Sitting on my counter....

There they are. My first two ripe tomatoes! Notice that little zinna just popped in there for a bit of show, I guess. The sun was just going down and that's a bit of it's light on the right side of the photo.

On the ground you can see the egg shells I just put out this morning and haven't worked them in the ground yet. I read that tomatoes need calcium, so there ya' go ...

And here is a close up of my two first fruits. Aren't they just beautiful? Beefsteaks. Lovely, just lovely.

The best fertilizer is the gardener's shadow. ~Author Unknown

A Visit to My House

From Tim's Mom we have been tagged to participate in a Meme that she created ....

If you came to our house--

You would see:

That we live in a little blue house, and there are Plants on the porch and an aquarium with butterflies in it,

then you would walk in a yellow door ~ and see

Roses from my garden in a vase, Plant cuttings on the counter, Madam B's zen table (which is a code name for an area that is never messed up no matter how chaotic the living room gets), shoes lined up by the door, my latest books from the library on the table (which these days are most likely about gardening), magazines...

Pictures that make you think of the beach (One is an autographed print called Turtle Crossing by Dan Mackin, a gift from my brother)

A few family photos, guitars, large speakers,

Cats looking at you.

We'd probably feed you:

Whatever we have which could be peanut butter on a spoon,

Veggies

Taco chips and salsa

or if you are lucky gummy bears (that I try to keep on hand for my nephews)

Grandma's fresh baked bread (if we haven't eaten it already)

Or if you stayed for dinner it might be chicken parmigiana made from scratch

We would offer you this to drink:

Water

Iced Herb Tea or hot, if you like,

and if we made you hot tea, we would use my Shakespean Tea Pot!

Water with ice

Coffee

We'd undoubtedly ask if you'd read:

Actually, we probably wouldn't unless you bring up a subject that has to do with something we've read.

We'd want to play this music for you:

We might ask you what you like, as we have a limited collection that spans a lot of different music. (If I can get away with it, I'd offer Jackson Browne. If I just put on background music, it will be Mozart...or something classical, but probably Mozart.)

We would want to tell you the latest about:

My butterflies or what the cats did, or maybe something exciting like what kind of food is good to feed plants. We don't talk much. You would be comfortable telling us everything about yourself and we would be comfortable listening!

We might get on the computer and show you:

Funny clips from You Tube we have discovered.

If it was a long enough visit, we might watch:

Much Ado About Nothing

Pirates of the Caribbean

Pride and Prejudice

or your choice from our collection

Here in Butterfly Heaven....

We released two more butterflies this morning,

and found three more teeny, tiny, itty bitty caterpillars! I almost used the branch of milkweed they are on to release one of the butterflies! Then, my eye caught a little fellow and by golly, I spied three of them!

This is so fantastic!

Nature is an infinite sphere of which the center is everywhere and the circumference nowhere.
~~Blaise Pascal

I'm just really enjoying all that is happening here!

A thought for today

........A wise sea captain caught in a tropical storm knows that if he holds his vessel on the periphery it will get hurled from one side to the other. If he can reach the eye of the storm, he will enter a place of stillness.

The storm will then subside and the ship can continue its journey. Similarly, when everything around me is changing in a very intense way, the best place for me to seek shelter and refuge is not on the outside, but deep within the self, where I can get in touch with my own inner being, find strength and stability, then come out and do whatever it is I need to.

~~from Thought for Today

So, it seems to be, that when things are the craziest, if we go crazy with them (get caught up in the storm), we are blinded by worry and fear and cannot see any good thing that might be coming around good for us. And, if we happen to see them, we are exhausted in trying to maintain the storm we have been swept into.

What's the trick? As the quote suggests, find that Eye, that center, Your Center. Mine is The Almighty Creator of the Universe. I go to him for strength, comfort, and to find a way back to stillness. I rest myself in nature, in things he has made and created. I believe they are for our calmness of being.

When I can't pray at all, when I don't know what to say or ask for, I just say 'thank you, Lord, thank you, thank you, thank you....'

And peace returns to me.

Ah, but you may as well try and catch the wind...

Eleven Caterpillars....

That's how many little caterpillars we found....

Nine of them have been released. Oh my gosh, they are beautiful. They look like silk

When they first come out, they don't move for a long while. They are drying their wings. It's nerve wracking waiting to make sure they are okay. I can understand why they would be vulnerable to predators. They can't move.

The first two little guys were released about 10 hours after they fully came out of the chrysalis. I thought that might be too early, but they climbed on the stick I offered, let me lift them out, sat for a second or two and then took off.

They were ready to fly!

I wish I could do a better job of posting the pictures in a better kind of an order, but that's something I'll have to get better at on my practice blog.

Meet the new boss....

As a last minute whim, I decided to work in my yard early this morning. The chore I faced was weed pulling, which is a tremendous task in the one area I needed to clear.

So, I go out there, in a pair of very old blue shorts, held together by a just a hint of luck, an ancient, ill fitting pink t-shirt with tiny holes, my dirty sneakers, one gray sock, one white sock, my hat, which sat funny because I had my hair clipped up underneath, so that the hat was sticking up about 2" higher than my head, sunglasses (oh, thank you Lord for the sunglasses)...It doesn't really sound bad, you say?, but trust me on this one ... I need a gardening outfit, and for this very reason:

My son, who lives next door, was going out of town and his rental car was parked in my driveway. He never said _anything_ about riding with anyone...

let alone, his boss. Whom I have never met, I might add.

And as things go, I'm walking across the yard, almost right in front of them, carrying a bunch of weeds, and look up, and there's this nice looking man coming out of my son's house, and I'm like, to myself, "no. You are kidding me..."

But no one was kidding me...
My son says, "Oh that's my mom," and I'm thinking, 'no child, you say that's the lawn lady...'

The boss smiled, (grinned is more like it). I waved the weeds towards him and walked away quickly. As quickly as I could without falling over my shovel.

I know at my age I should get over being embarrassed and wanting to make a good first impression, but oh well....

Man is the only animal that blushes. Or needs to. ~~Mark Twain

That day may be down the road for me, but it wasn't today.

Watch your back...and your tuna

Jasper, the hoodlum kitty....he cannot be trusted. Shadus has been such a good kitty, until Jasper came.

This afternoon, I made for myself, the most lovely salad....crisp green lettuce, banana peppers, tomatoes (from my garden), cucumber, black olives, raisins, and a bit of salsa, topped with tuna for my daily intake of protein.

I walked into another room for something...can't remember what...but when I came back in -- Jasper and Shadus were up on the counter eating my tuna lunch salad!! Oh, good grief!

Madam B came in and scolded the said kitties and offered to make me another salad. Who knew what to do? Do you eat after a cat? I was not interested in doing that ...

Now, we really have to watch them for awhile about this because, I explained to Madam B, they found a treasure up there! And they will remember that! So, we have the squirt bottles on hand in the kitchen.

Shadus committed no such crimes, actually no crimes, before Jasper came into the fold! Do we blame it on his parents?

Shadus is trying to get his My Space Photo

lined up just right. Looks like he took a good one.

Mr. B is one of Shadus' favorite people.

He follows him around from the time he gets home until he goes to bed.

At one time, that was Shadus' bowl. Jasper claims everything as his now.

I think these two may be candidates for some counseling.

Jasper, Shadus and Cooper

Jasper the Hoodlum Kitty.

This is the kitty that stays up late

working on his skills

Jasper resting in the bowl that did belong to Shadus

Somehow, it just does not seem fair.

This is Cooper on the left. A good friend of ours.

He's sitting in the window with Shadus.

Cooper and Shadus used to play together all the time

until Jasper moved in the neighborhood.

Well, Hello Mr. Toad

What can you say about toads? This is one lone toad that was in my garden yesterday morning. If there were a bunch of them, they would be a knot of toads, but there were not. Only one toad. One lone toad, that hit the road, as soon as he was sure that I was gone. This is the first time I have seen him there, but doubt it be the last.

Anyone looking for a prince?

Rumor has it ......

Little Strawberries

"Don't cry because it's over. Smile because it happened."

~~Doctor Suess

These are not my very first strawberries....they are the second batch of strawberries. I use the term batch in jest.

You see, I ate the first batch (3) and they were so good. This batch, all three of them, I shared with Mr. B. He said they were good. And he was quite surprised!

