Here it is nearly mid-April and I have drifted in. I do wish I was like these bloggers who are disciplined enough to talk to you once a day. I know I love to read their blogs. My days are mostly all alike so I guess I think my words would just be boring.

Since I was last here, I have had a birthday and am now older than dirt - 66 years old. At least I am healthy.

I do have some new pictures of my great granddaughters that I can share.

Sweet little Laila playing - taken with a phone

Dressed up and sitting in her other great-grandmother's chair

Found daddy's ear protectors in his duffel bag and decided to use themI need my mom's stuff to beautify myself
Doing my push-ups the easy wayThis is some yummy stuff

Well, no promises when I will be back. I will probably cook for two of my grandchildren because their parents will be out of town for Easter. Can't have them with no holiday meal. The Easter bunny might leave them something here too. :-)

Hope ya'll have a lot of crawfish where you live and wish the season lasted a lot longer than it does. Have a great h0liday and I will see you when I see you.

February 20, 2011

It has been forever since I last posted. I had forgotten how to even get to the posting page and so it has taken me over an hour trying to find the "gate". However, I hope I can remember to at least post once a week from now on.

Right at the beginning of December I got sick with a flu-like virus that put me to bed for nearly eight weeks. Yes, I had my flu shot, but this was something else. I had eaten out with a friend and on the way home I started getting dizzy, but thought the vertigo was just coming back so I took it easy on the interstate. Got in bed and immediately had to get back up and lost my cookies. That went on along with what throwing up usually goes along with. Finally, I just brought the bathroom trashcan and put it beside the bed for the rest of the night.

This part lasted a good eight days and I began to feel better. I never did want anything to eat, but I did sip on gingerale so I wouldn't get dehydrated. I got up and got dressed and the next day I was down again for another week. Same thing a week later. That happened three times. Then it took a good month to get any kind of stamina back. The one good thing to come from this is now I don't have an appetite and I have lost weight. I am taking vitamins since I am not really eating much at all. I haven't had chocolate or any kind of sweets and don't want any since all of this has taken place. Now I am determined to just eat this little bit, not pick up the sweets habit, and no seconds anymore. Since last April I have lost 60 pounds. My doctor is thrilled. I don't feel any different though.

Let's see - Melyssa and Emily Anna went to Germany for Christmas to spend their time off with Lee, Telesia, and Zoey. When they got there their luggage didn't make it. They ended up having to buy one outfit and a few other items and just wash and wear the whole time they were there. Em's luggage arrived at Lee's when Tee was driving them to their hotel 1.5 hours away for their flight home the next morning. She ended up having to get up early and make that trip again and just got Em's luggage to her. Melyssa's luggage didn't get to Lee's for another week. She told Tee just what she needed to send back to the states and on her next trip over she will pick up her luggage and whatever is in it.

We really didn't do anything for the holidays since I was ill. I did feel good on Christmas day and we went to some friends's house and then came on back home. We had to cancel out on going to see my folks when I had to go back to bed. We did go the next week and took them out to eat. I had one of the shaking chills and ended up just drinking a Sprite. I will get my Eggplant Parmesan one of these days. I was really looking forward to that.

We have had a run of really nasty weather. Ice and a teaspoonful of snow. Thank goodness the power stayed on which usually isn't the case when we have ice. This week it has been in the 70s and has been so nice. I have a feeling we will get one more blast of winter weather before spring is really here.

I am sure I have left a lot of things out and I do have some pictures to share, but will do that another time. Later

August 19, 2010

Here is a chance to get a class from KC Willis. Her works is just so cool. She had this workshop in a box that you could buy since most of us couldn't get out to Colorado for one of her in person workshops. Now she is trimming the workshop in a box to a workshop in a bag.

She has live workshops (a step up from the box for those interested in stepping up) that you can read about right here http://kcwillis.blogspot.com/2010/08/bye-bye-boxhello-giveaway.html. Check out this site as well www.studioretreats.ning.com in the same blog. She offers Collage Camp...her on-line workshop and link to (www.collagecamp.ning.com) that you may be interested in too.

August 8, 2010

Since I last talked to ya'll, I have a new great granddaughter. She made her debut on 7-27-2010, 1:31 PM, 7lb and 5oz, 20 inches long. She has long feet and fingers and I told her dad that they will have to start saving for a piano with those hands. She is a strawberry blond and just gorgeous. I will include a picture. She is Miss Laila Ann.

