No Shoes Today

Good evening everybody.  Here it is, Halloween night and nary a ghost or goblin in sight. 


So instead of writing about all the goblins at my front door, I will talk about shoes instead.  I went to the mall today knowing before I left home that I would bring home a pair of shoes.  I was willing to spend almost any amount of my hard earned dollars for a pair of shoes that would NOT hurt my feet. 


Well, here it is 8:15 p.m. and I do NOT have a new pair of shoes.  I think I know the reason(s) why.  My feet hurt, they always hurt, and I haven't bought a pair of shoes that didn't hurt some part of my foot.  It doesn't matter how much I have paid, some area of at least one foot will be uncomfortable.  Also, I am TOO particular.  The shoes must be a particular color.  They must be a style that is cute and sexy.  They must be comfortable (as comfortable as my feet can stand).  They must NOT be grandma shoes.    


So here I set, no 'trick or treaters' and no shoes.  Ugh.  And I really need a new pair of shoes or perhaps a cute pair of ankle boots. 


I am beginning to think I may have to adjust my thinking.  Maybe I need to realize I am a 67 year old woman and not a 27 year old chick.  Maybe I should take out the word "sexy" in my requirement for a stylish shoe.  Or maybe I will try one more shopping trip.  I am sure there is a pair of shoes for me.  Oh shoes, why hast thou forsaken me?


I love you.

There Might Be Stickers in Cemeteries

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CtZePBCz5MU&feature=youtu.be

I hope you get a chance to look at the video above.  It was taken yesterday.  My granddaughter and I walked barefooted out to the shop building where she found this little patch of sand.  As soon as I saw her, I ran back to get my camera.  She has discovered how to run her toes through the sand with no regard to how dirty her feet were getting.  I wanted to capture this sweet moment.

In other news:  Monday I happened to be at a cemetery in high heels.  My feet were absolutely killing me.  On the way back to the car, which was quite a distance away, I had this bright idea that I should take my shoes off and walk in the grass.  After all, there was nobody in sight to see me so why not save my tootsies.  Man, that felt good for about 10 steps until I found the sticker patch.  WHOA  “Johnny, help me.  I’ve got stickers in both feet.”  Being the good man he is, he picked them out for me and even offered to carry me to the car.  At that I had to laugh…….as if.  I slipped my heels back on and literally limped to the car where I found my flats.  Why didn’t I change into my flats before I headed to the cemetery?  Not my smartest decision.   MORAL OF THE STORY:  There might be stickers in cemeteries. 

Just a little humorous story.

I love you.

You Might Recognize Your Mother in Yourself

Good morning everyone.  I have been looking at Facebook and I have noticed a lot of beautiful girls out there; granddaughters of friends, friends of friends, etc.  One thing I have noticed is these lovely young women, dare I say beautiful young women, resemble their mothers and even their grandmothers.  These young women probably don't want to hear that, but they do. 


When these young girls look at their mother's or grandmother's youthful pictures, I am sure they don't see the resemblance.  Here's what we/they tend to forget.  We didn't have all the helpful hints that the girls use today.  For instance, we were lucky if we had a tube of lipstick, one black mascara, one color of eye shadow.......not a pallet of colors, and maybe a little blush.  That's it.  Back in the day, there wasn't special makeup to cover blemishes, blotches, and dark under eye circles the way they do today.  We didn't color our hair and if we did, it was from a box from the drugstore....not high lights at the salon.  And NOBODY ever got a manicure AND we had never even heard of a pedicure.....who'd let anybody touch their toes???  We didn't know that we should put a hand on our hip to make us look slimmer.  We didn't know to pout our lips in a seductive way.  We didn't know to tilt our heads at a certain angle to make our faces look slimmer.  Nobody ever heard of photo shopping the picture to take inches off our hips and thighs.  We certainly didn't have the privilege of taking 88 photos in order to select the one that could make a magazine cover. 


