Nothin' Much...

Where does my time go anyway?

I don't really ever get much accomplished but yet, I am busy trying to find time to do various things. Somehow, that just makes no sense, no sense at all, does it?

About the only things I DO get accomplished are some embroidery projects and then, I often fall asleep in my chair while working on them.

This week, I don't remember what the heck I did on Sunday or Monday -other than that I did get a tabletopper completed and then, started working on a set of pillow cases for Kurtis. I finished one pillow case now today so that project is half-way completed now. It's a cute set with a "choo-choo train" across the pillow case in bright, cheery colors. I showed the finished case to Kurtis and asked him if he knew what it was and he right away pipes up with "It's a train, Gram!" As long as he sees what's on there in the multi-colored threads, that's all that matters to me.

Tuesday night, I didn't cook supper as I had to be out at church for our monthly meeting of the Women's group (WELCA) there. It was my turn to do the refreshments this month and I had debated almost the entire month on what I was going to make. I ended up making two pizzas -a veggie pizza and a fruit pizza! Both went over quite well although I was highly ticked off at the crust for the fruit pizza. The recipe said to use one of those tubes of refrigerated sugar cookie dough -which I had Mandy pick up one for me (along with a bunch of fresh fruits -way too many of them, really) and the darned crust was all gooey causing me to have a devil of a hard time to press it into place on my cookie sheet. Then, to add insult to injury, after loading the crust down with the cream topping and fruits and chilling it a bit, when I went to cut it into squares to put into my cake taker, the damned crust had the audacity to stick (like it was glued down) to my good teflon cookie sheet pan! This after the recipe specifically stated NOT to grease the pan too! ARRGH! I hate when things go amuk like that for me and especially when I have invested a lot of time and some extra funds too, in order to make something that is for a somewhat special occasion.

Tuesday afternoon, as I was in the midst of making these pizzas, Mandy asked me about what appointments I have this week and I said I have one this coming Friday with the oncologist for a check-up. I commented to her that I had it marked on the calendar too but she said there was nothing there except that I did have it penned in that I was to have an appointment that morning with the oncologist. "That Morning" being the morning on Tuesday and when she said that, it was already afternoon and almost time for the oncologist's office to close for the day when I called to find out what the heck kind of screw-up I had done on the calendar.

Turned out that yes, I was supposed to have had an appointment that morning but apparently when I wrote the date and time on the calendar correctly, I had somehow, incorrectly, written in my mental calendar that the appointment was to be for this coming Friday a.m. However, it was a good thing overall though because I was also supposed to have some blood work done prior to the appointment so they had me come in Wednesday a.m. then to have the blood work done and that worked out quite well since I also had an order from my primary care dr. as well as the ear-nose-throat guy I see to have extra blood work done for them too! So I ended up then killing three birds with one stone.

Today, as I mentioned above, I finished half of a set of pillow cases I'm doing for Kurtis and cooked supper -had Clayton and his girlfriend, Elizabeth and her little boy, Ryan, down for supper so we had a fun time with them here then.

Because I am sworn to secrecy here, I won't name names but I had some really unsettling and from my point of view, sad news today from one of my favorite people in the blogging world. I was informed this person is going to leave blogging -maybe not forever but for a while at any rate and I really do enjoy reading the posts this person puts out for all to read. Truly a zany, downright crazy at times and now and again, very sentimental writer this person is and I'm hoping this is just a temporary break in the blogging action!

I am back to walking the dog again -not always every day and not as far as I would walk with him last spring and summer -not yet, anyway -but most days now I am getting out and taking him for roughly a mile's worth of walk time -round trip.

Yesterday was the birthday of my oldest baby! Mandy asked me today if I blogged about that and I said no, I hadn't. Her response to that was just to say "Hmmmm. You sure you didn't make a mistake there about not doing that?"

Well, maybe that's true that I did make a mistake in not announcing to one and all in the blog world that yesterday, April 6th, was the 44th anniversary of the day when my first child came into this world! But, I really hadn't given it all that much thought yesterday except to say on my Facebook that yesterday was a date that I will always be able to remember exactly where I was and what I was doing too for the entire day!

Truthfully, I don't remember all that many details about that day because from about 4 p.m. until around 9:30 p.m. -when she was born -they had me fairly well drugged up so I have not much to say then about that which apparently took place.

Except that I do remember after she was born, the doctor was running all over the delivery room, carrying her from one nurse to another and making a huge fuss over her, telling me -and the nurses -that everyone just HAD to look at her and see what a beautiful little baby girl she was! He brought her over to me and got me to try to open my eyes to see her for the first time and all I could see, as I remember that part, is that her eyes were just these little slits and to my eyes, in my semi-drug induced state, it looked like her eyes were slanted a good bit too. And that caused me to worry then all night that there was something majorly wrong with her so when they brought her into me the next morning, the first thing I looked at was her eyes! And, after realizing then that they were open, quite wide, and not the least bit slanted either, then I relaxed and went on to count fingers and toes.

Today, she's still beautiful -just a slightly larger youngish woman now! She's a hard-worker -putting in hours and hours at her job when they need someone to fill in for other nurse's aides and she's generous to a fault where her sister, brother, nieces and nephews are concerned too -and also for dear old Mom too, although she dearly loves to give me a royal hard time whenever she can do that!

We pick on her a lot too about her issues with timeliness -punctuality, ya know. Not one of her strong points although she has been getting a bit better at managing that. Used to be whenever we were having a family dinner or get-together, we would have a pool -a quarter per guess -where everyone in the pool would pick a time when they thought she would arrive here and whoever guessed the closest to her actual time of arrival then won the pot. Because boy, back when we used to do that, guessing what time she would get here really was a big crap shoot!

But anyway, I'm still today very glad that she arrived when she did and became a very important part of my life that day and every day since then!

And now, I think I'm gonna try to turn into bed just a trifle earlier than my usual 2-3 a.m. or even later hour than that all too often. Since I have to be at the doctor's office by 10 a.m., it would be nice if I am wide awake for the drive over there and while I wait to get called back to see him. Would be a bit of a switch for him to enter the examining room and not find me sitting there with my head propped against the wall, trying to catch a couple extra winks of sleep, ya know!

I've been watching the TV show, "Hoarders" a lot lately -anyone else watch that program? And I'm wondering if maybe I could or should find someone who specializes in time management (as well as managing a few other aspects of house keeping or stuff like that -to bring myself in line so I can manage then to sleep in a timely fashion and get my butt organized so I can take care of my computer stuff -clearing my reader, sorting e-mail, answering e-mails and checking Facebook along with writing posts and doing some work on my old research projects while also getting a few little odd jobs in writing that I do from time to time, done in an easier, more organized fashion.

And, I am going to have to get this so-called "organization" done soon too because I am now in charge of getting things put together for our church women's group so we can produce a cookbook sometime over the coming months of favorite recipes from women of our church!

The President of our group got this stuff -information from a company that produces cookbooks of this type -and gave it all to me Tuesday night to get started on planning, gathering and producing this cookbook for our group. First thing I gotta do though is comb through the names of people from our parish for those who are talented in various aspects of the work involved in a project like this and as ChairPerson for this committee (currently a committee of one -ME) to talk to them and get them on board with me so that then, I can do the most important part of being Chairperson and that is to delegate, delegate and delegate some more! LOL

But considering how many cookbooks I currently have on my bookshelves here and how many websites I subscribe to that send me recipes daily or weekly and which by now should have resulted in my being a gourmet cook (but I am a far cry from that), I should find this new job to be one that will definitely hold my interest!

And then, once we get this masterpiece compiled and published, I can come here and advertise our new cookbook and all my blog readers can then have the honor of purchasing a fantastic cookbook from the chefs of Holy Trinity Lutheran Church in little old Lanse, PA!

So make room on your bookshelves for this coming attraction. Okay?

Nervey People Anyway!

Sammy, our little dog, is normally about the sweetest, most lovable little mutt a body could ever hope to own!

He's super friendly and extremely good around children -especially small children who like to run and chase with him in the house and he even abides one small boy who likes to hang on him a good bit of the time too.

All in all, Sam is just the best possible dog one could ask to have -except for well maybe, one small thing.

Apparently Sam is operating on the mistaken belief that there are franchises for the road in front of our house and that he owns every one of them. And, with that in mind, that anyone who dares to walk in front of our house must, absolutely MUST be barked at and in the loudest possible dog voice imaginable too!

