Looking at old pictures

                                                          My mother and me ...

 Looking at pictures this morning....  I was lucky. Each summer I would spend a week with my grandmother  and then a week with my Mother... One year it was Broadstairs... one year it was Brighton....   By the way... those bathing suits were knitted of wool by my Mother. Once wet,  they became full of sand !!
  The last photo was my passport photo....


I also came across some pictures of my grand daughter....

She still loves to paint....

Christmas 2019...

talk talk talk

My daughter's step daughter stopped by today with a Christmas giftie. My other daughter was here too and also received a giftie. Nice to have Christmas extended!!

 Lacy had an awful night last night... she was babysitting for her niece and nephew while their parents went out. She took them to a kids' oriented pizza place  where her three year old niece seemed to stop breathing and was non-responsive. A busboy helped Lacy get her niece to another room ( the other room was too busy and too full of people) and then he called 911. The EMTs checked her out etc....nothing wrong. But still super scary.  But Lacy did everything right...
Her brother and his wife told her the same thing... but having us tell her was good!!

So after telling us this we spent lots of time talking politics... we all feel the same was about  what's going on here in the US!!

Not feeling much like cooking so found  an online coupon for Domino's Pizza and will go and pick it up later.  With a green salad we will be all set!! With tax and a donation to St. Jude's Hosp. for kids, it was less that $10.00.... and there will be enough for another night!

Vegging out

After a very nice Christmas... lots of food and drink and presents... Bob and I have been vegging out. Yesterday we made a trip to the UPS store to return two items and the library where we stocked up on books and movies just in case the weatherman is wrong and a storm arrives on Sunday.
Today it was a grocery store trip... the fresh veggie drawer in the fridge had gotten a little empty..lol. Then a stop at Hobby Lobby on the way home. I just finished a bear jacket and needed buttons! While I did this Bob did the laundry!! Good thing... we were both running low on clean underwear!

We did watch the "Call of the Midwife" Christmas special on Christmas evening . Even though my Mother and I emigrated to the US from London in 1951, there is a lot that seems familiar to me in this show!! Like ration books!

Hope you enjoyed your Christmas as much as we enjoyed ours!!

Merry Christmas to all

We are prepared!!
The cats needed another bag of dry catfood so I did a grocery store run. The parking lot was almost full, but I found a "super star spot"...picked up a few things and scooted home!  We have been enjoying a quiet day .

We expect everyone at 10 tomorrow...coffee made, rolls baked, sausages fried. The rest comes with my daughters.

So Merry Christmas to you all....

Really red sunrise

I wasn't able to take a picture of the sunrise this morning but it was really really red. I always heard "red sky at morning. sailors take warning". Now to see if that is true!!  So far it is a nice sunny day... almost 50 degrees and not a cloud in sight!

Went out to pick up a last minute gift... was surprised at how few people were on the road or in the stores. No lines...

Everything is wrapped... buffet stuff ready for Christmas. Just need to do a few things Tuesday evening and we will be ready.  I think I will find a book and crash !

Getting there....

There is less time this year between Thanksgiving and Christmas BUT we are getting there!  Gifts are bought and will be wrapped tomorrow...
Christmas brunch is planned  and  my daughters and their families have their assignments (LOL) and I know my part too!
Baking is finally finished... lots and lots of cookies for people to take home. Sherried nuts... home made Chex Mix .. Christmas Jam ... and more!!

The kitchen is a mess... but I have put things away down in the basement. I don't have enough room in the kitchen.  We added shelves for extra canned goods, canning supplies and things I don't use very often.

My 13 year old grandson is looking forward to the Christmas dishes!

So brunch... talk... and presents...

not melting .....

When we had that 6 - 7 inch snowfall the weatherman said we would get warm enough to melt it. Wrong!! 
The local schools closed Monday and Tuesday but Bob was able to shovel the driveway and the snowplow did one swoop around the cuk-de-sac.
We are going in and out easily... but the snow is still here!

Monday night we joined my daughter and her husband in buying Christmas things for several Adopt-a-family families. We ended up spending three hours with lists of wants, needs and sizes!!  Kohl's and Target employees were very helpful... actually very eager to help! They bagged things up by families so that additional sorting wouldn't have to be done when wrapping began !  All this goes to clients of Phoenix Family ... a non-profit Laurel works for ... so everything was tax-free!  Choosing the right colors..sizes...toys and making sure we kept to budget... was "Christmasy" !

Last night my "quilting" group had its annual  Christmas"out-to dinner" and gift exchange. We all had a great time and received all sorts of little presents and cards!!  Plus lots of chit chat !!

Snowing Again

This is what our snow looked like last night ... on the deck... over the lights !  We received about 6 to 7 inches of tiny flakes.
Currently it's snowing again!!   More tiny tiny flakes.
Bob shoveled around the car and some of the driveway... but not the nasty pile the snowplow left about 3 feet from the end of our driveway...

Here are Jack and Tigger "helping" on laundry day... strip the bed and there they are!  One has to be careful when putting on clean sheets or they will be two lumps underneath the bottom sheet.

SNOW !!!!

Went out to the end of our driveway for the paper this morning and when I shut the front door, it stared to snow!!
The weatherman had not predicted snow this morning... tonight and tomorrow was his prediction. Well... he was wrong.
We now have about 6 inches and more expected tonight and tomorrow!  Bet all the kids ( and teachers) are hoping for a snow day tomorrow!!
Went on a grocery run... just to make sure... and it was slippery.  But now we are stocked up.

After I returned it was back to pre-Christmas  stuff.  Finished a batch of Christmas jam.  Bob and I brought down our little tree from the attic and set it up and checked the lights.  All set.  Will decorate it in the near future. There's a batch of sugar cookie dough to roll out and bake too!

packing... mailing....

Today is the day for packing up the Christmas boxes. One goes to South Carolina. One to Florida and one to Upstate NY.  I sorted ... who gets what. Bob found boxes and wrapped things up and did the PO's "click and ship".  He'll drop them off after dropping off our grandson at his trombone lessons!
With "click and ship" we can print a shipping label ( after paying online for the postage) and he won't have to stand on line at the PO ... just put them into package drum and leave!!

Slowly but surely we are getting the Christmas stuff done!!

Baking ....

Started some more Christmas cookie baking ! There have been numerous emails with links to "new" cookies and I have printed out a few and bought the ingredients they needed if I didn't already have them.
One was  a cheddar, craisin and pistachio one and since those are my daughter's favorite nuts... I decided to give them a try. The recipe also called for 1/4 tsp. of cayenne pepper... whew. I made a batch... we tried them and not sure they will go over with the family.  They are in the freezer for now.
Today's trial will be for oatmeal, apricot, white chocolate chips and brown sugar. Much more conventional.

Bob's baking has been bread. He tried one for the NY Times baking site. No kneading and it bakes in a covered dutch oven. Fantastic crust!! He will make another soon.   Then he tried a brioche... too cake-like for us.  This afternoon it will be the Gold medal bread recipe.   Luckily.. our grocery store is having a sale on baking "necessities"!!