Laila Ann

Benjamin and his princess, Laila Ann

We have had probably one of the hottest summers on record around here. With the heat index it is soared up to 118 some days and there have been heat advisories almost every day. Most days it will roar with thunder and lightning and then we will get a teaspoonful of rain. However, day before yesterday we actually got 2 1/4 inches and again yesterday we got enough to fill up the potholes in the street. At least we have had some okra and tomatoes from what little rain there has been. I am not a fall or winter person at all, but some kind of break in this weather would certainly be welcome.

My oldest grandson, his wife, and Miss Zoey Elizabeth leave this week for a three year tour compliments of the US Air Force over in Germany. If you gathered all of our tears, they would probably raise the level of the Red River a foot or two. I can't even think about it without my eyes brimming over. My parents came up several weekends ago to have lunch with them and say goodbye. Mama, who recently turned 85, even brought her bathing suit and got in the pool with them. She didn't want to get out and would have stayed over if my dad wouldn't have gotten antsy to leave. I will try and find a picture or two of their visit and include them.

Zoey Elizabeth, Telesia, Lee, My mom, Jane, 85 years old in the pool

Jeff, My dad, 90 years old

Bill is whittling away on his bathroom project, but I have finally convinced him to get out there earlier than noon, work before the temperatures soar, and then come inside and rest during the hottest part of the day. He loves the outside, but this is killer weather.

I found and reconnected with two college friends and last night we met up in Shreveport and closed down the restaurant where we met. We had so much fun reminding each other of things we had done, people we knew and wondered where they were and what they were doing, laughing our heads off, and just having a fun time. It is so nice when no one has changed and you just pick up where you left off before everyone went their merry ways. We will try to get together again around Christmas time.

Stay cool, drink plenty of liquids, and laugh like there was no tomorrow. Until the next time.....

July 17, 2010

I don't know about where you live, but here in Louisiana, it is way hot. Everything is just laying low trying not to breathe too much of that hot air into its lungs. I had to go to two different cities this week and just getting out of the truck and into the building was an effort. Then to get out of the building, back across the melty tarmac parking lot and into the oven-like vehicle was just about too much.

For about two weeks now we have had some violent lightning and thunder storms that produce probably a tablespoonful of rain, but you can't get into the pool for fear you will be struck dead. Just a typical Louisiana summer. However, I think this one is really hotter than most we have had in a long time. I can assure you, if I don't have to go outside, I don't.

Last time I wrote it was my dad's 90th birthday. Two weeks after that, we pulled off a surprise party for my mother's 85th birthday, which was also their 67th anniversary. We had a nice group of folks show up for her party. Only one brother didn't make it, but he and his wife took my parents out for breakfast on the actual day of my mom's birthday, so I guess that counted for them. We missed having him there to tell stories with one of my other brothers though. They are always our entertainment committee for family gatherings. They can have you rolling in the floor laughing at what all they did when we were growing up. My younger brother and I are probably their biggest fans.


I had my 2nd in line grandson, in age, with back surgery, which must not have taken because for three weeks he has been in unbelievable pain. He ended up having to be taken by ambulance this past Sunday back to the city to the hospital for another back surgery. He is doing much better this time with pain, but nothing like what he was experiencing before. His little wife is due just about any day with their first child, but I hope she can wait maybe one week until he is more mobile and can get around better.

My first born grandson is being transferred to Germany for a 3 year tour and he, his wife and Zoey will leave on August 11th. I think there will be some wailing going on around these parts. I just hope they will be able to come home on leave at least once or twice during that time. Zoey will be 4 years old by the time they do come home and she will have forgotten who her Mi Mi is by then. Thank goodness for Skype and I hope I can figure out how to use it and that our times work out to be able to talk and see each other.

Bill has helped me build, out of an old bedside table, a little "kitchen" for Zoey. I haven't taken pictures of it yet, but when I do, I will post them. It is kind of primitive, but it is cute. I had them mix what was supposed to be just a breath of pink paint, but it had quite a bit of pink in it once I brushed it on. Oh well, it is something for her to play with when she is at my daughter's house. It will do in a rush and she will never know the difference. It grates on my nerves though because that old perfectionist in me is growling since it isn't like the ones you buy. I just have to remember that it is homemade and that she is 15 months old. Now, if I just had a pink pot holder, I might be more satisfied with it.

