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We will be married 42 years the 26th of this month. Thirty [and a half] of those years have been lived in this house. Before we moved in, In the twilight hours [well before the final papers were signed] LT planted a fig tree in the courtyard ... Over the years the fig tree has grown in concert with the three 75 feet tall Water Oaks in the front yard. I have chopped it to the ground three times in preparation of moving it to another location. It has remained unmoved and grew back bushier than ever each time. I wanted to move it away from the house because it is a messy tree. Not that it does anything -- but the birds...... When the figs ripened I have battled with them just to get a few ...and yet had plenty to share. Then as people moved away - from our house and theirs- I realized. LT planted the tree but I, only I, ate the fruit. All other neighbors of the 70-80's have fled to other states, subdivisons, and downsized houses. The now-occupants are of a different persuasion. They are not outdoors-standing-around-chatting people and are friendly mostly with the people who live within their own house behind triple-locked doors – or people from somewhere else who park in the driveway and rush into the house, locking the door behind them. They don’t want any of my figs. And too, this year with two lively kittens romping about the courtyard the birds have passed on their share and flown on down the road. Some ill mannered squirrels have sampled a few – leaving hunks of rotting fruit on the ground! [tsk..tsk.] I came upon a chameleon a week ago. At first I only saw his pink little tongue and beady eye }shudder{ as he melded with the bright green of surrounding fig leaves. He had devoured that helpless little fig leaving only a strip of skin dangling from the stem... surely an evil creature. Meanwhile, I have been eating a few though out each day for the last month but the increase in number has caused some disquiet to my tummy’s thoughts. So we come to today, with a bowl full of fat juicy figs bursting joyfully through their skins; I turn to my collection of cookbooks... 42 years... Nada. Not a fig in the bunch! [Should I curse them at the roots that they should die? WWJD] ~sigh~ when we get back from the plumbing supply house I will get on the Internet and see what I can find "out there". Fig cake, fig cobbler, fig jam... Miss Meg |
So I procrastinate 
My last fig-eating buddy died eight or nine years ago a month before her 102nd birthday. ...she told me that the leaves were good for drawin’ boils. No one has knocked on the door for that information. Yet. It may come in handy someday. 
[ And look uneasy when I say, Good Morning or Hi, how ya doin’...]
Help me Lord.|
I have been slack. The Kitten still harbors the blood clot in her left leg. The last MRI showed that it covers her whole leg; located 4 inches below her groin and ending at her ankle. The shot of blood thinner she gets every day Baby girl is extremely healthy and is given high marks from all 20-something doctors who have an interest in this endevor. [Well, maybe not 20 but more than enough]! She has been given an arrival date of November 22 - which is the date my son's daughter was due four years ago! Emma Grace came by emergency C at 28 weeks on September 1st, weighing only 2 pounds 6 ounces. Miss Baby Girl shows no signs of any kind of problems or distress and we do not expect her to be wearing key chain ornaments as slippers as Little Miss Emma did. What a positive outlook they spout! But our hope is not in medical skill - our hope is in the Name of the Lord... Son Three will be 2 in October. He is now of the opinion that he rules the world and we are here but to serve him. His life is soon to be quite different. As much of a challange he, swift of feet and fling of hands, is to us now, methinks this coming season is going to be one of much prayer and tears [his]. I'm not too concerned as I know I am bigger than he is and I really don't care if he doesn't like it that I am boss. So when I have him I am confindent in my position of Grammy. ~sigh~ I am praying that my daughter will be physically strong enough to take on the battle of baby and "king". This little guy is not going to give up the throne without a fight. Mr is working but the financial boat sails in choppy waters. But peace reigns inside as we know Who provides. Thank you for your loving concern. You are the greatest. Miss Meg
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Now I'll get to it., [finally!]
it continues to abide with determination. 
The Dr. is, however, planning to induce Kit before that date so that they will be in complete control. She has warned them that they'd better be alert because she has always come early. Too, they mention wonderful things like the possiblity of stroke or bleeding to death -- not at all the kind of people I'd want to invite to my birthday party! 
