Tag: Humor

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Magic Masks

Chocolate Castles9 Comments

Well, I began to think last night about this mask situation. I’m one of those that try to follow the rules and do what I’m told (don’t ask Randy to confirm that as he will look at you like you are crazy for asking about that).
But that doesn’t mean that I like them. I just do it because I’m suppose to. AND…I refuse to get caught up in ordering a bunch of masks just to have some that goes with every outfit. After all, that would be admitting to myself that this is an on-going situation. Just like years ago when we were told not to get hooked on capri’s because they would be one of those clothes items that would stay around for a couple of seasons, but then disappear forever. That was in 1993 I think. Lucky for me, I didn’t listen to them. 27 years down the road and that is all I wear. Even my jammies are capris. But masks…well, I have had to adjust my thinking about them. Instead of concentrating on all the negatives about them, like “I can’t breathe when I wear one” or “they take my makeup off” or “people can’t tell I’m smiling at them”, I have decided to accentuate the positive. So here are some new ways to think about them:

1. People won’t know I’m old because they cant see my wrinkles when I wear one.
2. When I am around people that for some reason catch me in a bad mood, they can’t tell i’m not smiling at them.
3. When Randy and I are out running errands, I just look at him and say, “oops, I guess you will have to go in to get the 3 items I forgot to buy yesterday , because i forgot to bring my mask with me.”
4. On bad hair days, I wear the really oversized mask and no one knows it is me.
5. When I don’t feel like joining in a conversation (like that will ever happen), I just say, “I’m sorry, but it is so hard to talk with this mask on.”
6. When I do buy a mask with colors and designs that don’t match any of my outfits, it gives me reason to shop for an outfit that does. Even though I said earlier that I wouldn’t buy masks to coordinate with all my clothes, every once in a while it helps to use this so I don’t feel guilty for going shopping.
7. When Randy and I argue, well, we NEVER argue, let’s call it, discussing something, it allows me to have the last word because he can’t hear what I am saying if I have the mask on.

So, next time you are complaining about having to wear a mask. Trust me, I’m right there with you and will be so thankful not to have to do so. But in the meantime, keep this list in the back of your mind. It helps put a smile on your face, even if no one can see it.

Daily Thoughts · Uncategorized

Heavy Hoarder

Chocolate Castles6 Comments

My name is Trudy Cox and I’m a Hoarder! I never realized it until now, but the time has come to accept the fact. This week, as I looked back upon it, I realized that maybe I’m not one of those “pushy” people at the store throwing in 20 packages of toilet paper, but just a little more sophisticated one. Feeling that I was better than some of the folks out there that are on TV as the camera shows them loading enough TP to take care of the entire state of Iowa, into the back of their car, I opened my freezer door. Once I had picked up the 5 packages of frozen chicken, the 3 huge bags of frozen blueberries and 5 lbs of ground round off the floor when I opened the freezer door, it dawned on me that I truly was a hoarder. In the past few weeks, as news covered the closing of several meat plants and showed rotten tomatoes laying in the fields, it drove me to thinking, “oh no, that is this week, what will be disappearing next week from the stores?” So quietly hiding behind my cute little mask that a friend made for me, I was running the TP grabbers down in the aisle, on my way to the meat department. Luckily for me, there were several packages of pork roast left, plenty of hamburger meat (but didn’t want to take any changes they might be gone next week), so began throwing them in my basket. Oh, and before it is all gone, I should load up on bacon. Because, who can actually go through a pandemic without bacon? Heading over to the frozen food aisle, I remembered that stores everywhere were out of active yeast, so wouldn’t the frozen bread be next to disappear? So into my basket went Rhoads frozen rolls, Sister Schubert rolls and oh yes, there is the Rhoads frozen Cinnamon rolls I have been wanting to buy. So happy they had a couple of bags left. I grabbed those as well. Blueberries, we cannot, we CANNOT survive without frozen blueberries for our health shakes that start off most of our days before moving on to cookies and pies throughout the day. So in went two huge bags of frozen blueberries. But wait, chicken, the last grocery order I had picked up curbside was out of chicken. Oh please Lord, let there be packages of chicken left. Turning the cart around and waddling as fast as these two little cellulite legs would carry me, I pushed my way past the folks hoarding up all the dried pasta. Oh please, people, like there is going to be a shortage of pasta! Get out of my way, because chicken will be the next meat to disappear. Whew, getting there just in time to the chicken section, only to see 30 or more packages of chicken breasts and thighs, I didn’t want to take any changes of not being able to find any on my next store run, so throwing in several packages of chicken into the basket, I made my way up to checkout. Feeling pretty smug and proud of myself for being “smart” and buying necessary items, I proceeded to make conversation with the cashier, “can you believe some of these folks that think there is never going to be another roll of TP left in the world and think they have to hoard it everytime they see it? Oh, can you let me run back for something I forgot? I’ll be right back.” She frowned at me and told me to hurry up. I returned with an armful of canned goods and Jiffy Corn bread mix, because, well, you never know when we might not loose power, due to spring storms and at least we could open up a can of Bush’s baked beans and if we do indeed run out of bread, I can still make corn muffins, (when the power returns). So feeling so happy that I am returning home prepared for the next month, I drive home knowing Randy will be so proud of his industrious and smart wife.

