Till When? Then, I Hope!

Been running around again today -here, there and everywhere, or so it seems.

Bible School again this morning with the kids. Thankfully, that has gone very well thus far this week. Home from that and really tired but managed to down some more coffee and got a second wind I guess then to kick in so I could go to State College and pick up the older grandson so he could come up here and spend the night tonight.

Then, off to Walmart where I had to purchase a 2 quart jug with a wide mouth and sturdy, leak-proof type cap in which I could mix up my cocktail I have to drink tomorrow afternoon to clean my innards inside out, ya know. Gad! How I hate that stinking procedure!

I had to mix up a big jar of Miralax with either Gatorade or Propel but neither of these -whichever I selected -could be in the colors of red, purple or orange! So that left me with only lemon-lime flavor gatorade to pick from initially. Until I discovered the Propel is a clear liquid but comes in other flavors so I decided to give the Wild Cherry option a go.

I do find it rather ironic that I am drinking Miralax with Wild Cherry Propel -all in an effort to do some PROPELLING of the body waste products, ya know.

Home this evening and a very good friend from church stopped by to give me a card and inside the card was a check -from the Women's Group at our church -a very generous gift to help Mandy and me with the motel and gas expenses of this trip. Well, at least now I can rule out worrying about being overdrawn on my checking account, can't I?

I just want to thank my blogger buds -you all know who you are those who stopped by to wish me well tomorrow and again Friday with the surgery and for a speedy recovery and return back to my home. To my friends here at home too who called to wish me well and offer prayers for me, along with Facebook friends too, doing the same thing. You have no idea how calming these things are for me, or how good a feeling it all leaves within me too.

So thank you, thank you and thank you all once more.

You're all THE BEST!

Hope to talk to everyone again in about 5-7 days from now -perhaps!

D-Day Approaching!

All kinds of things have been going on around here as I'm trying to tie up some loose ends, so-to-speak, and be all ready to leave Thursday afternoon to go to McGee Hospital in Pittsburgh where I will be having surgery -hysterectomy and hopefully, some hernia repair -on Friday.

Wednesday and Thursday are both gonna be some pretty hectic days for me -for my daughter, Mandy too, as she is my chauffeur down to Pittsburgh. She called today and made reservations for us for Thursday night at a motel near the hospital. That way, I can do the "lovely" (NOT) prep required for any and all abdominal surgeries. Anyone who has ever had surgery of that type will know exactly what kind of prep I am talking about and would also probably understand why I don't want to do that prep here at home and then, take off for a 3 hour drive to Pittsburgh while all that junk you have to drink would be roiling around in my gut! Much rather be in the motel and do that but really, I would MUCH RATHER that the insurance company would be willing to authorize I be admitted the day prior to the surgery to do the prep there because, to be very honest, the thought of doing this prep with a colostomy scares the living daylights out of me!

Oh well. Guess I'll just be playing it all by ear Thursday night as I endure this cleansing process, won't I?

So, where to start to tell you what all has been going on here of late.

This week our church has Vacation Bible School and Kurt and Maya are both attending this program. It's been a fun time for them and an opportunity to be around about 24-26 other children from nursery school age up to about 6th grade and they have both been loving the whole deal. Tuesday, at VBS, Mandy and I both worked in the kitchen, helping get the lunch served that our Women's group planned and is providing every day of Bible School to the kids, teacher, aides as well of course, for the kitchen helpers too. On both days so far, both Maya and Kurt ate the items given to them -no arguments whatsoever from either child! Now that is always a very pleasant surprise to see those two hooligans do that!

A little aside here too is this episode tonight between Kurtis and me. I was sitting at the computer messing with something -uploading pictures to Facebook or chatting with someone -whatever -and he came running up to me saying "Pastor Carrie crying." Ah, really Kurtis. And why would that be happening? I tried to question him but he just took off and then, about 5-10 minutes later he returned to me and told me then, "Pastor Carrie crying -just pretend." Okay, buddy -guess that explains it all, doesn't it?

Last week, I received an item I had ordered (along with several other things too) from Herrschners -an apron to be embroidered and the pattern design is called "Array of Roses." I had wanted to do this apron as a shower gift for my neighbor and good friend's daughter who got married last month but because I was pretty slammed at the time working on a table runner and table topper like the "Rooster" set I had embroidered back in April, I didn't think I had enough time to order this item and get it done in time for the wedding. Then, after the wedding the kit was no longer on sale so I put that out of my thought process for awhile but two weeks ago, the company offered the kit on sale again and this time I jumped on that deal and bought the kit.

Surprisingly, it only took me roughly 5 hours to do the embroidery work on the apron and I was really pleased with the way it looked when it was completed too. So much so that today, I had Miss Maya pose for me wearing the apron and I'm gonna post here the picture of the group that I liked the best of Maya modeling this apron.

I just loved the way she has her hand to her face and tilted her head just so when I snapped this picture. Isn't that just too cute though or am I just a typical doting Grandma?

I'm working on a Christmas tabletopper at the moment and should be able to get it completed perhaps tonight before I go to bed or if not that soon, then tomorrow evening at the latest. It's a really pretty item -with a wreath in each corner and a smaller design of evergreen branches and red holly berries along each side of the cloth and the entire cloth features a large band of red crochet around the piece. Just a really pretty Christmassy item to add to my completed projects and probably will go into the group I am going to be listing on my Etsy account -once I finally get that set up ya know. I have roughly about 8-10 items in my stash pile to be embroidered that are all Christmas themed things that I want to get completed and offer on my Etsy account then too.

Tomorrow evening though, I will have to pack my bag to take to the hospital and I am going to have to decide what craft things to pack to take along in hopes that once I am awake and alert enough, I can then work on some of these things while I am recuperating from the surgery. Don't want to lose any valuable time by just sleeping my days away while I am hospitalized ya know!

Between the craft things and this week, the Vacation Bible school too, I am falling way behind on my blog reading and I'm not sure if I'll be able to get my reader cleared out of all this reading there before I leave Thursday afternoon. Sure do wish I had a laptop that I could take with me and plug in at the hospital and that way, I could keep a bit au currant then with the blogs I follow along with posting (perhaps) and still have time to work on the craft stuff too. That's not really near as ambitious an idea as it sounds though -except that I don't have a laptop so it won't work out that way for me, I guess. Maybe the nurses there will cheat and let me log in on a computer belonging to the hospital and play with checking my Facebook as well as my Reader, huh? Yeah, sure! That is really the dreamer in me talking trash isn't it?

So, with all I have lined up over the next two days to do before I leave and then, my stay in the hospital, it might be August 8th before I get back home and around to checking my reader and getting things caught up again. But at least, it does give me something to look forward to doing as I continue then to heal after I get back home, doesn't it?

Anyone who wants to know how things are going -if I have you as a friend on Facebook, you can log into my page and from there, click on my daughter's facebook (Amanda Wagner) and I'm sure she'll post updates there on how things are going for me in this big pain in the butt type adventure I'm embarking on the end of this week!

