The quieter you become the more you can hear ~ Ram Dass



Tuesday, August 31, 2010

Stained glass lamps

Years ago, hippie made three stained glass lamps.  The first one he made was for our home in Cleveland.  It was a medium sized one.  It was tan and brownish colored.  After our son had to go a year after he was born for surgery, we came home from the hospital and the lamp was laying on the kitchen table.   Yikes, it was a good thing no one was sitting their at the time.   He was always going to try to replace the pieces that were broken and re-do it but I think after 27 years, that's not going to happen.  I don't have a picture of it.

The second one he made was for his parents.  It was a smaller one.  They used to have it hanging in the corner of their living room.  When they both passed, we took it home with us.  We now have it in our kitchen above the table.


The third one he made for my parents.  It hung above their kitchen table.  When we sold Mom's house, we took it down and brought it here.  Eventually, I'd like hippie to take down the ceiling fan in the dining room and put it up.

Monday, August 30, 2010

The visit

My son left last Wednesday.  It was really good to see him.

Hippie went and picked them up from the airport and took the girlfriend to her mom's and brought our son home.  They had taken the red-eye flight.  Where they live there's a 3 hour difference.  They left at midnight their time and got here about 10 a.m. our time.  Needless to say when he came in, he looked like death warmed over so I got to say hi for two seconds and he went straight to bed.  The first week was spent visiting mom, going to the family picnic and them having friends over for days and nights.  The girlfriend left the following Wednesday.  

By that time, my son reverted back to when he was a teenager and stayed up all night and slept all day. The basement where they stayed was a mess.  The more things change, the more they stay the same lol.

I pretty much didn't cook the whole time he was here.  We ate out a lot or brought stuff in.   


All in all, it was nice having him home.   My expectations were high which I should know better but I did get to talk to him about a bunch of things which was good, ha.   

Saturday, August 28, 2010

Saturday Centus #17

It's Saturday Centus with different rules again.  Go over to Jenny's to see what others have come up with
http://jennymatlock.blogspot.com/2010/08/saturday-centus-ladies-and.html

WEEK 17 ASSIGNMENT

Take any other SC stories (yours or someone elses) and using ANOTHER 100 WORDS...tell us the "rest of the story".

Please copy and paste the first story so we can read both entries easily.

So...

A 100 word story that tells the rest of any previous Saturday Centus! 


The Centus I chose to write more on was Centus 12 the prompt was written by Tom which pretty much everyone moaned and groaned about lol.
The original one:

Driving six hours is a long time on the road. Six hours spent singing car-aoke and taking in the picturesque scenery, but mostly reminiscing about the good times. But those days were long gone and my mind was in a different place now. Or was it? My pulse quickened as I passed the road sign which read "Medford 27 miles." 

"Are we there yet" my son said for the millionth time".  " Not much longer and we'll be at your grandparents".  Then I'll be free and can visit some friends while they spoil you rotten, I thought.

We barely were in the driveway and they came running to get him and said, "Julie called and she's waiting on you at Monster's.  Go, have fun ".

As I pulled into the parking lot, I could see Julie and other friends. As I started walking towards them I could hear the music and started dancing and yelled "Let's get this party started".

Week 17(the second part of the story)



We went in and I heard "Surprise". I'd been so busy working to support Timmy since the divorce, I had somehow forgotten that it was my birthday. 


Suddenly, I heard stripper music come on. A handsome man came dancing towards me.

"Is that you Tom"?

"Yeah, I would only do this for you".

  
He whispered in my ear "I had a crush on you in high school" and I whispered back "I had one on you too".

"Happy Birthday Sarah" he said as he took me in his arms to dance.    We forgot about the stripping that could come later. 

Wednesday, August 25, 2010

Alphabe-Thursday

It's time for Alphabe-Thursday again and the color is blue.  We went a couple of weeks ago, to a family picnic with hippies family.  It was at our nephews and his partners house.  I decided to take pictures of blue things there.  At first, he didn't think he had much blue until we started investigating.  Here's what I came up with.

