Wednesday, February 26, 2020

looks glorious outside!!

It looks glorious... evidently there is snow to be had all around....to the north.. to the west and to the south but they ( the weather people) say it will skip us and that next weekend will be in the 50's!! Hooray.  The neighbors grassy backyard is turning green!

My husband has all sorts of projects going... sorting through a huge stack of paperwork for one. The piles are now gracing my dining room table. Sorting through all his electronic/ radio etc stuff downstairs - putting them into little labelled drawers.... and finding books to sell on eBay.

Currently he is off to the office of one of our life insurance policies. Evidently they discovered that his secondary beneficiaries are his parents. They have been dead for almost 20 years...The insurance company wants him to make changes... Surprise??  By the way he purchased the policies while still in college (1965)... before we were married. He did make me primary beneficiary when we married... but that was it.

My husband is a hobbiest/woodworker .... saw on TV that masks to keep the corona virus at bay are in short supply.... wonder whether Bob's woodworking masks would work?? He has loads!





Monday, February 24, 2020

Gray and wet

Well... you can tell is a Monday since it is gray and wet again. Lately our weekends have been nice but as soon as Monday rolls around it get gray and wet. Looks like next weekend will be the same. We are still on that up and down roller coaster.

Saturday my daughters and I and two friends went to a bingo fundraiser at Hamburger Mary's in KC. Very off color jokes and language but fun anyway. Younger daughter won a raffle - bottle of booze and two bottles of barbecue sauce.   None of us won anything at bingo... rats.
Sunday my husband and son-in-law went to a wood turning class -- had fun and were successful. My daughter and I went to look at "open houses" while the men turned wood.
I haven't looked at brand new being built houses in forever so it was very interesting to see what is considered to be "in". 
The master bathrooms were huge .. the toilet in a separate room with door. The free standing oval tub would be impossible for me to get out of!! Liked that the houses had pantries with door and shelves in the kitchen. Liked the open concepts. But the lots are smallish. Some outside decks are at the second story with no stairs down.
But the "look see" was valuable for my daughter... the online viewing of the houses we looked at didn't really give her a good idea of how big or how small things actually are. We paced out bedrooms to see how beds would fit... a king size bed is hard to place!

Went to the gym this morning and then grocery shopping..... I am exhausted

Monday, February 17, 2020

Presidents' Day

Way back when ...when choosing a wedding day I chose Feb 12th - Lincoln's birthday - so that Bob would have a built in reminder.  He's not good at remembering dates.  But then the government decided to combine Lincoln's and Washington's birthdays into our generic Presidents' Day.  But by then Bob had combined our day with Valentine's Day in his mind!!  LOL

So here we are... another gray February day. But a high in the mid- 50's is expected.
Spoke to soon... the sun is out ...the sky is a beautiful blue! 

 So I went for a walk.... met a candidate for mayor on the way. I haven't decided which candidate to vote for.. yet. He tried hard to convince me that he was the one. I don't think he succeeded and sent him to try his spiel on Bob. I don't think he succeeded with him either!!

Tomorrow I will have a bone density test and a mammogram.  Yuck. The timing is ok... one test ends 15 minutes before the second and it takes all 10 minutes to get there!

The next bear online show isn't until the beginning of May so I have time!! Time to continue sorting through my stash to come up with the perfect mohair. 

Saturday, February 15, 2020

last night

Last night's cocktail and cheese tasting event was an event from beginning to end!!  We prepared for the trip to the old industrial area down by the Missouri River and surrounding  railroad yards by taking along maps and our Garmin....( Kansas City's old industrial area)
But we got lost... with some wiggling around we found ourselves about a block ( 200 feet) from our destination but blocked by a huge long freight train... lots of lights flashing  etc. No way were we going to park and wiggle our way between the freight cars.
More wiggling until we found a road and bridge over the tracks and the train... We found the last parking spot across from our destination and as we walked across the street , the train started to move. Figures, right?!
"Reigers" is a distillery built  in an old bottling plant. They have done a marvelous rehab on the inside ! Beer used to be "piped" from a nearby brewery and bottled here. Kansas City was a major brewery city... way back then.
Anyway... the event was good. The sheep's milk cheeses were wonderful. Two of the cocktails were tasty. Two had too much vermouth as an under taste.
Good thing I had my own designated driver for our trip home...
Looking forward to the "Dirt Farm's" calendar of events being posted next month!