I'm gonna miss not being able to read all the great posts my blogger buddies put up here all the time!

Just hope all this stuff comes out okay and I'm back home, where I belong sometime the end of next week, I think.

Till then... Adios, my amigos!

Children's Talk....

Maya is of an age now where she not only talks -a lot, really, really, a lot -and unfortunately at times, her conversations are not always what one would like to hear her say in public either!

What child doesn't have issues like that though? I think all of us have, when we were children, said things that may have been the truth but kind of left you thinking about the impact the words may have had on others around too.

This past Wednesday, since my older grandson had spent two nights up here with us and had to return home that day, I had to meet his mother (my older daughter) at the truckstop in Snow Shoe, which is about 15 miles from here. Since I was already out of the house and that is in the general direction of State College, I decided I needed to run do there to the mall and look for a couple of items I needed.

Mandy had gone that morning to take Kurtis to a doctor's appointment in Dubois so I had to take Miss Maya with me. Before we left, I reminded her -frequently -that I expected her to be on her best behavior so I could shop in peace that way.

We went to the Joann Fabrics store over in State College -which is one of my favorite places to shop and has been for many, many years. Lately, since I don't do all that much sewing these days, I haven't been going there to check out the beautiful fabrics but most often now, my purchases there, are items I need for my embroidery work -more floss, cards to put the floss on, storage containers too so I can keep better track of my floss -how much, what colors, I have, etc.

This kind of shopping often though is more than a bit tedious for children of any age and especially for those in Maya's age range. She was that day actually behaving fairly well though.

At one point however, from where I was looking at embroidery stuff, we could hear the voices of an adult reprimanding a child and the kid's responses now and then too. As they neared the aisle were Maya and I were we heard the mother tell the child "You are NOT being a very nice little girl!" and she was a bit loud as she said that which indicated to me she was at a level of frustration that I do know -all too well.

As they walked past our aisle, Maya realized they were the people we had been hearing and in her best voice -translate that as LOUD -Maya pointed to the little girl about the same age/size as she is, who was hanging on to the front of the cart and making noises - "That girl really isn't being very good, is she, Gram?"

When she said that, the mother of the other child heard Maya's comment and she stopped her cart right there, looked at Maya and responded, "You are so right! She most definitely isn't being a good girl."

At that, I just cracked up laughing and pointing to Maya, I replied "That truly is the pot calling the kettle black though!"

I suppose it could have been more embarrassing though to me and to another party. Suppose Maya had pointed to someone and had made a comment to the effect that someone maybe needed something like the best acne treatments or something else very personal, ya know!

And those of you reading this who have young children now or even if your kids are all grown, I'm quite sure can relate to episodes like this where kids really do say the darnedest things at times, don't they?

Birthday Planning...

Next month will be another busy month for me with respect to celebrations and such as my son and my older grandson both will be having birthday celebrations of some type or other. My grandson's birthday is August 19th and my son's is August 22nd, so we usually try to find a day in between those two dates that is acceptable for the rest of the family to get together and have a party, of sorts, here for both of them together.

Finding a date when my older daughter doesn't have to work is often difficult but now, we also have to consider what days my younger daughter has work too as well as if the time we are working with plays into when the grandson's father doesn't have custody of him too. This stuff can sometimes be a little tricky to maneuver around but we usually do manage to find some date that works best for everyone.

What is difficult though -for me -is figuring out what to get either of these two guys!

I don't normally buy clothes of any kind for the grandson as I have no clue what sizes he wears nor do I know that much either of what styles he likes as well as things he may really need either. So, as a result of that -plus I stated a long time ago that I won't buy toys for him cause I simply can not afford the price tags on the type of toys he likes now -which usually lean towards high-end electronic stuff. He and I came to an agreement on this a couple years ago now and since then, I usually try to find books for him on topics I know he finds interesting. It works well for him and also for me too as since I have always loved to read, love books, it makes me feel very happy to get him something like some books I know he will enjoy over and over again.

My son, on the other hand, rarely shells out money for clothes and as such, his wardrobe can often use a little addition here and there. One thing I wish I could get for him is some polo boots as I have seen several styles that I thought were really sharp and snazzy but knowing my son, he probably would just prefer another raggy pair of tennis shoes from Goodwill or some other charitable organization like that. I know, I know. There is no accounting for taste, is there? He does often much prefer searching the used clothing stores though for items that he considers to be "treasures" of retro type clothes and such. (Quite often, some of his purchases along those lines cause more than a bit of chagrin too, particularly with his older sister who believes in buying name brand, top-of-the-line stuff in the latest styles too!)

I know he really could use a nice new pair of shoes but sadly too, right now, much as I'd like to get him something really nice, that he does need and all that, my funds are probably gonna be a bit limited (again) and I'll have to see if I can find him some new tee shirts in designs I know he likes there then!

Kids and their tastes! Go figure, huh?

A Little Good Fortune...

Those of you who have been following my blog for any length of time know that my daughter, her husband and their two small children and I have been living together in the old family homestead that I call home for the past eight, almost nine years now.

It's been a relationship that for the most part has worked out very well for all of us. But like lots of relationships of blended families, we've had our fair share of upheavals along the way too.

Recently though, we've had a major change in the household.

My daughter and her husband have been having some problems -okay, a lot of problems -which I won't go into detail about but it ended up with my son-in-law moving out of the house.

Because he had no place to go initially, he stayed with my son and his girlfriend for a while until he found an apartment for himself.

Once he had the apartment located, then came the issue of finding furnishings for it that he could afford. And in this respect, he really scored -big time!

Seems a neighbor family of ours here was moving out of their home -relocating to Georgia -and in the process of their move, they had several yard and garage sales and such and trying to find ways to find people who would be interested in some of the larger items because the husband just didn't want to have to move a lot of really large furniture. Pretty understandable move on his behalf, don't you think?

Well as it turned out, my son-in-law had to do some work on one of their vehicles and in the course of conversation, the guy moving asked the son-in-law if we would be interested in purchasing their living room suite. Well, we don't need one here and couldn't afford what they were initially asking and the son-in-law, who really needs a living room suite said he'd love to be able to buy it but he was really unable to match their price at the time.

Eventually, the seller negotiated a bit, lowering the price -which was still a lot more than the son-in-law had at the time and that's when the owner really gave a great deal to the son-in-law.

He said he simply didn't want to move this set of furniture -which consists of one of those really large contemporary sofas -a big sectional type, ya know -and he told the son-in-law he would put this sofa in the garage at the house they were leaving and the son-in-law could pick it up and take it and as he acquired a few bucks here and there, could then send them payments in increments he could afford!

The son-in-law said this sofa set probably sells for over $2,000 and the family had just purchased it a little over a year ago, so it is almost brand-spanking-new and beautiful, just beautiful. The selling price? A mere $150!

How incredible a deal -a stroke of luck, fate, good fortune (call it whatever you want) is that?

New Needs?

Boy, I just realized I haven't posted anything since last Saturday! How the heck did that happen anyway?

