Mary's Umbrella

The Disney movie, Mary Poppins made its debut on September 25, 1964. 

from mommaoh.wordpress.com

That Mary!  She knew the effect she had on impressionable young children.  Or did she? 

Did she know her little umbrella flying trick would make many at least one young girl want to fly with her own red plaid umbrella that her grandma gave her for Christmas?

from school.discoveryeducation.com

And did some little girl and her red plaid umbrella fly after jumping off the neighbor's five foot tall brick wall?

from pediatrics.about.com

She flew right home to get her scraped knees bandaged!

Sometimes Things Go Awry

You know how it is.

Tonight I was making cinnamon rolls using this recipe.  If you scroll through the post at the link, you will see what Ree's cinnamon rolls looked like before she put them in the pans.  

Believe me when I tell you mine looked nothing like hers.  Mine looked more like a pale fat slug oozing...well, slug stuff.   I would have taken a picture but my hands were covered with slug stuff...er...cinnamon roll goo.

 My counter top looked like this...covered with cinnamon, sugar and melted butter.

I was worried that my cinnamon rolls were not going to be any good, but I put them in the oven anyway.  They didn't look too bad.

But how would they taste?  Even though they had not been frosted, they were yummy!  Oozing cinnamon, butter and sugar...

The counter top cleaned up nicely and a glass and bottle of wine appeared...

The Best Part of Waking Up...

Now that the mornings are cooler, I love sitting on my back porch while having my morning coffee.

The birds add their voices to the classical music from this station and life is just about perfect...

Avast, Me Matey!

Arr, me hearty, bein' this ha'ar day is talk like a pirate day, Cap'n Jane Cutthroat be takin' o'er this blog.

 Afore ye landlubbers be comin' aboard me furner, Olde Barnacle Bucket, ye best be handin' o'er a fist full of doubloons to me best buccaneer, Pirate Billy.  Shiver me timbers!  Ye need to be gettin' yer pirate name here if'n ye wants to join me crew in lootin' and plunderin'  the bountiful booty of scallywags' swaggy.  Aye!  Tis a swashbucklin' time to be had!  Yo Ho Ho! Don' ye be gettin' in ta the grog or ye might find yerself at the end o' a cat o' nine tales...

September 19 is International Talk Like A Pirate Day.  Yes, really! 

My New Toy

My five year old Nokia cell phone had to be retired.  There have probably been ten generations of phones since we got it.  What did I want to replace it?  I wanted a smart phone.  And not just any smart phone.  I wanted an iPhone 4.  Yes, despite all the bad press about them, I still wanted one.

This is my phone and I love it!  I have not had one moment of antenna problems. 

It is loaded with podcasts for exercise that I listen to while I walk.  Facebook and Twitter apps keep me up to the minute with my peeps.  The Yahoo app lets me look up the flavor of the day at Goodberry's, our favorite frozen custard place, to help us decide whether to stop on our way home from Raleigh.  (It doesn't matter what the flavor, we usually stop.)  Two weeks ago, we were stuck in traffic and I was able to use a local news station's app to see where we needed to go to get out of the traffic. 

I love my phone!  It could only be better if I could find a housekeeping app...  
That was free...

Just as I think this grandma is hip to technology, a three year old techo-wizard reminds me, "Your phone only has two games, Grandma Bea.  My daddy's has lots more."

PS - Just because I have a new phone doesn't mean I answer it.  Leave a message!

Good Idea!

L

Let's see...We could cut their salaries in half, take away their pensions and make them pay for their own health care.  That would hurt!

Every Tuesday

I commute to the quilt shop in this town.

Just before I get there, I pass by this train that has been left rusting on these tracks for years.

Every Tuesday, this song runs through my head all day long.

Davy Jones could so make me shake my maracas.

Heavy Drinking

Once upon a time, not so very long ago, I drank this many cups of coffee daily...

 

And sometimes twice that!

But I was looking like this...

from superfunnypets.com

In the middle of the night!

Now I drink only this many cups in the morning...

I heart coffee too, Mona...

