The Envelope (well, really just a little piece of folded-up paper) Pleeeease!

 

Okay, I did this drawing for Janet Dean’s books very “scientifically” because I wanted it to be fair and square.  So, I wrote the names on little folded-up pieces of paper and put them in a bowl.  Then I went out on the deck where Hubby, the retired Sheriff  known for his integrity,  was doing a crossword puzzle and had him draw a name.  I just don’t think you could make a drawing any more fair than that!

And the name he drew is …. (drum roll) …. Cathy! 

Cathy who is mother to Beth at C. Beth Blog, wife to Sam at Dwell & Cultivate, creator of beautiful quilts, grandma par excellance, planner of elaborate parties for volunteers at their church in Yuma, Arizona where Sam is pastor, and just generally someone I consider a wonderful  blogging world friend.

Thank you to the rest of you who took the time to enter.  You are all appreciated.

Cathy, unless you have moved since we corresponded at Christmas, I will use that address to send you the books  in a couple weeks.  I will be having lunch with Janet a week from next Wednesday, and I thought I would wait to mail the books to you until after that, so that I can ask her to autograph them for you.

I just finished reading (my copy — not yours!) the second book, and I think they are really a good read.  Janet did a good job of making me care about the characters and keeping me interested in what happened to them next.

Congratulations, Cathy!

She Agreed to be Interviewed by Her Daughter (Is She Crazy?!)

 

I’ll leave it to you to decide who’s crazy.  My daughter for writing the following questions, or me for answering them!

You may have noticed that this “interview” thing is the “flavor of the month” going around blogs right now, and I have to say I find them interesting — when someone else does them.  But, when DD suggested she and I interview each other, I had reservations.  Sure, I knew I could come up with sweet questions for her that would put her in the best light possible (because that’s just my sweet nature! smile), but what kind of crazy, embarrassing questions would she come up with for me?! 

Well, we’ve now exchanged lists of questions and I guess these aren’t too bad.  By the way, if you would like to read the questions I gave her, and her responses, go to her blog, Chased by Children.

So, here goes, for what it’s worth.

1.  You are the youngest of five children, and younger by quite a margin.  Your closest sibling was 13 when you were born.  What’s your theory about why this was good or bad for you?

   Easter 1948.  Me and “the big people” who were my siblings.

I’ve always said, I was “raised by committee” in my early years.  There was always someone supervising me, making sure I was safe and didn’t do anything wrong.  I guess that was both the good and bad of it. 

It was good because I was surrounded by love … 

 … interspersed with an occasional swat when I chased the cat and dragged him out from under the dining room table by whatever part of him I could reach. 

  It was a little harder to corner him in the wide open spaces of the backyard, but for a short, fat kid I must have been pretty agile because I appear to be closing in on him! (It looks like we may be making eye contact here.  I wonder what he was thinking.  Any ideas?)

… and it was bad because I didn’t really have siblings — I just had alot of “big people” around.  I think it made it harder for me to raise my own children, because I didn’t have any experience with the normal sibling relationships.  And, btw, it may have been bad too that I was possibly, just a teensy bit, spoiled. 

2.  You lived in a boarding house (that your mother ran) when you were a small child.  Do you think that affected your view of the world?  Was the boarding house a positive or negative influence on you?

Actually “boarding house” is probably too grand a word for our situation.  In reality, to make a little extra money, Mama rented out the extra bedrooms in our big, old house, mostly to students at a near-by college — no meals (like they furnish in real “boarding houses”), just a sleeping room and sharing a bathroom with those family members who slept upstairs too. 

With a big house full of  two extremely tired and busy parents, four teenagers very busy being teenagers (with one or two drama queens in the mix), one short spoiled little kid, fun-loving Uncle Jim who lived with us for a while, an (understandably) skittish, will-jump-out-at-you-in-the-dark cat, and whatever “roomers” we currently had, it was a great atmosphere.  There was always something going on.  For me, having all those extra people around just added to the group of “big people” who babied me — all good in my view.  (btw, I always found it interesting that this is the time in my mother’s life she always said she most enjoyed, even though it was also the time when she worked the hardest.) 

