And Happiness is - - - Sunshine!

After the deluge last night, very happy to see sunshine. Quickly loaded laundry as I want to get lots hung out before Mr. Sicko (aka Weatherman) changes his mind, ha,ha.

What's Everyone up to today? If it dries enough, I'll get the lawns done or buy a goat.

Rain, rain, go away - - -

Again tonight our town was inundated with a rain storm - My Hon looked out and saw our neighbor bailing water so we got into high gear - I dug 2 trenches about 4" deep to divert the water to our back yard and they did the "bucket brigade" thing. The Mr. arrived home and helped get things under control.

These are veritable rain storms with thunder and lightning and I am not shy to say I was very afraid out there.

Although it's been a pain collecting apple boxes over the years, they are great for packing and I have been a busy beaver.

Bought a large roll of bubble wrap for around $70.00 - just a blessing for packing. Plus, I've used it all year for sending gifts, etc.

My Dream

I always have dreamed of opening a gift/design shop with accessories for the home. We talked seriously about it years ago as our city didn't really have a source.

Seems people would like to be able to furnish their homes with medium to upscale pieces. Guess for now, this idea is set aside but maybe someday - - -

What is it?

The last image of "What is it" was floor tiles.

Take Off His Shoes!!!!!!!!!!!Well, maybe in 1950 !!!

(This was passed on to me as a "genuine extract from a 1950 Home Economics Book". It may have been changed a little, but it does reflect the general feeling of the time.)

Have dinner ready. Plan ahead, even the night before, to have a delicious meal ready on time for his return from work. This is a way of letting him know that you have been thinking about him and are concerned about his needs. Most men are hungry when they come home and the prospect of a good meal (especially his favorite dish) is part of the warm welcome needed.

Prepare yourself. Take 15 minutes to rest so you will be refreshed when he arrives.

Touch up your make up, put a ribbon in your hair and be fresh looking. He has just been with a lot of work weary people. His boring day may need a lift.

Prepare the children. Take a few minutes to wash the children's hands and faces (if they are small), comb their hair, and, if necessary, change their clothes. They are his little treasures and he would like to see them playing the part.

Clear away the clutter. Make one last trip through the house just before your husband arrives. Gather up school books, toys, papers etc. and then dust cloth the tables. Your husband will feel he has reached a haven of rest and order and it will give you a lift too.

Minimize the noise. Be sure there is no noise from washer, dryer, dishwasher or vacuum. Encourage the children to be quiet. Greet him with a warm smile and be glad to see him.

Don't greet him with complaints or problems. Don't complain if he is late for dinner. Count this as minor compared to what he may have gone through that day.

Make him comfortable. Have him lean back in a comfortable chair. Have a cooling drink ready for him. Offer to take off his shoes. Speak in a soft voice. Allow him to relax and unwind. Listen to him. You may have a dozen things to tell him, but the moment of his arrival is not the time. Let him speak first.

Make the evening his. Never complain if he does not take you out to dinner or to other places of entertainment. Instead try to understand his world and pressure, his need to be home and relaxed.

THE GOAL: try to make your home a place of peace of peace and order where your husband can renew himself in body and spirit.

http://www.cnn.com/2007/HEALTH/diet.fitness/06/26/cl.boost.nutrition/index.html

Years ago when the kids were maybe 10 and 12, I made zucchini muffins. Didn't say what kind they were. They were eating and I said, "Have another zucchini muffin" - hack, gag, zucchini!!!!muffins. And wouldn't eat any more.

I see the recipe every once in a while and it makes me smile. The CNN article made me think of this.

Now their father is fed all kinds of "treats" he doesn't know about. Hee, hee, hee!

Tiger, Mom and Baby Makes Three

It was so refreshing to see that Tiger and his wife released pics of their beautiful little baby. (I understand the need to protect children from the public eye.)

Anyway, thank you Tiger, enjoyed sharing your pride and joy.

Does it Get Any Better???

So I think Someone hates me! We got up nice and early in order to arrive at our appt. on time.
Got thru that and decided to buy our groceries before we left for home.