Well, for one thing, I've been on a campaign to get as many smaller items embroidered and ready to list when I finally get my Etsy site completed so that took a lot of my time. Plus, this past Tuesday, my son had to take me down to Pittsburgh so I could get ALL my pre-operative tests done and now, that's all completed. All that's left in the medical aspect is for next Thursday to roll around when Mandy and I will go back to Pittsburgh where I will then do my day-before-prep for the surgery and next Friday at this time, I'll be somewhere in the process of having the surgery done! I will really be very relieved to have this finally taken care of and completed and hopefully, will be back home then two weeks from now to return to my stitchings, my blogging and most of all, to be around my family -especially my grandchildren -once again.

One thing though that is becoming a bit of a problem from time to time here with the two younger grandkids is they are now tall enough to reach the faucet on the bathroom sink and that is creating a lot of issues in the form of water. Water, water everywhere at times, or so it seems!

I'm think the solution to part of this issue -if it keeps up -is to have hand dryers installed in the bathroom! At least, that would eliminate some of the mess with them using one hand towel after another to dry their hands as well as to make their own meager attempts at mopping up some of the water they tend to slop all over the vanity and the bathroom floor!

Oh the trials and tribulations of living with -and trying to control -two small children who dearly love to make messes!

Tonight's Fight -Done and I Won!

About 8:30 tonight, I started talking to Kurt and Maya about it being near bath and bedtime. Trying to get them into the idea of the bath, ya know.

Kurt was first in line and put up a bit of a fuss at first that a bath/shower would hurt him, would be too hot, would be too cold, would get soap in his eyes. Every excuse possibly known and in the vocabulary of a 4-year-old boy with autism.

I finally convinced him that if he would just listen to what Grammie tells him as we go along, he wouldn't get soap in his eyes and also, he would get clean and smell really good too!

The last time I tried to do this routine with him, it was a dismal failure as he squealed, jumped, slid and almost fell head first in the tub and he wouldn't back up into the shower, wouldn't hold the washcloth tightly across his eyes and wouldn't lean back into the shower spray, gradually.

Tonight, he stopped fussing as soon as he stepped into the tub -although he did insist that I put the plug in the drain. (Probably because he's a bit afraid of the drain -and that's because we think he thinks the drain will suck him down just like it does the water.) I had him back into the shower spray. Gave him the washcloth to put tightly over his eyes and got him to lean back a little to get his head wet and he LISTENED to me; did exactly as he was told! Got the shampoo on, worked in and when it was time to rinse, once again, he did exactly as he was told.

The result? A clean little boy, with a body all sweet smelling and sanitary and with a really big smile on his face too!

As he stepped out of the tub into the towel I was wrapping around him, he said "Bath all done. No soap in eyes!"

Yep, Sweet Pea. You got that right!

Next up, the Problem Child! Well, tonight that's what she was. Usually, the mere mention of a bath or shower and she's right there, ready to hop in but tonight, it was a royal hassle of arguing with her, trying to convince her a shower would make her feel cooler, calm, relaxed plus smell better too! (Plus, make her clean and look like the pretty little girl that really exists under the layer of grub on her face, arms and legs tonight.

Finally, I got her in the tub. Got her hair washed and her all cleaned in record time. I used some Blackberry and Vanilla shower and bath gel and told her it would make her smell really nice. So when she got out and I started to dry her off, I made the comment to her that now she would be "Fresh as a daisy."

To my surprise -and shock too -she then asked me "How does a tulip smell fresh, Gram?"

Took me a minute before it registered to me how she came up with that question till I remembered kids with autism do tend to take everything literally and after all, I had said she would be "Fresh as a daisy" hadn't I?

And now -ten minutes after the bathing hassle, drying off, dressing time has been completed, both kids went up to bed, voluntarily!

Oh peace! Oh Heaven!

At last!

It Could Happen!

Anyone here ever heard of the comedienne, Judi Tenuto? I haven't heard of her or seen her around now for a long, long time, but she was known for using the line, "It could happen. It could happen." frequently in her routines. Granted that tag line was used when she would voice some rather outlandish type events but nonetheless, this was a line that, from the first time I heard it, I liked it and kind of adopted using it too from time to time.

So far today, things haven't been too far out of line -rather they've been kind of floating along, leaning towards the norm -which sometimes the "norm" in this house isn't exactly the same "norm" as you might have or that some of my neighbors may experience, but for here, it our norm and you just learn to deal with things accordingly then.

Mandy is working today -from 11 a.m. till 5 or 6 p.m. -somewhere within that time range so I'm here dealing with Maya and Kurtis as best I can and within the context of that "norm" then for them, for me, for us.

My son stopped by today earlier -was here for almost three hours as a matter of fact. And that was nice. It was also good and I'd like to think fairly productive too -something that hasn't been existing with him for a while now as he's got a lot of upheaval going on in his life.

There's been a whole lot of "upheaval" shall we say within my family of late. A LOT!

When my kids come to me and talk to me about their concerns, they may not always like how I respond then to them though because I do try to see things from the sides of ALL who are concerned. It's that part -when I see things from the person they may be regarding as their adversary -that they don't usually like, don't always want to hear what I have to say then.

Why? Well because I truly do believe in any confrontational type of issue -especially when it is with/about someone with whom you have had a close relationship -it forces people to try to see the others' point of view and that usually is not what they really want to do then.

You see, I don't believe in retaliation. This notion so many people have of thinking that just because this or that person did this or said that and those actions caused some hurt feelings (maybe even a whole bucketload of those hurt feelings, for that matter) that the only way to operate then is to just simply get even!

And to that I say, "Just what does that gain you in the end, in the long run?"

And to answer my own question there, "Nothing!"

Absolutely nothing is gained through hurtful words, actions -even a nasty tone of voice.

The age old expression of getting more flies with honey than with vinegar really rings true.

If you don't want someone to throw mud in your eye, don't fling any at him or her! Simple logic there of playing and yes, fighting too, according to the Golden Rule.

Does that sound like a foreign concept? Sometimes, to some people, it does. But really, if you think long and hard before jumping the gun, drawing conclusions about situations, taking actions that ultimately are bordering too on being illegal -as well as slightly absurd and borderline insane -don't expect to have any thing happen other than more of the vicious cycle that has begun and will continue to spin out of control as long as these things keep being done by and to each other.

Right now -because it is the norm in this household for these two small children, when they try to play together - is that one of them, usually the younger, smaller one, will reach for a toy that inevitably is the one the older wants to have, or will for some unknown reason -or one totally out-of-line reason -simply decide to yell at the other or throw something or push the other around just for general principles.

And yes, I realize these are children I'm talking about here and also that they both have problems understanding good behavior, practicing good social skills, so they are a bit lost at times when I try -or their mother tries -to explain to them that what they are doing to each other is not in their own best interest because it lands them in time-out (trouble) and it hurts the other -their own sibling in the process too.

Now, when I try to explain that principle to them -mere children with social skills that are somewhat delayed - I realize too that is the very same principle I've been trying to get across to a couple of adults within the family circle too.

