FAMILY & FRIENDS – CHRISTMAS 2011

I got to spend Christmas Eve and stay overnight with Cat and her family again this year.  Boy, I would not have missed this for anything.  On Christmas Eve they get to open the gift that Charley (their 100# black lab) gets for them and this year it was a dance game for their KNEX.  Each one of them took turns dancing to the video and what a crack up.  Of course the next day there was more dancing and playing with Rob’s new Frisbee.  Cat had decided that they were going to get off of their duffs and start moving to get healthier and she certainly picked two great things for it.  Even her hubby was out of his recliner and dancing around but poor Charley has an ear infection and just laid there snoring and occasionally waking up to see what his people were doing.  We turned on the TV as soon as we got up Christmas morning because one of the channels were showing a Yule log burning in a fireplace until 10 am with Christmas music.  It was cool in their house and I kept going over to the “fireplace” and warming my hands and of course, my backside.  We managed to finish opening gifts by the time the “fire” went out and the kids went back to dancing.



It's pretty in blue too!

 Cat pickup up a set of three really cute red polka dot baking dishes and she kept one, gave me one and the last one to her mother-in-law, Linda.  Then this morning I got an emergency call from Linda.  She wanted Cat to have all three of the red polka dot dishes so she went out and the store was out of the red so she bought a set of blue polka dot dishes and came down and traded me a blue for a red in the same size.  It was nice of her to want Cat to have the entire set and to go to all the trouble to replace mine.  We visited for a while and had a nice time.

So we opened our gifts by the “fireplace”, had some wonderful hot chocolate (made my Land O Lakes, if you can find it, buy it, it’s really special) watched the family dance their little tushes off, gave Charley his treats and ate ourselves into oblivion.  What more can you ask of Christmas, lots of good food and even better company.

Wishing you Joy and Laughter Everyday!

FAMILY & FRIENDS – MERRY CHRISTMAS

Okay, so here’s the story.  I had planned to post a lot of Christmas stories to put everyone in a warm and fuzzy mood but, as they say, life is what happens when you are busy making plans.

And on top of everything else backing up on me, half of my kitchen lights went out so I am pretty much in the dark here.  No, don’t say it, no, no, no.  Oh you just had to think it didn’t you, that I am pretty much in the dark all of the time anyway and here’s a big HO! HO! to that one. (That’s me laughing!) 

So I will get to the Christmas stories later but for right now I want to welcome aboard all the people from all the countries who follow this blog and wish all of you and yours a very

 

       Merry Christmas

Wishing you Joy and Laughter Everyday!

FRIENDS, CHOCOLATE MOVIES AND ICE CREAM, OH YEAH!

Every now and again Carole shows up at my house with a little something to make my life brighter.  Several times she has dropped off a little fabric for my quilting or purse making.  I’m just as likely to get candy, ice cream or even a steak.  When I was sick she showed up with a supper package of soup and warm delights.

A while back she brought me dinner in a bag (I had to cook it myself), a can of green beans, a package of instant potatoes and a steak.  Then just last week Carole called and told me to meet her in the carport.  This time she brought me an entertainment package.  A bag of popcorn, 4 chocolate Dove bites, a half-gallon of spumoni ice cream and two videos.  My only disappointment was that she didn’t stay to share them with me.

She occasionally gets ticked at Alan and has to vent (and who doesn’t).  Once after they had an argument, she called and said she needed to get out and would treat me to a movie.  We never saw the movie but we did end up sitting in front of Michaels on yet another bench while she pored her heart out.  It took cruising through two stores and some frozen yogurt before she was ready to go home. Been there, done that, got the t-shirt.

That’s why I appreciate my friends so much.  Always ready to lend an ear or some chocolate and always, always be on your side because men are such twits, thankyouverymuch!

Wishing you Joy and Laughter Everyday!

FAMILY. DID YOU SURVIVE THANKSGIVING?

I was on my feet in the kitchen form 10 til 5:30 when we finally ate.  Thank God for my daughter's mother-in-law.  I walked in the kitchen after dinner and turned around and walked out.  Linda came in and did all the dishes and put food away.  It was a blessing.

We ate late because my daughter volunteered her family at her church.  They packed over 6500 dinners for the needy.  They packed turkey until it ran out then switched to ham, then to chicken and finally carnitas.  I guess they had volunteers running all over town picking up food donations, cooking and packing.  We tried to do this years ago but whenever we asked to help, we were told that they didn't need any more help so I'm glad she finally got the chance to do it and she did get a soft, warm fuzzy spot for thanks.

Just so you know, the best ever after Turkey day sandwich is:

Spread cream cheese on bread then spread cranberry sauce over it, put on your turkey slices and top with bean sprouts and sunflower seeds.  Yum!

Well actually the best part is the pumpkin pie for Friday's breakfast.

Fawn was grumbling because her daughter didn't make dressing for the bird, so Friday night I loaded up all the left overs from my fridge, showed up at her house and we had a feast.

Years ago, Cat made an 8x8 Thanksgiving album and every year we get two new decorated pages.  One page is for each family member to write on as to what they are thankful for.  Then we take a picture of all of us and it goes on the other page.  It is so much fun to go back over the book each year and read what people have said and see how the two grandkids have grown.