I had no idea how to grow strawberries. I bought two plants. One I planted in the ground. It did nothing. It didn't even really grow. This one, I put in a hanging pot. Strawberries are supposed to have full sun. This one did not. The other one, which produced nothing, did. So I have moved the other one to a hanging basket.

Another thing I didn't know, along with nothing else on the list of things not known, was how many plants to buy. I have since read that one needs 4 plants per person in the household to have one pint of strawberries per month.

Each of these plants costs me $2.98. I would say then, that four plants per person would be quite an investment at first. But depending on the yield, might be a good one. But I don't know for sure. I'm not really quick at figuring these things out.

Most likely, I would never figure this out. Here's how it would go:

I would have a bunch of strawberry plants on my front porch. There would never be any strawberries on them because we would all eat them every time we passed by them. We would have no idea how many we ate, nor would we have any idea how many were ever produced.

I could probably be happy with that.

And then there were Six!

Six caterpillars!

Yesterday, my nephew Jacob was over. We go over to my mother-in-law's which is right next door. Jacob loves to play with Rita!

While we were doing something in her front yard, I just glanced over and saw a caterpillar hanging by a thread there! So cool. I took him over to my butterfly house.

I walked back over and found another one! And then did this two more times! That made 4.

Then, Later that evening, Rita knocked on my door and she had found another one! And then, this afternoon, same thing, one more fellow!

They all look exactly alike. They are monarchs. Two of them are already on the top of the aquarium so that could mean they are going into the J (we call it) and then into their beautiful chrysalis.

Here at Milkweed Cafe. Com, you can get the complete idea of what happens. It is totally cool to me! I might call the TV station if they all make it!

I'll try to get some of my own photos, and for sure if they all make it to fly away!! Gotta get photos of that!


We will never forget out first Billy Butterfly.

Since they all look apart the same size, I think they will all hatch within a day of each other, if not on the same day.

UPDATE a/o 5/7/08: 4 of them are in the *J* position this morning!!

Saturday Weirdness/Update on Life

I don't know what I did last night to my blog. I must have had too much fiber during the day, and it stymied my brain somehow.

So, this morning, by myself, without having to make an emergency phone call to Tim's Mom, I actually added some links. New friends and Old friends and Best friends.

There are some more I want to add, but my fingers and brain need a wee break. And the kids are taking Mr. B and I to see Iron Man this afternoon, so I need to get going and get ready.

I took some pictures of my garden yesterday, so I want to check those out and post them sometime soon.

Mr. B's Job -- Just horrible. Lots of hours. No decent money at all. I won't even bore you with the details.

He did go to an interview last Thursday that sounds like it might work out for something good, but that will still be two weeks away, and that will be starting with part time, but it sounds like a great long term opportunity, if it lines up as a go.

My garden - Still tending it. Still loving it. Can't believe I am actually SEEING the veggies! Now, I need to learn - When do you take them from the plant?

I know tomatoes need to be red; I got that. But the Peppers - I need to find out when to pick them. And the lettuce! It's all fluffy and soft and beautiful, still tiny....do I transplant it?

The herbs are good. Ready to be used. I am going to plant more. It's easy peasy with herbs.

Gardens always mean something else, man absolutely uses one thing to say another.
~Robert Harbison, Eccentric Spaces, 1977

And my roses! Wow! I have fresh cut flowers in my house all the time! It's wonderful!! I continue to feed them coffee and coffee grounds. And I learned that you must cut the blooms the first year constantly or else you will get just a long leggy plant. I did not know this. The shaping of the Rose Bush comes that first year.

If you want the fullness on the bottom, you must cut those first year blooms. So, in essence, you are forced to have beautiful roses in your home on a regular basis.

I perhaps owe having become a painter to flowers.
~Claude Monet

Here's a thought - from Vincent Van Gogh:

I tell you, the more I think, the more I feel that there is nothing more truly artistic than to love people.

I couldn't have said it any better myself.

All you need is Love.

What happened? I don't know!

And who clicked what? I don't know what happened. I wanted to change something and ended up with a different blog set up. Now my blog doesn't have the things on the side that I liked.

Oh well, I figure it out tomorrow. For tonight, I'm sure there's no one needs to find their way around better than what will be there. So, it's late. Tomorrow.

Candy Math

Candy is special.

Oh, how cleverfully useful and wonderful is candy. We all know that candy can make us feel better sometimes, makes a good gift in a pinch, and kids light up even at the mere mention of the sweet product, but I've found that candy is most useful for math. Children always know what's fair when it comes to dealing with candy.

Last Wednesday, I was in the library with my nephew, Zack. He's in the third grade. We were working on math. Two other third grade boys were doing homework at the same table. They all knew each other from different situations in life, and so, we were kind of chatting.

The other two little boys said that division was just so hard. They said, "We can't understand it at all!" Actually, they more declared it.

I said, "You do understand it."

"No, we don't, " they said emphatically.

"Ahhh, but you do," I smiled. "Let me ask you a question. If I put 6 pieces of candy here on the table and told you three boys you could share it, how many pieces would you each get?"

"TWO!!" came the answer from each of them Loud and Clear.

"See," I said. "You just divided." (And you're doing story problems.)

Stunned faces were looking at me. I went on with another problem, each time increasing the amount of candy and increasing the amount of people that it should be divided between and never once did they give a wrong answer!

When I put in the 'odd number' piece of candy, as in, "there are 4 of us, and we have 13 pieces of candy," they came up with the most devilish ideas of how to reckon with the extra piece.

My nephew said, "We could cut it in four pieces." (And now we are into fractions!)

"What if you are not allowed to use a knife?" I said.

"I could put the extra piece in my pocket!""I could bite it once and pass it around for everyone to bite!""I could eat it quickly and no one would see!"

(But never in one scenario would they throw it away!)

At the end of the conversation, they were wishing that math examples could all be done with candy and that they could eat it all at the end of each lesson. They were wishing for 50 million pieces of candy divided by the 28 students in the class and delightfully dealing with ways to handle the overage for each student!

What is it about candy? It is just one of those sweet and special things. It can even help you with your math.

Candy - such a useful concept

Sense and Sensibility

The novel. Wow. What a read...

Reading Tim's Mom's blog made me think I might read Jane Austen's Sense and Sensibility, since that was one of her novels that I had not read, and now I remember why. It was long ago, but after reading just Chapter One, I think my brain might be fried or something like I need some niacin or ginkgo biloba, or even acupuncture.

If I had not seen the movie, I would have been lost as to whom was whom of the mother in laws, wives, sisters, and ladies named Dashwood -- I needed to write down the names and draw little lines to connect them.

But I made it to Chapter Two. There you find that John Dashwood is a ninny, as you will discover the reasons, and Fanny will very much annoy you,'to be sure.'

So, on with Chapter 3. We need some heroines.

What is going on?

I don't know.

But there is not much sleep around here for too many people.
We got a new cat. About a month ago, maybe? His name is Jasper.

He's in that stage of Kittenhood in which they are hoodlums. If there were such a thing as 'cat law' he would be in Kitty Jail.

He is also a night owl.

We also have other cats. We really didn't need this cat. I guess we were hard-up for entertainment or something like crazy for the moment.

At night, Jasper, likes to test out his skills. His ninja skills, his night walking skills, his leaping from tall furniture to anywhere he can land skills, but the most interesting skill practice is the one that involves hanging on for dear life from the blinds skills...Jasper may have more than 9 lives.

He is not a snuggling kitty, either. And he likes to sleep in my bed or on my dresser or in my closet, and he only sleeps during the day. You see, he's booked for the evening with his 'skills practicing.'

Just a Thought

Nine tenths of education is encouragement.
~~Anatole France, 1844-1924, (French Author)

Tennyson speaks of Love

O let the solid ground
Not fail beneath my feet
Before my life has found
What some have found so sweet!

Then let come what come may,
What matter if I go mad,
I shall have had my day.
Let the sweet heavens endure,
Not close and darken above me
Before I am quite quite sure
That there is one to love me!

Then let come what come may
To a life that has been so sad,
I shall have had my day.

~~Lord Alfred Tennyson

If somebody asked me...

1. If you feel like there is more month left than money you make (what did I just write?), then do this little assignment:

Do NOT buy anything you don't need for 30 days. No buy one/get one frees, not two of anything that is on sale that you won't use in a month -- just pay your bills and buy the absolute minimum of anything for 30 days. Then, look and see what you have left.

