A Few Friday Fragments…

It’s been a while since I’ve joined Mrs. Fours for Friday Fragments, but I’m finally attempting to get back into a normal blogging routine.  That means I should be posting and visiting a little bit more in the future–I hope!

Finally! I am free from the Christmas clutter that has been plaguing me, and am getting back to normal life.  As of last Friday, the last of the Christmas decorations were taken down and safely packed away in their storage containers.  What did we ever do before the invention of those neat plastic storage boxes?!

I have decorated the ‘year round’ tree for January, by covering it with snowmen, snowballs, and snowflakes.  I bought several new ornaments for the tree, for half price, or less.  I also bought a box of old-fashioned icicles (for 75% off) and draped them over the limbs.  Putting those icicles on the tree brought back some old memories from my childhood.  Remember when everybody used to put icicles on their Christmas trees?  Remember how the icicles would cling to your clothing when you got close to the tree?  They still do!  Ha!

January tree (and partial snowman collection)

Everyone’s been busy, plus I’ve had an after-Christmas cold, so Ed and I haven’t seen much of the kids and their families, lately.  Last Friday night, just like old times, the children who live closest to us stopped in for a visit.  Everyone brought their own supper, and we all had a great time catching up with each other.  I jokingly told them I thought they didn’t love us anymore, since we hadn’t seen much of them since Christmas!

Of course, we missed Brad, Jennifer, and Evan’s presence, last Friday night, like we always do when they’re not with us.  It just so happened that Brad called while the others were here, so he did manage to get in on a little of our conversation, too!

Speaking of our grandson, Evan, apparently, he’s learned how to climb since Christmas!  His daddy reported that he’s climbing on EVERYTHING, including the stairs, if given the opportunity!  Evan’s also had his first haircut since we’ve seen him.  Our youngest ‘grand’ is growing up–and we’re missing out on most of it because he’s not here much.

Evan, our youngest ‘grand’

Unfortunately, Ed’s has had a minor health issue that’s been making him miserable, for a little over a week.  He visited the doctor, on Monday, and has slowly been getting better, since then. It’s been a long week for Ed, and I know, without a doubt, he’s glad it’s Friday!

It’s been rainy and cold here for the entire week!  I haven’t seen the sun in so long, I’m having withdrawal symptoms. Judging from the comments on Facebook, I’m not alone!  Hopefully, the sun will find its way through the clouds soon!  I can live with the cold temperatures, as long as the sun is shining!

I’ve been busy doing odd jobs around the house, such as cleaning out and organizing the pantry, sorting and organizing old pictures and mementos, and, of course, packing away the last of the Christmas decorations.   I still need to do some serious decluttering!

In closing, today, January 16th, is a special day for someone who’s near and dear to my heart.

 It’s my ‘oldest‘, ‘bestest’, and only brother’s birthday!  S-M-I-L-E!

 David, I hope your day is just as special as you are!  Happy Birthday!  Wishing you many, many more!

Love,

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Friday Fragments…

It’s been a fast-paced, crazy week at our house, and I can’t believe it’s already Friday!  I must admit, sometimes I get a bit over-whelmed by how quickly time is passing.  Every time I turn around, it’s time to refill my weekly medication dispenser!  I sometimes feel like time is running out, and I wonder if anyone else my age feels the same way.  All of this being said, since it’s Friday again, I’m posting a few fragments.

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Yesterday was my brother’s birthday.  He’s nine years my senior, and to see us together, you’d think it was the other way around!  I always tell him that he got all of the good genes in the family 🙂  I wish I could have spent the day with him, eating a piece of German Chocolate Cake, which happens to be his favorite, but we live nearly 200 miles apart.  These days, our visits are fewer, but always special.  Sure hope he had a great birthday, and that we’ll get together again soon.

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Every day, without fail, my husband, Ed, goes to his mom’s house to feed ‘Trouble’, the cat. (His mom’s deceased, but the cat still chooses to live at the house.)  Ed’s been doing this for over a year, because ‘Trouble’ is too old and ornery to relocate anywhere else. Anyway,  I hadn’t seen ‘Trouble’ in a while, so I decided to ride with him, yesterday, to feed her.  It’s a good thing I did!

