I had a dream. A man, faceless, I could only see his hands, slid a beautiful yellow gold, sapphire, surrounded by diamonds, ring on my finger. I can still see it. It was beautiful.
Then he slid another ring on my finger--dull, silver color like pewter or tin and had engraved symbols on it. It was so wide that it nearly covered the other ring and scraped against my knuckle.
It rubbing my finger and made it sore, but when I tried to get it off, it was kind of like glued to my finger and I couldn't remove it.
Anyone have a Dream Dictionary and can figure this out?
Friday, August 31, 2018
Thursday, August 30, 2018
It's alive! It's alive!
I am alive, although I have felt better.
Changing meds, a week ago. You know how that goes. It takes awhile for it to get out of your system and then, when it does, it may cause a different feeling. Dehydration. Then blood tests every other minute to see what's going on with the electrolytes. It all leaves me dizzy and disoriented and generally feeling punk. But, my friend Trudy sent me an e-mail asking if I was all right, so--I thought I'd better post.
We have had a break in the weather. 50 degrees when I woke up this morning, so it feels cold...especially after having temps in or near the 90's and humidity of 79% for the past week. So today, would be the perfect day to get outside and trim the bushes and cut back the straggly looking perennials, if I thought I could stay upright.
I finished the baby afghan last weekend. This is the one I ripped out 7 times before I could figure it out. Even then, near the top when I was on my last few rows, I found another mistake and had to rip back 10 rows. It turned out fine however, and such a fascinating way to crochet that I have never done before, that yesterday, I started another one--different words.
=====================
Aretha Franklin. Living only 60 miles north west of Detroit, my news channel is filled with tributes and interviews and on and on.
"She" arrived in a white Cadillac hearse at the place for her public viewing. In a gold casket, full open casket, dressed in a red gown and red high heels. That was Tuesday.
Wednesday, much to every one's surprise, she was dressed in a powder blue gown with blue sparkley heels.
I haven't yet heard what she is dressed in today or for her funeral tomorrow.
This means, each evening after the public viewing, the funeral home production team, takes her back to the mortuary, changes her gown, redoes her make-up and restyles her hair.
Now--if that doesn't creep you out--nothing will!
She is a big, heavy woman. I know that her gowns are cut in the back, so all they have to do is "re-wrap" her gown around her and tuck it in under her, but..........they still have to lift up that body and reposition it and....................it's dead!!!!!!!!
It's not a plastic mannequin. It's a heavy, cold, hard, dead human body.
ARGGH!!!
They say that's what she requested be done. Can we say, Super-ego, vain, haughtiness here?
To me it's just macabre and the public goes back every day to see what she's dressed in for that day. The whole think smacks of D-I-S-R-E-S-P-E-C-T to me and has turned into a media circus.
It would not surprise me if for her funeral, they have her strapped, upright in a golden throne chair as if she is sitting there witnessing all the performers paying her tributes!
=====================
On the other hand--John McCain. I have respected this man for years and years. What a servant to our country he has been. Given a chance to get out of the POW camp, he declined unless they released all his fellow prisoners. He is not without minor scandals in his life, an affair, or two. The end of his first marriage. To me, that doesn't take away my respect for what he had done in his time in Congress.
What politician hasn't had scandal? Maybe not the Bush men or Obama.
There he lays. In his flag draped simple casket, as it should be. Not to be buried in Arlington National Cemetery, where he certainly should be, but buried instead on the grounds of the Naval Academy, where he wanted. A long way from his home in Arizona. Not easy for his family to make the trip to visit his grave, if they want.
==================
I have started work on another genealogy. Which means I need to feel better and have my full mental capabilities. My client supplied me with a lot of information her family had already found, but it is laid out in such a manner, that it is kind of confusing--trying to find where one generation stops and the next beings.
Pedigree charts that list not just a person, but all their children, and children's children, and aunts and uncles, and cousins and friends. I don't get that specific, because the book I make would be 500 pages long and much too difficult to decipher.
I stick to direct ancestor's...except...occasionally I will happen onto a great grandmother who has an interesting family and trace that. Usually genealogies deal with the father first. As we all know, men are the most important because they are the sires of the family "limbs".
