Qualified Outfit

 

 

My little guys were invited to birthday parties this weekend......SIX of them.  Two for Logan and four for Blaine.  Blaine wants to go to the one at 6 p.m. Saturday night because it is Oscar's, the COOLEST boy in school.  Remember when you wanted to go to the coolest kid's party?  Or maybe YOU were the coolest kid.

 

Well, Saturday night we are invited to the coolest boy in school's home for an annual class reunion.  Here's my dilemma, what to wear?  I kid you not when I tell you that I pulled out and tried on every pair of pants, shorts, and capris in my closet.  I also tell you that I tried on at least four tops for each pants, trying desperately to come up with the perfect combination to look cool (as in hip or is it hep), to look skinny (or at least not to look like I am wearing clothes two sizes too small), and to look like I didn't deliberately go out and buy new clothes (gotta look like I wear these type clothes all the time) and I must look timeless............another word for classy.  Since I will be in another state and do not know the weather at 3:00 in the afternoon, I must not wear something that will be too hot or too cool (as in cold). 

 

The real problem is the pants.  The ones I had intended on wearing are too tight.  Still very cute pants, but tight.  I wore them last year to the same event, but with white pants, I could just put a different top and nobody would be the wiser, and they would fit the bill....long enough to be warm should it be a cool day...white if the weather is warm...hip because white jeans are just  cute...white because they are just plain old classy...AND I wore them last year so they will not look NEW.  That leaves only the problem of tight.  Even though these jeans are skinny jeans which are supposed to be snug, (which were snug last year, maybe just a tad too snug) they are not supposed to look like sausage casings.  The good thing...........they now totally encase my cellulite and rather than small little dimples showing I have these huge sausage casings (one for each leg). 

 

The hubby came in to assure me that he will be proud of me in anything, but he did offer the suggestion that maybe the red pants weren't quite as tight.  "Maybe not quite as tight as the others."  He is a dear man and I suspect after I try on all the "qualified" outfits later tonight, he will offer up some cash and tell me to take a trip to Chico's or some other "qualified" store to get the "qualified" outfit.

 

I love you.

 

P.S.  Anybody got a great recipe for me to take to this event.  Gotta make an impression.  Qualifications:  Must travel well, keep cool or at room temperature for a couple of days, and be easy to serve AND IT MUST BE OVER THE TOP, THE MOTHER OF ALL RECIPES.  Reason:  These ladies are from Arkansas and the southern ladies KNOW how to cook.  Just ask Paula Dean or my Mississippi sister.  Ideas???? 

 



The Three Musketeers

Prague High School Prom

1966

Nancy, Joyce, Regina

 

We were stepping out that night, many moons ago. 

None of us had dates even though at the time I

was dating.  Who needs dates for a prom?  Certainly not us.

 

Many years later we had a chance to catch up on old times at the Waterford in OKC. 

We were still just girls, laughing a giggling, flirting with the Monkeys and REO Speed Wagon.

OK, explanation:  Both groups were staying at the Waterford, too.  Nancy got autographs to prove it.

And here we are again, 1996.  This time we are at the very back of the

Opryland Hotel in Nashville, still giggling and laughing.

 

Make new friends,

but keep the old,

one is silver,

and the other gold.

 

Yes, these girls are my cherished golden friends.  These are the girls I shared so much with, both

in those high school years and the years that have followed.  Each of us have our own unique

life experiences and tragedies that we share when we are together.  We still have a lot in

common, but then again, nothing in common.  Forty-seven years have separated us.

Forty-seven years of LIFE and LIFE is an ever changing process!

 

We have gone our separate ways,

but these lovely ladies will

always be a part of my life.

They are part of what makes me, ME. 

THE THREE MUSKETEERS

 

I love you.

 

 

Memories:  In our senior year, Nancy had an old Cadillac--I think it was a 1949, but iffy on that.  For some reason we had that old Cadillac on the football field.  I think we were decorating the goal post, but memory is cloudy on this one.  Some boys came running up to the car and were trying to grab the keys out of the ignition.  Thought:  Maybe they were trying to stop us from driving on the football field...that just came to me.  Anyway back to my story.  I was in the middle of the front seat and tried to prevent them from getting that key so I put my foot up on the dash and when I did, I broke the key off in the ignition.  I remember giggling about that, but really it was a nervous spontaneous giggle because I was worried sick that I would get in trouble from Nancy's dad.  I didn't, so maybe she told them it was the boys.

