Husband, as evidence of at least one BRAZEN mouse in the house. I set the other tomato back in the bowl, and used bleach on the counter.

Monday......the top of the tomato was chewed away.

I need a cat.

It's time to practice 2011, 2011, 2011!

And it's time to leave the weeks of celebration behind and get back to our usual lives. Well, almost! lol

My quilting bee meets the first Friday of the month. That would be this coming Friday. I leave my Christmas decorations up until they have visited, and then everything comes down. I really enjoy the wreaths and swags and decorations. I love the red bows and strings of lights. I'm glad to have them for just a week more, especially since they didn't go up until mid-December.

Most of us are back to our regular schedules now. This morning I filled in for my exercise guru, and I'll get to do that again on Wednesday and Friday. Wednesday's class will be smaller, as many of the class will be on a trip to see "The Mikado," in Chicago. Today, one of the class clowns, someone who must be nearing 80, turned the lights out while we were in the middle of a cardio exercise. I get that he doesn't want to be there, but I wish he would find less dangerous ways to express himself.

I'm working on several small quilts for our charity quilting group. I've found blocks from previous projects, "orphans," that have made a great basis for several small quilts. It's wonderful to find homes for these pieces and know that nothing is going to go to waste!

I'm going to make apple bread this afternoon, which will be the last of the tea bread for a while. I made five loaves of pumpkin/walnut bread, two loaves of banana nut bread, and I'll make two loaves of apple bread. Dear Husband has an early morning sweet tooth, and he takes a slice with him on his way to work. All the bread, with the exception of one banana-nut loaf is in the freezer. I won't have to bake for a while. DH will make these loaves last!

And.....bills. I have bills to pay today. I wonder how many times I will print 2010 rather than 2011??? Onward and upward!

We had a beautiful White Christmas. Not too much snow, just enough to give a good cover and make everything look lacy and pristine. IT looked traditional, old-fashioned, even, and I really enjoyed it.

Yesterday, though, it started to RAIN! Who ever heard of rain in December in Illinois!? It was a light rain, but between the rain and the fact that it was in the forties, the snow was a gonner. Well, almost a gonner. We still have a light patch here and there, and the mounds that were plowed to the side of the drive are hanging on, but I doubt they will make it through the night.

We could have really used this rain in October and November. It's hard on the perennials and trees to go into winter without adequate moisture, and it's tough on perennials to have to get through the winter without the insulation of snow cover, and the resulting drink they get from the spring thaw. This evening our temperatures are supposed to drop back down well below freezing, into the twenties. Plants will shiver and party-goers will need to be careful on icy streets on their way home.

I suspect that we are all doing the same thing right about now. We've spent so much time working on Christmas in the past month that we need to play catch up during this last week of the year.

I have not had a chance to be in my studio for about two weeks. Two of my quilting friends have donated close to 500 yards of fabric to Scraps on a Mission, which makes quilts for people at our local hospitals. One of the Empty Nesters wanted to get a project like this started, and I offered my assistance. Now I spend my time cutting out kits for ladies to assemble this summer, and I am the keeper of all that fabric! I've organized it into six boxes, plus a box of kits, and that seems fairly manageable. I've washed part of it, and now I need to press some of the fabric that I want to cut. My goal is to get the cutting table cleared off, and two projects set up for cutting in the future.
AND....I have a quilt on my design board that needs to be sewn together. I have plenty to do in the quilt section of my life.

Do you still iron? For the most part I've found clothing that doesn't need a lot of pressing, but I have a FULL to overflowing ironing basket at the moment. The napkins from Thanksgiving, white antique pillowcases with the crocheted or embroidered trims, a couple of small table cloths, my Mother's Christmas apron, and an immense stack of quarter-yard pieces of quilting fabric all need to be done. I may set the board up in the living room and iron after dinner until I get it done!

I've been crocheting squares for Share A Square 2010. If you're not familiar with this group, please click on the link to the right for more information. I've encouraged the members of my exercise group to make six-inch granny squares, and so far we have created 98 squares. I find that I can make one square while I watch (or listen to) a one-hour T.V. show. Over the past 45 days I've made about 30 squares. If I can make the time, I'd like to make two more before I send off my current mailing, so that I can say we have made an even one hundred! And, of course, this is on-going.

One of the reasons I need to clear off the table in the studio is to make a sorting area for personal papers. I hope this is a project that won't take more than a day or two, and the sooner I get it done, the better. DH says I keep EVERYTHING. He's almost right. There are a few insignificant things I throw away during the year. Which means, that before I do our taxes, I need to sort through all this stuff to determine if there is anything which needs to be kept for taxes. DH and I will need to be meeting in the basement on a nightly basis in the future to destroy documents. He gets to work on things for the company, and I will need to work on our personal papers. I doubt we need to keep the gas and electric and phone bills from 20 years ago. Besides, I want to reuse some of the binders to hold my cooking magazines!

I also need to file the papers I've been collecting on my Mother's behalf. I'm pretty sure that I can get things down to several three ring binders, and I'll check with the CPA to determine how long those will need to be kept.

I might see the top of the desk again, soon! What a pleasant and amazing thought that is! lol

So, I assume that most of you go through this same procedure, of catching up with your lives following Christmas. I wish you smooth sailing and great success as we move toward 2011.

I've found a person with whom I am totally in sync! My Postmistress!

Today, when I stopped to send a box to my sister, this lady and I were the only two in the post office. I have decided to be politically incorrect and wish people "Merry Christmas." They may respond as they wish, so I'm going to say what I want.

So, I told her I knew it was politically incorrect, and then wished her a Merry Christmas. She agreed with me! And that started off a five or six minute conversation about all the things we object to in our current government.

The upshot of our conversation was that if we don't tell our government that we object to the decisions they are making they will never know that they are on the wrong track. Those of us who have been part of the Silent Majority now need to take responsibility for where things are going. Write your representatives. Tell them what you think, and continue to let them know what you think.

And for my part, I wish you a Merry Christmas!

A bucket list is an on-going thing. There will be things you get to cross off, and things you realize you need to add. Tonight I've thought of something I want to add to my bucket list.

I want to visit the Arizona memorial.

I've read about Pearl Harbor and December 7th all my life. I've read the history of the bombing, and seen movies and documentaries on the subject. Tonight, on the news, we were reminded that the bombing took place 69 years ago, and there are 3,000 or fewer people alive who survived that day.

I want to go and pay my respects to all the people who lost their lives when the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor, and thank them for their service.

My fingers are so cold I can barely type, and I haven't even been outside today! Snow and cold moved into our area late at night on December 3. I went to the quilting bee Chistmas dinner that evening, and the cold front moved over the area while we had dinner. The snow held off until I got home, and for that I was thankful. I bundled myself up in bed and snuggled in for the night and ignored the snow to come.

It wasn't that bad. I had to make a morning trip to the dentist. I was supposed to get a new crown today, but the temporary crown came off on Thursday. They tell you to clean it off, put some denture fixative in it and put it back it. It worked! I was able to enjoy dinner with my quilting friends on Friday and on Saturday it was still there! Yea! So, the dentist had me come in a couple of days early to put the permanent crown in, and I had to travel through the snow.

There were very few people out on the roads, and it was absolutely gorgeous outside. Dear Husband had me put the SUV into four wheel drive, and I left in plenty of time. Most of the drivers were using common sense, and the roads were fairly clear. I took one road that just had tire tracks, but it wasn't slippery. I rather enjoyed the quiet and beauty.

So, this morning I have been attending to office work, and taking care of bookkeeping for my Mother's accounts. I moved from the personal computer to the office to fax off a document, and my fingers froze! I think I'm going to have to put a small room heater in my office for the winter.

Or, maybe if I'm lucky, Santa will give me one of those Dragon voice recognition software programs for Christmas. Heck, DH needs it more than I do. Maybe I could use his on cold days! *G*

Happy Holidays to you all!

Cop Car, this is what my sister read to us on Thanksgiving Day:

October 3, 1863

The year that is drawing towards its close, has been filled with the blessings of fruitful fields and healthful skies. To these bounties, which are so constantly enjoyed that we are prone to forget the source from which they come, others have been added, which are of so extraordinary a nature, that they cannot fail to penetrate and soften even the heart which is habitually insensible to the ever watchful providence of Almighty God. In the midst of a civil war of unequalled magnitude and severity, which has sometimes seemed to foreign States to invite and to provoke their aggression, peace has been preserved with all nations, order has been maintained, the laws have been respected and obeyed, and harmony has prevailed everywhere except in the theatre of military conflict; while that theatre has been greatly contracted by the advancing armies and navies of the Union. Needful diversions of wealth and of strength from the fields of peaceful industry to the national defence, have not arrested the plough, the shuttle, or the ship; the axe had enlarged the borders of our settlements, and the mines, as well of iron and coal as of the precious metals, have yielded even more abundantly than heretofore. Population has steadily increased, notwithstanding the waste that has been made in the camp, the siege and the battle-field; and the country, rejoicing in the consciousness of augmented strength and vigor, is permitted to expect continuance of years, with large increase of freedom.

No human counsel hath devised nor hath any mortal hand worked out these great things. They are the gracious gifts of the Most High God, who, while dealing with us in anger for our sins, hath nevertheless remembered mercy.

It has seemed to me fit and proper that they should be solemnly, reverently and gratefully acknowledged as with one heart and voice by the whole American people. I do therefore invite my fellow citizens in every part of the United States, and also those who are at sea and those who are sojourning in foreign lands, to set apart and observe the last Thursday of November next, as a day of Thanksgiving and Praise to our beneficent Father who dwelleth in the Heavens. And I recommend to them that while offering up the ascriptions justly due to Him for such singular deliverances and blessings, they do also, with humble penitence for our national perverseness and disobedience, commend to his tender care all those who have become widows, orphans, mourners or sufferers in the lamentable civil strife in which we are unavoidably engaged, and fervently implore the interposition of the Almighty Hand to heal the wounds of the nation and to restore it as soon as may be consistent with the Divine purposes to the full enjoyment of peace, harmony, tranquillity and Union.

In testimony whereof, I have hereunto set my hand, and caused the seal of the United States to be affixed.

Done at the city of Washington, this third day of October, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, and of the independence of the United States the eighty-eighth.

-Abraham Lincoln

....Was a ROUSING SUCCESS!!!

And my feet are talking to me. But, the kids two generations down washed all the dishes for me, and most of the dishes have been put away. My stepson has put tables back where they belong, and will help me tomorrow, bringing up the Christmas trees.

There were thirty-nine people here for the day. They began arriving at noon. Dinner was scheduled for 3:00, and we actually got there a little late, but the appetizers were wonderful and no one complained.

This year, in addition to the traditional green beans deluxe, and broccoli casserole, we added a corn dish, sauteed Brussels sprouts and mashed sweet potatoes. No one goes hungry at our house! *G* My sister made the traditional pumpkin pies, one of my nieces made creme brulee, and another brought chocolate dipped strawberries and a pear-hazelnut cake.

As we gathered before the meal, my youngest sister read to us Abraham Lincoln's proclamation which started Thanksgiving Day. It's good to know our history, and why we celebrate this day.

Should you be in our neck of the woods next Thanksgiving, drop in. We have more than enough to share.

Do you recall that I have been grinching around about people who have begun their Christmas shopping before we have even gotten to Thanksgiving? Hmmmm...perhaps that was over at Facebook that I said that. At any rate, every year it becomes more irritating to me to hear Christmas carols in October, and discover that one of my sisters started her Christmas shopping last year! Bah HUMBUG, I say!

But.....I received a package today. And when I opened that package, I discovered that there was a full size finished quilt inside! My first Christmas gift, and it's not even Thanksgiving yet. Of course there's a story to this.

A decade ago I was a dedicated chatter. I was addicted to the computer and to chat rooms. If I couldn't log in and talk to someone, I went into withdrawal. Then, I realized that I needed to get a life, and I cut back severely on the chatting. Ultimately, I ended with a handful of people with whom share occasional e-mails, and there was one young man I "spoke" to frequently via Yahoo Messenger. As time went on, and my mother came to need me more, my time at the computer dwindled, but not before I discovered that this young man's mother QUILTED!

We sent items back and forth across the "pond," and we shared letters. She is certain that if she sits at a computer it will break, so we occasionally do snail-mail. We've been trying to get her to e-mail, or to even communicate through Skype, without a lot of luck, and our connection was dropped this summer as my mother's health began to fail, and she passed away.

My friend was selling quilts to raise cash for her daughter to build a poly house, so they could extend the growing season at their very northern home. I admired one of the patterns she had made, and told her that I'd be happy to buy just the top, to help raise funds. I thought ultimately it would be less expensive to ship it, and I could get it quilted here. So, I was absolutely floored to find the entire quilt, right down to the label, in the box!

This gift came all the way from Scotland! My friend had to be planning this during the summer to get the quilt completed and mailed off in time to beat the holiday mailing rush, and she came through like a champ! The quilt is a wonderful collection of fabrics with a very scrappy look, and a white background. When I have the chance to hang it, I'll take a picture to share with you.

So....I guess I must say, "Let the celebrating begin!" Nooooelllll, Nooooellllllll.....

As you can see, there is something new posted to the right. It's a link to Shelly Tucker's Share a Square FAQ page. Go ahead, click on it......I'll wait right here for you.....

Back?? If you crochet, or know someone who crochets, would you please ask them to donate a few six-inch crocheted squares to this great cause? Even someone who is as rusty at crocheting as I am can crank out a square while watching one hour of TV at night. If you watch a lot of TV, you could be helping a good cause at the same time.

Your square doesn't have to be as elegant as the one on the link. It can be a simple granny square, but be sure to read through the information to see what type of yarn to use (no wool!). I was shopping the other day and hit a phenomenal sale on yarn and picked up four skeins for about six dollars. I'm not sure how many squares that will make, but I plan to use it all up.

Be a sport. Send Shelly some squares, SOON!!

Actually, TJ and US. Tomorrow, Saturday, November 6th, Dear Husband and I are going to listen to Thomas Jefferson speak at College of Du Page, in Glen Ellyn, Illinois.

Yeah, I know he's been dead for a century and a half. Clay Jenkinson speaks to an audience from Jefferson's point of view. He's done these visits for almost ten years through WGN Radio and it's sponsors, and I think this will be the last of his visits. I just couldn't let the opportunity pass. I've wanted to attend each of these sessions and just couldn't call in at the right time to get tickets, so you can imagine how excited I am that we will get to attend tomorrow's session.

A friend from exercise told me that she and her daughter had attended one of his previous visits, and she was sure we would enjoy it. I'll post more tomorrow, but you can be sure we will have had a great time!

Yeah....I invited them all to have Thanksgiving here. I love it....it's a crazy day, and takes a lot of time to organize, but I'm a sucker for a traditional Thanksgiving.

We expect to have 41.....FORTY-ONE people to sit down to dinner here. I've figured out how to do it without renting tables, and without renting chairs! Family will bring chairs, I have chairs, and a friend is going to loan seven chairs to me. Another friend has offered table cloths. I think I have it all covered. We have plenty of glasses, china, silverware and napkins. I've written up a proposed menu. It's pot luck, and family can either bring part of the written menu, or contribute something new. Once the menu is complete, I'll print it on the blog. It's just astonishing the food that we will share.

Unfortunately, not all of my family will be able to attend. My sister-in-law is feeling poorly, and one of my nieces and two of her brothers live too far away to make it for the day. The twins will be traveling to their sweethearts, and one small branch of the family has not responded. (Make a note to buy Thanksgiving cards for those who can't attend......)

I'm SO EXCITED!!! (Can you hear the Pointer Sisters singing in the background?). If I wasn't typing, I'd be boogie-ing across the room, headed to my list of things to do, getting ready for the big day. I love this time of year, and I'm really looking forward to the family gathering. How fortunate we are to have a place to offer them, and how fortunate we are that most of them will be able to join us. *S*

I think it's been four years since I last gave my bedroom closet a thorough cleaning. I've been trying to ignore the situation, or doing little patches on a big job to tide it over until I could do it the right way. It's been on my mind to do this for some time, and it seemed to be more and more pressing as we moved into November. I felt that I needed to start my Fall cleaning with this project, although it's the least important of the things that need to be done before Thanksgiving.

I started on the closet this past Tuesday, and spent three or four hours a day for the next three days, working on just MY stuff! I started with the shelves. I emptied all but the shelves that hold my socks and accessories. I moved all the prescription drugs, ALL the moisturizers and sun blocks, the tissues, and cleaning supplies, shoes, wash cloths, purses, jewelry boxes, cosmetic bags and electronics. I swabbed down the shelves and wiped a ton of dust off everything. I reorganized so that everything was put back efficiently, and used the one extra shelf that gained me to store a ba-zilion candles that I have accumulated over the years. Now that I know where they are, I may use them better.

Once everything was put back on the shelving, I started with clothing that is a size or two too small. I know....if you haven't worn it in the past six months, it should be thrown out. I cleared out about a third of the closet for GoodWill, and another third went into storage for the svelte me that must be about ready to return. I washed everything washable that is going to Goodwill, folded it and bagged it up. I'm ready to give it away.

I tried to dust the top shelf, but I need to have someone either come in with a ladder or a taller chair, and both vacuum and wipe things down. I gave it a shot, but there's still dust up there, I know.

I re-organized the tops that I wear so that shirts are located by color and sleeve length. I did the same for Dear Husband, but you know that only lasted a day or so. We still need to have him look through jeans and slacks and pull out those that don't fit.

The last thing I worked on was the stuff stored on the bottom of the closet. I threw out some empty shoe boxes and stored the rest. I have tote bags, and an old piece of luggage that holds travel organizers and purses. I need to find room for these things without returning the closet to its previous clutter. Wish me luck!

It's great to be able to see the floor, and see what's in the closet. Unfortunately, now I need to bring up my winter clothes! I plan to give away a lot of clothes that are in storage, and add just those winter things that I can wear. Remind me to never again buy a polyester sweater!

I must have written twenty blog entries in my head. I've marveled at the colors of the trees, and the beauty of the leaf-less trees backed by scudding black clouds. I've noticed that the egrets and herons left us about the middle of October. I've moaned about the endless cleaning we do, and the yardwork that needed to be done.

I've written up stories about all the birthdays celebrated in October, including Dear Husband, and mine, and ~T~ who hosts my blog. She celebrated on October 31st, and I should have reached out to help her celebrate.

I've pondered why some days exercise seems like a breeze and other days it feels like someone has tied me to cement blocks.

I wrote, in my mind, about a wonderful trip we made with My-Sister-The-Nurse to visit with my youngest sis, Frankie, of "Just My Opinion." She fed us so much and so often that I thought I'd split, and every bite of it was incredible. She and I tried a recipe for Salmon Coulibiac that requires either two people, or one person working all day long, to make, that tasted heavenly. I really have to blog about that meal one day.

I should have blogged when MSTN arranged for me to join her at a book signing by Christopher Kimball of Cook's Illustrated, for his new book, "Fannie's Last Supper."

But I didn't. I know I should make the time to keep in touch with you, but my days have been REALLY FULL! So, I'll do a few entries and try to get in the swing of things. I hope to stop by and see what you've all been doing. I hope you're well, and as busy as I am.

Actually, I probably don't have more to do than anyone else, but I'm a bit scrambled, trying to decide the order in which to attack it all. Usually I prioritize based on what deadline is going to bite me in the butt first, and that usually works pretty well, but I'm going to have to work more efficiently than usual for a while.

I started working in the gardens earlier than usual, but I let a lot of good gardening days get by me. We've decided to ask our favorite landscape company for a little help with the lawns and leaves. However, the forecast for the next 48 hours is HIGH WINDS!!!, so we may not need any help with the leaves, unless we get leaves from Iowa while ours go off to the east.

I cut down the peonies on Friday, and Dear Husband carted all my composting trash out to the back. I still have some tomato plants to pull, and before Thanksgiving, I'll have to cut down the ornamental plant that is trying to block my sidewalk (an artemisia, I think)! But, most of my gardening is almost done.

The Empty Nester sewing group is going to be here tomorrow, so I've been working on kits for them, and tonight we reorganized the area where they will be meeting. We added leaves to the table, swapped out a burned out light bulb, and moved the long library table from my studio out to the kitchen. Tomorrow I have to bring out the ironing board, and iron, and generally set up for the meeting. I want to move Halloween decorations in place for them, too, but I'm going to wait to hang the bats. I don't want to give one of them a heart attack when a plastic bat comes flying at them!

My weekend is booked up, but Monday afternoon I can get back to washing interior windows. I have some plants that I'm FINALLY going to toss out, and several closets to clean. Then, I need to get back to sorting out some of my mother's things. I guess, I'll have to clean one day, and organize the next, and work on Thanksgiving plans the following day.

Let's see....Empty Nester's, the quilting bee, and Thanksgiving, and Christmas.....Christmas cookies, and decorations and.hmmmm,,,,do I want to do cards this year? SO many things to distract me! *G*

'Tis the week or weekend for the bringing home of the boat! YEA!!!!

We're not exactly sure when that's going to happen. Dear Husband has to coordinate the un-stepping of the mast at the park district, with the company that will lift the Arr!! out. Everyone is just a bit iffy about how much work they have, so DH is trying to get in touch to see what their plans are.

If we are very very lucky, he will go this evening to get the boat ready, and the mast will be taken down early tomorrow morning. Then, he'll have to motor to the company that does the lifting and wait in line. He could possibly be lifted out on Thursday afternoon and be on his way home in the same day, or this could stretch out until Saturday.

This will be the last time this year I will have to sleep alone due to the boat. In that sentence, there is a blessing and a sadness! lol There's a lot to be said about both situations.

Everyone who knows me knows that it is my job to worry. I've already started worrying about bringing the boat home. The past few years we've had a lot of nightmares getting it home, and I worry not for the boat but for Dear Husband. I'll be glad when they are both home safely.

At exercise this week, our guru had a suggestion for those of us who have leg cramps.

She told us that if you press one of your fingers hard beneath your nose for a count of eight long breaths, the cramp should abate.

I think this might be called "accu-pressure."

Lynda, our guru, said that it had worked with the three people she had suggested it to. It seems well worth trying. Dear Husband gets leg cramps. Next time, I'll try this on him.

Let me know if it works for you, won't you?

I was running errands earlier this week, listening to my favorite radio station. They have a new morning announcer I haven't particularly liked, but he said something that blew me away. Basically, he said that if he didn't like how something was being done, rather than complain he would take responsibility for doing it right.

We ALL complain about how things are run, done, accomplished or not accomplished, but how often do we step up to the plate and say, "I'll do it!"?? There are times when I have complained, but I couldn't see my way to a better solution. I think it's okay to say we don't like something, but wouldn't it be refreshing if, when we complain or criticize, we also offer to step up to the plate and take over the problem?

I tend to listen to talk radio, and have heard some incredibly simple, fair solutions to problems that we are experiencing in government now. Why is it that these well thought out ideas are not getting heard by those who could implement them? We are so overburdened by government that our democracy is going to sink, yet we continue to implement laws and systems that require more man-hours to oversee than we can afford. Does this make sense to you?

Here are some suggestions that we could consider.

A federal tax of 15% for everyone. No loopholes. A similar tax, at a lower rate, for states. Our taxes would become instantly easier to prepare and we wouldn't need so many IRS agents to audit tax returns.

A consistent form of taxation for everyone, to support education. Ending the use of property tax to fund education. Funding to be based on both the number of students in a school district, and base rates for each school. Towns/cities could levy taxes for additional support, if they wished.

A limit of two to four years on welfare, unless you are disabled. Assistance to train or retrain for a job during that time, to prepare you to support yourself.

Requiring our federal Senators and Congressmen to use the same Social Security and health care system that they have created for us.

Limiting Congressional Pensions

Requiring the budget to be balanced. Cutting back across the board in every department.

And while we are at it, let's limit campaigning for office to six months, and limit the amount which can be spent on a campaign.

I bet you have more suggestions. I'd be happy to hear them. I think it's time for the people of the United States to become responsible for their own government.

Occasionally something at the Yahoo home page will catch my eye and I'll click on it. Today, there were two reports on the subject of how often do you clean bed linens and towels. Do you remember when we used to have chores assigned to days? Monday was wash day, I think. Now, it seems as though EVERY day is wash day!

I usually wash sheets and pillowcases once or twice a week. If it's been very warm, and we have perspired while sleeping, I might change them more frequently. And, if I have had to use ointment on my fingers, I'll change the bedding more often, so that it doesn't have a chance to set into the fibers. Apparently, I'm doing fine with the sheets, but I should be washing the mattress pad every two to four weeks, and I probably do it four times a year.

I very rarely wash the quilts on my bed. Quilts were not mentioned specifically, but comforters should be washed monthly, and duvets should be washed weekly. If you share your bed with a pet, you want to wash the bedding frequently to remove pet dander and dead skin cells. Be sure to dry the bedding thoroughly so that you don't create a habitat for mold spores to thrive.

Pillows should be washed every six months. If you wash a down pillow, dry it with a couple of clean tennis balls to fluff the feathers. A zippered cover for a pillow should be washed weekly.

This is the season of flu and colds, and attending to the laundry more frequently is one step you can take to preserve your health.

As for towels, the article recommended that you have FOUR SETS of towels per person in the house, and that it's a good idea to color code them so that they are not shared. The reason for four --- one in the hamper, one on the towel bar, one in the wash, and a spare. Wash cloths are especially risky breeding grounds for germs, so it's important that they not be used by more than one person. When you've used a towel, spread it out on the towel bar, to help it to dry out.

We have two towels in three shades of green, and two towels in shades of pink to rose. We never share a used bath towel, but I don't assign one color to Dear Husband and one to me. Actually, we do share one towel. I have one that hangs in the sink area, and we tend to dry hands on that towel. I might need to rethink that this winter. I have to admit I tend to fold my towel neatly, and DH slings his over his towel bar. All this time I've been ticked that he doesn't fold it, and he's been doing the right thing. I don't think I'll tell him about all this.....

Elegante Mother was active in the Empty Nesters group of her church. We hosted the sewing ladies meeting at our home once a month, and I got to know the ladies as I helped with desserts and an occasional project. This year I became friends with a new member to the Empty Nesters and when I found out that she quilted, I invited her for a quilting day.

Mary lives half the year here with one son, and half the year in Texas with another son. She has been very active in a charity quilt program in Dallas. As we pieced and chatted, it was decided that we would try to get our Empty Nester group to participate in one of these programs. We began putting together kits for small quilt tops, and chose meeting dates for September and October.

Today was the big day, the first meeting for this new activity. We had been working for about six weeks, cutting fabrics and trying to make the best use of scraps that had been given to us. I had five kits ready to start sewing and two or three more on the design board. Mary had made some kits up, too.

I got up early, did dishes, cleaned, shopped for raspberries, green grapes, strawberries and blueberries for a fruit salad at lunch, and swept the front sidewalk. At 10:00, Mary arrived, and shortly after that just one more member came up the drive. I have no idea where everyone else was.

The situation gave me the chance to work one on one with a woman who had never pieced quilts. Hildy is an experienced seamstress, but she had never worked on quilts before. She chose a kit of squares that will make a three dimensional pinwheel quilt. I showed her how to press the squares into the right sized triangle, and then how to assemble the blocks. I was able to talk to her about the need for a consistent quarter-inch seam, and show her tricks to make it easier to get the seam allowance right. She seemed happy as a clam to take the kit home with her to work on this month!

So, perhaps this was a really good thing. Not all of the ladies are quilters, so I may learn from today and type up a page with a few tips that will help. I hope in the future we will be able to give them fabric and a pattern and get them started, but I think for now, I'll need to do the cutting to create the kits.

It will be good to have the sweatshop up and running and the ladies visiting here again. I've missed them.

Thursday, two of my sisters and I met to box up the small items in Elegante Mother's condo. Who would have believed that we shoehorned that much into a one bedroom unit!? The kitchen and the closet took the most work.

I spent most of my time taping up boxes. We went through 25 small moving boxes and two rolls of tape. I brought six or seven of those boxes home with me. One held kitchen stuff, and the rest is a blend of things returned to us, and things for my youngest sister, who was teaching and could not be there.

The movers will arrive on Monday about 8:30 and the condo will be cleaned out. There are boxes of things to go to Goodwill, otherwise, most of Em's furniture will be disbursed throughout the family.

You'd think that would be the end of it, but eventually I will also have to divide up those things of EM's that are still in my house. I have her dining set, the china that was given to EM and Dad as a wedding gift from Dad's sister, and assorted collections of owls, angels, canes and birds. I also have her Christmas ornaments.

So, one day, I'm going to invite my family to visit and let them come and choose the memento they wish to have to remember Mom/Gram by.

The physical work on Thursday wasn't so terribly hard, but handling all the things that had been so important to Mother was. I've kept two items of clothing, a red jacket, and a Halloween sweatshirt that one of her granddaughter's made for her. There are also photographs, and a painting. It's hard to see and touch these things, to be closing up her nest, and realize that I can't turn and talk to her now. I was very fortunate to have EM with me for so many years.

I'm such a sloth! lol I meant to post on Wednesday, and download a picture, and this seems to be the best I can do for right now,

Wednesday, Dearest Husband and I celebrated twenty years of wedded bliss (and mortar dust). We've actually been a two-some for about twenty-six years, but we formalized it twenty years ago. I was astonished to realize we had been together that long and mentioned it to DH's daughter, just as conversation, not to promote anything. She immediately wanted to know if we were celebrating. No......we chose to have a quiet dinner out, just the two of us. We'll save the big celebration for when we hit the twenty-five year mark.

The picture? Well DH brought me two dozen long-stemmed red roses. He said twenty of them were for our years together and four were "just cuz." I'll have to download the pictures I took, and see if I can remember how to post one here.

It's been a very good twenty years! Thank you, DH!

I suppose that in the process of hugging what seemed to be a thousand people, I must have caught something. I'm not doing too badly, but every so often my sinuses overflow, and I need to cough. I'm Sooooooooo glad it's not a full time affliction or I'd be unbearable. Luckily for those around me, I'm hanging in there, and hoping for the best.

I've been watching the season opener of NCIS Los Angeles, but I think bed might be a better choice, especially since I'll miss all the Cialis commercials and the discussion of erectile dis-function. I don't think all this openness on TV is necessarily such a good thing.

I've been writing thank you notes today. I have one more to write tomorrow morning, and I need to plan meals for Thursday and Friday so that I can do some grocery shopping. My sister was talking about home made French fries over at Facebook. I haven't made those in easily two decades. Don't you love comfort food?? I may have to build a meal around them.

Sleep well, and I'll catch up with you tomorrow!

I made a trip to the funeral home yesterday to pick up things that had been left in their care. Most of the flowers went to the cemetery, but there were six arrangements waiting for me. The only bouquet that was white was a beautiful low mass of white flowers in a round bowl that must be about eight inches high.

The flowers are packed densely, and are all about the same height. It's rather like an over-sized tussy-mussy. There are creamy white roses, chrysanthemums that look like Fuji mums, snapdragons, white asters, hydrangea, alstromeria and the pale leaves and flower heads of eucalyptus. It's incredibly elegant, and I would never have thought to blend these particular flowers. It's impact was even greater because it was surrounded by huge bouquets in a range of Fall colors. We chose dark red and golden sunflowers, bronze mums and flowers that reminded us all of the height of the change of color, accented with red roses and blue delphinium. I think we have pictures of the flowers, and I'll try to post them.

I was not looking forward to bringing the bouquets home, but they are providing a little grace as we settle in to the idea that EM is gone. EM would have loved them all.

My mother passed away on Thursday evening at 11:00. We were fortunate to have had a visit on Wednesday evening when she was unusually alert. My brother and two of my sisters and I gathered with Elegante Mother's pastor, and we reminisced about our days with EM. Mother seemed to be pleased to be the center of all this attention, and she held my brother's hand all evening.

When it was time to go, her face registered the "Where are you all going?" look, and I heard in my head the plea, "I want to go too!!" It's been dreadfully difficult to leave her each time I've visited. I felt she needed to be with me, but I know my siblings were right to arrange for her to be in the care of a 24/7 caregiver. By the way, that caregiver was a gift from God! We could not possibly have found a better person to care for EM.

Thursday morning, we began our visits, coming in ones and twos to stay for an hour or so, but EM was so soundly asleep, and struggling so greatly to breathe, that we ultimately left her in the care of the Hospice staff. Just after we'd gone to bed, my oldest sister called to say that Elegante Mother was at peace.

My youngest sister and I began planning EM's funeral about a month ago. I followed through, finishing up the details, and she returned to help me choose flowers and arrange for a luncheon. There was another visit with Pastor to share our thoughts and memories of EM, and another gazillion details to be organized.

My mother had an exceptional eye for color. When she lived near Branson, Missouri, she took lessons in painting, and eventually those artistic abilities morphed into quilting. While she had an appreciation for all colors, her favorite was RED! She loved all the shades of red, but she liked Christmas red the best, the clear, bright, happy color we first meet when we open a box of crayons.

To honor Elegante Mother, as we held her visitation, many of us chose to wear red. We have quite a large family, and many of them participated in the visitation, welcoming friends, and throughout the room you could see every shade of red, in every type of garment, right down to shoes and up to hats! I warned friends who contacted me via computer that they shouldn't be shocked by the red, that we were celebrating EM's life, and friends began arriving in red. Despite our terrible sense of loss, we are confident that Mother is at peace, and we let our friends and all the red buoy us up and carry us through a difficult time.

Today, we started with an hour of visitation at the church for those who could not be there yesterday, immediately followed by the funeral. Pastor had clearly listened to what we had said and pulled together an elegant paean to Mother's life and the lessons that could be learned from it. He incorporated the scriptures we chose, with the music she had requested, and blended it together in a loving remembrance of a very special woman. My youngest sister stood to deliver, brilliantly, an amazing eulogy which she had written.

Following the trip to the cemetery, we invited all who knew her to join us for lunch, and it was an incredible meal. We purposely tempted them, because we have all been on light rations for a few days, seeing to Mother's needs. Those who thought they might not be able to eat, rediscovered their appetites. Everyone left sated, from food and companionship, support, and an eased heart from having shared their stories of Elegante Mother.

So, we are starting that trek that we all follow after loosing a loved one. My mother has left an incredible hole in the lives of inumerable people, not just within her family. Many of my online friends have met EM, and then there are the Red Hat Ladies, the exercise class, the Empty Nesters, her doctor and dermatologist and optometrist, the ladies of the salon, and the people at the grocery store, at the pharmacy, and on, and on, and on.....

Mom.....I'm so glad you're at peace.

Thanks to ~T~ we are back on-line, and her timing is good, as always.

My family and I are gathering because it seems that our mother's time is nearing it's end. My very Elegante Mother is weak, having difficulty speaking and she is refusing to eat or drink. Hospice has told us that it won't be long now before she passes away.

In some ways, it's a blessing to know that the end is near. We really don't want EM to suffer any longer, and the woman we remember would absolutely HATE seeing herself like this. It's funny how often that bit of vanity has been repeated over the past few months. I never thought of Elegante Mother as being a vain person, but she was very careful to look her best. She greeted every day well groomed and dressed beautifully. EM lived with us for 19 years, and I think she may have purchased her first pair of jeans during that time. She must have bought them to wear when gardening because she would never have been caught wearing them away from home! She had a very classical look to her clothing, and I could walk into a store with her and hold up things I knew she'd go for. Think "Chanel" and you have a picture of how EM dressed.

Another blessing is that EM is pulling the family together again. We have been dispersed, leading our own lives, and coming to be with her has caused us to reconnect. Four of us visited with Elegante Mother late yesterday afternoon, and it was good to re-establish our familial bond.

So, we wait, and celebrate Mother's life, and keep her company through her last days. I believe she would say, "God is good."

Just in case this doesn't come across the Internet as it's intended, this is TONGUE IN CHEEK!

Dear Husband heard the guys talking at work about the plan to build a mosque close to Ground Zero in New York City. They were all for it, but they felt that we should put a Hooter's on one side of it and a Marine Recruiting Facility on the other. Just let your mind wander on that for a bit. *G*

Blech!

I have to look for a job. I've always known that I would need to find another job one day, but I've played "ostrich" about it. I've worked for Dear Husband's company since 1986. Since I am two or more years younger than DH and his partner, I knew they would want to retire before I reached the age to claim Social Security. Well, the time has come to start looking. I need a job.

The biggest problem is that I have no experience looking for a job. I don't know how to match up what I can do with what a company might need (or want) in an employee. Other than want ads, I don't know where to look for jobs that might be suited to me. We always laughed about my working for McDonald's for two years, but I doubt that I would be able to stand for a full shift day after day. I need to find a job where I can sit down.

I'm capable of listing my training and experience. I can find a template on-line to help me create a new resume. But I haven't a clue how to go about matching what I can do with what a company needs. Where do I start?

When I returned home Sunday night, I forgot to check the answering machine. I hate being tied to equipment that determines how I spend my time. I still haven't activated the message center of my cell phone, so it's not surprising that I didn't check for messages.

Luckily, Dear Husband did. My exercise guru had called to ask if I could sub for her this morning. She is NEVER ill! She has led class with a cast on her leg, and she's an amazing trouper, but she could barely speak last night. She thinks she has some sort of allergic reaction, and needed me to fill in for her.

I got out the posterboard "cheat-sheets" that I use to call the movements and set them out to review early this morning, and then headed for bed so that I would be well rested. I haven't looked those sheets over in two or three months and was concerned about doing a good job.

This morning I made my cup of tea, and dressed for the day, and then I sat down to review the exercises. I remembered that I wanted to change the last cardio because there were too many repetitions of one type of movement. I plugged in some of the movements that we are doing in the current session, and then I reviewed the three cardio sets to be sure I knew what to expect.

My class is just wonderful. They cope like troupers when I lead the class. Even when I bobble something, they just keep exercising until I get it worked out. I think I goofed in just one place and everything turned out fine. I told them to work at the level they needed. They could do more than I was doing. If they needed to do less, or needed to protect a sore shoulder or hip, I told them to work at their own pace.

As we made the shift from cardio to resistance training, I paused and asked something special of the class. We have had a number of new members join us over the past two years, and there seems to be an "us against them" mentality. The newcomers don't feel very welcome, and the original group feels that the exercise is changing because of the new people. That's not the case, but it's the perception. I've always thought if they made the effort to get to know each other, we could overcome some of that attitude, so I divided the class in half and gave the following instruction: "This side of class is to walk over to that side of class and introduce yourself to one person you don't know, ask their name, and ask them to tell you one thing they like to do." I was astonished at how well that turned out. I actually had to tell them to break it up! lol I plan to repeat the exercise in September when I'll be leading class again.

Of course, everyone was clock-watching today because it was the day we were scheduled to go to breakfast after exercise. We celebrate birthdays once a month, and I'd say that perhaps two thirds of the class went to breakfast.

I love it when a day starts out well!

I mentioned in a previous post that we have had to begin the planning for Elegante Mother's funeral. She is in her nineties now and I suppose we should have done this long ago. It's quite eye-opening to have to make choices for a loved one.

Elegante Mother requested that we choose a simple casket, and we were able to honor her wishes. I knew that the casket would go into a vault, but I thought the cemetery would provide the vault. I was surprised that we were encouraged to choose a vault at the funeral home. I've always assumed that a vault is leak proof, and was required to preserve the water table below the cemetery. Actually, the reason for a vault is to prevent damage and/or cave-ins when the cemetery employees dig the space for the internment. Who knew!?

We were shown about a dozen examples of vaults, and I want you to know that they were all garish, and in bad taste, and they ran from $1300 to four or five thousand dollars! We ultimately chose the least expensive, since no one will see it, and also chose a color that we felt was more suitable. I was really upset to find that they are NOT leak proof!

We also arranged for obituaries to be posted in three large local newspapers, three smaller newspapers and two weeklies. EM has friends and family spread across the Midwest who will need to be informed of her passing. Did you know that the standard charge for an obit in a large city newspaper is $254.00??

I can't imagine having to make these choices when you have just lost a loved one. I can see that Dear Husband and I have a little more planning to do so that his children, or my family don't have to try to figure out what our wishes might have been.

Like most of you, I'm just busy with living. I've done some gardening, some reading, a little piecing, the usual suspects of household chores and errands. I seem to be able to make it to only two of the three exercise classes we have in a week, so I need to add more exercise at home.

Frankie, my youngest sis, and her daughters and their boyfriends came to Chicago last weekend to see the city sights. Sunday evening they came to stay overnight with us, and we collectively made Eggplant Parmiagiana, and Farmer's Tomato Pie for dinner.

Monday morning, Frankie and I visited with the funeral home where Elegante Mother will have her wake one day. EM is doing well at the moment. Dear Husband and I visited with her late Tuesday afternoon, and I've rarely seen her looking so good. She was able to put together several sentences for us, and seemed quite concerned that we be treated well as her guests. We'd taken groceries, five new T-shirts, and some flowers to her before we went on to dinner. The reason for the visit to the funeral home lies at the feet of the Federal government. Should EM ever run out of funds and require assistance from Medicare, they will take all her assets with the exception of whatever has been set aside for her funeral. We needed to make the choices that will lead to a contract to be funded. It was distressing work, but I know we will be glad that it's been taken care of one day.

I went for a regular teeth cleaning visit a couple of weeks ago, and the periodontist asked me to have the dentist take x-rays of one of my teeth. The upshot of that visit is that I will need to see the oral surgeon and have a tooth removed, so that they can work on a crown next to it. I've known for ages that I would loose this tooth sooner than later. Unfortunately, sooner seems to be here. You know.....it's hell to get old!

We had quite a storm come through this evening. Thanks for the rain! We needed it. I was supposed to water the container garden today, and didn't get to it. This most likely saved the plants. I need to get ten new iris into the ground. I think I may plant some of them early tomorrow morning.

I hope you're all staying cool, keeping hydrated, and having fun this summer.

My sister, Frankie, of Just My Opinion, has been visiting with me this weekend. We went to a birthday brunch for our most special sister: My-Sister-The-Nurse, visited with Elegante Mother, went to the French Market for flowers and veggies, and came home to Frankie's pasta salad for dinner on Saturday.

Sunday morning, we went out to garden early in the morning, and spent about an hour and a half putting the herb garden into shape for the remainder of the summer. We came in for breakfast and to clean up, and then worked through the middle of the afternoon to finish the Log Cabin quilt top that we started a year ago. It's based on one of Eleanor Burn's "Quilt in a Day" books. If we had been able to work for one entire day, we might have actually completed it in a day, but we've been working two hours one month, and two another. We have officially finished the top! YEA!!! It will be sent off to my favorite machine quilter so that Frankie will get to use this quilt this season!

That left us a little time to hit the shops for clothes for Frankie's first day back at school, and preparation of dinner for five: Dear Husband, Stepson #2 and his girlfriend, and the two of us. We took advantage of summer veggies and had fresh green beans, and a "Summer Salad" (tomatoes, green onions, and cucumbers in a vinaigrette with LOTS of dill!), and crimini mushrooms. We rounded out the meal with a flank steak, baked potatoes and sweet potatoes, sliced tomatoes for those who don't eat the Summer Salad, and watermelon.

We gathered in the living room to veg out for the evening, and I turned on the TV.
"Leverage" is a show that I enjoy, and Frankie had never seen it. We watched two episodes and chatted about Round Robin quilts, and whether we wanted to do one within our family.

Frankie has to be on her way this morning. I'll really miss the early morning visits. We both head for our personal choice of caffeine and something to read while we rise up into our daytime personae. Sometimes we check e-mail, sometimes we sit and chat. But once the coffee or tea has had the chance to do it's work, we are off and running. We both have found that it's more fun to garden when you have company. It's not just the idea that many hands make work light, though that IS important, but sometimes it's just the fact that you have company and that your endeavor doesn't have to be solitary. I need to go visit her this fall and help her with her gardens. Turn about is fair play, and I really owe her the help!

So, in a few moments, we will be parting and starting our days, separately once again. It has been a lot of fun to have these days together!

I'm wondering if I am the only person in the world who does not like the heat of summer. I just THINK about going outside and I start to perspire. Believe me when I say, "It's not pretty."

What brought all this to mind is that during the summer, when I find I have time on my hands, my friends and family must all be outside enjoying the summer, because there's no one on-line to talk to. Possibly, it's that I haven't kept up with the times. I know a large part of my family camps out at Face book, and I admit I get there once in ten days or so. I'd talk with people at Skype, but I only have five people registered there. Perhaps I need to check in to Yahoo Messenger more often.

I hope you're all having a good time, whatever you've been doing.

I visited the Farmer's Market early on Saturday. I got one of the gardens weeded (and it looks SO much better!). I finished my filing, and worked on the bookkeeping for our companies, prepared for an insurance audit, and did some housecleaning. It was one of those weekends where I finished one chore after another, and the sense of accomplishment was great!

Friday and Saturday should be the calmest days of the week, and I'm looking forward to them. When I have the chance to be on-line, I hope I'll find some of you and hear how your summer has been going.

Remember to wear your sunscreen!

It's been more than a week since my sisters took me to hear the Eagles and Michael Buble. I've been savoring the experience and cementing those memories in place. I believe the entire week qualifies as one of the best times of my life, as much for the time spent with my sisters as the music.

We drove to St. Louis to hear the Eagles. It was a hot summer day without a cloud in the sky. The show was supposed to have started at 6:00, but the start time was moved back to 6:30. We had to wait for the sun to dip behind the left field wall before the Dixie Chicks came out to open the show, around 7:30 or so. The delay was due to the fact that the stage was facing the west and the performers would have been blinded by the sun, and heated out. We were seated below the first balcony on the right field side, and there was a wonderful breeze, which we've been told is rare for St. Louis, so we were comfortable.

I enjoyed the Chicks despite the fact that I couldn't understand one word of the lyrics that Natalie Maines sang. I don't know if it was her accent or the miking that was the problem. I focused on the camera work for the big screens, and just had a good time.

The Eagles were great! I had no idea how many of their songs I knew. I found myself singing along on some of the songs, and my oldest sister really does know all the lyrics! It's very likely that I might have enjoyed myself no matter who was performing, because I was having such a good time with my siblings, but....the Eagles were great!

Five days later, my youngest sister and I went to hear Michael Buble at Canseco Field House in Indianapolis. He puts on an amazing show! He sings all the songs that the audience hopes to hear and then some. About two thirds of the way through his set he comes down off the stage and walks up the center aisle (with body guards) to a raised area at the back of the court and sings a couple of songs. He touches hands as he travels up and down the aisle. I'm really glad to say that the audience behaved itself!

I think I will always remember how he ended the show. He chose to close with "A Song for You." The curtain was closed so that you couldn't see the band, and Michael was standing center stage with the spotlights focused on him. A couple of phrases before the end of the song, the band stopped playing, and Buble continued a capella. What amazed me was that on the last phrase his mike is turned off, and he sings unamplified. He has SUCH a big voice that he is able to fill the field house! Very impressive, VERY impressive.

So, now I've been to a rock concert (and I'd recommend an Eagles concert to anyone), and I've been to hear Michael Buble in person (and I'd recommend Michael Buble to everyone). This has to have been the highlight of my summer! May you all be so fortunate!

It's a little past dinner time on Saturday afternoon. It's been a beautiful day. I visited the Farmer's Market this morning, and then did some house work. I read for a while and had a nap. Generally, I've been occupied.

From six to ten on Saturday evening is the most difficult time for me when Dear Husband is away on his sailing weekends. I'm usually too busy to mind his absence during the day, but as the sun starts to dip and chores are finished, I realize how quiet the house has become.

I have several quilting projects to finish, and more that I want to start. I think that's the way to keep myself busy until bed time. Next week I may go to a movie, and the following week I may take a friend out to dinner. I bet there are millions of women who would like to have the quiet that I have, and I plan to keep that in mind! *G*

I hope you are all enjoying your Saturday night.

I finally made it to the Farmer's Market today! I visited the French Market two weeks ago, but until today haven't made it to my favorite Farmer's market. I was amazed at the produce that was available. I'm used to shopping there starting Memorial Day weekend, so this was like being thrown into a grocery store in comparison.

I dropped off two pruners to be sharpened by Tony, the knife sharpener. I'll pick them up next week. I don't need them at the moment and it will give me a chance to visit with him again. He's one of Elegante Mother's favorite men.

Then, I bought a little from as many stalls as I could. I picked up a cauliflower, vine ripened tomatoes, pickle cucumbers, green onions, 2 cloves of garlic, yellow wax beans, five ears of corn, peaches from two different stalls, red raspberries, and a quart of crimini mushrooms. I have too many potatoes in my pantry, or I would have picked up some new potatoes. We've particularly enjoyed roasted peppers, onions and potatoes lately, so I should be ready for some next week.

There's a recipe for a simplified peach pie dessert in the June issue of Southern Living that I want to try. I may add the red raspberries to Cherrios or oatmeal for breakfast. All the other veggies will find their way into our meals this week.

I hope to have cherry tomatoes soon, so I'll make a Farmer's Tomato Pie for dinner when Dear Husband is off sailing. It's the epitome of summer dining!

I finally got into the garden along the sidewalk on Monday. I filled TWO wheelbarrows overflowing with the daisies I ripped out, and I'm only halfway done. I deadheaded half of the coreopsis. The rest will have to wait for the weekend.

I'm suffering finger problems. In May I was treated for a fungal problem. The antibiotic worked....for a bit, and then the problem seemed to rage back, and other fingers became infected. It seems that this time I have a bacterial infection, so I'm on more antibiotics and a topical cream. No gardening for a couple of days.