A lot of the cookies go off to Bob's siblings as part of their Christmas packages. They live  no where near us !

Dough needs to sit an hour in the refrigerator....  so time to do something else while I wait!

Even later.... success  ... cookies look and taste good !

I saw this hint somewhere.... a way of holding up one's printed recipe ! Worked well for me!

off to the gym and errands

Its a very gray unpleasant looking day... the kind where one curls up with a quilt and a fire.... but I NEED a trip to the gym and the cats need dry food.  So off I went!

I have found that if I skip too many trips to the gym and the recumbent "whatever" , the bike and several machines, the leg that Tigger the Tripper made me break in 4 places, screws and titanium rod regresses.

After fulfilling my leg obligations, I went to the PO to send off some bears and then the grocery store.
My grocery list was short but I cannot resist the bargains/sale items so I came home with a lot more than I really needed... right now. But with holiday baking I will need what I bought later on!!  Always an excuse ... right?!

The online show is almost over... most of the sales are in the first few hours... and I doubt whether there will be more .  But I am pleased!

In between computer watching Bob and I put up the lights ... both in front and on the deck!  And started putting around some of the Christmas stuff!

Our Christmas cards went to the PO too !

still sitting but also buying

Still sitting and watching... but became distracted by chewy.com. Robb's cats will be getting Christmas presents this year !  Some toys - theirs are shot and some new scratching trays.  The cats have used up their old ones  and I can see a future of resorting to furniture.... if we didn't get new ones!

Whoever invented this type of corrugated cardboard scratching "thingy" has my thanks!!

sitting at the computer

Here I am sitting at my computer doing my part of the online Bear Blitz show.... and packing up the ones that have sold.
I am supposed to mark the bears that have sold as "sold" and delete the PayPal buttons on my website. Not really a lot of work... lol... but it does keep me on the computer.
Packing a sold one up is kind of fun... I go to the USPS' s website and do "click and ship".... and print out shipping labels saying I've paid the postage due. We have a scale so I know how much each box weighs.  So put all the info necessary ( name address, return, what type of service and so on ) and out comes the label from our printer ready to be stuck on the box!!
Little more complex when going out of the US... LOL

ps there is a link to the show on the right sidebar..

Craft show....last to go to for the year??

I am headed out to a local craft show this afternoon with two of my quilting group friends. Not sure if I have anything I am particularly looking for but it should be fun.
I am taking my son's canning kettle along to give to one of my friends. It's a huge one and since I have my own I don't need another. Checked with my daughter ( she's not a canner) and she's fine with my gifting it. Another shelf emptied down in the basement.
Earlier this week we took Robb's ammo boxes off to Habitat for Humanity's thrift store. As a child Robb used them as toy boxes... his grandfather got him the first. They came from the Seneca Army Depot in NY.  Another spot emptied out !
It seems like Bob and I are finding it a little easier to find places for some of Robb's things.

I enjoyed the show... my friends knew lots of the vendors and I knew others!! Bought my son-in-law a jar of home made jam - super hot variety - which he loves. I also came home with handmade red cardinals made from muslin, stuffed and painted with acrylics. We believe that a bird in the Christmas tree is good luck. My daughter's cats have demolished the glass blown ones so this year she gets one of these!! Being red it will be easy to find when the tree get "undecorated"!

Another show....

I have another online bear show this coming weekend!! So in the midst of Thanksgiving and being lazy I have been making bears and bear friends!
This is my last show of the year!  Feel free to click on the banner to the right Saturday !

I have all my PayPal buttons in place... boxes ready... tissue paper for wrapping... and so on!

Bob and I took a few moments to start bringing down boxes of Christmas stuff....We can start writing a few Christmas cards and decide whether we need more wrapping paper, lights etc.  Hoping we have enough "leftovers"!

My "quilting" group  ( really a stitch and bit** group) meets tonight. We meet at a member's home and she provides refreshments and drinks. So I won't be cooking tonight!!  Bob will be eating soup and sandwiches..... He doesn't mind since he gets to try everything when I'm the hostess.

Lazy Day

We haven't really "done" anything today... cold...windy and foggy. The kind of day where you curl up on the couch with a book or pieces of a bear and a movie.
Our tv provider is having a free HBO weekend... so we watched an oldie with Dustin Hoffman, Sharon Stone and Samuel Jackson  -- "Sphere". Not great.. maybe not even good... but a reasonable background to sewing bear parts !  LOL!
My neighbor was lucky... it was windy all night and the leaves are almost all down and blowing themselves into large piles.... but he was lucky because his grandson's basketball moveable goal/net fell over! In the right direction... not onto his car!! And it's a new car! Just think how upset he would have been to find it crashed onto the trunk!
I think a fire will be a great idea for this evening!


Joanne... if you saw the garage you'd know that neither will fit in!!

Nice Thanksgiving

We had a nice Thanksgiving... no one was stuck with all the work!!  Everyone was allotted some of the food and everyone helped divide up the leftovers and tidy up!!
Our dinner was a little earlier than usual because our grand daughter had to work - 4 pm to close. She is a greeter/seater at Applebee's ( a chain midlevel restaurant) Since she is only 17 she cannot waitress because of the alcohol regulations. She likes her boss and coworkers and so likes her job and since she is still in school, the job is part time.

My younger daughter and her family went East to Jefferson City/ Rolla to visit her Mother-in-law . She is a nursing home and declining. We received a text this morning about how difficult the trip back was - the worst rain my daughter had ever driven in!  The weather map last night had shown a huge red area centered over St. Louis, Mo.... covering the eastern half of Missouri ! We only had light drizzle.... today it is supposed to go as high as 60 and be partly sunny! woohoo!!

We are not part of the stampede out shopping... nor one of those glued to the computer or smart phone looking for deals !  So yesterday and today are nice and quiet!!  Do have to figure how how to best use the leftovers.. !!

getting closer to Thanksgiving

I thought that with all my grocery lists I wouldn't end up hitting the grocery store again today... but we did. It seems there is always something that I have forgotten. Looking at the cars in the parking lot,  I'm not the only one!

Bob had to have some paperwork notarized so a trip to the bank was included in our trip out. Nice that one can have it done there free.
Our change holders had gotten very full so I scrounged up all I could find including the stuff in the bottom of my purse... and took it with us to the bank. The bank has a neat machine that counts all the change... throws out foreign ones or washers ... and gives you a receipt which you give to a teller and you get paper money in exchange, Or you can deposit it in our account.  Not more dividing the change by coin or wrapping it in paper holders!! Hooray!  My haul was $30.00  plus one large washer and one penny that had gone through the machine that made it oval in shape, very thin and embossed with "Love KC"!!!

We've been invited out for dinner this evening so it's rest and relax until then!!  We have bags of new books to read... hit the library on our trip out too!

