I Love Red River

Would you take a look at that............  Now take a look at this..............



Nuff said!

I love Red River, my number two happy place.

Going to Finish My Coffee Now

I guess you could tell by yesterday's post that I needed a little pick me up.  Today is a new day and after a cup of java, life seems good again.  I never drank coffee except for breakfast....mmmmm about once a year.  It always seemed the right thing to do......have a cup of coffee with eggs and bacon. 

On our honeymoon, many moons ago, almost 41 now, we spent the night at the Ptarmigan Lodge in Dillon, CO.  The next morning we woke to the most beautiful snow ever!  Well, to a blushing 23 year old bride, it was.  The flakes were huge.  I remember the view across the valley and the lake below was mesmerizing.  We had our whole lives ahead of us and life was more than good.  But there was one thing wrong that morning, we were starving.  So, off we trudged through the snow to the little cafe.  I had what I almost always have when eating breakfast, eggs, bacon, and toast, and, that morning, coffee.  It was hot and steaming and delicious.  Perfect on a snowy morning with my new husband.

We discussed what we were going to do that day and decided to move on to another place, another adventure in our new life together.  We still had lots of plans and places to go.  Off we went back to the lodge to pack and to move on.  But wait.............what can go wrong..............nothing............or what?  "You locked the keys in the car?"  But wait............I married an engineer.  He can fix it.  Or can he?  You see he changed the locks on our car before we got married so that nobody would pop the locks and put rice in our car.  Oh, he is so ingenious..............but he shot himself in the foot this time............cause now he cannot use the hangar to pop the lock.  It will slip right off............so grandsons, this is how your grandpa popped the lock.  Tie a strip of cloth around the end of a wire hangar to make a loop.  Now shimmy the hangar though the window and lower the loop over the lock.  Twist and twist and twist and twist.  Put enough torque on it to pull it up.  It worked. 

So this morning I am setting here sipping my coffee, a new flavor, Salted Caramel, A.M. Coffee for Tired People, by Paramount Coffee Co, Lansing, MI, feeling all cozy inside on this gray day.........no rain.......oh no rain..........when?????  But that's another subject.

I hope all of you have a wonderful day.  I hope that you have some precious memories that make you smile.  Make it a memorable day for you are making memories for tomorrow.  Going to finish my coffee now.

I love you.

By the way, Dillon Lake, CO, is a huge ski area now, wall to wall people and traffic.  Should have invested.  Ptarmigan Lodge is still there.  We stayed there when we retraced our honeymoon route on our 30th anniversary and who knows, maybe we will go back there again sometime.

Regina's List of Things

I'm a little bored so it just seems the right time to list a few things I think girls ought to do once in a while.  Sometimes we get so wrapped up in ourselves and our problems and that is when we need to stand back and take some time for ourselves.  Get a better perspective.  Some of these thing are outrageous, some are cute, some are serious, some are costly, and some cost nothing.  So in no particular order, here is Regina's list of things.....just things.

Buy yourself some cut flowers.  Grocery store or florist......it really doesn't matter.  Do it for yourself without guilt.  If you can't afford flowers, color some child-like flowers and put them on the refrigerator.

Take a child to the park.......borrow one if you have to..........and if you can't find one, jump on a swing yourself and swing as high as you can.  Might want to scream when you get to the highest point.

At least once, just once, paint your toenails a bright gold or green or blue or yellow, some wild color.  "When I am old, I shall wear purple."

Try a new recipe.....something a little complicated or something made with an ingredient you have never bought before.  And the next day, make an old family favorite, perhaps your grandma's Wacky Cake.

Some night, sleep with the window open.

Watch a TV program from beginning to end without your phone, your Ipad, or you computer in the same room.  You'd be surprised how entertaining it can be without the iPhone distraction.

Memorize Psalm 23.  You may need those words at hand some day.

Get a massage or pedicure and do not feel guilty, but remember to get a nail color that isn't you.

Buy yourself a cute pair of rain boots - and grab your umbrella on the next rainy day and take a walk.  Surely it will rain again in Oklahoma.

Read an epic novel.  Reread a favorite book.  Read (or reread) Joan of Arc.  Didn't everybody read Joan of Arc in high school?

Go to the movies with a girlfriend.  You be the one to initiate it.

Fast one meal once a week and spend the time giving thanks that you have plenty of food.

Watch a black and white movie.

Treat yourself to a latte once in a while.

Eat dessert first or maybe just eat dessert for a meal.