It was a reality check when I was nine, my siblings had all left home,  and my parents and I moved far away from everything and everyone we knew.  That was when I quickly learned the whole world did not adore me! 

Do you think you’d like to do something similar now?  possibly with your daughter and her daughters living with you?  This is a great idea. 

 I would be open to having my daughter and her daughters live with us, but I think my daughter wouldn’t think it was such a “great idea” when I started giving her chores to do, and told her to clean her room! 

3.  When did you first realize I was different than other kids?  Was it right away or did it set in slowly like the dawning of a terrible realization?

  I know this is a poor-quality polaroid picture, but it says so much about your personality that was demonstrated early.  I think most little babies seem kind of “poured” into their high chairs, all soft and cuddly, laying over to the side and kind of curled up in the seat.  But, if this baby doesn’t look like she’s ready for anything, including giving an inpromptu performance for the next person who walks through the door, I don’t know who does!  This shows a couple of the first things I noticed about your personality.  When you sat in your high chair, you liked to sit straight up and have your legs s.t.r.a.i.g.h.t  o.u.t.  Your whole body was “wired”, ready for action.  That told me that you were a Type A personality and would probably always have trouble just relaxing!  And also, that you were always going to be ready to entertain!

When we had the first parent/teacher conference with your first grade teacher, she said that you were definitely a leader (I don’t remember her saying “bossy”  but she may have)! 

   In first grade when you first experimented with “leading.”

We hadn’t particularly noticed that leadership trait at home yet, but once we started looking for it it soon became apparent you were demonstrating it in how you were “managing” your little cousins.  Of course, your older brother, Gunny, didn’t encourage this trait in you either, because he didn’t really even like Dad and me “leading” him, so he in no way wanted you to think you could lead him!  (I imagine it made you a stronger person that you grew up in a family where everyone wanted to lead at least part of the time, even the dog!)

4.  You met my father, your husband of many decades, when you were 14 years old.  What do you think is the main reason that the two of you have had such a successful marriage?  

Actually, I was 15, but still verrrry young, when we met.  Obviously, at that age, I didn’t have a clue what traits to look for in a person to spend the rest of my life with, but I do remember being impressed right off the bat with how respectfully he spoke about his parents. 

I believe there are three reasons we have had a “successful” marriage:  We married young but we grew up for a couple years together before we had our first child, Gunny.  We share and have grown in our faith together.  We can still make each other laugh.

You really should write a book…maybe this answer can be the foreward.

I have always been intrigued by the idea of writing a book, but I don’t picture it being about marriage.  I picture writing my favorite kind of book — a mystery!

5.  Can you point to a single moment when you realized that I was your favorite child?  Was it because Gunny refused to wear shorts even in 100 degree weather?  Was it because his head is so oddly shaped? 

     I show this picture for two reasons — to show that Gunny did, in fact, prefer jeans to shorts when he was little, and that his head was not then, nor has it ever been, mis-shapen. 

I believe you really did think you had to compete with Gunny to be our favorite child when you were little.  But I’m sure, now that you have three daughters of your own, you understand that, truly, each of them is your “favorite” in a different way, just as it was for us with you and Gunny.

Was it because he pushed me down the stairs when I was 2?  

I’m sure Gunny would want me to say, in his defense, that there were no actual eye witnesses to the alleged push.  He always contended he was just an innocent bystander.

Was it because his taste in music was always bad (Def Leopard??)?   discuss….

When you were teenagers, he was our “rebel,” and you were our rule follower.  He liked Def Leopard, you liked Christian music.  He liked soda pop and chips, you liked milk and vegetables.   He never saw a reason he had to get home by the “exact time” of curfew, you were always home by curfew or called.

You were both interesting children to raise, but I wouldn’t have chosen any other two children in the whole world to be mine.

Thank you, daughter of mine, for asking questions that I could answer without having to reveal any deep, dark family secrets.  (I can’t remember what those are anyway!)

Love, Mom

Apparently They Are “Business-Minded” Ducks

 

This was fun.  I hope you enjoyed reading the suggested captions for this picture as much as I did.  I thought they were all very good.  But, unfortunately, I had to pick just one.

So, I picked Hilary’s.

  “The price of feathers has increased dramatically. Even the cost of down is up. Good news, upon reflection.”