Posted in Family
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This has been a rough week in Grammy-land. My parenting style is not my daughter's and it is frustrating. I'm not saying her way is wrong but just that my way is right. My daughter is suppose to be on bedrest for three weeks while a wicked blood clot dissolves itself. However, she is also required to be hauled to various doctors' offices - me as chauffeur. [ I can't believe I spelled that right! I looked it up and it was right -- how very distracting! I am in the thros of forgetting so much I feel I should telephone someone to help me celebrate... back to the ranch; Driving is at the top of my dislike list. Yes, I have one, I just don't brag about it. We also have to hunt for these offices as they are tucked away in brand new conclaves of medical and law office building. Endless rows, up and down hills, round and round... whew! Oh, there may be something else lurking in there but mostly it's m and l''s. We were out all day yesterday confined to tiny waiting rooms while Kitten was back in the innereds -- being probed. She also had to fill out a ga-zillion pages of forms. Long story short: Her husband's company folded. He doesn't have a job. The Company Insurance runs out at the end of this month [two weeks] and all the medical types want to get on that horse and ride it for it's worth. June 1st she will have to go onto Medicaid. that she can't be without medical attention. The situation is that she developed a massive blood clot in her left leg. At one point she was rushed to Critical Care as a part of it was moving toward the heart. They had her on blood thinner in the hospital but her pregnancy prevented them from the usual treatment which would have easily resolved the problem. They refused to let her leave the hospital without medication [ two shots a day in her abdoman @ $138 per shot] and they had no money to pay for it and the insurance refused to cover it. donated enough to cover a few days but since then it has been dicy. for seven [yes 7] months... when her husband does get a new job his insurance won't cover her pg... She is 35 and considered a pg risk anyway but with the blood clot it is now very serious. Her ob/gyn informed her that they will not allow her to go full term but induce early to be in full confrol. She painted a gloomy picture of Kit bleeding to death and things like that. However... a day before Kit was put into the hospital [did I mention she had an MRI the week before and they missed the clot?] I was in Bible Study and a lady called out as we were breaking up, Does anyone in here have someone in your family that is expecting a baby? She then proceeded to say that as we were praying she "saw" at preborn baby being held in huge hands. She said that she was sure that those were God's hands and that He was telling someone that this child would be kept safe. !!! Isn't that just WOW? She doesn't know my daughter and I am just an acquaintence so she did not know anything that was going on. In fact only two ladies were aware of Kit's situation - and at that time we had no idea of it's seriousness. Kit was pretty much convinced her leg bone was cracked and that's why her foot was swelling and cold. They couldn't tell that from an MRI and no one would x-ray her. Both my friends looked at me and said that's for Kit. I think this whole thing is in His hands and what the devil ment for evil He will turn to good. If you would, please pray for Kit's health and her husbands employment. God is good all the time! Miss Meg
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I plead guilty to reading again. I log on every day and read this blog, ten more blogs, that article, another twenty blogs, my emails... some how weeks shoot by and I haven't even said hi y'all. As usual I am knee deep in what is happening over at my dd's -- it's so much more interesting over there, but that news will come later. Here, we have made some headway on the forever-project of house remodeling [started in 1990 ]. Bookshelves are now built in on either side of the stone fireplace and the crown molding is up in the den. ~sigh~ guess who gets to paint them? Right. This painting project gets shoved to the head of the line since it is on the main level and could be an object of outside eyeballs. Will the bath ever get finished? Good question. It is stalled on the tile surround of the bathtub. We are not talking about that. Mean while, I cleverly manage to avoid painting walls , refinishing other stuff, sewing curtains and slipcovers to read about other's exciting lives on their blogs. Wow, the adventures and baking and crafting! How do they find time to write... Okay, I can't wait any longer. My kitten is PG again. Right after the Winter Break [aka Christmas] the whole gang over there, came down with strep throat -- even babyness. Boy, were they sick. Then all got up and running and one by one were felled by some vicious flu monster [couldn't have been just a bug]. Almost as soon as they recovered the were re-infected with strep.... Eleven days missed from "that place". Comes a surprise note from someone "not a teacher". She wrote that son two had 8 unexcused absences, which was truency... DD could be taken to court and someone from social services come to inspect their home... In shock the Kitten tried to call the school but was unable to contact the not teacher. She wrote back a note stating that she had written the excuses for both sons on the computer and as they were ill the same time for the same reasons she had merely changed the names of child and teacher. If they would check son one's records they would see that he was absent the exact same times as son two. She had sent a note covering the days absent, ie: Tuesday thry Friday and not one note for each day... each time. There was no complaint concerning son one... what's up with that??? She has not recieved any further communication and the police have not come banging on the door. So. Then Son One committed a felony. On the school bus he had been trying to fly an airplane [he made folding a sheet of paper] out one of the open windows. He finally succeeded. He was sited for littering. Then a couple of days ago he found a balloon in his pocket and he blew it up. It burst. The driver reported him and he was hauled into the office again. They called Mama to talk to him. She asked him if he knew what he had done wrong... No. She explained that the driver may have thought it was gun fire or that a tire had blown out and it scared her. She asked him if there was anything he could do about it What a shame. Not to be bullied by a kid who thinks it's such fun to get him in a choke hold... or tear up his home work... This child is in his room at school and also on the bus and lives in the neighbor... Months ago Kitten talked to the bus driver about this and recently she called the office. Now we wonder if bus driver might not be miffed with son one... Dad says they will be homeschooling next year. ......Unless offense three happens. Then it will be sooner. Can we all screech Praise The Lord! [and pass the ammunition] The Kitten had Confided to Father that unless Daddy agreed to homeschooling then there was no way it could happen. She now thinks God has erected a 90 foot high billboard with the message of: GET THOSE BOYS OUT OF THERE!!!