As Randy comes to the car to help me carry in the necessary items to the house, he asks me where in the world are you going to keep all these frozen foods. As I lug up the stairs with sacks of frozen fruit, chicken, pork roasts, bacon, ground round, I assure him that I will just reorganize the freezer and it will fit perfectly.

It didn’t. Having to use much of the fresh veggies I had bought the previous week, I needed to make room for the new stash. This week, well, this week, I have made, a pork roast, spaghetti, vegetable lasagna, shredded chicken sandwiches, stuffed zucchini with beef and rice. A lemon pie, carrot cupcakes,ooey gooey butter cake, chocolate chip cookies, baked beans, potato salad (twice because the potato stash I had bought were getting a little soft), tacos, chicken spaghetti, King Ranch casserole, brownies and peanut butter cookies. And we ate out one night. Yes, we actually ate in a restaurant, which we learned is really hard to do with our masks on. Takes a little more time when you have to pull it up off your mouth with every bite, but we did it and the stuffed chile rellanos were wonderful.
As we near the end of this trying time and look back at what we have learned, and hopefully never have to do again are several things:
1. Never buy more than your fridge or freezer holds.
2. Walking back and forth to the kitchen does not burn enough calories to allow me to eat as many cookies as I bake and eat in a single day.
3. This one is very important, ALWAYS REMEMBER THAT when you take your computer into the bathroom when you are on ZOOM, people can hear and see you.
4. Thinking that because you have plenty of food to share with others, they are just going to throw it away, because they don’t trust that you used a bleach rag to wipe off the groceries you purchased before putting them away in your pantry or fridge.
5. Eventaully, one day, we will be able to get out again and get to wear something besides sweat pants. And stores have not been open to buy bigger sizes. SO…….order a pair of elastic waisted pants now, before someone hoards up the bigger sizes. Gotta close and shop on-line before the cute ones are all gone.

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First Day of School All Over Again

Chocolate Castles8 Comments

It has happened, Randy has gone back to work. Today was his first day and it was very hard to see him walk away from the car.  I felt like I was 30 again, dropping off my first baby at school.  Yes, I cried. After all, we have been together pretty much 24/7 for 5 years now and it was like, “oh my goodness” who will I talk to? Who will run to the store for me when I am cooking and realize that I’m out of sugar? Who will help me carry up groceries to our home? Who will vacuum? Who will sit on rainy cold days and watch A Place to Call Home with me?

As you can tell, it is still all about me. When he received the letter on Thursday that he was to come to work today, we had tears of joy and just stared at it. What? Is this really happening? Will people think that I nagged him so much that he just couldn’t take it anymore?  Will he be so tired at night that he won’t want to talk to me?  As I sit and write this, I realized that it really is all about me. Let me start with some thoughts about him, so I won’t completely sound spoiled rotten.

First of all, he was excited as a monkey finding a bowl of bananas.  He kept telling me, “you are going to miss me tomorrow”, which I would reply, “oh goodness no, I’m free now to go to lunch with friends and shop and go get my nails done.” All the things that I would feel guilty for doing when he was at home. He has never ever complained about anything I wanted to go do or anytime I was gone, it was just my silly guilty feelings of knowing that he was at home while I was out having lunch or spending money.

Young folks think that is silly Im sure, but we were just raised in a different generation that we didn’t live such separate lives from our spouses as many do today.  When we were first married, I remember telling Randy that I would just never think of spending more than $50 without telling him first. He did the same of me. We didn’t think anything about it. We didn’t have girls nights out or go on vacation with friends. Times were different.

But today, as I was loading the dishwasher and folding clothes and cooking, it was kinda nice to have my kitchen back to myself…..WHAT AM I SAYING?????? IT WAS GREAT, DOUBLE GREAT , TRIPLE GREAT ,TO HAVE MY KITCHEN BACK TO MYSELF!!!!!!!!!!! I actually removed the yellow tape from down the middle of the kitchen that he knew not to cross when I was baking. Today I didn’t have to “redo” stacking the dishes in the dishwasher. With him not here to sit and talk to, I have done 3 loads of laundry, already made a huge dent in dinner prep and dusted. Talked on phone and changed the sheets on both beds.  Why is that? Why do we get more done when the hubbies are not here? I don’t have the answer. If you do, please write and tell me.

