Just Me On Monday…

Hello Monday!  Your arrival means it’s time to join Heather and Wayne for another edition of ‘Monday Quiz’.  Time’s wasting, so let’s get right down to business, shall we?

1. This Wednesday is National Canned Food Day – do you eat canned food? What is your favorite?

Yes, we eat canned food, occasionally, but we usually eat foods that we ‘can’ ourselves.  My favorite ‘store-bought’ canned food is pork and beans, which I turn into ‘baked beans’.

2. Are you dressing up for Halloween next week? Are you doing anything special for this holiday?

No, I won’t be dressing up for Halloween, this year.  I only dress up if we’re having a party, and, this year, we’re not having one because there’s just too much going on with everyone ( a baby due, cataract surgery, a birthday party, ‘trunk-or-treat’, etc.)  I’ll have to be content to pass out treats to our three grandchildren when they stop by.  Of course, I always enjoy seeing them in their costumes.

3. Have you ever taught someone to drive? What advice do you have to give to Wayne who is teaching Robyn to drive?

I helped teach our daughter, who is the oldest child, how to drive.  Sometimes, was difficult for me because she wanted to drive faster than I wanted her to go.   I nearly stomped a hole through the floorboard (on the passenger side), trying to hit the brakes!

My advice for Wayne?  Patience, Wayne.  Have lots of patience.

4. What bad habit do you need to break?

My worst bad habit has always been nail-biting, but I’ve finally stopped doing that one!

Weekend Wrap Up:

We began our weekend with a family gathering at our daughter’s house, on Friday night.  Our daughter-in-law, Christina, made some taco soup, and it was delicious.  Friday nights are the best, and we enjoy gathering to celebrate the end of the week, and the beginning of the weekend!  As always, we missed having Brad and Jennifer with us, but Jennifer called, which made it better.   Brad called us on Saturday evening, too.   Jennifer says she’s hanging in there with her pregnancy, but her feet have begun to swell.

Saturday was busy around our house.  Ed enjoyed mowed lots of grass with his new mower!  Hopefully, that will be the last mowing of the season.   Ed also had a great time burning some limbs and stumps out in our pecan orchard.  I, on the other hand, was stuck inside, cleaning out my MIL’s kitchen cabinets!  I am making progress, in her house, but it’s slow, and sometimes a bit sad.  I’ve been doing a lot of ‘walking down memory lane’…

Saturday evening was spent sitting around the fire pit, enjoying live music from a concert being held a couple of miles down the road from our house!  The band played every kind of music under the sun, and they played for six hours!  As we sat around the fire, we played a bit of  ‘Name That Tune’.

Ed finished out the weekend by doing a little vehicle switching and swapping.  He sold his car to our daughter, so he can buy the pick up truck from his parents’ estate. The truck belonged to his dad, who  passed away eleven years ago.  The truck is old, but really doesn’t have a lot of miles on it.  Ed’s been in charge of keeping the oil changed and keeping the truck running all of these years, so it sort of feels like it’s already his.  I don’t think I’ve mentioned before that Ed, who was his mom’s former caretaker,  is now the executor of his mom’s estate, did I?  What a chore!  Poor Ed.

Speaking of chores, I have plenty of those waiting to be done, so I’m outta’ here.  Have a great Monday, everybody!

Catching Up On Monday…

It’s been four days since I’ve spent anytime here in blog world.  Lately, I can’t seem to keep up with everything life keeps throwing at me, so I had to give myself a blogging break.  Something had to give, but I’m back, for now! 🙂

I devoted part of last week to getting ready for Halloween.  Halloween is a ‘big deal’ at our house, and I have lots of inside and outside decorations.  I’ve been collecting inside Halloween decorations for about twenty years, so you can imagine!  After two days of dragging around plastic tubs of decorations, I’m officially decorated!