Skinny dip.  This is on my bucket list.  Don't gag.  Surprise you?  Does me, but why not.  No, I do not want anybody to be anywhere near the pool, I just want to be "free" just one time.  Now I have to find an secluded pool.  Don't worry, it will never happen.

Call your best friend from high school.  Surprise her.  I am sure she/he will be delighted.

Buy yourself a great smelling candle.

Plant basil.  Run your hands through it all summer.  You can't help but smile when you smell that scent.  Better yet, plant chives in a corner of the yard and you senses will be delighted every time you mow.

Tomorrow tell someone how fabulous they look.  Be truthful though so find the right person.  It can be a stranger.

Next time you wash your pjs, hang them and let them dry outside.  They will smell divine and fresh and when you climb into bed, there will a smile on your lips.

Give someone a little surprise; cupcake, book, candle, cup of coffee......doesn't have to be a biggie.  Just be nice to someone.  You just never know what it will mean to them.

Soak in a warm scented bath.  Light that wonderful candle I told you to buy, turn down the lights and relax.

Make chocolate dipped strawberries and eat one or two, but don't be selfish.  Give the rest to your neighbor.

Tell someone other than your significant other or a relative that you love them.  Your heart will be filled.

Color your hair.

Talk to another girl about makeup!  Yes, discuss makeup.  Not kids, not husbands, not cleaning.  Makeup!

Give thanks.  Don't ask for anything, just give thanks.

Take a weekend trip with your best girlfriends.  Take cash.

Cry and after that........

Laugh for 15 seconds and laugh for no reason other than to hear yourself.  Laugh when nothing is funny, just laugh.

Do 15 jumping jacks and declare either 1) "That felt great.  I am going to make that my daily ritual."  or 2)  "Been there/Done that and I will never do that again, EVER."

Apologize - you know who you need to apologize to.  Speaking to myself here.

Smile.

I love you!!!

Hairdos

When I saw this picture I knew I had to blog about all the hairstyles and trends throughout these last 60 years or so.  How many of you girls remember this?  All those bobby pins.  This is the very first way I was taught to curl my hair.  Wrap a small section of wet hair around your left forefinger and push it off against the head.  Open the bobby pin with your teeth, hold it open and push it over the curl.  Make sure you get the little end of the curl tucked in or you will look like a porcupine in your school pictures.  I have first hand knowledge of this.  My sisters endured a lot of torture from me back when.  It was my job to help curl the girls hair on Saturday afternoons.  Remember that girls?  Remember me dipping the comb in a glass of water to rewet your hair?  There was a time when my littlest sister endured her big sister's latest creations.  My other sisters were just old enough to say NO!  She was my guinea pig and I thought she was the cutest thing ever on Sunday mornings.

After the bobby pins came the same type curls only using pink spools; wrap wet hair around the spool and push down the top to hold the hair in place.  Then there was the brush rollers which were a huge innovation but pure torture to sleep on.  The pink foam rollers that came along next were heaven...so very comfortable compared to sleeping on a bottle brush, but they had a tendency to crush down and your curls would be so tight it would look like you had a fresh perm, and girls, we sure know about perms don't we?  These rollers were still around in the 80s for I used them on my daughters hair and we had oh such fun with both of us in tears when we combed it out.  I still feel bad that I put her through so much torture (and the time I used two perms on her long hair back in the 80s).  Mom took advantage of perms to make her straight-haired little girls into curly headed girls (which she always wanted).  Looking back at those photos, we looked ridiculous....sorry mom, but so did everyone else.  Personal note:  I am so glad that perms are a thing of the past. 

I remember having a tiny black velvet headband to wear to the grade school Christmas program.  I was beautiful.  Remember the tiny little velvet bows that were attached to the little clippies?  Those were popular when I was a teenager.  By the time I was a senior in high school, the bouffant hairstyles were in.  Lots of teasing or ratting as we called it.  Then we would very carefully smooth just the top layer over all those rats...........spraying like crazy.  You didn't want any rats showing at all.  If you were very talented you could flip the ends to make a beautiful flip (which you couldn't break with a hammer).  Gosh, we were so pretty.  Then a little later, the up dos became popular and if you could make leaves, one leaf layered over the other, then you were really uptown.  Most often, the girls had to go to the beauty shop to achieve that style.  One thing I know, again first hand, is that a letter opener made a great head scratcher............No wonder I never dated when I worked at Tinker.........who wants to date a girl who has the same style for a week at a time and sticks a letter opener in her hair, scratching away with this euphoric look on her face?