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he said he could appologize. So he did -- he also brought a note home from the principle saying that if he "committed a third offense he would not be able to ride the bus". Posted in Observing Earthlings
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. This morning I was laying on the kitchen floor [by choice] with my new Neutral Blond hair -that some how looks Red - spilling in a soft Cloud around my puzzled head. Often while seated at the Un-large round table at the end of the den [adjacent to the kitchen] I have noted a missing Hunk. Not of the male persuasion but in the Toe-Kick of a section of the lower Cabinets... Hithertofore, I have resolutely ignored the gaping Black Square Hole; Because I am Lazy and Old and did not want to lay upon said Floor to get an Up Close and Personal Look at something I knew : 1] I would not Appreciate, 2] I would have to do something About, and 3] I would not have the Knowledge, Skill or Tool to take care of it. It = problem. What my eyes saw Up Close and Personal, was the vertical sides of 2 cabinet units placed side-by-side. ll Apparently it was not appropriate to build the Toe-Kick [so named by an English Male with Big Feet he was unable to control] across the Front of the cabinets because then there would be no Recess for Toes to Kick into... Just curious: do people actually Stand so Close to a lower cabinet that their Toes would Curl Up if that 2-inch Recess wasn’t there? As I lay on the floor inspecting the Excessively large cuts on Both sides of the Cabinet walls, I concluded that surely the Carpenter [insert laugh here] did not expect the cabinets to expand when full – because the units were fastened Smack Dab together and the Too-large L cuts were on the Inside... My guess is that it would have taken a 4-year college degree to accomplish the feat of cutting a Closely Fitted Notch that didn’t leave a 3/4 inch Cap on Each Side ] ll [ . How unthinking of me – Bobby Carpenter has a 2 year Music degree. In Composition. Luckily I keep the First Aide Box in the kitchen [where in My Life it is most often needed]. Howsome soever I see the Patches are that odd pinky -tan color known as "flesh". My cabinets are white... I have never seen a flesh covered set of bones in that pinky-tan. ...I think I might be a little frightened. There’s a poem proclaiming Only God Can Make A Tree. Methinks He is the only One Who can make Real Flesh Colors. |
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Today I went out to the mailbox hoping to get a bill. Of Course I had been painting walls --and who changes clothes to go to the mailbox?. Other than my next door neighbor who has the gift of shopping and has four closets full of super clothes from Goodwill -- usually with price tags intact. So I strolled out, wearing Classic Beige -- I know, I know - who would have thought Miss Meg and beige lived in the same house.... I didn't pick it. Anyway, quit interrupting, I'm at the end of the drive and a truck pulls up in front of me. It's an old buddy I used to chat with often when Dog and I made the round-the-block trip every morning. He was so pleased to see me wearing paint on the end of my nose. As he quizzed me, another oldie - but goodie-- came rounding the corner being dragged by a unfamiluar pup. We called out greetings as she lurched by. Now I haven't seen these people in months and the day I venture forth attired in beige splattered sweats there they are!! As I trudged back to the house my next door neighbor, the fashion plate, yelled "Nice outfit!" and then "I need you to put a zipper in one of my jackets -- I can't find my foot." I'm such a lovely person. I didn't tell her to check her mouth or anything ugly like that... Sometimes my niceness is just amazing to me. |
Posted in Family
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The Long Time Husband took apart my computer and replaced everything but the case -- all the things that "show", like keyboard, monitor and printe, are the same. So it doesn't look like I got anything new. He started telling me how much different parts cost and I told him, " No -- that doesn't count. It was all free." "What!" he yelped. "You had everything "on hand" for something else you were doing for yourself. You changed your plan and used something else ... did something else. So this didn't cost you anything..." He kept saying, "How can you say that!" Easy. It was all free. Say I bought myself some material a few months ago and never used it; went out and got something else and then decided not to use that either and got another... then you needed a shirt and I had the material on hand so I made it up for you -- it would have been free, 'cause I didn't go out and buy it to make you a shirt. I already had the material. It was free. He is so strange. He is still insisting he spent a bunch of money on me! Can you believe that? And, to boot, he also had my computer strewn out on a table for two days and I was totally disconnected from 90% of my communication/entertainment. It took me four days of reading to catch up!!