BUT, I don't mind so much, because my oldest sis is taking me to hear the Dixie Chicks and the Eagles in St. Louis. Frankie, my youngest sis is also going. We'll come back for the weekend, and then Frankie and I will go to Indy to hear Michael Buble sing. I have never been to a rock concert, and I haven't been to see a performance other than Mozart for years and years, and now, in the space of less than a week, I'll get to go to TWO! Thank you, my dearest sisters!

I was working at the computer in the living room earlier this week and out of the corner of my eye saw a young deer walk around the corner of the house. I think it must have been the same deer that Frankie saw when she was walking her dog, Sidney, this weekend. I think it's also the same deer that has helped itself to a beautiful, tall rudbeckia in the herb garden that was just blooming! I was looking forward to the contrast of the golden blooms against a dark purple clematis on the arbor and now all that you can see are the chewed off stalks. Hmpf!

An on-line friend, Mike, from Scotland, had bypass surgery this past week. I've been waiting to see him pop up on-line again to reassure me that he came through the surgery well. It's really tough to sit on the sideline as on-line friends go through troubles like this, and not be able to keep track of their progress. If you believe, would you please say a prayer for his well-being? If not, I'd be happy if you think positive thoughts and send that energy his way. Mike....I hope all is well!

Friday night my washer died in the rinse cycle with a load of Dear Husband's work clothes left soaking. This was just as guests were coming for the weekend. We had a full house until 9:30 on Sunday. Monday, we bought a new washer, and took TWELVE loads of laundry to the laundromat. We brought them all home to dry, and on the first load, the drier died. I feel rather like the character Al Capp drew who had the storm cloud that followed him around. The washer was delivered today, and the drier was repaired. All is well in time for me to go to the rock concert!

I hope you're all faring well, with the storms coming through, and the heat. Remember to hydrate!

This has been a leftover weekend. When Dear Husband goes to sail for a weekend, I try not to cook. I eat salads and sandwiches, fruit, and junk food. (My bad.....I'm still working on that junk food habit.) THIS weekend, I've had an abundance of leftovers from two meals that were eaten out.

Yesterday, I heated up the garlicky poor boy sandwiches for lunch. At dinner, I had the second half of Frankie's Shrimp Caprese from Olive Garden: shrimp and angel hair pasta with tomatoes, butter and garlic. I also had a slightly wilted salad that came home with that meal, and the fruit salad I had made on Friday night.

Today, there was just one little box left (thank God!). I had half a serving of Shrimp and Asparagus Rissoto, and a slice of the pugliese bread from Trader Joe's.

I now have eaten enough garlic to have a lifetime immunity to werewolves, and I may have single-handedly supported the Wisconsin dairy industry with all the butter in those meals.

Come to think of it, the AMA may be collectively rubbing their hands, thinking of the money they will make from either re-educating me about eating habits, or caring for me if I keep this up.

But, I'm really glad that I didn't have to cook, and I wasn't restricted to a simple sandwich.

Food.....glorious food.....

I am very blessed to have had the chance to spend three days with my youngest sister this weekend. You may know her as Frankie, of Just My Opinion. Frankie teaches kids at risk, and August through May, her calendar is SO booked up that it's tough to get more than a day or two together other than major holidays, and even those can be tough to schedule.

Sooooooooo.....What does a girl do on a free, rainy day?? (Grins)

My youngest sis, Frankie, of Just My Opinion, is coming to visit tomorrow. Yippee!!!! She'll be with us for several days before she has to get back to her family.

A year ago, she called me from a fabric store and said, "They're having a fabric sale. How much should I buy?!" She picked out fabrics for a Log Cabin Quilt, and brought with her a book called "Quilt in a Day." Now, there are SOME people who can actually make a quilt in a day, but I'm really not one of them, and it seems Frankie isn't either. We've been working on the top of this quilt for the past year, with two hours here and two hours there, separated by months of other activities.

I believe that we may actually finish the quilt top this week, and Frankie plans to send it off to my favorite professional machine quilter. She'll be able to wrap up in this quilt within a month or so.

YEAH!!! I just love finishing projects! I've been clearing them off my shelves right and left this year. I won't ever run out of unfinished projects, but I'd like to get them to the point where they are more manageable, and they don't take up so much room. THEN....I can start using up my fabric making MORE QUILTS!!

I love it when plan comes together. See ya tomorrow, sissy!

My exercise class is incredibly gregarious. They chatter away through class, meet before class to see what's been happening over the past two days, go out for coffee on Monday morning after class and go to breakfast once a month to celebrate with those who have had birthdays.

For a long time it was our tradition to invite the class to have a breakfast potluck at our house in May. It was scheduled so that I could show off our iris, and maybe sneak in the chance to show off a new quilt or two.

Last year, my mother left our home to be cared for by a round-the-clock caregiver, and I was still busy helping them to get settled in May, and didn't extend the offer to host the brunch. I'm pretty sure that everyone in class understood that I was otherwise occupied, and they were very kind about it. This year, I thought it might be time to resume the tradition. We have about forty-five people signed up for class and I believe that thirty-five of them, possibly a few more, will be here after class tomorrow.

Luckily, this is a pot luck meal. I set out a sign-up sheet, more to get a head count than to manage the meal. The people who sign up can see what is already listed in terms of what others are bringing, so it pays to be among the first to sign up. This year we have an interesting cross between breakfast and lunch. I plan to do breakfast items, while our exercise dragon lady is bringing a hot pasta dish. There will be fruit and muffins and ham and a range of other items.

My youngest sister is quite the cook, and I've borrowed her baked french toast casserole recipe, and one for an egg and sausage casserole. Another friend does a variation on the french toast casserole that has thinly sliced Granny Smith apples and dried cranberries mixed in with the brown sugar/cinnamon/butter mixture on the bottom of the pan, so I thought I'd do that, too. And, I decided to do the praline pull-apart bread. All but the egg casserole was assembled this evening, and Dear Husband cooked the sausage and onion for the eggs while I put together the french toast.

I plan to hop out of bed early tomorrow, dead-head the iris, and bake the bread. Then I'll work on getting the tables set and beverages set up. One of my nieces has offered to help me serve, and she will be here early to help me finish setting the tables.

The only thing I forgot to do was to buy some flowers for the tables. I may cut some of the overwhelming population of daisies and put them in simple vases. That will give the iris a chance to stand out a bit more, and save me the trip to the store. I love it when a plan comes together.

I'm going to set the table with china. Why have it if you don't use it? China, silverware and glasses will be most of the cleanup. I'll have help putting tables back where they need to go, and our visitors are bringing folding chairs, so we won't have to return chairs.

I'm really looking forward to tomorrow, but I better get to bed so that I have enough sleep to carry me through the day. With luck, I'll have some pictures of the iris to share with you. I hope you're enjoying spring as much as I am!

We are a great family for making lists. My-Sister-The-Nurse makes hers orally, but I prefer to write mine down. I rarely leave the house without a list of errands, and usually that list is in the order in which they are to be done. I believe in saving gas and spending as little time as possible on errands, so I pare my list down so that I am not criss-crossing the entire suburban Chicago area.

The particular list that I want to write about has not yet been committed to paper. It's been developing over the past five or ten years, and we've only just begun to acknowledge that it's a list-in-the works.

Dear Husband and I have seen the last of our fifties, alas. We tend to laugh about all the problems attendant with aging because the alternatives are just too grim. One of the things we have noticed is that there are a number of places to eat that we visit less frequently. We have finally had to accept that there are some things that bother us too much to risk eating them.

Of course, we also have the lost of memory that seems to come with aging, so occasionally we will give it the old college try, only to be reminded just why it was that we have avoided some things.

Kentucky Fried Chicken started the list. MORE than ten years ago, I realized that my family was less interested in KFC than I was, and I kept trying to get a taste of it now and then. But, as much as I love extra-crispy, the fat, and the breading just don't sit well. About every two years I'll try a couple of pieces of chicken, and remember immediately that it's supposed to be on THE LIST!

Gyros were the next to fall. In DeKalb, Illinois, (and in Sycamore) there is a shop called "Tom and Jerry's Gyros King." It's right on the edge of the campus of Northern Illinois University. We would make a trip out to Farm and Fleet to shop for tools, and stop for gyros for lunch. They taste SO GOOD, and are SO HARD on older bodies. Alas, poor gyros, we knew ye well...

I've noticed that we order pizza much less often. Rather than once every two weeks, it might be once every six to eight weeks now, and I tend to try to find other options before I resort to placing the pizza call.

About ten days ago, when Frankie was visiting with us, I gave her the option of rainbow trout cooked at home, or takeout Chinese for dinner. She opted for the Chinese. First let me say that we all enjoyed the meal. We have been patrons of this particular place for at least twenty years and I look forward to our occasional Chinese take out nights. But, having said that, we ALL suffered, some more than others. I don't know if it was some particular ingredient, or whether the cook is using more oil, but we all spent an uncomfortable night. I'm very sad to say that the day of ordering five items for dinner is a thing of the past. We'll have to try ordering just one entree and an appetizer and see how we do. If that doesn't work, Chinese will have to go on the list.

My absolute favorite place to eat for the past ten years or so has been Pappadeaux, a Cajun restaurant that is part of the Pappas Brother's group. We are fortunate to have two of them in the Chicago area, and we used to try to eat there a couple of times a year. Dear Husband took me there for Mother's Day, for a very early lunch. Ohhhhhhhhh, was it good! Unfortunately, although I brought home half my meal, I was practically comatose for the afternoon. Have you ever seen a copy of the "Bubba Gump Cookbook?" Each recipe starts with "Ya take a pound of butter..." I think Pappadeaux's recipes must read like that.

We just can't deal with that amount of butter in our meals these days. We have pared down the fats and have been working on smaller serving sizes. Soon meals will be more about sustenance and less about entertainment. So I guess that means it's formal. The list is in print. Damn!

Eighteen years ago, in the middle of a bitterly cold winter, we discovered that a black cat had taken up residence on the seat of the lawn mower in our unheated garage. When I discovered him, I turned to Dear Husband and said, "He's going to freeze. We have to let him in the house." Dear Husband has never been a lover of cats, and his solution to the problem was to put a small space heater in the garage.

The winter worsened that weekend, and to keep the pipes in the loft bathroom from freezing, Dear Husband needed to use the space heater that was keeping the cat company. I looked at DH, and said, "He'll freeze."

Dear Husband, knowing what his life would be like if the cat died in the garage, opened the door to the basement, and accepted the changes that were to come in his life. He did, however, declare that our bedroom would be a "pet-free" zone.

My step-daughter named the cat "Edward Scissorhands," after a recently released Johnny Depp movie, in honor of the set of lethal claws the cat wielded whenever he felt threatened. His name was temporarily changed to "Edwina Scissorhands," when the vet incorrectly determined his sex, but we changed vets and from then on we simply called the cat "Ed."

Ed manipulated everyone. We could not persuade him to be an indoor cat. He quickly learned how to ring Elegante Mother's chimes, climbing onto her stereo system and playing golf with her pewter miniatures when she didn't respond to his request to go out.

Somehow, Ed trained our dog, Defer, to bark when it was time for us to open the door and let Ed back into the house. In return, Ed would take his time walking into the foyer so that Defer could sniff him to see where Ed had been. They had an amazing relationship, and Ed was always top cat (or dog, as the case may be).

When Ed was fifteen years old our vet told us that Ed was suffering from a thyroid problem. The vet is one of those very pragmatic people and she rarely recommends heroic efforts where they are not a good choice. I trust her judgment, so when she told me that Ed's condition could be cured with radiation, we gave it a great deal of thought. It was expensive. It meant that he would have to be away from us for a week. We would have to collect his litter and waste for six months because it couldn't go directly into the landfill without setting off radiation alarms! I finally decided that we'd do it. I felt that if we would have one more year with Ed, it was worth it.

The treatment was successful. Ed had a lot to say about the spa we sent him to, but he came back in good health, ready to take up his position as the head of the house. Shortly after that, we began to notice that his black fur was shot through with silver, and the vet commented each time she saw him over the increasing gray.
Two years ago, I knew there was something wrong, so after Christmas, I took Ed to see the vet and she ran a series of tests. Ed was developing kidney disease. I thought he'd be gone in a couple of months. He chose not to go out, and became the indoor cat we'd hoped for. All through winter he preferred to be where it was warm. Occasionally he would go to the door and demand to be let out, but when the blast of frigid air hit him, he'd shake his right front paw and back away. When it finally warmed up, his visits outside were shorter. He was becoming a cat who loved his luxuries, and his nap sites followed the sun as it moved from the east to the west side of the house throughout the day.

Ed's personality never changed. He still expected to be the family member in charge, but he became more social these past two years. He would join us as we gathered for dinner, wanting to check out what was on our plates. Then, he'd sit with me as I worked at the computer, and at 8:00, we'd adjourn to the rocker and he would sit above me, or on my lap, or nose to nose with me.

In the morning, when I came out of the bedroom, Ed would be waiting on the table in the foyer, ready for me to scoop him up and carry him to the kitchen where I'd give him the first can of cat food for the day. He had a schedule, and he expected me to keep to it.

Tuesday, it was unusually warm. Our Spring has arrived about two weeks early. Ed wanted to go out, so about four o'clock in the afternoon, I opened the door for him, thinking he would be back in time for dinner. I called him, and looked for him for the next twenty four hours, but Ed ghosted out of our lives in the same way he came into them.....on his own terms.

He was a great cat, and I really miss him.

Where does the time go? I had a lovely weekend with my youngest sis. Frankie came up to attend a jewelry party hosted by one of our nieces on Friday night. I hate to admit it, but I usually don't care for the parties where you are expected to go and buy something, but this was a lot of fun.

We've had a stormy weekend, with some serious thunderstorms moving through, but we managed to miss most of them while we were out and about. We visited Elegante Mother, and then had lunch with My-Sister-The-Nurse. We picked up some summer weight slacks for EM, and spent a little time chatting before heading home.

Frankie and I spent another hour on the quilt we started a year ago (Yeah, Cop Car....the one that was supposed to be done in ONE DAY....HAH!) We're down to the borders now, so the rest will go fast the next time we can sew together. Frankie wrote down what she intends to do for the next three borders and the binding and backing so we won't have to guess at it next time.

We sent Frankie off at 7:30 this morning so that she could have an hour or two with her hubby before he had to go off to work. I hate letting her go, but I wanted her to have a safe drive and a good day. As she was getting ready to go down the driveway, she rolled down her window and instructed me to save our grapevine for her this fall! Maybe I should have told her that she could have it if she would make me a grapevine Christmas tree next year! lol

It's been a great weekend!

I attend exercise three mornings a week (well, I'm supposed to go three mornings a week), and the woman who leads us is taking courses to certify as a yoga instructor. When she needs to be away for the occasional class, she invites me to fill in for her.

I spent some time working on "cheat sheets" for the class. I can't remember the moves and call them without reminders, so I use poster board and write out the moves. We tape them to the top of the mirrors in the dance studio, and I stand in the center of the front row.

I bit off more than I can chew this time. I wanted to try to create the same exercises we have been doing for the past two or three weeks. That meant that I would have to call four new cardio exercises! FOUR!! And, of course, I didn't leave myself adequate time to rehearse. I got a LOT of exercise in this past week, trying to learn to call those routines.

Things were going well Friday morning. I managed to get us through about twenty minutes of exercise, and we were coming up to the last two cardio songs and a cool down. We had almost finished the third cardio when I stopped in place. Of course, they all did, too. I'd been calling the moves for cardio four to the music for cardio three!

Duh! I just can't believe my ears didn't realize what I was doing. And, do you know, not ONE of the class told me something was wrong! I was going to skip the last cardio and go on to the cool down and stretching, but they liked the song and were willing to repeat all the moves.

Clearly, I'll need to practice a LOT before I sub again in two weeks. I'm lucky the class is filled with such nice people. We got our exercise in, and that was what mattered, but I'm truly embarrassed!

I was struck this morning by the power of what you can accomplish in just five minutes.
Granted, it came to me when I stopped to make my bed before leaving the bedroom, but that doesn't lessen the impact you could have.

In my life, five minutes might be spent on emptying the dishwasher, starting a load of clothes, watering plants, or sweeping the floor. It could also be signing an e-file release and faxing it to the CPA, or paying bills, or typing a waiver.

I believe that we build on the simple five minute chores to create a platform that lets us get to the more important things. I've said before that I do well when my house is tidy and the desk is organized. When those things seem overwhelming, if I break it down into five minute chores, I can whittle away at that burden and get through it.

I can't think of anything that couldn't be solved or resolved if you didn't break it down into simpler steps. So what if you tackle the easy ones first, the chore still gets done.

So, today, I'm going to be looking for five minute chores, and watch to see if I accomplish more.

What can YOU accomplish in five minutes?

I expect this to be a busy week. We will be hosting a small part of my extended family for Easter Dinner. I think the count is somewhere in the 14-18 range, less than a third of the family. I won't have to arrange for extra tables and chairs, and we won't have to cook in Oh-My-God! sized vats. I think it should be a really lovely gathering.

Part of my oldest sister's family will be out of town this coming weekend, so she is bringing just part of the crowd. Dear Husband's daughter and her family will be joining us, and we hope his second son and the son's girlfriend will join us, too.

Even with a small group coming, there is still cleaning to be done, and I need to clean out the gardens along the sidewalk. I had intended to have them done last week, but our plans were interrupted when our son-in-law needed emergency surgery (see the next entry).

I plan to start my spinach, go to exercise and then grocery shop for Elegante Mother. After a visit with her, I'll do my own grocery shopping and then head for home. Tuesday is house cleaning and ironing. Wednesday is exercise, library and a visit to Comcast to return equipment, before I spend the afternoon in the office.

The rest of the week, I'll be working toward being ready for quilting bee on Friday evening and dinner on Easter. There are dozens of chores to be taken care of, but fewer than usual, because our gathering will be smaller. I'm really looking forward to it all.

We're expecting temperatures in the seventies on Thursday, Friday and Saturday. I hope you all have the wonderful week that we are expecting!

Don't you love it when a plan comes together. I managed to get the dishes done, the clothes washed and folded, and THEN......I started working on the mail.

Mail is a major undertaking here. We get mail for five different entities. A huge amount of it is junk mail, but most of it needs to be opened, and a lot of it needs to be shredded. I organize the rest into four piles (DH and my mail goes into the same pile).

I took one stack at a time and filed or pitched almost all of the mail. You can see the top of my desk now. I wouldn't go as far to say that I was finished, but I've made tremendous headway, and it's very satisfying.

Now, I can go outside and play!

It was cold today, but clear, and the sun was incredibly brilliant! We still have some snow, and the sunlight on the snow made my eyes water. We have a few more days of light snow coming this way, but nothing like what the eastern U.S. has been getting. I love the sunlight in the morning when it makes my quilt studio glow, but afternoon sunlight is starting to talk to me of SPRING!!! Have you noticed our days are longer?

I went to exercise this morning. We did our warm-up and about 25 minutes of cardio, and then we were introduced to a guest teacher. Regina is going to start a class next week on "Zoomba." She took us through three simple, warm-up style pieces. The footwork is very similar to what we do in my present class, with a bit more dancing involved. I have a bad knee, so I'm not thrilled by steps that require very quick shifts of weight, but I was able to substitute simpler steps and keep up the pace. I don't think I will be signing up for Zoomba, but I enjoyed the chance to sample it.

Okay, tomorrow the Christmas tree comes down. I heard on the news yesterday that the town in which I live requires that your Christmas decorations be down, or you will be fined!! What right do they have to legislate how I decorate my house??? I hope that my evergreen wreath with the red bow in the entryway near my front door is allowable, or I'll be writing about the fine next week! Actually, I'm going to go check out the law, so that I know how it reads! lol

Taxes are almost ready to go to the CPA (She'll FAINT!!!) Usually I get them to her by April 1st. I'll have to drop them off on Monday, just for the fun of it. New insurance is just about ready to be locked in. You can see the top of my desk. Amazing, isn't it??

Have a great weekend!

It seems that I am on the mend. I have a very low tolerance for being ill, so I wish things would hurry up and sort themselves out.

My stomach problem must have been a response to something I ate, because it was over with in less than 24 hours. But, I was also dealing with an eye infection, and that has lingered. My-Sister-The-Nurse was also feeling poorly, so we flipped a coin to see who would house Frankie on Friday night, and I WON!!!

We went out to breakfast Saturday morning. She was on her way to visit with Elegante Mother, and I needed to make a bank and Post Office run. I had a lovely time chatting with Frankie. I moaned about the need to put away Christmas things and the ever present need to clean my basement, and she told me about an exercise she does with the students at her school.

She asks the kids to take a minute to envision their lives 20 years from now. And then asks what their lives might be like just five years from now. Then, she asks what their lives might be like 6 months from now. She talks them through the possibilities, and then asks what's keeping them from achieving those possibilities. Her students are kids at risk of loosing the opportunity to complete their public school education, so some of the answers could be lack of family support, making poor choices in friends, doing drugs, having to work to support themselves, or not getting enough rest or study time. The final step is to encourage the kids to determine how to turn things around.

Applied to my life, in ten years, I'd like to have simplified my life. I'd like to have less clutter, fewer material things to deal with, and the freedom to travel. A slimmer, trimmer me, would also be nice. Five years from now, I'd like to have a CLEAN BASEMENT. I'd like to have all the business files sorted, and culled, the holiday decorations limited and stored, the clothing in storage given to those who need it more than I do, and the floors and walls of the basement swabbed down!

In six months, It will be gardening season, and I'd like to have some of this organization completed so that I don't have two major demands on my time at the same time.

What has been keeping me from getting the basement done? It's not laziness. When I work, I work hard, but I am overwhelmed by all that needs to be done. I don't like having to do this work alone, but with the exception of the business files, I'm really the one who has to decide if something stays or goes. I need to break things down into more manageable parts and chip away at the job until I can see some improvement. I also need to organize some help to remove all that needs to be thrown away.

Okay, sis.....give me some more guidance! I may be working in the basement today! *G*

So.....Frankie is home again after having visited with Elegante Mother. Dear Husband is back from Strictly Sail. I visited the PA and got some help for my eye infection, and I'm on the mend. Things are looking up, and I may even get my basement cleaned, yet!

I hope your weekend has been as good as mine!

Image via Wikipedia

Happily, that phase has passed. I was even able to eat some applesauce and a small banana by dinner time. When in doubt, I always feel the BRAT diet is a good choice (banana, rice, applesauce, and tea). I risked all a little later, and also ate a few oyster crackers, which also stayed down. I assume that I ate something that didn't agree with me, but it's possible that I had a mild flu bug.

Wednesday night, before going to bed, I put a pound of dried Great Northern beans in a pot to soak. I wanted to make bean soup yesterday. Of course, I didn't cook anything at all, and this morning I found the pot of beans still soaking. I've never questioned whether you can over soak beans, so I had to do a little research at Wikipedia. There, I learned that you should not over soak beans. I'll pitch this batch out, and wait to make bean soup for a few days.

Does anyone have any suggestions for simple food that is good for this stage of recuperation? I remember that Elegante Mother always gave us grilled cheese sandwiches and tomato soup, with ginger ale or seven up. My-Sister-The-Nurse tells me that tomato soup is really not a good choice. Chicken broth would be better.

I need to find light duty for today. I could start gathering information for taxes. I might play with fabrics or work on two small quilts I need to finish. Having the cat sit on my lap and snooze with me sounds really good, but sitting all day, without moving around regularly, is hard on the joints, so maybe I need to wean myself off the snoozing.

The worst of all this is that I will miss a visit from Frankie. My sister is driving up from Indiana to have a quick visit with Elegante Mother, and she had planned to stay here tonight. We've changed our plans just to make sure that I don't have anything contagious. Frankie will be staying with My-Sister-The-Nurse tonight, and I'll have to wait until March to see her. Darn!

Thank you, if you made it this far, for letting me whine. I'm sure I'll feel better soon. I have a limited tolerance for whining, so this must be a sign that I'm on the mend.

I hope you all have a good day!

Bogie wrote:
"We have friends that are going thru this very thing. They have to prepay anything that their mother might use (such as the funeral / burial plot and storage units - she has a lot of stuff that she refuses to get rid of). Also WS's family went thru this several years ago (gosh, has it really been like 10 years ago?) Medicare won't kick in until everthing that EM has has been spent, so there will be nothing left for funerals and what not if they aren't pre-paid. It's not a pleasant thought, trying to get everything taken care of beforehand, but it is neccessary in order to spare everyone later down the road. "

Bogie took a moment to respond to my comments about the need to step up to the plate and take care of things for my mother, and I wanted to share my answer to her.

Bogie, for the past year it's been really tough. I've worried that I was missing things that needed to be done, or that I was handling things incorrectly. Most of us don't know the legal issues involved in taking over responsibility for our parent's assets.

I have to tell you that I feel incredibly better having talked to the lawyer. The CPA has also given me pertinent information. I think that once I have followed through on the information, I will be able to set my worries aside, and just enjoy the time I have with Elegante Mother.

And shouldn't that be the way it is? I want to stop worrying, and just enjoy the time we have left.

At the moment that translates to a bowl of Cheerios, but I've had a jones for cookies lately. I made a double batch of chocolate chip cookies. The bag said that would make about 10 dozen cookies. HAH!! It actually made about 45. They must be making cookies that are about the size of a quarter. We went through those in about three days, so I made one of Dear Husband's favorites: Spicy Nut Cookies. The need for sugar has abated just a bit, but it's still there, rather like a volcano waiting to blow.

January and February seem to be the months when comfort food seems so necessary. I applaud those of you who continue to eat healthy meals through the winter. Dear Husband and I tend to search out the comfort during the worst of winter, despite the fact that we like veggies and salads. DH asked me to make a casserole with chicken, veggies and cream of chicken soup. When DH is craving comfort food, it always translates into something with gravy or cream sauce. He also asked me to make Tuna Noodle Casserole this week. Our calorie consumption is off the chart between those two meals and the cookies!

I have a plan, though. I'm going to let this ride through January, and then in February, we will be eating lighter, smaller meals, and getting some exercise after dinner. There are plenty of chores that we need to attend to, and I think that extra exercise will make a big difference. So....it's couch potatoes for the next week, and then we rejoin the healthy world.

What is your comfort food? Baked goods? Candy or desserts? Old fashioned casseroles? Something salty? Frankie.....remember grilled peanut butter and piccalilli sandwiches???? *G*

N. B. 1-22-2010 I should have said that the chicken casserole with cream of chicken soup was definitely NOT fine dining. I'd really rather create something from scratch, but we were really short on time that day, so it was a crockpot meal.

Most of you who have come to read know that Elegante Mother is developing dementia. I'm at the point where I have to begin a series of tasks that I'd like to stave off.

Tuesday, My-Sister-The-Nurse, our brother, and I will be visiting the lawyer to discuss the subject of elder law in relation to Elegante Mother. Should EM outlive her liquid assets, we have to know what steps are necessary to ask Medicaid to take over her care. EM is presently living in a senior retirement village with 24/7 care.

Unfortunately, I think it's also time to speak with funeral home personnel to determine what we need to do to set up funeral plans. We have been advised by a number of people that we have to have these plans and funding in place before we speak to Medicaid.

EM's demise is not imminent. I think she may be with us for some time to come, and that's why I have encouraged my siblings to gather the information we will likely need. I think we need to give her assets and her care the same diligence we would give our own.

It's very difficult to be thinking about these subjects in relationship to my mother. It's very difficult to be pragmatic when in my mind I'm thinking, "I can see you in there, come out and play!" I see the flash of intelligence, the quirk of humor, the raised eyebrow that was so EM, every now and then, but soon, even those brief glimpses will go. And it's best that we be prepared.

I'm just coasting through the work that needs to be done in January to make us ready for tax period. I am responsible for Elegante Mother's finances, and we will be doing W2s for household help (read: caregivers) for the first time. I've had to apply for an EIN and we will be doing quarterly reports. It keeps me busy.

I spent several hours on Saturday printing out letters to catalogs and charities, instructing them to remove EM from their mailing lists. I've sent about 35 of those letters now. Sunday, I entered debit card purchases, and deposits to the Quicken program for EM, and then printed out two reports to get an idea of what was spent, and how we spent it in 2009. I'm sure that I didn't understand just how much work there would be when I agreed to take on the power of attorney for her.

Tomorrow, the CPA will visit, and we will work on all the documents that need to be sent before the end of the month. I've already organized banking and investment information, and I have most of the other data needed for both our personal taxes, and EMs. It's a relief to know that I'm ahead of the game.

I plan to visit Elegante Mother on Wednesday, taking groceries. I'll suggest that the caregiver take a little time to herself while I visit with EM. I don't envy the caregiver her job; it's difficult at best.

Thursday......I can hardly wait! I plan to get reacquainted with my sewing machine and finish the seams in two small projects that have been on the design board for months! YES! I love finishing up projects.

The spate of cold weather is breaking. We are expecting warmer weather (above freezing) toward the end of the week. I'll be happy to have the chance to break up the ice on the front sidewalk before the next storms find their way in.

Happy New Year to you all!

I didn't realize how long it has been since I last posted. My host's domain was down for a little virus hunt for the past three weeks. I realized we were up and running once more when I began to get spam posts from commenters. It used to be that we had short comments about sex or drugs. Now, I get long paragraphs that don't make sense. Apparently they're using their own drugs...

December was busy, just as it must have been for all of you. Dear Husband and I shared the gift shopping, and I did most of the wrapping. I didn't need to buy any paper, tape, gift labels or decorations. It was a pleasure to use what I had on hand to make really pretty boxes. One large box in particular, for DH, turned out well. I used burgundy paper with a gold tinted wired-edge ribbon. Our daughter-in-law sent the gift directly from the store. I didn't even open the box, I just wrapped it. When DH opened it Christmas morning, this HUGE box had been used to send a metal air-tight container for the boat that is roughly eight inches tall and six inches wide. It was funny, so I didn't mind.

Frankie and her family, plus one Danish boy friend and their dog, Sydney, came to us for Christmas. Frankie stopped to pick up Elegante Mother on her way up on Christmas Eve. They arrived in early afternoon, and we tried to stuff them with crab cakes on a bed of spinach with orange aioli, and/or mini burgers with carmelized onions and gouda cheese.

Everyone was with us through Christmas Day. The day after Christmas, the dog, my brother-in-law and my oldest niece needed to return to Indiana. Elegante Mother returned to her condo and caregiver on Sunday mid-day, and Frankie and the two kids stayed until Monday morning.

You can bet the counter was heavy with goodies. We really tried to be conservative in what we ate, but there was a LOT of temptation. I didn't start making cookies until the week of Christmas, so there were a lot fewer choices to be made, but we tried to hit the family favorites between us. Frankie brought us a copper tub FILLED with the most incredible chocolates you have ever tasted, and DH brought specialty popcorn to add to the mix.

My oldest sister (My Sister The Nurse), her husband, her oldest son and his daughter joined us on Christmas Day. There were 12 of us to dinner. Frankie brought prime rib which she packed in salt to roast, and we did mashed potatoes, green beans, and Caesar salad. I forgot the ribbon jello, so we had it for days afterward! *G* I got rather pushy encouraging my family to HAVE SOME JELLO!!!

Frankie has been working on her first quilt top in easily fifteen years. We worked on it together on Sunday afternoon (more in the next post). The kids went into Chicago to visit Navy Pier and the Museum of Contemporary Art, among other things. We were hit by quite a snow storm the day after Christmas, so I didn't envy them walking in Chicago. We spent the evenings watching DVDs.

It was a WONDERFUL four days. I really enjoyed having my house filled with family over the holidays. EM adjusted to the busy days, and we were glad to have the chance to celebrate with her. It seems quiet now, in comparison, but we're taking a few days to relax before we hit January paperwork time.

We hope that you all have a healthy and prosperous 2010!!

We're BACK!!!

I have so much to tell you, and NO TIME! Dear Husband has invited me out to a movie, so I'll come back later to tell you about December at ChezBuffy.

I hope you all had a marvelous Christmas, and we wish you the best in this coming year!

In just a few hours Elegante Mother will celebrate her 93rd birthday! Isn't that fabulous!??

My grandparents lived to be about 85. I never expected my mother to outstrip that goal, but she's still going strong at 93. Her memory is failing, but she is able to get around under her own steam, and she's doing well with her new caregiver.

We're blessed that Elegante Mother is still with us. Send a prayer on its way for her to have more birthdays, won't you?

And of course, to the portion of the "Kansas family" that resides in New Hampshire....

I do understand the pleasure of a smaller gathering. There's a lot to be said for smaller groups where you can hear the conversations around the table, and you have the chance to speak at length to everyone who is gathered for your celebration.

My daughter-in-law does not do well in groups. Her horizon has been narrowing over the years and this Fall she told us that anything larger than four and she is uncomfortable. She and Dear Husband's son have never celebrated Thanksgiving with us because my side of the family is so large. One day, we will have to pass the baton to someone else in my family, and hold a quiet celebration here, in the hope that she will be able to join us.

The obvious benefits to smaller gatherings are less set-up, less to clean up. Elegante Mother has been with us since Thanksgiving, so I have not done the clean up that I might have started Friday morning. I still have serving spoons and some glass items to wash, and I need to put away the glasses. The floors and carpets need a lot of work!

I have finally discovered who in the family has folding chairs that we can borrow in the future. We rented twenty chairs for the day when we might have borrowed them, instead.

On the other hand.....my house was filled with family, and I got to see family members I haven't seen in a year, or six months. It's wonderful to draw everyone together. I loved the laughter that rang through the house, and the hugs hello and goodbye.

So, I understand what you're saying to be about enjoying "simple," and agree that simple is good. But for now, excess reigns in this household. *G*

I believe that yesterday was just about the best Thanksgiving I've ever hosted. Actually, I think it might have been the best Thanksgiving ever. Perhaps because of all the health problems, and financial problems, and relationship problems the family is suffering, that they were able to gather and enjoy each other's company, and put all that aside, made it very special to me.

There were 37 people seated to dinner yesterday. To accomplish that, I started working on things more than a month ago. I tried to get the gardens and grounds done by early November so that I could concentrate on things within the house the closer we got to "The Day." My oldest sister will be happy to tell you about the file I sent her with the names of those attending, and list of what they were bringing for the meal.

One of my nieces helped me with two marathon cleaning sessions. Unlike most of you, I do Fall cleaning rather than Spring cleaning. (Well, actually, I do both, but we do a really thorough Fall cleaning before the holidays.) The china and glasses and silverware were washed and dried. I gathered seasonal items to decorate the tables (there were 5 tables), and seasonal quilts were laid out or hung.

I ironed napkins, cleaned out the office and my quilting studio, and moved things from the laundry area and mudroom counter to make room for desserts and a turkey roaster.

Dear Husband is an old hand at Thanksgiving with that many guests. He took care of the seating, made two huge pans of lasagna (Wednesday night), and at the last minute, prepared a Caesar salad. He is a genial host, and makes everyone welcome. Toward the end of the afternoon, I saw him playing with the three little girls (including one of our granddaughters) who were in their twos.

My oldest sis arrived early, followed by part of her family, and they all helped out with the last minute preparations. We peeled potatoes and cooked two huge pots of them for mashed potatoes (we only needed one, I sent most them home with her.) I made two dishes of dressing (we only needed one, and I KEPT the second one! lol) We made iced tea, filled the ice bin, put out the pickles and olives and appetizers. Sis had set the tables on Wednesday afternoon while I worked on desserts, so all they had to do was move chairs in place.

Enough of this detail....Suffice it to say, we had TONS to eat, all of it great, and a lot was left over. No one goes hungry in this family, ever. What's most important is that so many of my family members were able to gather for a meal. We have several people who are dealing with serious health issues, some with relationship problems, and some who are trying to hang on through difficult financial times. They were able to put all that aside and have a day to simply enjoy the extended family. When I asked before dinner if there was anyone feeling particularly thankful who would like to say grace for us, my six year old great-nephew raised his hand. I was floored. He did an outstanding job! He was succinct, and clear voiced. It was the perfect blessing to our gathering.

It's my hope that you all had just as perfect a day as we did. If not, come join us next year, and we'll share our blessings with you. Happy Thanksgiving to you all, and a relaxed month leading to Christmas.

It's that time again. I have begun the last week of preparation for our Thanksgiving celebration. For the past month or so I have been doing chores outside, and working with one of my nieces to do the fall cleaning. I've ironed linens, and sewn binding onto a seasonal wall hanging.

Now, I'm working on clearing the path toward being able to bake rolls and desserts at the beginning of the week and set tables on Wednesday. Dear Husband will make lasagna Wednesday night. My-Sister-The-Nurse will come during the day Wednesday to give me a hand, and one of her daughters will join us in the evening. By the time she goes home, we should be all set to rise and cook on Thursday morning.

We expect to seat 38 people, six of whom are six years old or younger. My family would like me to consider using paper plates, but my philosophy is that we have enough china, we should use it! I'll set five tables. Each will have it's own color scheme, with burgundy and gold predominating.

I've reserved 20 folding chairs, and ordered a fresh turkey. I have two turkey breasts to defrost. I had a chair re-upholstered, and it was ready today. We'll pick it up Saturday. We have to purchase a new set of glasses. I've been looking at these cool stemless wine glasses at Crate and Barrel (just like the ones my youngest sis has that I liked so much *G* ).

I started a list using the next five days as headings. I've portioned out the chores that need to be accomplished before Thursday, putting more chores at the beginning of the list so that I could add things later. All day long I've thought of additional chores to add. If I don't have it down on paper, I'll never remember to do it! I'll have lots of help this week, and I will just keep working my way through the lists. What doesn't get done, doesn't get done, and I won't worry about it.

Elegante Mother is joining us on Thanksgiving, and she will stay with us for Friday and part of Saturday, too. I'm glad that she is feeling better. I hope she enjoys her stay. I picked up several boxes of UNICEF Christmas cards, and we'll work on addressing cards to her friends on Friday.

I have friends (who will go un-named) who shudder at the thought of all these chores for a meal and celebration, but I've done this so frequently over the past 20 years that it seems like second nature. Having so much done and out of the way will make it easier for me to enjoy all my visitors
I'm really looking forward to sharing the day with my family!

If I can find a few minutes to blog again this weekend, I'll write about the two desserts I'd like to make: 'Pecan pie' Cheesecake, and Chocolate-Citrus Cake (chocolate ganache in the center!)

I hope you all have a great weekend!

Wednesday, I looked out the kitchen window and saw that my herb garden was covered with a hard frost. I thought, "That's the end of the growing season!"

But, I was wrong. When the sun melted the frost away, many of the herbs perked up, and they are still growing. The parsley, in particular, seems to like to cold, but the oregano, thyme and sage are still growing.

I cut down the columnar basil last week. It's pretty tender, and it doesn't take much to end the basil's growing season. I also cut down the lemon verbena, and let it dry inside. I pulled the leaves off to use as a room freshener. I grow lemon verbena as an annual here, but I understand that in the south the plant is perennial and gets quite large.

We have a few chores to do this weekend, and the grounds will be mostly ready for the winter. Dear Husband has covered the long driveway garden with leaves. I want to rake back the leaves on the peonies, cover them with compost and humus, and then recover them with leaves for the winter. I also need to spread straw over the ferns, and there's a volunteer tree growing among the daylilies outside my office window that needs to be cut down.

This morning I will be going to services for the husband of a dear friend. Dorothy and Emil moved to Cincinnati when it became clear that Emil was developing Alzheimer's. They wanted to be closer to their daughter, where they could ask for help, if needed. Emil has passed away, and Dorothy decided to have his service here, where they had made so many friends. This is a sad duty, one I feel I must do. I met Dorothy when she visited during the monthly Empty Nesters Sewing Circle Elegante Mother hosted. For EM, and for Dorothy, I'll go and celebrate Emil's life.

I'm delighted to tell you that Christmas has arrived! I have a plant that we call a "Christmas Cactus." My understanding is that it blooms these absolutely gorgeous blooms at Christmas.

Well, this plant is just a bit confused, and more so than usual. Normally it begins blooming late in November, sometimes in time for Thanksgiving. Then it blooms again, sometimes for Christmas, for Valentine's Day, and for Easter. It's covered with the palest fuchsia flowers. It looks a lot like this.

So, my plant is confused. Elegante Mother's Christmas cactus is confused, too. Soon we'll have a mass of hot orangey-red blooms open on her cactus. That MUST mean .... IT'S CHRISTMAS!!!!! Break out the mulled wine!

I had just one chore yesterday. Elegante Mother bought bench a number of years ago. I thought it would look lovely, silvering out in the garden. SHE thought it needed a coat of polyurethane. She coated it, and it spent a summer in the garden,and then was moved down to the basement for the winter.

I got a look at that bench last year, and it looked as though mildew was growing in or under the polyurethane, and I decided that I would sand the bench. I asked a friend how to go about the sanding and he wrote a treatise on wood care for me. Dear Husband thought we might get away with the hand sander and a 60 grit sand paper.

I started the project a month ago. On my friend's advice, I didn't try to do the entire project in one day. I worked for an hour or so, and set the bench aside. A few days later I had another hour, and worked on it some more. It's been like that through out the month.

So, we get to yesterday of the beautiful weather, and I resumed my sanding. Unfortunately, I forgot that I wasn't supposed to sand for hours! lol I can still feel the vibrations in my hands. The bench is not done, but it's much closer to being done. I'm going to have to finish the dowels on the back, and the sides of the seat boards by hand, but the project is looking much better.

When a friend gives you good advice, PAY ATTENTION! *G*

About 80 percent of our leaves have fallen. Dear Husband has been out with his blower, moving them into piles of yellow and brown and gold. I need to browse on the subject of leaves as winter mulch. Do they need to be mowed over before they are used as a mulch, or can they be applied uncut?

The herons and egrets have gone south for the winter. October 22 was the last time I saw an egret. They might have been around a bit longer. I was cooped up in the house with a cold, so I might have missed a day or two, but that's about the time they leave for warmer climes.

Milkweed pods have burst open, and the silks are afloat. I've had a love affair with milkweed pods since I was a child. One memorable Christmas, I spray-painted a number of them gold to use as "angel's wings" on Christmas packages. That was back when I had less to do, and more energy. Those packages were really adorable! Gold milkweed pods occasionally showed up as decorations on evergreen wreaths until I realized that I like the natural look even better.

As a more mature person (snickering) I choose to collect milkweed pods and teasel and what my family called "Indian tobacco," for large bouquets. I have a collection of dried weeds in a large ceramic pot at my front door. One of my errands this week is to get ribbon for bows for that bouquet. I need something in fall colors for this month, and something dark red, or green for December.

We still have a little bit of yard work left to do. It seems that Indian Summer may return this weekend. We are expecting temperatures in the low 60s with no rain! In addition to the last of the yard work, I'd like to finish sanding a bench, and use oven cleaner on my stove top cartridges. Cop Car......are you tired yet?? I'll make it through the weekend, but don't expect much of me on Monday! lol

I'm off to make binding for one of two quilts I want to bind. Bee meets Friday night, and I want to have something to work on as we chat.

Have a great day, my friends!

I was visiting with my youngest sister, Frankie, of Just My Opinion, about ten days ago. In the quiet of the early morning we were chatting about our on-line connections, and I mourned my lack of blogging in the past few months. "I don't have anything to say!" She corrected me, gently commenting that I have a lot to say, I just don't know how to put it down. She's so right.

I have avoided discussing my mother lately. My mother has had at least one seizure, and a host of small strokes. She is no longer in my care, but has been set up in a condo with a round-the-clock caregiver. She is mobile but requires a lot of assistance and attention. She is no longer able to do any of the things which were the mainstays of her life: writing, quilting, crafts, or cooking. She can read, but she can't retain what she's read, so she no longer reads her beloved English mysteries.

We are consumed with the problem of deciding what choice is best for EM. Do we leave her in the condo until she requires nursing, or do we look for an Alzheimer's unit? Do we need to talk to Hospice? Finding the right caregiver is a nightmare job, especially with the number of people who choose NOT to report their income and pay taxes. We will not hire a person who is unwilling to give us their social security number, so finding the perfect match is a difficult proposition.

Arranging for care for Elegante Mother on the weekend when the caregiver is off is equally difficult. My sisters and I have been sharing the duty, but it's becoming more difficult as time goes on. There is an entire book to be written about this problem.

We are in agreement that EM should not be moved to a nursing home until she requires nursing, but trying to find the right facility is another enormous undertaking. Our experience with the two nursing homes that she needed in the past has left us wondering if there IS a place that will give her the care we want for her.

One of the minor irritations came yesterday when I opened the phone bill to find that EM has been billed almost $700 for calls to Poland made by her caregiver. We thought we had put a stop to these huge bills by adding the International plan to her phone in June, but it seems her provider slipped up. What's the chance that they will take responsibility for this error and change the billing????

EM gave me her power of attorney for financial matters. I have spent as much time organizing her expenses as I do my own. I pay the bills that come in the mail, the rent, the caregiver, the hairdresser, and weekly expenses. I also have to sort through all the junk mail, and magazines which come, and deliver what is appropriate to her. We are afloat in mail that I need to put a stop to. I collected addresses from catalogs that need to be stopped, when I can make the time to send out the notices.

You can see how the problems are cumulative. It has become more difficult for me to care for EM because she is a 45 minute drive away from me now. It doesn't make sense to visit her for a quick visit when it takes an hour and a half out of my day to make the trip, so I try to spend several hours with her when I go. Usually I stop for groceries to restock the condo when I go to visit.

Yesterday, I dropped off the groceries and then went to sit with Elegante Mother while she had lunch. She is able to feed herself, although she requires assistance cutting things up. She tends to eat a cup of cottage cheese, a piece of bread or crackers, and some of the meat on her plate, and always, DESSERT! Anything sweet gets her attention.

I rarely quiz her on who she is or where she is. Instead, I ask her how she feels, or is there anything she wants. Yesterday I asked her what my name is, and she didn't have a clue. I asked her if she knew what my relationship was to her, teasing her as we do small children. "Am I your sister?" "Your aunt?" "Your mother?" "Your daughter?" None of that made sense to her. When I told her I was her daughter, she asked me to explain how that was possible. I told her that she had married my dad, and she has five children, 17 grandchildren, almost 26 great-grandchildren, and in February she would have a great-great grandchild. The woman sitting with us at the table was very impressed and told EM that was quite an accomplishment. EM looked suitably proud, despite the fact that she can't remember how it came about.

We never know what we will find when we visit. Mother is as likely to be connected and aware of her circumstances as she is to not recognize us. It's very difficult to see her fade away like this. Soon, much too soon, we won't be able to make any connection with her, and I hate to see her slip away like this. This is the woman who did crossword puzzles in ink, and wrote columns for weekly newspapers.

So, to bring this full circle, I have chosen not to blog about some aspects of my life because I feel that my mother deserves some privacy as she declines. But, what's happening in her life has a huge impact on my life. You may find me ranting about quality of care one day, or discussing how difficult it is to find the right home for an aging parent. These are the subjects that are foremost in my mind.

I know that almost everyone in my age bracket is experiencing something similar. I'm not the Lone Ranger of parental care. Perhaps by blogging about my experiences I'll find how others are dealing with the same situations, and it won't seem quite so difficult.

We're celebrating Dear Husband's birthday tonight. His birthday was actually October 26, but it's difficult to gather the children and grandchildren, so we celebrate on whatever day we can all gather.

As far as we are concerned, birthdays are lovely reasons to get together with family. We made a trip to Indiana last week, and celebrated three of the October birthdays. Frankie, my youngest sister, has been kind enough to host us each October, and we celebrated my birthday, her youngest daughter's birthday, and DH's birthday. She asked each of us what would be our favorite celebration dessert. I love carrot cake, my niece loves the dark chocolate cake her family makes, and DH loves cream pies. Frankie arranged to have all three of the desserts, including coconut cream pie for DH! I have never been invited to a place where there was so much dessert offered! lol To make matters worse, DH picked up a red raspberry pie and turnovers at the bakery to take as a bread and butter gift! It was rainy and chilly, but it gave us good reason to stay inside and visit. We watched "Monsters, Inc." on Friday night, and "The Perfect Storm" on Saturday. I have a brand new (unopened) copy of "The Perfect Storm" for sale if anyone would like it...... Thank you, Frankie, for such a wonderful weekend!

Tonight....we do Italian with the bambinos. I expect to hear tales of trick-or-treating, and candy piled ten feet high! What a lovely end to a lovely day!

Well, actually....I hurt like hell, but I'm delighted to have accomplished so very much today!

I started out early this morning trimming and pulling spent plants from the gardens leading to our front door. There's a lot of work to do there to put the gardens to bed for the winter, and it was so nice today that I just kept working my way down the walk. Dear Husband came out about an hour later and started blowing the leaves into piles. I took a break and went back to it, and then we both stopped to have a sandwich.

After lunch, my stepson joined me in the gardens. We cut down the peonies and purple coneflower in the driveway gardens, and pulled the metal plant supports. He raked up the spent plants while I finished cutting down daylilies.

One of the big projects for today was to reorganize the garage for better storage, and cleaning the garage floor before we close up for winter. My stepson has recently purchased a motorcycle, and we've had to figure out how to squeeze everything in. I have eight pots of plants that I winter over in the unheated garage, set on a stack of styrofoam insullation. We reorganized garden equipment storage, and the recycling bins. Some things were thrown out, while others went down into the basement.

On paper it doesn't sound like a lot, but it was six hours of constant work, and it clears the way for us to settle in for the winter. I'm just SO pleased that we got so much done. I still have a short list of things to do, but with Frankie's help on the herb garden, and what we accomplished today, I can go into the holidays knowing that the grounds look tidy.

