Que Sera Sera

Busyness

smartiplants58@gmail.com — Mon, 20 Jun 11 05:54:00 UT

I feel like I have been awfully busy.

Last week there were two days of training (work related) during the middle of the work week that I went to with my supervisors.

I also had an a couple of doctor appointments and then the usual busyness of work.

This weekend hubby and I got the pool back up at long last. It was almost like a resurrection from the dead because the pool looked so dismally dirty.

Last year a deer tried to drink water out of it and mashed down on the inflatable side and let out a lot of water, washing away a lot of the sand bed under the pool.

Then the pool got emptied and leaves fell on it and it got really dirty.

I was not looking forward to cleaning it up but Hubby moved the pool away from its spot and put new sand there and spread it out and we set the pool back on the sand and spent a couple hours cleaning it up and now we have the pool back.

A good thing too with these 106 degree temps we have been having.

Our other accomplishment was to finish painting the crown molding that hubby put up in the office. We got that done and did all the touch ups and so now all that is left in that room is to change out the electric outlets from beige to white.

Yesterday after church and a trip to Costco we came home and I got my laundry and housework finished and hubby watched a little tv and rested and worked on making a couple of ink pens.

So all was good for Father's day I think. Both kids even called so that was good.

We were going to go out to eat yesterday too but traffic was so heavy earlier in the day we decided to postpone the eating out till today.

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Outrageous Hats

smartiplants58@gmail.com — Tue, 7 Jun 11 16:32:00 UT

Well I guess Milliners in the United Kingdom must be very happy with all the publicity of their many hat designs for the Royal family of late but I can't help but look at most of them and think "Egads what is that great big lump on top of or for some, on the side of, their heads!"

I always thought the point of a hat, at least if it's a dress occasion, is for it to be attractive and to compliment the the outfit but a lot of them I've seen lately don't fit either criteria.

In the article below, Princess Beatrice shows up in what I guess is an attractive enough white rose and lacey sort of hat but its so big it looks like she will either fall down or suffer a neck injury from wearing it!

Kate did a little better than the others in the the half dozen or so pictures.

You can peruse those and then just for fun I added a link to some other outrageous hats. And I guess after looking at all these I have learned my lesson. An attractive hat is not the primary aim here; it can be many things....say maybe providing a target for shooting practice or nesting material for a bird, or just making people look and point. *sigh* I have a lot to learn about fashion!

Royal Head Pieces

30 Outrageous Hats

There Goes the Neighborhood Entertainment

smartiplants58@gmail.com — Fri, 3 Jun 11 09:05:00 UT

We are half way through putting up a much anticipated privacy fence and I don't know if the neighbors will be glad or disappointed.
Our house is situated on a corner and every side of our yard is visible for all the world to see and only one small part had a short chain link fence.

The chain link came down last weekend and up went the 6ft privacy fence on one side and on the back half of our very large yard.

Since we live in one of those neighborhoods where we are the only ones who don't hire a yard man I don't know whether they will miss the entertainment of watching the vegetables grow in my raised bed planter boxes or not.

Or maybe they will miss watching me build a fire in my firepit and sit out on the patio with a glass of wine.

I am sure they will miss the compost bin and my wood pile for the fire pit :-) don't you think? Let me say here the compost bin is a store bought one and the wood pile is as neat as I can make it, but lets face it, I don't have a professionally landscaped yard, I have a yard I use and enjoy.

As a matter of fact, next on the agenda I plan to put in a horseshoe pit and badminton net, and I still have some grapes and berry bushes to plant (Did I mention it was a big yard?) Oh and then there will be the plants I want to put in around the little patio we poured last Fall. So yeah there is alot going on in the yard and they may or may not be glad to no longer have to see what we are doing!

Remembering Dad

smartiplants58@gmail.com — Wed, 1 Jun 11 14:49:00 UT

This particular date never goes by without me thinkng of my Dad even though he has been gone now for many years.

Dad passed away in 1972 after suffering his 3rd heart attack and I have written many things in my private journals and such before about his life in the past but as I think about those past writings, really what I wish is that I knew Dad better.

I wish I knew more about his years before me and my siblings were born, and I wish I knew more about his thoughts, hopes and dreams during the years that he was our Dad.

I guess though that the only way to know a person on that level would to have been of course closer to him in age for one thing and/or if he had left behind a journal of his own.

I know at one time during the depression, he hopped trains to travel to find work to bring back money to help feed his family. I wonder about his thoughts, concerns, successes or failures in finding work.

During World War II he spent time in Italy and I wish so much that he had told us more about what he had seen and done there but of course a father would not tell of war atrocities to his children. Still how valuable it would be to know what he thought and saw during that time!

If you had asked me back then, back when he was alive, I would have told you I knew my Dad pretty well, now, I would say I didn't know him nearly well enough and I wish I could turn back the clock and recapture that time and know him better, much better before he was taken away.

