Today is New Year's Eve. It will be a quiet celebration here on the corner of Dirt and Burt. I no longer need the festivities of a party, dancing, noise makers, and champagne. I will be quite content with a nice dinner and my warm bed at the usual time.
This is the time many of us will make our long lists of resolutions, all those promises we make to ourselves as the old year becomes new again. Although there are certainly many things I would like to promise myself (and then act on) this year I have resolved (oops is that a promise?) not to look back with regrets on less than stellar accomplishment, hoping to change... but to look forward instead. If, as Dr. Phil says, the past is a predictor of the future, I may not lose all that weight and finally reach goal. I may not exercise every day, I may not keep my house spic and span. And, oh worse of all, I may not use up all that fabric sitting on the shelves of my quilt room. I may not even get into the closet from hell and finish all those projects.
So today, on the last day of 2010, I chose instead, to remember all that I am thankful for. Of course family is at the top of that list but as I sit every morning and read email I am also most thankful for friends.
Last evening the OddOnes (now that is a story in itself for another time) met for dinner out and then back to Joan's for dessert and chatter. We usually spend out evenings together working on our individual projects but last night we seemed content to simply spend time together. How comfortable we all are with each other. Over the years we know each other's joys and concerns. If ever anyone "has my back" it is the OddOnes (yes I will explain that name sometime). I belong to other newer groups but these are my "homeboys"or more correctly "homegirls". We have been together since?????? Well, many years! They saw (yes, saw, through the many pictures I bored them with) the birth and growth of my five grandkids. They read my email posts every day and seem to tolerate my daily ramblings. Obviously they realize how fortunate I am to have five such remarkable grandkids...grin! And if I ever need a helping hand or a shoulder to cry on,,,the OddOnes will come running. I know that like I know the sun will come up tomorrow on a new day and a brand new year.
So, let's raise our cup (mine is coffee) to the coming of 2011 and to family and friends. Thank you for being mine!
Friday, December 31, 2010
Sunday, December 26, 2010
Christmas 2010 - The Day After
Christmas 2010 was wonderful as always. The entire family, including dates (the five grands became nine), joined us for Christmas Eve dinner and gifts. We had a houseful and a packed living room with paper flying. NO..we are definitely not a picture perfect family. We are more like Charlie Brown. And speaking of Charlie...I forgot to get a gift for Michele's Charlie and got scolded for it . Now, Charlie is an almost 1 year old steer that Michele adopted and made a pet when he was a newborn and had to be bottlefed several times a day. He is now almost grown but follows her around the yard like a puppy. Being a rather large puppy his head butts (affection) have put her on the ground more than once but she is certain he is sorry afterwards. She buys him special apple treats...a good life for a steer. I always have treats for the various dogs and kitties under the tree but somehow forgot Charlie. I guess Charlie will forgive me. Christmas morning we had brunch and following that I declared the kitchen closed for the weekend.
One thing I will do next year to make life simpler is NOT bake all that stuff and make so much candy. I thought it was so smart to lay it all out on a table in the family room and provide bags for everyone to fill and take home. I baked for a week. It is all still sitting there. Nobody filled a bag. Guess I will fill freezer bags with an assortment and stick them in the freezer to be gotten out a little at a time to send over to the elevator.
DIL Michele has declared her house a "NO Cookie Zone" and Beth and Kimberly are always on a diet (skinny girls already...could that be why?). The guys...Brad, Brian, and Kevin don't eat many sweets. I need some little ones who love sugar!
Darn and I was really in the mood to try baking some of those cool cupcakes everyone raves about and they do on Food Network. With me trying to eat in a more healthy way it's only Leon and while he loves desserts he can only eat so much. Perhaps I should watch less of the Food Network and more of, oh let's say The Biggest Loser? Why wasn't I so fascinated with this cooking and baking thing when I had kids at home or the grandkids were little? Why now that they're grown and gone? Maybe because I now have time to do other than the washing, cleaning and other chores all busy Mothers have. Sometimes it seems to me that things are turned upside down. When the kids were young and full of energy I was too busy trying to keep up with the essentials to do the extra things and now the time is there but.......
One thing I will do next year to make life simpler is NOT bake all that stuff and make so much candy. I thought it was so smart to lay it all out on a table in the family room and provide bags for everyone to fill and take home. I baked for a week. It is all still sitting there. Nobody filled a bag. Guess I will fill freezer bags with an assortment and stick them in the freezer to be gotten out a little at a time to send over to the elevator.
DIL Michele has declared her house a "NO Cookie Zone" and Beth and Kimberly are always on a diet (skinny girls already...could that be why?). The guys...Brad, Brian, and Kevin don't eat many sweets. I need some little ones who love sugar!
Darn and I was really in the mood to try baking some of those cool cupcakes everyone raves about and they do on Food Network. With me trying to eat in a more healthy way it's only Leon and while he loves desserts he can only eat so much. Perhaps I should watch less of the Food Network and more of, oh let's say The Biggest Loser? Why wasn't I so fascinated with this cooking and baking thing when I had kids at home or the grandkids were little? Why now that they're grown and gone? Maybe because I now have time to do other than the washing, cleaning and other chores all busy Mothers have. Sometimes it seems to me that things are turned upside down. When the kids were young and full of energy I was too busy trying to keep up with the essentials to do the extra things and now the time is there but.......