Next month - fund your savings with 10% more than you did last month (if you funded them at all). And again, don't buy anything that you don't need.

By now, you have noticed that those things will come on sale again, and there is no need to load up as much as you think. Bank the money. Live more for today until you get some money in the bank.

Nobody really needs 400 rolls of toilet paper, 5 cartons of paper towels, 8 bottles of ketchup, 3 mustards, 4 mayonnaises, 6 jars of peanut butter, 4 bags of rice, 8 cans of corns, 3 large cans of baked beans, and 7 jars of jelly in the house all the time. You will survive with only one of these things, each, in the house at a time. And if you run out, well, guess what? You won't die. Bank the difference.

Oh, hey, I've got a better idea - eat all the food in your cabinets and refrigerator before you go shopping again. That'll teach you to buy those 20 cans of Vienna sausages because you think the hurricane is coming.

2. Clutter causes depression. I am sure of it.

If doctors would ask patients "how much clutter is in your home?" and suggest getting rid of it, before they write out prescription drugs for depression - I think it would change the world.

Clutter is worse than entailments, Mr. Cunningham, and entailments are bad. So sell some of that clutter and pay off those entailments. Come on, you know you don't need 7/8 of that stuff.

Here is a book on diet and clutter. The title is just so funny. Does this clutter make my butt look fat?

Of course, this is coming from a person who had made a career out of decluttering. But, hey, I can learn, too.

Are you thinking, "I have no idea what to do with all this (junk) wonderful stuff?" If you don't live in a desert or in the wilderness of Alaska, I'm sure there is a Goodwill or some drop off place for your (junk) stuff. I mean, you can always have a Garage Sale. And just sell it cheap.

But, should you have a problem, try this site and they will help you. Excess Access. Very clever. I didn't check the link really well, so I don't know about the shipping and the handling, but it sounds like they help you match up someone to take your (junk) stuff if you remain perplexed about the situation.

Regardless, bag it or box it, and be gone with it; you will thank me and think of all the money you will save on prescription drugs! And for heavens sakes, don't buy anything to replace any of the stuff of which you discarded!!

Here's another decluttering tip -- fill a bag or box with things you have not used or needed in a long time. If you have NOT OPENED the box for 30 days -- just pitch that box! I think even Murphy's law would support that if something necessary is missing, it would surely be called to be looked for within a 30 day period. But, if you are really, really squeamish about this, wait 45 days -- then throw it out or take it to the Goodwill.

It's all not so hard, really.

The truth is at the bottom of a well. You look in a well, and you see the sun or the moon, but if you jump in, there's no longer the sun or the moon,; there's the truth. ~~ Leonard Sciascia

Personality Test - Are you the you you thought?

Feel like taking a personality test? Check out this link. You do have to create an account ...it's easy peasy.

I took the test and here are my results.

I'm INTJ - The "Strategist" There is a photo there on the page of a brilliantly blue-eyed child looking at a chess board. I cannot tell you how long it's been since I have played Chess!

..........INTJs are introspective, analytical, determined persons with natural leadership ability. Being reserved, they prefer to stay in the background while leading.

.........Strategic, knowledgable and adaptable, INTJs are talented in bringing ideas from conception to reality. They expect perfection from themselves as well as others and are comfortable with the leadership of another so long as they are competent.

........ INTJs can also be described as decisive, open-minded, self-confident, attentive, theoretical and pragmatic. ......

Me, C.S. Lewis, Jane Austen and Mr. Darcy are all INTJ's! - Wow, what a combo! Of course, I can't, for the life of me, figure out when they would have taken the test, but it would have been really interesting to be there!

In test like these, there are always those certains questions that sound so vage, and you feel like you are not either of those answers...no 'test' is 100% right, but also, one thing I know for sure, if I had taken that test a year ago, I know some of my answers would be different.

I don't know if that would have changed the outcome, though. Maybe it's a Moo Point - you know - a cow's opinion? who cares anyway? (from Friends....LOL)

John Adams Mini Series

This is a most enjoyable series for anyone who enjoys history and has an interest in the people who began this nation of ours.

I listened to the audio book version of David McCullough's John Adams a couple of years ago. It was so good. Just so worth the time to listen or read.

I am enjoying the series on television, albeit scattered as it is for me; I haven't been able to catch it in order, but it's still undeniably good if you enjoy history at all. The cast is excellent.

I liked this review here.

And this quote from the review, completely impressed upon me how much dumbing down has happened to our country.

Much effort was also put into accurately capturing the rich, descriptive language of the time.
"The language alone (in the script) was something I just couldn't believe would be done for television," Giamatti says. "To have people speaking at this high level and with this amount of intelligence was incredibly exciting to me."

It's not easy being Green...

On Being Green.What are the real rules of Green?

How does being Green and living Green deal with wrinkled Blue work pants? They came out of the dryer very wrinkled. I didn't get them in time, and it's that material that just wrinkles when you look at it wrong...

Mr. B said, just put them back in the dryer.So I thought, I should iron them. That's more Green than putting them in the dryer.

Then I thought, that takes electricity. That's not very Green, forgetting altogether that dryers use electricity and that's why I was going to iron them in the first place.

And I would need water because I have to squirt them. A lot. They are very wrinkled. And that would be wasteful, very ungreen.
Maybe Purple.
Even Camouflage.

And energy. Mine. To stand and iron them.
And things were starting to look Gray.

So I put them in the dryer.
And my face turned Scarlet Red.
After I squirted them with water. Clear.

And I began to think now...
How Green is that?
So Not Green it's now Orange?
Or Banana Yellow?

What color is Lazy?

It's late.
I hope the Green Police are sleeping.

Fifth Graders Rule

So. The Smithsonian experienced The Smartness of a Fifth Grader.

Have you checked out whether or not you are smarter than a fifth grader?

Bolder Dash

1. I think the world is coming to an end. Madam B broke the Coffee Pot.

2. I kicked myself for not having my camera handy today. Uncle Desi helped four year old Jacob change a spark plug in the lawn mower. He let him use a socket and a ratchet, and Jacob did it all by himself (with proper instruction, for which he gave his uncle no credit. Just told his mama, "I just know how" Oh well, I guess we all think our knowledge comes to us by magic)

3. It's been raining every night. The plants look great. I'm sure they feel good. But it's amazing, even with the rain every night, everything dries up so quickly. I don't know that much about weather, but I'm sure it's all logical to someone.

I got (some more of) my roses in the front. Yellow and White and Yellow and White. I got fragrance roses and I am in heaven! Pictures soon.

4. I spent 3 1/2 hours in Barnes and Noble with two of my nephews (Nathan and Jacob) and people said, "Three and a half hours!! Those kids were good in there for Three and a Half Hours! And yes, they were.

I was relaxed and had a coffee (The bold house brew, it was wonderful.) And they had a cookie and water, and Jacob and I split a Feta Cheese pretzel, and they looked at books, and Jacob played on the Thomas the Train set.

I bought Nathan a book on Mythology. He couldn't decide between Tuck Everlasting or Call of the Wild - both of which he has read, but just wanted to have the book (I assured him quietly that I could find those rather cheaper on Half.com); then he found the Mythology book , and I mentioned that Mythology is studied in high school and college and he said, "I'll take this one."

Nathan busied himself noting how many different versions there were of Beowulf and other classic tales of things.

Jacob busied himself.

6. Mr. B's job is still not looking good. It's not looking like something one should stick with. It's looking rather badly on all accounts in the places one would rate a job -

a. What they pay (turns out to be sometimes $4.00 an hour after all is said and done)

b. Much driving

c. Some people at the jobs don't speak English

d. There is no work (especially bad part). Somedays he has been gone for 12 hours, and there is no pay. *They* say it is temporary.

e. Every night you have to call India to close out your job. (Somehow, that is just too weird.)

But lamenting on this situation is not what we want to do. We are looking towards some kind of change. And leaving it to soon is not something he wants to do either. We want to act wisely.

7. Whatever you do, or dream you can, begin it. Boldness has genius and power and magic in it. -- Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe

What book are you?

I got this link from Tim's Mom's blog.

You're Alice's Adventures in Wonderland!

by Lewis Carroll

After stumbling down the wrong turn in life, you've had your mind
opened to a number of strange and curious things.

As life grows curiouser and curiouser,
you have to ask yourself what's real and what's the picture of illusion.

