Sunday Meanderings

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FOOD FOR THOUGHT - A DEVOTIONAL

How Often Must We Forgive?

Then Peter came to him and asked, "Lord, how often
should I forgive someone who sins against me?
Seven times?"
"No!" Jesus replied, "seventy times seven!"

~~ Matthew 18:21-22 ~~

How often must we forgive family members and friends? More times than we can count. Our children are precious but imperfect; so are our spouses and our friends. We must, on occasion, forgive those who have injured us; to do otherwise is to disobey God.

Are you easily frustrated by the inevitable imperfections of others? Are you a prisoner of bitterness and regret? If so, perhaps you need a refresher course in the art of forgiveness.

If there exists even one person, alive or dead, whom you have not forgiven (and that includes yourself), follow God's commandment and His will for your life: forgive. Bitterness, anger, and regret are not part of God's plan for your life. Forgiveness is.

A Prayer: Dear Lord, Your ability to forgive is limitless; mine is not. Keep me mindful of Your commandment to forgive others - and to keep forgiving them - just as I have been forgiven by You. Amen.

A Woman of Prayer - 365 Daily Devotions, Freeman Smith LLC, Publisher


THE WEEK IN REVIEW

Had things gone the way she planned them, my sister Bev would be here now. :-( Because fate has been playing a huge joke on her for the past couple of months, ever since she listed her house in PA and sold it and rented a condo to live in until next spring when she and her husband Don can retire and move to their new lake house in Texas, she's been stranded in Texas for over two weeks and she's still counting. I use the word "stranded" very loosely. Oh to be stranded at that lake house! She's not here because she's still there because as it turns out, her movers operate on a very laid back delivery schedule. Very laid back. LOL (Sorry, Bev, but your whole moving saga continues to keep me in stitches.)

So our much anticipated visit went the way of not-so-whoopee moving companies, but we have a bombdiggety visit planned for this fall. :-)

So Bev's not here but Mandy and Aaron are. They had dinner with us Thursday night and have spent the last few days with his Mom. Everyone is coming over here today. I'm cooking a big roast because in spite of the fact that it's upwards of 100 degrees every day now, my roast beef dinner is a family favorite and they'll be tickled pink. I'll just lower the a/c by a few degrees.

Aaron has to go back home tomorrow, but he's leaving Mandy here with me. She'll fly home Saturday evening, so she's all mine for the next week. :-) Friday is Krissy's birthday and boy do we have big plans. We're going to Chuck E. Cheese and we can't wait. LOL Oh, I kid. I mean, we really are going to Chuck's place, because we'll have Cameron and Avery with us and Cameron knows where the best birthday parties are always celebrated, but that night we're all going out for a grownup dinner at W W Peppers which is currently Krissy's favorite restaurant.

But, I'm not kidding about being excited about Chuck E. Cheese. I love that place. I think I'm a closet compulsive gambler. I've given up all my other vices, so I'm hanging on to that one. LOL

Meantime, Rob and Mandy and Aaron are on the golf course this morning so I'm having an extremely rare quiet morning.

:-)

You'll just have to pardon all the smileys - I'm happy. :-)

Krissy and the kids will be here shortly with a week's worth of laundry. Her washer broke Thursday night. She was distraught. It was awful when my own washer broke earlier this year and I don't have two little laundry makers! Krissy got over her upsettedness pretty quickly though - today she's headed to Best Buy to buy her dream washer and dryer. For starters, it's going to match. Isn't it always just so great when you can finally buy both appliances at the same time and they finally match? She's getting hers in bright red and I say, hooray for you, Kris. Aren't you so thrilled that Harvest Gold is a thing of the past? LOL

You know you're a grownup when you get as excited about your new washer and dryer as you got about your first car. LOL

Anyway...

It's quiet for now but it won't be for long. Hurt me, hurt me.


FRUITS AND VEGETABLES

I bought bananas yesterday. Those would be the bananas on the right. I bought them knowing full well I already had bananas. Those would be the bananas on the left. But I can never run out of bananas because Avery loves them.

I think at least twice a week, I peel a bunch of aging bananas, stick them in a ziplock, and toss them in the freezer.


When I start running out of freezer space, I pull them out. Good grief. No wonder I'm always running out of freezer ziplocks. LOL


So yesterday I converted all those frozen bananas into these wonderful giant muffins. These will come in handy around here for the next week. Just one of them is breakfast.


Here's a progress report on my tomato. Or as my friend Diane would call it, my "mater." :-) Look at it go! I can't believe I haven't killed it yet. My neighbors must really be wondering about me - I'm babying this thing like it was the rarest of rare orchids or something. But it's the first.tomato.I've.ever.grown.

I love this tomato.


And while I'm on the subject of all the vegetables I'm growing (two tomato plants and one little avocado tree), here's what my avocado looks like now. Cute, cute, huh. As cute as that little sprouting top looks, it's gonna get "cropped" soon. It's extremely painful, but very necessary because I don't want a six foot tall spike. I want a bushy tree.

And while I'm on the subject of sprouting tops....

