I didn’t mean to wait so long in between posts……there’s no one answer, just too many different things going on at once. I’ll see if I can do a quick review instead of the whiny, boring long version.
* We had company to get ready for…the girls came home for the weekend with families and boyfriend in tow so lots of cooking and cleaning. But fun times!
* More cooking to do for friends that needed meals plus sewing for some new babies
* I got sick……sinus/cold, respiratory stuff with one eye that will not quit watering. Around here mostly it’s called the delta crud.
* Went to the dr to get treated and had bronchitis. Got a shot and 3 meds to take.
* The shot was pure heaven for about 24 hrs and then it wore off….the antibiotic was ok, the antihistamine made me too groggy but the cough medicine with codeine did a number on me. I was sick as a dog; I must be allergic and I won’t be testing again to see if I have the same reaction!
* We made a trip to TX to see the kids we haven’t seen since thanksgiving! Picked up the other son we haven’t seen since Christmas so he could visit too. Plus baby Henry turned one on Easter so there was a party also! Hopefully pics tomorrow.
* Drove home in horrible thunderstorms
* Got bits and pieces of bad news through the weekend. So there’s already been two funerals this week with food to make for both families. More people in the hospital and probably two more funerals by the weekend. Sad
* One eye will NOT quit watering and it’s driving me insane. Plus it’s made red, scaly places under the corners of my eyes, so not attractive! I went to the eye dr and she thinks it’s allergies, all this stupid lovely pollen blowing in the wind here that won’t go away. So now I’m on an antihistamine eye drop and have some antibiotic cream to put on these raw places under my eye. It hasn’t stopped yet but my eye feels like it’s watering slightly less than before.

Really it’s all good though; what fun would it be if there was nothing going on! And it beats the alternative as they say. I’m just not motivated to be on the computer much and now I’m overwhelmed with too much email and google reader bursting at the seams.
Life is good and I love spring anyway! We’ve had a full few weeks and a nice Easter….how was yours!

I seem to be going long between posts now and I’m not sure what all I’ve been doing with my time! We did have a gathering at my house recently so I spent some time getting ready for that plus a few other tasks that needed to be taken care of. And spring teased us with some warmer weather and gorgeous days for a week maybe. It was nice enough to be outside and do yard work, that is if you like to do yardwork! I don’t love it but tried to get a bit done. It was in the 80’s one day here and then back to the 40’s yesterday. It drizzled most of yesterday and apparently we are in for more rain over the next few days; I’m so not a fan of the rain! No working in the flower beds now, too chilly and damp. This kind of weather makes me want to stay inside and do nothing, or read, or catch up on my dvr’d stuff……and it also makes me do stuff like this:
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A few days ago I took my car to a dealership in a neighboring town to have a recall thing fixed on it….the heated windshield washer part needed replacing. Here in the deep south it’s very important to have a heated windshield washer! But I’m ready now should we need it; I also got a new inspection sticker. It was time for one but we won’t talk about whether it was past time or not. As I’ve been known to do in the past, I went to walmart afterwards. That’s only because I don’t live anywhere close to a target. While wandering down the aisles I came across a long row of tulips in pots that I suppose had been there for valentines day. They were marked down to just a couple of dollars and I briefly thought about buying one for myself. But they were just sad looking for the most part; most had flopped over, looked wilted and had lost color. It looked lonely to see long rows of them!
I’m not sure my picture shows how bad I thought they looked when I first spotted them.

Later that same afternoon my girls drove up to surprise me. It was my birthday so they came to see me and eat with us. They literally scared me to death because I thought I was alone in my room and I came out of the closet and saw something move out of the corner of my eye! It was fun to see them for a few hours and visit with them.
Look at one of the things they brought me!

I love tulips and the colors of these are so pretty! I love these way more than the sad looking ones!