Little is coming to your aid in discerning fantasy from fact, but the line between them is so blurry that
it's starting not to matter. Be careful around rabbit holes and those who smile to much,
and just avoid hat shops altogether.


Take the Book Quiz
at the Blue Pyramid.

The job update

Oh you guys,
I wish I had something better to report than I do ...

The place is not very well organized.
They just got sued. A class action law suit about the overtime? I think I mentioned that...and now they have just gone over to a new system. And guess what? Mr. B and another fellow, who started before him, have the same ID #.

Yes, they have ID Number's now, so they can't give Mr. B any assignments until they get that straightened out.

So. Because he wasn't in the system, they haven't been able to give him any jobs and that means no money. Going to work. Leaving at 6 AM in the morning, and then not making any money for the day -- not very cool. That doesn't feed your family.

He told them, Look, I need to make some money. They said, please hang in there with us, we will get this straightened out and this is our slow time. I don't know what to think~

It's crazy. It's a world gone mad.

I don't know how most people survive it. There is no more retirement through your job like there used to be. Those days are gone. Save your money. Job security? I just don't know anymore. Even a hard working man can't depend on hard working being a way to make it or guarantee anything.

I know we live in a country in which spending is how we survive -- but that just doesn't work for everyone.

Oh well. We will see what happens on Monday. We are giving the situation a couple of months. We don't know what else to do.

Hanging in there

Keeping on the keeping on
of the keeping on
of the hanging in there
for representation of the what else are you going to do
as you can't lay down and die
as you know you must live to the fullest or you lie
lie
lie to yourself about all the stories you have ever told yourself
about going on and not cheating yourself out of no more days.
No more days lived looking back
and into the past with a real serious idea that you know what's going on.
You thought you knew but you didn't.
You thought you were winning
but turns out you didn't even know the score
or what the game was that was being played
and you were skating on thin ice
and then came the day it caved in
and you started to freeze
your emotions jumped into hold,
waiting for the sunlight to take hold,
and so you actually saved yourself without even knowing it.
And you didn't even step on the rusty nail.
So all that time, all those days,
no matter what the ice man had said,
it could have been worse.
Keep hanging in there.
What else are you going to do?

(An obscure poem written in an obscure moment
my Miss Roxie)

Update on the work situation

The training is completed. They did, however, add two days of practical training. And the trainers of the practical end of the job did continue to say, 'don't worry about what you learned in class.'

They also have not told anyone whether they have passed their academic test.

The good news and the bad news.

1. The good news is they gave him a truck. And, they are not charging the usual $40.00 a week (which is standard for the truck - blessing there).

They gave him plenty of shirts.

They changed the work week from 6 days to 5 days. You will still work on Saturday. (They just settled a class action law suit involving overtime. Apparently, they weren't paying it.)

2. The bad news is they haven't given him any work for two days, and he didn't get the area he was hoping for as far as reporting in to a certain city. The route he will be assigned is not in a very good area. I guess those worse routes are given out to the new guys? Don't know.

He did tell them yesterday (as this is his second day of no work), he does need to make some money.

He has to buy tools. Over a thousand dollars worth of tools. They do let you purchase from them and take it out of the salary for 8 weeks. The tools, hopefully, will be a good purchase.

We are moving forward, keep eyes open for new opportunities. Any prayers would be appreciated.
We are trying to be wise about this.

Billy Butterfly and Madam Blueberry

Yesterday, after living in my especially made Butterfly Guest House for 13 days, Billy Butterfly stepped out of his chrysalis. He dried his wings, gave Madam Blueberry a lovely show of those same beautiful wings before he flitted up and away to test them out.

His namesake, My Billy and I, had watched him leave the tree where he had stayed in so long,not moving we were a wee bit worried, and then thought, "oh home, he thinks this is home~! "

We really hope he stays around.

Billy Butterfly

Just born!! My first butterfly from my garden! Details soon!

25 things you know if you have a son ....

I received the list below from a friend of mine.

She and I pretty much raised our same age sons side by side as in right across the street. We were neighbors for 18 years. Our boys meet when they were 3 years old. They are both 21 now. We have such funny and good memories.

One thing I know for sure, it sure was easier having someone close by going through the same things as me. Our boys did a lot of things together; it's such a long list! Rode bikes, played with every lego there was, tinker toys, swimming, played soccer on the same team as little kids and soccer in high school together, and became lifeguards together, crazy times ~

25 Things You Know If You Have A Son...


1. A king size waterbed holds enough water to fill a 2000 square foot house 4 inches deep.
2. If you spray hair spray on dust bunnies and run over them with roller blades, they can ignite.
3. A 3-year old boy's voice is louder than 200 adults in a crowded restaurant.
4. If you hook a dog leash over a ceiling fan, the motor is not strong enough to rotate a 42 pound boy wearing Batman underwear and a Superman cape. It is strong enough, however, if tied to a paint can, to spread paint on all four walls of a 20 x 20 foot room.
5. You should not throw baseballs up when the ceiling fan is on. When using a ceiling fan as a bat, you have to throw the ball up in the air a few times, before you get a hit. A ceiling fan can hit a baseball a long way.
6. The glass in windows (even double-pane) doesn't stop a baseball hit by a ceiling fan.
7. When you hear the toilet flush and the words 'uh oh', it's already too late.
8. Brake fluid mixed with Clorox makes smoke, and lots of it.
9. A six-year old boy can start a fire with a flint rock even though a 36-year old man says they can only do it in the movies.
10. Certain Legos will pass through the digestive tract of a four-year-old boy.
11. Playdoh and microwave should not be used in the same sentence.
12. Super glue is forever.
13. No matter how much Jell-O you put in a swimming pool you still can't walk on water.
14. Pool filters do not like Jell-O.
15. VCR's do not eject 'PB & J' sandwiches even though TV commercials show they do.
16. Garbage bags do not make good parachutes.
17. Marbles in gas tanks make lots of noise when driving.
18. You probably DO NOT want to know what that odor is.
19. Always look in the oven before you turn it on; plastic toys do not like ovens.
20. The fire department in Austin, TX has a five-minute response time .
21. The spin cycle on the washing machine does not make earthworms dizzy.
22. It will, however, make cats dizzy.
23. Cats throw up twice their body weight when dizzy.
24. 80% of Women will pass this on to almost all of their friends, with or without kids.
25. 80% of Men who read this will try mixing the Clorox and brake fluid

When weeding, ....

... the best way to make sure you are removing a weed and not a valuable plant is to pull on it. If it comes out of the ground easily, it is a valuable plant. ~Author Unknown

(That was just too funny to me. Been there, done that.)

The Dense Gardner

Mr. B says that's what I am. A dense gardener. It's not as bad as it sounds. (But it's sorta true in all senses of the word.)

Mr. B had a Lawn Care and Maintenance business for over 20 years. He says the people who plant like I do, i.e. putting things in difference sizes close together, are dense gardeners.

Oh well, I just like looking at a lot of plants together. I like putting colors together that bring out other colors. I like dimension.

And also, I don't really follow gardening rules. I mean I use the best dirt I can afford. But I fertilize with food. I feed my plants anything that's pure food. I feed my roses coffee and coffee grounds. I prune when I think I want too to encourage a growth a certain way. I take careful care not to overstress any of my plants.

My green thumb came only as a result of the mistakes I made while learning to see things from the plant's point of view. ~H. Fred Ale

I talk to them. I can't help it. It comes naturally.

In my garden there is a large place for sentiment. My garden of flowers is also my garden of thoughts and dreams. The thoughts grow as freely as the flowers, and the dreams are as beautiful. ~Abram L. Urban

Today I moved some plants that had grown together beautifully. Some portulacas and some blue dwarf, and as I was putting them in their new place, I whispered 'I love you' -- my mother in law walked up. She was smiling as me. I really don't know if she heard me, or if she was just smiling.

The portulacas are orange and the blue dwarf - well, they are blue -- they look really nice near the white rose. This is really no good without photos. I have to get that straightened out.

God made rainy days so gardeners could get the housework done. ~Author Unknown

We Will Homeschool for Food

~For Nature Study, I decided to have Madam Blueberry grow food.

I found a kit that had Sweet Peppers. It was in a cute little container, everything included, and I decided we would start with that. Madam B was happy with the idea and cheerfully set it all up and has been taking care of them.

And then came yesterday.