Bah Humbug! There are some pretty interesting great grandma's out there who also have interesting family lineages and by gosh! they are going to have a few pages in the genealogy book too!!
Like the lady whose 5th great grandma was the last "witch" hung in Salem, Massachusetts. She needed to have her story told and printed out and included in the book.
Well, you know how obsessed I get when working on a genealogy. I have no idea what time it is and will hear the cuckoo clock tell me it's five in the afternoon and realize, I've been sitting here for three hours and had no idea.
At midnight, Tuesday night, I found something interesting to search for. If I had waited until morning, I may have forgotten, so here I sat, into the wee hours. I told my Face Book friends that I got this mental picture of me....sitting high in a tower in the dark of night, candles lit, my quill dipping into the ink well, scratching my findings on the parchment paper, which of course was dotted with ink splotches. Sort of like those photos we see of Nostradamus, except I am not predicting the future, but rather sorting through old census reports and military records and the like.
I rather deem myself a detective, not a prophet. HAH!!
Anyway--if I don't post regularly, you will know why. I have used all my mental strength typing genealogy material and have no strength left to report on the boring life I normally live.
Love to all--Toddles.
Changing meds, a week ago. You know how that goes. It takes awhile for it to get out of your system and then, when it does, it may cause a different feeling. Dehydration. Then blood tests every other minute to see what's going on with the electrolytes. It all leaves me dizzy and disoriented and generally feeling punk. But, my friend Trudy sent me an e-mail asking if I was all right, so--I thought I'd better post.
We have had a break in the weather. 50 degrees when I woke up this morning, so it feels cold...especially after having temps in or near the 90's and humidity of 79% for the past week. So today, would be the perfect day to get outside and trim the bushes and cut back the straggly looking perennials, if I thought I could stay upright.
I finished the baby afghan last weekend. This is the one I ripped out 7 times before I could figure it out. Even then, near the top when I was on my last few rows, I found another mistake and had to rip back 10 rows. It turned out fine however, and such a fascinating way to crochet that I have never done before, that yesterday, I started another one--different words.
Aretha Franklin. Living only 60 miles north west of Detroit, my news channel is filled with tributes and interviews and on and on.
"She" arrived in a white Cadillac hearse at the place for her public viewing. In a gold casket, full open casket, dressed in a red gown and red high heels. That was Tuesday.
Wednesday, much to every one's surprise, she was dressed in a powder blue gown with blue sparkley heels.
I haven't yet heard what she is dressed in today or for her funeral tomorrow.
This means, each evening after the public viewing, the funeral home production team, takes her back to the mortuary, changes her gown, redoes her make-up and restyles her hair.
Now--if that doesn't creep you out--nothing will!
She is a big, heavy woman. I know that her gowns are cut in the back, so all they have to do is "re-wrap" her gown around her and tuck it in under her, but..........they still have to lift up that body and reposition it and....................it's dead!!!!!!!!
It's not a plastic mannequin. It's a heavy, cold, hard, dead human body.
ARGGH!!!
They say that's what she requested be done. Can we say, Super-ego, vain, haughtiness here?
To me it's just macabre and the public goes back every day to see what she's dressed in for that day. The whole think smacks of D-I-S-R-E-S-P-E-C-T to me and has turned into a media circus.
It would not surprise me if for her funeral, they have her strapped, upright in a golden throne chair as if she is sitting there witnessing all the performers paying her tributes!
=====================
On the other hand--John McCain. I have respected this man for years and years. What a servant to our country he has been. Given a chance to get out of the POW camp, he declined unless they released all his fellow prisoners. He is not without minor scandals in his life, an affair, or two. The end of his first marriage. To me, that doesn't take away my respect for what he had done in his time in Congress.
What politician hasn't had scandal? Maybe not the Bush men or Obama.
There he lays. In his flag draped simple casket, as it should be. Not to be buried in Arlington National Cemetery, where he certainly should be, but buried instead on the grounds of the Naval Academy, where he wanted. A long way from his home in Arizona. Not easy for his family to make the trip to visit his grave, if they want.
