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Friday, February 26, 2010

High energy power drinks and their likelihood of success!

Happened to pop in the boy's room last evening and found him sipping on a high energy power drink. I do not approve of those, but in all fairness, I do not drink any pop. Water and tea for me. So my question to the son was "What is that!" He of course, filled me in to all the virtues of this drink. It would give him lots of energy.

Now here is my conundrum: Why does he need a burst of energy on a Thursday night at bedtime? Is he going to scurry around picking up all the trash, dirty clothes, books and such off his floor? Is he perhaps going to rig up a drop cord and shine a light on the yard he is raking? How much energy does a couch potato need?

I realize he works all day. Maybe his boss would appreciate a burst of energy there. Maybe I should drink one. My thought on that is that if I gave this old body a shot of energy it would probably shatter every bone I have. So for now, I will just marvel at the wisdom of youth and be very glad that I am old!

Wednesday, February 24, 2010

Gluten Free it shall be!

I am putting this post in for all the friends out there who are going gluten free and to alert some others to why they should be aware of this dietary change possibility. Many years ago wheat was wheat and gluten was in it. Did not seem to hurt anything and we all "broke bread together." It is not that way anymore and I will tell you why.

The scientists have altered our food source! Wheat has been hybridized until it is not longer the wheat it was 50  years ago. Not only wheat, but everything we put in our mouth has changed. Cut an apple in half and leave it lay. If it is not organic it will not turn brown. Tomatoes will lay on the counter from now on and not even change shape. What does this tell you?

I digress. I am not going to educate you on all the side affects of gluten, but be aware if you have distress in the lower tract after eating a bowl of spaghetti or a sandwich, you may be gluten intolerant. Gluten is found in wheat, rye, barley and in a lot of places you least expect it. You are going to need guidance.

I know you can use the computer because you found me. So go to your search engine and type in gluten free. Then start reading. You will find gluten can affect your sinus's, headache, allergies and on and on. If you are celiac you will already know as that is serious business. There is even talk that Autism may in some way be affected by gluten.  Any way, read up on it, then come back here and see the widget that says Amazon? I have it all loaded for you.

I would recommend the book 1,000 Gluten-Free Recipes, by  Carol Fenster, Ph.D. or Gluten-Free 101. These books will fill you in on all the bad stuff the gluten intolerance can cause. The recipes in the 101 book are great and trust me, I have tested most of them. I prefer to make my own flour using the recipe on page 41.

If you are not inclined to make your own flour, Amazon  sells the gluten free flour mixes. I prefer to mix my own so I buy the basics from them, sorghum flour, rice flour, xanthan gum, and all the other little things you will need. It is my one stop shopping center because they have it all and it is reasonablly priced.

So that is my speil for the day. Look into it on the internet first and see if anything here at Amazon would be helpful to you. See, I get a monetary reward if you use my widget!!  I am not gluten intolerant, but I have friends who are, so I bake for them. Always did like a challenge!

Tuesday, February 23, 2010

Eating cereal is a scientific process?

This morning I walked in on a scientific process is the kitchen. Never knew that to happen before, but apparently I was just not that observant. Bret took the cereal out of the box, rolled it down and carefully weighed it with his left hand  and eyeballed it carefully. In his right hand was the gallon of milk which was undergoing the same process. After a few moments, the cereal bag went back into the box and the milk into the refrigerator.

The deduction was this, there was not enough milk to cover all the cereal. Rather then fill a bowl with cereal and pour milk over it, he decided not to eat breakfast. Now this is a case of all, all, or nothing at all. What if the cereal box had been full and a new gallon of milk? I'm thinking the whole box would have gotten eaten!

Teenagers are bottomless pits, as we all know. I just did not know so much thought went into eating cereal in the morning. I did fix him a bacon and egg sandwich. That is another one that requires thought. Can not eat just an egg sandwich, it has to have bacon diced and fried, then drained (my rule; not his) and blotted with a paper towel. The eggs (2) are then whipped and fried with the bacon bits. Immediately slap that between two slices of toast covered with mayonaisse (Not to be confused with Miracle Whip.). Do not cool it first. By having it hot it causes the toast to become limp, thereby negating the whole idea of "toast".

I am having a piece of toast with a glass of orange juice. The toast is Oregon Western Hazel Nut, available only at Safeway and not available in Kansas. Best bread on the planet. It has to be toasted in a toaster oven and slathered with real butter while it is piping hot. That way it becomes limp thereby negating the whole idea of "toast."

And there you have our breakfast habits. Or some of our habits. Humans are creatures of habit and that is just the way it is!