While out of commission, I actually grouted tile, mudded some drywall, repaired a pair of his slacks [ I think he has developed a spatial problem 'cause he keeps trying to squeeze into places far smaller than he is...] , took apart the top of a dress to alter, dusted and vacuum [ug] and tidied up some untidy places. Boy, I was so glad to get that computer back so I could sit and read about other people doing things! |
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This was sent to me some time ago and I tucked it away to do the cut and paste thing... so sorry! Here it is -- and anyone else who wants to end the year listing your list... feel free. I am decluttering my folders, etc. What a good homemaker I am. Tomorrow is Christmas Eve. My tree is up. Naked. I'm hoping some little boys will come by and help fill the branches. And maybe their Mama can go finish my Christmas shopping... lol. List of lists: I give you money and send you into the grocery store to pick up 5 items. You can only pick one thing from the following departments.. what is it?
3.. Meat: Roast beef 4. Frozen: blueberries
1. Need to go OUT? 3. When would you like to eat?
1 Rachmaninoff Piano Concerto #2 2 Classical Praise Piano/Cello 3 Acappella Christmas 4 Classical Praise Piano/Violin 5 The Revelation by Karen Heimbuch @ London Symphony Orchestra
1.butter pecan
1. Conferance Speaker/Singer 3. Talk show hostess
1. Stop comparing yourself with others. Believe in yourself - you are competent!
Okay, that's done. Back to reading blogs. Tomorrow is more baking. I've been ordered to bake Shepherd's Bread for Christmas. Wish that could be their gifts! They are so spoiled -- only they spoiled themselves after they left me [they were perfect when they lived here, as I recall]. Miss Meg
 but it do hurt! for awhile.
So, what 3 things do you find yourself doing every single day, and if you didn't get to do, you'd probably be in a pretty irritable/bad mood? 1.Walk 2. Eat breakfast 3. Read Bible  We're on a roll now! |
1. Wrapping paper or gift bags? I am so lazy! Gift bags – preferable one that came with a gift for me in years past [I’m also frugal} 2. Real tree or artificial? My children and I used to go cut down a tree – what fun. Then they spoiled everything and got married/left home. 3. When do you put up the tree? A couple of days before Christmas 4. When do you take the tree down? When people get really ugly about it – never before two weeks after New Years Day 5. Do you like egg nog? I like eggs. Nogs. No. 6. Favorite gift received as a child? I don’t remember presents – I remember Christmas caroling, Christmas plays, concerts ... making candy, ornaments... doing/going I'm sure I got something! and I loved it. 7. Do you have a nativity scene? Yes, several. I have a rustic old one that was handmade by a gentleman from church, a ceramic one my Mama made, a plaster one my brother gave me... 8. Hardest person to buy for? Mother in law 9. Easiest person to buy for? Middle grandson - he is so grateful for EVERYTHING 10. Worst Christmas gift ever received? A gold lame’ evening clutch,,,,,??? 12. Favorite Christmas Movie? The Grinch Who Stole Christmas well, maybe it isn't a movie -- I'm really not into movies.. 13. When do you start shopping for Christmas? I never do. Sometimes I go with someone to buy a present... I haven’t shopped since I was a professional shopper...
17. Favorite Christmas song? O Holy Night!
20. Does your tree have an angel on top or a star? Angel - I have two I rotate alternate years
– I mean, who knew!
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My wonderful son is at this moment laying tile in the bathroom.... yeah!!!! He has taken time to show me some "basics" [after all these years it's about time...] So if I have learned correctly, I now present grand daughter, Emma Grace [3 yo] aka Curious George on Holloween evening. She was taking a trampoline break when Mommie said," Look at me Emma, I want to take your picture." I see she is a ham, just like her Daddy was a three.
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some posts are a little late... some never make it but...