Sheesh, Sam! Give it a rest, will ya?

The neighbor from up the street is really allowed to walk past here -and to do it in peace too!

I know, I know -Sam's just exercising his good dog, I'm watching out for you, routine to show us he's really on the ball, paying attention to these things.

But one or two barks is all that's really necessary!

Ring-a-Ding and Bling a-Bling!

For quite some time now, the first thing -or almost the first thing -Maya does when she comes home from school is to go change her clothes.

And almost always, the apparel changing results in her wearing either one of her cheerleading outfits or one of her princess costumes!

Saturday night, when my older daughter and her family were here and we gathered to celebrate Aunt Carrie's birthday, Maya was wearing her "pretty in pink" Cinderella or Snow White -not sure which character -dress and insisted on practicing her ballet moves in it for all to see.

Thankfully, thus far, she isn't addicted to adding bling to these get-ups -no jewelry, as yet. But as she gets older, I'm sure that will come though -just like it did to her Aunt Carrie, who loves, loves, love jewelry and probably would like nothing better than to get her hands on some St. Maarten jewelry some how, some way!

I'm quite sure Aunt Carrie would love to manage to get a trip into the Virgin Islands first though so she could have a crack at the other things all available there too.

Wouldn't you?

BIrthdays, Here and There!

This week's been a sort of busy one for me with birthday celebrations all around.

Thursday was my good friend Shirley's birthday and Friday, was her husband's day. I try to get cards for each of them and also, some little gift for Shirley too. Last year, I gave her a tabletopper I had done which had a cardinal in each corner. (She, like her Mom, is a big fan of cardinals and apparently her love for that bird, as well as her late Mom's too, rubbed off on me as well.)

This year though I knew what I wanted to get for her but wasn't sure if I could get it or not. She had pointed out to me a really cute apron -a fall design with pumpkins on it -that she had fallen in love with in the Herrschners' catalog and knowing that I follow Herrschners' special sales online each week, she had told me to be sure to let her know if this particular item ever went on sale.

Well, about a month ago or so, it did show up on their weekly sale and it was such a great sale price that I bought one to give to Shirley for her birthday as well as one to put in my stash for embroidering at a later date this year! The sale price was so good that I was able to get the two of 'em for less than what they normally sell just one apron for so I was really happy over that find. And, judging by Shirley's reaction when she opened the bag with her card and the apron in it -she jumped out of her chair and really squealed with delight when she saw it -made me feel really great to know she was very happy with my choice this year!

Tonight, we had a little family get-together mainly because this coming Wednesday will be my older daughter's birthday. I know I have mentioned her age to some of my readers in comments I have made on posts of theirs but I'm thinking I probably had best not announce her age here on my blog in case others are reading this (but don't comment) who Carrie might not want them reminding her, or knowing, when her birthday is and what age she is gonna be come Wednesday.

So, for the occasion, I cooked a nice-sized turkey breast, did mashed potatoes, candied sweet potatoes, peas, fixed a bowl of apple/carrot and raisin salad plus a pan of cornbread. Mandy had picked up a really nice ice cream birthday cake today too for Carrie so we did have a really nice family meal and the cake was a big hit, especially with the two little ones.

I did try to video Alex -Carrie's son -lighting the candles on his Mom's cake and then, the family singing "Happy Birthday" to her but the darned video thing on my little digital camera seems to be acting up on me all the time now. It worked most of the time -actually, it appeared to be working fine while I was videoing the cake and singing, but when I played it back after downloading it to my computer, a little over half-way through the video, the darned thing goes a bit wonky on me with the video stopping but the audio continuing and then, the audio gets wonky and starts skipping like crazy too. But almost at the end, for some reason or other, all of a sudden the whole things speeds up at way faster than it should be! Go figure! If anyone knows what causes this to happen, please share the information with me, will ya?

For Carrie's birthday, I gave her the recently completed tablecloth I'd been working on for well over five weeks -just wanted to be sure to get it completed in time to give it to her for this occasion. This cloth is 52x70 inches and has two sprays of three different colored pansies in the center part along with two purple pansies on each side of those sprays in the center. Then, at each corner, it has a spray of three pansies with single purple pansies spread out along each side. Very pretty arrangement, if I do say so myself!

And Carrie knew I had been working on this cloth but I had never said who or what occasion I was doing it for so she was a little surprised then when I handed it to her tonight. I knew she really liked the cloth so at least I had no concerns over that while I was working on it -just was worried whether or not I'd be able to get it finished for her.

Here are the photos I took -while Mandy tried to hold the cloth up for me. Because of the dimensions on this cloth, it doesn't photograph well at all on the table we have had here because the table isn't really large enough to lay it out properly. (Well, that's all history now though because tonight, I got my son and grandson, Alex, to go down the street to the home of a friend who had this maple table -a fairly large one complete with two nice leaves for it too -that she was giving away! Yes, you read that correctly -she was giving it away and get this, the table is also a Broyhill! Okay, it probably will need to have the top sanded and refinished but that's a fairly minor chore to tackle when you think about the table being a Broyhill, isn't it -and especially since it was a freebie too!)

Clate and Alex had a fun time -NOT -trying to get the table into the house because my doorways are a bit on the smallish side plus, we already have so doggone much other "stuff" (Thank you George Carlin for that sidenote) in this old place but finally, we got it in and in place. Now, there is the issue of what to do with the table we had been using for the past 9 years and there was some discussion that perhaps my son and his girlfriend might be able to use it but I don't think he was all that hepped up on that idea.

His girlfriend, Elizabeth and I were discussing the table though and thinking of a way to maybe move a couple things around in the dining room and be able to still utilize the smaller table then too so after Mandy went to bed tonight, I moved the small buffet over to another wall and then, put the smaller table in front of the window in the dining room. It's functional enough that way that perhaps Mandy will go along with the program and leave it there. One nice thing about having the smaller table there is that the kids will still be able to use it then for playing with their games and playdough and such, plus both kids are really getting into jigsaw puzzles with Maya even getting quite proficient at working on slightly larger puzzles and having this table available means then the kids can also do bigger puzzles without having to rip them apart so we could then use the table for our meals too. And, not only that, but I now have a place in front of the dining room window where I can put a couple of house plants on there too!

Multi-purpose stuff -just the kind of "stuff" I like, ya know!

One last thing too -the silly dog of ours just adores Carrie, my older daughter and will not leave her alone whenever she comes up here. Tonight was no exception either as he jumped up onto her lap as soon as she sat down in one of the recliners and made it known to her -and everyone else too -that he wasn't about to get down from his little perch there either!

So, now that I've told you what we did tonight, I'm gonna try to show you via some photos of the tablecloth as well as Carrie and Sammy parked in the recliner too!

This is the center portion of the tablecloth - as you can see, there are two clusters of 3 pansies there and then, a single pansy in purple along each cluster.





These two shots show the clusters of pansies a bit better -or at least I am hoping they show up a bit better here than in the first picture!










And finally, here's Sammy, our sweet little mutt, in his favorite resting place whenever my daughter, Carrie, comes up here to visit!

I'd like to post the video of the kids watching Alex light the candles on his Mom's birthday cake, but right now, I'm trying to upload it to my facebook site and it is taking forever to complete. Perhaps tomorrow or Monday I can load the video into a post and put it up here then too!

Hope you all are having a great weekend -just as my family and I did!

Light It Up Blue!

If you aren't already aware of this, April is Autism Awareness month and yesterday and today have been marked too as days to "Light It Up Blue" to show everyone your awareness about autism and the prevalence of this disorder in our world-wide community.

As many of your are already aware, I am a strong -and extremely proud -supporter of the Autism Awareness campaigns. This has come about because not one but two of my grandchildren have Autism and their mother (my younger daughter, Mandy) and I -along with my other two children (Aunt Carrie and Uncle Clate), my older grandson, Alex and a whole host of other relatives as well as most of my neighbors and friends - have been in the learning realm about autism for the past almost six years now!

Eight years ago this spring, I was in my own little world that consisted primarily of a majorly blue funk -caused by unemployment, depression and an illness that began the task of turning my life around -a full 360!