And girls how could you forget the scarves we wore over our huge, teased, plastered hairdos?  We didn't want that hair to move one iota.  Remember wrapping your hairdo with toilet paper and clipping it place so that you sleep.  I had a pink poodle stuffed dog and in order not to mess my hairdo, I would lay that dog on its side and put my forehead on the dog side.  That way my face my face was framed by the legs and I could breathe.  Yes, that is how I slept my whole senior year.    

Remember the fabric bonnets (what I called them) in the 70s?  The ones where you would stuff you hair inside with the little ties in the back.  Very 70s.  And before that, remember wearing huge nylon bonnets covered with pedals or ruffles trimmed in lace over your curlers (or orange juice cans - I kid you not!)?  We wore them to school and nobody thought a thing about going out with curlers in your head if you had one of these on.  We were quite chic. 

It was fun for me to reminisce about hair styles this afternoon.  I am sure you have hairdo memories about the same as mine.  Your styles may not have been the same as mine, but I am sure you will agree, it is a lot easier these days to shampoo and go.  Don't believe I could endure a night with pin curls or foam rollers in my hair now.   Nope, not gonna do it!   And no more wiglets or wigs!

I love you all.

I had a moment at dinner tonight.  Just a moment, lasting not more than 30 seconds, but enough for the hubby to notice and ask what's wrong.  There was a lady across the restaurant with her gray hair all coiffed.........just like my mom did every Friday.  Brought tears to my eyes........but just for a few seconds.     

By the way the picture came from www.hot1940shairstyles.com

Remember the Angel Food Cake?

Remember the angel food cake?

I have been on a cooking spree the last week or so, cooking up all sorts of concoctions; everything from a boxed angel food cake to Julia Child's Beef Bourguignon. 

But you know what, none of the things I made can hold a candle to what my mother used to cook for us.  Last night after I was exhausted from a whole afternoon of preparing the bourguignon (and I kid you not when I tell you it took me 4 hours to do all the steps.  Had I been Julia's editor, I think I could have simplified some of those steps), I starting thinking about mom's cooking and how she'd never once cooked one of Julia Child's recipes.  Of course she had other recipes that she used from time to time for desserts, casseroles, etc, but most of the time for her day to day cooking she never used a recipe.  She didn't have time for checking a recipe.........she needed to get supper out of the way so that she could be on to other things or help Daddy outside doing whatever needed to be done.........and there was ALWAYS something that needed to be done on our farm.  Remember driving the cows back to the barn every evening?  And for you city folks, I am talking about walking the cows back home, not driving in a pickup behind the cows.....no you actually had to walk behind them and they were a half mile away.  

Back to the beef...........

Mom didn't make Beef Bourguignon, but her roast beef was to die for and she made it the same way every time.  Salt and pepper a chuck roast or whatever type roast we had in the freezer, cover with flour, sear both sides in a hot skillet, put roast in a heavy pot, add water, put in the oven, and cooking the living daylights out of it........till it literally fell apart.  She almost always put a hefty quartered onion on top of the roast; her favorite part...she loved those soft onions.  Sometimes she would add carrots and potatoes.....a whole lot easier to put them in the pot at 1:00 in the afternoon than to mash potatoes as everyone was gathering in for supper.  Truth be known, I never liked potatoes cooked in the roast, but hubby loves them...give me plain old mashed potatoes anytime and since I don't have the chores my mother did, I will take time to mash potatoes.  That was it...........my mom's pot roast............AND everybody's favorite.  Seriously, there was never a bite left over especially when the in-laws gathered in.

And who doesn't remember Mom's angel food cake?  It was one of her go to recipes.  Take one box of angel food cake and bake according to directions.  That's it!  And gosh it was so good....add the strawberry glaze and yum yum......nothing better at any French bakery.  So when I made my angel food cake last week and topped it with a can of lemon frosting, it couldn't hold a candle to mom's strawberry glaze. 

I am not going to tell you that my beef bourguignon wasn't good.  It was delicious.  But with all the cookbooks out there, with all the Internet recipes reviewed and rated, nothing can compare with Mom's cooking.  If Mom knew my hubby and I were coming down, she would usually have a nice pot roast or perhaps some smothered steak and mash potatoes ready.........and almost always there would be that pink angel food cake setting on the counter.  Remember the angel food cake?  Remember???????

I love you all.

My Dear Dear Water Bed

My dear, dear water bed,
It's sad for me to say
And it feels me with dread
To tell you that you cannot stay.

You let me down!
Had you not sprang a leak
You would still be around,
But now a replacement I seek.