==================
I have started work on another genealogy. Which means I need to feel better and have my full mental capabilities. My client supplied me with a lot of information her family had already found, but it is laid out in such a manner, that it is kind of confusing--trying to find where one generation stops and the next beings.
Pedigree charts that list not just a person, but all their children, and children's children, and aunts and uncles, and cousins and friends. I don't get that specific, because the book I make would be 500 pages long and much too difficult to decipher.
I stick to direct ancestor's...except...occasionally I will happen onto a great grandmother who has an interesting family and trace that. Usually genealogies deal with the father first. As we all know, men are the most important because they are the sires of the family "limbs".
Bah Humbug! There are some pretty interesting great grandma's out there who also have interesting family lineages and by gosh! they are going to have a few pages in the genealogy book too!!
Like the lady whose 5th great grandma was the last "witch" hung in Salem, Massachusetts. She needed to have her story told and printed out and included in the book.
Well, you know how obsessed I get when working on a genealogy. I have no idea what time it is and will hear the cuckoo clock tell me it's five in the afternoon and realize, I've been sitting here for three hours and had no idea.
At midnight, Tuesday night, I found something interesting to search for. If I had waited until morning, I may have forgotten, so here I sat, into the wee hours. I told my Face Book friends that I got this mental picture of me....sitting high in a tower in the dark of night, candles lit, my quill dipping into the ink well, scratching my findings on the parchment paper, which of course was dotted with ink splotches. Sort of like those photos we see of Nostradamus, except I am not predicting the future, but rather sorting through old census reports and military records and the like.
I rather deem myself a detective, not a prophet. HAH!!
Anyway--if I don't post regularly, you will know why. I have used all my mental strength typing genealogy material and have no strength left to report on the boring life I normally live.
Love to all--Toddles.
Tuesday, August 21, 2018
Well folks, we have a bit of a sticky wicket here on the home front.
John stopped by last week to give me a plastic container of blueberries he had picked. I haven't seen John in months. He works nights.
We sat and chatted for about an hour and as he was leaving, I walked over to the door to tell him goodbye. We hugged, as we always have.
He said something I didn't quite understand, something about a cuddle? I thought he was referring to the simple hug. I said, "Yes, hugs are nice."
Then he said, "Call me when you need me. I can stop by."
No big deal. I have called John before to help me lift something heavy out of the trunk of my car.
========================
The next day, while I was out shopping, when I got home, my answering machine was blinking. It was a call from John.
"Do you want me to come over tonight? Call me back and let me know."
What? Why would I want him to come over? Had I invited him over and forgotten about it?
So I called him back.
"I didn't understand your phone message," I said.
"I wondered if you wanted me to come over tonight."
"No...I...don't need anything. You can come over for a visit if you want."
"No. I meant...what we talked about the other day? I thought maybe you wanted me to come over for a cuddle."
"For...a...cuddle? I don't understand."
"Remember...as I was leaving. I said, 'Maybe I can come over for a cuddle and you said, yes, hugs are nice'."
"I remember saying hugs are nice, but I don't remember anything about a cuddle. What is a cuddle?"
"Well, older people, because they miss and get lonely for human touch, have what they call 'cuddle sessions'"
"What?"
"Cuddle sessions. They just sit on the couch and cuddle while they watch TV or talk. Sometimes they lay on the bed and just cuddle."
"That doesn't sound like a good idea to me."
"Oh...no...no. There is no romance involved. So sex or undressing or anything like that. Just a cuddle."
"Oh....well....ah...I don't think...well...that's not for me, John."
"Okay. If you change your mind, call me."
==================
What the What?
I've known John for 4 years. We've been good friends. He has never ventured more than a hug when we part. What the heck is this "cuddle session" all about?
So--I Googled it and this is what I found.
Well, for goodness sake!!!
I may have missed a great opportunity.
I'm just wondering. John is 5'5". I am 5'10".
Does the taller one cuddle the shorter one?
Or am I supposed to schootch way down so he can cuddle me?
I may have to contact Cuddle Comfort for answers to these questions.
I think John is ticked off at me.