Thanks again to those of you who submitted captions.

Hilary, I’ll e-mail you to get your address.  Thanks for the clever entry.

What Are They Saying? Supply a Caption!

 Here is a picture I took a couple days ago that I think could use a caption.  They are standing on ice that has rain on top of it, hence the clear reflection.

I’ve never tried this before, but I always think it’s fun on other blogs when they ask for captions for pictures.  So, between now and Sunday noon, give these two a caption.  What might they be saying to each other?  Or what observation could you make about them.

The best suggestion will win one of the hanging towels I’m making for Christmas gifts! 

I know.  Contain your excitement.  But, I hope it will be fun anyway!

Me, to the Seventh Power!

 

Hmmm. ElleBee has given me a new ticket on the “meme” train.  These become more and more challenging, because I am running out of things to say about me!  Stop laughing.  I mean it.

So, as writer’s block descends on me like a heavy fog, I sit here, keyboard at the ready, trying to think of things I can say about me that might even be mildly interesting to people outside my family.

Let’s see . . .

1.  I have taught all of my grandchildren the Hokie Pokie, and plan to dance it at their weddings. (I wonder if that statement will keep me from being invited?)

2.  I read an article years ago, which I wish I would have kept, that said one of the things that might suffer after menopause is your sense of direction!  I had never heard that before nor have I heard it since, but I reallllly have lost any sense of direction.  Thank you God for GPS!

3.  It’s early morning and I just heard the sound of a distant train, and I realized that since we moved into our first little house in 1967, we have always lived within hearing distance of trains.  Maybe that’s the reason I find the sound so pleasant — it evokes good memories.

4.  I am left handed, but figured out soon after computers came on the scene that it was easier to learn to use my right hand to control the mouse, than have to move the mouse whenever I used a computer someone else had used.  Is this an accommodation that most lefties have made?  I’ve never noticed what other lefties do about that.

5.  I mended a sock once.  When Hubby and I first got married, he showed me a sock with a hole in the toe, and said his mom would have darned it.  So, I got (probably bought!) a needle and thread and set about mending his sock.  When I was done, yeah, the hole was darned, but there was a huge mass of thread that would have taken up the room of a sixth toe in his shoe.  We decided right then that we would throw away socks with holes in them.  A great idea, we, especially I, have never regretted.

6.  I have only eaten liver once in my life.  That time, it stuck to the roof of my mouth and tripped my gag reflex.  I’ve never had any interest in trying it again.

7.  When I was a little girl, if I was sick, Mama’s “comfort food” for me was milk toast.  A piece of toast buttered and generously sprinkled with sugar, put on a plate and hot milk poured over it.  Don’t knock it ’til you’ve tried it!

Phew!  There they are.  Facts you didn’t even know you needed to know about me!

The Pitcher and Bowl

 

Yesterday, Beth at C. Beth’s Blog tagged me to go to my on-line photo albums and post the sixth picture in the sixth album, and tell what memories or thoughts it evokes.

So, here’s the picture.  It is of an antique bowl and pitcher that now sit on an antique dresser in our spare bedroom.  We kept a few antiques from the farmhouse and the majority of them now reside in our guest room.

I took this picture with the idea that I would tell a story about it “sometime,” so I guess “sometime” has arrived!

Hubby grew up in the family farmhouse where he lived with his parents, brothers and sisters and his grandma. 

When he was a young teenager, because of some rearranging of bedrooms and who slept where, and decisions that were being made about where all the pieces of furniture would go, this pitcher and bowl that Grandma had always loved and displayed, suddenly didn’t have a “home.”  So, Grandma looked around for someplace where it could still be displayed, and settled on a corner of the small bedroom that Hubby now had.

Now, I know you’re not surprised to hear that a 13 year old boy wasn’t particularly interested in having an ol’ pitcher and bowl taking up space on a chest of drawers in his bedroom!  But, he loved his grandma, and she did “sweeten the pot” a little.  She told him that if he would let the bowl and pitcher share his bedroom now, when he grew up and got married, he could have it.  That idea intrigued him so the deal was struck.