And speaking of pictures.  Did you ever notice WHEN the camera comes out. It doesn't matter where you are or the occasion they never bring that sucker out at the start when you are fresh, have on lipstick and look your best. NO! They wait until you are tired and frazzled, the lipstick is long gone, you've got foot in your teeth and a dazed look in your eye. I think that's probably why I never take a good picture.

Wishing you Joy and Laughter Everyday!

GIRLFRIENDS - I JUST LOVE THESE TOO FUNNY GALS!

One night a while back we had another dice game at my house, this time I served cheese and crackers with Fawn’s wonderful Jalapeno pepper jelly.  Just to get off the point a second (or two), this jelly is delicious and especially good with a smidgen over cottage cheese – any who see the recipe on the recipe page.  Okay, back to the dice game – Fawn and Margaret once again paired up against Nancy and me and were giving us a hard time.  They were saying something particularly nasty about us and Nancy looked at me and said, “Do the think we can’t hear them?”  I told her that they were old and thought they were whispering and they would probably start spelling things next.

Less than a minute later, Fawn looked at Margaret and said something about us but spelled every word, about half way through the sentence we all really looked at Margaret and saw this really blank look on her face.  So once again, we are in a fit of giggles.  Later, we all got to telling some really funny dirty jokes but I’ll just skip that.

I should tell you that my dining room set is only seven years old and that explains why I haven’t had the time to take the plastic off of the seats yet, well that and the fact that they are upholstered in white.  Now I’m kinda thinking about not taking the plastic off because sometimes when you sit down it sounds a whole lot like a whoopee cushion and is good for some chuckles.  What can I tell you, you gotta get your laughs anywhere you can.

We were chatting about “special talents” and I told them how my sister could raise just one eyebrow and I had tried many times but it just wasn’t happening for me.  So Fawn, the brat, easily raised just one eyebrow and the rest of us spent several funny minutes trying to raise just one of our brows.  Fawn won that one, hands down.  She can whistle too and that really impresses me.  I have tried and tried to whistle but I just get a sick little windy sound.  What I would really like to learn is that sharp piercing whistle where you put two fingers in your mouth, well anyway I was never that great at blowing bubbles either.

Fawn called this morning and we were laughing about her spelling again when I finally fessed up and told her that when she first started spelling, I wasn’t getting it either and about half way through I finally caught on that she wasn’t speaking Greek.

Wishing you Joy and Laughter Everyday!

FRIENDS – OH MAN, I WANT ONE OF THOSE!

When I moved in the park I met Tanya at Crafty Ladies and she also comes to Ladies Bunco.  Tanya is from Cuba and has a lot of those old world values and ideas.  Her husband, who was older than her, passed away a few years ago and Tanya stayed in full mourning for a year wearing her dark clothes.  Shortly after she lightened up her wardrobe she started getting out more and her sense of humor really clicked in.  Tanya is one of the most fun people to be around, she cooks like a dream and has a heart as big as all outdoors.

Not too long ago I noticed Tanya wearing a Jewish Star on a chain around her neck and I asked her, “Tanya, I thought you were Catholic”?  She said, “I am” and pulled out her cross from under her blouse.  I laughed and told her that she was just like Elvis, trying to cover all of her bases, “Just in Case”.

Recently Tanya bought a trike.  For you younger people, a trike is a full size bicycle but with two wheels in the back.  Now she didn’t get just any trike.  No, not our Tanya!  Her trike is pink with a chrome basket in the back, a pink basket in the front and a surrey type covering over it because as Tanya explained “I am not a sun worshiper”.  It is the cutest darn thing I’ve ever seen.  I think that maybe I need one too, maybe in red or purple or….

Wishing you Joy and Laughter Everyday!

FRIENDS AND LAUGHTER – OTIS THE WEINER VAMPIRE LIZARD

And then on Halloween night, just about dark there came a loud knocking on my door.  When I opened it there stood Carole and Alan and Otis.  Alan handed me a baggie with three cookies in it and told me that they were reverse Trick or Treating.  Oh goodies!  Yum!

Then Carole said, “I know how you hate lizards so I brought you one” and there stood Otis in his lizard costume that Carole had made.  I thought I was going to have to lay down on the floor to get a good picture of Otis but then decided that since it was Sunday and late at night the crane people would charge double or triple to get me back up again so Carole helped Otis pose for me and I leaned way over and took these shots. 

Carole who makes all the costumes wasn’t wearing one but Alan came dressed as a ???, I don’t know how that relates to a weiner lizard but it was sure fun and I really enjoyed the laughter.  Well, just see for yourself, presenting Otis The Weiner lizard!

Well here it is Halloween again and at around 10 this morning Carole came a knocking on my door.  She shouts out “Happy Reverse Trick or Treat!”  and hands me three bags of candy and cookies.  Yummy!  Seems like Carole and Lynn are out and about on Lynn’s golf cart delivering goodies.  Well, that and showing off Otis the Vampire Weiner Dog.  I’m not sure he looks like a vampire, maybe more like a bat and he sure doesn’t look very happy but that’s okay, Mama is very happy and just so you know, Carole makes all Otis’s costumes as well as her grandkids too.

Wishing you Joy and Laughter Everyday!

FRIENDS AND LAUGHTER – THE CAT IN THE HAT’S BOO BERRY BREAKFAST!