John stopped by last week to give me a plastic container of blueberries he had picked. I haven't seen John in months. He works nights.
We sat and chatted for about an hour and as he was leaving, I walked over to the door to tell him goodbye. We hugged, as we always have.
He said something I didn't quite understand, something about a cuddle? I thought he was referring to the simple hug. I said, "Yes, hugs are nice."
Then he said, "Call me when you need me. I can stop by."
No big deal. I have called John before to help me lift something heavy out of the trunk of my car.
========================
The next day, while I was out shopping, when I got home, my answering machine was blinking. It was a call from John.
"Do you want me to come over tonight? Call me back and let me know."
What? Why would I want him to come over? Had I invited him over and forgotten about it?
So I called him back.
"I didn't understand your phone message," I said.
"I wondered if you wanted me to come over tonight."
"No...I...don't need anything. You can come over for a visit if you want."
"No. I meant...what we talked about the other day? I thought maybe you wanted me to come over for a cuddle."
"For...a...cuddle? I don't understand."
"Remember...as I was leaving. I said, 'Maybe I can come over for a cuddle and you said, yes, hugs are nice'."
"I remember saying hugs are nice, but I don't remember anything about a cuddle. What is a cuddle?"
"Well, older people, because they miss and get lonely for human touch, have what they call 'cuddle sessions'"
"What?"
"Cuddle sessions. They just sit on the couch and cuddle while they watch TV or talk. Sometimes they lay on the bed and just cuddle."
"That doesn't sound like a good idea to me."
"Oh...no...no. There is no romance involved. So sex or undressing or anything like that. Just a cuddle."
"Oh....well....ah...I don't think...well...that's not for me, John."
"Okay. If you change your mind, call me."
==================
What the What?
I've known John for 4 years. We've been good friends. He has never ventured more than a hug when we part. What the heck is this "cuddle session" all about?
So--I Googled it and this is what I found.
About Cuddle Comfort
More than 121,000 people from the United States and around the world use Cuddle Comfort. We created a platform so you can get a cuddle, whenever you want one, at no cost.
We help you create friendships based on cuddling that are pressure free and with no expectation of something more.
Cuddle Comfort started in 2011 with the goal of bringing physical affection to more people without the romantic prerequisites.
The cuddle industry is now booming, and as the inventors of online cuddling, we’re proud to have been part of its conception.
==================================
Well, for goodness sake!!!
I may have missed a great opportunity.
I'm just wondering. John is 5'5". I am 5'10".
Does the taller one cuddle the shorter one?
Or am I supposed to schootch way down so he can cuddle me?
I may have to contact Cuddle Comfort for answers to these questions.
I think John is ticked off at me.
Monday, August 13, 2018
Karen sent me this photo of Della playing with Maddie's 20 year old toys I made or bought for her. I wonder how that Unicorn is still so clean looking? Piglet looks a little frayed.
My tub garden is growing and yielding, but I think I have a fail with my cucumber experiment.
Karen and Mark just got home from a two week visit to their second child, Susanna, who lives in Portland, Oregon. They did a lot of hiking the trails in OR and also Washington.
She'll be starting back to teach pretty soon.
My cukes look like commas!
Wednesday, August 8, 2018
I'll be fine!
Remember, a couple of months ago? I promised not to ever post about my financial problems....and then I did it again! I guess I was just in shock from getting notice of all the increases in one hour period! It was like a wall was falling down on my head and I was scared to open another envelope or e-mail.
I get anxious with my budget being so tight, with no extra money. I worry about a car breakdown. What is a tree falls on the house in a storm? I couldn't even pay the deductible. My house insurance had dropped the replacement of the unit itself, because it is 20 years old. I had it insured for $35,000.00. I do have full replacement on the contents though, and that cost just went up. The contents are the important stuff anyway. If the house burns up, it would give me an excuse to go live with Pam or Karen or out to New Jersey with Jennifer. I pick NJ, then I can go to The Shore!!
I don't know why my car insurance goes up. My car is also 20 years old I don't have collision on it, only PL and PD, but Michigan has the highest car insurance rates.