Monday, February 22, 2010

They have arrived, took sister Mary, and left!


Here are the culprits! This is Dorothy and Mike Flory. They live in Shawnee, Kansas. They both work and have strange hobbies. They have cows for pets and a farm for a hobby. It is calving time on the farm and with this weather, they keep pretty busy overseeing the birthing process as well as having full time jobs! Then to take time out to run out here and pick up Mary, my hat is off to them!

They arrived Saturday night, ate supper, slept, ate breakfast, loaded Sister Mary in the car and away they went! Now I am alone. Well, not really alone since I do have Bret, Daisy, Elvira, 10 geese, and 23 ducks, but I have nonetheless, lost my buddy.


And here is Sister Mary, all ready to go. She even has her purse hooked on her arm. Maybe they are going to stop and do some shopping! I do not like to shop, so we did not do that while she was here, except when we did it for survival.
Having Mary here was a definite treat, and a diversion to say the very least. You have to look back on our childhood to realize what a learning experience this really was. Mary was always the "pretty one". Dorothy was the baby, Donna was there, Jake was the boy, and Josephine was the oldest. I came in between Donna and Jake, so that made me the "middle child" and you know what the middle child was good for--nothing.

Middle Child Syndrome is what it is called. I am not a leader and not a follower, just kind of there. Or at least that is how it should have worked. But in our family, Josephine married and left very early, Jake attached himself to a farmer and then forged a new birth certificate and joined the Army when he was barely 16 and was never there. So, I then became the leader. Then I left.

But back to the relevant part. Mary and I were never very close. She was closer to Donna. Then she married Tommy when she was 13(?) and he was 15(?). Think that is right. They remained together and lived happily ever after until he passed at the early age of 52. So when the opportunity arose for her to come spend time with me we jumped on that. You really get to know someone when you set and talk for hours. We have a lot in common. We both lost our mother, both lost our husbands, both have grandkids, went to the same grade school. And on and on. Lot more than I thought. Might have to do this again someday!

But for now, I will savor the weeks we spent together, knowing she is safe at home with her family checking up on her. Guess I will plan a trip to Wichita, Kansas as soon as the snow melts!!

Saturday, February 20, 2010

Got to weigh in on Tiger Woods!!

This will be short and sweet, but since everyone else has an opinion, I have to state mine also. Somebody once told me that opinions are like bathroom habits, everybody has them and they usually stink! That being said, here is my opinion:

If the cookies are missing from the cookie jar and you have no crumbs on your shirt, it is kind of hard to prove anything. You can deny it from now on and only you will know for sure. If, however, you continue to run back to the cookie jar someone is going to catch you! Odds are not in your favor on this!  Trust me!

Now we come to Tiger and these are the facts: Tiger was pretty well covered in crumbs and there were definitely several cookies ready to talk about what they saw and and discuss exactly how much those cookies ended up costing! Pretty well established fact who had their hand in where and sounds like the cookies were pretty willing to be taken on this trip.

So now we have the confession. Did anyone expect him to stand up there and deny this? Did we expect him to apologize to the cookies that jumped out of the jar, knowing full well where they would land? I do not know exactly how many cookies the man devoured, nor do I care. It would behoove me to state here that I don't think the cookies need an apology.

Ever been caught with your hand in the cookie jar? About all you can do at that point is cowboy up and issue a very sincere apology. In my case, it involved a canary, a cat, an open cage, and my mother! Had all the items not been there, I might have been able to lie my way out of that, but I never had that chance.

Back to business! My hat is off to Alina Woods. She has more grace than I could ever hope to muster. She has more faith then most of us. For Tiger I have these words of advice: I hope any sex you  had was
safe sex. At this point that is all I have to say to him, but then since I volunteer at Southern Colorado AIDS Project where they have free testing that is always my gut reaction. A little honesty is going to go a long way in this case and time will tell. All favorite sayings from my dear Mother.

Thursday, February 18, 2010

Poor old Llama!

Last night I was having a little trouble sleeping. I call it my random insomnia. I looked out the bedroom window and there was this Llama all hunkered down sleeping in the field. It was a lonely looking sight, but I guess that is how it is.  I somehow took solace knowing the Llama was out there, also alone, and drifted back off to sleep.

Of course, I am now thinking about the sight of the Llama all alone out there. I know it is not alone, because there are 2 of them, but still each one is alone. Now I make the jump to my life. I am alone. Even if there are people all around me, I am still alone. And so are you!  One time I told a friend of mine "Gee, I thought I knew him better than that!" He replied "You never really know anyone, you only know of them." I thought that was the most profound statement I had ever heard!