I’ve almost gotten my house back in order after doing the furniture switch-er-oo in Ed’s bedroom, last weekend, too.  I only have a few odds-n-ends left to put away, thank goodness.  There’s one last piece of furniture at Ed’s mom’s that we still need to move here, but, for now, it’s staying put!

On Friday, I spent some time in Ed’s mom’s house.  I began cleaning and packing in one of the bedrooms.  The room belonged to her oldest grandson, whom she raised, most of his life, until he joined the Navy in 1992.  His room hasn’t been touched since then!  Ed’s mom simply closed the door and left everything just as he left it.  Of course, her grandson, occasionally, came home for visits, over the years, but never really bothered to take the rest of his stuff with him.  I’m packing up all of the things he left behind, and, hopefully, he’ll claim them when he comes home for Christmas.

On Saturday, Ed and I finished washing down the house.  People will tell you that ” keeping up vinyl siding is easier than painting”, but it’s still not easy!  I don’t know how many more years Ed will be able to climb up and down the ladder to reach the high areas, but for now, the outside of our house is “as clean as a whistle”!

Sunday found Ed and me ‘in the city’.  I cooked lunch early Sunday morning, then packed the food up and took it to Brad and Jennifer’s house.  It was the first time we’d seen Jennifer since she’d spent time in the hospital.  (Brad had surprised us with a Thursday evening visit to our house, since he was working in our area that day!)  We all ate lunch together, and visited for a little while before Ed and I headed out to do a little shopping on our way back home.

Jennifer seems to be doing well, although she is somewhat miserable, of course.  Evan’s nursery is very cute, and all it needs is him to make it complete!  (It’s blue, and is decorated in a ‘sports puppy theme’.)  The tentative plans are to schedule a c-section for Jennifer toward the end of October, if Evan continues to stay put until then.  Ed has cataract surgery scheduled for Oct. 24, so I’m hoping the two surgeries don’t conflict with each other.

Speaking of Ed’s cataract surgery, he had to make an appointment back to the eye doctor last week.  The eye, from which he’d had the cataract removed, suddenly became red and irritated, over the weekend.  Fortunately, nothing was wrong except an extreme case of eye irritation, from being outside.  I guess Ed’s new lens is going to be sensitive to dust and wind, so he’ll have to use special drops for the irritation.  Another side-effect of growing older, I suppose.

Anyway, Ed and I finally made it back home from the city just before dark, last night.  It was good to leave the fast pace, rude people, and heavy traffic behind us.  I only regret that we had to leave our son and his family behind, as well…

Our passel of pets were all happy to see us, since it was well past their supper time!  First we stopped by Ed’s mom’s  house to feed “Trouble”, the cat, then made our way to our own house to feed our own twelve cats and two dogs.  Unfortunately, “my girls”, the hens, had already roosted for the night, so they missed their evening ‘treat’!  I sprinkled some scratch feed in their pen, so they’d have an early morning surprise waiting for them.

Yes, life sure is good, here on the farm, and there’s nothing like a quick visit to the city to remind us of this!  To borrow a phrase from an old John Denver song, “Hey, it’s good to be back home again!  Sometimes, this old farm seems like a long, lost friend.  Hey, it’s good to be back home again!”

Happy Monday, y’all!

Can You Believe It’s The 144th Wednesday Hodgepodge?

When I went over to Joyce’s blog to copy today’s Hodgepodge questions, last night, I noticed it’s the 144th edition of “The Hodgepodge”.  That sure is a lot of questions!  One thousand and eight questions, to be exact!  Thank you, Joyce, for continuing to surprise us each week, with a new set of thought-provoking questions!  Speaking of questions, here are the ones for today:

1. What’s one thing you learned in September?

I already knew this, but I re-learned that our loved ones can be here with us one day, and gone the next.  Life is very fragile.

2. Acorn squash, butternut squash, spaghetti squash, yellow squash, zucchini squash, or blech! hold the squash… what’s your favorite squash? What’s your favorite way to prepare your favorite squash?

