Simple Pleasures

This morning on GMA there was a girl who wrote a book on life's simple pleasures that we've gotten away from with all the technology, etc. I started listening into the conversation a bit but I did hear her talk about driving gloves, black velvet chokers and calling cards. When she talked about the cards, I realized that's what my cards are! Her point with this was that it was strictly a social thing that said you want to be their friend, here's my personal info, and I'm letting you into my life. I guess that's what I'm saying with my card. Robin Roberts spoke up and mentioned that growing up they always ate dinner by candlelight. Hmmmm! I'm sure my son's ears will perk up at that one. But now I have someone else who thinks it's a nice idea.

Bugs

I thought since I was able to do my gardening yesterday and spend time outside that it was probably time to talk about bugs and especially a story about Audrey. One evening while I was reading her a bedtime story, a bug crawled from behind the board book and sat on top of it, just staring down at us. It was almost as if it wanted to listen to the story, too. When I saw it my first thought was how she would react to it . I'm pretty calm about bugs, not at all like some of my co-workers who screamed when they were around spiders. I've tried to see the value and purpose in most bugs but I do draw the line at ants in my kitchen. I don't mind if they have their space outside but my kitchen is off limits. Anyway, getting back to my story, Audrey and I just sat there very quiet and watched the bug for a few seconds. She was perfectly calm and very soft-spoken so as not to scare the bug and she said "Don't squash it!" So we carefully got off the chair and holding the book as still as I could, made our way downstairs to flick it outside. Life was preserved - at least this time. Hopefully she'll be older when she needs to deal with where her meat for dinner comes. I thought about her while doing my yard work when I saw a woolybear. I had forgotten how to tell from them what kind of a winter it's supposed to be but I didn't squash it, just swept it away, gently. I know I'll have to answer to Audrey.

Rocky and Glee

I was a little under impressed with Glee last night. I love the music and all but it seems like they are moving further and further away from any sort of plot lately. My daughter mentioned that it was too much singing and no plot to which I disagreed at the time. Usually there is a plot and the songs relate to it but last night was more an opportunity to put out an album than anything else and I wasn't liking what they were singing. In this case I would prefer the original Rocky Horror Show. What I did like was seeing Barry Bostwick and Meatloaf make guest appearances! At first I wasn't sure who the guy with Barry was but he sure looked familiar, then it hit me. At the end of the show my ears perked up when I saw they are putting out a Christmas cd and I already know that they sing "Last Christmas" . It'll be interesting to see the Office show that relates to Glee.

Slip-Slidin

That's kind of how I feel today - I'm slippin and slidin and not really getting anywhere. It's like the game we used to play at girl scout camp around the fire - fortunately/unfortunately. Fortunately, it was a nice warm day but unfortunately, it was raining, hence, no work done outside here only some leaf raking at Grandma's. Fortunately, I had time to do some jewelry and I had some good ideas, unfortunately, nothing seemed to work out due to wrong materials and no specific pattern. Fortunately, I didn't have to cook yesterday but unfortunately, there's still too much cake staring me in the face everyday. Fortunately I was able to have a good workout with my weights but unfortunately, despite scaling down the weights a bit, I'm still sore today because it's been a week since I exercised. Fortunately I'm getting plenty of sleep but unfortunately I feel sluggish and it really cuts into my day and after exercise, computer time, etc. I don't start my day until almost lunch (I'm exaggerating but it's still later than it should be). I guess it's not that I'm not accomplishing anything but it's like I'm taking 2 steps forward and 1 step back. I'm wondering where that optimistic person is inside of me - she might be buried under too much marble cake!