I remember all too well the day in February of 2003 when Mandy came to me, so excited she could barely speak and shoved this thing in my face with instructions from her to "Look at THIS, Mom! LOOK. AT. THIS!

What the heck was that thing was the question in my mind and it took a bit for me to wrap it around me that she was showing me a home pregnancy test that was showing positive. No wonder she was so exhilarated! I should have been able to relate to her feelings having gone through the early signs of pending motherhood a couple decades earlier.

But I couldn't think of this coming event then in a positive light the way I had when I knew I was pregnant and especially how excited I was when my older daughter told me the news that I was going to be a Grandmother either.

And that fact depressed me even more than I already was. Not only did it depress me but it gave me this humungous guilt trip too that I rode for the next seven months or more as well.

All I could think of was how in bloody blue blazes are we going to manage the added work and expense -especially the expense -of a new baby in this household where we were already majorly strapped and could barely get by as it was. That, plus my concerns about what might be wrong with me that was causing me to feel so terrible, in so much pain most of the time and well, although I smiled and tried to feign excitement over Mandy's news, in private, it just reduced me to tears whenever I would dwell on the thought of a new baby.

Sure wasn't the way I had figured I would react to becoming Grandma again!

But over the next so many months, after being diagnosed with colo-rectal cancer and having chemo and radiation for six weeks, followed by surgery, which was supposed to be followed then by another round of chemo but that got delayed a bit because of some other issues I had developed after the surgery -like two herniated discs which made it darned near impossible for me to move around, even to sit or try to lay down and I was in pure misery.

After the doctors got me started receiving physical therapy for my back issues, eventually they also began the follow-up chemo therapy which meant that one week out of every month for the next seven months, I would get chemo daily.

To say life was a bit wild and hairy from June through October of that year would be a bit of an understatement -more so for Mandy though than for me. She was still working about 4 days a week, plus trying to juggle in with her work schedule all my therapy appointments, my chemo appointments PLUS her own prenatal appointments and believe you me, that was no easy task at all for her to try to keep things in order and getting both of us where we needed to be on time!

But finally, October rolled around and with it, on October 18th of 2003, my first granddaughter -Maya Kirsten -was born. By that time, I was feeling a good bit better and the day after Maya's birth, I actually drove, by myself, over to the hospital in Dubois (about 44 miles, one way -and the first time I had been able to drive further than a 20 mile trip alone too) to meet my new granddaughter.

Trust me when I tell you this -I was somewhat excited over the baby but still a bit on the low-key side. However, once in the room and as soon as Mandy handed her daughter over to me, for me to get a really good look at her and feel her softness, the warmth, smell the newborn baby scent, all the trepidation I had held deep inside me for the past 7 1/2 months just melted away!

I remember Maya looked up at me and as I gazed at those eyes in that beautiful little face, I was totally spellbound then and there and forever more by this little creature!

Of course, she was absolutely perfect in my eyes and also to her mother and all the rest of the family around us too. We all basked in the joy of having her with us as she made life completely worth living then!

As she grew though, at about 6-7 months of age, my older daughter and I noticed something a bit off with Maya and that was that she pretty much refused to make eye contact with us. That was our first indicator there was something amiss. Then it was that she seemed to not hear us so maybe she had a hearing problem but I ran my own little private, non-scientific test on her by turning on the TV set using the remote control. The remote made a very, very tiny sound -VERY tiny -and yet, she knew before the picture came up on the screen or the sound came through that the TV had been turned on and she was up, standing in her playpen, waiting to see what pictures would unfold before her. Yep! She had heard that tiny, tiny noise so I knew her hearing had to be fine!

Then, as she began walking, we noticed she pretty much ignored her toys as she would just as soon pick up a piece of scrap paper and run through the house, carrying that like a little flag for hours on end. Hmmm. That got us to thinking again that something just wasn't right.

I had made mention a couple of times to the pediatrician about my concerns there but she didn't seem to pay any attention to what I said until finally, when Maya was about 19 months old, she recommended we take her to see a specialist in Dubois -to have her hearing checked and also, she referred us over the the Healthy Beginnings program in Clearfield. (I think that's the name of it.)

The people who worked in this program came to the house and did an evaluation of Maya -which showed she had numerous developmental delays but the treatment they would recommend wouldn't be confirmed until we got the test results back from the ear doctor. When he said there were no problems with her hearing, the team that had evaluated Maya immediately set in to schedule two therapists to come to the house to work with Maya a couple times a week. First, there was a behavior/play therapist and then, a speech therapist and these two young women became and integral part of life in our home from then until Maya was almost 4 years old.

And then, we only got about a two month break in the therapist action because by then, Kurtis Maya's little brother who arrived 2 1/2 years after her, had been diagnosed as having autism too so, the therapists just stayed on working with him then. Plus we got a third therapist with Kurtis too -one for occupational therapy!

It will be 6 years in June since the first therapist arrived on our doorstep and today, we still have therapists who come to the house and work with the kids. Something for which I will be forever grateful as the work these folks have done with my grandkids is truly remarkable and without them, I have no clue what on earth Mandy and I would have done, how we would ever have been able to help Maya and Kurt to learn to talk, to learn to play productively and now, how to socialize too with their peers!

I realize that with my grandkids we have been extremely fortunate in that first off, we got intervention and therapeutic services done quite early on for each of the kids -and that is really of utmost importance. Plus, we are fortunate too in that Maya is extremely high functioning -actually is Asperger's Syndrome -and Kurtis too is relatively high functioning as well.

Just as in any other family, the differences that exist between each child -well, the same applies to these kids too. They both have their individual strong suites and each also has their areas of differences -or perhaps one could say their "weak" spots. But both of them are today doing fantastic.

Are they cured? Oh Hell no! Will they ever be cured? Probably not as I don't know of any "cure" that exists for autism. It's a factor of their lives that they are learning how to cope and contend just as we are learning too how to cope and contend with some of their quirky ways.

But the bottom line is, they are both just beautiful little people and I adore the living daylights out of both of them! They are smart, they are crafty, wily, mischievous, bratty, and some days, just plain bad, ornery and obnoxious too -just like their mother, aunt and uncle all were way before them!

In that respect, they are just like any other 7 or 5 year old -but just different usually in their perceptions of things and many of those perceptions, we can work on bringing about change for them so that they will then understand about life and the ups and downs it brings to all of us but many times, more frequently to them.

And finally, I wouldn't trade these two kids for love nor money, not for all the tea in China or anything else -and I sure as heck wouldn't change them either. Well, maybe a little bit where the sibling rivalry and bully factor kicks in with Maya as she loves to boss Kurtis around and he is developing just enough independence factors now that he really doesn't like when she does that to him.

Just like any other kids, really, in those age ranges.

Right?

Prepare for Next Year -NOW!

Hmmmm. A thought just hit me about something I could do to my daughter to get even with her for that stunt she pulled on me for a good April Fool's Day joke yesterday.

Ya know -don't know if I've mentioned this before or not -but I don't believe in getting even with people. If someone does something nasty to me, some hurtful thing, I don't believe in revenge for things like that.

But, anyone who knows me really well also knows that theory of not getting even flies out the window in the instance if someone pulls a practical joke of some sort on me. Just ask any of the old truck drivers I used to know way back when I waitressed at the truckstop down the road aways from here! Especially the ones who drove for either Roadway or Consolidated Freightways. If ever any of them caught me in a practical joke, they pretty much knew that I would go to all lengths then to get even with them.

But that was all for fun, not really pure revenge too and boy, there often were a lot of laughs too that came out of some of those events.

But, I just happened to think about something Carrie (my daughter) and her fiance have -a hot tub -but there are problems with it, with the cover and they really need a new spa cover for the thing but I know too, like so many things all of us have, all too often having the extra money to get somethings replaced just doesn't happen all that easily.

But I wonder if I said something to Carrie when she comes up here tomorrow for her birthday supper about promising to fund the purchase of a new cover for their hot tub, if she'll believe me or will she realize right off the top that I'm pulling her leg if she stops to think enough about how much one of those things would cost?

But, you know, if might just be worth it to give it a shot and see if I can tell her a story like that and lie well enough for her to believe me.

Back in the good old days when I stayed in pretty good form with the practical jokes and little white lies to the drivers, I know I could have pulled something like that off with her then.

Time to practice I guess, isn't it? Don't want to lose my edge in pranking my kids or they'll be setting me up for one practical joke after another then!