All is well, paid for groceries and realized I forgot the onions. Ran back to produce and as I turned the corner- splut! Slipped on a piece of lettuce. It was a wipe out to remember and I'm grateful I didn't break anything. So now both knees, my right ankle and foot and right hip are very sore. As I'm driving home, my neck and shoulders started to stiffen up and get sore.

The produce guy was standing right there when I did my acrobatics - he grabbed the lettuce and hopefully scrapped it. Or ate it.

Is this Monday?!

For Your Enjoyment - Bro's Back Yard

A Tim Stop

So after our appt. today, we stopped at Tim's place! Their coffee is tasty and for the first time ever, we had a "full meal deal" - Med. Coffee, donut, small bun, small soup for something like $3.45 - it was just a snack/treat to keep everyone happy and it worked - and I liked it , too!
Actually, I was thinking it would be perfect for seniors - hey, I'm a senior and it wasn't filling enough, ha,ha.

So is This a Hint - - -

Sis sent this to me, uh - - -

Happiness Is - - -

(Bro's pic)

Happiness is a wild rose for this little bee.

I'm Working On It!

Before You Move Clear Out The Clutter
By Marcie Geffner
One of the biggest hassles of moving to a new apartment is packing, and unpacking-- your belongings. While it's tempting to just throw everything in any box, packing isn't that straight-forward. Breakables and odd-sized items need to be protected, boxes need to be light enough to lift and carry and items that are housed in various rooms need to travel together. One terrific way to make packing and unpacking much easier (and save money on your moving costs) is to clean house and clear out the clutter before you even begin to pack. There's simply no reason to go on storing things you'll really never use, especially when you're investing the time and money to move those things to your new home.

Thru a Glass Darkly - - -

I love this pic of my Hon - captured his pose which is so lovingly familiar to me! If I were a better photographer, wouldn't have got myself in it, also.

Anyway, it's all about him and personifies his posture when on the phone - he was talking to one of our sons and the little birds were so close and loud he had to go in to be able to hear. Nice problem though - we enjoy them no end.

Sorry, had to block out some identifying info.

Evening Sky

This was taken 2 nights ago. We "lost" the best shots as I couldn't stop the car when the sky was just a bright orange and purple.

Maybe I Should Watch Commercials

Best Paper Towels

In the battle of the paper towels, some rolls scrub it down and drink it up better than others

Tina Rupp

2 of 6

Strongest: Bounty Double Quilted

About $1.69 a roll (different rolls of Bounty are available at warehouse clubs for about $1 a roll), 120 sheets a roll.

Pros:

Bounty towels won the grape test; they could hold 136 grapes, or 27.8 ounces. Half the tested brands ripped under the weight of just 80 grapes.

They soaked up two-ounce spills of both oil and juice using half as many sheets as some other brands.

Con:

Rough texture; not a good stand-in for facial tissues.

(This is the site's fndings - I have never tried them but may now!

Sorry guys - I'm in a funk - can't blog - will try later but I'm Ok - I always am.

Summer Solstice

We had a great evening celebrating the summer solstice. Kind of intrigues me for some reason.
Took some pics. Our back deck faces East so with a brisk breeze, it was chilly. Go around front and it's cooking hot out.
Anyway, grilled a large batch of vegs and of course, steak.
Even Buddy, the Cat, got in on the celebrations - from his cage.
Did anyone else sit out?
PS this is our new very small BBQ

That Was Fun - Let's Do It Again Tomorrow

Had my hip injected today - actually, he is quite awesome. Was a bit concerned when they took me to a sound proofed room - - -

Word of the Week - "Gourmet"

The Meaning of Gourmet

A gourmet is a person devoted to the sensuous enjoyment of delicious food of any kind.

Yup, that's right.
grout, term, gore, rug

Thursday! Longest Day!!!

The Sun in the sky during the Summer in the Northern hemisphere

On the Summer Solstice, which occurs on June 21, the Sun is at its highest path through the sky and the day is the longest. Because the day is so long the Sun does not rise exactly in the east, but rises to the north of east and sets to the north of west allowing it to be in the sky for a longer period of time.