We got a new fridge about a month or two ago; my old one was almost 20 years old, yikes! The ice dispenser finally quit working and that helped speed the buying process along. Gotta have ice, right! This one is a little fancy schmancy with some fun features that I’m enjoying.

The old one….yep, it needed updating.
Oops, couldn’t find a picture without all the junk on the front……they hauled this one off when I got the new one installed.

The new one ….Sweet!
It’s a bit hard to take a picture of a black appliance I found out!

Hubby and daughter didn’t want me to put anything back on the front but I’ve cheated some lately with a few pictures. We got a rebate deal with the fridge, in the form of a gift card that can be used anywhere. That just came in over the weekend and Don gave it to me! I’ll have to go shop for something else now!
The new fridge looks so much better in my kitchen and it matches the other appliances……..it’s a good thing we got it when hubby was still drinking cokes, we used way more ice then than we do now!

“drums keep pounding rhythm to the brain”

Maybe today is the day that things will get back into some sort of routine again! No more short weeks, family and friends have come and gone and hubby has gone back to work today after being off for a few weeks. He worked most days from home even though he closed down the office but didn’t have to deal with any major problems. It was nice to be able to do something last minute or go to the movie if we wanted to. We went to two! He cleaned out his closet a bit and we took all winter things to a resale shop. That’s the first time we’ve tried that before and I’m curious to see if anything sells! He got his cast off last week and his hand/arm x-rayed again; they said it still had a long way to go before the bones were healed. Then gave him a hard splint instead of another cast but I think it feels more unprotected to him now with the splint. Yesterday he decided to quit drinking cokes when one friend (nurse) told him cokes weren’t good for your bones! I think I’ve only been telling him the bad affects of sodas for years….now it looks like I won’t be able to keep enough milk around here the way he’s drinking it.
My laptop was overnighted to hp last week but is still sitting at a fed*x place instead of being worked on, I’m guessing due to the holidays/closings. I hope they get it soon and get going on it! Now that hubby has gone back to work, his laptop went with him. I’ve got an old computer upstairs but it’s very slow and hard to get much done on. Running up and down the stairs will be good for me today; we’ve eased back into walking some but I rebelled this morning when I saw that it was around 38! I need to finish putting away Christmas stuff that has been piled into the hall upstairs and then start some burp cloths for a gift. I think it might feel kind of nice to get back to a few routine things!
Happy Monday!
(If I can successfully get this tune to your head instead of mine, my day will be complete….you’re welcome!)

“La de da de de, la de da de da“

We’re having lots of family at our house for Thanksgiving this year so I thought it might be good to cook some things now for the freezer. I don’t want to spend all next week cooking when I could be visiting or playing with kids! I’ve gotten a couple of things put up so far plus a couple of things assigned to others to do; that’s always a big help too. Then yesterday the UPS person knocked at my door and left me this…….

That is a 15+ pound smoked turkey, already cooked! Yum, my house smelled so good when I opened the box. My daughter in law’s grandma sent that to us, isn’t that the sweetest thing to do! She has done that before when all the kids are coming in to visit and we enjoy it so much. It had the directions on it for how to keep it and serve it…..the freezer if you aren’t using it within 6 days. But the turkey is here and ready (and in the freezer)! Now on to a few more dishes for Thanksgiving and a couple of things for the days after, then I can just thaw and heat next week!