Time For a Confession

There's a question on my mind tonight and I hope you all won't object if I ask it. It's something I'm a bit curious about and not taking any survey here, your answers won't be used against you or anything like that, just something I'd like to know to compare to my own answer.

Have any of you ever used one of those dating sites frequently advertised all over the place?

If so, did you have any luck with it -or them, in the off chance you may have checked out more than one?

I signed up for one of those things oh, about 6-7 years ago or so. Not to mention any names but it was the one that supposedly guarantees you will find happiness in a soulmate by using their site. I even shelled out about $240 over a couple months time for a year's subscription to the site too and boy, never again!

Not only did I not find my soulmate from that site but I didn't even get a response in that year's time too.

Of course, I suppose it could be because there just aren't that many men over 65 who live in this vicinity and who were registered with that site at that time too but boy, sure did nothing for my ego when I never even got a response from one person.

Darned good reason for me not to renew with them, for sure but they kept badgering me for well over two years to renew with them.

Of course, not all of them make such wild promises as that one did and I suppose for those who are younger -a lot younger -than me, the prospects of meeting someone using something like that would be much better.

But for me? Another good reason for me to keep on embroidering!

Guess Who Got Fooled?

So, the big jokester's day has come and gone for another year and the pranksters were alive and well in this house, in my family!

When Mandy was getting Maya ready for school yesterday morning, Maya said to her, "Mommy, your car's moving." Mandy stopped, ready to look and Maya laughed, saying "April Fool's!" Now that was a surprise Mandy sure wasn't expecting!

But the big shocker came to me, later in the day when my older daughter called me. We had been talking for a minute or two -not much over that -when Carrie said she had some news for me but she wasn't sure how I would take it. Said it was good news, mostly, but a bit scary too.

Okay -tell me your good but maybe scary news, I said and she went on to say that she is pregnant!

Well, I went pretty much -or pretty close -to ballistic -screaming and saying things like "Awesome!" or "That's fantastic!" Things along those lines anyway until I heard my daughter start to laugh and not just a little snicker but a really loud laugh as she hollered into the phone, "April Fool, Mom!"

Actually, I think the realization that I had just been pranked came to me about a half a second before she said April Fool. About when I realized she was howling in laughter!

Let me tell you, the air in the kitchen was turning really blue after that as I cussed her out, up one side and down the other for pulling such a rotten stunt on me!

And the more I ranted, bitched and cussed her out, you know, she just laughed all that much louder and longer.

When we both calmed down, I told her she should call her sister, Mandy, and pull the same trick on her too. However, we decided that if she were to do that without me being able to see Mandy's reaction would mean I'd be missing out on half the fun then.

Just a darned shame that we don't have any kind of video conferencing software on our computers cause that would have been a scene, if Carrie would have called Mandy and pulled that off on her that I would have loved to have seen and heard.

Actually, I'm really relieved when I think about that a bit more though that we don't have that kind of equipment on our computers because otherwise, I can see it now that Carrie would have a video posted by now on YouTube of me doing the happy dance first, then the cursing and would be hoping to see said video go viral then too.

Not too sure I'd really want other folks to see me acting the fool like that.

But you can bet your bottom dollar my daughter is still gonna tell everyone she knows how she got Mom good on April Fool's Day this year!

Stuff!

I'm supposing here that most of you have seen/heard that priceless routine George Carlin had about "Stuff" and how we all acquire stuff, then we decide we need more stuff and on and on until we are pretty much over run then by all the stuff in our lives.

Well, in many ways, between all the stuff that Mandy and I have here at this house and all the stuff my son has at his house, we have just all kinds of stuff stashed away in drawers, closets, basement, attics, my son's garage, etc., etc., and yet, we still usually don't have enough stuff of some substance or another.

Granted, the stuff we tend to be totally short on, of course, is money cause I know if Mandy and I had a surplus of that stuff, we'd build on a little area to this house to make me my own little but larger than I have now, compartment room(s) like a room with a closet -a decent sized one but doesn't have to be huge -with enough space then to put my bed and dressers in there and adjacent to that, a little room big enough for say a futon and a recliner, computer and my Hammond organ (that had belonged to my aunt and which I got when she passed away) and a place then to put my tv set -which is a small one that has a built-in dvd player in it so that doesn't take up a bunch of space. Oh, an a little half-bath -just a commode, small vanity and shower facility.

Okay, that's all the space I would need for my own little living quarters then but boy, that would free up a lot of living space in the main house then.

Of course then -if we were ever able to do that -before much time would elapse, that new space would then be filled to the gills with some of the excess stuff that's currently taking up space in my son's garage, attic and even in the rooms of his big old house but which isn't all that big once you get inside because a big portion of his space is used up by the huge staircase that runs down the center of the house!

He's got things that are being stored at his house now that belong to lots of different people who, when they moved or got some new item or whatever, they didn't want to trash some stuff (there's that key word again, ya know) so all too often a lot of us (yes, Mandy and I are guilty of doing this with some things too but our stuff there is mainly smallish kitchen type items) have then taken things to my son's place to store them for some later or other or better usage.

This is the kind of thing that happens when people tend to be packrats and I suppose this is maybe how people become hoarders then too if there is no order whatsoever then to what is being stored and where and how.

My son, right now, for an example, has an abundance of television stands -at least one that we used to have here but got a newer, nicer one and no place to put the older one but there was really nothing wrong with it, and well, maybe when one of the kids gets a little older, we can put it in one of their bedrooms and use it again. (That's the kind of logic that takes place and all this stuff gets relegated to someone's spare storage spot -if indeed there is still one available -and it stays there until a new use or space can be found to put it back to doing its intended job once again.

And what brings all this to mind to me tonight, you ask?

Well, it seems our neighbor down the street has this really pretty, maple dining room table, complete with two leaves, and it would be really perfect for our needs here in our dining room and the great part about this item is that it is a good piece of furniture -made by Broyhill -and the neighbor is just giving this item away to anyone who wants it.

And I want it!

So what's the problem then?

Well, what to do with the current table we have that we are using here.

There's nothing wrong with the current table other than that we do need a larger table for when the whole family is here for a meal and I don't like the top on the current table as it is one of those with tile (ceramic, I think) top and if any foods get spilled on the table and runs into the groves then between the tiles, it's a bugger to get it to come clean. Worse than food stains though is that this is where Kurt and Maya generally have to play with one of their toys -that I have become a firm hater of too -and that's the stinking play-dough stuff cause that stuff, when it gets stuck in those grooves is really a pain in the dupa then to get that cleaned out.

Stay tuned though for more details as I try to wheedle Mandy into going down and gathering up this pretty maple table, with the two leaves, and brings it home -and we scramble then to find a new home -somewhere between this house and my son's -for the little table we have in use right now.

I'm pretty sure we'll find a place for it somewhere -probably in my son's kitchen area as he has a little bit of still empty space he can put something that size and it will be a great place then where he can toss his stuff when he gets home from work then, ya know!

Strange - Just Plain Strange!

Do you ever wonder why we dream the things we do? I mean the really, REALLY strange stuff that comes across in our sleep, in our dreams?

I don't know about other people and their dreams but sometimes, the content of my dreams really confuses the living daylights out of me. It's like, where on earth did that come from? And why?

For a long time -over a period of several years actually -my dreams seemed to all be about my being back at the one truckstop where I used to waitress and inevitably, they all pertained to me waiting on a bunch of truck drivers back in the area we referred to as the Truckers' Room, and also inevitable was that I would end up trying to run all over the room to keep up with the demands of these guys and they would be yelling at me to "Hurry it up, will ya?" To their not-so-nicely put requests and feeling really stressed out to the max in these dreams, I would respond to them that I was moving as fast as I could go!

Those dreams, for me, weren't just little dreams but nightmares because back when I was a waitress there, I always tried to keep a close eye on my customers and their wants/needs, etc., and the regular drivers knew that too. To have a group of angry customers virtually screaming at me in my sleep to "Move it! Move it!" and them not realizing how fast I was trying to go -well it was something that really scared me to have dreams about that place and that happening to me.

I suppose part of those dreams came from the fact that my legs no longer cooperate and allow me to move near as quickly as I used to be able to do and that, along with the fear of ever having to go back to doing that kind of work again must have been playing in my subconscious some where.