And you know what? If adults can't grasp that concept, then how can we expect small children, especially those who don't comprehend these things that well, to understand then the correct way to behave -under any circumstances.

There are times when I really think trying to explain all this "behavior" stuff (good actions vs. bad) that it's going to cause my nerves to go completely bonkers and cause me to run for the Xanax or for my face to erupt in all kinds of things so that I will be needing a huge supply of pronexin in order to show my face in public again!

Yes, there are times when trying to provide guidance to some, steering any of them, regardless of age or gender, in the right direction to do what is right and best for each one concerned that it does come really close to putting me at the very edge!

So far today though, things have managed to stay fairly well under control. Discussions with the older members of the family group have gone quite nicely and at the moment, I do have one child on the sofa in a ten-minute time-out and the other seated at the table, being as quiet as can be expected from a child of a particular young age to be and I am currently enjoying a tiny bit of solitude in what often of late has been a sea of turmoil.

And let's just say a short, silent prayer too that it all continues in this vein for oh, maybe at least an hour or two. More than that, wonderful as it would be, would also probably be pushing it!

But I do like to think "It could happen. It could happen!"

Happy Birthday!

Wonder if my kids remember that there is a very important day just around the corner that they need to pay attention to and at least, give their Dad a phone call.

Next Wednesday -the 21st -is their Dad's birthday! We won't go into details here right now as to how old "the old man" will be then. That's really not that important in the grand scheme of things.

What is important though is that the kids (hopefully) each will remember that date and give him a call, maybe even sing "Happy Birthday" to him over the phone. I'm quite sure Kurtis here can easily be cajoled into singing that song for his Poppy seeing as he launches into singing it at the drop of a hat.

And, speaking of dropping hats, there is something there that brings the potential for a gift for the old guy too.

Old Poppy, you see, is a bit on the sensitive side about his hair. I'm thinking if the kids want to get him a gift he really could use, they might want to consider this - give him some hair loss products for men!

Even though Poppy hasn't cut his hair now since the fall of 1993 and generally keeps those long tresses (is that an appropriate word for long hair on men?) tucked up under a baseball cap, what he doesn't yet realize is that it is the constant wearing of some type of baseball cap that has created that area on the top of his head that is now pretty much naked as a jaybird!

As we get older, we all still retain some of those egotistical things, don't we -like having all our hair or not gaining loads of weight or other things that tend to keep a shred of pride alive for us. And with him, I know he's a bit edgy over the hair loss thing but at the same time, I think he still has enough of a sense of humor that the kids could consider getting him something like this for this big birthday of his.

Happy Birthday (a bit early) to Poppy! (With my blessings too. LOL)

Revisiting the Past

Back in the days when all three of my children were still living under my roof, there were days when I worried -a whole lot -about how on earth I would ever be able to provide for their basic needs of keeping a roof over their heads and food on the table much less being able to help them with other aspects of the realities (economics) of life.

One thing that was a royal headache for me, as they got older and wanted to drive, was coping with the costs involved with that luxury.

As a result, I had a house rule that none of my kids would be permitted to drive unless they had a job (part-time, of course, while still in school) and that they had their OWN vehicle and paid their fair share of the requirements of car ownership.

We didn't go shopping for car insurance companies then though as I allowed them the luxury of simply adding their vehicle to my own auto insurance plan.

That actually worked fairly well too and the two older kids both took advantage of that "deal" until they moved out and on their own.

However, with my son, prior to his leaving for the military, he was driving at that time this old big boat of a car that a friend of ours had sold to him for the grand price of $100. A bargain, huh?

If memory serves me, I think this buggy was a big old boat of a Mercury and had at one time -when it was new -probably the creme de la creme of the Mercury line too. (I can't for the life of me remember now what the name of that particular vehicle was.) All I really recall about that car was that it was huge and the color was a yellow shade -not a bright yellow, but more of a pale lemony yellow color but we all referred to it as "The Banana Boat" cause it was so darned big.

Now my son back then was also, because of his age and his driving record (which was not squeaky clean) subjected to the price differentiations of car insurance for teenage girls vs. teen age boys and as a result of that, when he left home, his car insurance at that time, for that el-cheapo junker car was running him $100 a MONTH. So he was paying then, as you can see, $1,200 a year for liability insurance only on an old, old vehicle that had cost him a mere $100 to own!

Not that I didn't understand the reasoning behind the insurance companies for charging him that much to keep that car legal and on the road, because I did and I still do understand their logic. It was just that at that point in time, his sisters and I all thought it was really rather comical to think that in order to be able to drive that huge old clunker, it cost him every month, the same amount as he had paid for it in the first place to keep it on the road.

Brings to mind another adage most of us learn in our lifetime: "You reap what you sow."

And that message sure did come through loud and clear back then I think! Just some memories that provide a bit of food for thought you know.

Sharing the Shots!

I've mentioned I've been busy of late -doing, what else, but embroidery stuff, pretty much. I've also been lucky this week in that I've actually been able to get a few things that grew in my garden this summer -froze about 4 or 5 baggies of green beans and got several nice-sized yellow summer squash too that I fixed for a side dish with our supper the other night.

And, the kids -as usual -have been busy keeping us busy trying to keep them out of trouble too. And, Mandy got a couple pictures last night of them with respect to something Kurtis got into last night. Judging by his application of eye shadow he's either in training to be a clown or maybe just practicing up to be a transvestite or some such when he grows up. He, like Maya, apparently does have a fascination for eye shadow but does definitely need a good bit more practice in the application process.



Here's two pictures of Kurtis showing off his new make-up techniques with Maya showing her approval of his workmanship too. Note -on the pictures of Maya -the gap-tooth look she's sporting now since she lost her first upper front tooth about 2 weeks ago today and then, a day or two later, lost another bottom tooth. Yep! Definitely she'll be singing "All I Want For Christmas Is My Two Front Teeth" huh?

Now, for a little look at my garden this year:


Here's a view of the two tomato plants I have in planters on my deck. The one on the left has four tomatoes in the cluster shown -two ripe and two green as well as two more green tomatoes on an upper vine. The one on the right -has four green tomatoes on it but this shot only shows two of those four green tomatoes! So far, no black spots showing on the leaves or fruits of any of my tomato plants so maybe the tomato blight that hit most everyone around here last year has gone on to greener pastures and redder tomatoes. Sure do hope it works out that way!
Here's two jalapeno peppers growing on one of the pepper plants in my deck planters too. I have some more jalapenos and also, yellow banana peppers in the garden in the backyard but can't see them well enough to get a photo of them right now. (They are pretty much overshadowed by the huge leaves of my yellow squash plants out there!)

Here's a peek at the yellow squash growing in my garden! I'm really impressed with these plants and keep in mind, I only bought three yellow squash plants to put in the garden so I'm getting a pretty good yield from them. At least I think so anyway!

