Gal Pals & Other Important People

It's Friday again – where in the world did the week go? For that matter, where did June go? We're ready to start another month. I don't feel all that busy, but time definitely seems to fly by.

One of my cousins retired last year from a major retail jewelry business – he couldn't resist posting on Facebook earlier this week that it's only six months until Christmas! He took plenty of good-natured ribbing, but I have a feeling it won't seem too long until Christmas is staring us in the face again.

It was another hot one today, since we missed the rain that was forecast yesterday and the cooler air that was supposed to come with it. But tomorrow promises to be better. We plan to mow the lawn tomorrow morning. Other than that, it should be a quiet weekend.

I had an enjoyable time today meeting a friend for lunch and a “catch-up” visit. It had been about six weeks since we'd enjoyed each other's company. I was nice and made meatloaf for hubby's lunch......he doesn't mind being left alone for a few hours if he has his favorite meal.

I've never been what you would call a girlie-girl. I was a tomboy as a child, and I never did get into the hair/makeup/fashion frenzy that other girls did. I enjoyed teen magazines, especially the ones that followed show biz guys.....you know, “16”, “Tiger Beat” - the ones that had the full page color photos you could cut out and plaster all over your walls. I had friends, but not the close friends that you sit and girl talk with, with one notable exception (she knows who she is!).

Even after I got to college, I had a group of people who hung out together. But I really didn't have the super close friends. It just wasn't my nature. As I transitioned to adulthood, the pattern continued. For the first twenty years of my adulthood, I was moved around the country frequently....four years is the longest residency of that time period. So it wasn't easy to make close friends.

So it seems rather odd that at this time in my life I'm finding myself with close friends I enjoy sharing time with. But I think it's a good thing. Instead of talking fashion and makeup, we talk grandkids. But just having that time together is important.

So for those gal pals out there – from the different eras of my life – know that I appreciate you!

Summer Chores

What a nice day we had. It was really warm this morning, but a front went through that dropped the temperatures a bit. We got radical and turned off the air conditioning for awhile this afternoon – the humidity induced us to turn it back on after an hour or so.

We had a nice walk at the indoor walking track today. Some friends arrived just before we did, so we enjoyed visiting during our exercise. I ended up cleaning the fridge this afternoon, as well as dusting and cleaning the bathroom. It's not often that I do housecleaning in the afternoon – somehow, it just seems foreign to me.

When I was growing up on the farm, Mom worked part time for neighbors who had a chicken farm and sold eggs. Most of the year she worked from eight in the morning until noon, helping the wife get those eggs checked out and ready to go to the stores, hospitals, nursing homes, and other customers.

That meant that during summer break, I had my daily chore list from her of the things I was supposed to accomplish before she got home at noon. I hated that list. I'm not a fan of housework, and I never have been. But there were seven rooms in that farmhouse and cleaning chores that had to be done.

Every day, I had to pull up all the throw rugs (we had linoleum floors), take them outside and shake them. While they were up, I was to sweep the floors and then the front porch. After the rugs were back in their places, it was time to dust. Since we lived in a gravel road, it was easy for Mom to tell if I'd done a thorough job or not. There were breakfast dishes to be done, water buckets to be filled, and other chores. Did it take long? No. But it wasn't fun. Those were the times I really wished for siblings, so the chores could be divided!!

One chore I particularly hated was defrosting the fridge. I think Mom got tired of it as well, because that often was my job in the summer. Our fridge was so tiny. On the outside it was only five feet high. So the inside was really small. The freezer was tiny, and it required weekly defrosting during the humid summer months in order for us to fit in a week's worth of meat. If it were really hot and humid, we sometimes had to defrost twice a week. I was grown before mom got a larger fridge and a deep freeze. I'm sure she really enjoyed it.

I can barely remember when I was really small and we had several milk cows. Many people in the neighborhood had a few milk cows, and a milk truck had a regular route to pick up the cans of milk everyone had. I don't remember if the truck came every day or not – but I have strong memories of that tiny fridge being the only way we had of storing the milk can so the milk didn't spoil! The milk can took up most of the room inside the fridge - we couldn't have had much else in there.

I enjoy the memories of growing up on the farm – but I REALLY enjoy a self-defrosting fridge!

Conservative - Or Liberal?

One of my grandparents was a strong Democrat – I think it was a great disappointment to them as offspring after offspring began voting as conservative Republicans! I was no different, but occasionally some topic will rear its head and my kneejerk reaction makes me wonder if, in a different life, I was a total left-wing liberal!!

I won't say that the current hubbub over Paula Deen and whether or not this gracious Southern lady is racist is necessarily political – but it's certainly been interesting to follow all the various opinions.

Facebook has been particularly rampant – from the “We Support Paula Deen” page and all their posts, to the individual comments on the various TV appearances and companies bailing on Miss Paula.

The tone of a couple of my comments should have already clued you in to the fact that I'm a strong Paula Deen supporter. I think she's a wonderful cook, a great lady, and a fantastic role model for anyone who is a single parent struggling to support their children.

I have been a Paula Deen fan since she first hit the national scene. She comes across as so real, so down-homey.......and her food! Honey, that is food to die for!!! (And I know some people believe that to be true, what with all the real butter she uses!)

I have a copy of Paula's autobiography and enjoyed reading it. She didn't pull any punches in it with regard to talking about herself, and my respect for what she has accomplished really increased after finishing the book. She wasn't easy on herself in some parts, and she certainly never tried to portray herself as angelic.

One critical part of that book was discussing the time she worked in a bank and was robbed, with a gun put to her head. That was many years ago. And believe me, if someone put a gun to my head and threatened my life, I'm not sure I'd be able to come up with any complimentary names for them!

When did this holier-than-thou attitude become the norm? I know that life changes, peoples' outlooks change – but I feel like this situation really goes back to my basic conservative Sunday School teaching – let him who is without sin cast the first stone.