Messmer Bee Farm show

Off we went to the bee farm for a craft, food etc. show. We drove down through a very unfamiliar part of South Kansas City. I had a paper map and thought we would be fine BUT we got lost!! Our Garmin's battery wasn't charged so that didn't help... until I was sure we would have to go back home.... then it kicked in and got us to our destination!!
Interesting booths... lots of bee stuff ... and  jams, jellies, pickles, nuts,dog treats, special vanillas... and so on. In the non-food things: leather goods, jewelry, shirts etc.
Picked up some things for Christmas gifts.  While Bob was standing around waiting for me he bought a huge cookie... big spender, right?!
We made it home without getting lost again ! Hooray!

Trees!! and Crafts!!!

Bob talked with the tree guys as they were working on my neighbors trees and decided to have our trimmed and whatever was necessary.
So all day yesterday we heard chain saws buzzing, tree/limb grinders groaning, trucks and other machines and men yelling to each other.
I couldn't believe how much the men removed from our  four oaks and one huge maple... still with leaves on !  One gum tree and one maple had to be cut down - rotten inside.
Squirrels will have much further to jump since there aren't any limbs reaching to our roof or the neighbors!!

This took them all day... the men and their equipment arrived at 8.30 am and everything was cleaned up and taken away by 5 pm !

Big chunk out of our bank account... but a necessary expense.

Today Bob was willing to head out to the annual craft show in Independence. It is held in a four story building that used to be a power plant ( coal fired electrical one). Now it houses all sorts of social activities such as meetings, exercising, a theater for plays and so. There is even a green house on the top floor.
We were looking for gifts for friends, siblings and so ... and a chance to see friends who have booths. We were about half successful!
I told myself that going to the show would be an adequate replacement for a trip to the gym... and it was. Managed to make it up and down all four floors... no elevator for me!!

Going to give another show a try on Sunday ... food trucks, coffee and crafts... hope to find some interesting stuff for the Christmas boxes. It's being held in a bee farm so maybe??

One oak tree

Bob has been blowing the acorns from our tree down the driveway so that he can scoop them up and using the paper yard waste bags get them into the yard waste bin. So hopefully the trash collector will take them away.
Boy those bags of acorns are heavy!  So far he has collected more than three huge bags!! And the driveway is covered again. It's like walking on marbles!! Except they crunch.
We park the car on the side of the driveway furthest from the tree but the acorns still hit the car roof with a resounding clunk!!
Who would have thought that one tree could make so many acorns!And why don't the squirrels eat them!?


Coincidence ???  Trying not to trip on the acorns ... who should just roll into my cul de sac but many many tree trimming trucks. They are going to trim and remove two of my neighbors trees. Bob is not home so I went out to talk to them and show them which of our trees need work. Got an estimate... and an idea what the trimmers would do.

One tree ... a maple that would take three people to put their arms around... would need extra work.

another batch in the freezer

Yesterday was ginger cookie day... today chocolate chip. Those are for my brother-in-law who lives alone and doesn't cook and are his favorites. Tomorrow will probably be hootercog cookies. Have to be careful not to fill the freezer... it has to be empty enough for the turkey which I will start to thaw on the Sunday before Thanksgiving!!

Slowly but surely my daughters and I are getting organized... each of us has been assigned certain foods and tasks.

Our trash hauler decided it didn't like where we had the bin and decided to skip us for several weeks. A phone call to customer service resulted  in an argument, being told that she couldn't do anything and finally  hanging up on us. Some customer service. Luckily there are several companies handling our subdivision and we are switching. As soon as the new bins arrive my husband will cancel the old one.... and then write to the head of the company. We've been with them for 20 plus years...

Hootercogs are being postponed... the turkey won't fit in...

new follower

I have a new follower who is also a bookaholic... small world isn't it??

Started  on my Holiday food stuff.  Since my daughter has a busy weekend ahead with work stuff, I am starting off with my friend Rita's Chex mix. Great recipe... better than the bought stuff!  It is a real favorite of my daughter... just right for a work filled weekend. The recipe makes a huge amount so there be plenty left for the holidays!

Think the next will be ginger cookies... we all love them and they freeze wonderfully!

By the way I now have a nice fully functioning kitchen faucet ... good sprayer...easy to switch from sink to sink etc.

Visit ... mine... to the cardiologist

I had a nice visit with my cardiologist yesterday. After checking me over and telling me everything is fine... we talked books and cats. He was interested in the fact that Jack and I have similar symptoms and some of the same pills....lol.
He was also interested in the book I had brought along to keep me occupied while I waited. Turns out we like to read the same type of books and are both book-a-holics. The one I brought along was a rural French policeman police procedural... with oh such great food described as well. There are currently 12 books in the series. The author is Martin Walker ... the hero is "Bruno".  Bob likes the series too!
Our library system has some of them ( we "ordered" all they had in hardback) and Amazon has all versions even Kindle.  What are we going to do when we've read all 12??

Best of all I don't have to see the cardiologist for another 6 months...

last year's new cookie

Last year Bob and I watched a PBS show hosted by two Bostonian Jewish sisters. On one episode they made rugelach. I decided to try to make them and they were a success... the family loved them.
This evening I was trolling through some blogs and one discussed wanting a try a new recipe for this holiday.... and the memory of rugelach came to me.

More rugelach it is... just have to get past all the Thanksgiving coking!


I think I used Ina Garten's recipe.... here's the link

https://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/ina-garten/rugelach-recipe4-1957830

Jack's check up

Jack went to the vet for a check up today.... the vet was very pleased with him. He's gained 1/2 lbs and is no longer dehydrated and quiet. Blood was taken and will let the vet know stuff about Jack's heart etc.  If the test results are good we will continue as we have been and bring him back in February...

We have been bitterly cold and windy today... as low as 8 F this morning. BUT the weatherman says a warming trend starts overnight. Looking forward to that!!

Off to the cardiologist tomorrow ... 6 month check up. Jack and I have similar symptoms and take some of the same medications... Weird right?!

Spent part of our evening sitting in the bleachers of Dominic's middle school gym. Comfortable? No! Dominic, my grandson, was playing his trombone in the advanced ( 8th grade) band's fall concert. But first we had to listen to the intermediate ( 7th grade) band play. Worst part was walking from the parking lot into the school ... COLD!! ... and then back to the car.

Grandkids at the band concert

Winter has arrived... Nov. 11th

Looking out the window from our computer room... snow!  The leaves are still on the oak tree and are green!! Temps have dropped since midnight and the wind has increased...
Bob has tried mulching the leaves... spent yesterday afternoon... but only the maples have really lost their leaves.

Jack has a vet's appointment tomorrow... we will see how we should progress.  He's much more active again and still eating a lot!!


Where we used to live... sw Michigan - St. Joseph/Benton Harbor ... they are expecting about a foot of snow.

heavier???

Jack does seem heavier and we'll know for sure how he is doing on Tuesday. He is still eating and eating!!

Bob and I went to a craft show yesterday... Practically the first booth we came to was one selling local wine with a chance to taste. It did seem a little early ... 9 AM... but we tasted anyway and bought a bottle of a strawberry reisling. Quite nice even with that name!!