October was so much fun last year.  Every month our park has a breakfast and of course being October Carole decided that this morning’s breakfast would have a Halloween theme.  We had Boo Berry muffins, Ghost Toast and, well you get the idea.  Carole decided that if you came in costume you got a treat.  No, I didn’t go in costume and neither did Bea but we sat at a table with Lynn, Ken and Mickie who each had a colored hankie with a face pinned on their shirts.  Ken took his off so when Carole came around giving out treats for costumes I grabbed Ken’s scarf and said, “Look I’ve got a costume and then Bea grabbed it from me and said, “Me too!”  So our whole table got the treats.  Did you ever think that you would hear of a bunch of elderlys pulling a stunt like this?  Well, just wait until I tell you what the treat was that we were all pulling this nonsense to get.  We each got a pair of plastic wind up false teeth so of course, we sat there and wound them up and played with them.  Hey, you gotta get your laughs any where you can! 

Carole even managed to create a costume that has a hat.  So here she is:  the cat in the hat in all her finery. Notice the tail, she swished her tail all over breakfast.  I really have to hand it to her husband Alan because he gets right into the spirit of thing with her.

Wishing you Joy and Laughter Everyday!

FAMILY – IT’S MY BABY’S BIRTHDAY

Every year on Cat’s birthday I spend the day thinking about the day she was born and a lot of time thinking about her as a baby, a toddler, a kid, a teenager, a young woman, an adult, a wife and a mother.  Yep, I pretty much relive her whole life on this day and since I was there it’s a flashback of my life too. We have been together for each of our birthdays through her life and I thought we were going to miss last year.  Well, let me tell you what happened.

Cat had her gall bladder removed a couple of years ago and her stomach has been bothering her ever since so Friday she went in for an upper GI (yucky!) and they removed a lot of polyps from (we aren’t quite sure where) her stomach, intestines, somewhere down there.  They put her on a bland soft food diet for a week and NO CHOCOLATE FOR TWO WEEKS!  Well, this pretty much shot any Happy Birthday Celebration we could have.

 I talked to Cat the evening before her birthday and she absolutely, positively, no way wanted to do anything for her birthday, she wanted to wait a couple of weeks and then celebrate.  When I got up that morning I was going to go over there with some birthday pudding or birthday yogurt or birthday applesauce but then I decided that if she didn’t want to do anything I should really honor her wishes.  Bummer!

8:30 on her birthday morning Cat calls and tells me that a friend is taking her out for tea and that was enough to put her in a good enough mood to ask me for over dinner that night.  “How much yogurt are we going to eat?”  I asked.  But she said we are carbing out with April’s Alfredo Sauce over Noodles, Inger’s Yummy Potatoes and orange or lemon cake.  Sounds good to me, I’ll be there at 6, home rubbing my tummy by 8 and happy because once again that we got to spend part of her birthday together.

Both of these dishes are especially good, we call the Alfredo Sauce “Heart Attack On A Plate” because it is so rich.  You can find both on the recipe page.

For Cat’s birthday this year, she had a Girl Scout thing going in the afternoon and Ray wasn’t feeling well so I had just Cat and the kids over for a birthday dinner.  We had been at Kohl’s a few days before and I found a book titled “I’ll Always Love You”.  It is a special little book and one of the lines in it is that whether you are a baby or a grown adult, I’ll always love you.  So of course I had to get this for Cat and I attempted eggplant parmagana with spaghetti and salad.  (It came out really good) and I made our favorite birthday cake; spice cake with bunches of milk chocolate frosting.  Good thing that we pigged out because a couple of days later she found out that both her and Ray have diabetes. 

Anyway, we had a fun evening.  Rob and Mags were chatting back and forth so we couldn’t get a word in edgewise.  BUT that’s a good thing because they are four years apart and it has taken until the last couple of years for them to finally stop fighting and become friends.

Just for fun, please leave a comment wishing Cat a Happy Birthday and I’ll make sure she sees it.  While you are at it Ray’s birthday is next week.

Wishing you Joy and Laughter Everyday!

FRIENDS – FAWN’S FUNNY VACATION

While I was house and cat sitting for Fawn, she was in Missouri for her 60^th. high school reunion.  Yes you read it right – her SIXTIETH reunion.  This was a memorable trip for her because she felt like it might be the last time that she got to see these people and places where she grew up so she spent a lot of time traveling around talking to people and seeing places.

At first she told me that she got a ticket and she guessed she deserved it for going 80 mph.  When the rest of the story came out slightly different.  Yes, she was doing 80 and at times that darn rental car would creep up toward 85 or 90 and she would ease back.  But she got the ticket because a car pulled in behind her and she thought, “Well this guy wants to get around me so I had better speed up and pass all of these cars”.  You see Fawn hadn’t been in Missouri for years she didn’t recognize that is was a Highway Patrol officer. 

When she finally realized her mistake and pulled over she was laughing and told the officer what she had done.  He laughed too but still gave her a whopping ticket.

Miss Innocent!

How was Fawn’s trip?  Well Fawn had an all around good time because she got to see old friends and meet some new ones, visit her old homeland and she even got pinched on the butt at the reunion.  She says she also got $133.00 worth of fun (the price of the ticket) just telling people about her escapade!  I’d say she had a great time!

Wishing you Joy and Laughter Everyday!