 

Another time, I believe I was driving with a car load of girls.  That night we saw two hitchhikers at the Ellis courts.  We picked them up and took them out to Centerview and dropped them out.  Now Centerview is a community 3 or 4 miles from town and a good 15 miles to the next other town.  What in the world were we thinking, picking up hitchhikers especially at night????  

We were wild and crazy girls!!!!!!!!  Not really because we had 6 girls in the car when we crammed those boys in.  I guess we thought we could overpower them......again not thinking!!   

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Kisses Mom

My mom, my dad...........sigh.  This brings a lump to my throat for this is exactly how I picture them when I think of them.  This is how they looked before.............before everything that took their health.  This is how I will always remember them. 

Mother's Day and I feel so inadequate for I have none of the qualities of that sweet gentle woman in that picture.  Please do not feel that I am wanting someone to brag on me or make me feel better.  I know that I am a better mother that a lot of mothers, but I am a far cry from the mother that reared me.  What a soft gentle soul she was.  What a kind, quiet person.  What a woman of God.  What an example. 

I see the white hair always coiffed just right, a little on the stiff side.  I see the wrinkles in her face...........the beautiful wrinkles.  I see the light touch of powder and blush on her cheeks.  I see the pinkish red lips so full with smiles.............ready to kiss me right on the lips, something that I will always cherish............that kiss on the lips............just a sweet little peck............my mother's lips. 

No, you won't see any of these in the picture above unless you were one of hers, her children, her in-laws who were always just like her own, her grandchildren, even some of her great grandchildren that are old enough to remember.  No, you won't see, because we see with our memories.  We see the wrinkles, the powder, the blush because we touched them.  We see the lips because we kissed them. 

I love you............forever.  Kisses Mom.

Thoughts for Today

Just had my coffee and I am chomping at the bit to go.  Go clean house, that is.  Yes, I have some serious cleaning to do today on this cold day in Oklahoma City.  Can't work outside so I have no excuse not to work inside.  As I said yesterday, being retired is a lot like WORK.  And I will work..............right after I take one more look at Pinterest.

Pinterest is one big picture magazine, isn't it?  I should print off the pictures and turn them into a coffee table book.  Wouldn't that be a fun book?  I am beginning to think that we citizens of the world have no patience for an actual magazine, let alone a book.  No, just give us pictures.  Pictures that can flow in and out of our brains in an instant.......  Oh, I have just thought of this, do you think that we and the following generations will have a greater instance of Alzheimer's disease because of how much is flowing through our brains and never committed to memory?  We are "in the moment" for only a moment, not even a second.............quicker than a lightening bolt the images are gone.  

We have little tolerance of anything that takes any effort.  Can you imagine a child taking the time to build a model?  Of course, there are exceptions, and I have proof of those exceptions in my own grandchildren, but on average of all the children in the USA........  I wish I had a "sigh" button and I would insert it here. 

So when your grandchildren have soccer games...t-ball...football...gymnastics...cheer practice...dance, or, best of all, just playing outdoors, support them.  Encourage them to be part of the world rather than just looking at it though a 5 X 7 computer screen. 

Well that's all I have.........now to grab the vacuum cleaner........right after I take one more look at those little alcoves for al fresco dining.  Remind me, I need to write a post about al fresco dining. 

I love you.
 
By the way, my grandchildren, my boys are way above average......just in case I haven't made that clear.

Riding Around in my ZTR

For all those of you who have asked me about retirement, I want to let you know up front that retirement is a lot of work.  In fact it might be more work than you are doing now. 

Spring/summer/winter, and in that order I might add, have arrived.  We have mowed the yard twice now, but Monday it was the big one.  The one where the blade is let down low and I go roaring off into parts of the yard, up till now, unknown.  The first real 'get with it' mowing......the one where the sticks and limbs are chewed up and thrown out like hand grenades (and it sounds like it too--better stand back--way back)...........the one that creates a dust tornado............the one where the neighbors come out to check to see if a helicopter has crashed in our yard.  Yep, that is me under all that dust.  Shower required!!!