I’ve been fortunate to have Liz around here helping me clean out closets, attics, etc. We’ve tossed quite a bit of stuff, carted some off to give away and still have some rooms to go yet. It’s sort of random but the place I’ve finished first is my bathroom closet. The really crazy thing is, I’m in love with one of the containers we used to organize with. Simple little plastic storage drawers; why oh why did it take me this long to discover them!
I should have taken some pictures before I started……….
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Lots of things are moving and shaking around here!
1. I’m trying to make a real effort to get some things cleaned out of my house….I’ve put it off for way too many years. So I’m taking advantage of Liz being around because sometimes it’s easier if someone else tells me what to do! I seem to keep things for sentimental reasons and the kids don’t have that same problem. I’ve pulled so many things out of closets and the attic to go through that it probably looks worse now than it did before we started. But we’ve thrown away quite a few bags full of stuff and now are loading our trunks with things to drop at goodwill. I hope we’re making a little progress but the office is probably the worst room and no one wants to tackle it.
2. Yesterday E and I were stunned by a loud explosion in the neighborhood and then loud screaming. A man was checking on a house and went to move some stuff in his back seat and a gun accidentally discharged and shot him! After looking out several windows we discovered him staggering around his car and when I saw blood, we called 911. Many police cars and finally an ambulance showed up; they stayed around for more than an hour, talking to people and taking statements. My arms were trembling/shaking and I think we felt like our hearts raced for most of the morning! Liz asked me if I’d ever seen anyone that had been shot before…no, this was the first time and I don’t think I care to ever see it again. The hole in his side sort of undid me.
3. Little Sam turned one yesterday! How can that be? I haven’t seen him in a month and he’s started walking since then. His party is this weekend so I need to shake a leg and get my gift wrapped! I hope to get some pictures and maybe that will give me something to share later.

And I think I need to regroup after the weird, shaky week we’ve had. I’m going to take a few days to unwind a bit, visit with some of my kids and family and maybe feel better next week!
Don’t let tons of stuff happen for the next few days!

“someone’s in the kitchen, I know”

Earlier this week I asked my daughter Elizabeth if there was anything different she might want to eat for a night or two since hubby wouldn’t be here for dinner. I’m not very motivated at the moment to come up with new things! She thought about it and decided to pull out a newish cookbook she has for making tapas. She spent a summer in Spain and enjoyed tapas there; little bites of food I think maybe it is, sort of like appetizers. She picked several different things to make so it would be a meal for us. It all turned out great….garlicky shrimp with yellow rice and grilled portobellos; the portobello mushrooms were supposed to have a hazelnut gremolata drizzled over the top. The topping didn’t happen because we live in the middle of nowhere and they don’t sell hazelnuts in the middle of nowhere apparently!

I did some chopping for her while she made the shrimp and rice; the mushrooms were quick on the grill. Pretty colorful and it was all really yummy. I think the rice was supposed to be put in tortillas, then rolled up and cut but neither one of us wanted it like. I’m glad we did shrimp while hubby was gone; he’s not as fond of it as we are.
I hope Liz will try a few more of her recipes while she’s still at my house!

A few weeks ago I ordered a new slow cooker, got it in and the lid had a small dent in it. Several of you commented that I should definitely do something about it. I did finally email the company to see if I could get a new lid…a nice lady emailed back and said I’d have to send the whole thing back, then they would ship me a new one. I took them up on that, especially since they paid for all the shipping and it didn’t cost me anything else! So the second slow cooker came in yesterday and I briefly wondered if I would get one that had something worse than a dent in the lid. This one appears to be just fine but I haven’t used it yet… I better check it out to see if it works!

I planned my menus earlier this week but so far have cooked nothing that was planned! Monday I figured we better have fish while Liz wasn’t here because she SO doesn’t like it. Then I forgot that we were going out to eat for a friend’s birthday party on Tuesday and tonight is church supper! Hopefully tomorrow I’ll try this west bend out to make sure it truly works.
Over the last couple of months I’ve used my big crock pot while I was without this smaller one. But TWO times in the last couple of weeks I’ve been all organized, gotten my meal put in early and felt good about being on the ball only to get home from church or wherever and found that I never plugged the darn thing in! Argh! I hate it when I do things like that.
Apparently I need a new brain to go with the new slow cooker, because this one isn’t going to work if I don’t plug it in.