So over the hill and through the dale
A suitable sub I seek.
Find a bed that will not pale
Find a bed that will not leak.

Soft ones, hard ones, and in between
Tested them all till I was weak
And I say this not to be mean,
But water bed, not one will spring a leak.

So dear waterbed of 40 years
You must be tossed
We must part, albeit with fears.
So why do I feel like I have lost?

Can I love a waterbed?  I love you!

She Wants to be My Friend

Oh my gosh!  Oh my gosh!  Oh my gosh!  She wants me to be her friend......on Facebook.  Oh my gosh!  Yes, Princess Kate wants to be my friend.............NO!  NO!  Somebody way more cool than her....a high school classmate, one of the coolest girls in school wants to be my friend.  Yahoo!

It baffles me that I am giddy at the thought of someone so cool, so pretty, and a cheerleader to boot asking to be my friend. Why am I like this? I definitely feel that I am now a witty and cool woman, a relatively attractive woman (at my age), fairly bright, financially smart and comfortable, an accomplished woman with two bright and sweet children, and two adorable grand boys.  (Sounds like I am posting this on Match Dot Com.)  I had a pretty good job, held a position in which I never felt totally comfortable but I was able to hold my own and succeed, and most importantly please my boss.   I have traveled both professionally and personally to locations I never dreamed possible.   Still.........I long to be that cool girl in high school, 45 (did I say 45?) years ago. 

By now you all know my age.......just a young chick.........still after all these years I think I have issues.  YA THINK!!!!  Just a few self-esteem issues......those that go all the way back to the 60s..the teenage years, the years of acne (oh my), the years of not having cool clothes, the years of not having a boyfriend, the years of never feeling smart enough, the years of just not being one of the cool kids.

So with pride, I will accept my new friends offer of becoming her friend.  Who knows, perhaps she had some esteem issues back then.  Maybe it was hard for her, or harder than I thought it was for her.  Who knows............?  We am what we am.  No matter what, we am what we am.  We go through this life without a clue as to what will come next.  We strive for perfection......  We strive to be that cool person. 

As much as I have talked about in this post of the insecurity I had in my teenage years, I would not change a thing for all those issues I had back then, those issues that I have faced along these last 45 years have made me into the woman I am today.  Confident and, I must say, stronger than I have ever felt in my life.  And in the end, it all evens out.

She wants to be my friend!

I love you!
   



 

My Kid at Heart

Lights dimmed, fireplace burning, warm glow of the kitchen cabinet lighting........what more could a girl want?  Barrett-Jackson of course. Yes, it is that time of the year.  The time when the TV is on and where once in a while the hubby goes "hmmm" or "that is a pretty good deal" or "wish ours looked like that".  And I am over here just typing away on my laptop.  I look forward to it every year.

Ladies, when you get together with your friends, aren't you just a kid at heart?  Aren't you still playing with makeup?  Don't you want to talk about how cute that skirt is?  Don't you want to show off your new shoes to your friends?  Don't you like to play "when I grow up"? 

I am totally convinced that my hubby is just a kid at heart, too.  In fact I would go so far as to say that most of our gentlemen friends are kids at heart whether they are fantasizing in front of a TV football game or fantasizing in front of a TV auction of beautiful automobiles.  They are playing "when I grow up".

Sometimes we need a little "when I grow up" time.  There are times in our life when the hubby and I have to take a mental break to get back to that innocent time of when I grow up.  When I worked there were days when I took off which I called "mental health days".  I am here to tell all you worker bees - you need them as much as a sick day with a 102 temperature.  So even retired there are times when the hubby and I take our little mental health days.  Just last week we had a little mental health day and drove across town for a little "us" time and quite spontaneously we decided to have lunch at La Baguette's.  It was like a 45 minute vacation and something we both seriously needed; a quiet little French bistro........vacation.  It was one of the best 45 minutes of our entire week.

So tonight we are just vegging on the couch taking another mental health break.  Tonight my kid at heart is playing "when I grow up" and I couldn't be happier to be a grown up.

Side note:  Just last night, that 71 year old kid at heart jumped on the back of the grocery cart and coasted down the incline to the car.  That is the man I married.  Surprise you?  Not me!

I love you.