Last summer, I ran out of freezer space while canning vegetables from our garden.  I decided to put the remainder of my vegetables in the side-by-side refrigerator, at Ed’s mom’s house.  (His mom was  living in an assisted living home, back then.)  While I was visiting ‘Trouble’, I decided to check on the refrigerators. (Ed’s mom had two of them, because her house has two kitchens.)  Lo and behold, the refrigerator with all of the vegetables in its freezer had stopped working!  The freezer had thawed in the top, but, thank goodness,  the bottom area was still frozen.  I lost all of our corn-on-the-cob, but managed to save everything else.  Praise the Lord!  If I had to give up something, I’m grateful it was only corn-on-the cob, which I don’t cook a lot of.  One more day, and I would’ve lost everything!

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Speaking of Ed’s mother, it’s only taken the Veteran’s Administration four months to figure out the lady is deceased!  Ed filed the necessary paperwork, two weeks after she passed away, but for four long months, the VA has continued to direct deposit checks into her bank account anyway!  Finally, after numerous phone calls from Ed, and four months worth of checks, they realized their error, and contacted us to return the money.  That’s our government at work!  Better late than never, I suppose.

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On Wednesday, I’d asked for prayers concerning our son-in-law, who has been out of work since just before Christmas.  Several of you told me you were praying.  God is listening, and possibly answering.  We’ll know more in a few days, but something could possibly be ‘in the works’.  I sure hope so!  Please continue to pray.  These are tough economic times we’re living in, and jobs (of any kind) are scarce.

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Thursday morning, I had the opportunity to spend some one-on-one  time with our next-to-the-youngest grandson, Chase.  It was just the two of us, all morning, and this doesn’t happen often.  He just turned two, and is quite a character, guaranteed to make you laugh if you spend much time around him.

See that green ‘lovey’ in the picture?  It’s a frog blanket, and I’m always aggravating Chase about wanting to keep it for myself, because I like frogs.  On Thursday, Chase hid his ‘lovey’ from me, and had me searching everywhere for it before he finally showed me where he hid it!  Chase does things like that, and just smiles about it.  I believe we might have a ‘practical joker’ in the making!

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Is anyone else watching this season of Downton Abbey?  This year, there seems to be a lot more drama in the servant’s quarters than in the main house–or should I say the castle?  Who would’ve thought it?  If you haven’t watched this show, yet, you’re missing out.  The plot is filled with more twists, turns, ups and downs than a roller coaster!

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I got a new Kindle for my birthday, back in August.  I haven’t done much with it, because, honestly, it has been a bit overwhelming to me.  Why, oh why don’t Kindles (and computers) come with instruction manuels???  I’ve had a hard time trying to figure things out on my own!  Yesterday, I finally got brave enough to download my first e-book on it.  It’s a strange experience, reading without having to turn pages or hold a book open, but I think I’m going to like it!  The book I’m reading?  Lone Survivor, the book from which the current popular movie, by the same name,  was made.  Can anyone say, intense reading material???

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That’s it for my edition of Friday Fragments, which I will be linking over at halfpastkissintime.  Have a great weekend, y’all!

A Week Ago…

Today I’m sitting here watching it rain and experiencing the final effects of tropical storm Andrea, but a week ago, the weather was beautiful and Ed and I were on our way to St. Simon’s Island for the day.  What a difference a week makes!

Ed and I hadn’t seen my brother and his wife since last summer, so we asked them if they might be interested in meeting us on St. Simon’s Island for a day visit.  They agreed to come.  I told them to bring a sub sandwich, two lawn chairs, and meet us under the oak trees in The Village.  My sister-in-law loves the beach as much as I do, so I knew she’d probably enjoy the atmosphere.  She did.

By 10:30 Friday morning we were all safely nestled in our lawn chairs, admiring the scenery and catching up on what’s been going on in each other’s lives.  We talked about everything from our gardens to ‘the good ole’ days’.  We marveled at how quickly time passes, with my brother reminding us that he and Kay will celebrate their 50th wedding anniversary in October!  Say it ain’t so!  Another interesting thing we noted–between the four of us, we’ve lost over 100 pounds since the last time we were all together!