I need to have Dear Husband pick up a couple of bales of straw for me. I want to cover the ferns and daylilies. I need a couple of bags of compost. We covered peonies with dirt today. I'd like to top that off with compost to give them some organic food next spring.

So, this has been another of those "A day in the life of...." posts, but I can tell you that I FEEL GREAT!!! YEA! What a nice way to start November!

I have my annual Fall cold. I have been blaming my stepson for sharing his with me, but I discovered that my niece has the same cold, and she was with us for an afternoon. On top of that, I've been exposed to the swine flu, so I have spent the past two weeks pretty close to home. I chose not to go to exercise because I felt it would be wrong to share the swine flu with the senior citizens in the class. I hope to get back to exercise next week, before all my muscles turn to jello!

It's supposed to be almost 70 degrees today. It's sunny, and will be the last of the sunny days this week. We have rain forecast from this evening through Saturday. I should do a little work in the gardens, to move us through preparation for winter. My dear sis, Frankie, has done most of the work in the herb garden. I need to work at the front of the house, and in the long driveway gardens where the peonies grow.

Dear Husband was able to bring the boat home safely last weekend. Other than being swamped by a huge wave as he motored south to the yacht yard, it was a relatively uneventful trip. I suspect that he did better without my help than he does with it. He's been offloading anything that would freeze, and winterizing the motor and bilges. Poor guy. Seven months and he'll be back on the water!

Zucchini bread and pumpkin muffins are the only things I've baked so far. I'd like to make a carrot cake, and some pumpkin bread, and maybe some zucchini bread to freeze. I love the scent of fall seasonings. Cinnamon must be my all time favorite flavor!

I've managed to enter my Mother's checkbook onto Quicken, but I realized yesterday that the program sees it as my property, rather than a separate account. I need to see if there is any way to sequester that data so that I can run reports, or I'll have more work to do at tax time. Darn it all!

And that's about all the news that's fit to print. I hope you are all having a good Fall!

This is sappy, I know, but I'm not going to delete it. After all, this is a journal of my days. Keep in mind as you read this that I am a very simple person. Small things please me. Accomplishing chores that have been waiting for a long time is the kind of thing that makes me giddy. You might want to stop reading now....

I had one of those very satisfying days that we wish would happen more often. I started the day by feeding the cat and taking a mug of tea to the computer. I love to do the LA Times crossword puzzle at the computer. Since I was there, I thought I'd make the time to blog about last weekend, another couple of satisfying days.

At that point I decided the house wasn't going to warm up fast enough, so I turned on the heat, and then settled in to clear work off my desk. I have the power of attorney for my mother's finances, so I waded through her mail, paying bills and organizing those things that would need further attention. Then I did the same for our personal mail and bills. I filed things, and organized the outgoing mail, and created a grocery list for the next four days.

I made a run to the bank, and to the post office, and then I stopped for groceries on the way home. While minestrone soup was on my mind, I got out the recipe and copied it for two friends who had requested it.

I know this sounds dreadfully dull when you read it, but the upshot of it is that I can see the top of the desk. I FEEL more organized, and I'm eager to buzz my way through more of the backlog of chores around the house. I can comfortably leave what is left of the paperwork, knowing that it's taken care of for the next week or so, and not have to worry that any disasters are waiting to befall us.

Dear Husband needed a ride home tonight. I ended my paperwork session to go and collect him. The truck needs repairs to pass it's safety testing, so we left it with our favorite repair guys. They'll work on it first thing tomorrow and try to have it ready for him during the day.

We worked on dinner together, went over our schedules for this month, and now have the chance to sit back and relax. It was a satisfying day, and I hope tomorrow is just as satisfying!

Yesterday was our nineteenth anniversary! I am embarrassed to admit it, but I almost forgot. Had we not received an absolutely gorgeous card from my sister, Frankie, it might have slipped by unnoticed. I would have remembered in a week or so.

Our business has been on my mind. The economy has really hurt us. There are companies, large and small, falling around us, throwing in the towel because there just is not enough work to sustain them. We have pared down. We are cutting expenses to the bone, and we respond to every request we receive for a bid.

I was invited to lunch TWICE last week. I virtually never go out to lunch, but I had invitations on both Thursday and Friday. Thursday, I met with our CPA. She's a dear friend, who I don't see as often as I would like, so these occasional lunches are our time to catch up. She is a great networker, and we talked about networking over our meal. It turned out that she had a lunch date set up with the woman who is our lawyer. She is also heavily into networking.

I thought about them as I started my day on Friday, and at the end of exercise class, I mentioned our company, and asked if they would keep their ears open for anyone needing masonry work. Two women called me later that day with requests for information!

Lunch on Friday was with a group of women from the Empty Nesters at Elegante Mother's church. We visited the Emerson Creek Pottery and had a fabulous meal. I asked if they would consider letting me post a note about the company through their e-mail.

I have a quilting bee that meets once a month. One of the woman called this week to arrange for DH to look over some work that needed to be done at their house.

I e-mailed the queen of our Red Hat Chapter and she gave me several contacts to pursue. She had been involved in real estate, and recommended several associations which might give me more ways to network.

And, I talked with our lawyer, and mentioned her upcoming luncheon with our CPA. I told her we were looking for work, and that I planned to put together a PR brochure in-house to send to contractors. She suggested that I provide her with several of the packets, so that she could distribute them among her contacts.

Frankly, I was astonished at the support I received from my friends. My goal was to keep our company name on people's minds, and I think this might work. I didn't realize that I had so many contacts

So, you can see that I had a lot on my mind this week. I have an entire year to get ready for our twentieth anniversary, so I think I'll try to plan something special.

We all have a personal sense of humor. Within my family there are a variety of types of humor. Some of us love slapstick humor. Others love puns. Some love Adam Sandler, others can't bear him, and some say it depends on the movie.

At any rate, the silliest thing made me laugh today. My old cat, Edward Scissorhands went out this morning. As he's aged, his visits outside have become shorter and shorter, but he's not willing to give them up totally until it gets COLD outside.

Ed went out the front door and made half a circuit around the house, ending up on the windowsill at the west end of the "Green" room, where we eat casual meals. Frankly,it astonishes me to find him there, because it's quite a jump for any cat. I opened the back door, and called to him, and he paused to think about whether he wanted to make the jump down or not. I waited for a bit, before stepping out onto the stoop. Mind you, I was in an over-sized T-shirt nightie. (The grove has been allowed to grow dense and close to the back of the house, along with a stand of tall grass and weeds. No one was going to see me.) I reached for the cat and he backed away. I conned him, and was able to pull him up into my arms and step back into the house.

An hour later, I got up from the computer and felt the chair grabbing my nightie. I looked and realized there were dozens of little tiny burrs stuck to the chair. And then, I realized there were branches of this plant stuck to the hem of my nightie.

The burrs made me laugh. (What else are ya gonna do?) That I had been sitting on them, unaware, made me laugh. That I had collected half a plant with one brush of my shirt while I reached for the cat made me laugh.

It's the simple things that get me to laugh these days. It seems that the goofiness of human foibles is what I find the funniest. I can't recall when I last belly-laughed, or laughed until I cried, but there have been plenty of times when something my family has done has made me laugh.

I wonder if our sense of humor changes over time?

I'll be going now. I have to pull burrs off my nightie. *G*

My sister and her husband and their dog arrived last night. My brother-in-law is spending the weekend on the boat with Dear Husband. The three of them rose early, so that the guys could get down to the lake early, and Frankie could be on her way to Elegante Mother. We made appointments for Frankie and EM to have their nails done this morning, and then the two of them came to visit.

My mother can not remember living in this house. She asked me how I got a job here. I told her I married the boss. She wanted to know if I thought there might be anything she could do, so that she could work here too. As you can see, she was having a really difficult day. The change of scenery confused her. Despite the fact that she really liked visiting, she couldn't quite understand just what "this place" was.

I invited Frankie to bring EM here so that Frankie would have a chance to get some work done to prepare for the classes she will be teaching on Tuesday. I fixed little crustless tuna salad sandwiches, and offered fruit and potato chips. My mother's appetite was fine, and I was glad to see her eating well.

We watched the movie "Titanic." Apparently my sis is teaching a series of classes around the story of the Titanic, and the kids will have the chance to see part of the movie. EM was absorbed in the story, which surprised me. I don't know how much of it she understood.

I was casting around for a simple meal for dinner while I was at the grocery store, and came across a sale on shrimp. Normally a two-pound bag costs about $31, but they were on sale for $9.90. I decided that I would make garlic shrimp (shrimp scampi), with rice, and a salad. I made what we call Summer Salad: cucumber, tomato, green onion, vinaigrette and lots of dill. I had three chocolate cupcakes, with fudge frosting left from quilting bee dessert last night, to which I added scoops of ice cream. We were stuffed. I'm sure I won't have any trouble sleeping tonight....I'll be in a food induced coma! lol

Again, EM ate well, and seemed to really enjoyed the home cooked meal. I think we need to check on what she is being offered when we are not around. I'm sure that we are operating under the assumption that no one would feed EM as well as we do, but at the moment, I think we are right. We all know what EM likes to eat (LOBSTER! and chocolate), and we also know what she doesn't care for. She is used to freshly prepared meals, and rarely has much appetite for left overs, unless you are making lobster salad from leftover lobster tail. We may need to be keeping a closer eye on what she is getting to eat, both from the dining hall, and her caregiver.

It was really tough seeing Elegante Mother as confused as she was today. Perhaps when I see her during the week, she will be more connected because she recognizes her surroundings. I plan to join EM and Frankie at church tomorrow, and then come back to work on things for dinner when all four of us will be together again. Tortilla soup, anyone??

I'm dog-sitting tonight. In a few moments we will make the last call for the night, and then I hope that Sydney (the dog) and Ed (my cat) will choose to settle in for the night. Ed is more than a little ticked off about having a DOG visiting the house, and his schedule has been majorly disrupted. But, it's only for another day or so. I think he can adjust.

I hope you all enjoy your Labor Day weekend!

I can't believe that I have not made the time to post in the past 17 days! Where does the time go? I can recall when I was a child that August seemed to last for years. Now, it flies by.

Let's see...in the past three weeks...

Dear Husband had to have the car towed three times in one long weekend, and have it repaired three times. Apparently there was an electrical short that was missed during the first two repairs

Dear Husband had to have the boat towed. He was outside the harbor, trying to raise the sails, when a line went overboard and wrapped in the propeller. Needless to say, we will be buying towing insurance in the future. DH was in four-foot seas. The driver of the tow boat said that he comes prepared to dive to free tangles like that, but with the back of the boat rising and falling four feet, he wouldn't get into the water, and I can't say that I blame him.

I had "Mom Duty" two weekends ago. Saturday during the day went well, but Elegante Mother was ill during the night. Luckily, I was able to manage her care on my own, and two of my sisters came to our rescue in the morning. My-Sister-The-Nurse arrived at 9:00 a.m. to check on EM, and she gave me the chance to go home early and catch up on my sleep. My second sister came at noon to spell her, so EM got to see three of her four daughters all in one day. EM is fine. She saw the doctor on Monday, felt well, and had no lasting effects from her difficulties early Sunday morning. She has actually been talking a lot more, recently. She's still having trouble with short-term memory, but she's able to get her sentences out before she forgets what she wants to say.

Speaking of second sisters, mine just retired as Director of Christian Education at a big church in the suburbs. They gave her an amazing send-off, complete with luncheon and presentation. All of her siblings attended along with quite a few of the next generation. It was quite lovely, and the ladies of the church did a wonderful job sharing their love with her. She'll have wonderful memories to wrap up in.

I gardened this morning, and I'm going back for a little more punishment this afternoon. It has become popular not to cut back iris leaves in the fall, but I prefer to trim them to prevent wintering over leaves that might be infested with something that could damage the iris. I've been cleaning out dead leaves, and opening the plants up to the sun. I also plan to cut back a volunteer mulberry that I can't seem to kill off, and dead lily stalks and oriental poppy foliage. I prefer to have the gardens go into the winter looking clean.

Dear Husband has not seen much of Elegante Mother during the sailing season. He was home one Saturday when the car was in the shop, and went to lunch with us, but otherwise, she has not had the chance to visit with him. We plan to take EM and Sophie to dinner this evening, so that she can see him. I know that it will make her day. She has quite the soft spot for him.

We had a week of cool, gray, off-and-on-again rainy weather. And this week we seem to be having a week of brilliant sunshine and below normal temperatures. We opened the house Tuesday to air it out while we were cleaning, and by 6:00 I was shivering and closed it back up. It's always wonderful to let fresh air through. I'm looking forward to more days like that during September and October.

I'm sending two quilts, one large, and one small, to be machine quilted. I wanted to use up scraps and put together a quilt using four patches on point, alternating with rows of solid strips of fabric. It will be a "Use it up, Wear it out" quilt, that I will encourage the kids to wrap up in. The smaller quilt has one of my very rare uses of applique. It was a kit. It came with pre-selected fabrics and a pattern. The colors are absolutely wonderful fall colors, and I'm quite pleased with the applique. It should be back in time to set out for part of October and November. Once it's bound, I'll take a picture of it to share.

And, last of all....our exercise guru is taking a week off for some personal obligations and a class. I've been invited to lead our class three times. Yesterday went reasonably well, and I'll lead class again on Friday, and then Wednesday of next week. It keeps me working, and I'm happy to keep the class in session. I'm a sloth. Give me the least excuse and I'll curl up on the couch, so I'm glad that our guru asks me to help out.

I hope you all have a wonderful Labor Day. Get outside and enjoy the incredible weather, and the long weekend.

In so many ways, the title of my blog has hit home over the past ten days. As many of you know, my Dear Husband is an avid sailor. He has a 32-foot sail boat moored in one of Chicago's harbors and between May 15 and October 15 he spends as much time on the boat as possible. I do not do well on small boats. I tend to put my foot on the deck, and turn green. A moment later, I'm checking out the path to the head, or hanging on to the side of the boat as I heave. I just wasn't meant to be on small boats. I've named my blog in honor of the boat, the "Arr!!"

The past ten days or so it seems that a black cloud has been following the captain of the Arr!! He took off for what was to be a three day weekend on the boat. He needed to stop at Crowley's to pick up a part for the diesel engine, which had developed a leak. Crowley's is clear down at the south end of Lake Michigan, near Calumet City. Shortly after picking up the part, DH stopped for a hot dog, and when he tried to start the car....nothing happened. He managed to find a towing company, and a recommendation to someone who might be able to look at the car. (Note....tow number one)

The mechanic finally got the car running, but told DH he would need to have more work done on it. DH started home. Halfway through the trip he realized the battery wasn't charging, so he left the tollroad. The idea was, that he would be more accessible if the car quit on him. Sure enough....it did. He called and had it towed to our preferred mechanics. (Note....tow number two)

I needed to use our car on Saturday morning, to meet my sister and Mother at the Farmer's Market and then go on to lunch. Dear Husband joined us. I thought he might take my car to go to the lake on Saturday afternoon, but he chose to be a couch potato, and let a storm front move through. The mechanics called Saturday afternoon to say the car was ready to go.

Sunday morning, early, I drove DH to pick up the car. Before we parted, I kissed him and kiddingly said..."If you have any trouble with the car or the boat, find a hotel and register.....don't call me!"

You guessed it. About two hours later he called and asked me which hotel in Westmont I wanted him to check into. He was probably twenty minutes from home. He'd stopped to pick up things for breakfast and lunch on the boat, and when he returned to the car it wouldn't start. (Note....tow number three.)

The repair guys had a go at the car and it seems to be working. I think we scared it with discussion of whether it was time to turn it in for cash, and buy a newer car that got better mileage. DH voted to wait a bit. This car has been pretty darned good, and I think if you averaged the expense of maintaining it out over the years we've had it, it's been a reasonable expense. Of course, I'll worry every time DH heads for the lake. I don't have the cost of the three attempts to repair the car, or the cost of the three tows yet. I'm pretty sure I'm not going to be a happy camper.

What I hope is the final straw in this saga came yesterday. Dear Husband came home and told me that he'd had to have the BOAT TOWED!. He was outside the harbor when his propeller became fouled with a line. He had to call a marine towing company because the swells were four feet high.....too high for another pleasure craft to risk giving him a tow. The man running the tow boat said that he keeps diving gear on the boat just to be able to clear fouls like this, but with the boat heaving up and down so much he wouldn't risk getting into the water. We could have made a house payment with the cost of this particular tow.

I'll admit that I didn't take this particular news with good grace. I probably reined in my temper when I saw the bruise on Dear Husband's arm. His left bicep is black and blue. He was hurt somehow when trying to free the anchor before the boat was towed. I'd like to take an ax to the boat's hull, and end all this business of boating, but common sense (and love for my husband) has prevailed. If he were to ask me to give up quilting, I'd be devastated. Just because I'm here in the house when I quilt, doesn't mean that I am particularly good company. I'm distracted, and want periods of uninterrupted time to work out designs and piece them together. Dear Husband helped me to care for my mother for the past 20 years, and he's earned the right to do what pleases him. I just wish that I'd never heard the definition of a boat: "A Hole in the Water into which you throw large amounts of money!".

After I've had a little time to let off steam on this, we'll be okay. Of course, I'm worried about making ends meet in this economy. I worry about retirement, which is coming MUCH faster than I like....especially in this economy. I worry about grandkid's college funds, and I worry about my husband's safety. I suppose mostly I worry about his safety. Please God....keep him safe on his travels, and ...No more tows!

To my friends who are frequent commenters:

I have tried to give you the ability to post without needing my approval, but you all know that I am technologically challenged. Either MT or my computer requires that I approve comments for some of you.

If you don't see your comment posted in a timely manner, I apologize. I've read it, in my e-mail, and enjoyed it, and then blithely gone my way, forgetting that others couldn't read what you had to say.

Thank you for posting, and for keeping in touch with me. I really value your friendship.

I am having a slow, lazy, procrastinating day. I cannot motivate myself. I know if I get up from this chair I will find twenty things that NEED to be done. If I stay in this chair, and turn away from the computer there will be another gross of things to be done in the office. I don't want to do any of it. But I will... I think I'm going to start by putting the whites in the dryer, and then going out to work in the garden for an hour or two.

This morning, in the comments at L.A.Times Crossword Corner blog, one of the readers posted the parable of Leshon HaRa (I think I have that right.). Essentially it's the story which shows that harsh words, once spoken, can never be taken back. When I was in fifth grade, I had an amazing teacher, and she stopped one day to share this lesson with us. I was left with an image of harsh words, like musical notes, flying from my mouth, never to be recaptured. That image has stayed with me lo these many years. I truly try to muzzle myself when I'd really rather speak my mind. I don't always succeed, but I've gotten better at it. In the parable, the rabbi tells the unkind person, who wishes to repent, to open a feather pillow and shake out all the feathers. When he has, the rabbi tells him to now collect each of the feathers and put them back in the pillow. When he objects, and says it is an impossible job, the rabbi likens it to trying to take back harsh words.

There are too many harsh words in the world. Just too many. I believe that we have shifted from people who care about their community, to people who only care for themselves, and I hope that pendulum swings back, soon!

This same fifth grade teacher also talked one day about intentions. She said intentions were good, as long as you follow through on them. Otherwise, the best of intentions is worthless. I recall that she used this example: "I was going to take the garbage out." She made her point in a way that suited a ten year old mind, and stuck!

My intentions for the day are to make my bed, empty and refill the dishwasher, start another load of laundry, water the inside plants, and the outside plants, work in the gardens, and work in the office. I also have to take Ed for a vet visit, this afternoon.

So, I'm going to sign off, and wish you a wonderful Monday, while I go turn intentions into gold.

That dreaded nap time has hit again. I have too much to do to take a nap right now! I'm just coasting a bit until I'm ready to get back to work.

Frankie is coming in tonight for a short stay. We have always wanted to take a class at Sur La Table, and things have worked out just right that we can do TWO this summer. We're going to start tomorrow night with a class on knife techniques. I have a collection of Wusthoff knives that I love, and if there are better ways to use them, I'm all for learning about it. Besides, I get to hang out with Frankie!

Tomorrow, my CPA is coming to work on the quarterly reports for the companies. I used to do these on my own, but once we went to computerized books, she began to do the forms. I use the time to ask how to correct problems on the computer, and learn a little more basic bookkeeping. It's a relief to know that the government forms are done correctly. I have never liked the thought of being responsible for errors that could cost money.

I'm not sure what else Frankie and I will do while she is here. I expect to have a "girl's night in" dinner, tonight. Dear Husband is going to be away. We might watch a movie, or go to bed early enough that we can get a really early start on the day tomorrow. Frankie has to go home early on Thursday because it's her oldest daughter's birthday.

Which reminds me....I need to shop for a card....

So, I'm going to clean off my desk, to be sure that I am ready for the CPA, and my sis, and I'll catch up with you all (y'all) in a few days. Have a good week!

This past week I have been the guest leader of our exercise class. Our guru, Lynda, has become a grandma again, and she wanted to have a week with her daughter and grandchildren. I'm always pleased when she asks me to sub. It's the closest I get to teaching these days. She first asked me to sub three years ago when her parents became seriously ill. She gave me the music for the class, and a list of the exercises she was doing during each song. I spent a long weekend counting out the beats of the music, to determine how many times we needed to repeat the movements. I copied that information onto large sheets of poster board, in what I call my personal "cheat sheets."

We have upgraded exercise since then. We're working harder and a little bit faster. Lynda discovered that we old folk are capable of doing more than she expected, so she has added more yoga and balance to the sessions. When I use this older set of exercises, we are all aware that it's a bit less challenging. I'm at the point where I will have to spend another weekend counting out music and exercises and making another set of cheat sheets to upgrade the level of effort.

I was pleased that Monday's exercise went well. Wednesday the room was full! Most of the class of forty turned out. Today, I thought we might be lucky to have six or eight people come to class since it was the start of the long holiday weekend. I didn't stop to count, but I think we may have had about 26 people in class, and they were all there to work!

I feel blessed that my fellow exercisers are willing to have me lead the class, and further blessed that they make it so easy to guide them. I've really enjoyed the week. There were a couple of unexpected benefits. I've had some knee problems that are just beginning to improve. When I was leading class, I forgot to baby the knee, and I discovered that I could do more than I expected. And, when I lead class, I tend to work harder, so I got more benefit from the exercise than usual. I've felt really good all week!

So....Thank you, Lynda, for inviting me to sub for you. It was MY pleasure!

Yup, I'm yet livin'! I've been busy, but no busier than most of you. I've had a flurry of obligations followed by the calm of low tide.

I made a two day trip to Iowa, with my sister, Frankie, of Just My Opinion. It was a voyage of remembrance for me, and one of discovery for her. Our grandparents and their children lived in Iowa. My sister had heard stories of "the farms" all her life, and it was time for her to go see them, and get to know those who farm them better. I enjoyed the trip down memory lane, seeing the houses where my aunt and grandparents lived, and the house where my father was raised. I was astounded by the generosity of everyone we met in Iowa. They were generous with their time, their information, their smiles, and concern. This was perhaps the best quick trip I have ever made! Thank you, Iowans!

Monday, just past, I was scheduled for an insurance audit. I was prepared, but just to be on the safe side, I skipped exercise to be sure that everything was ready. Eleven o'clock came and went with no auditor at my door. By 11:22 I called, to see if she was lost and needed directions. No answer. I have still not received a return call. I believe a letter to the company is warranted.

I've started a new quilt top. I have a small wall-hanging-size quilt that is bands of four patches on point alternated with strips of solid fabric. I have it folded into quarters and Ed, the cat, lays on it when I am at the computer in the living room. I've always loved that little quilt and decided to make a larger version of it. True to form, I may be making two larger quilts. I started cutting up scraps and ends of small pieces of fabric before I had the design planned out. Of course, now I have more squares than I need for one quilt, so I may put together two to use up all the cut pieces. Pictures to come, sooner or later.

I have a great deal of weeding to do. I thought I was going to have help from a grandnephew, but that's fallen through. I'm going to try to work tomorrow morning while it's still cool, and the sun is not overhead. I may even work at it this evening once the gardens are in the shade of the house. If I can't keep up with the weeding, I may see if my favorite landscaping company can give me a couple of hours. I'm going to have two willow trees planted this summer, so perhaps they can do it then.

Our exercise guru's daughter gave birth to her second baby recently. Lynda will be going to spend a week or so with them, and I've been invited to take over the class next week. I need to spend a little time reviewing the music and the moves and create a new cheat sheet, if necessary, before Monday morning. I really enjoy working with the class, and they seem to be willing to have me lead them.

Thank you notes. I have a stack of thank you notes I need to write. Frankie puts me to shame with her beautiful, hand-written, notes. I think I'll print up a list of the notes I owe, and do a few now and then through out the day. This is one obligation I really want to get done!

I finally stopped at the local upholstery place to start looking at fabric samples. Of course, I've waited so long that the color I want, spruce green, is no longer available. There is a sea of moss, tarragon, sage, basil or even lime green to be had. I think the people who choose what colors will be offered each year must have been very hungry. I had originally planned to have two chairs and an ottoman done in a solid green, but now that I think about it, It might be a better idea to have a chair and the ottoman done in a floral print, and then have the couch and loveseat done in a solid green. There are SO many variables, it makes my head swim. And this is going to be done piecemeal, so I can't just order everything at one time, which makes it even harder. This is one chore I'm not enjoying.

I have finally repotted three plants that have been waiting for months for just a little dirt! Two plants for my bathroom, and a geranium that I wintered over are now the proud possessors of new homes! There's a plant in the green room that needs to be killed off. It's grown oddly and can no longer get enough food and moisture from the pot it's in. It's too leggy to save, so I'm going to have to do the unthinkable and cut it up. There is also a euphorbia, that I'm going to take cuttings from. This plant has grown so well that it can't hold itself up in the little pot that holds the roots. Luckily, it's an easy plant to propagate, so I'm going to get new pots and soil, and get started on that. I think I may give one to my Mother.

And the last bit of news...I cut off half my hair. I walked into the salon for my appointment and said...."Shave my head!" My hairdresser smiled, and said, "We can do that." I back tracked a bit, and we compromised on cutting all of the lower length, and most of the sides. Now, I look a bit more like my sisters, who all have short hair. I don't think it was a mistake, but if it is, it will always grow back.

I hope you're all having a good day, and wish you the best for the weekend!

It's a brilliant Sunday in Buffyland. We had rain Friday night and a good part of Saturday, and it's perfect weather today to be working in the gardens. I'm going out very shortly, but I wanted to blog first.

Have you ever done something with the best of intentions and had it turn around and bite you? I get into that position now and then. My people skills have never been the best, and I rarely know what someone is thinking. I can put my foot in my mouth with the best of 'em, and I did...with one of my siblings. Another of them counseled me to let it go, and stop "looping." It was good advice. There's no point in wallowing in it. I might as well get on with life!

So, it fascinated me that an on-line friend had run into a very similar problem. The advice I had been given was perfect for her, too, and I shared it. Was this a coincidence? Pre-destination? Fate? I haven't any idea, but I'm glad that I had a little growth spurt and was able to share it. *S*

Dear Husband is off boating. Second Son is at a convention. Edward Scissorhands and I are on our own for the weekend, and it's been very quiet, but fun. I finished a ton of filing in the office (of course there's more to be done), and read for a bit. I went to see "Angels and Demons" last night (a good pot boiler, that was fairly faithful to the book.). I'm going to play in the gardens for a bit, and then do a little grocery shopping. And then, I'm going to start making four-patches for a new scrap quilt! Yea! It isn't often that there are so few demands on my time. I better take advantage of it!

Monday and Tuesday I will be traveling to Iowa and back with my youngest sister. This is a trip for her to see places that we have all talked about but she was too young when she was there to remember. My grandparents lived in Des Moines at the time Frankie was born. I can remember that she slept in a dresser drawer when we visited the summer after her birth. *G* So....we're going off on a memory trip.

I hope you all enjoy a relaxed Sunday, and have a great start to your week!

For Bod, who asked about my mention of golf balls in the following post.

My niece has just graduated from high school. She is the youngest of my mother's grandchildren, so Elegante Mother and I made the trip to Indiana to attend the ceremony.

We were seated toward the front of the gymnasium, near the raised area the graduates cross to receive their diplomas. There are a number of dignitaries seated behind a table, a teacher who reads the names of that row of students, the Superintendent of Schools, the President of the Board of Education, and the High School principal. The students shake the hand of each person who is standing, receive the diploma case, and leave the risers. While we were sitting there, I saw a golf ball fly across the floor. I laughed about it, but it was neatly palmed by one of the seniors, and I didn't think about it any further.

When we got home, I mentioned the golf ball to my niece, and she told us that each of the seniors had carried a golf ball with them into the gym. Somehow, despite the girls wearing incredibly high heels, and the boys having to learn to negotiate stairs in a graduation gown, they managed to get onto the stage, cross to and shake hands with the Superintendent and President of the Board of Education, and accept their diplomas without dropping the golf balls.

The last person they were to shake hands with was the Principal. Apparently, as they shook hands, they palmed the golf ball off on him, and beat it for the stairs! R.L. told me that he must have been on to them, because he would shake hands, get the golf ball, pitch it behind him (I assume into a box), all without giving a hint of what was going on.

Frankly, this was the kind of prank you hope for, rather than something that would impede the progress of the commencement. I went to three of my step-children's high school graduations, which were out of doors, and beach balls batted from row to row were a popular diversion in that era.

I'm sure there are loads of variations on this story. It was a gentle giggle, something that did no harm, and gave the graduating class something to share at reunions in the future.

Our trip to Indiana was spectacular!

We had a good trip down. I tried a slightly different route, and we stopped for a meal in Watseka, Illinois. We lucked out and chose an American/Mexican diner for lunch, and received exceptional service. Elegante Mother likes to drink iced black coffee. I don't know why that seems so odd, but we tend to have a lot of difficulty getting it right. The waitress brought what we wanted in a styrofoam cup, and I asked her if she would pour the contents into a regular glass with more ice and a straw. She did....it was perfect, and she seemed to be right in tune with our needs from then on. We had a great meal, and I made sure the waitress knew it!

We arrived at Frankie's home around four o'clock, and made our way up the hill, into the house, to sit in the family room which has windows on three sides. We were able to enjoy all the plantings, and the trees, and the deck, and most of all, the family.

Frankie's oldest daughter was home from college, and she and Frankie were still hip deep in organizing things for the party. The graduate was making the icing for a Texas brownie, and the house smelled wonderful. After dinner we sat together for a bit, catching up, before we headed off to bed early. Frankie had one last project to finish for her daughter and was up until 2:00!

Graduation day bloomed bright and sunny. It was a perfect day. Commencement was brief and to the point, and nicely organized. One hundred and forty young men and women were recognized, and comported themselves with grace (and golf balls for the principal) as they received their diplomas. There were lots of hugs and kisses, and not a few tears. Lots of pictures, too. I hope I'll be able to explain to Frankie, how to post some of them on her blog, Just My Opinion.

The family pulled together to prepare fruit, veggie, cheese, and salami plates, and assorted nibbles in beautiful array. I confess.....the Texas brownie drew me in several times. The open house ran from four o'clock to well past seven, even though the invitations said 4 to 6. Teachers, church friends, neighbors and schoolmates, all came to celebrate! It was lovely. Elegante Mother and I sat out on the deck and chatted with family, enjoying the perfect day. EM had not had a nap Friday OR Saturday, so while I pushed us back and forth in the glider, she had a little snooze.

When the last of the guests had left, and Frankie's oldest daughter had said her goodbyes, we sent Frankie off to bed. She deserved some rest! We followed very shortly.

Sunday, we had breakfast together, Frankie's famous baked French toast casserole! Frankie's husband had to go off to work. R.L., the graduate, showed me her new computer, and showed me her play lists for her iPod. She introduced me to Michael Buble several years ago, and I, in turn, introduced Elegante Mother to him on he trip to Indiana. R.L. has ALL his CDs!

Frankie made French onion soup for us (It seems it was a French kind of day...) and it was time to go. Neither of us really wanted to leave, but it was going to be a long trip home, so Frankie helped us to pack up and we were on our way.

Elegante Mother was awake the entire way home. I could tell she was saddened when she realize that I was going to return her to her new home. It's very difficult for me to cope with that separation. Her memory is so short these days, she can not keep in mind why she needs round the clock assistance.

The good of this trip......Mother communicated more. She was happy, and pleased to be among people she remembered and loved. She enjoyed getting out and seeing new things, and we challenged her to be more physically active.

For my part....I have some more memories to squirrel away. I'll be able to see my Mother interacting with Frankie's family, and sharing memories we thought she had lost. I'll be able to remember seeing Frankie's family together. As the girls go off to college, that will happen less frequently. R.L. is the last of EM's grandchildren to graduate from high school. It's a blessing that we were able to make the trip.

And...next year, two of EM's GREAT-grandchildren graduate from college. I hope we'll be able to build more happy memories.

The trip was wonderful. No....it was SPECTACULAR!

Friday morning, I'm going to collect Elegante Mother and we are taking a road trip. We're going to Indiana to see EM's youngest grandchild graduate from high school. I've been running errands today to try to clear the path so that we can get on the road by 10:00 a.m.

I'll need to get to her condo early so that I can pack a bag for her, and be sure she is comfortably dressed for the ride. I expect the trip to take at least four hours

I have a waiver to type, and plants to water, clothes and dishes to wash. I want to leave the house in reasonably tidy shape. Second Son is going to keep an eye on my old feline buddy, Edward Scissorhands. I'm sure he will do just fine without me.

When we return, I hope to get the last of the planting done, and some more weeding. Wish me luck and a safe journey!

Warning, warning, this post is NOT about wine....the lovely beverage. If you have a low tolerance for self-pity and whining, read no further!

It's that time of year. I become a boat widow for the 2009 season tomorrow morning at 4:30. Dear Husband has the boat ready to be towed to the yacht yard, to be craned into Lake Michigan.

I HATE the days when he has to tow the boat. The last two times he brought it home, he had tire disasters on the trailer. I have asked him to buy one more spare tire, but he feels that is an unnecessary purchase. He told me he has four new tires on the trailer, and a spare, and he feels that should be enough. I was so ticked that I told him not to call me if he got another flat tire. That sounds so harsh, but the entire situation worries me, and makes me angry. Second Son said he would keep his phone on, and I'll give DH SS's phone number.

SO....it's time to be planning FUN WEEKENDS! Next weekend I plan to fit in a trip to see Angels and Demons. I love Tom Hanks, and I enjoyed the book. The following weekend, I'll be taking a trip with Elegante Mother to see her youngest granddaughter graduate from high school. And some time after that, I hope to make a road trip to Iowa with Frankie. The Antique Market, the Farmer's Market, perhaps a trip to the Art Institute in Chicago, are all on my list of things to do. I'm open to suggestion!

Wish DH luck tomorrow. Think positive thoughts for him, and if you pray, pray all morning, please! *G*

I seem to be adrift on the sea of my life. I surely need to make a choice and "Just Do It!" as Nike exhorts. It's a beautiful day, sunny and bright. We should make it to the 70s following a gloomy, chilly, day of thunderstorms. A wise woman would be out there weeding, instead of sitting at the computer, given that more rain is coming for the next couple of days.

I had planned to move my quilting things from the bedroom to the newly renamed "Quilt Studio," but I need to wait for Saturday for help with the heavy things. I need to move two tables and a shelving system, and one of my nephews is looking for a little work. I can't send him out to mow, so he can help me make the move.

I had a grip on the office work, but there is always filing and bill paying, and things of that nature. I could be doing a little laundry, make my bed, vacuum, or even get a start on dinner, but none of that seems to interest me.

I've learned that sometimes I need to choose one thing, and that will lead to another, and another , and another, until most of the stuff is done. It's that very first step that seems to be so difficult, and it's made more difficult by the advent of the computer. I like to start my morning with an on-line crossword puzzle and my e-mail, and I'm finding it more and more difficult to walk away from the computer.

Addicted? Yeah, probably. I think I'll go make my bed.....

For all my friends who are mothers, Happy Mother's Day! I hope that your families are pampering you, and that you are enjoying a day of ease with beautiful weather.

Dear Husband and I will be going to visit with Elegante Mother shortly. I made a carrot cake in a bundt pan that has the look of a cathedral. I also made a pan of brownies, using the recipe that my mother always used. I thought she might enjoy the chocolate. (Don't we all!?)

We'll pick up a fruit tray that I ordered at the grocery store, and an orchid . Dear Husband found a wonderful card. I'm hoping that EM will enjoy being the center of attention, and have a good day.

So...go forth and have a GREAT DAY!

As the sun sets into the west..... (Can't you hear that guy who used to narrate the Looney Tunes cartoons???)

What a weekend! It started with the cat waking me about thirty minutes early Saturday morning. Actually, that turned out to be a good thing. I might not have finished everything that needed to be done before I needed to arrive at Elegante Mother's. I had to pack, start the dishwasher, feed the cat, and load the car. On the trip down I needed to shop for groceries for EM and make a stop at the bank for our company. I was there a few minutes early thanks to Ed.

Once we were on our own, we took off for the mall to get EM's nails polished. That took less than 20 minutes, and we were hardly out of the nail salon when we smudged one of EM's thumbnails. We went right back, and they corrected the problem in about 60 seconds! This time, we went and sat in the mall so that her nails had a chance to dry.

Last year my mother lost close to 30 pounds. She's tiny, and weighed 128 so I suppose she could afford to loose a couple of pounds, but not THIRTY! She was down to around 100 pounds when she left the nursing home. She has resumed eating, so our next stop for the morning was to visit Carson's to find some slacks with a more comfortable fit. We also found three pairs of Capri pants that were too cute to pass up, three pairs of earrings, three costume jewelry rings and a bracelet, and one embroidered t-shirt that goes with a sweater she already has! Because we used a Carson's charge card, we received numerous discounts, and then they gave us another discount along the lines of "family and friends." I think we paid less than half price for everything! There's nothing EM loves more than shopping and getting a bargain!

We stopped in the mall to have lunch before taking all the loot back to the condo. We had time for a one hour nap, which we BOTH took, before we needed to drive north to meet six of the family for dinner. EM put away a corn muffin and a smoked salmon Caesar salad, and then tried to inhale an immense plate of bread pudding with ice cream and whipped cream. I was worried she was going to explode!

Dear Husband and I are fortunate to have an exceptionally talented grand nephew, who has participated in ten of his high school productions in the past four years. Last year he was incredible as "The Master of the House" in "Les Miserables." Last night we got to see his final high school performance as Mr. McAfee (the Paul Lynde role) in "Bye Bye Birdie." It was a hoot! We really enjoyed the evening. I really hope this young man will get involved in college musicals. He's incredibly talented.

We made it home around 10:45. I helped EM dive into some jammies and she crashed for the night. I followed around 12:30. I woke at 6:30 and checked on her. She was still sound asleep. I tried working on the crossword puzzle, and finally decided to go back to bed for a bit. We were finally ready to start the day about 9:00.

Our first order of the day was lunch at Red Lobster. Mother truly loves lobster, but can only eat so much, so we order her one of the small lobster tails. I left all but one of the Cheddar Bay biscuits for her (I was afraid she'd break my hand, otherwise.) She asked to take them home with her so she could leave room for dessert! *G* She wanted to take her iced coffee with her when we left, but I told her we would stop at Starbucks.

It probably took us 20-25 minutes on the tollways to get to Morton Arboretum. We missed the peak display of the daffodils by a couple of days, but in return we hit the most gorgeous display of redbud, crabapple, and flowering shrubs that you can imagine. We drove the main trails on both the east and west sides of the arboretum, and it was like being at a ping pong tournament, with our heads swiveling right and left so as not to miss a thing.

EM loves her newspapers. When we left the arboretum, we stopped to pick up the newspaper, and then we headed to My-Sister-The-Nurse's home. Her family was gathering for a special birthday dinner for her husband. She had all the preparations in hand, so we were able to sit out on the deck and chat for an hour before it was time to return to the condo.

We were rather surprised to find that Sophie had returned to the condo earlier than we had expected. Luckily, everyone knew her by sight, so the management was called to let her in. It's a problem we will have to resolve before she goes on her next break.

I believe that my mother enjoyed the weekend. She was very disappointed when it was time for me to go, and leave her with Sophie. As much fun as we had, it's clear that we wouldn't be able to do this type of thing day in and day out. Unfortunately, each time we have these extended weekends, we get to see first hand how fast EM is changing, and we are very aware of the loss in logic,verbalization, and the ability to accomplish anything that involves multiple steps. We need to treasure these weekends with her, because it won't be long before this particular setting won't be possible, and she will have to return to a nursing home.

Bogie told me not to worry about the weeds in my gardens, that they would still be there waiting for me. She's so right. Spending time with Mother is much more important.

This is my weekend for "Mom Duty." Elegante Mother has moved to a condo halfway between my two older sisters, in the round the clock care of Sophie, a Polish lady. Sophie works for 13 days, and then has a little more than one day off, so we need to have someone stay with EM while Sophie is away. My-Sister-The-Nurse did the very first week, and Frankie did the second. It's my turn at bat.

We have plenty planned. Tomorrow morning we will go to have her nails done, and then shop for several pairs of new slacks. We're going to have a light lunch and fritter away a few hours before we meet the family for a very early dinner. We are going to go to a high school performance of Bye Bye Birdie, and the family will gather for dinner near the school. One of my grandnephews is performing, and this will be his final high school performance. I believe that he has been in every production the school has offered in the past four years. Last year he played "The Master of the House" in Les Miserables!

Sunday, I'll let EM sleep in, and then I'll take her to Red Lobster, so that she can have her beloved ,lobster. I plan to drive through Morton Arboretum, if she is up to it, and if not, we will sit around and read the Sunday papers.

Elegante Mother can't be left on her own now. I worry that once she left her apartment she might not be able to find her way back, and we have not provided her with an ID bracelet yet.

We have had a week of rain, and this weekend would be the perfect time to pull the weeds I see sprouting in several of my gardens, but it will have to wait until Monday. Tuesday morning I have one of the two dentist visits that occur every year, and I can come home and do more weeding. I need to get it done before it totally gets away from me! The daffodils were gorgeous. Many of them are still blooming, and the tulips have opened.

Quilting bee met tonight for our May visit. I should have headed to bed long ago. It will be a busy day tomorrow.

I hope you're all having a great spring!

I can't remember if I've told you that DH and I are going to make the trip to Frankie's this weekend. She has driven up here at least three times in the past six weeks, on EM business. Although the road runs both directions, Frankie and her family tend to drive up here more than we go to them.

There's a good reason for us to go visit. Frankie's birthday is Monday. I don't believe in giving away age here. I think it's enough that you now know it's her birthday.

For the past ummmmm...X years, we have been going to visit with her on her birthday. She cooks and pampers us, and finds fun things to do. I've been saying to her, "Are you SURE this is how you want to spend your birthday, taking care of a bunch of couch potatoes?" I always get the same response: "Yes!" That is, until this year. This year she told me to bring my gardening clothes. We'll go visit a really neat nursery and then come home and play in the dirt. Sounds like fun to me.

I think Frankie's husband has things planned for Dear Husband. I don't even want to contemplate what they are going to be up to. One year it was putting a new roof on the house.

Edward Scissorhands, our cat, is still going strong, but he will remain at home with our son. I don't think a weekend is long enough for him to bond with their medium large sized dog. This will be a "just the two of us" drive.

So, I'll be away for a few days, celebrating with my sis. I hope you all have a great weekend, and come through the very strange warm spell well!

It isn't often that my sisters and I are able to get together, but today is one of those rare days. My Second Sister has been invited to preach at My-Sister-The-Nurse's country church. Since Frankie is up visiting with Elegante Mother, we plan to all meet at church this morning, and then go to lunch. I've heard my SS give the children's sermon in her own church, where she is Director of Christian Education, but I've never heard her give the main sermon of the morning. I'm looking forward to hearing what she's chosen as her message for the day.

Dear Husband has decided to accompany me. It's less than a month until it's time for the Arr!! to go into the water, so usually he would be busy sanding and varnishing, but we're having a rainy day, perhaps the first since Spring officially started.

I had intended to get my spinach planted yesterday and didn't. :-( I KNEW it was going to be good weather for those seeds to germinate and simply didn't get out there. We had my favorite landscaper and his crew visit and they renovated the raised veggie boxes for me. I'd been having a terrible time with weeds in those two boxes. When DH cobbled them together for me, he didn't sink them into the ground, or line the bottom of the box with landscaping fabric, so weeds licked their little lips and slipped under the edge to the choice dirt, and thrived! The guys removed a tree that had grown out over the boxes, and then emptied out all the soil in the boxes and lined them. They replaced the dirt with fresh soil mixed with compost, so I should be good to go! This year I hope to plant spinach, dill, romaine and tomatoes. IF I can find a pickle cucumber bush, I might plant one, and I might plant a zucchini, just one! That's about the extent of my energy for veggies this year.

So....I'm going to order some veggie and Iris catalogs and be on my way to church. I hope all of you are having a warm, sunny Spring Day!

C.C. ..... Frankie has made changes at Just My Opinion. I told her that some readers might have difficulty reading her blog, and she changed it for you. I know that the Lone Star background that used to be on my blog was a problem for some of you, so I shared that information with her. Maybe now you'll be able to see what she's up to.

What is is about having a cold that makes getting through the day so tough? Is it lack of oxygen? All I wanted to do was sit, covered with a quilt, and snooze or read a book. This morning was the first time that I've accomplished anything of note, so I've lost three days of my life!

Luckily, while I was busy vegging out, those around me were busy. My favorite landscaper visited with his crew, and cleaned out an area where I plan to plant a willow tree. They actually did more than I expected, for less than they originally proposed. They moved a beautiful viburnum for me that was dying for lack of light. And, they dug out the raised veggie beds for me, lined them to keep weeds from slithering in and making a home, and then refilled them with new dirt and compost! I can plant spinach immediately!

The early daffodils are all open, and the star magnolia is absolutely gorgeous! I'll have daffs blooming for six weeks or so, as long as the weather is kind to them. I've been looking at catalogs and magazines, trying to decide what will be going in under the windows at the front of the house. I'm very drawn to a collection of coneflowers in the new colors and shapes, but I still have about three weeks to look before I make my final decision. As my brain clears out, perhaps I'll be able to make better choices.

I need to collect myself and get on the road to visit EM. This is the weekend when her caregiver has part of Saturday and Sunday off. Frankie is doing the Mom-sitting this week. It's my turn in two weeks. I hope that all my sisters will go to church together with EM and have lunch. It seems like a good thing to do for EM. We'll see what the weekend brings.

I think I'm allergic to children five and under. Isn't that awful!? We went to Florida the last week of February and spent several days with our granddaughters. Dear Husband was the first to fall, but we both came down with the same upper respiratory gunk that our littlest grand daughter had. It took weeks to get over it.

Saturday, we attended a first birthday party for one of my great nieces where there must have been easily a dozen children 5 and under, and Sunday we were with two five year olds and two one year olds. Monday.....I started hacking. Do you suppose I've been living in too rarefied air these past few years? You'd have think I'd have picked up some bug when I visited Elegante Mother in the nursing home.

At any rate....I'm having my pity day, and tomorrow I plan to get on with my life. It's a gorgeous, sunny day today. It started out a little gray and just kept getting better as the day rolled on. We are expected to go from the mid to low forties to SEVENTY DEGREES by Friday...and then back down to the forties. My daffodils won't know what hit them!

I have pots of Johnny Jump-Ups (mini Violas) to plant. Frankie selected four inch pots of purple and yellow flowers and used squares of plastic cut from a pink plastic table cloth, with pastel curling ribbons to create wrapping for the pots. These fresh little flowers graced the tables on Easter. I plan to transplant them this week into pots for the front entryway.

I'm SO glad that taxes are over. I've mailed those that have to be mailed, and provided e-forms for those that need to be sent electronically. I've even made the first of the estimated payments, and noted when the rest are due on the calendar! We're cooking with gas! It's good to have that nasty chore done.

I hope you have all made it through Tax Day unscathed, and can enjoy the beautiful Spring weather!

Many of you know that Frankie, over at Just My Opinion, is my "little" sister. Actually, she is taller (I'm the wider one), but she's roughly nine years my junior. Like me, she doesn't blog daily, but her entries are fascinating, and very thought-provoking.

I encourage you to visit her blog to read the entry called "Living Your Dash," or the post entitled "The Integrity of a Battleship." Even more, I hope you will tell your friends about her blog, and that you will add her blog to your blog roll, and that you will become a regular reader.

I don't often suggest blogs for others to read. We all know how to find new contacts, and most of us are short on time, but I'd hate for you to miss what I consider to be such interesting issues. So, visit Frankie, and get to know her. I promise that you will find an intelligent woman, open to dialog, with a quirky sense of humor!

Hi, guys! We're all well here at Chez Buffy. I've been busy working on taxes, and helping to settle Elegante Mother into her new digs. I have been working on the edges of SPRING CLEANING.....emptying out boxes of papers I didn't need to store in the first place, and reorganizing my "stuff."

Things are starting to green up here in the Chicago suburbs. The first of my daffodils opened yesterday, and the star magnolia is getting ready to burst into bloom. Some miserable four-footed visitor has eaten the tops off the day lilies that are growing out in the herb garden, but they're pretty hardy. They'll come back.

My cranky old cat, Edward Scissorhands, had his annual checkup and shots last week. He's still hanging in there, but he's painfully thin. He's delighted, as we all are, that it's warmed up a bit so he can go out. He used to stand near the door and quietly mew that he'd like to go out. Now he stomps into my office and shouts "OUT!!!"