The LongTimeHusband has been having some serious health issues and we were facing the very real possibility of hospitalization. Now LT is a strong believer in the healing power of Almighty God. You are not going to talk him out of it - no way. He’s been in the valley of the shadow more than once. He knows what he knows. So Sunday morning the men of our body gathered around him to petition Father for physical intervention and there was a definite turn around. He had been coughing up blood clots -- lots. But from that point on those symptoms began a steady descent. And this past Lord’s day there were no signs of blood at all; even though he continues to cough hard occasionally. Though it was somewhat delayed, on Friday evening we went to Olive Garden to commemorate our 41st wedding anniversary. The evening was soft and balmy; making me grateful that we had not married in July because Georgia in July has air similar to liquid ! With a wait of fifteen minutes we joined several others out on the portico. We settled on comfy hardwood benches and prepared to people-watch. A gentleman across the area greeted my husband [loudly] with words of "Howyadoin" and "somedazerbetternothers" After a couple of minutes of such he said, "You look familiar..." "I was thinking the same about you" LT responded. They eyed each other for several intent seconds. "Did you use to wear a rattlesnake hat?" LT asked. Well, didn’t that have the immediate attention of the other patrons milling about! ...I’m thinking this has to be a joke... "That’s right!" the friendly feller beams, rising from his seat. I’m startled to see LT stride towards him with outstretched hand. They meet in the middle and do the manly pump. "I think we have a mutual friend,,," my husband told him. A quizzical look turned to recognition, "Blue!" sez he. "Sonny!" sez LT. So they began to discus the who’s and where’s and when’s and the surrounding cloud of witnesses drift back into waiting mode. Hours later our summons erupts and the two men part. We go in to our feast. "A rattlesnake hat?" [note: after 41 years you don’t need complete sentences or paragraphs] "Yes." He says with great enthusiasm, "It was a Stetson with a rattlesnake wrapped around the headband and it’s head was raised up like it was going to strike." And to think, a lot of people say men have no fashion sense... I say that... |
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Eight Random Things This has not been easy as I did this a year or so ago. I tried then, to choose things of interest as I figured it would be my only 15 minutes of fame on the world’s stage. Of course, since then I have come to realize that millions of people don’t even know what a blog is and three of the five people who faithfully read tangled offerings have moved on to other things. Dispute the Internet, life is still lived in tiny little circles around tiny little ponds. Even people "everybody" knows are terrible ignorant when they are away from their own pond. 1. God seems to favor green but I find myself preferring all colors. My favorite color seems to have evolved into Yes. 2. I have been my husbands barber for the last 30 years. I’m good too. 3. Though I’m still 5'4" I am much taller according to the weight charts... 4. According to my first cousin’s wife, my mother’s side of the family is "connected" Hawaiian royalty... We’ll check that one out before squeezing into a grass skirt... Wooden shoes is bad enough. My Hawaiian name is Makaleka, just in case you need to know. 5. I think my hair may be getting gray. There is no way to know for sure [take my word on this] but I’m using the same color [Autumn Mist] that I’ve used for several years and my hair is suddenly much lighter... does this mean there is less color to...ah...remove? Even the preacher man mentioned my hair being really blond. Is it right for a preacher to notice such things... no. that is just not holy. I never mention his hair turning to skin... 6. I am stubborn [tenacious to those who really love me]. Now that you know, I hope we can still be friends... 7. I’ve also learned recently through the family history buff [ my cousin’s wife] that the husband of one of my other cousins won a gold medal in the 1956 Summer Olympics in swimming and a silver in swim relay racing. The reason this is a random thing about me is that I was 16 in 1956 and, duh! What possible interest could it be that someone else was in some little Olympic thingy and that they may have won a medal or two? As I remember, Tall Frank liked me then... 8. There is a song singing in my head when I awaken every morning. This morning it was I’m Running into His light, running out of darkness, running out of shame... Whew@ There. Done that. So now I pass the baton on to Lady Poet [she’d be hurt if I didn’t pick on her], Carpe Monkey, Missy, Heidi, - oh, I forgot how many to smack... well. |