I'm not saying these girls are all photo shopped, but they certainly have advantages that my generation did not have.  Good????  I wonder.....  Maybe not.  My opinion:  They, and I will include me, too, have all become very vain.  Seems somehow sad to me.  It's all about the glamor.........


So lovely gals, if you take off the makeup, go with your natural hair, look straight into the camera, put your elbow down, and smile, you might recognize your mother in yourself.


I love you.

Show Love Even When You Don't Feel Like Loving

I'm slightly exhausted tonight after a very busy trip with the grandchildren this weekend.  We pulled in the driveway at 4:45 and by 5:05 we were back on the road for a quick trip to my hometown for family visitation for my uncle so I will make this post short.  Before I close my eyes for the night, I wanted to tell you about a very special lady, my younger cousin's wife.  She has cancer...........the bad kind.............pancreatic cancer and it has spread.  It is bad.  But here she was in a setting that wasn't ideal considering her own situation, but she was supporting my family.  I am not so sure I could have done the same.  It would have been easier for her to just stay home, but there she was.  There is no mistaking that she has cancer and is frail, but she looked regal and beautiful.  She made a huge impression on me tonight embodying grace under fire.  I have a lot more to learn, but I learned something tonight.  Show love even when you don't feel like loving.  Grace under fire sometimes eludes me, but seeing this woman and the................I am going to say it..............love she showed me personally was something I wasn't expecting. 


No, I wasn't expecting a blessing tonight, but I got a huge one.  This sweet lady blessed me with her strength, her dignity, and her grace under fire.  She showed me one can show love even if one doesn't feel like loving.    


I love you.      

Perfect Evening for Baseball

My boy!  Yes, you have seen this picture before. 


Hello everyone.  Isn't this a fine October night?  Well, our grandson's first baseball season came to a close tonight and oh, what a night for baseball.  A perfectly windless night.  In fact, I wasn't the only one to notice a beautiful evening.  As we were walking into the huge baseball complex, I overheard another team's coach tell his co-coach, "I really don't care if they win or lose............it is just a perfect evening for baseball.  I just want them to have some fun."  I couldn't agree more.


Nonetheless, Blaine's team ended up winning.  Not only that, Blaine was at bat twice and both times he got good hits.  And he made a score.  AND HE GOT TO PITCH the last inning.  And he struck a batter out by pitching right across the place.  That's not to say he was perfect the rest of the inning, but the fact that his coaches see potential in him in his very first season of baseball is commendable.  He went out on a high note and sugar cookies all around.  What a perfect evening.  Smiles all around. 


A perfect evening for baseball.


I love you.
If you have never seen Moore's baseball/football complex, you owe it to yourself to take a look some fall evening.  Moore has done their community proud investing in the lives of their future citizens.  Well done, Moore.

Our Little Owl Story

I don't often get a call from the hubby when he takes the dog out for his 10:30 run.  In fact, I have never gotten a phone call from him when he takes the dog out.  It has only been in the last year, that I have convinced him that he should even take the phone with him.  Well you can imagine what I thought when I saw his number come up on the TV (oh these smart TVs are actually smart).  But nothing was amiss.  He just wanted me to come out to see the owl in the tree.  I stealthy opened the front door and he directed me to the perfect spot for OWL viewing........the biggest owl he'd ever seen.  It had flown directly over his head and landed on a branch in the front yard.  Only thing is, it had also stealthy moved on.  No owl.  Oh, too bad.  Back to the house I go.


Just a couple minutes later, he called again.  "I'll be right out."  Again, he positioned me just so before turning on the flashlight to shine on the owl.  This time that beauty was perched high in the tree and looking right into the bright light.  Oh what a majestic bird.  We stood there and just stared and marveled that we get to live where we see all these creatures.........including the fastest running opossum I have ever seen.  Yep, the guy was traveling at full speed across the driveway when we pulled in tonight. 