Frankie (from Just My Opinion) (my youngest sis), is here for several days, helping me sort through some of Elegante Mother's things, visiting with My-Sister-The-Nurse, and joining us for Easter. She'll be taking her God-mother to visit with EM on Saturday. I wish I had her energy. I spent most of my time running to keep up with her! I'm so glad she's come to visit.

I need to help Dear Husband with dinner. Last night we did Tortilla Soup, and tonight we are working on Chicken Fajitas. It's odd to have Mexican food two days in a row, but I doubt anyone will complain. More sour cream, anyone???

If I don't make it back before Easter, I hope you all have a lovely day.

Ya know, I didn't mean to sound pompous about blogging versus Facebook. I think you should be able to do whatever floats yer boat. I simply don't have the time right now to learn the finer points of Facebook.

I think this is going to be a lot like how I was about hand quilting versus machine quilting. I was SUCH a hand quilting snob that I felt you needed to go to your bedroom if you dared to say the "M" word. Guess who is interested in trying out long-arm quilting machines?? Yup...that would be me.

Frankie and Cop Car....thanks for the clear thoughts you posted in the comments. *S*

Well....maybe it's not quite that bad. You see, my on-line friends have found Facebook. For all I know, some of them may Twitter or use MySpace. I spent the evening visiting the blogs linked to my blog, and I was disappointed to see that many of them are posting less, or not at all.

I should tell you that I, too, have a Facebook account, but I get to it so rarely that I can't remember my password. Luckily, I can reset it. I am sufficiently lacking in spare time that I can't sit and learn all the cute little gifts that can be given, or browse all the groups I could join. I'm not sure I even understand all the different ways of leaving messages or carrying on conversations.

But, most of all, I wonder WHY my friends would like to have me post how I'm feeling or what I'm doing throughout my day. "Buffy has gone down the hall to her powder room." "Buffy has gone to the kitchen to brew a cup of tea." "Buffy has disappeared behind a towering stack of material to be filed." "Buffy is cleaning up cat litter." "Buffy is working on Accounts Payable." "...another litter run." "...another powder room run..." "MORE LITTER!" Get the drift??

I'm glad that you are all enjoying Facebook. Please forgive me if I turn out to be your less technologically able friend.

This was what the front lawn looked like roughly five or six weeks ago:

It's hard to believe we can change weather so fast. I generally don't mind winter, but this winter we had exceptional snow. It snowed often and it snowed a lot. We were not the worst hit in the Chicago area. I felt we got off lightly,but you can see we had our fair share.

Bogie.....does this make you feel ANY better??? (Grins)

I have one more entry I need to post this morning. When my youngest sister heard that Dear Husband and I were going to Florida, she told me she was happy that we were going to get the chance to get away. The only thing she asked of me was a picture of my feet in the sand, with the ocean behind my toes, running on to infinity.

This shot was much more difficult to get than I expected. First, there are very few traditional beaches in the Keys. Where you find them, they are tiny, and generally a community has trucked in the sand, and created an area surrounded by a coral breakwater to keep the ocean from taking the sand out to the sea.

And, it was in the sixties in the Keys. While we were there, Tennessee, North Carolina and parts north were getting hit with a terrible snow storm. We had a lot of wind that made the temperatures feel brisk. As Northerners, we weren't bothered, but the natives were going around in parkas.

So, my feet are technically in the sand, and you can see the ocean beyond them. I don't think this is the picture Sis and I had in mind, but it was the best we could do under the circumstances. Next time, I'll remember to take off the sandals! (grins)

I have three poinsettias from this past Christmas hanging on. Normally I'm a sucker for conservative, traditional, RED poinsettias, but this year we happened to be at a greenhouse that had an incredible variety of them, and these two spoke to me.

I love the mixture of pink, red, cream and green on the one on the right, and the pink one with the white edges just shouts "Girly!" We bought red poinsettias in larger sizes and filled in with these smaller plants. I really enjoyed having the variety this year, and I plan to keep them as long as they are happy here.

I'm between a rock and a hard place, as my mother used to say. Elegante Mother has been living with us for close to twenty years. We built a home big enough to provide some privacy for us all. EM had the suite of rooms across the front of the house. She was able to live her own life, but was close, so that we could help her when needed. Over the twenty years, we have gone from seeing her be totally independent, to needing assisted living. We saw her through surgery for colon cancer, and a year of chemotherapy. About five years ago, I became her chauffeur and social secretary and her chief cook and bottle washer, and last year I had to pick up the job of handling her finances. It has been a full-time job.

Last June, my mother had a seizure. She was hospitalized for five days, and then went to a nursing home for therapy. She returned to us in good physical shape, but her memory was failing. January 2, we're pretty sure she had another seizure, and she was in the hospital, again, for five days, and then she went to a nursing home. She's been in the nursing home close to two months, and she is desperate to get out. Again, she has come back physically, but her memory is worse than before.

There comes a time when you are caring for an aging parent, when you have to accept the fact that you can no longer be responsible for their care twenty-four hours a day. I've finally reached that point.

My siblings and I met Saturday to discuss what we could do for EM. My oldest sister, whom I affectionately refer to as "My Sister The Nurse" has final say in Mother's care, but she has included us in the decision making process. She researched the options for care outside the home and brought the best of those choices to us. We visited the site, and agreed to go forward. Essentially, we are renting a lovely condo for Elegante Mother and installing her with a person who will be with her around the clock..

I'm sure you wonder what the difference is, whether she stays with me, or stays with a care giver, and it boils down to the fact that I have to work. All but one of my siblings are still working, and the one who has retired provides day care for her grandchildren, so none of us have the ability to be with EM every moment of the day. In fact, we contemplated the idea of bringing her home to us, and hiring a live in caregiver to help with EM, but my siblings voted down this idea.

Elegante Mother will now be living much closer to my two oldest sisters and brother, and it will be my turn to make the trips to see her. In a way, I'm relieved that we have made this decision, because I have come to hate the nursing home she is in. The financial bottom line for this place leads to under-staffing, and staff indifference. The food is absolutely disgusting, and the facility frequently smells bad. I don't want this for my mother.

We have put a deposit on the condo. MSTN is going to confirm whether the caregiver we interviewed will take the job, and then I can arrange to have EM's furniture moved Dear Husband spent the morning working out a scale model of the condo and her furniture and has a schematic for the movers ready to go! I'll have to do some shopping to outfit the kitchen and we can make this happen.

It's going to be a busy week. I think it's also going to be a tough week. As I write, the tears are threatening to spill. I'm still not adjusted to Elegante Mother's absence. I hope we have made the right decision, and this is the best we can do for her.

I have not fallen off the face of the earth. I'm yet livin....sorta. I have a ton of news to share with you all and pictures, too!

I spent the first three weeks in February trying to organize information for our personal taxes, and for Elegante Mother's taxes. I spent a lot of time driving to the nursing home to visit with her, and see to her needs. I also tried to get all the bookkeeping done, so that at the end of the month I could go to Florida with Dear Husband.

Of course, I didn't want to blurt out to the world that I was going to be away, even though Son #2 was going to be here. He kindly took on the duties of caring for Edward Scissorhands, watering the (indoor) plants and feeding the (outdoor) birds.

I've got to get some dinner pulled together, and then I'll be back to share what's been going on.

I hope you've all been well while I've been away.

Spring....can it be far away??

I am a subscriber to "Cook's Illustrated," a magazine. The editor, Christopher Kimball, writes an opening page on life in Vermont. It has the feel of an east coast version of Lake Woebegone, and frequently has nothing to do with cooking. This month, he provides his version of the Vermont Creed: "Seen worse." There are fourteen steps based on familiar sayings such as "Make Hay While the Sun Shines," "Check the Weather," and "Waste Not, Want Not." The one which is resonating through me is "When You Don't Know What To Do, Do the Work in Front of You," which is apparently something President Calvin Coolidge was heard to say.

Every so often I feel so overwhelmed by the sheer volume of things which need to be done, that I don't know where to start. I'll stare at my desk, knowing that I could enter bills, or pay them, or file, or fill out applications for credit. I could balance checkbooks, or respond to requests for information. In the rest of the house I could clean, do the dishes, make my bed, dust, reorganize the bookshelves, feed the birds, go out to weed or water, or God forbid! CLEAN THE BASEMENT!!

Sometimes it just seems difficult to decide where to start. I hate indecision. I know from past efforts that if I simply choose one activity and get started, that the rest will fall into place. I won't get it all done in one day, but that's the nature of being a homeowner, or a bookkeeper, or a housekeeper.

I like Nike's logo: "Just Do It!" That's amazing advice for everyone, not just those facing exercise. You start with one small step and the rest will fall into place. Think of it as "One small step for man.."

I've come to understand that clutter saps my attention. I accomplish more during the day if I start by making my bed and cleaning the kitchen. I've created a morning ritual designed to clear the decks and get me out the doors in time for exercise three mornings a week. It's so satisfying, that I find myself waking early on the weekend, when I could sleep in, and those days when I ignore that routine, I'm likely to waste my time.

So, I guess I must have some Vermont in me, or perhaps I'm related to Calvin Coolidge. As Kimball points out, the upside to "Do the Work in Front of You," is that even if things don't turn out, you'll have your chores done! *G*.

So, everyone say it with me: "When You Don't Know What to Do, Do the Work in Front of You!"

Oh, dear younger and wiser sister, you were right. Couscous is not so bad.

I served a Middle Eastern beef stew tonight, and it was ladled over couscous. Dear Husband liked it...better than he liked the stew.

So....I bow low before you and acknowledge that you knew better than I.

(Is that enough, or do I need to keep this up??)

Dear Husband and I went to visit Elegante Mother today. I took her a bowl of cheddar chowder and a slice of an amazing chocolate cake with fudge frosting and fresh raspberries. She wasn't terribly thrilled with my homemade chowder, but she ate several spoonsful, along with the oyster crackers. The chocolate cake was something else, again. She ate half of it at lunch and saved the rest for later this afternoon. In EM's opinion, there's nothing better than chocolate!

We are seeing extremes in EM's memory. Some days we visit and she is clear as a bell, discussing the family in a way that lets you know she recognizes everyone. Other days she hasn't a clue who we are talking about. She informed my brother that she had never been married or had children. He asked her about the pictures on the wall above her bed and could see her trying to process the question without any luck.

Our brains are funny creatures.

EM is physically well, and still casing the joint. The nurse told me today that she gets frequent calls to send someone to guide EM back to her own wing. She has taken to walking the halls of the facility. I don't know if that is to get out of her room (or away from her roommate), or whether she feels the need for exercise, or whether she truly is looking for a way out. I'm relieved to know that she is able to get around on her own.

I'll return Monday. I promised to bring a Greek salad with me this time. Her eyes lit up at the thought of Feta cheese!

I should be blogging, but I just don't know WHAT to blog about. The absolutely crazy winter weather? Ed, who was ill yesterday? The incredible sale I found at Bath and Body. Elegant Mother's dislike of the nursing home?

There's not a lot of news in my corner of the world. I took lunch to EM on Monday and you'd think it was the best meal she had ever eaten. Unfortunately, she can't remember the LOBSTER that my brother took to her on Friday night. My offering was a simple tuna sandwich, fresh raspberries and part of a clementine. She ate all that, and was too full to eat the salad that came with it. Probably what she liked the best was a small iced coffee from Starbucks. I can see that she both wants and needs to drink more, and the iced coffee might have been the part of the meal she enjoyed the most.

EM has been in a nursing home about three weeks, and they lost her bottom teeth (temporarily), her shoes ( for a couple of days...and in the meantime, someone has given her a pair of embroidered felt slippers....we haven't a clue who they belong to),and now her glasses. I had to take her prescription sunglasses to her because she had been without glasses from some time on Saturday until lunch on Monday. We have informed the administration that they are missing, but no one seems to know anything about them. I'm going to print out a sign that says....Does EM have her glasses, her teeth and her shoes on this morning? to remind the aides to check for what seems obvious to us.

I'll be vising EM again today, and I'll take French onion soup, maybe half a sandwich, and something sweet to finish the meal. And, you can be sure I'll take her more iced coffee! The Empty Nester Ladies will be visiting this morning at 11:00, so she should have a nice day.

I think it's okay to say that I am TIRED OF THE COLD! I'm ready for spring. I want to be browsing the plant catalogs and planning what will go in our gardens. I doubt that I will have help with them this year, so I want to plant things that will make it with a minimum of assistance. Don't you get that green-thumb syndrome this time of year, too?

I suppose I should cut this short so that I can get ready for exercise this morning. I'm trying not to miss any of the sessions, because it's so hard to get back into the traces after being away several days. My exercise session, compared to what my younger sister does, is a laugh, but I can tell you that it makes a significant difference in my life. so I go. I don't like it....but I go! *G*

I hope you all have a good Wednesday!

I have a very old black cat by the name of Edward Scissorhands. Ed adopted us about 17 years ago, during the height of an extremely cold winter. He found his way into our unheated garage and curled up on the seat of the lawn mower. I discovered he was there, and immediately worried that he would freeze. Dear Husband was against letting him into the basement, so he put a little heater out in the garage. Hmpf! Like that was going to do much.

The weather got worse, and DH had to put that heater on the back of the loft bathroom to make sure the pipes didn't freeze. Ed got to go to the basement, and he's been directing our lives ever since.

I originally put a litter box in the bathroom off the bedroom hallway. Ed is an indoor-outdoor cat, and virtually never needed the litter. It was just "in case." But, in the past three years, the cat has aged to the point where winter weather in not as easy to bear. I was sure he was dying the first year he chose not to go out. What else could it be? After all, THIS was the cat who much preferred to be outside, who ran to the door to signal his need to be OOOOOOWWWWTT! Admittedly, it was cold outside. I suppose he was just being a smart cat!

The unfortunate side to staying in, is that the cat needs to use the litter. I have a litter pan in the basement, but Dear Husband tells me that it needs to be changed more frequently than once a month. (Out of sight, out of mind). And, this cat is a champion at filling a litter pan.

Ed's kidneys are going bad, and he drinks a great deal of water. You know the deal. Water in, water out, or something like that. I can change the litter pan, use a new litter liner and fill it with litter, and I SWEAR he can fill it in twenty minutes! I can scoop for one day, but every other day we need to start fresh.

And the litter.....there are little granules of litter everywhere. I had to move the litter out of the bathroom to make things safer for my mother, and the only other place we could put it on the main floor was the mud room. Ed is doing his best to make the mud room live up to it's name. After he's used the litter, he paws at it, and dumps some of it over the side. Then he walks through it, and tracks it past the pantry and into the kitchen. I've found it half the house away, on the seat of the secretarial chair at my computer in the living room!

I love this cat dearly, and I know we don't have a lot of time left together, but couldn't he just be a LITTLE NEATER!???

I received a note from my youngest sister, frankie, with the command: BLOG!

And so I am. I've thought of two dozen entries to make in the past week or so, all when I can't get to my computer. Frankie and I were talking about the phenomenon of the perfect sentence for a blog entry, which pops into our heads when we are in the shower. and can't write it down. It's really aggravating to know that I'll forget that perfect sentence before I can get to a notepad. Darn it all!

So today is a pastiche....a collection of short comments, if you will.

Elegante Mother is doing better! YEA!!!! She is speaking in complete sentences, and her voice seems to be getting stronger. She is lucid, focused, and appears to understand where she is. She also understands that she needs help to get better. AND, she is clear that the food stinks! She's lost ten pounds. On my next trip to see her I will take an avocado, or some guacamole, and I'll stop at Culvers for a milk shake. Mechanical-soft fattening food, coming up!

EM and I bird watched while we were on the way to appointments. This week, I saw TWO hawks. One was sitting on the top of a light standard over the roadway, and the second was holding it's position in a stiff breeze over a field...no doubt watching for a mouse to appear. They are amazing birds

Friends traveled this weekend to Starved Rock about an hour west of us along Interstate 80, to watch the eagles. I think they said they saw 100 eagles! What a great way to spend a Saturday in January. The eagles also winter on the Mississippi south of Rock Island, Illinois. We're blessed with big birds.

One of my nieces has been my house cleaning guru while we have lived in this house. She came last week to help me take down and box up Christmas. I HATE to take down the decorations! Left to myself, I'd probably leave them up for months. The only advantage of all this is that we did some spring cleaning in Elegante Mother's rooms, and I was able to get several hours of filing done in the office. My niece's son joined us to carry things to the basement, and to do a little high cleaning. He's 6'6", so those high jobs are easy for him. My house is ready for spring. Where the heck is it!?

Well...I've finally made the binding for Dear Husband's quilt. I could possibly get it finished in time for Valentine's Day. There's hope yet.

I was thinking that we might start an American book meme. Adele pointed out that the children's books on the meme I posted earlier made her think that the meme had originated in the U.K. I think she's right. I'd offer to do the meme, but I'm not a regular enough poster to be well read. Shall we encourage Joy, or Patty at Texas Trifles to start a meme for us?

I dragged my feet on making dinner tonight. I wanted to be under a quilt, near a roaring fire (it's bitterly cold here). I made chicken planks, an Uncle Ben's mix of rice, wild rice and orzo with chicken broth, peas, French bread with mozzarella cheese melted over the top, and a green salad with dressing from Olive Garden. The point was to use up things in the freezer, or things that would go bad in the fridge, if we didn't use them up. It took thirty-five to forty minutes from getting off the couch to serving dinner. In all fairness, I should say that DH made the salad. A piece of French chocolate served as dessert. YUM!!

And that's about all the trivia I have to share with you at the moment. I'll have more posts once I download some pictures. I hope you have a great week!

This entry starts with a reposting of a comment I made on the entry titled "Theft!" It's in response to a joking comment made by my youngest sister, who has been visiting with us this weekend. (What a joy....more to come on that!)

"Sniff!??? And, do you not qualify as a "Baby Boomer," too?

What's really eating you is that YOU are the teacher of English and Literature in our family, and as such, you feel that you should have by-passed me on this, as you do in SO many other things! *G* I think I just had the benefit of schooling in a different high school, and I have a few years on ya.

I've printed a copy of the list and checked seventeen books that I will begin to add to my book orders, to expand my reading. And this morning, the editor of the crossword puzzle blog that I visit suggested a book by Amos Oz: "A Tale of Love and Darkness," which I might look into.

Heck...this is turning into an entire entry, so I'll just go post."

Frankie and I chatted (very briefly) about the list of books in the last entry. She's right in that it is not a definitive list of literature from the past several hundred years. I have no idea how this particular list came to be. I've seen others like it, or perhaps even this list in past years, and just accepted it as a list of suggestions gathered on someone's blog. I know the American Film Institute has lists of the 100 best movies, or the 100 best dramas, or the 100 best comedies, and so forth. I wonder if there is a site that gives a similar compilation for literature?

As Frankie pointed out, there are genres which are not adequately represented here, but a "Personal Favorites" meme would not be concerned with that issue. I was astonished to find any science fiction, and that classic children's stories were on the list.

We both, Frankie and I, need to learn more about "memes," from how the word is pronounced, to a definition of the term, to how one gets started and passed around. Can anyone fill us in?

Elegante Mother is definitely the Comeback Kid! After seven days in a hospital bed or a nursing home bed, she woke up yesterday to smile at Dear Husband and me, and eat a bowl of applesauce! I'd just about counted her out, and here she is, acting as though nothing had happened.

Of course, she can't remember the past fifty years, and doesn't know who her children are, but she recognized a picture of herself from about 35 years ago.

Dear Husband drove me to the nursing home yesterday because we had had an overnight snow and the roads were just awful. We arrived around 10:45 or so, and as we rounded the curtain to her bed, EM looked up and smiled, apparently happy to have visitors. She seemed to have remembered DH, and repeated his name when I said it. I wasn't sure she knew who I was, but when my oldest sister talked with her today, she talked about going home, and mentioned my name. She may recognize me by name, but I don't think she realized that I am her daughter. She is very firmly mired in the past, and we think that past is now b.c. (before children).

I was astonished that she let me feed her the applesauce, and when I asked if she had eaten any breakfast, she muttered that she would when they gave her something she liked. They'd offered oatmeal and scrambled eggs. I could have told them she wouldn't eat that. But...she eats chocolate chip cookies now, after a lifetime of disliking them.

I was relieved to learn that My-Sister-The-Nurse found Elegante Mother sitting in the dining room this morning. She had allowed the aides to dress her and get her into her chair, and take her out of her room. I see that as a major step in her care.

The weather is going to be daunting this week. We've had easily 6-8 inches of snow in two days and we are expected to have more during the week. Our high on Thursday is supposed to be -2F. I had planned to visit EM several times a week, but I may be waylaid by the weather. I hope she continues to make progress, even if I can't be there to watch.

For those of you who feel as though you know Elegante Mother, and those of you who have actually met her, I have some disheartening news. EM is facing some medical problems. We had to call the paramedics on Saturday morning to take her to the hospital.

She is resting comfortably, and is in the care of good doctors. Unfortunately, she is not clear on where she is, or who we are. It's likely that Elegante Mother will go from the hospital to a nursing home. She will need more care than I can give her, even with caregivers to help.

This is a very difficult time for us. EM has lived with us for the past 19 years, and she lived in an apartment next door to us for another two or three years. It's a long time to care for someone else, and even though Dear Husband and Second Son are here, the house is strangely quiet.

I hope that you will keep her in your prayers, or send positive thoughts her way.

As I've gotten older my wish list for Christmas has changed. Has yours? Elegante Mother would still like to have a fire engine red sexy convertible and a handsome young man to chauffeur her around. My "wants" are usually simpler. I don't need or want a fur coat. Dear Husband used to give me a burgundy scarf and mittens every year, and I haven't quite worn out the last two. (I rather miss those gifts.) I have a perfectly good car that gets me where I am going, so I don't need to follow EM's footsteps. There are a few things I'd like to have that I need to buy for myself, and other than that, DVDs, CDs, books and gift certificates to my favorite quilt fabric shop make up my list.

This year I received "Wall-E," "No Country for Old Men," "Bucket List" and the fourth episode of the Indiana Jones story. I also have my first Michael Buble CD and the Josh Groban Christmas CD. I'm a happy camper!

The big item that I need to shop for on my own? Two, actually. One is a new sewing machine, and the other is a long-arm quilting machine. I need to try out different models so that I can choose the one I'd like to use. I hope to buy them before we retire. I'd also like to purchase the cabinetry to set up the sewing machine. Right now I sew at a Samsonite table, and it's a bit crowded.

We used to say of my father that anything he wanted that he didn't already have we couldn't afford to get for him, and I may have hit that point in my life. There's an exception, though. My youngest sister and her husband gave me earrings and a necklace this year that are gorgeous. She managed to find stones that incorporate my favorite colors and added an elegant silver necklace. They weren't on my list, but I'm delighted to have them.

Perhaps we should stop with the wish lists, and just let people give us gifts of their own choosing. What do you think?

At a time when I should be buoyed by the lightness of the season and be filled with good cheer, I'm ticked. I know that I shouldn't have let this situation get to me, but I really regret the loss of manners that I see everywhere these days. I sound like an old fogy, and I probably am one, but where in the world has the ability to treat others civilly gone?

Last night my youngest stepson and his wife came to exchange Christmas gifts. They had gone to her family for Christmas rather than joining his family. Stepson Three called several days ago to ask if they could visit with us yesterday. When I asked him what time he said, "Afternoon." That left a lot of leeway, but I figured we would be having a quiet afternoon at home, so it wasn't a problem.

I should insert here that my daughter-in-law (I only have one of them) has been put on a very restricted diet. It's so restricted that I hate to ask her about it, because rather than telling me what she can eat, she always goes down the list of things she can't eat. It gets confusing trying to remember everyone's likes and dislikes and cans and can'ts, and after a while, I shut some of it out. I'm not perfect, and I have a lot of other things on my mind.

Sooooooooooo....the kids finally arrived around four, and sat with us to watch an hour of Dr. Who reruns. Dear Husband was getting hungry and assumed that I hadn't planned any dinner. (We all know better, but he didn't ask me what I had planned). It was decided that he would order pizza. Well, I knew that my DIL couldn't have pizza. There was some discussion of offering a salad, but no one made a move toward the kitchen, so I assumed that it was my job. I got up and emptied the refrigerator.

I offered seven veggies, three meats, four cheeses, five condiments and about six salad dressing. Too bad I didn't have the partridge and the pear tree, to go along with that! I laid it all out in an attractive pattern, put out bowls and forks, and set out beverages.

The pizza came, and the guys got up to help themselves. I fixed a salad for Elegante Mother, and added it to a plate with little squares of pizza, and some Greek olives. I took it into the living room for her, and encouraged my DIL to join me in the kitchen so I could tell her what I had laid out. (I had diced up lunch meat, so she might have needed to know which was ham and which was turkey.

Her response was, "NO! I'm not eating."

What ever happened to "Thank you." Why did this girl's mother not teach her any social graces? She was sitting where she could see me putting all of this together. Did she really think I was doing it for the guys, who would be consuming gargantuan amounts of pizza???

A simple, "Thanks, but my diet is so restrictive, I'll have to pass on dinner," would have fallen more kindly on my ears. I was ticked then, and I'm still ticked now.

AND, it bothers me that she never speaks to my mother. I thought we might have a problem, because my mother has never cared for my DIL. She has always felt ignored. I don't know if my DIL simply doesn't know what to say to her, or doesn't care to acknowledge her. For whatever reason, my mother has always disliked her, and unfortunately, that was one of the things EM could still remember. I needed to reassure my mother that she would be okay, and that my DIL wouldn't do anything to hurt her.

I think we need to have compulsory Manners 100. A crash course to cover the near future, leading in to 101, 102, 201, 202, 301, 302, 401, and independent study would be a really good idea!!

Do you think I am asking too much?

It was too good to be true! We actually saw gas prices drop to $1.50 a gallon in this area. Of the cost for each gallon of gas,we pay at least $ .70 in tax in this area, so that's an amazingly low price per gallon. Unfortunately, that's ended. The range of prices we saw yesterday were $1.57 to $1.69. Dear Husband has stopped at four gass stations with low prices which did not have regular gas. They could sell him the high test for twenty cents a gallon more, but the holding tank for the regular gas was dry.

I'm sure that the suppliers are waiting to see if their cost of gas drops again. My understanding is that they have to order in large quantities, so they've been waiting to see if they could get a lower price. And by now, the refineries are probably on a slow down because the demand for gas has dropped this winter.

Cop Car will be happy to see the price go up! *G* As for me, I plan to stay home and keep warm!

I was chatting with my youngest sister this week about the fact that I am blogging less. I took a look at the archives and you can see that my blogging dropped significantly after June when EM had her seizure. My sis says it's not that I have run out of things to say, it's more a problem of being able to fit the blogging in with my current obligations. She's right.

There are times when I am driving, and I'll see something along the road, or hear something on the radio, and find myself mentally composing a blog entry. I love the sentences that come with that first attempt, but the problems is that when I finally get the chance to sit down and put them on the computer, I've forgotten what I wanted to write about. So, memory is playing a part here, too.

There are no rules to follow. Nothing says that I have to make a specific number of entries a month. or a week, but, I know how hard it is to follow a blog that tends to lie fallow. That any of you come to read is a miracle.

I know that the demands on my time will change eventually. I may even become more organized and make blogging a regularly scheduled activity. Until then, I appreciate that you come to read.

If I don't make it to your blog in the next couple of days, Dear Husband, Elegante Mother and I all wish you health and good fortune in the coming year, and a Merry Christmas!

Everyone is counting down the days to Christmas. A friend e-mailed me, moaning that she would never be ready. I commiserated with her. I've been there, and thought we'd have to either call off Christmas, or sit in an undecorated room. I even left the Christmas tree to be decorated on Christmas eve several years in a row.

This year I had help. My youngest sister, and two of my nieces have assisted me, moving things up from the basement, and getting things set around. Dear Husband has done the shopping for the kids and grandkids. Of course, the only two people I still have to shop for are DH, and Elegante Mother. My bad.

I spent today writing thank you notes, and trying to get the last of the Christmas cards done. I've taken over the sending of cards for Elegante Mother, both gift cards for the 25 members of her family who are under 21, and greeting cards. The Empty Nester's Sweatshop met for lunch on Tuesday and several of the thank yous are going to those ladies. A few more are going to the quilting bee.

I'd like to steal a little time to write three long letters to friends I won't get to see at Christmas. I have a few quilting projects to work on, and some baking to do, but otherwise, we seem to be making headway! I just have the dreaded shopping to do, and we'll be ready to celebrate.

If you are mired, my best advice to you is to lower your expectations, simplify, and keep in mind WHY we celebrate. I've done a little of all three this year, and I can do more yet. There's a lot to be said for simplicity.

I seem to have made the shift to rising at 5:00 a.m. I still need a little assistance to do it, but it's not as difficult as I thought it would be. I have the sense that if I was working outside my home, it would be easier to heed the alarm. Dear Husband and I have learned not to let the radio wake me if it's absolutely necessary that I be up. I can coast listening to the radio for 45 minutes, even when it's on LOUD! *G*

I've created a morning ritual that helps me get things squared away. DH wakes me and then leaves to make his lunch. He goes down the drive to drop off the mail, and then returns to warm up his truck. When the weather is bad, he'll snow plow the drive before he leaves While he's doing that, I start Elegante Mother's coffee, and make myself a cup of tea. I empty the dish washer and refill it, and get a load of clothes started. Once DH leaves, I carry clean clothes to my bedroom, make my bed and get dressed.

This pattern of activity seems to help me get into work mode. It clears off the counters and creates working space, and limits the distractions At that point, I can fix toast or breakfast, do a little office work, check e-mail, or attend to anything that needs to be accomplished before going off to exercise.

I'm a creature of habit. I operate better when I've cleared the decks, and don't have a lot of detail hanging over my head.

The house is mostly quiet now. Elegante Mother is ghosting around, but I expect her to settle soon. The trees on timers are dark, and the TV is off. Soon I need to find my bed.

We took EM to the doc today for a checkup, following her visit to the emergency room the day after Thanksgiving. All is well. She seems to do exceptionally well when she is the center of attention. You can see her trying to rise to the occasion. But, as we came home, she said she was tired, and hoped that we were going to have a quiet week. I think the effort involved in going out really wears her out, and then she makes it more difficult to care for her.

Dear Husband just keeps on keeping on. He never complains, and he's chock full of good advice. I wish he'd let us help him sooth his back. This is a man who doesn't do drugs unless the doctor insists. To get him to relieve pain, imagine us having to sit on him and use a pea shooter to deliver pills. That's about how difficult he is. Only Ed, the cat is worse.

I'm perhaps three-quarters of the way through my Christmas decorations. They will be done by Friday, and then I can spend a little time baking. I need to plan the meals for the rest of the month so that chore is out of the way. It makes shopping SO much easier, when you know what is going to be served! *G*

I've been quilting fabric for several projects. I hope to have a little more time to work on that. We've pitched out a chair that was taking up breathing space in our bedroom, and I have the name and phone number for the upholsterer. I hope to take Dear Husband out on Saturday morning to choose fabric to refinish the chair in the kitchen. Bit by bit, I'm tackling things that really need to be done.

It RAINED most of today. The temperature wasn't unbearably cold, and we managed to off-load EM under cover of porticoes, so the day wasn't too hard on her. Late this afternoon the temperature dropped, and it shifted over to snow. DH decided to wait it out to clear off the area in front of the house, because it's supposed to snow until about midnight. The birds were thrilled when I delivered seed today. I'll have to be sure to do it again tomorrow.

I need to water plants, shift a load to the dryer, and close down the office for the evening. I hope you've all had a good day, and are enjoying the preparations for the holiday.

My wish for the season for all my friends and family is that you have good health!

Elegante Mother's birthday is Sunday. She will be 92 years old. Last January, a month after her birthday, she began telling people she was 92. She was really eager to hit that next goal!

My oldest sister is gathering some of the family to attend church and then go out to breakfast with EM. I need to order a corsage for her to wear, and we plan to take her shopping at her favorite store for some new duds. If we are lucky with the weather, we will also go hat shopping. The pastor at EM's church loves that she wears hats to church, and he always compliments her on her hats, which are very elegante (what else?)

A nursery about ten miles west of us is having a free picture day on Sunday. I thought it would be cool to drive out there after breakfast and have her picture taken among the poinsettias. We could pick up a couple of plants to decorate the house while we were at it.

I hope the day turns out to be fun for her. We haven't had a lot of fun this week. She really enjoyed Thanksgiving, but the aftermath has been hard on us all. We'll do a little bit each day to extend the celebration of her birthday, rather than trying to do it all in one short span. Thursday, she has hair and nail appointments. Friday afternoon, a good friend is coming for a short visit. Our quilting bee is going to go to dinner Friday night. I thought I'd get a little rosebud boutonnière for her to wear. Saturday, we're going to shop for an hour early in the day, and then Sunday we'll do church (with a gardenia corsage, her favorite), breakfast, and the pictures.

We'll see how she is doing, and if she is still raring to go, there's the opportunity for dinner out, and a ride through our community's light show. Everything has been planned so that there is the least amount of walking required, and long spaces between the need to walk. I hope it all goes well.

The refrigerator is still full of food, and the floor needs to be swept. I've washed almost all the linens, and we are in the process of swapping the oranges and golds and browns for the reds and greens of Christmas. The rented tables and chairs have been returned.

My youngest sister and her youngest daughter came to visit yesterday. We had planned to start decorating Elegante Mother's rooms for the holidays. They could only stay overnight one night before they had to return home. Unfortunately, around noon, EM started complaining of pain. She has an inguinal hernia that has been bothering her off and on for the past few months. The doc has advised waiting this out as long as possible, rather than doing surgery now.

We helped EM to walk a bit. We had her try sitting on a firmer chair. I gave her some over the counter pain meds. We helped her to bed, thinking that she would be more comfortable stretched out. She slept, soundly for three hours, and when she woke, was still in pain. When we decided that we would drive her to the ER, we couldn't get her on her feet.

We're getting to know the paramedics here. I know some of those faces, even if I haven't learned their names yet. They did a nice job of getting EM to the hospital, where they did a CT scan. There's nothing serious going on that requires being admitted to a hospital. We are supposed to maintain her on prescription pain killers for the time being, in the hope that the pain will ease without surgery.

I don't know about you, but waiting at the hospital for test results wears me out. We were only away from home about five hours across the dinner hour. We were lucky she got to the test fairly quickly, and the results were available within 30 minutes, but by the time we all got home, and had something to eat. I was dead on my feet. To make matters worse, all the standing the past five days has been very hard on my feet and ankles. I needed to spend this afternoon with my legs elevated.

We have added a second caregiver to our entourage. I need more time in the office, so EM needs to have someone care for her. We have one care giver who is with us four days a week. We had arranged for a young woman to be here two more days a week, and EM seems to like her. We've asked her to come tomorrow, so that I can finish getting the house cleared and back to normal.

I hope the medication does the trick. It's really tough to see your parent in pain. She's gone off to bed for the night, and I'll check in on her before we close down the house for the night.

I hope you all had a good Thanksgiving. My thanks for your cards and notes.

I bought gas for $1.729 today! I seriously doubted that we would ever see gas that cost less than two dollars, but we've made it. Of that, seventy cents a gallon goes to taxes.

My U.K. friends tell me that we have it easy, but a country this size can't function without inexpensive gas. Cop Car reminded me that had the gas prices remain elevated, it would have given us more incentive to develop new sources of energy, and she has a good point. It's too bad that we are so short-sighted that we can't work at developing inexpensive fuel despite having inexpensive gas.

Ya know, I really should be in bed. I should have gone to bed an hour ago, but I was laying in wait for my stepson to come home. I had three little chores for him.

First, I was moving pictures onto the zip drive for Mother's digital picture frame when I managed to make one of them my desktop picture, three times. I love my niece, and this picture is a keeper, but it's not a good backdrop for the icons. He showed me how to right click, choose properties and go to desktop to make changes! Now, if only I can remember that lesson when I do this mysterious goof again.

Next I asked him to figure out why some pictures just wouldn't transfer to the zip drive. He spent about 45 minutes working at it, before he admitted defeat. I'll try the new zip drive in the picture frame to see if those pictures will display. I'd like to have all the pictures on one drive, if I could, but I can live with it if we have to swap them periodically.

His last chore was to carry a couple of things downstairs for me. He was two for three, and I can't complain, given the time and effort he put in on my behalf.

We're getting close to Thanksgiving. I was ironing linens today. I still have a few to do, but the lion's share are finished. I've counted glasses and silverware, and just about decided what will be used for centerpieces. My oldest sis is bringing some garland, and I wouldn't be surprised to see a few other things in her bottomless bags. I'm sure the tables will be lovely.

Early tomorrow morning, I'll work on clearing my office desk. After Elegante Mother's salon appointment, and a trip to the grocery to pick up the turkey, I'll clear out the guest bedroom, and then organize my sewing table and bedroom. At that point we will be ready to begin cooking.

I'm going to make a pot of pasta e fagiole for dinner. Dear Husband will put together two large pans of lasagna, and I'll bake dozens of rolls. We need to wash romaine for Caesar salad. I'd put together the broccoli casserole tomorrow night, but I think the turkey is going to take most of the room in refrigerator.

Soooooooo...maybe I need to hit the hay so I'll be ready to face a busy day. I hope you're all ready for the holiday. If I don't make it back to the computer before Thursday, we wish you a happy Thanksgiving, filled with loved ones and joy.

As Thanksgiving nears, my time is at a premium, and it seems that blogging is the first pleasure to get cut. It's nigh on bed time, but I thought I would post just a few more tidbits before hitting the hay.

The house I mourned is now gone. They didn't burn it to the ground, they tore it apart with bulldozers. I drove past last week to see the chimney on the east side of the house standing free, and about a quarter of the west side of the house waiting for the axe. Wednesday night as we drove bye there was just a chimney, and Thursday even the chimney was gone. As you all guessed, the land is being combined with other plots to make a 50 acre development. In this economy, I don't see how they got the funding. I don't know yet how it's going to be developed. I just know that a wonderful house is gone so that someone can line their pockets.

On a happier note... on Wednesday night we bought the first gas for less than $2.00!!! I didn't think we were going to see it, when prices stalled out at $2.13 or so, but there was a quick slide downhill this week. We bought half a tank at $1.989, and as I gloated a station nearer to us dropped their prices to $1.949! I heard someone from Marathon on the radio this morning state that we have about $.70 in taxes per gallon on our gas in the Chicago area, as opposed to $.55/per gallon downstate. I'd be really happy to see the price drop some more after this past year.

Yesterday I spent the day keeping busy to keep my mind off the fact that I was preparing for a colonoscopy this morning. Actually the day was not a hardship, other than the absolutely rank salty solution you have to drink. This time I was to add 1.5 fluid ounces of "Stuff" to four ounces of water and drink it. I had to chug it, and then gulp water to cut the terrible taste. It sure works. You want to be home for the evening!

The test, when it finally got underway, went well, and the doc gave me a clean bill of health. We arrived at the surgery center at the appointed time, and were told that I was not on their schedule. Then, they said, "Well, Dr. XXX thought he had a test scheduled...but he JUST LEFT!" I was going to go ballistic, but they said they would call his office (when it opened in 15 minutes) and have them page him. It all worked out. Doc returned and was very calm, which calmed me. Dear Husband was my designated driver. He held my wedding rings and waited for me, then drove me home. I went back to bed and slept until 2:30. Thank God they didn't have to postpone the test!!!

And the last tidbit for the day..Ed got to visit with the vet. He started favoring a paw on Wednesday. Or, perhaps he had been favoring it, and we just noticed it. I called and got an appointment with our favorite vet and she saw him Thursday afternoon. It turns out that since he has not been going outside, his claws are not getting worn down as they used to. A claw on his left front foot had curled around and was pressing on the pad. He's all trimmed now, and digging on the furniture. I think he's going to get a scratching post for Christmas, maybe even a little early! lol

I hope you are all enjoying November. Those of you who are hosting guests for Thanksgiving, I hope you are organized and ready. Those of you who are guests, HELP WITH THE DISHES! *G* Stay safe!

Thursday, as I sat at the computer, I looked up and out the window in time to see a heron fly by. I suspect that will be my last glimpse of a heron for six months or so. I haven't seen an egret since late in October.

The window washer came last week. We've hired a new company, and for just $15 more, they do both inside AND outside windows, and the chandelier. Such a deal! He even washed the screens for me! The landscape men came and put the gardens to bed for the winter. I still need to do some raking, and I need to remove the tags from the new shrubs. Dear Husband moved the container garden pots into the garage for the winter. I'm going to try to winter over three geraniums I particularly liked. We had our first snow today. I don't think anything has accumulated.

The cookies have been baked and sent off to four college students. I started working on the cookies very early on Thursday so that they would be ready to be mailed off at mid-day. I'm not sure what I was thinking. Had I made the cookies 2" as the recipe calls for, I would have had TWENTY DOZEN COOKIES! I tend to make them over-sized, roughly three or three and a half inches across, so I ended up with 13 dozen. One of the kids e-mailed to say the package had arrived.

I've swapped the wreath on the fireplace for one more seasonal. I have silk flowers ready to go for a new arrangement for Elegante Mother's room in rusts and golds. I have a neutral ceramic container that is about 24" tall, and I plan to create a bouquet for the front entry way of dried teasel and milkweed pod. Once I start the bouquet, I'll know if I need to add cat tails or eucalyptus. I think I have seasonal wire-edged ribbon, but I'd better check. One more thing to add to my shopping list.

One of my nieces has been organizing my life, specifically, my closets. She has a rule. If you haven't used it in the last year, you don't need it. When I obsessed over a pair of gorgeous dress flats that I may not be able to wear any longer, she let me keep them. But everything else went. My clothing closet, the linen closet, the kitchen pantry, the Tupperware drawer and the mudroom pantry are all gorgeous! I was working in the kitchen, trying to take the gum from labels off canning jars. When I went looking for the Skin So Soft, it was gone. I asked her about it a day later, and she said the container "looked old." I'll have to get another. Goo Gone smells worse than Skin So Soft!

Elegante Mother saw her doc on Friday and was given a clean bill of health. On Saturday she was ill. I suspect that she may have picked up a bug from the temporary care-giver, whose one year old daughter was under the weather. The care-giver called this weekend to tell me that she had been called for jury duty. It's just as well. This will give EM more time to recuperate.

Saturday, I made "Vernice Kastman Swedish Refrigerator Rolls" for the church bake sale. Don't tell My-Sister-The-Nurse. She adores those rolls and doesn't seem to be able to make them for herself. I was talking with one of my nieces about Thanksgiving, and mentioned those rolls. She said, "I'm 40 and I've only managed to snag five of them!" MSTN steals bags of them, and hides them in her bedroom. Her children know better than to ask for one.

Thanksgiving.....I think there will be about 40 people here. So, now you know what all the preparation is about! *G*

I hope you've all been enjoying the Fall, and are ready for the holidays. They're almost upon us.

I'm having a terrible time staying awake! I've only had six or so hours of sleep, and that's about two, perhaps two and a half, too few. If I stay at the computer, I'm going to nod off. I have a number of things to do that will keep me on my feet, so that is the game plan for the day.

I need to collect the decorations for the Thanksgiving tables all in one place, out of the way. I have a few things that need to go to the basement to be stored while we have guests here. I have a Fall themed wreath to put up in the living room. I need to make gazillions of chocolate chip cookies for four kids in college. I want to send off some care packages for the last week before Thanksgiving. The boxes are ready to go except for the cookies and name tags.

We are collecting things for the troops for Christmas. I've started the tubes for neck coolers in camouflage materials. We still have to insert the crystals that swell and hold water, and sew the ends shut. I also need to sew binding for the last two quits, and stitch it to the fronts of the quilts. Then I could sit with D.H. and hand sew at night.

I still need to put together the head count for Thanksgiving at our house, but if I sit to do that, I'll be a goner. It will have to wait until I've had a nap.

So.....I better get myself in gear, or I will STILL be here hours from now, sawing logs. I hope you're all having good fall!

Dear Husband, Elegante Mother and I made a long weekend trip to visit my youngest sis and her family, in Indiana, this weekend. I wasn't sure at first that we would get to go. D.H. called me at mid-day to warn me that the job he was on was not moving forward well, and he might have to work on Friday. I was capable of driving E. M. and myself to Nan's but I really didn't want to go without him. We are only two weeks into the non-boating season, too early to be apart. Besides, I enjoy these trips with D.H.

At any rate, he was able to move things through, but we didn't leave for Indiana until sometime past 5:30. We make a stop halfway through this trip, so it takes us easily five hours to get there. We could make it in three and a half, if we took the tollways, and if we risked flying low part of the way, but that's not what this trip was about. It felt rather like being in a cocoon, as we drove through the dark fields. It took us an hour to get out of the suburban area that surrounds Chicago. At that point, we saw the lights on harvesters where farmers were out combining the corn in the dark, and there were lights on the farmhouses that were scattered through the fields. Otherwise, the dark closed in around the car. I used my brights to illuminate the sides of the road, so that I'd be aware of any deer getting ready to cross the roads.

The trip went smoothly, We arrived a little earlier than I expected, but we crossed a time zone line, so we got in about 11:30 Indiana time. Normally, I would have slept in my own bed on Thursday night, and made the trip on Friday morning, but we really wanted to have as many hours as possible to share with family. I was surprised that E.M. was awake a great deal of the way.

Gas......when we left the far west suburbs of Chicago, gas was in a range of $2.69 to $2.79. When we left central Indiana, we purchased gas for $2.11 a gallon, and that was the rock bottom price for the trip. By the time we got home, gas had dropped to $2.55. I want to know WHY I have to pay $.44 a gallon more? I know...the answer is "because they can charge it, and get away with it." Not a good answer!

The color.....was STUNNING! We had missed the peak by a few days, but there were sharp reds, and oranges and yellows, and more muted golds and apricots and greens. There were trees that hadn't begun to change, and trees that had no leaves! Everywhere you looked, it was just beautiful.

Nan and I gathered Osage oranges to use in our homes to deter the insects which want to take up housekeeping. She has made the acquaintance of a farmer who has a line of Osage orange trees along his field. She swaps him a home made apple crisp for the chance to pick up the windfalls. Dear Husband and I helped in the endeavor. Nan and her hubby have an apple tree just past their deck that is heavy with apples. DH pared, and I cored and sliced enough apples to make two pies and the apple crisp. IT was well worth the effort!

Nan enjoys cooking, especially when there is someone to share the bounty. She and her family eat more simply, as we do, during the week, but it's fun to try recipes that you don't normally have time to try. The first night they stuffed us with steak, baked potatoes (or sweet potatoes), sourdough bread, and a stir-fry of onions, red cabbage, Brussels sprouts and broccoli. The contrast of the green and purple was eye candy!

Nan had intended to do cioppino for lunch, but we got a late start. We went antiquing and shopping and were on our way home when hunger hit. We stopped at the "Apple Dumpling Inn." I had a tuna salad sandwich that had small chunks of apple and walnuts that was incredibly good. Unfortunately, we were too full to have the baked apple dumplings for dessert. Duh! We could have brought some home with us! Too bad. We'll just have to go back! *G*

Nan cooked the cioppino for dinner, and it was just right, with more of the sourdough bread. I've only cooked cioppino once, and that was after our trip to Alaska. I'd enjoyed it so much on the cruise that they gave me the recipe....for 60! As a Midwesterner, ciopinno is something new and fresh to experience. For those of you who live on or near the coasts, it's old hat, something taken for granted. We really enjoyed it, and you can bet that should I ever get to travel through the coast areas of the US, I'll be looking for more chances to sample it.

We were busy all day long Friday and Saturday. Saturday evening we all ended up in the sun-room, with the dog. My brother-in-law popped popcorn for us. I had the chance to work on a binding while we watched Mike Rowe, and his Dirty Jobs program, which is an odd way to end a day, but interesting. (More on that another day.)

Sunday, we ATE AGAIN!!! And sat and chatted for a little bit, before heading home. I hate to leave Nan's home. We are always so comfortable there, and it's nice to have the chance to catch up on each other's lives.

So, it's back to our regular chores. I need to have the car looked at (a mysterious clanging sound when we corner....swaybars, maybe), and I need to stock up on birdseed, return some items we bought for EM that don't fit, work on Thanksgiving, and VOTE!!! I hope you're all registered, and have been able to make up your minds. Go Vote! And have a great week!

I can't believe I've missed blogging for so many days. Last week we sent ELegante Mother's caregiver home with what sounded like a horrible cold. I cared for Mother, put in hours in the office, and managed the house. Our care-giver returned on Monday sounding much better, but this morning she called, and she'd been in an accident, and needed the day off. It was no hardship, since we planned to be home. Luckily she wasn't hurt, and it sounds like it might have been just a fender bender.

One of my nieces came to give me a hand cleaning out closets. We brought up winter clothes for Elegante Mother, and my niece swapped the seasonal clothing, and reorganized Elegante Mother's closet. We need to shop for cold weather slacks, long sleeved T-shirts, and long underwear for EM.

We stripped my closet, moving everything out to a sheet-covered bed, the floor, the bathroom counter, and the top of the dresser. I created a pile of things to throw away, a pile of things to give away, and a pile of seasonal things to be taken to the basement. As we went through stacks of things, she made me throw out anything that I hadn't used in a year. She checked expiration dates on things from the pharmacy,and pitched anything that wasn't from 2008. When we returned things to the closet I was astonished by the amount of space, and how bright it was. We actually had three empty shelves. She had even cleaned the light bulbs! During the next week, I plan to go through the drawers in the vanity. Next visit, we will work on the linen closet and the mudroom pantry. I love the feeling of being organized AND CLEAN!