Kitty Face Punching

smartiplants58@gmail.com — Wed, 27 Oct 10 06:00:00 UT

One evening after my cat, Mags had played the "Kitty wants in, Kitty wants out game" one time to many I, in a moment of complete frustration looked at Mags and said "If you don't stop that I am going to punch you in the face!"

Ever since then "kitty face punching" has been a regular topic around here. My husband thought the comment was hysterically funny, especially since I would never harm any animal let alone one of ours.

The cat has never been deterred by my threats and in fact I think he comes to me even more now for attention and petting.

Last night as Mags sidled up to me in bed and started purring and head butting my hand, I said "look at this hon, Mags is punching himself in the face!"

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Ceilidh's Fort

smartiplants58@gmail.com — Sat, 2 Oct 10 13:30:00 UT

In the morning when I sleepily crawl in my recliner with my coffee and blanket, my pomeranian Ceilidh knows that not only does that mean dog biscuit treats, it means she gets to get in her "fort".

Her fort is made of the raised leg rest of my recliner and the blanket hanging down past my feet and onto the floor and that is where she likes to hang out. Probably the only downside as far is she is concerned, is that I only build the fort once a day.

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Daily Notes - Catching Up On the Past Week

smartiplants58@gmail.com — Fri, 1 Oct 10 16:09:00 UT

Last week daughter and I cleaned the carpets and they came out really well. I was afraid they had gotten too grungy to really come clean but it turned out they were not a lost cause after all.

My next project is to start painting all the rooms in the house. I don't like the flat white paint the previous owners used and I am thinking of adding some color to some of the rooms.

It will be a week or so before I start painting though because I messed up my already troublesome back and have been in and out of the chiropractor all week and taking more ibuprofen than I care to be taking. It was a little better this morning but I still ended up sleeping in a recliner to get some pain relief.

I spent most of yesterday at the hospital with hubby who had knee surgery yesterday. Everything went just fine and now he is home convalescing and I am counting down this last hour till the weekend starts. I am tired. I am ready to be home for a couple days even if it does mean working around the house.

I started a book I had checked out at the church library called "Lets's Roll", about Todd Beamer, one of the passengers aboard the flight that went down in Pennsylvania on 9/11. I am about 1/3 of the way through the book.

Books - History Does Seem to Repeat Itself

smartiplants58@gmail.com — Sun, 26 Sep 10 21:09:00 UT

Does this remind you of anything? I think it demonstrates how history repeats itself. I see similarities to the U. S. in these quotes. It is taken from the book Cairo, copyright 1897 by Eustace Reynolds Ball. The quote itself is by Sir Alfred Milner and is a description of the weak points of Egypt:

"A government which cannot legislate for, and cannot tax, the strangers resident in its dominions, -especially when those strangers form, by virtue of their numbers, wealth, and influence, a very important section of the community, is lamentably shorn of its due measure of authority and of respect. But this weakness in the position of Egypt, springing from the Capitulations, has been greatly enhanced by the further disabilities and restrictions which she has brought upon herself by her unfortunate financial career. There is no country in the world to the position of which a policy of profuse expenditures and reckless borrowing was more ill-suited. Other states which have plunged in the same direction - though perhaps none ever went to such lengths could at least fall back, in the last resort on the desperate remedy of repudiation."

and again:

"Here was a country, the very centre of the world, the great highway of nations, a country which during the last half-century, had been becoming ever more and more an appanage of Europe, in which thousands of European lives and millions of Europeans capital were at stake, and in which of all European nations, Great Britain was, by virtue of its enormous direct trade and still more enormous transit trade, the most deeply interested. And this country, which the common efforts and sacrifices of all the Powers had just dragged from the verge of bankruptcy, was now threatened, not with bankruptcy merely, but with a reign of blank barbarianism."

Family/Humor - Coffee and Surgery

smartiplants58@gmail.com — Tue, 7 Sep 10 08:39:00 UT

Gene and I really seem to be all about our beverages lately. He got the Sodastream sodamaker not long ago (which by the way is working out great)and over the weekend I got a coffeemaker, excuse me, they call it a "brew station", from Flavia.

I first found out about the Flavia coffeemakers when Gene was having surgery done on his heel a year or so ago. While poor Gene was in having surgery I was enjoying really great coffee from this machine and have been conniving ever since how I might get a similar coffee maker. In the meantime I would tease Gene that I was always excited when he had foot surgery because they were at that surgery center and it meant having some of that great coffee!

In all reality of course I didnt want him to even have to have the first surgery let alone the ones that followed but at least he is getting all his foot and knee problems fixed. In the meantime though, he probably has one more surgery to go, so I at least know I have my coffee situation taken care of either way!