I know there have been times, under specific circumstances, when I've said things I shouldn't have. And yes, I would admit to having used an ethnic term when I should have instead kept my mouth shut. I would like to think that would not be held against me now, decades later. And yet Paula Deen's honesty, instead of being applauded, is being held against her by so many.

Hopefully the majority of us – the Silent Majority? - can hold strong with our acceptance of one another rather than feeling that our entire life might be judged by one moment taken out of life's context.

I felt it needed to be said – I'll get off my soapbox for today! Thanks for listening.

Busy Weekend!

Our last few days have been a little bit busy, and I have to admit that I'm pooped! I feel like I could go to bed early tonight and sleep until noon tomorrow!.....of course, in reality that wouldn't happen – I'd start waking up at 6 am tomorrow, just like I did today.

We've had a few busy day with grandkids, and it's been REALLY fun. Friday evening we were in Blue Springs to celebrate Cayley's 8^th birthday at her party. Last night, we went to Liberty for her dance school recital. It was fun to meet some of the other important people in her life.

Friday's birthday party was held at Cayley's dance school in Blue Springs. We had a wonderful time there, and son and his wife did an amazing job of creating the 1950's Soda Shop decorations! It's nice to see them so involved in their family. Older daughter and her family were there as well. It was SO funny so watch the 4-year-old whirlwind as she entered into her 8-year-old cousin's life. She sat on my lap and watched for awhile, then got past her shyness.

When the other kids started playing a game she wanted to be part of, she jumped off my lap and tugged at my hand to pull me along with her. She wanted to play, but she insisted that I had to “sign her in” for the game with Cayley's dance teacher because “this isn't MY dance school!”. I tried not to laugh, but it didn't work – the dance teacher laughed as well. Jocelyn didn't completely understand the concept of the game, but she had a great time playing.

We enjoyed leaving home early and stopping by the Blue Springs WalMart Friday evening, then a nice meal at Olive Garden. It was around 10 when we got home, and it was nice to sleep in on Saturday.

Yesterday's recital was at a really nice Community Center in Liberty – I didn't know it even existed, but it's a great facility! The recital was enjoyable – Cayley was in 8 or 9 dances – I lost count – with some really quick costume changes. Mama Jill participated in the “Parents' Dance”, and Daddy Rob was in the Daddy/Daughter dance with her – he was quite impressive with his two cartwheels during the dance, something he was never able to accomplish as a child in gymnastics class!

We enjoyed visiting with Jill's dad and stepmom, who live at Lake of the Ozarks. We hadn't seen them for awhile – both Collin and Cayley have had “friend” birthday parties the past few years instead of “family” birthday parties. We were so lucky to have been included in Friday's birthday event – being available for pretty much everything is fun!

The recital was a fun evening, especially with Cayley's dance teacher (from Friday's birthday party) being surprised onstage just prior to intermission with a proposal from her boyfriend. Talk about excitement!

We arrived home about 11 last night – an hour we haven't seen for years! We were in bed and asleep around midnight, and we got up just before 7. It's been a fairly calm day for us.....it took us a bit to “get it together” for our podcast....we finally spoke in English instead of gibberish and got everything recorded!

Life for us has changed so much for us, compared to what it was a few months ago. And I find myself really enjoying it! Most people get to plan for their retirement and set a date – but there are far worse things than being thrust into it unexpectedly!

Summer Break

Summer is definitely here – after all the Spring Conundrum, with Mother Nature not being able to decide whether we were having winter or summer – now there's no doubt! North Central Missouri is in the 90's (overnight temps in the 70's), and high humidity. We've been popping the a/c on before noon the past few days.

Younger daughter called on her way home from work today, which she often does. She asked me what I did today. I must really be getting the hang of this “premature retirement” - I couldn't think of all that much to tell her that I'd done, but I seemed to be busy much of the day!

I did pull the pea plants out of their planter this morning and planted some blossoming flowers. We did some errands around town and picked up a few things at the grocery store. I sliced up some cucumbers and put them in a mayonnaise dressing, and I washed up some sweet cherries and blackberries for us to munch on. But did I accomplish a LOT? Not really, but that's okay. It was a good day.

The summers of my childhood sometimes seemed very long. There was a lot to do on the farm, but the days drug for me as I transitioned from one school year to the next. We were ten miles out of the small town where I went to school. We had close neighbors, but it wasn't unusual for me to go the entire summer break and not see some of my classmates.

I had cousins who lived just half a mile down the road, but they were in another school district. There were seven of them and just one of me, so we enjoyed visiting one another – they would come over one or two at a time and enjoy the quiet. I relished the visits to their house and having so many people to play with. We never ran out of things to do.

I had one classmate who went to the same church, so I did usually see her every week. A couple of other classmates' mothers were in the same neighborhood club as my Mom, so I had the possibility of seeing them two or three times during the summer if they accompanied their mothers to club meeting. We also had no phone when I was growing up, so there often was zero contact with other class members.

But, just like today, I seemed to be busy all the time. I spent endless hours playing along the little creek that ran through the farm. Mom worked half days, so I had my daily chores of sweeping the floors, dusting, carrying water from the well (no running water at our house), etc. If it was wash day, I helped hang the clothes and then gather them in after they dried. As I got older, I did a lot of the yard mowing. And there was always something to be done in the garden. We had a milk cow who seemed to delight in being at the far reaches of the farm, so I often accompanied Dad in the evenings as we hunted her so we could bring her to the barn for evening milking.

Our evenings in the summer were usually spent out in the yard. We had no air conditioning, and summer TV consisted only of reruns. So we chose to enjoy the cooler evening air. Those were the times I heard my Dad's Army stories from World War II.......there was never anything negative talked about, we just heard about the funny times and one soldier called “Raspberry” who was always in trouble and on KP as they built the Al-Can Highway.