Last week Bob picked up a movie from the library.... "Bohemian Rhapsody"....about Freddie Mercury and Queen.  We really enjoyed it and the actor who played Freddie could really duplicate his singing...

Friday, February 14, 2020

emails back and forth

One of my bear customers has a bear on her mind... one that looks like one she has already purchased but different. So we have been going back and forth via email.... pictures of mohair I have in my stash... sizes of bears and so on !! Kind of fun... but a little frustrating as well. Some of my stash is not quite "vintage" but getting close and the mills are not weaving the same sort of mohair. They are trying to cut costs ( aren't we all!) and favorite colors  and textures are changing as well.
Actually I am trying to use up what I have already purchased...  buying eyes, joints, fiberfill only. At times I am really tempted by the new stuff but am resisting ( for the most part).

We had a little snow and the temps were really low ... about 8 F early this morning ... but they are going up!! Hooray !

The Missouri River and the Mississippi too are going to flood again this spring. The levees have not been repaired from last year's water. The "way up North" reservoirs are already full and the snow melt hasn't begun which will fill them even more.  The poor farmers whose land was flooded will be flooded again ... no crops planted and no harvest again!


Off this evening to our Valentine's Day event... the cheese and cocktail tasting. Not much food on offer so we will eat something before we go!!

Wednesday, February 12, 2020

Tomorrow

Bob and I have been lazy-ing around today... watching it snow. Packing up an etsy.com sale. Reading . Watching a movie "Bohemian Rhapsody" about the group Queen and so on when I noticed the TV had school closings on the crawl!!  All the schools will be closed tomorrow. Then I noticed the weather .  The temperatures are dropping rapidly overnight to about 6 F tomorrow morning!!  That's why the schools are closing... not the little snowfall!!

Glad I went grocery shopping! I even have an almost new half-gallon of milk.  No need to leave home!!

Middle of the week...

this posting isn't so sad.... today Bob and I celebrate our 54th wedding anniversary !!
We were married in St. Anthony's , Nanuet, NY.... beautiful sunny day with the temps in the low 70's. The following days it snowed!!

Here we are.  Bob's parents are on his left. My Mother and step-father are on my right !!

After a few days in NYC we spent a few days with his parents in Geneva, NY..... and then off to our apartment in Clarence Center ( just outside of Buffalo).
Bob was working for Sylvania and I  joined the NY Employment Service a few months later.

Now we are in a suburb of Kansas City, Missouri and mostly retired !!

( btw I chose this date because it was close to Valentine's Day and on Lincoln's birthday -- he wouldn't be able to forget!)

Monday, February 10, 2020

start of the week

Today, two years ago, my son was killed while on the median of a Kansas highway. He was being a good Samaritan... helping someone who had driven off the highway and overturned. A car coming from the other direction slammed into the two of them. The  other man was thrown and injured. My son was killed.
His death has left a huge hole in all our lives.
My husband, my two daughters and I  have pulled in closer together. Tonight we are having dinner out... just the four of us.

Yesterday my ex-brother-in-law called from the Netherlands where he is spending 6 months doing medical research. He was Robb's godfather and feels the hole greatly.

We will be lighting candles at church later today...  Bob and I ended up lighting all the candles on the top row... Robb was 6'5" !


Our server must have decided we needed cheering up or something... she made a super effort all through our meal. We all ended up laughing and having a good time!  Thank you Amanda!!

Sunday, February 9, 2020

boxing up bears and a mouse

Spent today boxing up bears ( and a mouse) that sold on the online bear show. Then Bob decided a trip to the PO would be a good idea... so off we went.  Our PO is open 24/7 to leave prepaid packages, pick up mail from boxes and so on.

Left the packages...

Early mailing was a good idea since some were very definitely Valentine's Day themed!
They should all be delivered by Friday!

I didn't even need to put on a coat!

I don't feel like making a big dinner so it will be soup and sandwiches tonight !!  And a glass of wine.




Saturday, February 8, 2020

good day?

Today is turning into a good day... it's sunny though cold but no wind which makes it even better!

