No call lists and unsubscribe emails.

Seems like every couple weeks my e-mail box begins to fill up overly quickly.  This is because AOL does not kick everything that is spam over to the spam box which I can delete.  And when I delete the spam I am really not solving anything, because they just send more.  So I read each one until I reach the unsubscribe link and go that way.  So today I cut the ties on super cheap Viagra, declined funding Diane De Gette's run for congress, lost the contact with match.com, lost my chance at a time share and unsubscribed from Adstars 5 times.  I feel good about all this though I do resent having to unsubscribe from something I never subscribed to in the first place.
I have had lord only knows how many phone calls from companies wanting to sell me supplemental insurance and this confuses me.  I was under the impression there is only a small window of time that I can change insurances with, but they do not seem to have any time limit on when they can call and ding away at me.  Seems like the "Do Not Call" list is just a list and nothing really happens because it does not really stop anyone from calling.
Oh, and a survey!  Click.
And I am still fielding phone calls for a grandson that lived here  13 years ago and someone else who never lived here, but used my phone number for what ever reason.  And try to tell these people that I have lost contact numbers for them.
Oh, and today was Valentine Day so in honor of the big occasion, I dug out my wedding rings, just so I can remember that once upon a time, Valentine's Day actually mattered.  And better days are ahead.  Sam will be here on Saturday and so will two of the girls.  And I have a quilt in the quilter, the towels are off the loom and life in general is still good.  Or as good as it gets around here.
 

My take on the 18th Annual Chocolate Indulgence.

Welcome to the Chocolate Indulgence chocolate competition.  Here we have Susan and Adele, ready to accept my entry.  Since Dan had to work I also took his in for him.  And you know me and my better early than on time attitude.   I was the second one to bring my items.  Judging will be from 1:00 - 3:00 this afternoon.  So I drifted off to the YWCA to pick up Dan's ticket and then up to the hospital to see John  followed by meeting Tim at the Airport for lunch.

Here are my gluten free brownies and Dan's lace cookie w/bourbon butterscotch brownie waiting on the table for the judging.

And in case you think we were the only ones, take a look here!  Plenty of competition.

There were two tables of judges.  This is the table closest to where I sat.

Ah!  The auditors who are counting the ballots. 

See, each table has 6 judges and they taste every item.  It is then judged by each judge for flavor, appearance, texture, and creativity.  Flavor counts 40 points and the other 3 are worth 20 each.  The auditors then add the points and choose a winner.  No peeking for me!  I tried, but they did not seem to like that, so I just had to wait until that evening.

 

  Poor little Lou.  In all fairness, I do not know how many of you have tried the gluten free products, but they do no stand a chance in competition with regular product made with wheat, and I knew this.  I was sure I would not win, because of that.  My brownies were very good (for the record), but they finished some where way down the line and went to the "luck of the draw" table.  I am sure they found a good home!

And the first place winner goes to Mr. Dan Leavenworth and his Lace Cookie with Bourbon Butterscotch Brownie!  I shine with pride!  Dan is quite the chef extraordinaire!

 

And this concluded our evening at the 18th Annual Chocolate Indulgence hosted by the YWCA to benefit the Women's Shelter and Domestic Violence Programs.  I am not familiar enough with the work at the YWCA to name all the people connected with the organization, so I am not going to say I am.  I do know a few people there and love them dearly.  Dennis and  Brandi are the two I deal with most.  Oh and the lovely lady at the desk.  And the girl in the office behind Dennis.  And Doris Kester's daughter.  And I love their pool!  It is 90 degrees which is good for my old bones.

 

I do know the YWCA has been a bulwark in Pueblo society forever and I am going to start volunteering there, I hope.  Just as soon as I get a little time, because I feel this organization has done more to bolster women than a lot of other places and let's face it kids, where would we be without women?

 

And am I going back next year?  Let me see.  Chocolate everything.  Eat free with your admission ticket.  Chocolate everything.  Eat free with your admission ticket.  That answer would be

"Hell, Yeah!"

 

Big day today and next week is coming up fast!