FAMILY – GONE SHOPPING – GONE NUTS

A couple of weeks ago I met Cat at Kohls because we needed to do some bra shopping.  Buying bras is a chore for both of us and we have to try on dozens of the suckers because we are so hard to fit.  You think I’m kidding, we walked in Kohls at 10:30 and out around 3:00.

We had just got there and were standing in the bra department when Cat looks over at me and says, “Mom, do you have to go pee?”  I answered with my usual “What!” and a mom look.  Cat says that she has a funny story for me and wanted to make sure I could stand still for the whole thing.  So I told her, no, I didn’t have to pee and to go ahead and tell me.

It seems like that morning she had a houseful of kids (not unusual, that house seems to attract stray kids) and she had taken Charley outside to walk up and down the sidewalk while she was on her cell phone.

Apparently they did enough walking that Charley decided to squat and do his business in a neighbor’s yard about 4 or 5 houses down the street.  Cat saw what he was doing and was horrified.  She told Charley “You are a 100 pound Lab, you are not a Chawawa (spell check says “What!”)  and you will hold it until we get home.  She turned him around and started home talking to him all the way.  She said that Charley was almost walking on his tiptoes trying to hold it in until they got home.  My humorous daughter even demonstrated how Charley was tipping down the sidewalk.   Yahoo!  They made it and so did I (to the bathroom).

Well by this time we are hanging onto the bra racks laughing so hard that we’re crying.  We had everyone in that part of the store looking at us like we were nuts. 

I was telling the girls at craft class about this and one of them said, “He must be really afraid of her”.  They don’t get it, Cat is Charley’s mama, and he dearly loves her and would do anything she asked of him. 

Wishing you Joy and Laughter Everyday!

FRIENDS AND LAUGHTER – TOO FUNNY HOT DICE GAME

Margaret and I started playing this crazy dice game, 500, several years ago.  Then a couple of months ago her daughter Nancy (a different Nancy) and Fawn joined us.  We started taking turns and on this Saturday night it was my turn to host.  I made a huge salad, heated some bread and had a German chocolate cake for dessert.  (Or is that desert?)  You know spell check doesn’t catch everything.  Anyway, we pigged out, carried out the dishes and sat down to a night of fun.

We were talking about marriage and Fawn looked over at Margaret and asked her who Nancy’s father was.  Absolutely deadpan, Margaret replies, “Hell, I don’t know”.





In 500 you don’t have partners, it’s every gal for herself but it soon became apparent very shortly that the two old gals were pairing off and rooting for me and Nancy to lose.  At one point, Nancy was rolling and I looked up and Fawn and Margaret both had the evilest look on their faces and they were doing the thing with their fingers, trying to hex the dice.  I elbowed Nancy to look at them and then I said, “Hey you guys better practice your aim, I’m getting a terrible case of crotch twitch!”  And at that point, we all just fell over laughing and two of us had to leave the table to go wee.  What more can you ask for than a great night of fun and laughter with good friends.

If any of you gals out there play 500, let me know and if you want to know how to play, just ask and I’ll be happy to tell you. 

Wishing you Joy and Laughter Everyday!

A WEEK AT THE CAT HOUSE

I spent the week at Fawn’s while she went to her high school reunion.  She said that she wanted me to baby sit the cats but I think that she wants me to fall in love with the idea of having a cat so that the next time she

has to relocate one it will come to my house.  NOT!  It’s just not working out that way.

You see Fawn has 5 cats, 6 when Cat Cat (the stray) decides to favor her with his presence and since I was going to watch 6 cats she volunteered to keep Gatsby while her granddaughter is out of the country.  Are you counting?  That’s SEVEN cats and just me to keep them in line.

Now cats are nocturnal meaning that they sleep all day and are on patrol all night.  On Tuesday, my first night here I didn’t get much sleep listening to seven sets of pitty paws roaming through the house.  Not only that but Gatsby has a bell around his neck and around two in the morning I was ready to chase Gatsby down and yank that bell off of his neck. 

It was around 3 am before I finally got to sleep and I got up Wednesday around 7:30 so YES, I was tired.  Every time I saw one of the little darlings napping, I had the urge to sneak up behind them and ring a bell.

It’s not as if these cats are spoiled but Fawn gave me special instructions for feeding them and take care of them so I thought no problem!  Three of them get their dishes put on the back porch, Cat Cat gets his in the kitchen, Muffie gets her dish wherever she wants it, Gatsby doesn’t eat wet food and the gray one, well when that little darling wants to eat, she meows and I am suppose to follow it into the laundry room rub it’s back and sing to it while it eats.  It meowed, I followed, I rubbed, I sang and it turned around hissed and made a lunge for me.  I ran (Yes, I can still move fast if I have to) and from a distance I gave that cat a little talking to along with some finger shaking.  We came to a meeting of the minds, she eats by herself and I don’t sing.

I made it until around noon before one of the cats upchucked a hairball in the dining room.  Thank heaven it was on the tile and not the carpet.  Now you have to understand that my queasy stomach doesn’t do well with warm, wet upchuck.  So I threw paper towels over it until it quit steaming and then cleaned it up.  Not too bad!  Ugh!

Cat Cat went out Wednesday morning and hasn’t been back inside yet but he does come to the back patio door, meows and wait for me to bring him some food.