Then I drink water.  Sometimes this much...

Sometimes this much...

That's why I am always looking for one of these...

from naagtag.com

What do you drink during the day?

What Do You Think?

This was on the front of the radiator in an upstairs bedroom when we moved here. 

We removed all the radiators and a local man hauled them all to the scrap yard.  I just could not let this go with them.  The painting is not well done, but I like it in a folk art kind of way.  I'm thinking about hanging it on a wall in the tiny (5x3) powder room just off the kitchen.

What do you think?

These Shoes...

...have been walking!

You might remember this post sixteen weeks ago.  Since then, they have walked an average of twelve miles a week.  That's almost two hundred miles!  YAY me!

Bet you think I've been losing pounds as those shoes walk me around.  Don't put too much money on that wager.  My pounds seem to love me too much to go away.  Darn it!

Today in History

from nebraskastudies.com

Today is TV Dinner Day!  In 1954, Swanson introduced the TV dinner to the world.  These convenient meals fulfilled the post war trend of time saving appliances and television being introduced to the American home.  The first year they were on the market, Swanson sold 10 million dinners.  For $.98, you could choose meatloaf, fried chicken, salisbury steak or turkey with mashed potatoes and peas.  All items were served for your convenience in a divided aluminum tray.  In 1987, a representative tray was placed in the Smithsonian Institution because of its impact on American culture.

I don't remember having many of these meals in our home as I was growing up, but I do remember they were the only peas Momma could get me to eat and I LOVED those mashed potatoes.  Maybe salisbury steak will be on the menu at our house this week...

Information for this post was taken from about.com

YAY!!  My sig is back!

Technology is Awesome!

Today I had an appointment with a dental hygienist.  It has been three years since I last saw a hygienist.  Yes, I know, I should be smacked with some dental floss.  But we moved half way across the country and it has taken us a while to reestablish all those health care providers.  All is good now.

Picture taken from Vermont Dept. of Labor website.

Last time I had my teeth cleaned it took almost an hour, several sharp, metal instruments and lots of scraping.  Today I was out of the chair in a little over half an hour because a laser was used to clean my teeth.  It was quicker but not painless.  Ouch! 

 from www.old-picture.com

But not OUCH! like this!  These are George Washington's false teeth.  Can you imagine how painful it was wearing these?  I went through a lot of torture while wearing braces, but nothing like this.

photo from Smithsonian

Is it any wonder our first President looked like this in all the pictures of him? 

I am not off the hook yet.  In two weeks, I go back to see the hygienist and she will do a "fine scaling" - a non-threatening term for digging around under the gum line.  I will probably be looking as sober as old George when they are done with me...

HEY!  WHO DELETED MY SIG?

It Finally Makes Sense!

Having grown up in Kansas, I have heard my share of Yellow Brick Road, Toto and Dorothy jabs.  Probably about as many jabs as times I've seen the movie, "The Wizard of Oz".  (And it still scares the bejesus out of me...)

So what is this revelation I had?  The Wicked Witch of the West was not really a witch, but a middle age woman going through menopause.  Look at the evidence...

• She doesn't really have green skin.  The green comes from a whole body mask she uses to provide moisture to her dry, itchy skin.
• Increase in facial hair.  I know you can't see it, but can anything that ugly NOT have facial hair?
• Change in fingernails.  Cracked and broken...
• Feelings of dread, apprehension and doom.  She knew her sister was going to lose those ruby slippers.
• Trouble sleeping through the night, insomnia.

 Come on!  There wouldn't have been flying monkeys if she had not been sleep deprived.

• Irritablilty and depression.  What woman in her middle age wouldn't feel bitchy looking at beauty and youth?  

•  Hot flashes and night sweats.  She just felt like she was melting...

If you are not a wicked witch middle age woman suffering the symptoms of menopause (or as I call it, mental pause), you will probably not agree.  Some day you will have a similar revelation.  I know because with age come wisdom.

*I want to thank those who provided pictures for this post.  Recognition should be given to each of you but I am suffering from mental confusion and mental lapses...