After the summer solstice the Sun follows a lower and lower path through the sky each day until it reaches the point where it is in the sky for exactly 12 hours again. This is the Fall Equinox. Just like the Spring Equinox, the Sun will rise exactly east and set exactly west on this day and everyone in the world will experience a 12 hour day.

After the Fall Equinox the Sun will continue to follow a lower and lower path through the sky and the days will grow shorter and shorter until it reaches its lowest path and then we are back at the Winter Solstice where we started.

First Pick From the Garden

Tonight we enjoyed spinach from the garden - picked leaves about 4 - 6" long. After I sauteed vegetables. I topped them with the spinach and turned heat to high for a couple minutes (with the lid on the pan). Lay the spinach on our plate and topped it with the stir fry, yum. What a difference to eat it freshly picked. I tossed the vegs with Kraft Sun dried Tomato dressing again. Gave Rob and Brenda some and she was making spinach/ strawberry salad with balsamic dressing. Sounds good.

The Letter "R" - Courtesy of Kim

Well, I was asleep - sorry, Kim, missed your letter "R"!

You have such a good list that I will just say recipes and ravioli and friends, Richard and Robin!

Summertime!

So tomorrow will be the longest day - we will have our Fathers Day BBQ that night and sit out on the deck - realizing the days will slowly shorten after! Yikes! I want them to stay "longest" forever.

Anyway, have to think about a special steak dinner to celebrate summer.

Also, July 1 and 4th celebrations are just a bit away so we'll get our decorations out for that. I think I'll buy some sparklers and light them on the front drive - will try to get a pic of our little celebration July 1st - if it's not raining!

WalMart in the States was always our source of wonderful decorations and I miss that store! Thank goodness I stocked up as much as possible when we would go shop "down South".

Anyway, got to run for now. Have a nice, sunny day in your part of the world.

Frisbee Trickery

Busy beavers, eh? Must be Canadians! We had a fun yet productive day - went to the park to walk and found a Frisbee - a little trickery, Frisbee and walking and in no time I had him completing 3 laps. Not a lot but considering it's usually "zip" - well, I call it a success.

Came home, swept out the garage, carried stuff to his shop, organized the garden shed and we're bushed.

Gonna go sit on the back deck for a bit. There's a breeze and view to enjoy so - - -

Hope you all had a good day - taking everything into account, I'd say we scored a very good one.

Relaxing Fathers Day

We have had the laziest Fathers Day! This morn I gave my Man his gifts and we lay in bed with the morning paper and a pot of coffee. Finally, a gourmet breakfast for Father - a dish of cereal in bed! We kept saying that we had to get up and finally I grabbed a bowl each and we ate in bed! How's that for classy?! Honestly, usually I would have made a frittata or something.

S&R came out to visit in the after noon and both sons called. Very, very nice day.

The weather is cold, wet and still rains when it feels like it so the plans for filet mignon are postponed til the first warm evening. Then we will celebrate Fathers Day all over again!

Happy Fathers Day

To One of the Best!

Days Past

Remembering you today, Dad.

A Few of My Thoughts - Not to be Taken as Medical Advice

As I look back on the initial stages of our journey, there were no "dramatic" happenings which led me to believe my Hon had Alzheimer's. At his young age of 58, this would never have entered my mind - Alzheimer's affects "old" people, right?

If you have a concern about a loved one, look for deviation from normal in the small things. In my experience, the disease doesn't manifest itself one day - like measles, etc. It's a slow and very puzzling process. But the catch here is, the puzzling stuff keeps happening til it becomes more serious and/or noticeable.

Persons suffering in the initial stages are very adapt at masking or "having a system" to get thru their day. Remember, they too, are stressed about what is happening and very confused.

If you feel a loved one has a problem with "deviations from normal", get to your family doctor ASAP. He/She may hesitate and chalk it up to stress or a million other things but get pro-active. Request a full work up of tests to eliminate any physical problem.