Aunt Mandy Lou Who
and
Avery Lou Who

Only your favorite aunt
would let you play with her $300 blackberry.


SOME PITHY THOUGHTS

Farm Town is eating up all my spare time! I scoffed at the whole Facebook/Farm Town thing when my daughters told me I should check it out. Oh my word, the whole fam damily is playing Farm Town and we haven't had this much fun since I bought Krissy and Mandy Candy Land Bingo, back in the eighties. :-)

And while I'm on the subject of games and toys, can I just say...Cameron got a small fortune's worth of Transformers for his birthday last month and he brings them down here. I've never seen anything so complicated in my life.


FINALLY!

A Transformer that Rob and I can actually figure out.

I give you...drumroll please...Bumble Spud!

Happy new week everyone. Stay cool! xoxoxo

Who's a Who?

Cindy Lou Who


Avery Lou Who


...times two


...the alternative


Avery's hair is at that awkward stage. I'd forgotten about this stage...too long to just let it hang in her face, but so wispy and fine it's not quite pony tail material. Hence the who do.

And yes...wearable snacks are all the rage at Nana's house. :-)


Busy, busy, busy here. Mandy and Aaron arrive tonight!

Sunday Meanderings

Thank you, Microsoft Clipart


FOOD FOR THOUGHT - A DEVOTIONAL

A STATUE OF LIBERTY

If the Son makes you free,
you shall be free indeed.

~~ John 8:36 ~~

During the national observance of the one-hundredth anniversary of the Statue of Liberty in New York Harbor, I was struck by the great emphasis on the number of immigrants who had often left everything behind. Coming to America with nothing but the clothes on their backs, they risked their lives for something they valued more highly than everything they had left behind: freedom. They did not take their adopted country's hard-won freedom for granted - and neither must we.

Their experience is a picture of what we must do when we come to Christ. We must forsake our allegiance to this world, leave behind all that it offers, and become citizens of a new kingdom - the Kingdom of God. His statue of liberty is in the form of the Cross.

The statue in New York Harbor lifts her lamp "beside the golden door." The statue of liberty on that hill outside Jerusalem lights the way into eternal life.

The Reverend Billy Graham in Hope for Each Day - Words of Wisdom and Faith, J. Countryman, Publisher


THE WEEK IN REVIEW

I love short weeks like this past one. Krissy was off on Friday so I had no grandchildren that day. Of course they came down here to visit, but she was with them and that's different. Short weeks keep things interesting, don't you think?

Happy Birthday, yesterday, to America AND to my mom. We're a holiday family. My mom was born on the Fourth of July, my youngest brother was born on New Year's Day and my youngest brother-in-law was born on Christmas Eve. The next birthday we celebrate is Krissy's. She'll be thirty on the 17th. I have a thirty year old daughter. Unbelievable. Sigh.

You know, I mentioned in the previous post that my sister Bev and I email each other about six times a day, every day, every single day. I also mentioned that she's kind of stranded at her lake house in Texas, without connections to the outside world, including Internet. So in addition to the week seeming strange because it was shorter, it seemed even stranger to not talk to my sister constantly. I haven't heard from her since she called me Thursday morning to let me know she can't come visit next week. It seems like something's missing, not talking to her every day.

If she ever gets this move completed, and believe me that's a big "if," she now plans to come visit early this fall. So although we were both disappointed that next week's visit isn't going to happen, when she comes out this fall she can bring my mom with her. My mom couldn't have come with her next week - she had knee replacement surgery two weeks ago. But she'll be able to travel this fall. So see? More lemonade. :-)

Lately, I haven't talked about what I'm reading nearly as much as I used to, but you can bet that I'm still reading every spare moment I can find, which is mostly first thing in the morning (before Avery arrives) and last thing at night, in bed.

Since I got my library card a few months ago, I always have an extremely optimistic stack of books waiting to be read. Honestly. I check out eight books at a time, just because I can, knowing I'll have to renew at least half of them. Do you do that?

Anyway, Debbie Macomber is a favorite author of mine. Her books aren't rocket science. They're just very pleasant, entertaining and relaxing. I love Debbie Macomber.


But I LOVE Dorothea Benton Frank. She's one of the very few authors whose books I actually buy in hardback and collect. Jodi Picoult and Nicholas Sparks are a couple of others. I may or may not ever see all my Jodi books again. I turned both my daughters on to her. They borrowed all my books, traded back and forth with each other and then asked me if they could loan them to their friends and you know how that goes. My Jodi books are all over creation right now. Sigh.

But look! Dottie Frank has a brand new book. And I bought it. Yes I did. I may take all my library books back and just start over again, after I read my new Dottie book. She writes exclusively about the low country in South Carolina and I swear, every time she writes a new book, I tell Rob we simply must leave Colorado and move to South Carolina. She makes me want to be there. If you've never read one of her books, she's hysterical. I'll bet she'd be a really fun person to know in real life.