She moved the cute little pot out in an area for sun. And surprisingly, it poured here. Poured, poured, poured. She hasn't seen the little pot yet. I moved it this morning. I'm not sure the peppers are going to make it ... they look really, really wet.

I am trying to decide what else to plant this year. Last year we grew tomatoes and lettuce and herbs successfully, and my one cantaloupe, that I took 40 pictures of - could also be counted as a success.

This year I am expanding, and putting Madam B in charge.

We have to do something. Food prices are just rising.

I'm thinking about a lemon tree and a lime tree. I friend of mine grew these successfully on her porch.

I'm thinking about bananas. A friend of mine grew these on his porch.

(Did you guess I have a porch?)

What do we use? What do we use, I muse. What could I be successful with? I really want the peppers. They are so expensive in the store! Onions, maybe garlic? I use a lot of garlic.

Herbs are easy. They are so friendly and faithful and smell good. I'll do more herbs this year.

I have some chili peppers out there. It's a really pretty plant. But someone told me you can't eat them the first year. You have to let that crop die off, and you can eat them the second year. Problem is, I don't know who died off already. And, I don't know what degree of chili pepper hot these are -- I think I've talked about this problem before ...

There is a Pepper Heat Scale. When I tried to post the link, it wouldn't work, but it's very interesting. This scale was invented, or founded, or discovered in 1912 by a man named Wilbur Scoville. There are units of measure for pepper hotness and apparently, some people can get addicted to the affect that the peppers give. And, separate from this issue, I have read eating hot peppers can be very good for men's health.

I know it's not a sweet banana pepper growing out there, I do like those, maybe I'll plant those; the pepper I have is first yellow, then purple, then red with little white flowers. Doesn't look as dangerous as it is -- The information at the Pepper Heat Scale site explains that if you bite into a really hot chili pepper, your brain thinks you bit into hot coal! My eyes are sweating just thinking about it.

Strawberries! Fantastic, and I think they can be grown in pots successfully. I even saw a kit for Tabasco Chili Peppers, but I don't think I'd eat those. I would grow them, though, if they were pretty.

Looks like I'm going to have to get another job to support my plant habit!

More than a fair exchange

I've been a little short on the dollars lately, as we all go through this now and then, but just as soon as things got tough here, a special friend of mine was helping me out! And my heart was touched with the beauty of the gift and the love that sent it.

I love that, don't you? Helping someone when they need a hand? Getting by with a little help from your friends is a fine way to live, as long as you are being a friend to someone, as well. And I try to be.

Yesterday, I decided to help someone out even though it would mean I wouldn't be able to spring for lunch for myself; I picked up a gallon of milk for a hard working mother of two. Not that she needed the money, but it was the 'time' that she didn't have to go and get it, she had been out of milk for two days - so I went and picked some up for her and took it back over to her office. She was so grateful. It felt good.

Today, I go over to a friend's home to visit. She and her husband, as a way to make money on the side, have been emptying out storage lockers (rooms - people have so much stuff they can't keep it in their home, so they rent a place to keep stuff.) They get paid a very small amount to take everything out, and then they can keep the stuff and they have been having garage sales.

Well, you know as well as I, when you are short on cash flow you don't usually buy things for yourself, right? So, what am I into these days? ~~ my garden, plants ~~ and I have been looking for plant stands. Those things are not that cheap.

So, what does my friend give me today?

A plant stand - ?

Okay ...How about two plant stands?

AND, how about a great big planter pot? In yellow, the color I wanted? AND two smaller ones, not little ones, but smaller than the big one - in Yellow, also?
Oh, and one more thing ...one of the plant stands needs some finish work on the top. She and I said I could probably mosaic that; I was thinking something in blue - I'm planting blue, white and yellow in front of my house --

So low and behold, my friend has some plates in a bag that a lady had broken up for mosaic work and decided she didn't want them any more ...

AND guess what color?

Hah! Blue and White?

Yes!
Not just any ole blue and white, but a rich, beautiful looking blue!

I think I got back more than the $3.48 I spent on the milk!

Some days, life is just grand.

I know things like this happen to anyone who gives something to another. If only the whole world could just remember to be kind. We would all have more than we ever thought we needed and most of what we wanted!

"Each friend represents a world in us, a world possibly not born until they arrive, and it is only by this meeting that a new world is born."- Anais Nin

"My friends are my estate."- Emily Dickinson

Someone squished my days

In the end, it's all about love...

I cannot believe it is Thursday of this week already. My feet hurt. I'm not sure why.

#1 son and I went on a holiday this past weekend. We visited my niece and nephew in Eustis for a baseball weekend. You may have never heard of Eustis, but there was hardly a hotel to be found because the weekend there was packed full of activity. A festival, a bike race for some kind of bikes, something else I think, and baseball!

(My mother calls the place "Huestis". I'm not sure why exactly. Maybe because Huestis sounds more like a place than Eustis? I don't know. It's a long list of things grandma calls things, that aren't really the things they are called, for the reasons we just don't know about.

When I finally did, gently, correct my mother regarding the correct pronunciation, after my niece had lived there about 4 years,
She said, "Really? It's not Huestis?"
"No. It's pronounced like You tis."
"Really? You tis? Are you sure?"
Okay, never mind.
Hey, who am I to correct grandma. I won't do it again. Hearing Grandma say Huestis is more fun anyway.)

Two of my great nephews (who knew I would be old enough one day for Great Nephews?) are playing their first year of baseball. Oh my gosh, it was just so much fun, I can hardly tell you to really explain it.

Kenny is seven, and Dakoda is nine. I almost said they were 5 and 7, because, geesh, they keep growing up! They looked so serious in their baseball uniforms (I almost said 'outfits' yikes!)

Kenny, as far as I'm concerned, was responsible for his team winning the game. He not only got a hit, he got two men out! (Men? Did I say "Men"?) He tagged them using his special "Eye On You" method. He catches the ball, runs after the runner, all the while eyeing them directly in the eyes, which probably paralyzes them with fear and then he tags them out! It was fantastic to watch. Brilliant. Just really top of the line pro-league stuff. Move over famous baseball people.

Dakoda looks like a shy player. But underneath that dimpled smiling exterior lies the heart of a bobcat..... Just waiting for the ball to come his way. He was always ready, glove up and into the game. He played third base his first game, and right at the beginning of the game, he showed what he was worth on the field! He caught a pop fly!

It looked like it was not going to stay in his glove. He had to stretch to get it. It was right there at the tip, but he held on! And Then! He threw the ball to second for a double play!!
Okay, well, they said the ball should have gone to first, and somehow it did end up on first, I can't remember now, how it did, but Kody saved the game with a double play.

He really did save the game because they won by one run!!

It was fantastical!!

But more fantastic than any baseball game I have ever watched, was watching my niece and her husband - The Mom and The Dad - just jumping up and down all excited at their boys out there on the field. It felt so good to see family love in action. It really did bring tears to my eyes.

I mean, I have seen my beautiful niece grow up into this really terrific person. I have such a great time with she and my nephew and her boys. She is seven weeks older than my #1 son, and who would have ever thought she would one day be one of my best friends? I get overwhelmed with emotion sometimes thinking about it.

What it is about life is, ya' gotta wait it out. People give up to quickly. The good stuff comes after the hard work and labor. People get tired of hard work and labor, oh that is gruelling, so many people don't stay for the good stuff at the end.

When Jesus stayed late at the wedding of Cana and they ran out of wine. His mother, one of the first to have faith in what he could do, advised him of the situation, and told the servants to do whatever he told them.
They did.
Next thing, people are praising the host for serving the best wine last. Of course, we all know that Jesus turned the water into wine (and apparently it was some mighty fine wine) The people who had stayed around were impressed! The good stuff was there to be savored at the end. They had been blessed.

That's what I'm doing at this time in my life. I'm living now in the good stuff now. And don't I just love it`I reveille in thinking about it! The wine is mighty fine and takes many forms, sometimes resembling shots of tequila in little glasses. But, fine, mighty fine, good chuckling way to pass the time at the end of the banquet when you think all the good stuff is gone. :)

Tell me who admires and loves you, And I will tell you who you are.
~~Charles Augustin Sainte-Beuvee


Happiness cannot be traveled to, owned, earned, worn or consumed. Happiness is the spiritual experience of living every minute with love, grace and gratitude.
~~Denis Waitley

The Beatles did say it -- All You Need is Love, Love, Love is all ya' need--

Spread the word --
All ya need is love, dot dot-dot da-dah --
All ya' need is love, love,
Love is all ya' need

She loves you yeah, yeah, yeah ....