Neon Sign

Neon Clock

Time on Stove

Lamp

Ash tray from inlaws

Stained glass

This was from his paternal grandfather who was in the US Indianapolis ( the ship that delivered the bomb) and was missing in action- his body never found.It's signed by President Truman. 
Three blue things


It was fun taking pictures at someone else's house.  Go on over to Jenny's and see what everyone did for the color blue.  This link should work later on Wednesday night  http://jennymatlock.blogspot.com/

Monday, August 23, 2010

Cool weather

Still on my break, son's still here, but I had to come on and say look at my weather widget.  It's going to be cool this week and might even get into the 50's some nights .  Woo Hoo!!  I know it's going to get hot again but I'll settle for cool weather for a few days. 

Saturday, August 21, 2010

Saturday Centus #16

Saturday Centus was switched up this week.  Here's what it said:

WEEK 16 ASSIGNMENT

Do you remember how during the first week back at school the teacher would make you write an essay about what you did over your summer vacation? Well, school has been in session almost two weeks here so I thought we'd try this for something different.

Your story must be written in first person AND must be exactly 100 words long. It can be fact or fiction.

So...

Exactly 100 words, first person, fact or fiction...What I did over my Summer Vacation

****************

                            What I did over my Summer Vacation

The words hot and humid are one of the things I'll remember the most about summer vacation.  Although every day is a vacation for me, since I haven't worked since my son was born so many years ago. 

When my son came from out of town, since he's on our cell phone plan we got new cell phones.  We also added another one since Hippie and I always unbelievably shared one all these years.

My son helped me pick out a new computer which I'm sure I will love once it's set up. 

Could my summer vacation be anymore exciting? 


Check out what others decided to do because I'm thinking the bold letters were just a title but I'm not exactly sure LOL.    http://jennymatlock.blogspot.com/2010/08/saturday-centus-week-16.html

Wednesday, August 18, 2010

Alphabe-Thursday

Today's Alphabe-Thursday is the color green.  I finally hit the jackpot.  I could have probably taken many more pictures of green things lol.  Without further adieu

This is a decoration I bought from a craft fair and the green walls.


This hangs above the couch.  It was a puzzle we put together.  Then Hippie made a frame for it.

This is a double green, yarn and the tablecloth.

Reusable grocery bag

Watering Can

These are the colors of our couch.  This is a matching pillow.

Cloth napkins.

Flyswatter.  I usually give them a chance if they are by the door and try to shoo them out but if they don't go SPLAT!!

This is a little bird house with the green roof that holds things in my computer room.

Whew, that's it.  I could have gone on and on.  I guess I really LOVE green lol.  Go check out Jenny's to see what others came up with for green.. http://jennymatlock.blogspot.com/2010/08/alphabet-thursdays-rainbow-summer_18.html

Wordless Wednesday

Saturday, August 14, 2010

Saturday Centus #15

 It's Saturday Centus again - in a nutshell, Jenny Matlock gives us a prompt from either herself or a guest submitter and then we have to write 100 or words less related to the prompt (the prompt doesn't count toward the 100 words)  Then link it up to her blog.  It's open until the following Saturday, so that means you have all week to participate by either reading or writing a Centus. http://jennymatlock.blogspot.com/2010/08/saturday-centus-i-listened-to-them-cry.htmlLook for a little explanation at the end why I chose to write this.  The prompt is in bold..



"Do you think Mom's going to be okay."?  "Hopefully, this chemo will take care of everything and she'll be fine". 

"I don't know if I could go be as tough as her".  "Yeah, me either.  She looks so sickly especially with the bald head and the dark circles under her eyes".  "I hope this doesn't sound mean but she reminds me of Uncle Fester from the Addams Family" and they howled with laughter.