Our conversation over the last few days has been about  how it took us 2 years for both of us to accept his retirement. Then the 3rd year, we threw away the divorce attorneys number that we had been keeping beside the phone.  We began to speak to each other again, well other than, “GET OUT OF MY KITCHEN and GO FIND SOMETHING TO DO and “no, I don’t want to go to Home Depot with you”. We  kinda got in the groove of a new routine of him being home and both of us moving and settling in  Arizona. After that 4th year, we both knew that we wanted to settle back in Texas and we had a common goal…….selling our house there and traveling for 6 months before settling down back in Dallas. When you travel, it is so easy to be together  all day, every day, so we really got in the hang of him being home and “helping” me around the house. We have been back in Dallas now since July and Randy has been asking the Lord to give him more of a purpose, other than finding the best deal on vacuum cleaner bags. Thanks to Randy’s brother mentioning Randy’s name to the company he works for, Randy received a phone call last week offering him this job. So we have been out trying to find another car for him to drive to work since we have been a one car couple for these last 5 years.  Because, as Mr. Retirement had pointed out, “why do we need two cars when we will be doing EVERYTHING together?” Our search began last week with Randy telling me that he just wanted a car to drive back and forth to work in. So we had a budget we were going to stick to. After 2 or 3 days and looking at some of the cars that he had found, we (well, me) started to think that maybe if we bought a little cuter car than what he was looking at, wouldn’t it be fun for me to have this little cute car to run around town in while our old car could sit in the parking lot at his work. After all, why should he have the new cute car just sitting there in a parking lot, when I could look so spiffy running around meeting friends for lunch in the new car that I have already named (even though we haven’t bought one yet) .

We did find a car that both of us like. Hopefully by the time Mr. Goes To the Market 3 Times Before He Decides Which Loaf Of Bread To Buy, the car we like will still be there. For two days I have been pointing out the positives of why we should get this particular car. For one thing, it is so cute. Secondly, we can both get in and out of it without the need or a fork lift. Thirdly, it is white so it would go with my hair, no matter if I have it colored blonde or red AND it goes beautifully with his silver hair…wait….after thinking about it, he would look much better driving our old red car as silver goes so much better with red than white………so because I’m such a giving person, I will LET him drive the old red car to work and I’ll drive the white car. Because that’s what loving wives do…we give and give and give…..just like I’m going to let him take me out Friday night to celebrate his first week of work.  Doesn’t it make you wonder why he wanted to work and be gone all day away from such a loving wife that makes our marriage all about him? Maybe this week, he will find out just how blessed he is to have such a loving wife when he opens up the Visa bill the end of Feb to see that I missed him so much I had to go shopping and  have lunches with friends so I wouldn’t miss him so much….bless his heart…!!!!!

 

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Marriage Memories

Chocolate Castles2 Comments

January 2nd, 2020. Where did 2019 go? In fact, where has the last 25 years gone? Years ago, I remember hearing old people say, “oh my goodness, the older I get, the faster time flies.” Now, I’m one of those old people and indeed it is so true. Each week just seems to go faster and faster.

Randy and I were driving home yesterday from doing errands and we passed an Old Chicago Pizza place. As we drove by it, a memory flashed in my mind from 24 years ago, to a night either right after we married or shortly before we married. He had picked me up after work and said, “I want to take you to one of my favorite places for pizza.” Well, you don’t have to ask me twice. So off we went, and me, always loving a sense of adventure, didn’t even ask where we were going. I love surprises and knew that if it were one of his favorite places, then it surely would be one of mine as well. When we drove up to Old Chicago Pizza on Beltline in Dallas, I looked at him and the look of love was all over his face. You could tell he was excited to take me to a new place that he loved and I was so excited to be going to someplace new. So as we sit there, he begins to tell me why this is his favorite pizza. I sat there with stars in my eyes, hanging on every word, knowing that this would become a new favorite of mine as well. The pizza is delivered to our table and we both pick up a slice of pizza. He is in heaven as he begins to ask me how I like it, I respond, “oh my goodness, this is the best pizza I have every had. I’m so glad you brought me here and I totally understand why you love it so much. It is just delicious.”

We continued the wonderful evening knowing that this was another reason that we were soul mates. We both loved pizza, hated salmon, green peas and sushi….fast forward 24 years…

After driving by OCP yesterday, that memory came back to me and I began to laugh. When Randy ask me why I was laughing, I had to admit that all those years ago, when he took me to OCP, I was so in love with him that I went along with his “love of OCP” I really hadn’t liked it at all because I”m a thin crust pizza girl and that was deep dish which i really do not like at all. But, because it was important to him that I like it and he wanted to please me, I had lied and told him what he wanted to hear. Isn’t that what girls in love do so many times.

Because I started to think of how I would handle that situation now was what made me laugh. If we had walked into OCP like we did those 24 years ago, would I just sit there, let him order what he wanted and then eat it like it was the best pizza ever? The answer to that question was what made me laugh. I can just see the scenario now….”dear, what do you think of the pizza, isn’t it wonderful” Randy would ask. “Do you really expect me to eat this? You know I only like thin crust pizza and yet you bring me to a pizza place that only serves thick crust pizza? Why didn’t you tell me where we were going and I would have reminded you that I don’t like thick crust pizza. See, you never listen or pay attention to me when I talk to you. If you had you would have remembered that I don’t like thick crust pizza.” Hum……..what a difference 24 years makes!

As we rode in the car after passing OCP and laughed at the difference between then and now, it reminded us both that maybe 2020 might be a good year to work on some of our attitudes with each other. Do we love each other still? Absolutely, even more each day. But those little differences creep in to our lives and we don’t accept those differences or opinions as well as we use to. We sometimes get so caught up in our own likes and dislikes that we expect the other to change to who and what we feel they should become. A couple of years ago my word for the year was kindness.
(I wrote a post about that if you would care to go back and read it on the blog. Just put in One Word in the search bar)
Maybe this new year I need to make that word one of my goals. We all have times which we find it hard to be kind to those who are closest to us. But, remembering that night so long ago and how good it made me feel to keep my opinion to myself and how good it made him feel to know he had pleased me by taking me to one of his favorite pizza joints, gives me a new desire to choose kindness more days in this new year.