Note from postmaster -- look for photos to come soon.

What punctuation mark are you?

I was visiting my best friend's blog (Tim's Mom), and clicked on this Puntuation Mark test.

I am a Question Mark? Okay ... I would have guessed I was a semi-colon because I get along so well with Leslie!

You Are a Question Mark

You seek knowledge and insight in every form possible. You love learning. And while you know a lot, you don't act like a know it all. You're open to learning you're wrong. You ask a lot of questions, collect a lot of data, and always dig deep to find out more. You're naturally curious and inquisitive. You jump to ask a question when the opportunity arises. Your friends see you as interesting, insightful, and thought provoking. (But they're not always up for the intense inquisitions that you love!) You excel in: Higher education You get along best with: The Comma

What Punctuation Mark Are You?

Leap Year 2008

I have to make a leap year post! Here's a leap year quiz I found on line --

1. Who first proclaimed the last day of February to be a leap year day?
A. Pharaoh Ramses II of Egypt
B. Julius Caesar
C. Pope Gregory XIII
D. King Richard II of England

2. U.S. presidential elections occur every four years, but two presidents -- Thomas Jefferson and William McKinley -- won election in years that were not Leap Years. Why?

3. Which of these nations once had a Feb. 30 on its calendar?
A) France
B) Sweden
C) Russia
D) Iceland

4. What historical figure once used a celestial event on Leap Year Day to great advantage?

5. European countries gradually switched to the Gregorian calendar, which standardized our current Leap Year system. Because different calendars existed at one time, two famous authors have the same date of death, but didn't die on the same day. Who were they?

6. Leap Year Day plays a crucial role in which of the following stage plays?
A. "Richard III" by Shakespeare
B. "A Marriage Proposal" by Anton Chekhov
C. "The Pirates of Penzance" by Gilbert and Sullivan
D. "Death of a Salesman" by Arthur Miller

7. A tradition once held that women may propose marriage only on Leap Year Day, but such proposals from women have grown more common regardless of the date. What well-known male athlete from the Cincinnati area famously accepted a marriage proposal from a female celebrity?

8. On Leap Year Day 1972, Don and Nancy Brazelton of Greenhills became first-time parents when Mrs. Brazelton gave birth to their son, Christopher, in a Volkswagen Beetle on the way to a Cincinnati hospital. To commemorate the blessed event, Volkswagen of America gave them what?
A. A free 1973 Volkswagen Beetle
B. A free set of tires
C. A $50 savings bond
D. Nothing

9: What's the name for someone born on Leap Year Day?


_____________________________________
ANSWERS
1. B.

2. The last year of a century isn't a Leap Year unless it's evenly divisible by 400. Jefferson was elected in 1800; McKinley in 1900.

3. B. In 1712, Sweden added two Leap Year Days to its calendar during the transition to the Gregorian calendar.

4. Using an almanac, Christopher Columbus successfully "predicted" a lunar eclipse on Feb. 29, 1504, convincing natives in what's now Jamaica to cooperate with him.

5. William Shakespeare and Miguel Cervantes, author of Don Quixote, on April 23, 1616. Shakespeare's death on the Gregorian calendar used in England today would have been May 3, 1616.

6. C. The character Frederic is apprenticed to pirates until his 21st birthday, but he's only had five birthdays because he was born on Feb. 29.

7. Baseball star David Justice, a graduate of Covington Latin High School, accepted a marriage proposal from actress Halle Berry in 1993. They divorced three years later. Other women who proposed to their husbands include Ruth (from the Biblical Book of Ruth), Queen Victoria and Patti LaBelle.

8. C. An urban myth held that Volkswagen gave free cars to parents of children born in VW's.

9. A leapling.


Hope you enjoy the Leap Year!!

I do know someone who has a birthday today. My #1 son's grandpa is 92 years young! And I mean, young. Whatever it is one needed to figure out about how to make the best of great genes -- this man did. He is as witty and sharp as he's always been. Now the body, well, that's not such an easy thing, but still - he takes care of everything on his own. A really great guy, father of 8, husband to a saint, I've lost track of how many grandchildren and greats, but I'll find out.

It's a chilly day here in Sunny Florida, and I will be making a trip with #1 son, and my mom to Eutis! Two of my little nephews are playing their first competition baseball games this weekend!

It's actually cold here

A. In Sunny Florida it is 67 today. Tomorrow it is supposed to be colder. Ready for this -- 45 lovely degrees! It will go up to 65, though, so no worries.

And what a beautiful sky tonight. All coral pink and brilliant, looks like lovely pink sand. When I figure out the picture thing, I'll post one of the sky tonight. Which hopefully will turn out better than my dot of an eclipse.

I get really frustrated with myself trying to learn these things!

B. Mr. B's job - His first day of on the job training. And his instructor said, 'if you do things the way they showed you in class, you will never get done.' Is that always the way? Is life like that? Is there a manual somewhere and then you read it, and say, 'oh yes, this is the manual, we took the test, but none of this will work in a practical sense?' Makes things tough to sort your way through.

And that is all we are doing. We are sorting our way through.

C. I have a house project going. Since I live in a small house, I have really needed to assess where does one actually need to keep things? What are our habits? How do we really live?

An example: Mr. B always put a handful of clothes to wear again - somewhere. His hand goes out - and the clothes go 'somewhere.' Since he has 'no where', he puts them on a my dresser. So, I need to create a 'where' of a place to accommodate that habit. And I will.

I am going to work on doing something brilliant in our closet. I don't know what exactly, and I'm hoping I can do it without a lot of money -- but that's my plan right now.

I have a lot of blankets in that closet. Blankets and comforters that we used to use all the time. But gone are the days when my house was daily a place for tents and forts, and children wrapped up in comfies to hear a story I was reading aloud ("wahhh, I so miss that!!" she says smiling through the tears).

So, I have been washing them and refolding them (so I can store them properly), and I've found for them another place other than my closet to be. And I have freed up a lot of space! Okay, great. I don't know what the next step is, but I'll get there.

I realize my goal for the closet might be a little out of my ability to achieve it on my own, but if I don't do it that way, I think I would stall in mid air.

The incompetency train...

...runs straight through the DMV.

I misplaced my drivers license. I am so angry with myself. My son needs some information for his college application that concerns my drivers license number and, so, I took it out of my purse to get the info and from there it went into the abyss.

So, today, my son calls and says he needs the date I first got my drivers license in the state of Florida. Drat. Who knows that when they are older than Jackson Browne? I got my license to drive in the state of Texas in 1962. And then I moved back to Florida and got a license ...but who knows the date?

So, to get the date, I needed my license.

So, I had to go get another one! Drat. $15.25! And, I didn't know they would be taking a picture today and I looked like Methuselah's Crazy Mad Sister in Law! It rained! Not a stitch of make-up. My hair was frizzy. I'm just getting over a cold -- but nope, you had to have a new picture taken! And it's 4:27 PM and they close at 4:30. No time for primping.

Grrrrr.

So, I get this horrible thing done and then ask, "Okay, I need the date of when I first got my license"
and they say, "Sure" and so they click, click, click and say, "2003 -- October 19, 2003.

"What?"
That is not even remotely close!! Not even a tad, teeny bit in the right era!!

Okay, so, they say, "Well, this is what we have (insinuating, *I*, am wrong...) so, what you need to do is go to the Clerk of Courts office, They have 'everything' there. 'Everything' about your license."

So, I high tail it over to the clerk of courts office (alright, it's right next door, but still ....)--So, I go in and "blah, blah, blah" says I "story, story, detail, detail" all nice and everything,and the nice lady says, "Sure, I can find that information for you. Just give me $2.25 and I'll give you this report." (I'm thinking, how many nice plants I could buy with this money I've spent!!)

She prints out the report, hands it to me ...
AND
The report says ---
October 19, 2003!!!

What?
No.
That's not even remedially correct. As a matter of fact: That is catastrophically wrong! (My gosh, no wonder you people can't catch any criminals!!)

I don't know what happened on October 19, 2003, but I'm sure it didn't happen to me in the DMV!

Good Grief.

So, in conclusion, I can only conclude that, once again, there has been proven out the old adage, you can't tell which way the train is going by looking at the tracks. Especially if they run through the DMV!

