Thursday, February 27, 2014

Thoughts on Thursday

  • In slightly over 2 months I will be officially retired.....I am going to miss the guys, I like working with men. We joke around, we talk, sometimes we approach the subject of our spouses, (but that never gets more than a passing word or 2), I'll miss comparing notes about customers. I will just miss the interaction with men....younger men.....hearing their perspective, a funny work story, or learning something new. Most of the time I am in the office alone working on the computer, but sometimes I have to tell some of the guys what to do (maybe that is what I'll miss-???) or sometimes I am feeling chatty. I know they will miss me too, at least the 2 service guys will....they have told me so. I'll also miss having a sense of 'importance', a purpose, using my brain, having intelligent conversations with different kinds of people....  Am I talking myself out of retirement??? No, not quite. Well, a new chapter in my life is starting! Wish me luck!

Monday, February 24, 2014

A Blast From The Past or Dear Mom & Everyone

Like mother, like daughter???
I save a lot of 'junk' and so did my mom.
My sister is still finding things our mom had saved, even though she has been gone for over a year. 
When Sandy asked if I wanted a stack of letters I had written in 1970, when I lived in Colorado, I hesitatingly said yes. I wasn't sure what I was going to do with them. I decided to read them, hoping to find out how low the gas prices went during the 'gas wars' that year. We lived next door to a gas station and I'd notice the changing prices.



I didn't convey any of that information in my letters home, in fact they were quite boring.
What I did write about was mostly about our daughter, who was 4-1/2 months old when we moved from Wisconsin to Colorado. ....and I wrote pretty often. We lived there for 14 months.
I was not yet 19, married, and had a baby girl. My husband was in the army and stationed at Fort Carson, Co. when we moved to Colorado Springs in Jan of 1970.

What I learned was:
  • Our daughter got into a lot of mischief, didn't eat much, was shy, but well behaved, and others liked her smile
  • We were 'flat broke' quite often and one month we paid only a portion of our rent and had $5 for gas left (according to my google search gas prices were .36/gal during that time period)
  • I often asked my mother to send me things
  • Our furnished apartment included a TV, that got 3 channels. Once it broke and we were w/o one for a bit.
  • I mailed a lot of photos home
  • Once I said I didn't know what I'd do without my sewing machine (I sewed most of my daughters clothes)
  • Our landlady once took us to look at land located in an area of a proposed planned city - Colorado City, I believe (I remember that)
  • Rent for our 3rd floor attic apartment was $100. I do remember our apartment. What I don't remember is that we had another small 'bedroom' that we used for storage.
  • One time the diaper pail (remember those?) sprung a leak and it leaked through to the floor below and our landlady (I remember her name) 'nearly had a heart attack'.....I suppose she thought it was a leak in the water pipes. I don't remember that.
  • I purchased a black, fake fur maxi-coat with a zip off bottom for $56. I remember that coat. That was a lot of money....look at the price of gas and our rent!
  • I also got a $60 watch. Those purchases must have been made after my husband made Spec 4 and got a raise.
  • The army paid for us to ship 14 boxes of our belongings back home when my husband was discharged from the service. 
  • At least once I took a taxi and bus to the fort for doctor appointments.
  • A couple of times we took Amy along with us to a drive in movie....I never said what movie we saw though.
6 cent postage, 12 cents if I sent photos

One thing I remember is buying donuts and a newspaper from Dunkin' Donuts and eating them while I read the paper. We were between a gas station and Dunkin' Donuts. 
I remember the small guest house our landlady also rented out, where we parked our car, the laundry room in the basement, and entering the basement apartment next to it. When you entered their apartment you walked into their bathroom. I remember the weather....it could snow one day and the next it would warm up to 45 degrees and melt. I remember looking out of our window and seeing a dog dangling out of a car window by his leash, I walked down stairs and told the owners about their dog.
I remember the layout of the apartment, even the rocking chair and 'window seat' we had the TV on. 


So now I guess I have a stack of letters to leave for my daughter to go through.....and some tidbits of information for my scrapbook....if I ever get to it. 

Sunday, February 23, 2014

I'm A Bargain Hunter

I'm always looking for a bargain!
I stopped at Hobby Lobby with my 40% coupon in hand to buy a 12 X 12 plastic container for storing partially completed pages, memorabilia, and the embellishments that go along with the scrapbook I am working on. 
As I was checking out the clearance aisle (90% off) I found this wedding confetti. It looks like flowers to me. I can change the color by inking, stamping, or with some of the sprays I have. 


These little treat bags also jumped into my cart.
The purple ones might be good for Red Hats.

I picked up this brand new 10-3/4 X 10 scrapbook at the thrift store for .50.
It'll be perfect for one of the grands when we do a project.