As long as he doesn’t try to take me to one of his new found food love places, Sushi and Salmon R Us, it will be a little easier to be kind….

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Sweet Tea & Jesus

Chocolate Castles12 Comments

We are finally back in Texas. It has been a month since I last posted and so much has transpired in this month. We are settling quickly into our new place here in Dallas and am quickly adjusting to all that Texas has to offer…great restaurants, great churches, great friends and of course, some of our family.

The last post was written as we were leaving Italy. As we look back at where we were just a month ago today, we realize our lives have already adapted back to how we lived before going to live in Italy for 3 months. We are once again driving instead of walking everywhere or taking buses. We have a dryer again and fast food on every corner. But we hope that some of the changes which we made overseas will stay with us…like giving up diet drinks and lots of meat. But that is for another story.
Upon leaving Dallas back in February, we had stopped at Buckee’s for gas, Dr. Pepper and snacks before heading down the road to begin our adventures. While looking over the kitchen items on each of the aisle’s at Buckee’s, there staring back at me was a pillow with this on the front; “I was raised on Sweet Tea & Jesus”. But because we already looked like we were road hoarders with every inch of our car loaded, I told Randy I would not buy the pillow on the way out, but would stop coming back into Texas and buy that pillow for our new place. Well, I’m sure you can guess what occurred…the pillow is no where to be found. I have searched hi and low and every web site I can think of but to no avail. Thinking back over my life, there have been very few days when I did not have sweet tea to drink and since I was raised in Church from the time of my conception, Jesus has been a part of my every day life as well. This pillow was right up my ally. Plus it was just so cute.

As the last box of items have been finally unpacked and our home is finally taking shape, we have had several things occur that has kinda blown us away. The first story I want to tell you about is how God gave us a most amazing table and chairs set for our new place.
Because we were storing all of our belongings in pods for 8 months, we decided before leaving AZ that we would sell as much as we could to avoid having to have multiple pods, so all of our tables and chairs were sold as well as living room couches and chairs. When we arrived here two weeks ago, we began to search for a dining room table with chairs. Because this condo is small, there is only one eating space in the dining room. Not wanting a table that looked like it belonged in a kitchen or wanting a formal look that didn’t go with our antiqued washed cabinet which is black, I went looking for a black table and chairs. After hours of looking at Pier One, Rooms to Go, Weirs, Ashly, and several web sites, I decided to start looking on Facebook Market Place. After searching for a couple of days, one popped up that would be perfect. It was an antique Farm House black Duncan Table with 6 chairs. I immediately texted her to see if it was available but the lady told me it was pending pick up for the following day. I ask her to please let me know if for some reason the buyers did not show up or decide not to buy it.(it had been posted for a 2 weeks I believe already), Honestly I did not expect to hear back from her, however, the next morning, she wrote and told me that they indeed did not show up. So we quickly drove over and fell in love with it the minute she opened the front door. The table and chairs were $100. We couldn’t believe what we got for the money. We found the perfect material already to recover the chairs and am in love with how it goes so beautifully with all of our things. God was so good to give us this great set.
The next story is about a set of chairs which we got yesterday. We have been looking for a chair for the living room to replace some chairs which we sold due to the fact that they were needing replacing long before now, but because they were so comfortable and they were my chairs where I would sit each morning for my quiet time with the Lord, It was so hard to actually sell them, knowing the sweet times of prayer that had taken place while sitting in them. In fact, I called them my “meet with Jesus chairs”.
There were times and seasons in our lives, when, like most parents, we needed to just pray for our kids for difficult times in their lives. Prayers were said for new grand babies being born, or jobs which had ended or changed and we were praying for God’s direction or wisdom before making decisions. Health issues were prayed over, aging parents and how to care for them were prayers which were said some times with tears in our eyes as we sat. There were certainly nights when we sat in these precious gold chairs while we would be reading God’s Word and praying for friends or family as they went through difficult days. When we had Bible Studies in our home, usually one of us would be sitting in one of these chairs as we would lead or discuss God’s Word with others. Yes, the chairs that we were now replacing had so many precious memories and were missed.
But, as we know, material things do not last forever. It was time for a new chair. Making a note to myself and out loud to Randy that the chair would need to be deep enough to sit back and curl my legs back under as that is how I sit when I read. It needed to be comfy and soft and yet, needed to go with the furniture we had already purchased. So this last week, after we would unpack during the day, we would sit at night and look at different web sites and at FB Marketplace. We went and looked at a few that looked promising, but nothing ever materialized. It would either be the wrong color, size, not comfortable or was to big or to small. Just like Goldilocks. Well, yesterday, after taking one chair back to Weirs which ended up not being the right color or size once we got it up here, we went to see a set of chairs which we had found on FB. On the way to look at them I told Randy, “I’m done. Im tired and if these chairs don’t work, let’s forget about looking at chairs for a few days and just concentrate on finishing up the little things which we need to do and take a few days off from looking. I was getting frustrated. Well the set of chairs that we looked at were not what we expected. So we got back in the car and I said, “ok that’s it, no more looking at chairs for a few days. Let’s go home.” it was hot, 104 and we were both exhausted from carrying the Weirs chair back down the stairs that morning. But as I got in the car, I felt led to go to FB and open the Marketplace. As soon as I did, there were two chairs, staring back at me and I quickly showed them to Randy. They looked exactly like what we would want. He told me to quickly text the guy and ask if we could come look at them, so I did. I noticed that they had posted one hour before and as before, I quickly went to the guys FB page for security reasons. We always do that. The mans’ name sounded familiar to me and I looked him up and noticed that he was friends with so many of our friends from Prestonwood. He quickly texted back and said to come right then and look at them. So off we went to the address he gave us. As we drove over there, it dawned on me that the address we were given was the address of First Bapt Carrollton and the man was their pastor.
As we pulled up to the church, we introduced ourselves to Pastor Taylor and in the next 15 minutes we had loaded one of the chairs into the back of our car. The other one will be picked up tomorrow, as we could’t fit both of them in. The church is moving and selling lots of furniture. As we drove the one chair here, I told Randy, isn’t it just so precious that my “meet with Jesus” chair is being replaced with a chair that we bought from a church. And the Lord gave them to us for once again, $100 for both.
God’s Word tells us that when He blesses us, we are to tell others of those blessings and gifts and to give Him the glory. Dear sweet friends, I pray this post today will not only remind you of God’s love but also that God cares and knows our needs, no matter how small. He is faithful to meet those needs. Yes, He even brought us back to Sweet Tea Country and gives me stories to tell others so that He will be praised.