Wednesday night I was really tired and just wanted to kick back and watch a little tv.  Each of the cats took turns coming in and demanding attention from me.  So on Thursday I was still tired but we all got along a lot better.  Except for Gatsby!  He is a young cat and really full of himself and he spent the day terrorizing poor Muffie until I finally had to give him a couple of squirts with the water bottle.  Amazing, how a little water straightened his young self right up.

Now it’s Friday and so far, so good.  I’m just not used to little people following me to the kitchen, to the bathroom, to the bedroom, to the porch and wherever else I go.  Hum, do you suppose Fawn told them to keep an eye on me?  It’s something to think about.

On Monday the hissey fitter appeared again as if nothing was wrong.  I did the finger shake again and she hissed again so I guess we have an understanding.  I woke up to find upchuck in the house but hey, the housecleaner is coming today so I very politely pointed it all out to her and went flying out the door home.

Fawn made it home Monday night and when I talked to her on Tuesday she was just amazed that I had so many problems with her darlings.  Go figure!  Incidentally whenever I am over there, that little gray fluff ball will come and wind around my legs and then hiss at me.  I guess she’s just letting me know who is boss.

Wishing you Joy and Laughter Everyday!

FRIENDS AND LAUGHTER – MY NEIGHBOR LIZ, OR ARE YOU WATCHING?

My neighbor Liz is a very nice lady who’s made it her mission to keep me informed about, oh lots of things.  Usually the first words I hear when she calls is “Look out your window”.  Thanks to Liz I have seen some beautiful sunsets, rainbows, pairs of geese strolling by with their babies and numerous other wondrous things.

Liz has brought me food from her Basque picnic each year.  Boy do those guys know how to eat!  Knowing that I’m on a tight budget, she called a while back when it was so hot and told me to turn off my A/C that there was a cool breeze blowing.  It’s so nice to be looked after.

We live on a lake and we are on the migratory route for Canada Geese, Cormorants and Coots along with several other birds but my very, very favorite are the big white pelicans that come down from Salt Lake.  These birds are amazing and they are huge with a 108” wingspan.  They are so majestic, regal and graceful as they swim around the lake.

The other night I got the “Look out your window” phone call again.  Liz said, “Do I see what I think I see?” and sure nuff, four of the white pelicans have come back early.  Last year they appeared on my birthday in November so to have them here in September is really a treat and a signal to us that maybe most of the HOT weather is behind us.

Liz called me the other day and said, “Are you looking outside, do you see what is on your porch railing?”  So I ran to the window and saw a HUGE Canada goose right where she said it would be so I told her that I was going out to take a picture and if she heard me scream to come and rescue me from the goose.  I grabbed the camera and went outside and the darn goose just almost posed for me until I got my picture and then I noticed that he was leaving me surprises all over and I decided to chase it off of the railing.  Ha!  Fat Chance!  I was out there waving a plastic thingie around like crazy and shouting at him and did he leave?  Yes, finally but only after he was good and ready!

Wishing you Joy and Laughter Everyday!

LAUGHTER – I COMPLETELY LOST IT!

I have a Lexmark printer because it is suppose to be one of the better ones for printing pictures (and this is mundo important to a scrapbooker) but it is also the worse one for the cost of the refills.  A black refill cost $38 and only prints about 100 pages.  A few months ago I went to Wal-Mart and bought a KODAK printer, you know with the $10 refills.  I even smarted off to the guy at the register that the refills were supposed to be $10 and they were charging $11 although I couldn’t get any because they were out.  So I went next door to Sam’s and bought refills for my new KODAK, brought the whole thing home and stuck it in the sewing room until I drained every last drop of ink out of my Lexmark.

Flash forward at least two months and the Lexmark is finally empty so I carried the KODAK out to the breakfast bar, opened the box, took a quick look at the directions and called Margaret to send her daughter Nancy over to install it for me.  Nancy came right over with some homemade chocolate chip cookies (gotta love that gal) and hooked up my KODAK printer for me.

The next day I packed up the Lexmark in the KODAK box and still had it on my breakfast bar a few hours later (Hey, there is no need to get in a hurry) when I happened to look over at the box and do you know what caught my eye?  Right there on my KODAK printer box it said in big letters CANON,  Yep, that’s right, I had bought the wrong printer and when I had gone to Sam’s I had got Kodak refills for my new CANON printer.

Cannon - doesn't that spell Kodak?

Am I keeping it?  Heck yes?  First off I could never get it back in the box, and then I would have to ask Nancy to come over again and I think that she is all out of cookies.

Flash forward a few more months.  Do I like my new Kodak/Cannon printer?  Well, it prints okay and I don’t have a problem with it making copies but the darn thing thinks for itself.  I tell it to do something and it grunts and groans and squeals and squeaks and finally it says “Oh, did you still want that?”  and it will print it for me.  My daughter’s Cannon does the same thing so obviously these new printers were designed by men!

Wishing you Joy and Laughter Everyday!

I WILL NEVER FORGET

There have been so many tragedies in our world but the most horrendous thing in our lifetimes happened on September 11^th.  About this time of year I get to thinking about it and how shocking it was (and still is) and how it changed our lives.

What I don’t understand is how people who we have never met could hate us because we are Americans. I don’t understand it and I condemn them for it.  There is no excuse in this world for the horrendous things that they did to our country on that awful day.  All those lives were uselessly ended, people were at first frightened and then angry and our safe world became a thing of the past.