Remember when Krissy and Mandy and I all went through our Twilight frenzy? All three of us read all four books - all three of us bought Twilight - and all three of us are anxiously awaiting the second movie. So naturally Krissy decided to get addicted to the whole True Blood series. So here we go again. She's passing her books to me as she finishes them and I'll be sending them to Mandy. For the record, if you read Twilight, let me tell you, it's baby fiction compared to the True Blood books. Good grief! Steamy!


A FEW UPDATES

I finally finished Mandy and Aaron's advent calendar. I started this for them two years ago, just before I decided to open my on line shoppe. I actually finished one of these for Krissy and Andy (really, for Cameron and Avery) and started the second one but I put it away to make a boatload of burp cloths, Santa stars and sock monkeys. It was bothering me, so I got it out and I finished it. I see absolutely nothing weird about posting Christmas photos on the Fourth of July, so.....


If you click on this photo you can see all the little toys that are hanging in the toy shoppe windows. Those were the part that would drive most people nuts, but I love working with miniatures. I have several one-inch scale doll houses that I built, stored in my garage, to prove it. Sigh.


Here's a closeup of the bottom of the calendar. It's very sweet and the photo doesn't really do it justice. It feels very good to have this finished and ready to give to Mandy when she arrives for a week long visit, next Sunday. (I.cannot.wait.to.see.my.daughter.)

The moment I finished hers, I started a nativity advent calendar for myself.


So really, this shouldn't be surprising.

I probably should have known this was eventually going to happen. When it finally reached the point that my wrist burned all the time, day and night, and almost had me in tears, I broke down and bought this wrist support. It's designed for people with carpal tunnel of course. And I'm pretty sure that's what's going on here. The wrist support helps immensely. I even sleep in it.


On a much happier note, check this out. I do believe I'm growing a tomato! I promised updates and here you go. Look how big it's getting. I'm being so careful with this first tomato, you'd die laughing. I've gotten all kinds of advice on how to grow perfect tomatoes and I'm following it.

This is beyond exciting to me. Every time Rob sees this tomato he says, "Fry the bacon!" LOL I have more than one tomato growing but this is the first one that's going to ripen so it's extremely special.

You'd have to be me to appreciate how special this is. :-)


OBSERVATIONS

So 10,925,331 people play Farm Town on Facebook. I'm the "one" at the end of that number. My daughters got me involved in this game and it's addictive. I'm not kidding. I haven't been addicted to a computer game since Spider Solitaire, which I've been way over for ages.

I'm still not a whiz at Facebook. I'm not doing a whole lot with it until Mandy gets here next Sunday and shows me some things.

Rob and I didn't do anything special at all yesterday. He worked in the yard all throughout the day. I worked on my nativity advent calendar and sat quietly and read. Mostly, we just enjoyed a day of complete peace and quiet because really, our days are usually not peaceful and quiet. We live three doors down from our grandbabies. :-)

We had everything for a cookout and decided to heck with it. We've discovered a new delight. I buy each of us our favorite half gallon of Breyer's ice cream (mine is coffee, his is English toffee). And we do completely away with the bowls. We just sit in front of the TV with our ice cream and spoons and eat it right out of the carton. Because we're old and live alone and we can do that. Rob says not bothering with a bowl is very liberating. LOL

Three guesses what we're having tonight!

I hope you're all having a nice holiday weekend. Ours has been great. Hot and dry and very fourth of Julyish. Next week everything gets back to normal.

But...after a very normal week, my daughter Mandy and my sweet son-in-law Aaron arrive next weekend. You know what I love? I love always having something special to look forward to.

Happy new week, everyone!

Care for a glass of lemonade?

So you know how excited I've been that my sister Bev is going to be here in ten days, to visit for several days?

Forget that.

Bev and her husband Don are at their new retirement home in central Texas, waiting for all their earthly possessions to arrive from Pennsylvania. I should amend that to say all their earthly possessions minus the ones that they moved to the condo in Pennsylvania they're going to rent until next spring.

I realize this whole story can be a little confusing, so for the record, Don had originally planned to retire this spring. But the two of them decided he'd work one more year and retire next spring. Meantime, because my sister never lets the dust settle under her feet, late last summer they went to Texas, where they will live after Don retires, and bought a beautiful house that will be known henceforth as "the lake house."

Some of you may not know that Bev and I were born in southeast Texas and grew up there. For her, retiring to Texas is "going home." Also, two of their three grown kids and their families now live in Texas, about three hours away from the lake house. Texas is big, y'all.

Anyway, they listed their beautiful home in Pennsylvania and lo and behold, they sold it very quickly - the closing was this past Monday.

Trust me when I tell you that "very quickly" means one thing to you and a whole 'nother thing to Bev and Don.

She has seriously been so busy she hasn't had time to share all the craziness involved in this journey. But I'm her sister. She and I email each other about six times a day so I've been aware of every single solitary off-the-wall, crazy thing that's happened since the day they listed the house. Oh.My.Word.

But that's her future book so I won't spoil it for her.

It all started with this.


And really, you'd think it would end with this.

There's something about this moving van that inspires confidence. Don't you think? That shows you how much we know.