I love the farm where I grew up, but I live in a wonderful place TODAY.  It is home....not that homestead of years ago.  This is home.  Sometimes I take things for granted.  Sometimes I lament that things are not perfect.  Sometimes I want things different or want to make a change.  Sometimes I forget my blessings.  Seeing that owl tonight seemed to be some sort of awakening for me.............I really do have it all.  So that's our little owl story. 


I love you.
When we came back in we looked up owls and discovered that huge bird we saw is called a Barred Owl.  My, oh my, he was a stately looking animal. 

Here’s to Hamburger King

I had lunch with my daughter and her near perfect children today.  A grandma has a right to say things like that….perfect children.  I can send them home anytime I want.  Seriously, they are kids that I really like.  I really like them.  Something else I like is Hamburger King, a hamburger place in Shawnee.

It is famous among the locals and it certainly is famous with this old local.  I love this place.  Mrs. Sutterfield wouldn’t like me loving an inanimate object.  This was the best it got back in the day.  I loved their hamburgers then and I love them now.  And oh the conversations had at these little four person booths.   

When my children were little and long after they left the house, it was a tradition with my parents to meet there at Christmas time.  Many a conversation regarding our Christmas lists took place at these little booths along with discussions of the food we would bring to her house on Christmas day.  And, of course, Daddy always had plenty to say about the latest news story—he was always caught up on his current events. 

After a great hamburger, we’d pile in one car and tour Shawnee looking at the lights and decorations of the season.  All six of us would be snuggled up in their car…..don’t you wish you could find a car that would seat three people in the front seat?    Braum’s for ice cream wasn’t out of the question, either. 

So………….HERE’S TO HAMBURGER KING.  LONG MAY YOU STAY IN BUSINESS.

I love you.

Another story:  Hamburger King has been in business for many years even back in my dad’s  early days.  He told this story many times.  He and his friend had a double date and each of them had one quarter.  A hamburger was a quarter back then.  He and his friend bought the girls each a hamburger and they ate them in the car.  He told us he’d never smelled anything so good as those hamburgers the girls were eating.  I can only imagine how delicious smelled in that confined space, can’ you?   Now girls, if you find a man who will spend their last quarter buying you a hamburger and not on themselves, you have a keeper.

I Don't Put Tomato Juice Up My Nose

Good day everyone.  I don't put tomato juice up my nose.  Huh??  Let me tell you, but first I must tell you about our day.


Today, we (he--I'm not old yet) survived another "old people" surgery.  Yes, today the hubby had a cataract removed from his right eye.......not a biggie, but a first for us (him) so we were just a tad tense.  I had to stay in the lobby until they had him all prepped which seemed to take for-EVER.  Finally they brought me back and it was all I could do not to laugh.  Pulling back that curtain and seeing all his loveliness; one eye dilated the other not, fitted with a lovely paper gown with matching bonnet and booties, forehead tattooed with his doctor's initials--just in case they forget which eye, IVs going every which way, it was hard not to just double over giggling.  But no, I held it all inside...this is serious knife stuff.


We just made small talk as he waited to go back for surgery.  It finally came to us that the last time we were at this center, some 25 miles from home, was when he first had his sinus surgery.


That discussion led to this. 
He:  I haven't had a sinus problem since I started boiling the water (well water) for my irrigator."
Me:  Maybe we shouldn't be drinking it.
He says quite seriously:  Not the same at all.  I don't put tomato juice up my nose, but I drink it.
That's when I lost it.  I laughed out loud.  Imagine this old man bundled up in his paper gown and his cute little bonnet, one eye dilated, the other not, tattooed forehead saying "I don't put tomato juice up my nose, but I drink it." 


We both were giggling like teenagers.  What a tension reliever.........we both needed it.  "I don't put tomato juice up nose."  Nope, Johnny, I don't put tomato juice up my nose, either. 


That man has a great sense of humor.


I love you.