I am setting here in my pajama's thinking about what a wonderful time I had at the Chocolate Indulgence last night and this is not a good thing, because pretty quick there are going to be a bunch of people show up here to load books out of my garage.  I told Ross I would make some Monkey Bread and coffee.  But first I have to go feed Nancy's cats.  Well, before that I have to get dressed and here I set.
See, PFLAG is going to have a big book sale up at PCC.  I told you my garage is getting very full!  Also someone is bringing another load of furniture and the place is starting to strain at the seams as it is!  So here is my plan. 
I am going to get dressed.  I will run over and take care of the cats.  I will hurry back here and throw the Monkey bread in the oven and throw together a few breakfast burritos.  After they leave I will clean up my mess and turn on the computer down stairs and download the pictures I took yesterday and hopefully figure out how to do the slide show thing and then do my blog on the Chocolate Indulgence by the YWCA to benefit the women's shelter and domestic violence program.  Empowering women is what it is all about. 
So, you just check back later or maybe even tomorrow and I should have last night's report.  It was a most wonderful event and since this is the first time I have attended it, you will see it through my innocent little eyes!  For now, I am off in search of clothes!
And if you get a chance stop by the Pueblo Community College February 11 & 12 and check out our selection of books.  Going to be something for everyone!  And I will be there both days.  Hopefully I will be dressed!

Phases of my life

I was just sitting here with the Super Bowl on down stairs and not listening to it and I started thinking about different mantras I have had hang on my wall and how little impact they actually made in the grand scheme of things. 
Right after I married Earl Duane, I made a little cross stitch thing that said "Home Sweet Home". 
Two  divorces and 5 kids later I had a bumper sticker that said "If It Feels Good Do It." 
Then I changed cars and husbands and of course a new bumper sticker.  "Horn Broken.  Watch for finger!"  That was my rebellious years. 
Followed by "Love Many, Trust Few, Always Paddle Your Own Canoe."
Then came Kenny and I began to grow into myself.  The needlework on the bathroom wall now said "Ewe's not fat, Ewe's fluffy!  That was the cutesy one. 
Then came "When you are over the hill, you pick up speed."
 That was followed immediately by  "You know you are old when everything either, sags, dries up, or leaks."
Today I stare at my final thought for the day.  "Of all the things I have lost, I miss my mind the most."

Ten years and holding....

Today marks the 10 year anniversary of my late husbands passing.  While acceptance is a given, it is still a date that is marked and called an "anniversary".  Suffice it to say I still miss him, but years have changed the sharp cutting pain to a dull ache of every day existence.  I am just thankful every day that I had the time with him and know that it was a special relationship that can never be duplicated, nor should I try.  I am the product of all my past experiences and I thank God for that!
That being said, I laid awake late last night thinking of things and it seemed that my mind wandered back to Nickerson, Kansas.  I think in my last post on Nickerson, we had just moved to 709 Strong Street which was the house my father bought on an acre of ground.  Might have been 2 acres or 3.  No way of knowing now.  It had a front and back porch and a root cellar.  Now that root cellar was some place I would not have gone for love nor money.   It was just a hole in the ground with steps chopped into the dirt and a wooden door.   It was accessible from the back porch and more dirt was piled on top of it so it appeared to be fairly stable.  Mother said if a tornado came we were to run down there and close the door behind us.  I am here to tell you that not a way in hell was that going to happen in my life time!
Ever seen one of those things?  There are spiders down there that have teeth and crawly things that could stop your heart just by looking at you.  When I exited the back door I always ran across the front of the opening in case some of those things had decided to march on us.  Tornado?  I laugh at danger, but not the creepy things.  To this day I can go into convulsions thinking about that root cellar.
Mother raised rabbits and other fowl, so chicken poop between our toes was a given rather than an exception.  We had the one pair of shoes when school started in the fall and by spring we were grown out of them and since we were not going any where we did not need shoes.  One day I spotted a chicken that had apparently swallowed something that had a string attached to it.  I suspect it was a button.  I tried to catch it and pull it out, but the chicken was having none of that! 
We had a sink in the kitchen that drained through a pipe that ran through the wall and emptied in the back yard.  Mother had Muscovy ducks and that was their favorite place to gather.  Now that was a nasty mess and had the health department (had there been one back in those times) ever ventured by I fully expect there would have been some prison sentences handed out to our parents for child abuse!
But what I was thinking about mostly last night was a big cactus that was in our front yard.  Lord that thing had needles on it over an inch long and sharp as a mother-in-law's tongue!  All we had to do was walk past that thing and somebody was going to have to dig the sticker out.  What we really liked to do that was the most fun, was try to throw each other into the heart of the cactus.  The simple act of trying got our little fannies warmed good.  Mother had no sense of humor at all on that.  And dad was never home because...who knows.
And we had a mulberry tree that was the really good kind that produced black mulberries.  Those were fun to walk barefooted on because in the summer they were cool.  Not very good to eat unless you picked them at the precise moment when they were at the peak of sweetness.  If you went 3 seconds past then they were rotten.
And the currant bushes!  There was another fruit that had to be eaten right as soon as it turned black.  A second before and they puckered you up and a second after and they were worthless.  Birds liked them.    Course the cats liked birds and the bushes were low so picking was easy for the cats.  And we learned the cycle of life up close and personal more than once.  That coupled with the fact that my dad still farmed with horses and they were getting very old and dying made us rather callous to death.  I remember when a horse would die, someone called the "dead animal wagon" so they could be taken to the glue factory.  A man showed up with a big wagon that had a winch on it.  This was pulled out and secured around the neck of the hapless horse and a motor rolled the cable in and the horse ended up unceremoniously on the top of the heap of dead animals.  Sometimes their feet ended up sticking out over the top and that was rather sad.  These were animals who had once been very vibrant and dad usually kept their tails braided and tied with a ribbon.  I think about that a lot as my road gets shorter, but only in a fleeting moment and never with any great sadness.
And so I bid Nickerson adieu for the day.  I will be back.  There are a lot of memories there of things that will never be again and can not ever be forgotten.  Until then I am recalling something that goes "May the road rise to meet you and may the wind always be at your back!"  God only knows where that came from.