Sorry--I will try to keep that worry to myself. Nobody wants to read a post about that stuff! I guess, it's just that this blog is kind of like my journal, with people reading, that will commiserate with me and tell me it will all work out.
...............................and of course it will. God will sustain me.
===========================
I am so sick of this humidity we are having. I check my inside thermometer weather station, and the outside temps looks good. But the humidity is sometimes higher than the temperature and that makes for a miserable outside experience. Even since I had the heat stroke at age 15, I can't bear to high a temp and humidity. It just makes me nauseous and dizzy.
Which means, I am closed up in this house! It seems no different to have the A/C blower fan going or the furnace blower fan going in the winter. I am still all closed up. In fact, I get out more in the winter than I do now. Personally? I am waiting for September and October to get outside and clean up the gardens and the shed and enjoy myself.
I should note here, just because I am a Republican, whatever that is anymore, does not mean I don't believe in Climate Change. In 1968 we visited the Teton Mountains. There was a glacier on the side of the mountain formed in the perfect shape of a skillet--thus the name, Skillet Glacier. When I was back at the same spot in 2001, only part of the skillet bowl part remained. In fact, that is no longer a brown National Parks sign pointing to Skillet Glacier.
The horrendous fires in California. The floods, this unusual heat in Michigan, all point to Climate Change. Besides that, I studied about it way back in the 60's in college Geology class. The Professor predicted these events way back then.
However, there is nothing we can do about it and probably not much we have done to cause it. Climate changes have been going on since earth was created. We have had ice ages and heat waves that lasted for years. Animals and humans died. Volcano's erupting caused giant clouds of ash and dust that shut out the sun for years, and bringing winters of severe magnitude, causing everything to die. Then decades of relatively "normal" weather. The Climate Change chart looks like a giant roller coaster, as it goes up and then down.
Right now we are in another Climate Change era. The oceans are warming, dust storms are flying, higher snow falls and higher temperatures.
It always has been. It always will be.
======================
The other day on Face Book, I posted that I was going to start my own business. I would call it YouBear. Hire about half a dozen men in their late 60-mid-70's. You could call them to come pick up, drive you to the grocery store, push your cart out to the car, filled up the trunk, drive you home and carry the groceries into the house.
Or--you could call them to come out and trim hedges, cut-back and clean up the gardens, fix the hose connection and do any heavy work needed done.
Or, if you just wanted some company, they could take you out to dinner or sit and watch a ball game with you and just have some conversation. No Hanky-Panky involved, just Rent-A-Man for a couple of hours.
==========================
Remember that afghan I had to rip out 6 times before I understood it? It's coming along nicely now.
I ran out of yarn, so Monday night, I got into my closet, opened up the end of the plastic yarn storage block and grabbed another skein. I was watching American Ninja Warrior and didn't realize for two rows that the yarn I was using was a very light Ecru! The next morning, in the daylight, I pulled the yarn storage box out so I could open it completely and found another skein of white yarn.
====================================
Lastly, just to prove I am losing my mind. I opened up my cable bill and there was a one time charge of $15.99 on it. Wait. What?
So I panicked and called the company. They informed me that on July 27th, at 7:11, I watched an On Demand Movie, call, "You were never there." I told they lovely young lady that Number One: I would never, ever pay that much for a movie. Number Two: at 7:11 I was watching Wheel of Fortune, and Number Three: I had never, ever heard of that movie title.
She took the charge off for me and then walked me through how to put a PIN number in my TV so that if I ever watch an On Demand movie, I will have to enter that number. "To keep children or visitors from accessing On Demand." I told her no one was here except me and two cats. We decided to blame the cats. One of them must have stepped on the remote. (Sure.)
I must have hit the wrong button on the remote control when I was channeling hopping. I had to go into Parental Controls to set up the PIN. I think maybe I need a parent to watch me!!! I really felt like I had done something so senile oriented that I was losing it.
Remember, a couple of months ago? I promised not to ever post about my financial problems....and then I did it again! I guess I was just in shock from getting notice of all the increases in one hour period! It was like a wall was falling down on my head and I was scared to open another envelope or e-mail.