Sometime this week please take a moment to remember the tragedy, honor the heroic people from that time and always be proud to be an American.

Wishing you Joy and Laughter Everyday!

FRIENDS – MAKING JELLY

I started canning in my 20’s when I discovered my grape vines were overloaded and I thought “Well, wouldn’t that make good jelly.”  From there I planted a garden and along with my apricot tree I started making jams and jellies and “put up” (can) fruits, veggies and make pickles but I haven’t done it for years. 



Fawn working the jelly



Fawn has a wonderful recipe for Jalapeno Jelly and she has shared some with me.  Its really good stuff and we haven’t found anything that it isn’t good on.  We decided to get together and invite another friend Fran to join is in a jelly making day last week.



Making a mess!



We showed in at Fawn’s normally spotless kitchen, got a glass of iced tea and went to work.  Fran and I split and seeded the jalapenos while Fawn was getting everything else ready and when it was finally on the stove and cooking we sat down and yes, you guessed it, had cheese and crackers with jalapeno jelly on them.  Yummy!



Fran taking a break





Just a little snack to tide us over.



As you can see in the picture, we pretty much destroyed Fawn’s kitchen but we had a good time and lots of laughter doing it.  We made about 20 jars that day and the next day Fawn made some more but then we finally quit to get back to that all-important game of dice.



What better way to spend a day than with friends doing something we love. 

Viola!  The finished jelly.

See the recipe page for Fawn’s Jalapeno Jelly. Try it, you’ll love it.

Wishing you Joy and Laughter Everyday!

FRIENDS DO MOVE AWAY

A couple of years ago I had a good friend move away when Pat moved to Arizona to be near her family.  We had been close when she was a neighbor because we shared a love of quilting.  We also had a similar past with ex husbands and we used to commiserate with each other for hours.  You know, sometimes you just need to vent, or bitch as the case may be.

Pat is a little short gal (more short hair) and when we went anywhere (usually a quilt store) she always put on her turquoise jewelry and looked great, she had a kind of artsy look about her.  But one day I heard something from my daughter and had to share it with her so I called her and told her that she wasn’t short, she is “Fun Size” like the candy, which she thought, was really funny.

Pat and I used to walk the park together in the morning until I started having trouble with my knee and had to quit.  We could do a couple of miles fairly fast and I have to say that as short as Pat’s legs are she managed to keep up with me but probably got twice the exercise taking twice as many steps.

When Pacific Fish opened Pat and I discovered $1 Taco Tuesday and we were there every week.  We spent many a Tuesday, fishing, chatting and laughing together.

Pat and Helen started our quilting group a few years ago.  When it came time to name it I wanted it to be called Stitch n’ Bitch but everyone else wanted Scrappy Quilters.  So Scrappy Quilters we became.  We meet every other Friday from 9 in the morning until whenever.  Through the years we have done several quilts where we started out with a pattern we all liked and each made our own quilt.  We made “Grandma’s Kitchen” which is my daughter’s favorite and then we each made a Christmas Tree quilt. 

Just before Pat moved we planned a lunch at her Scrappy Quilters meeting and I asked my daughter Cat to come over and make funnel cakes for our breakfast.  Oh man, were they ever good!  So good, that I’m sharing the recipe with you. (Look on the recipe page) She also took this terrible picture of all of us gals, just having fun.

Wishing you Joy and Laughter Everyday!

FRIENDS TO MY NAKED RESCUE

I got up the other morning (and yes, that’s still a good thing) and eventually meandered into the shower.  Hey, I’m old and it takes a while!  I’m in there soaking wet and I hear the pipes in the wall sounding off.  “Humm”, I think and once I got the soap off I turned the water off and the pipes are still screaming.  “Humm”, I think again, “Mighty strange, I don’t think they have done that before”.

Like I said, I’m old and a little slow.  So I start to dry off and as I bend over to dry my legs my ear gets near the door and I realize that the screaming is coming from outside of the bathroom.  I threw the towel around me and took off through the house like a shot because I suddenly realized what I was hearing was not the water pipes but the SMOKE ALARM and oh my God, I’m standing here naked!  (Yes, I can move fairly fast if I have too.)   

I didn’t see any flames so I yanked that sucker off of the wall and no matter how much I pounded on it I couldn’t get it to shut up so I was just about ready to throw it through the window when I noticed a hinge on one side.  Well of course, once I knew the trick it opened right up and I took the battery out.  But then I’m thinking “Am I on fire and is that smoke I smell and why did this sucker go off?” 

So I called Fawn who rushed right over and found me outside (Yes, I did manage to throw some clothes on) circling the wagons looking for flames.  We came inside and sniffed everywhere but the smoke smell was gone. 

Well, I did click the furnace on this morning for the first time and maybe it was the oil and dust burning off, or maybe not.  But anyway that smoke alarm is lying on my breakfast bar and I give it a dirty look each time I walk by.  Once I actually picked it up to give it a lecture when I noticed that there’s a little gizmo inside that says, “Caution, contains radioactive material”.  RADIOACTIVE MATERIAL!  You’ve got to be kidding me!  Now this makes me feel really safe that the thing that is suppose to protect me from going up in flames could harm me some other way.  Oh well, I guess I should be thankful that it didn’t go off in the middle of the night.

Wishing you Joy and Laughter Everyday!

