Born, raised and lived in Kansas all my life. Then in November of 2007, my husband and I moved to the east coast. My husband's dream has been to renovate an old house. So, here we are in a house built in 1890 and we work hard to keep it from falling down around our ears. Sometimes I wonder, "What were we thinking!?"
My blog is about what is happening in my life as I adjust to living in the south, adjust to being an empty nester, adjust to menopause, adjust to being a grandma...
I first saw this YouTube video when one of my Facebook friends posted it the first of the month. At that time, it only had six million hits. Now it has over seven million. Several hundred of those hits are from me...
This video makes me smile. I love it when she pretends to whistle along with her dad, then she asks him if she will learn to whistle. She adores her dad. You can tell by the look in her eyes when she looks at him. It is that same look all little girls have for their daddies.
Find out more about this young father and his daughters here.
Yesterday everyone was talking about the latest snowstorm being forecast in North Carolina. The grocery store was really busy for a Wednesday. Lots of schools in the state delayed the start of school by an hour or two. This is what we woke up to this morning.
A lot of my friends and family in the midwest are digging out from under lots of snow...again. They are enduring sub-zero temperatures as well.
Hang on just a little longer, my friends. Take a look at what I found peeking out of the ground.
What is your weather like? Here in upper North Carolina, we have had cold and ice. I have been home for the last two days and I have been a little more restless than usual. Not really depressed, but feeling like winter has gone on way too long and it is only January.
Since I am from the midwest, I have no problem getting out in a little cold and ice, but there is no place to go as every thing closes when the weather is like this. The big problem about driving in this weather are the other drivers. Southerners just do not know how to drive in weather like this. Heck, they really don't know how to drive in good weather...
Did you make any New Year's Resolutions? It is almost mid-January. How are you doing with those? I don't do resolutions, but am continuing to build strong, post-menopausal bones and a healthier heart.
from Get Religion.org
Today's date has intrigued me.
1/11/11
Do you know that
11111 X 11111
is
123454321?
Cool, huh?
Thinking of the number one lead me to thinking about these guys...
I wore out this album.
My mind has been bouncing around like a BING.com commercial...
Hubs has a pair of shoes he wears outside. He leaves these shoes at the back door on the porch. When he went to walk the dogs first thing this morning, this is what he found.
Just the left shoe...
Is there a one legged person on a crime spree? Maybe an animal carried it off?
Hubs and I received a Sear's fruitcake via USPS from his brother and sister-in-law our first Christmas. Sear's? Really? Can you find those next to the snow shovels and Ice Melt? Hubs and I got a good laugh at our gift. The fruitcake went into the freezer (I think they last forever without freezing!) and we sent it back to his brother and sister-in-law the next Christmas. We've all heard stories of families passing the same fruitcake back and forth for decades. It was a big disappointment when we didn't get the fruitcake back the following holiday.
This question begs to be asked. What did they do with the fruitcake? Maybe they still have it and are using it as a doorstop or bookends. It might have kept them warm that winter if they used it as firewood. Oh, I know! That was the year Hub's brother was into working out. Bet he used it as a free weight...
Or maybe they just waited until January 3, which is Fruitcake Toss Day. Yes, the day when every one who received a fruitcake over the holidays gets the opportunity to toss it. Just be careful not to toss it AT some one. Those thing could cause bodily injury. And if you still have fruitcakes in laws mooching visiting, toss them out too!
Since today is World Hello Day and since one of our grandsons is here for the weekend, I thought I would greet you in Korean.
He understands Korean and can speak it well for a three year old.
World Hello Day began in the fall of 1973 in response to the conflict between Israel and Egypt.
By saying hello to ten people today, you show the importance of personal communication in preserving peace.
from happybirthfdaypeace.com
How about saying hello in one of these languages?
Konichiwa (koh-Nee-chee-wah) is hello in Japanese. Jambo (JAM-bo) is hello in Swahili. Hola (OH-la) is hello in Spanish. Ni hao (nee-Ha-OW) is hello in Chinese. Bonjour (bohn-Zhoor) is hello in French. Buon giorno (bwohn-JOR-noh) is hello in Italian. Annyong ha shimnikka (An-YOH HASHim-ni-kah) is hello in Korean. Czesc (Chesht) is hello is Polish. Zdravstvuite (ZzDRAST-vet-yah) is hello in Russian. Al Salaam a' alaykum (ahl sah-LAHM-ah-ah-LAY-Koom)) is hello in Arabic.