Thursday, Dear Husband, Elegante Mother and I are going to Indiana to visit with my sis and her family. Nan has a three-day weekend beginning on Halloween, and we want to visit with them through Sunday morning. My stepson is willing to cat sit with Edward Scissorhands, so that he won't be left alone.

Speaking of Edward....he's still with us. I thought we might loose him early this year to kidney disease, but he's still here. He does sleep more these days, and is going out less now that the weather has gotten cooler, but he's eager to be among us, and comes to cuddle with me in the early morning and evenings. He was quite the champion hunter this summer!

I think the herons and egrets have gone south for the year. I haven't seen either of them for about two weeks now. At an Empty Nester luncheon on Sunday, I learned that our goldfinches stick around for the winter, simply going to a duller color of plumage for the winter. All this time I thought they left for the south! We were also told that chickadees were harmed by the West Nile Virus. I knew the crows and blue jay population had suffered, but I thought only the larger birds were affected. We've seen a parent hawk showing a junior hawk how to sit on the lamp posts and survey the area for prey.

Sunday was Dear Husband's birthday. Elegante Mother and I went to church, and then attended the Empty Nester's luncheon. We went home, and I stole the opportunity to work on the lawn for a few hours, before the kids arrived. One of DH's sons, and his daughter and her family joined us for dinner. We ordered from Magianno's and there seemed to be something to satisfy everyone.

Wednesday is the birthday brunch for those at exercise who had birthdays in October. That includes me, so I'm glad they scheduled the breakfast on a day when we could attend. I hope to get Elegante Mother going early, so that we can make it to exercise first. After breakfast, we might do a little shopping if EM is up for it. Then, it's home to get ready for our trip.

I hope you are all well, and that you are enjoying the fall weather and what's left of the color. Even if the golds and reds are gone, I'll enjoy the sights on our trip to Indiana. I'm looking forward to a little time away. Take care, all!

...that someone clearly loved. When we moved to this area of the suburbs, we found a route off the beaten path to get out to more traveled roads. And toward the end of this route there was a wonderful, old-fashioned house with green shutters, and mature trees, and a family of ceramic deer in the center of the lawn.

The yard was always faultlessly maintained. The house looked as though it had been painted fairly recently, and the gutters and roof had been maintained. I suspect that the house had been in place for a number of years when a correctional facility was plunked down across from it. That didn't keep the owners from giving their home loving care. I suspect the facility wasn't a bad neighbor except for an abundance of lights at night.

Two, or perhaps three years ago, the house took on an abandoned look. We speculated on the situation. Perhaps one of the owners had passed away, or needed to move to assisted living, and the house was too much for the remaining owner to manage. Perhaps a woman had been living there for years with her children to help with the gardening, and now, she couldn't maintain the grounds.

For whatever reason, the house was put on the market, where it languished. The lawn wasn't mowed frequently enough, and no one trimmed around the feet of the family of deer. It became shabby, as those things lacking attention do. One of the tree trunks broke off and a huge portion of it crashed through the roof of an outbuilding.

This week as we passed by, the change was glaring. All but two of the old trees had been cut down and turned into a pile of mulch. The evergreens that had lined a sweeping driveway were gone. Landscaping around the house had been ripped out. The house looks naked, and unprotected. It looks as though it's waiting it's final sentence.

That's when I realized that the fire department is going to be allowed to burn it to the ground. It makes my heart ache to think of all the memories that house has held going up in smoke. I'm sure that the family has had to make the decision to raze the home because they can't afford the annual property taxes, and couldn't sell it.

I hate that our government forces people into decisions like this because of the property tax laws. I haven't worked my way through a solution to this situation, but it's one more reason we need to alter how we finance our schools. The current plan is inequitable both to homeowners AND students! It won't be long before the middle class can't afford to support our government, as it is. It's possible we have already reached that point. Certainly, the owners of this house have said, "I give!"

I know that we'll be passing that lot in our travels in the coming weeks, and despite knowing what's likely to happen, I won't be prepared to see the hole in the ground where the house once sat. It was a good house, and I'll remember it.

I had a WONDERFUL BIRTHDAY!!

I had birthday wishes come my way in every conceivable manner: in person, by snail mail, by e-mail, by phone, and by blogs! I was greeted and encouraged all day long, and it was really lovely

IT started with a short note from my youngest sister that ended with
"H A P P Y B I R T H D A Y!" I was almost ready to leave for exercise when the phone rang. It was Nan, and her 9th grade Romeo and Juliet class, and they sang "Happy Birthday" to me over the phone. I really wish I had been where I could have recorded it! *G*

At exercise, the class fussed over me because I'm one of two ladies who have been the babies of the class for years. The other woman stole my position as the youngest of the class when she joined a few years ago. Her sixtieth birthday comes in just a few days. One of the women gave me chocolate, and a card that played the Chicken Dance. (grins)

I didn't realize I had talked with the class about the Chicken Dance. I had never seen it until Dear Husband took me to an Oktoberfest a while ago, and the women all got up to dance this strange dance! I understand that it is frequently played at wedding receptions, but somehow I had missed it. I'd join in on the fun, but partway through the first refrain I start laughing, and then I loose it.

I worked a little in the office, and took the time to get cleaned up in mid-afternoon. One of my nieces has been visiting with Elegante Mother once a week so that DH and I can go out. I wanted to be ready to go early so that we wouldn't keep her too late on a work night.

I was dressing when DH came in and brought me a HUGE birthday card. I was a little disappointed that it wasn't one of his hand made cards, but I was glad that he had remembered my birthday. I opened the card, expecting a big, mushy card, and it's an over-sized version of THE CHICKEN DANCE!! (The card says I should celebrate "accordion-ly.") I can tell that my sixties will be memorable! *G*

We went to dinner at the Front Street Cantina. DH offered to take me to one of the ritzy steak houses in the area, and God knows there are enough to choose from, but that sounded too heavy to me. I vetoed our usual trip to Pappadeaux, asking if we could do brunch when the boating season is over. Instead, we had an inexpensive meal that we both enjoyed, and a relaxed evening. I treated DH to an ice cream cone on the way home, to end my celebration.

I visit the Star Tribune Crossword Corner blog each day, after I've done the Chicago Tribune crossword on-line. The people who post there have become friends, and they were very positive about the pluses of turning 60. It was nice to be among so many people who believe that aging only means "getting better."

I had a great day. I don't need major celebrations to have fun. Visiting with friends and family is enough, and you all came through to make my day memorable!

THANKS!

I don't usually blurt out things like this. I actually try to maintain SOME modesty, now and then. But A Momentous Occasion is rushing toward me, and I find I need to comment on it.

On Wednesday, I will turn sixty years old. There.....I said it. I'm not upset by this; it's more a case of wondering just what "sixty" is. Despite the aches and pains, and working a little slower than I used to, my brain still thinks I'm in my thirties

I don't sleep quite as well as I used to, well, at night at any rate. I carry more weight than I should, and I creak and ache a bit more than I did when I was thirty, but my brain seems to think there haven't been any changes. Until this summer, I used to find myself out on my hands and knees gardening for hours at a time. Or, I'd work all day long, and then spend the evenings looking for more things to do, like laundry or dishes, or quilting. It would be safe to say that I don't work at full tilt for 16 hours a day any longer.

I've made a few changes. I wear more comfortable clothes and I buy UGLY SHOES. Of course, I buy those ugly shoes because I want shoes that are comfortable. I've given up heels completely, and I look for great arch support. Foot care has become really important.

I have begun eating oatmeal each morning. I add cinnamon and a little brown sugar, but at 5:30 in the morning I need a little incentive to have breakfast. I realize that the cinnamon I have in the house may not be the variety which has the health benefits, so I plan to do a little research to find the proper product, and then I will be doing TWO good things at one time.

I have gotten to the point where I can get up between 5:00 and 5:30 without being rousted out of bed. I like early morning when the house is quiet, and I can get the day started without having to talk to anyone other than Dear Husband, who is a fairly quiet person all day long.

I need to work on being in bed at 9:00, learning how to tape programs that air at 8:30 or in the evening, and reorganizing my going to bed ritual so that it's all accomplished before lights out has passed. Moisturizing has become a MUCH more important part of my life, and I'm not very good about it. (Thank you, Nan, for the lovely incentive! *S*)

Probably the biggest change over the past decade is my focus on family. They may not be aware that anything has changed, but I'm trying to find ways to let my family know that I think about them and love them. I'm aware the passing of time, and with each day, those days I have left to spend with family become more precious.

So...what's sixty? Darned if I know, but I plan to jump in with both feet, and meet it running! *S*

Do you do crossword puzzles? I used to do them all the time, and then I slowly set them aside when I became addicted to quilting. I resumed doing the puzzle in the Chicago Tribune earlier this year, on-line. There are times when I have a few extra minutes, and I pick up a book of New York Times puzzles and try to wade through one.

Why is it that the first time you work a tough puzzle, you can stare at the blanks and not get a thing, and when you walk away in frustration and come back later, answers fall into place with ease?? I frequently feel that "Duh!" response, when the answers are obvious and generally easy. Is it just that I'm working against myself, expecting the answers to be a lot harder?

I'm VERY glad that I took Latin. It amazes me how many times an answer to a clue will be a Latin word. Many times, I can guess the answer to a Spanish, or Italian word because it's related to Latin.

It's odd, but I find that the vertical clues are easier. You'd think that seeing the boxes in a pattern other than our usual left to right, would make it more difficult. I tend to fly through the puzzle starting from the upper left (Northwest) corner, and answer as many of the horizontal clues as I can. Then I make a run through the vertical clues. More than half of the answers will fall into place on the vertical clues. The hardest clues for me are those that pertain to the young stars who are likely to be found on the pages of "People" magazine. I admit it.....I'm an old fogy.

Years ago, the editors of the puzzles provided information concerning how many words made up the answer. Now, they limit their advice to "var." (variation) or different ways of indicating that the answer is an abbreviation.

Today, one of the answers was "music." In another life, I was a band director, so you might expect me to find all the music clues easy. WRONG!! I over-think the clues, and they are often the last clues I answer. I dread having someone assume that I will get all the music questions. In fact, I can usually guarantee that I'll miss anything that took place between 1975 and 1990, and a lot of the more recent stuff, too. I've got COOKING terms down, though! lol

How often do you say "Thank you"? How often do you hear someone say "Thank you" to you?

I don't think I say "Thank you" enough. I certainly think it. I'm behind in my written thank you notes, but I'm getting them done. Still, I think I could take the time to let people know that I really appreciate what they do for me. It bothers me that personal notes are going the way of the dinosaur. My youngest sister writes exceptional notes, and I love to get them from her, but I'm very bad about writing back to her. I send her a lot of e-mails, not just the forwarded type, but also short thoughts and responses to her e-mails, and I talk to her on the phone, but I don't make the time to write personal notes.

I've been pondering this as I reach a point in my life where contact with family and friends is more important. I need to shape up (in more ways than one), get my act together, and take this show on the road. I need to stop saying "I need to..." and "Just DO it!" And I haven't a clue how to make these life changes.

I think I'll start by telling people "Thank you" more often.

For those of you who have come to read this blog, Thanks! It's nice of you to stop by, *S*

"I Like Ike!" was a refrain from the election pitting Dwight D. Eisenhower against Adlai Stevenson in the early 1950's I was a child, but I recall the campaign buttons.

I'm not so sure how I feel about our recent visitor, Ike, the hurricane. The Midwest had an extended line of showers crossing from west to east, and Ike rolled up through Texas, steamrolled over Oklahoma and Kansas and Missouri and attached himself to that line of showers. The forecasters were predicting three inches of rain over a three day period. That's a lot of rain, but manageable. In reality, O'Hare Airport measured 12.61 inches of rain by early evening on Sunday. Parts of Chicago and the surrounding counties have been hit hard, and farmers are saying that the corn and soybean crops may be damaged. We were fortunate. We're high and dry, and still have all our utilities.

I went out Sunday morning to collect the newspapers. We have a fairly long driveway, and it was pouring out, so I took the car. While I was down at the end of the road, I stopped to collect Saturday's mail, too. As our road goes to the east, it passes between two retention ponds, and the road crews had put up barricades to warn drivers of water on the pavement. The ponds were so full that they overflowed their bounds and met on the road. You could get through, if you went very slowly. The barricades were set up so that you had to slalom to the left. and then again to the right. Apparently everyone got the idea that you had to slow down, because there were no cars stranded in the water.

It rained almost non-stop from Friday morning to Sunday evening. It was still sprinkling Monday morning as we went off to exercise, enough to need window wipers, but not enough to keep the standing water from slowing draining off.

The record rain for my area was 17 inches in 24 hours. I can recall pictures of people canoing or rowing from house to house looking for people who needed help. What amazed me was that people would walk in the water without regard to raw sewage or downed electrical lines. What happens to people's brains when we have unusual weather!?? Our underpasses were closed for a couple of weeks with that storm. I think we'll clean things up faster with this one, but it will take a lot of work to bring some areas back to where they were before the storms.

Hi! I know...I've been away for a bit, but sometimes life has a way of intruding on my blogging. :-( This has been a wonderful, laid-back weekend. Dear Husband went to the boat Saturday morning, and Elegante Mother and I took our time getting ready to face the day. The care giver arrived at 8:00 and we decided to make a trip to the Farmer's Market.

There are several markets near our home. We went to the closest. EM agreed to use her transportation chair, and the care giver took the handles so that EM wouldn't fly downhill. We visited with our favorite knife sharpener, and met his oldest daughter. We shopped through easily three dozen booths, buying cheese, mushrooms, peaches, zucchini, peppers, corn, garlic, raspberries, blackberries, a wide variety of tomatoes, mixed flowers and eucalyptus. We were really loaded. If I'd had one more pair of hands, I would have bought a beautiful Cinderella pumpkin, and some squash!

Oh.....and GREEN BEANS! And BASIL! And 5 ears of corn! (In the background I can hear Dear Husband saying, "And two hard boiled eggs.) My mind is turning to fall meals. I want to cook things that fill the house with great scents, and wake my tongue with interesting seasonings. Roasted garlic, homemade pesto, diced tomatoes and broiled rounds of French bread. Sausage and Orzo soup, with crusty bread. Bee met Friday night and I made Pumpkin Cookies with Browned Butter Icing, and an Apple-Strawberry Streuse; Pie for dessert. Can a Dutch apple pie be too far behind??

Next week, I may visit the French Market, just to see what they have to offer. How can you not enjoy the variety they offer? And the following week, we hope to go to the Antique Market. We won't be food shopping there, but we may find something to eat as we shop. *G*

I'm going to go make stuffed green and red peppers for dinner tonight, so I'd better get a move on. I hope you've all been well, and that life has been good to you.

Well, actually, I'm not, but I have about two days worth of STUFF to fit into one day, so I'm going to try to do a few quick paragraphs to keep you all in the loop.

Elegante Mother is doing well physically, but she's still having memory problems. She will be on anti-seizure meds through September, and then we will see if her memory clears. She knows she is forgetting things, and having difficulty with sentences. It's tough to watch her struggle, so I pray that things will ease for her when she no longer has to take the medication.

EM has misplaced a hearing aid. I've had to order a replacement. The remote for one of the digital picture frames is missing. I wonder if she's got a little stash going somewhere for electronic things. I might just hand her the mobile telephone and see if she can stash that, too! Reminds me of magpies...

My family is springing me for three days. I'm going to central Indiana to spend some time with my sis and her family, and to see her oldest daughter march in her first college football halftime program. I'm excited. In a way, my niece is following in my footsteps. She is going to major in education. I wonder if her music will be a vocation or an avocation. No matter what she choses, I've enjoyed seeing the results of her efforts.

I get to spend a day communing with my sewing machine on Friday while Sis is at work, and I plan to make a salad for dinner, so she won't have to come home and cook. I have NO IDEA what she plans to do on Saturday. We may weed, or sit and talk, or mall crawl. Perhaps there will be a late summer festival to see. No matter what she chooses, I'll be happy.

Sunday morning, I'm going to have to leave that Indiana Idyll and drive back to Illinois, EM's 23rd grandchild is going to be Christened, and since we share a name, I'd really like to be there for the Christening. While I'm away My-Sister-The-Nurse is going to take care of Elegante Mother. Dear Husband hopes to take the two of them to the Kane County Cougar's game on Friday night, so that EM can see the fireworks. We'll see how things work out.

I found a great blog that I want to follow (when I have time. Yeah...riiiiiiiiight...time). It's all about one man's efforts to learn what kind of carbon footprint he has. The blog is 365 Days of Trash. He is saving EVERYTHING...in his basement. Go visit, and read some of his back posts. He has some wonderful common sense EASY things to do to save on trash.

Edward Scissorhands, our cat, is coping with kidney failure. He's a tough old bird, though. I knew there was a problem as early as Christmas last year, and the vet confirmed my guess in February. He's still with us, bringing his prey to the front door for lunch. (UCK!!) He sits with me at night, and sleeps a little more now. I'm glad for the extra days we've had, and that he got to enjoy one more summer.

My keyboard died! I thought it was worse. I thought the computer was going, but my stepson figured out the problem, and we switched the keyboard with a spare. I have to go keyboard shopping next week. I didn't realize how different the two keyboards are. I'm having a terrible time trying to fit my fingers into this narrower space.

I hope you all have a great Labor Day weekend. May you celebrate with family and friends,and enjoy the last hurrah of summer!

It's that time of year where parents across the nation are seeing their children go off to college. My youngest sis and her husband took their oldest daughter to college this past weekend. Number 1 Niece (N1N) is in the college marching band, so she had to leave for school a week early. She'll spend this week in a tightly structured group of activities, getting to know the expectations of the marching band in terms of style of march and performance, and learning to interact smoothly with others in her rank and section, as well as learning her way around the campus and dorm. She's in temporary housing for this week, so her parents (and boyfriend) will return in a week to move her to the dorm she is assigned to for the year. They will also bring the lion's share of the things N1N will need in terms of clothes, and comforts.

This step, between high school and college can be a scary one. I think most kids embrace the change on the surface. What's not to like about the idea of being in charge of your own life, getting do decide when you get up and when you go to bed, and when you do your homework, or not? Every kid lives for the day when they get to take charge. After all, they've been ready for YEARS, right?? But, under the surface, it's a big step.

Leaving your circle of friends, and being thrust into a new situation where you don't know anyone, and you don't yet know your way around the campus is tough. Leaving your boyfriend at home is even tougher. In a while, discovering that you have to BUDGET, and can't turn to Mom for a new pair of jeans, is tough! But, I think leaving the security of home has to be the toughest of all. Even if your relationship with your parents is testy, you still know where you stand, and you know that you are loved. Going to college is leaving the pond where you are a big fish, and discovering that you are plankton, and a WHALE is bearing down on you!

But, I think most of us would say that we wouldn't have traded the experience for anything. In a couple of days, things don't feel so strange. We've made our first friends, and have found out where to go for pizza. We get to know the campus better, and find places that speak to us. I remember places so beautiful that they satisfied my soul, and others that gave me comfort when I was homesick, or unsure if I was doing the right thing. If I wasn't on deadline for a paper, there was always the pleasure of the library.

Number 1 Niece is just taking her first step this morning into that world. I'm excited for her, and a bit teary. Just where did the years go? Will I get to spend time with her again, before she is firmly on her life's path? Will she remember that I love her?

Wow....I think I have a bit of Empty Nesting going on here. Let's set that aside, and just focus on all the good things coming her way. The rest will work itself out.

Way to go, kidlet. I'm VERY PROUD OF YOU!!! Remember, you can call, any time!

I LONG for a day at my sewing machine. I'd like to put together some small quilt tops, just to have the chance to play with fabric and color. It would be fun to pull out all my fall colored fabrics and create a pumpkin wall hanging.

I think fall may be my favorite season. It's a tough call. Spring is such a relief, coming on the heels of winter, with everything growing, and greening up. That's pretty special, but there's just something about about the weather cooling down, and the leaves putting on their fall display that speaks to me. I don't care for the really hot days of summer, so it might just be the relief from the heat that draws me, but I love the corn stalks, the pumpkins and gourds, the scarecrows, and other fall decorations. I can remember a friend of my parents used to hunt for bittersweet early in the fall, to use for decorations.

My mind is drawn to fall baking recipes, especially apple recipes. I love cinnamon, and it seems there are more recipes we use from September to December that have cinnamon as an ingredient than the rest of the year. I don't want to shortchange the peach season, or the sweet corn and fresh veggie, and OMG ... TOMATO season.....but, cinnamon and apples just can't be beat!

Then, there are the beautiful, sunny, cooler days that are perfect for parades and football games. I don't care much for football, but I LOVE watching the bands at halftime. And, here in the Midwest, towns frequently celebrate Homecoming thru the local high schools. My hometown always celebrated Homecoming on the weekend of my birthday. It took me while to realize that was just a pleasant accident of scheduling. *G*

How can you not love a season that leads you right into the holidays?

So, maybe I will play with fabric tomorrow in an effort to prepare for one of my favorite seasons. Which season do you like the best?

Whew...it's been a long week and it's only Thursday morning!

We have a regular schedule of visitors during the week. Elegante Mother has had two physical therapist visits and by 8:30 this morning will have had two occupational therapist visits this week. We've had a nurse's visit, and next week will have two more, as they draw blood to check the levels of her medicines and try to determine whether she needs further strengthening through physical therapy.

One of my nieces, her son, and one of my great nieces came to visit yesterday. They brought goodies from a local bakery and chatted with us for several hours. She plans to visit with EM each Wednesday evening, so that DH and I can get away for a bit.

EM seems to be suffering from "Sundowners," an unofficial disease that is widely recognized. She starts out her day well but looses track of what's going on around her as the sun begins to drop in the sky. Last night, she decided that no one loves her, and she tried to run away from home. Luckily, Dear Husband was there to walk with her and prevent her from stepping out onto the road. I truly don't know what I'd do without the man!

This morning, EM can't remember what happened, so we will move forward with today's obligations and look for a lock for the door.

It's quite eye-opening to become your parent's guardian. I've commented on the role reversal we've experienced over the the past two decades, but the seizure has made that seem insignificant. I need to help EM choose clothes, and dress, and I do her laundry. She leaves meal choices to me. Luckily, I have someone to help with her bathing and personal care several days a week, and expect to have a bit more help, soon.

Things have been put on hold in the office, during the middle of this week. Our care giver could not find a baby sitter, and missed her visit yesterday. So, on Friday, I'll need to get all the office work done that I had hoped to do on Wednesday. DH came home early so that I could make a run to the bank, and I'll visit the library on Friday after exercise (provided the caregiver arrives).

I'm sure this all seems disjointed to you. You are getting a stream of consciousness post. It's how I feel most days. I run to put out whichever fire pops up next.

I need to be off. It's time to get ready for the OT visit! Have a great day, my friends. Keep in touch..

Hi, my friends! We are yet livin' - just busy!

Elegante Mother has had occupational therapy, and physical therapy visits three times this past week. She is physically able to do all they are asking. We need to be better about doing the exercises when the therapists are not visiting, but EM is doing well.

Elegante Mother is still having memory problems, and will continue to have them. The medicine she is taking to forestall seizures could be part of her problem, and she may improve after September when she finishes this course of drugs. Or, she may not. We'll just have to wait and see how things turn out.

This week has been CRAZY! In addition to all the therapist's visits, Friday night was quilting bee. I love having these ladies visit, and needed the time, sitting and chatting with them, to recharge.

Saturday, we hosted a baby shower for one of my nieces. We have been participating in the trend where the prospective dads attend the baby shower, so this gathering was for both the men and women in our family. One of my nieces has been recuperating from surgery, and really needed something to occupy her time. We assigned the planning of the meal to her. Friday, she went with me to the grocery store to shop for the ingredients. What an eye opener! We had TWO carts filled with food, and managed to apply a 5% discount and a 10% discount to the cost. I was astonished at the savings.

Saturday morning, I started the day with my usual pre-party chores. I fed the birds, cleaned off the sidewalk, ironed the garage curtains,and made two pans of brownies (to be iced and decorated later in the day.) My niece arrived at 10:00, closely followed by My-Sister-The-Nurse, who was co-hosting the shower with me.

We began chopping, mixing, baking and generally preparing things, and then my second sister arrived. By noon, with the addition of Dear Husband, we had FIVE people washing, chopping, mixing and baking! It was just incredible! By 3:00 I went off to shower, and my relatives finished the decorating, wrapped a gift for us, and made pots of tea and coffee. I actually had the chance to chat with our guests because the food was so well organized.

We put out bruschetta, baked pita crisps with a hot spinach dip, crudités with a cold creamy dip and cubed cheeses with an endless variet of crackers. We noshed while we waited for the last of the guests to arrive, and then ooooh and aaaahed over the gifts as they were unwrapped. Since the guys were present, we did without the usual games.

This was my niece's third baby shower! Her husband's family hosted one, and her friends planned another. There was still a lot left on her registry last weekend, but it went fast! My youngest sis and I, and EM went together to buy the stroller with the car seat. One of my sisters volunteers at a local hospital, and she told us that it was amazing how many new parents come to take the baby home without the required car seat.

By the time the gifts had been opened, everyone was ready for dinner, which we did as a casual buffet. My niece had marinated beef and chicken in a teriyaki sauce overnight. The girls created shrimp and beef kabobs with onion, peppers and mushrooms, and chicken skewers with pineapple and cherry tomatoes. There was rice, Caesar salad, a romaine and tricolored pasta seven layer salad, enough fruit salad to feed Chicago, and four types of crusty bread. There were four desserts planned, and we actually forgot to make one of them. Fudge frosted brownies, cupcakes, and a lemon cake completed the meal.

By the time our guests left, sated at the very least, I had packed up three-quarters of the leftovers and sent them home. We still have a huge amount of food left, and I'll have to plan meals around those leftovers. Let's see....strawberries, blueberries, grapes, cauliflower, broccoli and peppers, and angel food cake. And BROWNIES! lol Should be an interesting meal.

We're recuperating, having a quiet afternoon at home. I've checked my mail, done the Chicago Tribune crossword puzzle, and checked in with you. Now, I need to pay some bills, and write some thank you notes.

I hope you've all had a great weekend. If you're in the heatwave, STAY INSIDE. Take the smart route, and stay cool. If you're more fortunate, and the heat isn't so bad...enjoy the day. Summer is speeding by, and soon we'll be bundling up again.

HI, everyone! This has to be another of those quick posts, because the day has started and I'm already running late.

Mother came home Saturday morning. My-Sister-The-Nurse has been with us for the past two days, overseeing Mother's care, and giving me an idea of what I need to do once she is not here.

This morning, a care giver will arrive at 7:30, and she will be with us 8 hours a day for the next week or two, and then her hours will taper off as (we hope) Mother adjusts to being home and can do more for herself.

We expect this week to be packed with visits, starting with a nurse who will determine what type of physical and occupational therapy EM still requires. We think EM will have PT and OT two to three times a week for perhaps six weeks. Tuesday, we will make our first trip out together, to see EM's doctor.

A major storm is coming our way. I'm hoping that we will get the rain, but not the severe weather cells. I can ALWAYS use Mother Nature's help with the watering.

Did I tell you? SOMETHING....most likely those rotten rabbits, has been eating the leaves off the newly planted hostas! Drat it all!

Have a good week, stay safe, don't get too much sun or too much rain....and I'll be back, God willing and the creek don't rise!

...with those of you who have been reading here. We're still on track for Elegante Mother to come home this coming Saturday (July 19th). We are marking the days off the calendar, and encouraging her to do all the therapists ask of her. I mentioned to her today that she would be having visits from therapists at home, and she wasn't overjoyed.

Cop Car and Blue Witch left such good comments on earlier posts, that I wanted the chance to bring them to your attention. Their advice is "spot on."

Cop Car wrote: "EM is not a child, but she is a very small adult. A smaller plate with smaller portions might help her address food that she has little interest in. As an ombudsman, I occasionally "counseled" an aide not to insist that a resident eat more than she cared for. For some reason, the staff were fearful that a resident might actually lose weight. Losing weight, contrary to my own experience, is a normal process of aging, unless one regularly lifts weights, etc. In the case of the nursing home residents, more food was replacing the lost muscle mass with fat. (Can't you just see EM with an ounce of fat on her! *g*)"

CC....EM is supposed to be getting smaller portions, but her tray comes with a huge amount of food. She is already saying, "NO, I can't eat that." before she even sees what's on the plate. I've been advised to use smaller plates with her. I'll work harder at not overwhelming her with too much food. EM HAS lost weight. She's down about 10 pounds over the past 6-9 months. It worries me, but it doesn't seem to worry her doctor, so I'll be quiet about it. Our physician told me not to nag her to eat, and I've been trying to behave. Today, she refused her entire tray. So I moved the peach pie, her coffee and the cup of thickened water to the side of the tray closest to her. I set a baggie of Wheat Thins near the tray, as well as a bag of Bing cherries. I sat quietly for a bit, and then buttered the hamburger bun they called a dinner roll. She ate close to half of it. I sat a bit longer, and asked if she would try a taste of the pie. She ate the entire piece. I gave her a note pad and asked her to write down what she might like to have to eat when she comes home. We talked about several meals that she said sounded good, and I was pleased to hear it wasn't just dessert. I think the most difficult challenge we face is getting EM re-hydrated. She dislikes the thickened liquids, so I'm hoping the swallow test she is supposed to take will move her off that restriction before we go home.

Blue Witch said: "Refusing food is often the only way older (and younger) people have of exerting some control over their worlds. This is particularly true of those used to being very independent who suddenly find themselves institutionalised. It also secures a great deal of attention (albeit of a negative kind) for them as refusing to eat is something that is a very emotive issue. Does she enjoy fruit smoothies or soups? Often 'drinking' is a great way of getting good food into people who can't face solids (and you can always add unseen vitamins or minerals to the mix).
Will you be able to get some extra help in to support you in caring for her if she comes home?"

Blue Witch, Elegante Mother IS exerting control by refusing her meals. She knows we won't let her starve, and she enjoys all the attention she's getting. It's going to be more difficult when we go home, and she has to become accustomed to less attention. Still, I think she will do better at home. Smoothies are a great idea. My youngest sister and her husband have introduced them to us, and I know that EM would enjoy all the summer fruit blended that way. She also likes several of the soups I make.

On the subject of "help"....My-Sister-The-Nurse will be with us for the first two days, to help EM settle in. We will be getting occupational and physical therapist visits perhaps three times a week for up to six weeks. We are going to look for part time help to bathe EM, and provide her care while I work. My sister has posted a note to the family members on the computer, asking for sitting help, so that Dear Husband and I can get away at least once a week. We may also have to either alarm the doors, or find a nighttime sitter, if we can not get EM to stay in bed during the night.

It seems like a LOT to deal with. We'll just have to see how things turn out. If she is not safe here, we'll have to look into a facility, but that will be our last choice.

Ladies, thank you for your good advice. I appreciate being able to call on your experience. You make a fine support network! Thanks, again!

"Change For The Dollar," in the Chicago Tribune fascinated me. As a country, we could save $522 MILLION a year, if we gave up our one dollar bill and switched to the one dollar coin. The US Treasury has tried to accomplish that with the Susan B. Anthony dollar, and the Sacagawea dollar, without much success. They are currently producing a series of one dollar coins with the faces of the presidents.

For those who are circulating an e-mail saying that "In God We Trust" has been dropped from this coin, please take a closer look. The dollar coin has a smooth edge (unlike the quarter, which has perpendicular ridges along the edge), and "In God We Trust" is cut into the edge of the coin. The coin is slightly larger than a quarter, and is a pale gold/bronze color.

Go read what Tom Hundley had to say at the Trib. It's an interesting story.

Many of you know that I live in the Chicago suburbs. We receive the Chicago Tribune, and each day there is a crossword puzzle in the Tempo section. Elegante Mother used to do them in ink, and it never occurred to me to make a copy of the puzzles so that we could both do them. I discovered that the Monday through Saturday puzzle is available on-line, with the added bonus that the program tells you if you have entered an incorrect letter. (Master solvers have the option to do it without the assist.)

I've become addicted. I take my mug of tea and head for the computer at 5:30 in the morning. With the computer's assistance, I can finish almost all the puzzles. Without the "wrong-letter" clue, I'd probably have to Google for some of the answers. I'm really glad to return to this form of entertainment. I used to do the Dell crosswords that were edited by Eugene T. Maleska. He designed "expert" puzzles. Of all the expert crosswords, his were the ones that I was most likely to solve. I think you find someone who "hears" words as you do, or perhaps has the same life experiences, and their clues are more likely to make sense.

While I was looking for crossword sites on-line, I also discovered a blog for those who do the Tribune puzzle. The blogger gives the answers for the current day's puzzle, comments on the construction of the puzzle and quality of the clues, and those of us who are also doing the puzzle respond in the comments. It's as though I've found a family! Some of them are my age, and some are younger. Both men and women participate. Some of the solvers have science backgrounds; others are more experienced in the arts.
The group is a nice cross section of puzzle solvers.

If you're interested, join us. You can find us at the "Star Tribune Crossword Corner."

I'm having a quiet day at home, a day "off." My-Sister-The-Nurse is visiting with Elegante Mother. I'll visit with her tomorrow, when I can take the Sunday papers and clean clothes. I have to think of something to take to tempt her to eat at breakfast.

Elegante Mother continues to improve, but we are a little confused. When we (her family) are with her, she can barely take the three steps to transfer from chair to bed, but both the occupational therapist and the physical therapist have said that EM walks from her bed, through the corridor to therapy and back. I wonder if she is just worn out by the time we see her?!

The nursing home will have a meeting this coming week with MSTN to determine EM's status. There is some thought that she might progress more rapidly if she were at home. Elegante Mother is refusing most of what she is being served at mealtime. I thought it was a major breakthrough when she ate half her fish at noon yesterday. We've been taking her favorite things (that fit within her meal restrictions), when we visit, and her appetite has improved the past two days. Unfortunately, as her appetite has improved, so has her irascibility. Sometimes it's like dealing with a two-year-old. In her defense, she has been in the nursing home two full weeks, and has hated every minute of it. I'm not surprised, especially now that she is more aware of her surroundings, that she is unhappy, and wants to go home.

So, we are waiting to meet with the nursing home staff to determine what the best plan is for her future care. Of course, I'll post an update.

Meanwhile, I realized that I was never going to get my gardening done. I still had the stretch across the front of the house to clean up, and I'd been obsessing about the trees growing in the twin evergreen pods on the lower southwest lawn. I asked my favorite landscaper to return and give us a bid. We told Dear Husband the bottom line, and he said "DO IT!" So, all the maintenance landscaping has been done with the exception of the herb garden. That's still my baby. I plan to cover myself with a long-sleeved shirt and mosquito spray and work for an hour early tomorrow morning. I think that hour might make an incredible difference in the garden. Later, I'll use the string trimmer to get some edging done. What a relief to have the gardens looking so good!

I'm going to spend the afternoon with my sewing machine, working on two projects I wish to finish. I am antsy to get one of them off to my machine quilters, so I can get them finished. The other is a baby quilt for my youngest granddaughter, who is already nine months old! Better get cracking, Gramma!

Dear Husband is off sailing today. Bee met last night and they left me all this wonderful food. I won't have to cook today, but I'll have a sumptuous meal this evening! Dear Husband took me out to dinner Thursday night. We tried a new restaurant in the next town over, and had the most pleasant evening together. Both of us ate just half out steak, so I may have steak salad, or a steak sandwich for lunch. Thank God for leftovers! *G*

That's about all I have to share with you. Remind me on Tuesday to water the houseplants, won't you? I got them done this morning, and they were really dry. I'd hate to stress them out by creating a drought cycle.

I hope you all have a wonderful weekend, filled with pleasure!

I wish I could say all was well. Elegante Mother has had a bad day. It's possible that she needs to have her medication adjusted. She's not eating, and she was exceptionally sleepy today. She made it through physical therapy, and a visit from my brother and his wife, and then she needed to crash for the afternoon.

I made her as comfortable as I could, tucked her in for a nap, and let her sleep. I really hope to find that she's doing better tomorrow.

A friend sent me a link to the MSNBC site, to an article on the test prospective Americans must take. In October, 2008, the test is going to be redesigned. The questions are taken from a list of 100 questions that vary in difficulty. MSNBC has modified twenty of the more difficult questions, giving us multiple choices. Normally, applicants do not get multiple choice questions.

Go take it. I was embarrassed to get only 75% of the questions right. In some cases, if I had gone with my first instinct I would have been right. When I second-guessed myself, I was invariably wrong. :-(

I'm sure you will all do better. Here's the link.

She's getting cranky. I take that as a good sign!

Elegante Mother had a seizure on Monday, June 23. She was in the hospital through Friday afternoon, June 27, and then she was moved to a nursing home. She's less than fifteen minutes away from me, door to door, and I have been spending anywhere from two to eight hours a day with her. My siblings have been exceptional in carrying this burden, but as we finish her first week at the nursing home, it's going to become more difficult to keep up the pace. Luckily, we have discovered that she really needs to rest in the afternoon, so we're going to try morning and evening visits for a while.

EM has been receiving occupational therapy and physical therapy each day, and I believe the speech pathologist visits every day as well. EM is working incredibly hard to get home. We watched her PT session on Wednesday and it blew me away. She used one of those machines that let you move both your arms and legs while you sit, rather like seated cross-country skiing. She worked that machine for FIFTEEN MINUTES!! Then she stood, with a walker, to do kicking and stepping, and all sorts of leg exercises. She walked the length of the room, out the door, down the hallway, and back. And then it was time to go back to her room to bed. She was wiped out.

EM is very determined that she will not be staying in the nursing home long. We need to get her to eat and drink a bit more to sustain the muscles she is re-building, but she's coming along well.

There are periods when she is clear as a bell about who we are, but following exercise, when she's given her all, she's a little fuzzy about names. I think she always knows that we are her children, and she seems to recognize the friends who have visited, but names elude her when she is tired.

I talked with my brother, who is not able to see EM every day, and he said that she has improved every time he has seen her. Even though I see her more frequently, I'd have to say the same. Sometimes you can't see little improvements when you are with a person every day, but EM is making such great strides that we can all tell she is getting well.

As for the crankiness.....I'd be cranky, too, to have to be away from my home, and the comfort of my daily schedule. All we can do is continue the litany of "Keep working. Get well, and you'll be going home!" I hope that she is reassured by that.

...is all I have time for this morning. I need to head out to the hospital soon.

Yesterday, we had quite the roller coaster ride. I was astonished at Elegante Mother's improvement! She looked healthier, more like the mother I know. She was more alert, and was conversing, and keeping up with what was happening around her.

EM, all by herself, got out of bed, and with the help of a walker, walked about ten feet, turned around and walked back and sat on the bed! That's an incredible accomplishment for someone who had had a seizure three days earlier.

EM had a caller. MY-Sister-The-Nurse handed her the phone, and we listened to her side of the conversation, which was totally clear. She recognized her friend from exercise, and talked for several minutes. I might not have handed the phone to Mother. I'm learning not to underestimate her. EM has a steel will when it comes to getting out of the hospital!

Unfortunately, in addition to those highs for the day, we also had the results of a swallow test, and the results were not what we had hoped for. EM will have to have thickened liquids, to avoid aspirating liquid into her lungs. She will receive physical therapy to help re-develop those muscles that she needs to eat and drink. Right now she is on a soft diet, and raspberry yogurt is one of her favorites.

Elegante Mother will be moved to an absolutely beautiful nursing home on the hospital campus on Monday, and will continue to receive physical and occupational therapy. I believe that if we explain to her what she needs to accomplish to be able to come home, she will make every effort to achieve it.

Dear Husband is counseling me to take one day at a time. My fabulous friends have given me their love and support, and with all their help, I'm making it through the ups and downs of my days. I can not tell you how much it means to me to know that you are there, encouraging me to take care of myself, and praying for us all. Thank you, thank you, thank you!

I'll be back, as soon as I can. I hope you all have a wonderful weekend!

"These are the times that try men's souls..." Who wrote that? I'm too tired to Google this evening, and these have been very trying times.

On Monday, Elegante Mother had a seizure. She made a flying trip to the hospital with hunky paramedics, and spent the day in the ER. Most of her time there was spent waiting for a room assignment. She had a CT scan, and was admitted.

Tuesday morning they did an MRI, and are fairly confident that she is suffering from herpes encephalitis. Most likely this is an offshoot from the shingles attack she had two years ago. It's possible that it has been building over the past six months, as we've watched her language processing deteriorate.

EM had a second CT scan last night, and this morning they had fairly good news for us. No other problems showed up on the second scan. The docs are going to treat her with an antiviral, an antibacterial, and something to prevent more seizures. We hope that she will recover, but we have no way of telling if she will make it all the way back to the person we think of as EM.

Mother is recuperating very slowly, but that's to be expected, since she is 91. Each time I see her, she is doing better with cognition and language. She knows that I am her daughter, but she couldn't remember my name. She recognized Dear Husband, when he visited today. She was thoroughly ticked at me when I left this evening, because I wasn't letting her go home!

EM will be in the hospital until Friday, or possibly Saturday morning. Then, she will be moved to a nursing home for ten days, because she will be on an IV drip for her medicines. At that point, we will assess whether she is able to come home (with assistance), or needs to remain in nursing care for a while longer.

My family has been very supportive. I would be lost without My-Sister-The-Nurse, who, thankfully, has the power of attorney for my mother's health care. EM has had three generations of family visiting, and each day she remembers more and converses longer.

I hope.....and pray.....that she will be able to return home soon. We've been lucky so far. I hope she has more luck left.

Can't you just hear Cass Elliot singing? She didn't sing the lead on this song, but her voice is always the one I'm drawn to. I'm in the office this morning, and I've slipped the Mamas and the Papas' CD into the computer to keep me company while I work.

Elegante Mother wasn't in her sitting room when I went to say good morning. She was still in bed, not feeling very well. It's frightening to find your 91 year old mother still in bed, not able to articulate just how she feels. After a few moments, when she was more awake, she was able to tell me that she wasn't sick to her stomach, but felt achy and sick, more like the onset of a bad cold.

I'm rearranging my day to be able to keep an eye on her. My-Sister-The-Nurse has just returned from visiting with part of her family in Australia and Hawaii. If Elegante Mother doesn't improve, I'll give sis a call to see if we need more assistance.

Normally, we would have gone to exercise at 8:00 a.m., had coffee with friends at McDonald's, and then gone grocery shopping. I'll have to check the freezer to see what I can put together for dinner, so that I don't have to run out to the store.

Dear Husband will be thrilled to find that the Accounts Receivable, Accounts Payable, waivers and filing have been done, and I'll have the chance to send a back-up to the CPA, so there's a little sunshine at having to change around my day.

Elegante Mother was very pleased to have been given a clean bill of health from the doc following a fasting blood draw. She was like a little kid, bragging about not having to go back to the doctor! *G* Her test results were pretty decent, and her triglycerides are a darn sight better than mine! I hope this is just a summer cold that's laying her low.

HI, all! I just wanted to take a moment to tell you that we're alive and well, and close to having time to blog again. I wrote about the potluck brunch for the exercise class. Remember, Cop Car moaned about needing to exercise more after all that food!?

The next weekend we went to Indiana to see my youngest sister's oldest daughter graduate from high school. We went on Friday to help with the preparations and came home on Sunday.

The following weekend Elegante Mother and I hosted about 30 Red Hat Ladies to a potluck brunch. I'll try to make a longer post on that.

Tuesday and Wednesday I had landscaping help. You know I'll have a LONG post about that. It's the first time I've ever hired help to get my gardens in shape, and the first time I've ever let anyone move anything in my gardens. They look fabulous. My only regret is that I didn't do before and after pics.

Tonight, Nan and her youngest daughter, her daughter's Danish boyfriend and his mother will be coming to stay overnight. Our Danish friends are sightseeing in Chicago this weekend before their visit winds down. Hotels in the city are pricey, so the four of them will come to us, late tonight, after a twilight cruise on lake Michigan with Dear Husband. My niece wanted everyone to go to dinner at Ed Debevic's of all places. I think she thought her boyfriend would get a kick out of the sassy wait staff.

We'll sleep in a bit tomorrow, and then go out to breakfast before we send the visitors on their way. I'm delighted to have the chance to see them., Elegante Mother is not able to sail, and I wasn't sure I wanted to drive into Chicago for dinner. This is the best compromise.

We visited the Farmer's Market today. It's still early yet, but it was nice to see the strawberries and rhubarb. I think I'll be making a pie tomorrow!

I hope you're all having a great spring/summer. I'll be back with more to tell you, I promise!

We spent last weekend in central Indiana, so that we could see my youngest sister's first child graduate from high school. Can we say "Empty Next Syndrome" here?

I know that Nan still has one chick at home, but it's hit her, big time, that her girls are almost grown and ready to fledge. My niece, who does not have a pseudonym here, was Band Captain this past year, so I'm going to call her BC for now.

We have been traveling to Indiana for Christenings, to take Elegante Mother to Grandparent's Day, and for soccer games and dance recitals. For the past three or four years, we have followed the band to regional and state performances, so it only seemed right to go for commencement, too.

We left unusually early Friday morning, so we could take the route that goes through all the farmland. I dislike Interstate 80 where it flows across the top of Indiana so much that I'd rather add an hour to my trip than take 80. We arrived at Nan's around two o'clock. The change in time zones adds an hour to the eastward trip.

We hugged, sat in the sun room and chatted, and had a sumptuous dinner with the family. By 8:00 I figured it would be a good idea to get settled in the hotel, so we took off for the evening.

Saturday morning, Nan had a wonderful breakfast for us, and we spent some time preparing fruit and veggies that would be set into trays for the open house. We all piled into one car and headed for the high school. Nan's youngest daughter was taking the SAT test and would join us at the gym.

Traditionally, graduating seniors who have been band members are given the chance to conduct the band prior to commencement. We arrived, bringing a brown hat with us. BC slipped it on (along with her pale blue graduation robe), and a cheer when up from the band. She'd chosen to conduct the theme from Indiana Jones! *G* I can't begin to tell you how proud I was to see her conducting!!! She's one of a small number of my younger relatives who have chosen to participate in instrumental music, and on top of that, she was first chair clarinet, the instrument I played in school.

Graduation was wonderful. BC's boyfriend got pictures of her coming in and walking forward to receive her diploma, and then it was over and we were running for the car in the rain! I still need to hold back the sniffles when I think about it, and she isn't even MY CHICK!! Nan...sorry if it sounded as though I was teasing you, when you called, miserable with empty-nester's. I can empathize now!

The open house was incredible! If it couldn't move, it was decorated, and there was food EVERYWHERE! There was an entire room with memories of school, pictures, and mementos. Nan put together a number of scrapbooks that showed BC's life year by year. It's amazing that Nan knew from the start that she needed to collect things that would be important twelve years later. She's done it for both girls. I can't wait to see the next set of scrapbooks!

We stayed and ate, and chatted well into the evening. We met some of BC's classmates and friends. Some of her teachers visited, and I believe the pastor was there. The skies had cleared just after commencement and we sat out on the deck at dusk visiting. EM was exhausted, so we finally said our goodbyes around 9:00.

Sunday, we returned to have brunch with the family. I needed to sew a label onto a lap quilt that I'd given to BC. I started it years ago...She says it was TEN years ago. I'd like to think it was only eight, or so.... At any rate, I gave her the quilt in April, but I'd singed the label and had to make another. It was pleasant sitting in the sun room, chatting with the family, and enjoying all the pets, while I worked.

And, as all things must, or visited ended Sunday morning. We needed to start home so that we could make it to an Open House for one of my great nieces.

BC, we are so very proud of you. I'm excited about all the experiences you will have when you go to college this fall. I hope you love it as much as I did, and I won't be unhappy at all if you choose to change your major to "Instrumental Music - Winds"!! Thanks for sharing your big day with us!

That was only last week, and I'm trying to remember just what we did.

Let's see...(looking for June in the Day Timer) Oh....Elegante Mother and I had the chance to hear the Glen Miller Band on Sunday. One of my exercise friends had four tickets and only needed two. She called to see if Dear Husband and I would like to join them. Of course, we all know that DH was out on Lake Michigan on a Sunday, but I asked if Elegante Mother could come in his place. No problem!

EM and I left the house about 45 minutes before the concert was scheduled to start and headed downtown. I decided to do valet parking because EM doesn't do distance walking any longer. We hopped out at the theater and walked right inside. Our seats were on the end of the row, not far from the door. We had excellent sight-lines, and the sound was fine.

They played many of the songs Glen Miller was known for, and a few that I'd never heard. Four band members joined the two singers for several songs, and there were the usual solos The only song they didn't play that I would have enjoyed was "American Patrol." Many of the musicians played more than one instrument, and the man who played the clarinet had a particularly nice sound.

At the end of the performance, we were among the first to leave the theater, and among the first to get our car. I had to wait for a bit to edge out into traffic, but it was smooth sailing. I'm glad my dear friend thought to invite us.

The rest of the week was filled with appointments and office work. Monday, we had a visit with the CPA; Tuesday morning EM and I did our annual dermatologist visit, and DH saw the dentist. Wednesday, my hairdresser took pity on me and fit me in for a perm. We didn't realize it, but my appointments had only been made through May, so while the perm was processing, I sat with the manager and organized appointments for the rest of the year. Thursday, we returned so that EM could get her hair and nails done before we left for Indiana, and my niece's graduation.

When I was working on the preparations for the Exercise brunch, I'd missed some office time, so around all the appointments, and into the evening, I worked at my desk. I just finished four stacks of filing that were the results of all that work. Filing......my favorite job. (rolling my eyes).