The only kind of squash I’ve ever tried are yellow squash.  We grow both ‘crooked neck’ and ‘straight neck’ squash in our garden, and I like them both.  Unfortunately, the only way I like to eat squash is fried, but they sure are good!

3. The older I get, the more forgetful I become.  Seriously, these days, I think I forget more things than I remember.

4. What’s your favorite television theme song ever?

My favorite television theme song is from the show “The Golden Girls”.  I also like the theme from “Hawaii Five-O”.

5. What do you wish you’d spent more time doing five years ago?

I wish I’d spent more time doing things with Ed’s mom.  She was still living at home then, but didn’t get out very much.

6. What item do you most need (or want) to add to your wardrobe this fall?

I don’t want any particular item, but I do need some new fall clothes that fit properly.  Most of mine have become too big, since I changed my old eating habits, last December.

7. On October 2, 1950 the Peanuts cartoon was introduced to the world. What was your favorite cartoon when you were a kid?

I never really liked cartoons, as a kid,  but I enjoyed watching The Road Runner Show, as a ‘tween’.

Random:

Our daughter and her daughter have begun taking violin lessons together.  There’s a lady in our town who gives lessons, and furnishes each of her students with an instrument!  She says this is her ministry.  What a blessing this lady is to our community!

Sometimes Brandy and Madison practice their violins outside.  Whenever they do, I enjoy sitting in my swing and listening to the sweet, soft music of their violins.  It sort of reminds me of ‘Pa’ playing his fiddle on “Little House On the Prairie”…

It’s Monday Again!

The weekend went by so fast, I barely had time to blink!  I’m guessing that I’m not the only one who’s feeling that way, this morning, either.  I’m sure my husband, Ed, would agree.  However, since it’s Monday again, that means it’s time to join up with “The Monday Quiz” over Heather’s blog.  Here are Heather and Wayne’s questions, along with my answers:

1. It’s Customer Service week – do you think customer service is getting better or worse now than it was five years ago?  Without a doubt, customer service is worse!  I believe good customer service representatives are a dying breed.

2. October 1st is also World Vegetarian Day – have you ever spent time as a Vegetarian? Do you have regular meatless meals?  No, I haven’t spent any time as a vegetarian.  I’m not a huge meat-eater, but I do like some meat with every meal.

3. What reality show would you like to be a part of?  I think I’d like to be a part of “Big Brother”.  The contestants always have plenty of snack foods in the house (yum!), they do a lot of sitting around, and even when they do have a competition, it’s usually a fun one.

4. Are you planning to watch the Baseball post-season?  Who will win the World Series?  No, I don’t have any plans to watch post-season baseball.  I’ve never been much of a baseball fan, so I have no idea who will win the World Series.

My question:

5. Do you find it harder to wake up in the mornings, now that fall has arrived?  (It is for me!)

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The Weekend Wrap Up:

What a busy weekend it was!  I think Ed was happy to go back to work, today, so he could rest 🙂

On Friday evening, we began our weekend with a family meal.  The hospital, where Ed works, baked a ham and provided it for our family, as an expression of sympathy for the loss of Ed’s mom.  (We were able to choose when we wanted to receive our ham, and we decided to wait a few days.)  Our oldest son and his family, and our daughter and her family joined us for supper.  Everybody cooked a side dish or two, to go along with the ham, and we enjoyed our “Friday Feast”.  We had fun, but missed those who were not there to join us. (Brad and Jennifer, and Ed’s mom, of course)  During the meal, I commented that Ed’s mom would have loved some of the baked beans and potato salad, which happened to be two of her favorite dishes.

After supper, Ed asked our son-in-law to help him move some furniture from his mom’s house to ours.  They moved a dresser and a chest-of-drawers into our already crowded house.  Thank goodness for the pool room, which frequently serves as our ‘catch-all’ room.  By late Friday evening, the pool room was full!  It was Sunday afternoon before we moved an old vanity and chest-of-drawers back into Ed’s mom’s house. (We basically swapped furniture.)

