Spring 2010

These minuscule purple flowers have been around for a few weeks. Daffodils are blooming all over the place! Our two native pear trees look like snowballs. LOOK at the camelia! Closer...Closer... And...sigh...a casualty of the winter. Overwatered. Both pots. (The ferns are dry as the Sahara desert!!??)I divided these last spring and gave the high school Agriculture department a good start for a parent plant for their annual plant sale. Good thing! I've got to buy some back for me!

Still Talking 'Bout My Blue Nickel Blog Win

You will NOT believe this! Scott put several silly little things in with my winnings. I noticed that I placed them off to one side and didn't take a photo of them because they were non-quilt or fabric related. Little wooden candy canes, two or three trading cards, a couple of playing cards. I thought his children helped but I think it was Scott.

In my high school subbing duties, I found out very quickly that not all of the teachers leave work. And many don't leave enough work to keep the students busy for the entire period. ...cross eyes here... So, I have a tote bag and carry playing cards, Uno, dominoes, Scrabble Slam, etc. (As well as the current book I'm reading or the pair of socks I'm knitting.) I picked up a deck of cards the other day and couldn't win at Solitaire. After counting the cards I found that I was one short. The 8 of Clubs. (I won't mention the cards that were torn or even had one corner ripped off.) I'm not about to buy another deck this year.

Would you believe it?! One of the cards Scott sent was the 8 of Clubs...a replacement for the missing card! He did NOT know!!Think the kids will notice? I don't really think that they will mind. The double 4 in the domino set is taped together with white tape. ;o)

I made these this week for an upcoming cruise. I already have my set from the 2008 Alaskan cruise Sam and I took. Three friends and I are going to Cozumel in April. We are sharing ONE room. LOL IF we are still speaking when we get back, we'll plan the next trip... Sam is working on my cutting table. Don't you just love it? LOL Actually, this is the mock-up. After the new floor and reconfiguration of my sewing desk, we realized that the original measurements wouldn't work. So Sam reduced the size. And, we did discuss it. I didn't realize that my cutting mat would not fit the top. He's going back to the drawing board to make the top the same size as the mat. We also discussed the height of the table. I took some stuff up to his shop and laid out the mat and some fabric on his workbench. We've lower the height of my cutting table too. The original was going to be about 2-3 inches too tall for me.

Yesterday he came into my sewing room and said, "Close your eyes and hold out your hand." I guessed what it was before opening my eyes. He said he just picked up a small piece of wood and did this freehand with his oscillating belt sander and the Dremel set I gave him for Christmas. It's my new salt spoon.

A Little of This and a Little of That

Sigh. I keep going back to this photo and wonder where that skinny young woman went?! She's still inside me screaming to get out, but a chocolate chip cookie generally shuts her up.

I cleaned out some of the clothes in my guest room closet. Guests don't have space to hang anything in there. I took my size TEN office clothes to the Christian Service Center's clothing bank. I wore those clothes 13 years ago! Before Ron died in 1996, he did the cooking for about three years. I still remember those 10 a.m. calls at the office, "What do you want for supper?" And I'd tell him what the refrigerator held and he'd choose the meal. Yeah. Funny isn't it? I still did the grocery shopping, but he did the evening meal. Anyway, he cooked like his mama. Good but fattening. After his death, I lost a couple of dress sizes and was back in a size 10. My second wedding dress was even a size 8 if you can believe that!

I was able to keep my clothing size around a size 12 until moving back to Daingerfield. And Sam decided he'd rather eat out. The 12s are still in the closet and I'm knocking on the size 16 rack in the stores. I have three pair of size 14 jeans that still zip.

I recently proved that if I eat my style, I can lose weight. I lost 7 pounds in two weeks while Sam was on that motorcycle trip around the Grand Canyon in August/September last year (and another 4 pounds when I got that horrid cold and couldn't smell or taste anything). Then, Sam got back home, and I ate out with him. I gained about 10 pounds before we even got into the holidays.

Sounds like I need to insert this photo. The COW aka Cranky Old Woman.

Since I'm griping...What's with men anyway?! Ron had a hard time falling asleep. He watched television late. I would generally find him in his recliner in the living room...cover him with a quilt if the weather warranted it...and go back to bed. But if I fell asleep watching television, he would wake me up to go to bed. What's with that?! I'm comfortable. I'm asleep. LEAVE ME ALONE.

Sam does the same thing! I am now the one who sometimes has trouble sleeping. Part of the problem right now is the thermostat is set too high during the day and it's just flat-out too hot to go to bed. Why lay in bed and sweat?! So, I kick off my house shoes and when my toes get cool, then I go to bed.