Everyone has summer memories – I hope this helps you embrace yours. I will be away from Blogspot for a few days......we have an 8^th birthday party in Blue Springs tomorrow night, and another dance recital Monday evening in Liberty. Have a great weekend – I'll talk to you Tuesday!

A Better Day

Today was a much better day – I'm so glad for that! I have a feeling both hubby and I will sleep very well tonight. He ran the weed eater this morning, and we mowed the yard. It was getting pretty warm by the time we finished. We had a yummy lunch on the back porch, if I do say so myself.....I fixed an apple/celery/carrot salad with a peanut butter dressing, and whole wheat pasta with sauteed zucchini, yellow squash, grape tomatoes, and chicken summer sausage. Yummy and healthy – a winner!

I managed to get through last night with only one questionable dream – and that dream was actually stealing a theme from hubby. He frequently dreams that he's parked his vehicle somewhere and can't find it – last night, that was me.....dreaming that I was on my way to a meeting and stopped by a college campus for a particular reason, then could not find my car. It was a helpless feeling as I walked through acres of parking lots, trying to set off the car alarm so I could locate my vehicle and get on the road to my meeting. The dream just dwindled away, with no resolution. Hubby says his lost vehicle dreams end the same way.

I'm not one to put a lot of stock in dreams, in the big picture. Granted, if I have an irritating dream shortly before waking in the morning, that can set a bad tone for the entire day! But I don't try to bring any major interpretation to my dreams. If anything, I can link the subject or details of a dream to something that actually happened or more likely to something we saw on TV. Heaven help hubby if I happen to see a TV show that includes a snake – I do NOT like snakes, and they will show up later in my dreams. I've been known to get physical during a snake dream.

We had a nice day and feel good about what we accomplished. So far, I've had no catastrophes, either great or small. So I'd call it a definite improvement over yesterday! Thank goodness.

This makes for a very short blog, but hopefully it's a more positive one than yesterday. I'm tired, I need a shower, and I still need to wash the supper dishes. And with that, dear friends, I bid you adieu!

Ugh

How was this day crappy?.....Let me count the ways! Okay, it wasn't a totally crappy day - but it sure seemed like it was one of those days where anything that could go wrong did!! I spent most of the day feeling like I totally got up on the wrong side of the bed and stayed there.

First of all, I overslept. Now, that in itself is an oxymoron since we're in our "premature retirement" and I don't get up to an alarm. But in my mind, I know what time I want to roll out of bed. And I overslept because I was having an absolutely horrid dream, one of those where you wake up upset with everyone who was in the dream! What a way to start the day.

Mom had trouble getting through to us on her morning phone call (we ditched AT&T several months ago for another phone system that runs through our wireless router)....when we finally connected, I had another call ring in. I could see who it was, but I opted to stay with Mom. So by then I'm running even more behind my self-imposed schedule.

I shower, get dressed, and get ready to do our morning podcast. then hubby realizes our wireless is running at a slow speed, which means our recording could bail out on us partway through the podcast. We shut off the computers and he reboots the wireless router (remember the earlier problem with the phone call - could be connected).

We turn the computers back on and have absolutely no connectivity. After trying several things, we finally decide to shut the computers down, unplug the wireless, and let it set for 10-15 minutes. I had two things I wanted to accomplish today - put clean sheets on the bed, and dust. We sat outside for awhile and enjoyed the morning. I picked the last few peas and laid them in the kitchen. I got the bed stripped and threw the sheets in the washer, then started dusting.

As I dusted the piano, I knocked a photo of us on a boat in Branson (in a cardboard folder) off - again. It fell behind the piano, which is in a corner of the living room. I got my flashlight and a yardstick, moved the sofa to give me room to get down on the floor under the piano, and started working on it.

In the meantime, hubby got the internet working, so we did our Big Band podcast. That went well. Then we started our other podcast - a strictly odd-news-oriented podcast that lasts around three minutes. We got everything lined up, and just before we turned the mic on I made a somewhat off-color remark to hubby. I thought he'd be fine, but he was laughing as he turned on the microphone....and he couldn't stop, which meant I started laughing and couldn't stop. We actually went through the entire show....which was over five minutes with our laughing and meandering! We knew that wasn't good, so we recorded it a second time.....only to get sidetracked again. Third time's the charm! We got through that relatively well....no giggles, no meandering, just one mispronounced word by me. We published it!

We had a wonderful walk in the park. It was a good stress reliever! With all the tech issues of the morning, it was close to 10:45 when we got home. I finished maneuvering that photo out from behind the piano and found a new home for it in another room! I finished the dusting, made the bed, folded the laundry that had dried while we walked.

By then, it was almost lunchtime. I told hubby I'd throw together some salmon patties (yum!) and heat some leftover corn on the cob. I decided to throw those few peas in the microwave and enjoy them too. Big mistake. By the time I got the table set, the salmon patties going, etc., I smelled something hot/burning. I thought it was maybe something on the gas burner.....nope, it was incinerated peas in the microwave. I had them in a small Pyrex container with a plastic lid, everything microwave safe. Safe until I got hold of them, that is!!! The lid was melted and dripping into the container, the peas were totally black and petrified. I grabbed my potholders to get the container out of the microwave, all while muttering and trying to get a window open to eliminate the smell. I got the container to the back porch and decided to take the lid off our metal trash can, turn the lid upside down and set everything on there....you see, by that time the heat of the container had melted partially through the potholder, so I knew I couldn't set it on anything flammable! As I set the entire mess on the metal lid, I felt the Pyrex container crack into smithereens. Luckily, it didn't completely break apart, it held its shape.