In this picture are the two largest of the yellow summer squash that I picked this morning. I picked six squash earlier this week and used five of them -nice sized they were too -for the casserole I made to go with our supper Monday night -which I might add turned out quite delicious. If anyone wants an easy and really yummy casserole recipe using yellow summer squash, let me know and I'll be more than happy to share it with you!

This photo to the right is an overview of my little garden in the back yard. I'm a lousy judge of distance but I'd say it's probably only 8x8 foot square -maybe as big at 10 foot square -and in the front here are the tomato plants growing there. The tall bushy stuff on the far right behind the logs are the three squash plants and the yellow things you can maybe see there amongst those big leaves are more of the lovely yellow squash forming and growing!

Now, here's some pictures of what I've been playing with lately inside the house. Yep, more embroidery! I've been on a kick for the past two weeks working on pillow cases and I now have three sets of pillowcases completed and almost have a fourth set done too. So here's what the ones I have completed look like:

This set is queen-sized and the name of the pattern is Floral Grandeur.
Note that below the flowers embroidered is a row of cut work on the cases -a very pretty set and I think this is the only pair I have that are queen-size pillow cases.


The above set here is a pair of standard-sized pillow cases and the name of this pattern is "Unforgettable." The design under the bottom of each of these designs is a floral embroidery, of the machine-type, done before it these cases ever reach my fat little fingers. Look closely at these two cases and tell me where you see the mistakes I made in them. LOL.
This pair -named quite simply "IVY" -is also for standard size pillows. Done all in two different shades of green. Just very pretty, simple and crisp.
And finally -for today anyway -this is one of the cases of the set I am currently working on. I just have the greens to finish on the second case and it will be a completed group. The name of this particular group is "Floral Fancy" and I was more than a bit worried when I started working on the flowers of this set as those larger flowers, done in satin stitch, were a bit intimidating at first but as I got accustomed to doing them, it ended up not being near the problem I first feared they would be.

I'm trying to do up a few more pillow case sets before I go down to Pittsburgh and have the surgery that is scheduled for two weeks from today. Then, hopefully, when I get back home I can concentrate on trying to get my Etsy account set up and running. Wish me luck -and lots of it too -on that deal! Look out, Paula as I may need to call on you for some assistance in the set-up and layout of my future Etsy site! Especially in figuring out how to price items at a figure that is fair to customers as well as to me. Even if it only takes me a day or two to complete say, a set of pillowcases, that's still a goodly amount of hours and as much as I love working on these things, I can't just sell them for a dollar or two over what I paid for the materials to do them but also, I can't exactly price them by an hourly rate either as that would make trying to sell them absolutely cost prohibitive then as well. How to strike a happy medium is my question there so any suggestions on that, please feel free to pass them on to me!

So there you have it -a bit of the stuff that's been keeping me busy, busy, busy for quite some time now!

Future Concerns? Maybe.

I know I have posted a lot over the past almost four years now about my two younger grandkids here, about their actions, reactions, comic things they do or have done or that they say too, and this is going to be a post about a current concern we do have with Miss Maya, my six-year-old, soon to be seven, granddaughter.

She has, from time to time, been know to obsess about some things. This is due mainly to the autism factor she has and though some of these issues have been a bit comical at times -like her obsessing over the calendar and appointments and such -she has one thing right now that we are having a lot of difficulty with her trying to curb this.

She obsesses about any "boo-boo" she may have or even one she sees on any of us around her at times too! This involves her constant scratching at any bug bites she may have or the least little mark on her arms or legs that involves a bit of a scab.

We keep telling her now -since she will be going into first grade in the fall -that if she keeps scratching or digging at these things, she will be all scarred up come September and that is not the way a first-grader should look, much less act too.

I know this is looking a ways down the road, but what if we don't get this obsession under control and suppose when she is a bit older she develops issues with skin problems and maybe will need extra help then in the form of an acne treatment that works? I'm not saying her constant scratching and digging at things now might cause acne, but if she were to develop that condition, she definitely shouldn't be totally engrossed in wanting to scratch or pick or dig at something like that. So you see, this could lead to a lot more problems if we aren't soon able to get her away from this particular obsession some way, some how.

Now, if we could also just get her to stop trying to scare Kurtis all the time by telling him that the Boogie Man is out in Grammy's bedroom so he is terrified to walk out through the front porch and front door if the door to my bedroom is open, well that would be another good thing to have happen here too!

Yes, she is quite the imp with respect to doing little nasty tricks like that to her little brother which then feeds on his particular quirky obsessions too!

Big Event in the Area!

Today is the day that Mandy really looks forward to each and every year here.

It's the day that the annual 100-Mile Yard Sale begins!

She is, you see, an avid yard-saler person. Loves those things and I have to say that she has generally scored quite well with her purchases too particularly with respect to getting some really great buys and toys and clothing for the kids. I have found some great buys too from time to time at yard sales too including one a year or two back in which I found two snowsuits, in absolutely mint condition -not a mark on either one -in sizes that would fit Kurtis and got both sets -yes both! -for a grand total of $6.00! Quite a coup considering both were very good name brand snow suits too! And we all know how expensive buying any clothing for children is and especially nice appearing and warm winter snow suits and jackets and such.

Mandy had not actually figured she would be able to go yard-saling at this big event this year because of work and such but last night, realizing she doesn't have to be at work until 5 p.m. this afternoon, she decided she was going to treat her best friend by taking her along and going over the mountain area to visit some of the bigger yard sales that will be in progress there.

One thing I really wish she would be able to find and score that we really could use though is something that most likely WON'T show up at any yard sales just yet and that would be a nice deal on a tv set that is HDTV.

Yeah, I'm pretty sure this would just be a pipe dream for me to see her come home with something like that, ya know. Not that the set we have right now is having major issues or anything as so far, for a used set, it's working okay but still and all, I would really love to have a bigger and better set that gave a sharper picture for me to be able to see my favorite programs on then.

Really would be nice if such an item were to be found if it could also be one that has a really, really big screen too. Yeah, that would be the ticket for sure as far as I'm concerned.

Wouldn't have to worry then about not being able to see the screen as I really do need new glasses and that could eliminate a bit of MY problems there, wouldn't it?

Okay - going back to my own private little Idaho and my own little dream world now.

Shocks to the System!

Last night, after the sun was beginning to set and things were cooling down a bit, Sammy and I went for a walk up the road so I could get a copy of the local newspaper from the machine up at the town's Moose Hall.

It is a nice walk -about a mile and a half, roughly speaking -round trip from the house to the hall and back home again. Usually, this walk isn't such that I see things that are exciting or that would be neat photo-ops so I don't always take my camera with me.

But last night? Well as it turned out, I really should have taken the old camera along so that I could put a picture up and say to you to click here and be able to show you what we saw!

It most definitely was a surprise sight for me as we began walking past this tiny wooded patch along the street here and to see on the road a dead SNAKE!

Yep! There it was, and quite thankfully, it was DEAD! Not one of my favorite things in the whole wide world to see, that's for sure.