Now, I know in life there are many profound statements and today I am going to think up some of them and perhaps blow your mind tomorrow. But for now, I am going to scuttle off into the kitchen and do the things that need doing in there.  Sister Mary will only be here for 3 more days, so I need to do something memorable with her today. Perhaps we will go walk around Union. There are a lot of antique shops there and that should amuse her.

Have a good one!

Tuesday, February 16, 2010

Wooden Floor is all Done!

The floor is all done and the boys have gone home! Remember that part about posting pictures before I got the stuff back in here? Well, that did not happen. Tim and Justin started by putting the heavy tables in and then the computer desk and next the office desk and a 2 drawer chest and it just went from there. Now, granted, all the junk (Great stuff for sale on eBay!) is not back in here, but it is creeping this way.

Some day I will need to do a post on how much I enjoy my thing I do on eBay. They are raising their prices or revamping or something the end of March and that may very well be the end of my career there, but for now it is a fun thing that makes me a little bit of money to stretch the old Social Securtiy check a tad bit further. I have also met some interesting people.

But for right now, I am going to work on getting the stuff out of my bedroom so I can walk over to the other side of the bed. Sister Mary will be leaving me on Sunday. We have found that if we neglect the Brain Gym exercises, we are not as coordinated as we could be, so maybe there is something to this.

Anyway, I am going to leap in the shower and get ready for the day. No baby today. Only on Wednesday. According to Indian Lore, we still have 18 snows coming this year, so I am hoping they get here soon. Did I tell you in the middle of the snow storm last week I saw a Robin up in the Cherry tree?

Have a good one!

Saturday, February 13, 2010

Look at this pile. This picture is taken with me on the stairs and facing Northwest. This is what you see when you start up stairs to my bathroom. Isn't it amazing how rooms are named to reflect the usage?
 
This is a pile of carpet! This is in the middle of my office.
This is my bedroom (It is a bedroom, because the bed is in there under that stuff!) and all this stuff used to be in my office! This is called "Remodeling"! This is also the reason I could not get online last night and early this morning.
This is my bathroom. This is also my desk. Behind the desk is a washer and crammed against the wall is a dryer. I need to get the clothes out of the washer and into the dryer because it is a bunch of shirts that need to be embroidered and mailed off today. If I stand on the desk to get in the dryer, I will have a flat desk. Another delimma for my already overloaded day! It is now 8:30 A.M. I should, perhaps call this room the office
When we are all done, which will hopefully be tomorrow, I will have lovely wooden floors in my spacious office.  I will send you pictures before we move all the eBay stuff back in there.
So you know now what I have planned for my Valentine Weekend with my best friends husband. See the "we" I refer to does not actually include me. Just Tim, Lyn's husband and Justin, Lyn's son-in-law. I just furnish floor space! Now you go have a lovely Valentine's Day and I will see you when I see you!

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Tuesday, February 9, 2010

The Lamb Funeral Home and Orson Wells!!

Now, you might wonder what those 2 have in common, but just bear with me. Back in Nickerson, Kansas where I grew up, there were few opportuities for employment. The main one  for me,was babysitting. Mr. and Mrs. Lamb owned the funeral home and had (I think) 6 kids. At the time I was probably 14 or so. I realize I could research and find the exact date, but will not do that and will rely on your memory.

The appointed night came and Mr. Lamb picked me up and took me to their dwelling place which just happened to be over the funeral home. There also just happened to be a body laying in state there. As a matter of course, he gave me a brief tour, which included showing me the casket room! Are you getting the picture yet? You will.

Before they left they turned on the television, which was the first one I had ever seen. The kiddies were soon settled in their wee little beds. They were all redheads and the youngest was about 6 months and the oldest probably 5. They were so cute!

Anyway, with the kiddies in bed, bedtime story read, I tidied the kitchen and set down on the couch to watch this television! Do you remember when the Orson Welles (I think) movie came out named War of the Worlds and caused a panic all over the United States for it's opening? The announcer came on and made the announcement that the world was ending and then the electricity went off! The phone rang and I picked it up to hear the man who was tending the body tell his wife that he would be right home since there was no electric here.

What kind of shape do you think I was in when I put down that phone? Here I was alone with 5 kids, no electric, a bunch of coffins in the next room, and a dead body down stairs!  I was pretty sure if the world was ending that I had a problem!!