 

Chocolate Indulgence,Women's Shelter, and the YWCA from my side of the street!

Ever been to the YWCA annual Chocolate Indulgence?  Me neither, but that is about to change.   Several things have transpired to bring this little experience to the fore front.  First I have a kitchen that was designed by me and built by my dear late husband that is every cooks dream.  Lots of cabinets, lots of counter space, an island in the middle, stainless steel sinks, electric oven, and  cookware and bakeware with all the mixers and utensils one could only wish for at my fingertips.   That is the first thing.

 The second thing is a friend who loves to cook, but is limited by space at his home.  That coupled with my favorite hobby being the love of eating makes this a match made in heaven!  He started yapping about the competition at the Chocolate Indulgence and I was listening with one side of my brain as I am known to do.  I did keep picking up words like cream, butter, chocolate, baking, tasting and other hints that something good might be coming out of this little kitchen yet!  So by the time it dawned on me something was happening, he already had a plan.
So, I got online and downloaded all the info and the entry forms, added the event to my desktop calendar and began to take an active interest in what was going on here!  Having read the YWCA mission statement  (YWCA is dedicated to eliminating racism, empowering women and promoting peace, justice, freedom, and dignity for all.  Eliminating racism & empowering women. )   I decided this was a charity worthy of my attention and maybe a few dollars.  Lord only knows I could have used one of these back in the day.  Granted I am a little late getting on the band wagon on this one, but as a very wise woman (namely me) says, "Better late than never!"  So he has his list of things he is making and I have my one thing I will do.
I have already consumed two cakes, 4 pounds of candy, 11 cupcakes and three salted nuts to cleanse my palette!  I am starting to get a little excited here!  ( A little excited and a lot FAT! )  So we have to have our stuffat the convention center Friday, February 8 between 9 and 11:30 and then the judging is from 1-3.  I hope to go to the judging, but not sure my heart will take that.  I am  about to talk myself out of entering here!  Better be careful.  I hate to go aginst him in competition, but what the hell! 
I sure hated that they closed the pool at the YWCA.  It was so warm and nice, but I understand that our economy is kind of in the crapper right now and it took a lot of money to keep that thing open.  I learned how to swim in that pool a few years back.  Had that "learning to swim thing" on my bucket list for many years and decided I better just do it and get it over with.  My teacher was Doris Kester and she is such a lovely lady.  Well, in all fairness, everyone at the "Y" is just peachy.  And I love that Dennis Lowery to pieces!
I am putting you a link right here so you can go get all the info straight from the horses mouth, so to speak.  And look me up when you get there.  I am taking my grand daughter, who is a looker, and I am the little old grey headed lady beside her with chocolate smeared all over her face.  If I get a chance you may find me sitting in the chocolate fountain.  Yeah, I think I can manage that one!  So until then, Cheerio!


 

January 16, 2013. Lunch at my house with my new floors.

From left to right around the table are Faye Gallegos, Maurine Hale, Sister Barbara, Sister Nancy.

 

Under the table is Elvira, Mistress of the Night who thinks she is in charge.

Sister Barbara and Sister Nancy

Pastor Faye listening intently and Pastor Maurine taking notes.