I don't know for sure what kind of snake it was but the markings on it were a diamond-like pattern of blacks and browns. My neighbor who lives fairly near to where the dead snake was laying says it was probably just a garter snake or some kind of non-poisonous type but as far as I was concerned, the breed makes no difference to me cause I don't care to see any kind of snakes -unless of course it is as this one was -deader than a doornail!

But, what is a surprise to me is that this is the first time this spring and summer season that I have seen a snake of any type around here even though many of my walks here with Sammy involve going down roads into the wooded areas and yes, these areas are often quite notorious for being home to lots and lots of snakes -often rattlers and copperheads too!

That probably will serve as the most exciting thing that's happened to me this week -maybe even for the entire month for that matter!

Things To Remember

Well, after a bit of a hiatus from blogging -and blog reading too -I am finally once again caught up on my Reader and being more than a bit behind in posting anything for about a week now, I figured I'd best get moving today and do something about that!

Where to begin though to talk about my busy life -now there's a joke for ya -and make it sound so interesting, even scintillating too, there's the problem for me. My life tends to be pretty dull, quiet and quite boring but here goes nothing.

One thing that happened recently was that I received a notification from my bank about a change in their procedures. This pertains mainly to people who may have a problem with managing their checking accounts and who often have overdrawn checks.

Now this is an area in which I -supposedly -do not have a problem because I also have a "line of credit" with my bank that if, on occasion, my account balance doesn't have enough funds there to cover a bill payment, check or card purchase, the bank will withdraw adequate funds then from my line of credit to cover that expenditure and I will not get charged with an overdrawn check. It's a system that has always worked nicely for me on the occasions when I have too much month and not quite enough money, ya know.

Well the bank is still offering that service to me but now, there is a hitch to it. Anytime now that I am in a situation where the bank dips into my line of credit, I will also be charged a $5.00 transfer fee for them to move adequate funds to my checking account to cover the deficit.

It's not that I have to rely on this service all the time but every now and then, I may have extra expenses that would put a bit of an extra drain on my already meager funds -like extra doctor bills, etc. -and run a bit short.

However, now with them charging extra to my line of credit I am going to have to keep track of whatever my current balance is on that account and keep that in mind along with keeping track of my checking account balance. I think I'm going to need some type of equipment to track my expenditures really closely and make sure that I keep tabs on all those little bits of paper I get when I make purchases -you know, those things from the receipt printer and then remember to mark those things down not just in my check book but also, so I am aware more of when I might be in need over the overdraft protection thing that might be about to kick in on me too.

This extra charge the bank is initiating really irks me though. Seems to me that I am getting charged for the line of credit I have there each month with my monthly payment, which of course, involves paying interest on that money but now, will be charged a fee for using that credit amount and be paying interest -again-on money I'm already being charged interest on for using the account in the first place.

I don't know if my logic there holds water or not to the powers that be who have determined to place these extra charges on use of checking accounts and overdraft accounts and such, but it does make sense to me that I am possibly going to get clipped an extra $5.00 just for "borrowing" more money as it where from the darned bank.

Seems every time you turn around the banks are there with their hand ready to snag a few more bucks from the little guy using their services to me.

Anyone else see things the same way as I do?

A New Turn in the Road

Well, happy days again -maybe -as today I was finally able to read others blogs and leave comments that were accepted and went through via Blogger! That was a good turn, in my opinion and I'm sure others who experienced similar problems this past week are happy with that too.

It's been a busy week here for me. I finished another "Proud Rooster" tabletopper and matching runner that a friend of my had asked me to do up for her. I needed to have it done by today and got it completed Monday night! Tuesday, was the monthly meeting of our church Women's Group so I was out and about that night but managed to do some work on a set of pillow cases I'd started work on earlier that day.

Wednesday -hotter than hades, for sure -or so it seemed! I have no idea what the temps or humidity factors were but baby it sure was hot! So hot it may have scorched a few brain cells because now I can't really remember what all happened that day! Thursday was almost as hot but I had to make the house a bit warmer by baking cookies!

Yeah - I mixed up three batches of cookies -peanut butter, snickerdoodles and gingersnaps. All were intended to go to our church for the tent the women have erected on the day of the community-wide yard sale in Lanse. I even had two helpers as I mixed up these cookies and got them baked.
Here's Maya, deep in concentration as Amanda (her TSS) helps her get the knack of putting those little criss-crosses on the peanut butter cookies that she had helped to roll into balls just a few minutes earlier.

Maya was so excited, so happy and proud to be helping Gram make these cookies -and also, very, very attentive and well-behaved during the entire process too that it made me one very proud old Grammy to have her there, wanting to be my little helper. (Earlier, she had been grumping to Amanda about not being altogether happy over her being here, why does she have to have a TSS and such. Amanda had told her until such time that Maya doesn't misbehave, listens to and obeys what Mommy and Gram tell her to do, doesn't pick on Kurtis, making him cry, etc., and various other circumstances that aren't exactly considered good social skills, she's going to be stuck with Amanda by her side several hours a day, for 3-4 days of the week so she better snap to or get used to Amanda's presence. We're not sure then if her behavior was because she was trying to make a great impression on her TSS or if she just really wanted to "play" in the kitchen with Gram. I'd like to think it was she really wanted to play and learn all at the same time, in the kitchen with me.

Friday, I drove over to Bellefonte and picked up my older grandson so he could come up and spend last night and today here with us. He's a really good kid and both Maya and Kurtis enjoy when he is here for the extra attention he pays to them and especially when he plays little rough-housing games with them from time to time. They also listen fairly well to him too if he sees them doing something or getting into places he knows are off-limits to them so that makes for a bit of an extra helper then for me or Mandy -whoever happens to be here at the time.

His Mom and her fiance came up then today for supper with us and to take him home. Tomorrow, he will be going to Boy Scout Camp for the next week so we won't have a chance to have him come stay with us for a day or two until next week sometime now. Hope you have a great time at Camp Alex, that all the activities scheduled are fun for you and that you return back home safe and sound -all limbs still attached!

After they left tonight, Maya and Kurt got ready for bed and Maya decided she needed something new to take upstairs with her when she was going to go up to bed.

That item? A flashlight -with batteries! Yes, that was her request -a blue flashlight to be precise, and with batteries so it would work.

This was a new item for her to request so I asked her why she wanted this and it seems she has now decided the time has come for her to be afraid of the dark perhaps. She said she needs the flashlight so as to be able to see to get around upstairs at night, in the dark. When I reminded her that the hall light is always on, plus the tv in her room is turned on when the kids go to bed too -sort of an animated night light for them -but she didn't think that would work to show the way around the upstairs well enough in the dark.

Even when I suggested she go out and hop into my bed, as I pointed out the tv would be on there, as well as light shining into my room from both the dining room light and the living room, in addition to the outside light that would also be on and gives light too into my room, that still wasn't quite enough light for little Princess Maya.

I'm wondering then if I follow through on an idea I've had for sometime now of putting special lights -those low voltage garden lights -if you know what I mean, -around the front of the house and along the sidewalk there, if they would throw enough light back in to my room to satisfy her needs now for more light to see in the dark inside the place!