Lots of booths to look at and managed to find some "smalls" for my quilting/ stitch and bi*** group's Christmas gift exchange which pleased me mightily!! Not saying what since a group member might read this blog!

I even met up with a fellow bear maker that I hadn't seen in 10 years!! We managed to catch up on our respective families and discovered she still makes bears from old family fur coats ( which I don't anymore!). So when I get that odd phone call out of the blue asking whether I still do , I can say "no" and pass on her name and details!!

The town where this craft show was held has lots of little antique stores so we stopped at a favorite... I think the store may have new owners ... few antiques and loads of Christmas decorative things. I can't complain too much since I found "something" I had to have.

Working on emptying the freezer... turkey etc time !

hungry hungry hungry Jack

The appetite enhancer has made Jack eat and eat and eat. And when he eats, the medicine goes into him too!! It will take sometime for him to gain the two pounds back.

Still a little quiet and not jumping from couch to counter to recliner... yet .

Memories of Guy Fawkes Day

Looking at some of the blogs I follow from the UK brought back memories.... we lived in London until I was six and I remember groups of boys rushing up to my Mother and me asking for money for the Guy.... and bonfires... and  the Guy dressed in rags to be thrown on the bonfire.
When we moved to the US...a group of kids from my street came up our driveway for "trick or treats"... I'd never heard of Halloween or trick or treating! But I was more than eager to go along with them and in the future!!

Jack ...the cat

When we returned home Thursday from San Diego  Jack's behavior was a little off. Our son-in-law who had been feeding and petting both Jack and Tigger while we were gone said he had been fine. So we thought perhaps he was mad at us for leaving him.
But no.. his behavior got more and more "off"... not eating, very quiet, no climbing on the furniture etc. So Saturday we took him to the emergency vet ( open 24/7). By then he was also having trouble breathing. The vets were concerned and wanted to keep him and do tests.
The result is Jack and I have similar heart problems.
We took him home Sunday night with pills like mine - lasik, one to prevent blood clots and a blood pressure one.
We are not having great luck getting his pills into him but he is eating somewhat, drinking and more active... lots of purring too.
Tomorrow he goes to our regular vet... it's a group practice and he will be seeing one with experience with cats with heart problems.  We can tell him how today went and get help with the pills maybe.

Went to the vet... he gave us a gel to rub on Jack's ear to increase his appetite. Since we are having problems with getting his medication into him, the vet told us to stop the Plavix for now. The feurosimide and blood pressure ones are more important. So we will work on getting Jack better and see the vet again in a week.
Jack was easy to get into the carrier and well behaved at the vet...thank goodness.

All over SanDiego...

I'm not the best at using my phone to take pictures... but here are a few!!  I was surprised by San Diego ... lots of small neighborhoods like Little Italy and Old Town with very distinct characters. And SD isn't really very big.  It is very military down by the Bay... lots of boats etc.
I'd go back in a heart beat to see what we didn't have time for!!
Bob says he would love to have time to take Red, Green and Yellow trolley lines and the Coaster down to the ocean ( It covers the county)... San Diego has day passes!  One can also take AmTrak down to Mexico or north  ( maybe even up to Washington State).

We're back

We all left Sunday morning and flew back into KCI Thursday ( last) night.... home from warm 70's in San Diego to cold snow dusted Kansas City !

Older daughter really enjoyed her convention and learned a lot. Bob, younger daughter and I walked and walked and walked! We went on a tour of San Diego on an amphibious vehicle driving all around and then heading into the BAY for the water part of our journey. We saw a dolphin training exercise going on, a seal one too, lots and lots of military boats and facilities.... and then a floating dock covered with seals, sea lions, cormorants and gulls. There were fishing boats, lobster boats etc etc.

Here we are ready to head out...
More next time!

purse or handbag...

I noticed on another blog I follow a discussion about purses and handbags. I commented.  We are headed to San Diego next Sunday through Thursday and  got me thinking about what to do about my purse.
I do not want to lug around my usual purse filled with everything... nor do I want to have all my credit cards and rewards cards. So what to do?
I have a much smaller purse which has a shoulder strap good for across my chest... not easy for someone to grab that, right?! Big enough for a small purse holding one credit card, driver's license, health card and  a little cash. There is also a zippered pocket for extra hearing aid batteries, a list of my prescriptions and my doctors' names. And my phone....  So just before we leave... I will switch things into the smaller purse.... There problem solved!

... now to figure out what clothes I need.

Real "pumpkin" rant

I just read a rant from Real Simple magazine about canned pumpkin.  The gist being that it isn't really pumpkin after all but a variety of squashes!!

Actually I couldn't care a bit.  I tried making pumpkin for pie one year from my son's Halloween pumpkin.  Boy was the flesh very very wet and it took forever to cook down and still wasn't very pumpkin-y.

I'd rather open a can of so-called pumpkin and know that the consistency and flavor will be what I expect it to be and will make my pumpkin pie..cookies or whatever right!!  And the US gov't agrees with me and has very loose pumpkin regulations.

book cases and reorganizing

Our local used bookstore has closed... they had a huge sale and were lucky enough to find someone who wanted ALL the leftover books.... and then posted on Facebook that they had bookcases for sale. $20 and up each!
We stopped by and reserved two while the new owners were still boxing up their purchases. They have till the end of October. I wonder whether they will finish !?
Today we went back for our two bookcases .. on the way home from the gym. So we were already exhausted.... It took two trips in our SUV . Bob couldn't close the back hood so we used elastic type cords to make sure the bookcase couldn't slide out.
Then it was time to rearrange stuff. The new bookcases were too tall to put in the office closet but we had two shorter ones already that would!  Hooray... new bookcases in one of the bedrooms and the two shorter old ones in the office closet.

so... some stuff will go to the thrift stores... some stuff in the trash and some stuff to their new places. Success!!

Bob is still deciding where things should go and I am watching (!!)  still tired from lugging bookcases from the car to the second story bedroom, old bookcases from bedroom to office  and working out.  Good excuse, right?!

Freeze tonight???

The weatherperson has been saying over and over that we might have a freeze early tomorrow morning... the first of the year. He also predicts that we will be in the 50's to 60's for the highs next week.
I brought in my potted plants from our deck but the ones in the front will have to take their chances.

Our driveway is covered with acorns and every time we drive in or out they go crunch when driven over!! Why don't the squirrels eat them all!??

Next morning...

 We didn't have a freeze but a few plants look a little worse for wear!! Maybe I will replace them with some mums!  A little color would be nice.

Fall... and keeping busy

Today it is almost cool enough to turn on the fireplace insert... almost. Looking out the windows I see rain and leaves beginning to turn. The flame bushes, dogwoods and some maples are the first.

Bob and I went to the gym and did our routines. He quit before I did !! Huzzah ! Later I treated him to lunch at Panera's ... Cuban sandwiches and a cup of soup. I had squash and he had broccoli cheese. The place was packed ! So we ended up eating on two easy chairs with plates on our laps. We were good... no spills or stains!! The food was good... next time we go later in the afternoon!  Now I don't feel guilty about making him "eat out of the fridge" tonight.