Surprisingly, the salmon patties and corn were both really good. My only other issue was when I was cutting the corn off the cob for hubby and ended up spilling a good bit of it on the floor. I'd tell you what came out of my mouth by then, but it might make you blush!

You'll be glad to know that the afternoon was better - probably because I wasn't really attempting to do anything! While hubby went to the dentist, a wasp he had been hunting came out and flew all around the living room. I let him go - he hasn't shown himself since hubby came home.

Mom also went to the dentist this morning - between Mom and hubby, one brought home a $2,000 quote and the other brought home a $3,000 quote. Why not? Just adding to a "perfect day, huh!! Luckily, both dentists have a Plan B, and the decisions in both camps were to go with Plan B!

Supper is over, the dishes are waiting for me, and I'm hoping for a quiet evening. Perhaps I've really lost my sanity, but I'm sitting here with a smile on my face! Tomorrow, as Scarlett would say, is another day - and I have confidence it will be a bit more positive than today!!

p.s. And I still say that, even after accidentally deleting this entire post and having to re-type it!!

Birthdays And Other Memories

We had a nice weekend. Nothing really special happened, other than my taking hubby to Subway for surprise Father's Day lunch yesterday. That's really the way we like it - no excitement!!!

Today is Miss Cayley's 8th birthday - I hope she had a really special day. It just doesn't seem possible she's eight already........it seems like such a short time since we were gathered at the hospital in Warrensburg waiting for her arrival. She made us wait all evening before her arrival just before 10 pm. She was a Daddy's girl from her first breath. It's been fun watching her grow up - she's pretty shy, but she's starting to come out of her shell.....especially now that she's started competitive dancing. Her recital is next Monday night.

It's hard for my brain to accept the fact that the two grandsons will be 15 at the end of summer and can get their driving permits........where did those two ornery little boys go!! It seems like just last year we would go pick them up and bring them home with us for a weekend of fishing and shooting the BB gun. We have such great photos of those adventures!! Six summers ago, when I'd just had my knee replacement surgery, the two of them ran behind me at the pond carrying my chair so I didn't have to stand up to fish!

I was so fortunate to be allowed in the delivery room for Cayley's, Thomas', and Jocelyn's births (Collin wasn't part of our family until he was four, but it seems like we've always had him). Such special moments, to see them enter this world and let out that first cry.

Of course, it doesn't seem like my own kids should be in their 30's........it wasn't that long ago I was sitting in the rocking chair with all three of them in my lap! We've gone through more moves together than any of us want to count. We've done softball, baseball, soccer, swim lessons, gymnastics, basketball, track, volleyball, tennis, band, vocal music, musical plays, Key Club (the high school branch of the Kiwanis Club), National Honor Society, and college.......and that just covers the highlights!!

We've survived car accidents (one memorable one when son and older daughter sideswiped each other on a narrow gravel road!), broken hearts, one broken arm, too many stitches to count, two different bouts of mono, the oldest one bringing chickenpox home to the other two, and one unfortunate incident at Hardee's that left a scar that's still visible today.

Let me state this for anyone who doesn't know:  I'm an only child. I did not have this kind of chaos in my life when I was growing up. Occasionally when the kids were young, I felt like Linda Blair in "The Exorcist" - my head was spinning 'round and 'round!! Many's the time I got onto them for fighting, telling them it wasn't normal for families to fight like that - they would come right back informing me that it WAS normal.....I could only answer that it hadn't been "normal" at my house!! I feel very fortunate that I held onto my sanity until they were all grown and settled into their own lives.

Now I sit back and chuckle as the parents of those two 14-year-olds share parenting frustrations with me. It does my heart good when I hear them say, "Mom, I don't know how you did it". I guess I should let them in on the secret.......I don't know how I did it either!!

Mea Culpa

Sometimes when putting pen to paper - or fingers to keyboard, to be more accurate! - I use terminology which is perfectly clear in its meaning to me but ends up being read and interpreted differently.

Yesterday's blog was meant to be a tribute to the fathers in my life (as well as hubby's), and that includes my son and my son-in-law. In referring to my son, I commented that he "seems to be a good father".......which was meant to be my version of literary objectivity - I'm not with him all the time, so I don't see him in those moments when his kids push his buttons.....but from all observation on my part, he seems to handle parenthood well.

Unfortunately son didn't read that phrase to mean what I MEANT it to mean....and after reading his comments to me about the blog, I can certainly see his point of view.

So, let me clarify:  In my humble and totally unobjective opinion, my son is a wonderful father!

He works long hours and still makes time to run the kids to their evening activities (dance and basketball). He takes care of them financially and physically - he's very present in their lives. His kids obviously love him as much as he loves them, and that's a wonderful thing for this grandparent to see.

And he learned all this in spite of the paternal example he had growing up....son's parenting style is very different from what he received.

So, Happy Father's Day to one of the very best dads I know, my son!

Happy Father's Day

Eight years ago, granddaughter Cayley arrived on the Friday before Father's Day - I don't think my son's life has been the same since, and I'm sure that Father's Day gift will never be eclipsed! Son seems to be a good daddy, which makes me proud - but Cayley sure keeps him on his toes! In fact, both son and my older son-in-law are both wonderful dads - actively involved with their kids and with their parenting responsibilities. They make me happy.

My own dad was a softie.....big time! He and his two brothers were raised by their dad, with some assistance from a couple of Grandpa's sisters. Growing up in a single-parent home during the Depression couldn't have been easy, so I'm sure he was determined my life would be different. I was the first girl born into Dad's extended family for 28 years.......so when you add that fact to Dad being in his mid-30's when I was born, I suppose everyone's lucky I didn't grow up being a total terror!