We had a good time with Katelyn but she’s gone home now and we’re trying to get back into a routine here! She’s very active, always on the go or wants to play and I’ve forgotten how to manage toddlers and housework. Just let some of it slide and enjoy the rest, right?!!
There was also some other excitement and thrills going on in the Mississippi delta this weekend…..BB King was in the state for the opening of a new museum in his honor; there was lots of music, food and a ribbon cutting. We ventured out to see some of the museum but it was a bit crowded so we didn’t see everything. I even heard at church yesterday that Eric Clapton had played at King’s club this weekend but we missed all the celebrities and I’m guessing they didn’t stay in Mississippi long!
We also got a pretty good bit of rain and wind from some of the outer bands of Ike that passed through. Most of that seems to be gone now and we’ll actually get to enjoy a couple of days of lower temps.
Update: Our kids in Houston are doing ok, they have power, not too much damage and are out of school for another few days. They might have roof damage and I hope they get everything worked out soon! I think the kids are restless and ready to get out of the house.
I’ve walked today, done a load of laundry, and daughter Liz has even gone to sub at school but got through early! I’ll put a few pictures of our recent activities on the extended page…..
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A few years ago I was lucky enough to get a new washer and dryer but not just any kind, the fancy front loading high efficiency kind! Overall I’ve been pretty pleased with it….it holds a lot, seems to wash way better than my old machine and uses less water I believe. Recently though the washer just quit working. I could push the start button but it only clicked and showed an error code. This machine happens to be a kenmore so I called sears right away but since I seem to live about 90 miles from nowhere, they told me it would be one week before the service tech could get here. ONE week with no clean clothes! Hubby called a local repairman, who came to check it out and he was pretty sure it needed a new microprocessor. He said if it was any other machine besides a kenmore he could work on them; I think sears has it rigged where you’re kind of stuck using their service! So I waited a week, the sears man came but he only reset the microprocessor and sold us an extended warranty. It washed exactly 2 loads and then went back to clicking again. Hubby called sears the next day but got the same routine, repairman was booked and it would be one week before he could come. Only now we’d be 2 weeks without any clean clothes! After being transferred around several times, asking to speak to numerous people in charge and then getting another number to call in Arkansas, we finally got someone to say they’d get the same repairman to come back. And then he said, “he has 4 service calls today and he’s on his 2nd one now.” That was at 10:30 in the morning….4 calls means booked solid for a week! I guess because it was a Friday they wanted to be through early! I am grateful that he was able to come back the day after supposedly fixing it the first time. And I’m very grateful the 2nd service call didn’t cost us but I’m really not liking sears service at the moment. I think I may have very well bought my last kenmore product! We know now the local guy can work on most any brand and next time I don’t want to wait a week for service. Maybe you’ve not had as much problem with sears as I’ve had…I’m sure where I live is most of the problem, but I think I’m done with them! I hope my machine works for a long time, then maybe I’ll replace it with another brand.
They do look kinda nifty and nice though!

My other ongoing annoyance with the washer; you’re supposed to use HE detergents in them only and that is getting increasingly harder and harder to find! Well, I can get tide but I don’t like that brand. If they are going to sell these machines, it looks like some store would sell the detergent to go in them!

I wasn’t familiar with the line from a country song I’m using today but sorta liked it! Stacy will probably know it since it’s more in one of her genres of music. A list is what I need today…..

1. Need to put sheets on the beds upstairs so Katelyn will have someplace to sleep. Kathryn has to do some recruiting for work at nights this week so I’ll keep Katelyn 2 days.
2. Will need “kid” food from the store! Milk that’s not skim plus m&m’s or something she can get as a prize for going to the potty, oh the joys of potty training!
3. The washer appears to be fixed finally so I need to catch up on laundry. The washer, oh my what an ordeal, a post in itself!
4. I had a bad bout with my mouth/jaw and tmj last week but it’s so much better now. I asked the dentist about it a few months ago and he said that’s what I probably have but not bad enough to do anything…it usually only flares up once or twice a year but if I knew some way to keep it from happening again, I’d be good with that!
4. We don’t need another hurricane in our gulf coast states but it looks like Ike might be tracking for somewhere there again. Ugh.
5. I finally ordered another slow cooker, broke the lid a couple of months ago to the one I use most often. It came in today but I’m a little conflicted about what to do. It said white when I ordered it, but this one is sort of silver or grayish in color; I think I can live with that. But the lid has a small dent in the metal frame around the inside! I wasn’t happy to see that but it does however appear to fit onto the pot ok. I’m frustrated to pay 40 bucks for something and have it come in with a dent; not sure whether trying to send it back will accomplish anything or be worth it in the long run. Guess I’ll show hubby tonight and ask his opinion. Not sure you can see it or it shows up good but here’s the dent (maybe too small to worry over?)