I have to brag on our Toro Zero Turn Radius mower.  It has cut down our yard work by three-quarters time.  I love that thing........riding around in my automobile (remember that song?).  It is like being on an amusement ride, doing wheelies, spinning around on the back wheel.  It does everything but cartwheels, and I am sure that might be accomplished with just a tab bit more acceleration.  I just love it and do most of the mowing.  You have to have one!!!!  I promise you, your life will never be the same again.  You need one, and you know who I am talking to.  Yep, you!

Another summer has begun..............until the snow and freezing temperatures arrive tomorrow.  Gotta get my tomatoes in the ground.  Lots to do today before the big chill comes in this evening. 

Yep, I am back riding around in my automobile...........otherwise known as a ZTR.  Let summer begin!  Please, let summer begin!  Riding around in my ZTR.

I love you.

Is My Slip Showing?

Good morning everybody.  OK girls, how many of you remember this?  For those of you who do not remember, this is a slip or petticoat or whatever other name you may have called it.  It was worn under your dress to prevent shadows of your bra and panties or legs from showing.  This picture came directly from the Sears website and to not get myself in trouble by using a picture without permisson, I have included their website.  http://www.sears.com/shc/s/p_10153_12605_018VA49762301P?sid=IDx01192011x000001&kispla=018VA49762301P&srccode=cii_17588969&cpncode=31-126280365-2

And the half slips--remember those? Back in the day we younger girls opted for half slips which were just that, a half slip. Maybe we were rebelling from our mom's more puritanical ways or maybe a full slip was just hot. 

And can-cans.  If you are of a certain age, you gotta remember those.  Stiffer, the better and if you could get one that stood out 90 degrees from your waist, you were the bomb!  I was very little when mom made me one out of window screen metal............I swear!  I am sure it was, but you know what age does to you...........it makes everything just a little more dramatic, stories a little more embellished, and memories slightly altered.......but I swear it was made from metal window screen.  I remember the steel gray color....and nope, I am not telling a fib, it WAS window screen material.  My little dress stood straight out and to this day, I can remember how it scratched me at the waist.  Most uncomfortable thing I have ever had on.  I don't remember wearing it but once and that was to church.  It was gathered at the waist and had biased tape at the waist and at the hem.  I guess that was to protect me from pokes and scratches, but believe me, it did NOT work.  Maybe that is the reason mom didn't make me wear it again. 

Last night The Tonight Show had on Carol Burnett and during the interview, Jay Leno showed a clip of her early, early days.  Her little dress was cute as it could be; high neck line, gathered skirt, fitted bodice.  During the skit she was dancing and swinging her arms and when she raised her arms, her slip was showing.  It came as such a surprise, that I asked the hubby if that was her slip or part of the dress. 

Slip showing............nobody has a slip showing these days.  I guess that is the reason I was so surprised when I saw Carol's.  Have you seen a slip showing lately?  Nada...........that is because nobody is wearing one.  There was a time, however, when the sentence "Is my slip showing?" was the last thing we asked before we went out the door. 

In 2013, modesty seems to have flown out the window, but I kind of miss the old days...the days of modesty.  Don't you?  I miss the days when certain things were just covered up.  No need to show all your assets to every stranger in town.  Oh we think we are so liberated, not having to bother or be encumbered with a lot of extraneous things like a slip, but look around you.  Do you see TOO much from the young ladies these days?  Are you sometimes embarrassed for what you see?

I am not advocating bringing the slip back (I don't even own one myself), but a little less flesh wouldn't hurt anybody.  Modesty...ahh, the good old days. 

I love you.  Now, is my slip showing?   

Carol Burnett....one classy lady.  She was so good at her craft, making people laugh with her talent and with no obscene jokes, gestures, or words.  What a lady!

Winter, You Win!

I'm having my coffee in front of my windows, watching the world go by..........if only there was a car to watch...........but I have the squirrels..........NOT!  They are holed up in their little nests because old man winter has decided to work some overtime hours.  Hasn't he heard of the sequester?  No overtime granted.  37 brrrrrrrrr degrees with sprinkles.  Even the goldfinches in their bright yellow summer dresses are wondering if they should change back into their winter garb, or just grab a coat.  Get on out of here, winter.