I have traced out three bears for this evenings "stitch and bitch" meeting. An online bear show is coming up and I want to have more ready! So far the ones I have ready are mostly Christmas or winter themed... may make a few that are not!

Fed Ex arrival

The Fed Ex man and his truck arrived at our front door this morning. We weren't expecting anything so...
The long flower box smelled wonderful as we "worked" on getting it open. Knife... scissors... etc.  and we finally managed to open it.
Surprise fresh flowers from my elder daughter and her husband!!  Followed the instructions and cut off the bottoms of the stems, added flower food and water!! Now we are waiting for them to "adapt". In the meantime the kitchen smells wonderful!

Pictures tomorrow...  BTW the flowers came from Ecuador !  A "fur piece" !

BTW today it was fall-like. Temps dropped to mid 60's. We have had off and on again rain showers too!  Who knows what is next!

October... fall? No way yet!

Today is another gorgeous day.... blue skies and temperatures in the 80's ! I decided a walk in our park would be a good idea. Lots and lots of Canada geese lazying around or swimming in the little lake... I counted 25 in the water !
Easy to see that the kids are back in school... not a single one when I got there. Then a few preschoolers  showed up with their grandparents to play in the sandbox which is really a sand volley ball court. No matter... they were having fun.

Our YMCA is closing at the end of the month. Bob and I have found a substitute for our Silver Sneakers membership... thank goodness!  My physical therapists have transitioned me from exercises to machines so a new gym is necessary if I want to maintain the improvements they made on my leg!  Which of course I do!  I don't think I will ever be totally pain free ( Thanks Tigger!) but I do feel much better and unless I am super tired.. I don't limp !  Hooray to my physicians assistant for sending me to pt and hooray to the therapists !!

The Kansas City/ Missouri area is having floods again and road closures. Some of the work done on the Missouri River levees has been ruined and will have to be done over.  We are 17 inches above normal in rainfall and still have three months of the year to go.
Looking out of the window, everything is still very very green... only acorns littering the driveway indicate that fall (  should be ) is on its way!

PBS's "Country Music" Documentary by Ken Burnes

My DH and I have been watching the Ken Burns "Country Music" documentary on PBS television...tonight was episode #4. I have been so surprised at how little I knew of this genre and its history ... and how little I knew about Nashville and its history.
Certainly there were stars I followed in the late '50's .... but this genre didn't play on the radio stations I listened to back then.
SO... I'm learning a lot!!

If you've missed this on your PBS tv.... I'm sure it will be repeated and like the other Ken Burns documentaries, it shouldn't be missed.

frugal?

I have been reading quite a few blogs about being frugal... not spending money...not buying stuff... recycling and so on...
Must admit we have always been careful in our spending... recycling when possible and so on. Our city ( suburb of Kansas City) shut down its recycling center saying it was too expensive for the city and that it was having trouble getting rid of the plastic etc. Luckily a Kansas City beer brewer decided to start a bottle manufacturing plant for itself and there are "bins" at the local grocery stores for glass recycling! So that where our wine bottles and glass goes.
We are lucky to have four outlets for our un-needed "stuff" - Goodwill,  Salvation Army, Disabled Vets and  Habitat of Humanity - Restore. We do hate to throw away things that someone could use.

As for food... buy what we need and not too much more. Leftovers once is enough.  I admit that some of the prepared foods are tempting like Aldi's marinated chicken breasts, ground chicken patties with added veggies and spices and, the newest I came home with this week ,salmon patties. I appreciate things packed in one or two servings... cuts down on leftovers right?!

BTW... our grocery stores don't put fresh food on clearance.  Wonder what they do with it?  Hopefully it goes to food pantries and food kitchens at homeless shelters.

still not much

Not much happening here.... I've spent my time making things for the next online show and watching the weather updates on Dorian.  We have friends and family on the East coast - Florida and South Carolina. They are all fine.

My grandson is loving his trombone lessons and my grand daughter is learning the ins and outs of being a hostess at Applebee's. At 17 she is not allowed , by law, to waitress where alcohol is served.

My husband has been turning an old Singer treadle sewing machine base into a table for one of his woodworking machines. Much enjoyment on his part... and better than throwing it out!

Our weather doesn't seem to know which direction to go... some days are hot and muggy... others are cool. The mosquitoes doesn't seem to care. They are biting period!! Bug spray doesn't seem to have any affect...

nothing going on

Not much new has happened here... just same old same old.

My PT person switched things around . I am now doing some exercises on machines at the gym plus walking laps. Bob and I went to the "Y" to try out the new regime. It went well but I needed a nap this afternoon! LOL  I am feeling less pain in the "healed" leg and joint so I guess all this work has been worth it!
Our weather has switched to somewhat fall like. No more high temps and super muggy. The weatherman says low 60's in the morning but only getting to high 70's. Nice switch ! I didn't even mind the heavy rainfall we had yesterday. We'll see how long this lasts or whether things switch back....

Everyone came over Saturday night for a combined birthday cake and ice cream affair ... and presents for the younger ones. Both of my daughters and the two grandchildren have summer birthdays but everyone has been so busy that Saturday was the first time we could all get together!!  Nice! It used to be so much easier!!

School has started for my teacher-daughter and the two grandchildren. My grandson has started private lessons on his trombone and my granddaughter has a new PT job ( after school and weekends).

school supplies

My daughter works for a non-profit that provides all sorts of things for its housing sites ( Phoenix Family.org). One thing it does is provide school supplies in backpacks for the 400 or so students in its sites... to be given out just before school starts this August. If fundraising provides more supplies than needed in August... they are saved for 2nd semester in January - especially, paper, notebooks, pencils and crayons!
Anyway, my daughter, armed with the non-profit's credit card and tax-free card, headed out to Wal-Mart with my husband and me in tow.  We filled ( heaped to almost overflowing!) four large grocery carts with all sorts of supplies. The backpacks had already been purchased through Amazon.  My daughter spends time finding where things are cheapest!
So there we were... counting for the cashier to ring up. Some things had to be counted by color too!! We were so busy that the customers behind us starting counting too!!

The total was "something else" !!

Then Wal-Mart employees helped us to our cars and to unload from carts into our trunks!!

No one complained ! Everyone was excited about the project! Everyone was glad that children would be helped to be ready for school!! Some customers told us about similar projects in their towns and churches!!

Did you know that Crayola puts out a pack of crayons to match all ranges of skin color - truly diverse - so kids can draw people just like themselves??

Now Phoenix Family has to divide up the supplies, put them in backpacks and deliver to the housing sites....!