Bev and Don flew to Texas last weekend. The lake house they bought came completely furnished, right down to the forks and knives in the kitchen and towels in the bathroom, so they needed to get there a few days ahead of the moving van, to sort through it all, do some major clearing out and make room for their things.

They were told there was a four day window of time that the van would arrive. They were told it would arrive sometime between Monday and Thursday.

Guess what? It's Friday morning and no moving van. Bev called the company Wednesday afternoon to get a status report and boy, I hope you're sitting down.

Bev and Don's household is still sitting in a warehouse in Pennsylvania. They were told it won't even be loaded on a truck until at least July 11th.

OK, I agree with you. Lawsuit city. However, they signed a contract and the way the contract reads, this company has to pay them a boatload of money, every day starting yesterday afternoon, until they deliver the stuff. So on the one hand, this is paying for some completely hysterical but, to me, not the least bit surprising, repairs Bev and Don have had to make at the lake house, just since Monday.

On the other hand, there they sit...waiting on a moving van that isn't even going to leave Pennsylvania for another week or more. If they're lucky.

Seriously folks. I'll be so glad when she finally has time to tell you about all the crazy things that have happened with this whole move. You'll just die laughing. Hopefully Chevy Chase will be available when they make the movie.

Meantime, Don has to fly back to Pittsburgh Monday. He's taking the rental car back to the airport with him. And he's leaving Bev. At the lake house in central Texas. With no car. With no cable TV, no cell phone reception, no Internet, no computer.

She was expecting a land line to be installed yesterday but I'll fall down in shock if that happened on schedule. Nothing else has. LOL And she plans to borrow a vehicle from her son Dan, so at least she can make the long drive to the closest town for groceries to put in the new refrigerator which may or may not have arrived on schedule yesterday, or make the longer drive to visit her daughter Sarah.

So there's my sister, at her beautiful lake house, with no confirmed return date anywhere in the foreseeable future. She's gonna be there for a while.

Surprise, surprise.


Poor thing. Look where's she's stranded.


I swear, if I could make the time,
and if I had spare money laying around,
I'd fly down there and be stranded with her.
Indefinitely would be just fine with me.


There are more things I love about my sister Bev than I can list here, but one of the main things is that no matter what happens to her, she can laugh at it.

When the phone rang so early yesterday morning, I held my breath as I answered it, waiting to hear something awful. The first thing I heard was Bev laughing. I knew immediately that she was OK but another ridiculous thing had happened. and that it was important enough that she had to call me instead of emailing me. What am I saying? She can't email me. She has no Internet. No computer. And terrible cell phone reception. Gah!

She thinks it may be another month before she goes back home to Don and Pennsylvania. So she won't be posting much on her blog for a while.

In the meantime, if you were to drop in to visit Bev at the lake house, say a year from now, she'd probably offer you a glass of sweet tea and a nice comfortable place to sit and look out over her gorgeous lake.

But if you were to drop in on her tomorrow, she'd greet you with a big, tired smile and offer you a glass of lemonade.

Because one thing is for sure - my sister knows how to make lemonade out of lemons.

Star struck....over Chuck

Cameron's fourth birthday was yesterday and guess where his party was held? When my girls were little, a quarter of a century ago, this was Showbiz Pizza and the rock star was Billy Bob.

These days it's Chuck E. Cheese and the star is, well, Chuck.

But my friends, some things never change. One is the quality of the pizza at this place and another is the fact that four year olds think this is the most exciting place on earth.

Imagine my surprise when I found out, first thing this morning, that Melanie spent a big chunk of yesterday at Chuck E. Cheese too, for her four year old niece's birthday. I couldn't possibly describe the experience any better than Big Mama did, so I'll just share some photos with you.

OK, I might throw in a couple of personal observations, but only a couple. :-)


Here's the moment they were all waiting for. I was amazed how star struck all of Cameron's little friends were - I swear, it made me laugh out loud to see them all so excited over Chuck.

You know, as we were leaving last night, I told Rob I'll bet the high school kids who work there are embarrassed when their friends ask where they work, but those kids deserve a big pat on the back. They were amazing with Cameron and his friends last night - they did an outstanding job of making it really special for them.


Avery was completely mesmerized by the mechanical, singing Chuck. She'll be sixteen months old on Friday and seeing her at this place last night made me realize how fast she's leaving babyhood behind.





It was Papa's job to keep track of her and let me tell you, he was busy. Nothing slowed her down. She was so excited she didn't know where to run next. And Papa was huffing and puffing but he did a fine job of keeping up with her.


Our birthday boy.




Given my choice, I'd not pick Chuck E. Cheese for dinner out. But as strange as it may sound, I can't remember when I had so much fun as I had with Cam and his little friends. They were SOOOOO excited and had such a good time.

And seriously. A guy can look like this and still be considered the coolest guy around, for only a very fleeting moment in time.

Last night was Cameron's fleeting moment. Happy birthday, sweet boy.

Sunday Meanderings

Thank you Microsoft Clipart


FOOD FOR THOUGHT - A DEVOTIONAL

SHARING THE JOY

Let the hearts of those who seek the Lord rejoice.
Look to the Lord and his strength; seek his face always.