 

This little gathering was one of my better ideas.  What better way to break in my new floor than to have four sainted women over for lunch and discuss a matter dear to all of our hearts?  Just nothing else would do.  A little background here will help you understand.  Pastor Faye is a retired UCC minister and lives in Colorado Springs.  She was Interim pastor at First Congregational when I attended there.  More importantly she was then and still remains my very dear friend and confidante.  She marched with Martin Luther King, Jr. and was most vocal and active in the fight for Civil Rights passage.  She is very active in all ministry work including the animal shelters and Heifer International.  And she raised kids at the same time.

Pastor Maurine is very active in the UCC Conference and various groups around Colorado Springs one of which she was representing this day.   This group takes on a project and this time it is Sister Nancy and her Los Pobres Migrant Center.  (An aside here.  Maurine is married to Max Hale, who is still very active in Pastors for Peace and does a blog that you can reach by clicking here! )  While her husband is retired, Maurine remains very active.
When I write about people I usually like to list 4 or 5 things that they will be remembered for, but that is not going to work for this bunch of women. 
So I have introduced you to the two UCC ministers and now we move on to Sister Nancy and her mission with the migrant workers of Southern Colorado.  I finally got a little of the skinny on how Los Pobres came to be the operation it is today.  Seems that many years ago , 1979, to be exact, Sister Nancy was having dinner with Father Gallagher at his parsonage at Sacred Heart of Avondale.  As the evening progressed there would be a knock at the door.  Father Gallagher would excuse himself and step out for about 10 minutes and then come back and set down and resume his job as host.  About the third time this happened, Sister Nancy decided to "spy on him", and was surprised to see him sacking up clothes and food for a man who was clearly an illegal immigrant. 
When she confronted him, he confessed and she told him, "Well, it is clear you are sort of organized, but let me help you and I think together we can do a lot more good."  In the beginning of their operation, it was run from a room in the parsonage.  Sister Nancy began to keep records of the immigrants who were accessing provisions and services.  Of course all this was done behind closed doors as the workers were all illegally in the United States.
But thank God for people who will do what ever is necessary and trust that good will win in the outcome.  In the year 2000 they built a small shed behind the rectory and the operation was moved to that area.   This is how it works in the real world...People die, babies are born, INS arrests and deports illegals to Mexico, women cry, and every day the business of living is a matter of course.  Children who do not know where Mexico is, are sent back there to live in a land they have never seen with people they have never known.
(An aside here  to a personal experience.  I think it was back in about 1980-81, I had daughter Debbie and her husband living in this town with or near me.  Patty and Dona were also here.  Well, Tex and Patty decided to go "work in the fields", since it was ready work and they could make lots of money.  So they piled into my Chevy and off they went.  8 hours later they returned.  Patty's eye was bloodshot and looked very bad.  Seems they were picking peas and Tex had pulled a weed and flipped it over his shoulder into her eye.  They were sunburnt beyond belief, exhausted, dehydrated, generally out of sorts with life.  The opened their hands to give me the fruits of their labors.  This grand total amounted to $3.28.  I was disappointed, to say the very least.)
The point with that story is that wages have nothing to with hours spent bent over in the hot sun.  I recall several years back that there was a lot of uproar about the illegals coming into this country and taking jobs from the locals.  So Pueblo County "cracked down" and the illegals were deported and none came from Mexico.  As I recall, the crops rotted in the fields because no one came to pick the produce.  I think they have lightened up since that little fiasco!
Back to Los Pobres.  In 2002 they received a grant from the Packard Foundation and built the big shed they are in now.  There are 5,000 families registered.  200-220 families weekly access the food bank.  The center distributes 1000 pounds of pinto beans, 600 pounds of rice and 720 cans of vegetables.  Everything at the center is done by volunteers.   Donations are made to the center by word of mouth, mostly.  Got clothes you want to donate?  Sister Nancy east of town,  Furniture, blankets, diapers, hygiene products, appliances, pots and pans, and on and on.  Sister Nancy east of town.  Everyone knows who that is.   I have a bag of coats in my car awaiting delivery.  Last summer I packed up a house full of clothes and household goods.  Took me 7 trips, but I got it all out there.  They are always in need of cooking oil, flour, beans, rice, canned vegetables.  I have a brochure here that I would love to send you.  Just call me.  719-546-1555. 
Well, I have once more digressed.  We did have a lovely lunch of one of my better offerings; home made chicken and noodles, mashed potatoes, some sort of veggie and gluten free biscuits with cheese and garlic just because I wanted to make them.  Finished that off with a fresh peach cobbler with ice cream.  So after several hours of visiting, I gave them a tour of my little corner of the world and then they hopped in their cars and away they went.  All things considered, I thin we had a very lovely day and would love to do this again very soon.
Want to join us?