Not much

Not much going on here. Bob's fix of the dyer was successful!  The next day he did all the laundry... just to check it out!!!
It hasn't been super hot but still uncomfortable enough... the mosquitoes have enjoyed having me for lunch or dinner.  My body doesn't like them and the bites are super itchy and puffed up. We don't spend much time on either our deck or my daughter's for just this reason.
Physical Therapy is helping. I go twice a week and do my sheets of exercises two times a day. That takes almost 45 minutes and leaves me really sweaty!! I have another three weeks on this "prescription". We'll see how things stand after the three weeks are up.

I am almost set for the next on-line bear and friends show!!

This is my "lead" bear friend.....
There is a link to the show from the side bar  image... "Summer Sizzler"

squeaky dryer

It looks like my husband has been successful... hip hip hooray. The dryer started squeaking and his diagnosis was the belt for the drum. So he took is all apart ! Found that one of the belt pulleys was frozen and totally worn.
While he was doing this he put me to work on cleaning out all the exhaust pipe -  full of 20 years of lint!
Then when he had replaced the worn out part I was put to work helping him replace the belt around the drum and then help him reassemble the dryer, replace the exhaust pipe and push it back in place.
Tomorrow is laundry day ... the final test !!

Last night we had a thunderstorm and loads of rain... and today it was cooler. Only mid 80's. We'll see how long that lasts!!

BTW... my husband repairs just about anything that gets broken around here ! And has for 50 plus years!!

Too hot

It's been too hot to do much of anything outside....  We have had temps in the high 90's with a heat index of close to 100.
When we first moved to Missouri we were "transplanted" from upper NYS and Michigan. Temps over 85 were very hot for us. But we acclimated... plus we had air conditioning!!
But... its not the temp really ... it's the humidity. This morning, though it was cooler thanks to the overnight thunderstorms and loads of rain,  had a humidity of over 92% and it felt miserable!!

Time to stop whining !!

I have an online bear and friend show coming up August 4 and 5th. So I have been using some of my "in the house" time to make bears and an elephant, a cat, a dog and a bunny !  I've also been READING ...   thanks to our library and my Kindle.

I've also been doing my Physical Therapy exercises.  My new physician's assistant suggested PT as a way to strengthen my leg , increase my mobility and decrease the pain. I thought I couldn't hurt. The pain isn't gone... yet. I really like the physical therapist. I see her twice a week and do her exercises twice a day...... and make sure Tigger the Tripper is not in my way!!

sitting in the dark

Well  the Kansas City area got hit again by severe thunderstorms and lots of rain this morning!!  We were one of the people who lost their electricity!  Couldn't even use our cell phones to let the electricity provider know we were out!!
So we sat in the "dark" while it poured and the wind blew ! This was mid morning btw... Luckily Bob has a rechargeable work light so... it could have been worse!!

Flood warnings again near the Missouri River ....

"Hootercogs"

I doubt whether anyone has ever heard of these. The recipe came from my Mother-in-law and the name. A hootercog is a corn fritter for anyone else!

My daughter sent me home with leftover corn on the cob after our family dinner on the Fourth. True hootercogs  use only leftover cooked corn cut from the cob ... no canned corn... no frozen corn either!!

They are deep fat fried ( dropped by spoonfuls) and served with real maple syrup.

So we are looking forward to hootercogs for dinner tonight!!

July 2019

Well its been a hot muggy July so far.... though we have gotten some stuff done. We discovered a tri-city yard waste drop off site and loaded up the SUV with the extra limbs lost during one of the last rain storms. Bob used the chain saw to get them into manageable lengths! But still too heavy for our garbage pick up.
I looked around while we emptied the SUV and saw pieces of tree trunks that had been dropped off...some were 3 feet or so in diameter... how on earth did they manage to get them to the drop-off site!!???

We were invited out to Harper's home for an Independence dinner! I was to bring tomatoes with basil and fresh mozzarella cheese with a drizzle of olive oil and balsamic vinegar.... small (tiny) potatoes, fresh green beans, pickled beets and zucchini. Great... was all set! But the number of invitees seemed to grow daily. So I added a little of this and a little of that. My daughter bought more steaks and made two desserts and added more beverages. Someone brought fresh corn and hot dogs for the kids! Food was great... the company was too.... the rain, not so much!!

We were all set...some to sit inside... some on the deck..... and then the rain started. My son-in-law grilled in the rain.... smokers took refuge where ever ....people got WET!!  Harper's home town got 5 inches of rain...new "rivers" ran down between houses... storm drains were full....

Harper the day before the Independence Day rain. The city has been repairing a storm drain and had to remove the chain link fence. Harper has been very adept at climbing the temporary fence and so has to be tied up for now when she is in her backyard.


BTW Harper hates fireworks and gets very anxious with the noise. She was better when there were lots of people!!

pictures

Went for another walk "in the park" the other day.  The flock of Canadian geese were all lined up at the lake's edge!

Not sure what they had in mind ... but I thought they made a great picture.

Then when I arrived home... there was a baby robin sitting on the edge of the steps!

He wasn't really able to fly... just to make short little hops.... which he did when he noticed I was trying to get a good close up picture!!

busy morning

At 8 am ... early for me ... I headed out to the Farmer's market. It's still small and I am hoping that the number of vendors will increase as more veggies are ripe!! I headed first to the Mennonite ladies booth for sweet rolls and a small apple pie. Then off for beets, green beans and tomatoes. They are more expensive here than in the grocery store but Bob and I decided the market needs supporting and are willing to pay more. The market also has non-veggie things but that's not for me.

One vendor and I were discussing the fact that students - both high school and college - are not as adept with counting change and literacy as they used to be. I said that we  ( the US) have an illiterate President - he says he doesn't read and look at the grammar in his tweets!!!   Boy the lack of response was " deafening " ... lol

Returned home to find that the circle was filled with cars, trucks,  a car pulling a flat bed wagon and a U-Haul.  My neighbor's house is sold and the family is moving out!  Looks like they have lots of friends and family to give them a hand. That makes the third ( of six) that have sold in the last few months...

What's that noise??

The driveway is full of trucks.. the basement is full of workers...
The noise is everyone working to replace our 44 year old furnace and air conditioner and 20 year old hot water heater !
The water has been turned off with the taps on...to bleed the lines when the water is turned on!
The cats are locked in one of the bedrooms with food and a litter box ... and a trunk to look out the window to see what's making all the noise.

About 4pm they finished up ... taking all the old pieces and parts etc. Everything looks really good ... they checked out the new thermostat, hot water heater's temperatures and the new a/c. ...and turned the water back on!!

The cats were really good... boxed up in one of the bedrooms and bath. Little fussing !! But they were very glad to get OUT ! And surprisingly enough they weren't mad at us !  Bob gave them their dinner ( a can of wet cat food divided between them) early as a thank you!  There's always two bowls of dry food available....

BLT 's and strawberry shortcake

We eagerly look forward to the first strawberry shortcake and the first, of many, BLT sandwiches.

When the kids were little we would go to the U-Pick farm. We lived in SW Michigan at the time and the owner felt kids could eat as many strawberries as they liked.... after all, these were his future customers.  Robb and I quickly picked enough strawberries for shortcake and strawberry jam while the girls munched away ( He did eat while he picked!).
That night dinner was a huge strawberry shortcake with real whipped cream.. nothing else. That has been a family custom ever since.