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Today I had to zip over to Walmart to get ONE item I needed to fix a meal for the family of a man who went HOME yesterday. There is a team taking care of the meal for today and I have been asked to prepare for Monday. I do not shop on Sunday... Who knew? Sunday is also the day when all the people who don’t go on Monday through Saturday swarm out of their dwellings to cha-ching the cash registers. I got in line at the first Under 20 Items register. Ahead of me was a woman on a telephone. [Now who has ever had that happen at Walmart...] She appeared to be speaking an Asian language. It actually sounded like I would sound if I were pretending to be Asian. She turned to look through me. Yep. Asian. A man came up and said something to her in a very harsh manner. She left her heavily loaded cart and walked away a few feet. I thought she was leaving. No, it was to get a better signal... She roamed around here and there, coming back every few minutes to advance her cart. She dropped little slips of paper that looked like they came out of a fortune cookie. These seemed to have the various numbers she was calling. While I was behind her cart and she was not, she called seven people. Or she could have been repeating calls to people she had already called. Like, how would I know – At last it is almost her turn and I gesture her to come back to her cart. She did; sing-talking all the time. She started piling groceries up on the area beside the conveyer belt... and also in with the groceries of the woman ahead of her. Suddenly there is No, no, not mine. Uh uh! . The woman running the register is carefully [slowly] reading a chart for every item. Thankfully, she is soon relieved by a no-nonsense zip-these-things-through woman.~sigh of relief~ The cashier holds up a green apple, saying, "what’s this?" The Asian woman is mystified... " Ah..po?" She offers. "Granny Smith", I interfere. [I’ve been there hours!] ‘Thanks," the cashier smiles. "Grin?" Says Mz Asian pointing to the apple, not aware the mystery had been solved without her. . Mz Asian then goes to the carousel to fuss about with the bags. The cashier asks if the many items on the area beside the belt are hers. She nods and smiles Mz Asian offers a red card and the cashier does much pushing of buttons and hands it back. Mz Asian starts to swipe it. " No, no. Pin..." Swiftly she complies and moves back toward the bags but the cashier frowns at her, " You only have $16 on this card." With flutterings and mutterings, Mz Asian finally gives her another card and the transaction is over. Well, I am exhausted! I hand her my item, swipe my debit card and am outta there. I pass Mz Asian being harangued again by the Asian man. I wonder if they are really angry or does that language just sound aggressive. I decide that someone as sensitive as me could never be Asian. I would be crying all the time! I hurry home to my crockpot. It will be working while I sleep. |
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I was raised in a Sunday-get-together family. And when I began my own family that tradition continued almost automatically. It was what we did... It was the 60's. If his family or my folks wasn't eating at our house; we gathered at their table. Two children arrived and as they grew older they began inviting friends to join us. It was the 80's. Then it was the "special friend". All too swiftly, they started their own families and the nest was empty. But neither of them joined us or invited us to join them often, as I assumed would happen. Suddenly, Sunday mealtime was just LT and me After Prince Perfect married they started the tradition of the family going to a resturant for birthday meals. So it was pretty much of a sure thing that we'd have 6 family meals together each year. Like, WOW! Nothing like my own family of origin in the 50's. The longing for hospitality has been burning in my heart lo these many years. This past year or so it seems as though we have been eating out to the point of drugery! It is a hardship... an abuse! As we came home from another meal at the P--k A D---y[gag] with his 82 yo mother I whined to the Long Time Husband, "I hate to leave my house!" "I know you do." I was surprised by his quiet matter of factness, "You're a stay-at-home, like your Mama." Hummm. Apparently I thought he had not noticed the 'one more thing' I had to do before we leave for anywhere-- the reluctant dragging of the feet. I think I am invisible. Most of the time I fly under the radar and then suddenly someone lets me know they have seen me. He went on to say, "Now, I have to have a constant change of scenery... that's why my job was perfect for me. I never knew what I was going to do, where I would be sent..." The 31st was his last official day on the job. He is now retired. As our home remodeling project is visibly coming together I find myself dreaming of asking various couples from church to join us for lunch... What happened to my lofty dreams of writing, travel... Now I dream of a main course, three sides and a yummy dessert. Is that not slack? |
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Friday afternoon the construction crew went insane in a madmadmad rush to remove themselves from the work week. Berserk. Totally. When they left the profound silence was a thing of beauty. We wondered about the house, marveling at the acre of new flooring, the stark white trim and cabinetry, the black countertops. And then we went outside to look at the roof and the newly painted upper torso of the casa and the gleaming, mold free stucco; freshly power washed. It had been exhausting; watching all that energy and great good spirits. We drug-ged ourselves to the Bronco to forage for food. I murmuered to LT, "You know, eating out used to be a treat..." "But now," he continued the lament, "it's a burden. Chicken, hambergers, tacos.." about that time we noted the bunny declaration. Ihop. Of course, breakfast at the end of the day. And thoughts of staying