When Sam snores, I stick in the earplugs. When they don't help, I generally go to the livingroom and read. I have fallen asleep on the couch. The damn light switches on...no not by itself but with a lot of help from Sam. "What are you doing in here?" "Well. You're snoring. I couldn't sleep in there even with the earplugs. WHAT?! It's three in the morning, and I've had a whole 30 minutes of sleep and you want to know what I'm doing in here? Isn't it obvious?!" Sheesh!!!

So...the other night when he was not just snoring, but also flopping over every few minutes, I just moved across the hall. Took my pillow and earplugs with me and shut the door to the guest room behind me. I fell asleep about the time my head hit the pillow and didn't wake until 7:30. Hallelujah! I think closing the door helped. Now I have established my modus operandi...however it's spelled. Sam did ask where I went. ;o) The house is NOT that big. I told him where and why.

Change of topic. Lani on her blog, The Never Ending Adventure, mentioned giving her St. Patrick's Day earrings to a young 20something woman because she admired them. Have you ever done anything like that? Try it. You will feel so good! And you never know who is watching, and you make them feel good too. And there's just no need to mention how you will feel about yourself.

I was in one of the dollar stores one day and the young woman in front of me didn't have enough money for her debit card to cover her entire purchase. It was less than $5. I looked in her buggy...it was full of food, no junk food. She started going through it and pulled out a couple of items. I said, "No. Put it back. I'll pay the difference." After just a little persuasion, she accepted. The manager had to come up to tell the clerk how to handle the transaction. After the young woman left, the manager said something like 'that was good of you.' I shrugged and said it was only three dollars and 24 cents (whatever). He said No. It was worth more than that to her. That was good of you.

I didn't think much more about it.

A couple of days ago I was in T.J. Maxx. I love to go through the housewares and linens to see what they have. I had a pair of $30 Isotoner house shoes for $9.99 in my hand and was looking at the kitchen stuff. I love the klitchy stuff for kitchens. Very seldom buy anything but love to look. A young 20something woman turned to me and showed me the cutest sugar bowl ever! It had a bit of cutwork around the top edge, a lid, and the cutest spoon. But, alas, she couldn't get it. She already had the matching utensil canister in her hand and had to decide between the two because her husband wouldn't like her spending that much money. I noticed that she put the sugar bowl back on the shelf and left the aisle. I picked it up. $3.99.

THREE DOLLARS AND NINETY NINE CENTS! And she had to leave it. I seriously considered it myself but... I was barely aware of someone else on the aisle with me because I was digging in my purse for a $5 bill. I didn't have that, but I did have four ones. The other lady looked at me, and I explained about the girl and said that I remember being young and broke and having to pinch pennies. I found the 20something a couple of aisles over. I held my hand out and without thinking, she opened her hand. I put the money in her hand and she immediately started with a No. I handed her the sugar bowl and she had no choice but to take it too. I told her what I told the other woman about me being young and penny pinching... She looked incredulous. I then told her to do the same for someone else when she was older and had more money. As I walked back to continue my looking, I saw the other woman. She smiled and said, "You made my day." I didn't expect that.

So...Sean...Look what you missed out on! (Forget the above size 16 comment.)

More Than St. Patrick's Day!

Today is my mother's birthday. She has lived for 75 years. I've been trying to decide which photos of her to show you. Then I realized that there's one person who has known her for about 70 of those years. Her blond-haired sister. In the last photo, Mama is on the right. Both she and Aunt Ruthie have lost a considerable amount of weight since 2000.

First Sign of Spring

Don't you just love Pepé Le Pew?!One of the first signs of Spring where I live is *** our illustrious but noxious furry neighbors *** skunks *** aka polecats *** come out of hibernation. Sam and I drove to Mt. Pleasant the other day to eat catfish at David Beard's Catfish King. Sam started counting the number of black with white stripes down the center of their back roadkill. SIXTEEN! I wonder if that is going to be any indication of the number of 'them' critters we are going to have to put up with. Skunks are well known for carrying rabies. ***shudder*** We'll have to be really observant for a while.

Sam planned to do some dirt work around the house today. I took my laptop to Longview to see about getting the 'optical' drive ***aka DVD/CD drive*** replaced. The drive died early December. Sam asked a few questions at a couple of computer repair places but never took the laptop in for repair. So, I did. Only to find more information than they told him...the laptop had to be sent off for 1 1/2 to 3 weeks. WHAT?! And the estimate was over $200, closer to $300. We're talking about a laptop here. So, after a phone call to brother-in-law Elton, I brought it home with me. I'll do without the drive before spending that kind of money...and keep my eyes out for a sale on laptops.

I bought a new pair of athletic shoes at Academy...not that I'll be doing anything athletic. ;o) Then ate a Dudley's...Cajun...and had a delicious crawfish pie. OH MY! Crawfish and cheese and other good stuff in a folded over pastry sheet and fried...served with dirty rice (but not typical dirty rice cooked with innards, but made with real meat). Sooo good!