My son's 13 year old son is in Knoxville playing in the world series and I am waiting on a phone call any minute to see if they are going to be 1st or 2nd place. This makes the 4th game they have played today with 15 minutes in between each game. I don't know how in the world they can even stay in the competition after that much ball gaming in one day. It has been like that all week long. Had they lost yesterday, then there was a possibility they would have had to play 6 games in a row. Good thing he is a kid with energy. Makes me want to crawl in the bed just thinking about it.

Bill has finally finished all of the cabinet work in my new kitchen addition. Now he has spent this week working on his bathroom addition. Actually, it is a brand new bathroom for him. His old bathroom will become a passageway/linen closet when he busts through the wall into the new section. I don't know how in the world he has survived out in this heat, but he is an outdoor person and at least has two fans blowing on him. If he can hurry and finish the overhead stuff and get off the ladder, then the rest should be smooth sailing. When that room is finished, then we will be able to put down new flooring. I want the same flooring in the new bath, linen closet/passageway, new/old kitchen, small dining room, hallway, and my bathroom. Right now, the new part just has sub-flooring and there are two different types of flooring in two of the areas. I want it consistent throughout.

When that is done, then the living room needs a face lift. That is the problem with living in a house that is around 100 years old. It is a money pit, but there is no way we could ever afford to replicate the space at today's prices. We couldn't even buy a broom closet at today's prices for what we paid for this house and four town lots back in 1974. I kid you not.

Stay cool and maybe I will not wait so long to post next time. Don't hold your breath though.

I have been missing in action. Where have I been? Doing as little as possible. Just too lazy I guess to find my way to this blog to write. I kid you not! I have a hard time remembering how to get here!

In the next little village up from mine I have found a gold mine. My village is small, but this one is even smaller, but it has a new and fully stocked, state-of-the-art library. The librarian is the best!!! I have been spending hours and hours reading now that I am a member of that library. We have one here in our village, but I don't care when I drive by it, there aren't any cars there. Who knows when they are open. When they were on Front Street, they kept pretty regular hours, but when they moved onto the school grounds, I believe they got slack.

Now when I hear of or see a book that I want to read, I just write it down and when I go to the library I turn in my list and usually within a week they have what I have requested. I don't think I will ever have to purchase another book again. It is like being turned a loose in a candy store. We aren't talking about old musty smelling books, but new ones with clean dust jackets on them. They have computers for folks who want to look up things. There are DVDs to check out, newspapers from the surrounding area, magazines, you name it, they either have it or will get it for you.

Since around my birthday we have had yard wreckers here as well. Since 1974 we have had various and sundry above ground pools getting larger and larger ones each time. Several years ago when these old shoulders and knees decided they didn't want to work any longer, I had one heck of a time getting myself out of our pool. I honestly thought I would end my life like a bar of soap that is left in the tub too long. Yep, just melt away, never to be seen again. I honestly don't remember how in the heck I ever got myself out of there the last time I went in, but I never went back. That was three years ago.

The knees have been replaced, but after the last replacement and the MRSA staff infection, I refuse to have the shoulders replaced even though my ortho surgeon says they must. Too bad. I will live with the pain, but unless it is a real life and death situation, this old woman won't be going to a hospital to have anything done to her again. I was never afraid of a hospital or surgery before, but you get that infection and you get scared very quickly and for life. Gives me shivers just thinking about what all was done to me in what is supposed to be a clean place, but is apparently a filthy place.

My doctor suggested water therapy and of course I had to tell him I could get into our pool, but couldn't get out any longer. He suggested an inground pool and I asked him if he was paying. :-) We talked about it and decided, why not? We don't travel, our children aren't hurting for money, we can't take it with us, so why not? Thus, the yard wreckers.

If you have never dealt with people who come into your yard to dig and install an inground pool, call me first. If that won't do, I will give you my son's number and he will give you an earful. After losing my religion, saying words that my mother at 85 years old would still try and shove a bar of Ivory soap down my mouth for saying or even thinking, six weeks of cussing out loud and inside my head, it is a reality. There are still a few kinks to work out, like they broke the sand filter and had better get themselves out here very quickly to either bring a new one or fix this one or else...but, we are certainly enjoying the new addition to the yard.