home forever and ever and ever. As usual it was nine oclock. Who eats at nine o'clock at night. Apparently mucho peoples. Most seemed large in the extreme. We ate and watched folk waddle by... feeling those pancakes sticking to thighs and Did I mention the power went off. Third night in a row. And just when all of life seems to be electric. The first night we sat on the portico and watched the lightening show in the black night sky, while valantly protecting old dog from the wicked forked tongue of the cloud devil. Night two found us heading to Wendys to join the groups of jeans puddled on the floor, one hand clutching the gravity drenched garments, while the other hand found money, food, chairs, cell phones... We sat there. Old. Just old. Saturday morning the DD and her family took over the castle. They swarmed upstairs ...putting up green board in the bath to be... With much pounding, and sawing and baby crying and little boys teasing and giggling. Pounding up and down stairs. Protests. Disclaimers. Promises. ~ sigh ~ Another long day with people breathing our air. They left with much done. And piles of scrapes and dust and dirt. All those months I begged strangers on street corners to work for food. Anon. Now we are all that. Work. work. work. Enough - go home. We must rest from all this busyness. Peace in the morning... To celebrate the resurrection...worship...praise . LT left the castle early to hunt down and kill the Sunday morning donuts he uses to bribe the media team kids. I carried in the juice, like a good helpmeetress. He immediately started talking teckno with a young man in front of a moniter. I noticed the donuts were moving. The donuts moving? Oh no! Ants... this summer they are everywhere! And he had left the box in the car while he came inside to bully me into moving faster... The box was still sealed yet the invaders conquored. Those circles were tossed before the kids noticed their treat had been befouled. Fortunately all worked out well as the girls were suddenly fat this week. That left the box of chocolate covered goodies for the guys to scarf down in two bites -- those who probably wouldn't have been bothered with a few fire ants adding zest to their food... ..Those criters are mean though! Strange things continued. That evening as I sat in the dark eating [no the power had been out earlier -so we went to visit my mother in law, but the lights were on by the time we returned-- I was just used to eating in the dark by Sunday night] and suddenly something whizzed by. Ahem, I called out to the chief warrior. "Something is flying in here!" "It's a bat." He was nonchalant. For real. It's a bat??? Ants in the morning, bats at night? That may be a song, a book, a play... but not real life~ Whee! It flew into the living room, circled round the wall and back through the den. Whosh! into the kitchen around the wall and back through the den, into the living room... the thing was flying a figure eight over and over! Fast. I huddled in my corner at the table. Back into the kitchen it streaked --quickly LT blocked the doorway back into the den and zoom! out into the night through the open door. My hero! We have lived here 29 years. Never. I promise you, never, has a bat made free within the airspace of this abode... And this afternoon? A bird. Suddenly fluttering room to room. It went down into the entryway and I tip toes bravely down also and opened the front door in invitation to exit. Naw. It pooped on the wall, flew up stairs and parked on the ceiling fan. No, I didn't turn on the switch. Didn't think of it. I did open the backdoor, hoot like an owl... and Good bye. Now I hope that is the end of all nonsense. Enough rain for right now. And no more criters, creeping, crawling or flying. I have spoken.
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No one could possibly believe this. I had four... 1,2,3,4....young men climbing all over my house, pounding, sawing, singing. They have fixed the roof -- for real, fixed roof = no puddles on floor. They have replaced all facea and soffets. It is so thrilling. And tomorrow they will be out there in the 90+ heat just a sweating and singing and painting. They are nuts! No way would I do such a thing for any amount of money. And , ~sigh~ they are doing it for an amount of money. [ But not as much as most would get] The leader of this pack is the former youth leader of our church. He is larger than life. He raps. He calls me M'am. Yeah, I know it is a title of respect but they are almost my age -- well some are in their fifties, I'm sure. Calling me Mama. That's just wrong. You know. Anyway, tomorrow they stain the wood. It does look so good! And then after they go to a mall and put in a balcony railing on the fifth floor they will return to... this is so shocking... put in a new floor in the den and kitchen. It will be all the same .... flowing, you know. Away with the damaged den floor that got woe begone when the tarp blew off of the open roof and the rains poured down and the ceiling followed. Away with the kitchen vinyl the sorry person who would not listen to me ruined with his sloppy goppy work. This week is just the best year I've had in ages. To bed I go to sleep the peacful sleep of an abundantly blessed child of the King. |
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Sani {{{HUGS}}} tagged me for the Middle Name Meme Here are the rules: 1. You have to post these rules before you give the facts.