Music - Fab Four

smartiplants58@gmail.com — Fri, 3 Sep 10 19:04:00 UT

I think that one of the very few things that most, if not all, in this country would agree on is that the Beatles were an awesome and legendary band.

This past June my hubby, siblings and I went to see a tribute band called "The Fab Four" and they were AMAZING to say the least!

Here is a video of one of their performances. There are more and better videos on You Tube but some don't allow embedding.

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Cooking - Beer Bread

smartiplants58@gmail.com — Fri, 3 Sep 10 09:58:00 UT

I recently tried out this recipe which I found on the net. Its really easy and good and best of all since I am allergic to baker's yeast (not brewer's) it is about the only bread I can have.

Mix 2 2/3 cup self rising flour with 12 ounce beer

*make sure it is self rising flour. Also I was told that some beers produce a better flavor and the recipe recommended Budweiser. One commenter even said she used a cherry wheat beer with really good results (I never heard of cherry wheat). I just used what we had on hand...Busch I think.

Put batter in greased bread pan and bake at 375 for 50 minutes. Take out of oven, Let sit in pan 5 minutes and serve.

Video/Humor - Bad Ass Texas Rabbit

smartiplants58@gmail.com — Thu, 2 Sep 10 07:33:00 UT

This is a video my brother found and sent me. It is a pretty amazing video in spite of the not so flattering accent of the commentator!

Daily Notes - A Bluegrass Evening

smartiplants58@gmail.com — Wed, 1 Sep 10 06:06:00 UT

The Evening Lions Club sponsored one of their yearly fund raisers last night; a Bluegrass Gospel Revue by "The Marksmen".

As a kid I never cared for bluegrass music; hated it in fact, but eventually grew to hate it less and then by the time my dear Mom who loved that music, passed away, had come to love it.

Now, I find that listening to bluegrass gospel is alot like feeling my Mom's arms wrapped around me and I find it very comforting.

The Marksmen are incredibly talented and entertaining. The oldest member of the group, Earl Wheeler, said he had started The Marksmen back in the sixties so this is now the second generation of the group and he is the only original member.

When Earl mentioned that he was born in 1940 and was now 70 years old, I couldnt help but think that John Lennon would be that same age this year too, were he alive. Sobering thought. It seems we are all getting old.

Anyway, the music was fabulous and each member had a unique and tremendous voice and we alternated between smiling,laughing and clapping to the more serious mood when more sobering songs were sung.

It was during the more serious gospel songs that I recalled my Dad walking through the living room one day and saying to my mom "you better turn off the music, you're depressing the kids!" I find that pretty hilarious now. :-)

Anyway it was a great evening and for a great cause and if you want to hear a little clip from The Marksmen just click on the link below to go to their web page.

The Marksmen

Family/Humor - Would You Like That Soda to Go?

smartiplants58@gmail.com — Tue, 31 Aug 10 05:35:00 UT

The waiter at Fish Daddy's approached me at the end of our meal last night and said "Would you like a diet coke to go ma'am?" "No thank you" I replied and then finished the rest of the sentence in my head..."hubby will make a diet coke for me when we get home". I didn't bother to vocalize the last part because the waiter probably would have looked at me as if I had three heads, just like I did my husband the day he told me the soda machine he ordered had arrived!

At first I thought that was the dumbest thing I have ever heard but its actually pretty cool. I don't know where he got this machine that is just a little taller than a blender, but it and the soda syrup etc. all came together as a kit and it only takes a minute, if that long, to brew up a soda.

Hubby's first attempt at making a diet coke for me was not quite as successful because it didnt have enough carbonation in it but since then we have learned if the water is cold first before he mixes in the rest of the ingredients it works very well!

Only problem with this whole soda making thing is that he has gotten a little proprietary and sensitive about the sodas he makes. I came home one day from shopping and "gasp" I had a Diet Coke bottle in my hand! He asked me didn't I like the sodas he made and I said I did but when I am out and about I couldnt very well get a soda from home; at least not practically. He let me slide on that one. :-)

Thoughts - Never Satisfied

smartiplants58@gmail.com — Mon, 30 Aug 10 12:13:00 UT

From the time I was kid I have been one that was never really satisfied with whatever work I did or whatever I created.

I remember as far back as rewriting entire spiral notebooks full of class notes just because I was not satisfied with the neatness of them.

I remember never being happy with my sewing and cooking projects in 4-H.

I also recall as an adult, after taking cake decorating lessons, when at times I thought the results of my efforts were particularly awful, I would dump entire cakes out at the back of the lot just to make sure no one saw the awful work I did. (I'm sure the neighborhood dogs were always happy with the free goodies!)

So I have this long history of not being satisfied and for some that works to their good to always strive for better work, but in my case it has led to a lot of regretful actions. I have torn up, thrown away or deleted a lot of work that I wish now I had kept; and once gone, those works are impossible to re-create.