From then on, the bowl and pitcher lived in Hubby’s bedroom, even after Grandma died when he was 16.  And, when we got married, one of the things that he brought to our marriage was this lovely old pitcher and bowl.

When I look at it, I see a reminder of by-gone generations of Hubby’s family who “washed up” in the morning using it.  But also, it reminds me of the special bonds that develop in a home that houses three generations of a family.  I envy the experiences that go along with an extended family like that.  I think it must have been a wonderful way to grow up.

Trivial Me . . .

 

My blogging friend, Karen from New Zealand, but currently residing in the western U.S., has tagged me for a list of several “little known facts” about myself.  I’m not fond of doing these, but I am fond of Karen, so here goes . . .

1.  I was a member of the speech team in high school and competed in speech tourneys in . . . poetry reading!  I think that is what inspired me to write poetry, and I still have a poem I wrote Hubby back then.

2.  I also belonged to Masque and Gavel, the high school theater group.  In the 3-act play we performed in my senior year, Mr. Barry’s Etchings, I played a lady gangster, named Fifty Farris.  Acting is fun, but I hate having to memorize lines.

3.  The summer Gunny was 9 and DD was 7, I was laid off from my job at the major truck manufacturer, so the kids and I spent alot of time at the public pool not too far from our house, and it was, consequently, the only summer in my adult life that I remember having a realllly nice tan.  I was also very “domestic” that summer.  I canned tomatoes for one of the few times in my life.  I also grew and froze green beans and made egg noodles!  I was a real “Betty Crocker” !

4.  I love Triple Yahtzee, but I was dragged kicking and screaming to it by Mama.  She developed a love for that game about 30 years ago, and consequently when she would come for a visit she always brought her Yahtzee score pads and dice and chose that to play when playing a game was suggested.  I don’t remember why I didn’t enjoy the game, but I played it because she enjoyed it so much.  But, at some point, I “turned the corner” and became a Triple Yahtzee fan too.  Now when I get together with my sisters, we enjoy playing Triple Yahtzee and remembering times we played it with Mama — and what encredible luck she had! 

Here is Mama and me in the 70’s — after dinner, and right before a lively Triple Yatzee game, I’m sure.

4.  I like sports, I think, more than most women.  What makes me think that is how surprised the truck salesmen I dealt with were when I could talk sports with them!  (It was pretty fun to hear their surprise if I knew more about a team or player than they did!)

5.  When I turned 16 in 1962, Daddy gave me his sharp, baby blue 1958 Chevy Impala, and he bought a new car.  How cool was that?  Only draw-back was the reason he gave it to me.  Mama didn’t drive, so I was given a car so that I could now be her “designated driver.”  I really didn’t mind that assignment, especially since it got me a car (!), but I think life was pretty exciting for Mama sometimes being driven around by such an inexperienced driver.  I especially remember her getting excited when I drove a little fast coming down the circular exit ramp in a parking garage.  Brakes are only for emergencies, right?  We lived, but I think Mama’s hair got alot more gray that day.

I have NO picture with my adored ‘58 Impala.  An accident?  I think not.  It probably had bad memories associated with it for the photographer, Mama. 

6.  When I was 7 or 8, Mama and I were visiting our relatives in Kansas City, and one evening my aunt took us to play miniature golf, which I had never played before.  Well, apparently I should have had more specific instructions on how the game was played because I must have only heard the word golf, and thought that meant the game Daddy played.  Daddy loved playing golf, and he was a big fan of Sam Sneed, and he would practice his “Sam Sneed” golf swing in the back yard.  Sooooo, when it was my time to hit the ball on the first hole of miniature golf, Daddy’s “Sam Sneed” swing just popped into my mind, and I swung my club not like I was putting, but like I was driving on the fairway!  Unfortunately, Mama was standing right behind me, and I gave her a black eye!  I was really sorry I had hurt Mama, and, no surprise, it was years before my parents gave me the opportunity to try miniature golf again.   I believe that was the same visit when some of the relatives took us out to dinner, and Mama told them I never ate more than one piece of chicken, so they ordered accordingly, and I ate three.  Black-eyed and embarrassed by her child’s gluttony, Mama took me home at the end of our “fun-filled week.”  I bet the KC relatives had alot of stories they enjoyed telling after we left.

