I Have to Clean

I haven't cleaned house in days. 
Excuse:  I don't feel good. 
Question:  How long can I milk this excuse?  I actually asked this question to my hubby.  Mistake, big mistake.   
His reply:  Well, just how much exertion does it take to clean?  Does cleaning require more effort than...say...your other activities?  Shopping?  Polishing your nails?  Shopping?  Going to the mall?  Shopping?
Moral:  Don't ever ask my hubby a question if you don't want the truth. 

Excuses have run out. 
I have to clean tomorrow. 
I have to stay out of the malls. 
I have to stay away from the makeup aisle. 
I have to clean.

That's all I got! 
Oh, and this:  I love you!



 

Refreshing......That's What It Is

Refreshing.....that is what it is.  Yes, a trip to the garage is refreshing.  I am sure you are laughing at me already, but you know you want to know what I am talking about, don't you?  I guess when one retires, one becomes more aware of things; more aware of the blessings of life, even the smallest. 

Now.  Let me tell you why a trip to the garage is a blessing.  It seems that the month of December finds me in the kitchen a lot, either cooking, baking, decorating, or wrapping.  Throughout the day, I will have to make a trip to the garage........to get something out of the freezer............to get extra paper towels...........to get the extra pound of chocolates I have hidden.............to get in the attic.............the list just goes on and on.  The cool air just feels so good after the stale air of the kitchen.   

For the last several years, every time I go to the garage especially in the winter, I think of people in New York City.  I know I am crazy!  Next question!  Let me explain.  I just wonder if those apartment dwellers, the inner city folks, ever long for a breath of fresh air.  So many are held hostage in their little apartments; windows sealed shut; people afraid of their neighbors, shut away from the world at this very moment.

Yes, I am blessed.  I have space.  I have a garage.  I have someplace to go when I don't want to go out in the elements.  Yes, I am blessed.

I still remember walking out of Tinker at the end of the day, those cloudy, snowy cold days.  The air felt so good.  It was definitely cold, but compared to the stale air shared with thousands inside that building, it was a breath of welcome air.  ---- This reminds me of the wonderful feeling that I always felt on the last day of work before Christmas, running across the parking, arm in arm with my hubby, laughing and excited about the next few days............Christmas.............away from Tinker.

Refreshing.......that's what it is!

I love you!    

The Poncho

 

1973

 

Oh okay, 2012.  Let's hope I didn't look like this bad in my 20s.

I have saved this old poncho for almost 40 years.

Last Saturday we were going for breakfast and I when I went to get a coat,

I noticed this old poncho.  Thinking that ponchos have sort of made

a resurgence, I thought why not.  Why not wear it? 

It is like wearing a warm blanket.

And would you believe I got two compliments on it and both from girls in their 20s?

 

What do you think?

1.  Is it too old-fashioned?

2.  Don't you think the fabric and colors still look fresh?

3.  Am I too old to wear this again (if it is fashionable)?

 

I might be a hoarder, but only of things that really mean something to me. 

 

This was bought in a little shop in Taos, NM, in 1973.  I loved this poncho, but

since I paid more money than I had sense back then, I saved it back.

  Now I wonder why.  I should have worn it out in the 70s.

 

Shawna, now you know the story behind the poncho. 



 

If you notice a turquoise poncho around Midwest City this winter, take a close look.  It might be me.

And by the way, I am serious with the questions and I will not be hurt if you tell me never to wear it again.

 

I love you!!!

Waiting Till Morning - Put the Turkey in the Oven

Despite having allergies for the last few days which put me on the couch, everything Thanksgiving is coming together nicely........thanks to the hubby.........thanks to my daughter who spent the day with me. 

Today was a great day.......spending time with my grandsons always makes a great day.  I made a pan of cornbread for my dressing, and, as every year, we toasted Mrs. Tucker, my mother-in-law, with a slice right out of the oven slathered with butter.  What makes this year's toast special was me telling the boys about their great-grandmother and the story of her love of cornbread.  I have told this story before, but for those of you who do not want to reread all the posts to find the story here it is again.  Mrs. Tucker never ate between meals...she just didn't.  But when she came to visit us for Thanksgiving, we always shared a slice of hot cornbread, whether it be 9:30 in the morning or 2:30 in the afternoon.  That is just one of my sweet memories of her.....miss her.