My middle name is [ug] Louise. L Lyrical, literal, literally...could be but Laughter follows me like laundry. I don’t [can’t ] tell jokes... it’s just that things happen. Once I was in a quartet which was asked to sing at a very prominent churchwoman’s funeral. We had to wear heels and hose and junk like that. I was really miserable and whispered to my friend beside me. "My big toe is killing me!" "Why?" she asked. "I burned it." She turned to look at me, "How did you burn your toe?" "Well," I told her, " I had the curling iron heating on the edge of the sink and I decided to shave my legs. So when I put my foot up on the sink my toe touched the curling iron. It sizzled. It really hurts, I think I have a blister.." No sympathy there! She clapped her hand over her mouth and kept snorting and sputtering. It was really embarrassing. People were looking at her! And then she said to me, "Can’t you even behave at a funeral!"
O In a former life I lived on a farm in Ohio. It’s hard to get away from that ‘Round on both ends and HI in the middle. Especially as you age and look in the mirror. That would be Obese. Naw. Opinionated, Out- spoken, Open mouthed [stick in foot] all come to mind but I think I choose Otherwise. There is no "W" in Louise so I can’t choose wise... And Sandi was picking all kinds of things she wanted to be so I will be Otherwise which must be better than just every day wise because it is also other. U [This could get Ugly.] All those Un words. I don’t want to be Un. Presently I am in a sea of
Uncertainty but we won’t go there. Right now I’m trying to figure out how I can be Ultraviolet. Ultra sounds very, very what I’d like to be when I grow up. However that might be difficult and I only do difficult when absolutely necessary. Sunday night at Church someone said I was Unique’. There was a long pause before that "unique" too. Hmmm. Well, since I already am-- I'll be Unique’.
I Piece of cake! Imaginative. My daughter and some others have told me I am "an Improver" – probably because of all those lists I make and how-to books I read. LT says I am Inquisitive but that’s just because he doesn’t want to tell me what I want to know. I am probably an Imaginative, Inquisitive Improver but I think Imaginative will do
S Oh, Silly according to the consensus all those great global warming scientist who believe the sky is falling and the naked king is wearing gorgeous clothes...
E Eccentric? Maybe when I’m older.. And rich. Economical - well there is that. Elegant? in a land far away and long ago... Ebullient, Energetic... who are we kidding here! Oh, just the plain ole Extrovert, I guess. ~sigh~.
Six letters in my name... six people to inflict with pain. I choose Amy, Meridith, Lady Poet 33, Kim, chelle B and Chickadee I don't know why everything is underline! I have tried to post this blog for over and hour and it keeps coming out all scrambled. It this one scrambles it scrambles! LadyMother is now cranky and it has nothing to do with my name, middle or no! |
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Things seem to be moving in directions without my approval. It doesn't matter whether I want it or not; I am now the wife of a stay-at-home photo journalist. LT has been very sick the past two weeks with Bronchitus and a sinus infection, in addition to Congestive Heart Failure and Sleep Apnea. This is not a fun time for him. At the close of week two he decided to go ahead and take short term disability until his retirement begins at the end of August. That retirement date has been kicked around for two years now... sometimes it was in May, at the end of his 40th year with WSB-TV News... Then he decided to wait until after his birthday, which is August 28th. Then he decided to go on to the end of the year... However, last February during his annual physical, the cardiologist informed him that his heart transplant is failing and gave him six months to live. Not long after that bad news he finally admitted his lack of stamina and endurance; as at the end of every workday, and every minor exertion, he fell into bed to recover. These ignored symptoms have been increasing and then came the illness. Now he reluctantly prepares to die as he plans to live... He wants to live This is not an easy or noble task for one with ADD. I am still struggling to get our wills signed and notorized. They have been written for four months... There are videos, family treasures, to be burned on DVD's... things, technical and otherwise, to be passed on that only he knows or understands. And much more that we desire of him. But his heart is elsewhere... computers and other black box machines to finish building... Continued classes on his Panasonic; the camera he bought to use freelancing after he retired. He doesn't want to think of endings, he has Dreams of the future... Plans undone... And a groove of procrastination 64 years deep! We've learned to smile at the unfinshed projects started with great enthusiasim and visions of glory. Now we trust God that the finished project of his life will be completed to HIS satifaction. That's all that matters. It's not about The Long Time Husband [41 years] or the wants of the family, this partially remodeled house, his beloved church media team [that he continues to feed donuts], or those long large-life years with the TV station. It's all about HIM... He sits on the Throne... HIS will be done |