~~ 1 Chronicles 16:10-11 ~~

God intends that His joy should become our joy. He intends that we, His children, should share His love, His joy, and His peace. Yet sometimes, amid the inevitable hustle and bustle of life here on earth, we don't feel much like sharing. So we forfeit - albeit temporarily - God's joy as we wrestle with the challenges of everyday life.

If your heart is heavy today, open the door of your soul to your Heavenly Father. When you do, He will renew your spirit. And, if you already have the joy of Christ in your heart, share it freely. When you discover ways to make your joy become their joy, you will have discovered a wonderful way to say, "I love you" to your family, to your friends, and most especially, to your God.

A joyful heart is like a sunshine of God's love,
the hope of eternal happiness, a burning flame of God.
And if we pray, we will become that sunshine of God's love,
in our own home, the place where we live,
and in the world at large. ~~ Mother Teresa

A Woman of Prayer - 365 Daily Devotions, Freeman-Smith LLC, Publisher


THE WEEK IN REVIEW

My mom had knee replacement surgery on the 16th, so I spent quite a bit of time on the phone with her this week. She's doing really well but that's no surprise. She's amazingly healthy and always seems to handle things like this a lot better than I would. I'm a wimp. She's not.

Her birthday is the Fourth of July and my dad's is four days later. Tuesday is Cameron's fourth birthday and Krissy will be thirty in two weeks, on the 17th. So I've been doing some birthday present shopping the last few days. My word, June and July are crazy birthday months for me.

I did a little shopping for myself too, but boy, I didn't spend much money. This is my new summer nightgown. I love it. Even more, I love that I only paid $3.22 for it.

I received a $10 gift card in the mail last week - apparently Kohl's sent them to every resident of Grand Junction. Normally I toss things like that into the trash, but this time I read it carefully and saw that it was good on everything in the store, including everything that was already on sale. Since I'd been shopping at Kohl's recently, I knew that summer nightgowns were on sale. So off I went to Kohl's, armed with my $10 coupon.


Check this out. The gown was originally $26, but was 50% off, so it was already marked down to $12.99.

I don't want to think about the penny because the math isn't right and stuff like that pretty much drives me crazy. $12.99 is not 50% of $26. $13 is 50% of $26. Arrggghhhh.

Anyway, when my coupon took another $10 off the price, the cost was down to 2.99. Add the tax, and my new $26 nightgown cost $3.22. I love it when that happens. :-)

In other happy news, if you were around here a year ago, you may recall that I almost had a nervous breakdown when our lease on this house expired and we weren't offered a new lease and then we found out that the house was under contract to be sold and when we got a new owner, we had no idea what she was going to do but since the rent here had already jumped $225 in one fell swoop the year before we were just a little nervous and a lot afraid we'd be moving when there was absolutely nothing at all for rent in this city but it all worked out OK because the new owner did not raise our rent and did give us a new lease.

Whew!

That lease expires the end of July. And we've already signed a new lease, for a year, at no increase. It's amazing how the real estate market has turned around in just one year. It seems like half of Grand Junction is either for sale or for rent. We live in a five year old neighborhood and suddenly there's a for sale or for rent sign in half the yards in this neighborhood. Good grief.

But I'm very happy to be entering our sixth year in this house because I love this house and living three doors down from Krissy/Andy/Cameron/Avery is going to be vitally important when Cameron starts prekindergarten in August.

Besides. I planted morning glories all along the back fence and I want to be here when they explode all over the place. LOL


Speaking of exploding plants, check out my two tomato plants. They're not dead! And they've almost made it up to the second level of their tomato cages. And for the record, there's not a bug on either one of them, anywhere, which is surely because I planted those marigolds in the pots.


And look at the very center of this picture. I seriously cannot believe it. A tomato. The first EVER that I've grown. I've never kept a tomato plant alive long enough to reach this point. You can laugh all you want, but I am seriously surprised!


Speaking of surprised, look at my cute grass (oats) and butterfly centerpieces. I think they look surprised, don't you? LOL


A NEW WEEK

It's hotter than blue blazes here now. Finally, summer arrived in Grand Junction, with bells on. It should have been this hot weeks ago. We had an unusually gray, wet and cool spring. Normally, we'd dread this heat, but we waited for it for so long, we're actually kind of enjoying it. For at least another couple of hours. :-)

We're getting ready to go to Krissy and Andy's house for Cameron's family birthday party. It seems like just a few weeks ago, I held him in my arms for the very first time, in the surgical recovery room. And now he's four. Tuesday we're going to Chuck E. Cheese for his other party. I haven't been to Chuck E. Cheese since my daughters were little...proof positive that people don't go there for the pizza. LOL

Friday afternoon I was wrapping a birthday package to get it into the mail and I dropped a piece of bubble wrap. Cameron was on that piece of bubble wrap faster than a duck on a junebug! It took Avery about two seconds to catch on.