Happy Birthday to my Darling Daughter

My only daughter turned 18 today.

To say I was overwhelmed by the event is one of those statements that one finds under things. Truly. I have been overcome by emotion for the greater part of the day. Reading cards in the Hallmark store had me weeping. I choose a card with what I thought were befitting words, and then ended up writing a brief novella inside the flap.

There's not enough that can be said about a mother's love anyway, not it's depth, it's height, it's volume, it's boldness, nor it's purity. A mother's love encompasses in the boundaries of those things that only God knows about and can explain.

And God explains things with rainbows and clouds and stars and moons and suns and flowers and singing birds. No Hallmark card can top that.

I am barely able to contain the joy of having a daughter such as this. God has blessed me. Her character is strong and resolved. She is introspective, reflective, and charming. I find her wit brilliantly entertaining to me. She and William Shakespeare would have shared a great laugh over tea and scones.

I love her truly, madly, deeply.
Thank you, God, for a gift such as she.
Her beauty surrounds her and runs through her like a river.
May she always be yours, this gift of mine.

Lunar left overs

It is not the strongest of the species that survive, nor the most intelligent, but the one most responsive to change.~Charles Darwin~

Last night was an eclipse of the moon. It was truly lovely. Madam B and I watched it from the front yard. I tried to take a photo. All I got was this teeny tiny little dot in a black space. I held the camera as far away from me as I could, Madam B began laughing, 'oh yes, mom, that extra foot will definitely make the difference." It didn't.

I have a new computer, and I'm not sure how to post photos on it. I have a new camera, too, and I don't know how to load the memory card on here. I'll put that down on my list for another thing for do. I only have 5000 things, so far, so now 5001.

My mom is ill. Things are not right when your mom is ill. We've all had this crude flu thing that the world is sharing, and mom started coughing on Monday. I could tell by the sound of it, ummm, not good. She went to the doctor today, for blood work actually, and my dad insisted that she speak to the doctor about this condition she's in, and the doctor didn't like it at all (the condition, not that my father spoke). So, she's being treated for pneumonia, she feels awful and she's laid up in bed (lain up? laying up? laid up? oh, she's in bed very ill). I don't like that picture. Me poor mum, so tiny in the bed. Nope. Don't like that picture.

Mr. B is still out of town doing his training. He misses me terribly but our friend Pam is an excellent cook and cooks a fine dinner every night. Which I hadn't been doing lately, so he's made out on this bargain.

He went by the house we lived in when we first got married. He says it looks so small! Well, it was small. It was only a two bedroom! Funny, how time makes things look differently to some people.

I'm still on the down low from the flu bug. I'm tired. I wanted to get a few things done while Mr. B was out of town, but I ended up being exhausted every night. Oh well.

I have done a lot of shredding. The shredder is actully fun. When Jacob comes over, as he did this morning at 9 AM, in his pajamas with a big smile on his face, he loves to do some shredding. Four year olds think things like paper shredders are really cool, something akin to large bulldozer equipment in their living room. I forget what he calls it, I'll have to ask him again, but I save up the papers for him, and we sit there together, and he puts them one at a time in the shredder and each time we are constantly amazed at the results. Jacob shouts, "Wow!" a lot.

He's learning the paper can't be to thick, can't be to thin, can't be to wrinkled, either. It's funny to watch him try to unwrinkle a paper. He once asked me to iron it, but I told him, nahh, it'll be fine. I let him mess up, too, now and again, when he doesn't follow my instructions. Of course, I don't ever put the machine in too much danger, and Jake in no danger, but now and again, he jambs up the machine, and we have to take time away from our fun to go unclog it. So far no damage has been done and a lot of paper has been successfully shredded.

I'm still working on my decluttering. I've begun to realize that one must surely not need as many pieces of paper as I keep. I must have some kind of fear of something. What kind of fear could a person have that doesn't let them throw away a copy of a bill that they paid right away? Maybe if I just start throwing everything out, I'll discover what it is when it happens to me! Okay, that will be my new rule - Unless it's tax related, shred it.

Oh my gosh! The cat just crashed into the sink!!

Life is always at some turning point.
~Irwin Edman~

Not Last Week of Training

They said it was 8 days of training. Now, it's 10 days of training. Which only proves one more time the old adage; you can never tell which way the train went by looking at the tracks.

My flu has turned itself into the common cold. I don't know if I should stand up and cheer. Never mind. I'll get to dizzy.

Here's a cute story - A friend of mine took her three year old son to a Chinese restaurant. At the end of the meal, his mom handed him the fortune cookie which he carefully opened. As the little white piece of paper with his fortune popped up out of the cookie, he excitedly exclaimed, "Look Mommy! I got mail!".

Job saga - last week of training

Driving to the training place and back is costing $25.00 a day in gasoline. Friends of ours live about 30 minutes from the place (we live 2 hours), and have offered to let Mr. B stay with them to help with the commute. There is even an offer of one meal a day.

We have decided to accept the offer. This will be the last week of training. Then, we should begin to have an idea of what we are up against. It's really annoying not to know, but trusting God in all things is comfortable.

In my humanness I do have concerns, but they are for tomorrow. And the Good Lord will probably beat me there.

I often find myself constantly adding things up. I do have to remind myself to relax. Ah, but not that often - just now and again. I take a deep sigh and find something to do. There are lessons to learn, and by golly, we are going to learn them.

Take no thought for the morrow; for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. --
Matthew 6:34 KJV

If the flu is in hell...

I don't want to go there.
I felt the beginning on Thursday. Did all those great things to take care of oneself, much positive thinking and gargling. I made it to 5 PM.

Then I was on the couch, unable to move, at all until last night. (I moved to the bed.) I thought if I moved something really bad would happen to me. And I wasn't sure what it was. Just knew it would be bad. I wasn't sure I would survive it. I took no medications. Drank no water. Ate no food. I turned off my cell phone. Sounds felt like power drills through my eyeballs.

This morning I actually walked around. Had some chicken soup (healing soup made special by my mother in law) Then drank some coffee. THAT was a mistake. My body said, "You fool. You absolute fool. Putting coffee into me? You have your nerve! Why do you think people lose weight when they have the flu? Well, guess what, girl?"
It's not over yet.

This is the first moment of very clear thought I have had. How clear this is, I'm not sure.
Conversations seem like a dream.

The dreams I had when I was melded to the couch were like movies, scary movies. I was driving buses with killers on them, along with Nicholas Cage, whom I never think about during any given day ...flying planes into houses accompanied by Dane Cook who was injured in the crash...then there was an air attack by the Asthma Association (yes, only in a dream). I was told by headquarters that they do this on a regular basis.

The dreams went on and got crazier. I have no idea how high the fever got, as I felt as if I'd never slept.

I have no idea how to advise someone how to not get this. I didn't get the flu shot this year. Nothing personal. My doctor's office ran out, and I never got back there.

Even though the coffee has racked my body, I think it gave me a moment of clarity, which seems to be passing by me now. And I'm fading away, the aches and pains in my joints are shouting at everything I'm mad about, and my head is beginning to throb. Probably because I'm doing something strenuous, like typing ...

later,
and may you be safe from all flu germs.

Twists and turns on the journey

Is life a journey? or an assignment? is it your job or career? your family?

Some people never ask themselves these questions. Some people can never escape these questions.

Mr. B began his training for his new job today. And, it sounds terrible - so far. First, they scheduled the new employees to show up in the wrong city. Where they are supposed to be is another 30 minutes away - making the drive a 90 minute commute. Secondly, they said, 'don't expect to have another life outside of this one.' Oh, bad sign if your journey is not 'my career is the journey.'

So, at this time, we are just coasting. Going through the motions of following through what this job might really be like, if indeed it is different than described today, but at the same time, changing our plans. A job like this isn't what we want for our journey together.

So, watch with us as we decide what to do, how to play the cards we drew, and make the hand turn out as we would like it to be.

Oh my! our cat just fell into the open washing machine half full of water and then got out and ran through the house panicked! If one should believe in signs, wonder what that is a sign of?

Good day,

Miss Roxie

Yes, I love flowers...

Last week I moved some hanging plants to where they can be viewed from my dining room window, which is the most visible window ~ and it is just lovely to look out the window and see the flowers displayed there.