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Seniors On the Run

Chocolate Castles7 Comments

Bonnie & Clyde, Guido & Gina, running away from so many different things. So much difference between the two couples. Bonnie & Clyde were running from the law. Guido & Gina are running from everything that is familiar, family and friends. Even though we are leaving for Italy in the month of April, we are not trying to escape tax season. We are just trying to run to someplace which will grow us as seniors. We won’t have Walgreens on every corner. There will be no Walmart to run for heartburn meds or Geritol.
We won’t have familiar faces driving down the street, stopping to engage in conversations about government or the latest neighborhood gossip. Yes, it will truly be a whole new experience for us both. It is different when you travel overseas with tour groups. Safety in numbers, right? Well, there is just the two of us, with the exception of a couple of weeks when we will be blessed with some of our kids and friends coming over to stay with us. This trip has been a dream for us for a long time. Why is it that these bucket lists possibilities are never a possibility until we are old. I am sitting here thinking about what we are going to be doing and what it would have been like going when I was 25 or 30. No fear, no thoughts of “oh my gosh, what if one of us falls and breaks a hip while trying to take a selfie at the Trevi Fountain?” What if we get heart burn so badly that we can’t tell if it is just heart burn or a heart attack? Can we really carry our 50 lb suitcase up 4 flights of stairs? What if we loose our passports? Will we get on the wrong train? What if we get lost and can’t explain to our Italian friends where we are trying to go?
Thoughts like this never enter young peoples minds. They just go and enjoy the ride.
After my doctor told me last week that unless I gave up certain foods that I would certainly find myself having a heart attack or stroke, I thanked him for giving me something else to worry about. Now, instead of walking the streets of Florence with a gelato in one hand and a slice of pizza in the other, I will now be afraid to eat anything other than a piece of dry crusty bread or a sliced tomato. Gelato? Forget it, the closest thing I will get now to that is a frozen slice of banana. Young folks, listen to me….steal, beg or borrow and go travel before you spend your nights preceding the trips, practicing getting out of small cars without looking like you will be bent over for ever. Guido and I are already practicing each evening how to say in Italian, “where is the closest emergency room?” We have sewed pockets in our shirts for extra Tums and ID cards in case one of us looses our memory while we are gone and get separated in the crowds.
Just this morning, when I was tempted to stop at Chick Fila to buy a new Key Lime pie flavored shake, Guido looked over at me and says, and I quote, “No, remember what the Dr said and I can tell you right now, if you have a stroke, I will put your make up on you so heavily that you will look like Tammy Fae Baker. I will not keep your face shaved, or your hair done like you like. Also,you will be laying there with a unibrow. So let that be an incentive for you to enjoy those bags of lettuce we just bought at Trader Joes.” Bless his heart, God love him….he is so caring.
Yes, in a couple of weeks, we will be seniors on the run, praying that we will return 3 months later with memories which will prove that oldies can go, grow and explore new places even loaded down with heavy suitcases, purses filled with meds and snacks that would make my doctor proud.
Trust me, I’m not leaving Italy before having coconut gelato, pizza or limoncello….even if I end up with Tammy Fae makeup being applied to my face!