I absolutely love this picture. It just shouts, "Fun fun fun!" I'm thinking I may need to go buy a big roll of that stuff, just to have around for these two. Isn't this a great photo?

TWO QUICK THINGS

Stop laughing. I can be quick. It's been known to happen.

First, a lot of people have mentioned lately that they sense a big slowdown in the blog world. Hello? It's Facebook, my friends. I finally got on board with Facebook and after only 24 hours, I knew Facebook is the reason people are posting, reading and commenting less. My word, it will eat your time like crazy.

And if you let your two grown daughters talk you into playing Farm Town, you're doomed. Sigh.

Second, all the celebrity deaths are beginning to feel surreal. For me, it started with David Carradine. His death was a surprise. And then Ed McMahon died last week. His death wasn't a surprise. And then Farrah died and as sad as it is, it was a relief because that poor woman suffered terribly. So, so sad. And of course Michael Jackson's death shocked all of us although we shouldn't have been shocked - I think we knew he was on that tract. And then just an hour ago, I heard on Fox News that Billy Mays died this morning. For heaven's sake. He was only 50 years old, like Michael. His Oxi Clean commericals got on my last nerve, but I caught his new show, Pitch Men, on The Discovery Channel and he seemed like a really nice man. You have to wonder what one earth is going on and when it will stop.

As sad and shocking as all this is, it is a loud and clear reminder to me that life is very fleeting and can end when you least expect it.

It makes me want to tell the important people in my life how much I love them and give them a hug.

The coming week will be about getting ready for more birthdays. LOL And I'll also be getting ready for a happy, happy time - my sister Bev and my daughter Mandy will both be here to visit, in just a couple of weeks. With Krissy here the whole time they're here, it's going to be like one big slumber party.

Or maybe if you're Rob, it will be like one big trip to hormonal hell. But he's been there before and I know for a fact, he can handle it.

Happy new week everyone!

It's the little things....

When Krissy arrived last evening to get Avery, she looked at me and immediately said, "You look nice, Mom!"

I can't remember the last time anyone said that to me.

But...I can remember the last time I wore makeup. It was two years and two days ago, on June 23, 2008 - at Mandy and Aaron's wedding.

All it took was this little pile of Clinique/Neutrogena/Cover Girl products to make enough difference that my crazy busy and chronically exhausted daughter noticed.

So maybe I'll just start taking five minutes every morning, to put on a touch of makeup. :-)

What to do with an avocado pit....

Once upon a time, I owned a sweet little book called The Avocado Pit Grower's Guide. In this case, "once upon a time" means about thirty years ago and what I wouldn't give to have that book now - very vintage - like me. LOL I plan to hunt it down, but for now, I thought I'd share what I learned from the one I used to have.

I can't cut an avocado open and remove the pit without remembering all the times I cultivated the pit into a sweet little tree. It's been ages since I grew one, so I thought it would be fun to do it again.

An avocado pit is, of course, just a humongous seed. If you'd like to grow a cute plant from the pit, make sure you don't cut into it when you remove it from the avocado. Clean it off under running lukewarm water and pat it dry.

I distinctly remember that my sweet little book said avocados do not like cold water, ever, ever, ever.


Basically, you're going to suspend the pit in a jar of water until it opens, sends down a taproot and shortly after that, sends up a little stalk.

In order to suspend it in water, you need to stick three round toothpicks in the sides, about halfway down. The "top" of the pit is the pointed end - the "bottom" is the fatter flatter end. Make sure the pit is clean and dry and grasp it firmly and "drill" the three toothpicks into the sides, evenly spaced. They need to be inserted at an angle so that the bottom of the pit sits far enough down into the jar that it can be submerged almost completely in water....almost, but not completely. Make sure the top is not under water.


The first change you're going to see is that the bottom will begin to split open. I photographed mine upside down so you could see how it splits.

Don't be surprised if this takes a few weeks. I've seen an avocado pit split in just a few days and I've seen it take two months. So don't think yours isn't going to split and grow just because it's taking its time.

One thing I've never seen is an avocado pit that didn't eventually split open and put down a taproot.

Once the pit begins to open up, you must be very careful when you handle it. The two halves of the pit are held together by a very fragile little "plant" and it's very easy to accidentally break it apart. If that happens, you'll need to throw it in the trash and start with a new pit, unless you can clearly see that the baby plant stayed attached to one side, intact, and didn't break or tear.


This is the way mine looked after about six weeks. That's a taproot that's beginning to grow downward.


This is just a couple of weeks later. You can see that the taproot is growing pretty fast but the top of the pit is still pretty tightly closed. You can also see that I was able to peel the skin off the pit. After a certain point, it becomes "loose" and you can peel it. You don't have to - it won't affect the way it grows. I just prefer the cleaner look. But remember....if you decide to peel it, be very, very careful when handling the pit.


After another couple of weeks, mine began to open at the top. You can barely see the tiny little "stalk" beginning to stick out of the top.


Here's a better picture. That cute little stalk is going to become a tree. Really. :-)


For some reason, I've always planted an avocado pit in a brand new clay pot. Clay pots are the best way to plant most houseplants because they breathe and you're a lot less likely to over water your plant.