And, of course, what red-blooded, fantasy loving, 8 year old boy wouldn't want a fabulous shield like the one below? We found it on saturday.


It happens often...........I drop off a donation at the thrift store and other stuff comes home with me.
Does that ever happen with you?

Saturday, February 22, 2014

Saturday Update

  1. Grandson J called me last night to tell me that mom said he could stay over friday and Saturday, I really didn't have plans so he came over. Come to find out his parents were going out of town for the weekend. But I got the better deal - the easy grandson came here, the 2 other, more active boys are at the other grandparents.
  2. I haven't heard from hubby in a week, and am starting to wonder.....more problems with the internet??? but he usually calls a couple times per week. If it were anything serious I am sure the company would have contacted me. He was hoping to be home by the end of next week.
  3. The morning we drove to Clintonville to watch grandson T's basket ball game-they lost both games and he was sluggish. After the game he said his 30 day contact lenses were bothering him. If his mom had known that in the morning she would have told him to toss them before playing, oh well.
grandson T is on the bottom row, far left, he doesn't like his picture taken



  1. On my way to the game I changed lanes and turned in a little too quickly. I was shocked to see the guy so close behind me, thankfully he did not lay on the horn or follow up with an obscene gesture. A couple of seconds later I saw the big  GOD LOVES YOU billboard, coincidence????
  2. As long as I was there I stopped at my sister's. We traded stuff: I gave her a shoe box full of handmade cards and some newspaper clippings, she gave me a microwave that works!
  3. Before we came home grandson J and I stopped for lunch at our usual place and I had the liver & onions I had been craving. Usually when hubby is out of town I will make some for myself.
Soon we'll settle in for a nice, quiet evening. Happy Weekend!!!!

Thursday, February 20, 2014

Lighting Up The Kitchen

My kitchen lit up tonight, but not in a good way. I was making muffins and needed some melted butter, so I did what I always do-put it in the microwave. It started sparking! Thank goodness I was right there and grabbed the handle and opened it as fast as I could. That scared me! OMG what am I going to do without a microwave???? I had to melt my butter the old fashioned way and heat up my frozen dinner in the oven....woe is me! After a while I tried a cup of water and that was OK, so then I put some butter in a cup and it sparked again. I am going to stay really close whenever I use it from now on. Our grandson ALWAYS make microwave popcorn with melted butter....he won't be melting it in the microwave anymore!!!

One of my friends posted a link on my facebook page to a blog whose author had the same problem, strange,very strange. Have you, my dear readers, ever had that happen to you??? I'd appreciate hearing from you.

Wednesday, February 19, 2014

Thoughts on Thursday



  • I really don't like asking people to do things FOR me. Monday afternoon/evening we had another snow storm, blowing and drifting..... I had to ask our neighbor to take care of the snow for me. I did go out before dinner to shovel a path so I wouldn't have to trudge through the snow to get to our unattached garage in the morning before work. By the time I went to bed there was 1" - 2" of fresh snow. I feel like I am an able-bodied adult and I should be able to take care of myself. But I really can't shovel that much snow and we have a big snowblower (that I don't know how to use/would be too big for me). I felt guilty as I was sitting in the living room listening to him walk back and forth with the snowblower. When I got up for work the next morning I noticed that he had shoveled the sidewalk to the back door and when I got home from work he had the bottom of the driveway cleaned up. Thanks Paul!



 Yesterday morning on my way to work the lake was solid white, here it is after the 2nd day of 'warm temperatures'.
The contrast of the teal water and white, snowy ice with the sun shining on it was just beautiful. 




  • We've had 2 days of above freezing temps, today it was in the mid 40's....the sunshine felt soooo good. One of our customers told me he had his sunroof open, families were out walking with strollers, and bicyclers pedaled on roadways. Tomorrow we are expecting freezing rain and snow....that's life in WI. I think I'm tired of winter, what do you think?
Here's my chuckle for the day: This morning I noticed  a pair of jeans in the garbage can at work, so all day I checked out the guys....but every single one of them had pants on.   hee hee hee

Happy Almost Weekend!

Monday, February 17, 2014

Blessings/book review

Our latest book for book club was Blessings.
I finished it last night and really liked it. It didn't take me long because I wanted to read, sometimes if it's a book I just can't get into I just put it off. I also have a bad habit of reading really fast and skimming a lot, so I often miss details. 


Blessings is the old family home where the rather eccentric last remaining  family member lives alone. She hires a young man  with a questionable background, upon her first meeting of him,  for maintenance at the estate. One morning he finds a newborn on the door step. There's the triangular connection....old woman, young man, baby..... You know; like a love triangle, the kitchen triangle, an isosceles triangle?????
No, I'm not going to tell anymore about the story, I never do. I hope to pique your interested so you'll read it! I'm anxious for our book club meeting.....hopefully we'll discuss the book and find out if anyone else liked it.