Bill has St. Augustine grass growing around the pool where there was red sand and it looks like it is spreading like it should. Three more weeks and he will be able to mow it. Not all of the plants made it when they replanted them, but those that did are flowering and look nice. We have been cooking lots of veggies and eating outside and that has to be good for you. Lots of exercise.

Another thing that took up some time was helping my mother pull together a surprise 90th birthday party for my dad a week and a half ago. We almost made it until he caught her taking a lot of cokes out to the storeroom and wanted to know why so many drinks. She said she told him that his sons were coming over to fry some fish for him and that is what the cokes were for. Even though it wasn't a complete surprise, he was still very surprised at all of the friends and family who showed up. The gig was up though when my brothers came up with their big outdoor fish fryers and skillets. By then, people started arriving. My mother had the neatest cake made that had a picture of him playing golf airbrushed on it. She had hidden it under the bed. He still plays golf three days a week.


Now, this Saturday we are trying to have a surprise 85th birthday dinner for my mother, but since my brothers said that daddy's birthday gathering made them decide they wanted to go out of the big party fish frying business (it was hot as blue blazes that day), we are all meeting at a fish restaurant and afterwards we will go to my parent's home for cake and ice cream. We were kind of afraid to chance waiting on having a surprise 90th for her. I don't really know why though because on both sides of their families, their parents and grandparents lived to be almost 100 and Mama had one uncle who made it to 105. I think they will be around for quite a while longer. They are two amazing people. Oh, tomorrow is my mother's birthday, but it is also their 66th wedding anniversary. You just don't see that much anymore.

Have a super summer and like I say everytime I write, I will try to do better, but don't hold my feet to the fire. You know how I am and how hard it is for me to find my way to this page. :-)

Zoey and the Crawdad

Mid-April so I must be doing something right to be here blogging before the end of the month. Had my 65th birthday on Wednesday and really don't feel any older. My daughter cooked supper for us and made a guiltless cake to boot. Had a card with lots of cash in it. There was a present from my son and his crew waiting there for me too. It was a personalized travel mug with black and has white circles and then a hot pink "J" in a border. Neat-O. Inside the mug was some cash and pictures of the grands that thrilled me, of course. Never can get enough pictures of those precious faces.

Oldest granddaughter has been in Arkansas visiting her older brother and his wife and Zoey. She actually brought Zoey back with her. What a trip. You can guess where I am headed in a little while. Here is a picture of that doll with her bunny ears on and one holding a crayfish (I can't make this one get under the bunny ear girl picture). And her mama wants a girly-girl. I think she is going to have to settle for 1/2 girly-girl.

1st Easter and the bunny ears

Yesterday while we went to Alexandria for more birthday goodness with my parents and my youngest brother. We met them at a little place out in Ball, Louisiana, named Fant's. The older gentleman whose son owns the place used to be our neighbors when we first moved to Alexandria. They had the best seafood. After we ate, we went to my brother's house for cake and more presents. John had taken pictures of the "Medussa" tree in my front yard and the old swing with the rusted out eye hook and blew them up to 8 x 10s for me. He is really getting great at photography. Notices things that us non-photographers don't see.

My parents treated us to lunch, had a card with more cash in it, Mama knitted me a shawl/scarf and hat, and a sweet birch looking doll with flowers in front of her face like she is shy. I have seen them at Hallmark and they probably have a name.

We had a leisure drive home up old Hwy. 71 and stayed off I-49. When we got home, the yard had a long-bed trailer in it and parked in the side yard was a backhoe. They must have dropped it off so they can start the excavation on Monday.

Today, Sunday, Bill went to Shreveport and while he was gone, two young men from the pool company came to tear down the above-ground pool. They have been at it for 4 1/2 hours. When they started, wasps came out of the things that hold up the sides of the pool. Good thing Bill had left them some wasp spray. Last time I looked, they were nearing the end. I am taking pictures about once an hour of the demolition. I hear their truck cranking up so they must be finished. Off to take the last pictures before the hole starts to be dug in the morning. This is getting exciting.