Nothing More Comforting

I have a love affair with jeans.......all colors.......but mostly I am attracted to the blue variety.  Today, it occurred to me that maybe I might be buying too many when I noticed that I had 17 pair of blue jeans.  Actually, I didn't notice, I counted them.  Yep, 17 pairs of blues.  That's not counting the 7 black pair, nor the gray pair, nor the two tan pair, nor the chocolate brown ones, nor the green ones, nor the 3 pairs of whites, nor the new red pair I bought last month, which are really, really cute.   I love my comfortable jeans. 

There are three different sizes represented amongst all these jeans which goes to show you that I might be a little spastic with my weight.  The thing is I can squeeze into all of them........if I lay prone on the floor and tug and bounce and tug and bounce, tug and bounce.  Some are boot cut, some are straight leg, and some are skinny jeans.  Some set below the waist, some set at the waist, but none are hip huggers (remember the 60s, girls?).  Some are short to wear with my flats and some are long to wear with heels, some to wear tucked into boots, some to wear with boots hidden.  There is even a pair that is labeled "curvy fit".  And, honey, you thought I was just fat.  Nope, I am curvy.  Vast distinction.  (But girls, these curvy fit are really comfortable and they are curvy...dare I say sexy?  OK, I know full well my age, and I do not in any way consider myself sexy.  I just said that to see if you are paying attention.)

I was ironing a few of my favorites (also known as the ones that fit) this afternoon - hence the desire to count them.  You know how I love to iron, the satisfaction it gives me.....all that steam bursting forth......giving lots of moisture to release the wrinkles.  Far cry from the way mom used to iron.  Back in those days, your grandma would dip her fingers in a bowl of water and sling water onto the clothes (most were starched).   She would then bundle each item up tightly and place it in the basket.  Eventually, the clothes would be evenly moistened and ready to iron.  I think the satisfaction I receive from ironing stems from watching the wrinkles transform into something resembling cardboard.  Those that remember starch will know what I am talking about.

Note:  Kids, inside the hot water closet is an old iron that belonged to your dad's family, several generations back.  That iron was heated by placing on the wood stove.  How long to you think it would take to do the weekly ironing way back when?  They probably had a system, ironing the heaviest garment first, and as the ironed cooled, iron the more delicate.  Grandma Dawkins told me they would have a couple of irons, one on the stove heating while using the other. 

Memory:  On cold winter's nights when I stayed the night with my grandma Dawkins, she would heat one of her old irons on the stove and then wrap it in a towel.  She would place it under the covers at the foot of the bed to warm my feet.  Me in my flannel night gown, my feet entwined with grandma's seeking that warm towel, listening to one of grandma's favorite stories...nothing more comforting.

I love you! 

 

 

  

       

The Mistress's Soothing Bath Herbs

Well, can you believe it, we are already at day 2, 2013.  The grandsons are here tonight.  Just a few more days of Christmas break for them.  Do you remember Christmas break?  Not that I hated school (I did!), but I sure enjoyed that break.  A time to stay by the home fires, playing with all our play pretties (as Mrs. Tucker would say).

Tonight I was playing with one of my new play pretties:  Country House "The Mistress's SOOTHING Bath Herbs".  The aroma is so wonderful.  Something about it reminds me of a nice cold solstice and it is definitely soothing.  Then again, the herbal scent smells slightly of sage and rosemary, but neither of these are in the ingredient list.  You could take a bath with it or you could stuff a turkey.  Just kidding on the latter.  I chose to bathe with it. 

The ingredients:  Frankincense, Coltfoot, Laminaria (Bladderwrack), Boldo leaf, Hops, Yarrow, Southernwood, Lavender, Orris Root.  How many of these ingredients have you heard of?  See, no sage or rosemary. 

The box reads:  After an arduous day supervising the running of the great house, the Mistress would retire to her room to prepare herself for the formalities of the evening.  At this juncture, the prudent lady's maid would pour a copious bath in which she would steep various relaxing and  softening herbs to induce a sense of ease and encouragement.  It is in this tradition that we offer The Mistress's Soothing Bath Herbs which, used night or morning, will help melt away tension and invoke euphoria. 

Whew.........does that not capture your heart and imagination?  Don't you just want to pick up a 600 page novel set in the mid-19th century?  Had my bath.  Got my new pjs on.........ready to be swept away.  I would even settle for another extra long episode of Dowtown Abby, but alas, that is not to be tonight.  Today I was running the great house, I did have a copious bath, and no maid involved.  The night held no formalities.  No, tonight I am all cozy in my pjs watching Ratatouille with my adorable giggling little boys.  Couldn't be happier to be the maid to my little ones tonight.  Nothing sweeter on earth than a little smiling boy asking if I would put a rubber band around his drawing. 

I love you.