In the midst of swapping furniture, over the weekend, Ed and I tackled the job of washing down the outside of our house on Saturday morning.  What a job that turned out to be!  We washed the house two-thirds of the way around, as well as washing the back porch, but didn’t get a chance to finish the back of the house.  Maybe next weekend?

Ed and I could have probably finished washing the house, but Saturday was also a good day for planting, so we decided to get our fall garden planted!  We planted some turnip greens, mustard greens, carrots, broccoli, cauliflower, and collards!  If they make, some of these vegetables will be for us, but most will for ‘our girls’ aka, the chickens!  ‘My girls’ love to eat green, leafy vegetables, and it’s too expensive to buy them from the grocery store!  My girls are spoiled, but they keep the eggs coming!  Last egg count?  Over 1700 in just fourteen months!

During the rest of the weekend, Ed also found time to mow some grass, on his new lawn mower, as well as do a little shopping with me!  We have a birthday celebration to prepare for.  Our daughter is turning another year older tomorrow!  It’s hard to believe it’s already been 35 years since the birth of our first child…  How different life was for us back then!

Anyway, Ed actually mowed grass until dark on Saturday night–then came inside and worked  swapping out furniture until 10 p.m.?  (It took quite a while to move all of the clothes and junk!)  We finally to bed, shortly after 11, but were back up at 5 a.m. on Sunday!

The last event of the weekend involved Ed retrieving one of our deceased cats out from under our daughter’s house! The cat who passed away was none other than ‘the garden cat’, Mr. Big, who’d been sick for a while.  (It had been four days since I’d last seen ‘Mr. Big’, so we knew he was dead somewhere.) After, retrieving the body, Ed thought it only fitting that we bury ‘Mr. Big’ in a spot over-looking the garden, so that’s what he did.  We’ll sure miss our gardening buddy, especially come next spring.  RIP, Mr. Big.

Mr. Big, resting in our spring garden

A Few Friday Fragments…

What a week it’s been!  It’s been the most ‘normal’ week we’ve had in two weeks, but, still, it’s been far from a normal week.  It’s been one of those weeks when it’s just plain hard to keep calm!

For instance, on Monday, I received a phone call telling me that our daughter-in-law, Jennifer, was in the hospital because she was having labor pains while at work!  For two days, amidst the back and forth phone calls, tracking Jennifer’s progress, I stayed busy writing thank you notes concerning Ed’s mom’s funeral. I’m happy to report, the thank you notes are finished, and Jennifer is home from the hospital.  Life goes on, and God is good.

Jennifer spent two days and nights in the hospital, where she received medication to stop her contractions. She also received steroid shots to help the baby’s lungs develop.  Jennifer was released on Wednesday afternoon, but will remain under the  frequent, watchful eye of her doctor.  Hopefully, baby Evan will stay put for a little while longer.  Jennifer has just under seven weeks to go until her due date, but I don’t expect her to go that long.  However, every day that baby Evan stays put, will make it easier for him at birth.  According to the sonograms, he weighs in at 4 1/2 pounds right now.

On Monday I rode with Ed to take care of some of his mom’s business.  He had to go out-of-town to see about stopping her VA checks, since she recently passed away.  Tuesday was followed by more out-of-town business.  So many ‘loose ends’ to tie up, following a death, and we’re just getting started!  Sigh. Ed and I keep telling ourselves, “One day at a time…”

On Tuesday I, also, went to visit our youngest grandson, Chase, at his house.  For some strange reason, Chase has begun to associate me with being separated from his mother, which he dislikes very much!  The sight of me brings him to tears!  I’m determined to over come this stigma by visiting with him at his house–at times when I’m not needed to babysit!

After three days of cloudiness, mixed with a little rain, the sun is shining here this morning.  It’s very cool outside, a typical fall morning, which I’m glad to see.  I already have my fall decorations out, soon I’ll be getting ready to shift into Halloween mode.  My grandchildren enjoy those decorations!