Thankfully, I haven't had that particular type of dream for a long, long time now.

However, in the past two weeks now I have had some really odd dreams though and my ex-husband has been the main player in them.

Now that is really odd because we've been divorced for almost 31 years now and this is the first that he has ever popped up in any of my dreams.

Last night, the dream was sooooo strange and had so many weird things in it, I have no clue where any of these visuals could possibly have originated, especially with my ex-husband playing a lead role.

This one was strange, funny and also, really scary to me and when I woke up from it, I was on the verge of tears.

In it, there was my ex-husband, my son, my ex-brother-in-law and some other guy who I didn't recognize, didn't know the face or his name -but all males in the cast anyway.

My ex and my son were both dressed in these one-piece spandex outfits -you know, the kind that high school and college wrestlers wear -wrestling singlets is what they are called - and they had a big tractor-trailer parked alongside my house (a lo-boy -the kind of trailer that is often used to haul heavy equipment type stuff) and they were loading this stuff that supposedly was in my back yard onto this trailer and when they started to pull away, my son waved goodbye to me, calling out that he was going away to live with his Dad.

Now, if that wasn't just the weirdest combination ever though! My ex has never driven any kind of big rigs, although my son does that for a living but he has never driven anything hauling heavy equipment or cars -other than just towing some of his junkers he's owned over the years to the junk yard. Why my ex-brother-in-law was with them is anyone's guess but I'm thinking he might have been on my mind as a friend of mine was just inquiring about him a couple days ago.

And the outfits -those wrestling uniform type things -well, that was just the weirdest thing of all because neither my ex or my son EVER has had occasion to wear anything like that and if you'd see either of them, you'd definitely understand why too! Both of them are very slim, especially my son, who is also quite tall too! Certainly outfits like that are not made for either of them to show off their lovely physiques!

But why did it have me ready to cry?

Because my ex was laughing at me when my son was telling me he was leaving and going to live with or near his Dad and he was taunting me about that.

Maybe because way back when my son was 12 years old, the kids Dad had tried to convince the boy to come and live with him and perhaps what once was a strong inner fear then had come forward again to kind of haunt me.

That still doesn't explain why in blazes they were clad in those outfits though and that, at least, provided a bit of humor for me when I was trying to explain the dream to Mandy this morning.

Maybe wrestling stuff has been in the back of my mind of late because Penn State's wrestlers won some kind of championship this year. I can't tell you what the title is that they won because I don't pay that much attention to that sport but I do know there's been a lot in the sports news lately about this so I guess that must have filtered through to the inner depths of my brain some how.

But I'm not going to try to analyze these things any more than I already have and I'm gonna put them out of my mind too as nothing but the strange inner workings of my mind I guess.

Security!!!

Did I tell you before about my other daughter's fiance and one of his obsession that led to a really neat gag Christmas gift from Mandy?

You know, when I sit down and start to think of things to write about, sometimes the things that pop into my mind are rather discombobulated but, the thing is, since I often suffer from what we refer to here as either "senior moments" or more recently, as having a bit of "chemo brain drain" the thing is, when some of these topics pull up a little story in my past -either distant or more recent -if I don't write about it when the thought enters, then it becomes lost in the fog of my brain.

Like right now for instance -I'm having a discussion of sorts with Kurtis, one that is not exactly wanted either because I was trying to concentrate and remember the details I really wanted to write about here and he, well, he was supposed to be finishing up his supper. The key to finishing up his supper though had a lot to do with his exuberance and desire to just talk -and talk, and talk, and yes, did I mention, talk some more.

Okay, this is an ongoing problem, for sure as he pokes around, fiddling with his food and constantly chattering while doing that. So much chattering that he forgets to eat and also, because the chatter generally involves 20 questions or more too, if I happen to be doing something -like trying to concentrate and write -at the computer, my train of thought often flies right out the window.

Tonight, he decided he had eaten an adequate amount of the roast beef, parslied potatoes and candied carrots and asked if it was okay then for him to put his plate out by the sink. Yeah, go for it and then, you know what you have to do, don't you, I had asked him.

His answer -"Yes, listen!" Well, okay that's part of the rule but what else besides listening is needed was my next question. To which he had replied "Sit on the couch?"

Yeah, Kurtis, that's right but what else do you have to do?

He gave me the correct answer there "Be quiet" and I then asked him -fool that I am -if he knew what it means to "be quiet" and can you guess what the answer was to that?

"No talking!" Woo hoo! A break through there, I thought. But sadly enough I was mistaken about his understanding of that bit of instruction as the very first thing he did after taking his plate to the kitchen was to come up to me, at the computer, and begin rattling some more directives off to me -most of which I was also unable to understand either!

ARRGH! Sometimes, ya know, I just want a few extra minutes of uninterrupted time!

And now, back to my original story.

Seems the daughter's fiance has this thing he does, like clockwork, every single day as soon as he comes home from work as he goes through the entire house, checking every single door and window to make sure each one is latched (locked) properly.

When she told my son and I about this habit of his, we asked her why he insists on doing that and she said his reasoning is that he wants to make sure of the security in and around their house.

Say what?

Yeah, you read that correctly and as you can well imagine too since most of you know a little about my sense of humor (and my son's often mirrors mine), we both totally cracked up laughing and couldn't wait to get back home to tell Mandy about this. She too found the whole story really comical too and as this happened shortly before Christmas and she was in her normal mode of searching online for various nifty little gift items, it just so happened she came across a tee shirt, adult sizing of course, that said just one word "SECURITY" and she quickly ordered that shirt to give to him for his gift that year. Funniest thing about it ultimately though was that the only ones who got the joke -me, my son, Mandy and my older daughter. It went right over his head and below his knees at the time and older daughter had to explain it to him on their way home!

And all this talk then about security and stuff brings to mind something that also happened earlier this evening when Sammy began barking loudly and I heard someone banging on the front door. I went to open the door and couldn't get it to open -because apparently someone in the house had decided to invent his own form of home automation and security by locking the darned front door!

Seems that Kurtis, for whatever reason I have no clue, had yes, gone and locked the front door so his mother, coming back from working out at the church, was unable to get in until I could figure out which lock it was he had turned on there!

Kids! Just one big "go figure" with 'em and that doesn't change all that much sometimes even after they are adults -grown and out of the house!

Don't Touch!

Kids! The things they get into.

Thankfully, thus far, Maya and Kurt aren't yet into the phase of getting into big people things and using them -or trying to use them, let's put it that way.

I can hardly wait for that bit of turmoil to begin!

Remember, I've been down that road before ya know, with three kids of my own and boy, some of the things that they -well, mostly my son -got into. It's a wonder I didn't go bald a long, long time ago from pulling my own hair out with him!

When we moved into this house -which had belonged to my Mom and my Grandparents before her -there were all kinds of things here -shovels, spades, hoes, rakes (garden and lawn variety), tools of just about every type imaginable too -wrenches, screwdrivers, hammers, saws -you name it, my Grandpa had it either in the basement, the old garage or the old wood shed.

Somehow or other, just about every type of gardening equipment as well as the wide variety of tools -for carpentry, plumbing, other types of work you need special equipment for to do household repairs -has virtually disappeared over the years.

Back when I was working at my first ever full-time job (at the old Cigar Factory up in Philipsburg) and earning all of $1.25 an hour too, I bought a set of cutlery that was, even back then, quite pricey. The set contained a butcher knife, a chopping knife, a carving knife and bread knife, along with a trimmer knife and paring knife. There was also a full set of other cooking tools plus, as an added bonus, a set of 12 steak knives. I still have, I think, all of the spoons and utensils as well as all the knives in the main set however, the steak knives have all completely disappeared over the years as has the trimmer knife.

To be totally honest too, the carving knife that I currently use though is not the one that came with the original set. That knife, although still in my knife drawer, is not all that useful as utility knives go since my son decided to use it to trim the base of a Christmas Tree with it one year. Nope, that might have been a darned nice carving knife, serrated edges, stainless steel, and all that good stuff, but up against the trunk of a nice pine tree, it didn't have quite enough edge to it!

The steak knives -those items are also among the missing thanks to my dear son too! I have no clue what on earth purposes he may have had in mind when he snuck each of them out, over time -probably used 'em for digging roads for his Tonka trucks early on and then later, after he'd depleted my supply of other tools, used the knives as make-shift screwdrivers or some such thing.