I listened to them from my perch on the top step and didn't know whether to laugh or to cry  while they sat on the front grass not knowing I was there. 

I could understand though.  Sometimes you just have to laugh at yourself and  I chuckled.   
 *************************
 I don't want anyone to think I am making fun of someone with cancer.  When I was going for treatments, I had my husband take pictures of me only one time.  When I saw the pictures, I told him I looked like Uncle Fester that's why I came up with this.  

Wednesday, August 11, 2010

Alphabe-Thursday

Alphabe-Thursday time again and the color is yellow. Not too much yellow but here are some things I found

This is an old recipe box I bought probably 20 years ago filled with recipes.  I think I maybe only made one or two out all the recipes.


Unfortunately, these little yellow flowers cover our whole back yard of the grass... WEEDS


This is my pocket calendar from this year.


One of Hippies sunflowers.  He bought smaller ones this year.  I don't think we like them as well.



 This is some kind of battery charger lol.



Measuring spoons.

Phone book.  We used to get two phone books White Pages and Yellow Pages.  Now we get like 5 different ones and I don't even use them, Ugh!!


That's it for the color yellow you can go check out Alphabe-Thursday at Jenny's to see what they come up with..  I'm posting this link early but Alphabe-Thursday will be up later tonight.  http://jennymatlock.blogspot.com/search/label/Alphabe-Thursday

Monday, August 9, 2010

MIA -again & Regrets I've had a few

I just came back and I'll probably be posting only sporadically after today.  My son is coming home in a few days and will be here for 2 weeks. I've got some stuff to do before he get's here.  I'm sure when he's here, I won't have a lot of  computer time.  Since he's going to be here longer there's a much greater chance we'll get to spend more time with him.  I'm so excited to see him ;-) 

I've got my Alphabe-Thursday's done for the next two weeks already so I can at least make sure I don't flunk out of summer school.   

********************************************************************************
When hippie and I were dating, he was a BIG Pink Floyd fan.  I loved them too, but not as much as he did.  I believe it was in 1975, they were supposed to play at Three Rivers Stadium in Pittsburgh.  Hippie got tickets for us.  We were so excited about going to it.

Shortly, before the concert we were arguing.  I think we even may have broken up.  Anyhow, I still could have gone with him to the concert but I refused to go.   He got in his little yellow VW Beetle and went by himself.  Ha, that'll show him I thought.

He had a grand old time and I sat home on my butt, doing nothing.  We got back together after he returned and I always regretted not going to that concert.

He saved the unused ticket all these years,  ha.

Saturday, August 7, 2010

Saturday Centus #14

It's Saturday Centus again - in a nutshell, Jenny Matlock gives us a prompt from either herself or a guest submitter and then we have to write 100 or words less related to the prompt (the prompt doesn't count toward the 100 words)  Then link it up to her blog.  It's open until the following Saturday, so that means you have all week to participate by either reading or writing a Centus. http://jennymatlock.blogspot.com/search/label/Saturday%20Centus   This is true story lol. 


Objects in the rear view mirror are closer than they appear but he's oblivious to it and doesn't care.

  
I hate it when we're on a two lane road.  It's like he's leading a caravan.  "Can't you go at least a couple of miles above the speed limit'?

"No" he says.  "If you don't like the way I drive, get a license".

"Touche", I think to myself.  If he's said that to me once he's said it a thousand times.  I know he's right but I'm just too afraid. 

Finally, we turn onto a four lane street and people pass us and relief sets in.  Until the next time.  

Friday, August 6, 2010

Friday Random Thoughts

1.  I was sorry to read about Mitch Miller passing away. I didn't even know he was still alive.  He was 99.  I remember watching his show when I was younger.  Anyone else?

2.  Doing the Alphabe-Thursday summer school has me realizing I don't use enough color in my home.  I might have to start rethinking my decorating, ha!!