Will Rogers was sure right about Oklahoma when he said, "If you don't like the weather in Oklahoma, wait around a minute and it will change."  If you have ever lived in Oklahoma, you know that to be a fact.  Just yesterday, it was 77 degrees with bright sunshine and today 44 degrees for a high??!!??  What gives?  Well, that was a stupid question.  What gives is that I live in O.K.L.A.H.O.M.A.

I am so ready for spring.  There are things to plant, places to go, people to visit.  I try to find little snippets of time to run outside to plant a few things.  You have to do this if you live in Oklahoma because ideal times are rare.  So yesterday I just couldn't wait another minute.  It was sunny, it was warm..........almost ideal conditions except for the wind and that old forecast.  I had to plant, plant, plant.  I was just daring the forecast.  Sure enough, it took the dare and looks like it may win.  Sad face!  UNCLE!!!!!!!!!!!  Winter, you win!

So here I set, enjoying my coffee and watching my thermometer stay at 37 degrees.............ever so grateful that I have a nice warm house.  Next week, the forecast predicts more warm sunshine.  Waiting............. 

I love you, Oklahoma.  I love you all.

Memory:  This has nothing to do with this post at all, but I have been thinking about thresholds lately.  All I seem to see these days are made of aluminum or metal of some sort.  Do any of you remember wooden thresholds?  My grandma's house had ones made of wood, almost worn flat.  Just think of how many people entered and left that house.  It gives me a warm fuzzy feeling thinking of my daddy as a child stepping on it, but it saddens me to think of him stepping on it when we had to say goodbye to my grandma.  If only that threshold could talk.  You know, I never thought I about wanting that little threshold, but I would love to have that incorporated into my house in some way. 



   

I Just Love It Here

I just love it here even though it is such a cold day for it to be the 18th of April.  Can you believe it?  We had 3 inches of rain last night which really helps the drought conditions we have had for the last several years.  Our pond is now overflowing and the wildlife will have a water source once again.  Again........can you believe it?

We are so fortunate that we live on this little acreage; plenty of room for a huge garden if we want.  Unfortunately we also have room for all the little critters that consider our garden fast food, take out, and a dine-in restaurant.  We have the patrons that dig up the potatoes, the ones that carry off tomatoes to enjoy in their lairs, the ones that nibble the tops off green beans, and even the ones that climb up a tree to leap over to the pear tree which is surrounded by a hot wire, outsmarting and thumbing their noses at us, but we glare at them from the porch swing.  I am sure we scare them as we shoot laser beams from our eyes. 

This morning there was a beautiful buff-colored hawk on the garden post.  He just swooped down and back up to the adjacent post.  Wow, what is a beautiful sight and not one you'd see in the city.  We have deer, fox, coyote, and even a rare bob cat.  The squirrels are everywhere this morning, so cute, chasing one another...........and..............and do I see what I think I see...........is that little guy thumbing his nose at me?????????????  Why that little...............!!!!!!!!!!!!!

As happy as we are to live out here among the critters, we are happier to live on a street with sweet neighbors.  Even as I type, the hubby is visiting with the neighbor that lives across the street.  Yesterday, another neighbor was running his sweet-natured greyhound, Rosie, up the street.  Of course, he was not running per se, but on his scooter.  Scooter boy pulled up our driveway, right up the sidewalk to the porch swing and we visited for a half hour.  Then later our neighbors to our right walked up for another impromptu visit.  We felt pretty popular yesterday.

With everything that is going on in this world, it would be easy to climb into a dark hole and stay there.  Then I hear the children's laughter on the playground at the nearby school, I hear the birds chirping, I see Rosie running up the street, the squirrels are still thumbing their nose at me, and the neighbors stop for a visit.  I just love it here.

Just a cute little Logan story.  Today, when my daughter picked up little Logan from kindergarten, he told her, "I have good news and I have bad news.  What do you want to hear first?"  She said, "I want the bad news first."  He then says, "The bad news is David got scratched.  The good news is he didn't bleed."    Oh how I wish that the bad news is just a scratch and the good news is no blood...out of the mouths of babes. 