Monday, October 25, 2010
Time Flies
My wise grandmother always told me how time sped up as we grew older. I would smile and think to myself, "I sure wish it would hurry cause I want to be 16, or I want to go shopping this weekend, or I can't wait to be out of school for the summer."
One of the small groups I belong to writes emails to each other on a daily basis. We have an inside joke among us...."It's that day again." Yes, I have reached the speedy time of my life. Now how did that happen so fast? Do you remember that old song, Turn Around, often played at weddings? Oh how true that is. At last, time to be out of school, time to marry, time for babies, time for school again, time for grandkids, time to grow older. It seems I no more that wake than it is time to prepare for bed again and those darn Monday's roll around all too often. As a matter of fact Christmas is only two months away and it seems I just put the decorations away from last year.
If I looked at this in one way I could become depressed thinking life is rolling by as in the blink of an eye but I chose to think of it another way. Yes, the once auburn hair has many touches of gray now, the once smooth lines seems to sag a little more every year and even the bones seem to ache at times but blessings have come with those changes too. My time seems to fly because I have filled it with much...five grandkids who I have been blessed enough to have been part of their growing up years, three sons now grown and responsible men and fathers, a husband of 51 years still healthy and active, oh so many friends, and so many things I want to do that I can't find enough time. So if there is a moral to these ramblings it is to take a little of that precious time, look at what you really have, and spend it with the people who really matter.
One of the small groups I belong to writes emails to each other on a daily basis. We have an inside joke among us...."It's that day again." Yes, I have reached the speedy time of my life. Now how did that happen so fast? Do you remember that old song, Turn Around, often played at weddings? Oh how true that is. At last, time to be out of school, time to marry, time for babies, time for school again, time for grandkids, time to grow older. It seems I no more that wake than it is time to prepare for bed again and those darn Monday's roll around all too often. As a matter of fact Christmas is only two months away and it seems I just put the decorations away from last year.
If I looked at this in one way I could become depressed thinking life is rolling by as in the blink of an eye but I chose to think of it another way. Yes, the once auburn hair has many touches of gray now, the once smooth lines seems to sag a little more every year and even the bones seem to ache at times but blessings have come with those changes too. My time seems to fly because I have filled it with much...five grandkids who I have been blessed enough to have been part of their growing up years, three sons now grown and responsible men and fathers, a husband of 51 years still healthy and active, oh so many friends, and so many things I want to do that I can't find enough time. So if there is a moral to these ramblings it is to take a little of that precious time, look at what you really have, and spend it with the people who really matter.
Friday, October 22, 2010
Fall Nesting for this Old Bird
We've had our first frost warning out here on my corner and I think there was actually frost on the pumpkins on my front porch early this morning. With fall still in all it's splendor around me I am aware that winer is not too far down the road waiting to charge in and take control.
Cooling temps, falling leaves, and brillient colors begin the nesting instinct deep within me. Perhaps in a previous life I was a Mama bear and am now readying myself for hibernation? For some reason I feel driven this week to dive in and organize in my sewing room. Now you don't have to be a quilter to understand this but if you are a crafter of any type you will know of what I speak.
The piles have gotten too high. There is literally a path down the center of the room. Oh, if I had a camera and posted a pic you mght be shocked (unless you are a crafter and then you would chuckle). Earlier this week I opened the door to that closet from you know where looking for something and now the door remains open and I must deal with all that is inside there. First on the aganda is all those magazines I had to save cause I might want a pattern out of them? Probably not! The weight of them has bowed the closet shelf. OK pull them all out and while sitting in front of the TV go through them and pull out any patterns you might really use. The stack reached over 3 feet high. Finish a hand full or two and immediately take them to the dumpster...gone. Now for those of you who say, "Whoa, recycle"... out here on my corner in never never land we don't have recycling available. The gas I would burn taking all those magazines to the nearest town with recycle bins would negate the effort. I will sooth my conscience by remembering that we used to burn all this type of material and at least we don't do that anymore.
Wow, I now have 24 inches of closet space available for what? Maybe old newsletters that I must save from my quilt guild? Maybe for those books I absolutely won't get rid of? Maybe I can donate some of them. If I moved the stacks them off the cabinet tops I would have room to display all that Civil War fabric ( my new fav). So...am I simply rotating stuff? No, the closet door will now shut but I will leave it open and perhaps continue this mission and get down to those 4 large tubs filled with blocks, UFOs and other essential that I saved for what reason?
Cooling temps, falling leaves, and brillient colors begin the nesting instinct deep within me. Perhaps in a previous life I was a Mama bear and am now readying myself for hibernation? For some reason I feel driven this week to dive in and organize in my sewing room. Now you don't have to be a quilter to understand this but if you are a crafter of any type you will know of what I speak.