 I was always Dad's buddy, especially since there were times Mom would work away from home and I was home on the farm with Dad. We trekked all over our 100-acre farm on a daily basis - the milk cow was never anywhere near the barn when it was milking time. We checked out the timber in the fall for potential Christmas trees. I remember helping him rebuild the barn after a windstorm took part of it down. He taught me to cook - starting when I was about three years old. This had much to do with two facts: 1) growing up in an all-male house, he had to learn to cook or go hungry; and 2) Mom didn't know how to cook when they got married (as wonderful as my Grandma was, she wasn't exactly a patient person).

As I got older, there was a fall that my maternal grandfather was not well and Mom was gone a lot during his surgery and recuperation. She would line us out before leaving on what was in the fridge for us to eat. Sometimes we did - mostly we did our own creations. Once when we decided to make a pot of stew, we were still eating on it the end of that week when Mom arrived home. You see, once we got in meat and veggies, we determined we needed a starch in the stew as well. We couldn't decide between macaroni and rice..........so we used both. As it cooked and swelled, we had to add more liquid. Then it was too soupy, so we added more rice.......you get the idea! We could've fed an Army unit off that pan of stew! Dad's been gone almost 21 years now; it doesn't seem like it could possibly have been that long.

My grandfathers were opposites - Grandpa Dorsey was pretty quiet, while Grandad Edwards was fairly ornery. I don't really remember Grandpa Dorsey not being in Bogard, though I know he was in Kansas City when I was really small. He didn't drive, so I got to see him every week when we would pick him up to come to town with us shopping. He and Dad were especially close - when my maternal grandmother would decide to grace us with her presence (she's a whole other story I'm won't otherwise get into), Grandpa would always come stay at our house as well. I know he was there to be a buffer for Dad, even though he and Grandma had been divorced for decades. Grandad Edwards had been a farm worker for a lot of his years; when I was three, they moved to Jefferson City and he worked for the State......for one year he was a security guard at the State Penitentiary, and the rest of his career he was stationed at the Governor's Mansion. It was always fun going to their house for a week in the summer - we always got to ride to work with Grandad, check out the grounds at the Mansion and then go to the museum at the State Capitol. I have a photo hanging on the wall of Grandad, Grandma, Mom, Governor John Dalton, and me - sitting at the Governor's desk. Grandad's illness and surgery my fifth grade year of school ended that career, and he was never well again. I lost both these wonderful men when I was a tender 13 - it was so hard to say goodbye to both of them, and more so since it was just three months apart.

There are two other men I want to mention  for Father's Day - from my hubby's family. Hubby's father was an Army pilot in World War II. He was shot down over New Guinea in January 1944 - hubby was born in May 1944, so he had no opportunity to know his father. But his father was and is a big part of his life.. We have photos of him, of his wedding to hubby's mother, the medals given to the family after his death, and his flag on display in our home. Thanks to hubby's uncle, we also have a large color photo of the American Military Cemetery in Manila, as well as a smaller photo of the grave marker there.

When hubby was five, a very brave man came into his life - a man who married a lovely young woman and took her children as his own. Barden Finch loved hubby and his sister, gave them another sister and brother, and is still an inspirational part of our lives. At 91, he's active, sharp, and a rock for everyone. He and my mother-in-law will celebrate their 64th anniversary in August.

To all the dads out there - Happy Father's Day!

Say It Properly

I will admit it - I'm a grammar snob. You may not always be able to tell it by listening to me, because I do occasionally get lazy in my speech, but improper grammar drives me bonkers!

I was educated in a school system that was adamant about its students receiving an exceptional grammar education. Our principal, who had been teaching since she was 16, insisted on this method of teaching.

In seventh grade, we started using a "little red vocabulary book". Every day of the school year, we had a lesson out of that vocabulary book. There were four levels of words on each page - we used the first level in seventh grade, second level in eighth grade - then we started over with the first level in our freshman year and so on until we finished level four our senior year. There were six words in each lesson - we had to spell each word, define it, and properly use it in a sentence.

When we got to high school, Mrs. Mosher insisted that every english class include at least half a year of grammar. I can no longer properly diagram a sentence, but I remember proper sentence structure and proper vocabulary usage. When I went to college, I got to skip freshman level english....and so did every other student from my high school who attended that college during that era.

I've always enjoyed creative writing, and I think that all goes hand in hand. In college, I talked my way into a journalism class that was supposed to be only for journalism people.....then one of my required courses was scheduled for the same time, and I had to go back to the professor with my apologies. I was disappointed.

Those of us who attended our school were so fortunate in the quality of education we received. We didn't receive a particularly rounded education where electives are concerned due to the small size of the school. But we were well versed in the basics!

It's hard for me to not correct people who use improper grammar or the wrong word, especially in writing. I really have to hold myself back - it just makes me cringe. It seems to me (oh, yeah, I'm definitely sounding like an old fogey!) that grammar just isn't given the attention it used to receive. I hear college-age and  post-college-age people speak eloquently about their career.....then they use a word inappropriately. That can really color the impression I've formed.

One thing to always remember is to never, NEVER end a sentence with a preposition! I think it was our seventh grade english teacher who hammered that point home with the following improperly-structured sentence (with a farming focus so she was sure we'd all understand):  Hay crew member to farmer, "Where's the door where you put the hay up in at?"

I've often wished that I had one of those little red vocabulary books.....I had so much quality time with them during junior high and high school that they should have continued being part of my life!

Ahh-h-hh

It's been a wonderful day.....for no particular reason. After the busy-ness of running all over the place yesterday, there was nothing in store for today. That's a good thing, too, because it was quite hot and humid. ....the type of day that makes me glad I don't work outside, for sure!

I watered the plants this morning - the peas will be ready to pick in a day or two, tomatoes are starting to set on one plant (I don't see any cherry tomatoes on the other plant yet), and the zucchini is getting ready to bloom. We decided to walk at the indoor track with the humidity - I ran into someone I know who was walking as part of physical therapy after a hip replacement. He asked me if we were walking anymore because he hadn't seen us for awhile - considering we were ON the track, WALKING, at the time.....I couldn't resist looking him in the eye and telling him no, we haven't been walking. He chuckled, and his physical therapist seemed to enjoy my moment of good-natured sarcasm. I just couldn't resist.