3.  I finally went and had the bridge made for my mouth.  When he was going to put it on, I was having some pain so we're going to wait another couple of weeks before he puts it on permanently.  I might need a root canal before.  Hippie went to the dentist the first time in a few years and he needs dental work.  It seems like this is going to be the year of making our dentist rich. 

4. I'm still writing on my Mary story (35 pages). It's weird.  Up until the last few pages that I wrote, I thought I finally knew where it was going.  Now,  I'm so confused.

5. I was so looking forward to fall and then I read a forecast, we're supposed to have above normal temperatures for August, September and October. All I can say to that is blech, lol.

6.  Hey, Barely Speaking English Pretend Survey Person, STOP calling us.  We told you twice we don't want to do it.  Who do you think you are to tell me, you'll just KEEP CALLING? WTH!  I looked up the phone number on the Internet and found other people that are ticked off with you and people you keep calling over and over again.  You are not doing a survey from what I understand your selling security systems, or are you just trying to find out people's information?  If you call again, I'm just letting the answering machine pick up.  So there!!

7.  I guess I'll end this here.  I think I'm done complaining for now, ha. 

Wednesday, August 4, 2010

Alphabe-Thursday

It's Alphabe-Thursday summer school again.  I perused my house for orange things.  I don't have much in my house that is orange.  When we lived in our house in Cleveland, we painted our bedroom there orange but unfortunately, I don't have any pictures.  Sometimes it is difficult at times for me to distinguish if something is red or orange but I think these are all orange lol.

Halloween pumpkin magnet that I made years ago. 

pot scrubber

crock pot

laundry detergent

Little broom and dust pan.  I love this for small jobs. 

Small pretend basketball my son won years ago ;-)


That's it folks. Go over to Jenny's and see what other bloggers have come up with for the color orange http://jennymatlock.blogspot.com/2010/08/alphabe-thursdays-rainbow-summer-school.html

Wordless Wednesday

Tuesday, August 3, 2010

PSA - Quick Thinking

When hippie and I were dating, we left his house and he was taking me home.  It was pretty late at night, so there weren't a lot of cars around. It was in the wintertime.   We were stopped at a light and all of a sudden we heard a thud.  A car hit us from behind. 


He went out and talked to the guy.  At the time, there were no cell phones (it was the dark ages) and he went across the street to an outside public phone to call the police.

I think the guy didn't realize there was someone else in the van.  All of a sudden, I noticed the guy looked like he was starting to pull out. WTH, I knew a call was being made to the police.   For some reason,  until this day, I can't believe I had the presence of mind to reach for a pencil and a piece of paper and wrote the guy's license plate number down as he left.  


When hippie came back, I gave him the license number. When the police came,  we gave it to them LOL. We followed them to his house.  We never got out of the van and just watched.   Turns out the guy went home and put the car in the garage.  The police had him open his garage and sure enough they could see the paint from the van on the guys bumper. Busted!!  lol

So my PSA:  Always make sure you have paper and pencil handy in your vehicle.  You might need it if a drunk decides to hit and run.   Just sayin'  ;-)

Monday, August 2, 2010

Christmas in July


I know a lot of people don't even start thinking about Christmas until the fall but not me.  I always order my Christmas cards from the Current catalog in July.  Then usually in August I make my labels for the envelopes, except last year I used old labels I had on the computer.  In September or October, I figure out if I have enough to say in a newsletter for some people and if I do, I get on it and type it out.  I try to have my cards completed by Thanksgiving because I like to get them in the mail the beginning of December.

When I order my cards, I also order two calendars for the coming year.  One that I hang and one pocket calendar.  It's hard to believe but by the time I get them, I already have  appointments for the new year to put on them.  

So far, I'm right on track.  It's time to get started on the labels. 

I know some people buy their cards at the end of the previous season and get them pretty cheap that way.  

I also know less and less people are sending out holiday cards.  If you send cards when do you buy them?