FRIENDS - ANOTHER FUNNY LADY

Lynn is the other friend who is my age.  Actually she is a wee bit younger than me and never lets me forget it.  One day I was playing my music.  That’s Neil Diamond, Righteous Brothers, Cher, Roy Orbison, Abba (especially after Mama Mia), etc.  Now Neil and Abba are my singing and swaying music, Cher is my get up and dance (yes, by myself) music, but Roy Orbison just makes me feel good, really laugh out loud, dance in the kitchen, happy.  So while I was listening to Roy, Pretty Woman came on and wanting to share the fun, I called Lynn, told her to listen and turned up the volume really loud.  Can you believe that she laughed – at me!

Back to Lynn, she had a massive stroke and has to wear a brace on her right leg and doesn’t have much use of her right hand.  One day we went to lunch and I was sitting on her right side and her hand kept inching over on my leg.  I would casually poke her in the ribs, she would look down at her hand and using her left hand put it back in her lap where it would stay for a little while and then inch back toward my leg again.  She would apologize and said that sometimes her hand had a mind of it’s own but I just kept teasing her about trying to get a little too friendly with me We were laughing so hard that I’m sure she didn’t feel bad about it.

Lynn just needs a little help from her friends.  Most times I have to help lift her good leg to get in my car and when we are out eating she needs her food cut up for her.  It doesn’t bother any of us to do these things for her because she is a good friend and we want to be with her.

Lynn is another of my heroes.  I have several you know, women that I admire for one reason or another.  With Lynn it’s because she doesn’t let her disabilities get her down.  If I call her up and say, “Hey Lynn lets go to…” She is already getting her purse.  Lynn is usually always in a good mood and ready to laugh about whatever and fun with anything that we do.  

I have gradually worked myself into a financial bind and last year I finally realized that I’m in big time money trouble.  I so appreciate my friends because of their love and laughter but they also know about my troubles and that’s why they drop by with food occasionally.  My goodhearted friend Lynn took it one step farther and dropped off two gift-wrap bags on my porch just before Christmas last year.  She had bought each of my grandkids a digital camera because she knew that I couldn’t afford Christmas gifts.  When I called to thank her (and she also got a thank you card from both of my grandkids) she told me that she has certain charities that she donates to each year and decided that this time she would donate to people she knew who could use it.  I was so surprised and grateful for her thoughtfulness.

Wishing you Joy and Laughter Everyday!

MY FRIEND - THE HAT LADY

I met Carole a couple of years ago when she, her husband Alan, Otis and Jessie (their two wiener dogs) moved into the park.  My advise to Carole was to get out, join the social club, come to crafts and meet people.  She took it all to heart and has been on the social club board for two years now as an events coordinator.  Okay, that translates to chief cook and bottle washer.  But she has done a great job and has planned some fun events for all us “oldsters”.    Carole is my age, along with Lynn and that puts us among the youngest in the park.  I told Carole that because most of the gals are older than us, we have a different mind set and think a little differently as well as younger as far as things like music are concerned.  Carole and I have a lot in common because we both sew and like crafty things and occasionally we get together just so Carole can do a little venting. 

Carole always wears a hat of some sort, now I don’t mean once in a while or frequently, I mean she always has on a hat so that she has become known in the park as the hat lady.  Recently we were out to lunch and were sitting on the bench in front of the restaurant afterward chatting.  Somehow the subject of wrinkles came up and we were sitting there pushing and pulling our faces all around trying to see if we would look better with a face lift.  We were laughing so hard that we finally decided that we had better leave.

She was so upset a few weeks ago Jessie got really sick and after a humungous vet bill, passed away.  Then, wouldn’t you know it Otis got sick and besides more vet bills Carole spent her days sitting and holding him and loving on him.  But Hurrah!  Otis got better so now when Carole is out running about on her scooter, Otis is right there with her.


Wishing you Joy and Laughter Everyday!

FRIENDSHIP - SANDI - MY DITZY ALMOST LIFELONG FRIEND

And this brings me to Sandi (She always wanted to stress that it is spelled with an i).  What can I tell you about Sandi, she has been the constant friend in my life since we were 11 years old.  If you are counting and you promise not to figure out my age, we have been friends for 53 years.  Wow!  That’s mind-boggling.  The only times we were incommunicado was when she was married to Rick (the jerk) and the times she spent in Florida but that’s another story and here it is. 

Sandi’s parents divorced when she was fairly young and her mother moved to Florida and her dad remarried to Delores (Dee Dee) and lived in California.  Sandi went back and forth between the two during all her teenage years.  It was really hard for me to have a friend that was only here half of the time and every time she came back from Florida a southern accent came attached to her.

You have to be around Sandi for a while (or maybe not) to realize that she is really ditzy, verging on dingy.  She was ditzy at 11 and she is ditzy at 64.  I mean, come on now, who else would name her dog “Nookey” and who else would try to bathe a stray cat and end up with her arms shredded but a ditz. 

Sandi’s Dad bought her an old Ford and her boyfriend tried to move the shift from the column to the floor, it didn’t work and as long as she had the car, it had a big hole in the floorboard so when it rained, we got wet and when it was cold, we froze and when it was hot, boy were we hot!  I don’t know, maybe ditzy attracts ditzy, forget I said that before you decide that it relates to me.