I get anxious with my budget being so tight, with no extra money. I worry about a car breakdown. What is a tree falls on the house in a storm? I couldn't even pay the deductible. My house insurance had dropped the replacement of the unit itself, because it is 20 years old. I had it insured for $35,000.00. I do have full replacement on the contents though, and that cost just went up. The contents are the important stuff anyway. If the house burns up, it would give me an excuse to go live with Pam or Karen or out to New Jersey with Jennifer. I pick NJ, then I can go to The Shore!!
I don't know why my car insurance goes up. My car is also 20 years old I don't have collision on it, only PL and PD, but Michigan has the highest car insurance rates.
Sorry--I will try to keep that worry to myself. Nobody wants to read a post about that stuff! I guess, it's just that this blog is kind of like my journal, with people reading, that will commiserate with me and tell me it will all work out.
...............................and of course it will. God will sustain me.
===========================
I am so sick of this humidity we are having. I check my inside thermometer weather station, and the outside temps looks good. But the humidity is sometimes higher than the temperature and that makes for a miserable outside experience. Even since I had the heat stroke at age 15, I can't bear to high a temp and humidity. It just makes me nauseous and dizzy.
Which means, I am closed up in this house! It seems no different to have the A/C blower fan going or the furnace blower fan going in the winter. I am still all closed up. In fact, I get out more in the winter than I do now. Personally? I am waiting for September and October to get outside and clean up the gardens and the shed and enjoy myself.
I should note here, just because I am a Republican, whatever that is anymore, does not mean I don't believe in Climate Change. In 1968 we visited the Teton Mountains. There was a glacier on the side of the mountain formed in the perfect shape of a skillet--thus the name, Skillet Glacier. When I was back at the same spot in 2001, only part of the skillet bowl part remained. In fact, that is no longer a brown National Parks sign pointing to Skillet Glacier.
The horrendous fires in California. The floods, this unusual heat in Michigan, all point to Climate Change. Besides that, I studied about it way back in the 60's in college Geology class. The Professor predicted these events way back then.
However, there is nothing we can do about it and probably not much we have done to cause it. Climate changes have been going on since earth was created. We have had ice ages and heat waves that lasted for years. Animals and humans died. Volcano's erupting caused giant clouds of ash and dust that shut out the sun for years, and bringing winters of severe magnitude, causing everything to die. Then decades of relatively "normal" weather. The Climate Change chart looks like a giant roller coaster, as it goes up and then down.
Right now we are in another Climate Change era. The oceans are warming, dust storms are flying, higher snow falls and higher temperatures.
It always has been. It always will be.
======================
The other day on Face Book, I posted that I was going to start my own business. I would call it YouBear. Hire about half a dozen men in their late 60-mid-70's. You could call them to come pick up, drive you to the grocery store, push your cart out to the car, filled up the trunk, drive you home and carry the groceries into the house.
Or--you could call them to come out and trim hedges, cut-back and clean up the gardens, fix the hose connection and do any heavy work needed done.
Or, if you just wanted some company, they could take you out to dinner or sit and watch a ball game with you and just have some conversation. No Hanky-Panky involved, just Rent-A-Man for a couple of hours.
==========================
Remember that afghan I had to rip out 6 times before I understood it? It's coming along nicely now.
====================================
Lastly, just to prove I am losing my mind. I opened up my cable bill and there was a one time charge of $15.99 on it. Wait. What?
So I panicked and called the company. They informed me that on July 27th, at 7:11, I watched an On Demand Movie, call, "You were never there." I told they lovely young lady that Number One: I would never, ever pay that much for a movie. Number Two: at 7:11 I was watching Wheel of Fortune, and Number Three: I had never, ever heard of that movie title.
She took the charge off for me and then walked me through how to put a PIN number in my TV so that if I ever watch an On Demand movie, I will have to enter that number. "To keep children or visitors from accessing On Demand." I told her no one was here except me and two cats. We decided to blame the cats. One of them must have stepped on the remote. (Sure.)
I must have hit the wrong button on the remote control when I was channeling hopping. I had to go into Parental Controls to set up the PIN. I think maybe I need a parent to watch me!!! I really felt like I had done something so senile oriented that I was losing it.