Over watering is the number one killer of houseplants.

So I like knowing that if I do get carried away with the watering, the plant will dry out a lot more quickly than it would in a painted or metal pot.


Put a few little stones in the bottom of the pot. This will help it drain and is just one more way to try to prevent over watering.


Now it's time to remove the toothpicks. They're pretty easy to remove if you "twist" them out. It's even OK to break them off if you can't get them to come out. But again, I can't stress how carefully you have to handle the pit at this point. It's very fragile.

In this photo you can see that "roots" are beginning to grow out of the main taproot. That, combined with the little stalk peeking out of the top of the pit, tells me the time is perfect to transfer my plant from water to soil.


I've always used Miracle Grow. It really does make nicer plants and it doesn't seem to dry out and harden and get icky like other brands of potting soil do.


Simply hold the pit over the pot, and gently fill the pot with potting soil, leaving the top half of the pit exposed. You don't have to tap the soil down. Water it and you'll see if you need to add more soil.

Eventually, the pit is going to dry up and disappear, leaving a "tree."

And eventually you're going to have to chop off the top of the tree, but I know the very thought is nerve wracking, after waiting maybe three months to get to this stage, so we'll pretend I didn't tell you that and I'll bring it up again. Later.

:-)


The only thing left to do is to find the perfect spot to put your plant. It needs sunshine, or at least very bright light, and it needs to stay warmish. Avocados don't like to be cold, so put your plant in a sunny spot that's not directly under an air conditioning vent.

Remember that direct sunlight coming in through glass will burn the plant, so diffused sunlight is what you want. This is accomplished with a screen or sheers on the window.

So now my avocado simply needs to grow. I'll water it when the top inch of the soil is dry.

Here's a word of caution about clay pots. You'll notice I placed my clay pot on a clay saucer. That saucer will get very damp when I water my plant and it will ruin the oak sofa table it's sitting on. So I put the pot and saucer on a white ceramic salad plate - water or dampness will not go through that white plate.

As soon as my little tree has grown a bit, I'll show you what to do next.

The goal is a bushy little tree, not a six foot tall stalk. LOL

And for the record, I've never heard of an avocado tree grown indoors producing avocados. But you can bet I won't be planting mine outside, here in western Colorado. No way.

This is going to be a sweet indoor plant.


Jump right in if you'd like to. Growing avocado pits into cute house plants is fun and you know, this is a great project for you to do with your children. It's great because unlike most seeds, this one is huge and your kids will be able to clearly see all the different stages of growing a seed into a plant.

Happy Second Anniversary
to Mandy and Aaron

Look at all you've accomplished in two short years...
Aaron's earned his Master's degree in Social Work
and you've bought your first home.

Congratulations you two...well done!
Dad and I couldn't be more proud of you.
xoxoxo

Sunday Meanderings...on Monday

Thank you, Microsoft Clipart


FOOD FOR THOUGHT - A DEVOTIONAL

The Way of Meekness

Blessed are the meek
for they shall inherit the earth.

~~ Matthew 5:5 ~~

No person is meek by nature. We insist on our own way (even if we are mild-mannered by nature), and if anyone blocks our path we react with hurt, anger, resentment, and even revenge.

It is our human nature to be proud and self-assertive, not meek. Only the Spirit of God can transform our lives through the new birth experience and then make us over again into the image of Christ. He is our example of true meekness.

Reverend Billy Graham in Hope for Each Day - Words of Wisdom and Faith, J. Countryman, Publisher


THE WEEK IN REVIEW

I lost another day to a migraine yesterday. I have no idea why I seem to be getting them more often lately, and they're becoming more painful than they've ever been before. I'm sure there are a million theories out there, but the truth is, migraines are a medical mystery. Believe me, I've done tons of research because if I knew how to prevent them, I surely would.

I recovered enough by early evening to go ahead with our Father's Day plans. We had a simple cookout for Rob and Andy, here at my house.

Last week was pretty quiet around here. I decided to stock up on sock monkeys. More than anything else, orders for those come in on a steady basis and with my sister Bev and my daughter Mandy planning to visit me in July (at the same time - hooray!), I thought it would be a good idea to have a supply on hand. I don't want to have to stop and make a monkey when two of my favorite people in the whole world are visiting.

I had one oddball size pair of red heel socks on hand. They came in a sock monkey kit and although it was obvious that they're a knockoff of the genuine Rockford red heel sock, I actually liked them. They're smaller and softer. So of course I decided to use them for something special.







Avery would tell you, there are some distinct advantages to being my grand daughter. LOL I made her a new sock monkey - she has one of course, but that poor thing has gone through the washer so many times, it's starting to look a little haggard, so I made her a bright, shiny, new sock monkey.

I added some special touches because, well, it's Avery, y'all. :-)


SIGNS OF SUMMER

I'd like to say that's sweet tea in that sippy cup, but it's apple juice. When you're one, you can just sit down in the pool, clothes and all, if you feel like it. LOL

I'll give you three guesses what the one habit is that we're praying Cameron gets out of before he starts preschool this fall. I've never heard of a child in preschool, surrounded by a ton of other kids, taking his clothes off. They don't do that. Right? Right?