Indian Summer

Well, I think we're finally getting our Indian Summer. We can only have one if we've already had a frost which we have had. It's about time for some nice weather! Of course that means this week will be spent outside doing some long overdue yard work. I had plans in Aug. to do the weeding, etc. while I was home alone but that didn't happen. It was a little too warm and besides I had cleaning I wanted to do. This week will be perfect for it. The garden will need to be cleaned out by pulling all the plants, putting away the tomato cages and filling it with leaves, if my husband decides that's what he wants this year. Leaves will still need to be picked up in the yard though, no matter what he decides. We bought a new leaf vacuum which I'm excited to try. We used the other one until it's demise last year (good investment). This one has some different features such as a metal blade that should grind them up better, otherwise they won't decompose as well in the garden. I also want to dig up those coneflowers, repot them and have them ready to give out to all that wanted some. They really are pretty, easy to grow and very prolific. I started with 2 small plants and now they have taken over the bed in front and even traveled to another one. I like them but that's all I can see ! They say you can plant in any month that has an R in it as long as the ground isn't frozen. I'm afraid around here that doesn't leave many. I still think May and June here would work fine. Anyway, that's my plan for this week - getting some fresh air and getting some much needed workouts.

Out there

I realized something this morning that kind of sent me into a tizzy for a few minutes - my blog is listed in goerie.com! When I created it back in July, I put the info in to have it posted on the page but I never saw it until today. I didn't know what to expect of this blog thing when I started but I soon decided, after looking at others, that this was something I wanted to do for myself and for my own peace of mind. I wasn't going to be concerned with whether I had comments or not. I did this for myself, not who or what was impacted by my blog. It was interesting to check how many hits I had gotten with certain blogs, but I realized that the Ebay one was a fluke. I guess as I got going on it, it became a medium for me to relate some of my childhood memories to pass on to my kids and grand kids. The people that read this are mostly family and friends that are kind and non judgemental so I have felt pretty safe. I steer clear of any conflicts or issues that I may have to answer to in the future and I like it like that. This is supposed to be a stress reliever not promoter. I fell at this point that I need to pump it up a bit maybe with some pictures. The mobile blog is not working like I expected so for now I'll focus on my home computer. There are alot of blogs out there that are just like mine - people's varied interests on display for no other reason but because they can! Thanks to all of my readers!

Wooden Doll Necklaces

This was an excellent craft weekend for me. For years I've been saving craft projects that I've torn out of magazines in hopes of someday having the time to make them. Long before I had a granddaughter, I tore out instructions to make a little girl's necklace out of wooden beads. It proves to be much easier than I thought and except for the doll's head, I had everything I needed. It gave me a chance to use some creativity in incorporating what I had available in the necklace. I made four of them and I think they really came out nice. Once again, my only concern is that they stay together! Despite using a bunch of wooden beads, I still have alot left. As I dig through more of those papers, I'm sure I'll find more projects to use some beads with, such as ornament holders and spiral Christmas trees. Here are 3 things I learned by making these necklaces:

1. Always check that the small bead I'm using to separate beads is larger than the hole in the larger bead. If it isn't, it slips right through and can't be seen.
2. Practice bead placement first to get a nice arrangement and use your beads efficiently.
3. Always count how many beads you will need to finish the necklace. This helps with #2 also in that you'll see which ones you have enough of for the project.

Family Affair

Today in the paper it was reported that many of our politicians are actually related, in a distant way. It caught my eye enough to read the whole article, especially when Obama, Palin and Bush were descendants from the same people. Of course, let's put things in perspective - fundamentally we are all related, but beyond that, if these people have had ancestors here, in this country for almost 200 years, then it only goes to reason that they had to be related. It amazes me since my grandparents, on both sides, were the first to come ashore. The same goes for my husband's side. That pretty much makes us newcomers! So, way back, if there was any inter family marriage it might have come from some of the people we know and well, let's just say know. I mean, most of the people coming over on the Mayflower were probably related, too. Wouldn't you try and bring along alot of family? It just makes you wonder!

SMART goals

This is a topic I've had on my list for awhile and thought it was appropriate to post now. My son told me about these goals when he was in college and I've already asked him several times to repeat them so this time I looked them up myself.
Specific
Measurable
Attainable
Realistic
Timely
I've realized lately that I am a very goal-oriented person, even in retirement mode. I can visually look ahead with the calendar in mind and plan my days. Without that, I'm lost. I can still be flexible but I need some kind of plan in mind. These goal attributes help to compose goals in a way that is easier to achieve, instead of some that are too vague. Heaven knows I've always had goals but without that Timely in there, I'm still working on them. So, here's to the SMART goals and hope they get me through!