Well, there is nothing left to do but wait till morning when all the cooking starts all over again. Early tomorrow morning the turkey will meet the heat! The broth will mix with the cornbread, the dumplings will be rolled, and the sweet potatoes will be peeled, the asparagus will be bundled with bacon, the rolls will be rising, and the green beans will be simmering. About 10:30 tomorrow morning the kitchen will be steamy (let's just say HOT) and the aroma of turkey will be hanging heavy in the air.

Tonight we are just waiting for the cooking storm to begin.  In the meantime, I think we will watch one of the funniest WKRP episodes ever.  "As God is my witness, I thought turkeys could fly."

I love you.

P.S.  I found out today from my 5 year old grandson that if I don't have a tissue, I can use my hand.  Then he proceeded to show me.  I could hardly keep a straight face.......he was so serious.  (I didn't tell his mom....but I guess she knows now.)

I Finally Understand, Daddy

I finally understand, Daddy.

When I was little, it seemed like every time we planned a trip or special outing we would start up the driveway or turn the corner and see the land blowing.  We would turn right around, go back to the house and daddy would jump on the tractor and harrow (I think that is the implement he used) the field as quickly as he could.  That was pretty disappointing as a youngster.  I was ready to go to the zoo or wherever we were going.  I can still picture that tractor in high gear turning the soil.  (The top soil was blowing so if you turned up the moist earth, it wouldn't blow as much.)  Although at the time I had a general idea of why he did this, the magnitude of the emotion behind this act only became clear after the last two nights of watching the PBS Ken Burns series about the Dust Bowl. 

I also remember daddy telling me why the fields were terraced, but as a little girl it really didn't sink in.  The documentary explained all that in much too graphic detail...but true detail, interviewing people, the real salt of the earth people, the people who make me ashamed of myself when I complain about not having rain for a month, the people who swept buckets of sand out of their homes on a daily basis.  The people who died from dust pneumonia.  These people also make me ashamed when I complain that it has been raining for days or that the ballgame was called because of rain. 

There is no way I could describe all the details of the Dust Bowl, you will just have to watch this series. Ten years these people were plagued by many, many, many dust storms of Biblical proportions obliterating the sun at midday, rabbit invasions that were graphically filmed, and filmed grasshopper invasions......so many grasshoppers that it looked like the earth was moving.  Folks, this was not digitally enhanced.   I do not know how these people survived. I truly do not. Dust was blown as high as their roof tops, three feet of sand on the streets after a particular sand storm.
 
If you didn't watch it, I highly encourage you to do so. I am sure one of these days it will be reshown or perhaps you can pick it up at your local library. In fact, I would encourage you to watch it with your children.  I dare you not to cry.  You see, my daddy lived during this time although not in the area most affected by the Dust Bowl, but I am sure he was well aware of what was going on, right in our state.  I am sure it affected him as a future farmer.

The film also said that right now the aquifer that runs under that area and under 8 states is half of what it once was which is truly frightening.  One prediction is that the water will run out in 20 years....think about that folks......no drinking water.  Think about that when you run water full blast while brushing your teeth tomorrow.

Daddy, I understand now.  I understand why you stood on the front porch, looking to the southwest for just a hint of a dark cloud.  I understand you looking to the heavens for answers to your prayers.  I understand now how important it was for you to take me to Shawnee during a rain storm to buy me that wool black and white houndstooth skirt with the red top.  I finally understand, Daddy.  (And I finally understand my love of rain........it goes right back to my daddy..........and he fully understood the importance it played in our lives.)

I love you! 

Thanksgiving at the Office

Here it is, just a few days till Thanksgiving.  I should be up and busy making cornbread for the dressing.....tomorrow tomorrow!  It is a much less stressful holiday since I have retired, but I have many memories of previous Thanksgivings...the ones where I was on my feet from the time I got home to all hours of the night. 

For many years I made our office Thanksgiving lunch.  It all started the year after the men in my office did not get to the larger office lunch before all the food was gone.  Boy, oh boy, there was a lot of grumbling going on that year!  You don't want to be around hungry men expecting turkey and being denied.  We voted to be the renegade office the next year and pull away from the larger office lunch.  That next year and the next year and the next year and the next year..... and who knows exactly how many years, I fixed our meal.  Two turkeys, mashed potatoes, gravy, dressing, canned jellied cranberries, green beans, rolls and butter, pecan and pumpkin pies.  That was pretty much what a catered lunch served so I stayed true to the menu.  Besides, do you know how long it took me to just make this Plain Jane menu, let alone try to make special cranberry relish, green bean casserole, etc?  I loved those guys, but not that much. 