6. I was glad the sun was out today so that I could get out to walk! It’s a little hot here but it felt good to walk.

What’s on your list today?

“go for a walk, say a little prayer
take a deep breath of mountain air“

“with a big black horse and a Cherry tree”

1. I’ve not gotten back to walking regularly since my achilles tendon injury and I’m tired of feeling sluggish. I think I’m going to try to ease back into it gradually with lots of stretching, maybe some new shoes, and see what happens. In the meantime, a friend does water aerobics and told me she’d show me the ropes. 4 of us got together Sunday afternoon for a short session and then I went to the pool with her this morning for her regular workout. I don’t love swimming, swim suits or pools much at all so I’m not sure how long I’ll stick with it. One good thing, we went at 6:45 this morning so there was NO one at the pool!
2. This month our sunday school lessons have been on the book of Revelation; which I usually stay away from because I don’t always understand it. But one of the verses this week talked about Jesus having a “name written that no one knows about except Himself”. A secret name! To remind us that Christ is infinite and that we’ll never reach the end of knowing Him…..I kinda liked that!
3. I’m loving E’s Brita water pitcher she brought here to use. I like it best when the water is really cold! Might have to buy one of those when she moves out. Unless….I’m wanting needing a new fridge. I think maybe some of them have filtration systems on the door; does that work the same way? So then there would be no need for a Brita pitcher?
4. The people here aren’t particularly liking the movies I’ve had coming through my netflix queue! I need suggestions………..got any movies you’ve seen/rented lately that you like?
5. I finished Plain Truth by Jodi Picoult recently and really enjoyed it! I also finally read a Grisham book of Stacy’s I borrowed many moons ago, The Partner, and I really enjoyed it too! It might be because I hadn’t read one of his books in such a long time but this one piqued my interest from the start, always fun for that to happen.
6. I bought this bag while grocery shopping today

Oh I LOVE cherries and these are so good! But that small bag was $7.50, ouch; that’s because we live in the middle of nowhere!
Wonder if they come frozen so you can enjoy them in the winter? Probably, but I bet you have to be in a place bigger than here to find them.

Especially in a small town! There is no recycling here at all, nothing curbside and no where to take papers or bottles and such. It’s hard to find ways to do things that might help out. We’ll never be featured for our innovative programs! When my w*lmart store had some reusable shopping bags for sale I decided to snag those as one small thing I could do. I bought 5 of them for 99 cents each and that seemed like a pretty good deal to me. I asked the checker if she could put my stuff in them and use them right then and she said, “sure”! That seemed way too easy, and sure enough it was. The next time I took them in, the girl checking me out looked at me with a total blank look when I told her I wanted to use those instead of plastic bags! She didn’t really know what to do with them. So I had to put all my groceries up on the belt to get checked out and bag everything myself, hoping that the many people in line behind me weren’t getting too frustrated. When I got home, I didn’t remember to put them back in my car; so for the last 5+ times I’ve been to the store I came out with plastic bags, argh!
But hooray, this week I actually got to the store with a list AND the shopping bags………and even better, the cashier didn’t give me a funny look and my bags held everything! Hopefully I’ve turned a corner and this new habit will get a little bit easier.