As for BLT's ... well we start having them when we can get "real" (non-grocery store) tomatoes... our younger daughter doesn't like fresh tomatoes so she always has peanut butter, jelly and bacon sandwiches!! Now her daughter loves tomatoes and readily snitches the small grape ones I buy for salads!!

Aren't taste buds funny??

WINNER

Last week when I visited the Blue Springs' Farmers' Market I noticed a box with slips for a giveaway. So I filled one out!  R
Yesterday a phone call told me I had won and could pick up my gift card today! I won a $25.00 gift card from Hobby Lobby.... and had my picture taken for the Farmers' Markets' website.

While I was there I bought more tomatoes, radishes, green beans, zucchini and from the Mennonite Ladies' booth sweet rolls and a small strawberry rhubarb pie - yummy.   So it's BLT's for dinner. We can't resist them when tomatoes come from the farmers and not the grocery store.  We used to grow our own but now we don't have any non-shady garden space.  Later on in the season when farmers start having seconds I think I'll do some canning - tomato sauce, spaghetti sauce etc.

nothing has happened

We were warned over and over this week that we would be having more rain... and so far nothing has happened.
The paper ( Kansas City Star) says the flooding along the Missouri will continue for months. The Corps of Engineers has been releasing loads of water from the reservoirs to the North up by the Nebraska-N. Dakota area due to large amounts of rain and snow melt.  The berms have been breached all along the River and things are still so wet that repairs cannot be made.

So no rain but our summer heat has arrived. Today we reached 87 F and the house air conditioner runs most of the time. It has been a faithful system - 43 years old - new when the house was built. So Bob decided a new system was needed. Who wants the old one to quit either when it's cold or when it's hot ?  Next week is the Day.
Plus a new hot water heater and a new house shut-off valve for the water....
Hope these guys are as good as the roof ones were....

Next week we will become the grandchildrens'  source of transportation... Both parents are working and Lili needs to get to HER job and Dominic has band camp.
Lili told Bob she'd rather work than be in school... so Bob told her he always felt that way at the beginning of summer and a summer job but by the end of summer, school seemed better!

Think I lost 10 lbs this morning... had my hair cut, summer version, short!!

Wonderful weather

Monday  June 3rd...We have had several days of wonderful weather - sunny and warm and NO rain.  But more rain is on its way.starting tonight and off and on all this week. Up to 3 inches total
Even with no rain there has been flooding and levee breaches... roads are closed and people have been rescued. In places both North of Kansas City and East, the Missouri River is way above flood stage. Pictures on the TV are awful.
I'm sure things are just as bad along the Mississippi River....

I feel badly for the farmers. River bottom land is the most fertile ... now lots of it is under water from rain or from the River. River water carries loads of sand and when it is gone, the sand remains. That sand isn't good for growing things !
Plus... things have been too wet to get onto the fields for getting the fields ready or for planting.

Blue Springs' Farmers' Market

The Blue Springs Farmers' Market is a small one... to be honest, a very small one but I do want to support it rather than go to the larger ones in Independence and Lee's Summit.  So I went this morning!
I came home with new green beans, tomatoes, zucchini, green onions  and some wonderful Mennonite baked goods.
I really enjoyed chatting with the Mennonite women who man the stall. We have chit chatted for years! I came home with sweet rolls, a mini strawberry and rhubarb pie and a new ( to them) cherry tartlets!!  None of which are good for my diet or Bob's ! But will be delicious!
One of the women gave me a gooseberry from the bowl she was working with.  When I was really little we had a bush outside the kitchen door. I don't remember those as hard and sour as this one was... but good for memories'  sake!!

Looks like we will be having BLT sandwiches soon... fresh non -grocery tomatoes!  Yum!

later... we had a sweet roll each for breakfast! Also yum...

DONE

All that's left is the trailer full of debris!!

Ten roofers came yesterday at 6 am... moved my potted plants... moved the deck furniture and went to work! They worked hard till 6.30 pm taking only 30 minutes for lunch. Someone even brought a microwave which was plugged into the electrical cord for the nail guns!
At 6.30 only two small ventilators were left to be installed and the trucks driven away. Everything was tidied and every put back in place!!
This morning the ventilators were installed and the conveyor truck driven off.... I'm sure someone will come for the debris trailer shortly.
Yesterday was rain and storm free and today will be the same.  I'm sure the men were glad for a solid work day. They are so behind. Today will be the same!!
The roof looks great!!

What's that noise??

Woke up this morning at 6 am to the noise of men trampling overhead!!  The roofers are here! They moved everything on the deck and my potted plants out front.... laid plastic sheeting all around and started tearing off the old roofing - wood shingles from when the house was built in 1976 and asphalt shingles from 1991.
Lots of noise... the house shakes...things slide from on top to the plastic below!!! Then they use the plastic as bags to load the old shingles into the trailer to be taken away!!
The cats are puzzled... Tigger wanders around and then watches from a window. Not sure where Jack is hiding.
Since we had wood shingles, there is no sheathing. Another conveyor belt truck sits in the driveway waiting  for the roofers to need the load of sheathing it carries!  When they get the old stuff off I am hoping no one falls through into the attic!!

With all this going on and the plastic .... I am housebound.

I will add more as the saga continues...

9.20 am ... the conveyor is taking the sheathing up!  

Honk Honk

Went back to the park for a walk this morning and found the flock of geese and goslings munching away near the lake.  I took pictures with my cell and found that I had taken too long. The geese decided I was a threat ( I guess) and started making aggressive noises and stretching their necks, opening their beaks and making noise.
Rather than have them attack I turned around and went back the way I had come...lol !
My Mother and step-father had geese on their farm on the Cumberland Strait in Nova Scotia, Canada... using them for "guard dogs" while raising them for the butcher in the fall.  No one could come onto the barn yard without lots of ruckus from the geese!
I liked the geese best when one came out of the oven for Christmas dinner!!

Roof and goslings

Yesterday a huge truck showed up in our driveway to deliver some of the supplies for our new roof. It was  supposed to have been done weeks ago but our weather has interfered with the roofer's schedule.  Anyway the truck has a conveyor which reminds me of one a farmer uses to put his hay bales up in the barn loft. 
The men lifted up all sorts of roofing materials onto the roof ! Our new work date is Monday but we are supposed to have more rain and thunderstorm and possibly tornadoes for the next 7 plus days. Guess things will be postponed again!  LOL

This morning I felt good enough to resume my walks in Blue Springs' Railroad Park. I have been battling bursitis in the hip of my broken/healed leg.... which made walking etc. painful to the extreme. My new primary care doctor 's plan seems to be working!! Hooray for him!!

Look what was enjoying our very wet park's grass! Lots of new green stuff and probably lots of bugs etc.
The goslings are still somewhat downy but huge. Mom and Dad were keeping a vigilant eye on them so I didn't go too close! They are Canadian geese.... more of the flock were to my left.
The lake was quite full and running over the dam.  The path around the lake is 4/10 of a mile long... so it's easy to keep track of my mileage! Not that I do much currently!