The trimmer knife -which was really my overall favorite of the whole bunch -well, actually I've gone through two of those. One which I think my son may have lost somewhere along the line and which I replaced and the second one, which even had an ivory handle whereas all the rest had a dark brown handle, I rather suspect my ex-son-in-law managed to inadvertently dispose of in the trash.

Don't ask me why or how he could have done that, but seeing as I have searched high and low in this house, every possible nook and cranny where it could have been left or landed -whatever -and it has never turned up after he had used it last!

Isn't it just such fun and games though as one travels through life wondering where in the heck all these things do go?

Little Mishaps

This morning, Kurtis was playing here in the living room with Sammy, the dog -chasing him all over the place, grabbing one of Sam's toys and then, playing their own little game of "tug of war" here.

Sounds sort of peaceful enough on the surface, doesn't it?

Well let me tell you, appearances are really deceiving.

The flooring in the living room and dining room in this house are both hardwood floors. Granted, they need refinished but no point in having that done while these two kids -heathens that they can be at times -are the way they are these days!

And this morning was darned good proof of that too.

Kurtis was running around, chasing Sammy and didn't have shoes on -just in his stocking feet and in the process of their playing, Sammy managed to get tangled up under Kurt's feet, which sent Kurtis flying, face first on to the floor.

Of course, he immediately burst into tears as I'm quite sure it didn't feel very good to land the way he did and so, Mandy tried to calm him down, got him to get up and come over to where she was sitting -just in front of where he had landed -and she tried to elicit from him the usual information about where he was hurting.

So, she asked him, "Kurtis, where did you get hurt?"

His response was to point to a spot on the floor and he said, "Right there!"

Which of course had both Mandy and I giggling then and he was really a bit confused I suppose, wondering why Mommy and Gram were both laughing at him when he'd just gone a-over-teacups!

Eventually, Mandy did get him to point, appropriately, to whatever area on his abdomen or arms he had landed on and yes, a kiss on those spots made for a very quick recovery then too.

However, judging by the way he immediately began the chase all over again with the dog on the hardwood floors, I guess he still didn't learn his lesson there.

But boy, just think how much faster he probably would have gone into a slide if these floors were all resanded, refinished and polished up though?

A Bit of an Eye-Opener!

Boy, with the way prices are going up lately, seems everything is coming under scrutiny these days as people are trying to find some way to get the things they need for less money!

I know, for myself, I'm trying to limit how much driving I do so I can save a few bucks at least on gasoline now. Sheesh, it's back up to $3.69 a gallon here now and that's for the regular gas, not any of the supposedly High-Test stuff. Fortunately, I don't have to run here and there all that often and usually can manage to get the groceries I need or other things if/when I do have to run over to Clearfield for a doctor's appointment or lab work at the hospital.

Make one trip do for any many as I can -that's my mantra these days.

Ken -Mandy's friend -was doing a bit of complaining, of sorts, recently about the cost of his car insurance as he was paying about the same just for liability coverage as Mandy and I each pay for full coverage so he had Mandy doing some research for him online to try to find some cheap auto insurance. To be honest, I don't think such an animal exists but what the heck do I know.

Frankly, I've long ago decided I will stay with the company I deal with because I've had my insurance with them for close to 30 years now and thus far, for the coverage I have (and Mandy too, as she deals with the same company) I'm very happy with them and their rates.

Sure, a little less would be nice I suppose, but I do have a couple little extras in there that would run a bit higher with other companies and I don't care to do without them.

That, plus the fact that any time we've had to file a claim, we've received very good, fast service too and that, plus the fact, I think if you move your coverage around too much, you may end up with a company that cancels you too as soon as you do need their services.

So, guess I'll just deal with what I consider to be the tried and true then.

Springing Up...

The past two weeks here we've had several days that were definitely of the teaser type -sunny, bright, breezy and yes, even a bit on the warm side too. One day, as a matter of fact, the evening news broadcast said that it had reached a high of 70 degrees (that's Fahrenheit, not Celsius, folks)!

Unfortunately, I think the very next day or maybe two days later, something like that, the temps dropped back down to making us think it was still January or February!

But, the fact remains that spring is definitely right around the corner now and warmer weather should be arriving to stay most any day now. (Can't get here soon enough to suit me!)

And, before you know it, the grass will begin to grow and once that starts, in now time, it will be pretty much out of control too.

Now that's one aspect of spring, summer and even fall weather that I don't look forward to. Of course, keeping the lawn mowed is a chore that I no longer worry about because there's no way I can get out there and run the lawn mower to keep the grass at a decent level. Last year, Mandy generally had a guy up the road from us come down and keep the grass cut. But, were Mandy or I to try to keep up with that job, we sure would need a new lawn mower that would be easy for either of us to handle -preferable a nice big riding one like oh say, maybe something from the simplicity zero turn mowers selection. Granted, were we to get one of those, it surely would mean we'd struck gold, oil and hit the lottery though because of course, the ones that caught my eye were the ones in the top dollar category.

Right now -like today -it was nice outside, at least to look at but it was still a bit on the nippy side. When I took Sammy out for our walk today, I still needed to bundle up in my winter coat, nice heavy hat of Mandy's plus had my scarf around my neck to keep the drafts out there as well.

But cold as it has still been here, it hasn't stopped the early flowers from popping through the ground in the front flower beds. I see that we will be enjoying a few tulips, crocus/daffodils and hyacinths too probably by the end of April at the rate they are coming up now.

Here's hoping too that the predictions I've seen for next week though don't come to fruition and kill those pretty posies off in the process cause I've seen more than enough snow, icy rain, sleet and such for this winter!

Be Prepared!

I wrote the other day here about how I almost got stranded with my jeep -30 miles from home -when the latch on the driver's door wouldn't fasten but thankfully, with some information I got from my ex-brother-in-law auto mechanic and a hand from two young fellows in the vicinity, I was able to get that problem taken care of and got back home without any more problems. Ken checked out the door the next day and said he put some stuff on it -probably that good old WD-40 or something along those lines -to keep the latch well lubricated and in working condition for me.

But you know, that brings my mind to thinking then too about other issues - things that can happen to a person when you're on the road, whether you're running a quick errand not that far from home or on a longer trip - such as all the trips my kids and I have had to take over the past five years down to Pittsburgh and back to the hospitals and doctors there.

We've been very fortunate in that we've never had to call for emergency assistance on any of those trips. There was the one instance a year ago this May though when the ER department of the hospital in Clearfield DID have the local ambulance transport me down to Pittsburgh when they thought I had an obstruction in my bowel and also, when they started to administer the first chemo treatment back in early September at the Cancer Clinic and I had a severe allergic reaction to that particular type of chemo and they had to have an ambulance come and transport me from the Clinic up the hill to the emergency room of the hospital -not even 1/4 of a mile away!

But even so, it is something to stop and think about how a person would handle a situation if you were traveling and were in an accident. How would you or someone else traveling with you arrange then to get back home if your vehicle was badly damaged or totalled? And, with Mandy and me, suppose we were on one of those trips and had the kids with us -how would we get them back home then too?

Just some food for thought you know about some things many of us never think about.

The Plan for Pretties...

So this evening, Mandy was sitting at the table, looking through a catalog of some sort and I glanced over to see what it was and boy, did I get a surprise.

She was checking out seeds and bulbs from a Flower catalog!

Mandy has always taken a very limited -and the key word here really is "limited" interest in any type of gardening. Oh yeah, she did plant a couple of tulip plants and some daffodils a few years back and occasionally of late, she has been kind of half-heartedly playing with the garden rake on what is supposed to be a flower bed in the front of the house. But overall, that's been about all the interest she's ever shown in that aspect of "decorating" around the exterior of the house.

I'm not one who can talk here though because when it comes to flowers in particular I have no knowledge about growing that kind of stuff, when to plant things, how to plant flowers so that you will end up with a balanced group of blooming things.

And if you put the two of us together messing with that kind of stuff, it spells one thing -disaster!

I've tried a couple of times to get one or two plants of the indoor variety to grow and in each case I killed the poor plants. Well, there was one ivy plant that somehow managed to survive here for almost three years which is truly a record for this house.

I should maybe show her this site about a hydroponics system and tell her this is the kind of setup she really needs to make her garden grow!

