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!

MY FRIEND NANCY - MY SOUL SISTER!

I have to tell you about my friend Nancy, God love her!  I am fortunate to have a very, very good friend who I love like a sister even to the point that I could at times ring her neck.  Considering Nancy is 72 years old, she is a little uneducated in the ways of women.  One day we were chatting and Nancy asked me what bling was.  I patiently? explained that it is any shiny jewelry, crystals, diamonds, jewels, etc.  I thought she had it until the next time I saw her and she said to me “Look, I’m wearing bling!”  And she pointed to a very small, delicate gold necklace.  I gave up on the explanation until her 70^th birthday when I gave her a toe ring with a small crystal on it and told her “Now, you’ve got bling!”

I always tell Nancy that she spends tooooo much time in front of the TV and this proved true one day when she asked me “What is a ho?” and I almost choked.  After finding out what context she had heard it used in I explained that if she would spell it differently then she would get it.

 

Then I decided that she needed to brighten up her beige wardrobe and I suggested to her that she needed to wear some bright colors.  Of course, I was thinking, teal, fuchsia, or maybe red.  But Nancy showed up one day and said “Ta Da” so of course I glanced at her and said “Ta Da What!”  Nancy gave me a disgusted look and said, “Look how bright I am!”  I looked and I looked and finally I said “Where?”  Nancy informed me that she had on a new blouse, white with little itsy bitsy pale pink flowers on it.  Oh well, I succeeded with the bling but lost out on the bright.



This is Nancy looking like a star!



Nancy has asked me to explain about several things through the years, some of them not printable, and I laugh and tell her the best I can.  The latest question was as to why a woman needed more than one shade of eye shadow to which I explained about shading while she just stood there and looked at me as if I had gone off my rocker.  I have a feeling that if by 72 she hasn’t got it, she never will but I love her dearly anyway.  Maybe it’s because of all those tight, tight perms she gets in her short, short hair.

Now in case you think I am picking on Nancy, you’re wrong.  She is a great friend and has been a source of inspiration as well as comedy relief over the years and I don’t know what I would do without her.  She is my soul sister, the sister I always wanted.

Wishing you Joy and Laughter Everyday!