In a Woman's Day magazine I read this little clip:

"Take 2 minutes to smell the roses and say so long to the blahs. People who made a point of looking a flowers first thing in the morning reported feeling cheerier and even more energetic throughout the day, according to a recent study."

Now, they don't say what study, but maybe that's not important when you are looking at flowers.

I know I find a real pleasure looking at nature. Sunsets and sunrises. The ocean on a windy day. Even beach sand has it's allure for me.

And shells! How beautiful are shells!

You know, I was just thinking it is a genuine responsibility to have a garden. You have brought plants and flowers into captivity and now you are responsible for them! Serious business to be responsible for the life of something.

Invitation to the party

I'm ahead of myself and behind at the same time. I've got my tax things ready for the accountant which I don't normally have done until about August! That's freaky. But, in the rest of my life, I remain, in a way, stagnant.

This, this being part of the unemployment statistics, is very warying. As much as one wishes to be positive, one must still deal with feelings, comments and questions from others, as well as the comments and questions that well up from inside ourselves, causing all kinds of emotions that run a tributary of wild thoughts through our minds.

Emotions must be respected. That is how someone is not made to be crazy.

Lots of people want to deny feelings that are what some might call 'negative' ...but feelings are real things, real messages are being sent and must be received and dealt with least they deposit themselves somewhere in our body or in our actions that could be deemed unhealthy. A person can feel nervous about a situation and find that their body is flushed and think their blood pressure is going to shoot their brain out of their head! Most likely - not.

Just relax and let it pass. Otherwise, you might lead it in the wrong direction. Take deep breathes, drop your shoulders, give them a roll back and relax.

In respecting all our feelings, we can allow them to pass through without damaging ourselves or things around us.

I have found that movement is very important. Positive movement regardless of whether you clean a drawer, weed a flower bed, or go for a walk, or pet the cat. I have cleaned the inside of my cabinets and the cabinet doors. Something that has always been in the back of my mind to do. It's lovely. Even Mr. B noticed! And I've started back on a regular workout routine. (Let's see how long that lasts!)

But, if one should feel the need to be still, than by all means, respect that feeling and be still. Outside is probably best. On the beach is probably better. Sometimes, being still is best.

But, I know regardless of the situation right now, there could always be something worse going on in my life.

The consequence of changing things in the middle of one's life, without preparation, is surprise. Like - **Surprise!!** Only there is no party. Except for the one you might give yourself.

The wandering mind

I'm beginning to wonder where my mind has wandered off too...
as you know your mind is not with you
when you begin to wash clean clothes.

"One day Alice came to a fork in the road and saw a Cheshire cat in a tree. Which road should I take? she asked. Where do you want to go, was his response. I don't know, Alice answered. Then, said the cat, it doesn't matter."
~~Lewis Carroll

It's always a place to be

If you got up today and didn't feel like doing anything, honor that feeling for a moment or two.

Take the moment outside with you. Look up. Expand your chest and breathe. Let yourself feel the air going through you body, circling all the parts of your being. Stretch and breathe deeply.

Sometimes I think when we are overcome by the feeling to not doing anything, that is exactly what we need to do. Nothing.

Don't feel guilty about it. Allow yourself to be recollected. Allow allow all the little particles of thought that went scurrying about all day, all week, all however long, to settle in a nice soft place. Be there quietly for the settling and the reconnection.

Then, quietly, move on.

Status Quo

What do you think would be the status of a bag of opened pistachio nuts that go through the wash cycle? I have first hand knowledge on this.

I also know about wallets, keys, pedometers, candy bars, flip flops, change and regular bills, gum wrappers, tissues, fast food napkins, air filters, old hoses, cable wires (clipped and unclipped), caps that go on cable wires, caps that go on other tools, tops that belong on other things like laundry soap or bottles of water, and other assorted miscellaneous pieces of plastic, ping pong balls, along with other substances that could no longer be identified, not excluding the standard of sticks, rocks, washers and bolts.

"One out of four people in this country are mentally unbalanced. Think of your three closest friends. If they seem okay, than you are the one."
Ann Landers

When I grow up

When I grow up, if I live in this world,
I want to be detached by my poetry.
My poetry will make the walls I need,
and if someone is looking for me,
they can read a poem I have written and find me.
And if it's not me they are looking for,
perhaps they can find themselves
or their friends or loved ones there,
when I grow up.

When I grow up,
I don't want too much stuff.
That's too much dust and space taken up,
by material things,
I want living things around me
When I grow up.

Still stunned

I'd like to not focus on my husband being unemployed, but that's not really working, uh, no pun intended. I am going through my daily stuff, wondering when I should change that stuff. I have a part-time job, and I'm wondering when I should look to seek full time employment.

I went to the grocery store today. I took a list with me, but I didn't bother to look at my list and bought only what we needed for today. I'm wondering now, what do we need? We've never had that much nor have we wanted much, but our basic needs we've always been able to meet and a little extra now and then, so I'm thinking, well, we should be okay for a while, but truthfully, I don't know. I really don't know what to expect.

I know that Mr. B has to go through his cycle of emotions about his situation. He's quiet man. He's a good worker. A hard worker by most standards in this country, let me correct myself here - A hard worker by any standard in any country - he's a person who gives all to the hour for his employer. Come the end of the day, he is always entitled to his paycheck. So, now he feels cheated by something. Some mystery something that writes on the wall, hard word deserves a good reward. What did all his hard work get him, he thinks. But I'm thinking, maybe, rewards are paid in the likes of other things. Maybe reward for hard work is paid somehow, by the universe. Maybe it's paid by the devotion of your family in times of need. Maybe it's paid by the phone call of concern and offer of help from your nephew when he finds out about your situation. I refuse to forget that love conquers all ...

I know Mr. B is in a rationalizing mode, as I realize, as he does also, that the place he was working for was not well managed, and cast a blind eye in his direction for his value as an employee. They focused more on his age. They choose youth, so that they could pay them a lower wage. It's a capitalistic society we live in, after all. Profits are a great concern to the corporation. And while I don't think any one begrudges any one making a profit for a job well done, it's how they come about those profits, how they reach the goals of those profits, that bothers the conscience of a lot of people.

There is not much in the newspaper in the way of decent employment for hard working men.

I am waiting for that light to go on in my head that we are in real trouble. But it's not dawned yet. We are all quietly turning off all extra lights (haha, again no pun intended), but oh gee, we already do that, ummm, so where can we cut back we are discussing.

There are always bumps in all roads of our journeys . Life is not always smooth sailing, now is it? And every cloud has a silver lining. Things always happen for the best. It will all work out - anything sound familiar yet? We all have heard, and even know these little truths to be true. We all know that all will be well. Now comes the challenge - Can we live it?

I'm going to keep track of us and see if we can. Resilience is needed now. Spiritual resilience. But regardless of our situation, I know, things could always be worse.

(And remember, love conquers all.)

Ancora Imparo

The credit for the quote is given to Michelangelo and means "I am still learning", and I find that is me. Each time I scale some mountain that contains new information from experiences, I look over the top and see stuff coming I do not know about. It looks foggy at first, but if I wait long enough, the fog clears, and I walk through a lovely forest of peace and then, out of nowhere, the fog appears again.

So, just when you think you have experienced much, a new curve is thrown and out of the fog comes something different. Mr. B called me yesterday morning to tell me he has no job. Unemployed and so late in life, very interesting, and possibly, worrisome place to be. I have no idea what we will see when the fog clears.

Come to think of it, I might feel more like Alexander Graham Bell when he realized that his instrument of new discovery actually worked - "What has God wrought?"

We shall see.

We are concerned, but not to the point of worry. Actually, I'm not sure I do worry anymore. I try to 'go placidly amid the noise and the haste' and it seems to work for me, as I don't like noise and I don't like haste.

There is also another philosophy that I have learned from and that is the one that talks about viewing the same things from different angles and seeing different things. So, we are not looking at this harshly as of yet, and hopefully, we won't find ourselves 'living in a van down by the river!'
'

Masterpiece Theater and Jane Austen

January begins has a fantastic schedule for Jane Austen fans!

Persuasion - January 13, 2008

Northanger Abbey - January 20, 2008

Mansfield Park - January 27, 2008

Miss Austen Regrets - February 3, 2008

Pride and Prejudice - February 10, 17, + 24, 2008

Emma - March 23, 2008

Sense and Sensibility - March 30 + April 6, 2008