I’m Still Standing…

Just when I thought I had rejoined the world of blogging–working in the garden plus new health issues caused me to take another hiatus.  I’m happy to say, the garden is now history and, once again, I’m feeling better–or at least I was before I began trying to write this post.  It seems WordPress has changed [more than a few things] during my absence, but I digress…

When Ed planted our garden, this year, I began to pray for God to bless us with a bountiful harvest so we could share it with others.  I’m here to tell you, God hears and answers prayers!  God blessed and we shared our veggies!  I remember one day, in particular, when Ed brought me one-too-many buckets of squash, I stopped him at the door.  I refused to let him bring them into my already crowded kitchen!  The veggie table was full, as was the refrigerator!  Fortunately, just down the road, others were more than happy to take those squash off Ed’s hands. We shared our veggies with family, friends, and with people we didn’t even know.

The vegetable table was always filled with something!

I don’t know why, but my health always seems to pick the worst possible times to go wonky.  About the time we were finishing up with canning green beans, (just before Memorial Day) I began to have an earache.  That stupid earache plagued me the entire summer!  After four trips to three different medical specialists, taking two different rounds of antibiotics, using two different kinds of ear drops, six weeks worth of Sudafed and Flonaise, and a whole lot of miserable days later, I’m finally feeling better!  I haven’t had an earache in three whole days.

In other news, Ed finally began to clean out his parents’ house back in May, with the help of our daughter. (It’s about time, his mom has been deceased for nearly seven years.)  Our daughter listed the furniture on Facebook and it sold quickly. Only Ed’s old piano, a swivel chair, and six kitchen chairs remain, along with all of the dishes in the kitchen cabinets…  Dishes are “my thing” and I’m not looking forward to going through those cabinets!  I’ll want to bring most of them home with me, and I have no more room!  To solve the dilemma of what to do with “stuff” we can’t bare to part with, we’ve ordered a storage house…  Is anybody else out there guilty of hanging onto “stuff”?

Saying “goodbye” to my old friend “Classy” after 19 years

Speaking of “stuff” we can’t bare to part with, I finally gave Ed permission (for the third time) to sell “Classy”, my 2001 black PT Cruiser.  That car was my all-time favorite vehicle, and I’d had it since March of 2001!  (I wanted that car so bad I actually went to the dealership, alone, to talk with a salesperson about buying it.)  I thought I wanted to keep “Classy” forever, but things change, and reality eventually sets in. We’d had “Classy” up for sale a couple of times during the past year or so, but had always ended up removing the “for sale” sign after a few days.  Somehow, it never felt right to sell her.  I began to pray about this, and God answered my prayer again.  Shortly after Ed put the sign on the car, for the third time, a woman came by ready to buy the car!  Not only was she ready to buy it, she seemed as passionate about the car as I had always been.  We sold the car to her, and I’ve had absolute peace about the sale. In fact, the other day, we saw her driving the car in town and I didn’t even feel bad!

In addition to dealing with a garden, relentless earaches, cleaning out a house, and selling a beloved car, Ed and I have also been trying to survive this era of Covid 19 and all of the craziness that is accompanying it!  Like many, we’ve been mostly housebound for the past four and a half months.

For us, shopping consists of using Wal-mart pickup service or an occasional trip to the neighborhood dollar store for milk or bread. Once or twice we’ve put on our masks and actually shopped for ourselves someplace other than Wal-mart.  It felt so liberating!  Of course, we’ve had to make a few doctor visits during this time, too, which were a bit unusual. (wearing masks, waiting in the car until called, etc.)

Our church closed in March, along with all of the others.  We learned how to enjoy Sunday School using Zoom, and Sunday services via Facebook.  Once our church reopened, after several weeks, we attended services a couple of times.  We discovered we didn’t really feel comfortable attending services with the virus still making the rounds, so we’ve continued watching from home.  We were glad we made that choice when the virus began to hit some of our area churches–ours included!  When will this virus ever end?

Something else I’m ready to see end is the nonsense we’ve been witnessing on the news over the past few weeks… I do believe our country has gone mad!  When did wearing a mask become such a controversial thing? When did it become “acceptable” to deface or destroy public property?  When did only certain lives matter?  These are definitely deeply disturbing times we’re living in…and on that note I’ll end this post!  I hope to write again, soon.