We ran a couple of errands and then ensconced ourselves in the air conditioning for the remainder of the day. We're so thankful it was necessary to replace the unit last year with one that is so much more energy efficient! Hopefully that's one thing we won't have to worry about for awhile.

We had one of those moments this afternoon that make us realize how much the world has changed with technology. We have no-slip tub decals in our old iron claw-foot tub that's been converted to a shower. Those little buggers don't hold like they used to, so I try to keep replacements on hand for the times the adhesive gives up the ghost. For the past couple of months, I've been attempting to buy more replacement packs.....and I can't find them anywhere!

I've looked in the stores, I've looked online. I've had no luck, except for finding replacements from the manufacturer that cost more than I'm willing to pay - let alone paying shipping on top of that! Hubby tried his luck this afternoon and found some on Amazon.com that were reasonable, and with free shipping - I  had him order two packs! I find it difficult to grasp why items frequently used can be so hard to find. But I'm glad the World Wide Web is out there to help us!

Tomorrow is supposed to cooler by about 15 degrees, and I'm already looking forward to tackling the yard. But for now there's still some of this wonderful day for me to enjoy!

Ouch

Well, not really "ouch" - just more like "potential ouch". I had my six-month dental appointment this morning. What a way to start off an otherwise decent day! It could've been worse - things didn't look bad, and he settled for cleaning my teeth and taking a couple of x-rays. Hopefully nothing will show up that wasn't perceived by the naked eye.

I've never been fond of going to the dentist - really, come to think of it, who is? Since I had a knee replacement six years ago, I'm now subjected to having to take a massive dose of antibiotics one hour before each dental appointment - so they usually try to take care of any problems at the same time I'm there for my checkup, so I won't be subjected to the 2000mg of Amoxicillin too often.

I didn't have the pleasure of meeting the family dentist until I was 12 - late in the afternoon, he was grumpy, and I had three cavities. They left Mom in the waiting room, so he vented at me for my not having seen him before. Fun. Really fun. It was another three years before I went back - same scenario, except that one tooth had to be pulled in addition to the cavities. Back then, everything was done in one appointment - regardless of what kind of mood the dentist was in!

After that appointment, I told Mom I would not see him again. When she suggested that I probably would, I told her that if I saw him again and he got grouchy, I planned to bite him. Surprisingly, that worked - I got a new dentist! (Sorry, Mom)

When you're young, the dentist is scary - but mostly you get your teeth checked, cleaned, a new toothbrush, and you're done. These days, it's more of checking out how many teeth I actually have left - and if the ones I have are loose or are hanging in there! Getting older is such a learning experience.

We had a nice trip to Chillicothe today - another command performance at the Career Center for Unemployment. We enjoyed lunch under the Golden Arches, then shopped at WalMart. It was a nice day, in spite of hot weather with high humidity. It is June, after all - and the weather has finally decided to act like it at least for a couple of days. Now we're enjoying a relaxing evening - hope everyone else is as well.

Wonderful Memories

Growing up in the boonies gave me an appreciation for some of the simpler things in life - including the social aspect (as well as the spiritual aspect) of our weekly trip to church. Mom carefully chose the church because of its over abundance of kids. When I was small, it was not unusual for us to have an attendance of 50-60.......and that truly was mostly kids. Not bad for a little community that barely made it on the map. 

Mandeville in its heyday had the church, a feed store/gas station/convenience store of its time, and about half a dozen houses. There was also an older empty building that was sometimes used for voting or community events. There are a couple of houses still occupied, another that's used as a get-away location by the family that owns it, and the church. 

Yesterday, the church celebrated its 145th anniversary. We took Mom to the celebration and thoroughly enjoyed our day. The little brick church hasn't changed all that much over the years. It does have plumbing now, and prior to the celebration they painted the interior. I only remember that church's interior being pastel green all these years......now it's tan. It still has the colored windows it did when I was a kid - something hubby described as a kind of tie-dyed pattern! They're actually more like random waves of pastel colors - not like anything I've seen before or since.

The piano in the sanctuary is the one I played when I was 13 - that's when I started playing occasionally for Sunday School. In the basement is the little wooden table that was used for pre-school Sunday School class - it still looks in pretty good shape! The pulpit of my childhood is still in use, and some of the hymnals from that time period still remain in the pews - they did get new hymnals maybe 30 years ago, but there are some songs that didn't make the transition, so the old ones stay. The basement no longer has the curtains dividing the Sunday School areas, but you can still see where they were hung. 

So many memories flooded through my mind walking around that church yesterday. Bible School was an absolutely wonderful time. We had a ton of kids in the church, but even more came to Bible School. I had friends from other school districts that I only saw that one week every summer. I could remember the long games of "Drop The Handkerchief" on the church lawn, and other games we played during what I guess would be recess time at Bible School - sitting on the brick wall around the basement steps drinking kool-aid and eating cookies during snack time - the cool feel of the basement in the warm summer weather as we gathered down there to do our crafts......plaster of paris trinkets were all over our house, a result of Bible School craft time. At the end of Bible School, we had a program in the evening. It was a special privilege to get to carry in the American flag, the Christian flag, and the Bible - those three kids led the parade into the sanctuary. We would say the pledges to all three, sing our chosen songs from the week, and then each class got to demonstrate for the audience what we'd learned. We ended up in the basement, everyone enjoying refreshments while they looked at the week's craft projects. 

It was such fun reliving those memories yesterday and seeing the ones I grew up with.......I'm just trying to figure out why all of us seem to look like our grandparents!!