Actually, what we really would require is a way to have plants, indoors as well as outdoors, that can thrive with no water, no one weeding around them and certainly, no one talking to them, coaxing them to grow like the nice little posies they were meant to be.

But, apparently Ken has given her some ideas about beautification by having a nice flower garden and if he can nudge her along in that kind of stuff, more power to him.

I know one person who would be happy to look down on the place and see bunches and bunches of flowers of a whole lot of varieties blossoming here and that would be my Grandpa.

He really had a green thumb you see and had a beautiful rose garden along the front of the side yard, several kinds of flowers in the beds across the front of the house as well as a very pretty rose bush that grew on a trellis right by the middle window in the old sun porch and when it was in bloom, it was always so nice to sit out on the sun porch -or better yet, to sleep out there on hot summer nights -and the aroma from those roses would then waft into the room, gently lulling you to sleep with their sweet scent.

So who knows but maybe she has a bit of his green thumb hiding deep inside of her and just waiting to come forward to assist her in her garden plans.

Sure would be nice!

Coming Together!

In my last posts, I told you about going down to Karthaus on Sunday to be able to have a little bit of a visit with one of my closest friends from high school -Cheryl. She lives in Florida and along with her brother, Don, (also a Florida resident) and their younger sister, Barbara, who lives in Idaho, were to be here for almost a week as they tended to the difficult task of going through their childhood home, their Mom's furniture and other belongings and then, determining if they would try to sell many of their Mom's possessions or donate them to some great charitable organizations in the area.

That's one job I'd really hate to have to do -to rip apart my family home, where I grew up, ya know. Their Mom is still living -thankfully -and doing quite well at the age of 93, living in Idaho now with the younger of her daughters. But in the past year, it was decided that it was too much of a strain on their Mom to come back to Pennsylvania every spring, stay through the early fall months in the family homestead, alone -and at her age. So in December, they had put the house up for sale, figuring that with the economy in general being so punk and the economy in this area in particular not exactly a blossoming thing, that it would no doubt take a long time to sell the house.

Surprisingly enough though, the house sold within two weeks after they listed it! A really remarkable event for this area, for sure. And this week was the only time that the three siblings could all get back here to Pennsylvania to take care of the furniture and the rest of their Mom's belongings still in the house.

I was really happy that on Sunday when we went over to Karthaus for our brief visit that my older daughter, Carrie, and my grandson Alex, were here to go with me as Carrie is the only one of my children who really ever knew Cheryl, her husband, Mitch, and two of their three children. Carrie was happy too that she had the chance to see Cheryl again as the last time she saw her was when Alex was just a very tiny baby -a little over 13 years ago!

But that visit Sunday was way too brief and Cheryl very much wanted to have a chance for us to connect a little further so she arranged for her cousin, Sharon -also a very close friend of mine from our high school days too -to meet us at The Tavern Restaurant in State College. Her sister, Barbara, also joined us and we had a really great meal along with a lot of fun talking over things from the past, current things in our lives and even a bit about what the future holds (maybe) for us.

Like a lot of my other blogger friends like to do, I had given thought that I would take photographs initially of the great food each of us ordered along with some snapshots, for posterity, of Cheryl, Sharon and Barbara. Yeah, it was a nice thought but not one that came to mind for me until well after we'd eaten and were beginning to wind down, talking about going back to our respective homes or motel room, in the case of Cheryl and Barb! I'm getting to be quite the master of having "senior moments" especially where my camera is concerned, aren't I?

However, I did remember I had brought my camera along in time to at least get these three pictures of my three supper companions and I'd like to at least share those pictures with you.

This is my good friend, Sharon -who lives in State College, has e-mail and yet, we rarely see each other it seems. The last time I saw Sharon was two years ago this month when she and her sister, Connie, made it up this way for one of our monthly lunch bunch meetings and which was also the last time -before Sunday -that I'd seen Cheryl then too! When I mentioned to my daughter Mandy that it had been two years since I'd last seen Sharon, she laughed and teased me that she has seen Sharon on a goodly number of occasions in that two year period as she has often run into her when she's been over in State College shopping!

This lovely lady -the baby of our group tonight -is Cheryl's sister, Barbara. Talk about not seeing someone in a long, long time -I figured out after I got home tonight that before seeing Barbara on Sunday at their Mom's home, the last time before then that I'd seen her was probably in mid-August of 1963, when Cheryl and Mitch got married! I used to remember Cheryl's anniversary date easy as pie but now, I'm not quite sure of the date! I know it was in August of 1963 and I think it was August 14th, but I won't swear to that as being the correct date. Barb looks so much like their Mom though it's downright eerie!

And this, last but definitely not least, is my very dear friend, Cheryl! Doesn't she look fantastic though? I tease her as well as one of our other classmates -Rose, who usually attends our monthly lunch functions -that it just isn't fair to the rest of us for them to each look so darned great after raising a family, now being Grandma's too and all that stuff.

Cheryl and I have something else in common too though. Something I wouldn't really recommend others try to vie for this record though as we have both joined the ranks of being cancer survivors -not just once, but twice. for each of us. What I find a bit strange though is that Cheryl was diagnosed in 1990 or 1991 with endometrial cancer and then 3 years ago, with colo-rectal cancer whereas I was diagnosed in 2003 with colo-rectal cancer and last August with endometrial-uterine cancer! We each had virtually the same diagnoses but in opposite order.

We -Cheryl and I -share a lot of other things too though -one being our political/social beliefs as we both believe in the same political party and theories as well as having like-minds about many of our social policies in this country too. That aspect is something that anytime we have a chance to get together and talk always makes me feel quite comfortable as I don't have to explain my logic in my beliefs to her. She knows exactly where I'm coming from and why I feel and believe the way I do because we are virtually of one mind in that respect.

What's really sad though is that as close as Cheryl, Sharon and I have tried to stay over the years, even with all the technology and stuff there is available today too, we sure don't stay in what could ever be termed constant contact though! It really is downright pathetic for me to admit that I only live about 40 miles from Sharon and yet, it had been two years since the last time I'd seen her.

With Cheryl, of course, there is a bigger, possibly better, excuse why we haven't been able to get together in person and that is because with her living in Florida and me in Pennsylvania, well her trips back home aren't all that frequent and for me, well I'm still waiting to figure out a way to manage a trip to Florida sometime before my time on earth ends!

There is a good possibility that we might actually manage to see each other again sometime this year though as they are planning a trip up I think in June for a college class reunion for her husband, Mitch, as well as maybe a couple trips up in the fall to watch Penn State's Nittany Lions during football season.

I'm looking forward to those times already and hope we can figure out a time that is mutually agreeable for all of us to get together once again.

I'm always up for another visit such as this one tonight was -just so nice to be able to reconnect with some very good old friends, ya know!

Remembering things from those good old days always makes me feel a good bit younger then than what my actual age says I am!

Nothing wrong with that at all, is there?

Small World, Indeed!

Yesterday, that would be this past Sunday, my older daughter and her son, Alex, and I took a little drive over the mountain to another little "local" village here -one I haven't been to in many a year now.

The reason for our drive over and down to Karthaus was because my closest friend from high school was down at her family home along with her brother and sister as they were clearing out her Mom's belongings -clothes, furniture, etc. Her Mom, who is now 93 years old, had stopped a year ago from spending her winters in Florida with her surviving son and her summers back here, alone in the family home in Karthaus. But up until 2 years ago, she was coming here usually in late March and staying by herself there and then, returning to her son's home in Florida in/around October or so. Quite a darned good feat for someone in that age range to still be able to be self-sufficient like that up till she was almost 92 years old, don't you think?

Well, last year, it was decided her health, though not terrible, just really wasn't up to the par level her kids felt it should be for her to stay there alone and so, last year, she had gone to Idaho to spend the year with her younger daughter who lives out west there. Apparently she liked the climate and location and such with her younger daughter because she then decided she would stay on out in Idaho.

Back in December, my friend (Cheryl) and her siblings had decided to put their Mom's house on the market. Because this area is a very depressed area and real estate is usually pretty slow to sell here, they figured it would be a long haul before they would get a buyer for the house. However, they got a big surprise when someone bought the place within two weeks after the house was put up for sale!