I've seen the prettiest morning glories posted all over the place out here, and it reminded me how much fun they are to grow, so I bought a package of seeds and just stuck them in the ground, all along the back fence. I remember when it was against the law to plant them because they grow like crazy, choke things out of their way and are virtually impossible to kill.

We'll see about that. I'd love it if they'd choke my neighbor's weeds out. Seriously. It's aggravating to see his weeds creeping under the fence, into my yard.

It only took five days for my morning glory seeds to sprout. They look like dragonflies, don't they?


I was in the kids' craft department at JoAnn Fabrics Saturday morning and bought this cute little project for Cameron. I have no idea why it's got a "Cars" label on it - it's just a little clay pot with sunflower seeds and a "dirt pellet." It's the funniest thing. Cameron and I will plant his seeds but it's ridiculous really, because they're the ginormous sunflowers, the kind that grow six feet tall. So of course the minute they sprout, the directions say, "Transfer to a larger pot." Duh. I think we'll transfer them to another haphazard spot along my fence somewhere.

They grow so fast, Cameron will get a huge kick out of it.


And here's the cute grass seed/fake butterfly centerpiece I grew. It occurs to me that grass is still growing. So I've decided to see exactly how tall it will get. It's not really grass - it's oats. I haven't got the foggiest idea what oats do - but I'm liking this little centerpiece more and more with each passing day. :-)


MY DREAM HOUSE

I should stop reading Southern Living, I get so jealous. Imagine living in a house with that porch. You can bet the ocean is just out of sight.

If this is your dream house too, why you can just go on line and order the plans and build this yourself. Just go to Southern Living Houseplans and enter carolina island house sl-481. Oh my word. Can you imagine?

ONE LAST THOUGHT

Speaking of southern hospitality, Rob and I got new next door neighbors this week:

I'm giving them a few days to get settled and then I'm baking them a cake and taking it over, to welcome them to the neighborhood.

The last time I did that, the woman I took a cake too looked at me like she thought I was crazy. Isn't that sad? People are so fearful of each other any more, a simple kindness, a thoughtful gesture like welcoming someone to your neighborhood, is looked upon as questionable.

But I'm determined. This is something we used to do without a second thought. I think a cake and a smile are two very nice things to take to a brand new neighbor, don't you?

Happy new week everyone. Summer has finally arrived in Grand Junction. I, for one, am ready and plan to enjoy the daylights out of it.

Winner of YoBaby Yogurt giveaway

Congratulations to Jen @ Mop Top 3.0. And thank you to all the rest of you who entered.

Eat your heart out, National Geographic

Rarely seen in captivity,
the elusive spider monkey monkey spider.


Happy Friday!

A haunting....

Gasp!


Noooooo!
Stay away from the light!

DO NOT

GO INTO

THE LIGHT!

A tomato is born.....

Here's my "garden."

It's no secret that I've never grown a tomato. As a matter of fact, my efforts have always been so disappointing, I finally stopped trying altogether.

Don't you think those tomato cages just scream "optimism?" LOL


LOOK!

A BLOSSOM THAT'S GOING TO BECOME A TOMATO!

I hope. If it happens, it will officially become the first tomato I ever grew. Ever. In my life. And that's pathetic because I'm fifty-eight years old.

It could happen.

YoBaby Yogurt...a review and a giveaway

Entries are now closed - I'll announce a winner shortly.

Early last week, Katie at Stonyfield Farm contacted me to tell me about YoBaby Yogurt. I'll be truthful here and tell you I didn't know you could buy yogurt made specifically for babies.

Here's what Katie said about the yogurt Stonyfield makes for babies:

Hi Barb,

I came across your website and saw that you know what’s important to parents and grandparents – including what to feed baby to get them off to a good start.

We think that’s important, too, so Stonyfield’s YoBaby line of organic yogurts marks its 10th birthday this year by reformulating YoBaby to include vitamin D and zinc, both known to boost immunity and promote the development of strong bones and teeth.

Of course, YoBaby is still all natural and certified organic, made with milk from cows fed organic feed and not treated with antibiotics or artificial growth hormones – since we’ve always believed organic is not only better for baby, but better for the planet as well.

I’d love to send you some coupons if you’d like to review the ‘new’ YoBaby. We could also set up a product/free coupon giveaway on your site if that sounds appealing to you.

Best,

Katie

So off I went last night to get my free yogurt. I love free. Free is one of my very favorite things. :-)

The next step was to try it out on my in-house expert:



She loves it!


THE GIVEAWAY


Enter to win coupons for free YoBaby Yogurt, a bowl and a cute bib for your baby. Just leave a comment and make sure I can find you. I'll leave this open through the rest of this week and draw a winner Sunday afternoon.


I love knowing that I'm giving Avery something to eat that's good for her. It's just the icing on the cake that she genuinely likes it!