This heirloom tomato plant has been growing outside our back door all summer long.
It has been growing and growing but producing no fruit.
Until last week.
I had to take the calendar out and show this little tomato that it is almost Thanksgiving. I reminded him that we do not live in Florida or California and that we have had frost and a hard freeze.
Maybe I should put fresh homegrown sliced tomatoes on the Christmas dinner menu...
A couple of weeks ago I shared the new carpet that was laid in our yard. If you missed it, you can see the post here.
This week, we have seen the first of the city workers come around to vacuum that carpet.
It would be so much easier if they would come into the yard and we did not have to get the leaves to the street. (Like I have picked up a rake this year!)
Notice the haze above the truck? That is created by all the little leaf particles being spewed back out of the truck.
I have often wondered if they would rent this truck out for vacuuming the inside of the house. I hate to vacuum. But with all that spewing of fine particles after the vacuuming, I'd have to dust. I hate to dust.
Hubs is always searching Craigslist for free stuff or low cost materials that he might need to redo our home.
Today I received an email from him containing a link to a FREE post on Craigslist.
"Two Healthy Pumpins FREE to good home. These pumpins have served their short purpose in life of uselessly decorating our front porch to make our neighbors think we are cool. They are very well-mannered and house broken. Due to their social nature, we need to adopt these two out together. We'd like to see them go to a home with a sunny porch where they can rot togehter in peace.
If not picked up in the by 11-11 we will have no other option but to humanely euthanize these beautiful creations via a lethal blow with a baseball bat."
Being from Kansas where there are few trees, the results of the change from summer to fall amazes me. I'm not used to all the leaves laying on the ground. I'm also not used to mountains...mountains of leaves.
Are you a bologna fan? I am not. If I were starving, like I hadn't eaten in three days and bologna was the only thing to eat, I could maybe eat it fried well done with lots of mustard, cheese and bread...maybe... More than likely, I would do what I did when Mom but a bologna sandwich in front of me when I was younger - remove the bologna and eat the bread.
Maybe Hardee's will be handing out their bologna biscuits free. Probably not.
On one of our first trips to the local Lowe's after our move to North Carolina, we saw this lunch wagon sitting in the parking lot. I was intrigued. Just what is a bologna burger?
(I felt like such a private detective/FBI agent taking this picture with my zoom lens while parked across the parking lot.)
I pictured it being something like this:
from Fun Playing with Food
Several weeks later, we went to a local cafe for dinner. They had a bologna burger on their menu. I had to ask our server to describe it for me. "Yer not from 'round here, are ya?" She was practically salivating as she was telling us about their bologna burger. It was similar to the picture below.
I am told that the Wilkerson's Famous Bologna Burger is two or three thin slices of bologna grilled, then tossed on a bun with some grilled onion. Still have not been hungry enough to eat one.
While I was searching information about National Bologna Day, I found some interesting uses and recipes at Southern Angel.com Have you ever thought of using bologna for a lubricant on squeaky hinges or rusty bike chains? You will also be able to find recipes for Bologna Gravy, Bologna Spaghetti, and Bologna Stew at there. I know you have been searching high and low for recipes like that to add to your menu.
Throughout this post, every time I spelled B-O-L-O-G-N-A, I thought of the song...You know the song I'm talking about...
Happy Bologna Day! May you have all the bologna you can eat, including mine!
It is so nice to have cooler temperatures. However, the change in seasons sometimes creates fashion dilemmas.
We had been invited to an open house and equestrian apparel fashion show at one of the daughter's workplace on Friday evening. As I was dressing the thought of shoes popped into my head. I have not thought of what shoes to wear since April. You see, I have worn a pair of Nike flip flops since the weather got warm. I had to ask Hubs what shoes I wear when I don't wear flip flops. Of course, being a man he had NO idea.
It was a good bet I couldn't go looking like this. (There's that funky tan line again!)
I finally went to my closet to search for a pair of cold weather shoes. Oh yeah! When not in flip flops, I am wearing a pair of these...
I should get out more often AND I should do some shoe shopping...
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