Boy, kids sure can come up with some off-the-wall requests at times though, can't they? But then I think back to when I was her age and it was about that time of my life I think that I changed from having no fear of the dark at all to being absolutely petrified of being alone upstairs (and there was no such thing as a nightlight in this house back then) at night!

Anyway, to finish this off -remember those cookies my helpers and I baked on Thursday? Well, the peanut butter ones and the snickerdoodles turned out fine and dandy. The gingersnaps though -not so good! Well, they tasted fine and Kurtis absolutely loved them, but they sure didn't look quite like they should have as the batter ran and they baked up as flat as pancakes!

Then, last night, my older grandson had put the container I had the peanut butter cookies stored in on top of the refrigerator but as it turned out, he hadn't pushed the container back quite as far as he needed to do so when I opened the freezer door with an ice cube tray filled with water in my hand, that container of cookies was thrown off balance and it came tumbling to the floor. Fortunately, the lid just came slightly ajar and only a couple of the cookies fell out of the container and they pretty much just broke apart, creating a big mess of cookie crumbs to clean up. Well, so I thought anyway! However, when I later went to bag those cookies for the sale today at the Women's Booth at the yard sale, I saw that about half of the cookies I'd made ended up broken into many smaller pieces in the container so the group kind of got shorted a bit on the number of cookies I had then to donate.

And here's a parting shot too of my little helper that I think pretty much says it all, don't you?


Do you think she'll be another Paula Dean or perhaps Rachel Rae -maybe even the next Julia Child too. Who knows, huh?

Irksome!

Okay, this is getting downright ridiculous.

Blogger has been acting up -a good bit -of late. Sometimes, I won't open blogs -like my own, the other night that when I tried to open it, I got a message saying "Service Unavailable" -whatever the Hell that means, I sure don't know cause I did manage -finally to open it and now, I don't remember what it was I did that made it open, and do it correctly at that.

But the thing that is really bugging me the past couple of days is this -blogger's issues with posting comments!

Now I read a lot of blogs. Really, I do. I have close to 200 blogs on my reader between those blogs I subscribe to and those blogs I follow. Nothing really different about either category once they land in my reader but those that I follow, the writers of those blogs have a little notification on their blogs saying that I do, in fact, follow their blogs, read their stuff. I may not always get around to reading each and every blog daily but eventually, I do get there and I do read the posts then. Sometimes I comment, sometimes not. Considering sometimes I get just as long-winded on my comments as I can get on my blog posts, it can be quite the time-consuming thing then for me.

So today, I was trying to clear out my reader and make another effort at being fairly organized, punctual even, about doing that. And I came across several posts that really cried out to me that I just had to comment on the words I'd read.

I did manage to get a couple of comments accepted by Blogger -well, at least one, maybe two -and then every time I tried to comment, I got an error message from Blogger. Now this is really, really, really damned irritating and yes, as my title indicates, it is very vexing, extremely "Irksome."

And I really wish Blogger would get off their duff and do something to correct this problem. And do it fast too as enough of this stuff is, well it is ENOUGH!

So with that in mind, there were two posts in particular that I tried to leave a comment and I am pretty sure the comments didn't go through -although somehow, magically perhaps, Blogger may have later somehow reconsidered and put the comment I left up. (I did see that happen with one comment I left -believe it or not!)

Anyway, first up, I'd like to tell Jim 0ver at Suldog, as well as his blogger buddy, Knucklehead, (who is referenced in Jim's post and you can click on Knucklehead's blog from Jim's place) that being bald is a great sign of being a great lover! Sure, it is. It is said that is caused by someone having rubbed the hair off in the throes of passion. So really, take heart guys and know that "chromedome" and membership in the Shining Society is a darned good thing!

And I'd like to also leave behind this message for my blogger buddy, Jocelyn, over at O Mighty Crisis -who wrote about her encounter with a young boy who didn't realize there was such a thing as Harry Potter books. Please, Jocelyn, get help for that kid immediately! The thought of one child -and gee, how knows then too how many other kids are out there that have never found the joy, the entertainment, the ability to travel in other time dimensions, in space, around the world, everywhere under the sun, simply by reading a book. It's such an inexpensive way to travel the world, see sights you'd never otherwise be able to afford to see in books of every type. Really, it is that way. I kid you not! If a person has never found that kind of delight through books, then your world, I'd say, is very dull, uncolored, boring and your mind is more than a bit closed off from the rest of the world by that. (Yeah, granted that would have been a pretty long comment -and yes, I am sometimes known for writing mini-versions of "War and Peace" via my comments, but dang, anyone who isn't into books, even just a tiny bit, is someone I really have a hard time understanding -whether it be a child or an adult -who has not made this awesome discovery called READING!

To me, Reading is the best thing since sliced bread!

Okay, there were a lot of other blogs where I wanted to leave a comment today, several yesterday and also on Tuesday too -and I couldn't so I just gave up those days and now, have also forgotten which blogs it was that I wanted to say something to the writer about the topic, their concept, whatever.

But today -well, I had to do this post just to try to get my thoughts on at least these two blogger's posts that I read today because both of them, I felt, were way too important to let Blogger keep my comments out!

Check out the posts at both of those blogs -see for yourself then. And while you're at it, if you want to find a lot of other places with some darned good reading material, just skim down the list of bloggers on my sideback, click in randomly or start at the top and work your way to the bottom -provided you have a lot of time there cause there's a lot of blogs listed on my sidebar, you see!

Now, come on Blogger and get this problem fixed, will you please?

Walking in the Woods

Call me crazy, I know I am, and my neighbor today pretty much agrees with that label today now.

Sammy and I went for a walk this afternoon -left the house shortly before 1:30 p.m. and got back home at 3:21 p.m. According to my trusty little pedometer (from Curves, purchased from Avon), we walked 3.72 miles -down to the bridge in Peale that crosses the Red Moshannon Creek.

As hot and sweaty as I was when we got home, I'm more inclined to think we walked about 37.2 miles. Definitely this exercise today should qualify as a great way to get a quick weight loss! At least by my way of thinking it should work as that.

Here's a couple of pictures I took today on our walk that I thought might be interesting.

Shortly before one gets to the Peale Bridge over the "Red Mo" is this sign along the road. If you were to walk back this path about a third to half a mile (my guesstimation) you would come upon the site where this cemetery is located. There are 11 souls buried there but only one marker remains standing today. (Sorry -no pics of the actual cemetery site as I won't walk back there with only the dog and my camera for company -not until fall when the snakes have retreated to their hiding places for the winter months!)

There is a special significance in this cemetery for me though as my great-great-grandfather -Carl Till -is one of the individuals who is buried there. So, if my cousin, Kyle Ingrid Johnson, up in the Boston area, is reading this post, I did a little wave to our great-great-grandfather and said a prayer for his soul too when I went past this spot today.