Saturday, August 4, 2018
I spent the last two weeks of July with not enough gas in my car and no money to buy anymore. I sure wanted to visit my sister.
I got some money on Thursday, $25.00 filled only 3/4 of a tank and took off to visit my hometown, the cemetery and The Farm. Boy, it was wonderful driving the familiar roads. A little sad as I passed Pammies' house, in fact, I drove in the drive, got out and just sat on "my" back porch for awhile. The sounds are the same as when I lived there--basically nothing unless a car goes by on the road. I sure miss her being away!
I stopped in at the cemetery to visit family and Fred, and moved the cement angel dog statute to the other side of Fred's marker. I change it around every time I stop there. It gets water under it and stains the head stone, if it isn't moved often. Then I drove over around the cemetery a bit and got out and stopped by my best friend's grave. I have been having a lot of dreams about her the last week. In fact, I woke up one morning last weekend when I heard her voice say, "Jude. You awake?" It was so realistic, that I leaned over the edge of the bed and looked down the hall to see who had walked into my front door.
Sister and I had a great time. We sat in her parlor, she on the couch, me in the recliner and talked and laughed and cooked up schemes to kind of shape up people we think need shaping up. Of course we'll never carry out those schemes, but we had a good time coming up with some very imaginative ideas. Then she got up and played the piano as I hummed along to a few hymns in the hymnal she has. I can't sing anymore, but it was nice.
It was so nice, sitting in the little parlor, with carpeting on the floor and a normal height ceiling, instead of the high ceiling and hard wood floors in her family room. I could hear every thing she said. In the family room, her words bounce off the hard surfaces and it is hard for me to hear her.
I was so relaxed that I practically dozed all the way home. LOL
I probably won't have enough gas to drive to the Old School Gal Pals luncheon, but this visit "home" was so much more important for my heart and soul.
============================
I woke up Friday, still feeling relaxed and happy. Then all heck broke loose.
I opened the mail from the day before to find that my house and car insurance both went up. The next letter I opened, was a notice from the park that our rent has been raised. An e-mail informed me that the budget payment on my electricity had gone up $5.00 and another e-mail informed me that my food assistance has been cut from $20.00 to $15.00.
Within an hour of waking up, my budget had increased over $50.00 for expenses. My budget is always in the red, but this month, it showed I would only be short $2.69. How, I will be short $48.00.
I didn't know what to do. I could feel a familiar chill of fear, kind of around the middle of my stomach. I wanted to just cry, but I am always afraid if I ever start crying, I won't stop. That is why, I never allow myself to cry--EVER!
So, I glanced over at the picture of Jesus I have sitting on the edge of my desk and said, "Lord, I need some help here." And went about my day.
What good would it do to worry and become anxious? That wouldn't solve any problem and just add stress. So, I will just assume that everything will work out.
I am like my 6 week old balloon--a bit deflated, but still up and happy!
I got some money on Thursday, $25.00 filled only 3/4 of a tank and took off to visit my hometown, the cemetery and The Farm. Boy, it was wonderful driving the familiar roads. A little sad as I passed Pammies' house, in fact, I drove in the drive, got out and just sat on "my" back porch for awhile. The sounds are the same as when I lived there--basically nothing unless a car goes by on the road. I sure miss her being away!
I stopped in at the cemetery to visit family and Fred, and moved the cement angel dog statute to the other side of Fred's marker. I change it around every time I stop there. It gets water under it and stains the head stone, if it isn't moved often. Then I drove over around the cemetery a bit and got out and stopped by my best friend's grave. I have been having a lot of dreams about her the last week. In fact, I woke up one morning last weekend when I heard her voice say, "Jude. You awake?" It was so realistic, that I leaned over the edge of the bed and looked down the hall to see who had walked into my front door.
Sister and I had a great time. We sat in her parlor, she on the couch, me in the recliner and talked and laughed and cooked up schemes to kind of shape up people we think need shaping up. Of course we'll never carry out those schemes, but we had a good time coming up with some very imaginative ideas. Then she got up and played the piano as I hummed along to a few hymns in the hymnal she has. I can't sing anymore, but it was nice.