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Brain Exercises

Chocolate Castles3 Comments

Well, here we are in Orlando, Florida enjoying the great state of sunshine and oranges. Except for today when it is cloudy and cold…and I have the flu. We were told that when we got to Florida everything would be sunny and glorious. That the weather now would just be perfect. And for most parts it has been, other than a few days of rain which was really neat to cool the day off. Guido has decided in the last couple of days that he is growing his mustache back. He told me that he thinks he looks to young to be with me so has decided before we go to Italy next month that he will grow it back so that we look more closely matched. When he left this morning for errands, I had the locks changed.
A friend of mine has been telling me about all the brain exercises that she and her husband do on the computer that is suppose to help your brain keep active. They do sound really fun and probably do work, but I told her that we have a game of our own that is not on the computer and that is certainly keeping our brains active.
The game is called, “keep moving around to different addresses”. As I was writing a few cards this morning while sitting and resting and drinking lots of Dr Pepper to help me get over the flu (I wonder if that is what the Dr meant when she told me to go home and drink lots of fluids?), I started to think about all the zip codes I have had to remember to put on cards and bills since we left Arizona the end of December. Yes, I know we could get a PO box and have everything sent there, but what is the fun in that? It is more fun to keep people guessing where we are and how long we will be in each spot.
Our kids have given up. They just text us and ask us what we are having for dinner and that helps them know where we are. For instance, if we are having Tex-Mex or Whataburger, we are in Texas. If we are having fried seafood, we are probably in Louisiana or Florida. If we are having Fried Chicken, grits and Pee..can pie, we have traveled a little north to Savannah, so I can hopefully catch a glance of Paula. Surely the third time will be successful. But, getting back to our memory, each time we settle for a little bit, I have to learn a new return address and zip code.
The last few days when I finally decided to find a urgent care to see if I was diabetic, dying from high blood pressure or high cholesterol, just the exercise of calling a million different places to see if they took our insurance was exercise enough for a week. After calling about 10 places, we found an urgent care about 25 miles away. Then we add it to our phones and have to navigate our way there, fill out 10 sheets of paper and then if you haven’t died yet, you get to wait for an hour to see a 15 year old Dr. But, my brain has had a great workout this week. So hopefully after I am over the flu I will feel good enough to try my hand at one of the brain games on my phone. But right now, I think it has had a good enough workout for a few days.
FYI, all the things you have heard that are signs of having the flu are not complete.
The only symptoms I had were: weakness, dizziness and so tired, I felt like I had baked 100 cupcakes in an hour and tried to walk in a pair of 3″ high heals.
No fever,no congestion, no cold symptoms, but when I crawled into the Urgent Care office, I tested positive for Type A…go figure! Would have never even thought about having the flu. But was to go home and rest and drink and stay away from others. I thought all the symptoms that I was having were a result of giving blood on Saturday.
Randy and I had seen a Blood Donating Bus in front of the movie theatre a couple weeks back with a sign out front that said “Donate Today and get 2 free movie tickets” Well, you don’t have to ask Randy twice to do anything if he is going to get something free. So Saturday morning we awoke to him saying, “let’s go online to see if the blood mobile is still in front of the movie house and we can get 4 free movie tickets.” Bless his heart, he gets so excited when he knows he can get free stuff. So off we went to the blood mobile. We climbed the stairs into the big red bus, filled out the forms and gave my butter laden blood to a poor recipient who, I pray will not have a heart attack from getting my blood. But as the technician gave us our paperwork for the free movie ticket, it said we would get one free ticket. WHAT? I had gone through all that for one ticket? When I ask her about getting two free tickets, she replied that that was a special promotion that weekend only and we only got one ticket each now. We took our free cookie, free movie pass and climbed down the stirs with a disappointed heart. I looked at Randy and said that if he took me to Dillards, I would forgive him for making me go through that ordeal for one ticket. So we walked across the parking lot to Dillards. By the time I got inside the door, I was close to fainting and about to vomit. So he sat me in a chair right inside the door in the shoe department. Normally any shoe department would immediately energize me but not today. I told him that he had better ask someone really fast where a bathroom was as I was about to loose it. So off he goes in search of a bathroom. People began to come over to me and ask me if I’m ok. I guess I looked worse that I had thought. The manager comes over and tells me she is going to call EMS and sends another lady over to get me a water. I assure her that my husband is someplace in the store and that he will surely be back in a few minutes and I will be fine. the 3 ladies standing over me tell me I don’t look fine and proceed to ask my husbands name. When I tell them, the manager pages Randy over the store intercom to please come meet his wife in the shoe dept immediately. Well, about 10 min later, here comes Mr. Turtle, moozing over to where he had left me. It took 3 people to help me walk to the car. As soon as I could talk I began to ask him where he had gone and why did it take him so long to come back. He told me he had finally found the bathroom on the second level. And anyone who knows Randy knows how slow he walks on a normal day. When I told him that I had got concerned that maybe he had walked off someplace and got as week and faint as I had got, he told me “no I was fine but just could not find any bathrooms on the first floor. When I ask him if he heard his name being called out over the intercom he replied no, he did not hear it. Our next brain exercise will be to find an ENT Dr. for him that takes our insurance.
I guess I already had the flu and giving blood just sent me over the top. So my advice to you is, if you are not feeling exactly “chipper” do not give blood, even if they are giving away free tickets to anything. It is not worth it. When I get well, Randy has assured me I get to choose which movie we see with our free ticket. He just gets sweeter and sweeter.