Speaking of grandchildren, Caden, our oldest grandson, who’s four, is still adjusting to pre-K.  He’s been finding the separation from his mom a little difficult, but he’s working on it, and doing better. Granddaughter, Madison, who is almost seven, is doing well with first grade home-schooling.  I’m amazed at how much she has learned in just six weeks!  She writes beautifully, in cursive, and has memorized many math facts, as well as an entire (long chapter) passage from the Bible!  She reads very well, too.  Oh, to have the mind of a six-year-old again!

Today I’m going to town to run a few errands, stop by the cemetery, then come home and try to catch up on a little housework.  I’m running so far behind, I’ll never catch up!  There just aren’t enough hours in a day…  I keep telling myself, “One day at a time, Kathy. One day at a time…”

Have a great weekend, everyone!  Thanks to Mrs. 4444 for hosting ‘Friday Fragments’ over at halfpastkissintime.com

Just Me On Monday…

For two long weeks, following my MIL’s illness and passing, my life has basically been in limbo.  Things are still not back to normal, but every day gets a little better than the day before it.  Dealing with death, and its aftermath, is hard, but we’re trying to get back to normal.

Normal, for me, on Monday, is participating in the ‘Monday Quiz’ about me.  Below you will find Heather and Wayne’s questions, along with my answers.

1. Next Saturday is “Ask a Stupid Question Day”… in preparation for it, please share a stupid question you’ve been asked or would like an answer to…

Someone once asked me if my little granddaughter was my baby.  I was flattered, but really?  I was 52 when she was born!

2. Do you believe that workplace dressing has become too casual?

Yes, I do believe workplace dressing has become too casual.  There’s a time and a place for flip-flops, jeans, t-shirts, or tank tops–the workplace isn’t it.  I once had a principal who required us to “dress like we worked in a bank”.  While this request seemed a bit extreme for working with children, I must admit, the staff looked a lot more professional.

3. What technology is on your wishlist? Is there a technology that hasn’t been invented yet that you want to see happen?

I’m technologically challenged, so there will be no new technology on my wish list!  Heck, I’m still trying to figure out Windows 8, and my new Kindle Fire.

4. September is Honey Month – are you a fan of honey? how do you use it?

No, I’m not a fan of honey, so I don’t use it for anything.

Weekend wrap-up:

Our weekend began on Friday evening, when our daughter and oldest son joined us for dinner, along with their families.  Everyone brought their own food, and we ate together. ( I felt a bit guilty, though, since Ed and I ate grilled steaks, while the others had pizza.)  I love how everyone usually gathers on Fridays.  It’s a nice way to begin the weekend!

Saturday wasn’t a fun day.  Ed, our son-in-law, and Ed’s brothers all went to the personal care home to remove the rest of Ed’s mom’s things, and bring them home.  I removed most of her personal belongings on Monday, but the men had to move her furniture on Saturday.  For some reason, Saturday was a sad and difficult day for me.

On Sunday, Ed had actually planned to take me to the beach.  Since I’ve been having a difficult time lately, Ed thought I could use a ‘beach get-away’.  Unfortunately, it was raining when we woke up, so, instead, we spent most of the day moving and rearranging some of the furniture in our house.  We needed to make room for Ed’s cedar chest from his mom’s house, as well as a bedroom suit.   It’s so sad moving things out of his mom’s house, and I have many mixed feelings about this.

However, Sunday afternoon brought a pleasant surprise when Brad and Jennifer came for a short, but sweet, visit.  It was late when they arrived, and they didn’t have long to stay, but  it was so good to see them!  Not a day goes by that we don’t miss them.   Our entire family agrees, the family circle just isn’t complete without Brad and Jennifer here!

That’s it for me today.  I’ll be making my way around to catch up with everyone this week, and I’m looking forward to it!  See you soon.

Have a great Monday!