It was so nice, sitting in the little parlor, with carpeting on the floor and a normal height ceiling, instead of the high ceiling and hard wood floors in her family room. I could hear every thing she said. In the family room, her words bounce off the hard surfaces and it is hard for me to hear her.
I was so relaxed that I practically dozed all the way home. LOL
I probably won't have enough gas to drive to the Old School Gal Pals luncheon, but this visit "home" was so much more important for my heart and soul.
============================
I woke up Friday, still feeling relaxed and happy. Then all heck broke loose.
I opened the mail from the day before to find that my house and car insurance both went up. The next letter I opened, was a notice from the park that our rent has been raised. An e-mail informed me that the budget payment on my electricity had gone up $5.00 and another e-mail informed me that my food assistance has been cut from $20.00 to $15.00.
Within an hour of waking up, my budget had increased over $50.00 for expenses. My budget is always in the red, but this month, it showed I would only be short $2.69. How, I will be short $48.00.
I didn't know what to do. I could feel a familiar chill of fear, kind of around the middle of my stomach. I wanted to just cry, but I am always afraid if I ever start crying, I won't stop. That is why, I never allow myself to cry--EVER!
So, I glanced over at the picture of Jesus I have sitting on the edge of my desk and said, "Lord, I need some help here." And went about my day.
What good would it do to worry and become anxious? That wouldn't solve any problem and just add stress. So, I will just assume that everything will work out.
I am like my 6 week old balloon--a bit deflated, but still up and happy!
Monday, July 30, 2018
Our friend Sally over here, posted about going back to see her childhood home.
Her post brought up a whole lot of memories because it looks almost exactly like the first house we built after we were married. I'll bet it was the same floor plan.
Ours was built on a slab, so no basement to put a furnace in. Just a wall oil heater, expected to keep the whole house warm. No registers in each room. In the winter time, the kids beds, shoved up against each wall, would have their blankets stuck to the wall with ice. Apparently not much insulation in the outer walls either.
3 bedrooms, a bathroom, kitchen, dining room and living room. It was all we needed.
but I must admit, 10 years later I was ecstatic to move into my grandma's big two story home!
From this:
To this:
...but when we were first married, we started out with this...
==================
I had a total crop failure on my sweet corn experiment in the raised bed out by my shed. I think either crows or raccoons dug up and ate the corn seed as soon as I planted it! My cherry tomatoes are coming in now and I have two tiny cucs on my "tub" cucumber plant.
I bring them in and let them ripen on the counter. Then I pop them in my mouth!!
=========================
I have started a new baby afghan. I have ripped it out 6 times! The pattern is one I have never done--with puff stitches to make letters to spell out words. As you can imagine, I have to count the stitches carefully or the letters won't line up correctly. Plus, the puff stitches are done while I am working on the opposite side--so I can't see how they line up until that row is done. I think I've got it now though.
Her post brought up a whole lot of memories because it looks almost exactly like the first house we built after we were married. I'll bet it was the same floor plan.
Ours was built on a slab, so no basement to put a furnace in. Just a wall oil heater, expected to keep the whole house warm. No registers in each room. In the winter time, the kids beds, shoved up against each wall, would have their blankets stuck to the wall with ice. Apparently not much insulation in the outer walls either.
3 bedrooms, a bathroom, kitchen, dining room and living room. It was all we needed.
but I must admit, 10 years later I was ecstatic to move into my grandma's big two story home!
From this:
To this:
...but when we were first married, we started out with this...
I had a total crop failure on my sweet corn experiment in the raised bed out by my shed. I think either crows or raccoons dug up and ate the corn seed as soon as I planted it! My cherry tomatoes are coming in now and I have two tiny cucs on my "tub" cucumber plant.
=========================
I have started a new baby afghan. I have ripped it out 6 times! The pattern is one I have never done--with puff stitches to make letters to spell out words. As you can imagine, I have to count the stitches carefully or the letters won't line up correctly. Plus, the puff stitches are done while I am working on the opposite side--so I can't see how they line up until that row is done. I think I've got it now though.
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