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Precious Christmas Memories

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This Christmas season has been very different for us. Instead of spending time hanging outdoor Christmas lights or sitting down with Christmas cards in my lap to address, we have spent the majority of our time packing to move. If I EVER decide to do this at Christmas season, will one of you slap me back into reality? At the beginning of December, we kept thinking, “we have got this. Most of the glass dishes and antique cabinets had already been packed for several weeks. Thinking that if we did that, it would give us plenty of time to watch all the Hallmark movies and make multiple pans of fudge. We were wrong. We did not figure in the fact that we are a couple years older than we were 3 years ago. We also didn’t figure in the fact that apparently we have acquired, should I say, “some real keepsakes” living out west. We unloaded 3 pods when we moved here and it looks like it might take 4 when the movers get here next week? That brings me to another fact. Our clothes are a bigger size than when we moved here. IT’s amazing how much more room a size larger pair of pants takes up.
Because we are trying to make the most of the time we have left here, Jodi and I came up with a great family night plan. Two nights ago, we went to their house to have pizza, watch Christmas Vacation and then head out to a Christmas light spectacular called Illumination. IT was worth every dollar, especially since there was a coupon on Groupon. The coupon is for the entire car, so load it up we did. We had Randy driving, with Eric and Noah in the front seat. Jodi and I had Caleb in the back. After an hour wait to actually get the car inside to begin driving through the light show, we were excited. Of course, the sign gave instructions to turn our radio onto a certain radio station so that the lights blinked in sync with the music playing. Of course, it took until we were almost through the park before we figured out how to restart our computer in the car to where we could find the particular station. But, because we have a SUV the boys decided to climb over both seats and watch the show from the back of the car. Apparently, when little boys are not strapped in with seatbelt, they feel the mood to roll around, kicking the backs of our heads, of course, all the while keeping with the beat of the music. While we were waiting in line we began to laugh about different Christmas memories. Doesn’t it seem that memories sometimes get funnier as time passes?
One of our favorite Christmas memories was from about 2010 when we had about 15 people at our house. Because there were going to be so many people having dinner, I rearranged the furniture. We put the dining room table in the den and put the den furniture in the dining room. That way we could seat more folks AND, it put us closer to the food. That is so important. Well the night progressed and we had a lovely dinner. Everyone left and Randy said, “if you want, I’ll start putting back all the chairs while you do the dishes.” That is always how we work, he starts putting everything up while I am in the kitchen, cleaning up. Thats why Frosty and Noel make a great team.
In about 10 minutes, Randy walks in the kitchen and tells me that we need to call Eric and Jodi. When I ask him why, they had just left, why did he need to call them, he responded with, “they need to come back, they forgot Craig, he is sound asleep in my chair in the dining room.” Craig is Eric’s brother and in the hustle and bustle of everyone leaving that evening, no one noticed that Craig was asleep in the dining room. Now we had to decide who was going to wake him up and tell him that they left him behind. We decided to let him sleep until Eric got there and could explain to him why he was still there. We now post a sign at the front door to be sure people get ALL their belongings before they leave.

Another great memory involved us renting a 15 passenger van to take friends around looking at Christmas lights. What a special memory. We made chile for everyone before we went out and then each person had their own little box of Christmas cookies to snack on while we looked at lights. It truly was a magical evening. As Frosty played Christmas Carols over the radio, everyone begin to sing and laugh. Well, almost everyone, our adult kids were sitting in the back of the van and kept making faces like, “you have got to be kidding me, we are in a van, driving around with all these oldies singing with their Christmas sweaters on”. That made us sing that much louder. They couldn’t get out of that van quick enough when we got back. We loved it. Felt like they were teenagers again with their parents still embarrassing them.

Today running into Walmart to buy butter (yes, I was almost out of butter, only have 2 sticks left) I remembered years ago when being so excited seeing the new Christmas tapes/CD’s in and loved going through them to see which new ones I was going to buy that year. I miss that. It was so much more fun than just going onto Amazon to download songs for my phone. It was so great to get back in the car, open the tape/cd and insert it into the player and driving around listening to the new music we had just bought.

Christmas…brings back so many different memories and emotions. Some of them wonderful, and some bringing tears to our eyes. But regardless of the emotions which it conjures up, we can be sure of one thing. Memories hold a very special place in our hearts.

As you celebrate Christmas this year, may you make memories of joy, hope and laughter with those you love.

#Jesusisthereasonfortheseason

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Frosty’s Follies

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Today Frosty suggested that we go out shopping like we use to while we lived in Dallas. To just go out all day to get among the Christmas crowds and hit the local Starbucks for a gingerbread latte and see what Santa has out this year on display. It was then that I suggested that we go looking for a new suitcase for us to take to Mexico and Italy. So off we go to look for the perfect traveling companion which would hold all our clothes that hopefully make us look like we “belong” and not like a tourist.