Summer Entertainment

It was another gorgeous day. We had a nice walk in the park this morning, then cleaned up the house, did laundry, and accomplished a lot of little chores. It's a wonderful day for summer entertainment - I'm not sure what son is doing once he gets off work tonight (though I know he has to work the weekend....again!), but older daughter and family were at Worlds of Fun amusement park in KC today, and younger daughter is taking in the KC Royals' home game tonight with friends.

Hubby had the movie "Moneyball" on this afternoon - a Brad Pitt movie chronicling part of the career of a major league baseball manager with the Oakland A's. I was only partially keeping up with the movie as I read and did some chores - but at one point, I became totally engaged. This movie was following the turn-around of the 2002 A's as they progressed from being a losing team in 2001 to winning a record 20 straight games in 2002.

Now, I didn't remember this at all, and would imagine that only die-hard baseball fans would be familiar with it. But the game that ended up being the 20th straight win was against the Kansas City Royals. I didn't know when the scene came on if the A's won the game or not, but I found myself stepping away from the ironing board to voraciously cheer for the Royals as they came back from an 11-0 deficit to tie the game before the A's pulled it out.

It wasn't just that the Royals are the "hometown" team - it's more than I've never gotten over Charlie Finley moving the A's OUT of Kansas City in favor of Oakland. That happened, by the way, in 1967. We Midwesterners don't hold grudges...no, we certainly don't! Especially after 46 years!

Charlie Finley was quite a showman and enterpreneur. He petitioned Major League Baseball to let the Kansas City A's use kelly green and gold as their team colors - normally, teams would use a "team color" accented with either gray or white - and those gray or white uniforms were worn at home. But the A's got to use that kelly green and gold every game. After accomplishing that color change, he had the A's wear white shoes - made of kangaroo leather. He also bought a Missouri mule as the mascot for the A's - and it was named "Charlie O". That mule, named after Mr. Finley, was fodder for several off-color jokes made by KC fans once he took the A's from Kansas City.

I can't recall now whether Finley's publicity stunt with Bert "Campy" Campaneris happened in KC or Oakland - but there was one game where Campaneris, the A's hot-shot player at the time, played one inning at each field position. Finley definitely knew how to draw in the fans.

Anyway, the movie was good and hubby enjoyed it. It was interesting to read "the rest of the story" online about the manager who was the movie's focus. Here in north central Missouri, it's a good weekend for whatever summer entertainment you enjoy!

Major Excitement.....On A Small Scale

Today was an absolutely glorious day - sunny, some small clouds, mid-70's. Such a welcome sight. As hubby and I did our morning podcast (Big Band music.....check it out at richthedj.blogspot.com), we had the back door open. It's fun to do that podcast from the kitchen, and having the door open gives us some "edginess" - you never know when a train will go through town, and they do pick up on the microphone. If it's breezy, the wind chimes can be heard. Sometimes I think the chirping birds could be loud enough to be recorded. But today everything was just perfect.

Since this was the first "perfect" day this week, we used the opportunity to work outside. Hubby used the weedeater while I eliminated the Keebler elf spinach (see yesterday's blog) and planted some beautiful hot pink petunias in those flower pots. It felt good to get the mower out and get the lawn done. The zucchini plant still looks like it's reviving well, and the blossoms on the tomatoes are multiplying. As I mowed past my container of peas, I checked them out - there are pods on those plants!  Quite a few pods! With peas in them! I've raised enough gardens in my life that this discovery shouldn't have been so exciting......but it was.

With our unexpected early retirement and my continuing quest for frugality, I keep having thoughts of having part of our back yard tilled up so I can plant a real garden. So far I've kept talking myself away from that idea. I've long since parted ways with all my canning equipment - so not only would I have the expense of having the ground tilled, I'd have to replenish all my canning equipment. Then there would be the storage issue.

Our house was built at a time when people didn't have much - so storage in our house is hard to come by. For instance,we only have one closet. We creatively manage that. And in the kitchen, cabinet space is conspicuous by its near absence. I really don't know where I would store filled canning jars. And I've done plenty of canning in my day - I know what hard work it can be.

And yet, that pull remains. A family I know has moved to a ranch in the Sandhills of Nebraska, far away from the nearest town - the wife writes often on Facebook of all the things she's canning/freezing at home. Every time I read one of those posts, a little voice somewhere deep inside says, "I could do that". She buys slightly overripe veggies and fruit for cheap at the grocery store and cans them - I've actually done that in the past. She also buys bags of dried beans and cans them, she cans potatoes, homemade chocolate syrup......it's really fascinating to read what she's doing.

It's a good thing I raised three kids, because when that little voice keeps telling me I might want to get into canning again - I know how to ignore it!

Weather Here And There

It's been another dreary day here in the Midwest....no real rain at our house (a quick sprinkle or two), but there was rain around us. It stayed very damp and in the 60's today. I think there's more of the same tomorrow, then possibly some sun and a little more warmth the next couple of days.

I keep trying to remember how I coped for six years early in my adult life when I lived in the Willamette Valley of Oregon. I talked earlier about the fun of watching the food crops grow. But the reality of that part of the country is that it rains - a lot - sometimes as much as nine months out of the year.

You do kind of get used to it, but it wears on the soul to have that dreary/rainy/foggy weather day in and day out. Fog would roll in during September, then the rain would start. Mid-October to mid-November saw fall storms coming inland off the Pacific - that meant heavy rain and lots of wind. It would settle back down to "normal" rain until March, when the spring storms would blow in. Sometimes we would have a break in February, a tease of warm and sunny weather for a few days.

The good news is that the heavy clouds and rain kept the winter temperatures up. It was rare for the temps to go below freezing, or for there to be ice or snow. I remember only three (comparatively, for this Midwesterner) smaller snowstorms during the six years there - son was born during one, and younger daughter during another.