Right along the creek -or river -(Call it whatever you wish there) is this tent someone has set up. Judging by the child's riding toy beside the tent, I guess the campers who use it have a small child. About two weeks back or so, when my older daughter and I walked down to the bridge, it was obvious that someone was using the tent at that time because there was a clothesline strung with things hanging on it as well as a car being parked in one of the pull-offs along the road. Today, there was no trace of anyone camping there -other than the tent and that toy beside it.

Here's a little view of the Red Mo by where the campsite is set up. I just think this is such a pretty sight -but it would be a whole lot prettier I guess if the water didn't still have that red-orange coloration to it caused by sulfur and iron I guess in the water caused by drainage from the early slope mines that Peale -which has been a ghost town for close to a century now -fed into that stream for many years.

This is a view of the Red Moshannon Creek -looking towards Moshannon, which is where the stream dumps into the West Branch of the Susquehanna River. Well, that doesn't happen in the village of Moshannon but rather a mile or two up the highway just off Route 53 at the foot of Cooper Mountain. When the stream reaches that bridge on Route 53, it meets up with the Black Moshannon Creek and then, the water flows down a bit farther where it joins the Susquehanna River's West Branch.

Also, it is from this point on the stream that the racers -boaters with kayaks, canoes and similar equipment -put into the stream in late March every year for the big, wild and usually at a much higher water level that you can see here today for the 7-mile Race down to the bridge. It's a really well-known event across the country but especially in this state for a great white-water race with loads and loads of exciting sights that the racers can see as they scramble to place at the end of the race.

I got about 30 other pictures today on our walk - nothing out of the ordinary, nothing spectacular, just sights that caught my eye today and perhaps at a later date I will post more of those pictures for your viewing pleasure.

Don't Remind Me -- In January!

Oh, Man! It is hot. HOT. HOT.. HOT! And yes, I know compared to folks in places like Phoenix, this is nothing on the temperature scale but I don't care. It's hot here!

I know too it's probably that the humidity is up a bit and that's why it's so darned uncomfortable. We've got, I think, every window in the house open, the ceiling fan in the living room is running, the ceiling fan in my bedroom is always on and yesterday, Mandy brought down a big fan, put it on the counter between the kitchen and dining room to try to get a little breeze circulating to cool things off and even all that doesn't really touch the heat.

Or so it seems, anyway.

Now the bugs are about to drive me bonkers!

Those darned little tiny gnats -almost too small to see -until you feel them when they land!

I was working on a pillowcase I started last night -yes, another embroidery project in the works -and had a cup of coffee on the table beside my chair. Sipping from it from time to time until suddenly I realized some of these darned bugs were using my coffee to either cool themselves off or perhaps, it's too warm for them too and maybe they were committing suicide cause the ones I saw were all dead!

Hope I didn't swallow too many of 'em before I noticed those little buggers in my good cup of java there!

But, don't wait till January or February to remind of how hot it was here today or how hot it's gonna stay too for at least the next three days. I'm not overly fond of the reverse type of weather with temps below zero either.

So, because I'm trying to think this through and be a bit logical about the discomfort from the heat -and the bugs too -and as much as I don't like it quite this hot, definitely not this humid and I do hate the damned little bugger bugs as well -I've decided though I think I'd rather put up with a couple of days of this heat that the bitter cold -and high heating bills -of winter!

Tired!

I'm not sick. I'm not physically tired or exhausted. But there are many, many things of which I am TIRED!

If you sense a bit of a rant coming on and don't want to hear it, I can understand that. Why? Because I am tired of the rants and ravings that have been going on for longer than I can remember now about some things.

But mostly, I am tired of people talking to me, complaining about this, that or some other things and asking my advice, wanting to know how I feel about things and when I tell them, they go and do the same things they've always done. Which is to ignore everything I'd just said to them!

So, for now and until if at sometime in the future someone asks my opinion, requests my advice, wants to cull what bits of knowledge I have accumulated over the years and actually says -and follows through -what I impart to them is good, insightful knowledge and advice, if you've no intent at all to pay one lick of attention to what I know, what I have experienced first-hand, what I've studied and learned, then don't bother me with your complaints about your life, with your financial problems, with your relationship problems. Matter of fact, don't even ask me how to boil water cause as much attention you pay to what I've said in the past, you'd probably not listen to me explain how to do that!

If you've run up all kinds of bills and haven't made any attempt to keep current with them, then don't tell me about it and ignore what I say about how to calculate expenses. That is, if you have bills totally oh, say $500 and your paycheck only comes to $300, then gee, guess you are going to be short on payment, aren't you? If you know you have bills amounting to X-amount per month and your income just barely covers that amount, then don't go adding to your bills cause gee, there's not enough left over to cover it. Now how difficult a concept is that to understand anyway, in the first place?

Apparently it must be really hard to figure this out because I sure do get a lot of feedback of concerns about how to deal with this, that and some other bill and not having adequate funds. Well, if you'd do the math first and spend accordingly, you wouldn't have these issues in the long run!

If you're in a relationship and feel that relationship is in trouble, then stop and assess what things YOU are doing first that might be causing some of that trouble. And, if you find out from careful assessment that you are completely innocent, devoid of having done anything wrong in the relationship, then what's the problem? If, on the other hand, you realize you have done this or that or some other thing wrong and it caused hurt feelings, then deal with that what you did wrong beginning perhaps with an apology to the person whose feelings were hurt and work forward from there. But don't expect that a simple apology will cure EVERYTHING. It may help somewhat but you still have to change what you were doing wrong all along in that process too!

Behavior like this -to me -is kind of like the behavior I would expect from my grandchildren -who are too young to fully understand that if you push, shove, hit or kick someone your size or smaller, odds are they are not going to be very happy about being the one getting pushed, shoved, hit or kicked and neither are any adults around. If I won't put up with the kids doing things like this to each other, what makes you think -for a New York Minute -that I'm going to be any more inclined to accept similar behavior from someone who is -legally speaking -considered to be an adult but who is behaving like a child who doesn't really know any better!

If over the past so many years you ignored various bills coming to you, neglected to pay them and have outstanding debt that has to be reconciled before you can move on in your life and if I give you advice as to where you could go live, very inexpensively, where you would get aid and assistance for various things -relationships, finances, housing, and the like -and you ignore my advice and then find out gee, you can't make a move anywhere until you settle up some of these back bills that you ignored because you were too engrossed in your happy place, doing all your happy things, I'm sorry to say that I'm no longer available to listen or even to care about your dilemma cause you dug that hole all by your lonesome.

Since you didn't like my earlier suggestions, information I passed on to you because you said you really needed someone to help you, someone to listen to you as you wailed and bemoaned your situation, when I told you not to get any further in debt and you went ahead and did that anyway, DO. NOT. COME. CRYING. TO. ME. AGAIN!

This "couch" for counseling will not be available to anyone who does not sign a paper, in blood, that all advice given here will be strictly adhered to and not ignored totally by the signee!

Now, my mind is cleared of this rubble and I do feel much, much better!

Thank you for listening to my own little rant.

End. Of. Discussion.