(Re: New phone)Trying something different - mobile blogging. This will give me access to my blog wherever i am.im really exited to send a picture. Wish me luck.

More sleep

I've been seeing several articles about getting more sleep lately. They all say that more sleep promotes certain chemicals which can affect weight loss. I'm not sure that's happening since I don't get on the scale. My feeling about this is that I'm doing what I can and if I'm not losing weight then it isn't meant to be. I'm sure the extra sleep is helping my body recover from the strength training. I'm finally edging up to my 10# so it's getting harder. I feel pretty good with my schedule now and I seem to be getting up between 6 and 7 which seems about right. Now that the rain seems to have subsided for awhile, maybe some fresh air will be in the mix. I'm certainly not going at warp speed around here but I'm trying to stay busy. We're in a very relaxed mode around here, to say the least. It feels good!
P.S. My spelling is getting better, too. The last couple posts have not produced any misspellings on the spell checker!

Scouting

So, when did scouting get to be so expensive? I just received a request to buy some nuts and popcorn from a family member and normally I would buy to give my support but the options were a tad outrageous. Even in girl scouts when we sold nuts, most of it was under $10 and our biggest fund raiser, cookies, were $3.50. These prices started at $25 and went up. And we seemed to get all the criticism about how much went to the local scouts. This one showed that almost 3/4 of it went to local scouting, which is great but why overinflate the price just to make a local profit. I'm usually pretty good about buying from kids even if it's something I really don't want or need. I appreciated when people bought from my kids, even if it was something little. But give me a choice here! I feel bad but I'll have to pass on this one, maybe next time. Get used to hearing those words, everyone, we're on a fixed income now.

Old Cookbooks

Boy, it doesn't take me long to come up with a blog idea when I start looking through cookbooks. I have a recipe for Chicken Pot Pie Soup and I saw another recipe for rivels (kind of like mini-dumplings) that I thought would go good with it. I looked online and found it was a German/Amish recipe so I got out my Amish cookbook. There, right inside the front cover was the name A. Markievich which was in my son's handwriting. I wondered for a minute why he would have written in my cookbook, especially back then, when he thought more about eating than cooking. Then I remembered - when he was in middle school and taking a class on PA history, I made a bunch of funnel cakes and took into his class. I recall that I had everything planned according to what time I was supposed to bring them in on one of my days off from preschool, when I got the phone call that they were ready sooner. I scrambled, finished them up, put my daughter in the car and delivered them to his class. He must have taken the cookbook into his class, therefore the name inside. I used the recipe again when I was a grad assistant when we also studied PA and it was a big success. Unfortunately, those were in my deep frying days which are long gone. Now if I get a funnel cake it's at a fair and few and far between. It does make for some delicious memories though.

Apple Orchard

My son took us to an apple orchard over the weekend that we didn't know anything about. We noticed as we were shopping later that the Musselmann product were from there just as my son told us. We're really missing our apples this year with the frost we had wiping them all out. Hopefully next year will be better. It made me think how lucky we have been, thanks to my husband and his foresight, to have our own apple orchard in the back yard. We've been able to experience growing our own fruit and everything associated with it. At times it hasn't been easy for my husband - especially when he needed to prune them and fell later. We've had some of the best apples around due to his pruning and spraying. Sometimes I was overwhelmed by the picking, baking, preserving and canning part of it but I've learned more about apples over the years than I ever imagined. Of course, the best part was making our cider. I've taken some to school for the kids to share with their class and even co-workers, who raved about it. Not much in the stores compares to our home made cider especially since the scare that made pasteurizing all too necessary for commercial users. I tried that one year but it took too much flavor out and left us with apple juice, which, if you know your cider is completely different. I want one more year to harvest our apples and share this with the grandkids then we can pass it on to some other lucky family.