 

Published in: on July 10, 2020 at 5:03 pm  Comments (1)  
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A Cinco de Mayo Kind of Hodgepodge…

 

I wasn’t feeling well, so I missed last week’s Hodgepodge.  Fortunately, I’m feeling better and am able to participate in the fun today!  If you need a fun little distraction from the gloom and doom of the news, feel free to click Joyce’s button at the top of this post, and jump right in!

1. Question day this week lands on Cinco de Mayo. Are/were tacos on your Tuesday night menu? Hard shell, soft shell or just gimme all the tacos? Are you even a fan of Mexican food? Do you like your salsa mild, spicy, or somewhere in between? Margaritas-Frozen, on the rocks, or no thank you? Have you ever been to Mexico?

Tacos were not on my menu, last night, but left-over bar-b-que was.  We’ve learned to embrace left-overs in this house, and it’s a good thing with things headed in the direction they’re going.  A dollar won’t buy much food, these days, but $1.67 will buy a gallon of gas!

Whenever I do eat tacos, I prefer a hard shell, and I like my salsa on the mild side.  I’m not really a fan of Mexican food, but occasionally I’ll make tacos for something different.

You know, I’ve actually never tried a Margarita, or been to Mexico, and I don’t have any plans to do either.

2. What’s something you may do this month?

I “may” cook lunch for my family on Mother’s Day.  We’ve been “social distancing” for well over nine weeks, and only visiting with family while sitting outside spaced  several feet apart.  The last time our family shared a meal together was the first weekend of March.  So, if the weather permits, we’ll be eating a home-cooked meal [outside] on Sunday. (still trying to social distance, but to a lesser degree)  Sunday is also our oldest son’s 38th birthday. (He was my “Mother’s Day baby)

3. Tell us what’s happening in your state or town as far as restaurants/salons/parks/beaches/businesses opening up. How do you feel about it? Are you out and about or hunkered down? Do you wear a mask?

As most of you know, the state of Georgia led the way in opening back up.  Restaurants, salons, gyms, tattoo parlors, etc. have been open for over a week–with many restrictions.  Many restaurants and other businesses are open [with restrictions] as well.  Personally, I think our state opened too early, but only time will tell.  Our local number of cases haven’t changed, yet.  Our county stands at nine.

I’m still hunkered down! I’ve only been out three times, in over nine weeks, and two of those was for “Walmart Pickup”.  I broke the ‘hunkered down’ tradition for the third time, and went to get my hair cut, yesterday!  My stylist wore a mask, and so did I.  I had my temperature taken upon entering the door, answered a questionnaire, she sanitized before I was allowed to enter…  If I happen to catch the corona virus after all of that, I’ll look better and die a happy woman with a new hair cut!

4. Mother nature, everybody and their mother, mom jeans, like mother like daughter, soccer mom, mother hen, mother lode, necessity is the mother of invention, stay-at-home mom…pick one and tell us how it fits into your life right now.

“Like mother, like daughter” fits my life quite well, and has for a long time.  My daughter and I look alike, think alike, and often act alike.  We both have autoimmune diseases and are frequently suffer with the same symptoms, but usually at different times, thank goodness.  We jokingly say when one of us is “up” the other is often “down”.  Because we share the same kinds of symptoms, we understand just how crappy autoimmune disease can make you feel, and we try to help each other out when we can.

5. April showers bring May flowers…what’s blooming in your yard or garden today?

In the yard – the gardenia bush is blooming in all its glory, as well as our huge magnolia tree.  Such sweet smells! Then we have a few hibiscus bushes beginning to bloom (the yellow is my favorite), as well as some assorted pots and hanging baskets filled with petunias, gerbera daisies, lantana, begonias, geraniums  and impatience.

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2020 garden (after ten inches of rain within a week)

In the garden – our squash bushes are blooming, as well as our garden peas and green beans.  So far, it’s been a tough gardening year, between the cooler than normal nights and the over-abundance of rain, but I think it’ll be okay.  If all goes well, we should be eating fresh squash in just a few more days!

Random:  Today is our oldest son’s wedding anniversary.

Bretts fam strawberry patch

(picture taken at our neighbor’s strawberry farm)

He and his wife have been married for fourteen years, and have two boys, ages eleven and eight.  Happy anniversary you two.  May you have many more happy anniversaries!

 

Published in: on May 6, 2020 at 7:15 am  Comments (9)  
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