Here’s me (on the right) and a little fellow Blue Bird on a day when I didn’t hit anyone with a putter or eat my weight in fried chicken!  (Do you think Mama got back at me for the golf incident by giving me that perm?)  BTW, I have nooooo idea why this picture is so big.  One of those mysteries of life!

 

7.  I have taught all of my grandchildren the Hokie Pokie, as soon as they were able to stand.  It’s a cute little sing-song dance that is easy for them to learn, and easy for them (and me!) to do.  I wonder if they will be embarrassed if I ask that they dance the Hokie Pokie with me at their wedding receptions? 

That’s it, folks!  I’m not going to pass this on to anyone specific, because . . . well just because.  So, if you can think of 7 pieces of trivia about yourself, please consider yourself tagged.  You’re it!

Winners! Then Off to the Garage Sale!

I’m on my way out the door to go to Candy’s for our garage sale.  But first I wanted to tell you who won the two gift certificates — they are Julie and Amy O! 

Julie — since you’re my niece, I already have your address!  But, please leave me a comment here about what kind of gift certificate you would like.  Congratulations!

Amy O — please leave me a comment here with your choice for your gift certificate and your e-mail address and I’ll e-mail you to get your mailing address.  Congratulations!  Thanks for being a commenter!

Thanks to all of you who commented on my 200th post.  You are great support for me!

Two Milestones = Two Prizes

This is my 200th post and I have been blogging for one year.  If there is a “speed limit” in the blogsphere, I hope it isn’t less than 200 PPY’s!  I tend to have a ”lead foot,” so I have to be careful about things like that. 

On the other hand, I read Pioneer Woman, who with her multiple blogs and prolific writing, I am sure posts at least 500 PPY!  Now, I’m suddenly feeling the other way — like I’m the little ol’ lady chugging along in the passing lane, with people like PW thinking, “Pleassssse move over and let me pass!”  Okay.  I’m pulling over so that I can concentrate on writing this milestone post, so you “speedster’s” can get around.  You can thank me later.

I don’t want to make this sound toooo “momentus” but you know how there are certain events in your life that you can look back on and think, “Hmmm, that didn’t seem like a big deal when I decided to do it, but it really was a life-changing decision!”?  Well, this was definitely one of those.

When DD started to blog about 1 1/2 years ago, she would ask me, “So, are you reading my blog?”  And, I’d give some lame excuse, because I just wasn’t interested.  I honestly don’t remember why, except that I didn’t understand what it was all about. (I’m sure I gave her the same glazed look I get from some of my friends who don’t understand blogging, when I mentioned my  blog.) 

Well, she mentioned it often enough, and said that it would help her readership if I left witty comments (clever girl, appealing to my vanity), so I finally started reading it.  And, I was hooked.  I’ve always known she was great with words, so I should have known that it would be fun to read, but also I found out that that was a great way to hear things that were going on in her and her family’s lives.

After I had been a regular “commenter” for her for a while, she started badgering me to start my own blog!  (Give the girl a foot; she’ll want a mile!)  I pled ignorance on how to do that — so, she did it for me!  Can you say “persistent?”  She literally set everything up for me and then told me how to get to the place where I could type in a post, and then how to publish it.  Like magic!  I was a blogger! 

So, right now I want to say, “Thank you DD, from the bottom of my heart.  I would never have done this without you.  Thank you for knowing me well enough to know I would enjoy it, if you could just get me started.  You were right.  In some ways you know me better than I know myself, daughter of my heart.  I love you.”

My year of blogging has been a year of personal growth, making many new friends and tremendously expanding my horizons by reading about other bloggers’ (and commenters — mine and other’s) thoughts, beliefs, challenges, experiences and humor.  I used to read novels — now I read real-life — blogs!  I have literally cried and prayed after blogs I have read — and also laughed out loud many, many times!

The wonderful new relationships and thoughts (and photos — oh my — the photos) that other bloggers have “given” me have piqued my interest in learning things that will improve what I put on my own blog.  In direct response to that, in the last year I have taken classes in writing and photography, I have learned much about the “mechanics” of blogging from a computer consultant (although I have a lonnnng way to go in this regard), and I have registered for classes in editing photos and blogging that I will be taking before the end of the year.  “Expanded my horizons” seems like such a “pat” phrase, but it truly applies here.