Early Friday came, and I packed (sorta) and we headed off to Indiana. Remind me to pack the night before we go, next time. I left my shampoo and the curling iron on the dressing room counter. And, as usual, I took things I didn't use. DH says I take the kitchen sink along, but I'd like to point out that we only needed ONE suitcase for the three day trip!

I know the week doesn't sound like much, but I was glad I wasn't driving. I snoozed for 30 minutes or so on the way to Nan's. Peace at last.

Wow, does time fly these days!!

I think the last time I posted, I was getting ready for the Exercise Class to come to brunch. That was May 30th. Twenty-nine members of the class and two guests were here, and the brunch was FABULOUS!!

I can't list all the dishes. I'm still not sure what two or three of them were, but it was just like going to a church potluck. We served an egg-sour cream-sausage-cheese casserole, a baked French toast casserole, and a spiral sliced ham. Our guests brought chips and dip, mini bagels and cream cheese, German potato salad, Hawaiian salad, bow tie pasta with artichokes, black olives, grape tomatoes and a tiny bit of cheese, fruit salad, fruit pizza, meatballs, a plantation cake, and baked pineapple with a tiny bit of cheddar cheese over the top that was to-die-for! Of course, the desserts were endless. There was German Chocolate Cake, a rhubarb crumble, banana cream pie and ten other things I didn't get to try!

It was just a little drizzly, but not wet enough to keep anyone from participating. I set three tables, for a total of 30, and when one last person straggled in, we just made room for her! The house was abuzz with the sound of happy people chatting with each other, and I had a great time! I love it when these friends come to visit.

I was the last to sit down to eat, and when I picked up my plate to take it to the kitchen, I discovered that my friends were washing the dishes. They not only washed and dried and put away the china, but they got the glasses, the silverware and the serving pieces, too! You can't possibly have better friends than that! There was very little left to do by the time they'd left.

I'm delighted that the iris were at their peak and the gardens were glorious. Dear Husband had mowed the lawn a few days before, and I'd used the weed eater, so everything looked tidy and neat.

This was definitely a "good time was had by all" occasion, and I hope we do it again and again!

I'm coming down with something. I have that dreaded raw back of the throat that hit me just as we went on vacation in February.

We went to exercise yesterday morning, and from the moment we got there, I just wanted to sit. My "friends" wouldn't let me. They nagged me to exercise, so I did, but as soon as I got home I took a nap. Then I took another nap in the afternoon, and my family, bless them, were willing to eat leftovers.

I went to have my hair cut this morning, picked up a few groceries, and then hibernated at my sewing machine for the early afternoon. I'm trying to decide whether it might be time for another nap....

This wouldn't be so awful if it weren't for the fact that the Exercise brunch is this coming Friday. Today will be the best day of the weekend, so I've blown off prime gardening time when I have very little of it left before visitors arrive.

Still, it seemed right to take it easy today. I'll just have to hope this doesn't bloom into something that will make my friends think twice about whether to visit or not. It would be a shame to have them miss the iris in bloom. The first two have opened. Pictures eventually.

If I don't make it back tomorrow or Monday, Have a good Memorial Day weekend, and don't forget to share with someone WHY we have this day off!

This entry is for Cop Car, who shares a love of fabric with me. I'm sorry the picture lacks definition CC, because these are beautiful Batiks! The larger part of the case is made of a green fern print on a dark royal blue, and the "cuff" uses the same colors in a cross-hatch design. The quarter inch folded fabric between the two is a very pale green striped Batik.

They'd make beautiful gifts. I'm seriously considering making some for my family.

This evening, Dear Husband and I sat in the living room while we had a quick dinner. We were watching the news and there were two stories in particular that caught our attention.

First, at a Boeing plant in Pennsylvania, a Chinook helicopter going through final assembly was found to have cut wires. A second helicopter had a washer where it didn't belong. It gave me the chills to think that someone would willingly damage these helicopters, knowing that the crews who flew them might possibly die.

We both felt that this story was underplayed in the news. I checked for the story at CNN before I began writing tonight, and felt they had underplayed it as well. Perhaps there is a reason for this. It may be that they didn't have the details yet. They may have not wanted to speculate (although that doesn't seem to bother a lot of TV news departments these days). Perhaps Boeing was not willing to have their name splashed over the news for substandard products, although it was clearly an act of sabotage. They may have chosen to keep a lid on the story as security tries to determine what happened, and who might have had the opportunity to do the damage.

The second story was similar in a way, but was really one of local impact. Four or five students at a Chicago middle school vandalized the school. The news staff interviewed dozens of people from school staff and administration right up the chain of command to Mayor Daley. The school authorities have not decided just what will happen to these students, but there is discussion of expelling them from school.

Tables were turned over, books and papers thrown to the floor. Something was spread over, or ground into the carpet, and perhaps some equipment was damaged. All these things could be repaired.

If the students are expelled, just what does that mean? Will they be free to run around while the rest of the students finish out the last month of school? Will they be allowed to return to school next fall, and repeat the year, or do they have to find a way to finish the last semester on their own? I can see I really need to talk with my sister, Nan, who teaches kids "at risk." Her school provides kids with their last chance at a public education before they are asked to leave the system.

Dear Husband and I were of the opinion that in-school suspension, no extra-curricular activity, and time spent cleaning up either their mess, or other messes, would be a better choice than expulsion. By taking them out of an arena where they get any reinforcement for what they've done, and by making them work to repair damage, it would take the "fun" out of the rampage. Now would be a good time for these students to learn that you have to be responsible for your action.

Let me say that we are concerned that a story which has national impact received less coverage than this local story. While it occurred out of state, had the damage not been discovered, the sabotage would have increased our concerns about terrorism, and it could have had a global impact. Perhaps terrorists have found a subtle way to redirect our focus, forcing us to review all that we do. How can we know if we've hired a saboteur, or a patriot?

On the other hand, perhaps we need to focus on the local level. If we "nip it in the bud" as Barney Fife used to say, we might head off problems in the future. Could it be that once a kid finds he can hold a school district hostage, be goes on to bigger projects? Do saboteurs act to support a political ideology, or are they kids who were once vandals, looking for a bigger thrill.

I don't have the answers. As usual, I have a LOT of questions, but I certainly hope that those people who have chosen to work against society, be they child or adult, learn that you have to be responsible for your actions.

...for myself, yesterday. I had a mammogram, a dexa test, and a pap smear. I know....two of the most unpleasant tests women have to do, and I did them on the same day. But it went well. I had a radiation tech who really knew her business, and I think she may have taken just six "pictures." That I'm not sure of the number is a testament to how well she did.

Last year, I went to a different facility, and was roughly pulled around and smashed into position TEN TIMES!! I vowed never to go to that facility again. This time, I was in the same building as my doctor, just steps away from my next test. I think I may write a letter of commendation for the technician, because she did a phenomenal job.

Then, I had a visit with my doc, who did the pap smear. She is incredibly deft. I tend to dread this test because I've had doctors who apparently didn't know their anatomy, but this doctor is very good. I prefer having a woman do the test. I'm sure you know all the reasons. It seems to me that someone who has the same plumbing as I do, responds differently to this test than those who don't. I'm not guy-bashing. I am just more comfortable having a woman do the test.

The results won't be in for a bit. The tests have to be read, and then the results shipped to my doctor. Finally, someone from the office has to mail the information to me, so I don't expect to know the results for a couple of weeks. That's okay....I can wait.

I've scheduled fasting blood tests for both Elegante Mother and myself in June. I've been talking with Joy, at The Joy of Six, about weight loss and exercise, and how difficult it is to get yourself into the groove on things that will make your life better. I told her that I may use the coming blood tests as a focal point to try to improve my diet. Perhaps if I have a specific goal that isn't so overwhelming, I might have more success. We can hope!

And.....I had a tetanus shot! Since I'm playing around in the dirt, and Lord knows what's in that dirt after getting a new roof put on the house, and adding compost made elsewhere, it seemed like a good idea to get that shot.

Am I ready for summer? I sure hope so. At least I don't have those tests hanging over my head, and I can get on with things!

We've been having an amazing day! We rose fairly early, and Dear Husband and I put together a breakfast buffet for Elegante Mother and the two of us. It seemed to hit the spot; everyone left the table satisfied.

We gave the digital picture frame to EM and THAT was a hit! YES!! We explained that all my siblings could put together pictures of their families that could be played in this frame. *G* I can't wait for EM to start nagging them about the pictures! (chuckling) Meanwhile, she is sitting, watching the pictures waiting to see who comes up next.

It's rained heavily, and is still raining. So much water has accumulated at the south end of the herb garden that Mrs. Mallard is floating in the water. She could actually swim, if she didn't paddle too deeply! *G* The wind is whipping the trees around, and it's chilly. The wind seems to be from the northeast. The gutters are having trouble keeping up with the rain running off the roof. DH checked the sump pumps and one seems to be running a little slow, but we are still dry, and should continue to be so.

I'm going to fold some clothes and hang up most of our wardrobe, water the houseplants, and then I get to sew for several hours. I'm trying to get the blocks pieced for my second grand-daughter's baby quilt. there's nothing better than finishing a piecing project and getting it ready to be quilted! *S*

I hope you're all having a great day. For those of you who are mothers, Happy Mother's Day!

Mother's Day will be here in just a couple of hours. It's going to be a chilly, rainy day that we will spend inside, for the most part. Elegant Mother loves lobster. Unfortunately, her appetite is so small now that she can not eat an entire lobster tail at one sitting. We discovered that Red Lobster has smaller lobster tails, so we offered to take her there for dinner. One of my sisters will be joining us, so there should be something new added to our table talk.

It can be difficult to decide what to get Elegante Mother for Mother's Day. In the past we have resorted to gift certificates to book stores, to hobby stores, or to nurseries. Sometimes the gift is a day out, or a special meal on a weekend. This time we broke our own rule and bought her something electronic.

I was shopping on Thursday at a office supply store and found a variety of digital picture frames were available. The one I wanted, the simplest of those offered, had been sold out, but they were able to ship it to us from the warehouse the very next day. Voilà! Instant gift!

I purchased several flash drives on Thursday, and spent some time Friday night transferring pictures to them. One was Red Hat Lady pictures that I wanted to share with the Queen of our chapter. That was quite fortuitous, as they asked me to take pictures of everyone who attended the meeting today, so that we could create a photo book of our members. It will all fit on the same drive. I plan to repeat the picture taking next month, to try to get pictures of those who were absent today.

On the second drive, I'm going to collect all the shots I've taken of our exercise class over the past two years. I can take the flash drive to one of the pharmacies or discount stores and have a set of the pictures printed and put it into an album for our leader. I'm not a terribly good photographer, but I'd be happy to make copies of the prints for my classmates, if they wish.

And we come to that last flash drive. I selected a range of pictures from the family computer and moved them to the flash drive. I have more pictures on the office computer, but I'll have to shift those to a disk, and transfer them to the family computer because all the USB ports already have connections in the office. Who knew when we bought it that we would want more ports!??

The digital picture frame is very easy to use (once you get the power supply connected properly.) With the flash drive, it will hold tons of photos, and can be set to shift at a variety of speeds. Best of all, I can give others in my family flash drives to fill, and we can swap the drives every now and then so EM can see all of her family.

We plan to surprise her with it tomorrow. I'll make breakfast and plug the frame in while she's out of her sitting room. I can show her the on/off button. It's all she needs to know! *G* I hope it's a hit!.

Our weathermen are saying that it will be an extra blanket night. This is one of my favorite times of the year. I don't care for heat, and I really don't care for frostbitten toes and nose. I love cool weather, both during the day and at night. This is great sleeping weather!

As a matter of fact....I think it's bed time!

I hope you all sleep well, and find yourself refreshed and comfortable when tomorrow arrives!

From ghoulies and ghosties and long-leggedy beasties and things that go bump in the night...Dear Lord preserve us!

This is a difficult entry to write, but I'm in trouble with my Mother, again. This happens with a fair degree of regularity. Mother has a very comfortable life with us, but I'm confident that she would rather live with any of my siblings. On the surface, this seems like the ideal situation. She has the front half of our house, and all the storage she wants in the basement. She has total access to the kitchen and the laundry and we've created container gardens for her on the sidewalk so that she can keep her hand in at gardening, now that she can no longer get into the regular gardens.

I take my mother to all her hair and doctor appointments, and to exercise three mornings a week. We stop at the bank, grocery shop and occasionally hit specialty stores together. I ask for her input on meals, and have forced myself not to nag her about what she eats (butter, chocolate, crackers, ice cream etc.) or doesn't eat (protein, veggies). I'm the person who took her to all her chemo appointments when she had colon cancer. I'm the one who hosts the Empty Nester Sewing circle once a month so that she can be among her friends from church. I'm also the one who takes her to the Red Hat Lady functions.

Unfortunately, I'm also the impatient one. When I call you to dinner, I am ready to have you sit at the table. Meals don't mean as much to Mother these days, so once we get her to the kitchen, and deal with a resting place for her cane, we still have to surmount the obstacle of getting her seated and served. Generally, she sees it as a social hour. By that time of day I frequently don't have what it takes to stand and chat, knowing that it will delay the time when I can sit and put my feet up for the evening.

My mother is very attuned to criticism and sees it where it doesn't exist. Recently she has taken to telling people that she is very fortunate that we have been willing to "put up with her." I'm sure that my impatience has leaked out....and I need to find a way to accept that there is nothing as important right now as peace in my household, and my mother's comfort.

My mother needs the security of knowing that she is wanted, and welcome. Don't we all feel that way? We made the choice to have her live with us. We never said...."Come live with us for the next ten years." She has actually been with us for nineteen years. I certainly hope, should I get to be ninety-one, that someone will care for me with compassion, and have more patience than I seem to be able to corral.

So, as we near Mother's Day, I'm contemplating ways to make Mother happy. The first entry on my checklist is.....MORE PATIENCE!

Dear Husband mowed for the first time this year on May 6th!

We don't generally push the mowing season. One of our neighbors was out mowing two weeks ago, but he has a pocket yard that is treated by one of the lawn companies. Our lawn finally needed attention today.

We had a beautiful sunny morning, but clouds have been moving in, and we'll have rain later tonight, tomorrow and tomorrow night. This will probably kill off our tulips and daffodils, but it will make way for the lilacs, peonies and iris, so it's not all bad.

Dear Husband takes the boat to Lake Michigan on May 16th and quilting season arrives the same day! *G*

I had intended to remove the screens tomorrow, clean the inside windows, wipe up all the spider webs, clean the screens and re-insert them. It sounds worse than it is. We don't have screens on every window, and they are taken out from the inside. It's a rite of Spring, part of spring cleaning that really needs to be done after a long winter.

I could get this job done despite the heavy rain coming through, but there have been a few changes to the game plan. Elegante Mother was not feeling well on Thursday, so she canceled her standing hair appointment. I made another appointment for her this Saturday morning at 8:30.

Then, I'm sad to say, a friend from the Empty Nesters group at Elegante Mother's church has passed away. He was a fascinating man. HE had just recently been moved to a nursing home. His 88th birthday was about two weeks ago, so the Empty Nesters all gathered to celebrate with him. Walt had been in the Army Air Corps stationed in England during World War II. He became very fond of English tea, not just the drink, but the afternoon meal. The EN group arranged for small sandwiches, sausage rolls, fruit, punch, tea, and birthday cake. Walt couldn't get enough to eat! I suspect the food at the nursing home was radically different from what he was used to eating.

The ladies of the Empty Nesters got together and designed a wall hanging which one of them created using embroidery machines. It commemorated Walt's life, with squares about England, and Wisconsin. We all signed the back of the wall hanging.

So, it was with great sadness that I learned he had passed away early this week. There will be a service Saturday afternoon, followed by a reception. We've offered to provide Caesar salad, brownies and lemon bars for the reception, and I'll serve while EM sits and talks with friends.

Shortly after the reception, we have to hurry and get a light dinner. One of my talented great-nephews is performing in "Les Miserables" and we have promised to be in the audience. EM is going to be exhausted! This is a lot more than she is used to doing.in one day.

So.....clean windows have been set back a day or two in favor of much more important activities. I can't say I really mind.

I've had the great pleasure to participate in the Share a Square Project founded and managed by Shelly Tucker. Last year, Shelly asked people if they would please send her a six inch crocheted granny square to be used in afghans for kids who will be attending cancer camp this June in Fort Worth, Texas. Shelly hoped that enough people would donate squares that they might be able to make 140 afghans, each having 48 squares. (Let me do the math.....hold on while I take my shoes off.......Um, that would be 6720 squares.) Shelly also wanted all the squares in an afghan to be from 48 different people. The squares have name tags with messages for the kids tied to them. Each child will also get a special bag to hold all these name tags as a memory of the 48 people who cared enough to send them a square.

A number of the ladies in my exercise class donated squares to the cause. I think we may have sent around 300 squares. I lost count as I sent the third box of squares to Shelly. Late this winter, I realized that Shelly still needed help to assemble afghans, so I volunteered to take on two of them, and then I ran to my exercise friends and begged them to help me! And boy, did they! We finished the two afghans and I was able to send them off last week. This project has brought us a LOT of joy!

This is the first of the two afghans:

Sometime around January Shelly realized that she had more squares than she needed. She thanked people for their generosity and said they could stop crocheting squares. A month or two later, it almost sounded as though she was BEGGING people to stop sending squares. I think she has been inundated with over 10,000 so far. You can click on the link above, and in the upper right corner of her blog, you'll see a link to Share a Square. Go visit to she how they are doing. And, I hope you'll consider sending Shelly a donation to help defray the registration expenses for the campers. Each child is assessed $150, and anything we can do to help make it possible for them to get to camp is a GOOD THING!
Here's the second afghan we assembled:

Shelly, thanks for letting us share the joy! Congratulations on a job well done!

Last week I had my head down, ploughing through the work on my desk so that we could take a three-day weekend to visit with my sister, Nan, for her birthday. I didn't have much time to read my e-mail and even less to visit my favorite blogs.

I was irritated this morning to learn that I had missed wishing one of my favorite on-line and real life friends "HAPPY BIRTHDAY!" How could I have forgotten?! Luckily, Bogie, her daughter, bid her mother a happy birthday, so I figured out my error.

No doubt I have missed a whole lot of birthdays on-line. I hope you all had wonderful celebrations of your special day.

So...COP CAR.....I missed the right day, but I hope you know that my wish is most sincere, when I tell you that I hope you had a great day, and that you did something special to commemorate the momentous occasion of your birth! *G* Happy Birthday, my friend!.

Go read what Cop Car has to say on April 20th. I like her thoughts about what the focus of our election should and should NOT be! Way to go, CC!

....My sister, Nan, and her family! Nan's birthday is this weekend, and it's Prom time for the girls. Elegante Mother, Dear Husband and I are going to amble down through the fields today. Our oldest sister, My-Sister-The-Nurse, and her husband (yet to be nicknamed), will be joining us on Saturday.

Second Son is going to stay home and keep an eye on Ed. Someone has to be his doorperson!

We have a car to finish packing, and some last minute details to attend to. We'll be back late on Sunday.

I hope you all have a great weekend; I expect to!

Out of curiosity, I scrolled down through my archives to see when I started blogging. In 20 days, I will have had a blog for FIVE YEARS! It's really hard to believe I've been on-line that long.

A friend from the Red Hatters once likened my blog to the diary which Samuel Pepys kept. We both cover the minutia of our lives. On rare occasions, I get on the soap box, but for the most part, this is a journal of my days.

Today as I browsed through my friend's blogs, I discovered that one was writing about the prevention of dissemination of information about contraception and abortion, another was writing about her family honoring those lost in World War II. Another of my blogging friends spends her days working for Blogher, and so on, and so on, and so on. Nothing earthshaking is happening on my blog, but these ladies are clearly interested in what's going on around them, and not afraid to discuss it.

I may be a little jealous of their wider horizons, but there's nothing keeping me from following their lead. Sooner or later, I'll get there. Until then, you can continue to expect to see me whining about weeding, and complaining about poison ivy, kvetching about the lack of time to quilt, and carping about the demands of the house and office.

When it gets old, tell me to lighten up! ( And I'll just go off and sulk for a bit. *G*).

I don't know that I've said much about my beverage of choice, but I am one of those rare people who don't drink coffee. When I was growing up, Elegante Mother had a variety of teas available, and I came to like iced tea in the summer and hot tea in colder weather. I enjoy Earl Grey, Darjeeling, Jasmine, English Breakfast, and black tea flavored with orange. I don't care for fruit flavored tea (with the exception of a decaffeinated apricot tea I found some years ago) or most herbal teas, and until recently I wanted my iced tea to be strong, orange and black pekoe without sweetening.

I am making the first step toward a healthier me by changing the blend I use for iced tea. My youngest sister, Nancy, told me years ago that she was making her iced tea by brewing it with three bags of orange and black pekoe, and two of green tea. This week, I swapped one of the black tea bags for green tea. I can't tell there's been a change, and I know that the green tea is a healthier drink. Soon, I'll be using two of the green tea bags.

I know, Sis....it took me a while, but I'm getting there. Thanks for the tip! *S*

And, while we are on the subject of tea, is anyone else irritated with Mickey D's for being served sweetened tea when you have taken pains to request UN or NOT sweetened tea? Sometimes the problem is with the microphone system where you place your order, and sometimes it's with a server who only drinks sweetened beverages, who automatically goes to that canister. Now, when I order tea, I ask them to confirm that it is not sweetened when they hand it to me. There's nothing worse to a tea purist than getting a mouth full of sugar when you are anticipating the clean, astringent taste of unsweetened tea! Yuck!

First, I have a new grand niece! (Is that what you call your nephew's daughter??) This is My-Sister-The-Nurse's TENTH grandchild, and Elegante Mother's 25th great grand child. Pretty cool, huh? There will be four babies born to our family in one year. There's still one more to come, in September. My youngest granddaughter arrived at the end of September. Another of my grand nieces arrived on Christmas Night, one came yesterday, and the last is due at the very start of September. Isn't it wonderful to have babies to hold? The women in my family are good about sharing so the kids just go from woman to woman to woman. Even the girls get in on the baby holding.

Today, I collected Elegante Mother and made a trip to Morris, Illinois. Ostensibly it was to purchase birdseed, but Morris has this amazing quilt fabric store.... I warned Dear Husband that I was going to Morris. I have to give him credit. He didn't even roll his eyes!

We played at the fabric store for the better part of an hour, and then shopped for bird seed. For some reason my mother has taken a liking to the diner at the truck stop. This is the LAST place I'd expect her to choose for a meal, but she was happy as a clam with the luncheon special of salad bar and half a tuna sandwich (which she brought home).

We chatted about what we were seeing in the farmland as we drove We are both interested to see how well the farmland churches are being maintained. God is alive and well in rural Illinois. Some of these churches have even added schools, so the kids are educated closer to where they live.

We saw several types of towers that must be for reception of tracking data. UPS keeps track of their trucks and they know when a package has been delivered. The pipelines have (or used to have) towers to keep track of the flow of the oil (I think...I'm a little rusty on this, since Dad, my font of knowledge passed away more than two decades ago.) I'm sure in this day and age there are dozens of reasons for these towers. There are two of them just down the road from us.

We also watched the suburban crawl edging over hills that used to be prime farmland. To get to what we can honestly call "rural" land now, you have to drive an hour and a half out of Chicago, at the very least.

We had a lovely day. Elegante Mother loves to go for day trips like this, and she informed me that I was NOT to return to Morris without her! *G* I think we'll go in warmer weather so that we can visit some of the specialty shops that have popped up in town. We both would like to look at antiques and linens. I'll have to see if I can pry EM away from the truck stop for lunch so that we can try some of the restaurants, too! *G*

This was a "good time was had by all" day. Now we can settle in for the rainy days to come and not worry about impending cabin fever.

This morning I had a call at 7:30. I was getting ready to go to exercise. We'd been planning a party for our exercise leader, who turns 60 on Saturday and I wanted to get to class a little early. The call was from our guru, who croaked out..."I'm sick. Can you cover for me at class, or should we cancel?" know the class was disappointed when I arrived and announced that I'd be subbing. We went through an old routine which kept us busy, but didn't really move us forward .

The ladies who were organizing the class party said that they would hold off until Monday to celebrate her birthday. We're each planning to give her sixty of something. I chose marbles, so that should she ever feel that she's lost her marbles, she have some spares on hand!

Our guru has invited us to an open house at her home tomorrow. When she called this morning, I asked if she was canceling her party. She and her husband wanted to make it through today before deciding whether to cancel the party. She just sent an e-mail to let me know that the party is on. Now, I'll need to let Elegante Mother decide whether she wishes to risk catching anything.,although it's probably a moot point, since I plan to go.

It's been a long week. I may sleep in tomorrow, and then do some yard work before we go to the party. I'm looking forward to a little time out of the office.

My audit is DONE! OVER! FINISHED! KAPUT!

I wish I could tell you that my bookkeeping was perfect, but over the course of three and a half years, I under-reported 17.5 hours. :-(

It could have been so much worse. The auditor had a name on his list to check that he thought hadn't been reported. The man had worked close to 900 hours for us. I was on the verge of apoplexy at the thought of the cost and penalties. I was able to hand the auditor the union report, showing that I had paid the benefits, and that the auditor had made an error.

Those 17.5 hours really bug me, but I should point out that in that time period, I reported that our bricklayers and laborers worked a total of 82,173 hours, plus a little overtime. It puts the 17.5 hours into perspective.

I can tell you that the union spent more to do the audit than they will get back in benefits and penalties! *G*

Now, If only someone would put away all the data that I had to drag out for the audit, I'd be a happy camper!

This has been an odd morning. This is the last day before the audit, and I'd planned to work in the office all day. I rose around 5:15 or so, and read for a bit, and then threw on my clothes. I did a few chores, and started a load of laundry, and then headed to the office with a cup of tea to make a grocery list. Dear Husband took the garbage out this morning and asked if I was hiding garbage stickers somewhere. Not good.

The rest of the house was still asleep when I headed to the store. It's very odd to be there when they are cleaning the deli, and the baked goods are not yet out, and the fish and meat market is empty and dark. Luckily, I didn't need anything from those areas. I had most of what I needed for the week on hand, and just had to round things out, and pick up some garbage stickers!

I gave Elegante Mother a French cruller, and then headed to the office. I've paid my personal bills, and next up is our smaller company. Then, I'll be back to working on things for our audit. When I was filing, I found the letter from the company who will be doing the audit. I also have a letter from the Union. It's interesting to note that the letters do not agree as to the scope of the audit, nor the dates covered. Basically, the auditor wants every paper that's crossed my desk for a period of three years and four months. We'll see about that.

Doesn't it sound like a witch hunt? I know the union hopes to make more money from us with unpaid benefits and penalties, but I'm confident that our records are correct, and complete. In return for giving me all this grief, I plan to smile in the knowledge that there just aren't any mistakes. *S* (Can you see me stomping my foot and saying "So THERE!!"?)

So....I'll be at my desk for a while, and I might even be here this evening, but most of the pressure will end sometime tomorrow. YEA!! The good part of all of this is that I can see the top of my desk, and I'll be able to do a little Spring Cleaning in the office. Good timing: the CPA will be here to help me with first quarter reports in a couple of weeks, and I'll be ready for her.

We're having Chicken and Ham Tetrazzini for dinner, with roasted asparagus, and maybe a salad. Comfort food at it's best, and perfect for a gray, dreary day. Come on sun.....show your face!

I hope you're all having a good day, and that Spring is finding it's way to you. *S*

We were invited to a friend's 50th wedding anniversary celebration yesterday. Lyn and her husband have an amazing array of friends. There were people from school, and from the first town they lived in. There were farmers from the land around their home, neighbors, and business acquaintances, quilt guild members and friends from Bible study and church. And, FAMILY! We arrived about halfway through the afternoon and the room was PACKED! People came, and people stayed. It was a lovely celebration of fifty years together.

Happy 50th, Lyn and Wayne!

We eat out perhaps twice a month. In this corner of the western suburbs of Chicago there are endless opportunities for dining out, and the number is growing every day. We have a favorite upscale restaurant that has a sister site on Navy Pier in Chicago, and we were delighted when they opened the restaurant less than three miles from us. I wouldn't say we dine there frequently, or as frequently as we'd like. It's always fun to have a reason to go.

A friend from exercise class lost her husband early this year. I know that right after a funeral, there are a lot of calls and letters from friends, and that the attention begins to taper off as time passes. I thought it might be fun to treat her to dinner at this restaurant. She and her husband had been eating out for the past three years, so I thought it might make an evening pass more pleasantly for her, and she would have the chance to see a restaurant she might not go to on her own.

It was a wonderful evening. We all chose wines to start the meal, and chatted while we looked over the menus. Oddly, Elegante Mother and our guest and I all chose almost the same meal: petite fillet with a double baked potato. This restaurant is known for seafood and steaks, but this is the first time I've ever ordered a steak. Of course, it was superb. We dined early, to suit Elegante Mother's needs, so we had all the attention we needed. As the room began to fill up, a keyboardist and singer entertained us. It was just a very pleasant night.

I think we might do this again, but next time we'll try another of the restaurants available to us, just for variety. I hope it helped our friend to have the chance to talk, and to get out. I know it will be a long time before she adjusts to her loss, and I hope we can help her through it.

A good time was had by all!

....We hope! This past weekend was lovely! My youngest sis, Nan, and her family drove up from Indiana to spend the weekend with us. We went to have Portillo's famous Italian beef for lunch, and then came home to play with some of the preparations for Easter.

Saturday night, the girls all gathered to do a baby shower for a niece who will be giving birth April 7th. One of my nieces lives in Perth, Australia, and since she was going to be in town for the weekend, they decided they would organize the baby shower so she could participate. It was lovely to have dinner with all the women in the family, and to see a store-ful of adorable baby clothes!

Sunday, my sister and her husband fixed breakfast for us, and we all headed off to my oldest sister's church. Our family filled three pews. One of the members of the church asked how many generations of our family were there. This is an old farm community church, where generations of continual attendance matters. There were FOUR generations present.

We rushed home to set tables, heat the ham, make green bean casserole, and generally get ready. It should be said, that Dear Husband, Elegante Mother and I offer our home, but everyone else pulls together to see that the day is special. I could NOT have done it without the help of my youngest sister and her family. My-Sister-The-Nurse brought half the meal, but Nan's family saw to the tables, the seating, the decorations, the logistics that ultimately made everyone comfortable, and made the house look lovely.

There were approximately thirty people here yesterday, including two first-time visitors. We were talking about spanning those four generations, and I suggested that it was possible that there could be five. The mother of the oldest great granddaughter fanned her face, looked panicked, and suggested that it was too soon for us to even consider that! *G* Okay....it's too soon, but it's lovely to see our gathered family and enjoy the continuity of our line.

I hope you all enjoyed the day as much as I did. The final and perfect touch to the day was discovering that the crocus are up! Spring is on its way. We're blessed!

...or as we affectionately call him, ED, is my old black cat. You can see the silver threads in his coat. I think our vet believes he's a miracle cat.

Ed has been an outdoor-indoor cat since he first adopted us in 1991. He was roughly two years old at the time, and we were having a vicious winter. Somehow he made it into the garage and was curled up on the seat of the riding mower when I first met him. He had obviously been raised around people, and had just as obviously been abandoned. It's taken him most of his life to warm up to us, and he's been grudging about giving away his love and trust.

I know.....WHY keep a cat like that? Who can explain how you fall in love with a "pet?" This cat has trained us to his bidding. Elegante Mother opens the door for him to come and go, and she and I feed him on demand. He's as likely to slice our hands with his claws as he is to rub around our ankles, begging to be petted. He's just Ed, and he's a major part of our lives.

Unfortunately, he has begun to show signs of kidney failure. I knew, before we went for his annual checkup what they were likely to find. I approved the drawing of blood for tests just to confirm what I was seeing, and I was right. He's past the early stages, and is moving into the more pronounced middle stage.. He's lost weight, and the fat that normally covers his shoulder blades and pads his hip bones. He drinks, and pees, a lot.

Despite that, he seems to be in good spirits, and is still eager to go out, at least, when he feels the weather is bearable. He's been inside for most of the winter because it's been so bitterly cold.

This morning he went out. It's a bright, sunny, chilly morning. I set the timer for ten minutes and went to see if he was ready to come in. No cat. I looked again five minutes later, and to the side of the door, there's this black shadow. When I opened the door, I realized that Ed had caught another chipmunk, and was just getting ready to eat! YUCK!!!!

Dear Husband is on burial duty. It's his job to whisk away the remains. I sure hope that we don't have any visitors before DH gets home! *G* I suppose I have to go to the door and let Ed in.....

Despite my complaints about chipmunk parts being left around, I'll really miss this cat. He's my "kid." He comes to sit with me at the end of the evening, and we share warmth. I'll miss the little bugger.

A member of my family is angry with me. Unfortunately, I have absolutely no clue as to the cause. I realized more than six months ago that he was very carefully not speaking to me unless he was cornered. When he had absolutely no choice, he spoke to me in a sarcastic tone of voice, and still does.

One day when we were visiting their home, he offered a beverage to everyone but me, and though we've visited several times, he's continued that practice. When he comes to my home, he speaks to everyone but me. Yesterday, we were packing up the leftovers for the families to take home with them, and I asked if he ate ham. He replied that he did, but they wouldn't be taking any of it home.

My inclination is to turn my back on this childishness. Speaking to him is not going to resolve the issue, because he doesn't care to hear what I might have to say. I could refuse to go to their house, given that I am not welcome, and I could even make a point of not welcoming him to my house, but that doesn't resolve the issue. It only escalates the problem, and spreads it further throughout the family.

The question is, what do I do? Do I confront him and ask why he's behaving this way? I suspect that he would deny that he's been rude to me, but others are beginning to notice what's going on. One of my concerns is that if I let it go on to long, I'll snap one day, say something that compounds the problem, and we'll have a worse situation than we have now. He's the master at passive-aggressive behavior, when I'm a what-you-see-is-what you-get sort of person. I'm more likely to avoid conflict until it can be avoided no more.

I really don't want to cause any division in my family. I don't want anyone to have to consider whether or not they should invite me, and by extension, Dear Husband, or whether it's not worth the trouble.

If you have advice, I'd love to hear it.

I hate word problems! Why in the world would someone want to know what time it will be in Schenectady when two trains crash in Nevada??

A "friend" sent me a math problem yesterday. It took me three tries, but I finally got it right. Did I mention it's a FIFTH GRADE math problem??

I was so pleased that I sent it to my entire family and one unsuspecting friend! *G* When you get the number right, you are able to open a spreadsheet that comes with the word problem. At that point, you can add your name to the list of people who have successfully opened the spreadsheet.

My brother, who is an electrical engineer, wrote back to me, right away, and said "I didn't see your name on the spreadsheet." I told him that I'd gotten the number right (shared it with him to prove it! *G*) but I didn't have a clue about how to add my name to the list. At least I can do fifth grade math!

Here's the math problem. See how YOU do at it:

This is a 5th grade math problem. If you can't stand word math problems, just delete now. If you can open the spreadsheet, you'll see it's a very small list of people who have gotten the correct number. This is not a trick question. This is a real math problem, so don't say that a bus has no legs.

There are 7 girls in a bus

Each girl has 7 backpacks

In each backpack, there are 7 big cats

For every big cat there are 7 little cats

Question: How many legs are there in the bus?

The number of legs is the password to unlock the Excel sheet. If you open it, add your name and send it on to see who else can unlock it.

MathProblem.xls

I hope I've managed to include the file for the spreadsheet. If not...e-mail me, and I'll send it to you.
Have fun!

This afternoon, while it is a bright, lovely, sunny day, I've been buried in the hallway, cleaning out the mudroom pantry. I knew that it had to be done before my family visits, or someone would open the door and be taken out by the slide of STUFF flowing over them. *S*

I want you, and my family, to know that I THREW SOME STUFF AWAY!!! It's been said that everything that comes into this house gets lodged here, and stays, but that's not true. Dear Husband will attest to the fact that the garbage and recycling on Tuesdays is killing him! I sorted through the veggies and pitched onions and potatoes that were sprouting. I moved a number of things which had been stored there in error, to the closets and drawers where they really belong.

I boxed up the pillar candles and moved them to the top shelf. I reorganized the light bulbs, foil pans and paper plates. I was even able to add cleaning supplies I purchased yesterday without breaking the shelf!

There were two other chores that needed my attention. My oak table in the room off the kitchen where we usually eat dinner, has been looking very sad. I was using a bee's wax polish on it, but I either didn't polish it often enough, or I needed to buff it more when I added the polish. I found a liquid lemon-scented polish and gave it a go today, and it's made an amazing difference. I suspect the table is thirsty. I'm going to add a second application and then use a mechanical buffer on it. I hope the table will shine for Easter. *S*

And, I brought up ALL the bags of spring season silk flowers so that Elegante Mother can reorganize the flowers in her sitting room. I have all the flowers I need to make a wreath for this spring, and another for late Fall, but I need to pick up ribbon. I have a stash of the rest of the material needed, picks and dry foam, wire and moss. I should be able to get those done this week.

Last Tuesday my niece came to clean for me. I'd like to say that it was because I hurt my knee, but actually it's because she is the most amazing cleaner I have ever known! While she worked on the kitchen floor, I cleaned out the refrigerator. My family commented on the fact that they could see what was on the shelves, as if I was the only person putting things into the refrigerator! My niece is working on the things that most of us consider spring cleaning, and she considers to be weekly cleaning. She'll be back on Tuesday to take apart my living room, and I can be sure it will look nice for Easter.

We need to revise the old saw to read....."There is nothing sure in life except death, CLEANING, and taxes!

....to my week, and to this blogging session.

I spent about 15 minutes writing an entry, only to find that it has disappeared off the face of the earth! Maddening!

At any rate.....I was cat sitting for a friend who has three marvelous cats. I was on my way to do the evening visit on Monday, and as I walked up the sidewalk, my feet flew out from under me. Somehow, probably in trying to break my fall, I ended up landing square on my right knee. Other that the visceral "WOW! That HURTS!!!" the first thought to go through my head was that we wouldn't be able to take lunch to an exercise buddy who has broken her ankle.

After I landed on my knee, I must have thrust myself back to get my weight off the knee, and I ended up in the shrubbery, where I picked up several slivers. I looked and felt like a beached whale. No one was around to assist me, and my phone was in the car. There was nothing I could use to pull myself up.

I slithered over the sidewalk and into the grass, and tested my knee. I was finally able to rise, and was very surprised to find that I was able to walk. I fed the cats, and loved them up quickly, and headed home, in case something dreadful was yet to come.

I seem to have lucked out. I have a few miscellaneous aches and pains, and two spots of skin scraped off the cap of my knee, but I seem fine otherwise. I'm taking anti-inflammatories. My knee is warm to the touch, and I developed some bruising Wednesday afternoon, but if that's all that happens, I've gotten off easy.

The sidewalk looked dry. I could not see ANY ice at all on it, and was really shocked when I went flying. Elegante Mother has had some balance problems recently, so we've been very cautious about footing. I lucked out. I was embarrassed, but not mortally. I'll get over it, especially since I'm still up and walking!

I attend an amazing senior exercise class. I started going long before I qualified for the age requirement because I had arranged for Elegante Mother to take this class. Rather than sitting around and watching her exercise, I joined the class. Recently I asked the ladies in the class if any of them crocheted, and discovered a gold mine. I told them about the Share a Square Project that Shelly Tucker of This Eclectic Life has organized, and they made granny squares for the afghans that are being created for kids going to cancer care camp this summer.

We realized that we could help Shelly by offering to put together two of the afghans, and asked her to send them on. We met a week ago to begin stitching around the squares. Five of us rimmed 48 squares that afternoon, and two of us completed another 24 during the week.

We met again yesterday to finish edging the last 24 squares in black, and started assembling the first of two afghans. We'll interrupt our work this next week as we prepare for Easter, but we should be able to complete the afghans by early April.

It's been incredibly satisfying to contribute to this project. To learn more about it, and see some of the completed afghans visit Shelly's blog and click on the "Share a Square" button on the right side of the page. When we finish our two, I'll take a picture and post it.

P.S. DON'T send Shelly any more squares! I envison a house overflowing with them, pushing the walls out! She has enough! *G*

I have a number of entries I'd like to do, that really should have a picture to go with them. I think I'll give you the synopsis today, and try for pictures over the coming week.

The exercise ladies who contributed squares to the "Share a Square" project came to the house yesterday afternoon to work on assembling two afghans. We have to edge each block with black crochet, and then sew 48 of the blocks together, and crochet around the entire edge. Yesterday we managed to edge 48 of the blocks. We meet again in a week, and will probably have to meet once more. My table is covered with a rainbow of blocks edged in black!

I found batik fabric for pillowcases when I was in Florida. I saw a case, and fell in love with it. My "souvenir" was the fabric for two of the cases. I found an excellent pattern on-line. I could have winged it, but it was nice to have a pattern for back-up. I'll post a picture of the finished project soon, I hope.

This coming week is personal tax week for me. My sister-in-law does Elegante Mother's taxes, but I need to mail the information off to her. Then, I need to answer the planner from my CPA, gather information from Quicken, collect the 1099s and such, and send that package off. My CPA will be ASTONISHED if I get them to her by March 15th. She's busy completing the company tax packages

Tomorrow, Elegante Mother and I are going to a nursery for an early planting day. They will provide plants and soil and the additives for the containers. We bring containers and choose which plants we want, and spend some time planting them. The nursery will keep them until mid-May, when it's warm enough to put them out, and we will have mature (well, maturing), arrangements. I'll take pictures tomorrow, and pictures when we set them out. I figure it's a way to get our hands in the dirt, and assuage the need for Spring.

Quilting Bee meets tonight. I'll be crocheting, rather than quilting, but they won't mind. One of our members will be away, helping to hang quilts for a quilt show. I hope that I'll get to see that show on Sunday afternoon. (Note: This is another way to ignore that Spring is not yet here. A quilt show is always a good diversion!)

Monday the cat has his annual visit to the vet. Tuesday, EM and I are taking lunch to a friend who broke her ankle in February. Thursday is EM's salon appointments and a Share a Square afternoon. Saturday is a perm, and so on and so on. I'm going to have to start working in the office at night, to get caught up.

I hope you are all "weathering" the end of winter well. I know Bogie is longing for green, and Joy is looking for a cessation of white. I'm ready to be able to go out doors without having to put on my coat!

Have a great weekend!

This is a shot of the Chinese take out kitchen near our hotel in Florida.

A HERD, I tell you! As we were preparing dinner tonight, I looked out the kitchen window and saw a HERD of Robins! Usually I'm the last of our family to see the return of the robins, and usually I only get to see just one at a time. There must have been a dozen birds at the very least, and maybe twice that. They were in the herb garden, beneath the truck, in the black walnut and apple trees, and the shrubs near a bunny. They have a very distinctive run and hop, and were easy to identify, and they were fluffed up in defense of the cold.

Spring just HAS to be around the corner, despite the fact that we are supposed to get several inches of snow over the next 24 hours. Surely the robins wouldn't be back if it wasn't time, right??

Elegante Mother and I go to exercise three mornings a week. One of the things we work on at class is balance. This morning when we entered the room, there were two long strips of blue duct tape on the floor. The last 15 minutes of class, we lined up to walk the line!

The first time through, we walked relatively normally, one foot in front of the other. There were a lot of jokes about Breathalyzers and cops. The next time through, we brought our foot around in a circle before setting it down, and the last trip through we put a foot forward, touching down toe first, and then heel.

I discovered that most of it was simple to do if I was able to move through it fast enough. If the person in front of me was moving slower than I was, my balance went to pot.

I have one other balance test that was suggested to me. A person in their sixties should be able to hold this pose at least 10 seconds. Stand up, straight. Suck everything in and focus on keeping your core tight. Cross your arms, laying your hands on the opposite shoulders, close your eyes, and lift one leg to a 45 degree angle.

The first time, I keeled over almost immediately. I hadn't prepared by setting my posture and firming my core muscles. The second time I tried it, I got to about six seconds before I listed. One of my classmates was talking to me and distracted me. I think if I practice this in the kitchen, I should be able to master it.

Try it. How long can you hold this posture?

I seem to have reached a crisis point. I've been writing entries in my head for the past year or so, and they aren't getting onto the computer. Part of the problem is that I need to make a date to write. It doesn't need to be daily, but I need to set a time when I can go to the computer and put down my thoughts. I also need to keep a note pad handy to write down the ideas or sentences which come to me when I'm not at the computer.

AND, I need to take some memory building classes. I was just standing at the kitchen sink, rinsing knives, and in just two minutes, had an entry fleshed out. By the time I got to my computer....no more than five minutes later.....I couldn't remember the subject of the entry. This is really ticking me off.

Do you suppose more walking would improve my memory? Please tell me I'm just going through a phase, and that things will improve!

I know....thank you notes seem to have gone by the way of dinosaurs, but I still try to say thanks for all the things people do for me and things they give to me. I had a long list of notes to write from the holidays, and diligently worked on them. My goal was to have every single one done before we took off on vacation. (Actually, they should have been done MUCH sooner, but I dragged my heels.)

Wednesday morning, around 5:44 I finished the last note. It was really the one I most wanted to send, and it was going to take days to write, because I had so many things for which I needed to say thanks. I finally gave in, and typed it at the computer. I folded the thank you letter, and enclosed it in a Valentine's Day card, and was trying to insert the card into the envelope, when the limousine arrived to take us to the airport. That card was NOT going to go into the envelope. I kept working at it, even though I could hear the guys talking in the foyer. Elegante Mother was standing in the doorway, watching me, and finally she said...."Let me do it." I put the entire thing in her hands and trusted her to mail it for me. I figured if I kept forcing it, I was going to tear the envelope, and then we'd never get to the airport!

I was talking with my sister this week, and apologized for having sent a typed note. I know that she treasures those notes that I take the time to write. Those notes are few and far between these days. My handwriting is getting almost illegible.

Do you struggle to let people know how much you appreciate all they do for you? I find myself writing letters in my head that never get onto paper. Perhaps I need to drop everything when one of those notes starts writing itself, and get it written. Maybe I need to find a pen that will write under water, so I can do them in the shower. Or....perhaps I need to resurrect my tape recorder, so I can dictate notes when I'm in the car. (I know you'll all be thrilled to have me driving and dictating at the same time! lol) Another favorite time to mentally create notes is when my hands are in hot, soapy water, or when I'm working at the sewing machine. Doesn't this happen to you, too?

If you've been the recipient of a late thank-you note from me, please be assured that I really do care. I guess you could say the spirit it willing, but the body is overloaded (in more ways than one.) Thank you, thank you, thank you all, for the lovely things you've given to me, and the things you have done. I'm very grateful!

By saying....."I'm Hoooo-oooommme!"

Dear Husband and I flew to Florida, and spent a week in warm weather. Thank you, all, for your notes and the hope that we would have a good time. We did!

Unfortunately, as we were on our way to the airport, I realized that I was coming down with something upper respiratory, but I kept quiet about it. I wanted to go, even if it meant lying by the pool and baking out whatever nasty virus decided to make itself at home. Tough duty, but SOMEONE has to do it! *G*

As usual when we travel, the first afternoon was spent resting. Thursday morning we headed to the Gulf coast side of Florida, and visited beaches in Bradenton and Siesta Key. Bradenton's beach is an almost deserted stretch of narrow white sand beach with no amenities. We trudged down to the water's edge and hiked on the wet-packed sand, first north, and then south. This is really our kind of beach. We enjoyed having the area almost to ourselves, and as true Northerners, lapped up the breeze and the sun.

I didn't realize how much further south Siesta Beach was, but it was highly recommended, so we made the trek south, traveling from island to island until we found Siesta Beach. This beach is the opposite extreme from Bradenton's beach. It's the widest beach I've ever seen, and it stretches two miles along the Gulf. Even in February it was filled with people. I imagine in June you can't make your way to the water without stepping on someone. You could rent chaise lounges that had an interesting accessory. It was a royal blue sunshade that resembled the top of an old-fashioned baby buggy. It would shade the upper half of you as you laid on the chaise.

By this time, I was all for renting chairs and flopping down. My idea of a vacation is to sit by a very large body of water and read. And, by this time, my viral friend had me coughing, and short of breath. Just sitting really appealed to me, but Dear Husband smiled at me and said, "Shall we walk??" I think the man was trying to kill me off! We walked, but not quite as far as we might have, had I felt better. We watched people and water, and lots of birds.

I suggested to Dear Husband that we might want to rent a room in the area, rather than making the trip back to Orlando. That seemed like a good way to stay and enjoy the beach and weather, but DH was up for the drive, and we traveled from Siesta Key back to Orlando during rush hour. The trip went relatively smoothly, and we had a late dinner at a Cuban restaurant.

Saturday, DH golfed in his son's memorial golf tournament, and I spent our retirement funds on quilt fabrics! *G*

Sunday, I told DH I wasn't going ANYWHERE. He is an amazing man. He sweet-talked me into going downstairs to sit around the pool. It was heavenly. We started out near the whirlpool. I hiked up my pant legs and stuck my feet in the warm water, and DH hit the button to start the jets. After a bit of that, we shifted to chaise lounges in the shade, and just enjoyed the warmer weather. I finally got to read a book, and the heat helped my battle with the virus.

Immediately north of our hotel was a plaza with seven or eight places to eat. There was the "Run and Run" Chinese takeout. (We skipped that purely on the basis of it's name. *G*) There was an Indian place, a Cuban place, a Hooters, a really good seafood place called the Crab House, a CiCi's pizza, and a Carvery and Tiki Bar. We ate at the Crab house four times! I tried Red Snapper and Grouper for the first time.