Getting out in this most beautiful day made me hungry. When he ask me if I was ready for the Starbucks stop, I informed him that maybe we should start off with something a little more filling, so off to Chick Fila we go, all the while me listening to him talk under his breath about “we have just left the house where there was plenty to eat but now she wants to go to Chick Fila” Maybe Frosty isn’t quite in his Christmas spirit yet. When I ask him to repeat what he had just said, he told me that he was glad we were having lunch out because then we could save the food at home for dinner. When I told him that was not what it sounded like when he was muttering, but I let this one go. After all, I didn’t want to start off our fun Christmas shopping day not speaking. So after we downed some chicken nuggets and a peppermint chocolate chip shake, we headed off to look at luggage. We stopped at a store that has a little bit of everything, (no it wasn’t Walmart) ok, it was almost Walmart, it was Ross. So after looking over the luggage and deciding that we needed to go other places before deciding, I informed Frosty that after much discussion with several friends who have traveled extensively, I wanted to go look at the backpacks. Thinking that would be a great way to carry all my necessities, leaving my arms free to hold the gelato or pizza in Italy or hail cabs in Mexico, my mind was made up to buy a backpack. I found the perfect size, beautiful, quilted olive green backpack which had some outside pockets. Asking him to hold my purse so I could try it on for size, I proudly, turn around showing him what I look like with a back pack. No I didn’t ask him if it made my rear end look big, but I did ask him what he thought. This was his reply, “well, if you really must know, you look like a Ninja Turtle”
The backpack went back on the shelf and we left the store in not so much of a holly jolly mood.

We had already decided that today we would visit the Apple Store to look at the Smart Watches. I had told our kids that instead of buying me those cute little signs that sometimes read, “what happens at Nana’s stays at Nanas or a shirt that might read, TGIF This Granny is Fantastic, I would rather them just donate to my Smart Watch Fund. So in anticipation to being gifted with one, we decided to just go look at the watches. We walked out with the cutest little Smart watch EVER. It is now synced with my phone and everything is out there in the cloud. So any money that comes in now from the kids can just go to cover a cute new color band for the watch or a new phone cover that matches the cute little watch. The first 3 hours it was the smartest watch I could imagine. But after coming home and sitting down to watch a Christmas Hallmark movie, I glance over to look at my new watch and there is an alert that is telling me to “get up and move around, you have been sitting too long.” WHAT? I now have a watch that makes me feel guilty for sitting and watching a movie? What have I done? After a little longer I get another alert telling me to breathe deeply for a minute as it is good for my brain. Are you kidding me? It knows what shape my brain is in?
If I cannot train this so called “Smart watch” a little better than it is now, it is going back to Apple. If I designed a smart watch it would go something like this:
You Go Girl….it has been over an hour since you ate a cookie, why don’t you have another one.

Ding Dong, Ding Dong, it’s time for your favorite Christmas movie, grab yourself a cup of hot cocoa and sit down and relax.

Oh Bless Your Heart, you have worked hard enough today, drive up to Donut Worry and buy that apple strudel donut you love.

Dolly Parton singing Working 9 to 5 and “just warm up the leftovers, you don’t need to cook a meal tonight.

Now that’s truly a Smart Watch that I would make. But until then, I guess I had better close and start walking around before it alerts me that I have been on this computer long enough or reminds me that I have only burned 23 calories today. And to think I paid money for all this guilt. Merry Christmas to me!

Breads · Breakfast · Cakes · Daily Thoughts · Holiday Fare · Uncategorized

Brown Sugar Streusel Pumpkin Muffins

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It is still 100 outside, but I cannot wait any longer to begin making pumpkin everything. So today I went looking for a new different recipe for some pumpkin bread and found this one. It sounded so good with the brown sugar streusel that I began to read her blog and knew that this one would be a winner. Since I’m making it for some ladies who I sit with on Tuesday mornings at church, what better way to study Genesis that with a pumpkin muffin? You would love the aroma that is coming out of our kitchen right now. You might just forget that it is hot outside for a few minutes when you smell the pumpkin, cinnamon and cloves drawing you in the door. Taken from the blog called, Friends.Food.Famiy

Streusel

1 1/2 cups flour
1/2 cup butter melted and slightly cooled
1/2 cup light brown sugar, packed
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1/4 teas salt

Stir flour with both sugars and salt. Add cooled melted butter to mixture and stir until crumbly. Set aside

Pumpkin Bread

1 cup oil
1 cup light brown sugar, packed
2 cups granulated sugar
4 eggs
2 teas cinnamon
1/2 teas nutmeg
1/4 teas cloves
1/4 teas ginger
1 teas salt
2 teas baking soda
3 1/2 cups flour
2 cups (15 oz can) of pumpkin puree
2/3 cup water (I used 1/3 cup water and 1/3 cup coffee left over from this morning)

Preheat oven to 350. Place oil and sugars in a large mixing bowl. Using electric mixer, mix the oil with the sugars until well combined. Add the pumpkin puree and mix well. Add the eggs, one at a time to the pumpkin mixture.

In a separate mixing bowl, mix the flour with the cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, ginger, salt and baking soda.

Alternately add the flour and water (coffee) mixture to the pumpkin mixture, beating well after each addition. Pour into prepared (greased or liners) muffin tins, loaf pans or aluminum foil disposable pans. Divide the streusel topping among the cakes, sprinkling over the tops before baking.
Bake until cakes test done. Time will depend upon the size of container you are baking in.

*Taken from the blog Friends.Food.Family, November 2012