I went in to set with the kids in their final hours, but they were sound asleep and had no idea what they were in for here! Need I paint the vivid picture of that night? The groveling and begging God to save me and such. I bet the lights were out for about 30 minutes, but that was the longest 30 minutes of my life. I have never been as happy to see anyone in my entire life as I was to see those people come home.

It is strange that something that was so traumatic on me as that night can now be something that is so funny today. I ran into the Lamb's in South Fork 20 or so years ago and we got quite the chuckle out of that night.
I guess the way to face your biggest fear is to remember that someday you will look back on this and laugh!

Have a good one!

Monday, February 8, 2010

Snowing again!! I must be hungering for the sun!

Hey! I see a Robin out there in the snow storm! What is he thinking? I sort of feel that perhaps I am getting a mixed message.It snowed yesterday and is snowing this morning. According to the Indian Lore, we only need 18 more snows to end the season. Course everyone is wanting Spring. Apparently so is the Robin Red Breast!

One thing nice about snow is that I can go out to the duck pond and see what kind of critters have been visiting during the night. I know there is a skunk and something with little paws. I think that is probably a fox. I am sure I will need to do some work on the fence before spring actually arrives.

Had a great email from a guy I went to school with in Nickerson, Kansas. He had been sent my blog about Nickerson. He is younger, but of course everyone is younger that me. He is actually the cousin to the "Beth" that got me in trouble with the popcorn ball in fourth grade. Small world, huh?

 I actually joined one of those Classmates things once and paid for a whole year. This one did not work quite like I thought it should. Every time I would see the name of someone I remembered, I would click on it and they wanted me to contact them and get them to sign up with them!  Well, excuse me, if I knew how to contact them I would not have paid you to tell me where all my dear friends are today!

I also signed up for a Find People Fast, although I do not remember just what the name of the company was. I think that cost $29.95 for the year, but every time I found some one, I needed to pay $2.95 for the address and phone number. For only $39.95 I could look at their criminal record.  Bet some of those kids I went to school with would freak out if I showed up with my mohawk! Bet they would be looking for my criminal record! This is where I put in LOL, which means laugh out loud!

Ok, we now have a real crisis! I can not find the spell checker! Just go with the phonics thing! Since I can not use any big words, I guess I will sign off for today. Got to go do my Brain Gym exercise, if I can find the book!

Friday, February 5, 2010

At Grandma's house we are!


This is the view from Grandma's deck! We went up to Rye yesterday to see Grandma. Actually she is Tim's Grandma, and no relation to me. When you reach the age of 95, which she will do in a couple weeks, you become Grandma to everyone under the age of 70. I still qualify! She is the sweetest and most alert lady I have met and a miracle for 95. She had a stress fracture in her pelvis and after 3 days it bed it had begun to "knit". Not me man!  If I am correct this is the view looking East.

This is kind of Southwest. All my directions are subject to being discredited and corrected. The only place I know my directions is Hutchinson, Kansas. I was not born with that little honing device for North that most people have.

This is the view looking West. East and West are both fairly steep dropoffs. North and South are a little more gradual. Actually, to my way of thinking, they are all steep and they are all dropoffs. You must remember I am from Kansas and my husband always referred to me as a "Flatlander" because I never knew if I was going uphill or downhill.
And here is the approach to the house. Do you see how it kind of sets there on the crest of the hill? This is like dying and going to heaven. I have a better view of the house, but for brevity's sake, I will not post it today. I will just throw it on someday.
 
I took these pictures with my cheap little camera, but am giving serious thought to some Amazon sent me literature on yesterday. I am trying to get a hold of someone who knows dates and place, but I think this house was located in Rye and was moved up the mountaing by Grandma. Well, she is the one who did the buying of the land, and hiring and honchoing the movers. She did a great job!
Gotta get busy. Today I am babysitting the great , great grandson of this lady. Five generations and there is one branch that has six generations! Have a good one.

Wednesday, February 3, 2010

The Llama might be getting ready to be sheared, or not!

