(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*