Thanks for stopping by!!!

Sunday, February 16, 2014

Yup, It's My Snowangel


It may be hard to see, but that's the snow angel I made before I shoveled today.




Saturday, February 15, 2014

Cards and Stuff

Earlier in the week I went to the Stamp-a-long to make some cute Stampin' up cards. 
Don't you just love this alligator one??? I do!
His mouth opens up to reveal a pink tongue.

T

The wood background is a big stamp, I think it looks great on this bluish paper and the tree stamp, although it's almost vintage, is soooo versatile, I love it!
 I made up this card myself, I did copy the design from one of the cards we made at the Stamp-a-long. One of the cards used a scalloped circle and there was more paper than we needed for it ......odd, very odd for Carolee to give us more paper than we needed....but I digress. I punched out partial circles from the leftovers and brought them home.
I had the matching coral washi tape and some black and white and pulled out some of my miscellaneous scraps and viola! here it is! Kind of springy me thinks. I wanted to put something more in the white spot in the middle, but liked the HI (previously cut from a die) overlapping the circle. I added black pearls on the scallops on one circle, it just adds the right something. ... I think.


I really didn't do much this week, my energy just wasn't there. I do know I am going to cook! I pulled some chicken breasts out of the freezer and will made something good this weekend. I want REAL food. 

One night I attended a genealogy meeting with a good friend of mine. It was informative, but my ancestry is not in this county...unfortunately, although if I visit that library I can get on Ancestry.com free of charge. I can see where I'd enjoy doing this, I like researching things. Some one has published a book on my dads side, but I could possibly find out more details about him and his parents. I can research my mom's side, and that will be easier because my daughter has some of that done already. ...just what I need - another hobby.

I haven't heard from hubby for a couple of days. The last time I heard from him he said they were fooling around with the internet and it was slower than ever, so I just wait around. I really don't mind being home alone, there's barely a day that I don't leave the house anyway.

I did see the dermatologist this week and he 'zapped' me twice, as usual. Good news, I don't have to see him for 6 months. It varies from 3 - 6 months, depending upon if he finds some skin cancer....I've been good of late :-)  So, as a reminder, to those of you who are boomers and grew up without sunscreen, please have skin checks by a professional.........any potential skin cancer won't be noticed by you!

Have a great weekend!!!! We are having a heat wave....temps are in the teens and the sun is shining. Woo Hoo!!!

Thursday, February 13, 2014

A Poopy Day, A Purse, and a Pik-Nik King

 I was off today so I ran some errands in the morning, the roads, parking lots, and walkways were full of black, slushy mush.
Later in the morning it started to snow and blow. The weather man said we could POSSIBLY get an inch of snow. It didn't take me long to shovel the little bit of snow we had yesterday so I wasn't concerned...but it kept up......blowing and snowing. 
See the steps below? The snow was drifted past both steps, even with the top of the deck.
Thank goodness our neighbor did the sidewalks and most of the driveway. All I had to do was the back sidewalk and clean up what he didn't get with the snow-blower. 
As I tossed snow up onto the snowbank (see below) it would fall back onto the sidewalk. 
I didn't know what I felt like doing today, so I kinda wandered around the house and did a little of this and a little of that. 
While I was at the thrift store I spotted this tablecloth.
I had to buy it......because.....this is one of the table covers that was made at Converting Inc in Clintonville WI in the '80's when I worked there. I may have even had a hand in the manufacture of this!!!
 I know I shouldn't have,,,,but I did, I bought another purse. 
I like it because it's unique, it's different and hand made. 
It's a Bagolitas by Janice and I paid $2 for it. It's very clean, looks like it was only used on Easter & Christmas. The body is more of an oatmeal color that it appears here. There are 3 cell phone size pockets inside. It won't be my everyday purse but I think it's cool.  
I checked online and $2 was a good deal.

How was your day!

Thoughts On Thursday


*I hate the loud cracking noises I hear outside at night when I am home alone (it's our deck, but it certainly sounds like someone is outside of the door).

*I have an idea for my new career in retirement............Mind Reader. I've been honing my mind reading skills at work and at home and I think I'm getting it!

*My hubby has been out of town for 3-1/2 weeks and:
the bathroom stays a little cleaner
the rest of the house gets just as messy
I have less laundry
there's more 'me' time because I only wash the dishes once a day and cooking is minimal
I'm getting tired of frozen meals
it's quieter around here.
I can't say that I don't miss Kevin but I am OK by myself. He calls me several times a week and emails when he can't call and I know he'll be back home.....in 2- 3 weeks.
I've always been rather independent.

* Winter, winter go away!!!

What are your thoughts today???