Finally, I want to thank all of you who have taken this journey with me as readers and commenters.  As much as I have enjoyed the whole process and putting my ideas down on “paper,” I know that I would have lost interest, if it weren’t for the commenters who have affirmed or debated things I have said, or added their own experiences, and for those of you who don’t comment, but I know are reading because of the stats.  Thanks to all of you for giving me an “audience” to “speak” to.

In that regard, I would like to give two of you a gift to show my appreciation to all of you for your support.

I will send a $50 gift card to two readers, and you can pick the kind of card — Wal-mart, Cracker Barrel, DeBrand Chocolates, Applebee’s, Best Buy, Macy’s.  If you win, you name it — I’ll send it.

Just leave a comment on this post within the next three days.  I will draw the winners and post them on Friday.

Thank you, friends, for making this so much fun.

Six Random Things About Me

Jen at “A Single Mom’s Journey Through Life” has tagged me for six random things about me.  As I’ve said before, I’m not a big fan of tags, but I am a big fan of Jen’s, so I’m going to do it.  Here goes:

1.  I loved Alf, the TV show in the 80’s about a little furry creature from outer space that crash landed in a family’s back yard, and then lived with them.  So, I received two seasons of Alf on DVD’s as a gift a few years ago.  About the same time I received them, DD’s two oldest daughters got old enough to come to stay with us without Mom and Dad.  So, the girls and I would watch endless episodes of Alf during our “slumber parties” every night.  And even though they’ve seen all of the episodes many, many times, they still enjoy watching them with me, or maybe they just enjoy watching me watching them, and laughing like crazy!

2.  When I was 15 years old, my big sister Jean came home for a visit in her super “cool” Ford Thunderbird convertible.  When my guy friend, Denny M. stopped over (as opposed to my boyfriend, Hubby-to-be, Denny was just a friend), I asked Jean if Denny and I could go to the drug store for a coke in her cool car.  We were both surprised when she said yes!  Especially, since Denny was only 15 too, so neither one of us was old enough to drive!  But, we certainly didn’t let a technicality like that stop us.  (She said later she “assumed” Denny had a driver’s license, but didn’t bother to ask!)  Denny drove, and we cruised all around the neighborhood so that all our friends could see us in the super-cool T-bird!  Luckily, we returned her wonderful car unharmed, but what was she thinking?

3.  I had BIG babies.  Both times, when I had one of them and they were weighed, I was immediately tested for diabetes, because apparently having big babies is a trait of diabetics.  Gunny was our first baby and he weighed 10 lb. 4 oz.  So, of course, as soon as I got pregnant the second time, I wondered how big the next one would be, since I had always heard that each baby a woman has tends to be bigger!  Needless to say, I was very pleased when DD arrived at a “petite” 9 lb. 7 oz.  We have always said we only had two because we didn’t want “them” to outnumber “us.”  But, the prospect of having a 14 lb. baby may have figured into it a little bit too.

4.  The first house we owned had been a grain barn for about 80 years before it had been moved up closer to the street and made into a house.  When we remodeled one of the upstairs bedrooms and, in the process, tore the walls off, we found petrified soy beans inside the walls!

5.  I can fall asleep while watching TV or while others are talking and laughing in the same room where I am, but when I go to the bedroom to “officially” go to sleep, I have to have the room pitch black, cool and absolutely quiet, or I can’t go to sleep.

6.  When I was very little I was given two chicks at Easter — one pink and one blue.  (I have no idea where this idea came from, but it was popular for quite a few years to give little kids dyed chicks for Easter.  It seemed perfectly natural at the time, but sounds really strange now, doesn’t it?)  We kept ”Randy and Sandy” (I had no idea what gender they actually were.) in a pen in the back yard until they grew into, well, chickens, and weren’t cute any more (and had a definite “barnyard” smell).  Then Daddy took them away to, he said, “a farm where they could be happy.”  My guess is he was shielding me from the realities of life and that we actually ate Randy and Sandy.

There you have it.  Unedited me, in all my randomness.