Summertime temps were much more moderate, too. We would usually have one week in early August where the temps were over 90. Otherwise, we stayed mid-70's to mid-80's. It was such an overall mild climate, and so great for growing. It was SO green - I loved driving in the mountainous areas and seeing the ferns growing all over the place - blooming  rhododendrons seemed to be everywhere.

I think I mentioned in an earlier post that I'm trying some container gardening this summer. I think I'll be about 50% on that experiment! Both tomato plants are blooming, and the pepper is budded. The peas look really good so far. The spinach is a bust - it would have been good for the Keebler elves! It didn't get very big, certainly not big enough to pick - but it's already going to seed. So those pots will be cleaned out and a local shop has flowering plants on sale that will take the place of the spinach. The beets are still hanging in there. And the zucchini - well, it's a good thing that's such a hardy plant! Hubby looked out one evening last week and saw starlings stripping the leaves off. The plants looked pretty pathetic that evening, but they're coming back and setting on new leaves. Just watch - in a month or so I'll be complaining of having too much zucchini!!  :)

The damp weather today at least gave us a break from mowing the yard - it'll be another day or two before we'll be able to tackle that job. So - there's my silver lining!

Comfort.....

I'm having cheesy noodles for supper tonight - even on a good day, sometimes you just need to enjoy some comfort food!

It's interesting what "comfort food" means to different people - normally, we think of standby mac 'n cheese, or meatloaf.....but really, comfort food to me is anything that brings back childhood memories. Over the years, many different foods have fallen into that category for me.

For reasons I don't totally understand, one of those dishes that always takes me back to my childhood is macaroni and tomatoes - which includes frying up some chopped bacon and onion together, and stirring that into cooked macaroni and canned tomatoes. Yum! Oyster dressing is something that makes me feel close to my Grandmother - that, and salmon patties.

I have fond memories of Campbell's chicken noodle soup - that was the comfort food I always got as a kid when I was sick. We'd make the 20-mile trek to town, Dr. Staton would give me a shot of penicillin, and we'd stop to pick up chicken noodle soup and I think sometimes a bottle of soda.

Second grade was a somewhat challenging school year, because my class managed to pass around mumps, 3-day measles, chickenpox, and hard measles......all in that one school year. We ended the school year with the hard measles - I broke out four days into summer vacation. Talk about memories - I can still remember that illness, regardless of how long ago it was! While I was at my worst with the measles, I have vivid memories of eating Campbell's beef soup......as I started feeling better, I craved canned tomatoes. That's the only food that sounded good to me. And there was not a can in the house. As evening approached, Dad finally got tired of listening to me. A little settlement about five miles from our home had a store with some food supplies, so he drove over and picked up a couple of cans of tomatoes. They tasted so good!! My appetite came back for good on a Sunday, and I can still taste the fried chicken, mashed potatoes and gravy, and a fresh salad!

For my kids, spaghetti is their go-to comfort food.....and my brownie recipe. Luckily they all liked spaghetti, because it's really cheap to make, so we had it a lot while they were growing up! I think hubby's comfort food is pb&j - he's always happy with that.

Please excuse me - I need to enjoy my cheesy noodles now!

Busy Days

We've had a busy few days, and it's been great. Late Thursday afternoon, hubby got a phone call that he could be seen Friday morning at the Kansas City VA Hospital. He'd been trying for probably six weeks to get in, so we definitely grabbed that appointment. So, instead of our usual weekday routine, we got up early and hit the (rainy) road by 7 am Friday. We ended up driving through water over the road in two spots on Highway 23 (mental note: take another route home), but it was otherwise uneventful. In fact, the heavy rain subsided to a light sprinkle shortly after we got on I-70. It's always amazing to see what hubby calls the "sea of humanity" at that VA Hospital - all ages, both sexes. Bless those people who opt to work there and provide medical services to our veterans.

Last fall, the original battery died on my vehicle and we replaced it - since hubby's vehicle is the same age, we figured we should have it replaced as well. That hadn't been done yet, and he sensed some hesitation in his Jeep starting Friday morning. So as we hit KC, I called son and asked him if we could stop by his Firestone store in Independence once we were done. Always happy to collect a commission, he said to come on by.

Hubby's appointment went well, except for his dermatologist being completely confused when we asked if he might be related to William H. Macy - he had no idea who actor William H. Macy was, so we and the intern were coming up with movies he'd been in (with "Fargo in the lead). He still had no clue, so we changed the subject! But he really does look like William H. Macy!

We headed to the Jeep, only to find it didn't want to start. We sat a minute, figuring what we should do - hubby tried one more time and it started! We headed toward Independence by the shortest route, hoping nothing would cause the engine to stop. We got to Firestone and the techs started on the car - turns out the battery is still at full charged, which surprised us all. The starter, however, was a different story. It's replaced now and running fine - we were thankful to have son so close when we had out-of-town engine trouble.

Yesterday, we and Mom slipped out of church early, grabbed a quick sandwich, and headed to Independence. Miss Jocelyn, the 4-year-old whirlwind, was in a dance recital at William Chrisman High School. We stayed until intermission, which gave us time to see the stellar performance of "Lollipop". So cute! Being a second-year student, Jocelyn was also in the finale - but considering we were already home (a one-hour + drive) when that occurred, I'm glad we didn't stay for that! As we were leaving the recital, we ran into fellow Carrolltonians Keith and Susan Stark......who would've thought all those years ago when Keith and I were classmates at Bogard that we would have ended up at the same dance recital watching our granddaughters!

With all that busy-ness the last few days, the house was more than ready for me to stay home and give it some TLC today. And so I did. Tonight it doesn't seem to be showing any signs of neglect, and that's a good feeling.

P.S. We ended up with 8.1" rain last week......we had a break over the weekend, but more is forecast the next couple of days.