Sunday, February 9, 2014

the Week

My week was good and not so good.
I started out by sending an email (my opinion on something) that wasn't meant to be controversial but that's how it ended up.
Work was work.....The woman who shadowed me on Tuesday decided to take the job, with 'lots of training'. I don't think my boss understands how many variables there can be to the job, and how much mind reading is involved. After 17 years at that job I still don't understand everything.
On Wednesday, either I misunderstood one of the guys or he didn't make himself clear...and I hadn't done what he wanted me to do....I heard him (one of my 2 bosses) mumble something about how many stupid people there are in the world...(one of them being me, I am sure). I was hurt and angry and never said good bye when I left for the week. I am not sure why I was so upset, but I was!
Thursday I went to my grandsons' school for lunch and Book-munchers (they read for 15 minutes). Out of the blue, in the middle of the cafeteria, grandson J says "Grandma, I love you". That made me feel good!
Later that day a man walked up to me in a store and told me that he thought I was very attractive. That doesn't happen every day and you can guess what that did to my ego!
Friday I spent a lot of the day sorting & purging in the basement again....If I am getting rid of so much crap why do I still have so much stuff laying around????
Saturday my hubby called me from the ship they are on (off Nigeria), 4 times he called and 4 times we were cut off, the last time it was in the middle of a pirate story, a real pirate story! While he was sleeping the pirates got close enough to the ship that the security guards had to fire machine gun rounds to scare them off. Thank goodness that is all it took! Hubby said that earlier that evening they watched the movie Captain Philips in which Tom Hanks is captured by pirates. The movie for tonight is Titanic, hubby said he'd skip that one.
the oil rig whose pipe they are repairing
Today Grandson J had a stomachache and we didn't make church or Sunday school. I could tell he wasn't feeling well, because he didn't want breakfast and for a while he just laid in my recliner w/o the TV on. He did eat lunch but then napped for 1-1/2 hours. When I woke him up and took him home at 3 he said he was much better.
Tomorrow I'll be back in the basement....unfortunately I get distracted by the computer down there too.
The good news is that it was 20 degrees and sunny today.....and the rest of the week's temperatures will remain below normal...with some snow.  no!no!no!
Wonder if I have some cheese to go with my w(h)ine??? 


Monday, February 3, 2014

It's Me, The Queen of Unfinished Projects

.....and it couldn't be more fitting that I am married to the King of Unfinished Projects. I thought once we were married that would change........it didn't. I really don't know if I was always like this or it came with marriage or age????
  • I have many unfinished scrapbooks. Back in the day I always put my photos in albums right away, really I did!!!
  • Our extra bedroom got 'new' furniture but never a new paint job.
  • I started an ABC book for my grandson (who will be 14 this spring) and it never quite got finished. 
  • I shoveled part of our sidewalk & driveway yesterday and the neighbor finished  it today. 
  • I started a new planner for myself last night......now I'm not sure if I like it and there's still a pile of papers and supplies next to my chair (where I was working on it).
  • Now I'm organizing the basement craft supplies. Will that get finished? 
Granted, some of the painting projects I have planned, need to be done outside. I should have more time this summer. I've been going through my scrapbooking stuff this weekend, in fact grandson J helped me sort out memorabilia yesterday.....another unfinished project. I uncovered a huge addiction to magazines....the thrift stores are going to be inundated with crafting magazines. There's also a box of negatives that I want to toss, but the consensus on facebook is to scan them (or make a lampshade). I just love looking at the empty shelf and wondering what I should put on it!!! MAYBE I'll have a garage sale and get rid of some unused items I have packed up to sell. No matter what happens there WILL be more room in our basement....it sure would be nice if hubby would get rid of the bar (that we never use), but he built it and likes it. 

Saturday a friend and I went out for lunch at a Mexican place and exchanged Christmas gifts....yes, it's been that long since we've seen each other. I don't know what she was thinking but when we pulled into the parking lot she turned to the side of the building and parked smack dab in the middle of an area that hadn't 
been plowed. She tried 'rocking' the car and could not get out. Fortunately a young family noticed our dilemma and the dad helped Michele get unstuck. After we ate we came back here, had a glass of wine, and talked ALL afternoon.   I had planned to work in the basement that afternoon. Her son was at his dad's and she needed some adult time. We did have a nice visit.

Sunday hubby called home twice, yes TWICE! The first time I was busy so he talked to our grandson. When he called later he said he wanted to hear my voice. I almost fell off my chair!!! He never talks like that....now maybe you know why I like it when he goes away....he tells me he loves me.

Today my "Martha-ness" was satisfied. I had coffee with a friend, then dropped off some donations at the thrift store, and spent the afternoon working in the basement. I made shrimp for dinner, scrubbed the kitchen floor, and am now relaxing in front of the TV.  

I know, the strangest things make me happy. I hope something/someone made you happy today!!!