Monday, we returned to the Gulf Coast area. Dear Husband had planned a loop that would let us drive through Tampa and St. Petersburg to the road that traveled north up the keys. We stopped at St. Pete Beach, which was very nice. We watched people flying kites, and watched birds and people, and walked up and down the beach. (Notice....no sitting.....sigh) The weather was a little rougher on Monday. Serious storms were passing north of us on a NE-SW axis, and the sky was cloudy. The waves were just a bit rougher than on Thursday, and the breeze was brisker, but we were totally comfortable in short sleeves. DH had on shorts. As you people watch on the beach it's pretty clear who lives in Florida and who is a tourist!

We made one last beach stop, at Redington Beach, I think. We watched people surfing with short boards and small parasails. It must take incredible upper body strength to be able to stay upright and maneuver those parasails! I spent some time trying to get a video of a pelican diving into the water. I want to isolate one of the frames to send to my nephew, who broke his neck diving in the Indian Ocean. He's doing very well, almost back to normal.

The storms began to close in on the area, and we decided to head back to Orlando. We dined one last time at the Crab House, and then spent some unglamorous time organizing laundry and repacking our bags. Dear Husband is SURE that I take everything but the kitchen sink when we travel, and he does have a point. I'm happy to say that I had just one pair of slacks that I didn't wear while we were away, and one tunic sweater. Had we gone to Cir du Soliel as we had hoped, even those would have been worn Next time, I PROMISE not to take everything in the bathroom with us. Just remind me that I can actually pick something up in the stores if I really need it.

The flight back was 25 minutes late in leaving the airport. Elegante Mother was concerned about us. I called once we were on the freeway to tell her when we'd get in. She said that cat moped and refused to eat for the first four days we were away. I spent the evening loving up the cat, and getting laundry started.

It was great. We didn't do anything earth-shaking, but the time away was wonderful. We only had to set the alarm twice in seven days, and I didn't have to make the bed or clean the room, or fix a meal, or answer the phone! YEAAAHHHHHHHHh! My kind of vacation! Can we go back now????

This morning, I SHOULD have been doing office work, and running errands, but I got involved in a project, and just couldn't set it down.

I have some friends who have a little boy in third grade. His class is sending travel mates to friends and relatives in an effort to learn more about the world in which they live. When the request went out for participants, I was wiggling in my seat with my hand up in the air, saying "Yes, Yes! I want to do it!" And luckily, they said I could! *S*

My little friend's travel mate is one of the original beanie babies, a moose named "Chocolate." Chocolate arrived on my doorstep on Thursday, despite the blizzard outside. I've been asked to write a message in his travel book, add something to the box and send it on to the next name on the list. I'm also supposed to send a postcard to the classroom, so they can see where Chocolate has been.

I have a niece in Perth, Australia. I sent her an e-mail, asking if there was any possibility that she could participate. Despite the fact that she is incredibly busy, she said she'd be willing to help. I'm supposed to box up Chocolate and send him on to her. She will add a few things to the box and send it to one of my friends in England. You know her....it's Bod! Bod is going to send it on to her God-daughter in London. Just telling you about it gives me goosebumps. This is likely to be the travel mate with the most air miles!

So, this morning, I realized I had to add a message to the travel book. I typed out several paragraphs, and played with the font. I had a lot of room left, and got to thinking about pictures to add around the text. By the time I was done, I had four pictures of cornfields, two of soybeans, and two of Chicago airports. There was a picture of Abraham Lincoln, one of Barak Obama, two of the Chicago skyline, two of Wrigley Field, one of Navy Pier and one of the Chicago lighthouse. There's a picture of a well head, for the oil fields down state, and a picture of vehicles in snow banks (seemed fitting given the weather this week!). And I added a map of the state. All of this was done in miniature. I was on a ROLL! *G*

I realized that if I delayed Chocolate's trip to Australia by four days, he could travel to Florida with us! So, I had to make one more page for the travel book! Oranges, alligators, the castle at the Magic Kingdom, palm trees, beaches and a light house fill in the space around the text. I was beginning to worry that I might not get all my work done. I had such a good time playing with the glue stick I really didn't want to quit. But...If I want to go to Florida, enough needed to be enough.

Chocolate will fly in my carry on, and I plan to take pictures of him in Chicago and in Florida to send to Chocolate's owner when we return to Illinois. From there he will fly to Australia. I can't wait to hear what he brings home from OZ!

I've been talking about this project with almost anyone who will listen, and I'm delighted to find that others are offering their contacts. Chocolate must be back in the classroom by May 1st, but if we have time when he returns from England, he could go on to Minnesota, and to Idaho. He's going to be a very well-rounded bear! *S*

You're probably wondering what I added to the box. Well, I went shopping for a Cubs baseball cap that would fit an 8 year old, and I added a picture book of Chicago. I had a map of Illinois, too, but that's been mailed to the classroom. I was going to send an ear of corn, and some soybeans, but they'd never make it through customs! As for what I'll put in the box from Florida, who knows. We'll shop when we get there.

Don't you just love being able to help kids with their school projects! *G*

Sunday, Elegante Mother and I went to a family baby shower. I had some serious reservations about the wisdom of going out. It was ZERO degrees here, and there was wind, so I know the windchill was worse. We weathered it like troopers. This particular shower was held after the baby was born, so all her "aunties" got to hold her. I have never seen so many women planting their feet, holding out their arms for this little tiny bundle, and then rocking side to side. Everybody has their own style, but the baby wasn't fussy. She enjoyed them all!

My nieces did an incredible job organizing this shower. Since it was for a girl, all the decorations were in shades of pink. I lucked out, and wore my pink turtleneck, so I fit right in! I wish I had taken a picture of the chocolate dipped strawberries, so you could see the work that went into them. Imagine strawberries dipped in pink icing and laid on a platter in perfectly lined up rows. Then, imagine that someone had come along after the icing had set, and added little dots of white icing on the sides of the strawberries. They looked so luscious that they pulled you to them!

This was mostly a family gathering, and my family is never at a loss for words. It was nice to catch up with nieces I hadn't seen since Christmas, and hear all the family news. We'll get the chance to do this again in a month or so, when the next of the girls has her baby. That will be the fourth baby shower since September. I'm SURE there's something in the water!

On Sunday, as we left the shower, we were invited to choose a picture of the baby in a silver frame. What a lovely thing to do! You can bet I made sure I had one....this baby shares my name! *G* (NO....her name isn't "Buffy!")

Thank you, ladies, for a lovely time!

Yup. We had another nighttime visit from the local constabulary. This time it was close to 11:00 at night, not quite the witching hour.

A very tall, very thin, very young patrolman was sent to check out another 911 call from our house. It seems to be coming from our son's phone line, the fax line that is connected to the dying computer. We have no idea how this is happening, but it seems tied to the repair work done on other lines to the house. It almost has the feeling of an "I, Robot" scene, where technology is developing a life of its own. Second Son wondered if the computer was calling for help in its death throes.

Our young visitor commented that it was scary driving up our driveway at night. I thought he was referring to the ice, but he went on to say that it's like something out of the "Blair Woods Project." I've never thought of my drive in quite those terms. I told him that might be why we have only had four trick-or-treaters in the past 18 years.

At any rate, Second Son is going to cancel that phone line, since it's not functioning, and we'll see if that resolves the problem.If not, maybe we need to have further discussion with the phone company to see if they can determine just what's going on.

Now, I need to see if I can get back to sleep......

"From ghoulies and ghosties and long-leggedy beasties and things that go bump in the night, Dear Lord, preserve us!"

My mother has a sampler with that saying. It caught my attention when I was a child, and it's stayed with me all these years.

Things went "BUMP IN THE NIGHT" last night! I've been having trouble sleeping and had managed to block out all the little aches and pains, and was sound asleep when there was a knock on our bedroom door. It was 3:00 in the morning. I assumed that Second Son had knocked to tell me that Elegant Mother was in distress. I managed to unwind myself from the nest of covers and ran for the door.

The lights were on in the foyer, and I could hear voices as I approached. I'd left the bedroom in such a hurry that I was in my nightie and had left my glasses behind. EM and SS were standing there talking to two policemen! Let me tell you, when you've just been rousted out of bed in the middle of the night, those guys can look really fierce!

They explained that the police had received a 911 call from our address, and when they responded, all they could hear was static. Yesterday the phone company had worked on two of our three telephone lines. Elegante Mother's phone was still misbehaving. The police asked if our phones had been worked on, and when I replied, "Yes," they nodded knowingly and prepared to leave.

Second Son said this morning that he was surprised that they didn't ask to check the house to be sure that no one was being held against their will. I guess we all looked properly sleepy enough to convince them that we were victims of a technology malfunction.

This morning, I called the phone company to ask for a repair call, and told the customer service rep about our early morning visit. She asked if we had any wireless phones in the house. Elegante Mother has a base phone, with a wireless. From what the representative said, wireless phones can send out that 911 call! I had no idea that was possible.

I guess this happens often enough that the police can just about guess what has happened, but they still have to follow up on the call. We wouldn't want someone who needs assistance to go without because someone thought their call was just a phone malfunction.

Our visitors came in separate cars. They used their flashlights to look around as they came up the sidewalk. and then they rang the doorbell, THREE TIMES! I never heard it. In fact, I was so deeply asleep that I didn't hear the knock on the bedroom door. Dear Husband had to wake me. We're lucky that Second Son woke up and realized that no one else heard the bell, or the police might have tried to break the door down.

Well....all's well that ends well. We all got to go back to sleep for a couple of hours, and there was no ticket or fine for the false call. I guess in the future things had better go BUMP louder! And, maybe it's time to keep my robe by the bed! *G*

This morning Dear Husband helped me to take eight boxes to the Post Office to be sent off to our troops in Iraq. It's quite an experience to do this for the first time. One of the ladies in our exercise class spearheaded this effort last year, when her son was stationed overseas. She took six or eight boxes to the Post Office and discovered that she would have to open and list their contents, the weight of the items, and the value, on a customs form, before they could be sent.

Needless to say, she guided us in the preparations this year, and we met after class to begin the work. I even remembered to bring my kitchen scale! We were very short on time that day, so I volunteered to finish the boxes in my car, and get them to the post office. Remember, I said I was short on sleep? (See the next entry) I was up until 1:00 doing the customs forms.

I finished addressing the customs forms this morning, and we headed out. I thought I had all the boxes checked, and everything was ready to go, when the clerk asked me where I wanted to put the addresses on the box. Rather than hold up her work on weighing the boxes and getting the customs sheets set up, I used labels the clerk provided, and wrote all the Sender and Recipient information once again, for the eight boxes. I can tell you I was really happy to see this project to it's finish.

We hope these boxes arrive before Valentine's Day. We thought it might perk up some of the troops, and ease their days. At least they'll know that someone from home cares about them.

.

Today is a day full of errands, but it snowed last night, and I've decided to get a late start so that I won't have to compete with those who are trying to get to work under less than ideal conditions. (That's a classy way of saying I slept in, and am off to a late start. *G*)

I need to start with the bank for both the business and our personal banking.

Then, Home Depot is across the street. I need Safer Soap, and those crystals that absorb water and then release it into the soil of potted plants. I hope they have them, this time of year.

Then I need to stop at one of the big fabric chain stores and pick up two yards of camouflage fabric to make cooling scarves for the troops in Iraq. Our exercise group is sending over comfort boxes, and I'd like to add these to the boxes. The absorbent crystals are used in these scarves.

The next stop is Target for toothpaste and nail clippers to round out the shopping for those boxes. Elegante Mother and I went hog-wild at Sam's Club yesterday, but I wanted the small travel sized toothpaste tubes, and Sam's doesn't carry that sort of thing.

I need to make a stop at my favorite fabric shop to pick up a yard of fabric for the quilt I'm presently creating. I can't wait, or it could be gone, never to be reordered. If I miss getting the fabric, I'll just sit down and pull my hair out, I swear! I've been working on the color placement for this project for the past month, and I think I've finally found an order to the colors that I can live with. Unfortunately, I'm short about half a yard of fabric to create the design, and I'd have to start all over again should this piece not be available. Pray for me!

I need to go to the post office. EM has a letter that needs to go to Canada, and it requires overseas postage. I think I know the amount, but I don't want this to come back, so I'll make the extra stop.

THen.....groceries. I sure wish I knew what we were having this week other than salad. I'm fresh out of ideas. Do you think if I cooked grilled cheese sandwiches every night that my family would get the idea and give me a hand planning our meals??

Once I get the errands run, and bring in the groceries, it's office work for me. I'm actually looking forward to it. The day is bright and sunny, but cold, so it will be good to be where I can look out,and enjoy it, but not have to deal with the wind chill.

Have a good day!

I THINK it's spider mites. I'll have to get the plant disease reference to check.

At Christmas, I moved the plants that reside along three of the big windows in the living room to make room for the Christmas tree. I have to admit, the Christmas tree is still up, because I've been enjoying it, and I've had other things to do. It has to come down before next Friday, when my quilting bee returns for the second time after Christmas, so I have a goal. But, until then, I'm going to enjoy it, darn it all!

Back to the subject... I've been growing a small, shrubby tree that was originally part of a mixed planting that was given to my mother years ago. It was perhaps two feet tall then, and is roughly four feet tall, with a spread of four feet. I love the silly thing, but it's been hard on it, having to grow inside. We've had some leaf drop, and I thought it was due to my erratic watering, but now I think that it could be due to an infestation of spider mites. I can see small white "bits" on the underside of the leaves on about half the plant.

I'm fairly sure that this problem came into the house on a plant that was give to my Mother. That plant has been residing in the garage (read: dead, frozen, but not yet buried), since November. Apparently we weren't quick enough to see the problem, and now, it's spread. I'll have to keep an eye on all the plants in the house.

My first line of defense will be to wash the leaves with Safer Soap. If that doesn't resolve the issue, more drastic efforts might be necessary. Research first, attack later is the plan. I hope I'm not too late to save this plant. It's an old friend.

To be posted VERY LOW on the refrigerator door - nose height:

Dear Dogs and Cats,

The dishes with the paw print are yours and contain your food.
The other dishes are mine and contain my food.
Please note, placing a paw print in the middle of my plate and food does not stake a claim for it becoming your food and dish, nor do I find that aesthetically pleasing in the slightest.

The stairway was not designed by NASCAR and is not a racetrack
Beating me to the bottom is not the object.
Tripping me doesn't help because I fall faster than you can run.

I cannot buy anything bigger than a king sized bed.
I am very sorry about this. Do not think I will continue sleeping on the couch to ensure your comfort.
Dogs and cats can actually curl up in a ball when they sleep.
It is not necessary to sleep perpendicular to each other stretched out to the fullest extent possible.
I also know that sticking tails straight out and having tongues hanging out the other end to maximize space is nothing but sarcasm.

For the last time, there is not a secret exit from the bathroom.
If by some miracle I beat you there and manage to get the door shut, it is not necessary to claw, whine, meow, try to turn the knob or get your paw under the edge and try to pull the door open.
I must exit through the same door I entered.
Also, I have been using the bathroom for years -- canine or feline attendance is not required.

The proper order is kiss me, then go smell the other dog or cat's butt. I cannot stress this enough!

To pacify you, my dear pets, I have posted the following message on our front door:

To All Non-Pet Owners Who Visit & Like to Complain About Our Pets:

1. They live here. You don't.
2. If you don't want their hair on your clothes, stay off the furniture. (That's why they call it "fur"niture.)
3. I like my pets a lot better than I like most people.
4. To you, it's an animal. To me, he/she is an adopted son/daughter who is short, hairy, walks on all fours and doesn't speak clearly.

Gentle readers: I have no idea who wrote this e-mail, but he or she definitely knows my cat, and the dogs from my earlier life. I'd be happy to give the author credit for a post that made me grin in recognition.

One of the blogs I read, one that is written by someone who is not an American, suggested that Americans have a very narrow vision of the world, and that we are rather unaware of the world in general. In some ways I'd agree with the author, but I was quick to point out that it can take Americans a LONG TIME just to get to their own borders. We are a surprisingly well traveled community, but we may be less well traveled than our counterparts in Europe, simply because we have to travel so far to get out of our own country.

With that in mind......here is a list of the cities that my oldest niece will visit in the next few days:

Almaty (Kazakhstan), Atarau, Uralsk, Astana (the capital of Kazakhstan),

Istanbul, Ankara, Turkey,

Baku (the capital of Azerbaijan),

then Moscow, London and finally, Perth, Australia.

Not bad for a little Midwestern girl, huh??? *G*

I may be the least well-traveled of my family, and I've been to Western Europe and England twice, and I've been to Canada a number of times. I hope there will be more travel (both inside and outside the US), in my future, and I can promise that I will be a well mannered tourist. I may not be able to speak your language, but I'll do my best to know your customs and behave myself.

I'll have to give it some thought and compile a list of places in the world my family has visited. I think South America may come off with the fewest hits. We've managed to cover almost every other continent except the Antarctic! Way to go, family!

Our Red Hat chapter met today. We had a pot luck luncheon at a member's home. It always astonishes me how a potluck meal turns out. Today we had shrimp, salads and dessert. To the best of my knowledge, there was no attempt to avoid duplications. There were three jello salads, but each was very different. Only one pasta salad showed up, which really surprised me. There was one tuna salad, a spreadable salmon something, watermelon, mixed fruit, and I brought Waldorf Salad.

Elegante Mother loves Waldorf Salad, so we've made it a couple of times this winter. I expected to be short on time this morning, so I chose the Waldorf as a quick way to make a salad for a ladies' meal. I used Granny Smith and Red Delicious apples (with their skins left on), celery, chunks of walnuts, and dried cranberries. It was bound together with just enough mayonnaise to coat. I set out roasted sunflower seeds and Chinese Noodles for those who wanted a little crunch.. I was relieved to see that two-thirds of it was gone by the end of the meal.

Dear Husband feels that Waldorf Salad would be improved if one used Miracle Whip in place of the mayo. YUCK!! I COULD do the chopping and set some aside in a bowl for him, and let him add the Miracle Whip.
I thought today that dried cherries would be a good addition, and it seems to me that I've seen it made with miniature marshmallows. That's not to my taste, but I can see that it might be fun to play around with the recipe and make it my own.

The ladies talked through lunch and then swapped gifts. While we were seated, the "Queen" instructed us to get to know the lady seated next to us. Since EM was to my right, I turned to the lady on the left. After we had chatted we were to introduce our new friend. I thought I knew the woman to my left, but it was a lot of fun asking her 20 questions.

The meeting ended shortly after a discussion of places to meet in February.. One woman said she had eaten at the new tapas bar, and the room instantly quieted because they had all thought she had said "topless" bar. *G*

Give me a ba-boom! on the drum and I'm outta here! *G*

We've had a peaceful evening. We choose to celebrate the fading away of the old year safe and sound at home. Dear Husband used to watch every Marx brother movie made, but that tradition seems to have gone by the way this year.

DH has has had some time off, which is very unusual. Saturday, I asked him to run errands with me, and we ended with grocery shopping. We'd barely gotten in the door of the grocery store when he was waylaid by the lobster sale. He decided we needed to have a special dinner to see the year out: Lobster tail, green beans with bacon, white cheddar macaroni and cheese, and crusty bread. Oddly, it came off as peasant fare, especially if you live where lobster is abundant. *G*

We've enjoyed the time off, doing bits of things here and there. We made one more foray on the grocery store to gets odds and ends of things we'd used up, and we did a bit of work for our company in the morning. I spent some time piecing a quarter of a quilt top, and we chatted with Elegante Mother and Second Son.

New Years Eve is a bit melancholy for us. Two years ago tonight, we lost Dear Husband's oldest son to a massive heart attack. I still find things I want to share with him. Like his dad, he loved puns and odd collections of facts. I'll think..."Oh, he'd LOVE this!" and then remember I can't e-mail him. But, I'm sure that he's in good hands and knows that we think of him.

It's snowed almost daily, but in small amounts. I doubt this particular area has more than four inches of snow, but there are other places in the Chicago area where roads are clogged and sidewalks have disappeared. It's left us with a Winter Wonderland look. The shrubs are outlined in white, and there are paw prints in the snow. Last night, DH had made the rounds, turning off the lights, when he realized there were two deer at the bird feeder. I joined him, and we watched for ten minutes or so. A mom deer and her yearling, I think. I put out corn for them tonight, and topped off the bird feeder for those who can figure out how to empty it.

The new year has crept in, as we've listened to a James Taylor Special on PBS, enjoying songs from our past. Ed has snuggled up to me, trying to keep my hands off the keyboard. I'll take that as a sign.

From our house to yours, we wish you a happy and healthy New Year. Stay safe!

Go, Illinois! Enough said!

Margaret.

And last night, Christmas night, I was given the blessing of a new grandniece. I won't print her full name here, but I'm delighted to tell you that her middle name is Margaret! Margaret is an old-fashioned name. Not many girls are given old-fashioned names these days, so I figured that no one in our family would carry on my name.
My youngest sister came close when she named her oldest daughter, but this time it's right on the money!

Thanks, kids! I hope she grows to be a healthy, amazing kid!

But......

My sister has a mouse in her dishwasher. They don't know how he got there, or if he is capable of getting outside. When they open the dishwasher, he runs to the corner and disappears. There was some discussion of the port where the water exits, and the fact that it must share a communal pipe with the kitchen sink. Other than that, they have no clue how he comes and goes. They don't know if he's trying to get out, or if he's trying to make it his new home. Dear Husband suggested putting one of the cats in the machine, and turning it on.

Elegante Mother fell this morning. Nothing seems to be hurt other than her pride. I think we may have to get her one of those devices that allows her to call for help when we are sleeping. To assuage her angst at having fallen, Dear Husband bought chocolate covered éclairs at the bakery. I assumed (you know what they say about assuming things...) that the éclairs were for dessert. As I walked past Elegante Mother, checking to see if she was all right, she was reading the newspaper. She dipped it when I spoke to her and I realized she couldn't respond due to the mouthful of éclair she was eating! AND.....as I passed through the kitchen, I realized that there was not one, but TWO of the éclairs missing. You KNOW who ate the other! (And, it wasn't me!)

Ed, our fifteen year old cat, doesn't care for cold weather any more, so he was delighted when the temperatures rose into the forties this week. We still have fog, and the snow is melting. It seems rather wet and drippy out, but to Ed, it's the perfect day to go hunting. He runs out the door about thirty feet and plops his butt on the edge of the sidewalk, and takes up this petrified stance facing the garage wall and a hole in the ground. He seems to think a chipmunk is going to come out of that hole sooner or later, and he plans to be ready to greet him. Do you think it's too late for me to explain the concept of hibernation to Ed??

Fog comes in on little cat feet.

We have fog forecast for this evening on into tomorrow morning. It's not often that we have fog in December. A warm front has moved in, and the ground is still cold, covered in snow in most places. It was actually in the 40s today.

It's quiet, the trees are still. I can hear the furnace, but the rest of the house seems to be responding to the stillness outside. Mother has created a nest, with her books and chocolates, and lap robes all at hand.

It's a good night to light candles, play a movie and finish Christmas cards. .

Elegant Mother's church held a Bazaar on December 1st. Her Empty Nester Sewing group has been working on things to donate for the past six or more months, diligently finishing one project and rushing into the next. Peg, who manages the group, kept everyone on track with e-mails about what had been completed and what was still in the works.

I offered two lap-quilt size tops to be quilted by a member of the church. I was asked if I would create a baby quilt from six embroidered animal blocks. I used some of my batiks, and shopped for borders and a great backing of all sorts of animals. There was also a small pre-printed panel of the 12 Days of Christmas to which I added borders. In mid-October, the four tops were handed over to be machine quilted. I went home and made binding for everything. (There are pictures of some of the binding to the right.)

Now, you'd think these projects would have been finished within four weeks. They were small jobs that didn't require a huge expenditure of time. But, there were two things I didn't know. First, Cheryl was the person who was in charge of the entire bazaar, and second......I'm not sure, but I don't think she had ever used her long arm quiting machine, so there was a big learning curve involved.

With some prompting from Peg, she managed to get one piece done ten days before the Bazaar. A second one came through three days later. Of course, they were the two smallest pieces. The last two quilts came to me three and four days prior to the bazaar. There was no point in shouting about it. I sat down each morning and set things up to sew the binding to the face of the quilts, and each evening, I sewed the binding to the back of the quilt by hand. I put the finishing stitches into the last one Friday evening.

I dropped the quilts off at 7:45 on Saturday morning, and discovered that Cheryl had hurt her back, and everything had been dumped in Peg's lap. We were very fortunate that Peg was able to rise to the occasion. Everything was tagged and priced, and laid out in inviting ways. The quilts were pinned to dividers, with a bit of the back turned over so that people could see the backing without touching the quilts.

They made an astonishing $1500! And, the Empty Nester Group was responsible for 75% of that. The quilts brought in approximately $310! Cheryl is talking about the bazaar for next year. Peg is looking cross-eyed and saying "NO WAY!" I'm with Peg, but I think I will look for some simple patterns for lap quilts that might be done and set aside until the Empty Nesters decide to participate once again.

I'm happy to say that I donated two loaves of Pumpkin Bread to the Bakery Table, too! *G*

I must say that at least once a month, but I think this may be the driest spell that I've had in my blogging life. I've been blogging in my head, but I just haven't made the time to get things onto the computer.

While I've been away we celebrated Elegante Mother's 91st birthday. She spent the day before shopping with My-Sister-The-Nurse, and having her hair and nails done. I met them for a lovely lunch, and then spent some time shopping for the gift cards that EM will be giving her family for Christmas. We have more than half of them signed, and addressed and slipped into gift bags, but I still have a bit of shopping to do, and five sets of gifts to box up and mail.

The day of her birthday, December 7, we spent a quiet day at home, then went to McCormick & Schmick's for dinner. She was delighted. She rose to the occasion, smiling, thanking people for their birthday wishes, and flirting with the 20-something waiter. He did a great job, to the extent of singing "Happy Birthday" to her loud enough for the entire room to hear. The manager and hostesses were charming as we made our way back to the car, and even the valet cosseted EM. I think she would tell you that it ranked up there with some of the best birthdays she's had.

The day EM went shopping with My-Sister-The-Nurse was the first day she had been out for easily ten days. The entire family is down with a wretched cold. Dear Husband, who NEVER gets colds developed a doozie, and one by one we succumbed. I was the last to get it. It's really tough to take care of sickies, and then not get any commiseration when you get sick, too! I took today off to have one more quiet day before I have to fling myself into office work and Christmas preparations.

We've had our first lasting, measurable snow. The day before it arrived, I asked DH if he had put the plow on the truck. "No." "Why not?" "There won't be enough snow to justify it. Maybe for five or six inches..."
Want to guess how much snow is out there? Ohhhhh....five or six inches. The plow is on the truck now.

Yesterday I woke up to sleet on the skylights. DH walked down the drive to get the papers, sanded the sidewalk and fed the birds. Normally feeding the birds is my job. It was really kind of him to spare me having to dress for the cold weather. I've shoveled a path to the feeders, so it was a snap for him to fill them.

Yesterday, we had so many birds at the feeders that you could hardly see the snow. I've changed the formulation on the mix of seed just a bit, and they seem to be using it all. I added a small finch feeder this year, and filled it with Niger seed. The ground below it looks messy, but the birds seem to really enjoy the seed. This year's crop of blue jays has one that doesn't play well with others. I know they have a reputation for being pushy birds, but the blue jays we've had previously have been very gracious birds. It's a pleasure to see them get along, but this one is more aggressive. More cardinals are beginning to show up at our feeder. When we had fewer neighbors, we sometimes had as many as eight or ten pairs of them. There aren't that many yet, but it's early in the season.

The tree service was here to cut down a pod of trees that would have taken out part of the master bedroom suite if they'd fallen. After they'd left, I realized there was one more tree in that area that needed to be cut down, and a much larger one to the east. I asked the boss to come back to do another proposal. This is not a company you want to call if you need them on a specific day, but they do good work. I showed him the two trees, and for the heck of it, asked what it would cost to cut the sumac out of two pods of evergreens on the front lawn. When I saw what he wanted to charge, I snapped it up! I've been obsessing about the sumac in the evergreen, because I was going to have to encourage DH to cut it down, and he's allergic to the evergreens. The guys did a fantastic job! I haven't seen it look so clean in more than 16 years! I know the sumac will return, but we may be able to keep ahead of it this time. They even cut out the wild raspberries! And....the tree trimmer has given me a bid on three trees off the corner of the garage. The trees were just $50 a piece, but I kept passing on the proposal, thinking DH could get to them. When I called to see when the trees would be cut down,for the heck of it I asked if he would throw in those three trees for free. I couldn't believe it!! He did it for free! I made brownies for the crew. Too bad they left about 60 seconds before I got down the driveway to hand them over.

I miss reading your blogs, and hearing from you. I hope you're all having a good month and have reached the point where holiday cheer is rising in you. Take care!

As those of you who read here know, my mother lives with us. She has been hosting the Empty Nester's Sewing Circle for several years. The ladies decided this year that they would contribute to the Church bazaar, and have been feverishly sewing for the past six months or so. I've contributed four quilt tops to be quilted by another woman. Two of them came back to me just this week to be bound, and we're hoping to have the other two by Sunday.

The ladies have also volunteered to host the monthly Empty Nester's luncheon this month. Elegante Mother and I are committed to providing dinner rolls and an appetizer. I have been pouring over my holiday cook books, trying to settle on an appetizer for tomorrow morning, and simply haven't been able to make a decision. I can see that I'll have to make a dash to the store tonight.

We have spent a very quiet day here today. I SHOULD have put up the Christmas decorations, but I used my time to snooze and bind quilts instead. Hopefully, the guys will bring the fake Christmas trees up from the basement, and EM and I will work on getting them decorated during the coming week. This will be the earliest that we have been ready for the Holidays in years. I'm loathe to give up my fall decorations, but once the Christmas things are in place, it will be okay.

Dear Husband worked for half a day today, and spent half a day snoozing. We had planned to work on the leaves tomorrow, but we'll be going to an open house for his brother, instead. The leaves will hold.

Are you ready to leave Thanksgiving behind and move on? I have just two presents ordered, I'll have to make up my mind and get a move on!

Day is done, Gone the sun.....

Thanksgiving Dinner was a rousing success. As usual, we had enough food left over to send full dinners home with four families, and more than enough so that I don't have to cook tomorrow.

We had most of my oldest sister's family, and all my youngest sister's family with us. Two of Dear Husband's children joined us, and my stepdaughter and her husband brought their daughters for everyone to coo over. I think almost all the ladies had a chance to hold the two month old.

I'm not going to list all the items that made up our buffet. There wasn't a single dish left untried. Even the new dressing that I tried seems to have been a hit.

There was one very sad note to the day. We were in the middle of meal preparation when the phone rang. Dear Husband answered it, to learn that his only brother had just passed away. He is now the only one of four children left in his family. DH is very stoic. Let me rephrase that......DH is VERY STOIC. He doesn't want me to commiserate. He chose not to tell my family what had happened. After dinner, I asked if I could share it with my family. They were very empathetic, and seemed to realize that he didn't want them to go overboard with their response. I'm sure they will find ways to tell him that they are there for him.

Sooooooo.....The good and the bad. I'm glad that my brother-in-law lived to see his granddaughter born. I'm sorry that he won't have a hand in raising her, but I'm sure his son and daughter-in-law will do a good job, and share stories of Grampa Dan.

I hope that you all had a good celebration, with family or friends, and I hope you will remember how fragile and fleeting life can be.

Traditionally, my family comes to my house for Thanksgiving. My brother has a bigger house, but he doesn't have the time to organize the gathering. We have celebrated at other homes, but I can seat most of the family here, and it's now second nature to pull the menu, seating and decorations together.

This year, my second sister announced that she was holding Thanksgiving. She didn't discuss it with any of us to see how we felt about it, she simply staked her claim. Her sons will be coming in from out of state, and she wanted to host them in her own home. Unfortunately, she just had surgery last week for two hernias. We invited her to participate in our celebration, but she was adamant about doing Thanksgiving at home. I really hope this turns out all right. She thinks her boys will cook the dinner....

Dear Husband's kids have decided to share Thanksgiving with us, so I opened my home to any of my family that also wished to participate. We seem to be hovering at roughly 24 people at the moment, but there could possibly be four more. I plan to set three tables of eight, and I have enough room to seat the four guests who have been invited.

I'm excited about having my family here. I love it when they come together for a meal.. The food will be wonderful, but even better is all the chatter and interaction. My youngest sister will bring her family to us Wednesday night, and they will help with the early morning chores, like making dressing and setting the tables. The rest of our visitors will begin to arrive between 1:00 and 2:30 in the afternoon.

Of course, we do all the traditional parts of a Thanksgiving meal, but we're adding a few things this year. DH requested either cold corn salad (in a vinaigrette dressing), or corn with crackers casserole. I think he's getting them both. I found a mashed potato with Gouda cheese casserole, and a cornbread dressing that I want to try. We're also going to ask my nieces to assemble a torte-like dessert made with brownies, chocolate pudding, Cool Whip and Heath bar chips.

I began grocery shopping today, and I already have a list for tomorrow. I'll do some of the baking on Tuesday, and DH will make the lasagna that is traditional in his family. Wednesday, we'll pick up the linens, the rental chairs, flowers, and any last minute things that we've forgotten.

I'm REALLY looking forward to this. I wish you could all share it with us. Adding guests to family is the perfect finishing touch....and I keep saying "They don't bite!"

If I don't make it back....I wish you the Happiest of Thanksgivings!

I saw the doc today. I was working in the gardens a month ago, trying to do some cleanup and get the perennials ready to deal with the coming cold. I worked two weekends in a row, putting in roughly five hours on several of the days. I was having fun, and wasn't uncomfortable at all. A couple of days later it hurt to walk, to sit and to rise from a chair or bed.

I thought that the herniated disk in the small of my back had been hurt. I could function, even go to exercise, but I was getting jabbed in the back with pain on a regular basis. I put up with it for a month before I finally called the doc, and as soon as I made the appointment, I began to feel better.

Doc. G asked me several questions, walked around behind me, and pressed on four or five places across my hips that HURT! He knew exactly where to push to identify what was hurting. He said that if he were to take an MRI of my back, it would show that there were microscopic tears where the muscles attach to my pelvis. He showed me some stretching exercises to do, and gave me three prescriptions. Based on my ability to move, he thought I'd be well in a week.

Heavenly relief! I can sit without being afraid of that awful jab of pain. I can get a decent night's sleep!

The next time I see Doc, I'll have to ask him what to do to prevent this from happening again. Meanwhile, I should be in good shape to host my family on Thursday. YEA!

We're all still alive here, just in the holiday preparation weeds. I love hosting Thanksgiving. It gives me the incentive to get cleaning done as we're closing up the house for winter, and I find that I tend to change over decorations and quilts this time of year, too.

Of course, all of this takes time, and it means that I disappear from the blog scene. Most of the world doesn't even know I'm away from my blog, but for those of you who come to read now and then, we're all fine.

I find as I work I'm composing blog entries in my head. I really need to take a page from Blue Witch and get a voice recognition program. Then, I could multitask! For now, all those entries are lost, like smoke in the air. Early next year, I'll be back to more regular posting AND reading.

Joy, at The Joy of Six, asked how things were going for my family, because I mentioned that four of them had been hospitalized in the past two weeks. It's been a very difficult time.

One of my nephews has clots in his lungs, and he's likely to be on disability for some time while they work to improve the situation. On of my nieces has been diagnosed with herniated disks in her upper back, one of my sisters had surgery for two hernias, and my brother-in-law had a foot amputated.

I've been afraid to answer the phone because the news has been so grim. Another of my nephews cut his hand at work, and required stitches. Elegante Mother was ill over the weekend, and is just now beginning to feel better.

I'm gathering prayers for my family, and hoping that things will get better, SOON! It's simply not possible to think of loosing any of them.

Sooooo.....we're hanging in there, and hope you are, too!

And thank God for that! IT was an absolutely wonderful day, but it's time to rest now.

This morning, roughly half of our exercise class came to a pot luck Soup and Salad brunch at our house. We go out to breakfast once a month to celebrate the birthdays in that month, and this time we decided to try the concept of sharing soup and bread ( and salad, crackers, and DESSERT!!)

For the past two weeks (or more), I've been working to get the house into order so that we could host the event. I spent two weekends working outside to clean up the gardens (It wasn't enough...it's NEVER enough, but we made do.) Something I do when I work on the gardens in the fall always hurts my back, and I've been limping around, wincing when I hit just the right position and pinched the nerves in my back. Since the doctors tell you that you should keep moving through something like this, I've kept moving, but moving slower. I regret that I don't run at the same speed as I did when I was twenty.

I rose at 5:00 and started cooking. I made minestrone, a butternut squash and granny smith apple soup, and Golden Cheddar Chowder. There were at least four other soups: Ham and Bean, Hamburger, Broccoli Cheese and something with Farina dumplings. Added to that were half a dozen salads, every conceivable kind of cracker, bread bowls and incredible desserts. I NEED that coconut cake recipe, and I don't usually eat cake!

It was like having family come to dinner. People began streaming in at 9:30, just after class, and all the early birds helped to set up chairs, arrange a beverage station, and lay things out on the counter. Others answered the door and helped people deal with coats. I finished the cheese chowder and it was time to eat! I set tables in the dining room, and the area off the kitchen we call the Green Room. I also set up a ten foot Samsonite table in the foyer. You could hear conversation throughout the house. This group really enjoys chatting!

After everyone was filled to the brim, and had eaten dessert and had a cup of coffee, they gravitated back to the kitchen and washed the dishes for me. I would have been very happy to do that chore on my own, but they had it done in no time. One washed, one rinsed, and two dried, while I kept them in dry towels, and put things away. The last guest left about a quarter to three.

One of the nice things about hosting a day like this is that there is so much food left over you don't have to cook that evening! Of course, we had soup, and then I went to my chair and napped for a bit. Dear Husband was smarter, he went to bed early. I should have done the same, but I wanted to remember what a great day it had been.

We were blessed with great sunny weather that wasn't too cool, and the pleasure of each other's company. I'm SO glad I know these people....just so glad.

I think this has been the busiest October in the past 20 years! Mother and I have the usual standing appointments at the salon. We go to exercise three mornings a week, shop for groceries at least twice a week, visit the library, the bank, and the post office. We're normally pretty busy, and that doesn't take into account the office work I do.

October is one of the busiest birthday months for my family. Dear Husband and I both have birthdays in October, as well as one of my sisters, his brother, and a slew of nieces and nephews.

We traveled to Indiana to see one of my nieces compete in Marching Band. Elegante Mother and I watched one of her great grandsons act a role in a "Midsummer Night's Dream." We visited the Farmer's Market, and ate out five or six times. We traveled to the far North side of Chicago to have dinner with one of my nieces and her husband last night.

We've shopped, and gardened. I shared my quilts with the ladies of My-Sister-The-Nurse's church, and the Empty Nester's from EM's church came for their monthly visit. We visited with a church member who is going to machine quilt four quilts that we've made for the church bazaar.

We've enjoyed amazingly warm weather for most of the month and we're hoping it lasts through tomorrow night, when kids will be out celebrating Halloween. We don't expect to have visitors, but we're prepared, just in case they should come. Our drive is too long, and too dark to make it profitable for kids to trick or treat at our house, but a lot of visitors would bring this month to an appropriate end.

I enjoyed everything we did, but I could use one day of calm a week. It would be nice to be able to build up reserves so that I could go full tilt the rest of the week. Oddly, Tuesday seems to be the only candidate at the moment, and it looks like it could be swallowed up, too!

We're just busy people!

Or maybe that should be Mooooooooovable Tyyyyyype! Our host at RedEagleSpirit has upgraded our Movable Type program. I can blog again, but it's going to take some time to find all the parts to the program. For now, I'm happy to be able to post.

Dear Husband took 30 minutes today and repaired the light in our clothes closet. He tells me that it was a ballast problem. The bulbs that were installed 17 years ago are still functional.

Ahhhhhhhh, LIGHT!!! *G* It almost made me want to go in and change over our wardrobes for the winter. Instead, I cleaned out parts of my quilting stash, and began making a list of quilts to take to show the ladies at My-Sister-The-Nurse's church at the end of the month. In two weeks, I'll have three more full size quilts bound!

We're home from Indiana. We had hoped to be doing a victory dance for the fourth time in a row, but it isn't to be. I'd like to think that I am not prejudiced in favor of my niece's band. I watched from the top of the stands as seventeen bands performed. I rooted for them all, but more for K's band. I marked my program with the five I thought would go on to state. I was confident that her band would be one of the five. While they received a gold for performance, they weren't selected for State.

This is the time when they begin building for next year. The band will go to Indianapolis next Saturday and watch the performances of the ten bands which will compete in their class. They'll come home to pizza and a party to end the marching year, and immediately, work will begin on the program for the next year.

To K.....Sweetie, to go three years in a row, and rate as high as your band did, is an amazing record. You've had an incredible experience over these four years that will travel with you all your life. I'm very proud of you for going the distance, and you did a fine job. Be proud of your achievements!

I have a new game for you all. It's called "Choosing Clothing by Flashlight." The winner is the one who is able to best dress herself despite being unable to see most of her clothing choices in the dark.

First you need a walk-in clothing closet, which has no windows. Rules allow for lights and/or skylights in the adjacent room. You get extra points for dressing correctly on an overcast day, and more points if you dress before the sun comes up. You loose points if you end up mixing navy blue and black.

The light bulbs in my closet have been flickering and failing to light for weeks. Every couple of days, I talk with Dear Husband about the difficulty of choosing clothes in the dark. My youngest sister, bless her heart, came to his aid and suggested I take a flashlight into the closet with me. (sigh)

We've been in the house 17 years. It's more than possible we just need to change the light bulbs. My friend, Midnight, tells me that it could also be as simple as a starter needing to be replaced. He described it for me, and I'll try to see if that could be the problem. Failing that, the ballast has gone out. DH tells me we have a spare ballast ......somewhere.....

Midnight has been counseling me to do the repair on my own, coaching me on what to look for, and telling me how easy it is to replace. I think he's planning to become a marriage counselor in another life. Personally, I think this is a GUY thing.....one of the few indoor things that shouldn't be my responsibility!

Sign up for the game in the comments, and I'll get back to you on a start time.

This weekend, Dear Husband and I plan to drive to Indiana to watch my niece's band compete in the Class C Northern Indiana Regionals. I'm really looking forward to the trip. The kids march just before 1:00, and the weather is supposed to be sunny and in the 60s. We watched in the snow one year, and have worried about rain occasionally.

Seventeen Class C bands will be competing tomorrow, and only five of them will be selected to go on to State Competition at Indianapolis next Saturday. My niece's band has gone to state at least the last three years, and you know that she hopes they will make it one more time. Tomorrow could possibly be her last chance to march on a football field as a high school student. Or, she may get to go out in a blaze of glory, at State, next week.

I sent her a note, to tell her that some nervousness is fine. I used to tell my students that if they were not worried, they weren't really prepared to perform. If you are absolutely calm, the chances are good that you've overlooked something. Her concern is that the band is very young this year. The ratio of beginners to experienced students is far too in favor of the beginners. Still, I've seen inexperienced students rise to the occasion when you least expect it.

On the other side of the coin, the band has a tradition of excellent shows. The music and movement always compliment each other, and this show is the type which gets points for daring moves, well executed. The assistant director and the director of bands have swapped responsibilities this year, but the basic band program is still in place, and there is a HUGE parent's group helping behind the scenes.

All they can do now, is take the field and do their best. I'm sure they will do well.

K.....I'll be with you in spirit on the field, and in the stands screaming myself hoarse. Have faith, sweetie....have faith!

Our new granddaughter is still at the hospital. The kids hope that she will be coming home early this coming week. DH's daughter sent us the link below to explain why the doctors have kept the baby this past week. She has an enterovirus.

http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/dvrd/revb/enterovirus/non-polio_entero.htm

When the doctors release her, the baby will have to visit for developmental tests during the following month. Given what they know about enteroviruses, I'd rather the doctors be aggressive about her care. Of course, we're hoping for the best, and that we will have a story to tell about the scare that turned out to be nothing. Your prayers are welcomed. *S*

It's been a stressful week. Our newest granddaughter developed a fever and was moved to NICU. Her fever spiked at 104 and it took several days to bring her back down to normal. The doctors believe that she may have picked up a virus that hit her family just before she was delivered. They're keeping her for a few more days, just to be sure that she'll go home healthy.

My step-daughter is recovering nicely. The docs let her go home Wednesday, but they travel back to the hospital each day to feed and visit with our newcomer.

I'm looking forward to a little more baby holding. I need to practice my lullabies. This is the first of three babies due within the next six months. There must be something in the water...

FINALLY! We're having one day that looks like Fall. Clouds moved in yesterday, and late last night a line of storms came through. It rained pretty heavily. We needed the rain. Everything was dry and sere.

Today, it's overcast, and there's a little bit of wind. Leaves are falling and a carpet of yellow and brown is starting to build up.

I know.....I think of Fall days as being sunny, and crisp. We all watch for the beautiful color changes, and enjoy the pumpkins and taffy apples. But, this is the other look to Fall, where the trees and shrubs are storing up moisture to hold them through the winter.

I'm going to spend the day in the office, catching up on filing and paperwork. I plan to make a pot of tea, and plug in the mug warmer to keep it hot. Elegante Mother and I put a pot roast in the Crockpot. Dinner will be an easy fix, and Dear Husband will get the roast beef hash he has come to enjoy, later this week.

I hope you're all having a great day!

I am SO pleased to tell you that we are grandparents for the third time!

Dear Husband's only daughter gave birth late Saturday night, September 29. She and her husband have a three and a half year old girl, and the new baby is also a girl. The kids are still trying to decide what her name will be. They have a penchant for actress names from 1980 and earlier

Our little newcomer weighed 6 pounds, 11 ounces at birth, and is 19.5 inches long. Mom and baby are both doing well and expect to be home soon.

The nicest thing about being a grandmother is that you get to spoil babies! *G*

My-Sister-The-Nurse had a birthday in July. Her daughters and daughters-in-law decided to plan a trip to Chicago to see the musical "Wicked," and go out to dinner. Unfortunately, one of her daughters was unable to attend, but the ticket was given to one of our nieces, and, one of MSTN's friends, her oldest granddaughter and I, were invited to participate, too.

We took two cars, and met at the theater. It was astonishing to see our group file in and take our seats! There were eight of us. Most of us had seen the performance at least once, and knew what to expect, but it was fun to see the show through the eyes of those experiencing it for the first time.

After the curtain calls, we walked five blocks to the restaurant where we had planned to eat. They don't take reservations, but we were there within five minutes of the time they opened, so we thought it wouldn't be a problem to get in. WRONG! We could see that the bar area was filled, but none of the seats in the restaurant, not even those out on the sidewalk were filled. We were told there would be a two and a half hour wait to be seated. It might have been better if they had simply said...."The entire restaurant has been booked for a party for the next 150 minutes.

We wandered around for a couple of minutes before someone said the magic word: Italian. We were one block away from "Ballo," a restaurant in the Rosebud chain. We trouped in, and were seated right away. I ordered a dish made with penne, a creamy tomato sauce, lobster, and shrimp. YUM!!!!!! I brought half of it home, and it will be lunch tomorrow. There's something wonderful about a table full of women, talking, drinking wine, and eating heavenly food, especially when you are related to all the women!

I had an incredible time, and I hope we do this again. I haven't been getting out much lately, and I miss social time with family and friends.

This was a winner, girls! Congratulations on a great day!

I've heard people talk about "floaters" for some time. I always thought they were talking about the little see-through spots that you occasionally see crossing your eye that are about the size of a pin-head or less. I was wrong.

Monday, I got my first floater. I thought there was a fly buzzing around me while I was getting dressed, but I realized that the fly moved in the same direction my right eye moved. I did some research at the computer to pin down what was happening, and then made a call to the optometrist. The receptionist confirmed my suspicions, and told me that I didn't need to see the doctor unless I began to get flashes of light inside my eye.

I passed on seeing the doc, and Monday evening I began seeing those flashes.

I've been a bit scared about all of this, but my eye doctor is really superb. The nurse took "pictures" of the back of the interior of my eye, and Doc K. showed them to me. My eye is just aging. The vitreous sac is partially detached from the wall of my eye, and a change in the consistency of the contents has caused the floater. Doc says I should be able to see well, and that the floater might possibly sink, in time. The flashes I have seen are due to the vitreous sac bouncing off the back of the eye, when I change positions. When I sit up, and then stand up, in the morning, or if I bend over to tie my shoe, I'll see them.

Should the flashes come more frequently, or if I develop a black spot in my vision, I need to see Doc K. again, but otherwise, it's business as usual.

I'm not delighted with the changes in my body as I age, but Dear Husband has a point when he says the alternative (not aging) is not too pretty . Elegante Mother has a sweatshirt that says "Old Age is NOT for SISSIES!" I guess I better buck up!

I could probably leave it at that, but you know I won't! lol. Our trip through the central Illinois and Indiana farmlands was wonderful. We got to watch the harvest in progress. I'm assuming that the farmers either got their crops in early this year, or the crops are drying out early due to lack of rain. For whatever reason, the harvest looked to be as much as one quarter of the way done! The farmers were harvesting both soybeans and corn. I thought the tradition was to harvest the corn first, because the beans suffer less damage in the field if the harvest is delayed.

We had to take a detour in Indiana, but I lucked out, and had been on those roads, and knew my way. I avoided adding an hour to the trip because I was familiar with the area. We arrived, and unpacked all the goodies and sat for a bit. My-Sister-The-Nurse had made a Crockpot of sausage and peppers and Nan put together a great meal around it. We sat and talked all evening, just us girls. The guys all had other things to do, so it was a girly weekend.