My trip to the grocery store was fruitful... coffee on sale! Lovely strawberries!  Bananas on sale!! Found nice Anniversary and Valentine's cards for Bob and even one Valentine card for him from the cats!!  The checkout lady was waiting just for me and even had a bagger!! And a gentleman unloading  his grocery cart into the car next to mine offered to take my cart to the cart corral!

After I unloaded  ( really Bob did most of it) the car at home he wanted to do a round robin of errands.. off to the Restore ( Habitat for Humanity), then the QT gas station where I got a free coffee and then off to Office Depot for Bob and Hobby Lobby next door for me. I didn't buy anything but Bob bought a "passport" to download my hard drive onto as a safety deal. He has been having unsuccessful attempts to update Windows 10 and wants me not to loose what's on MY computer!!
Boy I would have to loose all my pictures and documents!!

The house smells of red cabbage... both of us love it, so it's OK.  Dinner will be burnt ends with sauce, red cabbage, fresh green beans and mashed potatoes...

Bears are heading out to new homes ... Winter Stars online show
This is "Gwen" made as a "challenge" to recognize the death of a  Texas friend who also made bears. The bear had to be white but the challenge was otherwise open. She went to a new home!!



Wednesday, February 5, 2020

Parade in Kansas City

Even if DJ Trump thinks that the Kansas City Chiefs are in Kansas... they are in Missouri.  Kansas City is having a huge parade for the Super Bowl winners down Main Street and to the WWWI Memorial/Museum.
But today is cold and even though the city has set places outside of downtown and buses to bring people to the parade route... there is the possibility of hypothermia. The KC Star mentions this and also mentions not bringing small children.

It's all too bad... but glad we did not plan on attending.  I'll watch it on TV !

Tuesday, February 4, 2020

Lots of little stuff

The morning started with Windows 10 on my computer wanting an update ..ok'd it and 4 hours later it still wasn't done . At least I could get on it again and will try again sometime.
While windows churned away we took Jack to the vet for his annual checkup and a look see. He is slowly gaining the weight back that he lost last fall and it looks like the thyroid problem is getting back to normal. Still on the thyroid pill but maybe he can stop the lasik. He received his shots and home we went.
Off loaded Jack and headed out for our voting place... only a bond issue for the fire dept. but we don't skip elections!! All the people we saw voting were old like us !  LOL  Even the workers!! 

Then onto the computer to find the State of Missouri's sales tax forms.... I have to collect sales tax for every sale I have in Missouri....But all my sales are online now and out of state or even out of country.
Typically the Dept. of Revenues forms would not cooperate and I had to print them out and will be mailing them in instead of filing online. Typical... years ago the State would mail the forms to me. Not anymore!

The vet had Tigger's "brother by another Mother" hoping to be adopted... Bob said no.

We are having Winter again... snow that melted this morning. More tomorrow... I am glad I am not going to the Chief's Super Bowl parade tomorrow.  We'll watch it on TV!   The last quarter of the Super Bowl game was something else!!  The fireworks that people set off showed up on the radar!

Salmon tonight... yum!!




Sunday, February 2, 2020

Looking in the fridge

Today is gorgeously sunny with a bright blue cloudless sky and warm for February... no shadow for the groundhog.
I took a look in the fridge... trying to sort out all the containers of leftovers for dinner tonight. Guess I won't be cooking. I think I will take them all out and my husband and I can pick and choose . Then zap in the microwave.

Tomorrow I can start all over and cook....lol

Still leftovers left... oh well!!

Saturday, February 1, 2020

Trying a new recipe

My husband and I had a hankering to try a new recipe... this time it was an Olive Garden copycat one. He loves the potato gnocchi soup. So off to the grocery store for the gnocchi, half and half creamer, spinach leaves and fresh thyme.
I had everything else.... The soup turned out well.

While I was at the store I noticed all the gorgeous red cabbages. That was one of the things my Mother made... so I picked up one for tonight's dinner. I will make pork chops and apple sauce as well!

It's funny how things will bring up memories... I cannot make red cabbage without thinking of my Mother and using Robb's ( my son's) green LeCreuset pot makes me think of him. Guess I'd rather have memories than not...