And remember, it takes a geriatric psychiatrist to be able to diagnose the disease so get a referral. They order the scans and MRI's, etc.

With the new medications, time is of the essence.

7 Things I Have Learned

Tagged by Trish, here is my list!
(1) I have learned family and friends are precious and irreplaceable.

(2) I have learned that I crave knowledge.

(3) I have learned to enjoy my retirement every day.

(4) I have learned and really believe that 99% of the people in the world are good.

(5) I have learned to hold our sons close to my heart.

(6) I have learned it's Ok to be sad as long as I move on afterwards.

(7) I have learned how to walk down the path of Alzheimer's with my husband, hand in hand, enjoying everyday to the best of our ability and being the best caregiver I can be for him - he would do the same and more for me.

A Fine Line Between Ability and Disability

So my Hon is no longer able to figure out how to reheat a mug of coffee. I'm not sure when he lost this ability as usually I would be doing this. Today I was in the garden and he went into the house to heat us each a coffee. After too long, went in and asked if I could help. He was quite frustrated and said, "I don't know how to run this thing." (the microwave)

Opening the door I saw he had the whole glass coffee pot in there. Luckily all was Ok but it's another step. Feel badly as he had also plugged in another pot (empty) trying to heat coffee.

If you are wondering why I would let him go in to get coffee, it's because he wanted to help. There's such a fine line between his ability and disability.

What is It?

What's Up for Your Friday?

Hope everyone has a good day - I have to make a major effort to "do" the yard today as my neighbors are having a BBQ tonight. Actually, all that I really need to do is cut the back and front lawns. Our (exceptional) neighbor cut my side lawn last night. Hey, maybe I should be offended - just kidding. It's on a bit of a slope and wears me out - last week he found me lying by the mower panting for help - ha,ha. Maybe that did it. Anyway, what a dear. Thank you, Rob!

The party is a shower for friends of theirs. We are headed in to town for dinner at 5pm so it will give them a few hours of privacy.

Bit overcast so perfect for working. The garden is growing like mad and so are the weeds. I do love my beds - the weeds are easy to pull and see.

Have I bored you to sleep yet - no, well, I'll try harder next post. Have a good one, Everyone!

Need A Laugh?

Word of the Week - "Archives"

So a bit of ago I deleted my archives from the page element area -

So, the word is - archives.

rice vice sear hives search

www.collectionscanada.ca/

Mom would have been 89 years old today! (Pretty close image of Mom.)

Love and remembrance of a great Mother, mentor, nurse, wife and homemaker. Truly a trail blazer in your time! Forever loved.

Given Two Minutes

Life and the Day hold many two minute segments and I decided to see what I can do in two minutes. Discovered I can empty the "loaded" dishwasher. Trivial but interesting. I whine about the DW and emptying it but all it took was 2 minutes. I think I'll have a better attitude now:)

What can you do in two minutes?

Sorry, Everyone, I can't get in the mood to write - I'm in a funk over Sarah. Maybe tonight will be better. Our outing today is library visit and coffee after. Hope everyone's day is good.

A Few Pics From the Step

For Sarah

que-sarah-sarah.blogspot.com

Does anyone know what this plant is? Soft, silvery blue/green leaves - you can see their size in comparison to the impatiens flowers.
Thanks!

Metal Detectors

Has anyone experience using metal detectors? I thought it may be a fun way to get my Man out in the air and of course, in the process, find my fortune:)

What do I have to spend and is it OK to buy second hand for something like this?

Thanks.

My Little Hero!

So, we just about didn't have chocolate molten cakes last night - uh, the night of a dinner party is not when one wants her trusty Oster Sunbeam to go on strike! It is 17 years old. This little hand-held GE that saved the day. It's at least 37 years old. (The cakes have to be "made and immediately served")

I ran like Speedy Gonzales to my pantry downstairs and there the little hero sat - wrapped in a bag - waiting to be useful again - tears!
So to everyone who teases me, very lovingly, about saving everything - see, this is why, ha, ha.