Sandi has lived in Phoenix for several years but we talk on the phone usually every week.  If I don’t hear from her for a while, then my first question is always “Okay, what’s wrong”.  Trouble just seems to follow her.  But she is the one person in the world that I can say anything to without thinking about it.  We have been there through so many stupid things the other one has done and we still like each other anyway.  There’s something really comforting in that.

A good example of that is not too long ago, Sandi called and in the course of the chat she mentioned that someone had taken her picture and that she looked really ugly.  She kept going on and on about how ugly she was and why oh why didn’t anyone ever tell her she was ugly?  Then ditzy Sandi finally asked me, “Did you know that I’m ugly?”  Well, I’m not one to let an opportunity like that go by so in between my laughing fit I answered her, “Yeah, I always knew that but didn’t want to tell you!”  Can you believe that she didn’t laugh at all and even called me a dirty name?  Ah, friends, what would we do without them!

Oh and before I forget, Happy Birthday, Sandi, I love you and you are now officially older than dirt!

Wishing you Joy and Laughter Everyday!

MY FRIEND - MY INSPIRATION

I have known Fawn for several years and have volunteered several times to take her to one doctor appointment or another.  The first time Fawn asked me to drive her, I asked her if she could get up in my Jeep and if she couldn’t would she trust me to drive her car.  Fawn said “I’ll get right back to you”.  She called back shortly and said that she had called Judy who assured her that I was a good, safe driver so Fawn said she’d be happy to let me drive her car to get her to the doctor. You see, Fawn has cancer and has bravely withstood several chemo treatments, which, thank God, have been working for her. 

Fawn went into remission about the time Pat was moving and Pat suggested we have a party for Fawn, but I, in all my wisdom said that Fawn was a very private person and wouldn’t want one.  But then I talked to Fawn and told her that Pat was moving and she suggested we have a party for Pat.  (Okay, so I was wrong, wrong, and wrong, as I have occasionally been known to be.)  So we had a big going away party for Pat combined with a life celebration party for Fawn and it was great.  Everyone had a good time that is until the phone calls started coming in from the people who got their feelings hurt because they weren’t invited.  Can you see where this is going!  Fawn, being as softhearted as she is, decided that we needed another party for all those who got left out, and being afraid to forget someone else she put an ad in out little park paper and invited everyone in the park to come.  That was a fun party too but I did tell Fawn, “This is it – you get no more parties out of this”.

Fawn cooking up a storm!

About the time that Pat moved, Fawn and I became great friends.  I told Fawn (who is quite religious) that I thought God sent her to me so that I wouldn’t miss Pat so much.  Fawn and I started talking quite a bit and before long we were having hour plus phone chats several times a week.  We have the same backgrounds, she from Missouri and me from Oklahoma, husbands who were twits (or worse), the same dislike of phony people, similar political feelings and pretty much the same love of food, except I draw the line at Indian food.

I apologize to those who love Indian food before I say this, but I think the seasonings in Indian food taste just about as good as eating dirt.  (Not that I ever have, eaten dirt, that is.  Or maybe I have because when I was young I used to love to make mud pies.)  You notice I said young, not little, that’s because when you are six feet tall you were never little.

One of the things I love about Fawn is the laughter.  She just absolutely refuses to let life get her down and we always find something to laugh about, most of which I have sworn on my life not to repeat.  We often say that we are the best friends and worst enemies because we know so much about each other.  I can’t help but laugh along with Fawn because she has the sweetest little girl giggle it just makes me happy to hear it.

Seriously, Fawn is my hero.  I don’t think there is anything that she doesn’t know or know how to do.  She has even built a house from the ground up, including plumbing and electrical.  She designed and decorated her present home and it’s beautiful.  She has so many pretty things and her home is very serene and peaceful.  When I go over for lunch or dinner, she puts out all her gorgeous hand made or painted dishes, crystal, and her beautiful flatware.  The jelly, butter and condiments are put into little glass dishes.  We use cloth napkins and everything is just so girly and special.   When I remarked on it once she told me a story about someone saying “What are you saving it for, the next wife”.  But she also pointed out that she always puts one thing on the table in it’s original container, sometimes it’s the butter, or pickles, because that reminds her of her roots, not to get too caught up in being perfect and to remember that she didn’t always have nice things. 

Fawn's beautiful dining table!

Well, I could teach Fawn a few things about not being perfect.  The only time I even try is on holidays.  Other than that, it’s serving you out of the skillet, make a plate and sit anywhere.  Fawn has been a good influence on me, I don’t have near as many pretties as she does, but I have decided that YES, I need to start using them.  I made the decision, now I just have to put some action behind it.  What I keep thinking is – the more stuff you take out and use, the more dishes you have to do. Well, I’ll get to it some day.

We were both raised that the biggest meal of the day was dinner.  Dinner was at noon and supper was at night, usually a lighter meal.  We had a conversation recently about what our Mother’s used for napkins at the table in the olden days and neither one of can remember.  My family was poorer than hers and I can’t remember a tablecloth let alone napkins because this was the days before paper napkins, or paper anything.  I mentioned it to some other people and they can’t remember either.  Fawn is sure that her Mother used cloth napkins and I am just as sure that we probably wiped out mouth on the sleeve of our shirt (joke) or waited until the meal was over and washed them.  If any of you have insight into this very important question, I’d love to hear from you.

Wishing you Joy and Laughter Everyday!