The Llama's over in the field are getting very hairy! I'm thinking it might be getting close to shearing time, but think about that! It is just now the first week in February and some of our biggest snows are ahead of us. I remember one May we got 18 inches on like the 4th and then 4 days later we got 14 inches. Course it was warm enough between them to melt or we would still be digging out.
The point here is this: I would hate to have someone rip my fur coat off and leave me outside this time of year. It is still freezing at night and the daytime temperature hasn't had me breaking a sweat yet! Any way, I have one friend who makes her sheep wear coats to keep the fleece cleaner. I think that might be a good idea, but the fellows/girls in the field don't look all that bad. Well, yeh, they have longer legs than a sheep! DUH!!
Seeing them makes me remember, I bought some dyed wool from Joanne Caldwell and I need to get it washed and dried. If it was just a matter of throwing it in the washer that would be simple. Ever throw wool in the washer? This is loose fleece so I expect it would wind up a very tight ball. I know how to do this, I think.
I need to fill something with cool water and add Dawn dishwashing soap to it. Then very gently work it around and then drain it and rinse it. I need to do that several times until the rinse water is clear. Then I have to lay it out to dry. Then I will need to hand card it. That is work!! Then I need to spin it on the spinning wheel.  All this is assuming it has not got moths in it while waiting for me.
Hey, you spinners out there! If this is not how to do it, you better get ahold of me because I will be doing this surely in the next few years.
You know, I go back and read my posts and have I ever finished one that matches my title with the title? Seems I am a clear definition of the saying "Her mind has taken a turn!" My mind is probably what is known as a Whirling Dervish!
But you gotta' love me!!

Tuesday, February 2, 2010

Klear Nearly Day or Near Klearly or something like that.

I forgot to tell you, Nickerson, Kansas also has a special day in the summer which is called Klear Nearly or Near Klearly or something along that line. If anyone out there remembers, give me a shout out because otherwise I will need to go research it and I have the little baby today and do not have time for that.
When I have the little baby, I have to be alert. If I am not alert the dogs will lick him and he feels  neglected if I wander off from him. Babies need lots of care. They are also very messy, especially the bottom half!

Monday, February 1, 2010

Welcome me to Amazon.com!

Ok, I just signed up with amazon.com so I have a link to their sight. Now I have to find out how this works. May not be something I want to keep, but then again it might be. I buy a lot of books from Amazon and was surprised to find that they have lots of other things including groceries. Especially the gluten free stuff.

I think I told you the other day about the Brain Gym book I bought from there and use here at home for myself and my sister. So anyway, I just wanted to see how this little widget works. If you don't like it let me know. I sure don't want to clutter up my site with stuff we don't need.

Nickerson, Kansas Elementary School, 1945-1953

This may take more than one posting. I woke up this morning thinking about grade school. When I can not fall asleep at night, one of my favorite things is to remember the one mile walk to and from school. I picture the houses and try to remember the names of the people who lived in them. It usually works if I follow it with the Lord's Prayer.

What I woke up remembering this morning was the music room. At least what passed for the music room before they moved in a small school building and set it on the corner and that was the music room. This room was on the second story. Cultural Department.

The windows in the whole school were huge, very tall. Every window in the school was covered with heavy blackout curtains that were fastened to the sides. This was in case the Japanese were to fly over here and end up in the center of the United States in a town named Nickerson, Kansas, population 1,100, we could close them and no light would get out so they would not bomb that building. Homeland Security!

Once a month, we were all called to the central hallway, which doubled as a lunch room and given a glass of orange juice. There was a small room off the first grade classroom that doubled as a sick room. Health Department!

I think that was so we would not get Rickets, or something like that. Our meals were cooked in the kitchen by Mrs. Ritchie. Her husband was the Janitor. He committed suicide shortly after the 8th grade, or so we heard. Probably about the 4th grade one of the boys in our town was killed in the war and the whole school went to the train station to meet the coffin. All I remember is looking up his marker in the cemetary and it says "He sleeps in Iwo Jima."

Also in fourth grade, a classmate named Beth (You know who you are!) brought a popcorn ball to school and dropped it in the stool in the bathroom and blamed it on me! Said I grabbed it away and threw it in there! If I had touched it I would have eaten it! Mrs. Howe was very upset with me and wrote on my report card, "Louella teases the other kids on the playground." So much for the Justice Department!

Fifth grade I had a poem published in the Jack and Jill(?) magazine. Other highlights: Last day of school in 8th grade, the band played outside and a bird pooped on Gay Withrow's cap. Mother had cancer and the church ladies sewed all us kids clothes for school except Jake who only wore overalls anyway. Mother recuperated and lived to be 80 years old. Miss Barkis, the music teacher, married the principals son, David Houston. Miss Donnough, the first grade teacher, married someone. Mrs. Howe, the fourth grade teacher got a thorn in her intestine and nearly died.

Oh, for the days of trivial nonesense!! And to think I have remembered some of this stuff for 63 years!!!

School days, school days, dear old golden rule days!
Reading and writing and 'rithmetic,
taught to the tune of a hickory stick!

Another year down the tubes!

Counting today, there are only 5 days left in this year.    Momma nailed it when she said "When you are over the hill you pick up speed...