I did love them enough to spend hours planning the food, at least three hours on my day off at the grocery store, three days of prep work, baking pies, baking cornbread, and cooking all night long and the next morning for the big lunch.  Do you know that now I cannot stand the smell of turkey cooking during the night?  I wanted to make the meal a special one for those guys (those were the years when I was the only female in the office).  I wanted them to have lots of turkey.  I didn't want to hear them grumble.  I did love the guys in my office.  They were all special friends.

Now that I am retired, I really miss those office lunches.  I miss trying new recipes.  I miss sharing recipes with my friends and discussing what we were going to bring and I especially miss Toni, my sounding board.  Yes, we finally got some girls in the office....I am so thankful for my girlfriends.

This is not even close to the post I started when I wrote the first paragraph.  Maybe tomorrow or next week.  I seem to be very sporadic.  I think I am home for a few weeks so I may bore you with more posts in the next few days. 

But just in case I get distracted with the smell of cornbread and turkey and not get back to you, I hope you all have a safe and fun Thanksgiving with those you love and that love you.

I love you.

Do You Plan Your Trips Around Target?

Good evening everybody.

Well, I am doing something I have never done before.  I am on my way to see my baby in Mississippi all by myself.  Yep, this daring young woman (yeah right) has struck out on her own……………….10 hours from home.  I have traveled to Shreveport (Barksdale AFB) by myself, but never any further than a 6 hour trip from Blackjack Ridge Road.

As I was backing out of the garage early this morning, my hubby leaned into the car to ask which route I was taking.  I told him I was going through Dallas because Monroe, LA, my overnight stopping point had a Target.  You see for the last two weeks he has watched me agonize over the two best routes about 4 dozen times, extolling the virtues of each route over and over.  Just where was I going to spend the night if I got tired…………??  Pine Bluff didn’t have much to offer in the way of shopping, but was the quicker route or so it seemed to me, but there were many miles between those small southeastern Arkansas towns.  It wasn’t until this morning that I finally asked Siri using my iPhone if there was a Target in Pine Bluff………… and sadly she said no.   So when the hubby leaned in my answer was firm……….I was going to Target, Monroe, LA.

So here I am setting in a huge king size bed (and why do king size beds in hotel rooms seem bigger than the king size bed at home?) in Monroe, LA, eating Target popcorn. I am pretty cozy getting ready to watch Dancing With the Stars and reading my new book.  Got my new bottles of nail polish and have already tried out my new lipstick.  Target is so good!

Thankful…………..Oh, I am so thankful and full of gratitude for the safe journey God has provided me today.  Thank you Lord for traveling graces.

I love you.  Doesn’t everyone plan their trips around the closes Target? 

1 November 2012–Blessing

I have been so blessed over these years, and I admit that more often than not, I take these blessing for granted.  Early yesterday morning I went to the garage to weigh as I do every morning.  Yes, the scales are in the garage….not very decorative.  Of course I have go out there without shoes since every ounce must be accounted for.  Man, that concrete floor was so cold and I was chilled when I stepped back into the dark kitchen.  The house was so warm and the gentle, soft humming of the heater and so comforting.  This is my home.  I was overcome with a blessed feeling; I have a warm home…………something I almost never even think about it.  God has been good to us. 

But while watching the national news tonight, I was overtaken with emotion. The tears flowed silently as the TV cameras scanned the devastation on our northeastern seaboard. Many people have lost everything: power, gas, food, and shelter, even family members did not survive that storm.  Tomorrow morning they will not hear the soft hum of their heaters.  They have my prayers tonight.

Since this is November 2012, many bloggers and Facebook friends are taking the challenge of posting something daily for which they are thankful.  I am not going to promise a post every night about my blessings, but please know that my plan is to be thankful for something everyday this month whether I post it or not. 

Tonight I am thankful for the soft humming of my heater; shelter.  My prayers are with those without even a place to sleep tonight.  Take some time, maybe in the middle of a cold night to notice the humming of your heater.  You, too, are blessed.

I love you.