On Saturday, MSTN and I collected Nan at the school and drove her north to the competition. For some reason, I thought the competition started around 3:00, so we hurried up into the stadium. But, as we turned the corner, I realized there was almost no one there! I checked the program, and the first performance was scheduled for 5:00. We watched the class D, C and B bands perform, probably 10 or 12 bands, followed by the awards ceremony. I'm delighted to tell you that my niece's band won first place in her class!

The band set up props to create a huge clock face on the field. Props with numbers surrounded them in a circle. They did an incredibly daring move at the start of the program. As the show started, a line of kids created the minute hand of a clock and swept from twelve to about four. I know that doesn't sound so terribly amazing, but in corps-style marching, you avoid straight lines because anyone out of line, or out of step is so easy to see, and for every error the judges see, you loose points. My niece said they had worked on the opening for some time, moving kids in and out, until they found the group who could sweep the "hand" in a perfectly straight line. I AM SO PROUD OF THEM!!! I can hardly wait to see them next month!

Elegante Mother decided it was going to be too long a day for her, so she stayed home with my youngest niece. My niece decided to make Chicken Parmigiana and called her mother to discuss recipes. Nan was sitting in the stands with us, and a band was about ready to take the field, so Nan suggested that she get out a cookbook. The results were fine, but my niece definitely didn't like having to cut the chicken. Dislike of touching raw chicken must run through that side of the family! *G*

We got home late, and crashed. Sunday morning we had a few hours with the girls before they went off their separate ways. EM, MSTN, Nan and I had a leisurely breakfast before we had to pack up and hit the road. It was a MUCH too short visit. We all would have liked to stay longer.

The trip home went well. We avoided the road that had the detour, but were still able to drive home through the farmland. We were home in good time, and no one was any worse for the wear.

Nan, and K. and B., thank you SO MUCH, for letting us come to visit. We had a wonderful time, and I'm really looking forward to visiting again!!

I'm almost packed. I have to use the curling iron, finish my hair, and then we can be on the road. Elegante Mother and My-Sister-The-Nurse and I are going to visit my youngest sis, Nan, and her daughters for the weekend.

For the past three years, I've been following Nan's oldest daughter around the northern half of Indiana, watching her high school marching band compete. It's been an exciting three years for this proud auntie, because the band has been in the top five Class C bands at State all three years. I want to see them in mid-September so that I can determine how much the performance has changed when I see them again in October. We hope to return to Indiana for District contest, and if they make the cut, to State Contest, too. State Contest is held in the Hosier Dome in Indianapolis, October 20. For those involved, the marching season, from mid-July to mid-October, seems to go on forever, but for those watching from the sidelines, it goes by in a flash. I'm fortunate, and delighted, to have a niece who shares my love of band.

Soooo, we are trying to remember all the last minute things that have to be done. I have to water the containers at the front sidewalk, or the plants will be dead when we return. I need to feed the birds. Most of our things are packed. We could have just backed some kind of suction device up to the back door and directed everything in the house into the trunk of my car, and it would have been about as efficient.

The house is clean, most of my office work is done, except for the dreaded filing. I've even put some of the fall/Halloween decorations up! I won't say that I'm going with a clear conscience, but I don't have a LOT to be guilty about.

I hope you all have a great weekend, and I'll check in with you when I get back.

I know that I should have jumped out of bed and rushed to embrace the day, but I snoozed in for a bit. We turned on the heat last night. Temperatures in the Chicago area dipped well into the 30s, and I was concerned that my mother might turn blue in the night without a little heat.

In the post below, you'll see that I've finally started working on my basement. I shifted Christmas and Easter decorations to their storage spots along the wall and began the reorganization of the companies papers. Unfortunately, I also stirred up a LOT of dust. Our furnaces draw air from the basement, and along with it, that same dust.

So, this morning we have the snuffles. I'll have to go out in a bit to do some shopping. Actually, that sounds like a sure way to end my snuffles: get away from the dust!

Dear Husband resolved the situation by going off to sail for the day. I'm betting that he has both the snuffles AND chattering teeth. It's still pretty cool out there, and it will be colder on the water.

For whatever reason, I'm glad to have the chance to get out today. We have a beautiful, sunny, clear Fall day, and it would be a shame to waste it!

Enjoy the weekend, y'all!

I know you'll never believe this, but I actually made a start on the mess we call our basement!

The Christmas and Easter decorations have been sitting in stacks on a sorting table in the basement, waiting for me to take the time to reorganize them and store them on the shelves at the wall. A number of years ago I began buying large plastic bins to store decorations. We have mice that think our basement is heaven during the winter, and I need to discourage them from making homes in the decoration boxes.

I spent two hours on Tuesday, and two more on Wednesday morning. I was astonished at what you can get done when you start before dawn and hustle for a couple of hours. Elegante Mother starts our holiday decorating, so I've grouped her things together to make it easier to find them. I have several boxes of table decorations, the nativity set, a box of ribbons, and two boxes of wreath making materials. The lights have been grouped in one area, and the wrapping paper is in another, and tree decorations in yet another. This year I may look into the boxes that exist for paper storage. I can save space, and protect the paper, too.

The Easter decorations were easy to organize. I have two boxes of bunnies, baskets, plastic eggs, and a stuffed rabbit that reminds me a little of Bugs Bunny. I still have a little reorganization of the shelves left to do, but that won't take more than 10 or 15 minutes tops.

In the opposite corner of the basement, we've stored business records from 1986 to 2005. I spent some time thinking about those boxes and decided we could make better use of the space. I moved a few things, to get a feel for what's there, and then dragged Dear Husband downstairs after dinner to get his help. Of course, it's never possible to do things my way, but I can deal with his modifications if they give us the chance to clean and organize the area. The boxes from 1986 to 1989 have been removed from the wall so that we can sort through them for contracts and tax documents, and we can pitch the rest.

In one pile, we are collecting outdated software and manuals. In another, I'll be gathering computer hardware. We have several computers that either need to be rebuilt or thrown out. There's no point in storing them if we're not going to use them, and there's an area drop off one Saturday a month for electronic stuff.

The most difficult part of this process is not having a dumpster where I can collect things as I clean. It's going to take a LONG TIME to clean this basement if it has to be done one garbage can at a time! But, at least we've made a start.

Sunday, Dear Husband is giving up a day on the water to take Elegante Mother and me to the races. We have never been to Arlington Park Race Track in Arlington Heights. Actually, I've never been to any kind of horse race. I've never bet on the ponies, so this will be a new experience for me.

I downloaded some information on betting, and realized right away that we will be confining our betting to "Win, Place or Show" bets. And, we will most likely be making very small wagers, given that we know nothing about the horses or the condition of the track.

Basically, we're going to have a great afternoon, doing something new. I'm encouraging Elegante Mother to wear one of her red hats! It will be like the Ascot races at Arlington. *G*

I was surprised Wednesday to receive a package of gifts from a friend in Scotland. June and I have not met, but we have a lot in common, including a love of quilting. Two years ago I was planning a visit to Scotland that was postponed, but still hope to get there and meet June.

As I opened the package, it felt like Christmas! There was a red plaid tote bag, a package of heather seeds, a tea towel with Scottish sayings and their English translations, an English quilting magazine, a tray with drawings of Scottish castles, and a very long letter and post cards bringing me up to date with the news at her house. My office work simply stopped while I opened everything and read the letters.

June has sent me some of the most wonderful calendars of Scotland. She knows I'd love to visit and see her homeland personally, so she sends bits and pieces of it to tide me over until I get there. I wish I was as clever as she is in sending gifts. I've sent quilting magazines, and a few things from Chicago, but I've been rather stymied about what to send. It hasn't occurred to me that I could send things from all over the USA, and not just from the area where I live. DUH!!
I'm open to suggestions, if you have any to share.

There were two more things in my goodie bag that have me grinning. They are coasters, but not just any coasters. The first gives the word "teuchter" and it's definition: (choo-chter) Dialect, chiefly Scot. -n 1. (trad.) one who derives from the Highlands of Scotland (a Hielander); more commonly used by city folk to describe rural dwellers. 2. Gaelic-speaker (mostly to each other) esp. at strange Gatherings known as Mods. [definitely not Rockers] Occasionally partakes of a wee dram. (also heuchter teuchter). (June, does this describe Michael??? *G*)

The second coaster just cracks me up. It's a picture of a Scottish woman from the past, in a long dress or skirt, with a plaid over-skirt or apron, and a cape, using a head strap to carry a mammoth woven basket on her back. The caption to the left of the picture says "Does ma bum look big in this?"

I've found a picture of the design that's been used on "couthie cards," which must be note cards. Scroll down to where it says "Big Bum Cards" and click on the image. Each time I see this lady I just have to grin!

June, thank you, SO much for your generosity, and for my daily grins! *G*

"Hair, hair, hair, hair, hair, hair, hair
Flow it, show it
Long as God can grow it
My hair

I want it long, straight, curly, fuzzy
Snaggy, shaggy, ratty, matty
Oily, greasy, fleecy
Shining, gleaming, streaming
Flaxen, waxen
Knotted, polka-dotted
Twisted, beaded, braided
Powdered, flowered, and confettied
Bangled, tangled, spangled, and spaghettied!"

From the lyrics for the song "Hair," from the musical of the same name.

I had my hair permed on Saturday. The first few days after a perm I strongly resemble Ralph the Dog of Muppets fame. If you click on the link, Ralph is in the top row, slightly to the left of center. My hair is a bit darker now than when I was twenty (at least most of it is...) when the sun bleached it, and highlighted the copper strands. Immediately after a perm, I have a head full of tight brown curls.

At this point in the life of my perm, I tend to think "Thank God nothing lasts forever!" As the perm is trimmed and starts to loose some of it's curl, I complain "WHY in the world can't I get my perms to last longer!

This entry was brought to you by "The Old Hair Blues." *G*

I was astonished to learn that Carlos Zambrano, of my beloved Cubs, is worth 91.5 MILLION DOLLARS over a five year period. That's 18.3 million dollars a year for each of those five years. He works roughly seven or eight months a year, playing a game, and he earns more money than I will ever see in my lifetime.

Please, PLEASE tell me why someone who plays baseball is worth that kind of money, when teachers are begging for contracts that let them keep up with the cost of living.

Please tell me why a baseball player can earn so much, when we have soldiers whose families are on welfare because they are not home to support them. And, those same soldiers are putting their lives on the line because our government says it doesn't have the money to adequately cover them with Kevlar.

I enjoy listening to the Cub games. I think Zambrano has been good for the Cubs, despite his recent loosing streak. But, when did we decide that entertainment was so valuable? Personally, I'd think twice about paying for a ticket these days. My money could be put to better use helping my own family, or helping others.

I was on a website today where tickets are sold. My niece wants to take a friend to a Cub game. I discovered that tickets were on sale for a range of prices from $44 to $975, with two seats on the infield going for $10,000 EACH!! When did this get so out of hand.

I'm really glad that I'm not addicted to sports. It might matter to me not to be able to go, but thrift, frugality, and just plain common sense matter more to me than wasting my money this way!

The weather is glorious! It's warm, but not TOO warm. It's sunny and it's just lovely out. I set my alarm for 6:00 to get an early start on the weeding. Unfortunately, I managed to stall until close to 7:30 before going out, but I still got some very important work done on the gardens. I'll have to water before I continue tomorrow morning.

We've purchased our first chrysanthemums for the season. Elegante Mother picked out a huge pot of red-violet mums, and I chose the burnished bronze color. I also have three small pots of burgundy blooms, and two of that cheery yellow. They'll help stretch the bloom season where other plants have gone fallow for the year.

Yesterday, My-Sister-The-Nurse came over and we went the the Wheaton French Market. Since Wheaton has a Farmer's Market on Thursday, we weren't sure what to expect, but we had a fabulous time!

Three aisles with booths on either side filled a small parking lot downtown. We found flowers, incredible jewelry, fruits and veggies, inventive decorative wrought-iron plant stands, odds and ends of things, and bakeries.....oh my god! the bakeries!

Since MSTN is addicted to bread, she thought she'd died and gone to heaven! Unfortunately, we didn't have enough arms to carry everything we would have liked to buy, so our purchases had to be limited, but I think we might have bought enough between us to start our own bakery booth.

We both want to go back to buy wrought-iron plant holders. There was one that was an outline of a pumpkin in a darker brown (sort of rusty) look, that was slightly larger than a basketball, and a companion piece that was smaller, that we both wanted. The pumpkin was hinged so that the top half opened out and you could put a large plant in the center and have it grow through the iron ribs. MSTN saw a metal chair that looked as though it had been painted a light blue over white, a chair that might have been used to feed a toddler 60-70 years ago. She thought it would make the perfect plant stand for her front doorway.

I'm not sure just what baked goods MSTN bought, but I came away with a long, narrow French baguette encrusted with salt crystals, a long narrow pretzel loaf, and a hand crafted loaf of light rye encrusted with all kinds of seeds!. I bought apricot Kolache for EM, and a slab of apple slices, oh.....and a focaccia! The next booth was the mushroom booth, and it turns out they are the same company I purchase mushrooms from at the Farmer's Market I usually attend. This booth had a refrigerated jar of five cheese spread with garlic. You could take a chunk of pretzel loaf and smear it with this spread, or put the spread on hot pasta. You could split the bread and spread it with the cheese and heat it. And the guy selling it said that you could just eat a bit on bread with a glass of wine at the end of the day, and that picture is what sold me! *G*

One booth had baby clothes. Since my step-daughter is having her second baby in a month or so, I browsed, and ended up buying a long-sleeved onsie with a wonderful pumpkin painted on the chest. I figure the baby will be my little "Punkin!" *S* I hope her mother likes the onsie as much as I do.

We patted dogs and compared notes with other shoppers, and finally, after buying a HUGE bouquet of red lilies and eucalyptus, it was time to head back to the car. Sis treated me to iced tea and an almond-toffee square at Starbuck's, and we took our things home to share with Mother.

So that EM wouldn't be left out, we all went to Red Lobster for lunch. EM hardly eats enough to keep a mouse alive, and she wanted lobster. We tried to order one of the small, 7 ounce lobster tails, but we ended up with the BIG one. That's okay. This is one meal that EM will eat as leftovers. We'll reheat part of it with butter for one meal, and I'll make lobster salad for her with the rest. One lovely side effect of the lunch was that I didn't have to cook dinner! YEA!
And, even better, I got to talk with my sister. We almost NEVER have quality time alone, so this was the perfect day!

I spent a lazy late afternoon, loving up the cat and reading mail. I napped for a few minutes, and then caught a second wind and sat down to quilt. I'm making good progress. Now that I have twelve granny squares to send to Shelly for Share A Square, I need to concentrate on getting this quilt finished and off the frame. If I stick with it for the next two days, I'll have two-thirds of the quilt finished!

Gardening was wonderful this morning. I liked the look from the front door, so I took a picture that will pop up elsewhere one day. I did some dead heading, moved some pots around, ripped out catnip that was well past it's prime, and cut florets off the basil in a last ditch effort to keep those wonderful plants producing usable leaves. Later I'll have to harvest cherry and pear tomatoes.

It's good to catch up. I hope you all have as beautiful a day as we're having. Happy Labor Day!

I know that Bogie doesn't want to hear about this, but the signs are beginning to mount in the Chicago area........Fall is coming.

1 The goldfinches are eating the seeds from the heads of the purple coneflowers.

2. The bean fields are beginning to show some yellow areas. (A good time to do a little aerial photography.!

3. School is IN!

4. The cat keeps bringing in burrs on his fur.

5. Young maple trees have started to change color

6. The Thyme and Basil plants are flowering.

7. We've bought our first chrysanthemums for the year.

8. and I've felt the crisp air of Fall one day two weeks ago....a harbinger of the cool air to come!

I'm not pushing to get to winter, but these are all things we've seen at Casa Buffy. I don't do well in the heat, despite the fact that I love the growing season. Spring and Fall are more comfortable times of year for me. Besides.....like Bogie, I'm tired of watering the plants!

Have you been crocheting in your spare time?

I want you to keep in mind that Shelly, at This Eclectic Life, is still looking for 6" granny squares for afghans for kids attending cancer care camp next summer. This is a wonderful project that will let you use up your scraps of yarn. There is a button on my blog that will take you to Shelly's post about the program. Scroll down and click on the button that says "Share a Square" for more information.

Shelly, the Senior Exercise group came through with 39 more squares. I mailed them off on Saturday morning.

And......I have seven more ready to send.

Folks, Shelly is only about a third of the way to all the squares she needs. Please help her reach her goal!

Okay....we've had enough rain for a bit. I'd like for you Texans....and citizens of Kansas (Kansans??) to keep those storms to yourself!

Last week we had quite a bit of rain. Thursday brought storms with high winds and a few tornadoes were sighted in the Chicago area. Normally storms don't bother me, but these were quite aggressive. Our personal computer is on a trestle table next to a wall of windows, and I felt that it was prudent to turn off the computer and move to an area where there would be less chance of flying glass, should a tree decide to take flight.

I actually moved Elegante Mother into her bathroom temporarily, for the same reason. I'm not sure that I can get her down the stairs to the basement, and we certainly can't do it in a speedy manner. If the weather is sufficiently dangerous, we might attempt it, but I'd need enough warning to have the time to make it happen. Her bathroom was the next best choice, and my dressing room would be even better, if we added chairs.

At any rate, we have made it through, without loosing electricity or any other services. We don't have any standing water, and the plants and weeds are in hog heaven! I'm a bit superstitious about mentioning it, but the basement is dry. (I didn't say that......don't mind me, I'm just a little rain cloud passing by.)

We normally have about four inches of rain in August. We had four inches of rain on Thursday alone. The northern third of the Chicago area has been hit much harder than we have. They are not only coping with the results of Thursday's storms, they also have to deal with the flow of water out of Wisconsin that has brought streams and rivers to past the flood stage. And all this came at a time when schools were ready to open.

On my way to exercise on Friday, I had to cross an old bridge that is under reconstruction. The crews have taken out the two westbound lanes and moved all the traffic onto the two remaining lanes. After the bridge collapse in Minnesota, I've been a little wary of the bridge, but Friday I could see that the river was up almost to the road bed, which made the situation worse. As I drove across, I was trying to think what to do, should I find my car quickly sinking into the river, and maybe even being pushed downstream. Luckily, there was no problem.

It looks as though we have two dry days to start the week, and then Wednesday is supposed to be wet, again. Thank you, Mother Nature, for the blessing or rain. Now, could we stop before I grow webbed feet??

It's time to play Taps for the elm tree that resides off the southwest corner of our house. Last year it looked sickly, and it didn't make it through the incredibly harsh January weather. Now, when you look past our house toward the west, you see a crown of bare branches. I'll try to remember to take a picture to add to this post later.

The tree service will be here at 7:30 to do their magic. It's very difficult to come to the point where we have to admit we've lost a tree, but this one is a potential danger. Since it is SO large, I've hired the service, rather than waiting for Dear Husband to try his hand at bringing it down. It would take him all winter to cut this up by himself, and I'd be in fear for the new roof, and our skylights while he did it.

We've lived here close to eighteen years, and the changes to the trees and shrubs have been quite amazing to watch. The grove is a bit sparse now. I can see the outline of the neighbor's houses to the west. As trees have died out, shrubs have moved in to fill those spaces, so we still have a wall of green to the west of the house. Someone with an unlimited budget could make quite a showplace of our grounds. We prefer to leave them closer to natural, so that the wildlife has a home.

My job this morning is to weed, and listen to chain saws. I'm also taking bets. How long do you think it will be, before Dear Husband notices that the tree is gone???

....or, at least I will tomorrow. We're all fine, just busy. There hasn't been anything so earthshaking that it can't wait a few hours more.

I hope you've all been well while I've been away from the blog scene. I'll try to post and visit to see what you've all been up to.

Do you sense fall coming??

Actually this post is not only about friendship, but Amish bread.

One of my friends from the Senior Exercise class came to class about ten days ago, carrying four plastic bags with what looked like tan gravy. I didn't get to join Senior Exercise without having been around for a while, and I knew what was coming. She shared with me a cup of starter for Amish bread.

I've been babying it for the past week and a half, "mushing" it for five days, adding ingredients and mushing for five more. Today was the day I was to add more ingredients and divide it up into four bags, plus starter for my own loaves. I had a clever plan. I was going to spring the bags on my Mother's Empty Nester group. I was sure I could find four women who would take them off my hands, if only to dispose of them! *S*

Unfortunately, my day went awry from the start, and the bags didn't get divided until this evening. I planned to bake my bread early tomorrow morning, until I realized that I need a box of instant vanilla pudding to complete the loaf. Drat! It's always something!

I know, I was going to talk about friendship, too. Isn't it amazing what we do for friends? Our children are in their thirties and forties. We don't have any school age kids right now. We have one three year old granddaughter, and another on the way, so we are in between the ages when kids need to sell things for school, Brownies, band....whatever fundraiser is front and center. My extended family and our friends know that we are an easy touch for their little salesmen. Say the words "Girl Scout Cookies," and we are on a mission to make that child the top seller in their council!

For the adults, we've done Pampered Chef, Longaberger Baskets, Southern Living at Home, makeup and all sorts of other parties. We purchase garbage can liners, and hoagies, geraniums, and theater tickets. The list is endless. So, it makes sense that we accept the starter for Amish bread. Think about it. We're receiving a gift. Yes, it takes a little effort, but we don't have to pay cash for anything, and you could keep all the starter to yourself, bake ten loaves of bread and freeze it, and have the jump on holiday gifts! (At least, YOU could....I have to wait until we replace the dead freezer in my garage. (sigh)).

It seems to be a little thing to do to maintain our community of friends. I'm sure there are those of you who are forthright, and announce, "I don't cook! Please don't ask me." That's okay. I bet you help out in other ways. I rather like the idea of each of us baking bread. I want to see all the variations that come, as each baker adds her own extra ingredients.

So, if you don't bake, be happy that you don't live near me. I have these four bags of starter just begging to visit my friend's houses!

If you DO bake.....come for lunch, and you can tell me how you plan to personalize your Amish bread.

Finish center seam on Birds in the Air Quilt
Add borders to Halloween Quilt
Stitch the backing for those two quilts
Box up tops, batting and backing and send them to the machine quilters

Stretch and pin baste two lap quilts for the bazaar and quilt them

Make my bed, clear off the sewing table, file away hand quilting equipment

Wash vases and return them to mudroom storage
Put away kitchen decorations and spices.
Make Summer Salad for Brunch
Take EM to Empty Nester's Brunch

Finish two granny squares for Shelly (Share a Square)

Weed (but not today....it's raining)

Loaf a little.....watch a movie on TV, read a book....snooooooooooooze. It's a rainy day. What can I tell you??

Elegante Mother is recuperating from another bout of that dreadful cold. We've gone through this two or three times now. In May, she proclaimed that she had never felt so bad before, and I believed her. She got over whatever this upper respiratory gunk this is, only to get it again from one of my sisters.

She was coming along, slowly, when I decided it might be a good idea for the doc to see her. We try to avoid pneumonia at all costs. So, we made the appointment and visited with Doc. G.

He said that she was doing fine, but he wanted her to take two different inhalers. If the "cold" hadn't abated over the weekend, she was to consider having a prescription for antibiotics filled. She was very well last weekend, and then she had a little relapse on Monday. I finally had the antibiotic filled on Wednesday. EM had taken one, when the doc called to say that he wanted to change which antibiotic she was taking. So....back to the pharmacy.

EM was better right after she put the first pill in her mouth. You and I know it doesn't work that way (usually...) but she showed definite improvement. I don't know how to prove it, but I think that taking a pill, and knowing she had a follow-up appointment with the doctor was all she needed to be well. I think she did the hard work all on her own, but she was willing to give the credit to the drugs.

I'm keeping an eye on her, checking to see if she took her medication at the right time. It's also my job to be sure that she eats before she takes the antibiotic.

I'll be glad when we wind down this session and I can spend my time on other, equally important, things!

Two-thirds of my house is disrupted. My absolute favorite contractor, our painter, was here today, to paint the kitchen and mudroom.

Last night I made a good dinner for Dear Husband and then dropped the bomb. "DH, you're going to have to help me move everything in the kitchen and mudroom. Of course we didn't move cabinets or such, but you'd be amazed at how much we had crammed into those two spaces. Pictures, wreaths, a microwave and a bread maker, my tea cup collection, books and magazines, mail, two occasional tables, wastebaskets, wine, detergent, and a collection of vases that has been growing for 18 years, were moved to into three other rooms We also had to move all of DH's "stuff" off the mudroom counter. He has a collection of plans, tools, a phone, and sailing caps that claim about half of the counter.

There were a few things that had to be moved this morning, but the lion's share was done last night, along with several loads of laundry. I'm going to leave everything just as it is, until Dear Husband returns from sailing, and then we will work together to put it back. One exception is washing all the vases. Since everything has been moved out, I've taken the opportunity to get a jump on my Fall cleaning. I'm going to sort through the vases, pitch some and wash some, and clean the top of the cabinet before we return what I plan to keep

My painter is SO GOOD that he even cleaned under the washer and drier for me, and believe me, they NEEDED it!

The rooms look bright, and I've always thought paint was a "clean" smell. I'm glad we were able to spruce things up.

He got the ball rolling right after dinner last night. I would have liked to sit a bit longer, but he knew that it was going to take until bedtime to get everything done.

...we have rain!

It's been promised for several days, and never panned out. It was gray and the clouds promised rain this morning, but it didn't finally come until 1:30 or so. The air outside is COOL! I'd forgotten just how lovely air cooled by Mother Nature can feel. I'm tired of the need to be indoors most of the day just to deal with the heat. I'm ready for Fall!

Almost all my family qualifies to be called "Clothes Horses." Most of them also qualify to be called "Fashionistas," too. My youngest niece, who will be 17 in just two months, may now be the leader of the pack!

This weekend the ladies of the family decided that they would do a little shopping. We all got ready and headed for the car, and I was amazed at what she chose to wear. I SO wish I had a picture, because she was beautiful, and trendy, while still having a very personal look.

Her astonishingly curly long hair was piled up on top of her head. She had boutique sun glasses that made quite a statement. She was wearing a plum ribbed knit skinny top, and stovepipe jeans that looked like they were painted on her size 2, five-foot nine or ten-inched frame. I think there was a fashion belt and a jacket, too, but I've forgotten what they looked like. She wore a long strand of turquoise beads with two tight wraps around her neck and one long drop of beads.

But what blew me away were the shoes. These shoes had high heels, perhaps three inches, spike heels, not the platform kind. The toes were pointed, and there was a little decorative strap-like piece across the opening over the top of her foot. And the shoes were turquoise to match the beads!

I have given up heels. Since Dear Husband is shorter than I am, it was a kindness at first to him that I gave them up. But, as time passed, it became a kindness to me that I no longer had to squeeze my feet into fashionable shoes and hobble around painfully. Yes, there are times when my outfit cries out for heels, but I no longer care. The ability to walk is more important than the need to be fashionable. So, when I looked at her feet, the first thing that came to mind was, "You're going SHOPPING in those shoes???"

She smiled at me, and acknowledged that it might hurt, but she really needed to have that pulled together look. Heck....she's not even 17 yet. She'll learn in time, and she'll enjoy herself along the way.

I can't wait to see what she's wearing the next time I see her! *G*

Too often, we get wrapped up in our lives, trying to deal with all the appointments, and chores and surprises that come our way, and I think we forget about the simple things in life.

Here are some of the simple things that have brightened my day, today.

There is a German-style bakery/restaurant in a small town in Indiana that is on the way to my sister's house. We feel compelled to stop there whether going to visit, or returning home. They have the most amazing loaf of cinnamon bread! The night shift baker must roll the bread out to paper thickness, about five feet long. Then he spreads it with this wonderful cinnamon-sugar mixture, and rolls it up to make a loaf that will eventually be six or seven inches high. Each bite of the bread is filled with that lovely cinnamon taste. Nan and her family brought us a loaf of that bread, and we finished it off this morning. What a lovely way to start the day!

Speaking of sisters, I suspect that she, or one of her family members, picked up the weeds for me. I was weeding the front beds last week, and got to the point of gathering them up when I ran out of steam, and time. So there they sat as my guests arrived. I tried to ignore them, hoping that Dear Husband would save me and take the weeds to the back. Uh-uh. As I left for exercise yesterday, I noticed the weeds and the wheelbarrow had disappeared! Someone......was VERY good to me. Thank you, Secret Santa!

It's been a pleasure to wake up to an overcast day, with the promise of more RAIN!! YEA!!! WE GOT RAIN!!! We seem to have broken the pattern of only one rainy day a month, at the very end of the month, and the plants are thrilled! I'm not good about hooking up the hoses and letting them run. We are only allowed to use sprinklers on even days, and I can never keep in mind when it's my turn. I can, and do, water with a hand-held hose and watering wand, to keep the gardens going until Mother Nature comes through. We really needed the kind of soaking rain that goes into the soil, rather than running off, and I think we've had at least two sessions like that in the past four days. We're hoping for more, today, so that the trees get the drink they need.

What simple things please you, today? A baby's kiss, a child's hug, help around the house, patient drivers? We just need to think about the simple things to brighten our days.

This is just to remind you that Shelly at "This Eclectic Life" is looking for people to crochet 6" granny squares for afghans for kids going to cancer camp next summer. If you know how to crochet, or know someone who crochets, won't you please stitch a square and send it on?

There's a button somewhere on this page that says "Share a Square." Click on it, and it will take you to Shelly's blog for all the information you need.

Shelly, I have perhaps fifty more squares from my exercise group to send. I have to count them all. I'll try to get them into the mail on Monday morning.

And, I bought more yarn, so I'll be sending a few more of my own. Good luck with your project!

I'm pressed for time today. My sister, Nancy, and her family are coming to visit for the weekend. YEA!!! The house is clean, most of my weeding is done. I have some office work to finish and shopping to do before they arrive. Would it be too, too mean to have the scent of chocolate cupcakes wafting through the house as they walk in the door?? *G*

We have two silo type feeders hanging from a flower "crook" at the back door of the garage. I can see the feeders if I am at the kitchen sink, or if I'm working on laundry. These feeders carry the medium chipped sunflower hearts that just about all our visitors (feathered or furred!) like. This morning I saw two house finches at those feeders, and realized that the house finches have been missing for the better part of two months. Usually we are inundated with them, but they have been conspicuously absent. I wonder if they went further north to try to find a cooler, wetter habitat?

I have been piecing blocks for two Birds in the Air Quilts. There are pictures of the blocks in the late July archives. I started out making 70 blocks with red, green and a range of neutrals for what I hope will be a quilt I can use to decorate the couch this Christmas. True to form, I cut enough patches for probably three quilts, so I cut MORE patches, this time in a range of mid to dark blue, to make a lap quilt for the church bazaar. All the blocks (110 in all) are finished and ironed open. Now, I need to lay them out on the floor so that I can decide how to assemble the quilts. I may put my visitors to work on this. As soon as the larger top is done, I can send it off to be quilted. AND, I have the outer border and backing for the Halloween quilt, and I could finish the border and send that, too! I LOVE it when a plan comes together!

I've been reading about how to keep day lilies blooming. It seems that there are varieties, like "Stella d'Oro" that will bloom all season. The trick to keeping them blooming is to dead head every other day, and to clip off the spent stalks. This may work for some of my other day lilies, so I need to get out into the gardens again to do some pruning. I think the perennial salvia would re-bloom, too, so it's going to be snip, snip, snip!

I get to go out to lunch on Saturday with the ladies of my family, and again with my favorite CPA on Tuesday. When it rains, it pours (so you know how often I get to go out to lunch)!

Speaking of rain.....we SO need the rain! I know there are lots of places where you're praying for dry. Please send that rain our way. August is going to be hell if the drought keeps up like this. (You can check, but I think I've had the same complaint for the past three Augusts.)

Did I mention that we saw one of my nephews perform in "The Fantastiks?" I am SO impressed at what high school kids are doing these days. This was an amazingly polished performance. All nine actors (incoming Freshman thru incoming Senior) did a fine job, well above what I might have expected. This particular school is only four years old, and it has an exceptional theater department. We're lucky that my nephew lives in that school district. He has been in every single performance that has been staged since the school opened.

Sooooooooo....I need to do some accounting, clear off my desk, shop, and get those cupcakes in the oven. I hope all of you have a great weekend, doing whatever makes your heart happy!

(checking the chin.....tsking at the eyelids...) Yeah, I could use one, but that's not what I wanted to talk about.

I've asked my host at RedEagleSpirit about making some changes. I know that the photos I want to post don't come through well over my beloved Lone Star Quilt background, so I've been thinking about making some changes. Actually, there are a couple of options. We could do a photo blog, or we can change the background of the blog, or we can do both.

Since I put my blogging life in ~T~'s hands, I can't tell you exactly what we will be doing, but you want to be ready for some changes. Variety is the spice of life. I'm glad that ~T~ is open to the work needed to make changes now and then. I need all the help I can get to keep from becoming a stick in the mud.

So.....don't be surprised, it will still be me "talkin" to ya!

Do you see the button to the right, at the top of the sidebar? It has the power to take you to a blog where wonderful things are happening.

Sherry at This Eclectic Life has a goal she is trying to reach, and she needs our help. She would like to make an afghan made of crocheted Granny Squares for every child who will be attending Cancer Camp in Ft. Worth, Texas next summer. To accomplish this, she needs thousands of granny squares, and that's where you come in.

Would you click on the button, and go read what she hopes to accomplish and then send her at least one granny square? The squares should be five rounds, six inches, and made of whatever washable yarn you have to donate. Patterns for the squares and instructions for the simple stitches can be found on-line.

I've asked the members of my exercise class to help, and Elegante Mother's Empty Nester sewing group. I've asked family members to contribute. If you can't crochet, Sherry will accept a six inch knitted square. If you share the word, then many hands will make the work light.

Mailing information is given on Sherry's blog. Perhaps you can spread the word for your contacts and be the collector and mailer of the squares. Our goal is to get them to Sherry in August. She's received 634 of the 6720 she needs.

I have seven made from two kinds of variegated yarn.

I hope to make several more in the more traditional pattern with a different color for each round. This type of work is very portable. You can carry it with you and work on it anywhere you have to wait for a bit.

Won't you please help?

I dream of an old "B" movie, set out in the desert, where a colony of gigantic ants is nesting.....

"Them" is a 1954 movie that warned of the dangers of atomic bomb testing.

Unfortunately, after a hiatus, we are once again inundated by ants. It's Dear Husband's job to deal with them. He has his ant-killing dowel rod. He humanely squashes them flat, and then leaves them for the other ants to get the message that this is not a safe place to visit. Frankly, I don't care to have piles of ant carcases littering my floor. Luckily, other ants will come and collect those bodies. We assume there is a little ant cemetery somewhere in the basement.

Probably the only good aspect of this invasion is that I have help cleaning up after dinner. We don't leave food out to tempt visitors, and anything found with an ant in it gets pitched. There was one in my iced tea the other day. YUCK!!!!

There's an ant crawling on my monitor. What could be there to interest it?? I'd hope that it somehow gets fried in the computer, but with my luck that would make the computer crash. Go AWAY, Ant!

NOW HEAR THIS! I want all ants, and all spiders...for that matter, ALL BUGS to be off the premises by 5:00 tonight! Pack yer bags guys and GIT!

Do you consider yourself to be a "High Maintenance" type of person?

I've been pondering this subject the past few days. I'm not sure I understand the complete scope of "high maintenance."

Of course, there are women who expect lots of BLING, and clothing and cars to maintain that image. I consider that to be HM.

But, there has to be an aspect to high maintenance that doesn't involve material things. For instance, is the expectation that one's husband will be nice to his in-laws high maintenance?

Is expecting to be given coffee in bed before you start the day HM?

Is hogging the conversation, or jabbering away HM?

What about assuming that your spouse will share the household duties?

Does a partner pursuing their own interests, taking time away from your relationship and your family constitute HM?

What about the high-powered businessman who comes home to sleep, and turns around and goes back to work.....is HE HM?

I'm not really sure I know the definition, and I'd like a little help. From your perspective, what makes a high maintenance partner?

I'd never heard the term "high maintenance" used in reference to a wife or girl friend until I started chatting on-line what feels like centuries ago, but must be about seven or eight years past. I have a friend from that era who would proudly tell you that she's high maintenance. Dear Husband and I traveled to visit this lady and her family, as well as some of our other on-line friends one year, and we had the chance to hear first hand her moan of CAWWWWWWWFEEEEEEEEEEE from her bed, mid-morning after entertaining us the previous evening.

I have to be careful here (hiding a grin), because she's likely to stumble over this post, so I'm not going to give a laundry list of what it takes to maintain her. She's proud of her status, and she's still married, so that says to me that she's worth it! *G*

The phrase "High Maintenance" has continued to rumble around in my head over the years, and last night I asked Dear Husband if he considered me to be high maintenance. Let's face it, I was fishing for a compliment. I am one of the lowest maintenance women you will ever meet, at least I THINK I am. I expected Dear Husband to immediately say, "No Way!"

There was a pregnant pause....and my hackles rose a tiny bit.

Then he said, "Yes."

You'd have to know DH. He's not a wordy kinda guy. I suppose it comes from years of living with me. I don't tend to let him get many words in edgewise, one of my biggest failings. WHEN he has something to say, he says it. Otherwise, I fill up the spaces.

"Yes," was not what I wanted OR expected to hear.

So, I asked him to give me some idea of what makes me high maintenance, so that I might be able to work on it.

Another pregnant pause. (I'm starting to worry at this point. Who stole my husband's body and replaced it with this alien???)

"Weeding."

"WHAT??"

Dear Husband mows the lawn. I am responsible for the gardens. When my back is in bad shape, DH and Second Son will give me a hand moving compost and mulch. When I have wheelbarrows worth of weeds, I collect them in one spot, and HOPE the guys will take them to the back forty for me.

"Well......MOVING the weeds."

I didn't kill him. I didn't scream at him. I didn't chide him for his lack of help with the house and grounds. I restrained myself.

But I did suggest to him that I wasn't high maintenance, but that the WEEDS WERE!

And I went off to play at my sewing machine.

This coming Saturday, we are going to hear the Lt. Dan Band at Cantigny in Wheaton, Illinois. Lt. Dan is the character in the movie Forrest Gump played by Gary Sinease. Sinease has formed a band to raise funds for our troops.

Dear Husband came home more than a month ago and told me that he had seen something advertising the concert, and asked if I'd like to go. We surfed to find more about it, and ordered the tickets. My youngest sis will be visiting that night, and she's going to go with us.

I'm looking forward to a lovely evening on the grounds of Cantigny, sitting in lawn chairs, listening to the band. It's a beautiful setting, and the band should be great!

Rock on!!!!

It's almost as dark at 8:30 this morning as it will be at 8:30 tonight. I was up early, did a few chores, and went out to weed. Unfortunately, Mother Nature says we are FINALLY going to get some rain. So far, it's been rather light and spotty. I COULD have kept weeding, I suppose, but I have a few other things to do before a meeting at 10:00. I checked the radar and some major storms are working this way, so we may get the rain we desperately need, yet.

Elegante Mother is hosting her Empty Nester Sewing group this afternoon. We're all set up to receive them. I'll bet you anything that there will be a major downpour when they arrive!

I have an eye exam this afternoon. (So does Dear Husband. I made his appointment when I made mine.) I'm looking forward to it. I've had a minor problem with the form of conjunctivitis that is allergy related, and I can't shake it. I hope Doc K will not only have a way to resolve this, but sharpen my eyesight, too.

Sooooo.....I'd best get on to the rest of my day. "Good Day" to you all! *S*

If you do, I hope you will visit two blogs to learn about a project that involves granny squares.

Janet, at Life in Westcliffe, has a blogging friend who is asking people to donate 6" granny squares to be used to make afghans for kids who will attend cancer camp next summer.

Janet has jumped in whole-heartedly, and you can see the results of her efforts over at her blog today. She inspired me, so I started making the squares and hope to have five or six to share.

But....beyond my own work, I've asked the ladies at my exercise group, my mother and several other relatives, and two of my blogging friends, if they would be interested in participating in this endeavor. I've heard a resounding "YES!" from everyone! I'm going to ask my mother's Empty Nester group if they would do blocks, too.

The idea is that a LOT of people contributing make the load light.

Go read what Shelly has to say about what they need. If you go to the main page, you'll find a button to click to "Share a Square", but the link here should take you directly to that page in her blog. She is accepting the squares, and finding people to assemble them into afghans. They are doing the lion's share of the work. All we have to do is make a square or two and mail them off. You can make a square while you watch your favorite TV show, or while you sit and talk to your sister, or while you wait at the doctor's office. Use yarn that you have on hand, as long as it's washable, in any color.

This is the best kind of generosity, to me. First, the exercise for your hands is GREAT! This is going to keep your hands mobile, longer. Secondly, you get to use up scraps of yarn that might otherwise go to waste. Remember, "Use it up, wear it out, make it do, or do without." Let's not make these kids "Do Without." Let's show them that we care, and that they have our prayers and best wishes.

Join us, won't you? Share a Square!

My youngest sister, and her daughter, who live in the wilds of Indiana, came to visit for the weekend. We were lucky that they were able to fit most of three days into their schedule because we wanted to celebrate our niece's eighteenth birthday!

We asked her what she wanted to do. Her requests were amazingly reasonable. She wanted us to go with her to the mall nearest us so that she could shop. She wanted to eat pot-stickers at a restaurant that's just a few miles from us, and when we offered, she also wanted to see the new Harry Potter movie.

It's roughly a 4 hour trip when they come to visit (five going home, because of the change in time zones). They arrived about 2:00 on Friday. We chatted, got dinner ready and then my sis, my niece and I piled into the car to accomplish the shopping trip. We split up, agreeing to meet at the same place in an hour, and my sister gave me their cell phone numbers, just in case anything happened. I am SO not into technology. I should have had my niece put the numbers into the phone and show me how to retrieve them.

At any rate, I had a battery put into my watch, picked up what I needed, and started back to our meeting place. I was one door away from my goal when I realized my sister was still shopping in the first place she had entered, and things were going great! She was so excited about what she'd found that everyone in the store was infected with her pleasure. She found the most incredible linen jacket that paired perfectly with pants she already had. Then she added several tops and a skirt for an incredible range of mix and match in mostly neutrals or earth tones. The best part of it all was that she got seven wonderful items for SIXTY-FIVE DOLLARS! Gawd, can that woman shop!

My niece also did well. She found a top that went with things she already had, and proudly wore it Saturday. It's the cutest design that only a young woman could wear well....sort of a bustier with a halter top and wide lapel, in red and white plaid, and black. Really cute!

Saturday started early. I had a hair cut at 8:00, so I made everyone get up early to go to breakfast at 6:30. While I was being clipped, Dear Husband drove the ladies around to see some of the jobs that our company has just finished. When they got home, my sister took my mother to the mall, to the same shop where she had been the night before. I think the two of them must have bought everything in the shop! Lunch was a pick-up affair. If you were hungry, you ate. If you were not hungry, you held out for theater popcorn.

We were able to get tickets at the Omni-Max for Harry Potter. We sat at the very top of the theater, which was considerably smaller than I thought it would be. I'm guessing, but I think there might have been 200 seats. We enjoyed the movie. My niece and I discussed the changes and omissions from the book, but agreed we liked what they had done.

Despite the popcorn, we headed out to dinner around 5:00. Pot stickers were the appetizer of choice, and I think we should have ordered one more tray of them! *G* We were all so full that we brought home FIVE containers of Asian food. I don't have to cook tonight. YEAH!!

This morning we got off to a slower start. We chatted over coffee and tea. Breakfast was strung out over several hours, as everyone got what suited them, when they were ready. We tried to remember all the details that needed to be shared before parting.

I know that my family has to get back to their regularly scheduled lives, but I hate to see them go. I had a great time this weekend. Perhaps because I knew they were coming, I made more effort to get things done early for this coming week. I have a little bit of office work that has to be finished, but I'm probably more relaxed than I would have been if I had worked all through the weekend.

Thank you for coming, ladies! I had a lovely visit with you. And.....Happy 18th Birthday, sweetie! Enjoy the coming year. *S*

That's what our son, the one who was in food service, used to say when there were just too many customers to care for well.

I'm not in the real weeds, that comes later in the week. Right now, I'm chained to my desk trying to get some office work done. Next week I have the first of two audits, and it's time to be working on tax and union reports, the type of thing that won't wait.

We have a doozy of a storm headed our way. I think the bottom of it might side-swipe us. We're expecting thunderstorms throughout tomorrow, too. That will make weed pulling ever so much easier, so I'm working inside today and tomorrow, and outside on Wednesday.

My youngest sister is one to prioritize, so I'm taking a lesson from her, and trying to fit activities in where they will allow me to get the most done.

Accounts Payable, anyone?

My husband is addicted to puns. He likes the quick ones, the cheap shots. I like the long, drawn out ones that are a story with a pun as the pun-ch line, like "The beer that made Mill Famy Walk Us.

Here then, is a collection that came across my desk today. If you know who compiled these puns, please let me know. I'll be happy to give credit for the compilation.

HUMOR FOR LEXOPHILES (LOVERS OF WORDS):

I wondered why the baseball was getting bigger. Then
it hit me.

Police were called to a day care where a
three-year-old was resisting a rest.

Did you hear about the guy whose whole left side was
cut off? He's all right now.

The roundest knight at King Arthur's round table was
Sir Cumference.

The butcher backed up into the meat grinder and got
a little behind in his work.

To write with a broken pencil is pointless.

When fish are in schools they sometimes take debate.

The short fortune teller who escaped from prison was
a small medium at large.

A thief who stole a calendar got twelve months.

A thief fell and broke his leg in wet cement. He
became a hardened criminal.

Thieves who steal corn from a garden could be
charged with stalking.

We'll never run out of math teachers because they
always multiply.

When the smog lifts in Los Angeles, U.C.L.A.

The math professor went crazy with the blackboard.
He did a number on it.

The professor discovered that her theory of
earthquakes was on shaky ground.

The dead batteries were given out free of charge.

If you take a laptop computer for a run you could
jog your memory.

A dentist and a manicurist fought tooth and nail.

A bicycle can't stand alone; it is two tired.

A will is a dead giveaway.

Time flies like an arrow; fruit flies like a banana.

A backward poet writes inverse.

In a democracy it's your vote that counts; in
feudalism, it's your Count that votes.

A chicken crossing the road: poultry in motion.

If you don't pay your exorcist you can get
repossessed.

With her marriage she got a new name and a dress.

Show me a piano falling down a mine shaft and I'll
show you A-flat miner.

When a clock is hungry it goes back four seconds.

The guy who fell onto an upholstery machine was
fully recovered.

A grenade fell onto a kitchen floor in France,
resulted in Linoleum Blownapart.

You are stuck with your debt if you can't budge it.

Local Area Network in Australia: The LAN down under.

He broke into song because he couldn't find the key.

A calendar's days are numbered.

A boiled egg is hard to beat.

He had a photographic memory which was never
developed.

A plateau is a high form of flattery.

Those who get too big for their britches will be
exposed in the end.

When you've seen one shopping center you've seen a
mall.

If you jump off a Paris bridge, you are in Seine.

When she saw her first strands of gray hair, she
thought she'd dye.

Bakers trade bread recipes on a knead to know basis.


Santa's helpers are subordinate clauses.

Acupuncture: a jab well done

We had a wonderful Fourth of July celebration!

For years Elegante Mother and I have stayed home on the Fourth. EM is a tiny person, and she's rather frail now. I wasn't willing to take her into crowded areas to see fireworks, unless other family members were traveling with us. I watched the fireworks displays on T.V. and she went to bed early.

This year, I decided to ask My-Oldest-Sister-The-Nurse if we could join their celebration. Sis has five kids, and the eldest resides in Australia these days. Eldest Niece, her husband and their youngest son have been visiting, and they've been joined by their twins who are going to be sophomores in college this year. With all of MOSTN's family in one place, it seemed like the perfect time to take Elegante Mother to visit. We were even honored to have Dear Husband, who gave up half a day sailing to join us!

MOSTN has two sons who live in the same subdivision. As a matter of fact, their back yards connect, so they hosted the celebration. There was a lot of to-ing and fro-ing between the houses and games set up in the yard for all ages. The adults were playing boccie ball and a bean bag toss. The youngest kids seemed to like water sports the most; the older kids gravitated toward tossing a football, and trying to find sneaky ways to make successful passes around the opposition.

The meal was mostly potluck. Just about every salad you could want was there, and after dinner, it seemed that there was every dessert, too! The guys grilled hot dogs, hamburgers and brats. No one went hungry!

My brother and his wife joined us for the meal, and took EM and me to see their gardens. They live just a few blocks away, and the gardens were at their peak. They have a dab hand at planting. I envy them the shrubs and cypress trees, and the pergola with wisteria at the back of the house.

We settled into the shade after dinner to wait for the neighbors to shoot fireworks. EM was beginning to look tired, so we left around 8:00. The drive home was amazing. We had constant firework displays all the way home. It was delightful!

I'm pleased to say that my mother's youngest great-grandson was prepared to celebrate the birth of our nation. His gramma (MOSTN) had taken him to the library and he was told all about the Fourth of July, and got to read several books about the country's "birthday." He asked for, and was given, a red, white and blue "Uncle Sam" hat to wear, and they made sure the American flag waved at their house on the Fourth.

I hope that you all enjoyed time with your families, and that you remembered the reason for the day off. Whether you think we are on the right course or not, the United States is still our country and deserves our support. Happy Birthday, America!