Roadtrip to Wellington ( Missouri)

We finally made it out to the LaBella Winery in Wellington, MO.  This afternoon was rain freee ... lots of fluffy clouds and blue sky. The area around Wellington is quite rural  and the winery is on a dirt and gravel road with lots of green rolling hills and fields ready for planting or with little shoots popping up! The winery's vines have loads of small hand sized leaves.  The tasting room employee says they raise most of the grapes for their wines!

Next time maybe we'll have some wood fired pizza on the porch overlooking the small lake!!
With it being so nice out, it was even better to go on a road trip!!
We have so many flood warnings out, we decided not to come home on the road which runs along side the Missouri River.

BTW... this Wellington is in Missouri. The next town over is Napoleon.... This area was settled before the Civil War with the "rich" folk up on the healthier bluffs  and the "poor" people down by the river...

Here we go again

After tantalizing us with days of warm wonderful weather, the weather people say we will have a week of on and off rain.  Yuck... Luckily we brought the deck chair cushions into the house and so none of them are wet.
My deck flowers seem happy....

Today's storm band brought tornadoes from Texas to Nebraska. Luckily they were west of us.  We do have flash flooding and street closures  in the area.  Tomorrow , if it is dry after noon, I am going to talk  my husband into a short road trip to visit a winery and then home via the road which runs along the Missouri River. I am curious to see how high the water is.  The ground is so saturated that it runs off into the streams and rivers and stays in puddles... we have a low area that looks like a pond!

I saw on Facebook that there was an area near the Arctic Circle that reached 84 degrees today... unbelievable .

we hit 90 degrees

Sitting eating dinner on the deck with flowers in the boxes and hitting 90 degrees for the first time this year was nice!!
Tomorrow is supposed to be the same but a little more humid....
then we get rain and thunderstorms this weekend... oh well. Must remember to take the cushions in Friday night!!

it's been a hectic week

It has been a super hectic week.... my sister-in-law drove to our house from South Carolina to visit for a week.
Last weekend was the US Mothers' Day so that meant lots of company. Our 12 year old grand son made sloppy joe's for Sunday's dinner using his uncle's favorite recipe. He doubled the recipe so we are still eating leftovers!
Last weekend was also the "Spring Stars" four day online bear show.

Then you add all the usual visitor type add-on stuff... and a dinner out with my quilting ( stitch and bitch group) group...
Add to that, I did something to "the leg" which caused all sorts of pain....

My sister-in-law headed out this morning for South Carolina... a long two day car trip.  I will miss her but some only " the two of us again" will be good!!   Also it will mean the leg can rest!!

Tai Chi

Our dues for the local Y comes from our health insurance plan so when Bob saw on the calendar that the Y holds "Tai chi" classes twice a week, we decided to give it a try.
I now feel exhausted and totally un-co-ordinated (?)...I can't follow the teacher's hands and feet at the same time. Hopefully I will improve!  There are several people who do chair tai chi... I may resort to that until I have the arm /hands movements down pat.

Spring must be here. Bob got the lawn mower out of its winter storage and did its spring overhaul.... and then he mowed the yard!! We still have some of last fall's leaves to bag up. I wish we could have a bonfire but that's illegal here. The trash collectors have to pick leaves and garden waste up separately and in special bags that can decompose and take them to a special landfill.

Blue Springs has four thrift stores... Goodwill, Salvation Army, Disabled Vets and Habitat for Humanity. We try not to throw away things that could be donated. Today we took a trunk load to Goodwill.

Now we're back to thunderstorms and lightening... it's 9 pm. Good thing we brought in the chair cushions from the deck. LOL

sunny - hip hip hooray

Today it was sunny even though a little cool. So I decided to follow my orthopedic surgeon's advice and get some walking in. The leg is healed and the OS is pleased with himself, but it does ache near my hip and supposedly walking is good.
So off to Blue Springs' Railroad Park. It has bricks marking the path in tenths of a mile. One circumference is  four tenths of a mile. The playgrounds were empty much to the delight of the Canadian geese. The inlets to the "lake" were still flowing briskly due to all our rain and the city's ground crews were mowing.
I wish I had taken my hospital provided grabber because the park had loads of trash probably blown in  or brought in by the rain. I don't like trying to pick things up along the lake - had visions of falling in!  But did manage to get quite a lot picked up and put into the trash barrels. Felt good about that!!

I gave up after doing 1.2 miles... more next time??  

thunder and rain

Woke up this morning to thunder and lots of rain.... there are large "pools" of water all over .
It is super gray out and the temperature hovers in the 50's.  Good day to stay home and sew bears... or knit.. or crochet.

More storms later today... tomorrow and Thursday ... and possible flooding.  Flood watches are out.

at work... bear parts in my lap!!

changeable weather

Yesterday my husband and I went to a juried craft show. It was held in Powell Gardens... a botanical garden about 40 miles southeast of Kansas City. A very neat place to visit. The co-sponsor was Missouri Life magazine. There were 100 booths with everything from glass beads to ceramics to soap making, black smithing, dyed wool, weaving, wood items and so on.  There were also food booths, winery booths, distillery booths, honey etc. We enjoyed looking and sampling.... it was warm and sunny but , oh so windy! There were moments when I wasn't sure I was going to stay on my feet!!
By the time we has seen everything, I was too tired to look at the gardens . Pity...

Today was another story... this morning was gray and cloudy and the temperature was in the low 40's. This afternoon we had thunder and a splattering of rain with more to follow overnight.

The violas , lavender, basil and parsley I planted in the boxes on the deck railings are growing like mad. Hope they get well established before we get the typical hot and dry Missouri summer.

Getting ready

Life has been its usual hectic self... helping our Daughter with Harper while she gets ready for her fundraiser event...

 and preparing my "site" for the Spring Stars online bear show coming up on May 10th. My sister-in-law is coming for a few days just prior to the show so want to have everything done. I have my bears listed. Copy written and PayPal buttons done. I have room for one more bear and one in the works; but, should I add it?? Or have it "ready" for the next show??

Friends of ours from Texas are driving through the area on their way to Mexico, Mo. where the husband is taking a week long class on airplane building (?). We will meet them at a restaurant for dinner and catch up. I am looking forward to seeing them both and hearing more about the class.
Added benefit... no cooking tonight.

Maybe I will save this post and add more details about the class later ??   

 We all enjoyed dinner and talking. They are both taking the class which is two days long. The company ( Zenith Aircraft) puts out 6 plane kits and the class helps familiarize one with building a kit. You also get to ride in one of the planes ( already built ! LOL) . The company sent him a copy of the plane he wants to build so he could tell whether the part they are building will fit in the car for the trip back to Texas.  BTW he will be building the plane in his garage...
 One their way out of the restaurant I nagged him a bit about pictures... it will be interesting to hear how it all goes!