With the house sale set to close the end of March, Cheryl and her two siblings then were faced with the task of clearing everything out of the house and the only time that the three of them could get back home at the same time was this past week -from March 18th through this Wednesday, the 23rd. They had initially hoped to have an auction sale but that fell through and somehow, within two days of hard work trying to organize their Mom's things and sort through items they each wanted to keep too, they did manage to have a little "house sale" then yesterday.

So, that's why Carrie, Alex and I made the little trip down river to Karthaus.

I was really glad that Carrie (and Alex too) were here and able to go over with me as Carrie is the only one of my kids who really knows Cheryl and her husband, Mitch. Also, the last time Cheryl had seen Carrie -and the only time she'd ever seen Alex -was when he was just a tiny baby, probably only a month, maybe two months old and boy, he sure has changed -and grown -a heck of a lot since then!

It was so nice to be able to visit a little with Cheryl and her siblings as well as to see some folks from down river I hadn't seen in a long while -like another former Classmate, Herb, and his wife Donna. Always good, in my way of thinking, when you can have an enjoyable visit with old friends like that.

While we were talking though, Cheryl's sister told me a story about what had happened recently to her back at her home in Idaho.

Barbara said that she generally attends Mass every Sunday and when she does, she take communion home then to her Mom. A few weeks back, she was unable to get to Mass so had made arrangements with someone at the church to have communion brought to her Mom. Then, last week when she realized she would again be out-of-town over the weekend, she contacted that couple to see if they would be so kind to please bring communion to her Mom in her absence.

The lady assured Barbara that they would do that and no problem, that type of arrangement. Barbara happened then to mention that she was going to be in Pennsylvania to clear out her Mom's home there and the lady asked her where in Pennsylvania she was going. Barb had explained that this is a small village, out in the sticks of central Pennsylvania and most likely the only town near to here that she figured the lady would have heard of was State College and Penn State University.

The woman told Barb then that oh yes, she knew exactly where State College is because they (she and her husband) are from Clearfield County -which is the county where Cheryl's hometown, as well as mine, are located. Upon hearing that, Barb then told her that her hometown is Karthaus and here's where the real surprise came in. The lady then told her that they are from Grassflat -which is where I live!

Barb asked me then if I know any people here in town -now or years back -with the last name of Petro and I said definitely, I do. So she then asked me if I know a Paul Petro and his wife, Karen? Well, I don't know his wife, but Paul grew up about 6-7 houses down the street from my place!

Incredible, isn't it, to be in Idaho, a thousand plus miles away from Pennsylvania and to have someone you've never met before be the person who brings communion to your home for your mother and then, to learn that they just happen to be from the same region in Pennsylvania as you are from! (And from the same school district too!)

Isn't that just amazing though?

As Barb said to me about this event, "The world really is small and getting smaller every day or so it seems at times."

Yes, indeed it is Barb!

And now, tomorrow evening, I get to reunite with Cheryl and Barb, along with their cousin Sharon -also one of my very good high school friends -for dinner over in State College at The Tavern.

And I'm really looking forward to that!

And we'll make the world just a teensy bit smaller during the time we'll have to spend over our meal, you can bet money on that!

Lock It Up!

So, this afternoon I had to make a drive over to Curwensville because I had a doctor's appointment there with my primary care physician. Had to take all the meds I have here that I use with me so they could go over the bottles, check the dosage, all that happy stuff, ya know.

How it happened that I left the house a little later than I should have in order to arrive there on time for my appointment is something I still don't understand because one minute it was 12:30 and the next, sheesh, it was 1:45 and my appointment was -I thought -for 2:15, but turns out I had the time wrong too. It was actually for 2:00 p.m. so I arrived late and ended up having to reschedule said appointment then for this Friday.

Oh well, guess I am slowing down more than I thought I was these days. But my tardiness is not the point of this post. Just setting the scene, you could say I guess.

When I arrived at the doctor's office, got out of the car and slammed the car door shut, I got a little bit of a surprise because the door of my trusty little old jeep wouldn't shut!

Nope! Just gave a clanking noise and bounced back open again.

I tried to look at the latch mechanism to see if I could figure anything out on my own but, true to form, my unmechanical ability was coming through loud and clear and I didn't have clue one as to what I could do myself to fix this situation.

So, with my driver's side door hanging wide open, in I went to the waiting room and to speak to the receptionist on duty.

First, I asked her if she might, by chance, happen to have a Phillips screwdriver handy there because I had noticed this much about the latch mechanism -there were two big bolts there and they both required a Phillips screwdriver to work on them! (Give me 10 points there for being observant of that and knowing too the difference between a plain screwdriver and one with a Phillips head. Some good actually came from having been married to a mechanic and having a son who likes to tinker too with various tools.)

I also asked her to call my daughter as I figured if I couldn't get things squared away and drive home with the door to the jeep closed, safely, I'd have to have her or Ken come get me and get the door working again.

Well, the receptionist dialed the number for me and handed me the phone and as I stood there, listening to the rings, I remembered Mandy had gone upstairs to try to get Kurtis to take a much-needed nap (and to take a nap herself too) and her cordless phone, which is normally on the hook in her room, was laying on the end table beside my recliner. Rats! With that phone downstairs on that table, I knew she'd never hear the incoming call just ringing away.

So, back to the drawing board I went as I tried to think who the heck I could call then!

Ah ha! Every now and again I do have a "let's use all parts of the brain" moment and I had the other recepionist -Wanda (who I have known since she was just a little bitty thing) looked up the number for me of the garage in Clearfield where my lovely ex-brother-in-law works -as an auto mechanic -and a darned good one he is at that!

So I got Uncle Tom on the line and explained my dilemma to him and, as he has done for me and my kids on too many previous occasions to begin to remember, he told me things I could do in order to get the locking system to work so I could then return home.

Back out to the jeep I went with the good old Phillips screwdriver in hand and tried my level best to get these two big old bolts screwed back in tightly but with no luck. (The one was, as I had suspected, stripped out and was sort of like a car, stuck in the mud -revolutions galore but just spinning tires, if you know what I mean by that.)

About that time, and after having said numerous words that turned the air around me probably a fine shade of blue, I saw two young fellows leaving the apartment building adjacent to the doctor's office and I called out to them, asking if either of them knew anything about car door lock systems.

They came over and looked at the situation and the one guy then moved the bolt that was in the stripped out region to another open slot and he managed to get that bolt and the other one, each screwed in tightly so when he attempted to close the jeep's door, it actually latched!

"God bless your pea-picking little heart," I told the young man, and then also told him "I'll buy you a beer when you're old enough!"

He laughed at that telling me he was already old enough. So then, I told him that if he knows my ex-brother-in-law and which local pub he hangs at, to go up to him and tell him that his sister-in-law said for him to buy this guy a brew and I'd repair Uncle Tom next time I see him then with a six pack!

The fun thing about this whole event though was that I had taken with me the last tablecloth I just finished last week along with the tulip one I had done for Mandy's birthday for the sole purpose of showing them to the receptionist in the doctor's office. That Wanda happened to be working there today was just icing on that cake though.

Wanda informed me she had seen the pictures of the tulip tablecloth on my Facebook photos and had immediately called her Mom to tell her about that tablecloth. She then informed me that she has a set of pillow cases, hand-embroidered, in a tulip pattern identical to the one on my tablecloth. And furthermore, she said it had been embroidered by her grandfather, the late Wayne Raymond! (Keep in mind here I knew Wanda's family quite well -her parents as well as her grandparents too!)

Now if you'd ever known her grandfather, learning that he had been very adept at doing exquisite needlework would probably come to you as a big surprise the same as learning this about him did to me! And, Wanda understood completely when I said that was incredible to learn that about her Grandfather.

She said yes, it was something quite extra-ordinary and went on to tell me that her Mom is now in the process of teaching her son, Isaac, who is probably 10 or 11 years old, how to do embroidery work too -and not just that but also that he LOVES doing that stuff!

So, imagine that! Not only did I manage, with a little bit of assistance, to get my car dilemma fixed -at least for the time being anyway -but I also learned about a man I had known much of my life who did embroidery work as a hobby (and did it extremely well too) but that his great-grandson was no also going to be carrying that tradition forward.

Oh, and I'll be posting some pictures of the most recent tablecloth in the near future, just as soon as I can figure out a way to lay the cloth out to show it in the best light possible.