The piles have gotten too high. There is literally a path down the center of the room. Oh, if I had a camera and posted a pic you mght be shocked (unless you are a crafter and then you would chuckle). Earlier this week I opened the door to that closet from you know where looking for something and now the door remains open and I must deal with all that is inside there. First on the aganda is all those magazines I had to save cause I might want a pattern out of them? Probably not! The weight of them has bowed the closet shelf. OK pull them all out and while sitting in front of the TV go through them and pull out any patterns you might really use. The stack reached over 3 feet high. Finish a hand full or two and immediately take them to the dumpster...gone. Now for those of you who say, "Whoa, recycle"... out here on my corner in never never land we don't have recycling available. The gas I would burn taking all those magazines to the nearest town with recycle bins would negate the effort. I will sooth my conscience by remembering that we used to burn all this type of material and at least we don't do that anymore.
Wow, I now have 24 inches of closet space available for what? Maybe old newsletters that I must save from my quilt guild? Maybe for those books I absolutely won't get rid of? Maybe I can donate some of them. If I moved the stacks them off the cabinet tops I would have room to display all that Civil War fabric ( my new fav). So...am I simply rotating stuff? No, the closet door will now shut but I will leave it open and perhaps continue this mission and get down to those 4 large tubs filled with blocks, UFOs and other essential that I saved for what reason?
Sunday, October 17, 2010
Time flies....
Wow, how could these weeks have passed so quickly? What happened to August, September, and now half of October? It has been a busy time here on my corner with harvest coming so early this year. We were blessed with good weather and a plentiful harvest for the farmers but at the same time that meant long hard hours here at the elevators.
I no longer work at the office managing the scale and paperwork. My job is feeding the workers at both elevators. So my day starts the night before with planning the next days meals. Bright and early I am up frying bacon, ham, or sausage and eggs for breakfast sandwiches which are delivered across the street. Two lunches must be prepared...a full meal for the guys here who have enough help to take turns actually sitting down to a meal...and a second meal to go up north to the second elevator that requires food that can be held in the hand while they work. After the two meals are loaded in the car, I deliver across the street first and then head north.
Back home to clean up the kitchen and put away any left over food...usually little as these guys have very healthy appetites. Now the rest of the afternoon is mine to do with as I wish...well after a trip to the grocery store or other errands are run. Little quilting has been done these last months and I have missed my small groups. My dining room table is piled with crockpots and all the necessities of cooking large meals.
Now it is over and the last load of beans has been delivered here and I am getting back to my normal life. I can return to the small quilting groups, go on a fabric shopping binge, start cleaning that messy quilt room, but guess what? I miss the activity that goes with harvest. Miss the fulfillment that goes with doing a job that supports my family. At 71 it still feels good to hear someone say,"Job well done". Of course the job will be waiting for me next year and I pray I am still blessed with health and can start "work" once again.
I no longer work at the office managing the scale and paperwork. My job is feeding the workers at both elevators. So my day starts the night before with planning the next days meals. Bright and early I am up frying bacon, ham, or sausage and eggs for breakfast sandwiches which are delivered across the street. Two lunches must be prepared...a full meal for the guys here who have enough help to take turns actually sitting down to a meal...and a second meal to go up north to the second elevator that requires food that can be held in the hand while they work. After the two meals are loaded in the car, I deliver across the street first and then head north.
Back home to clean up the kitchen and put away any left over food...usually little as these guys have very healthy appetites. Now the rest of the afternoon is mine to do with as I wish...well after a trip to the grocery store or other errands are run. Little quilting has been done these last months and I have missed my small groups. My dining room table is piled with crockpots and all the necessities of cooking large meals.
Now it is over and the last load of beans has been delivered here and I am getting back to my normal life. I can return to the small quilting groups, go on a fabric shopping binge, start cleaning that messy quilt room, but guess what? I miss the activity that goes with harvest. Miss the fulfillment that goes with doing a job that supports my family. At 71 it still feels good to hear someone say,"Job well done". Of course the job will be waiting for me next year and I pray I am still blessed with health and can start "work" once again.
Tuesday, July 27, 2010
Another quiet day here on my corner. I can hear the whine of the grain vac as the semi's are loaded across the street at our grain elevator. We moved here in 1965 and things have changed a bit. No longer are small pickup trucks and wagons used to bring grain in to the elevator but now it is semis. My three small boys are now grown and have married with families of their own but I have been blessed to have them all live within a mile of us.
Who is the "us"? My husband of 51 years and Maizey our Golden Retriever and SkatterKat our calico kitty.
What will today bring? A meal to cook for Leon and my grandson Kevin who works with us, laundry to do, the usual tasks that make a house run somewhat smoothly. Maybe even a chance to get into my quilt room and sew a little? Well, I guess I would have to clean off that cutting table to be able to work. Then...the decision of which UFO to work on first.
Who is the "us"? My husband of 51 years and Maizey our Golden Retriever and SkatterKat our calico kitty.
What will today bring? A meal to cook for Leon and my grandson Kevin who works with us, laundry to do, the usual tasks that make a house run somewhat smoothly. Maybe even a chance to get into my quilt room and sew a little? Well, I guess I would have to clean off that cutting table to be able to work. Then...the decision of which UFO to work on first.
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