The tide seemed to be unusually high on Friday, so there wasn’t any visible beach sand in the area of The Village.  (My brother told me I had a strange idea of what a beach is!)  I’ve never been there when water covered the sand the entire time, but it did on Friday.  We could have gone to the main beach area to sit in the sand and sun, but all agreed we preferred the shade of the oak trees.  We, also, took a few pictures of each other to remember our trip by.  Now I have a more recent photograph of my brother and me…

My sister-in-law and I took a tour of most of the little beach shops located in the area, and I purchased an ornament for my ‘beach tree’.  Every summer, I add at least one new ornament to my collection.  This year I chose a sea-gull sitting on a post, holding a little fishing pole.  She didn’t purchase anything.

All too soon, the day ended, and it was time for us to part ways and head back home.  We said our good-byes, and each headed in different directions.  It was about this time that Ed and I realized we had a problem…

Earlier in the day, about the time we arrived on the island, Ed noticed a slight “bumping noise” coming from under the car.  He stopped and checked the tires, but didn’t see anything wrong. By then, we were almost at The Village, so we continued on our way, and promptly forgot about the bumping noise–until we got ready to go home.

A few miles into our journey home, the bumping noise got louder and was accompanied by a stronger bumping sensation.  We pulled over again, and took turns checking out the tires.  Ed still couldn’t see anything wrong, but, to me, it seemed like something with right rear tire wasn’t right.  We cautiously headed on toward home…

Fortunately we made it home safely, without incident.  After taking my car to the shop, we discovered the right rear tire had a huge bulge on it, and at some point, had actually split apart.  I’m so thankful it didn’t blow out while we were traveling.  Needless to say, today there are four new tires on my car!

I’m already planning another trip to the beach–and I hope my brother and sister-in-law will decide to join us again soon!  Happiness is best when it’s shared.

Wednesday Hodgepodge…October 12

Happy Hump Day!  It’s time for the 48th volume of Joyce’s Wednesday Hodgepodge.  The number 48 is significant for another reason today, but I’ll get to that in a moment.  First, let’s jump right into the questions, shall we?

1. Have you ever been ‘asked’ to report for jury duty? Were you chosen to serve? If not, were you happy or disappointed?  So far, I have not been called to report for jury duty.  I didn’t register to vote for many years in order to prevent this from happening.  I know, I know…I should be ashamed.  I finally registered and voted for the first time a couple of years ago.  If I am ever chosen for jury duty, I will suck it up and serve to the best of my ability.  Whether I am happy or disappointed afterward remains to be seen.

2. On a scale of 1-10 (with 10 being very), how mechanically inclined are you? Give an example to back up your answer.  Um, I would be about a 2.  I can remove and replace screws, change batteries, and replace vacuum cleaner bags.  That’s pretty much the extent of my talents.  I admire mechanically inclined people–especially women.

3. Beets-cabbage-cauliflower-butternut squash….of the four, which is your favorite fall vegetable?  Cabbage, but I hate to smell it cooking!

4. What do you recommend to overcome self-pity? The next time you are feeling sorry for yourself, I recommend taking a look around.  There is always somebody much worse off–and you don’t have to look far to find them either.  Then be thankful for the things that you do have.

5. Do you enjoy classical music?  I can and do listen to classical music at times, but it’s not my first choice in music.

6. October is National Book Month…what’s on your reading list this month?  I’m still trying to finish Jaycee Duggard’s book “Stolen Innocence”.  It’s taken me a while to get back into reading it because my book got wet while I was reading it, and it took me forever to dry the book out.  Next on my list of books to read is “The Help”.

7. What is your idea of ‘cute’?  My idea of cute is… a baby.  Everything about them is cute–and they just can’t help themselves!

Random:

Forty-eight years ago my brother married the love of his life.  They’ve been on their honeymoon ever since.  Happy Anniversary, you two.  Here’s a little walk down memory lane for you…Enjoy!