I love you.

What a Wonderful Day

What a wonderful day,  I have had my breakfast, but more importantly, my coffee!!!  It is a windless cloudy morning, rare for Oklahoma.  I am setting here looking out my windows watching my hubby carry brush to the street for big trash day, feeling just a tad guilty, but not enough to get up.

I have my favorite catalog in my lap right now, "Soft Surroundings", the 2013 summer preview issue, and I am in heaven.  If you ever want to buy me anything, anything in this catalog will do.  ANYTHING!  Anything at all.  Tunics, pants, linen shirts, gauzy skirts, soft dreamy night gowns, unusual perfume (which may be on my shopping list today....I think I deserve it.), sandals, even bed linens.  I want them all!!!  Their link is www.softsurroundings.com if you ever want to take a look, but nothing compares to flipping the pages of the actual paper catalog. 

I just love catalogs.  They are certainly not junk mail to me.  I have my Gardener's Supply Company catalog, my Front Gate catalog, and my other favorite, Plow & Hearth in my lap, too.  Front Gate is so far from my comfortable price range, I tend to look at it for ideas.  Plow & Hearth, however, is one from which I have ordered.  It fulfills my 'plow' sense with all their wonderful gardening tools.  They make me feel like I, too, can be a gardener.  My 'hearth' sense is fulfilled with all the wonderful decorating items...making me long for a cabin in the woods, in the mountains, in Colorado or New Mexico.  Oh, I wish.........  mmmmmmmmm 

When I was a child, Kay, or any sister, and I would pour over all the catalogs we used to get.  They were not these piddly little 50 page catalogs, they were huge two inch thick things.  Montgomery Ward, Penney's, and Sears.  We would set side by side, each circling one thing on each page that we wanted.  It didn't matter if it was women's clothing or toys.  We had to pick one thing on each page and one thing only.  Even mom would get in on the act. When a new catalog would come, then the old catalog went to my sisters so they could cut out paper dolls.  I remember them in their bedroom, cutting out these dolls, shoe boxes and lids for pretend houses, and the girls playing for hours.  Oh my, that brings back so many memories.....good memories. 

Sadly, Montgomery Ward is no longer around.  It looks as if Penney's is not doing too well either and Sears..........well the icon seems to be loosing its way, too.  So many of the stores of my youth are now just a thing of the past. 

Well, it is time for me to put away my catalogs and get busy.  Another busy day at the Tucker household.  Looks like we may have some bad weather later, but for now, it is a perfect day.  Each day is so precious.  What a wonderful day.

I love you.



 

 

Meatloaf..........That's What's for Dinner Tonight

Meatloaf........that's what's for dinner tonight.  I don't know about you, but my meatloaf recipe isn't really a recipe.  I just pretty much start throwing in a dash of this and a dash of that and it comes out something like meatloaf.  If I had guts, I would taste the raw concoction just like Julia to tweak the spices...as I said, if I had guts.  I have no idea what mine is going to taste like until I serve it, but the hubby likes it every time.

One thing that is always a constant in my recipe is 'milk bread'.  I cube up my bread and soak in milk.  Tonight I didn't cube it, I just tore it apart.  You know what, it worked just fine and was a soft mushy mess, just like I like it.

While mixing up my meatloaf, I started thinking about all the little shortcuts that mom took.  I don't ever remember mom chopping, cubing, or dicing a thing, not even onions.  If she needed an onion chopped, she would hold the onion in her left hand and make cuts as she went along and the onion would fall right into the pan.  If she needed an onion diced, she would make the cuts even smaller.  If she made fried potatoes, she would hold the potato the same way, cutting down the length of the potato and then slice it right into the hot oil.......wait, it was either lard or grease.  We didn't worry about lard back then.  I remember her having a cutting board which hung from a lanyard near the range, but I don't remember her using it.   

Just a little note:  Mom had to make things stretch for her family of seven.  One of the ways to stretch ground beef is to add bread.  I didn't realized until after I married that adding bread to ground beef wasn't necessary.  Sometimes I wonder if today's generation will know how to be resourceful if times get tough.  Common sense seems to have left the building!!

Meatloaf............that's what's for dinner tonight.

I love you.